Category Archives: Indie Rock
Museum Mouth – Sexy But Not Happy (Self-Released)
MP3: Museum Mouth – “Blood Mountain”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB)
Museum Mouth
Sexy But Not Happy
Self-Released
Links:
Museum mouth have self-released their second LP Sexy But Not Happy to follow-up their 2010 debut Tears in my Beer.
Where TIMB was more energetic and punchy, Sexy But Not Happy is more mature and thoughtful.
Sexy But Not Happy is a bouncy, dance-inducing, jangly guitar-driven pop punk album. It’s a short fun romp and a great listen.
It takes a while to get over the overdone reverb on the album – both the guitars and vocals have some sort of echo or reverb effect. Once this is overcome, the album soars under its own free will. The band is now a three-piece after a few departures from their last LP. Karl Kuehn has taken over vocals full-time while drumming, and his vocals, while not an entirely unique sound or texture, grew on me like a three-day beard—scruffy, sharp and personal.
To compare the albums to extant and extinct bands, let’s assemble an all-star line up. Take …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, à la their Source Codes and Tags LP, scale-down the production quality, and replace the singer with Conor Oberst from right before his Desaparecidos project bubbled forth.
Alternately, they could sound like The Gaslight Anthem minus the Springsteen influence…. or maybe something from Cap’n Jazz’s LP Burritos…. If my guess serves me correct, then Museum Mouth got their name from the Cap’n Jazz song “Li’l League”; so this album serves as a good homage.
The bass is punchy, the drums rowdy but under-produced, and the guitars drive this go-kart down this half-hour LP down to the liquor store. Bright and sweet and clipping the production, the reverb guitars give much to the garage-indie sound which is very common in indie music today.
The lyrics are fairly simple but passionate—it’s a shame that the production is so limited. The song “Buzzbrain” describes a conversation between a musician and a friend, addressing the irony of music to the songwriter as self-expression consuming enough of his time that he can’t get out to see his friends. In a twist ending to the song, Kuehn sings “my greatest contribution to the world will be/ to stay out-of-the-way.” Another song, in a nod to youthful chivalry, “I Was a Teenage Paladin” reviews an old flame from back when we had more naïve visions of working relationships. In a bid farewell to a former love he sings “ but with so much to learn and countless things to try/I’m sure you’ll eventually find something that you like.”
The songs in general are upbeat and poppy, allowing a fun, short listen. The first two tracks, “Goodbye Evan” and title track are great starts to a fun album. “Goodbye Earl,” all 66 seconds of it, is a sugary burst of lo-fi pop punk that could easily rival the older Replacements for powerful garage-pop-punk power. Twice as long (a lumbering juggernaut of over two minutes in length…), “Sexy… “starts rowdy and stays energized throughout.
For a limited time on Bandcamp the band is allowing free downloads of their album. Check it out. If you like …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Gaslight Anthem, Cap’n Jazz or even the Smiths, you’ll get a kick out of this album. Once you listen to it and get a feel for their sound, you’ll find it to be no surprise that they did a cover (shhhh) of Joy Division’s song “Control.”
RACES’ “Big Broom”
(Click on the label to listen to the song.)
Link: RACES on Tumblr
Normally, I would not give a damn about an EP this miniscule, especially one that only has three songs, and one of those three songs is a demo. The Big Broom EP (Frenchkiss Records) came out late 2011 as a nibble into a full length that will be unleashed in March.
So why RACES? The question is really why not RACES? This six-piece (not to be confused with the band The Race) is a congregational spark to linear indie rock you don’t hear much of these days. Each member does a great job at filling in the space and for something that is this concrete, you will not find much that is as bold. Digging into the details of this band, I don’t think they could fabricate any of their sound even if they tried. The band has been playing together for a while and although all of this was under our noses with no aggressive anticipation before, there is excitement now because if indie rock is your preferred style, this band is really good at it.
I would not even consider “Big Broom” to be the best song out of the three. The massive sound that dissipates into a sluggish bassline, punctuated by drums, it all reminds me of A House’s On Our Big Fat Merry Go Round minus the Irish accent. It’s a great song, no less, but “All For You” is that charmer. The lazy rhythms force you to slow down and focus on it all. There are bits of that expansive ‘60s California sound with modern tinges of futurism poised in between. You can hear this even more on the demo. With Wade Ryff being supported by Breanna Wood’s lush voice, the sincerity reminds me of early Superchunk and the smell of Chapel Hill in the air.
What I will admit to is that these are songs that can be listened to over and over again. It’s a good thing that you do because every time you play these songs, you gain a deeper understanding and finer perspective. These are songs you have to think about and songs that will last. Let’s see how they interact within the context of a full album because now I cannot wait to hear more.
For now, you can stream the entire EP on Spotify. What are your thoughts on this EP?
Rejectioneers – 25 EP (Self-Released)
Rejectioneers
25 EP
Self-Released
Rating: 2.8 out of 5
Link: Rejectioneers on FaceBook
The Rejectioneers have a lot of heart. You can hear it in the opener “Murderers.” Sure the song title does not boast heartfelt positivity, but trust me, it’s there. The song is the teenage dream, filled with pure power pop and chunky rhythms to beef up the sunny side harmonies. It all beckons to believe this is early 2000 power punk, but it’s still as fresh and refreshing in the now.
I think the downfall to this EP is the sporadic recording of songs over a two-year stretch that breaks up the consistency and momentum of the EP. “Get So Mad” is not like “Murderers.” The vocals are different, the style of music has changed. It does not matter which was recorded earlier or later, the point is that the continuity is not there.
And to put a transition piece—“Buried Treasure (Intermission)”— on a five song EP is a bad choice. It feels like a lack of creativity and something that is thrown in just to give the illusion that space is being filled.
“Wake Up” bounces back and gives nods to fellow South Caroliners Archers Of Loaf. The mid-range song structure is bright and bouncy with slacker delight. And “When It’s Over” ends with a direction that probably should have been aimed for all along. The song is their most complex, enticing and heartfelt.
CSS – La Liberacion (V2/Cooperative Music/Downtown Records)
MP3: Hits Me Like A Rock (Depressed Buttons Remix)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:43 — 13.1MB)
CSS
La Liberacion
V2/Cooperative Music USA/Downtown Records
Rating: 3 out of 5
Links:
I remember the moment I first stuck my ears on a CSS record. Cansei De Ser Sexy was blatant, spunky and all the leanings of an anti-social bedroom dance party. Their Art Rock and Punk socio-diatribes were that to be marveled over. It’s what made so many fall in love with the group.
Two albums later and La Liberacion comes at us with a new label and a deeper viewpoint of the band trying to experiment outside of their perimeters. It also comes with the good and the bad.
“City Girl,” a song that smacks pop culture with the fists of feminism exploits electro pop while throwing in a trumpet solo that actually works. If X-Ray Spex started now, this is what they would probably sound like. The title track is also their first to be sung in Spanish and gives the youth something to be charged about.
As the album opens with “I Love You,” the song is a sedated melancholia that ends up being an anti-love song in CSS fashion. I appreciate the sarcasm, but even by then, it’s stretched out to be nullifying in effect.
La Liberacion is a step up in CSS pomp and circumstance from Donkey. Three years away may have helped contribute to that, but it’s nowhere near the immediacy and rush of Cansei De Ser Sexy, and that is where I like CSS best.
Hess Is More – Creation Keeps The Devil Away (Nublu Records)
Hess Is More
Creation Keeps The Devil Away
Nublu Records
Rating: 3 out of 5
Link: Hess Is More
Hess Is More creates a concoction that is varied and scattered throughout the musical spectrum. Although that is not a bad thing, it’s hard to pinpoint the band.
Not really in the Scandinavian style, where the duo evolves from; while not really enriched in distinct New York City flavor, unless you count the recent slew of covers of New York artists like Blondie or Talking Heads, Creation Keeps The Devil Away floats out in the ethers.
As composers for both film and theater, that creative style follows through into the music. It’s not so much atmospheric as it is conceptual. Adding Middle Eastern style to their bubbly pop demeanor on “Going Looking For The End Of The World,” the ambient avant-garde of “12 Bells,” or the experimental alterna-pop epic of “Go Go Go Go,” —filled with the electronic chirping you would find on a Nitzer Ebb album or the sound of taking your watch to a thick steel wire that supports an electric line —that transforms with horns and Far East aesthetics to form something that could be remotely compared to a Mungolian Jetset song.
But the real epic is “Call For Change,” a pivotal song on this album. Stretching over seven minutes, The song is somber compared to the lively action that surrounds it, and builds a different, more serious environment for the duo that is respective as it builds and responsive as it burns out.
Whatever it is you walk away with, I’m sure your thoughts will be bouncing around like this release.
