Adding to the delight is the fact that the majority of CDs that appeared are ones I’d either requested or was happy to hear.
1.CLOUD CULT – The Meaning of 8 (Earthology Records)
I read about this band while I was in Minneapolis (local boys continuing to make good) and bought a few of their tracks online and through Sam Goody’s in-store download service (recounted in a previous blog entry). When I saw their name in a PR firm’s roster, down below the publicist’s name, I shot off an email asking for a copy of the CD. The woman never answered my email, so I figured it was a lost cause, but now here comes the CD, and it’s got all the ambitious, sometimes orchestral indie-licious weirdness I liked about the samplings heard so far. The press materials compare Cloud Cult to “chamber folk-pop” like Of Montreal (I can hear that) and the Decemberists (that I don’t), but I prefer to put them on a spectrum that runs from Spoon to the Flaming Lips, between whom they were scheduled at the recent Monolith Festival. Shame about the album cover, though – 4 panel fold-out that looks like a goth kid’s high school art homework.
Aw, pooh! I just checked the band’s web site and see that the October dates in D.C. and during the CMJ fest in NYC have been cancelled.
But here’s another request…
2. MARAH – Sooner or Later in Spain (Yep Roc)
When you’ve got Stephen King and Nick Hornby singing your praises - and obvious influence Bruce Springsteen singing on your albums - you don’t need this little blog piling on, but I’ll admit to
liking this Philly-based quintet, too. Songwriting brothers Dave and Serge Bielanko share a Kinks-ian brotherly spirit, without the obvious frisson, coming close to their stated goal of wanting to their band to sound like “Bob Dylan leading AC/DC” or “Nick Drake fronting the Dead Milkmen.” This double disc package includes a full show, shot in Spain, and a CD of seven live tracks from various other performances, a great way to rev up for the band’s return to Jammin Java on Friday, October 12th.
BTW, that’s going to be a great weekend at the venue. Art rock diva ISSA (a.k.a. Jane Siberry) is splitting the night on Saturday with an early show, followed by unpretentious pop/rockers Ingram Hill.
3. INGRAM HILL – Cold in California (Hollywood Records)
Sent in promotion of that same October 13th show at Jammin Java.
Sunday night is classic power pop from Marshall Crenshaw. (And then it all goes to hell on Monday in “An Evening with Frank Stallone.”)
And then I opened:
4. DEBORAH HARRY – Necessary Evil (Five Seven Music)
This is the official release version of a CD I got in generic advance form awhile back. At the time, it left little impression, but we’re talking about Debbie G-Damn Harry here, an icon of the Best Old Days, so I’ll be glad to give it another spin.
(Oddly, the accompanying press release ends on a dull note. “I had a really great time work[ing] with Super Buddha and all the musicians on the albums,” she concludes. “I hope people are entertained by my new release.” Snores-ville in Quoteland.)
The three remaining CDs were not from bands I knew, but the first two I listened to left fine first impressions:
5. The A-SIDES – Silver Storms (Vagrant)
Another Philly-based quintet, though of more recent vintage than Marah, this band’s pop chops can make a 6-minute song feel half as long, as intriguing twists and turns and bright hooks keep things moving merrily along. There’s little nuggets of psychedelia, ambitious strings, big guitars, and a sense that more goodies will be revealed in subsequent listens. Always fun to make a new discovery, and they’re coming to the Black Cat Backstage on October 30th with The Velvet Teen and Say Hi (To Your Mom).
6. BLACK TIE – Goodbye, Farewell (Socyermom Records)
Hey, what’s that record label? SoccerMom or SockYourMom? Given the melodic, ambient quality of the tunes here, I doubt there’s an implied threat to the suburban sisterhood here. The PR team offers an RIYD: Mogwai, Galaxie 500, Tortoise, but since I’m not well-versed in those bands, I’ll just say I like it for its own sake.
7. MOROS EROS – Jealous Me Was Killed By Curiosity (Victory)
This is the one I haven’t had a chance to explore yet, but the bio promises “dark, raw guitar rock perfumed with extraordinary pop melody.” We shall see…
And I add one more acquisition today, a ditgital delivery sent (by request) as a YouSendIt download since the publicist was out of hard copies:
8. CHIN UP CHIN UP – This Harness Can’t Ride Anything (Suicide Squeeze)
Fun stuff – bouncy, bright, quirky and complex
So, all in all, a good day’s haul.
And while we’re rolling, let me take care of some of the growing pile of CDs that have fallen through the cracks:
9. AIRIEL – The Battle of Sealand (Highwheel Record)
Out August 14th
Airiel released a series of 4-song EP’s, the latest in June of 2005, and this is their first full-length. They deal in flangers, reverb and distortion and are drawing comparisons to the shoegazing likes of Ride, House of Love, and My Bloody Valentine. Here’s a download of "Thinktank"
10. The FUTURE KINGS of NOWHERE – (307 Knox Records)
11. PAGE FRANCE and the FAMILY TELEPHONE – Suicide Squeeze)
12. PORTUGAL the MAN – Church Mouth (Fearless Records)
13. FRANK BLACK – 93-03 (Cooking Vinyl)
Disc one is a chronological anthology of work from his nine solo albums in those years. Disc two consists of live tracks from last fall’s North American tour. I got only one disc.
14.GUY FORSYTH – Unrepentant Schizophrenic Americans (Small and Nimble Records)
Love the actual discs – one looks like an Indian head and the other the back of a buffalo nickel.
15. STUPOHERO – Last Star Shining (Basement Tape Records)
16.The DERAILERS –Under the Inlfuence of Buck (Palo Duro Records)
YTD O/CD Total: 724
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