Slipped Discs October 2014
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
We Were Promised Jetpacks
Initial Thoughts
Cock-eyed October is askew with musical titles focused on the broken. From crisp, industrial-crusted alt-rockers WE WERE PROMISED JETPACK’s dystopian commotion, “Unravelling,” to smoldering folkie GROUPER’s sleepy reprieves, “Ruins,” autumn albums binge on the unhinged. Straining at the bit, envelope-pushing guitar-wizard DUSTIN WONG and whimsical J-pop all-star TAKAKO MINEKAWA’s collaborative electro-ballet, “Savage Imagination,” and shambling shamans PURLING HISS’ heavily electric-folk art-punk, “Weirdon,” find fantastic aspirations in the fringes. Steady yourself.
Disc Reviews
Pieta Brown - Paradise Outlaw
Pieta Brown
Album title: Paradise Outlaw
Record Label: Red House Records
Recorded in Bon Iver’s Wisconsin studio, “Outlaw,” echoes in abandoned canyons, riding lively gypsy rivers down to lazy pools of mountain-blues. Creaky swamp-waltzes canter and meander as Brown’s pliable folk-bop juggle love-note lullabies and cautionary propositions through hand-holding coaxing and coy phantom incantations. An amiable auteur adept at story and song, Pieta performs October 17th at the Stoughton Opera House.
(1900) Page Views
Pieta Brown online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Paradise Outlaw from Amazon
• Purchase Paradise Outlaw on Amazon
Martin Carr - The Breaks
Martin Carr
Album title: The Breaks
Record Label: Tapete Records
A perceptive pop pariah, plundering jukebox wunderkind Carr’s uncanny knack for rapturous rhapsodies brews crooning magpie stews steeped in aptly-turned phrases painting ingenious scenery and ultra-melodic blossoms falling from hummable humanist tumbles. Guided by a scavenger’s waggish navigation, “Breaks,” traipse British quips around ironic wit, bubblegum fuzz and sumptuous chamber-jangle; slyly colliding upbeat epiphanies into cheeky sympathies and colorful imagery.
(1996) Page Views
Martin Carr online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download The Breaks from Amazon
• Purchase The Breaks on Amazon
Bell Gardens - Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions
Bell Gardens
Album title: Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions
Record Label: Rocket Girl
Swaddled narco-ballads whose whispery distance colors subtle sunrises in heavenly meditations, “Slow,” flows in deep-breathing twee seasoned in glacial vapors and hazy flavors. Demure concerns addressed in heart-piercing directness, scant demands stand beneath beautiful hues while Bell Gardens’ delicate, speckled moods rise in majestic splendor amid grand piano, yawning laptop-steel and comforting choirs; somber insomnia slogging knee-deep towards celestial serenity.
(5237) Page Views
Bell Gardens online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions from Amazon
• Purchase Slow Dawns for Lost Conclusions on Amazon
Steve Gunn - Way Out Weather
Steve Gunn
Album title: Way Out Weather
Record Label: Paradise of Bachelors
Organic, multi-stringed folk-symphonies seethe in slithering space-blues figures anchored in wriggling gringo rhythms; Gunn’s chattering talisman groove in elaborate slabs of tubular nuance. An unfettered zoo wild with collaborative habitats, “Weather,” churns electric devils from avenging crescendos; jammy candied banshees roasted in campfire crackle and dry-wood moan, baking tasty bandit-rock from sunny alt-country cunning, quicksilver shadows running under reclusive guru-roots.
(1919) Page Views
Steve Gunn online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Way Out Weather from Amazon
• Purchase Way Out Weather on Amazon
Ex Hex - Rips
Ex Hex
Album title: Rips
Record Label: Merge
Shotgun pop-rock fire roaring chords and tricky riffs as, “Rips,” trips in guitar-powered powders showered in barracuda cool and driven with seductive friction. Bossy posses plying the raucous art of ominous harmonics, Ex Hex’s sparring darlings toss delicious barb-wired hooks baited in amazing zing, air-brushed lust and late-night flings packed in glitter-punk crunch, passion-trashed flash and polished New Wave cravings.
(2013) Page Views
Ex Hex online:
• Website • Facebook
Itasca - Unmoored by the Wind
Itasca
Album title: Unmoored by the Wind
Record Label: New Images
Diaphanous old-world folk, Itasca’s singular picking, sophisticated visions and fearless lyrics weave caressing investigations into candle-lit fairyland dances, folding post-hypnotic layers of murky memories into bewitching pond-water ripples trickling in wintry introspection. Wandering through sweet twilight-inspired delights whose exquisite clockwork searches cloak endless questions, “Unmoored,” explores ghostly foreboding within magical acoustic madrigals, dissecting enduring desires lost, squandered in romantic longing.
(2093) Page Views
Itasca online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Unmoored by the Wind from Amazon
• Purchase Unmoored by the Wind on Amazon
Final Thoughts
Belaboring decay in grays, October also considers the lighter side of reality detachment. Recline behind translucent muses HUNGRY CLOUD DARKENING’s softly glazed memory bouquet, “Glossy Recall,” frolicking indie-rock broncos TETHERBALL’s roaming pandemonium “Whimsy,” or electro-polished French temptress YELLE’s breezy cyber-chic dance-pop beats “Complètement fou.” YELLE hits Madison’s Majestic Theater October 19th. Everything’s subjective so why not join radiant alt-pop day-trippers AFTERNOONS’ ravenous art-rock romps, “Say Yes,” float among New Zealand dream-catchers FRENCH FOR RABBITS’ mesmerizing melancholy, “Spirits,” and even concede to tireless guitar-pirates TENNIS SYSTEM’s crafted noise-rock squalor, “Technicolour Blind”