Download: Wolf Parade “Ghost Pressure”

(off Expo 86 out June 29th on Sub Pop)

 Download: The Soft Pack – “Answer to Yourself”

(from the self-titled LP The Soft Pack on Kemado Records)

How did the Soft Pack bottle the infamously raucous precision of their live performances so perfectly?  The Soft Pack’s guitars are bright and up front, as if directly plugged into the mixing board, and Dave’s drum beats ring as clear as someone’s head knocking against the Liberty Bell.   There have been so many fake psychedelic bands, lazy noise rock and boring CSNY wanna-be records lately—thank god The Soft Pack stares you down and gets you off your ass.

The appeal of songs such as “C’mon” and “Answer To Yourself” is that they are not sung by cloying children, not emo and sad and sensitive. Fuck that baby shit.  Don’t get me wrong, the lyrics are articulate in their detachment with what’s going on around them.  Every word evokes an image of the grimace and arched eyebrow that would accompany them if said to your face.  But what makes these songs different from most of the other rock albums recorded by four dudes is that they concern themselves with rocking the shit out of right now!

There are obvious reference points for their unadorned sound, such as The Feelies on songs like “More Or Less” and “The Tides of Time,” or The Modern Lovers on “Flammable” and “Parasites.”  The song “Mexico” almost recalls Elvis Presley, or the softer side of Lou Reed. Yet rather than getting bogged down with what came before, The Soft Pack is honest and straightforward, which is incredibly refreshing.   This album makes the most out of the present.  The future and the past are abstract and irrelevant.  These dudes are having fun.
  
-Eyad Karkoutly

Stream: Melt-Banana – “Dog Song”

(from the album Melt-Banana Lite LIVE ver. 0.0 on A-Zap Records)

Melt-Banana is a really loud band from Tokyo, known almost as much for its distorted guitar as for its Animaniac, video-game-effects-at-hyperspeed tethered to equally rapido drum beats.  And singer Yako’s screaming cadences are so loud and often distorted that it doesn’t matter what language she sings in; it still sounds awesome. Don’t be mistaken by the band’s “Lite” side project, which is Melt-Banana substituting Agata’s guitar for synth programs and samplers and the revolving door drummers replaced by beats. Everything else is pure Banana. The end result is the kind of music teenage Terminators would mosh to. There’s one song, “Cat and the Blood,” that uses ambient spacey samples zig-zagged by shrieks that sound like weapons over Yako’s kitty Armageddon chorus “Ca’s singing like Meow, more blood, no trap, while dogs sleep tight.” The lyrics are in English, and they even provide the lyrics, and they’re actually pretty good for a second language. “Dog Song,” Yako’s ode to the faithful canine, is my personal favorite: “He likes some bones, He likes to bite hard, He Likes some toys, He likes to run fast, I hear some dog barks…”  And then she lets out the most awesome electronic distorted barking freakout in the history of recorded music (maybe they could sell it as a ringtone?).  This music makes me feel so hyper. If I was back in Echo Park, I would take this CD to the tunnel adjacent to the Echoplex, and I would get really high and play this CD on a boom box full blast, so the echoes would ricochet in every direction. If any of you try it, and I highly recommend you do, let me know how it sounds.

-Scott Schultz

Download: Cobalt Cranes – “Freak Out”

(from the EP In Media Rez on Anticc Records)

Of the emergent local bands that dare tread music’s slippery, precipitous slopes, Cobalt Cranes are one of the few fit to be Sherpas for the rock and roll world. The front cover of their new EP In Media Rez features artwork of a car epically emitting psychedelic exhaust—and this trip starts mid-ride, not with a rag-tag group of beginners but with a mature band that has developed its talents with years of playing to L.A.’s bottom rung. Once the songs start playing, so does the journey.

This EP’s song styles and track order feel classical in form, ala Homer and Virgil, but trade bombast for the correct balance of grit and sheen.  Track one, “Freak Out,” starts us off well, living up to its name, the perfect manifestation of this pandemic band.  “Take You” begins with a tinge of ambient noise before launching into a minor key adventure with bright, polished harmonies.  “Messy” is a two minute bundle of fun full of distortion and Chuck Berry blues riffs, a full-scale war on the senses.  And finally, “Picture in the Snow” is both the descent into Hell and the deus ex machina that resolves this tale.  With Donovan (Drums) and Kate (Bass) supplying solid, pulsating grooves for Tim and Mateo to splatter colors of guitar tone over, Cobalt Cranes earn themselves a place in the garage pantheon.  Listen. Love.

-Steven Carrera

shop: michael nhat

Download: Michael Nhat -”Everyone Knows Werewolves Kill”

(from Michael Nhat’s self-titled album, out now on How to Be a Microwave)

I read somewhere that he wants to show people “what the music of a post-Vietnam War orphan would be like.”  But Michael Nhat’s debut LP sounds more Angelino than Vietnamese, with humorous non-sequiturs, pent-up hostilities, portraits of hipster chicks, and admonitions about werewolves rapped and sung over tracks that sound like they were sampled right out of the air in Filipinotown or the less gentrified parts of Echo Park. Featuring catchy lo-fi looping keyboards, Nhat’s minimal beats propel his brutal, barking cadence towards something that is alternately poppy (“Everybody Knows Werewolves Kill”) and disconcerting (“Death by Bells”). Yet his charm has much to do with his unparalleled charisma in a live setting. A musical movement unto himself, he’s got this “I don’t give a fuck” attitude that is only foiled by the obvious care and commitment that he puts into his performances. It seems a bit empty, honestly, to hear his detached voice on a slab of vinyl, because part of the fun is watching him emote while getting bounced around by drunk girls in their early twenties who are worshiping at the alter of Nhat and having the time of their lives. Fuck it, though – this record is a good training manual for the show. The songs sound just like they do live, so memorize them and muscle your way into the front row sing-a-long next time this dude plays your living room. You’ll have a lot of fun if you do.

-Geoff Geis

Download: Múm – “Sing Along”

(from Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know, out now on Morr Music)

Múm have always maintained a joyous, childlike quality despite the sophistication of their music, which taps into that sense of wonder that characterizes the greatest of Walt Disney’s creations.  It’s glitchtronica for the miniatures inside a snow globe to groove along with!  On Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know, the Icelandic troupe continues to craft songs that capture the wide-eyed hopefulness of youth while displaying an impressive proficiency for intricate rhythms and grandiose arrangements.  The album exists in a perpetual winter, evoking the awe of beholding snow-capped mountains for the first time.  Swelling strings, delicately picked classical guitars, and jovial glockenspiel loops lie atop a foundation of shuffling beats produced both acoustically and electronically.  Their multi-tracked harmonies could be easily mistaken for door-to-door carolers fiending for a fix of figgy pudding.  The melodies somehow sound both wistful and cinematic, intimate moments blown up to epic proportions by Múm’s penchant for rousing musical backdrops, sometimes (as with the song “Show Me”) pairing dense walls of vocal harmonies with skittering drums to create a majestic splendor.  And the title track sounds like the theme to The Nutcracker on steroids, augmented by fuzzed-out guitars, relentless drum-machine blips, and blissful staccatos.  At first listen, you may not know the songs on Sing Along, but you’ll recognize the familiar feeling of curling up next to the fireplace hoping that Santa doesn’t suffer first-degree burns.

-Amorn Bholsangngam

Download: Thao with the Get Down Stay Down – “Know Better Learn Faster”

(from Know Better Learn Faster, out now on Kill Rock Stars)

Thao Nguyen is the hetero indie dudes’ dream girl: an adorable multi-instrumentalist who wears her heart on her sleeve yet is secretly really sad (but not too sad to dance). What makes Nguyen an even better catch is that she flies past the whole Jenny-Lewis-bunny-like-adorableness and straight into Ani DiFranco-intensity, with darker-than-Feist throaty vocals. Her first album was mostly acoustic (the songs written while strumming behind the desk at mom’s Laundromat), but after incorporating a backing band called the Get Down Stay Down, Nguyen expanded her perfectly crafted plucked melodies into 2008’s folk-inspired We Brave Bee Stings and All.  But this new album with the Get Down Stay Down is Nguyen’s most mature yet. Know Better Learn Faster is eleven songs and one a cappella intro that attempt to reconcile Nguyen’s new emotions about sex and love with experiments in new musical styles. The first song, “Cool Yourself,” features Nguyen’s signature husky vocals, this time over fuzz-free Fender-plucking backed by shoo-bee-doo-wop piano banging straight out of an early sixties girl group tune.  “Know Better Learn Faster” evokes old Bright Eyes for the first three minutes, and then everything stops—except for a theremin that was probably playing in the background the whole time—and the last minute plays out like a pentatonic Southeast Asian traditional dance accompaniment. Although a few songs drift back into the acoustic minimalism of Nguyen’s roots, the majority of Know Better Learn Faster is rich with darkly upbeat layers and identity-seeking sound experiments. And in the end, listeners will end up like Nguyen—smiling through the sadness.

-Sarah Bennett

Download: Brilliant Colors – “English Cities”

(from Introducing Brilliant Colors out now on Slumberland Records)

Don’t be discouraged by the lackluster cover art, a watery-looking band photo topped with the album title in scribbly font–San Francisco’s Brilliant Colors triumphantly deliver ten noise-pop nuggets on their debut album Introducing Brilliant Colors.  Taking cues from C86-era British outfits like The Shop Assistants and The Flatmates, singer/guitarist Jess Scott layers pretty (but not afraid to be fierce) female vocals under plenty of reverb and fuzzy guitar. Diane Anastasio (drums) and Michelle Hill (bass) anchor Scott’s buried vocals and blissed-out guitar wash with their combination of tight, rhythmic beats and hooky bass lines. My favorite track on the album, “English Cities,” blends edgy and angular guitar pop in equal proportions,  suitable for both disaffected former riot grrrls and postpunk DJs alike. Other standout tracks include “Short Sleeves at Night” (my vote for indie pop song title of the year) and “Over There,” the latter reminding me that you should never need more than two or three chords to write a great song.

Comparisons to fellow contemporary C86-inspired ladies the Vivian Girls will undoubtedly crop up for Brilliant Colors. While both bands employ similar sound textures and production styles (think Creation Records circa 1991), Brilliant Colors’ songwriting prowess stands out amongst the other Girls. Beneath all the echo and fuzz you still need a well-crafted melody to keep the listener engaged, and Brilliant Colors get this.  Introducing Brilliant Colors is an impressive full-length debut.

-Natalie Hill

  Download: 60 Watt Kid – “2012″

(from We Come From the Bright Side out now on Absolutely Kosher Records, et al.)
 
A couple months back, Derek from 60 Watt Kid gave me the demo version of their upcoming album, with hand-written instructions that more or less implied “Don’t share this pre-mix, or we’ll slit your face!”  After hearing the album months later, I can understand his desire for violent secrecy.  This final mix is so good.  If you’ve never heard 60 Watt Kid, We Come From the Bright Side will make you immediately fall in love with them.  If you have heard them, We Come From the Bright Side will let you enjoy 60 Watt Kid on a new level, allowing bright sonic tendrils to clutch your inner eardrums tightly, like a slumbering bear clinging to a sappy pine cone.  There’s a dynamic tension between singer Kevin’s spastic vocals (jumping from Chris Stamey to Nick Cave to Black Francis) and Derek’s pretty guitar licks: Kevin’s aggressive front-man-ism keeps the tunes from ever becoming too precious, and the solemn wonder of the melodies is too anthemic, wondrous, and spatial for Kevin’s belted lyrics to seem goofy, even at his most blunt.  In fact, Kevin gets away with didacticism that some bands would be hard-pressed to attempt, but here lyrics about taking “the pain out of your chest” work in wondrous ways, like Bowie ’s “Rock and Roll Suicide,” but with less orchestration and more hand-spun layered beauty.  There are very few bands as compelling as 60 Watt Kid, and there are very few albums that have come out this year that can compare to the aggressive beauty of We Come From the Bright Side.  Put on headphones, play this album, and remember what it was like to hear something old and familiar from your past for the very first time.

-Dan Collins

Get some MP3′s scro and read their interview here!!?!! Double scro!!!!

Bodies of Water “Glod, Tan, Peach and Grey” | download

Bodies of Water “Water Here” | download