Slipped Discs April 2016
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Laura Gibson
Initial Thoughts
Destruction ravages and scavenges with April albums deflowering and devouring. Whether Spaghetti Western menace raveled around JOHN KAADA & MIKE PATTON’s ominous cosmic jazz-punk concerts, “Bacteria Cult,” or introspective transcontinental songstress LAURA GIBSON’s sizzling folk-pop vistas, the deal-breaking, breath-taking, “Empire Builder,” it’s eat or be eaten. Still hungry? Best digest abrasive shadow-chasers SUUNS’ terminally squirmy, “Hold/Still” before dining on beguiling stylists BEAR HANDS’ gyrating white-funk punk-pop, “You’ll Pay For This.”
Disc Reviews
Woods - City Sun Eater in the River of Light
Woods
Album title: City Sun Eater in the River of Light
Record Label: Woodist Records
Hippie-dipped alt-pop constructed from snakey paisley voodoo, WOODS’ swinging indie-rock releases mountain stream micro-jams tapping into an upbeat bohemia scampering in soulful falsetto and Bakersfield twang. Brass injections punctuating jangle-infused ska, “Eater,” seeks Cheshire cat cat-naps through skulking psychedelic-boogie, capturing secret-agent daydreams in sunshine-primed get-togethers. The blissful quintet play Madison’s High Noon Saloon with baroque-folk retro-rockers Ultimate Painting April 25th
(2590) Page Views
Woods online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download City Sun Eater in the River of Light from Amazon
• Purchase City Sun Eater in the River of Light on Amazon
Cate LeBon - Crab Day
Cate LeBon
Album title: Crab Day
Record Label: Drag City
Rube Goldberg Krautrock washed in quirky punch-drunk waltzes and swimming in bristling Escher-like connections, “Crab,” scuttles unfiltered, off-kilter pop wringing giddy riddles from cryptic figments stuttering kinder-goth subplots. Tinkering in slinky kismet while staging sly cock-eyed comedies, LeBon’s Welsh elf gifts brisk asymmetrical riffs to stiff prickly rhythms while gleeful secrets pirouette around deliberately splintered binges scooped from untamed left-brains.
(4123) Page Views
Cate LeBon online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Crab Day from Amazon
• Purchase Crab Day on Amazon
Ben Watt - Fever Dream
Ben Watt
Album title: Fever Dream
Record Label: Unmade Road
Meditative jazz-folk sparking cathartic bargains through lyrical hindsight smoldering in glowing rhetoric, Watts’ ruminating gait and understated majesty fosters placid magic casting subtle mercy alongside quiet grace and fond bygones. Bottomless thoughts voiced in soft-spoken emotions, the mahogany melancholy beneath, “Fever,” feeds nameless longing through slow-boiled solos riding gentle reverence for life’s inventories, sorting redemptive memories into semi-fictional rescue missions.
(4739) Page Views
Ben Watt online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Fever Dream from Amazon
• Purchase Fever Dream on Amazon
Sharks in the Deep End - Killin Machine
Sharks in the Deep End
Album title: Killin Machine
Record Label: AWAL Music Distribution
Flushed in lusty muscle, prowling scowls and unrequited insights “Machine,” teams howling prowess to cheeky pleads with champagne luster and leather-stitched wickedness. Hedging edgy alt-rock cockiness against roving pleasure-domes tinted in shiny club-house angst, the snappy, savvy SITD’s relentless pretense hatches feisty bites buoyed by black-ops bop, flirty bursts cursed in broad-stroked boasts and impressive confessions packed with unbendable obsessions.
(5495) Page Views
Sharks in the Deep End online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Killin Machine from Amazon
Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop - Love Letter for Fire
Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop
Album title: Love Letter for Fire
Record Label: Sub Pop
Post-modern Americana weaving dreamy roots music around cantering beats, rustic shuffles and jaunty pop acoustics, Beam and Hoop’s sharp, sophisticated songs integrate rich frisky duets casually serving tender poetic truths ladled from unvarnished hearts. A vivid revision of simple traditions devoted to poised metaphors, musical intuitions and blossoming literary imaginations, “Fire,” flows in sweet country soul and wise urban folk.
(3129) Page Views
Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop online:
• Website
• Download Love Letter for Fire from Amazon
• Purchase Love Letter for Fire on Amazon
Bleached - Welcome the Worms
Bleached
Album title: Welcome the Worms
Record Label: Dead Oceans
Snarky guitars and battering bass stab and grab in no-nonsense consequence rocking caustic mosh-pit kisses thundering under sledgehammer glamour; the turbo-charged, “Worms,” burns through brawny taunts, ego-crushing struts and brash pop stomps. Baptized in electric bluster and flanked by shameless hanky-panky, the heavy L.A. trio’s bitchy transcriptions pitch peppermint grit from pepper-spray kitchens while pin-up kitsch whips salty curve-ball come-ons.
(5254) Page Views
Bleached online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Welcome the Worms from Amazon
• Purchase Welcome the Worms on Amazon
Final Thoughts
What you see is what you get. Spring witnesses twilight-pop visionary WOODPIGEON’s meta-troubadour stories, “TROUBLE,” blatant street-saints PARQUET COURTS calisthenic benders, “Human Performance,” and pop-scotch cyber-angel WOLKOFF’s pre-sequenced tease, “Without Shame.” Visually, April offers kaleidoscopic rockers TUFT’s multi-tasking garage-swagger, “Look Look,” pneumatic dance-factory acrobat TYOMA’s gripping, rippled raves, “Mirror,” and shaggy mod-rockers EXMAGICIAN’s slithery blues-glam caravan, “Scan the Blue.” Seeking brilliance? Peer into incandescent chill-surfer ALL INDIA RADIO’s aquatic pageants, “The Slow Light, dark-minded folk-jester JAYE BARTELL’s low-key masterpiece, “Light Enough,” and fleet-footed beat-master SIEREN’s, sequined synchronicities “Transients of Light.”