The Middle East - The Recordings of the Middle East (2008)

The Middle East are a hard band to stick a genre tag onto. They combine folk and ambience with elements of pop, post-rock and shoegaze. In similar fashion to some other genre-bending bands (Deerhunter, for example), they've managed to do it in a way which establishes their own sound.

Album opener 'The Darkest Side' is a soft, acoustic song with some nice vocal harmonies between the singers. Though the song has a simple theme of death, it's delivered in a rather uncanny manner through the lyrics. The first chorus, for instance, has this little gem: "I hear the farthest cry and the softest sigh when I'm empty; But if you leave me I'll hide in a game like SimCity." 'Beleriand', one of the stronger tracks on the album, begins with an echoing cluster of guitars and drums before settling with a hauntingly beautiful acoustic guitar riff. 'Lonely' does quite the opposite, starting off with a chilling combination of soft guitar playing with ambient electronics, building into a cymbal-and-harmony-driven climax. 'Tsietsi', the 13-minute album closer, is a roller-coaster of a closer, switching tempos here and there. The only consistent about the song is its beauty.

The highlight of the album, and with no question as to why it's become their most loved song, is 'Blood', a simply wonderful song that builds up to a powerful climax involving pianos, xylophones and some of the most delightful chanting put on record. With deep, painful context that involves family heartache and despair, the song works to invoke joy or sadness quite easily.

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The Seedy Seeds- Count the Days (2008)

Take one banjo, a strand of Christmas lights, some electronic beats, two awesome beards, and a Tina Fey lookalike and you get the foundation of The Seedy Seeds, an indie-folk-pop band from Cincinnati, Ohio. I discovered The Seedy Seeds when I saw them play a show at a record store in the fall of 2009 and I wasn't quite sure what to think at first. There were some sort of synthesized beats coming from somewhere I couldn't see. Their drummer used a very minimal set wrapped in Christmas lights that flashed every time he hit a drum or symbol. One of their singers was a woman who kind of looked like Tina Fey dressed in what looked like black nurse's scrubs who alternated between guitar, synth, and tambourine. Their other singer was a balding guy with a beard and a banjo. I assumed they were some sort of novelty band that was just goofing off. But then when I listened more closely I realized they were not that in any way. Their songs were filled with emotion and were very well-written and they were being performed pretty well too. (Is that passive voice killing you? Well suck it.) This is the kind of music that can make you want to move and sing along at once. Or you can lie down in a quiet room and enjoy it just as much.

I can't help but get a nostalgic feel from this album. You don't have to look farther than song titles such as "Winter '04" or "My Roots Go Down" to think that there's something these three are reminiscing about. Plus it's called Count the Days so there's already the theme of time there. When I listen to it I feel at ease, as if I'm experiencing something familiar that I've experienced before. All from an original sound I've never heard anywhere else.


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Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love (2010)

First listen: I guess it's alright. I Didn't See It Coming and the title track were probably the biggest highlights.

Second listen: It's pretty good. Some other highlights are Come on Sister, I Want the World to Stop and Ghost of Rockschool.

Third listen: It's solid. I Can See Your Future, I'm Not Living in the Real World, and Sunday's Pretty Icons are pretty great as well.

Fourth listen: Hmmm... Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John and Read the Blessed Pages aren't bad either.

So at first it was kind of just a bunch of semi-bland pop tunes with a couple highlights, but then more and more tracks became more and more appealing until all that's really left is Calculating Bimbo. What an ugly pairing of words. I think it could be the same exact song with a different name and I'd like it more. It's also the The Boy Done Wrong Again of Write About Love, in that it's a slow song that throws off the upbeat vibe the album has going before and after it. It's not as big a buzzkill as The Boy Done Wrong Again (but then again I Didn't See It Coming, Come on Sister and I Want the World to Stop don't provide as big a buzz to kill as If You're Feeling Sinister, Mayfly and Judy and the Dream of Horses do), and really, it's not a bad song at all, just kind of plain.

Other than that the album's pretty air-tight and filler-free. The highs aren't staggering, but it's a very consistent album that doesn't really show any major faults. Maybe not exactly what the biggest fans wanted, but I find it hard to complain about.

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Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest (2010)

Maintaining the shoegaze-inspired style that made up Microcastle, Deerhunter's latest album Halcyon Digest expands their vast sound even further, with distinct influence from 60s pop, psychedelia and folk-rock combining to create that experimental rock/pop edge that has garnered their reputation. Although coming across as a generally wistful, gloomy record, Halycon Digest creates that rebuttal feeling of hope and contentment through nostalgia and beauty.

In contrast with the distorted guitar strum and cymbal crash that begins Microcastle, Halcyon Digest begins with a quiet tap/open-tap of a hi-hat. This immediately sets up the feeling of distance in sound and scope from the two albums. Halcyon Digest is very different from Microcastle in that it is less consistent, not in quality (certainly not), but in layout. Where Microcastle has a distinct, flowing sound to it, Halcyon Digest is much more varied in its structural order, which adds to the brilliant of the album. The shorter songs on the album, 'Don't Cry', 'Revival', 'Memory Boy' and 'Fountain Stairs' are some of the most brilliant, quirky post-Beatles pop music I've heard in a long time. In contrast, the mellow, folky low-key longer songs such as opener 'Earthquake' and closer 'He Would Have Laughed' seem to connect in a way that makes the album feel so complete. And they've still displayed some of the shoegaze influences from their previous album, with 'Desire Lines' having a minute-long reverb outro, and single 'Helicopter' incorporating psychedelic influences while illustrating that dreamy sound that is so familiarized with the genre.

Halcyon Digest is an example of how a band can vastly expand or change their sound with a new album without losing their touch or songwriting quality. It's an exciting and unpredictable record, with the ability to change tempo suddenly but in a way that doesn't seem unnecessary. Emotional at times, while at other moments carefree, Halycon Digest is at heart a well-crafted pop album, but it can be seen as so much more.

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Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People (2010)

I'm admittedly not a very big fan of Sufjan Stevens. I love his voice but I hate how his albums end up sounding long and drawn out. This led up to me not really picking up any of his albums post or even pre-Illinois. However I heard good things about this EP, and seeing as EP's are supposed to be short I decided to give this a shot.

Before I continue on, it's about an hour long, which is about the length of most albums. So those expecting a short, sweet collection of songs, prepare to be disappointed at that aspect of it. But behind it's considerable length, you realize that this is a really amazing EP, and it's probably the best I heard in years. Sufjan still has his beautiful voice, as you immediatly notice as your thrust into "All Delighted People", a track that had me singing along to it which is something I haven't done in a while. Enchanting Ghost has a more folk-ish feel to it, which is to be expected from Sufjan. But interestingly enough, this EP is has a lot more electronic than previous efforts but Sufjan "purists" will be happy to know that this isn't really common. You can hear only hear them prominently on the closing track "Djohariah" and "From The Mouth Of Gabriel". All in all, this is a great EP, and it's definetly one of the highlights for me this year.

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The Olivia Tremor Control - Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle (1997)

I just listened to this album for the first time yesterday, so I can't say much about it but I was really impressed. here's a summary I found:

"Take the heart of the Beatles and wrap it in the melodies of Neutral Milk Hotel and/or the Flaming Lips... and you have Olivia Tremor Control -- one of the best swirls of neo-psychedelica in history. "Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle" is an intoxicating, sprawling mix of abstract soundscapes and Beatles-esque pop -- and it never stumbles once.

The first song opens with a slowly revving bass, haunted by a backdrop of peculiar feedback sounds... followed by a majestic, poppy "Opera House." Things take a slightly stranger turn in the eerie music-box melody of "Frosted Ambassador" and the fizzing, exotic "Tropical Bells." But still there is the upbeat, slightly warped Britpoppy "Courtyard" and slightly ominous beauty of "Holiday Surprise 1,2,3."

But after the lush piano-pop of "Marking Time," things take a rather surreal turn. A ten-song cycle called "Green Typewriters continues, mixing distortion, fuzz and sputtery percussion with synths and lilting vocals. They return to their previous sound with the brassy pop of "Spring Succeeds," but most of what remains is eerie and strange. The climax is "Dusk at Cubist Castle," a sprawling seven-and-a-half-miniute track with a dark, shimmery background and the sounds of a Tibetan prayer bowl.

It's hard to criticize any one song on "Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle," because it feels more like a musical tapestry of many different colors. Diss one song while praising another? Can't be done. Even "Green Typewriters VIII," a ten-minute sprawl of ominous sounds, seems to fit in perfectly.

The biggest flaw might be the obvious debt to the Beatles -- at times you can almost swear you hear John and Paul in there. But the Beatles at their most psychedelic never made anything like this -- space bubbles, sparkling piano, trombones, the singing saw, Tibetan prayer bowls, all overlaid on jolly pop melodies and ominous soundscapes teeming with fuzz and distortion. Even at its most abstract, Olivia Tremor Control's sound is hypnotic.

The vocals are handled by Robert Schneider and Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum (who is rumored to have joined the circus or something like that). Their vocals are a bit off-key, but pleasant and warm. And the songwriting reflects the music -- it starts off relatively normal with "Conflict in our heads makes us see/without the depth that we used to/all of the problems in our way." Pretty ordinary, huh? But the second half has dreamlike songs like "Dusk at Cubist Castle/all the clouds are in past tense/all the kingdom is in fragments/and these paintings don't make sense..." You don't need to understand -- just listen.

Olivia Tremor Control's "Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle" is a sweeping psychedelic tapestry, full of strange dreams and even stranger music. This unrecognized classic is a must have, for those willing to dream and imagine the Cubist Castle."

Youtube 'NYC-25'


Tracklist:

1. "The Opera House" – 3:12
2. "Frosted Ambassador" – 1:02
3. "Jumping Fences" – 1:52
4. "Define a Transparent Dream" – 2:49
5. "No Growing (Exegesis)" – 3:00
6. "Holiday Surprise 1, 2, 3" – 6:11
7. "Courtyard" – 2:57
8. "Memories of Jacqueline 1906" – 2:15
9. "Tropical Bells" – 1:40
10. "Can You Come Down with Us?" – 2:18
11. "Marking Time" – 4:28
12. "Green Typewriters" – 2:22
13. "Green Typewriters" – :24
14. "Green Typewriters" – :59
15. "Green Typewriters" – 2:11
16. "Green Typewriters" – 1:10
17. "Green Typewriters" – :38
18. "Green Typewriters" – 1:38
19. "Green Typewriters" – 9:39
20. "Green Typewriters" – 1:21
21. "Green Typewriters" – 2:39
22. "Spring Succeeds" – 2:25
23. "Theme for a Very Delicious Grand Piano" – :57
24. "I Can Smell the Leaves" – 1:50
25. "Dusk at Cubist Castle" – 7:35
26. "The Gravity Car" – 1:45
27. "NYC-25" – 4:39

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