Radon Reviews: Zeus “Say Us”
I don’t know when Canada got the monopoly on the Beatles sound, what with Sloan’s decades of dominance in artful pop and now Zeus’ debut album Say Us having that perfect balance of Paul McCartney-harmlessness and John Lennon oddity. I still have about a half of a page of a review to fill out, but that pretty much sums it up handily. So…uhh….how’s it going?
I’m a little bummed that the band’s heavy cover of Genesis’s “That’s All” wasn’t one of the songs from their original LP that made the jump to this album, but that’s just a minor complaint. The album is a dozen tracks of feel good love child kind of music, without venturing into full blown Byrds-level psychedelia. It’s catchy, it’s effective, and your mom would probably be down to rock it with you, which is a big bonus if you enjoy hanging out with your mom.
There are some dry spots on the record, I personally feel like “The Renegade” drags a little bit, and the electro-dreamy David Bowie sounds of “I Know,” while cool, seem a bit off next to everything else. Still, these are minor nitpicks and the best I can come up with. The comparison stands, these songs have that basic rock and roll mold that’s absolutely impossible criticize without criticizing the evolution of music over the last 60 years. If you like the sounds of people playing string instruments, hitting drums, and singing into a microphone, you might not like Zeus, but just for that intangible reason that something doesn’t click with you. The fundamentals are all solid and present.
Radon Reviews: The Panics “Rain on the Humming Wire”
The Panics’ latest album Rain on the Humming Wire brings a bit of humanity to the grandiose anthems that bands like Coldplay seem to just shed off like dead skin. The Australian quintet combines simplicity in form with complexity in style, creating something that sounds as different as it does familiar. I know that just sounds like layers of contradiction on top of each other, but when you have a listen I think you’ll hear it. Maybe it’s just me.
Cruel Guards, the last album by The Panics is what really caught my attention with the same kind of formula, though at first I felt as though Rain on the Humming Wire just wasn’t doing it as well. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case so much as Cruel Guards was a really fantastic, impressive album. This is music that’s fairly subdued, accompanied with strings and piano, stirring as much as it is sleepy. Something for those rainy autumn days where the sun hardly even tries to pierce the dense gray. Something to put on when you need to be awake but don’t want to be, and when nothing feels better than the space under that blanket.
Radon Reviews: Malachai “Return to the Ugly Side”
As a man first and a music lover second, I have this fantasy where on some dark, rainy night, a group of people will give chase in slow-motion and, set to tasteful, violent music, I proceed to beat the ever-living piss out of them like it’s some kind of Guy Ritchie movie. Well, recently a lot of room on the playlist I have for that has been allocated to Malachai, and their mixture of retro Brit-pop structure and modern electronica. Their latest album, Return to the Ugly Side, is full of songs that are more than up to the task, perhaps none more so than “Let ‘Em Fall.”
Don’t let me give you the wrong impression here, this isn’t The Prodigy. Hell, it’s not even The Crystal Method. What it is is beat-heavy something-or-other with a very appropriate vocalist and a smart use of samples. Sometimes it’s slow and drips like molasses(“Anne”), at other times every hit on the snare punches you in the gut with an exclamation point(“The Don’t Just”). Living up to its name, Return to the Ugly Side is almost always gritty, black, and menacing.
Less energetic than their previous album, Return to the Ugly Side does things a bit more creatively than the canned loops and effects of its predecessor. At first, it seems to shy away from the in your face aesthetic of the songs like “Snowflake” and “Shitkicker” that got them noticed, but that aggression is still in there, just with a quiet that makes it more frightening. It’s not a perfect album, and some of the songs failed to resonate with me as well as others, but how often do you really get something that consistent?
It’s the right time of year to start letting out some demons, to get into mischief in the light of harvest moons and with the crunch of dead leaves underfoot. Malachai’s Return to the Ugly Side, and certainly their debut album Ugly Side of Love as well, are going to be a perfect companion for that kind of activity, whether you’re egging a house, finishing a bar fight, or burying the dismembered corpse of that rat who double crossed you.
Radon Reviews: Austra “Feel the Break”
It took a while to grow on me, but I am finally in the groove with listening to Austra’s Feel the Break, and my god, it’s like an operatic Norse goddess of new wave is singing me to sleep every night. A perfect pound-for-pound replacement for Berlin style electronic pop, Austra it’s not so much that it takes time or study to appreciate what’s on this album, but rather that once you find that one song that really blows you away, the rest of what’s around it blossoms into a dreamy, lush pop-up book to explore.
The album’s first single, “Lose It” had a very nice sound to it, combined with a haunting, trembling vocal performance, but it just never stuck with me, I didn’t totally love it and I didn’t exactly know why. After hearing “The Villain” and then “Darken Her Horse,” my opinion quickly changed and I began going back and listening to songs I’d heard and wanting to hear the rest of the album, and I really don’t regret it. The songs are stripped down and minimal at times, sometimes layered with harmonies and chirping effects, but still containing a quiet intensity.
Radon Reviews: The Pack A.D. “Tintype”
The Pack A.D. has a new album out, and people say how much their sound has changed from their first album – Tintype. I’ve heard the first single “Sirens” from this new album Unpersons, and it sure sounds like a day-long afternoon of roller derby and warm beer but I think there’s a definite callback to their original sound. Tintype is best compared to a White Stripes album with more blues and a healthy dose of feminine punch. In other words, Becky Black and Maya Miller hit the ground running with raw awesome. It makes me want to do that head nod and surprised face you might give your buddy at a show like “Damn, I was not expecting this, but my face is being rocked.”
Just the two of them, Becky on guitar and Maya on the drums, make good use of distortion and the classic blues style of alternating singing and playing to keep from sounding small or lacking in personnel. The music itself is so good it hurts. I’ve gone through the follow-up albums Funeral Mixtape and We Kill Computers as well, and I like them both but for entirely different reasons. Computers’ “Cobra Matte” has a frenetic sound I really dig in a weird way, but Tintype’s “Got Up” just attacks the soul in a harsh and beautiful way.
Radon Reviews: Oh No! Yoko “Pau Pau”
Oh No! Yoko’s latest EP Pau Pau is full of upbeat anthems for skinny kids who miss researching homework assignments on America OnLine and summers spent in the air conditioning or chasing an ice cream truck. The Vancouver indie band has a pretty sharp recording here that’s a quick, fun-loving mood lifter.
Frantic percussion and quick basslines provide the backdrop for full-band chant shouts and high, ringing guitar riffs that bring everything together nicely. Nothing really innovative here, but certainly above average for the most part. What gets me about this album is that to me it hits a note of adults trying to act like children, what with references to Saved by the Bell and Roald Dahl sneaking their way into the lyrics.
With seven songs clocking in right around 20 minutes, the energy is really strong throughout and I’d really love the chance to see a live performance from Oh No! Yoko, as they sound like a band that could really kill a small-to-medium club with a powerful show. As for the album itself, it catches my attention but its quick thrills may not stick with me for long. I certainly wouldn’t mind hearing these songs sneak in during a shuffle, but without really being long enough to even go to the store and back or finish any considerable amount of work, I won’t be turning to Pau Pau for background music any time soon.
Pau Pau is a really happy album, and it is fun to listen to as it sounds inventive but at the same time doesn’t quite come off as unique. It’s still early for this band, though, and I’ll certainly be adding them to my list of bands to keep an eye on. A full-length effort that ventures into speeding up or slowing down (“400,000 Years” is a tantalizing look at this possibility) at times would be something I could really enjoy. Still, if you want music that perfectly encapsulates the sound of reminiscing with rose-colored glasses, Oh No! Yoko’s Pau Pau is going to hit the spot.
Radon Reviews: Lex Land “Were My Sweetheart to Go”
Currently on tour to promote her latest album, Lex Land is a delight in the recording booth, and a captivating charmer channeling every image of a songbird in a smoky, dingy lounge if you have the good fortune of seeing her live. The recently released Were My Sweetheart to Go tries some new tricks while still carrying the emotional intensity that at least makes this reviewer swoon. If you’ve heard Orange Days on Lemon Street by now, you need no further incentive to check out this album. For the uninitiated, allow me to go into further detail.
Opening with the 50’s girl pop of “Oh My!” which features hand claps and dreamy harmonies along the chorus, the album immediately cuts to the supper club singing of “Someone New on my Mind,” showing an impressive range in both composition and the vocal performances of Ms. Land. And while it’s easy to lose focus of the former in presence of the power of the latter, the talent is evenly spread. Were My Sweetheart to Go continues to travel and dabble across even more genres and styles that I could outline by song, doing so more playfully than the previous album, but I don’t want to spoil the special first listen of this album, like opening a series of presents that never miss the mark.
Radon Reviews: Paranoid Social Club “Axis IV”
The probable conclusion to the band’s psychological referencing album titles, and the latest disc by a darling favorite of mine, Paranoid Social Club’s Axis IV seems to eschew some of their oddball flexibility for a straight rock disc, a pace set by a clearly Foo Fighters-inspired lead tracks “Count on Me” and the stripped-down cover of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” While the album isn’t quite as mystifyingly captivating as their self-titled album, Axis IV shows there’s still some life in this side project.
Of course, as they tend to do, the following song “Stick Up Kid” sounds like some kind of slowed-down House of Pain, a callback to early 90’s hip hop, and then jumps to the thrashing “Party Girl,” an anthem to that girl who goes from pretty and drunk to just plain pretty drunk. And then THAT gets followed by a dirty-beat show of support in “Suicide.” It’s the way that Paranoid Social Club can tap so many different inspirations and represent the most bro-tastic party animalisms and deep insecurities and regrets within minutes of each other that give them a broad appeal. Whoever you are, Paranoid Social Club has already written a song about you by now, I nearly guarantee it.
Radon Reviews: American Pinup “Strang Creatures”
Remember when you used to really dig No Doubt and had the hots for Gwen Stefani because she seemed like a really down-to-earth but still totally badass chick and then all of that went downhill once Return of Saturn dropped and everything just kept getting more and more terrible? Well, here’s American Pinup, so fingers crossed and here we go again. Their debut album Strange Creatures released in February of this year, and I am officially endorsing it.
It’s basically just raw four-piece California-style punk from New York with growly female vocals, typically more Save Ferris than No Doubt, but without the horns and the typical ska arrangements, “Strongbow” excluded. I wanted to find something that rocked for summer’s last gasps because I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been listening (and by proxy reviewing) a lot of quiet folksy stuff and I needed a dose of energy, and American Pinup straight fucking delivers on that. Of course, I also thought I should throw a male vocalist a bone, but hey, we can’t have everything we want.
Radon Reviews: Jesca Hoop “Kismet”
Ladies and gentlemen, if you are not already familiar with her then please allow me to acquaint you with Jesca Hoop. Eclectic is too redundant a word for somebody who got their start as the personal nanny for Tom Waits’ children, so let me just assure you that her music is not going to disappoint the picture you already have in your head. Stomping burlesque folk with flowers in one hand and a dagger in the other, Jesca can sing one verse like a songbird from the golden age of radio and the next with all the dark smoke of a Fiona Apple. Her debut full-length album Kismet released in 2007 and gives you a good idea of what this talented lady is all about.
My best attempt to sum up Jesca Hoop’s sound would be vocals alternating from distortion to operatic harmony, a minute of waltzing guitar, and then when the drums finally kick in, anything goes. Hoop isn’t really afraid to throw anything in no matter how much it might clutter the rest, and that helps create this atmosphere where both everything and nothing about these songs can be beautiful, and it just depends on how it sounds in that moment. A measure later, when the bass gets louder or the guitar rests it sounds like magic, and often you can see how precarious an arrangement can be when it has one part too few or one part too many.
