Posts Tagged ‘Record of the Week’

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Record of the Week: Peter Wolf Crier – Inter-Be (Jagjaguwar)

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

What might look a slower release week in terms of some of the more marquee titles, this week has provided us with so many damn good albums we had a heck of a time picking out what Record of the Week was going to be. Sure we had new releases from Crystal Castles, Tobacco, and even Stone Temple Pilots but it’s the new albums by Grails, Rangda, Ty Segall and others that have us incredibly excited. Who are those others? Well…

Record of the Week goes to the debut album by Minneapolis group, Peter Wolf Crier. Peter Wolf Crier have absolutely nothing to do with former J. Geils frontman, Peter Wolf, who did just put out an excellent full length recently with his album Midnight Souvenirs. That’s neither here nor there though.

With that out of the way, what Peter Wolf Crier bring to the table is more of the Bon Iver / Megafaun / Grizzly Bear variety than anything. Just a two piece, you wouldn’t believe it if you heard the full pallet of instruments showcased throughout their songs. The drums are very reminiscent of the style from Grizzly Bear’s last two albums. Lead singer, Peter Pisano’s, voice brings to mind the Bowerbirds and even M. Ward on a song or two. Piano, wurlitzer, and organ all back up some great vocal harmonies and an all around great folk-pop album.

As an aside, Peter Wolf Crier will be playing here in Toledo, opening up for the Heartless Bastards on July 20th. This will be a don’t miss show for sure.

Listen to “Hard As Nails” from Peter Wolf Crier’s Inter-Be

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Honorable Mentions

The new, vinyl only EP, from store favorite Kurt Vile is a bridge between his excellent full length that came out last year, Childish Prodigy, and his upcoming full length coming this Fall. The songs on here range from upbeat acoustic folk numbers, such as the opening track “Ocean City”, to some of his trademark, long playing, lo-fi sounds on the track “Invisibility Nonexistant”. All in all, another great effort from our favorite weirdo in music.

Listen to “I Wanted Everything” from Kurt Vile’s Square Shells

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Damien Jurado have been putting out records for what seems like forever now, and he is showing no signs of slowing down. This time around he has enlisted fellow labelmate, Richard Swift, to handle production and we have to consider it an all around success. Much more hopeful sounding from the usual sad-bastard stylings of Jurado, this is one of his finest efforts in years.

Listen to “Arkansas” from Damien Jurado’s Saint Bartlett

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The fourth full length from one of my favorite Type Records artists, the Alps return with Le Voyage. Bringing to mind the sort of kosmische sounds of Popul Vuh and Cluster, the Alps have gone towards a bit more of an organic sound with this record which harkens back to the bands roots of being part of the Jewelled Antler collective. Absolutely essential for any fan of psychedelic rock.

Listen to “Le Voyage” from The Alps’ Le Voyage

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Record of the Week: Harvey Milk – A Small Turn of Human Kindness (Hydra Head)

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

In such a huge release week with high profile releases from bands such as Band of Horses, Black Keys, LCD Soundsystem, Rolling Stones, and the Sadies, it’d be easy to pick a record of the week out of that batch and not explore outside of those.

That has not been the case here though as our Record of the Week comes from Athens, Georgia’s Harvey Milk, one of the finest sludge metal bands you’re bound to come across. Having been around since 1992, Harvey Milk have toiled in obscurity for years and years until their reformation in 2006.

A Small Turn of Human Kindness is Harvey Milk’s third full length since coming back in 2006 and an absolute monster of an album. After the much more accessible, Life…the Best Game in Town, they have crafted a spiritual successor to their 1997 album, Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men. Back is the sprawling, depressive, heavy songs that tear at you in every which way. This is an album that says Harvey Milk is absolutely back and here to stay.

Listen to “I Know This Is All My Fault” from Harvey Milk’s A Small Turn of Human Kindness

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Honorable Mentions

The Depreciation Guild, made up of members from store favorites Pains of Being Pure at Heart, put out an album that isn’t far from the aforementioned band and has a lot in common with Asobi Seksu. Shoegaze pop that uses a modified Nintendo as an instrument in the band, their new album, Spirit Youth, is a damn good album and a proper hold over until we get something new from Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

Listen to ”My Chariot” from Depreciation Guild’s Spirit Youth

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The Sadies have been around for what seems like ages but it’s more or less the fact that they are one of the more prolific bands, especially when it comes to Alt-Country / Americana. Following up their album backing up John Doe last year, Darker Circles, is the proper follow up to 2007′s New Season and is in most ways, much better. Another excellent album by these Canadian country rockers. Absolutely check this out if you’re a fan of Giant Sand and even the Meat Puppets.

Listen to ”Another Year Again” from the Sadies’ Darker Circles

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Record of the Week: Phosphorescent – Here’s to Taking It Easy (Dead Oceans)

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

2010 keeps rolling on and we have another week with some pretty stellar releases. New releases by Dead Weather, Holy Fuck, Japandroids, the National, Cocorosie, Gun Outfit, Male Bonding, Thee Oh Sees, Woods, and even local favorites, Puffy Aereolas, are all out today and are all absolutely excellent releases.

One release does stand out here at the store though. We’ve followed Phosphorescent for some time and we still consistently listen to his 2009 release, To Willie, a tribute to Willie Nelson that was just absolutely fantastic and got some of us into Willie for the first time. The album was a huge leap of maturity for Phosphorescent and the stepping stone to bring his project from the realms of darker folk to an all out country folk album that brings to mind Gram Parsons and of course, Willie Nelson himself.

"It's Hard to Be Humble (When You're From Alabama)" from Phosphorescent's Here's to Taking It Easy

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Honorable Mentions

The National have returned with their fifth album and we think it’s their best one yet. High Violet doesn’t stray far from their roots of being a bombastic indie rock band but it does show their song writing come to an absolute boil as every track on here is absolutely excellent. Some guest appearances by favorites Sufjan Stevens and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver certainly don’t hurt at all either. Essential to check this album out.

"Bloodbuzz Ohio" from the National's High Violet

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Holy Fuck’s album, LP, released a couple years ago really took us all by a bit of surprise at how good it was. A mish mash of buzzing electronics mixed with live drums and bass, Holy Fuck continue their brand of killer driving music with their new album Latin. A band that really needs to be heard rather than described, I’ll defer you to the song we’ve posted below to get an idea of just how good this band is!

"P.I.G.S." from the Holy Fuck's Latin

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Record of the Week: Alcest – Écailles de Lune (Prophecy)

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

We’ve hit one of the biggest release weeks of the year, with a plethora of highly anticipated albums coming out. New albums by Broken Social Scene, the Hold Steady, Flaming Lips, Flying Lotus, Minus the Bear, the New Pornographers, Deftones, and plenty of others.

One album that has been highly anticipated but by a slightly different group of people is the new album by French band, Alcest. The creative force behind Alcest is frontman Neige, who has spent time in black metal bands such as Peste Noire and Amesoeurs. Écailles de Lune is Alcest’s second album and continues their shoegaze meets black metal sound they established with their debut full length, Souvenirs d’un autre monde.

While hearing the term black metal, you could completely dismiss the album immediately if that’s not your thing, but you’d be doing yourself a great disservice by doing so. Having more in common with shoegaze acts Ride or Slowdive than black metal acts such as Burzum, Alcest are doing something not unlike what Jesu has done with doom metal; turning something that is associated with bleakness, desolation and aggression into a blissed out shoegaze leaning mountain.

"Écailles de Lune: Part I" from Alcest's Écailles de Lune

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Record of the Week: Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo (Sub Pop)

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Another long RotW hiatus. Chalk it up to us being too busy listening to all this music that we find little time to write about it. We’ve certainly had some great albums come out that would have been deserving of the title. Tallest Man on Earth’s newest album that came out a couple weeks ago, The Wild Hunt, is one of the best albums this year, let alone the album of the week for April 13th. Caribou’s newest album, Swim, is one of their finest efforts yet and an absolute RotW for April 19th.

But here we are, April 27th is upon us and we’ve been graced with another store favorite, Avi Buffalo’s self titled debut album. Much is being made about the fact that members of Avi Buffalo basically just graduated high school and may or may not be able to buy cigarettes just yet. What’s being overshadowed in all of this is that they wrote one of the better indie pop albums of the year so far. One of those albums that came out at just the right time of year, it’s been continuously played while the weather has been warming up and we couldn’t ask for a better soundtrack.

There is a bit of young man immaturity in some of these songs. Don’t be turned off by track titles such as “Summer Cum”, absolutely a highlight of the album, or “Five Little Sluts” though as they have a lot to offer.

Comparisons can be made to the Shins, Magnetic Fields, and maybe even the Morning Benders’ newest album to a slight extent. Regardless, this album stands on it’s own as an excellent indie rock record and one that certainly deserves your attention.

"What's In It For?" from Avi Buffalo's Avi Buffalo

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"Summer Cum" from Avi Buffalo's Avi Buffalo

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Record of the Week – Moon Duo – Escape (Woodsist)

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

After taking a week off from Record of the Week last week due to Mother Nature putting a collective whooping on the greater 419 area,  and then THIS Record of the Week being delayed until a week later due to the Great Computer Crash of ’10, we are back. There are a couple titles this week that we have been playing a bit and one in particular that we’ve really been digging on.

This was a hard choice this week as the debut album by Mumford & Sons is really a damn good album, but we’ll get to that in the honorable mentions.

Our Record of the Week is Moon Duo’s album Escape, which just came out on Woodsist today. The best way I could possibly describe Moon Duo would be this: Wooden Shjips in space. Now that could be an easy comparison as we found out later, Moon Duo shares a lead guitarist / singer with Wooden Shjips, but in all fairness, that comparison was made before we found that out. HA! At any rate, this album is four tracks of spaced out psych which will put you in a whole other world. Almost as if Wooden Shjips have been listening to Spacemen 3 a whole lot lately. Totally killer album.

The debut album from Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More, is our first honorable mention and boy is it good. Absolutely for fans of Fleet Foxes, Avett Brothers, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Mumford & Sons hail from London, England, which if you follow any British music press, is probably the worst thing it has going for it as they’ll hype this thing beyond proportion to the point where you might find yourself not liking it. But trust me, this album is definitely an album worth checking out.

Next honorable mention is another album by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, or whatever they might be called these days. Kollaps Tradixionales is their sixth album from these Godspeed You! Black Emperor veterans and they are continuing on with adding more vocals and moving almost back in time from a post-rock ensemble into a full fledged rock band. The last time I had seen them they were absolutely excellent, and played this album’s second track “I Built Myself a Metal Bird” which floored me at the show. Luckily, it translated rather well on record. Another notch in the belt for these Canadians.

Last but not least is the new album from Canadian(two in one week!?) noisey black-metalers, Wold. Their new album, Working Together for Our Privacy, might be looked at as an exercise in patience for most, but beyond the wall of noise is a sonic assault that has a nearly mantra-esque quality to it, with hints of song structure buried deep below. This album might possibly top their previous album, Screech Owl, which is a lofty statement for me as I loved that album.

All together it was a pretty decent week for new releases. As always, we’re stocking all of these right now and we’ll always be happy to play more of them if you’d like when you’re in!

"Motorcycle, I Love You" from Moon Duo's Escape

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Honorable mentions for February 16th Record of the Week:

  • Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More (Glassnote)
    "Sigh No More" from Mumford & Sons' 2010 album Sigh No More

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  • Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – Kollaps Tradixionales (Constellation)
    "I Built Myself a Metal Bird" from Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra's 2010 album Kollaps Tradixionales

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  • Wold – Working Together For Our Privacy (Profound Lore)
    "The Secret" from Wold's 2010 album Working Together For Our Privacy

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Record of the Week: Toro Y Moi – Causers of This (Carpark)

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

A smaller release week than we have seen in the past recent weeks but definitely not short on good albums. Now that January ’10 is over though, I can honestly say, I don’t remember a year that had so many great new releases this early in the year. Definitely shaping up to be a great year in music.

Our record of the week comes from a very unlikely place considering the music. Columbia, South Carolina’s Toro Y Moi have released their debut album, Causers of This, and it’s gotten a whole lot of play around here. I say “their” debut album but Toro Y Moi is just one person actually. If you’ve been in the store the past couple months, odds are you’ve heard us playing the Washed Out Life of Leisure 12″. Well if you were one of the lucky ones to pick that up, or get into the Neon Indian record that came out a bit ago, this one is right up your alley.

The sound of this is probably best described as the sound of Don Johnson’s Miami romps circa 1986 while filming Miami Vice. It’s all very relaxed and laid back, essentially the sound  you’d probably hear in your head if you’re weaving in between Miami dance clubs, fueled by cocaine, millions of dollars and the fact that you just released Heartbeat.

A couple darn good albums as well that deserve honorable mentions. First is from the Soft Pack, releasing their debut album AS the Soft Pack. They were formerly known as the Muslims and released an album under that name. The Soft Pack’s self titled album is a damn good garage rock album with some killer catchy tunes. Check out the album opener, “Cmon” below for a taste of what they are doing.

Next is another debut album, this time from Bristol, UK’s Malachai. Their album, The Ugly Side of Love is one of the more bizarrely catchy albums you are bound to hear in a long time. If you could imagine Syd Barrett being born circa 1978 and becoming something that could be compared to the Streets, you’d be somewhat close. This is a psych infused, hip-hop/garagey/trip-hop album with songs that seep into your brain and you’ll find yourself humming them later without even knowing what it is. Excellent stuff.

Last but certainly not least comes from across the pond as well. Hailing from Berlin, Germany, Nils Frahm has been composing quite a bit in his short life, being only 27 years old, and was taught by a student of the last scholar of Tchaikovsky. His new album, Wintermusik, is one of the more fitting names for an album I’ve heard in awhile. A great winter companion made up of mostly solo piano with some celeste and reed organ thrown in for good measure. Recommended for fans of Peter Broderick, Max Richter, and Rachel’s.

"Blessa" from Toro y Moi's Causers of This

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"Talamak" from Toro y Moi's Causers of This

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Honorable mentions for February 2nd Record of the Week:

  • The Soft Pack – The Soft Pack (Kemado)
    "C'mon" from The Soft Pack's 2010 album The Soft Pack

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  • Malachai – Ugly Side of Love (Domino)
    "Snowflake" from Malachai's 2010 album Ugly Side of Love

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  • Nils Frahm – Wintermusik (Erased Tapes)
    "Ambre" from Nils Frahm's 2010 album Wintermusik

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Record of the Week: Beach House – Teen Dream (Sub Pop)

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

This might be the toughest Record of the Week choice we have ever made, or will ever make. I might have said this before and hell, I’ll probably say it again. This release week though has brought so many phenomenal new releases that picking one was damn near impossible. So hard in fact, y’all have me swearing twice in the opening paragraph.

So instead of naming two Record of the Week’s like I have in past weeks, I am just going to put an abnormal amount of honorable mentions and I have to stress, do not look past these.

The new Retribution Gospel Choir(featuring Alan Sparhawk of Low!) is one of the best albums I have heard in a long time. Glacial, anthemic indie rock from one of the pioneers of slowcore, Retribution Gospel Choir is Sparhawk’s time to cut loose and create one of the most bombastic albums you have heard in quite awhile.

The new Four Tet, There Is Love In You, explores a bit of new territory than he did on prior releases. Having a minimal, almost dub techno feel to it, these are undoubtedly some of the best songs Four Tet has crafted. And whatever you do, don’t let techno be a dirty word here as you’ll be doing yourself a great disservice if you dismiss it on that word alone. This is a truly great album that has found itself in high rotation around here.

The new Infinite Body has been a highly anticipated album for myself after picking up their 12″ CMBCMEINAPTD sometime last year. While I would love to call their new album, Carve Out the Face of My God, ambient, it certainly has a quality to it that speaks above and beyond that tag. Whereas Eno described ambient as something that should be “as ignorable as it is listenable,” Infinite Body’s sound falls somewhere between that of Belong and Growing. Mostly synth based, it can be very loud and very demanding, leaving you awash in sound.

Fucked Up’s Chemistry of Common Life was one of our favorite records of 2008. A straight up rocker of a hardcore punk album. Well on their new release, Couple Tracks, they take all of those singles from the beginning of their band all the way up until their last full length and compile it onto two CDs. It just goes to show how hard working this band is, to have this much music out apart from their full lengths. This is really some of their best stuff as well, some of it much better than anything found on Chemistry…

And our final honorable mention goes to the new Basia Bulat. This album really took me by surprise and is making me go back to listen to her older stuff. On Heart of My Own, this Canadian based singer songwriter writes songs that could easily be lumped together with artists such as Feist, My Brightest Diamond and so on, but they definitely stand apart from those comparisons as well. The music has an almost gaelic sound to it and is some really great instrumentation.

Last but not least is the Record of the Week itself, Teen Dream by Beach House. I always notice when talking about music with people a common saying is “Oh I like their older stuff better.”  While this is true in quite a few cases, this is the last thing a band wants to hear. They want to think they are growing and maturing with each new song they put out. But, with some, the new ideas and passion they put into those first songs end up being some of their finest input. This is certainly not the case with Beach House, who not only have gotten better with each new release, they’ve nearly rendered the prior release unusable with each new album. Not to discredit those albums as they are still really good but what Beach House have done on Teen Dream is definitely the culmination of all the ideas they have put forth so far paired down to a concise and nearly perfect album. Right from the opening track “Zebra,” you can tell this is going to be a special album. “Norway” is one of the best tracks this year, on any album. There is something for everyone on this album and is one of the better dream pop albums in a long, long, long time.

It’s a big list this week and we still left off a lot of really good stuff. New albums from Los Campesinos, Mondo Drag, Cave In, as well as the long lost album from Harvey Milk. All really great stuff but the list can only be so long!

"Norway" from Beach House's 2010 album Teen Dream

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"Used to Be" from Beach House's 2010 album Teen Dream

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Honorable mentions for January 26th Record of the Week:

  • Retribution Gospel Choir - 2 (Sub Pop)
    "Hide It Away" from Retribution Gospel Choir's 2010 album 2

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  • Four Tet - There Is Love In You (Domino)
    "Love Cry" from Four Tet's 2010 album There Is Love In You

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  • Infinite Body - Carve Out the Face of My God (PPM)
    "Dive" from Infinite Body's 2010 album Carve Out the Face of My God

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  • Fucked Up - Couple Tracks (Matador)
    "Triumph of Life" from Fucked Up's 2010 album Couple Tracks

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  • Basia Bulat - Heart of My Own (Rough Trade)
    "Gold Rush" from Basia Bulat's 2010 album Heart of My Own

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Record of the Week: Surfer Blood – Astro Coast (Kanine)

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

I am not sure what it is with this Winter and bringing us killer beach records but I certainly don’t have a problem with it. Earlier this winter we had the Real Estate record that gets listened to non-stop still around here and now we have Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast, which is hands down, this week’s Record of the Week.

That’s not to say there isn’t much good in terms of new releases this week. Au contraire my good friends. This week has brought us the long awaited new Spoon album, Transference($9.97 in the store for the remainder of January and February!), the surprising debut album by the Hotrats, Turn Ons, as well as new releases by Cold War Kids, RJD2, and Eels.

The new Spoon is one of the best things they have put out. After the Got Nuffin’ single, I was actually a bit excited about Transference coming out, whereas before, I never really put much stock in the band. I might have to go and re-listen to their back catalog a bit more as there are some really great pop songs on this album in “The Mystery Zone,” “Written in Reverse,” and “Trouble Comes Running”. Not only are they great pop songs but these guys can hit some tight, nearly krauty, grooves sometimes!

The second honorable mention this week is from The Hotrats. Seriously everything about this album says we shouldn’t like it. An entire album of covers? Members of Supergrass(no offense Supergrass fans!)? Well this album manages to buck all conventions as it’s seriously one of the more fun albums we have come across this year. The two piece consisting of a singer/guitarist and drummer manage to make a lot of these songs sound very full as well. Their version of “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)” is nearly unrecognizable until the chorus and is one of the more chill songs on the album. Their play on Squeeze’s “Up the Junction” is a seriously killer late 70′s jam turned seriously killer mid 90′s slow jam. Plus the great covers of Bowie’s “Queen Bitch,” the Doors “the Crystal Ship,” Roxy Music’s “Love Is the Drug,” and Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up,” well you get the point now that I’ve named half the tracklisting.

Last but not least, the Record of the Week itself, Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast. Hailing from Florida, this band plays beach friendly indie pop that is seriously infectious. Like a more refined Real Estate, Surfer Blood’s music has a certain level of reverb as evidenced on their song “Swim” below. I have read a lot of people compare it to early Weezer although I suppose I’m not really an authority on that as I didn’t ever dig Weezer so much. But I do love Surfer Blood! A strange thing does happen on this album right around track six, “Twin Peaks,” where the singer seems to get a bit of a Morrissey accent out of nowhere, which totally makes the song.

All in all, it’s a pretty great week for new releases and I highly suggest you check out the songs we posted from these albums below. And if you find yourself making a trip to the store this week, odds are you’ll hear one of these three albums being played as we haven’t really been able to stop!

"Swim" from Surfer Blood's 2010 album Astro Coast

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"Twin Peaks" from Surfer Blood's 2010 album Astro Coast

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Honorable mentions for January 19th Record of the Week:

  • Spoon – Transference (Merge)
    "Written in Reverse" from Spoon's 2010 album Transference

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  • The Hotrats – Turn Ons (Fat Possum)
    "Queen Bitch" from The Hotrats' 2010 album Turn Ons

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Record of the Week: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – The Road: Original Score (Mute)

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

The first major release date of the year brought some pretty big heavy hitters in terms or releases.

The biggest of them is the sophomore release from Vampire Weekend, Contra. If you liked the first album, you are sure to like the follow-up as well. As an aside, we have the indie-exclusive version that features a second disc at no extra cost, in stock right now. This is very limited so if you want this second disc, you’ll want to come pick it up ASAP.

Next we have the new album by Owen Pallett, formerly known as Final Fantasy. You might best know his work from both Arcade Fire albums as he wrote and arranged all the strings for those albums. His new album,Heartland, is an adventurous album of orchestral bombast under pop music structures that brings to mind the last album by Psapp, which was excellent.

Last but not least though is our first Record of the Week in 2010. Having worked previously on the score of The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, amongst many others, the duo of Nick Cave & Warren Ellis are back again scoring the soundtrack for the post-apocalyptic, Cormac McCarthy film-adaption of The Road.

While I personally haven’t seen the film yet, listening to the score that Cave & Ellis have put together has certainly piqued my interest. The score is constantly walking the line of modern “indie-classical” compositions by artists such as Max Richter, Rachels, and Peter Broderick to tracks that bring about a looming sense of doom that bring the mind the soundtrack to the television show Lost.

While, The Road: Original Score might not be something you would put on all the time, or even listen to as much as the honorable mentions this week, it stands above as an excellent album and certainly deserving of your attention.

"Home" from Nick Cave & Warren Ellis' 2010 album The Road: Original Score

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"The Road" from Nick Cave & Warren Ellis' 2010 album The Road: Original Score

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"The Cannibals" from Nick Cave & Warren Ellis' 2010 album The Road: Original Score

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Honorable mentions for January 12th Record of the Week:

  • Owen Pallett - Heartland (Domino)
    "Lewis Takes Action" from Owen Pallett's 2010 album Heartland

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  • Vampire Weekend - Contra (XL)
    "Cousins" from Vampire Weekend's 2010 album Contra

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