Slipped Discs July 2015

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Fine Points

Fine Points

Initial Thoughts

Whether unmasking jazz-chanteuse ELENI MANDELL’s pop-noir razzle-dazzle, “Dark Lights Up,” beside harmonious retro-boppers EZTV’s breezy genius, “Calling Out,” or discovering crushed-velvet cyber-maestro VINYL WILLIAMS’ camouflaged mirages, “Into,” under suave-armored shredders FINE POINTS’ psyche-delectable elegance, “Hover,” July honors new release Tuesdays moving to Fridays with hide and seek titles. From acid-splattered CREEPING PINK’s spook-rock sideshow, “Mirror Woods,” to THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS’ sine-wave cages, “Born in Echoes,” the elusive is truly profusive.


Disc Reviews


Veruca Salt - Ghost Notes

Veruca Salt - Ghost Notes

Veruca Salt

Album title: Ghost Notes
Record Label: El Camino

Fracking slacker-pop toffee into hulking indie-rock convulsions, velvet-hammer glamour and storming discordant torment, nineties icons Veruca Salt return yearning and burning with psycho-savvy burdens. Twenty years since, “American Thighs,” the reliantly defiant, “Notes,” coaxes retooled old-school from fiery rhymes and whiplash axes combating rash sonic sass through cool cougar woo. Rediscover the formidable foursome July 10th at Milwaukee’s Turner Hall

(2006) Page Views

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Samantha Crain - Under Branch & Thorn & Tree

Samantha Crain - Under Branch & Thorn & Tree

Samantha Crain

Album title: Under Branch & Thorn & Tree
Record Label: Ramseur Records

Deep Oklahoma roots planted in John Vanderslice’s San Francisco studio turns, “Branch,” from crafty sapling to knowing grove harvesting chamber-folk pardons from blue-collar gardens and red-blooded parables heralding justice-seeking relief. Conjuring disengaged renegades with intimate serenades, Crain wails and whispers in sisterly suspicions; bristling against indignant systems through strong honest songs throbbing in midnight hindsight, street-wise forethought and age-old heartache.

(1893) Page Views

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On An On - And The Wave Has Two Sides

On An On - And The Wave Has Two Sides

On An On

Album title: And The Wave Has Two Sides
Record Label: Roll Call Records

Plush head-rush luxury from Minneapolis’ post-modern dance-rockers bathe graceful ravers in persuasive New Wave whose glittery synths, bright guitars and clipped rhythms crackle in hook-happy passion. A fleeting weekend panacea festering in restless affections and teeming in steam-cleaned daydreams, “Wave,” craves physical liberation from emotional prisons, bursting in neon effervescence from micro-processed caresses doling out cool rebukes inside romantic spandex.

(2017) Page Views

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Camera Shy - Camera Shy

Camera Shy - Camera Shy

Camera Shy

Album title: Camera Shy
Record Label: Run For Cover

Gossamer lobbyists for wind-tossed pop dive into chiffon-topped topics; bubbling hipster symphonics lined in yawning longing and dizzy sizzle, “Camera Shy,” supplies soft-focused hopes in ringing six-string flings, evoking sublime summertime shin-digs through coy cabana ballads. A Whirr-Nothing offshoot, the California duo cruises in slow-motion love-potions and star-struck glee, full-moon swoons producing cozy beachcomber poems papered in crisp echo-laden twee.

(1831) Page Views

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Nicholas Altobelli - Searching Through That Minor Key

Nicholas Altobelli - Searching Through That Minor Key

Nicholas Altobelli

Album title: Searching Through That Minor Key
Record Label: Dalton Records

A casual songwriting perfectionist and level-headed folk-pop pessimist dressed in dogged thoughts and pleasant sentiment, Altobelli’s bitter-pill tranquility flows in quaint restraint and sneaky sweetness to comfort and caution unsuspecting hearts and clueless intruders. A storybook look into social upholstery and life’s interior designs, “Minor,” finds kindness in calamities; smooth grooves perusing choppy waters offering courteous service from humble heroes.

(1921) Page Views

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The Cairo Gang - Goes Missing

The Cairo Gang - Goes Missing

The Cairo Gang

Album title: Goes Missing
Record Label: God? Records

Gritty mid-sixties vigor featuring sweeping Merseybeat pleadings, chilly Piccadilly stomps and swinging Byrdsian jangle, “Missing,” positions Mod postures beneath refined dockside chiming. Cursed with earnest nightclub blues cloaked in triumphantly strummed presumption, beguiling stylist Emmet Kelly twists memories’ edgier pleasures into shimmering hymns trimmed in sin. Catch TCG opening for madman Mikal Cronin September 11th at Madison’s High Noon Saloon.

(1825) Page Views

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Final Thoughts

A vibrant summer unveils July music with energy to spare. From intergalactic patchbay-master CFCF’s clockwork yoga, “Radiance and Submission,” to TAME IMPALAS’ eclectic epic, “Currents,” the season is positively shocking. Hyperactive appetites plug into encyclopedic chameleon EZRA FURMAN’s daunting folk-boogie cornucopia, “Perpetual Motion People,” and electro-beat sweetheart LITTLE BOOTS’ industrious luster, “Working Girl,” while mellower fellows get busy with delicate multi-instrumentalist HEATHER WOODS BRODERICK’s celestial-rock opulence, “Glider,” Technicolor song-chefs THE BIRD AND THE BEE’s super-callisthenic cabaret, “Recreational Love,” and tireless post-punk spitfires ELEVENTH DREAM DAY’s tense, catapulted, “Works for Tomorrow.”