Southern Culture on the Skids "Double Wide and Live" (YepRoc) Sounds Like: A Southern-fried stew of distorted, reverb-laden guitars, swampy grooves and garage attitude. B
Recorded live at Local 506 in Chapel Hill, N.C., this live album by Southern Culture on the Skids (SCOTS for short) is a fun-filled stomp through various musical styles like surf, blues, country and garage rock. This band clearly loves what they're doing, which is always a good thing.
The album is a lot of fun, just like music should be. There's nothing pretentious or heavily serious on the album. The song titles alone tell you that this band does what they do because they love it. "Cicada Rock," "Banana Pudding," "'69 El Camino" and "Meximelt" show that this band has a sense of humor, and even though they probably take playing their music seriously, they don't take themselves too seriously. The crowd, while small sounding, is very loud and appreciative of SCOTS's combination of catchy songs, vocal harmonies, simplistic drumming and rollicking garage-surf riffs, and countrified guitar picking.
The fact that this is a live album is awesome. Recording a live album is often very beneficial, as it can showcase the band in a very raw format, allowing the energy of the musicians to seep through. That's exactly what this recording does for SCOTS. All the instruments are very loud and up-front, and the vocals come in very clear. It's an excellent live recording, and none of the energy is lost through bad recording quality.
Basically, this album is great for anyone who just wants a fun record to listen to and have a good time. It's nothing revolutionary or life changing, but it's high-energy rock and roll that is refreshingly devoid of pretension and seriousness.
-ANDREW YONKI
The Boy Least Likely To "The Best Party Ever" (Rough Trade/Too Young To Die) Sounds like: The exact opposite of Bright Eyes.
One can understand the reasoning behind this album. It's to use a kitschy-folksy sound, chimes and all, and oftentimes cutesy lyrics which invoke a child-like image to contrast more serious issues like growing up, getting hurt and the like. But it's so hard to get past the initial sound, which, like brussel sprouts to a child, is something hard to swallow. The album is just all right for the first few minutes, but by "Warm Panda Cola," it elicits the wrong reaction (all you'll want to do is smoke and drink and listen to angry music).
It's easy to get into "I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon to Your Star" because it it's nice - think of a childlike version of an Arlo Guthrie song. It does make one want to pull on their knickers and climb a tree at night, but then the album crescendos with "the battle of the boy least likely to," and what they emote creeps into the ridiculous. One should have high hopes for a song entitled "Sleeping With a Gun Under My Pillow," and it largely delivers because the song has some twang and irony that one expects from an album like this. Even "Hugging My Grudge" makes you want to bounce around. "My Tiger Heart" is also a nice song, and "God Takes Care of the Little Things" is a good culminating song: short, sweet and with a great wooden flute.
This album will appeal to those with certain music preferences. Furthermore, if one or two of the songs on this album appeared in a different compilation, they would seem like a nice take on how older songs can be updated. But the album can't bear the weight of trying to revive a very childlike sound and make another point. One gets lost in the initial tone and tertiary feelings are overpowered by chimes and bells.
-MARJORIE KORN
The Sword "Age of Winters" (Kemado Records) Sounds Like: Sleep, if they used their record company advances to record a decent sounding album (with actual songs!) instead of blowing it all on weed. A-
Austin's The Sword brings heavy metal back to its roots and redefines what the phrase used to mean with this album. While it would be easy and also fairly accurate to call these guys "stoner metal," there's a hell of a lot more energy in it that sometimes recalls the thrash metal of Slayer. Granted, there's lots of slow, sludgy riffage and almost ridiculous fantasy-oriented lyrics that would link it to bands like Sleep, but that's only part of the equation.
The Sword is not above switching the tempo around and, unlike Sleep, these guys are not afraid to play fast. They sound just as good in full-gallop mode as they do cranking out doom-laden dirges. There are advantages to this: It's possible to listen to The Sword without consuming any substances and it doesn't drag along as if the listener was attending the funeral procession of a prehistoric sloth.
Heavy metal, since its inception, has lost its mile-deep groove, with a few bands being exceptions. This lack of groove is especially true in present-day metal, with bands that play so fast and/or technically that a groove is almost impossible. People tend to forget that metal has a groove. The Sword is capable of reminding non-believers. "Age of Winters" has such a laid back yet tight groove that it's almost possible to dance to these guys.
Considering that The Sword has been exposed to a very diverse audiences through tours with Mastodon and ...And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead, there is hope that the boys from Austin can bring good music back to the mainstream and make it safe for heavy metal to not only rule to world, but to let it all hang out while doing it.
-A.Y.
Flying "Just-One-Second-Ago Broken Eggshell" (Mill Pond) Sounds Like: Animal Collective, stripped of their electronics and forced to play folk and jazz. B+
Out of Brooklyn come three fresh-faced kids ready to take on the world with their unique brand of experimental/psychedelic noise indie. Following in similar traditions of contemporaries such as Animal Collective, Gowns and The Robot Ate Me, Flying combines all the quirkiness one would find in such bands and mixes it with an unabashed love for noise rock, psychedelica, jazz and everything in between.
The first track from their debut, "Alice," is a wonderful piece of melodic fun, and the album only gets better. The poignant "Love Dies Here" is a disjointed piece of music that is every bit pleasing and lovable as it is cathartic. Singers Sara Magenheimer and Eben Portnoy both compliment each other's style and the overlapping harmonies are wonderfully crafted amidst the minimalist music that speaks a lot. The album really hits its stride toward the end. The tracks "#1 Chariot" and "Soldier's Tounge" are standout tracks amidst an already great album. While the album is relatively short, it is appropriate for a band like this. Unique bands like Flying don't need long epics to convey the minimalist sound with which they play. While minimalist, Flying is anything but simple as the band is able to use a small array of instruments and craft a sound that borders on intricate.
Be forewarned, this band is not the next Flaming Lips, so they don't have these grandiose tributes to the abnormal. Flying is a band unto itself, a unique brand of indie/noise/folk/anything-you-make-it. And "Just-One-Second Broken Eggshell" is a testament to this band's originality and ability to craft good music.
-CHRIS MORENO
KT Tunstall "Eye to the Telescope" (Virgin) Sounds like: An updated 10,000 Maniacs, with the spirit of Vanessa Williams. A-
KT Tunstall at first seems like girl with guitar. She comes from across the pond and evidently started out in the coffee house scene (what she calls the "realm of the 'Smelly Cat'"). But she has certainly transcended that, and "Eye to the Telescope" is evidence of that.
The album is reflective of a singer-songwriter who has the capacity to imbue different sounds and feelings without betraying the continuity of the album. The first song, "Other Side of the World," is joyful and almost liberating while still being reflective; it's a song one can't get sick of unless it's picked up by a new sitcom. But she's able to pick up the beat and get more serious and soulful. "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" is a song to tap along to, as is "Miniature Disasters." Then the album goes a little sweet and perhaps nostalgic, while finishing off with a more traditional song at the end (notice the almost gospel-like sound and piano of "Through the Dark").
"Eye to the Telescope" seems to do two things to KT Tunstall. For one it is a very good album, though it's hard to know if it has mass appeal, which is OK, because she has found her audience and will invariably please them. Secondly, it acts as a calling card, because it's clear that her career is just beginning.
-M.K.
