The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar

Someone liked the Smashing Pumpkins a whole lot growing up. Being as how that can be a polarizing comment, I'll explain. As I mean it in only one sense.

Think of that moment when the song "Today" goes from quiet guitar plinking to full on seven layers of guitar noise. The Joy Formidable do that in every song. The quiet/loud dynamic is pushed to the highest digital levels on the board. They also love to play out those monster-chords for a long time at the end of the song.

For example on the first track, "The Everchanging Spectrum Of A Lie", the proper song ends at around the 5:00 mark. But then they stretch the thing out another 2:45. When listening to that track for the first time, I thought to myself that there was no reason for this. But then around the middle of the album, this concept started to grow on me. As if the JF were getting lost in their own recording. It felt like a good live performance.

Having said that, The Big Roar is lacking the dynamics to maintain your interest for 12 songs. A lot of it comes out sounding the same. It's good, but you'll only walk away with the pieces you connect with, and the rest will seem like lesser versions of that. (3 of 5 stars)

Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys!

A surpise of quality or disappointing levels could come, I have no idea which. Having been a BIG fan of The Seldom Seen Kid, I was far less thrilled with one of the older releases. I'm a little afraid that my oft-played "Kid" was simply a fluke.

Track one starts pleasantly moody and unassuming and while I grit my teeth at discovering it's 8 minutes long, it wasn't too long until they really let go musically. A trait that I must say sets Elbow apart from their other Manchester (or London) breathren; they have real artistic ambition. Additionally, I can lay bets that if Elbow release "With Love" they should see the same hit radio results that Edward Sharpe and Mumford similarly enjoyed with spirited high-praise positive songs last year.

A pair of ballads placed perfectly in the middle creep the record down to heartbreak-wino levels. "Jesus in a Rochdle Girl", while whistful and romantic; seems every bit as tragic as the more straight-ahead sad "The Night Will Always Win".

The album continues with more excellence, including what may or may not be my favorite on the record. But it does incite me to really consider jumping a train so that I can sing along with it in a British stadium. A must. (5 of 5 stars)

DeVotchKa - 100 Lovers

"100 Lovers" may suggest here that Nick Urata got laid a lot more after DeVotchKa's success. Because it's a little more upbeat than previous efforts. Which is not better or worse, just a little different.

Each album has a feel to it, and over the course of 12 songs or so, that feel is manipulated to the greatest extent possible. So, while each record has 3 or 4 favorites, it may leave a little more to be desired to round out a fantastic full effort.

100 Lovers is no different. Like I said, it's more upbeat. There's no "Dearly Departed" haunting lullabies in this effort. But it's certainly not a pop crossover either. The band is playing more with texture, where each instrument is applying throughout the whole song. Not to mention, Nick's lyrics are a lot more robust here. He's trading away some of the operatic heartbreak tones in previous vocal performances, but it's getting a lot more in intellectually. And that has value. Previously, DeVotchKa may have painted a portrait more with melody and mood, and here there's more going on. Here, the tunes are not as dark and the themes are less mournful. Nick is still biting in some of his female descriptions, but the overall feel is one of hope. That it's worth the trying, as oppose to it already being a lost cause.

My concerns deal with the two wasted minutes of "Interludes" and the throwaway whistle track "Exhaustable". It reeks of an Edward Sharpe pleasant bullshit rip-off. And I can understand the motivation to do that, but know that I'm calling you out on it. But don't get me wrong. We've got a good 3/4 of album to chew on and it's got teeth. (3 of 5 stars)

Slug Guts - Howlin' Gang

As it opens, stuff like this is always going to remind me of Jon Spencer. And that's not a bad thing. Dark garage echo, Hollow-body electric twangy Link Wray guitar. These guys difinitely have "mood" down. But, in all honesty, I defy you to distinguish one track from another. In contrast to the exhuberent Jon, the vocalist here has zero presence and is virtually behind the bass in the mix. His low talking style makes Julian Casablancas sound like Celine Dion. (1.5 of 5 stars)

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)