Music Reviews

This time around, instead of the usual review format, I've made myself a mix tape. It's mostly new stuff, along with a few older things, just because. One thing I love about this new idea is that it keeps me honest and I don't find myself reviewing so-so stuff, just because someone nice sent it to me - who wants to listen to boring songs over and over? So here it is, 90 minutes of the best music I've heard recently!

Side A:
Starting with a bang, we have the brilliantly noisy Ciao Bella, with "In" and "How Low" off their debut CD co-released by Endearing and March, 1. A lot of songs on this mix tape have sort of a 50s pop feel to them, which is probably why I like them. Ciao Bella don't disappoint, combining catchy pop harmonization with enough noise to keep it interesting. Add a dash of indie rock sensibility and this CD's a winner! They've got crunchy guitars and sort of whiny (but not annoying at all!) vocals. If you don't like this, you're a complete fool. Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! It's a blast; this is how music should be.

After all that excitement, the Hang Ups calm and charm with their jangly, clangy, acoustic, "Wish I Was on a Plane," from their 7" on Grimsey. I've loved this song for months and months, ever since Chris put it on a tape for me. It's all about long distance romance and it's sugar sweet. The sleeve is gorgeous, which is to be expected from Grimsey, so I love to pull it off the shelf. I think these are my two favorite Hang Ups songs.

Not detracting a bit from indie pop that knows its roots, we have the Autumn Leaves, with "You Didn't Say a Word," also a Grimsey 7". Andrea Grimsey knows what's up! This song is corny in an extremely winning way, about dashed romance, and it's very near to being a perfect pop song. It makes me feel all sunny, despite the subject matter, and it puts a bounce in my step as I walk to the bus.

The Crabs have always known how to make a good pop song, but their new album, What Were Flames Now Smolder, on K, has more winners than ever. It surpasses both of their previous albums and it feels like Lisa and Jonn have settled quite comfortably into being The Crabs, pulling this album off without a hitch. Crunchy surf-pop hits, with clever rhymes and the perfect trade-off between boy and girl vocals. "February 15th" is mostly Jonn's song, as far as vocals, and it's madly catchy and is about lost love. "I believed you when you said I was your Valentine." Lisa's "Mission Impossible" is about an out of reach girl and is slower, but still a toe-tapper. "I know she's made of sugar/ my sweet tooth can't forget her..." The whole album is delicious like this, with art by Adrian Tomine.

I have yet to hear a Mad Planets song that doesn't impress me. "Super 8," from the new 7" comp. on Papercut (called Paper; it's the third in a series) is so excellent. Tara Emelye's voice is nothing short of beautiful, and is that Erik making haunting ghostly noises in the background? As all of the bands on this tape so far, and most of the bands I like, the MPs aren't afraid to bang on those drums and make me want to dance around like a fool, knocking over things in the living room. This song is rad, as is the Receptionists' song on the comp, about the two kinds of chills there are: "the kind that I get in a haunted house and the kind I get holding your hand in a haunted house."

Next, Wandering Lucy continues on the theme of pretty vocals, with the best song from her CD, Leap Year, on K. Unfortunately, this album is hit and miss, but the songs that are good are pretty damn good. "Quick Freeze," is catchy and twisty and cool, but the rest of the album only lives up to that song's promise occasionally.

Now it's my new favorite band: Gritty Kitty! "I-85" is the best, at least in my personal opinion. "There goes one smitten kitten/ there goes one lucky guy." They're all bouncy and poppy in a completely homemade, having fun with your friends kind of way with boy and girl vocals! So you know I like this. I've also got "Crushworthy" and "Porchswing" (from their Mistaking Airplanes for Stars CD on Kindercore) on this, which are both nearly as perfect. The whole CD is a world of radness, in fact, and it kills me. Hardly anything else has challenged its place in my CD player since it showed up in my PO Box. I also have an earlier tape, called Stardust and Loser Wheelbarrows, which is nice bedroom pop, flawed in all the right ways. During the sillier moments it reminds me a bit of Avocado Baby with more guitar ("you may be away/ but I've still got pieces of you around my room/ are you a nutty bunny?"), and the songs where only Polly sings remind me of Meowch, but with clearer vocals. Nine songs in all, but none of the songs are very long, so the tape keeps your attention. Nice! No songs on my mix tape from that one, but I felt I had to mention it. When you order the CD from Kindercore, why don'tcha see if you can get the tape, too?

Also on Kindercore, we have Of Montreal, who I'd never heard before. On their EP, The Bird Who Ate the Rabbit's Flower, there are five Beatles/oldies influenced songs, including the one that kills me: "When a Man is in Love With a Man." It's so goofy and well-meaning. "There's something very neat, something extraordinarily sweet, with a man who's in love with a man."

After that crazy romp, I've got the soft folk strumming of Mirah's song, "Telescope." She's got a one-sided 12" out on Yoyo, which I love for the etching by Nikki McClure on the back, of a cutie girl getting a tape in the mail, writing a song, and being in a band. It's so attractive. The record is very quiet and sweet, but sometimes her voice turns too much into that folk-voice, which is annoying. It's pretty good, but thumbs up to the b-side!

To get back to the toe-tapping, it's Silver Scooter, with "Tractor Pull" and "Brain and Heart." They remind me of Small Factory and Spent, and the vocals sound sort of like a less whiny Built to Spill. These two songs are off their album, The Other Palm Springs on Peek-a-Boo. Up and coming indie rock superstars, check ‘em out!

Did you know that the Bartlebees have a new 7"? It's on Tout le Monde, and the song I've got on here is "Try and Stop Me," which is a Creation cover and is extra rad. Their music seems to have a bit more sophistication or something to it lately, because I didn't recognize this as the Barts when Chris played it the first time.

Side B:
The flip side of the tape starts off with three songs off the new Track Star album on Die Young, Stay Pretty (the other Sub Pop guy's label, or so I hear), called Communication Breaks. The songs are "Alien Idea," which is quiet and reflective, "Lifestyles," which is more toe-tapping and then gets all loud and crazy at the end, and "All Hands," which is awesomely clangy and catchy. This is a very good album, but I still say they're better live. The songs are all rad, though, doing that cool quiet-then-suddenly-loud-then-quiet-again thing. The only real problem I have with it is the 30 minutes of repeated guitar noise at the end. What is it with the CD format that makes people act like fools? You don't have to fill all that space.

Okay, after all that excitement, we have The Apples in Stereo with a song that sounds familiar to me for no reason that I can think of. It's called "We'll Come to Be," and is off of their new CD on SpinART called Tone Soul Evolution. I don't really have anything to say about the album; they aren't breaking any new ground here, and I've got to warn you that this may not really seem like a new Apples album; I actually don't listen to it much. They're still totally good in that Beatles-pop way, all fun and sing-songy. It's a very happy CD, but nothing's like "Firefly," from Science Faire, though. Alas.

Cheering me up, the Orange Peels jump into the scene with "Get it Right" and "She is Like a Rose," both from their CD on Minty Fresh called Square. Square because that's what they are. The Orange Peels, of course, is the new moniker for Allen Clapp and his Orchestra. I guess they decided the old name was too bulky, and it was funnier when it was just him playing all the instruments. I could say that the Orange Peels had a lot of zest, but that would be a bad pun, so I'll just say that they're very a-peel-ing, har har. Well, they are. Square is catchy pop that reminds me of the fifties and Buddy Holly. It's sweet, polite, and you can dance to it. I won't compare it to old Allen Clapp stuff, because I don't feel like it. Now that they're on Minty Fresh, will we hear them on alternative radio?

Anyway, next we have Creeping Jenny with "Living a Girl's Adventure Tale," which I taped on purpose, and the next song on the tape, "Lost in Space," which I taped on accident and just discovered. That's okay, I like them both. These songs are from their latest self-released tape, Thursday Morning Lift, and the whole album is electronic sugar pop mayhem. I really like "Living a Girl's Adventure Tale." It starts off sounding like video game music and just gets cooler. Magnetic Fields-esque, if you will. "I thought by the time that I was 23/ I would have made you fall in love with me." These songs are very good. It's like if the ‘Fields were your own secret. They have stuff released on Fantastic and Black Bean now, so check that out, too!

From another tape, this time on Magpie, I've got the Meowch song, "Walkhomefriend" off the new Splitsville. I bet a few of you reading this had Meowch's Ropeburn tape or at least read my interview with Patti in KS #4. If you've heard Meowch, this tape will seem very different. It's moodier and there's a lot of electronic noises and keyboard stuff. The vocals are still muffled enough to be pretty and mysterious. With Patti's voice it doesn't really matter what she's saying, it's just like another instrument. "Walkhomefriend" sounds just like a song from the last tape, but more somber and less poppy. There's even a cover of a Jawbreaker song! This tape is muy limited, so run and get it! $5 from Magpie.

Chris is always running around with these CDs that are "the best CD of the year," and sometimes it's something that kills me with its radness. This one is the Leslies CD, Totally Brilliant, on Harry Lime records. It was hard to only pick songs, but I narrowed it down to "A Daydream" and "Boy," both of which are near to perfect. Swedish pop music with the emphasis on pop, and the singer's got an accent that I love, and he doesn't always sing in 100% correct English. These songs are absolutely wonderful, all bouncy and springy and happy. Something you could hear on the radio (in Sweden) and not be surprised, but still pure and indie and good. I sound like a fool. That's how you can tell when a record is actually great, Arianne starts sounding like a fool.

So there's a Tullycraft/Rizzo split 7" on Harriet. I'm not too taken with the Rizzo song, but maybe that's just because I know they can do better. It's the most boring song I've heard by them, so if you've heard it, don't let it make you think they aren't totally rad, because they are, under normal circumstances. The Tullycraft song, "Heroes & Villains" is what I have on the tape though, and it's a cover of a Pooh Sticks song. It's so good, but that may be because the original is brilliant, and it stays very true to it; even down to all the whistling and acting like fools at the end. It's a fun song and makes me and Chris holler "I'd walk a million miiiiiiiiiles!"

If you're ready for sweetness, it's time for Tokidoki! If you recall from Kickstand #8, Chris and I saw them play a bunch of times with the Softies when I visited him in CT last year (and why hasn't Peter written us?), and they are a perfectly charming boy/girl duo, and Peter's voice is even higher than Nora's! The best song on the 7" on Harriet is "Sockhop," and it almost gives me cavities, it's so sweet. I am such a dork. Yay for me and my tired clichés. Anyway, it's good, okay?

Yes, the Cessna 7" is on Jigsaw, but that doesn't mean I'll necessarily be nice to it. I mean, the Rocketship song that comes next on the tape, also on Jigsaw, strikes a little fear into my heart, and I'm not afraid to admit it, but we'll get to that later. Anyway, Cessna are from Sweden, and "Garlic" is the nicest little bouncy pop song. The singer has a sort of whispery quality to his vocals that I like, and I also like how the music changes in the chorus.

Okay, so now Chris is going to be known as "the guy who put out that weird Rocketship record," but it wasn't his fault, okay? There are some pretty cool things about this Jigsaw 7", but mostly it makes you go, "what happened to Rocketship?" It's all funky and if you accidentally play it at 45, it's techno! It could be on Booty Mix '96! I really hate the, transtion from the a-side to the b-side, but whatever. For Rocketship fans, this is probably still a must-have! Half of the people who have it rant and the other half rave, so it's hard to say.

And to end this oh-so-rad tape, it's (believe it or not) The Romantics! Yeah! Keep on whispering in my ear, tell me all the things that I want to hear, ‘cause it's true - that's what I like about you. The song is from Poptopia, a 3 CD set that's a collection of power pop classics given to us by the fine folks at Rhino. Eighteen songs on each volume, the 70's, 80's, and 90's. I'm not too fond of the 70's one (with the exception of maybe Nick Lowe and The Knack) and I'm not too sure about the 90's one (have any of these songs had time to become classics? Still . . . The Posies, The Lemonheads . . .), but the 80's one kicks my butt! It gets off to an excellent start with "What I Like About You" by The Romantics, and you also get "Tell That Girl to Shut Up," The Bangles, The Smithereens, and tons more stuff that gets you doing funny dances and shouting along, and then it comes to a sweet close with The La's and "There She Goes." Brilliance! Power pop is my favorite! Jangle! Excitement! Catchiness! Oh baby. It's described in the liner notes of the 80's one as "Three-minute slices of radio-ready pop perfection," which makes me remember to tell you that the packaging rules! From the pop art and soup cans to the spinning record that hides under the CD, this is rad rad rad.