CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Moneybrother
They’re Building Walls Around Us
Burning Heart Records

Culled from two previous full lengths, They’re Building Walls Around Us is the suprisingly fresh North American debut of Swedish singer/musician Anders Wendin and his Moneybrother monicker.  Throughout the six tracks he mixes indie rock, soul, and pop and incorporates a lot of strings and brass instruments to lend it an eclectic, classic feel.

The title track, an upbeat, swirling disco song, is filled with these lavish strings and enough high pitched vocals to last you the winter season.  A little on the cheese/camp side, but still extremely fun.  The second track, ‘Reconsider Me’, will remind a lot of indie rock kids of Bloc Party with its bass heavy intro and the accented vocals.  However once the chorus comes along, things settle into a more Moneybrother pop sound.

The remaining four song venture off into slower soul territory.  Although Wendin gets to show off his vocal ability a bit more on these tracks, it is a bit dissappointing considering the upbeat energy of the first two songs.  Still the EP is defintely worth checking out, for its unrestrained homage to past styles of pop music and the unstoppable title track.

[buy] Moneybrother’s There Building Walls Around Us at Insound.com

[video] Moneybrother - They’re Building Walls Around Us

CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Oxford Collapse
Remember the Night Parties
SubPop Records

There was a time, at least 15 years ago, when children who were weaned on ridiculous ’70s hard rock and ’80s hair metal went to college. There they had their eyes opened by groups like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. and decided that they really didn’t need to shred, but could instead detune their guitars and try to be a little more melodic and artsy. Best of all, they could still rock out. It’s that kind of thinking that spawned some of the best bands of the indie music explosion of the mid to late ’90s from Superchunk and Archers of Loaf to Hum and Lotion.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Grizzly Bear
Yellow House
Warp Records

The term “avant-folk” seems to be getting attached to any band or artist that features a heavy use of acoustic guitar and steers clear of conventional singer/songwriter fare. It’s a shame too because it tends to put those folks at a disadvantage, conjuring up images of poster boy for the avant-folk movement Devendra Banhart and his faux-naif antics. Hopefully with a tour opening up for fellow sonic daytrippers TV On The Radio, will help Grizzly Bear avoid such associations and show them to be the bold new step forward for the world of psychedelic and avant garde pop music that they truely are.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

The Blow
Paper Television
K Records 

Khaela Maricich!  You are making me blush!  Stop it!  I mean it!  How am I supposed to focus on my bloggings when a talented, attractive women is in my headphones singing funky electro-pop songs about sweaty bed sheets and various sexy time references?  I can’t handle this!

Your latest album Paper Television is like the siren’s call, luring unsuspecting mariners off their course.  It is also the most fun I have had all year listening to music.  There are upbeat French songs, funky dancefloor numbers, and layers upon layers of pent up sexual tension.  It’s an infectious monster that you just want to hug, hairy paws and all.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Tommy Guerrero
From the Soil to the Soul 
Quannum Records

Tommy Guerrero spent the better part of his youth riding a skateboard as a member of the much-vaunted Bones Brigade (where Tony Hawk got his start), but a little known fact about him during those years was that he was a musician as well. Sure, he played in the hilarious punk band, Free Beer, but it still seemed to come out of nowhere a few years back when he came out with his first album of instrumental funk and soul.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Jennifer O’Connor
Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars
Matador Records

After releasing two full-length records on a variety of miniscule independent labels, Jennifer O’Connor is finally getting her due. Having signed to Matador Records early this year, she was able to afford to put together the record we all knew she had in her. Her plaintive, country-tinged songs have always carried with them a stark immediacy that the small-time recording budget helped amplify, but even with a few extra dollars in the coffers, O’Connor’s songs are as affecting as ever.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

The Thermals
The Body, The Blood, The Machine
SubPop Records 

Sure, songs loaded with harps, xylophones, and harmonicas are fun, but sometimes what you really need is a swift kick in the pants. The Thermals latest full length The Body, The Blood, The Machine is not only swift, it is also impetuously entertaining. From the opening church organ of ‘Here’s Your Future’ to the final discordant moments of the final ballad ‘I Hold the Sound’, the Portland, Oregon trio wring the most out of their two-chord pop punk formula and manage to get some toes tapping with a much appreciated shot of melody.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

The Long Winters
Putting the Days to Bed
Barsuk Records 

Normally an album like Putting the Days to Bed would be an achievement worth celebrating, however coming from Alaska’s The Long Winters, it mostly confirms what we already knew coming in: songwriter John Roderick can pen one hell of a pop song. Putting the Days to Bed is When I Pretend to Fall cranked up to 11, juiced on steroids, and dressed up in a fancy, new suit. Everything has been elevated to the next level, creating what should be a milestone in the band’s career, but somehow, it isn’t.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Ratatat
Classics
XL Recordings

Brooklyn duo Ratatat has just released their exciting and infectious second album on XL Recordings. An album that is overflowing with danceable beats and multi-layered melodies, Classics is a must-listen. Evan Mast and Mike Stroud, the masterminds behind Ratatat, establish their signature sound by recording multiple tracks upon one another and working on individual sections of a song until deemed perfect. They don’t shy away from using samples, either. Ratatat’s music is voluptuous, vibrant, and instrumental. Each song is equipped with a memorable melody and a catchy beat.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

El Boxeo
Awake & Dreaming
Suburban Sprawl Music

Do the words El Boxeo sound familiar to you? It should, seeing as how they were featured in a download write up back on July 14th. It’s been long enough between then and now for you to have gone out of your box and given them a listen, but for those of you who haven’t, here’s another plea.

For those of you who do not know random words in Spanish, El Boxeo means boxing. It’s also the name of a trio from Livonia, Michigan that play mainly of violin, drums and bass (not to be confused with drum n’ bass). This setup is what makes the band truly unique. There is no guitar anywhere to be found, and for that I am quite pleased. With the full sound El Boxeo is able to create, there isn’t really a need for anything else.

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