Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away

This will surely go down as the quietest album of the year. There is still a romanticism in the void, if you're into the rhythmless folksiness.

 
Many of the songs deal with the boys and girls of this world coming out into nature - down to the pines, down to the shore - to take their chances with each other. There are some string sections to swell the heart, but it's mostly in the lower trenches of first E string that feels like a lone candle in a dark room.
 
If this were on the background, I might have felt completely bored with this. But paying attention, it really does settle into a groove and swelters. "Wide Lovely Eyes" feels like a Tom Waits' "Hold On" kind of hopefulness. "We Real Cool" is simply hot. It's bass underlay feels like Twilight Singers' "Waves" except it never explodes. It stays even until its a sweat puddle on the sheets. There's even an epic. "Jubilee Street" feels like something taht Lou Reed would base a play around.

There are some to possibly push away. At eight minutes, "Higgs Boson Blues" is basically as fine as Jubilee, but overstays its welcome by about double. And the curious "Mermaids" for some reason starts out with "I was the match that would fire up her snatch / I was fired from her crotch, now I sit around and watch".

But those are small issues in a record that would have been a perfect fireside winter record. Nonetheless, will heat up your spring. (4 of 5 stars)

Foals - Holy Fire

When I see an "alternative dance" label next to a band, I may get some negative connotations. Some techno-with-guitars image like Jesus Jones. But on their third album, Foals show more of a Depeche Mode influence than something bouncier like Franz Ferdinand.

The "alternative" part of the dance will start in the lyrics, which are mostly self-loathing fears about a guy who cannot trust or be trusted. So, on the dark side of things. But also much more oblique than DM, who was rarely happy-go-lucky but generally completed a thought process.

The "dance" part too is also not obvious. The beats are there, but they're often muted. There are exceptions, like the single "My Number". But this is no Radiohead either. Time signatures don't stray from classic.

Picking a favorite would be the most dynamic of the tracks. "Late Night" builds from a quiet lullaby to a frantic disco, complete with a funky scratch guitar solo. It really does feel like 1979 by the time you get to three minutes. I wish singer Yannis wasn't screaming for his mommy, but the song still works.

Other than that, I was left mostly flat by Foals. Again, probably not my top genre. And I'm glad it's wasn't Muse, but I still can't say that the record moved the holy anything in me. (2 of 5 stars)

Eels - Wonderful, Glorious

Having made myself a fan of Eels but a couple of years ago, I highly anticipate this effort - which is rumored to rock more than Mark has done in the previous albums. And he starts it off with the point - "Nobody listens to a whisperin' fool". The opening track makes no other declaration than that Mark is in the mood for declarations.

And it's on these types of tracks, the ones that rock, where there's a faint hint of Tom Waits' Bone Machine. Especially in the way the drums were recorded. Of course, Mark keeps it way simpler than the lyrical poetry of Waits, but its easy to find a home here.

When he's not rocking, E can still spin out plenty of desolate despair ballads and lilting romantic slow jams. On the former side, you'll hear "On the Ropes" and "The Turnaround" which are way more hopeful than anything on the crushingly down End Times. On the latter, we have "Accident Prone" and "I Am Building a Shrine" which are less-sexy than my last-album favorite, "This Is Where It Gets Good". Play that for pants-off preparation. Play the new ones for post-coital sweetness.
 
On the whole, this is album is more Glorious with the time he spends with friends. The full-band rockers. I love me a good ballad, but too often on these, Mark takes care of the process himself, drum programming and all. It has an unwarranted corporate feel that is incongruent with the songwriting intent. I would have appreciated something more acoustic. A good mix of indie pop and indie rock, though. (3 of 5 stars)

Adam Green & Binki Shapiro

PAdam is that guy you know from The Moldy Peaches. His newest collaboration with Little Joy's Binki Shapiro seems like a move out of Beck's or M. Ward's playbook of getting close to hot chicks. Not to belittle the singers, but historically, men do some crazy stuff to woo for beautiful women.

In this new collective, Adam strays from his too-precious "anti-folk" and does a retro garage-pop series of duets with lots of lilting piano and echo chambers. And with some exceptions, the songs are straightforward mellow romantic pop. ("What's the Reward" does include a pretty awesome surf break.) The addition of harpsichords, organs, bells (and in the case of "Pity Love", a great walking bass line) give the album a fireside Christmas feel. As if Brian Wilson grew up in Minnesota.

At 28 minutes, it's a perfect record to play while cooking a romantic meal for two together. It's going to bore the tears out of some people who strive for more challenging music, but there's something to be said for quaint beauty.

The exception to all of this is the single. The glorious sunshine pop "Just to Make Me Feel Good", which could be The New Pornographers covering "Heroes".  It's the biggest sounding song on a record full of minature songs, but it fits. (4 of 5 stars)

Foxygen - We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magi

From the same California city that brought us Linkin Park and Hoobastank come a new band that sounds, thankfully, nothing like them. In a week with a new release list that was full of unknowns, Foxygen get the blog prize simply because of a neat name (that's how bands got found in the old days). However, they're also on Jagjaguwar, so I get to be supportive of local ties. And they're produced by a guy in the Shins, so I get to be indie.

Foxygen is a self-proclaimed neo-psychedelic band, but that's a simple blanket covering for a band that sounds like they were recorded in one room with lots of echo. They're not so sloppy as to be called "garage" and they employ some interesting instrumentation including organs and mellotrons.

But for anyone turned off by a "psychedelic" label, don't be afraid. Foxygen is mostly succinct and poppy at heart. A favorite, "No Destruction" could be "Hurricane"-era Dylan. ("There's no need to be an asshole, you're not in Brooklyn anymore")

Other songs, like "Shuggie" also start off quite modern sounding and they simply add four bars at a different chord and or/time signature to throw off what would otherwise be straightforward. Like Portugal. The Man, perhaps. The title track will rock out your bong party better than anything Steppenwolf ever laid to wax.

The album title might assume that they're overreaching, and even if the last track sounds like a pointless collection of droning noises for the sake of filling time, you'll forgive them for the fun you had up to then. (4 of 5 stars)

Yo La Tengo - Fade

Ancient alternative band Yo La Tengo release their 13th album, which will be the first of their albums that I will hear. And it may be the last. There's nothing so bad about the band or even this album, it's a little more on the indie side than the rock side that I usually tread.

The main thing, I think, to point out about the sound is the matte finish of it all. Some of the tracks have a harmonium underlying that drones the songs chord. Nothing really ever strays from that at all. The vocals are monotoned and even. There's nary a guitar solo. Of course, my first exception to that rule is the first track- which plods on with solo accompaniment like a sleepy Dinosaur Jr. for all of six minutes.

But most of the songs come off like "Two Trains" or "Stupid Things". Mellow, tons of reverb, tons of vocal echo, minimal percussion. This might be an effect of the fact that YLT are using a new producer for the first time ever.

But I did not altogether dislike the record. On the contrary, "Well You Better" is a low-key pop number that would not be uncomfortable in a Strokes set. My favorite though, would be the balladiest. A song that reminds me of a sweet Elbow number, "I'll Be Around". It's sweet and simple, but sometimes the best love songs are.

In the end, the Tengo doesn't fade into anything to be able to fade out of anything. They're welcome just to sit in the shade. (2.5 of 5 stars)

Wooden Wand - Blood Oaths of the New Blues

This indie folk record begins with a sparse echo-ey instrumental strum drone for about five minutes before any vocal kicks in. James Jackson Toth is the man behind the monker. And unlike the currrent trend in folkiness on your pop radio stations, he keeps it low-key and moody. The tempo never picks up faster than your grandpa's waltz, the percussion is limited to bongo accompaniment or tamborine, and there's no group of Crosbies, Stills or Nashes to harmonize with.

Having said that, Toth can spin a yarn.That first track is married to the next, an excellent melody and the happiest tune on the record. "Days This Long" asks the eternal question, "Who's gonna keep me from freaking out?"

The themes throughout are what you'd expect for this kind of minimalist atmosphere. Death, loss, loneliness. "Sometimes nowhere is the only place to go" It's not at all as trite as I'm making it sound. The mood presented is real and quite interesting. A fan of the slow-Wilco should love it. "Southern Colorado Song" has a faint echo of voice ringing in the background like a ghost in the mountains.

My only complaint is that with songs so stylized that carry such a similar mood, I would cut their length down. Many of these are six+ minutes. The point gets lost, or at least bleed together with the next. (3 of 5 stars)