I am ready to owe you anything

Reviews

Male Bonding - Nothing hurts (7.5/10)

Male Bonding is a band based in London, they're on the quality-driven Sub Pop label, which makes a lot of sense, because the grunge sound of some bands that were on the label in the nineties is definitely present here, although it's mixed here with some surf and African influences, which makes for an enjoyable mix. Short songs, varied album, this will not be a boring listen, I can promise you that.

"Weird Feelings" is a signature song, with a propelling bassline. The word that comes to mind when I want to try to describe this video, would be 'smegma'.

"Year's not long" is the opening track of the album. I found a pretty cool video of kids skating around in LA/Hollywood on old school skateboards, that seems to fit the music well. This is the demo version of the song however, the album version does have a better sound and production.

---

Abe Vigoda - Crush (7/10)

I checked out Abe Vigoda because Best Coast namedropped them. Their African guitar riffs remind me a little of Vampire Weekend, although Abe Vigoda focuses more on danceable rhythms. I witnessed myself that it's pretty hard to stand still during their live shows. Singer's voice gets some Robert Smith comparisons.

"Sequins" is the opening track of their latest album, it has a nice synth break in the chorus.

"Hyacinth girls" is actually an older track of their album "Skeleton", which was more guitar and less synthesizer-oriented.

---

Wavves - King of the beach (8/10)

Wavves is Nathan Williams' band, and the album sounds as shizophrenic as the man himself, from what I've heard. Rock, grunge, surf, girl groups, everything gets thrown into the blender, but every track seems to work in it's own respect.

"Post acid" is one of the rock tracks on the album, slightly elated. The video features an alien mask and some skateboarding.

"When will you come" and "Baseball cards" are 2 examples of the melodic, less rock-oriented tracks (like 'em both so much, couldn't pick just one).

---

Delphic - Acolyte (6.5/10)

Delphic are an UK band from the Manchester area, that get some New Order comparisons because they too fabricate danceable synthpop that is more suited to listen to than to actually dance to. A lot of the tracks are a bit long and mid-tempo, so the album gets a little monotone, but there are no real misses. "Counterpoint" with the nice synth loop is probably my favourite album track.

---

Bombay Bicycle Club - I had the blues but I shook them loose (8/10)

I featured a Bombay Bicycle Track on a previous blog post a couple months back. Their last album "Flaws" focuses on their acoustic side, while this 2009 album is an electronic indierock album. And a very good one, I might add. The singer - as stated before - looks a little like Chris Martin, but with an outrageously silly haircut, be sure to check out the videos. And this might be just me, but something in his voice and phrasing reminds me of Conor Oberst at times. On this album, this London outfit strikes a good balance between harder and softer tracks, you will hardly find a weaker track on this disc, I picked the three singles that have an official video, but I could've just as easily picked "Lamplight" or "Dust on the ground". Recommended.

Of the three tracks, "Always like this" is the atypical one, with it's groovy bassline, "Magnet" has a slight Snow Patrol-feel with those background vocals in the chorus, and "Evening Morning" has a nice buildup in the intro.

---

Random stuff

Mucky Pup

Random nineties band of the week/month, I had owned a tape of their "Act of faith" album, but (just like Helmet), I never had a friend or someone I knew that was on the same page with me as far as this New Jersey band went. They put out a couple of albums, had tons of line-up changes, and they had some ties to the hardcore scene (back in the day, I always felt like they sounded like a softer and, well, more fun version of the hardcore bands I knew back then), and some members of this band actually went on to play in Dog Eat Dog.

Lyrically, their first and last albums apparently dealt with some serious issues ("Short Attention Span" made the Headbanger's ball playlist), but the "Act of faith"-album I had on tape, is musically and lyrically not too far away from what The Bloodhound Gang was doing in their early days. I mean, the first track is called "Freakin' at the peepshow", the second one is "Mr. Hand" (featured below, the sound quality is pretty horrible, but if there ever was an anthem written for all the lonely, frustrated dudes out there, this was probably it), I forgot what the third track "Understand" was about, but the fourth track was called "Please don't burn the Johnson", with the lyrics "My johnson's on fire/I smell smoke/understand that this is no joke", I'm guessing you kind of got the point I'm trying to make here by now.

---

School Of Seven Bells

I got a hold of the last album by this shoegaze outfit (some tracks were already featured a couple of blog posts back); needs a couple more spins before I can write a review of it, but cannot resist sharing this track with you, the fourth song on their "Disconnect from desire" album. Not original in any respect, but a pretty perfect mix of Amusement Parks On Fire, M83 and My Bloody Valentine if you ask me. If you're planning on making a mixtape for a significant other anytime soon, you have to check this pronto. I also featured a live version, because uh..well, the singer's really hot.

You can never quarantine the past

The Skip-pile

When I started with the whole review thing, my goal was to only review things I liked, and just ignore the bad stuff. I broke my own rule when I felt I had to warn everyone about the insanely bad Weezer record, so I'm giving birth to the Skip Pile, which is a pile of albums I'd advise you to skip and/or give a wide berth.


Adding to this pile today:

Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb sun

One thing about listening to music while playing World of Warcraft is that it usually takes you half an hour to realize you've been listening to the same album for three times in a row already. So basically, you will notice when a really good song comes along, mediocre songs just pass by unnoticed. In other words, it has got to be a really sucky album when you actually pick up on how bad it is sucking, and you decide to alt-tab out of the game just to switch cd's. This is one of those albums. I think these guys played the Werchter festival last summer, and it was on that basis that I decided to check it out, but this was horribly bad and boring.

Laura Marling - I speak because I can

Part of the London-based folk-scene and the partner of the singer in Mumford and Sons, Laura Marling is an acoustic singer-songwriter. I myself, have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of the genre (I only have a limited tolerance towards the Duyster program, after which I will stop listening and blast some Slayer or Metallica instead), and I'll admit "Rambling man" (the third UK single from the album) is actually quite good (it incidentally is musically very similar to Mumford and uses the same songwriting techniques), but all the rest is highly skippable.

---

Reviews

Best Coast - Crazy for you (8/10)

Best Coast is a fairly recent band from California. They recruited the drummer from Vivian Girls, there's a long-haired spastic Asian dude on guitar and then there's Bethany Cosentino. Lover of cats (she has her ginger cat's name Snacks tattooed on her arm), weed, Snookie (from Jersey Shore fame), hater of Katy Perry. This is their debut album, although they've released a lot of singles and EP's in their short existence. I'm a big fan, they remind of The Raveonettes in their 'Chain gang of love'-period, when they also sounded light, sunny, not too fuzzy and had short tracks. At 12 tracks, this album clocks in under half an hour, which is a good thing, because the songs always are done way before they would start to bore. Not the best lyrical record you'll ever hear, but the emotions come across and you can feel the honesty ("You say that we're just friends/but I want this 'till the end"). There's some influences from sixties girl groups, and expect a lot of woo-hoo background vocals. The more up-tempo tracks are like always my personal favourite (see below), but the slower tracks usually have some kind of twist that keeps them interesting. Recommended background music for daydreaming about love or the summer.

Pavement - Quarantine the past (8.5/10)

A year and a half ago, I listened to the Wowee Zowee album by the same band. It was the first full album I ever checked out by this cultband (categorised as lo-fi alternative indie rock) from the nineties. I liked it but at the same time couldn't really get into it, because the album is abrasive at times, there's a lot of different styles, and Pavement were never the band to make it easy on their listeners. This best-of compilation came out to celebrate their reunion shows last year, and it's a lot more coherent that the respective albums the tracks come from. People will always complain that some particular songs are lacking, but this is a good overview, ranging from forgotten singles ("Gold soundz") to excellent album tracks (the slightly post-rockish "Grounded"), with a lot of variation. Makes me wonder if contemporary teenagers would still dig this, or if it's really a "you had to be there in the nineties"-kind of thing. It is only now that I got the lyrical brilliance of the "You're my fact-checking cous"-line in "Stereo" too.

Hairglow - S/T (8/10)

Hooverphonic was one of the most succesful Belgian bands in the late nineties and noughties, if you look from an international perspective. After the departure of their singer Geike (as far as I know, they're still looking for a new one), main man Alex Callier emerged with this poppy, eighties synthpop project, with Alex himself on vocals. I'm risking all my credibility as a music reviewer by rating this with an 8, because this album was gruesomely ignored by the whole media and overlooked by the audience. I picked it up for 2 euros expecting little more than a couple of good laughs, but it has promoted itself to endless repeat-status. Part of the appeal is the confusion whether this album is a tribute to or a pastiche of the genre. The production is excellent and really evokes the eighties sound, whereas the lyrics are as silly as their eighties counterparts. A couple of examples "Your solitude doesn't like intruders/Asking for your name", "They're something inside me/it wants to get out/it wants to love you" and "You are not a robot dear/You are made of premium flesh and blood". Top tracks are "Is it love?", "I do love you" (both of which are unfortunately not on youtube), and "A12", which features a singer that - oddly enough - sounds exactly like Geike.

Helmet - Monochrome (6.5/10)

Helmet is an alternative metal/rock band from the nineties with a distinctive sound, mixing groovy guitars with a lot of their typical start-stop riffs. Unlike others, I still liked their "Aftertaste" album, but like most fans, I prefer the earlier "Meantime" and "Betty" albums. They split up for a while after "Aftertaste", had their fair share of line-up changes, and returned somewhere in the mid-2000's with the "Size Matters", which I haven't heard. "Monochrome" is the successor to that album. Page Hamilton succeeds in reviving the old Helmet sound in a couple of tracks (well, the riff "Brand New" is a straight copy from the one in "Turned out" on the "Meantime"-album), so if you're a Helmet fan and you have the chance to pick this up for 2 euro's like I did, do not hesitate. Great intro line too, "Hanging out with all these dicks/still collecting tokens", Hamilton sneers on "Swallowing everything".

---

Dubstep

This genre has existed since the beginning of the millennium, but it has swiftly outgrown the underground since the beginning of the year (and probably before) and is even hitting the charts now. For a genre derived from grime and drum and bass, it first struck me as kind of slow, but then I realized that it's the jumpiness of the melody that creates the danceability. Let's see of this genre is a keeper, or if it will gracelessly will fade from popularity as fast as the late tectonic genre. The 2 biggest hits in this scene right now are:

---

Random tracks

While we're still on the subject of danceable stuff, I've been liking this radio track with the jungle-like sounds for the past couple of weeks.

Manic Street Preachers have got a new album out, and first single is - slightly dramatically - titled "It's not war, just the end of love". I'll let you decide if the guitar in the verse sounds more like "A design for life" or "Tonight, tonight".

The Wombats were one of the more fun bands from the last couple of years, they too are back with a new album, the new single however lacks a little energy, even though it has lines like "Astrophysics, you'll never be my closest friend" and "I wear a suitcase under each of my eyes".

Since the second album by MGMT was deemed terribly boring by pretty much everyone, the niche for psychedelic retro music in the rock spectrum was now again vacant. The new darlings of the music press is Australian band Tame Impala, and I'll admit this track sounds like it should and is catchy.

---

Title Fight

When 2 of our friends are wearing merch from the same band on the same day, you know you finally have to check out that other band you've been sleeping on. Title Fight is a poppunk/melodic hardcore band from Kingston, Pennsylvania, and combine the vocal intensity of the early The Get Up Kids with the fast poppunk of early Saves The Day and the whole early 2000's Drive-Thru records scene, or at least that's what I'm hearing. I checked out 2 tracks (both from the "Last thing you forget"-album) that were both excellent, checking out their albums is now a lot higher on my priority list.

It sounded good, I felt ashamed. I knew every drum fill.

SLEPT-ON BANDS

Finally checked out some bands that some of my friends like but never bothered to check out personally.

Lemuria - Pants

Lemuria is a three-piece from Buffalo, NY with a female vocalist that's hard to pigeonhole. Basically came across this track on somebody's mixtape I downloaded. Rhythmically and lyrically interesting track. You'll have to do with this live version or the acoustic version below though.

Jawbreaker - Want

Jawbreaker is a cult band in the punk (rock) scene. "Want" is a song from their debut album and features a pretty nifty intro bassline, a catchy chorus and pretty indecipherable lyrics. Check below!

Jawbreaker - Bad scene, everyone's fault

Apparently, following (more punk rock-oriented) track from the final and more polished "Dear You"-album made the soundtrack of some sports videogame, endangering the cult-status of the band.

Jawbreaker - Do you still hate me?

Track from the "24 hour revenge therapy"-album, often considered as their finest piece of work. You can never lose with a title like that. "Are you happy? Do you hear me? Can I call you? Do you still hate me?". Such a good tempo change towards the middle part of the song, and supercool guitar solo to close things off.

SLEPT-ON BANDS: ACOUSTIC COVERS

While searching for the youtube links for the above tracks, I stumbled upon the acoustic version by this female performer. She does such a good job turning the "Want"-track into a Dashboard Confessional-esque version. The rendition of "Pants" is pretty good too, and the other 2 tracks aren't perfect but a good song choice nevertheless. She has versions up of a lot of other Jawbreaker and Lemuria tracks, and then some Descendents and other punkrock bands too. As an extra plus, the lyrics are usually much easier to make out in her versions too.

Jawbreaker - Want (acoustic cover)

Lemuria - Pants (acoustic cover)

Saves The Day - The Choke (acoustic cover)

New Found Glory - The story so far (acoustic cover)

POPULAR STUFF

Moving on the more mainstream stuff.

Yeasayer - Madder red

Yeasayer played the Werchter and the Pukkelpop festivals, and are playing another club show in the fall, so it's un understatement to say these New Yorkers are extensively touring Europe. This song is really catchy, and the video featuring Kristin Bell from Heroes/Veronica Mars-fame is actually quite touching.

Crookers ft. Yelle - Cooler Couleur

Hip Italo producer-duo featuring the queen of the now defunct Tectonic genre in a supercatchy track.

The Ting Tings - Hands

Brand new track from The Tings Tings, continuing their "Keep it simple, stupid"-strategy for making pop music, and it again proves to be highly effective. Watch some leg and see-through action from Katie in this video fast before it disappears from youtube again (although this link is from their official VEVO page, but you never know). Haven't researched which part of England Katie's from, but I love how she pronounces 'working' as 'wo-i-king'.

Hurts - Wonderful life

Their stylish videos prove that someone at their record company really believes in this London duo, bringing back the emotional synthpop from the eighties. They played a decent set at Pukkelpop, and seem to be gaining some popularity. This slow track succeeds in never really getting boring or overly corny.

RANDOM

Summer Camp - Ghost train

We already had Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast in the previous posts, but retro-influenced bands just keep coming. The retro videos are cool, but the production (especially on the "Round the moon"-track) is pretty extreme, you love it or you hate it, although I'm still a little undecided regarding this band.

Summercamp - Drawer

Summer camp reminds me of this forgotten band from the nineties that got played on Headbanger's Ball a couple of times back in the day, proving again that bands like Helmet, Hum and others fell victim to media that just didn't know how to place the whole landscape in between rock and heavy music in the nineties. Pretty cool track, too bad the original video isn't on youtube.

Spitalfield - I loved the way she said LA

This is still one of my favourite tracks from those glorious punkrock/emo days, I always figured they came up with the title themselves, big surprise when I got to page 79 of my sister's English copy of "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac; the title of this track is featured somewhere on page 79.

Warpaint is a moderate new hype, another one the west coast. They play long, meandering, slightly fuzzy tracks, not unlike Sonic Youth at time, and have a lot of females in their ranks, which you will see in the next videos. They play the AB 30th of October, I might be there if it doesn't sell out.

Warpaint - Elephants

Warpaint - Beetle

RETRO

The Raveonettes - I wanna be adored (The Stone Roses cover)

With all the new bands that have the girl band influences, people forget that The Raveonettes are the originators and have been doing this style for almost ten years now. Impossible to top the original version, they do a good job at this britpop classic by The Stone Roses, sticking very close to the original, using female vocals and some synths.

The Coral - Thousand years

Everybody forgot about The Coral after "Dreaming of you", but they're still making albums. The new single sounds so retro, you probably wouldn't distinguish this from tracks that are actually from the sixties.

The Like - Wishing he was dead

Here we are again, another modern girl group. Will this one do better than The Pipettes? They get slightly more credibility for at least playing some instruments themselves.

The Beach Boys - Help me, Rhonda

Never heard this track until a couple of weeks back. Good stuff.

Closing off with the truest cartoon that was ever drawn.