The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps

Greg Dulli has never been a garage-type riffer. His brand of alternative always leaned more toward the "chugga-chugga" and not so much the "chuck-chuck-chuck". (What? That makes complete sense to me...) And when the Twilight Singers was formed, he didn't change much. He just added some layers to stylize the sound and make it more uptown.

This album is the same TS vain. A collection of sonic landscapes that would rock out the martini crowd at your favorite corporate hotel bar.

A killer opening track starts, by way of "Last Night in Town" which builds from a piano ballad to a "Crime Scene"-like frenetic ride. His declaration of "being there" feels less romantic and more like an urban Tom Joad promising to be the inspiration in your fight.

"Waves" is the heaviest track on the record. A person better than me could remix this track to loop just the bass groans at the beginning of the song and make it the grooviest sex grind of the decade. As it stands though, the guitar drives the song into some kind of Smashing Pumpkins distortion piece. Awesome, if less fuckable.

In the middle comes a pair of clunkers, the first single "On The Corner" and "Gunshots" display a similar "Use Somebody" feel while still staying trapped in Dulli's low range disembodied voice. The "woah-oa" background's are there, but every lead syllable is drawn out until the words become boring.

Some famous pairings are listed in the notes but neither Joseph Arthur nor Ani DiFranco makes any attempt at adding anything unique to the recording. Each background vocal could have been anyone. I mean, I'm glad they got a paycheck and all...

More good than bad, here. Maybe not a dynamite step- but bigger than baby. (3.5 of 5 stars)

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Tao Of The Dead

Big ol' self-indulgent experiment here by the Trail. It's being released in really three different forms. Once, with the songs all tuned in D. Another with the same songs tuned in F. And then a collection of the songs is presented as one continuous track. All in a Dr. Parnassus sized booklet. How does it fly, then?

Not unlike the previous Trail record, "Century Of Self". In other words, a wall of sound. A wall of garage sound. The opener, "Pure Radio Cosplay" is a great methed-up "Jumpin' Jack Flash". But there's more than that...



Can't think of a proper band, but "The Wasteland" sounds like a post-grunge modern rock radio band. 70s big pop Wings/10cc harmonies with Nirvana crunch verses. Complete with a throwback ELP Moog solo. You're seeing the self-indulgence, right? They're either reeling themselves in from experimenting too far, or they're "staying true" to their roots. Regardless, mixing old school Trail with a Decemberists-style written song like "Weight of the Sun" is a difficult listen. And we get that a few times in this record. "Ebb Away", on the other hand, is a straight aheader that this writer would have like more of.

This is all capped by a 16-minute groove epic mini opera called "Strange News from Another Planet" which is actually good stoner progressive space rock. It'll be hard to give many listens to, due to its length and drone. But if you like the weedpot, I'd highly recommend. (2.5 of 5 stars)

The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts

I have a feeling in my head that I'm going to hate the shit out of this record. But it's almost the only thing that was released today that's actually available to me to hear. And it's called "Rolling Blackouts", which I expect to see here in my midwestern-Planet Hoth tonight. So, by all means, Go! Team... Go.

Kicking off- all right, I'll admit my surprise. "T.O.R.N.A.D.O." has an insane break beat. Disjointed and cacophonous. Which was cool. What's it about, I have no idea- but on the drive to work, it would keep me awake.

Another highlight is the instrumental "Bust-Out Brigade". It's a university pep squad marching band funk jam! To an album I'm still not considering higher than a two-starrer, I can see this hanging on to be a best of 2011. Another brief instrumental "Super Triangle" is a mellow synthesized piece that would not be out of place on a Wings record.

Having said all this praise-y stuff; it should be noted with a big exclamation point that the engineer on this record is a deaf person. Every bit is blasted over the top with all the noise a studio can provide plus the kitchen sink. Nothing is distinguishable and the vocals/lyrics are ridiculously undermixed and unintelligible. I'm sure that the performances are not as sloppy as the sound, but all the sounds bleed together in the worst way. (2 of 5 stars)

Cold War Kids - Mine Is Yours

Even though their last album was not received well, I still liked it and would argue the everlasting hotness of "Against Privacy" until I die. So, I'm giving this album a listen even though initial reports have CWK trying to bank on a Kings Of Leon-style crossover. I'm afraid we're going to mire too deep in the pop and the insipidness. No offense to KoL, of course.

But that's what they do throughout the whole record. Any experimentation is downplayed. Songs are tight and streamlined. Choruses are big. And the band that has written songs about artist culture, alcoholic fathers, till-stealing homeless, and... isn't their biggest hit just about clothes? Anyway, they now stick feet firmly planted in lover's lane.

Now, I don't want to be a mopey unromantic type. I like a good love song like any good Hagarite should. But it's still a bummer pop-calculation move. And unlike the Kings, whose hooks on their breakthrough were absurdly undeniable - the CWK doesn't play things up that big. I still think that "Finally Begin" and "Bulldozer" has every making of a Train / Maroon 5 hit- but it's too far away from what I like about them.

There is one that got me. A pop tune with admittedly silly lyrics that inexplicably I'm a fan of. Just as inexplicable, is whatever reason some skaters made "Broken Open" their backing track to the video below.

So, the album has the stuff that could make it successful; but it won't make the Kids into Kings. (2.5 of 5 stars)

Fergus & Geronimo - Unlearn

First post in a while and I've decided to start with a completely new discovery. When doing so, I simply scour the new release list for the word "garage" and give it a listen. Whether it's an adjective for rock/punk/dance. A "garage" descriptor is better than "neo-" anything.

You're going to admire their pluck. They have chops to create some memorable minimalist tunes. Maybe they lean a little too heavy on that flute-sound from their distorted Casio. Also- the title of the songs themselves is all the irony they need to project. I get it; you're disdainful of the hipster scene that you're damned to all eternity to play for. You don't have to sing with that monotoned bored-to-death vocal as you do on "Wanna Know What Would I Do If I Was You" to over-emphasize.

But this is a duo (ish), and that's just one of the guys. The very next track, "Powerful Lovin'" does a fine job conjuring up the psyche-surf ballads of someday gone by. Send-ups, yes- I'm in. Parody-type plays to form some ironic pretense, I'm out. I would've said the same to Frank Zappa, but he's a much better musician than you guys.



Don't get me wrong. I'm just a little sensitive to people who get that chance to make a record use the opportunity to bitch about the people listening to their record. These guys aren't really bad at all. If there's a Top-10 Lof-Fi list of 2011, "Michael Kelly" might be on it. And the title track is the best (if only) doo-wop influenced track I've heard in years. (2.5 of 5 stars)

Birds Of Avalon

The self-titled NOT debut from the Birds Of Avalon is reportedly a departure. Previously a garage-rock band, this new one is decidedly more psychedelic. But unlike, say, a Portugal. The Man- the Birds are quite sloppy. Not the Beatles-influence at all. Actually, at their best, these guys can even resemble an early '70s Aerosmith. But not the boogie part. This album's "Invasion" sounds like a Rush-infused "Seasons Of Wither". Make sense?

There some backward guitar leads of basic rock riffs. Someone will have maracas to keep the beats less intense. And sometimes a keyboard is underneath it all. Sloppy, like garage style - but a lot more instrumentation than garage rock. And the song lengths are more on the psychedelic end of the spectrum (+5:00)

Another thing needed by garage rockers that is lacking here is attitude. Singer Paul Siler is one of the most matter-of-fact singers I've heard this side of Britt Daniel. And if you're going to lack attitude, you should at least bring some songwriting and melody to the table, which is not here either. What's left is a collection of songs that is trying to focus on the instrumentation to get it through. And the Birds are not jammy or qualified enough to make that dog hunt. (2 of 5 stars)

Antony And The Johnsons - Swanlights

Word on the street is that the new album by my old friend / bitter balladeer / morose master Antony is actually more on the positive end of the rainbow. A change I don't have to be too afraid of. Yes, Antony does darkness better than most, but his falsetto wail could be just as effective in songs of praise.

One of the additions that may have lead to an emotional shift is that the Johnsons, a small set of multi-instrumentalists focusing on bass registers, have employed a full classical chamber orchestra. This is apparent on album opener, "Everything Is New"- which has no other lyrical dimension than just to set up the feel.

And that orchestra is fairly dynamic and adds a film score like quality to the proceedings. But Antony's lyrics this time around seem to be even more oblique than usual. Having said that, this album has two of probably the most straightforward songs of Antony's career. "I'm In Love"- almost sounding R.E.M.-like with the Mike Mills organ underlying the effort. And the previously released single, "Thank You For Your Love", which could have been a cast off from Ray Lamontagne's horn-soaked days.

So other than a little less than half, it's not overly "happy". But the songs are not so easily defined and the dynamics of both Antony's vocals and the chamber orchestra are too confined. I would have expected Antony, and the Johnsons, to burst in the light with as much aplomb that they wallow in the darkness. (2.5 of 5 stars)