Dienstag, 30. Mai 2006, 2:04
In what promises to be a weekly feature, I listen to the preview tracks of artists recommended to me by last.fm. The procedure is to start writing the review while the first 30 second preview track is playing and finish by the second. After all, first impressions are what actually count in life; in that spirit I keep it plenty snarky. I indicate if I've heard or heard of the artist before, to fly my ignorance and bias flags at full mast (laugh and learn). Finally, in an effort to create a feedback loop of good music, the resonance of which is likely to implode into a black hole of indierock (stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back), the SPICY artists get a plum: I'll add an album of theirs to my collection in the intervening week.
SPICY/CULT: would attend show.
MEDIUM: would not leave room at party.
BLAND: pain. boredom. doom.
**known, in my record collection.
*known, but not in my record collection.
SPICY:
*The Notwist - The tools standard, the artists superpar.
*Wolf Parade - Exquisite, painful, pretty. Could listen to alone or aparty. Apraise: wealthy!
Tiga - Good synth pop. Very dancy. Reminiscent of Freezepop.
Gnarls Barkley - Good hip hop, in the Outkast vein. One of their songs is called Go Go Gadget Gospel, praise the lord.
TV on the Radio - Bring in the beat. Heavy. Hot. Vaguely southern. Definitely wanted 30 seconds more.
Feist - Delicate vocals with the perfect sprinkling in the background. Reminds me of springtime, and embarrasses me for forcing me into using bad metaphors.
*The Walkmen - Have not failed to perform, perennially good garnish for the mixtape d'jour.
**The Unicorns - Intense, poppy, manic.
*M.I.A. - boom, boom, boom. Excellent, the beats alone would stand, but the notch is upped by the rap, rap, rap.
**Deerhoof - Experimental, hot, energetic, exotic. Need I say more? I probably do: panda panda panda.
*The Fiery Furnaces - Fucked up their first impression long ago, winning both BLAND and 100 PROOF OVERRATED, but showing that there is hope indeed for the recalcitrant, eventually won me over with their experimental and dancy beats. I'm excited to obtain my very own album, here comes the summer.
**M83 - AIR can get stale after the nth play, without leaving France listen to M83 when a breather is of the import.
MEDIUM:
**Built to Spill - Built to Spill is great. I've seen them live quite a few times. Huge repertoire, fun, but there comes a time when the songs blend together in to one giant indifferentiable opus that needs large resting on the shelf between revisitings. Comes replete with datestamp, takes one back, but timetravel is so last millenium.
*Q and Not U - Funky and I could definitely imagine rocking out to after a few gin and tonics. A few too many (is it my imagination or has this actually happened?). This band gets my stamp of approval in the end. 100 proof.
*The Polyphonic Spree - Epic and I really want to love them that much too, but I just can't believe. Could imagine the live show being powerful enough to overcome the over-saturation and images of ponies and rainbows, but all the sunshine is blocking my view.
Cat5 - Poppy and fun enough but ultimately empty feeling.
*Kimya Dawson - From the first voicing, obvious she's missing the other half of The Moldy Peaches. Less rowdy, more beautiful. It could balance out in the end: but let's be honest here, who's got the crack?
BLAND:
*Set Fire to Flames - A Silver Mount Zion sparser, rawer, uncut. Would need a projector and a few attractive hipsters to hold my attention through a whole song, when really, isn't it all about the music?
Stars - With harmonica and a cello so much more could be done. There are indie rockers in China who are one track short of an album, think of the poor.
CocoRosie - Delicate and the vocals show promise. Ultimately should be the soundtrack to a movie not a maincourse.
The Go! Team - Energetic, trumpets a nice touch, a bit of rapping. Seems to be heading somewhere, never quite gets there.
*Dntl - Ambient, take a damper pedal to Aphex Twin. Needs to up the ante.
Islands - The piano and vocals are talented but uninspired.
Final Fantasy - The stringy instrumentation adds a touch of greatness, when it manages not to clash, but without it they'd be another nothing, and it's not worth the overly dissonant moments in the end.
*The Kills - saw them live, rather accidentally at Roskilde. If I wanted the White Stripes, I'd listen to them.
Nico - Exotic throatal vocalist but the music ultimately falls flat.
The Cooper Temple Clause - Vanilla rock and vocals. If Tool and Built to Spill had an elicit and ugly child.
Annie - I miss the 80s too, dear. And when I miss them I bust out Prince, I don't write tribute songs.
65daysofstatic - Boring. Sounded vaguely like Cursive, without the torment. Someone torment them!
*Elf Power - I recognize that vocalist. Go home. Like a poem with over exuberant rhyme.
*The New Pornographers - I can't conceive of these ingredients baking anything resembling good music.
Four Tet - Sprinkles of goodness, but not enough sparks of brilliance to start a fire.
Devendra - Again exotic vocals can't hold an album. I'd rather listen to Cat Power. No. Really.
The Go-Betweens - Do I actually have to risk developing carpal tunnel to type up this review?
Low - The heaviness is a nice touch, and brings something to the bar, but the standard deviation from promising to petering is too much to sit through another round.
*Joanna Newson - Exotic vocals not only yet again fail to hold up an album, they succeed in driving batty and nearly to tears of badness.
CULT:
Tyskarna Från Lund - Scandinavian hilarity and synth goodness. Wouldn't listen to daily or weekly or monthly, but would see live. Plus I understand the lyrics.