Slipped Discs September 2015

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Cecile McLorin Salvant

Cecile McLorin Salvant

Initial Thoughts

No two ways about it, this year’s fall albums coordinate numerous musical solutions. Count on brash multi-faceted jazz-singer CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT’s undivided devotion to ambidextrous emotions, “For One To Love,” plus side-pocket dockside-rockers LOS COLOGNES’s hep catwalk-twang, “Dos,” before adding shaggy slackers HOOTON TENNIS CLUB’s smug Liverpool walkabout, “Highest Point in Cliff Town,” to astronomical art-monsters THE DEARS’ razor-sharp chamber-rock mazes, “Times Infinity: Volume One,” for results covering every angle.


Disc Reviews


Low - Ones and Sixes

Low - Ones and Sixes

Low

Album title: Ones and Sixes
Record Label: Sub Pop

Eliciting exquisite admissions through deliberately slippery mystery, solemn indie-rock golems power Low’s eclipsing whispers, enlisting persistent convictions corroded in quiet dares and mounting pressure. Rationing dark, feed-backed passions within super-saturated minimalism, “Sixes,” affixes efficient high-stakes restraint to condensed intensity whose solid methodical lottery straddles crackling chaos and radiant revelation. The gloaming slow-core Minnesotans play Madison’s High Noon Saloon September 18th.

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Telekinesis - Ad Infinitum

Telekinesis - Ad Infinitum

Telekinesis

Album title: Ad Infinitum
Record Label: Merge Reocrds

Lofty cottony alt-pop compositions executed in beautiful synth-driven arabesques drizzled over brittle nimble bounce, “Infinitum,” tucks supple couplets inside free-spirited travelogues, turbo-charged sing-alongs,and sad-eyed monologues. Soul-baring, pre-sequenced secrets line Telekinesis’ cyber-syncopated daze relaying pulsating cravings to carpet heart-throb sobbing in grand, amorous fantasies while poignant romantic misfortunes float over circular percolations plying earnest truths in buoyant New Wave grooves.

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Joan Shelley - Over and Even

Joan Shelley - Over and Even

Joan Shelley

Album title: Over and Even
Record Label: Quarter Records

Spinning literate yarns into consoling poetry, Shelley’s rich folk voice and finger-picked guitars coax articulate descriptions from nurtured words whose timeless burdens carry motherly comforts inside gentle swells and sparse harmonies. Threaded and feathered in luminous acoustics and patient engagements, “Even,” weaves placid ballads into dashing tapestries hemmed in trembling assurance and wind-swept acceptance, sealing well-heeled feelings within hand-carved art.

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U.S. Girls - Half Free

U.S. Girls - Half Free

U.S. Girls

Album title: Half Free
Record Label: 4AD

Tectonic electronics adorned in stormy non-conformity, “Half,” wraps rattled theatrics around savage habits tuned to rebellious beat-heated jealousies. Serving dance-floor tourists throaty potions dosed in glowing incantations, U.S. Girls funnels haunted taunts into totalitarian clarions as corrosive hooks cooked with jungle cunning cavort among fiendish alt-rock arenas, bewitching trip-hop hostages caught by panoramic purgatories and bottled up inside baffling laboratories.

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Darwin Deez - Double Down

Darwin Deez - Double Down

Darwin Deez

Album title: Double Down
Record Label: Lucky Number

Spring-loaded goading from swinging opinions vetted in unfettered perceptions, Deez’s crisp wit flickers in shrewd hip-swiveling dissidence as cool dime-store Romeos unleash shark-like malarkey from slick tricked-out pop. Upbeat table-turning journaling backed by boss froth and chic cheek, “Double,” tumbles in snazzy songs strong on ironic homilies and catchy metaphors, slyly prying into lively reprisals while shyly driving court-jester life-lessons.

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Wand - 1000 Days

Wand - 1000 Days

Wand

Album title: 1000 Days
Record Label: Drag City

Maneuvering through psycho-groovy rock-boogie, “1000,” wows and plows around wavy amazements, constructing hippie-conscripted symphonies sifting trippy visions between grungy fuzz lunging in gurgling fury and flanged folk-jams prancing in cosmic sophistry. Exchanging zany daintiness for thunder-struck ruckus, Wand’s discombobulated sages spawn mythic misfits, whipping splendid mind-bending intentions into head-banging prog-operas where electric narcolepsy descends, bends and avenges with ragged imaginations.

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Final Thoughts

While numbers don’t lie, September albums also grapple with subjective connections. From folk-rocker Nicole Schneight’s observant alter-ego AIR WAVES’ confident providence, “Parting Glances,” to thoughtful indie-pop tumbleweeds WIDOWSPEAK’s beguiling half-smiles inside, “All Yours,” interpretations vary in accuracy. What does gumbo-loving night-trippers JOHN ELLIS AND DOUBLE WIDE’s blissfully tipsy,” Charm,” rosy post-folk floater MONOGOLD’s doting fairy-tales, “Good Heavens,” or lo-fi tunesmith SHELF LIFE’s idiosyncratic, “Everybody Make Happy,” really mean? Don’t ask valiant velvet bellwether K’s CHOICE’s gritty alt-rock commitment, “The Phantom Cowboy,” or introspective Seattle specter DOWNPILOT’s cellar-dwelling testament, “Ghost Radio.”