Slipped Discs

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Reviews From: Year 2009
Starflyer 59 - Dial M

Starflyer 59 - Dial M

Starflyer 59
Dial M
Label: Tooth and Nail

Suave and sardonic, “M,” phones in catchy beats, dark chords and ambulance urgency, delivering slithering, sinister vamps and slick, square-jawed indie-rock stomps. Stubborn, steady hooks probe and prod as Starflyer 59 addresses brooding moods in fluid phrases and menacing new wave. Tortured portraits taunt and mock while taking stock in shadowy pop.

Starflyer 59 WebsiteStarflyer 59 Wiki

 - Who Killed Harry Houdini?

- Who Killed Harry Houdini?


Who Killed Harry Houdini?
Label: Mute

Sprawling odysseys circling innocence and adolescence with shirtsleeve hearts and underlying pining, the English-singing Swede’s sophomore effort befriends and amends. Timid and torrential, the thirty-member band offers a spicy musical minestrone in a gaily painted Galapagos of banjo, tympani, clarinet and brass as IMB’s kindergarten rock whispers wistfully and roars sympathetically.

Website Wiki

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Jenny Lewis
Acid Tongue
Label: Warner Bros

Dishing out an inspired buffet of bent Americana, modern songbird Lewis’ song-writing skills turn classic formats into formidable platforms, launching alt-country gospels, weepy folk ballad blues and raging rockabilly toe-tappers. Couched in cameos and chameleon changes, “Acid,” waxes and wanes, openly hopeful then wickedly sinful. Powerful pipes aid adventurous exercises in Lewis’ adept adaptations.

Jenny Lewis WebsiteJenny Lewis Wiki

Chopteeth - Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band

Chopteeth - Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band

Chopteeth
Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band
Label: Grigri Discs

Biting brass rides rumbling rumbas while hip-hop highlife wiggle and worm its way past jazzy James Brown soul. Nimble, relentless and electrifying, the twelve-piece D.C.-based band sings, shouts and seduces in seven languages as Chopteeth’s politically-charged beats respectfully skim rhythms from Senegal to Jamaica, dancing from Ghana to Nigeria straight into Funkytown USA.

Chopteeth WebsiteChopteeth Wiki

Miniature Tigers - Tell It to the Volcano

Miniature Tigers - Tell It to the Volcano

Miniature Tigers
Tell It to the Volcano
Label: Modern Art

Sour grapes make sweet poison, indeed as “Volcano,” blithely applies evil touches neatly tucked behind choir-boy buoyancy. Scathing favors happily twisting tongues and filling lungs. conspiring and harmonizing, Tigers’ brightly burning tales skip, quip and stammer, cheerfully smiling through subversively sunny songs where love turns obsessive and hope leaves town.

Miniature Tigers WebsiteMiniature Tigers Wiki

Peter Buffett - Imaginary Kingdom

Peter Buffett - Imaginary Kingdom

Peter Buffett
Imaginary Kingdom
Label: Beside Records

Soft, buttery ballads glide to machine-tooled grooves - robotic pop layering logic alongside longing for social conscience swimming in sophisticated syncopation, Buffett’s, “Kingdom,” build waves of hard-wired wondering washing over clockwork convictions, ticking time-bombs packing compassion in stately arrangements that stir and shimmy, dance floor diplomacy wrestling questions in hip-swiveling dialogues, cooing solutions.

Peter Buffett WebsitePeter Buffett Wiki

School Of Seven Bells - Alpinisms

School Of Seven Bells - Alpinisms

School Of Seven Bells
Alpinisms
Label: Ghostly International

Secret Machines’ Benjamin Curtis teams up with twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza weaving steamy cybernetic melodies between lockjaw rhythms,. Spinning space-age atmospheres, “Alpinism,” accentuate mesmerizing sound rainbows from astral sirens tempting mental cosmonauts. Airy fairies ferry digital dreams of binary bliss against restless tides, colliding into heavenly buzz, flitting into glittery symphonies.

School Of Seven Bells WebsiteSchool Of Seven Bells Wiki

Bee And The Bird - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future

Bee And The Bird - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future

Bee And The Bird
Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
Label: Manhattan Records

Baroque toasts, post-millennial torch-songs, gift-wrapped galas and space-age cabaret swoon in woozy angelic caresses firing meticulous missiles, infiltrating cosmopolitan lifestyles. “Ray,” hosts sly cheesecake concertos bursting with zest and cooing with cool, coy élan - champagne jazz dressed in glamorous gossamer rocketing into chiffon and sherbet.

The Bee And The Bird WebsiteThe Bee And The Bird Wiki

An Horse - Rearrange Beds

An Horse - Rearrange Beds

An Horse
Rearrange Beds
Label: Mom and Pop

Forceful phrases cement sentry-guard sincerity as Australians Kate Cooper and Damon Cox chop up blockbuster guitar and lock-jaw drums into barricade-bashing heartache and uncaged outrage. Honestly wrought bitterness thrash past social conventions, galvanized sympathies rebel uncorked and poised for pavement-pounding storms drenched in desire as, “Beds,” binge on wide-eyed no-nonsense indie-rock romance.

An Horse Website

Matt And Kim - Grand

Matt And Kim - Grand

Matt And Kim
Grand
Label: Fader

Parades of pneumatic analogue thump and pummel, emphatic word slams punctuate robust shout-outs, chipper pep rallies rejoice, reinforcing the duo’s sing-along salvos in pressure-cooker choruses, thundering downbeats and consistently insistent grooves whose in your face tastes prove innocent, intelligent and irresistible. Catapulting convictions cheer, steering old school synthesizers into infectious messages and relentless entertainments.

Matt And Kim WebsiteMatt And Kim Wiki

PSAPP - The Camel’s Back

PSAPP - The Camel’s Back

PSAPP
The Camel’s Back
Label: Domino Records

Rube Goldberg whimsy haunts the charming ticks, bells and whistles perforating the toy-box ballet of tropical melodies in Psapp’s chic, elliptical art-pop.  Posh, polished shenanigans bring an edgy restlessness to the subtly playful, “Camel,” where cross-stitched syncopation meets eloquent studio tomfoolery for a computer-soothed jungle gym of twittering symphonies, slithering samples and classical flashes.

PSAPP WebsitePSAPP Wiki

Dex Romweber Duo - Ruins of Berlin

Dex Romweber Duo - Ruins of Berlin

Dex Romweber Duo
Ruins of Berlin
Label: Bloodshot Records

Rodeo skiffle blends into alleyway noir bleeding between surf-rock riffs and vintage rockabilly licks as long-lost woefulness surrounds DRD’s noble, ravaged aesthetics. A slew of eclectic standards and roots-rock cameos turn, “Berlin,” monumental - six strings strum and rumble, ambling over finger-picking confessions while bristling twang and tremolo gallop through frontier gallows.

Dex Romweber Duo WebsiteDex Romweber Duo Wiki

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