Slipped Discs
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Bats - The Guilty Office
BatsThe Guilty Office
Label: Hidden Agenda
A peaceful student riot organized into reasonable demonstrations, the almost indifferently literate Bats’ unique bounce and jangle sparks and tranquilizes, urges, encourages and informs. A cool, muted tapestry of unassuming anxieties; “Guilty,” processes overloaded guitars, sentimental missives and sharp drums into mesmerizing compositions of shimmering indie innocence swung around frenzied, art-punk thunder.
• The Bats Website • The Bats WikiGrizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Grizzly BearVeckatimest
Label: Warp Records
Named after an isolated island off Massachusetts, “Veckatimest,” overflows in ethereal wanderings, pondering solitary flights of folk-pop benevolence in dynamic synergy, stirring tender lyrics into explosive musical complications that culminate in lavish stews of ghostly alchemy. Both sunny and spooky, Brooklyn’s GB inflicts rural Americana with disarming carnival overtones, metaphysical melancholy and reverberating group vocals.
• Grizzly Bear Website • Grizzly Bear WikiBuilders And The Butchers - Salvation is a Deep Dark Well
Builders And The ButchersSalvation is a Deep Dark Well
Label: Gigantic Music
Seductively sinister, TBAB’s hangman’s requiems creep and crawl then pounce and preach for exhilarating alt-folk accusations. Sawing fiddles, flaming brass accents and brittle banjos expose twisted desert confessions of demonic dirges and eloquent exorcisms as, “Salvation,” indicts, smites and incites through ruthless acoustics and menacing melodies.
• The Builders And The Butchers WebsiteElizabeth And The Catapult - Taller Children
Elizabeth And The CatapultTaller Children
Label: Verve Forecast
Anchored by cozy vocalist-songwriter Elizabeth Ziman, EATC navigates breezy jazz, ska and country hybrids - gliding past a catalogue of lilting pop concoctions. Snappy, savvy craft turns the beautifully boppy, “Taller,” into smart, sharp ear-candy coated in sultry cynicism, balancing edgy and amiable admirably; its kittenish bitterness sophisticated, charming and buoyant.
• Elizabeth And The Catapult WebsiteFritz Helder And The Phantoms - Greatest Hits: Platinum Edition
Fritz Helder And The PhantomsGreatest Hits: Platinum Edition
Label: Last Gang Records
Pimping PRINCE, PARLIMENT and PET SHOP BOYS, Fritz’s self-effacing Phantoms’s Euro-tooled glitteraria produces superior haute couture. Ripping shiny robo-disco, “Hits,” parties into mirror-ball mania par excellence, groovin’ to DJ voyeurism, synthetic sexuality complete with answering machine interludes; Fritz’s rapid-fire fun works the runway insidiously replicating a club-crazy night out.
• Fritz Helder And The Phantoms WebsiteHoots And Hellmouth - The Holy Open Secret
Hoots And HellmouthThe Holy Open Secret
Label: Mad Dragon Records
Delivering rollicking honky-tonk, twisted mountain music jive and sweetly impassioned ballads, Hoots’ tight, bluegrass flashes and funky country-gospel revivalism weave traditional pickin’ through omnipresent social issues to produce relevant, toe-tapping Americana. “Holy,” rolls foot stompin’ razzamatazz around ironclad narratives shouting out injustices, suspended by suspicions and slathered in talented fretwork.
• Hoots And Hellmouth WebsitePeter Holsapple & Chris Stamey - hERE and nOW
Peter Holsapple & Chris StameyhERE and nOW
Label: Bar/None
Eighteen years since their debut and decades since they co-founded indie-icons THE DB’S, H & S gently jangle hearts and minds, churning chiming Everly Bros. shindigs laced with Marsalis sax. Wholesome and upbeat, the duo’s lifetime hindsight serves up soaring choruses and sighing sentiment, fortified memories seasoned with sympathetic regret.
• Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey WebsiteEdward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below
Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic ZerosUp From Below
Label: Community Music/Fairfax Recordings
IMA ROBOT’s Alex Ebert’s alter-ego gathered dozens of friends to help form a perfect storm of high brow hoedowns where solemn bursts into sunny and grand-standing kinderpop whose momentum turns monumental. A massive hippie happening, “Up,” offers effervescent testaments and smarmy camaraderie bundled together in a traveling rock-minstrel circus.
• Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros WebsiteMark Mallman - Invincible Criminal
Mark MallmanInvincible Criminal
Label: Badman Records
Mixing pithy patter and smug double entendres into glam, rock arena fantasies, Mallman’s sleek, cheeky power-pop pandemonium razzes and dazzles through mock melodramas, splattered cabaret and bite-size epics. Subtlety and cynicism create edgy yet earnest innuendos as, Criminal,” unfurl snide asides inside catchy tunes, crafting masterful jabberwocky, designer taunts and stream-lined three shell games.
• Mark Mallman Website • Mark Mallman WikiBaby Teeth - Hustle Beach
Baby TeethHustle Beach
Label: Lujo Records
A contagious array of classic rock, seventies garage and old school new wave makes, “Hustle,” fun, muscular good times. Energetic hooks, gung-ho vocals and lean, mean arrangements spiced with vintage synth sounds, BT’s blue collar fodder bounces and blasts, assailing the senses and revving memory’s motors in desperate elegance and no holds barred bravado.
• Baby Teeth WebsiteMindy Smith - Stupid Love
Mindy SmithStupid Love
Label: Vanguard Records
Gossamer offerings melt Mindy’s sugar-glazed country into heart-felt velvet whose refreshingly romantic songs soar as they sympathize, gracefully vulnerable, casually intimate. Backed by angelic harmonies and doused in breathless wonder, “Stupid,” plays it smart balancing sumptuous comforts and cautious observations, emotionally invested with high returns and polished backing. Mindy plays Madison’s Majestic August 20th.
• Mindy Smith Website • Mindy Smith WikiPortugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist
Portugal. The ManThe Satanic Satanist
Label: Equal Vision Records
A tight unit twisted in exquisite knots, P.tM’s stomping, sunshine shamans bask in bombast, casting catharsis in irresistibly intricate webs and driving, fleet-footed dynamics. Deep-seated grooves slithering in funky rock evangelism, “Satanic,” builds sprawling, inspired psychedelia chiseled in soulful hope and supported by dervish skirmishes, spinning rhythms and breath-taking roller coaster approaches.
• Portugal. The Man Website • Portugal. The Man WikiView More
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