| [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 | [Sub Pop; 2010] Beach House Teen Dream There's a lot of this whole beach/ coast theme going on in music today. Just within the last couple of months, we've been hearing from Surfer Blood, Best Coast, and this band, Beach House, among others. Seeing as how beach music has largely been dominated by a collection of awful terrible bummers recently, I think bands like these are doing some real great work. This album specifically, Beach House's Teen Dream, contains a collection of compositions that really stand out in beach music. Basically, it's just a really solid earthy pop album with some interesting sonic choices and some fantastic songwriting. Check out the track "Walk in the Park" in particular. They're all good, but that one's just a real catchy and beautiful piece. Alright. 4 stars 2/26/10 :: Lincoln Mendell | [Nonesuch; 2010] The Carolina Chocolate Drops Genuine Negro Jig This is an absolutely fantastique new album from a brilliant trio known to the people as The Carolina Chocolate Drops. They are, if you will, perfection as a jug band. Thoroughly rooted in the style of days long past, and yet entirely current in their own particular idiom. Indeed, swell, all around. Top of the pops. Just glorious music, made especially for everybody to get stoked on. 4 stars 2/25/10 :: Lincoln Mendell |