Archive for January, 2011

Record of the Week: Destroyer – Kaputt (Merge)

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

I am going on record to say that this might be the best January I have ever seen when it comes to new releases. We continue to get just absolutely bombarded with great album after great album and we’ve barely seemed to have scratch the surface of 2011! A sign of great music to come this year for sure. This week alone we’ve got new albums by Gang of Four, Iron & Wine, Wanda Jackson, Death, Cloud Nothings, Deerhoof, Fujiya & Miyagi, John Vanderslice, and a ton more.

From the moment we heard the new album by Destroyer we were hooked. From the airy production to the instrumentation(so much smooth saxophone and flute going on here), it completely took us by surprise and has held us captive ever since.

The influences here are all over the place. From Prefab Sprout to Syd Barrett. From Robert Wyatt to Steely Dan. From Roxy Music to just about the entire Windham Hill catalog. Daniel Bejar, the mastermind behind Destroyer, has managed to take a lifetime’s worth of listening and crammed it into a 50 minute album that might teach you more than that pop music class down at the community college.

This is a record though, that while it sounds like it is rooted deeply in the 80′s, is surprisingly modern. Whereas bands such as Washed Out, Small Black, and just about any “chillwave” band have tapped into that 80′s nostalgic sound, they haven’t gone the extra step that Daniel Bejar has here, which is to let the song speak for itself, rather than the sound. From the excellent opening track, “Chinatown”, to the storybook that is “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker”, to the self-proclaimed “ambient disco” closer, “Bay of Pigs”, Bejar takes no shortcuts in crafting these tunes. Each track is dressed to the nines in both the instrumentation and the tales that he weaves throughout them.

If there was an album I could say with absolute certainty that you needed in your collection this year, this would be it. Still eleven months away, Kaputt is already destined to be on the top of most year end lists for 2011. Absolutely essential.

Listen to “Chinatown” from Destroyer’s Kaputt

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Highlights

Caroline – Verdugo Hills (Temporary Residence)

Caroline released her first album five years ago and it seemed like she had disappeared into obscurity since then. Hiding away in the band Mice Parade for the past couple years, she returns with her long awaited follow-up, Verdugo Hills. Not much has changed in the 5 years as Caroline has delivered another excellent album of minimalist dream pop that even has some J-pop leanings. An great companion for the remainder of these brutal Winter months.

Listen to “Swimmer” from Caroline’s Verdugo Hills

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.


My Disco – Little Joy (Temporary Residence)

Australia’s My Disco are somewhat an anomaly of a band. Little Joy, their third album and first one that is readily available stateside, is a post-punk album that almost achieves minimalism through sheer volume. Their sound owes as much to what’s being played as what’s not being played. It’s this theoretical “expansive minimalism” that has them sounding almost as if Glenn Branca joined Shellac. If that sounds like the best band ever(I really want to hear that now actually) then you owe it to yourself to check this album out.

Listen to “Rivers” from My Disco’s Little Joy

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Record of the Week | No Comments »

Record of the Week: Disappears – Guider (Kranky)

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

We are just a couple weeks into 2011 and already the releases are aplenty and damn good at that! This week alone we saw excellent new albums by tons of great artists. Whether you wanted it a bit punk rock n’ roll with the new Social Distortion(FINALLY!), a great indie rock album with the new Smith Westerns, a beachy, twee indie pop record with the new Tennis, a hypnagogic pop masterpiece with the new Ducktails, an excellent shoegaze album with the new Young Prisms, an exceptional blues album from the accomplished Gregg Allman, or a stoner metal milestone with the new Electric Wizard, there was something for everyone this week. That’s not to mention our Record of the Week and the highlights to follow!

Disappears second full length, and follow up to last year’s absolutely excellent album, Lux, manages to impress just as much. Titled Guider, this second album has managed to find itself in a more psychedelic haze than the last, taking cues from modern bands such as Wooden Shjips and Obits, while still being influcenced by older bands such as Spacemen 3, Suicide, Velvet Underground, and maybe even MC5. If what I described sounds like an absolutely killer album, let me tell you: it is.

From the second the first track, “Superstition”, hits, Disappears are already at it full bore. There isn’t much of an off switch for these guys. It’s loud, it’s very matter of fact but, it still maintains this stripped down, almost minimalist take on garage rock. The members of the band are never venturing out and over stepping their boundaries. They all remain in the cut, with the bassist and drummer absolutely shining on just about every track. It’s not so much calculated as it is good form.

The final track, “Revisiting”, finds them let loose for a bit and ends up jamming for 15 minutes. This is where the krautrock / psychedelic / Wooden Shjips comparison really comes into play. It provides excellent closure on what might be the best 30 minutes committed to album this year.

Listen to “Superstition” from Disappears’ Guider

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Highlights

Decemberists – The King Is Dead (Capitol)

The Decemberists return with the their first full length since the incredibly ambitious, Hazards of Love, and have gone back to writing some absolutely great songs as opposed to concept albums. This might be one of their best albums ever, which is a pretty lofty statement for a band with their discography. You know it’s a good album when you overlook the fact that Gillian Welch sings on it the first 3 times you hear it. Comeback album of the year. Mark it down now.


Listen to “Down By the Water” from Decemberists’ The King Is Dead

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Daniel Martin Moore – In the Cool of the Day (Sub Pop)

Talk about an album that completely took us by surprise. Daniel Martin Moore’s second full length(if you discount last year’s album with Ben Sollee) is an absolutely excellent singer-songwriter album. Pairing some of his own songs with some traditional fare, he finds himself doing a bit of roots rock, some New Orleans inspired jams, and even a bit of Thomas Newman inspired piano work on the title track. Absolutely fantastic album.


Listen to “Dark Road” from Daniel Martin Moore’s In the Cool of the Day

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

White Fence – Is Growing Faith (Woodsist)

The second solo album from Tim Presley, better known as the singer/guitarist of one of our absolute favorites this past year, Darker My Love, finds himself getting even more and more into 60′s and 70′s rock. There is a lot of reference points here from the Kinks, to McCartney’s solo albums, to the Byrds. While most records though sound like they were influenced by those, there are points in this record that sound like it could have very well been recorded around then. A really great, albeit strange at times, record that is definitely getting played a ton around here.

 

Listen to “Lillian (Won’t You Play Drums)” from White Fence’s Is Growing Faith

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Record of the Week | No Comments »

Record of the Week: Minks – By the Hedge (Captured Tracks)

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Now that we are finally out of the hectic holiday season and firmly into the new year, it’s time to restart Record of the Week!

Our first Record of the Week in 2011 goes to Brooklyn, NY based band, Minks. Their debut album, By the Hedge, is going to get a lot of comparisons to the Cure and rightfully so. Their brand of goth pop can be found in spades on this album, from the very Simon Gallup-esque bass playing to the Seventeen Seconds era production. This can be found especially on the tracks “Kusmi,” “Funeral Song,” and “Ophelia.” There are bits of other bands influence here as well. The dual vocals, when they happen, recall the XX album that came out two years ago to an extent. There is even an instrumental track that brings Durutti Column to mind.

That’s not to say the whole album is a retread of what’s been done before. They do follow their own path of making jangly pop. I honestly can’t make out close to a word of what’s being said in “Funeral Song” but I’ll be damned if I won’t be humming that song for the next couple months, it’s so unbelievably catchy. “Ophelia” is an absolutely depressing song that is set to a great pop hook. “Kusmi” is one of the best opening tracks that I have heard in quite some time. When they do slow it down a bit, like on “Life at Dusk,” it’s equally as captivating as the more upbeat tunes.

If you were a fan of the Tamaryn album that came out late last year, early Cure(as if needed to be said again), Cocteau Twins, Smiths, then this album is going to be right up your alley. It’s rare to have great albums come out so early in the year but Minks definitely delivered.

Listen to “Funeral Song” from Minks’ By the Hedge

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tags: ,
Posted in Record of the Week | No Comments »

Copyright Culture Clash Records 2009
Culture Clash | 4020 Secor Rd. | Toledo, OH 43623 | (419) 536-LOVE | (419) 536-5683

Switch to our mobile site