thus spake drake: the long blondes

If some were worried that 2008 wasn't going to have the same share of great albums we've seen in recent years, a slew of this week's releases should alleviate most (if not all) of those concerns. Last week I poached Foals great debut on Sub Pop and yesterday I wrote about Tapes n' Tapes' sophomore release, which is fortunate, since I probably wouldn't even be able to get to either this week with all the rest of the riches that dropped. To wit, we have the latest from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Man Man, The Breeders, Clinic, The Long Blondes, Jason Anderson, Cloud Cult, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Richard Swift, Neva Dinova, Peter Moren, The Duke Spirit, Robots in Disguise, full-length debuts from Wye Oak, New Bloods, The Old Haunts, and new EPs from Spoon and the much hyped Fleet Foxes. In fact, there's so much good music, I'm breaking up this post into two parts, one today and a continuation tomorrow.

Playlist: New Releases 04.08.08

Album: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

If the garage rock of Nick Cave's Grinderman project last year served as a cathartic exercise, then Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! is a refinement of that midlife Christ-kick. Cave hands the guitar back to Mick Harvey and mans the organ, hammering out an album that infuses some of Grinderman's noise and bravado into songs that often recall the power of '97's The Boatman's Call. At age 50, Cave is now releasing some of his most vital work, and he seems to be having more fun while doing it, taking himself a little less seriously. In the stomping title track and opener "Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!" Cave re-imagines Lazarus (calling him 'Larry') crossing America before ending up "back in the streets of New York, in a soup queue, a dope fiend, a slave." Meanwhile, with "We Call Upon the Author," Cave eschews Bukowski ("a jerk!") preferring the works of John Berryman ("the best!") but still calling upon the author to explain his suicide. Prolix, of which I often suffer, provides another humorous take. "I say prolix! Prolix! Something a pair of scissors can fix." And then there's the line "our myxomatoid kids spraddle the streets." Colin Meloy's thesaurus just got green with envy. It's not all fun and diction, though, as Cave still has time for one of his patented murder ballads in achingly beautiful "Jesus on the Moon." The album ends with eight minutes of Cave saying 'c'est la vie' to the unstoppable force of time with "More News From Nowhere." "Don't it make you feel so sad, don't the blood rush to your feet, to think that everything you do today, tomorrow is obsolete? Technology and women and little children too. Don't it make you feel blue?" As long as it's backed by the Bad Seeds, it don't feel so bad at all.

Full Album Stream from AOL

Album: Man Man - Rabbit Habits

When Philadelphia's Man Man released Six Demon Bag back in 2006, it was if someone had blended all my Tom Waits, Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa albums as into one delectable shake. But both live and lyrically, the songs took on more than just a rehash of music's marginalized past. Rabbit Habits, whose title comes from the practice of rabbits eating their young, doesn't stray too much from their Waits/Zappa/Beefheart junkyard ethos, but this time around, there's an underlying darkness amidst all the vaudevillian tomfoolery. Frontman Honus ruthlessly hunts down the title character in "The Ballad of Butter Beans," and then calls out a vacuous lover in "Poor Jackie." "I don't see what everybody sees in your sexy body. All I see is a shallow grave, trapped inside a pretty face." "Whalebones" brings it's own dark heartache, with the line "but she holds him like an infant, though it breaks her in half to know he'll wake like a man -- sold on cold indifference." All this lies underneath tremendously fun (re: great live) songs, full of crazy instrumentation. Pitchfork TV launched yesterday, and the first ~~video~~ time-waster you should check out is the behind the scenes look at Man Man recording this album, recording falling junk, dogs in the bathtub, and of course fireworks ("Mysteries of the Universe Unraveled.") All in all it's a great rock album, even though there's nary a guitar in the mix.

Full Album Stream from AOL

Album: Wye Oak - If Children

This album is already destined for my Best of the Year (That's Really Rrom a Previous Year) list, as it was originally self-released last summer by the duo from Baltimore. If Children is a great debut, one that relies quite a bit on the shoegaze of the nineties, along with the dreamy folk pop of Yo La Tengo, but without sounding entirely derivative. Jenn Wasner's vocals are a bit like a laid back Kim Deal, dry and double-tracked, but lyrically a bit more like Jenny Lewis, smarter than you give what you're hearing credit for. The duo easily move from the controlled feedback of first single "Warning" into the gentle acoustic pop of "Regret," a nice demonstration that the band isn't reliant on the shoegaze angle. Meanwhile, "I Don't Feel Young" is a joyous number, where Phil Spector's wall of sound meets Crosby Stills and Nash, by way of lots of distortion, of course. It's an album that I've had on repeat all week now, and only through the incredible depth of today's haul will it (temporarily) slip out of rotation.

Stream the album from Merge Records
Download: "Warning" [mp3]

It's my annual kicking off point for the year-end lists. Here I highlight the best albums seeing their U.S. debut in 2007 that were released elsewhere prior to that. It's a good way to both narrow down my real 2007 list while still highlighting more at the same time. You might call it having your cake and eat it too.

Playlist: Best Albums From 2007 (That Were Really From 2006)

1. Lily Allen - Alright, Still

It's weird for me to see this on so many year-end lists for 2007, when it was two years ago that tracks started leaking for it -- even my son, who's not even 3, thinks this is old news. Anyway, it was everywhere from the end of last year until Amy Winehouse invaded and our quota overflowed for spunky Britchicks who give an updated twist to soul music. It was #19 for last year's 'have your cake' list, and #1 for this year's 'eat it too'.
(Kinda Review, 07/06/06)
Song: "Knock 'Em Out"

2. Loney Dear - Sologne

Another one that made my best album list from last year (#24). Amazingly Sub Pop decided to release the inferior follow up album Loney, Noir first instead, burying this treasure for a late September release. Swedish multi-instrumentalist Emil Svanangen made his mark first with this album, and it's easily the favorite thing I brought back with me from Europe last summer. (On signing to Sub Pop, 09/14/06)
Song: "The City, The Airport" [mp3 - SXSW]

3. The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home

Art Brut-like post-punk love spearheaded by Kate Jackson's driving sexuality and moral ambivalence: when she's a)cheating on you. b)stealing you're boyfriend. c)stealing your girlfriend(?) At least she'll leave a twisted smile on your face after she's done. (Review, 06/05/07)
Song: "Only Lovers Left Alive"

4. Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things

This is really a compilation of EP's, so it's not on my 'have your cake' list for two reasons (not from 2007 and it's compilation of previously released material). Song "Collarbone" was one of my (and my son's) faves from last year. Actually, this list is remarkable in that nearly every album has a song that's on my son's 2006 top 10 singles list. (Review, 07/19/07)
Song: "Collarbone"

5. Cornelius - Sensuous

Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada) recently performed a counting song ("5 or 6") on an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, which made my son jump up and down like the little freak he is. Appropriate, though, since Cornelius makes what is essentially children’s music for adults, which Sensous demonstrates with his rubbery synth lines anchoring the ping-pong of mayhem surrounding it.
Song: "Fit Song"

6. Sloan - Never Hear the End of It

The title is a joke on the the length of this album (30 songs, 80 Minutes,) but even putting it on repeat for a whole week won't make you want the end come any sooner. Since nearly all the songs run together ala Abbey Road, it's improper of me to pull one song from the album. But I'm nothing if not improper. (Review 1/12/07)
Song: "Who Taught You To Live Like That?"

7. Peter, Bjorn & John - Writer's Block

An uneven album bouyed by the great song "Young Folks," which in 2007 has been the most whistled song on tv since the The Andy Griffith Show Reunion: Back to Mayberry. (Gossip Girl, 09/19/07 / Nip/Tuck, 11/20/07)
Song: "Young Folks"

8. Junior Senior - Hey Hey My My Yo Yo

This album actually was originally released in 2005, taking two years to get here -- as if brought stateside by 17th century explorers searching for the new world. They come of as just a novelty act, but there's some great songwriting underneath the shiny veneer.
(Review 8/14/07)
Song: "Can I Get Get Get"

9. The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes

Like Lily before them, another Brit import that the toddlers seem to like (well, mine anyway). Didn't make the same splash as her or Winehouse, but they could have more legs (and they literally do, quite nice ones at that). (Review - single on 06/07/07, album 10/02/07)
Song: "Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me"

10. Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55

Actress, singer, spawn of a legend: Charlotte is all of the above -- and she's got some famous friends to help her out on this great introduction to US audiences. With music by Air, and lyrics by Jarvis Cocker and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, Gainsbourg floats gently over the delicate and introspective proceedings.
Song: "Tel Que Tu Es"

11. The Phoenix Foundation - Horsepower

This one is actually from 2004! Let's hope we don't have to wait too much longer for 2005's Pegasus and this year's Happy Ending, which chart some amazing growth as artists and musicians. While Horsepower can seem like a star gazing Grandaddy at times, it's the work of a great band figuring out their sound, and that can be an exciting thing.
Song: "Going Fishing"

thus spake drake

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Now Downloading: New Releases 04.08.08

Friday, December 14, 2007

Best Albums From 2007 (That Were Really From 2006)