Their record “All Yall” was one of the first I reviewed for KSCU. Now they continue with crazy variations on the second person, using one of my favorite grammatical crutches, “yer.”
“Shadow” gets the album off to a good start. This band continues to crank out the cheerful power pop that’s expected. And I get all Frampton when I listen to “Come Alive.” This track is well put together, right down to the bridge.
The classic love song about a special lady is “Jessica” in this case. It reminds me of the Monkees. “Make You Mine” also has a ’60s sound reverberating, but the backing vocals put this one over the top. It’s got it all.
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Gringo Star “Count Yer Lucky Stars”
October 30, 2011Soft Cotton County “Looking for You Know Who”
October 30, 2011It’s an EP. They’re good at those. The first track is “Look Out Ma, Papa’s Comin’ Home.” Soft Cotton County continue with their dreampop antics here. The title track is second and has pronounced guitar. It’s more of an indie rock approach than what we’ve seen from the band in the past. The synths, relegated to a backup role, do a fine job. The male vocals do surprisingly well. All in all, it reminds me of my favorite Bernard Sumner side project, Electronic, specifically “Getting Away With It.”
Next we are asked “Is This Your Kind of Country?” It also has more of a contemporary feel to it. The last track is “Here Comes the Stone & Steel.” It’s more reflective of the Soft Cotton County sound I’ve grown accustomed to.
This EP is clearly a coming out party for the title track and the sound associated with it, and I’m intrigued to see what happens next.
Sports “Sports”
October 30, 2011This is the perfect record to review while watching sports. This band reminds me of Elvis Costello with a modern sound. I mean, when Costello was new he had a modern sound, at the time. Sports sounds like him but with a modern sound for today. OK.
“Started So Tall” starts the album, and it makes me think of Squeeze. The other good tracks are “Emily, Frankly” and the last one, “Disappear.” This last one has a bit of ’60s power pop in it. If I listen to it just right, I feel as if I’m watching the end of an episode of Murphy Brown. There’s just enough Motown going on.
Lots of fun, short songs on this one.
Gem Club “Breakers”
October 30, 2011When I see “Breakers” I always think of this Mad Magazine sketch from the late ’70s during the CB radio craze, which shows people without vehicles using them while walking around. In it, this woman says, “Breaker! Breaker! This is No Car Carla.”
They’re from Massachusetts, so I hope they enjoyed the Nor’easter that arrived yesterday. But despite living in Red Sox country, the first track is called “Twins.” The song itself reminds me of Ida, what with the piano and all. And Ida is a good thing to sound like.
I also like “Lands,” which is best described as “effectively somber.” “I Heard the Party” is not about the radio station. This is a pretty useful reference, because a lot of markets have a dance station called “The Party.” It makes me sound local when I’m not! It’s like how Groupon is headquartered in Chicago.
“Tanager” is more dramatic and has the piano mixed a little louder. This one belongs in a movie when the lead discovers he’s been cheated on, and he confronts her about it. Then he goes for a walk to think about it, and it starts to snow.
The last track is “In Wavelengths.” It was fine, but the smoke alarm kept going off, so I wasn’t able to pay a lot of attention to it.
Anomie Belle “The Crush”
October 30, 2011How am I not supposed to compare this to Bjork? Maybe I am. Beyond that, the urban beat of “Inky Drips” reminds me of Ruby as well. “Its a Crush” is fine, but the missing apostrophe is too distracting for me to actually enjoy the song.
There is this secret desire to go urban with this artist. Maybe she is secretly from Gresham instead of Portland. Or at least she lives east of 90th. “Bodies Offering” has bits of soul that complement her voice, which occasionally enters the Portishead zone here.
Anna-Lynne Williams offers what must be backing vocals on “Privilege.” Like First Republic Bank, it must have been one to serve Anomie Belle here. “Phantom” is the last track, and it’s not disguised nor is it horrifying, right before your eyes.
I enjoyed this album. The copycat nature doesn’t bother me because I always want more sources of rhythmic, downtempo, slightly crazy tunes.
Talkdemonic “Ruins”
October 30, 2011It’s like Mogwai without singing. “Slumber Verses” is a clever name because there aren’t any verses, or perhaps they’re just asleep. “Revival” also doesn’t revive any lyrics.
It’s not really clever anymore to talk about song titles such as “City Sleep.” I’ve blown all those jokes. This is one of faves, though. And again here’s the deal: They sound like Mogwai. There are no lyrics. They’re from Portland. They’re not particularly psychedelic. Talkdemonic provide relatively square, thought-provoking music with enough synths and strings to keep you hooked.
“Midnight Pass” has semi-metal guitar wafting in and out, although I would hardly call it symphonic metal. Maybe Sega Genesis music is a little closer. The last track is “Palace Walk.” It is slow and meandering yet still easy to listen to.
Katie Johnson “When Signs Say Go”
October 16, 2011When I put this in, I immediately thought of Lenka. Katie Johnson is a woman with her guitar. The songwriting needs a little work, but everything else is fantastic. She just needs to get older, I bet. “A Perfect World” seems to use her skills optimally, with a generally flatter melody that works well with her voice.
I appreciate “Pocket Full of Posies” and am slightly in awe that it goes on for nearly six minutes. That makes it a good makeout song, though, because you can go at it for a long time.
I had a little snicker when I heard “The Promise of Storm” because the guitar was similar to the intro of Jewel’s “You Were Meant for Me,” and “Pieces of You” had some of the worst songwriting ever. Johnson is at least better than that.
“Parachute” is far and away the winner. The mix quality is better, the guitar is sharper, the singing is on key, and even the songwriting works. This might be one of the best individual songs I’ve heard this year.
The other track that stood out to me was “How Could She Know Anything.” I find myself coming back to this one, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. Maybe it’s the harmonica.
This record reminds me of Kacey Johansing, which namewise is a very similar name. That could be it, really. But at any rate, this CD really grows on me, like when you see a rookie show occasional flashes of brilliance. You may wonder how I can tell this is an initial effort. I just know.
Firehorse “And So They Ran Faster …”
October 16, 2011Musically it reminds me of Ruby, but the vocals are less crazy. So we’re on the road to Portishead, but it’s more mainstream sounding than that. “She’s a River” focuses on singer Leah Siegel, and she holds up her end of the bargain.
Just in time for Halloween, “Only the Birds” is slightly haunting. The backing vocals during the chorus of “Machete Gang Holiday” is captivating. This is the best song on the record.
“Puppet” is more of the same. There is a desire here to rock a little bit. The downtempo style is hard to ignore, apparently. The last track is “Baby Bird.” It’s slightly psychedelic. They sound like Twigs here. The album as a whole is OK, but the tracks are needlessly long so even when there’s only nine of them it’s easy to get bored.
Pajama Club “Pajama Club”
October 16, 2011Neil Finn is still around. You may remember him from Crowded House. Well, now only his wife can stand him, so they’ve made Pajama Club. If they sound upside-down, it’s because they’re in New Zealand.
Despite what you might think, this is a very modern-sounding act. They’ve got the indie club sound down, incorporating synths without sounding contrived on “Tell Me What You Want.”
“From a Friend to a Friend” has good backing vocals, although they don’t mix well when the guitar is going loudly at the same time. The components are all there, but they don’t add up right.
I enjoy “Daylight,” which despite plodding and deliberate beats has falsettos that would even make the Bee Gees blush. If you want to think of them as cool, you could make the same comparison with Fine Young Cannibals. Yes, that feels a little better.
“Dead Leg” has a little more noise, but it works well. This is what “From a Friend to a Friend” was trying to do. Another slower song that almost seems like a throwaway is “The Game We Love to Play.”
All in all, this may have been better as an EP to test the waters, but musicians sometimes want to share the world with their fans. Hopefully they’ll pick out the strong points and come out with a more balanced effort next time.
Kevin Devine “Between the Concrete & Clouds”
October 16, 2011I’ve been a passive fan of Kevin Devine for eight years, when I was reviewing “Circle Gets the Square” for another website, and it was the only record that month that my ex-girlfriend liked.
The sound has kept up with the times, and Devine still knows how to bring it, even if he has to wear a back brace to do it effectively in his old age. “Off Screen” has all the melody you would expect.
Looking for a waltz? “Sleepwalking Through My Life” is as easy as 1-2-3. He sounds like Michael Penn’s “Someone to Dance With” on the title track. This one is a little slicker than the rest but good nonetheless.
“A Story, a Sneak,” is not about the quarterback going for it on 4th and 1. It has a Matthew Sweet feel to it. The last track is “I Used to Be Someone.” When you’ve been in the biz as long as this guy, you can’t sing stuff like this because people will believe it. The song itself is OK. The guitar makes you feel as if it is building toward something, and with it being nearly six minutes long, it seems plausible. However, the song stays stuck in neutral the whole time. What was it waiting for?
Devine fans will like the album, but it won’t attract any new followers.
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