Slipped Discs
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Panics - Cruel Guards
PanicsCruel Guards
Label: Music Allies
Throaty vocals cushioned in strings and brass cast stoic shadows across jangly refrains as the solid, soulful Aussie rock of, “Cruel,” croons cool, stone-faced fables. Shifting slave chain beats between rousing hooks, The Panic’s valiant hearts are well-prepared for soldiering on, delivering swelling, resilient emotions exploding into proud pleads and open-armed anthems.
• The Panics Website • The Panics WikiFriendly Fires - Friendly Fires
Friendly FiresFriendly Fires
Label: XL
An elastic calamity coldcocking ping-pong bass around popcorn jungle percussion - FF’s edgy, pop-disco romances pack plenty of jagged hot flashes, capturing groovy futures beneath neon-saturated satin. Smart and spastic, FF’s new-wave bounce hits the ceiling before landing on the dance floor, swiveling synths and crackling guitars shrieking in slippery hiccups and sputtering funk.
• Friendly Fires Website • Friendly Fires WikiWinterpills - Central Chambers
WinterpillsCentral Chambers
Label: Signature Sounds
Sweet harmonies wrapped around rich, dark laments, Winterpill’s defenseless elegance waltzes around articulate sleep-walking angst. Minuets and rhapsodies receive pop-rock arrangements and post-modern wittiness, sagas reduced to reclusive tunes washed in deliberate, cinematic poetry and tastefully electric diplomacy. Spinning literary nuance, “Central,” reassembles foreign films with methodical logic, unearthing our delusions with melodic confidence.
• Winterpills Website • Winterpills WikiDears - Missiles
DearsMissiles
Label: Dangerbird
Quietly solemn, slowly simmering, The Dear’s revamped, stripped-down sound buckles down and re-emerges more evocative and powerful for the restraint. Grand without grandstanding – the navel-gazing textures give way to no-nonsense questions as hypnotic nod-rock wakes into precarious storms. Propelled bullet-like into darkness, “Missiles,” grazes, stuns then penetrates, erecting temples of temptations within subtle, sophisticated mazes.
• The Dears Website • The Dears WikiArizona - Glowing Bird
ArizonaGlowing Bird
Label: Echo Mountain
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.
• Arizona Website • Arizona WikiFireman - Electric Arguments
FiremanElectric Arguments
Label: MPL/ATO Records
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.
• The Fireman Website • The Fireman WikiAll The Saints - Fire on Corridor X
All The SaintsFire on Corridor X
Label: Touch and Go Records
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 - Sparklace
Cale ParksSparklace
Label: Polyvinyl Records
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.
• Cale Parks Website • Cale Parks WikiDavid Byrne & Brian Eno - Everything That Will Happen Happens Today
David Byrne & Brian EnoEverything That Will Happen Happens Today
Label: Todo Mundo Records
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.
• David Byrne & Brian Eno Website • David Byrne & Brian Eno WikiPavement - Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition
PavementBrighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition
Label: Matador Records
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.
• Pavement Website • Pavement WikiSchool Of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
School Of Seven BellsAlpinisms
Label: Ghostly International
Secret Machines’ Benjamin Curtis teams up with twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza weaving steamy cybernetic melodies between lockjaw rhythms,. Spinning space-age atmospheres, “Alpinism,” accentuate mesmerizing sound rainbows from astral sirens tempting mental cosmonauts. Airy fairies ferry digital dreams of binary bliss against restless tides, colliding into heavenly buzz, flitting into glittery symphonies.
• School Of Seven Bells Website • School Of Seven Bells WikiBee And The Bird - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
Bee And The BirdRay Guns Are Not Just The Future
Label: Manhattan Records
Baroque toasts, post-millennial torch-songs, gift-wrapped galas and space-age cabaret swoon in woozy angelic caresses firing meticulous missiles, infiltrating cosmopolitan lifestyles. “Ray,” hosts sly cheesecake concertos bursting with zest and cooing with cool, coy élan - champagne jazz dressed in glamorous gossamer rocketing into chiffon and sherbet.
• The Bee And The Bird Website • The Bee And The Bird WikiView More
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