Justin Vernon. L’homme arrive, se pose, pond dix morceaux magnifique et balance son album, comme ça, comme si de rien était, sorti de nulle part. Bon Iver, cassé en deux par l’abandon de sa copine, se retire aux fonds des bois, avec sa barbe, sa six-cordes et sa canne à pêche, le temps de méditer sur cette rupture. En ressort dix chansons, truffées de ces petites mélodies venimeuses qui te tuent à petit feu, qui s’insèrent si profondément en toi qu’il est difficile d’y résister, difficile de ne pas se laisser bercer, de ne pas céder à la tentation de se morfondre, de s’oublier, complètement, juste pour le plaisir presque coupable que ça pourrait apporter, juste parcque cette tristesse fait finalement du bien. Une voix haut-perchée, parfois démultipliée, portant parfois l’émotion si haut qu’il ne lui reste plus alors qu’à crier pour expier tout ce qu’il à, comme sur l’héroïque “Skinny Love”, mais toujours juste et jamais larmoyante. Neuf chansons d’une mélancolie pure, d’une profonde introspection, menant alors à un dénuement et une sobriété admirable. Mais au-delà de ces qualités, la véritable réussite de cet album est d’être tout simplement arrivé à capter une ambiance, une atmosphère, ce petit quelque chose qui fait que cette musique évoque un endroit bien particulier. Pas étonnant alors que ce soit la fôret que cet ensemble ravive, une forêt touffue, par plein hiver, froide mais d’une lumière pure, protectrice. C’est un voyage dans cette forêt, coupant du monde extérieur, que constitue cette album, un voyage dans la forêt de Justin Vernon, celle dans laquelle il nous racontera ses histoires, ses peines. Un  périple qui se termine sur les sept minutes de “Re: Stacks”, cocon d’une chaleur presque maternelle, de cette émotion diffuse, entre mélancolie, nostalgie et espoir, qui annihile tout espoir de tenter autre chose qu’appuyer sur la touche Repeat, encore et encore, jusqu’à l’infini.

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008, Jagjaguwar)

1. Flume
2. Lump Sum
3. Skinny Love
4. The Wolves (Act I and II)
5. Blindsided
6. Creature Fear
7. Team
8. For Emma
9. Re: Stacks

Bon Iver

Saturday is here in all its glory… gentle breeze, the old dog sleeping at my feet and a handful of quiet hours stretching out before me. And here are a few of the songs that will carry me through. Saturday morning come downs never sounded so sweet…

Sweet Come Down – The Black Ryder

The Black Ryder blend fuzzed out noise, hypnotic rhythms and a sweet country twang to create a sound all of their own. Sweet Come Down showcases the vocal interplay of Aimee Nash and Scott Von Ryper – Nash’s voice floating and ethereal, Ryper’s cracked and earthy. It burns slowly and then it is gone… crawling into a corner of your consciousness and asking to be played again. Don’t expect any hooks from this band… just settle in for the ride.

Soon It Will Be Fire – Richard Youngs

Richard Youngs is one of those incredibly prolific talents, recording more than 50 albums as collaborator or solo artist. And there is no sign of slowing down, his latest release Under Stellar Stream released this week through Jagjaguwar. Youngs hyopnotic folk sits deep in your belly, his at times fragile voice, and deeply meditative playing draw you deeper into the silences so carefully left. This is music to slow time and drift toward vanishing point. Soon It Will Be Fire is from his 1998 release Sapphie.

Minor Careers – Spokane

Spokane create music that reflect the moments in between events. Each song exquisitely crafted, achingly subtle yet strangely brimming with emotion. Rick Alverson’s murmuring voice hovers in the at times barely there instrumentation and loving stretches of ambience. Nothing is rushed. Like a sparsely furnished room, Spokane provide the necessary space for you to enter into their soundscapes. A fine place to inhabit in those increasingly rare, quiet hours.

My natural attraction to hyperbole would inspire me to begin a post about this band with background on the British Invasion of Rock and Roll in the 60s. However, I am going to refrain from any such ‘fluffing up’ and acknowledge this for what it is.


Wolf People are a band from the UK that has a history of working with the sound of prog-laced classic rock.

They have a new album coming out next year on Jagjaguwar Records. February 23rd for the US, 22nd for the UK.

The album is called Tides and will bring us to some more poppy territory. It’s a first listen for me and what I hear is The Animals, The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, The Who–I mean, just picture a supergroup comprised of members from all of those bands and you’ve got something that is kind of similar to what this band sounds like. But that’s just what I’m getting from this one track, “October Fires”. Keep your eyes peeled for this one, guys.

Check out the track below.

MySpace
at Jagjaguwar
The album is not available for pre-order yet but should be soon.

PROS: nothing is overdone | little surprises | satisfying

CONS: far too short

Surprisingly, when Bon Iver’s new EP dropped on January 20th, things were kosher.  For an album so critically acclaimed as his debut LP For Emma, Forever Ago, it seemed as though future works would be doomed to fall short in the eyes of purists. But the release did well from the beginning, entering the Billboard 200 at number sixteen.  Blood Bank, which is comprised of three new tracks plus one track left off For Emma, proves that Bon Iver is no one hit wonder.

The title track to Blood Bank – the track left off For Emma – begins with a chorus of oohs, setting the mood for the EP.  The subdued electric guitars and semi-cryptic lyrics allow Bon Iver to tell a story yet leave you questioning it.  Lyrics like “That secret that you know/ But don’t know how to tell” and “it’s just like the present/ to be showing up like this” cast a certain feeling of regret and sorrow on the track.  But unlike For Emma, the songs on Blood Bank have a more accepting tone to them.  Things may not be ideal, but everything will be alright.  The end of the title track echoes this sentiment with its repeated “I know it well…”

“Beach Baby” shows once again that Vernon is more than willing to allow his instrumental skills to take the back seat in favor of emotional song writing.  With its subtle waltz strumming and clever, melancholic melody, “Beach Baby” is easily the high point of Blood Bank.  Vernon’s voice is smoother in this piece than in any song on For Emma and is nicely matched by a solo slide guitar that takes over once the lyrics have finished.  The tragic flaw to this piece, however, is its brevity.  It is not only the saddest, most heart-felt song on the EP, but at just over two and a half minutes, it is also the shortest.  It is hard to resist putting this track on repeat.

Birth and procreation are certainly important themes in Blood Bank, and no song makes it more obvious than “Babys”.  In stark contrast to the sadness of “Beach Baby”, “Babys” rings out driving piano notes and exclaims that “summer comes/ to multiply/ to multiply!”, and there is no hiding behind the amorous line “my woman and I know what we’re for”.  Though the piece may seem out of place at first – perhaps his happiest sounding tune thus far – it serves as a much needed resolution to the heart ache of Vernon’s other songs.

The final piece, “Woods”, is a departure from the lonely-cabin folk found in most Bon Iver songs.  Layer upon layer of auto-tuned versions of Vernon’s voice are slowly added together to create a beautifully lush chorus of soulful wails.  While auto-tune seems like the very last thing one would ever expect Bon Iver to utilize, the song is masterfully crafted and legitimately sounds like it belongs with the songs of For Emma and Blood Bank.

The songs on Blood Bank certainly live up to those on For Emma, but Blood Bank has one huge flaw: the whole release is far too short.  True, it is an EP – not a full-length.  But when Vernon creates tracks that draw you in as much as those found on Blood Bank, you want to follow him a bit longer.  The EP’s four tracks come to less than seventeen minutes total – that’s shorter than Om’s “Flight Of The Eagle”, Joanna Newsom’s “Only Skin” and just about every song written by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Blood Bank is out now on Jagjaguwar on CD, 12” vinyl and digital download.

(4 out of 5 beards)

Track Listing

01. Blood Bank
02. Beach Baby
03. Babys
04. Woods

ONEIDA
BLACK BOX, BELFAST

Oneida are on their 10th studio album, and it’s a triple, so only a fool would have come to the Black Box expecting anything close to restraint or concision. And, true enough, after a cursory greeting of “We’re Oneida, see ya round,” the Brooklyn band (normally a quartet, but swollen to five tonight) launch into an opening instrumental of patience-trying proportions. The band are well known for their love of monotony and repetition, but only when you experience a track that takes several minutes to meet its first sonic shift do you really understand the extent of that fixation. In the end, the subtle, drummer-led alterations every few minutes drag you along just as you’re starting to become infuriated, but its near-20 minutes of head-down, linear power come across more clever-clever than anything else; a band staring its audience out – literally, in the case of the keyboardist.

In truth, it’s a slightly disappointing evening. The sound doesn’t help, the band’s crisp Krautrock jams getting lost in the echoey room, and because of that it’s hard to be too critical, but even aside from that, there’s a lack of nuance that renders the whole experience exhausting. Nearly every song blasts into view at high speed and keeps on accelerating, and while the drumming especially is a marvel, it starts to feel like aural – and physical – punishment. But then, in a moment of pure serendipity, they introduce ‘Up With People’ – the best track from 2006’s Happy New Year album – and it becomes the perfect closer, its neoprene-tight groove as irresistible live as on record, provoking dancefloor joy among those left at the end. It’s fair reward for sticking with an occasionally trying show.

Not a bad album, but hardly memorable.

Band: Volcano Choir
Label: Jagjaguwar
Release: September 22, 2009

1. “Husks and Shells” – 8.8
2. “Seeply Mouth” – 8.6
3. “Island, IS” – 9.0
4. “Dote” – 8.7
5. “And Gather” – 8.8
6. “Mbira In The Morass” – 8.2
7. “Cool Knowledge” – 7.5
8. “Still” – 8.9
9. “Youlogy” – 8.3

Description: (From Jagjaguwar)
Volcano Choir is an assembly of Wisconsinites Jon Mueller, Chris Rosenau, Jim Schoenecker, Daniel Spack, Justin Vernon, and Thomas Wincek. You might find these old friends also frequenting records and stages under different monikers, Collections of Colonies of Bees and Bon Iver. The collaboration predates the meteoric rise of Justin Vernon’s Bon Iver project, with original songwriting dating back to the summer of 2005, right around the time the Bees first toured with Vernon’s previous band DeYarmond Edison.

While entirely a studio record, the collection doesn’t suffer from the overburdens of a digital pile up or over-thinking. Rather it breathes and convulses in equal measure, radiating an inherent dynamism found only in the voluntary bondage of intimacy. With influences ranging from David Sylvian and Steve Reich to Mahalia Jackson and Tom Waits, it might be more accurate to say the group’s influence is music itself. You can hear it in the care and real love generously applied to each moment of Unmap. With the vibe of some intimate backwoods gospel, plus a spirit of patience and thoughtful repetition, the music of Volcano Choir is as dynamic as it is lovely.

Unmap ultimately came together over a weekend in November 2008 in Fall Creek, Wisconsin, at Justin and Nate Vernon’s recording studio. And while it is at its heart a record about the allure of being with people you need and making something with them, it is also a document created by musicians with rare gifts getting together to exorcise their ideas about beauty. This scaffolding of loops and off grid tempos for choral style vocals offers a state of continual surprise, call it unexpectation.

Unmap marks the debut full-length from Volcano Choir, the collaboration between Collections of Colonies of Bees and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

Grade: 8.5

Brève de comptoir : “Les vacances, c’est bien, mais quand on revient il faut rattraper le retard accumulé.”

Quelques chouchous glanés çà et là, des chansons, du dubstep, des textes, du ukulélé…..

Stuart Moxham with Louis Philippe “The Huddle House“
La rencontre du songwriter Stuart Moxham (ex-Young Marble Giants) et de Louis Philippe, compositeur et arrangeur français installé à Londres, et qui verse dans l’easy listening et la pop un peu précieuse depuis ces vingt dernières années. A deux, ils viennent de sortir un album de ballades épurées qui fait bien plaisir.

Sunset Rubdown “Dragonslayer”
Le projet parallèle de Spencer Krug, chanteur de Wolf Parade. Pop songs très bien écrites avec envolées lyriques.  C’est le troisième disque de cette formation sur le la bel Jagjaguwar. Un cd changeant qui passe aisément du clair obscur au lumineux, au flamboyant.

Tara Jane O’Neil “A Ways Away“
Perso, je ne suis pas très sensible au charme des songwriters. Mais je ne suis pas bornée non plus et parfois je craque.
Disque acoustique mélancolique et sensible. Une guitare, des tambourins, quelques accords de basse en bourdon, et la voix. C’est tout simple et pourtant très efficace.

William Fitzsimmons “Goodnight”
Et re-crac, un autre songwriter ! Il est américain, très barbu et il signe un album riche et délicat. Il s’accompagne à la guitare, au banjo, au piano, au mélodica. Il y a également quelques parasites électroniques discrets. Ses chansons parlent de famille et de séparation, pas drôle me direz-vous, peut-être mais quand les thèmes sont bien traités avec douceur.  

Dent May & His Ukulele “The Good Feeling of”
Des chansons de crooner avec un accompagnement soft proche de l’easy listening et du ukulele bien sûr. Un choeur “chabada”, de la musique légère, désuette et kitsch pour tout ceux qui ont aimé Clare & the Reasons par exemple.

Gerry Mitchell / Various Production “The Invisible Lodger“
Le poète écossais dit ses textes sur une musique de Various qui habituellement évolue sur la scène dubstep. La voix grave et monocorde du récitant est accompagnée d’une bande-son electro-folk cinématique dans laquelle on retrouve de vrais instruments qui petit à petit vont se ranger auprès de l’électro-dubstep plus proprement dite. Une atmosphère sombre et feutrée.

Martyn “Great Lengths”
Dj hollandais qui comme beaucoup  d’artistes de dubstep a vu  ses premières productions uniquement  disponibles  sur vinyl.  Aujourd’hui, voici son premier album sur son label 3024, nombre fétiche pour lui (c’était son code postal à Rotterdam) puisqu’il est repris régulièrement tout au long de l’album. D’emblée il est dynamique et percussif , une plage chantée. Un disque relativement chaleureux en regard de la production habituelle de dubstep plus sombre et froide, un musicien  qui intègre la techno dans son jeu.     

Vous en voulez encore ? En voici en voilà

Bibio “Ambivalence Avenue” avec de la pop lofi, de la folktronica, de la pop psyché et hippie des 60’s, des sons ambiants, des voix d’enfants, et de la funk. Bibio a compacté tous ces genres et les a assemblés à sa mode en y rajoutant de l’electronique. Résultat un peu hybride de dreamy pop et d’electro assez bien foutu. Sur le label Warp 

Here We Go Magic derrière lequel se cache Luke Temple. Qui passe de la folk à un assemblage pop, tribal et boucles bruitistes. Un cd à ne pas jeter aux orties.

Napoli is not Nepal ”Boredom is Always Counterrevolutionary”  un habitant de Cologne qui tourne entre l’IDM et l’electronica avec sons de guitares, de claviers, de cordes qu’il boucle et arrose d’une bonne dose d’electro.

The Most Serene Republic ”…And the Ever Expanding Universe” sur le label canadien  Arts & Crafts, fanfare pop emballante qui signe ici à mes yeux et surtout à mes oreilles leur disque le plus abouti.

Et un petit dernier pour la route :

Oldman “Son, father and Son…” alias Charles-Eric Charrier. Quelques ballades dépouillées mais aussi des plages plus électriques aux sons un peu distordus et texte murmuré. Tout cela dans un bon équilibre.

Some Wednesday morning moping for you courtesy of Richard Youngs – listen to “Broke Up By Night” here, a song of his forthcoming album, Under Stellar Stream (10/20, Jagjaguwar).

The first free MP3 from the Bon Iver/Collections of Colonies of Bees album, Unmap, is available for download now here. So what does “Island, IS” sounds like? Basically, it’s Justin Vernon’s soothing falsetto (and indoor voice) over COCOB’s electronic tableau. Yeah, it’s good. The album comes out 9/22 on Jagjaguwar.

Before attempting to read this, I would like music critics to take note: I’m having a hard time with you.

Not all of you, by any means—there are still a good number out there who emulate a true love of music in their reviews. But recently, I feel there has been more train-jumping, more jadedness, and more high-falutin’ smugness than actual music-listening. Granted, if you are a music critic by profession, there is a ton of music you have to listen to in a short amount of time, and sometimes it’s hard to take it all in. I understand this.

However, this has been my experience—the records that really stick with me for long amounts of time are the ones I have to give several spins before they really start to hit me. Inversely, the albums that wow me right off the bat usually lose their punch over time, and eventually become novelties. So critics, do you know what this means? It’s not that complicated of a revelation, but it’s the truth—you need to TRY HARDER. Listen to an album a few times before you review it, or you may end up regretting those words you wrote at some point.

“It takes courage to enjoy it.” –Bjork

Children—Hard Times Hanging at the End of the World

Kemado Records

I have been wondering for some time when I was really going to love a new metal band again, and here they are. NYC’s Children don’t necessarily stray too far from the metal formula of constant hot guitar licks, precise and invigorating drumming, and head-spinning, non-cyclical songwriting; they just happen to do all of this shit better than 99% of metal bands out there. The really frustrating thing is, after seeing all this boring, same-old-same-old, cliché-ridden black metal hyped to unreachable heights by nearly every music critic imaginable, no one seems to care about Children. Aside from a Myspace page and the very little amount of info one can find on the web, they are hanging in obscurity. But, just as the gods of rock have said before, the kids are alright. In this case, they are flat-out stellar.

It Hugs Back—Inside Your Guitar

4AD Records

This album has the odd quality of seeming like something I played over and over again back in high school. However, rather than the album sounding familiar, it simply feels familiar. It seems the furthest thing from It Hugs Back’s agenda is to be innovative or groundbreaking, but they have definitely put their own stamp on their brand of mope-rock—a subtle, whispery stamp, but a stamp nonetheless. At first listen, I thought of the majority of the songs as boring and, to be frank, lacking testicles. But after repeated listens, most of them have worked their way into my heart. Tiny Mix Tapes referred to It Hugs Back as a “faceless and generic indie band you [would] hear at Starbucks”. Seeing as I had similar feelings initially, I can only assume the writer listened to the album only once, then reviewed it. This is what is wrong with music journalism.

Dinosaur Jr.—Farm

Jagjaguwar Records

I can say more about Dinosaur Jr. than most of the plethora of 80’s/90’s rock bands that have since reformed in the Naughts. While 2007’s “Beyond” was fun yet not entirely fulfilling, “Farm” ups the ante substantially. At just over an hour long, and requisitely chock full of sweet-ass guitar solos, it’s a bona-fide beast. It’s not perfect, but who was expecting that anyway? Don’t be disappointed or start talking shit when the two or three dull tunes on the record pop up on your I-pod shuffle. Pod-heads probably don’t do this very often, but I would recommend listening to this one all the way through. It may seem like a task at first, but pretty soon, all those licks are going to be swimming around in your body like heroin, and you’ll need to hear it again and again. I will also add this: music critics, please stop referring to Lou Barlow as if you are surprised he wrote a couple awesome songs for this record. Remember Sebadoh?

July 2009

1. Major Lazer – Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do [Explicit] [Downtown 2009]
2. Chali 2na – Fish Outta Water [Decon 2009]
3. Slaid Cleaves – Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away [Music Road 2009]
4. Zee Avi – Zee Avi[Brushfire Records 2009]
5. Lady Saw – Extra Raw: The First Lady of Dancehall [VP Records 2009]
6. Aswad – City Lock [Rhythm Riders 2009]
7. Rhett Miller – Rhett Miller [Shout! Factory 2009]
8. Mishka – Above The Bones [J.K. Livin Records 2009]
9. Bob Dylan – Together Through Life [Columbia 2009]
10. Micachu – Jewellery [Rough Trade 2009]
11. Scientist – International Heroes Dub [Tameki Wambesi Dove 2009]
12. Mojo Morgan – got Mojo? [Gedion Soldiers 2009]
13. The Lemonheads – Varshons [The End Records 2009]
14. The Aggrolites – IV [Hellcat 2009]
15. The Low Anthem – Oh My God Charlie Darwin [Nonesuch 2009]
16. Various Artists – Riddim Driven: Sweet [VP Records 2009]
17. Dinosaur Jr. – Farm [Jagjaguwar 2009]
18. Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses – Roadhouse Sun (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version) [Lost Highway Records 2009]
19. Eminem – Relapse [Explicit] [Aftermath Records 2009]
20. Jason Lytle – Yours Truly, The Commuter [Anti/Epitaph 2009]
21. Todd Snider – The Excitement Plan [Yep Roc Records 2009]
22. Son Volt – American Central Dust [Rounder Records 2009]
23. Mos Def – The Ecstatic [Downtown 2009]
24. Levon Helm – Electric Dirt [Amazon Exclusive] [Vanguard 2009]
25. Tanya Morgan – Brooklynati [Explicit] [Independent Media/iM Culture 2009]
26. Doom – Born Like This. [Explicit] [Lex Records 2009]
27. Laura Izibi – Let The Truth Be Told [Deluxe] [Atlantic 2009]
28. J Dilla – Jay Stay Paid [Explicit] [Nature Sounds 2009]
29. St. Vincent – Actor (Amazon Exclusive) [4AD 2009]
30. Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs – Under The Covers: Vol. 2 [Shout! Factory 2009]
31. Wilco – Wilco [The Album] [Nonesuch 2009]

Diplo and Switch present Major Lazer’s Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do with special guests Santogold, Mr. Lex, Vybz Kartel, T.O.K., Mr Vegas, and many more. The creative DJ/producer duo amalgamates and mashes up tunes sampling from soca, calypso, merengue, and reggae, dropping fat beats, gun blasts, reggae air horns, and choice samples. An example of one of the more interesting and creative cuts is “Baby,” which adds an auto-tune to a crying baby. The killer reggae track on this work is “Can’t Stop Now,” which features Mr. Vegas and Jovi Rockwell. The harmonic Rockwell and Mr. Vegas create an easy-sounding classic reggae track among the hard-pounding dance jams. The track “Hold The Line” samples surf guitars from Dick Dale And His Del-Tones classic “Misirlou,” adding heavy beats and the vocal duo of Mr. Lex and Santogold. Some of my personal favorites on this album include the rough shod “Bruk Out” featuring T.O.K and Ms. Thing; “Cash Flow” featuring the roots reggae flavor of Jah Dan; “Anything Goes” with chaotic verses from Turbulance; and the dancehall sensation Vybz Kartel working “Pon De Floor.”

Chali 2Na’s Fish Outta Water snap, crackles, and pops. A guest appearances by the Marley Brothers, Damian Marley and Stephen Marley, on the cut “Guns Up” piles deep booming funky fresh rhymes over a sweet melodic reggae chorus peppered by a Jr. Gong flow. The King of the Dancehall Beenie Man joins Chali 2Na on the tune “International” for searing dancehall reggae/hip-hop fusion. I found the single “Lock Shit Down” with Talib Kweli appealing and the track “Comin’ Thru” to be a hip-hop jam.

Texas songwriters Slaid Cleaves, Rhett Miller, and Ryan Bingham made the list this month. The Austin-based musician Slaid Cleaves sings heart-wrenching ballads playing Texas country music like it should be played. The song “Cry“ on the album Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away will rip out your heart and have you reaching for the bottle of whiskey. American folk legend Bob Dylan dropped the new album Together Through Life featuring the ominous dark-sounding hit single “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’.

Zee Avi and Mishka add international flavors to the best albums of July, providing fun flip-flop rock and reggae sounds for the summertime. Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records handpicked Zee Avi for the label where she fits well with the laid back surfer motive. The Malaysian-born ukulele player’s new album is self titled Zee Avi. Reggae-drenched Canadian/Bermudian seafarer Mishka is the new artist appearing on Matthew McConaughey’s record label JK Livin Records. Mishka’s new album Above The Bones provides good summer tunes and positive vibes.

After reuniting in 2005 after an 8 year hiatus, its good to see the boys (now haggardly old men) of Dinosaur Jr. sticking to their promise of more output. Their latest album, put out on Jagjaguwar Records (who also release albums by Austinites Okkervil River and Daniel Johnston) promises a return to a heavier sound, akin to the genuinely successful album, “Where You Been”.

One could say the video seems a little stuck in the past (skateboarding and BMXing hasn’t been a music video since 2001) but these dudes tear it up with enough proficiency that it’s hardly reliving some lost youth. Perhaps this makes sense, as there is something perpetually childlike and afraid about J. Mascis; his antisocial attitude and understated voice, his slightly whiny tone. Nonetheless, Dinosaur Jr. will not disappoint fans with their new material. If anything, it may not be far enough of a departure for some. Though to a band who helped establish what the alt-rock genre sounded like in the late 80s, we shouldn’t have too much room to complain. The music is still unmistakably theirs, and Mascis’ solos still screech just as hard.

And who doesn’t love album art featuring Tolkienian Ents carrying naked prepubescent girls around? Okay, so its a little creepy, but whatever.

Video for “Over It” off of new album “Farm,” released last week.

]]> http://tbannounced.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/farm-review/ Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:08:35 +0000 tbannounced http://tbannounced.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/farm-review/ http://themusiccave.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/dinosaur-jr-farm/ Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:45:08 +0000 vanillalite http://themusiccave.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/dinosaur-jr-farm/

So I picked up the new Dinosaur Jr. album today that dropped onto store shelves and legal downloads on Tuesday of this week. The new album entitled “Farm” is the bands second outing since reuniting midway through the decade with the original lineup of J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and well just Murph on drums. I have always loved that he just calls himself Murph as a random side note. So yeah I have always been a fan since well since I was growing up and just getting into music. They were one of those early iconic Alternative bands that everyone talked about having spurred on the 90s revolution. So of course I immediately had to hear some tunes.

As for the new record well it is still rather new to me seeing as I just picked it up today. The first single I Want You to Know has been getting regular airplay on XMU and the band had it up as a free download on their website. It also helps that the band came to my town back in April, and put on one of the best shows the people around here have ever seen. I will say on initial listen I am liking it slightly more then their last record titled Beyond. The track Friends in particular has grabbed me. I herby nominate the song as the best choice for a follow up single! The album as a whole actually has a few long numbers with three tracks clock in at over 6 minutes.

It does sound on first glance very much vintage Dinosaur Jr. so if you’re a person that is down with another classic Dinosaur Jr. record then do not hesitate. If your the type of person however that wishes older artists would try and forge more new ground like many reviewers stated about the new Sonic Youth record “The Eternal” that dropped earlier in the month I might pass. I will say though maybe it is because the original lineup of Dinosaur Jr. has less records together than Sonic Youth, but Farm does feel a tad fresher than The Eternal. All in all Farm probably will not win any record of the year awards, but safe to say I will fully enjoy this new Dinosaur Jr. experience all the same!

Jon Mueller, Chris Rosenau, Jim Schoenecker, Daniel Spack, Justin Vernon, and Thomas Wincek are teaming and calling themselves Volcano Choir for the just announced Jagjaguwar release, an LP entitled Unmap. Boasting a “backwoods gospel” sound and drawing from the influences of greats such as David Sylvian, Steve Reic, Mahalia Jackson and Tom Waits, Unmap is set to release September 22, 2009. Will the LP be this year’s Give Up? I guess we’ll have to wait until September to determine that.

Track List:

Husks And Shells
Seeplymouth
Island, IS
Dote
And Gather
Mbira In The Morass
Cool Knowledge
Still
Youlogy

– Haley Rheinhart –
haley.dustbowl@gmail.com

Sunset Rubdowns song “Black Swan” from their Jagjaguwar release Dragonslayer.  Directed by Throneboogie.  Hope you enjoy…

For more info about Sunset rubdown:Sunset Rubdown

via:  Pitchfork