Slipped Discs - July 2008
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Scars On Broadway featuring Serj of System Of A Down
Initial Thoughts
By the nature of seeking albums whose titles align to a theme, self-titled releases often get passed by. As half the year has passed by, let’s reflect on these creatures that blatantly assert themselves. Whether it’s CONOR OBEREST stepping outside BRIGHT EYES façade, SCARS ON BROADWAY reassembling pieces of SYSTEM OF A DOWN or WEEZER repeating their color-coded discography, summer’s self-titled discs stand alone - a double-backed beast of bold Cartesian symmetry. Here are six sizzling honeys for your examination:
Disc Reviews
Little Pieces - Little Pieces
Little Pieces
Album title: Little Pieces
Record Label: One Eleven Records
Clever, well-executed jangle, Little Pieces’ full-length debut springs to life with good-natured bounce, injecting wit into a driving mix of solid chops and gentle persuasions. LP’s refreshingly invigorating tunes patiently accelerate into riff-filled rampages, offering smart takes on familiar themes and updating the subtly twisted pop of Seattle with deceptively wholesome shenanigans.
(3462) Page Views
Little Pieces online:
• Website
• Download Little Pieces from Amazon
• Purchase Little Pieces on Amazon
Black Ghosts - The Black Ghosts
Black Ghosts
Album title: The Black Ghosts
Record Label: IAMSOUND Records
Slick, affluent pop dances over oozing grooves. Dreamy cyber-soul slithers as slamming synths and edgy beats collide in intriguing electro-chic fandangos. Alert to danger and excited by possibilities, TBG’s wicked thinking and love-drowned new-wave struts its mechana-goth glamour in boldly curious moves, sleuthing in powder puff glitter and pounding blue funk.
(3457) Page Views
The Black Ghosts online:
• Website • Wiki
• Purchase The Black Ghosts on Amazon
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
Album title: Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
Record Label: Say Hey Records
Woozy waves of quiet acoustics and heady electric jams course through rambling revelation and casual confessions. Miles’ wildly inventive shaman shuffles and saintly paintings brew shadowy feelings, wide-eyed daydreams and heart-controlled gusto. Rising half-remembered, MBAR sounds weary but shipshape, steering between hopeful passion, lonely holiness and twister fist fights.
(3453) Page Views
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson online:
• Download Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson from Amazon
• Purchase Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson on Amazon
Jealous Girlfriends - The Jealous Girlfriends
Jealous Girlfriends
Album title: The Jealous Girlfriends
Record Label: Last Gang Records
Cool, new, competent and confident, TJG’s chic machine of impertinence and impermanence produces a marvelous meringue of hardened hearts and sad satisfactions. Packed among post-modern hooks and slick, calculated riffs, TJF’s hollowed choirs and demonic drizzle wallow in surreal ennui as shoe-gazing lullabies meet shimmering alt-rock and cocktail party taunts.
(3326) Page Views
The Jealous Girlfriends online:
• Wiki
• Purchase The Jealous Girlfriends on Amazon
Hercules And Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
Hercules And Love Affair
Album title: Hercules and Love Affair
Record Label: DFA/Mute
Relentless then spooky then retro-groovy, Hercules’ strength lies in funky disco bass swimming inside a programmers paradise of seamless loops. HALA’s old school mirror-ball nostalgia slices sleepy divas into polished percussion; engineering endless nights of throbbing dance floors as late seventies seductions skip several generations to turn up the heat.
(3482) Page Views
Hercules And Love Affair online:
• Website • Wiki
• Download Hercules and Love Affair from Amazon
• Purchase Hercules and Love Affair on Amazon
Adron - Adron
Adron
Album title: Adron
Record Label: New Street
Playfully enchanting as her double-tracked vocals roll around whimsical Brazilian guitar, Adron’s tropical bohemia is balm for the blistered soul. A refreshing recipe of fizzy logic and twinkling rhythms, Adron skips past cooing, cozy sips of girlish surrealism and slippery hippie happiness to conjure romantic café lives of porch swings, sandy beaches and sunny freedom.
(4621) Page Views
Adron online:
• Website
Final Thoughts
Lest we forget the almost candidates, please consider CROOKED STILL’s buzz-folk bonanza, “Still Crooked,” to the self-titled stretch of ROBERT POLLARD’s beautifully bandaged, Brit-rock raves, “Robert Pollard is Off to Business.” Finally, the not self-titled, but rather untitled, tap-dance driven, enlightened alt-pop assaults of TILLY AND THE WALL’s new disc - simply referred to by the shape of an oval.