Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
Artist: Fucked Up
Album: The Chemistry of Common Life
Label: Matador
A prodigious string of released EPs—some released online; others, if pressed, only in quantities in the hundreds—scribbled and confusing album art and liner notes, violent live shows, multiple pseudonyms for bandmembers, debatable misrepresentation to the press, and a name considered by some to be unpublishable: for these reasons, among others, Fucked Up has been a band thoroughly (and intentionally) unfit for the traditional marketing of mainstream record labels.
Is it surprising, then, that the band is now reaching to a larger audience after seven years of marketing transgression? That Matador has chosen to re-release old material and put out this full-length album? In light of their superficial history, yes. A listen to the music, however, marks otherwise. Fucked Up do for hardcore what The Pixies did for rock, mixing pop hooks with gristle and grit. They make a debased nature somehow noble and fun, perfect for parties that slip into that I’ve-had-one-too-many-and-everyone’s-leaving moment.
Fucked Up – Twice Born
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This, like many of their songs, can be surprisingly catchy and disturbing. It is their knack for turning great melodies into something upsetting that makes Fucked Up a great band.
Fucked Up – No Epiphany
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A hardcore band doing shoegaze? Pretty good, I’d have to say. The atmospheric background vocals, buzzing background, and cascading guitars lend to, rather than distract from, the screamed lead vocals.
Anyway, check out the band’s blog, their wikipedia entry, and the Matador site. And as always, buy the album!
Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Artist: Atlas Sound
Album: Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel
Label: Kranky
Sometimes as I am drifting into a nap, I have this sudden and intense falling feeling. I usually start out of it—how scary to suddenly sink through something stable—but I imagine that if I relaxed and let it continue, it would feel like this album. Dusted Reviews sums it up well: “Atlas Sound is concerned only with the drift, the feeling of release and the gradual glide of passing time and shifting place.” So with equal uneasiness and pleasure I listen to this album. It is a siren’s call: soft and seductive with some remarkable pop hooks, and then suddenly you are caught in a rip tide and pulled adrift. It is good, and the intensity of the tone prevents boredom for those not used to listening to ambient sounds (such as myself). It may be a bit overwrought—I remember my friends laughing at me when my favorite Xiu Xiu song played on a road trip, and I feel the same would happen to Atlas Sound—but this album is perfect when I’m feeling down.
Atlas Sound – “River Card”
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This song has so many great moments of flux: the simple pop drums suddenly sliding under the twinkling vocal section; the sad chorus slipping in with the ooooh-ing echo; the lyrics alternating between sweet and sinister. This song is intoxicating, or rather drugging, and now on high-rotation for me this weekend.
Atlas Sounds – “Bite Marks”
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The lyrics on this track reflect the atmosphere on the rest of the album: erotic and unsettling. It also has a great bass line, which makes it instantly appealing to my ears.
This album has been out for a little while, so there are several really good reviews available (here, here) if you’d like to learn more. Also check out the band’s myspace and blog. And buy the album.
Technorati Tags: Atlas Sound, Xiu Xiu, Ambient, Bradford Cox, Dusted Magazine
Filed under dark | Comment (0)Black Devil Disco Club - Eight Oh Eight
Artist: Black Devil Disco Club
Album: Eight Of Eight
Label: Lo Recordings
Yet another addition to the recent slew of space disco releases! For many years Disco Club was an influential but obscure duo from the late 70s; it wasn’t until samples from their rare 1978 album found their way into prominent electronic songs in the last ten years that more was known about its members, Bernard Fevre and Jacky Giordano. As a result of this renewed interest, the band has reformed and released new material. I find this growing interest in older European electronic pop pretty interesting, and I wonder what is behind it. I’ve been referring to this phenomenon as retro-novelty, but popmatters has more effectively labeled it retro-futurism. Not just a fond look back at older, forgotten pop gems but a real attempt to invoke the future we feel we should be living. Atmospheric and at times very catchy, this album gives you music you can’t quite dance to but can’t quite not dance to. It has that mindless disco beat but is too sonically engaging to be ignored.
Black Devil Disco Club - With Honey Cream
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Bouncy synth melodies and a falsetto voice prance upon an extremely simple drum beat that just doesn’t sound right. I think that dynamic explains this album pretty well: something lovely and futuristic built upon an uncomfortable foundation.
Black Devil Disco Club – Never No Dollars
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Again, a disco song that I cannot see being played at a disco. I mean, what do you do in the club when a sudden discordant synth interlude hits?
If this music grabs you, definitely check out the band’s myspace and buy the album.
Filed under dark, electronic, new album, retro-novelty | Comment (0)Crystal Stilts - Crystal Stilts EP
Artist: Crystal Stilts
Album: Crystal Stilts EP
Label: Woodsist
There was a time in high school when I loved this band called Black Tambourine. They sounded rough and fuzzy but had that Brill Building-pop sound that made each song extremely catchy. Well, I slowly forgot that band and considered my brief love with that sound something of the past. I’ve been haunted recently, however, with that same roughness and warmth, which has been popping up in several bands. Both the Crystal Stilts, discussed in this post, and Vivian Girls, which I hope to post about this fall, have awakened this sound, and I am once again in love.
Crystal Stilts – “Converging in the Quiet”
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This song is an instant hit with me for several reasons: a good bass line, the Wall-of-Sound percussion, and reverbed vocals. This whole EP sounds like Phil Spector producing Joy Division, and I can’t wait to hear more.
I’m only including one song because this is an EP, but this is not the only good song. For more info, check out the band’s myspace (they’ve posted several songs from the album), read the raving review from pitchfork (if you can stomach the writing), and buy the album.
Filed under Wall of Sound, dark, new album | Comment (0)