Slipped Discs August 2013

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Mree

Mree

Initial Thoughts

August’s musical titles tread the fine line between curse and comfort as quests for rest seek release from grief. Weary ears welcome angelic, singer-songwriter and sensuous electro-pop temptress MREE’s steady delicacies of clever, fair-weather reverie, “Winterwell,” cyber-tribal jazz-master SHIGETO’s shuttling, fluttering water-colored funhouse, “No Better Time Than Now,” and radiant, laidback R&B funkateers THE SOUL OF JOHN BLACK’s spirited, community-infused groovefest,  “A Sunshine State of Mind.” Give peace a chance.


Disc Reviews


Broken Anchor - Fresh Lemonade

Broken Anchor - Fresh Lemonade

Broken Anchor

Album title: Fresh Lemonade
Record Label: (Self-Release)

Stirred by sturdy alt-pop bop and rollicking indie-rock passions, BA’s well-crafted savvy targets strong longing and tart departures dressed in level-headed melodies and upbeat jangle. Friendly sentiments braced in introspective messages, nimble sympathies and easy-going emotions, “Fresh,” flexes in catchy treasures surrounded by crashing guitars, petulant drums and invigorating bass, perfect companions to uncertain futures, restless presents and crushing pasts.

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John Nagle - Distractions

John Nagle - Distractions

John Nagle

Album title: Distractions
Record Label: (Self-Release)

A sentimental gentleness centers the electro-acoustic musings teetering between funky blue-eyed soul and sad chamber-jazz ballads; “Distraction,” attracts a casually magical low-key cabaret filled with jaunty electronics bridging brisk, sophisticated arrangements spanning crackling bluegrass and oddball pop-rock. Dodging easy labeling, Nagle’s tranquil banquets serve fluid coos in self-assured purrs, soliciting soft, sensitive tendencies from breathy regrets stretched over left-field appeal,

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Dinosaur Bones - Shaky Dream

Dinosaur Bones - Shaky Dream

Dinosaur Bones

Album title: Shaky Dream
Record Label: Dine Alone

Existential contentions hammered from divine grinds, volcanic dynamics and moody grooves, DB’s searing, lyrical punk-rock waltzes hatch heart-wrenching chemistry through creeping sleeplessness; smoldering corrosions erupting in splendid squalor and menacing second-guessing. Taunt, tight-rope walks stalking fragile casualties and defiant survivors, “Shaky,” bravely engages waylaid crusaders, folding broad-shouldered doldrums into shady mazes staggered in ragged swagger, spurned yearnings and anthemic epidemics.

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Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe

Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe

Julianna Barwick

Album title: Nepenthe
Record Label: Dead Oceans

Rosined cauldrons subtly bubbling in oceanic trances, “Nepenthe,” brews haunting, airborne sojourns; gossamer flights over widowed silhouettes draped in frail veils and hallowed shadows. Choral auroras casting liquid whispers over ethereal cathedrals, Barwick’s ambient oracles conjure defenseless transcendence, wordless gurgles glowing in ghostly vocals as translucent movements drift in disembodied fogs from shipwrecked effervescence capsized and baptized in glistening dins.

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Still Life Still - Mourning Trance

Still Life Still - Mourning Trance

Still Life Still

Album title: Mourning Trance
Record Label: Arts & Crafts

Vivid guitar-driven apparitions spark and sputter in brilliant cantilevered fevers assembled through vigorous fidgeting and microcosmic sonics; Toronto’s SLS pitch, flit, twitch and enrich delivering eager believers ephemeral memories lodged in lively, astro-rock concoctions. Heart-felt mechanics morph relentless penance into cryptic bliss, surging in methodical furies as, “Mourning,” forms determined squirming inside sublime turbines assigning spinning rhythms to shiny indecision.

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Dent May - Warm Blanket

Dent May - Warm Blanket

Dent May

Album title: Warm Blanket
Record Label: Paw Tracks

Sunny conundrums washed in lovesick riffs and dreamy caramel harmonies, “Warm,” fuses crooning doo-wop, posh brass and tropical twang into shy, pining reminders swimming in swinging bedroom-pop binges. Cozy trophies from youthful truths, May’s bittersweet treats are starry-eyed arias packed with precocious notions, cherished embellishment and choir-boy benevolence. A cherubic troubadour possessing multiple talents, Dent plays UW’s Terrace September 19th.

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Final Thoughts

Just as comfort can turn sour, conflict can provide needed change. Celebrating breakdowns, Hüsker Dü’s GRANT HART deconstructs William Burroughs’ sci-fi treatment of Milton’s Paradise Lost for, “The Argument,” as Denmark’s THE KISSAWAY TRAIL reconstruct fractured modern-rock raptures via, “Breach.”  Packing heat, sharp-toothed, infernal noise-pop CROCODILES’ deviously delightful, “Crimes of Passion,” simmering somnambulists EROS AND ESCHATON’s hazy, hallucinogenic, “Home Address For Civil War,” and hard-bitten song-slinger SHELBY EARL’s honky-tonk honesty, “Swift Arrows,” battle creative demons while Arcade Fire violinist SARAH NEUFELD’s eerie instrumentals swarm, pluck and hover within, “Hero Brother.”