Slipped Discs October 2015

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Kisses

Kisses

Initial Thoughts

Scattered to the wind, autumn albums can’t sit still. Whether unsettled by antsy avant-pop necromancer BIRTHMARK’s kaleidoscopic, “How You Look When You’re Falling Down,” or seeking vibrant asylums with light-fingered pianist OSCAR PEREZ’s intuitive Latin-jazz musings, “Prepare A Place For Me,” random meandering seems unavoidable. Corner sullen strong-armed gun-runners CITY CALM DOWN’s prowling alt-rock skullduggery, “In A Restless House.” before cavorting with funky thumpers KISSES’ disco limbo, “Rest in Paradise.”


Disc Reviews


Ozere - Finding Anyplace

Ozere - Finding Anyplace

Ozere

Album title: Finding Anyplace
Record Label: self-release

Evoking global chamber-folk beneath a lively mixture of crisp traditions, Ozere’s classically-trained musicians’ adventurous jigs, formal pastorals and deft two-steps serve harvest feasts on Sunday linen. Brisk mandolin and wishful violin mingle in cordial joys spiked with swift mischief, spinning, “Anyplace,” with dizzy gypsy pizzicato to twirl proper foxtrot debutantes besides diverting parlor-game flirts with parlayed pirouettes and unpretentious poise.

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City and Colour - If I Should Go Before You

City and Colour - If I Should Go Before You

City and Colour

Album title: If I Should Go Before You
Record Label: Dine Alone

Bold, blue-eyed falsettos perched between deep-seated power-chord missions and smitten pop-rock exhibitions, “If,” prowls, prods and paces in earnest second-chance anthems, red-blooded love-letter confessions and sly shadow-dancing advances. Embraceable fates reflecting on heavenly redemption through riverboat blues packed with rousing thunderclap backing, CAC’s insistent vindication runs on hopped-up optimism and crackling salvation to drive past high-jacked passions into tender surrender.

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Long Beard - Sleepwalker

Long Beard - Sleepwalker

Long Beard

Album title: Sleepwalker
Record Label: Team Love

Candle-lit trysts treading through jazz-backed jangle hidden in ambient brambles, Long Beard’s sonic cauldrons brew narco-folk oceans soaked in reverb-swirling maternity and soft sparkling arcs. Churning with vague yearning capped in passive rapture, “Sleepwalker,” weaves its lost horizons and bottomless fogs around clattering satellites unleashing pantry banshees strung from delicate electric canopies engulfed by wayward favors shipped in shining innocence.

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Joe Jackson - Fast Forward

Joe Jackson - Fast Forward

Joe Jackson

Album title: Fast Forward
Record Label: Work Song

Four bands assembled in four cities, the ambitious, “Fast,” crafts ballsy philosophy from articulate cynics’ sophisticated vagrancy; romantic scamps impatiently chasing polyrhythmic pop salted in salsa, mad-dog punk drunk on Caruso and exotic rock slathered in Arabic jazz. An uncanny analyst, Jackson’s sharp-tongued fun vents universal sentiments into savvy cabaret featuring belligerent sinners, jaded saints and explosive, precocious talk-show hosts.

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Samson the Truest - Come Back Shane

Samson the Truest - Come Back Shane

Samson the Truest

Album title: Come Back Shane
Record Label: Hart Beat Hustle

Crooning over subdued grooves making steady headway to imaginary sanctuaries, Brooklyn songwriter Samson’s easy-going charm gently rocks fireside insights into masterfully compassionate parables, melodic solace warms character-actor narratives into slow-burning parades glazed with persuasive side-winder kindness staging hopeful folk overtures alongside uncertain soul-searching curtain-calls. Sleepy alley-cat ballads, casually balanced, low-key and inquisitive, “Shane,” frames humble bedroom ballet inside poignant orchestration.

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Whiskerman - Nomad

Whiskerman - Nomad

Whiskerman

Album title: Nomad
Record Label: OIM Records

Zapped in looking-glass flash, “Nomad,” wanders wantonly with peyote-folk panache searching among turbulent skyrocket births cleansed in reckless treks for posh cosmic jaunts where woozy strings wring galactic grit from drowsy gospel-rock riffs. Rootless suitors pursuing human connections, Whiskerman’s stately faith in vagabond escapes pits triple-dipped paisley against country-fried revivals to fuel bluesy spirals sweeping symphonic cascades over cathartic harmonics.

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Final Thoughts

An unusually godly October celebrates superhuman delusions with larger than life tunes. From trampoline dream-pop schemer NAYTRONIX’s incandescent, “Mister Divine,” to garage-rock surgeons PROTOMARTYRS jagged post-punk aftermaths, “The Agent Intellect,” unchecked egos prosper. Time-lapse traps from pristine percolator PRINCESS CENTURY promises beat-driven, “Progress,” while silver-tongued punch-card vanguards YOUNG GALAXY’s pop-soul idolatry cautions against, “Falsework.” Fearlessly surreal imagineers OBERHOFER offers randy rock-candy, “Chronovision.” to combat loose, cubist storm-troopers GUN OUTFIT’s omnipresent space-cowboy blues, “Dream All Over.” and bleary-eyed cyber-phantoms THEE KOUKOUVAYA’s, impending psycho-chemical bender, “This is the Mythology of Modern Death.”