Slipped Discs May 2017
Discs you may have missed | by John Noyd
What’s in a name? Whether elevating or denigrating, praising or hazing, May album titles look at name-calling, both good and bad. Consider soft, lofty ghost-whisperers HOOP’s precious messages and hesitant sentences in the super-fine, “Super Genuine,” tireless yarn-spinning archivist and stoic old-time revivalist BONNIE ‘PRINCE’ BILLY’s country-blues revue, “Best Troubadour,” or wild-eyed metaphysical jam-wizards HELIOCENTRICS’ organic trances and mytho-poetic mantras, “World of Masks,” and discover hyped stereotypes surrounding disabled labels.
She-Devils
She-DevilsRecord Label: Secretly Canadian
Review published: April 2017
Chiffon bombs ticking in double-edged pleasures offer scintillating lust-encrusted invitations from vixen-commissioned dream-pop laced in swirling subversions; She-Devils’ groovy girl-group subterfuge hides contagious stalker-rock dangers inside bewitching pinafore choruses. Weaving steamy seductions in waltzing subterranean sock-hops and purring black-widow pillow-talk, the duo’s self-titled debut’s brooding duels wrestle suppressed affections threatened by schizophrenic tensions into irresistible temptations deploying coy post-modern decoys.
Juana Molina
HaloRecord Label: Crammed Discs
Review published: April 2017
A primordial courtship between sultry synthesized slithering and limber South American rhythms, “Halo,” percolates in balmy cyber-samba calm, looping smoky jungle fugues around languid sleepwalker tangos to color galactic tapestries with eerie delirium. Soothing computer voodoo spawned from quirky circuitry, Molina’s sleek creatures oscillate between aqueous gymnastics painted in exotic polish and savvy electro-folk magic rooted in woozy spooky sensuality.
Hollow Everdaze
CartoonsRecord Label: Deaf Ambitions
Review published: April 2017
Rockin’ cosmopolitans, over-the-moon psyche-pop crooners and fab gentlemen tripsters, Australia’s Hollow Everdaze indulges in nostalgic pageants soaked in Sixties mystery, injecting hallucinogenic benders sprinkled in continental splendor and cat-burglar nerve. Touched in lush xylophone and champagne strings, “Cartoons,” draws curious augmented chords while artful guitars melt melancholy melodies into fuzz-pedal buzz and furious indie-rock exhaustion plunges into chronic symphonic sonnets.
The Mountain Goats
GothsRecord Label: Merge
Review published: April 2017
Opening momentary microcosms littered in descriptive images, semi-fictitious reminisces and surprising rhymes, “Goths,” criss-cross dreamy sax, casual lounge-jazz accents and earthly pearls plucked from teeming streams of a novelist’s consciousness. Rich, suggestive hearsay plants information-packed narratives inside episodic tunes to sow knowing poetry; The Mountain Goats coast over draughtsman characterizations in ruby-slippered elocution, undressing life’s undercover essence with semi-urgent mercy.
Deb Talan
Lucky GirlRecord Label: Nettwerk
Review published: April 2017
Gentle ballads dabbling in sad absences alongside boppy folk-pop cocktails anchored in hidden wisdom; Talan’s talent for enriching simple instances and reaping deep emotions makes her songs stellar testaments to perceptive, independent spirits. Very much a solo endeavor, “Lucky,” assigns lyrical reminders inside restless blessings, lighting life’s common longings and unmanageable challenges with glowing social revolt and warm, cozy counsel.
Fake Shark
Faux RealRecord Label: Light Organ Records
Review published: April 2017
Non-stop power-pop frolics in hyperbolic gimmick-rich shtick, uncorking Fake Shark’s ultra-catchy packages of spring-loaded ear-worms and hook-riddled rock-outs. From crunchy funk shot out of a cannon to auto-tuned struts flushed with cheeky pleads keen on creamy harmonies and glitch-inflicted party-rock, “Real,” squeals in wicked wit, indulging endless remedies for an audacious mental vacation booked with smarmy charm and kinetic cool.
Final Thoughts
Where’s it at? Spring albums zero in on places. Portuguese alt-pop chameleons THE GIFT team up with Brian Eno for sumptuous beat-sweetened ballads and exuberant Krautrock concoctions in, “Altar” while bright, Simonized harmonizers GIRLPOOL plug direct, electric connections into, “Powerplant.” Find free-spirited story-teller WOODEN WAND’s meta-folk lullabies, “Clipper Ship.” then discover nomadic pop-naturalist CHRIS BATHGATE’s expansive, thoughtful, “Dizzy Seas,” before surveying supernatural appetites from voracious psychedelicists MOON DUO’s lava-lamp jams, “Occult Architecture Vol. 2,” and traversing multi-genre jazz-guitarist BILL FRISELL and ace bassist THOMAS MORGAN’s, gentle, scenic, effervescent, “Small Town.”
