Link: http://www.richardbuckner.com/

For Richard Buckner, you don’t get to where you are today without knowing how to sidestep a few landmines. Adversity assumed many different forms and played many different roles in his life. But, Buckner does what a true artist should; he writes. When the authorities were paying him close watch in a possible connection with a heinous crime committed near his home in upstate New York, he kept writing. When the tape machine he loved to use met its maker, he acquired a laptop and continued writing and compiling. When, in the same month, the house he holed up in was burglarized and the laptop stolen, he started over and kept working and writing. In short, no single paragraph can sufficiently summarize the staggering plan in place to retain the leftover melodies and ideas that would become Buckner’s testimonial LP, Our Blood.

After spending 2006-08 touring and headstrongly working on the score to Dream Boy, a film that would merely become a straight-to-DVD release in North America, Buckner tried to synopsize some of the prized pieces captured on tape for an upcoming full-length release. After all of the trials and tribulations, these songs in limbo were deleted and stolen but not lost. In his head, they were remembered and reborn. It had never taken five years between albums before, but with all of this behind him; the curtained, almost post-mature Our Blood was finally carved out and released, or as he puts it, “abandoned like the charred shell of a car with a nice stereo”.

The nine tracks spared become nine resonating elements of the entire theme: get out while you can, give up the ghost, and be constantly ready for it to catch back up to you again. Sneak glimpses into his haunted past can be mined out, even from the song titles themselves (see ‘Thief’). Tender moments are accented by precious nylon strings or Wurlitzer flourishes, paranoid ones by foreboding organ chimes. His booming voice, more confident and fresh than ever before, expanses tracks like ‘Escape’ and ‘Gang’. Up in front of a withering fingerpicked steel-string progression, Buckner lyrically genuflects on the standout ‘Collusion’. The arresting instrumental ‘Ponder’ precedes the affectionate redemption song of ‘Witness’. Imagerial observations, one after another, compose this work; reminding himself and him conveying to us the way that he felt on those particular nights.

On his website, Buckner characterizes his intent behind the stunning inclusion of ‘Confession’ as “realizing you are not alone, you duck out of sight, hoping someone will be concerned”. Great songs can be thoroughly revealing and personal, and Buckner can fragmentalize the point to high heavens; but we hear it and we experience it with him in the barrooms and empty apartments that we can visualize through his unraveled words and his graveled, whiskey-breath baritone.

Describing this album as the “weird pebble in (his) shoe that (he) just had to get out”, to say that Buckner had to face his demons and purge to get this record finished might be an overstatement. But five years down the line, let’s hope he can revisit this record and appreciate it to be just what it is — the most consistent and exquisite offering in his catalog.

Telekinesis
12 Desperate Straight Lines
Merge Records
Rating: 3.1 out of 5

Link: http://www.mergerecords.com/artists/telekinesis

Sometimes, it’s hard to take some artists’ gushingly lovelorn breakup records seriously. Citing a recent example, Beck’s Sea Change—while beautifully crafted and earnest feeling—gets a few chuckles out of me when I track it from one to twelve. How can this incredibly talented songwriter saturate his full-length effort with so many ‘sad-sack’ scripts of despair (please don’t take this as a knock on Sea Change; just a point)? Others that come to mind are punchy with grit and fervor (Weezer’s Pinkerton), or conversely, innovatively backwashed with sunny tones and thick layers of instrumentation (The Format’s Dog Problems). The new LP from Michael Benjamin Lerner’s one-man show Telekinesis is a little bit of all of this.

This story unravels from the very first ten seconds of the addictively catchy opener “You Turn Clear in the Sun.” Handing it over to the wannabe single “Please Ask for Help,” the beat becomes pounding and the guitar lines indicative of the dying dregs of early-to-mid 80’s post-punk. “50 Ways” pays more homage to old Weezer records than to the Paul Simon song that it references. However, once “I Cannot Love You” comes on, a crooked smile comes to my face—it’s getting silly now.

12 Desperate Straight Lines clutches at straws to sound like a ‘feel-good’ record; greatly owing to Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, who gets the production credit. Enlisting the support of a mere half an index card of names, the Telekinesis release is a focused and efficient recording. However, all the while shaking your head all around to some electrified power pop redux, the lyrics sung become less and less relatable. You now feel like, maybe, Lerner had it coming to him.

“Car Crash” is a well-equipped rocker that jump-starts the gritty energy of this long-player and shovels it the top of the pile. With no need for segue, “Palm of Your Hand” slams on the accelerator for a hot minute and a half. But once the first half of the album elapses, the secret is out on the formula. Soon, you’ll be counting down the seconds of the guitar intro and timing out the arrival of the drum beat all on your own.

Oh, it’s true. Mr. Lerner can’t get ‘her’ out of his head, as evidenced by every single cut on the album. But, perhaps after a few proper spins of 12 Desperate Straight Lines, you may not be able to get Lerner out of yours.

Link: http://www.truewomanhood.com/

Earlier this year, you released your debut EP, Basement Membranes. At a mere six tracks’ length, it is still an incredibly cohesive and vivid exploration into post-punk revivalism. How happy are you with the results of this recording and what do these songs mean to you?

What’s funny to us about these songs is how far past them it feels like we’ve already gone.  We all are very happy with how the EP turned out. it definitely should be understood as our band’s first effort,  as it was recorded when we were still trying to understand what type of band we are. That is a constant evolution but I definitely think that the new recordings we are working on will show have far we’ve come.

How did the three of you come together to form True Womanhood? Was it easy pooling your collective musical interests into the direction of the band?

All three of us have known each other since middle school, believe it or not.  Noam and I actually played together in the clarinet section of our middle school and high school orchestras.  After going our separate ways for college we found ourselves back in the DC area and interested in starting a new musical project.  There was definitely musical chemistry from the very beginning and over time it hasn’t diminished.  Any differences in musical interests between members have proven complimentary.

According to the wonderful world of Twitter, True Womanhood is in the recording studio. Is a 2010 full-length release something we can hope for?

It is!  We are just putting the finishing touches on two separate recording projects that will be released as a series of 7″ singles, and EP and a full length LP.  We expect that these will start to trickle out over the course of the summer along with some remix projects and music videos that we have been working on.

How important was it to start small with an EP’s-worth batch of songs for Basement Membranes and ride the energy from its release and the subsequent tour toward putting out an album proper?

It was incredibly important. recording that EP was the first time any of us had any experience with really recording anything and going in we didn’t really know what to expect, or what songs we would even be recording. we really just wanted to get something out that we could bring on tour with us. now we feel way more comfortable with the recording process, we are a lot more prepared to put out an album.

“The Monk” is a wonderful lead track on the EP—highlighted by silvery vocals singing rather unsettling lines out above a sedate pulse. Tell us about how this song came together. How long has “The Monk” been in the True Womanhood canon?

This is a relatively old track, dating back to the earliest days of the band.  Originally is was a Neil Young inspired rocker, with a big guitar riff and some shout/sing falsetto.  Fortunately, while recording the song it transformed into the fingerpicked, moody song that it is- anchored by the cymbal-less drums and the driving bass line.

Perhaps what sets True Womanhood apart from the rest of the pack in the experimental rock genre is how forefront the vocals are, rather than being undermixed as part of the musical patchwork. How valuable is lyricism and vocal melody in the songwriting approach?

That’s funny you mention that because up until now, vocals have always been the last part of our songs to get written and recorded.  Usually all the instrumentation and arrangements are set in stone before I really work on the lyrics- the Morrissey method to writing pop songs I guess.  That being said, the vocals in this band are by no means an afterthought, as they are in so much contemporary indie rock.

Personally, having seen the band perform in my hometown Pittsburgh, I noted the importance of the timpani drum during the live set. How did you come about using this instrument?

We got the timpani on craigslist as is the case with so much of our equipment. it was more a case of using what we had available than actually going out and looking for a timpani. but it definitely contributes a lot to the sound of our EP as well as some of the songs on the album we are currently working on. the sound of the timpani is so dark and evocative and that somehow comes through into the songs.  a lot of the mood of songs we play depends greatly on the equipment we use –   we just got our first subwoofer and all of a sudden we play nothing but disco dance songs.

True Womanhood will be back on tour starting in June. Tell us about a few of the shows you have coming up.

This summer is going to be particularly exciting for us.  In July we are playing with some fantastic bands in DC including HEALTH and Bear Hands.  Later on in July we are flying out to Los Angeles to play a handful of shows and shoot a music video out in the desert.  Once we get back we will embark on a three week tour through the southeast, Texas and the midwest.

The band sets up shop in the nation’s capital. How does it feel playing a part in changing the face of the D.C. music scene?

It’s an interesting time in DC.  From talking with some of our friends who were a part of the Dischord era, it seems as if the city has found itself back where it was in the very early 80s before Dischord was created.  We are all too young to remember a time when there was no Dischord in DC but things now are very disorganized.  There are a handful of interesting acts, collectives, and events doing their own thing but there is no real movement to speak of.  This is not necessarily a bad thing- it’s always good to have diversity in a smallish city such as DC.   Hopefully as we, along with other active DC bands, continue to expand, tour and reach new people we can help bring a little bit of a spotlight back onto DC music and a new tradition can be born here.

When not recording and playing live, how do the members of the band enjoy spending their free time?

This is probably the most difficult question to answer of all! we really don’t have very much free time at all, but that is the way we like it. as well as writing songs and recording, we go to lots of shows and try to find new and interesting things to listen to.. i suppose the line between work and play in this case is quite thin, but that’s never a bad thing.

I was in D.C. a year and a half ago for a show at the 9:30 Club and I had a blast checking out the city. Is it true that Ben’s Chili Bowl is no more?

Actually quite the opposite!  Ben’s Chili Bowl has expanded and now has a sit down restaurant adjacent called Ben’s Next Door where you can have fine wine with your chili cheese fries.

Are there any cool new surprises that True Womanhood has in store for the rest of the year?

This fall/winter we will be traveling to the UK to do some shows.  We will announce more details regarding this when we have got them nailed down but basically it is our dream come true!

Links:
Gary Lucas: http://www.garylucas.com/
Dean Bowman: http://deanbowman.net/

Gary Lucas remains one of the premier virtuosic guitar players of our time. Expert slide work and lock stock and barrel mastery of the fretboard, his passion for music of all types rifles out from his axe on countless collaborations and solo albums. Recently endeavoring to compose and arrange works in the styles of raga and Chinese pop, Lucas recognizes the importance of emotion rather than just instrument proficiency in his music. This time, he has teamed up with baritone jazz/blues journeyman Dean Bowman on Chase the Devil.

Two seasoned vets who have performed their inspiring and electrifying set of spiritual roots and gospel music to New York City crowds, Lucas and Bowman aren’t evangelizing so much as they are rallying for emotional intensity.

Lucas is outright impressive in his playing throughout. Blazing Strat fingerpicking licks behind Bowman’s frenzied lines on “God is a Good God”. It’s hard to tell who’s trying to keep up the pace, what with Lucas’ wailing leads and Bowman’s relentless hand-clapping.

“Jerusalem” is a wonderful selection, and praise is owed for this remarkably touching performance. Also inclusive of Chase the Devil, Lucas and Bowman fit well together on the very stripped-down version of the John Fahey-renowned ode “In Christ There is No East or West”.

The first two tracks are originals written for the release followed by ten renditions of traditional folk, blues, gospel, and Hebrew numbers. Joining the ranks of a few of the artists covered on this thrilling LP, and rightfully so, Chase the Devil achieves as another exemplar to true spiritual roots music.

Link: http://www.moodgadget.com/

A little different from their usual lineup of electronic artists, Moodgadget Records took a chance on a couple of adolescents making inviting beach pop with the release of Hella by The Young Friends. Three chords and three minutes mark the limit on seven summery songs.

The subject matter may not exceed any expectations from a couple of fresh-outta-high-schoolers, but a nice pop sensibility is ever present throughout. It’s true that the songs kind of bleed into each other; making it hard to remember one over another, but the naivety and charm in the delivery is somewhat endearing.

The vocals are mostly moaned out overtop of bright chinsy guitar lines that are a little too insistent—particularly on “North End”. The drumming is a bit lackluster and static in a ‘played via keyboard’ kind of way. But, the energy is still here.

The first track, “Be My Baby”, glides along some breezy guitar passages—making the most out of its repetitious choruses. The bass parts are undermixed and seem to exist out of necessity. The handclaps on “Riverside Kids” give the album a youthful merriment. Who knows, it sounds like it could have been a really fun album to record. Perhaps, The Young Friends could have utilized a tremolo box for the guitars on a track or two.

Certainly without the bookworm lyrical depth of Vampire Weekend, The Young Friends still put out singalong bouncers in a similar approach. Potential might be a dangerous word to use, but honestly, let’s wait until they grow up a bit.

Links:
True Womanhood: http://www.truewomanhood.com/
Environmental Aesthetics: http://www.environmentalaesthetics.com/

Like a dirty mass of glacial ice, True Womanhood carves deep distinguishable grooves in the haunts of avant pop song confinement. Taking strange cues from bands like Slowdive, Sonic Youth, and No Age; the trio’s sound is sonically conglomeratic. The marriage of the ethereal with the guttural on their latest EP, Basement Membranes, will keep your head swimming like too many spoonfuls of Robitussin. You’ve got to love it when D.C. sounds this good.

The sour note dirge of the colossal second track “Dignitas” shifts from discordant guitar grunge into a gaze-y hypnotic bridge and back again—all to a steady timpani shuffle. Thomas Redmond’s vocals are a perfect match for this swatch of post-punk revivalism.

Cutting back in from the dreamy feedback spills are the whipping guitar chugs on the trembling “Rubber Buoys”. Perhaps the highpoint is appropriately right at the beginning of the record with the Radiohead-conjuring “The Monk”; featuring lines like ‘we tried and failed’ and ‘we eat our young’.

Aurally darker than some ears can tolerate, True Womanhood’s recent contribution to a UK compilation was eschewed on the grounds that it sounded like a ‘chant to the devil’. If curiosity doesn’t set in for you from there, I don’t know what it takes.

Links:
Judson Claiborne: http://www.myspace.com/judsonclaiborne
La Société Expéditionnaire: http://www.la-soc.com/store/store.html

When the transitions between seasons may leave you spiritless, sometimes there is solace in solitude. Chris Salveter aka Judson Claiborne understands this better than many. With his former slowcore band Low Skies on hiatus, Chris spent a lazy nine months spanning from summer of ’08 to early ‘09 writing and recording a second solo album—this time to be released on La Société Expéditionnaire.

Sauntering along in indie folk song format, Time and Temperature tosses in elements of bareboned neo-Baroque, alt-country, and Appalachian music. Through the vocal evocation of a weathered Jason Collett, Salveter spins yarns about waiting and wandering in pining romanticism.

In front of straggling guitar lines, Salveter sings ‘Baby, you can tell the songs so well to a stranger you don’t mind / where they’re from or what they’ve done or when there’s anger in their eyes’ on the simple and reflective “A Song for Dreaming”. The pronounced “Oh Cyril” comes next in sequence; following each sparse verse with a clement horn-sweeping chorus. “My How We Change!” and closer “Moonraker” are other ragged standouts.

What Judson Claiborne does with negative space is a marvelous achievement. Allowing the songs to promenade at their own intended speed lends the record a discreet maturity. ‘When the twilight spirit comes around, I’ll be somewhere nearing with my head to the ground’, he sings on the opening track. Salveter certainly understands the virtue that is patience.

As the cheerless inertia of the winter season slowly ferments into the halcyon swell of spring, Time and Temperature will accompany you in the gap.

Links:
Javelin: http://www.myspace.com/hotjamzofjavelin
Luaka Bop: http://luakabop.com/

Ears of the indie megacosm, welcome Javelin. This sonic collage duo migrated down the coast from the ‘Creative Capital’ Providence, Rhode Island to the funky streets of Brooklyn where their hunky electro-jams can be embraced with open arms. After last year’s cheeky demo, Jamz N Jemz, it was time for cousins Tom Van Buskirk and George Langford to rework their material into an accessible and concise full-length. That’s just what they did. Thanks to Luaka Bop, we have at our disposal No Más.

At our disposal; I suppose that was an interesting way to put it, seeing as this can be deemed ‘disposable’ music. These kinds of records need the charm to pull an instantaneous response from the audience the way that Beck’s Odelay or Avalanches’ Since I Left You have done in the past. Nowadays usually met with success through a catchy single or blog-hyped track, No Más has these kinds of options.

“Vibrationz” has been all over the feed since last year. It’s true; many selections come to us re-noodled from Jamz N Jemz. Yet, doing away with the corrosive etchings and tape hiss now on this Luaka Bop outing, evidence shows that Javelin cleans up well.

Swapping out the boxy acoustic guitar melody in “Mossy Woodland” for a vocal one, the beginning of the album sounds well-rehearsed. Followed by the infectious “Oh! Centra”, listeners are in for a hell of a tune wedgy. Abounding with silly lines sung by dwarfed vocals, shaking this song from your head might prove painful.

“Intervales Theme” shows up here, as well; still highly effective as an intermission piece. New inclusion “Tell Me, What Will It Be?” feasts on 70s-soundtrack funk; grooving a staccato bass line with car horn organ screeches. Javelin ricochets between genres track-by-track, from Hot Chip-style indie electronic (“Off My Mind”) to block-party hip hop (“Susie Cues”). Muted hand claps get lost in the hurtling shuffle of the Farfisa-laden “Shadow Heart”—the first of three strong that close out the record.

Full tilt on the sampling, this Javelin debut is a boffo success in the cut-and-paste medium. If only it was still considered cool to walk the streets with your ghettoblaster blaring. Saccharine-sweet and party-approved, No Más deserves spin-time at your next vintage-themed hipster shindy. When you walk up to the DJ table, throw this LP at him. If nothing else, the psychedelic cover will look damn good on his stack.

Link: http://www.woodpigeon-songbook.com/

First digging into the newer five-song EP, Spirehouse, we find Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon bearing heart with more diffident acoustic workings in the vain of one Sufjan Stevens. Yet, surprising and rushing is the string overtaking deeper into the title track and I want to realize this to be a submissive but fostering confection before the LP. But, three uneventful musings later, we meet with an extraneous remix of said first song and not much that sticks. Allowing the full album to set the bar, missing here are the lavish arrangements and gorgeous harmonies that I would later be in for.

Beginning to track Die Stadt Muzikanten, Woodpigeon’s third record proper, I am flitted away to yesteryear by the vinyl crackle and seesawing arrangements of the eponymous opener. Cueing into “Woodpigeon vs. Eagleowl (Strength In Numbers)”, the window into this young release begins to prop open. Soft and plush are the harmonizing vocals on kindling “Morningside”; a highlight from the album’s first half sandwiched between two pert numbers.

There is plenty to leaf through here; Hamilton contributing 16 tracks on the record. He knows how to pen beautifully intricate compositions and spruce them up with the trappings of ambrosial orchestration. The listener will be taken aback by the powerful dynamic shifts that some of these songs feature. Many other groups in the twee pop category will utilize thin vocals and modest acoustic guitar arrangements, but when Hamilton goes full-voice on the hearty “Duck Duck Goose”, he separates Woodpigeon from the pack.

Not as emotionally arresting as William Fitzsimmons, or even Sam Beam, Hamilton’s afflicted delivery on the abbreviated “Unmissable Grey, Mixed Paint” aches with every imagerial line; similar in construction to Paul McCartney’s “Junk”. Affecting is the dark nostalgia of the highly personal “Such A Lucky Girl”; a track that burns slowly in seven minutes length.

“Spirehouse” from the EP is slotted in the ten spot here; sounding more reserved than before amid this resonating collection. Sometimes, the sheer volume of the instrumentation supersedes over Hamilton’s non-rock voice as he is heard trying to sing above the come-in of electric guitar and turned-up bass track on the final chorus of “Redbeard”.

Frequently, Hamilton sings with his tail between his legs and it compromises the focus of the record a bit. But, listen closely because Hamilton’s lyricism on the full-length is as refined as it’s ever been; rescuing songs that are not as immediate or obviously memorable.

Link: http://www.mattpondpa.com/

Despite recording and touring as guitarist in The Wooden Birds for 2009’s Magnolia, Matt Pond will never forsake studio time to work on what will be the next Matt Pond PA release. He has continued to serve up singles to his fans that are in anticipation for The Dark Leaves, the seventh installment from the band in a decade of existence. And, out with it he comes. Perhaps now suffering from album-by-album dittoing just as The Wooden Birds’ songwriter Andrew Kenny has been pronounced guilty of with his predecessive outfit American Analog Set, Matt Pond PA can’t seem to get over the lag.

It’s true that both artists have fingers in the same pie; the contraposition of brooding lyrics with crisp and sometimes lush chamber pop. While Kenny has done something to rejuvenate his songwriting by unplugging the guitar and enlisting harmonic female vocal support for his new project’s debut record, Pond hasn’t so much as changed a pair of socks since he left Mel’s Rock Pile to release Measure under the PA moniker in 2000.

The shades of green in Pond’s music are a little richer and a little bluer on The Dark Leaves. Sure, the plainly-titled “The Dark Leaves Theme” is stirring with its ‘love kills me’ chorus. Lovely still are the soft melodies, cello lines, and acoustic guitars of “Brooklyn Fawn” and “Winter Fawn”. The first two tracks “Starting” and “Running Wild” have Pond in vibrant display of his dexterous pop and melodic savvy. The cliffhanger “First Song” finishes out the record; its tempos akin to John Vanderslice-esque undulation.

The Dark Leaves is a pretty-sounding and rapt deliberation of love and longing twined in the dewed foliate textures of Pond’s nimble indie pop—not unlike all of the others he’s offered before. ‘You already know/what you don’t even know/read the cover, the flap/you just put it back’, he confesses on his appeal for support “Remains”. You can heed his warning if you want.