Blitz Post!

I have a ridiculous backlog of music, too much to give anything the thoughtful time it deserves.  Instead I'm going to pretend I am being cool and themey by doing blitz reviews! so here it is, one-listen blitz reviews about band I'm going to do very little research on!

Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde
I couldn't remember if I liked Smith Westerns or not.  I remember their last album cover pretty vividly and I remember kinda wanting to like them more than I did.  But hey,  3 songs into their newest effort I am really enjoying it.  This will probably enter my rotation of music where Chief now stands, mood specific and deserving of more time than I give it, but greatly appreciated when I do listen.  There is some ELO influence here and some Cold War Kids vibes too.

Telepathique- All Your Lovers
I distinctly remember not being very partial to Telepathique.  Just generally 'eh'.  Then errbody was like "JOMG, Telepathique" which I didn't get.  Maybe I was harsh on the first listen 'cause this new EP really isn't bad at all. They are Brazilian, they have a lot in common with CSS sound-wise. and 24/07 is pretty rad.  I dig the floating vocals on the refrain and the electronics don't come off as generic (which was their biggest weakness as I remember)

Bangs- Fakes EP
Holy Sheez am I loving this EP.  I have listened to only this EP all day today.  It owes a lot to Animal Collective but it's that clear, pulsing Animal Collective we got on Merriweather Post Pavilion.  Bangs has great synths, feathery layers, and a pop mentality.  If it stands up over time, it might end up in my Top 20 list.

Ducktails III- Arcade Dynamic
This album seems a little long, I have a hard time imagining what this band is like live.  If you mostly ignored them it would probably be an awesome show.  Which sounds bad, but if you heard the wah-pedally, plinking guitars that push a couple songs out past 5 min, you would probably get it.  The shorter affairs are totally lovable. Its the kind of band you would have if you were really just having a good time being mellow.

Chapel Club- Wintering EP
More or less loving this too, but not as much as Bangs.  This is moaning, death-embracing kind of delish.  Morrissey wants his schtick back, but White Lies lent it to Glasvegas and they lost it after a particularly vigorous night of playing one chord.  Chapel Club's schtick might be the same one, but it's there's now so Morrissey will just have to deal. Probably by wishing he was dead with a beautiful woman.

Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
I wish I could give this more time.  That is how I feel about the album, not how I feel about the review.  Its decent, very decent.  On the whole though, her first album was better and Oh Land did better this year already and this will stand up just fine 6 months down the road, but I don't think it will get any better.  That is the sad fact of life.  Its ok Lykke Li, I still love you.


Ok, I still have an enormous backlog, so it will be blitz entries from here on out until I am caught up.  If I get all caught on something I might go for a more full review.  I am not sure whether to include links or not, considering that any reader is perfectly capable of googling a band.......hmmm. We'll see.   Until next time!

FLIGHT- The Lead Riders EP

    As a musical tradition, my interest filtered through my dad's love of Bay Area late 60's and 70's rock.  At  that 12-13 year old range when kids establish their own tastes I was sooo into Nu- Metal until that sounds faded and a more technical, screamy kind of metal came to the forefront.  By then I was ready for something new and Death Cab had just released Transatlanticism. So bam-indie music here I come.


Nonetheless, there have always been indulgences.  I listened to all of Marilyn Manson's new releases.  I loooved She Wants Revenge.  Spineshank broke up and I got sad and then Jonny Santos ended up in a couple different bands and I got happy.  The Deftones and Tool never actually got 'bad' as far as I can tell, cause I still love them dearly. 

Which leads us to The Lead Riders EP by FLIGHT. 

Not Nu-Metal really, but undeniably influenced.  Most of the record is actually just moody and jostling, like the more intense moments of The Cure.  But the WHOOLE record, guitars, vocals, everything, is drenched in this warbling effect that used to factor into Manson in a huge way. She Wants Revenge too, they had the same deadpan vocal sound and a couple times they used this compressed electronic effect.  Their sound is meaty, thick, atmospheric.  Sometimes you can actually hear the air rattle when the bass is plowing away by itself.  The hooks are pretty huge too, this could be big alternative radio stuff if they had a cleaner mass-appeal sound.  But they don't and that will keep them in indie geekdom forever.....which is good for us.

I just couldn't help but thinking of skinny 17-year-olds loving the hell of out of this record and the 17-year-old in me loves it too.  In fact.....I want to see this band live, hold on, I'm gonna go look up tour dates. Wow, it was waaay harder to find that Myspace page than i thought it would be. Like, I had to look up the band name, the EP name and go to the second page of result......jomg! PS: I don't know what jomg means


aaaaaaannd no up coming shows.  Anyways, I really enjoyed it, so I vote yes.  Check 'em out here for tour dates when they come and check out their label, Zoo Music, here.