Summer Camp’s Always EP

(Apricot – 6/29/2012)

Some artists flirt with the idea of their music whisking the listener off to distant lands, but Summer Camp has outright demanded it. Having utilized their own brand of cynicism to break through that of the collective indie-verse with 2011′s gutsy experiment in synth-pop-meets-scorning-sentimentalism Welcome to Condale, their latest release, the Always EP, abandons the light-hearted fantasia in favor of crippling sobriety and ultimately struggles to identify with its prior independent sound.

Secret Cities: Strange Hearts

(Western Vinyl – 3/29/2011)

Few could have predicted the resurgence of ’60s-inspired psychedelic rock of the early aughts, ever fewer would have predicted it would find a home amongst the overly cynical indie pop fan-base. But for Strange Hearts, Secret Cities have drawn upon the ghosts of pop-rock past to create light-handed, sweeping pop songs that prove successful in light of minor technical limitations and an excess of ambiguity all while embodying the free spirit of ’60s songwriting.

How’s It Hold Up?: Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American

What I Remember:
I always liked Bleed American, perhaps despite my better judgment. I bought it used for all of $8 at a local punk show (along with a similarly priced copy of The New Amsterdams’ Para Toda Vida), and while I always knew it wouldn’t be Clarity, and that Jimmy Eat World would never be capable of Clarity again, I still enjoyed it for what it was: an extension of pop punk so utterly melodic it could fester in your soul so long it spread to your appendages. Three months later, Doctor So-and-so is hacking off your gangrenous arm while humming “The Middle” ‘s introductory guitar riff. That’s the weirdest part about my relationship to Bleed American (I refuse to accept the post-9/11 departure from the title Bleed American to a self-titled release): I always knew it was an inferior project, but in my foolish youth I accepted it. But here we are, 12 years since its release, and its time for another spin.

Youth Lagoon’s Wondrous Bughouse and Some Hapless Musings on Dream Pop

(Fat Possum – 03/05/2013)

In the simplest, most direct terms, Youth Lagoon’s latest perhaps finds its fitting within the dream pop sector of the indie market (or, if that’s not nearly a pretentious enough divider, try “within the dream pop fiefdom of the indie realm” on for size). It bears the same reverb-induced drone and characteristic warbled vocals, but Wondrous Bughouse is far too adventurous to be confined to such a one-trick pigeonhole. Youth Lagoon is one of few names to use the dream pop sound in conjunction with outside influences (Spiritualized’s space rock and Whirr’s shoegaze-as-punk come to mind as examples, though Spiritualized doesn’t really count given they predate the genre’s latest iteration) to create something altogether new out of a sound that’s been done to death.

A Brief Update:

I’m working on some things for this here oft-neglected blog o’ mine, including some column ideas and a new about page.

This got neglected for a while, as bigger things seemed to be on the horizon (though, thus far, they’ve fallen through).

Anyhow, I just got a fancy new desk and computer, and thus have the tools to harness my productivity and motivation (in the rare event that I have any).

More to come soon. Thanks n’ stuff.

-RR

Foals: Holy Fire

(Transgressive – 2/11/2013)

The subjectivity of music can be pretty funny, in its way. We all have those bands/albums from which we hear a certain je ne sais quoi that we’re ultimately incapable of translating to another person. You tell them “You just gotta hear it” — when, in reality, they’ve just gotta feel it; and most likely won’t because it’s your feeling so get off their back — and once the song ends you’re faced with a blank stare and a half-hearted “that was pretty cool” and God knows if even that’s honest. This, I imagine, is how Foals has to talk to others about Holy Fire (c-c-c-curveball!).

“A Tattered Line of String” by The Postal Service

A few weeks back, the news of new Postal Service material left me, well, unenthused (and I might be exaggerating the height of my mania here). Give Up had its place in electro-pop’s past, but it’s not exactly a timeless album. Yet lately, as I sift through piece after piece about the “intricacies” of The Postal Service’s seminal debut, I’ve begun to think that many heard something in Give Up that wasn’t actually there.

Live Review: Tame Impala @ Terminal 5

w/ The Growl
(Terminal 5, NYC – 2/19/2013)

Doors at seven, show at eight; yet Hell’s Kitchen locale Terminal 5 was packed by 7:15 as a wildly assorted crowd spanning various demographics filed in for a night of psychedelia and an excuse to light up in a crowded room, because, I don’t know…damn the man?

The Spinto Band: Cool Cocoon

(Spintonic – 2/5/2013)

It’s been a strange career for The Spinto Band, and — as I’m concerned — their 2012 grower The Slow Pursuit was the first step in the wrong direction. A seemingly immediate (though it had been four years since their last album) shift was made as Spinto jumped from the sinking ship of spazz-rock into the pinhole-ridden lifeboat of indie-pop, co-opting a relaxed, breezy tone that was frightfully hit-or-miss.

But what do I know? (certainly not enough to write long-winded minutia on the subtleties of modern pop, no sir). I loved 2008′s Moonwink for its assemblage of “oohs” and “ahhs” and tingly guitar riffs melded into juvenile, spastic rock songs, while every one else seemed pretty certain that 2005′s Bar/None debut Nice and Nicely Done was the end-all compass point by which any future Spinto album ought be judged (though I always thought they’d added a dash too much essence-of-scenester to the cauldron). But the past is the past, and the future, for The Spinto Band, appears to be an affluence of respect for soft, wispy indie-pop a la Vampire Weekend.

“Suit & Tie” by Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z

Let me show you a few things (show you a few things). One of the things I wish to show you is a David Fincher-directed video for Justin Timberlake’s return-to-pop-music-like-it-ain’t-no-fuckin’-thang single “Suit & Tie”. It’s been six-and-a-half years since the release of Timberlake’s last album, Future/Sex — and I’ve got it from a reliable source (blind faith) that ol’ JT didn’t have to do so much as slow his breathing for but a moment throughout the process of writing, recording and filming the single and video. Timberlake himself even stated that he went into “Suit & Tie” with no particular motive. He approached the sound board, pressed some buttons and “Suit & Tie” just happened, like some spark of the divine brought on by the patron saint of suavity. I mean, just look at him in the intro…my man’s eating cereal standing up, completely unflinching in the humbling presence of Jay-Z, who’s straight chillin’ watching his beloved Nets on the couch. Furthermore, WHOSE PLACE IS THAT!?