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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Coming Soon to a CD store near you . . .
Tuesday 27 January @ 19:30:26 |
 by Celeste Tabora
The Coral
Magic And Medicine
[Columbia]
A band since 1996, The Coral draw frequent comparisons to Love or Happy Mondays—basically because all three groups sound like world music-influenced psychedelic mod take on The Doors. Happily, this band (named England's best new group in 2001) managed to produce a cohesive album out of all their disparate influences.
The Coral
Magic And Medicine
[Columbia]
Magic And Medicine is pleasant to the ear and manages to incorporate/emulate many of the best elements from rock ’n’ roll's past. Synthesizing American indie and folk rock to form their own brand of neo-psychedelic music.
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The Autumn Defense
Circles
[Arena Rock Recording Co.]
The Autumn Defense is a light-pop sideproject fronted by Wilco bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist wiz Pat Sansone (who’s logged time in the studio and on the road as an accomplished sideman with the likes of Joseph Arthur and Josh Rouse). Their latest disc, Circles, is quite possibly the prettiest and most sincere album of the year. Each softly uttered word (sung over warm melodies reminiscent of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds) feels like romanticized truth. A truly emotionally compelling album.
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Weird War
If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em
[Drag City]
Having lost the legal battle for the name Scene Creamers to a French graffiti group, the indie-music world now has the newly named Weird War to look forward to. Supposedly a one-off collaboration between Royal Trux's Neil Michael Hagerty & Ian Svenonius (formerly of Make-Up) and Michelle Mae (who was also in Make-Up with Svenonius). I don't know, but after awhile the dirty boogies sounds of If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Bite ‘Em begin to feel numbingly repetitive.
So I ask myself one simple question: Can I get down to it? And then I answer: Yes. Yes, I can! And sometimes that's all the listening motivation I need.
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Notwist
Different Cars and Trains EP
[Domino]
Following up 2002’s exceedingly well-received icy laptop-pop album, Neon Golden, Germany’s Notwist return with an EP of remixes and one new track (not exactly a bona fide follow-up). Moreover, you’re probably thinking—”How could Neon Golden’s amazing songs get any better? I bet the remixes aren’t as good." On the contrary, like so many remixes, the revised song takes on the Different Cars and Trains EP aren’t "better" or "worse"—simply different.
Let's face it here people, if you're into intelligent pop music, this is going to be one of the better discs you could pick up whether or not your a fan of remix albums. So let's skip the discussion over originals vs covers vs remixes, get over your remixophobia and get this album. We can all save time, and you can always thank me later.
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Lambchop
Awcmon & Noyoucmon
[Merge]
Release date: February 17
I'm never going to own all of Lambchop's, releases. This is something I’ve come to accept. Keeping pace with this prolific Nashville band’s output (some eight odd full-lengths, numerous EPs and scattered tour-only B-sides collections in their dozen years of existence) would be damn near impossible. I just feel lucky to have ever enjoyed one of their records. Things aren’t getting any easier, as Kurt Wagner’s wacky collective is now releasing two albums simultaneously. Kurt Wagner, singer, songwriter, gutiarist and head Lambchopper, challenged himself by attempting to write one complete song a day from Summer 2002 to Winter 2003. This daunting task allowed him to grow as a songwriter and more importantly pick the crème de la crème of those songs written in that year and a half.
The result is unclassifiable: the tunes’ foundations lie in pop-rock, but sometimes lean towards folk or country, sometimes toward soft-rock—you can hear an R&B/soul influence in the vocal arrangement or maybe even the ghost of a John Hughes movie theme song. Wagner appears to have tired of being a square peg in the indie music world and wanted to make sure there was something for everyone on at least one of these two discs—he succeeded.
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Snmnmnm
Power Pack Horse Crunch
[International Cork, Inc.]
The listener gets the impression that this band was just so excited to put something out they didn't care how poorly and directionless their songs were. (Note: The production quality isn’t bad.) At first you think, "Hey, it's not as bad as the band name or artwork led me to believe!" But as each song progresses as far into doofusdum as humanly possible those initial positive thoughts fade—giving way to possible depression and a steady diet of whatever prescription medication they're dishing out now. It's like they went to Nerf Herder/Weezer band camp and dropped out within the first two days.
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Probot
Probot
[Southern Lord]
Release date: February 10
This is Dave Grohl's new pocket for time consumption. It's also very much like living inside one of Grohl's wet dreams. Do not expect Foo Fighters nor should you anticipate the coming of a Nirvana-esque band. Probot is nothing short of Dave Grohl's highly anticipated death-metal project. He recorded instrumentals in his home studio and then sent them out to his favorite metal frontmen, giving them full reign to lay atop whatever they saw fit— melodically and lyrically.
We're talking members of Venom, Voivod, Napalm Death, and of course, Lemmy from Motorhead. If you were into metal as a child, chances are you had the same lofty dreams as Grohl did, wanting to someday create music with his heroes. So when it comes to this disc, if you can relate, you'll surely appreciate.
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Mr. Airplane Man
C'Mon DJ
[Sympathy For The Record Industry]
Boston's Mr. Airplane Man isn't particularly groundbreaking but they bring the real deal lo-fi goods on C’Mon DJ sounding like Holly Golightly if she joined forces with The Runaways. Four out of the 13 tracks are covers, one originally done by Howlin' Wolf ("Asked For Water"), and another is a traditional American track called "Travelin'." This is the sort of thing flocks of White Stripes fans would adore if Jack White gave the proper endorsement. If you find yourself fitting that description—this disc is well worth checking out.
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