CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Camera Obscura
Let’s Get Out Of This Country
Merge Records

History has shown us plenty of bands who, early on their careers, had a sound that they clung to for dear life (The Ramones, The Beatles) and that served them quite well. Following along those lines is the Scottish pop group, Camera Obscura, who have recently put out their third full-length of ’60s throwback pop music that drips with reverb. For the most part, it is relieving to hear a group stick to what they know best and playing up their strengths, but it quickly becomes a challenge for a reviewer who would like to hear, well, something different.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Baby Dayliner
Critics Pass Away
Brassland Records

If you were to ask the self-designated underground captains what’s next in the world of music you might elicit a response similar to this one:

‘Well, there is this great new 7-piece indie band!  They play the accordion and the banjo, and they are a family!  The singer is married to the viola player, and the flute player is the twin brother of the girl who bangs on a trash can. Isn’t that, like, so unique?” 

The real truth is, although it makes for an interesting story, the odd, woodwind-playing family band angle has grown almost as common as the reclusive solo artist bit (you know, the agoraphobic jack-of-all-instruments who stumbles out of his cave every summer, just long enough to play Coachella and record an album with Matt Walla).  The logjam of new acts who have chosen to employ the same handful of ‘unique’ devices have become, as any over-saturated trend, irritating to wade through.  Where are the unique voices?  More importantly, where is the sincerity?  I don’t necessarily beg for difference or extremism;  I merely ask for music that is visceral and earnest.  Engaging tunes that are not front loaded with self-importance and gimmick.

This unspoken request is, in all honesty, the main reason why I have gone absolutely bananas over New York singer/producer Baby Dayliner.

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CATEGORY: Editor's Pick - Music Reviews

Those Transatlantics
Knocked Out
Suburban Sprawl Music

With the weight of 50 plus years of popular music weighing down on a band’s collective shoulders, it almost seems an insult to bang on three chords while shouting over the top about the girl or boy you could never have. Thankfully, in the world of independent music, there are a number of artists and groups who are both paying respect to their forebears and working to push their own musical ideas to center stage. The result of this is some decidedly ambitious songwriting and albums, like the first full-length by this five piece from Michigan.

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