Category Archives: Lo-Fi
Sin Ropas – Holy Broken (Music Review)
Sin Ropas
Holy Broken
Shrug Records
Rating: 3 out of 5
Holy Broken? Holy reminder! From the get-go, I’m instantly hearing the resemblances to that Number Seven Uptown record from Swearing at Motorists. From the use of distorted guitars and slag tempos to the Hayden-tinged sound of the vocals (Swearing at Motorists covered Hayden’s “Bullet” on the aforementioned LP); the album from this duo, known as Sin Ropas, is a spitting image of the Midwestern lo-fi ramble rock I knew so well.
Well, it pays that Tim Hurley and his wife Danni Iosello (Hurley of Califone and Red Red Meat fame) make the city of Chicago their hub for production. However, Holy Broken was actually recorded in a cabin located in the mountains of North Carolina.
If you’re hankering for a bluesy swank, “Nailed In Air” features the slow sway of a bar band whose lead singer is drugged up on Valium. And, we also get a taste of Joseph Arthur-style cooing two-thirds the way through.
‘What good is stealing light from another star?’ Hurley slurs overtop pedestrian acoustic guitar strums on the dusky “Stolen Stars and Light”. The smooth husk of his singing is so reminiscent of Paul Hayden Desser that this could’ve been plucked from 1998’s The Closer I Get. “The Fever You Fake”, at the head of the record, achieves an energy that is never surpassed from the rest that plays out. But, it sweetly owes to 90s alternative rock, sounding like a product of Lou Barlow and Mark Everett from Eels.
You’ll continue to hear strange clattering and electronic drones throughout Holy Broken, as Hurley used instruments that he tailored himself out of who-knows-what; certainly retaining a bit of uniqueness on the album. Yet still, the bumbling chord changes and nightmarish lyrics are all but exact copies from other lesser-known songbooks. Hurley does steal light after all, but only from the dimmest of the stars in the indie rock universe.
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Blind Man’s Colour – Wooden Blankets (Music Review)
Blind Man’s Colour
Wooden Blankets
Kanine Records
Rating: 2 out of 5
Links:
Blind Man’s Colour – http://www.myspace.com/weareblindmanscolour
Kanine Records – http://kaninerecords.com/
When All Night Radio released Spirit Stereo Frequency it sounded like psychedelic music being broadcast in space. With Blind Man’s Colour’s Wooden Blankets, it feels like a late ‘50s/early ‘60s radio station being broadcast at the bottom of the ocean.
If this was an instrumental or sparsely vocalized EP, Wooden Blankets would be brilliant. Their sonic structure bleeds through like rays of light through water molecules. But there is a lot of sonic edging and studio witchery that distorst and contorts their sound and it ends up being more annoying than it is effective.
Whereas Season Dreaming was more intriguing, it’s baffling how the two were developed at the same time. And having a more personalized, stripped down approach, it does not work to their benefit.
I don’t know why the album is not more like “We’re Treehouse Kids,” a song that wanders about like analog ghosts and is musically iridescent. But “Canoe Paddles” is like shoving something sour in your mouth. It’s a song that makes your ears itch. “Fantasy Coves” is a little better like a deranged lullaby.
If The Beatles worked at a small town carnival, Wooden Blankets might make sense. The sound trip twirls around like a Fellini movie if Ray Dennis Steckler was in control.
There is appeal in its lo-fi glory, but what it comes down to is that this EP has too many purposefully distracting elements to render it more annoying than it is artistic.
The Octagon – Warm Love And Cool Dreams Forever (Music Review)
The Octagon
Warm Love And Cool Dreams Forever
Serious Business
Rating: 4.2 out of 5
Link: http://www.theoctagonrock.com/
Serious Business: http://www.seriousbusinessrecords.com/
It takes a lot of courage for a band who could have all the perks of technology to simply disregard the idea and go the lo-fi route. But that is a big part of the charm to Warm Love And Cool Dreams Forever.
What comes out of a Brooklyn practice space and analog tape on four track is earnestly brilliant. Sloppy only on the surface and with the best intentions, this is an album whose songs are solid through and through.
Don’t let “Suicide Kings” fool you, although soothing in its melody and lyrical coolness that meshes with noisy guitar riffage, it’s songs like “Cross Tops” and “Stop Snitchin’” that make you want to freak out with excitement.
And “Radio Days?” Holy crap, this is every fan’s fantasy who wished for more early ‘60s garage rock with a tint of shoegaze. A Ventures sandy drum beat, and a raunchy early ‘80s three-chord New York rocker melt your mind with a wall of noise coming in like a tsunami. “You can do it right, you can make it on your own. You can fall in love with everyone you know,” it’s a message that needs to be instilled over and over again as the chorus rings out.
With 16 songs on the plate, the back half of the album is just as impressive as the front. “One Five Five” is pounding power rocker while “Revolution” sounds like a lost gem from mid-’80s Minneapolis.
All in all, The Octagon is my new favorite obsession that keeps me constantly amazed with how well these songs stick to you, even in its rawest form.
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Phil and the Osophers – Parallelo (Music Review)
Phil and the Osophers
Parallelo
Factual Fabrications
Rating: 3 out of 5
Link: http://www.myspace.com/philandtheosophers
Phil and the Osophers are just that, philosophical ponderers. The three-piece are not shy to song crafting. With their own label, and this being their sixth release, they have quite the song library to choose from.
As much as they write, what is impressive is that their music is relevant and not just throwaway lo-fi dribble. Parallelo is jangly and sounds like it was recorded in one of the band member’s garage with the treble cranked up. That alone can be a distraction, but it’s also the charm to Parallelo. And when you have the reverb echo of the guitar “We Have All Summer” and “Propeller Jet” you cannot help but be brightened by it.
This is also an album you cannot take at face value. You have to dig deep. There you will discover that “Cheap Livin’” is a song about rich people who lost it all or “Creator” is a song about God in the time of slavery.
Somewhere between Beat Happening and R.E.M.’s Dead Letter Office, Parallelo fits perfectly nestled between the two.
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Atlas Sound – Logos (Music Review)
Atlas Sound
Logos
kranky
Rating: 2 out of 5
Links:
Atlas Sound on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/atlassound
kranky: http://www.kranky.net/
Atlas Sound starts out like an even more tormented Smog that’s been bent out of shape. Emerging with space bleeps that dominate the forefront with acoustic dribblings “The Light That Failed” is a clear demonstration of a disjointed figure as Bradford Cox sings out of tune. Whether on purpose or a lack of vocal skill, these twinkling sci-fi meanderings unwillingly take a seat in the background as Cox steps forward, breaking free from the introverted style that left us with Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel.
It’s a less than appealing beginning to Logos but things get a little better with the Spaceman 3-like guitar interchange on “An Orchid” and the spaced-out orbiting samples that flow in and out of “Kid Klimax,” as well as the title track.
Cox collaborates with various people, including Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox and Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier. That alone would make anyone want to pick up the album with curiosity, and each song is equally observant in the context of the whole, but I am only talking about a small sample of the album.
The rest is conducted with bedside manner and stretched into lo-fi quantities. Normally that would be a great thing, but Cox tries to incorporate the three-minute pop concept into his ethereal acoustic serenades like “Sheila” and “My Halo” but in the end, it feels like he cannot even pull himself up off the floor and make promising recordings. It would be better if he just went off the deep end with his music, but, alas, bending the fabric of pop culture wins. When it comes down to it, stick to instrumentals and save yourself the humility.
