Stellastarr*
Stellastarr*
RCA Records
The guys (and girl) in New York’s newest big-name art-school band, Stellastarr*, have excellent haircuts. They’ve also managed to put together a debut album that’s equal parts pure thievery and brilliance. There’s rampant pillaging going on here, which, rather than make me go running for my Pixies or New Order records, made me turn Stellastarr*’s CD up louder.
Singer Shawn Christensen has a perfect new-wave voice-his falsetto yelp is almost all you need to want to relive the early 80s, although this time you’ll thankfully be out of kindergarten. Man, the 80s are so hip right now. Stellastarr* weaves a thick veil of layered guitars and pummeling drums and bass that easily recalls all the good stuff you like about the music you love. Take the first single, “My Coco,” which is arguably the best of what this album has to offer. Oh man, hooks for miles, bassist Amanda Tannen’s ethereal whisper in the opening lines, and you, dancing at home alone because you can’t help yourself.
The songwriting and -playing is solid, and the album is well produced and will have you and your little friends sweaty from dancing and laughter in no time, all of which makes for a mandatory purchase. Now go and find an Izod polo shirt, turn that collar up, and give yourself an asymmetrical haircut. Mom and Dad won’t be back for hours, and the liquor cabinet is totally unlocked.-Andreas Trolf
Ratatat
Ratatat
XL Recordings
Man, yet another Brooklyn-based band making it big. The music scene out here is so killer. Just walk down Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and you’ll swear that everyone you see is in a band-greasy hair, tattoos, dirty jeans. Everyone’s famous, or at least looks famous. And all the girls are super hot.
So Ratatat comes along, and I have no idea what to make of it. Can I call it dance-rock? Or rock-dance? I don’t know which to put emphasis on. This could even be a little hip-hop, but the two dudes in the band are super white. I think, though, that it’s white America’s fascination with black America that defines this album. Everything worthwhile, musically, in the past 50 years has come from black-American culture. Seriously. Think about it. Rock and roll-that’s just the bastard child of Southern blues. Rap? Duh. Dance music? Even awesome 70s and 80s Euro dance music can trace its lineage back to black America. Which I guess I should capitalize, right? There-Black America. Damn if Ratatat isn’t good.
So there’re the two white boys in Ratatat, Mike Stroud and Evan Mast, who have sort of appropriated just about everything they could get their hands and sequencers on and made this hodgepodge of an instrumental album. This is good. This is white America at its most larcenous. I mean, with the exception of slavery and segregation. But that’s old. Why do I always have to go and bring up old shit?-Andreas Trolf
Melvins + Lustmord
Pigs Of The Roman Empire
Ipecac Recordings
After about twenty years of Melvins albums, the band has recently released a first-of-its-kind industrial album (for the Melvins) with the electronic demi-god known as Lustmord (Throbbing Gristle, SPK). The result is somewhat intense and utterly astounding-think the Godflesh Street Cleaner album or even Ministry’s Psalm 69, both released in the early 90s. P.O.T.R.E. is a meticulous album-it’s an electronically engineered, perfect marriage of heavy, driving Melvins riffs coupled with the knob-turning bleeps and blips of an evil genius at work. What you get is one of the greatest Melvins albums to come down the pike in a long while. True fans won’t be disappointed with this one. It’s like getting your chocolate stuck in someone’s peanut butter.-Aaron Schmidt
Bongzilla
Apogee
Relapse Records
Oh, man. You gotta check this new shit out! I just got it yesterday from my bud. This has got to be the stickiest shit on the market right now-you can’t pick it up without it sticking to youfingers like glue. It’s genetically engineered by mad scientists and cultivated by master horticulturists. This is no joke, either-it has an organically smooth taste with absolutely no paranoia. With the market being flooded right now with greedy people peddling B-grade, it’s so refreshing to get your hands on some high quality to call your own. When you finally do hook it up, you might want to buy a big quantity of it so it’ll be around for a while in your personal stash. Good shit like this only comes around town every once in a while, so strike now while the iron’s hot. So anyway, what was I saying?-Aaron Schmidt
Pelican
Australasia
Hydra Head Records
Every few years an album comes along that by way of its singular artistic vision and, to some lesser but no less important extent, its recording production manages to effectively annihilate my interest in other music or anything else music related. I mean something so good I can’t be bothered to give one damn about any other CDs, new bands, or live shows. Such an album can grip me for weeks, occasionally for months-it happens rarely. But it always happens, for example when, say, Lungfish or Fugazi comes out with an album. It definitely would happen were Chavez or Slint to come out with something new.
To this sadly short list of jaw-droppers I’ll now add Illinois’ Pelican and its brilliant album Australasia. It’s the best new album I’ve heard in at least two years, maybe three. Indeed, I’ve bought it three times, twice for the express purpose of giving it to friends in need of inspiration. But with that said, explaining what it sounds like is a bit tough, in large part because it doesn’t have many touchstones for comparison, which is partially the reason it’s so amazing.
Several independent bands in recent years have chosen to forego the inclusion of central vocalists in favor of writing ambient music long on instrumental ruminations and pretty arrangements. Occasionally the results are interesting, even uplifting and genre expanding. Various works by Mogwai, Talk Talk, and Fridge come to mind. Pelican joins this pantheon by melding its drop-C tunings and doom-metal leanings with major-scale chord progressions and ass-kicking Melvins-esque bravado. The “sound” is anthemic and inspirational, yet oddly melancholy and dead heavy. It’s the damnedest thing, but I honestly know no other way to explain it. Consider this a full-blown, unequivocal endorsement.-Arlie Carstens
Paul Westerberg
Folker
Vagrant Records
Forget what you know, or think you know, about Paul Westerberg-the fact that he’s the godfather of slacker garage rock, or even that he’s the one who led his former band, The Replacements, to the top of the 80s rock underground and eternally into cult status. This is Paul Westerberg now-the same unapologetic, restless boozehound he was back then, just a little older.
Folker is Westerberg’s fifth home-recorded album and a follow-up to 2002′s double-disc masterpiece Stereo/Mono. As always, Westerberg shines when he’s down. At the end of the 80s, record companies started throwing big money at Westerberg to produce his genius in expensive studio sessions with top producers. This led to lifeless mediocrities such as Don’t Tell a Soul and Eventually.
With no pressure or eyes on him, Westerberg returned to his Minneapolis basement and began recording albums himself. This has led to some of the best work of his career. Folker is full of raw rock/blues guitar that would make the Rolling Stones proud. He’s still lyrically the same witty, restless, uncomfortable scribe-except with middle age setting in. There’re some heartfelt moments on the album-”My Dad,” one of the highlights, is a tribute to his recently deceased father and is almost a chorus to his career. “Lookin’ Up In Heaven” is one of Westerberg’s best acoustic songs to date and is a refreshing change from many of the other songs on the album.
Aside from the sloppy “$100 Groom,” this album has all the great imperfections a good rock album should have. Even though the vocals are competing with the hum of a basement heater, it’s still one of Westerberg’s best to date. As long as he’s still able to keep recording in his basement, I’m sure we’ll hear great albums from him.-Greg Harris
G. Love
The Hustle
Universal Music Group
G. Love tears into his new album The Hustle with lines like, “Don’t d-d-drop it, the funky beat.” He also shines with the Jack Johnson-influenced tracks like “Love” and the similarly named “Lovin’ Me.” The opening track of the album is raw and gritty. G. Love said in a recent interview, “It’s a back to basics record-musically it’s pretty stripped down, getting back to the root of the G. Love And Special Sauce sound.” The freshest tracks on the album are “Booty Call” and “Back Of The Bus” with G. Love spitting, what he calls, “front-porch hip-hop/blues.”
G. Love’s recently signed on with Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records label for this new album, which is entirely produced by Mario C.-legendary producer of the Beastie Boys. He’s also working on a side project with former pro skateboarder and founder of 80s skate-rock band McRad Chuck Treece.
G. Love’s music is influenced by KRS-One, Eric B. & Rakim, Pharcyde, and Cypress Hill, with blues influences ranging from Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi Fred Mcdowell, and John Hammond. G. Love delivers the raw hip-hop blues, and The Hustle is definitely an album to check out.-Jack Spilberg
The Plug Uglies
A Pathetic Paradise
Seven, eleven … no, not the local Slurpee shop-those are my two favorite tracks from the second album, A Pathetic Paradise, put out by Oceanside, California’s own The Plug Uglies. It’s all I’ve been playing on my CD player. Yes, the songs have begun to skip, but I don’t care. I can still jam to my two favorite tracks. This music is not some overplayed, oversaturated radio crap. If you want to check out something musically pleasing to the ear, then listen to this album. The freestyle guitar work and instrumentals will keep you thirsting for more. This has definitely become my non-eject CD for the month.-Kristi Schmidt
Pig Destroyer
Terrifyer
Relapse
Destroying pigs? Are they talking about eliminating a peace officer or the annihilation of a swine? Either way you want to look at it, this shit is about as brutally intense as metal can get without being total grindcore. Ripped to shreds, filleted like a flounder, or gutted like a fat farm pig-Pig Destroyer is here to eradicate the music scene with a barrage of machine-gun-style riffage and blast beats that’ll leave you shell-shocked like you were hit with a concussion grenade. This has got to be some of the fastest, most guttural anti-music at the moment (P.D. kind of sounds like a cross between Phobia and early Napalm Death). Need that early-morning dose of wake-up music to be the equivalent of about 50 shots of espresso? Pig Destroyer could very well be the band for you.-Aaron Schmidt
Tony Allen
Home Cooking
Comet/Virgin
This world-famous Nigerian drummer is known for his pioneering work with Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade. Realizing that he was the driving energy behind these groups, he set out on his own, and in his absence Fela needed four drummers to do the work of Tony Allen. Home Cooking is an infectious eleven-track delight. The first track kicks hard while featuring vocalist Damon Albarn of Blur/Gorillaz and hooks you right in from the guitar intro. The rest of the album is just as hot, with UK rapper Ty on select cuts. Topics range from war, relationships, kindness, and home-cooked meals. Pick up on this, and trip out on the polyrhythmic guitar playing, loopy bass, and Tony’s hypnotic drumming. Don’t sleep-this one is great!-Ray Stevens II
Sing The Body Electric
Sing The Body Electric
Restart Records
For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why Sing The Body Electric sounded so familiar and then it his all the great imperfections a good rock album should have. Even though the vocals are competing with the hum of a basement heater, it’s still one of Westerberg’s best to date. As long as he’s still able to keep recording in his basement, I’m sure we’ll hear great albums from him.-Greg Harris
G. Love
The Hustle
Universal Music Group
G. Love tears into his new album The Hustle with lines like, “Don’t d-d-drop it, the funky beat.” He also shines with the Jack Johnson-influenced tracks like “Love” and the similarly named “Lovin’ Me.” The opening track of the album is raw and gritty. G. Love said in a recent interview, “It’s a back to basics record-musically it’s pretty stripped down, getting back to the root of the G. Love And Special Sauce sound.” The freshest tracks on the album are “Booty Call” and “Back Of The Bus” with G. Love spitting, what he calls, “front-porch hip-hop/blues.”
G. Love’s recently signed on with Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records label for this new album, which is entirely produced by Mario C.-legendary producer of the Beastie Boys. He’s also working on a side project with former pro skateboarder and founder of 80s skate-rock band McRad Chuck Treece.
G. Love’s music is influenced by KRS-One, Eric B. & Rakim, Pharcyde, and Cypress Hill, with blues influences ranging from Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi Fred Mcdowell, and John Hammond. G. Love delivers the raw hip-hop blues, and The Hustle is definitely an album to check out.-Jack Spilberg
The Plug Uglies
A Pathetic Paradise
Seven, eleven … no, not the local Slurpee shop-those are my two favorite tracks from the second album, A Pathetic Paradise, put out by Oceanside, California’s own The Plug Uglies. It’s all I’ve been playing on my CD player. Yes, the songs have begun to skip, but I don’t care. I can still jam to my two favorite tracks. This music is not some overplayed, oversaturated radio crap. If you want to check out something musically pleasing to the ear, then listen to this album. The freestyle guitar work and instrumentals will keep you thirsting for more. This has definitely become my non-eject CD for the month.-Kristi Schmidt
Pig Destroyer
Terrifyer
Relapse
Destroying pigs? Are they talking about eliminating a peace officer or the annihilation of a swine? Either way you want to look at it, this shit is about as brutally intense as metal can get without being total grindcore. Ripped to shreds, filleted like a flounder, or gutted like a fat farm pig-Pig Destroyer is here to eradicate the music scene with a barrage of machine-gun-style riffage and blast beats that’ll leave you shell-shocked like you were hit with a concussion grenade. This has got to be some of the fastest, most guttural anti-music at the moment (P.D. kind of sounds like a cross between Phobia and early Napalm Death). Need that early-morning dose of wake-up music to be the equivalent of about 50 shots of espresso? Pig Destroyer could very well be the band for you.-Aaron Schmidt
Tony Allen
Home Cooking
Comet/Virgin
This world-famous Nigerian drummer is known for his pioneering work with Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade. Realizing that he was the driving energy behind these groups, he set out on his own, and in his absence Fela needed four drummers to do the work of Tony Allen. Home Cooking is an infectious eleven-track delight. The first track kicks hard while featuring vocalist Damon Albarn of Blur/Gorillaz and hooks you right in from the guitar intro. The rest of the album is just as hot, with UK rapper Ty on select cuts. Topics range from war, relationships, kindness, and home-cooked meals. Pick up on this, and trip out on the polyrhythmic guitar playing, loopy bass, and Tony’s hypnotic drumming. Don’t sleep-this one is great!-Ray Stevens II
Sing The Body Electric
Sing The Body Electric
Restart Records
For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why Sing The Body Electric sounded so familiar and then it hit me-it sounds a lot like this band Tanner. Maybe you’ve seen TransWorld’s Uno video and can recall Paul Sharpe’s part-he’s got this amazing line where he backside flips up the curb the hardway and then switch ollies this hip-high fence. But Paul shares Tanner’s “Computers That Breathe” song with a really young Heath Kirchart, who was already jumping down massive gaps-he ollies this huge brick double-set stairwell and kickflips the Arco gap in Orange County. Good video. But the point of this review is to let you know that “4 Leaf Clover” and “Smoke In Mirrors” were the songs that really brought about the memory of Tanner. I’m not even sure how I got this CD, but if you can find a copy, your ears will surely enjoy this tidbit of rock, especially if you can appreciate music with a lot of energy.-Eric Sentianin
Helmet
Size Matters
Interscope
Toward the tail end of the grunge era-fueled by some of the finest bands to ever come out of Seattle, like Soundgarden, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Tad, and a handful of others-the LP Meantime by a relatively unknown band from New York by the name Helmet began playing frequently in people’s cassette players. Not only is it Helmet’s best, but it’s one of the most influential and overlooked albums of the 90s and could certainly be considered a musical offering way ahead of its time. Its powerful musical style was somewhere between rock and metal, with heavy guitar riffs, dynamic tempos, and a distinctive drumming style making Helmet unique-many mediocre and mostly boring mainstream bands have copied frontman Page Hamilton’s writing techniques, but no one has been able to outdo the original.
Helmet has returned with Size Matters-its first in nearly four years. Although the band has seen some new faces over the years, its main songwriter Page Hamilton hasn’t changed, which becomes clear as you listen through some of Helmet’s past works. Size Matters isn’t what Meantime was, but there’s something any Helmet afficionado can appreciate. The band is embarking on its first tour in nearly seven years, so there might be a chance to see them play “In The Meantime” live once again.-Eric Sentianin
t hit me-it sounds a lot like this band Tanner. Maybe you’ve seen TransWorld’s Uno video and can recall Paul Sharpe’s part-he’s got this amazing line where he backside flips up the curb the hardway and then switch ollies this hip-high fence. But Paul shares Tanner’s “Computers That Breathe” song with a really young Heath Kirchart, who was already jumping down massive gaps-he ollies this huge brick double-set stairwell and kickflips the Arco gap in Orange County. Good video. But the point of this review is to let you know that “4 Leaf Clover” and “Smoke In Mirrors” were the songs that really brought about the memory of Tanner. I’m not even sure how I got this CD, but if you can find a copy, your ears will surely enjoy this tidbit of rock, especially if you can appreciate music with a lot of energy.-Eric Sentianin
Helmet
Size Matters
Interscope
Toward the tail end of the grunge era-fueled by some of the finest bands to ever come out of Seattle, like Soundgarden, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Tad, and a handful of others-the LP Meantime by a relatively unknown band from New York by the name Helmet began playing frequently in people’s cassette players. Not only is it Helmet’s best, but it’s one of the most influential and overlooked albums of the 90s and could certainly be considered a musical offering way ahead of its time. Its powerful musical style was somewhere between rock and metal, with heavy guitar riffs, dynamic tempos, and a distinctive drumming style making Helmet unique-many mediocre and mostly boring mainstream bands have copied frontman Page Hamilton’s writing techniques, but no one has been able to outdo the original.
Helmet has returned with Size Matters-its first in nearly four years. Although the band has seen some new faces over the years, its main songwriter Page Hamilton hasn’t changed, which becomes clear as you listen through some of Helmet’s past works. Size Matters isn’t what Meantime was, but there’s something any Helmet afficionado can appreciate. The band is embarking on its first tour in nearly seven years, so there might be a chance to see them play “In The Meantime” live once again.-Eric Sentianin
