Slipped Discs
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Interpol - Interpol
InterpolInterpol
Label: Matador
Stripped down to a sleek threesome, “Interpol,” still thinks big. Gloating in slow reproaches cloaked in dark velvet tensions and cast-iron cadence, brawny sonic monuments get lubricated in withering glances and sinister insect rhythms. Fashionably dramatic twists fortify Interpol’s ultra-cool odes simmering in insurgency – hatching glam-rock plots born from suspicious minds, tortured desires and lurking malevolence.
• Interpol Website • Interpol Facebook • Interpol WikiUnderworld - Barking
UnderworldBarking
Label: OM Records
First-time use of outside producers, Underworld’s sixth disc remains indelibly true to its trance-disco roots. Corridors of escalating beats, sweetened in hip-swiveling jangle and arena-sized synthesizers, helicopter to rapturous pneumatic satisfaction. Tentatively menacing, “Barking,” revel in spotlight stares cast from lingering sizzle; steamy cybernetic sequences teasing secret night-time daydreams between pounding downtown declarations exuding cavalier club-hopping confidence.
• Underworld Website • Underworld Facebook • Underworld WikiMeridene - Something like Blood
MerideneSomething like Blood
Label: Amble Doown Records
Wise asides and quick quips happily carry percolating electric piano, bipolar guitar, and rock-solid bass and drums; like shock absorbers on a bumpy road, “Something,” comforts contemplative cravings in cryptic hipster’s whisperings told in simmering conviction. Convincingly syncing thoughtful despondency in a stew of swinging rhythms, Eau Claire’s Meridene attain rare pop honesty, accurately capturing passing moods through descriptive prescriptions.
• Meridene Website • Meridene FacebookBlood Red Shoes - Fire Like This
Blood Red ShoesFire Like This
Label: V2
Taking no prisoners, “Fire,” ignites a hailstorm of monster tremolo, big-screen screams and explosive grooves. Circling like muscled vultures, Shoes’ shiny goose-step rock assaults with two-fisted rivers of hard-nosed prose and sizzling riff missiles. Blasting past unrepentant petulance, “Fire,” builds tense acrylic retaliations, guarded shards accosting blockbuster structures, flaunting dive-bombing stomps and stoked locomotives. BRS crash Chicago’s Subterranean October 29th.
• Blood Red Shoes Website • Blood Red Shoes Facebook • Blood Red Shoes WikiMini-Mansions - Mini-Mansions
Mini-MansionsMini-Mansions
Label: Rekords Rekords
Ghoulish pursuits from pop-rock hooligans, Mini-Mansion’s crazed clichés cleave dream-speak tweets into a scrumptious rush. Cryptic gibberish and lecherous messages canned into pounding, pouncing demonic delights, a bushwhacked grab-bag evoking Spoon, Supergrass, even Billy Joel, this self-titled debut scoops goofy gremlins into spirited shenanigans, walking bass pirouettes into spiraling guitars and barrelhouse piano for campy vamps and predatory rock-star glory. Mini-Mansions appear Dec 8th at Milwaukee’s Mad Planet and Dec 9th at Madison’s Project Lodge
• Mini-Mansions Facebook • Mini-Mansions WikiBroken Records - Let Me Come Home
Broken RecordsLet Me Come Home
Label: 4AD
Galloping gasps of forthright sincerity ride high on unforced remorse and fitful decisions. Soldiering through storms and craving calamity, the British band’s anthems stampede between brawny leads, fashionably cinematic passions and desperately perplexing pleads. Simmering in boisterous deeds, Broken’s emotional depths stomp and ponder a heart’s worth of tender regrets as the artfully upset, “Home,” delivers galvanized symphonic rock salvations.
• Broken Records Website • Broken Records FacebookBritish Sea Power - Valhalla Dancehall
British Sea PowerValhalla Dancehall
Label: Rough Trade
Razor sharp post-punk rumblings dissecting gun-barrel ballads into flickering, splintering sympathies; Brighton’s glory-seeking rockers slip ripped riffs, beseeching speeches and steamy ennui into cosmic canyons of epic gestures and earnest curses. Blistering encouragement paired alongside drenched repentance keep the dynamics fresh and the feeling electric as, “Valhalla,” bends and blends, stormy surrenders catapulting urgent cataclysms and sanctifying moody, brooding catechisms.
• British Sea Power Website • British Sea Power Facebook • British Sea Power WikiTapes 'n Tapes - Outside
Tapes 'n TapesOutside
Label: Ibid Records
Grunting funk and grizzled sizzle creep, reap and compete against ballistic wit in caustic waltzes; turpentine Valentines combining impertinent compulsions and sputtering madmen mambos. Self producing, “Outside,” on their own label, Tapes’ quirky, murky cock-eyed maelstroms concoct intoxicating rhythms given to shaggy-dog shuffles and crackling indie-rock dipped in agitated majesty. The Minneapolis quartet play Madison’s High Noon Saloon January 28th.
• Tapes 'n Tapes Website • Tapes 'n Tapes Facebook • Tapes 'n Tapes WikiApex Manor - The Year of Magical Drinking
Apex ManorThe Year of Magical Drinking
Label: Merge
Smashingly bachelor scruffiness matches buzz-filled chords to curb-hugging choruses assembling lone wolf heartache into clanging prankster’s persuasions; A.M’s jittery mid-tempo jalopies drive upbeat collegiate pleads and sexy henchmen meditations through railroaded rhythms, shimmering riffing and devilishly inventive hooks. “Year,” steers major moxie and modest heroics through glib quips and rousing counsel; pithy indie-rock ringers exhibiting cardiac-packed syncopation with semi-biographical heft.
• Apex Manor Website • Apex Manor FacebookThe Dears - Degeneration Street
The DearsDegeneration Street
Label: Dangerbird Records
An explosive rainbow-colored sorbet blending dark, Brit-pop romance into funky, new wave passion, “Degeneration,” hitches glimmering visions to breathless methods coupling level-headed introspective against sleek, interstellar soul-searching. From smoky to baroque, The Dears’ penetrating menace, epic affection and calming charm simmer in stratospheric psychedelics and brooding hostage rock to make heartfelt reason and subversive allegiance magnetically reactive and hazardously attractive.
• The Dears Facebook • The Dears WikiRingo Deathstarr - Colour Trip
Ringo DeathstarrColour Trip
Label: Sonic Unyon
Bulldozer composure’s muffled muscle, “Trip,” whips blistering skate-punk bluster into decidedly indecipherable custard. Tasty bandaged tangents languishes over laudable gauze merging kaleidoscopic monsters inside warped torpor as crackling fractals blasting acid-washed passions mask bedroom whisperings under buzz-saw hooks. The Austin trio’s debut usher lusciously crunchy lullabies past demure assurance into backwards catastrophes braving hazy waves, pounding sounds and curlicue grooves.
• Ringo Deathstarr Website • Ringo Deathstarr FacebookStricken City - Losing Colour
Stricken CityLosing Colour
Label: Kora Records
Announcing their demise before releasing their final effort, London-based indie-pop instigators Stricken City insure their underground cult status with nimble middle class narratives marrying sinister riffs and cavernous crescendos to winged deliveries tunneling through riveting rhythms. Posh pariahs stylishly sizing up fleeting scenes, “Losing,” fuses vexing questions and parochial prose to turbulent furnaces stoking fiery choirs and deft, reflective projections.
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