Slipped Discs - November 2008
Discs you may have missed | by John Noyd
Politics – that which separates us from yet shows our kinship to rutting beasts, illuminating the best and worst of mankind. So as America celebrates its voter’s freedoms and inherent right to populist democracy, November’s theme elects to showcase exemplary discs whose titles suggest presidential perspectives, citizen sympathies and royal headaches while successfully negotiating creative vetoes. Like the song says, everybody wants to rule the world, I say, lead the way.
Peachcake
What Year Will You Have the World?Record Label: Awesome Planet/Subtractive
Review published: November 2008
Nostalgic, encyclopedic, underground and ironic,”Rule,” compiles pre-fab pageants from socio-cultural colloquialisms and old-school computer doodles. Whip-smart cybernetic pep ride sine waves texting paisley-flavored polemics, knob-twisting fixes input smirking circuitry, robotic loops program mood-altering samples tripped, wrung and processed. Peachcake’s madcap android bonfire blinks, re-thinks and stutter-boogies to algorithmic bliss.
Reader Votes: 0
The Panics
Cruel GuardsRecord Label: Music Allies
Review published: November 2008
Throaty vocals cushioned in strings and brass cast stoic shadows across jangly refrains as the solid, soulful Aussie rock of, “Cruel,” croons cool, stone-faced fables. Shifting slave chain beats between rousing hooks, The Panic’s valiant hearts are well-prepared for soldiering on, delivering swelling, resilient emotions exploding into proud pleads and open-armed anthems.
Reader Votes: 0
Friendly Fires
Friendly FiresRecord Label: XL
Review published: November 2008
An elastic calamity coldcocking ping-pong bass around popcorn jungle percussion - FF’s edgy, pop-disco romances pack plenty of jagged hot flashes, capturing groovy futures beneath neon-saturated satin. Smart and spastic, FF’s new-wave bounce hits the ceiling before landing on the dance floor, swiveling synths and crackling guitars shrieking in slippery hiccups and sputtering funk.
Reader Votes: 0
Winterpills
Central ChambersRecord Label: Signature Sounds
Review published: November 2008
Sweet harmonies wrapped around rich, dark laments, Winterpill’s defenseless elegance waltzes around articulate sleep-walking angst. Minuets and rhapsodies receive pop-rock arrangements and post-modern wittiness, sagas reduced to reclusive tunes washed in deliberate, cinematic poetry and tastefully electric diplomacy. Spinning literary nuance, “Central,” reassembles foreign films with methodical logic, unearthing our delusions with melodic confidence.
Reader Votes: 0
Todd Rundgren
ArenaRecord Label: Hi Fi Recordings
Review published: November 2008
Protool pomp etch race car riffs as producer-performer Rundgren’s rails against time and empires, reactivating big-hair hammerhead rock for deep themes, exposed schemes and metaphysical convictions. Unleashing an arsenal of retaliating romps and machine-tooled machismo, “Arena,” channels ballistic outrage and foot-stomping frustration into iron-clad wake-up calls, rapid-fired blasts roasted over fiery blue-eyed soul.
Reader Votes: 0
The Dears
MissilesRecord Label: Dangerbird
Review published: November 2008
Quietly solemn, slowly simmering, The Dear’s revamped, stripped-down sound buckles down and re-emerges more evocative and powerful for the restraint. Grand without grandstanding – the navel-gazing textures give way to no-nonsense questions as hypnotic nod-rock wakes into precarious storms. Propelled bullet-like into darkness, “Missiles,” grazes, stuns then penetrates, erecting temples of temptations within subtle, sophisticated mazes.
Reader Votes: 0
Final Thoughts
If tomorrow frightens you escape into the past. Try the B-side bonanza of UNBUNNY’S warm, frank indie-folk, “Sensory Underload.” Escape into absurdity. STEVE SINGH’s, “Heavy Metal Sunset.” melts zany potluck-pop into bubblegum acid-rock. Escape to distant lands. Amazonian Chicha masters JUANECO Y SU COMBO’s psychedelic garage-rock, “Volume 1,” dissolve cultural preconceptions. Finally, escape into all three with MAX RAABE & PALAST ORKESTER’s roaring twenties Weimar cabaret, “Heute Nacht Oder Nie.”
