Slipped Discs October 2014

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

We Were Promised Jetpacks

We Were Promised Jetpacks

Initial Thoughts

Cock-eyed October is askew with musical titles focused on the broken. From crisp, industrial-crusted alt-rockers WE WERE PROMISED JETPACK’s dystopian commotion, “Unravelling,” to smoldering folkie GROUPER’s sleepy reprieves, “Ruins,” autumn albums binge on the unhinged. Straining at the bit, envelope-pushing guitar-wizard DUSTIN WONG and whimsical J-pop all-star TAKAKO MINEKAWA’s collaborative electro-ballet, “Savage Imagination,” and shambling shamans PURLING HISS’ heavily electric-folk art-punk, “Weirdon,” find fantastic aspirations in the fringes. Steady yourself.


Disc Reviews


Pieta Brown - Paradise Outlaw

Pieta Brown - Paradise Outlaw

Pieta Brown

Album title: Paradise Outlaw
Record Label: Red House Records

Recorded in Bon Iver’s Wisconsin studio, “Outlaw,” echoes in abandoned canyons, riding lively gypsy rivers down to lazy pools of mountain-blues. Creaky swamp-waltzes canter and meander as Brown’s pliable folk-bop juggle love-note lullabies and cautionary propositions through hand-holding coaxing and coy phantom incantations. An amiable auteur adept at story and song, Pieta performs October 17th at the Stoughton Opera House.

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Martin Carr - The Breaks

Martin Carr - The Breaks

Martin Carr

Album title: The Breaks
Record Label: Tapete Records

A perceptive pop pariah, plundering jukebox wunderkind Carr’s uncanny knack for rapturous rhapsodies brews crooning magpie stews steeped in aptly-turned phrases painting ingenious scenery and ultra-melodic blossoms falling from hummable humanist tumbles. Guided by a scavenger’s waggish navigation, “Breaks,” traipse British quips around ironic wit, bubblegum fuzz and sumptuous chamber-jangle; slyly colliding upbeat epiphanies into cheeky sympathies and colorful imagery.

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Bell Gardens - Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions

Bell Gardens - Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions

Bell Gardens

Album title: Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions
Record Label: Rocket Girl

Swaddled narco-ballads whose whispery distance colors subtle sunrises in heavenly meditations, “Slow,” flows in deep-breathing twee seasoned in glacial vapors and hazy flavors. Demure concerns addressed in heart-piercing directness, scant demands stand beneath beautiful hues while Bell Gardens’ delicate, speckled moods rise in majestic splendor amid grand piano, yawning laptop-steel and comforting choirs; somber insomnia slogging knee-deep towards celestial serenity.

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Steve Gunn - Way Out Weather

Steve Gunn - Way Out Weather

Steve Gunn

Album title: Way Out Weather
Record Label: Paradise of Bachelors

Organic, multi-stringed folk-symphonies seethe in slithering space-blues figures anchored in wriggling gringo rhythms; Gunn’s chattering talisman groove in elaborate slabs of tubular nuance. An unfettered zoo wild with collaborative habitats, “Weather,” churns electric devils from avenging crescendos; jammy candied banshees roasted in campfire crackle and dry-wood moan, baking tasty bandit-rock from sunny alt-country cunning, quicksilver shadows running under reclusive guru-roots.

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Ex Hex - Rips

Ex Hex - Rips

Ex Hex

Album title: Rips
Record Label: Merge

Shotgun pop-rock fire roaring chords and tricky riffs as, “Rips,” trips in guitar-powered powders showered in barracuda cool and driven with seductive friction. Bossy posses plying the raucous art of ominous harmonics, Ex Hex’s sparring darlings toss delicious barb-wired hooks baited in amazing zing, air-brushed lust and late-night flings packed in glitter-punk crunch, passion-trashed flash and polished New Wave cravings.

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Itasca - Unmoored by the Wind

Itasca - Unmoored by the Wind

Itasca

Album title: Unmoored by the Wind
Record Label: New Images

Diaphanous old-world folk, Itasca’s singular picking, sophisticated visions and fearless lyrics weave caressing investigations into candle-lit fairyland dances, folding post-hypnotic layers of murky memories into bewitching pond-water ripples trickling in wintry introspection. Wandering through sweet twilight-inspired delights whose exquisite clockwork searches cloak endless questions, “Unmoored,” explores ghostly foreboding within magical acoustic madrigals, dissecting enduring desires lost, squandered in romantic longing.

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Final Thoughts

Belaboring decay in grays, October also considers the lighter side of reality detachment. Recline behind translucent muses HUNGRY CLOUD DARKENING’s softly glazed memory bouquet, “Glossy Recall,” frolicking indie-rock broncos TETHERBALL’s roaming pandemonium “Whimsy,” or electro-polished French temptress YELLE’s breezy cyber-chic dance-pop beats “Complètement fou.” YELLE hits Madison’s Majestic Theater October 19th. Everything’s subjective so why not join radiant alt-pop day-trippers AFTERNOONS’ ravenous art-rock romps, “Say Yes,” float among New Zealand dream-catchers FRENCH FOR RABBITS’ mesmerizing melancholy, “Spirits,” and even concede to tireless guitar-pirates TENNIS SYSTEM’s crafted noise-rock squalor, “Technicolour Blind”