| [s/r; 2010] Spirit Vine Golden Spirit Vine's Golden is a 3 song EP of liquid psychedelic blues complete with fiery vocals and a heap of solid rock energy. The band can certainly jam out and the songs wind about themselves like smart dragon children wearing pigtail preserves for a necklace. All in all, Golden is a sweet grinding of well-informed hallucinogenic sound waves that would probably keep swimming about for months if left to their own devices... 3 stars 2/2/10 :: Lincoln Mendell | [Domino Records; 2010] Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) Heartland Apparently Owen Pallett is distancing himself from the Final Fantasy moniker with his new album, Heartland. However, all naming irregularities aside, his musical stylings remain quite consistent. That is, Heartland is a beautifully orchestrated and arranged album with some catchy hooks and solid songwriting. Interestingly, it's also a concept album in which the songs are written from the perspective of an imaginary character talking to his creator... who is Pallett I suppose. So, basically, the concept is Pallett writing songs to himself from the perspective of his own non-existent creation. Hm. 3 stars 2/2/10 :: Lincoln Mendell | [Barcarolle; 2008] Marvin B. Naylor The Last Flight of Billy Balloon The Last Flight of Billy Balloon is a layered and multi-faceted collection of songs, all composed, played, and sung by London based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Marvin B. Naylor. Perhaps the most uniquely interesting aspect of this record is the way in which the production and the songwriting play off of each other. These are rich and complex songs, no doubt inspired in part by the music of Scott Walker (whose song Plastic Palace People inspired the album title), as well as the songwriting of Brian Wilson, Arthur Lee, and a slew of other 60's and 70's psych-pop artists. Yet, the production is not the big, bold beast that one might expect to hear in such songs. Instead, the album takes on a lo-fi, almost homemade sound, giving these songs a much earthier, sort of folksy feel. It is a very earnest and intelligent effort that resonates beautifully and shows a great deal of potential for future musical projects. Ah, balloons... 4 stars 11/17/09 :: Lincoln Mendell |
| [White Noise/Tru-Vow; 2009] Jail Weddings Inconvenient Dreams Inconvenient Dreams is the debut EP of the multi-talented, genre-blending 10 piece, Jail Weddings. One might say that this band is hard to pinpoint stylistically, which is reasonable, considering that their unique brand of music draws on an incredible array of influences. We may start out by declaring that the songs featured on Inconvenient Dreams are the manifestation of songwriter Gabriel Hart's novel vision of pop music. To flesh out this description, one might look to the Big Band and Swing groups of the 1940's, with a lot less silly cheese, quite a lot more shouting and distortion, a heap of rich, lusty harmonies, a whole bunch of rockabilly energy, a dash of late 1970's punk rock, and some measured portion of... oh I don't really know what. The point! Ah. Haha. The point to all of this is that this lovely little 5 song EP is a thoughtful and intricate creation that showcases a modern band combining a veritable plethora of influences resulting in music that sounds new, danceable, lively, and instantly classic all at once. Dig. 4 stars 11/10/09 :: Lincoln Mendell | [s/r; 2009] Insects vs. Robots Geryl and the Great Homunculus This is the debut effort from Los Angeles' own Insects vs. Robots, a six piece group (usually) who at times may be considered a tribe of wandering nomads, or perhaps a starry-eyed circus troupe, and at other times take on the character of an innovative and noisy psychedelic jam and jelly rock and roll band. In all honesty, Insects vs. Robots is all of these things and more, as one may gather rather quickly from their live show, which is a spectacle indeed. Really, the album is a reflection of the live show, with just three tracks, but with a running time of over 40 minutes, showcasing the band's ability to shift mercurially from part to part and slip effortlessly into heavy duty freak outs that seem to twist and squirm about aimlessly and yet somehow always resolve into tight and technical riffing, only to slip away once again into the madness... 4 stars 11/3/09 :: Lincoln Mendell | [Negahdariland; 2009] Happy Hollows Spells Spells is the debut full-length from Los Angeles' own Happy Hollows. It's a very forward and direct rock album, with some punky leanings and psychedelic tendencies, and it's really quite good. The music is certainly accessible and widely appealing, but it definitely has a fair deal of weirdness, keeping the album interesting from start to finish. The album also reflects the energy of the live show, which is brilliant. Drawing influence from mostly all of the rock of that has come before, while keeping with a consistent and original style, Spells is one of the more solid and enjoyable releases of 2009. 4 stars 10/13/09 :: Lincoln Mendell |