Slipped Discs October 2017
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Julien Baker
Initial Thoughts
Fall’s shorter days throw serious shade onto October albums, sparking interest and firing imaginations. Reflect upon radiant songstress MIRAH’s rich, reimagined string-quartet supported, “Sundial,” or low-key charismatic chameleon A. SAVAGE’s head-spinning indie-rock collage, “Thawing Dawn,” then consider country-folk crooner ROB WILLIAMS’ gentle roadhouse jamboree, “An Hour Before Daylight.” before absorbing heartfelt fountainhead JULIEN BAKER’s superb interpersonal exposé, “Turn Out the Lights.” The incandescent Ms. Baker plays Madison’s Majestic October 20th.
Disc Reviews
The White Buffalo - Darkest Darks, Lightest Lights
The White Buffalo
Album title: Darkest Darks, Lightest Lights
Record Label: Unison Music
A roots-fueled, blues-infused, rowdy, raspy honky-tonk, “Dark,” kicks up dust revving heaven’s outlaw angels with slow-pitched pulp-fiction, A scrounger’s bounty tailor-made for barb-wired dive bars and midnights at the crossroads, The White Buffalo’s cornered characters expound road-weary theories with stoic heroics while red-hot guitars gallop, hounded drums rumble and sharp lyrics singe their wings on gritty riffs and fiery licks.
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The White Buffalo online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Darkest Darks, Lightest Lights from Amazon
• Purchase Darkest Darks, Lightest Lights on Amazon
Colleen - A flame my love, a frequency
Colleen
Album title: A flame my love, a frequency
Record Label: Thrill Jockey
Happily matching bubble-wrapped palpitations punctuated by cooing computers, buoyant, electro-ballerina Colleen composes unfolding emotions with pure, gurgling circuitry, merging prancing raindrop phantoms with chattering digital patterns. Coy, vacuum-sealed calliopes rejoice in voiceless poise around impish art-pop fairy-tales regaled in calm, experimental sound-stencils, “Frequency,” knits parallel systems both natural and artificial; tranquil sanctuaries filled with sublime baroque designs refining interactive strategies.
(1271) Page Views
Colleen online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Purchase A flame my love, a frequency on Amazon
• Download A flame my love, a frequency
Circuit des Yeux - Reaching for Indigo
Circuit des Yeux
Album title: Reaching for Indigo
Record Label: Drag City
Torn from deep-forest oracles uttering complex hexes beneath prophetic jazz-folk recollections, “Indigo,” growls in exquisite misery, casting microtonal omens with bellowing joy and evoking eclectic memories shrouded in shimmering enigmas. Boisterous voyager and sonic conqueror, Circuit des Yeux battens down and plows ahead navigating treacherous questions through hurricane refrains; sophisticated tsunamis crooning enchanting demands summoning plummeting plans with resurrected textures.
(1332) Page Views
Circuit des Yeux online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Reaching for Indigo from Amazon
• Purchase Reaching for Indigo on Amazon
Wild Ones - Mirror Touch
Wild Ones
Album title: Mirror Touch
Record Label: Topshelf Records
Nimble, swinging Cashmere synths primp with sly kittenish sin programmed in wry Cheshire cat grins while Oregon’s Wild Ones pamper hook-heavy fantasies prowling around film noir back-lots, pacing in contagious space-age impatience. Exploring modern courtship’s sorted head-games as victor and victim, “Mirror,” casually balances dynamic examination with haphazard passion crafting peek-a-boo grooves oozing sensual menace lacquered in alluring dream-pop circuses.
(1279) Page Views
Wild Ones online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Mirror Touch from Amazon
• Purchase Mirror Touch on Amazon
Mister Heavenly - Boxing the Moonlight
Mister Heavenly
Album title: Boxing the Moonlight
Record Label: Polyvinyl
Pliable and pounding, clever and confounding, “Moonlight,” delights in sizzling contradictions; mocking pop bops in blazing syncopation, headstrong ska scoops zany do wop brewing thrashing mash-ups over slithering cobra rodeos. Roaming every which way with sure-hands and clear purpose, clown princes Mister Heavenly embrace diverse mirth from madcap shakedowns built from boardwalk boogie to sinister incriminations baked in paranoid percussion.
(1271) Page Views
Mister Heavenly online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Boxing the Moonlight from Amazon
• Purchase Boxing the Moonlight on Amazon
Stars - There is No Love in Fluorescent Light
Stars
Album title: There is No Love in Fluorescent Light
Record Label: Last Gang Records
Hopeless poets romancing danceable dissertations, Stars harbors savvy cabaret gushing in lusty touches and pushing plush indie-pop promises onto mirror-ball peers hailing late-night cabs to meet languishing dangers for satin-smooth rendezvous. Daintily aching, the iridescent, “Fluorescent,” swoons and flutters among lonely-hearts and misplaced lovers trapped in unconditional finishes; personal journeys turn dazzling pageants as compassionate ballads evolve into spectacular galas.
(1388) Page Views
Stars online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download There is No Love in Fluorescent Light from Amazon
• Purchase There is No Love in Fluorescent Light on Amazon
Final Thoughts
Autumn’s longer nights get people commiserating, with mixed results. Witness alt-pop chanteuse BECCA RICHARDSON’s intimate symphonies, “We Are Gathered Here,” footloose beat-seeker LINDSTRØM’s throbbing, “It’s Alright Between Us As It Is,” and boogie-barkers ELECTRIC SIX’s thundering funhouse, “How Dare You.” From deep-sea divers HOLY HUM’s glacial-rock underbelly. “All of My Bodies,” to galactic waxers DEAD LEAF ECHO’s, narcotic, “Beyond Desire,” pleasures are many. Then again, there’s guitar-mired fireballs TOUGH AGE’s smoldering commotion, “Shame,” subversive pop-merchants WOLF PARADE’s carnivorous glam-rock shenanigans, “Cry Cry Cry,” and two-fisted MELKBELLY’s irresistible demolition, “Nothing Valley.”