Slipped Discs April 2016

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Laura Gibson

Laura Gibson

Initial Thoughts

Destruction ravages and scavenges with April albums deflowering and devouring. Whether Spaghetti Western menace raveled around JOHN KAADA & MIKE PATTON’s ominous cosmic jazz-punk concerts, “Bacteria Cult,” or introspective transcontinental songstress LAURA GIBSON’s sizzling folk-pop vistas, the deal-breaking, breath-taking, “Empire Builder,” it’s eat or be eaten. Still hungry? Best digest abrasive shadow-chasers SUUNS’ terminally squirmy, “Hold/Still” before dining on beguiling stylists BEAR HANDS’ gyrating white-funk punk-pop, “You’ll Pay For This.”


Disc Reviews


Woods - City Sun Eater in the River of Light

Woods - City Sun Eater in the River of Light

Woods

Album title: City Sun Eater in the River of Light
Record Label: Woodist Records

Hippie-dipped alt-pop constructed from snakey paisley voodoo, WOODS’ swinging indie-rock releases mountain stream micro-jams tapping into an upbeat bohemia scampering in soulful falsetto and Bakersfield twang. Brass injections punctuating jangle-infused ska, “Eater,” seeks Cheshire cat cat-naps through skulking psychedelic-boogie, capturing secret-agent daydreams in sunshine-primed get-togethers. The blissful quintet play Madison’s High Noon Saloon with baroque-folk retro-rockers Ultimate Painting April 25th

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Cate LeBon - Crab Day

Cate LeBon - Crab Day

Cate LeBon

Album title: Crab Day
Record Label: Drag City

Rube Goldberg Krautrock washed in quirky punch-drunk waltzes and swimming in bristling Escher-like connections, “Crab,” scuttles unfiltered, off-kilter pop wringing giddy riddles from cryptic figments stuttering kinder-goth subplots. Tinkering in slinky kismet while staging sly cock-eyed comedies, LeBon’s Welsh elf gifts brisk asymmetrical riffs to stiff prickly rhythms while gleeful secrets pirouette around deliberately splintered binges scooped from untamed left-brains.

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Ben Watt - Fever Dream

Ben Watt - Fever Dream

Ben Watt

Album title: Fever Dream
Record Label: Unmade Road

Meditative jazz-folk sparking cathartic bargains through lyrical hindsight smoldering in glowing rhetoric, Watts’ ruminating gait and understated majesty fosters placid magic casting subtle mercy alongside quiet grace and fond bygones. Bottomless thoughts voiced in soft-spoken emotions, the mahogany melancholy beneath, “Fever,” feeds nameless longing through slow-boiled solos riding gentle reverence for life’s inventories, sorting redemptive memories into semi-fictional rescue missions. 

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Sharks in the Deep End - Killin Machine

Sharks in the Deep End - Killin Machine

Sharks in the Deep End

Album title: Killin Machine
Record Label: AWAL Music Distribution

Flushed in lusty muscle, prowling scowls and unrequited insights “Machine,” teams howling prowess to cheeky pleads with champagne luster and leather-stitched wickedness. Hedging edgy alt-rock cockiness against roving pleasure-domes tinted in shiny club-house angst, the snappy, savvy SITD’s relentless pretense hatches feisty bites buoyed by black-ops bop, flirty bursts cursed in broad-stroked boasts and impressive confessions packed with unbendable obsessions.

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Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop - Love Letter for Fire

Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop - Love Letter for Fire

Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop

Album title: Love Letter for Fire
Record Label: Sub Pop

Post-modern Americana weaving dreamy roots music around cantering beats, rustic shuffles and jaunty pop acoustics, Beam and Hoop’s sharp, sophisticated songs integrate rich frisky duets casually serving tender poetic truths ladled from unvarnished hearts. A vivid revision of simple traditions devoted to poised metaphors, musical intuitions and blossoming literary imaginations, “Fire,” flows in sweet country soul and wise urban folk.

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Bleached - Welcome the Worms

Bleached - Welcome the Worms

Bleached

Album title: Welcome the Worms
Record Label: Dead Oceans

Snarky guitars and battering bass stab and grab in no-nonsense consequence rocking caustic mosh-pit kisses thundering under sledgehammer glamour; the turbo-charged, “Worms,” burns through brawny taunts, ego-crushing struts and brash pop stomps. Baptized in electric bluster and flanked by shameless hanky-panky, the heavy L.A. trio’s bitchy transcriptions pitch peppermint grit from pepper-spray kitchens while pin-up kitsch whips salty curve-ball come-ons.

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Final Thoughts

What you see is what you get. Spring witnesses twilight-pop visionary WOODPIGEON’s meta-troubadour stories, “TROUBLE,” blatant street-saints PARQUET COURTS calisthenic benders, “Human Performance,” and pop-scotch cyber-angel WOLKOFF’s pre-sequenced tease, “Without Shame.” Visually, April offers kaleidoscopic rockers TUFT’s multi-tasking garage-swagger, “Look Look,” pneumatic dance-factory acrobat TYOMA’s gripping, rippled raves, “Mirror,” and shaggy mod-rockers EXMAGICIAN’s slithery blues-glam caravan, “Scan the Blue.” Seeking brilliance? Peer into incandescent chill-surfer ALL INDIA RADIO’s aquatic pageants, “The Slow Light, dark-minded folk-jester JAYE BARTELL’s low-key masterpiece, “Light Enough,” and fleet-footed beat-master SIEREN’s, sequined synchronicities “Transients of Light.”