Slipped Discs - December 2008
Discs you may have missed | by John Noyd
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.
Tipsy
BuzzzRecord Label: Ipecac Recordings
Review published: December 2008
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.
Arizona
Glowing BirdRecord Label: Echo Mountain
Review published: December 2008
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.
The Fireman
Electric ArgumentsRecord Label: MPL/ATO Records
Review published: December 2008
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.
All The Saints
Fire on Corridor XRecord Label: Touch and Go Records
Review published: December 2008
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.
Cale Parks
SparklaceRecord Label: Polyvinyl Records
Review published: December 2008
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.
David Byrne & Brian Eno
Everything That Will Happen Happens TodayRecord Label: Todo Mundo Records
Review published: December 2008
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.
Pavement
Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence EditionRecord Label: Matador Records
Review published: December 2008
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.
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.
