Slipped Discs May 2016
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
The So So Glos
Initial Thoughts
Whether hidden citizens or smiling exiles, spring brings the fringe. Living off the grid, corrugated New Wave enslavers WIRE’s, Orwellian cryo-rock ironies, “Nocturnal Koreans,” and mired dream-pirate JEFF RUNNINGS’ melancholy pressure-cooker, “Primitives and Smalls,” sweep the periphery. From BOB DYLAN’s second stab at big-band standards, “Fallen Angels,” tungsten-punksters THE SO SO GLOS’ rapid-fire upper-cuts, “Kamikaze,” and industrial-noir fire-starters ISKA DHAAF’s surreal retro-prog, “The Wanting Creature,” May is paved with cast-aways.
Disc Reviews
Anna Vogelzang - Hiker
Anna Vogelzang
Album title: Hiker
Record Label: Paper Anchor
Warm, inviting art-folk supported by spry lively backing, “Hiker,” purrs and pirouettes in sweet lyrical gumdrops; tuneful, mouth-watering novellas brimming in bounce, bop and cheek. Balancing craft and inspiration, Vogelzang’s playful language betrays mysterious maturity with self-reflective similes nestled in timeless mindfulness as pleasantly hesitant preferences navigate woozy afternoon cruises drifting in sun-splashed jazz from studio-savvy tag-teams skimming grinning country-lounge.
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Anna Vogelzang online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
Car Seat Headrest
Album title: Teens of Denial
Record Label: Matador
Armed with genuine guards-down charm amid snowballing squalor, CSH addresses post-millennial conflicts encapsulated in slow-roasted, lo-fi epics. Experimental adventures toasted in triumphant trumpet and scrawny six-string flings bursting in quotable anecdotes, ripped quips and free-floating slogans, “Denial,” piles autobiographical slacker-passions propped onto soapbox indie-rock; mild-mannered rambles germinated in good-natured swipes ignite penetrating mayhem ripened under road-tested tempests and street-wise cries.
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Car Seat Headrest online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Teens of Denial from Amazon
• Purchase Teens of Denial on Amazon
Tony Joe White - Rain Crow
Tony Joe White
Album title: Rain Crow
Record Label: Yep Roc
Memory’s embers glowing in smoky blues infused with sweltering Delta boogie, gritty sidewinder guitar and flinty gravel-voiced stories; “Crow,” rides hallowed shadows in rampant drum-circle thunder, rasping and grasping in circling urges and menacing contention. Desperate for an exorcist, White’s stony moments roll locomotive notions past devilish testaments, driving feverish fandangos spiked in spell-binding iron-clad tragedies railing against unwavering fates.
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Tony Joe White online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Rain Crow from Amazon
• Purchase Rain Crow on Amazon
Pantha du Prince - The Triad
Pantha du Prince
Album title: The Triad
Record Label: Rough Trade
Zipping through sparkling cyborg forests packaged in fearless engineering, Pantha reboots contemporary pretense into translucent futures; ping-pong paddling past twinkling water-park pachinko, soulful disco posted in zero-gravity while percolated artifice flits and whisks off virtual cliffs. Gentle arcades parading in trippy textures envision embryonic harmonics toggling electric wedges beneath iridescent incubators to create dance-able mantras, protoplasmic attractions snagging rhythm-driven visions.
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Pantha du Prince online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download The Triad from Amazon
• Purchase The Triad on Amazon
Fruit Bats - Absolute Loser
Fruit Bats
Album title: Absolute Loser
Record Label: Easy Sound
Wry insights tucked inside casual attitudes, “Absolute,” captures classic cinematic waxing where starry-eyed melodies sail faithfully around troubadour-infused chamber-folk. Turning alt-country assumptions into candied Americana whose kind primal comforts warm and restore in strummed guitars and sweeping strings, FB’s Eric Johnson tussles with probing roving shuffles and sophisticated serenades, proving equally adept at meandering panhandler ballads and cultivated indie-pop homilies.
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Fruit Bats online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Absolute Loser from Amazon
• Purchase Absolute Loser on Amazon
Marissa Nadler - Strangers
Marissa Nadler
Album title: Strangers
Record Label: Sacred Bones
Floating above bewitching mists of quivering riffs, devious ether permeates languid twang snaking through lanky naked cadence; Nadler’s breathy vespers conspire in ominous honesty wielding world-weary queries through exquisite narcoleptic suggestions. The cautious, toxic, “Strangers,” offers thoughtful gossamer to mask lethargic carnage behind softly modern gothic; self-confessing processionals luring turbulent concerns down haunted hallways holding suspicious wishes under phantom banter.
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Marissa Nadler online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Purchase Strangers on Amazon
Final Thoughts
From judging others to single-minded kindness, May braves ego-infested collections including agitated glam-chancellors BRONCHO’s daredevil fuzz-fest, “Double Vanity,” curious, mock-pop minimalists SONNY AND THE SUNSETS’ rudimentary far-out grooviness, “Mood Baby Moods,” and dream-pop alt-rockers ROGUE WAVE’s blissful, “Delusions of Grand Fur.” Rogue Wave plays Milwaukee’s Turner Hall May 24th. Pats on the back also go to uber-cool mecha-directors HOLY FUCK’s bronzed cyber-bombs, “Congrats,” rumbling barbed-wire tumbleweeds SPOOKYLAND’s brawling, “Beauty Already Beautiful,” dangerously angular rock-saviors SAVAK’s pulse-pounding, “Best Of Luck In Future Endeavors,” plus smitten blues-rock folk-artists BIG THIEF’s bashful, “Masterpiece.”