A Great Big Pile of Leaves – “You’re Always on my Mind”

(Photo Credit: Top Shelf Records)

Grade: B

Key Tracks: “Pet Mouse,” “Fun in the Sun”

A Great Big Pile of Leaves hit a high on their 2010 debut, “Have You Seen My Prefontal Cortex?” The band established themselves as a fun, alt-pop band that hold up remarkably well against their sadder labelmates like Snowing and Pianos Become the Teeth. Their music is fun, bouncy and often completely innocent while maintaining a steady volume and guitar attacks. Their debut is a pleasantly diverse album, sonically pleasing, full of fun and introspective tracks. Their second album, “You’re Always on my Mind,” out today, does not quite live up to the expectations set up by “Cortex.” The album is more reminiscent of their earlier EP’s, which are still bouncy guitar songs, but feel a little less inspired than their debut album.

The album’s summer release date is no accident. This is definitely a summer album. That might give the expectation of a Yellowcard or Cartel type pop-punk thing, but they are much more associated with alternative than most summer bands. The album’s food-based bookends are called “Snack Attack” and “Pizzanomics,” offering the exact sound you’d expect from the humorous titles. “Back to School” is the most summer-y song on the album, a literal ode to summer before having to go back to school. There is a gleeful tone to the album, a carefree sound that are reminders of good times, even if they’re in the past. The band does not seem to be looking for any sort of validation, or to be taken seriously. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t – they’re talented musicians and have nailed down the art of fun songwriting. But their lack of seriousness adds to the fun on the album.

The album might not be as good as its predecessor, but it is still a good album. It is easy music to put on during a drive or a nice summer bike ride. It does not demand your patience, even your attention. It does its job as innocent alt-pop, providing an alternative to the usual pop on the radio and to the usual gloom of alternative music. It takes the best of both worlds. It might not be perfect, but it is fun.

If you like this, try: “Dig Up Your Dead” by Mansions (2011). Not as fun and not as good, but the band does sound kind of similar.

-By Andrew McNally

Midterm Reports:

I was going to list a “Top 15” of the year so far, but when I listed them I out I realized there were 27 albums I wanted to mention and three acclaimed ones that I felt should objectively make the list, so I went ahead and listed out thirty. This is a rough list, based more objectively than subjectively. I valued creativity, flow and general entertainment, with a slight emphasis on creativity. I might make a Top 10 subjective list, just for fun. There are a few acclaimed albums from the year, like releases from Boards of Canada and Eleanor Friedburger, that I have yet to hear. If you can’t tell, I tend to stray towards alternative.

Top 30 full-length albums* of the year so far, a totally unofficial list:

* – Had the “D.A.I.S.Y. Rage” EP from Kitty counted as a full album, it’d be hovering around #15

30. Baths – “Obsidian”

29. Dirty Beaches – “Drifters / Love is the Devil”

28. James Blake – “Overgrown”

27. Kurt Vile – Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze”

26. The Strokes – “Comedown Machine”

25. Disclosure – “Settle”

24. Chelsea Light Moving – “Chelsea Light Moving”

23. FIDLAR – “FIDLAR”

22. Pissed Jeans – “Honeys”

21. John Fogerty – “Wrote a Song For Everyone”

20. My Bloody Valentine – “m b v”

19. A$ap Rocky – “LONG.LIVE.A$AP”

18. Frightened Rabbit – “Pedestrian Verse”

17. Queens of the Stone Age – “…Like Clockwork”

16. Waxahatchee – “Cerulean Salt”

15. Foals – “Holy Fire”

14. Justin Timberlake – “The 20/20 Experience”

13. Laura Marling – “I Was an Eagle”

12. Phosphorescent – “Muchacho”

11. Daughter – “If You Leave”

10. Phoenix – “Bankrupt!”

9. Deafheaven – “Sunbather”

8. Kanye West – ‘Yeezus”

7. Savages – “Silence Yourself”

6. The Flaming Lips – “The Terror”

5. Daft Punk – “Random Access Memories”

4. Foxygen – “We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic”

3. David Bowie – “The Next Day”

2. The National – “Trouble Will Find Me”

1. Vampire Weekend – “Modern Vampires of the City”

 

Top 10 Debuts of 2013 (so far, an equally unofficial list):

10. Pyyramids – “Brightest Darkest Day”

9. I Kill Giants – “I Kill Giants”

8. Mwahaha – “Mwahaha”

7. The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – “Whenever, If Ever”

6. Disclosure – “Settle”  (#25 above)

5. Chelsea Light Moving – “Chelsea Light Moving”  (#24)

4. FIDLAR – “FIDLAR”  (#23)

3. A$ap Rocky – “LONG.LIVE.A$AP”  (#19)

2. Daughter – “If You Leave”  (#11)

1. Savages – “Silence Yourself”  (#7)

 

Finally, five disappointing albums of 2013:

5. Laura Stevenson – “Wheel”  Her previous album is among my top 10 of all-time, but she feels distant and disconnected here.

4. Dave Grohl & Friends – “Sound City – Reel to Reel”  Dave Grohl assembles huge name friends to record boring radio rock. Only three stand out tracks.

3. Eric Clapton – “Old Sock”  Clapton finally embraces his reggae influences, and could not be more boring about it.

2. The Front Bottoms – “Talon of the Hawk”  Painfully cheesy lyrics and rushed rhythms tainted one of my favorite bands.

1. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Mosquito”  No real explanation here. It’s just really, unexpectedly bad.

Roomrunner – “Ideal Cities”

(Photo Credit: Stereogum)

Grade: A-

Key Tracks: “Bait Car,” “Wojtek”

The dream of the 90’s is alive in Baltimore. Roomrunner gleefully throw ode to some of the early 90’s grunge and noise rock bands. Nirvana is idolized through fast rhythms that let a punk influence bleed heavily through. Pavement is redrawn through heavy distortion that adds to the melodies and through the rough transitions between songs. Roomrunner never tries to be conventional. The opening track, “Bait Car” is an assault on time signatures that are sometimes impossible to decipher. “Wotjek” sounds like more of a poppy side to the band, until the chorus, featuring rhythms of pure feedback that are different on each passby. The finale, “Snac Error,” ends with a waving drone of guitar that takes up a good chunk of the track.

“Ideal Cities” is over in about a half hour, and it is one of the rare times where the short length of a punk album does not feel entirely fulfilling. The album wasn’t one idea stretched into a certain number of tracks, but a bunch of little experimentations that left me wanting more. This is hardly a criticism, as the band made an interesting record that sounds fresh but resembles the pre-grunge bands of yesteryear. It is melodic and noisy, all while maintaining a sense of fun. Pavement and the Pixies would be proud.

If you like this, try: “Living Dummy” by Pangea (2o12). More of a conventional (surf-)punk record, but there is a similarity between bands, I cannot emphasize enough my love for “Living Dummy”

-By Andrew McNally

Middle Class Rut – “Pick Up Your Head”

(Photo Credit: http://www.playmusic.tw)

Grade: B

Key Tracks: “Cut the Line,” “Aunt Betty”

Middle Class Rut were one of the more successful bands to ride the coattails of Band of Skulls in 2009-10. The band, sometimes referred to as MC Rut, heralded a surprisingly successful debut album in 2010, shortly after Band of Skulls began to seep into alternative radio. There has been a recent revival in simple, heavy alt-rock, like a Ramones updated for the indie world. Middle Class Rut are some of the champions of this revival, being just a two-piece that plays heavy guitar rock that may have been recorded in a basement somewhere. This could all be traced back to the White Stripes, but these more recent bands specialize in an incredibly straight-forward approach to music, delivering the listener quick and heavy blasts, often over soon after they start.

Albums by bands like Middle Class Rut sound boring on paper, as the straight-forward sound of their music sounds wholly unoriginal. But Middle Class Rut are playing off the ever-increasing experimental nature of indie music, in the same way early punk bands were combating David Bowie and The Beatles’ “White Album.”  What the listener gets is a heavy alternative album of two guys messing around in the studio. There might not be a focus, but there might not have to be. The result is a dose of refreshingly heavy and fast album of personal lyrics.

The whole unoriginal nature of Middle Class Rut’s music does get old, surely. Some tracks on this album are less entertaining than others. The opener, “Born Too Late,” is even heavier and faster than the normal for the band. “Cut the Line” and lead-off single “Aunt Betty” are the album’s more thought-out songs, with some experimentation and just good songwriting. Other tracks get meddled in their own repetitive nature. The album is better than their debut, which was somewhat lighter and less interesting because of it. “Pick Up Your Head” is no great album, but it never achieves to be. What it does succeed at is being a fun and intense listen, surprisingly effective for a two-piece that always kind of sound the same.

If you like this, try: “Supermegafantastic” by IAMDYNAMITE (2012). They’re the best of these simplistic rock revival bands, in my opinion. Also a male two-piece, coincidentally.

-By Andrew McNally

Larry And His Flask – “By the Lamplight”

(Photo Credit: Brooklyn Vegan)

Grade: B

Key Tracks: “Pandemonium,” “The Battle For Clear Sight”

“By the Lamplight,” the second official release for the band Larry and His Flask, begins a capella. It only stays that way for a few beats, but it is enough for the band to set the stages. Larry And His Flask are, at the end of the day, a punk band. Yet the banjos and intense acoustic guitar are equally reminiscent of both folk and folk-punk bands, far away from the slight Irish tone to their music. They are a diverse band, taking their inspirations more from cultures than genres, like a Gogol Bordello without an eccentric lead singer.  Their second official release follows this trend, although it is a little more standard than their previous full-length. Still, the a capella opening acts as a bizarre intro for an unfamiliar listener and a gleefully expected one for fans.

When Larry and His Flask are at their best, which is often, they invoke one-thirds Mumford & Sons speed-folk and two-thirds Nekromantix rockabilly punk. The opening half of the album sees them accomplishing this frequently. Early track “The Battle For Clear Sight” has a nice addition of a female singer, Jenny Owen Youngs. The second half of the album gets a little bogged down in songs that sound a little too unoriginal, because of an already high standard that has been previously set. Still, the album’s fastest and slowest tracks, “Home of the Slave” and “All That We’ve Seen,” help to break it up some. And the band always sounds like they are having fun in the studio, which transposes to the listener. They are a fun band, one that genuinely enjoys what they are recording.

“By the Lamplight” is a little less experimental than their previous effort, but it still ranks the band among the most experimental bands in punk music. Their sound is equal parts Celtic punk, rockabilly and folk, and their diversity makes for a truly interesting band. I learned about this band after seeing them in Brooklyn open for the Menzingers (a perfect band), at a show that Gogol Bordello was coincidentally supposed to play at (it got cancelled part way through because of weather). If Larry and His Flask come your way, I recommend them live. Their diversity translates to a fun live show.

If you like this, try: Frank Turner’s “England Keep My Bones,” another diverse Irish-folk-punk musician whose best album is the second most recent.

By Andrew McNally

Wale – “The Gifted Season”

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Grade: B+

Key Tracks: “The Curse of the Gifted,” “Gullible (feat. Cee-lo Green)”

Washington D.C.-based rapper Wale is showing a lot of promise on his third official full-length, “The Gifted.” There is a feeling of maturity on the album, a sense that Wale wants to be taken seriously as a musician, which is a tough barrier for a young rapper to overcome. He is still young though, and a fun-loving sense of immaturity bleeds through the record, in really enjoyable ways. While some tracks are tight and serious, some are loose club jams, and they all blend together to make a diverse album where nearly every track stands out from the previous, even if some are not overly creative.

Wale toys with a few rap cliches on the album, all of which are gleefully effective. The album’s leadoff single, “Bad,” is the last track of the album. But a remix of the song (featuring Rihanna), shows up seven tracks earlier, and even though the two versions sound very similar, the remix serves as an actual track and not something tagged on the end to extend the album’s running time. The album’s title – “The Gifted” – is a play on egotism in rap (and the album dropped only one week after Kanye West’s “Yeezus”), as Wale’s goal for the album is to try to establish himself as a musician, not to gloat about his previous work and success. The album’s best cliche is the second-to-last track, where Wale teases at his next project. But instead of teasing at a proper duet, like Watch the Throne, he teases at “The Album About Nothing,” an album – that’s actually happening – that he is recording with Jerry Seinfeld. Seinfeld appears on the tease, showing up to the wrong recording. It’s a great moment that sets up an album that will probably be a great and glorious mess.

At seventy minutes, the album does feel long. It takes some effort to make it all the way through. Some fat could have been trimmed, and maybe one or two of the less mature tracks could have been cut. Getting to the track with Seinfeld and “Bad” is a pay-off at the end, but the album does not need to be as long as it is. Still, it is a solid and creative effort from a man trying to prove his place in the music world. I think he succeeds.

-By Andrew McNally

August Burns Red – “Rescue and Restore”

(Photo Credit: Amazon)

Grade: B

Key Tracks: “Provision,” “Sincerity”

August Burns Red have never been a critic’s choice band, and I’ve never paid them any attention in the past. But their sixth album, “Rescue & Restore,” is surprisingly succinct. Metal albums rarely come as a full package like this one does. There is a statement on this album, and while I am not sure exactly what it is, the band is trying to get their point across. Most of the songs fit together nicely into something closer to a narrative than is expected. This album seems like it was developed as a number of combined thoughts, not just a bunch of songs packaged together as an album, the fault of many metal records.

This album is pretty relentlessly heavy. The drums beat throughout, the guitars are always screaming. Lyrics are hidden behind screaming and growling (at many different pitches, which helps deviate tracks from each other). Quiet moments intersect heavy breakdowns and melodic riffs. There are two segments of spoken word, the first of which is exceptionally corny (in the song “Spirit Breaker”), laughably so. And the songs do begin to sound alike the longer the album goes on, another fault of many metal albums. But the album is a surprising success, drawn out and chillingly heavy. It won’t win any new listeners to the genre, but fans should embrace it as a great work.

If you like this, try: Deafheaven’s album “Sunbather.” Not really related in any way other than being ridiculously heavy, but it’s one of the albums of the year.

-By Andrew McNally

Pity Sex – “Feast of Love”

(Photo Credit: Brooklyn Vegan)

Grade: B-

Key Tracks: “Wind Up,” “Fold”

“Feast of Love” is the full-length debut for the hyped lo-fi band. The quartet plays a shoegaze-inspired band of emo. The album is equal parts alt-pop, emo and traditional shoegaze walls of sound. Sonically, despite the creative blending of genres, the album could use for some expansion. It is only twenty-seven minutes long but it feels a little tiring. Part of it is the shoegaze itself, it as a genre can often tire and frustrate the listener in the best possible ways. But part of it is a lack of individuality amongst the songs. The album feels like one drawn-out idea, and that’s generally what an individual shoegaze song is to start with, so a full album of similar ideas gets really bogged down. Still, it is a creative blending of genres and is it at times challenging and staggeringly original.

The lyrics are often tough to decipher, which is pretty characteristic of shoegaze (Godspeed You! Black Emperor did away with them entirely). This recent revival of lo-fi emo groups is often accompanied by poetic lyrics that are almost too easy to relate to, that result in heart-wrenching songs. Pity Sex is no different, with some great, poetic lyricism happening. Unfortunately, some of it is buried under walls of guitar.

“Feast of Love” has its faults, but it shows promise as a debut. It is tedious but creative, and is definitely worth a listen for people intrigued by the lo-fi emo revival and shoegaze. Pity Sex is currently on tour with two of the best young bands in America today, Dads and The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die.

If you like this, try: The aforementioned bands, or check out the work done by the bands Teen Suicide and Julia Brown for something wickedly lo-fi.

-By Andrew McNally

 

Mavis Staples – “One True Vine”

(Photo Credit: Pitchfork)

Grade: B+

Key Tracks: “Jesus Wept,” “One True Vine”

Mavis Staples, 73 years old, proves on her thirteenth studio album that she can still make any song sound gorgeous.

Mavis Staples originated as a member of the Staple Singers, the legendary gospel-soul group. But after the family stopped recording music, Mavis came into her own through her solo work. “One True Vine” finds her reconnecting with the man who produced her previous record, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. The songs on the album are primarily covers, ranging from Nick Lowe, to a surprising cover of a Funkadelic song, and a cover of a song from the alt-rock band Low (that’s only a few weeks old, and was also recorded by Tweedy). Tweedy composed two of the tracks, “Jesus Wept” and “One True Vine,” two of the best songs on the album. Staples’ voice sounds as strong as ever, as she takes sometimes painful and emotional lyrics and turns them into beautiful songs.

Tweedy’s work on the album, as with Staples’ previous work, is intentionally minimalistic. A majority of the tracks are just vocals and acoustic guitar, with an occasional inclusion of drums or other instruments. Tweedy played all of the instruments on the album except drums (which were played by his son), which adds to the low-key feel. The focus of the whole album is on the vocals. “One True Vine” is a short and quiet album, stripped away of any distractions. Staples still has a beautiful and strong voice, and the album is a strong and creative blend of gospel and soul because of it.

-By Andrew McNally

Veenstra – “Six Months of Death”

Photo Credit: Bandcamp.com

Photo Credit: Bandcamp.com

Grade: B+

Key Tracks: “A Bear/A Fire/A Cave,” “Stone Burial”

Francois Veenstra, a solo musician from Brazil, is in the midst of an existentially lo-fi trilogy. His second album, “Six Months of Death,” was recorded like his debut, in an ultimate lo-fi setting: a bedroom, alone, with a handheld recorder. The album’s title sets the existential tone and states that the album is going to be no less introspective than his previous effort, “Journey to the Sea”. The first album in the series saw a protagonist following a river to the sea. “Six Months of Death” follows this protagonist as he finds the sea and begins to wander aimlessly, realizing the pointlessness of his previous adventure.

Musically, the protagonist’s existential pains are felt through winding, quiet music, all recorded by Veenstra. The songs are more like movements, building up or winding down at unexpected points. The transitions between songs feel more like thought breaks than song breaks – which is good, as it implies that the album works well as a whole. His vocals are tough to decipher, but they only show up sometimes, as the whole entity of the album seems to encompass this character and his travels. The album is experimental lo-fi alternative stuff, often quiet but getting the point across. Veenstra is a pretty decent musician, commandeering drums and bass just when the muted guitar begins to get a little slow. It is certainly quiet and toned-down, so lo-fi fans take notice. I’m curious what will happen to the protagonist next.

Veenstra’s albums can be found on Bandcamp, and he runs the blog Beings Being.

If you like this, try: “Whenever, If Ever” by The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, the previous review before this one.

-By Andrew McNally