Slipped Discs September 2015
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Cecile McLorin Salvant
Initial Thoughts
No two ways about it, this year’s fall albums coordinate numerous musical solutions. Count on brash multi-faceted jazz-singer CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT’s undivided devotion to ambidextrous emotions, “For One To Love,” plus side-pocket dockside-rockers LOS COLOGNES’s hep catwalk-twang, “Dos,” before adding shaggy slackers HOOTON TENNIS CLUB’s smug Liverpool walkabout, “Highest Point in Cliff Town,” to astronomical art-monsters THE DEARS’ razor-sharp chamber-rock mazes, “Times Infinity: Volume One,” for results covering every angle.
Disc Reviews
Low - Ones and Sixes
Low
Album title: Ones and Sixes
Record Label: Sub Pop
Eliciting exquisite admissions through deliberately slippery mystery, solemn indie-rock golems power Low’s eclipsing whispers, enlisting persistent convictions corroded in quiet dares and mounting pressure. Rationing dark, feed-backed passions within super-saturated minimalism, “Sixes,” affixes efficient high-stakes restraint to condensed intensity whose solid methodical lottery straddles crackling chaos and radiant revelation. The gloaming slow-core Minnesotans play Madison’s High Noon Saloon September 18th.
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Low online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Ones and Sixes from Amazon
• Purchase Ones and Sixes on Amazon
Telekinesis - Ad Infinitum
Telekinesis
Album title: Ad Infinitum
Record Label: Merge Reocrds
Lofty cottony alt-pop compositions executed in beautiful synth-driven arabesques drizzled over brittle nimble bounce, “Infinitum,” tucks supple couplets inside free-spirited travelogues, turbo-charged sing-alongs,and sad-eyed monologues. Soul-baring, pre-sequenced secrets line Telekinesis’ cyber-syncopated daze relaying pulsating cravings to carpet heart-throb sobbing in grand, amorous fantasies while poignant romantic misfortunes float over circular percolations plying earnest truths in buoyant New Wave grooves.
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Telekinesis online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Purchase Ad Infinitum on Amazon
Joan Shelley - Over and Even
Joan Shelley
Album title: Over and Even
Record Label: Quarter Records
Spinning literate yarns into consoling poetry, Shelley’s rich folk voice and finger-picked guitars coax articulate descriptions from nurtured words whose timeless burdens carry motherly comforts inside gentle swells and sparse harmonies. Threaded and feathered in luminous acoustics and patient engagements, “Even,” weaves placid ballads into dashing tapestries hemmed in trembling assurance and wind-swept acceptance, sealing well-heeled feelings within hand-carved art.
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Joan Shelley online:
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• Download Over and Even from Amazon
• Purchase Over and Even on Amazon
U.S. Girls - Half Free
U.S. Girls
Album title: Half Free
Record Label: 4AD
Tectonic electronics adorned in stormy non-conformity, “Half,” wraps rattled theatrics around savage habits tuned to rebellious beat-heated jealousies. Serving dance-floor tourists throaty potions dosed in glowing incantations, U.S. Girls funnels haunted taunts into totalitarian clarions as corrosive hooks cooked with jungle cunning cavort among fiendish alt-rock arenas, bewitching trip-hop hostages caught by panoramic purgatories and bottled up inside baffling laboratories.
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U.S. Girls online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Half Free from Amazon
• Purchase Half Free on Amazon
Darwin Deez - Double Down
Darwin Deez
Album title: Double Down
Record Label: Lucky Number
Spring-loaded goading from swinging opinions vetted in unfettered perceptions, Deez’s crisp wit flickers in shrewd hip-swiveling dissidence as cool dime-store Romeos unleash shark-like malarkey from slick tricked-out pop. Upbeat table-turning journaling backed by boss froth and chic cheek, “Double,” tumbles in snazzy songs strong on ironic homilies and catchy metaphors, slyly prying into lively reprisals while shyly driving court-jester life-lessons.
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Darwin Deez online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Double Down from Amazon
• Purchase Double Down on Amazon
Wand - 1000 Days
Wand
Album title: 1000 Days
Record Label: Drag City
Maneuvering through psycho-groovy rock-boogie, “1000,” wows and plows around wavy amazements, constructing hippie-conscripted symphonies sifting trippy visions between grungy fuzz lunging in gurgling fury and flanged folk-jams prancing in cosmic sophistry. Exchanging zany daintiness for thunder-struck ruckus, Wand’s discombobulated sages spawn mythic misfits, whipping splendid mind-bending intentions into head-banging prog-operas where electric narcolepsy descends, bends and avenges with ragged imaginations.
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Wand online:
• Website
• Download 1000 Days from Amazon
Final Thoughts
While numbers don’t lie, September albums also grapple with subjective connections. From folk-rocker Nicole Schneight’s observant alter-ego AIR WAVES’ confident providence, “Parting Glances,” to thoughtful indie-pop tumbleweeds WIDOWSPEAK’s beguiling half-smiles inside, “All Yours,” interpretations vary in accuracy. What does gumbo-loving night-trippers JOHN ELLIS AND DOUBLE WIDE’s blissfully tipsy,” Charm,” rosy post-folk floater MONOGOLD’s doting fairy-tales, “Good Heavens,” or lo-fi tunesmith SHELF LIFE’s idiosyncratic, “Everybody Make Happy,” really mean? Don’t ask valiant velvet bellwether K’s CHOICE’s gritty alt-rock commitment, “The Phantom Cowboy,” or introspective Seattle specter DOWNPILOT’s cellar-dwelling testament, “Ghost Radio.”