Tapes n' Tapes - Outside (2011)

Tapes ‘n Tapes are a Minneapolis based band that’s been around for over half a decade. Outside is their third LP and since late 2010 they released the single Freak Out as an example of what the album would be. The song was really amazing and I was looking forward to what the Album would have, sadly I made very high expectations thinking that the complete LP would have the quality (if not more) of the single but in reality I didn’t entirely understood the concept of the record.

The instrumentation in outside is very inconsistent and it seems like they thought of each song separately with no awareness of the complete picture they wanted to portray, therefore, listening to the entire 12 songs was not an easy thing to do, I had to take brakes, it was like running a marathon...there were good songs, but they were just not working well together as they did separately. For starters the mood in some songs is very dark or reflexive at times and then comes to a cheesy and happy mood almost like a parade or a circus.

I feel a lot of influence of Brit-Pop that sound like The Fratellis or Franz Ferdinand, and then they jump to some other influence and sound completely different, more druggy old fashioned and tormented, and none of this things are bad on its own, but they simply didn’t nailed it; this inconsistency killed the album for me as a big picture, there was not one song I hated, and I had to listen to it again and again to see if it was a thing that I wasn’t really understanding and I got to the conclusion that there were great songs but only when considered separately, I would have proffered a 6 song EP than a 12 song LP because it just didn’t fit.

Again there was no song I truly hated, but as a record is just not good enough…maybe if every song were made by a different band I’d love every song but listening to the band trying to achieve diversity didn’t work for me, sounded very forced and unnatural.. I’d say that the attempt is even very average and missed some layering and complexity.

Tracklist:

1. Badaboom
2. SWM
3. One in the World
4. Nightfall
5. Desert Plane
6. Outro
7. Freak Out
8. The Saddest of All Keys
9. Hidee Ho
10. People You Know
11. On and On
12. Mighty Long

Rate: 5/10

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Fergus & Geronimo - Unlearn (2011)

Unlearn of Fergus & Geronimo captures the magic of vintage sounds of classic rock and a lot of consciousness of being in the vanguard. You can easily distinguish new and old influences. For starters, they come from Texas (and I'm not saying that if it comes from Texas is good...but if it comes from Texas is good) where the scene if very indie oriented and there are a lot of different streams running around allowing wonderful creative force.

They mix fun in a kind of Of Montreal way of making lyrics in songs like Wanna Know What I Would Do? and also mix very classic rock vintage melodies with straight up love songs like Powerful Lovin', followed right back with the psychedelic mood changing Baby Boomer/Could You Deliver, and then the 70's 90's vibe of with a dash of british post punk BMichael Kelly, followed by the kind of Rolling Stone sound of Baby Don't You Cry and so each and every song keep bringing new colour, almost each song could easy be related to one different influence and sound, but overall the LP doesn't lose it's cohesive discourse, only talent can make each and every song different and still sound like every song was meant to be.

Despite the previous garage sound they had in their 2009 singles, this time around they deliver a much more clean and produced sound, still with the feeling of being made in a garage but without the Lo-Fi sound of that sort of production.

The single Where The Walls Are Made of Grass is probably the most experimental with sort of ethnicaa Peruvian folk on the down with a very rock on the top and a drunk trumpet appearing every once in a while an acoustic guitar makes little interventions every now and then. From that moment on there's another rock, another ballad another new, another old, everything sounding in its right place and in the precise moment. I'd say this LP is not only one of the fun ones of the year, but also one of the best making seriously good music without taking it so serious, it shows that this guys are having fun but producing good thins out of it.

Tracklist:

1. Girls With English Accents
2. Wanna Know What I Would Do?
3. Powerful Lovin'
4. Baby Boomer/Could You Deliver
5. Michael Kelly
6. Baby Don't You Cry
7. Where The Walls Are Made of Grass
8. The World Never Stops
9. Forced Aloha
10. Could You Deliver
11. Unlearn

Rate: 8.6/10

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#FlashBackSunday Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)

What was Happening in 1998?, a lot of good mainstream for sure, remembering the scene, Natalie Imbruglia and Left of the Middle were still around, Lauryn Hill was the best that ever Happened to R&B in a while, Madonna had what is from many considered her best album to this day Ray Of Light, Glam Rock had Marilyn Manson and he had Mechanical Animals, Smashing Pumkings were huge with Adore, Hole had a their best album out and were getting very pop (ish) with Celebrity Skin, Massive Attack had produced a classic album in Trip Hop, Beastie Boys were out with Hello Nasty and their fantastic song Intergalactic (still in every party), Ricky Martin was not Living La Vida Loca and would be discovered by the world in the Grammys...Oh man! It was a great year for mainstream stuff and it was a time when even watching award shows was a treat because everyone was so good, no boy bands around, no child stars since Hanson, 1998 was the year most of the artists mainstream or not were making an album that will change the course of history and will remain classic for ever. In a few years Smashing Pumpkins wouldn't be around, Madonna never would be the same, Ricky Martin will be gay, Manson would become bling bling, but a question remains...who was in the tip of the iceberg?

For the indie scene The Boy With The Arab Strap was fantastic but never like If You're Feeling Sinister, Beck was delivering Mutations and starting his way into scientology, Cat Power had Moon Pix, Air had Moon Safari and Sexy Boy was very sexy and popular, Spoon was doing fine with A Series Of Sneaks, and PJ Harvey did another memorable album asking herself "Is This Desire?", but there was one band that had produced their second and last album, Neutral Milk Hotel with In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and this was a special one from the cover art of REM's design team and Jeff Magnum to the music in it.

The producer of this album was singer/songwriter man of The Apples In Stereo Robert Schneider that teamed up to record the album in Pet Sounds Studios, every name here is now classic and the critically acclaimed album included a variety of multi instrumentalists and was made as one set story, all songs were connected with the next and the effect is magic to the ears, trumpets, drums, guitars, everything in the right place, this album remains a classic and still sales, it became one of the most soled albums of 1998 and it remains selling, maybe because also the band never made anything else.

This album is a classic, and this flashback is not a review, is just a remembrance that there was a great time in music when this LP entered the scene and if you don't know them you should start. The intention of the blog is to present my opinions on music that's coming out, and say my words on if its good or bad, the flashbacks are just a fun way to look behind and remember what was already a 10/10.

Tracklist:

1. The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. One
2. The King of Carrot Flowers Pts. Two & Three
3. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
4. Two-Headed Boy
5. Fool
5. Holland, 1945
6. Communist Daughter
7. Oh Comely
8. Ghost
9. Untitled
10. Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2
Rate: 10/10

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Akron/Family - S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT (2011)

Akron/Family is a well known Post Freak-Folk band that have made experimentations but always very acoustic and easy to listen, that was until they dropped S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT and not only because the music is very experimental, but also because of the freaky story behind the project.

For starters the producer behind the album is Chris Koltay (also producer for Holy Fuck!, Deerhunter and Liars), and also because of the weird circumstances that the album was presented to the record label. The press release suggested that the band submitted the album in a box sent via mail, and the declaration went like this.

Opening it revealed a sincere, but poorly made, diorama of futurist swirling spaces filled with toy astronauts and dinosaurs, four blown-out song fragments on a TDK CDR in a ziplock bag, three pictures, a tracklist written in crayon, and a typewritten note from Akron/Family. A post-it on the bag declared that the band refused to send the full album to anyone but the vinyl pressing plant, for fear of leaking and possible lost revenues.

The Album is full with very raw electronic and distortions with a variety of natures, some songs with very loud drumming. The thing that they don’t loose here are the vocals and the way of creation of the music, they reach a new weird seen in bands like Animal Collective but they keep their sound, it could seem that has no relation to the previous albums, with songs like Set 'em wild set 'em free with sweet vocals and sweet acoustic guitars, but as strange as can seem, this is still very Akron/Family hard to process but very cleaned up with the production.

This album reaches levels of absolute brilliant and shows a truly evolved and futuristic sight never seen previously in this guys, it stays true to sounds found in very original bands like The Books or Animal Collective.

Tracklist:

1. Silly Bears
2. Island
3. A AAA O A WAY
4. So It Goes
5. Another Sky
6. Light Emerges
7. Cast a Net
8. Tatsuya Neon Purple Walkby
9. Fuji I (Global Dub)
10. Say What You Want To
11. Fuji II (Single Pane)
12. Canopy
13. Creator

Rate: 7.5/10

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Sonic Youth - Simon Werner a Disparu OST (2011)

The guys from Sonic Youth need no introduction, they are a band well know in the indie and mainstream scene doing what they do best...experimenting, they switch from one genre to the other always leaving a mark of their signature style everywhere, they are so unique that even when the members do individual stuff, the mystique and power of the band rises above and creates a personality of its own.

Sonic Youth might be known for a lot of guitar jaming and reverbed introductions to songs that build around the presence of Thrustone Moore, but for the Simon Werner a Disparu the instrumentation it’s all we got, and let me tell you its fantastic! The music has mystery and life, lonesome, despair, angst. Everything with the Sonic Youth trademark, very psychedelic and experimental, reaching high levels of noise and then echoic mysteries, but also use very dry drums and fun classic rock vibes, like in the track Dans les bois \ M. Rabier, the music in here has it all except voice, but remember after all it is a soundtrack, and a very good one. When people listen to scores like Tron with mega bands like Daft Punk you cant help but wonder what would people think of the work made by the duet in the score when compared to their previews work, and the thing is that one listens to Tron's score and there are very few moments you feel Daft Punk's presence, but in Simon Werner a Disparu this is not the case, there is a very traditional Sonic Youth sound made for the purpose of looking good in the screen and in for the image.

I say job well done, and they stayed true with who they always have been taking the opportunity to d0 something different with their signature style, not compromising their vision with the vision of the director.

Tracklist:

1. Thème de Jérémie
2. Alice et Simon
3. Les Anges au piano
4. Chez Yves (Alice et Clara)
5. Jean-Baptiste à la fenêtre
6. Thème de Laetitia
7. Escapades
8. La Cabane au Zodiac
9. Dans les bois \ M. Rabier
10. Jean-Baptiste et Laetitia
11. Thème de Simon
12. Au Café
13. Thème d'Alice

Rate: 7.6/10

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Cake - Showroom of Compassion (2011)

In this album Cake demonstrate what they are all about...and that's being Cake, they are this kind of bands that when you listen to them you know who it is, and if you like one song you'll like all of them and this is not a mere repetition of hits or a boring way of not taking risks and do the same stuff; this band has made a name of their own just having personality.

When the album starts you just jump to the nostalgia of the other albums and listen to the same old Cake all over again, but this could go either way as something good or something bad. Ok, we know we love them, and we know we won't hate them ever, but did they gave all they have to give? This LP doesn't play with the expectations of the fans, does exactly what a Cake album should be about, sharp sarcastic lyrics, absurd and fun instrumentation, straight forward and in your face fun pop music, cheesy romantic tunes, trumpets, and all the good old fashioned stuff that made Cake who they are.

On the downside, the fact of the sound being familiar is making me question the capacity of the band to evolve, is it just that the Cake formula already gave everything that had to give? We've seen bands like Beastie Boys trying to make an effort of updating themselves without trying to be someone they are not, they've made instrumental albums, experimented with new beats, and its not because the hip hop or funk could be easy to experiment, in pop and rock it would be more accessible the capacity of incorporating new stuff without betraying the music you originally make. I see a lot of great Cake songs, and because I loved them I still do, but that's all I can say...nothing new...more of the same old Cake...and if you loved them before, you'll love them this time around, good old perfect circle.

Tracklist:

1. Federal Funding
2. Long Time
3. Got To Move
4. What's Now is Now
5. Mustache Man (Wasted)
6. Teenage Pregnancy
7. Sick of You
8. Easy To Crash
9. Bound Away
10. The Winter
11. Italian Guy

Rate: 7/10

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The Decemberist - The King Is Dead (2011)

If you want to see what a cohesive discography is about you should be looking for all the 6 albums of The Decemberist, and a good way to start 2011 is this LP "The King Is Dead". It’s been a while since The Decemberist made a record of individual takes on each song, since 2006 they made two highly successful albums reminding the entire concept albums that Neutral Milk Hotel made on the mid 90's. These albums were "The Crane Wife" of 2006 and "The Hazards of Love" of 2009 (one reaching more spectacular music than the other). This time around they go back to their early sound, more simple and with a direct approach that some might miss from their first LP "Castaways And Cut-outs" from 2002 and for whom are not familiar with their early stuff this will be a not so different album from the past but just with the advantage that you can pick one song for a playlist and stop the fear that it will begin or end in the middle of a big picture.

The Decemberist are used to delivering beautiful songs with complex instrumentation, just like all the super multi instrumental indie bands, but this time the sound is much more discreet but yet the same, what changed for this LP is the complexity of the songs because they tend to be more direct and with no great instrumentals interluding or dramatic changes. A change some might hate it when listening to the record.

This LP is less epic than the rest and I believe that the intention is for it to be more accessible to a general audience, the mood in this LP is much more positive, upbeat and happy than the previous, I wouldn't say the best of The Decemberist, but definitely a good way to start the year that, the test will be if it was good enough to stick not only in their previous fans and generate a new fan base. Still with the less spectacular album, The Decemberist manage to make a few remarkable songs in this LP that don't forgive the less spectacular twist but demonstrate that this is a band that can still be great and there's no reason to stop watching them.

Still there are good songs worth the listen, with quality for any Decemberist record, these are January Hymn, June Hymn, This is Why We Fight and Dear Avery.

Tracklist:

1. Don't Carry It All
2. Calamity Song
3. Rise To Me
4. Rox In The Box
5. January Hymn
6. Down By The Water
7. All Arise!
8. June Hymn
9. This Is Why We Fight
10. Dear Avery

Rate: 6/10

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