Slipped Discs - December 2008

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

David Byrne & Brian Eno

David Byrne & Brian Eno

Initial Thoughts

Energy remedies the end of a long, hard year and December’s focus on vitally titled releases keep the juices flowing, reviving in providing levity from lethargy and conundrums instead of doldrums. So please plug in, switch on, and light up.


Disc Reviews


Pavement - Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition

Pavement - Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition

Pavement

Album title: Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition
Record Label: Matador Records

Shaggy, lop-sided fastballs sketch slacker social history as, “Brighten,” boasts goofy insights from smartass punks who bop, stomp, tattle and taunt over snakey guitar, pogo bass and loose-limbed drums.  Fortified by singles, b-sides, out-takes and radio performances, Pavement’s fourth is now a delicious double-disc documentary illuminating the band’s late-nineties indie-rock genius.

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Pavement online:
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David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Will Happen Happens Today

David Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Will Happen Happens Today

David Byrne & Brian Eno

Album title: Everything That Will Happen Happens Today
Record Label: Todo Mundo Records

Wide-eyed enlightenment, the blissed-out innocence of “Everything,” is calmly counter-balanced by ominous undercurrents, finicky mysteries playing among Afro-pop guitars, country and western acoustics and extraterrestrial playfulness. Eno’s studio synergy dances alongside Byrne’s Pentecostal allegories for strangely familiar worlds, sweetly creepy treats plucked from glittering, ocean forests.

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David Byrne & Brian Eno online:
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Cale Parks - Sparklace

Cale Parks - Sparklace

Cale Parks

Album title: Sparklace
Record Label: Polyvinyl Records

Aloha percussionist’s sophomore solo sojourn percolates processed pandemonium, chilling robo-rhythms into spacey sambas, molding twilight techno from fleeting sequences. Seething and seizing in fitful digital sonambulism, Parks’ cascading cacophony cultivates sonic stampedes, a cavalry of cyber-tribal consciousness. “Sparklace,” floats in a sea of whispered suggestions, pulsating messages projecting a drowsy virtual after-life of programmed transcendence.

(3064) Page Views

Cale Parks online:
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Download Sparklace from Amazon
Purchase Sparklace on Amazon



All The Saints - Fire on Corridor X

All The Saints - Fire on Corridor X

All The Saints

Album title: Fire on Corridor X
Record Label: Touch and Go Records

Tunneling thunder, “Fire,” blazes into vapors, eclipsing itself in devouring sounds and molten machinery. Muttering prophecies washed in fiery take-offs and soft landings, ALS fearlessly steers from heavy to haunting – astral druid choirs subsiding in cathartic blankets of ghostly tones taking left-hand turns into crashing vibrato and moaning tremolo.

(3053) Page Views

All The Saints online:

Download Fire on Corridor X from Amazon
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Fireman - Electric Arguments

Fireman - Electric Arguments

Fireman

Album title: Electric Arguments
Record Label: MPL/ATO Records

Thirteen tracks recorded in thirteen days, experimental joyrides juggle genres in Paul McCartney and Youth’s third collaboration. Reversing TF’s previously faceless techno-ambient stance, “Electric,” is in your face naked hopes and determined demons. Shooting from the hip, the duo produces unglued blues, truly beautiful ballads, country minstrel wisdom, flower-power raves and unabashed busker’s boogie.

(2797) Page Views

The Fireman online:
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Download Electric Arguments from Amazon
Purchase Electric Arguments on Amazon



Arizona - Glowing Bird

Arizona - Glowing Bird

Arizona

Album title: Glowing Bird
Record Label: Echo Mountain

Casually surreal, Arizona’s exquisite, cryptic, softly-mocking pop takes flight firing psychedelic flashes over heavenly harmonies encased in devilish melodies. Folk-rock falsettos teeter between humble and majestic as, “Bird,” builds smoldering tunes from acoustic roots, melting angelic pirouettes into acid ballistics, spinning ironies soaked in sunny truths and morals, delivered with insolent court jester wit.

(3025) Page Views

Arizona online:
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Download Glowing Bird from Amazon
Purchase Glowing Bird on Amazon



Tipsy - Buzzz

Tipsy - Buzzz

Tipsy

Album title: Buzzz
Record Label: Ipecac Recordings

Manufacturing out of this world Frankenstein lounge, Tipsy’s laughing gas crafted five martini dreams become hip, space-age hiccups clipped to cocktail trips skimming film noir sound bites, locomotive cha-chas and pickled Latin-jazz palpitations.  The kaleidoscopic cavalcade shifts smoothly through grooves, an electric, eclectic, cosmopolitan soup brimming with big band blips blending and rendering swinging midnight rendezvous.

(3046) Page Views

Tipsy online:
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Download Buzzz from Amazon
Purchase Buzzz on Amazon



Final Thoughts

Holiday shoppers can leverage their options with two excellent compilations. From the globe-trotting, earth-shattering, “Beyond the Horizon,” to champion Wisconsin high school rocker’s jaw-dropping double-barreled, “Launchpad 2008,” sonic smorgasbords kick out jams, mingling trusted traditions and singling out talented individuals.