Slipped Discs March 2016
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
The Coral
Initial Thoughts
Think you figured it out? March albums say no way. From garage-pop astronaut LUKE TOPS’ beach-comber torch-songs, “Suspect Highs,” to indie-rock stalwarts THE CORAL’s psycho-spooky blues-grooves in the mega-heavy, “Distance Inbetween,” incalculable variables shackle and hassle. Discounting the unaccountable, epic beat-crazy sound-chemist RJD2’s soul-jacked mash-ups, “Dame Fortune,” anthem-planting candidates GLINT’s earnest-rock curtain-calls, “Inverter,” and undefeated chill-pop pleaders THE JOY FORMIDABLE’s posh-goth desperation, “Hitch,” intervene between unseen obstacles and undetected edits.
Disc Reviews
Cullen Omori - New Misery
Cullen Omori
Album title: New Misery
Record Label: Sub Pop
Effervescent sketches plastered in pillowed reverb and psychotropic commotion, “Misery,” rumbles with sumptuous alt-pop wonder, manufacturing haunted Phil Spector wet-dreams lacquered in heart-breaking infatuations. Streaming tear-stained refrains with prepubescent chemistry while drenching heaven-sent intentions in lollipop optimism, Omori layers tasty two-ply sighs over sugar-coated keyboards and triple-decker guitars. The former Smith Western frontman hits Madison’s High Noon Saloon March 25th.
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Cullen Omori online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download New Misery from Amazon
• Purchase New Misery on Amazon
Wintersleep - The Great Detachment
Wintersleep
Album title: The Great Detachment
Record Label: Dine Alone Records
Buffeted in brawny downbeats, arc-welded hooks and driving rhymes, Wintersleep’s wide-awake pop-rock earthquakes ride galloping ballads with strenuous tendencies into cruise-controlled crusades. Recorded live in the studio, “Detachment,” taps into an inexhaustible reservoir of palpitating percussion rushing over expansive working-man landscapes to brew soothing communities where toiling joy joins pure, earnest urgency for restless manifest destinies carved from hardy camaraderie.
(1827) Page Views
Wintersleep online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download The Great Detachment from Amazon
• Purchase The Great Detachment on Amazon
My Gold Mask - Anxious Utopia
My Gold Mask
Album title: Anxious Utopia
Record Label: Moon Sounds Records
Cellophane strumpets barreling through tough, buffed triumphs crunch sinful cyber-zipped dins into shiny futuristic visions; “Anxious,” fires glamorous anthems into transistorized extravaganzas packed with barracuda moves hammering risky disco-pop tonics into sublime electro-rock harmonics. Surging with combative techno-driven New Wave rage, Chicago’s MGM’s solid-state flood-gates open groove-glitched passion pits to power-hungry participants, subduing unrestrained campaigns through vigorous, sinister patch-bay subterfuge.
(2079) Page Views
My Gold Mask online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Anxious Utopia from Amazon
Emmy the Great - Second Love
Emmy the Great
Album title: Second Love
Record Label: Bella Union
Honeycombed moments dipped in pastel wishing-wells, “Seconds,” beckons elegant merry-go-round melodies around fairy-tale philosophies for tender feminine remembrances painted in dainty flames. Deep beneath meticulous whispers, nurturing curtsies and enchanting candor, ETG’s gift-wrapped happiness addresses strong ideas vacillating between empowered lounge whose underlying architecture plunder graceful modern-pop sophistry and perceptive serenity wrenched from creamy calypso, pixie-kissed minuets and space-age lullabies.
(1933) Page Views
Emmy the Great online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Second Love from Amazon
• Purchase Second Love on Amazon
Mark Mallman - The End Is Not The End
Mark Mallman
Album title: The End Is Not The End
Record Label: Polkadot Mayhem
Cheeky synth-rock blockbusters sprinkled in pop-culture touchstones uncoil panoramic calamities as Minnesota’s Mallman conjures ranting ear-candy fantasies from intricate survivalist’s instincts wielding studio-rattled razzle-dazzle. Lathered in flashy bombast, belittling wit and circumvented tension, “End,” sends lavish gadget-packed nostalgia into post-modern quandaries, constructing crushing sounds of heartfelt meltdowns from irreverent, cross-referenced intelligence marinated in daring flair, satirical lyrics and combustible hustle.
(2008) Page Views
Mark Mallman online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download The End Is Not The End from Amazon
Jennifer O'Connor - Surface Noise
Jennifer O'Connor
Album title: Surface Noise
Record Label: Kiam Records
Coated in dark sparkles and slippery ripples, the calm, self-assured, “Surface,” circles common ground with a keen eye and steady hand commanding savvy spins on contemporary opinions to spawn sing-song conversations within warm folk-pop poetry. Radiating extra-special perspectives with well-rehearsed purpose, O’Connor crafts casual parables through economic thought as savory displays of uncontested impressions negotiate gentle questioning beneath matter-of-fact compassion.
(1940) Page Views
Jennifer O'Connor online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Surface Noise from Amazon
Final Thoughts
Stockpiling vile pariahs and prying outsiders, riff-raff crashes several March albums. Whether spectacular neo-classical synthesist ANNA MEREDITH’s sweeping cyber-prog cathedrals, “Varmints,” interstellar city-dweller FATIMA AL QADIRI’s worldly electronic swirls of dissenting connections, “Brute,” or poly-rhythmic minimalist BAYONNE’s mechanical feet-friendly insanity, “Primitives,” oddballs call all the shots. Meanwhile retro-hip revisionists LIONLIMB’s noirish art-slacker cabaret, “Shoo,” and free-range Cajun groovologists BLACK PEACHES’ honey-roasted bayou-boogie, “Get Down You Dirty Rascals,” tag-team battle sputtering indie-rockers BENT SHAPES’ puckish punk ruckus, “Wolves of Want,” and spirited night-crawlers HOLY WAVE’s jammy psycho-jangle sirocco, “Freaks of Nurture.”