The New Thrill Parade — Universal Shame

Recorded by A.Ron Monster at Silent Planet in Corralitos, CA

Mastered by Shawn Hatfield

On Universal Shame, The New Thrill Parade’s first full-length, we find a live band at its most urgent, primal, and at once, modern, delivering raw and focused sonic qualities. Indian war-whoops fight for space with Cramps-esque roots-rock guitar and swingin’ sax in an undeniable American revival of sexy and dangerous music that would make The Doors proud. The free jazz influence is an important one in accomplishing the band’s frightening yet liberating tapping of the human id. It’s the sound of a new rebellion against the current stifling condition of popular music that once spawned rock ‘n’ roll itself, and there hasn’t been a rock record this exciting in quite some time.

As on its impressive debut EP, the Santa Cruz sextet creates a warped alternate reality — only this time around, the band is given the space to truly explore the darkened corners only touched upon on its first album. While songs like “Gift Horse,“ off the 2005 self-titled effort, were pleasant death-pop treats, Universal Shame is a satisfying nine-course meal, with the untitled improvisational secret track being a dessert rivaling Nirvana’s “Endless Nameless.”

The obvious nucleus of The New Thrill Parade is the unmistakable voice of singer Amitai, who draws a clear cue from the unrestrained style of Nick Cave, with hints of Jello Biafra, Ian Curtis and Robert Smith. Like those artists, as cartoonish and eccentric as he can be, he never sounds contrived or strained. His low vibrato croons crypto-political lines like, “The ostrich with its crown on / Asks for some glass to stand on,” before screaming like a vampire with the help of some spooky group chanting of “He wants his sand!” On songs like “The Ostrich,” the feel is of a black ritual, something as deeply perverse, yet powerful as incanting spirits. “Body Ship” recalls The Hunches’ tributes to ‘60s rock with a poppy beat and ridiculous falsetto before tearing into a whirling dervish jazz freakout. “No Flowers” alternates between a Roy Orbison ballad and a Jesus Lizard death trip before ending in an acid-damaged circus melody. The finest track is “Peace Punch,” in which the “verses” have Amitai in the role of storyteller and poet, a la Tom Waits, while a restrained saxophone and chorused guitar play the melancholy, Mediterranean melody.

Universal Shame is the sound of a group at the peak of creativity and maturity. Destined to be mentioned in the same breath as raucous classics such as The Fall’s Hex Enduction Hour, and The Birthday Party’s Prayers On Fire, it’s simply one of the year’s best albums. (Litterbox)

www.newthrillparade.com

-Jake Rose

Wet Confetti — Laughing Gasping

Recorded by Jason Powers at Type Foundry Studios and by Mike Cozzi at Moscozzi Studios

Mixed by Mike Cozzi

Mastered by Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering

Produced by Mike Cozzi, Dave Allen and Wet Confetti

With the punk-funk resurgence in full swing, bands like Wet Confetti are forcing the frowzy indie mobs to learn some dance moves. The band’s new album, Laughing Gasping, owes less to Kim Gordon and company as does its 2004 self-release, This Is So Illegal (Do It Fast), and more to the lean, focused rhythms and stylish bass flourishes of other ‘80s New Yorkers like ESG or Liquid Liquid. Though Wet Confetti’s angular guitar work, busy drums and herky-jerky bass lines border on cliché status by now, the Portland trio manages to squeeze out what value was left from this post-punk template. With production assistance from Gang of Four’s Dave Allen and Shriekback’s Mike Cozzi, the band’s sound has also undergone some studio polishing, which may disappoint fans of its previous, devil-may-care aesthetic. However, the addition of keyboards to this latest release is sure to delight those still gladly weathering the past years’ electro-clash onslaught.

In any case, Michael McKinnon’s drumming has propelled the band to an entirely different level, not to mention subgenre. Singer and bassist Alberta Poon has matured too, her voice teeming with a more sultry and self-assured defiance. She has moved from sounding merely petulant to downright pissed-off. Dicing up her words, she spits them out in monosyllabic outbursts, nowhere more thrilling than on songs like the mercurial title track and “Take My Advice,” in which she warns, “Say it again to me / And you will regret it / Say it again to me / And you can forget it.”

As on the last album, Wet Confetti closes Laughing Gasping with an eldritch lullaby that breaks up the dance party and tucks everyone in for the night. Perhaps it is a clue as to the direction the band will take next, as even “I Can’t Refuse” seems to presage “We may end up miles from here.” Wherever that is, it’s sure to tilt heads. (Pampelmoose)

www.wetconfetti.com

-Andrew Kersey

BlackHeart WhiteNoise — Bent M3

Recorded, mixed, mastered and engineered by C. Arden Hinds at

The Bunker in Portland, OR

Produced by C. Arden Hinds and Dano Capristo

Bent M3, the debut album from Portland’s BlackHeart WhiteNoise, is dichotomous to its core — from the band’s very moniker down to track placement. On the one hand, the band presents itself as a light throwback to poppy Brit-rock, but at the same time comes across as darkly ominous, looking to share artful and serious themes.

Barely nine months old, BlackHeart WhiteNoise has the uncanny ability to channel a sound similar to what might occur if She Wants Revenge met The Psychedelic Furs. An odd mix, but a mix that makes sense after an initial listen to Bent M3.

As a whole, the lyrics offer insight into a band that carefully constructs artsy metaphors about the disparity between light and dark, the beautiful and the ugly. Album opener, “Our Lives in Black and White,” gives the album the feel of yet another disc dedicated to the dance-rock revolution. However, this is clearly not the case as the track is immediately followed by darker, musically abrasive selections “A Brand New Day” and “December’s Child,” finally culminating with the bouncy “Picture Perfect World” — a track seemingly out of left field. Despite this song’s playful sound, closer inspection of the lyrics — such as “Nihilistic/fatalistic/straight-up misfit” — reveal deeper meanings that seem to subtly subvert the undertones of the entire album. Contrasted with haunting songs like “Panomine,” and the apathetic, “Everyday is a Monday,” BlackHeart WhiteNoise dabbles with a wide range of sounds and themes.

At times discordant and experimental, at others harmonious and explosive, Bent M3 has the air of a band that has played together for years as opposed to being thrown together less than a year ago. BlackHeart WhiteNoise has some kinks to work out in defining its sound, but definitely has the talent to do so; the band is sure to grow and offer something new and exciting to its respective music scene. (Self-released)

www.myspace.com/blackheartwhitenoise

-Jen Tartaglione

Acid Reign — Time & Change

Mixed and mastered by Daddy Kev

at the Echo Chamber

Acid Reign is one of L.A. underground hip-hop’s best-kept secrets. With over a decade of experience under their belts, emcees Gajah and Beond are finally ready to storm the industry with their tongue-twisting tornado flow. The duo first met in 1993 at a Christian youth group where the seeds of positive hip-hop were planted. Fast-forward to the mid-‘90s and the two were taken under the wing of West Coast legends Aceyalone and Abstract Rude at Project Blowed, a legendary open mic workshop, where they crafted their signature fast rap style.

Several independent releases later, the duo comes on strong with the solid Time & Change, a collector’s item for fans of the L.A. indie sound. The 17-song album features driving drum loops and pounding production provided by veteran beat-smiths Daddy Kev, Paris Zax, Omid and others. The two emcees also prove they can hang with heavyweights with guest appearances by Abstract Rude, Pigeon John, Ellay Khule and The Living Legends’ Scarub.

Gajah and Beond are perfect examples of true lyricists. Whether spitting swift or slow (though they rarely leave the fast lane), their flow is effortless and full of witty wordplay. While the run-of-the-mill top-40 rap star rattles simple rhymes, these two use multi-syllable and inner-line rhymes, such as on “Here Comes Trouble” — “We’re here to get down to business and we got no time for foreplay / Our reign is long-awaited feared and hated like a court date / The time is now, original style has always been our forte.”

These two touch on various topics, from love for their hometown (“The Heart of the City”) to trying to get a crowd hyped (“Party Tonight”) to love/lust (“Fantasy World”) — topics anyone can relate to. Perhaps they sum it up best in the chorus of “You and Me” — “Diversity’s the key / If your mind is open you’ll see / That this music is for everyday people like you and me.” (Alpha Pup Records)

www.myspace.com/acidreign

-Zoneil Maharaj

Rafter — Music for Total Chickens

Recorded and mixed by

Rafter Roberts

Mastered by Sarah Register at The Lodge

Rafter Roberts wants you to call your mother. He suggests it — not ironically — in the first song on this album. By day, San Diego-based Rafter creates music for television commercials, and like commercials many of the songs on Music for Total Chickens are brief and focus on one concept, like “Encouragement,” “Tragedy,” “Peace,” and “Hope” (twice). The song titled “Intent” describes exactly that: “When you feel down, put me in your headphones / I will sing from my heart / I will reach out to you.” Rafter’s unrelenting earnestness and positivity come through in his pretty, gentle, melodic vocals, backed by group vocal harmonies reminiscent of Rafter’s label impresario Sufjan Stevens. In sharp contrast though, Rafter and his guest musicians use their instruments to create what often sounds like barely-controlled chaos, with spastic free-jazz drumming from Justin Pinkerton on several tracks and a jumble of rhythms and sounds that ride the line between versatility and schizophrenia.

“Gentle Men,” an entreaty against violence, starts with a herky-jerky, broken-disco intro and ends with Phillip Glass-style keyboard arpeggios. Rafter pays penance for his commercial work with the syncopated anti-consumerist treatise “Merchandise.” The album has a few darker moments: “Unassailable” (with its refrain of “You will fail”) features menacing fuzz, and “Monsters” warns, “If you aren’t careful they might get you.” The shining gem of the album is “Boy,” which concludes with a beautiful orchestral swell of strings, harp, and vibraphone — and is immediately followed by “Kantanker,” a short, abrasive instrumental spaz-out. The album-closing, straightforwardly-titled “Ending” is a postlude reprising the string section, and these few placid moments are a welcome respite from the spiky chaos that dominates the album. The way Rafter brings together extremes of pop sweetness and free-form experimentation is wonderfully invigorating — in short doses. (Asthmatic Kitty Records)

www.asthmatickitty.com

-Mike Baehr

Daedelus — Throw a Fit

Engineered, mixed and produced by Daedelus

Throwing chopped and spliced IDM loops together with musical arrangements that somehow imitate the ‘30s and ‘40s, Throw a Fit, the new six-song EP from Santa Monica artist Daedelus, has come upon a style that truly has very few, if any imitators. With lovely melodies swirled atop avant-garde electronic sounds, Daedelus brings to life a musical world and vision that will boggle some minds and leave others begging for more.

The album opens with the electro-pop number “Admit Defeat,” in which piano and vocal samples flow in and out of the arrangement, adding beauty to the song. “It’s Madness” features swirling orchestral sounds over a hard drumbeat, creating a sense of chaos, until a simple classical guitar placed gently on top of the mix cuts through the chaos and melds the entire piece together. “Remix of Nothing” is exactly that, a remix of nothing. And what starts as a crunk-sounding hip-hop beat suddenly flips itself into a bouncy electro number that will have listeners suddenly nodding their heads without even knowing what happened. The next song, “Unadventurer,” features Alpha Pup label mate Subtitle on vocal duties, and brings the humor level up quite a bit. The album’s closing number, “A Complicated Geometry,” is definitely the most abstract of all the tracks, but has an ethereal power that can really only be experienced by listening to it.

Meanwhile, Daedelus tours the world when he isn’t holed up in his recording studio creating inspired music. He is definitely an artist in his own space and time, which is in turn a major part of his appeal — he will always give listeners something original.
(Alpha Pup Records)

www.myspace.com/daedelusdarling

-Casey O’Neill

Norfolk & Western — The Unsung Colony

Recorded by Adam Selzer at Type Foundry in Portland, OR

Assisted by Rob Jones and Kelly Bauman

There are several roads one can take to describe the music on the latest Norfolk & Western album, The Unsung Colony. As is the nature of all roads, these run in various directions, leading sometimes towards or away from each other, each offering a unique perspective.

The first road is a leisurely Sunday morning drive. There is no destination so much as the urge to cruise the back roads, get out in the open and take a break from the hum of the week. All there is to do is watch for stray deer and get lost in the stories. There’s one where the son tells of his mother’s escape and his own origin, one about the burned-out rock ‘n’ roller, and one about a what-might-have-been subway romance. This road is winding and consists entirely of detours, which is exactly the point.

The second road is one of high culture. It travels through Main Street U.S.A. with lofty unrest; it waltzes around the sidewalks of Paris in a nostalgic black and white photograph. With often inaccessible lyrics — “Thin distorted voice it calls your seat” — and ambient noise, the sense of detachment is at times ironic and at others simply unbridgeable.

The third road doesn’t exist yet. It’s under deliberation by a host of organizations, government agencies and special interest groups that can’t agree on a plan. A plethora of instruments, extended ambient jams and old-time waltzes are brought together with an admirable goal, yet conflicting results.

Norfolk and Western have been around for years — The Unsung Colony is the band’s fifth release. Comprised of prominent members of Portland musical royalty (M.Ward, The Decemberists), it’s easy to appreciate their talent, and to applaud their perseverance. Leisurely, unbridgeable, vain — ambiguous criticism for pop music, as these traits appeal to just as many as they repel. (Hush Records)

www.norfolkandwestern.org

-Ali Marcus

The Clean Prophets — Praise is Poison

No production information provided

With the release of their debut album Praise is Poison, Los Angeles three-piece The Clean Prophets try their hand at the soft rock takeover, offering a solid show of eleven breezy tracks that give bands like The Shins and Phoenix a run for their money.

One thing this album makes perfectly clear is that The Clean Prophets are not to be defined by any one genre. Dallying with styles that bring to mind Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground, the dance rock Brit-band Hard-Fi and the jazzy fellow-Angeleno outfit The 88, Praise is Poison keeps the music fresh and varied.

Opening song “Tambourine Crown” begins with an unmistakable dance beat that bears an uncanny resemblance to a softer version of Hard-Fi’s “Cash Machine.” Songs “More than Enough” and “Addiction,” however, make a complete 180 and are stylistically derivative of the Lou Reed school of rock, both instrumentally and vocally. Conversely, “Instant Hustle” seems to be the odd track with its softer Bob Dylan-esque ballad quality.

Praise is Poison seems to be a throwback to classic light rock with a twist of ‘60s and ‘70s folk vibe. The entire package — music and artwork alike — pay unmistakable homage to the styles of yesteryear. For a debut, The Clean Prophets offer a pure, enjoyable sound with a variety of flavors from which to choose. The implications of this kind of diversity of sound — in the confines of one album — are twofold. On the one hand, the album showcases The Clean Prophets’ ability to extend themselves artistically; on the other, it lacks transition and the songs don’t consistently sound like the same band. All in all, the music speaks for itself and offers the young band a window of infinite potential in which to refine and develop their sound. (Tuff Penguin Records)

www.cleanprophets.com

-Jen Tartaglione

Scream Club — Life of a Heartbreaker

Produced by Bronski Beat, Sidabitball, Genuine Guy, Electrosexual, Scream Club,

Joey Casio, Smoke of Oldominion, Leonard de Leonard, LA JAE, and Guillaume Briere

Mixed and Mastered by Daddy Kev at the Echo Chamber

Over the past couple of years, Scream Club has trademarked itself by combining the rampant, dripping sexuality of Peaches and the effusive weirdness of Tracy and the Plastics with its own novel, but subversive brand of militant queer feminism. On Scream Club’s second album, Life of a Heartbreaker, the duo expands its focus by collaborating with peers such as Peaches, Electrosexual and newcomer Nicky Click.

The throbbing “Fine As Fuck” features a cameo by Peaches, who lends her characteristic raunchiness — “Don’t eat shit like Divine / But I flow like the Rhine... / So fuck me fine” — and cleverly adopts a hook from Toni Basil’s ‘80s bubblegum hit, “Mickey.”

On “Protégé,” Nicky Click delivers her coy verses with a sardonic lilt reminiscent of Kim Gordon. The wordplay between Click and Scream Club emcees Cindy Wonderful and Sarah Adorable flows effortlessly amid the song’s undulant, Hyphy-inspired beat — which is itself a gem amongst the album’s predominantly straightforward dance and/or hip-hop backdrops.

Inventive as these tracks are, several others on the album suffer from repetitive slogans that recall innocuous house music. The tiresome refrain, “I think that maybe / I’m going crazy” weighs down the frenetic (not to mention aptly titled) “I’m Going Crazy.” Incidentally, “I’m Going Crazy” holds the album’s worst lyrical cliché: “I guess in the end we’ll just see how it goes / Where it all stops nobody knows.” Live, Scream Club use bubble machines, props and funky dance moves to augment their two-femmes-and-a-beat-box show. Surely, the minds creative enough to dream up such engaging performances can avoid the pitfalls of such foibles.

There’s a sophomoric side to Scream Club that really works, and Life of a Heartbreaker‘s best moments arise from songs that ooze with sex and kitsch. Although it’s encouraging that Scream Club attempted different moods and drew upon its community to do so, there are glaring instances on the album where the carpet does not match the drapes. (Alpha Pup Records)

www.screamclub.com

-Andres Jauregui

Matt Lutz — Seesaw

Produced by Matt Lutz and Scott Tusa

In the world of music classification, sometimes it seems as though “solo side project” should be a sub-genre all its own. Inherently an outlet for musicians to explore styles of music different from that of their primary project, side projects tend to be somewhat eclectic by nature; a mish-mash of diverse and varied sounds, and therefore not easily categorized. While this tendency can often make for an uneven collection of songs, the solo offering from The Herms’ Matt Lutz (created largely out of the creative stagnancy he experienced while waiting for his band’s first album to debut) is, if not entirely consistent, very solidly enjoyable.

Sounding like an homage to the early rock heroes of his youth, Seesaw kicks off with its title track, channeling T. Rex and early Stooges. “Took Me A While,” the second track, changes the pace with a wonderfully catchy, pop-infused jingle, complete with tinkling, happy little xylophones and a perfectly infectious chorus. Just to keep you guessing, Lutz will occasionally throw in a quirky instrumental track such as “La Concordia,” which can only be described as three minutes and seventeen seconds of enjoyable elevator music (if it’s possible such a thing exists).

Lutz’s influences are at times so apparent that the similarities can be a bit distracting, but when your obvious influences include Nick Drake, Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, and other early ‘70s luminaries, that’s not at all bad. In lesser hands this album could have come across as a collection of pale imitations, but Lutz pulls it off by mixing lush strings and well-crafted guitar lines with heart-wrenchingly beautiful piano and a soft, sincere vocal style. Exhibiting what is frankly a startling gift for near-perfect song structure, with regard to the (sadly fictional) “solo side project” genre, Seesaw transcends the pack. (Self-released)

www.myspace.com/mattlutz1

-Jessica Watkins-McClain

Absinthe Academy — Gaudi Trashy

Engineered by Neil Couser

Recorded at 4th Street Studios

Mixed at Fox Force Five Studios

Borrowing from the booze-soaked traditions of blues rockers before them, the members of Absinthe Academy deliver their own take on raspy, work-weary rock ’n’ roll. On their debut Gaudi Trashy, the intimacy of the band’s approach is strongly apparent in the defined bass tones that pop out, the primal rock drumming, the no-frills electric guitar and basic production. There’s no excessive reverb, obnoxious overdubs, or flavor-of-the-month sonic tricks that scream “Pro Tools.” What’s more, there’s no auto-tune here either, and no need for it.

Absinthe Academy gets the whole rock n’ roll thing. Though the band cites The Clash, Led Zeppelin and The Kinks as influences, Absinthe Academy has already carved out its own name and sounds most like itself. Chris Brooks’ ragged vocals are a perfect match for the steady, oomph-ah rhythm of the mostly two-chord “Midnight.” Against this track’s rockin’ riffs, the in-unison background vocals sound like an astonishingly in-tune bunch of drunks joining in from the bar.

What most obviously reveals the band’s influences are the guitar arpeggios in “Last Days,” which vaguely recall Zeppelin’s “Thank You.” Elsewhere, the acoustic “Capitol Hill” plays up the Southern vibe channeled by The Rolling Stones by way of The Kinks. The mix of tambourine- and handclap-accented acoustic numbers, pounding rockers, and trebly bass tunes like “Make Up Your Mind,” sounds decidedly retro, yet maintains a simplicity that is awfully refreshing. “Heaven Can Wait,” clichés aside, is a pleasant take on acoustic blues with some deft slide guitar.

There are many directions Absinthe Academy can go from here — it seems Brooks is only touching on the iceberg of his potential as a potent rock vocalist. He does the raspy thing exceedingly well and it will be exciting to hear what else he does with his voice as the band grows. All in all this is some great, solid rock music at just the right pace. (Self-released)

www.absintheacademy.com

-Michael Fortes

Jon Garcia — Jon Garcia

Engineered and mixed by Robert Bartleson and Jared See

Recorded at Haywire Studios

Mastered at Nettleingham Audio by Kevin Nettleingham

Produced by Robert Bartleson and Jon Garcia

After spending his formative years playing with various rock bands in Austin, Texas, Jon Garcia made for Portland to sing for his supper as a solo artist. His new self-titled record is the fruit of the front porches and sun-bent bedrooms he found there.

It is clear that Garcia is a songwriter and instrumentalist with creditable influences. A particular debt is owed here to Jeff Buckley, while some moments bear the mark of Joe Boyd’s pastoral productions of the British folk era. Indeed Garcia, with his violet vibrato reminiscent of Buckley’s, has a knack for cleverly-penned chord changes and sylvan arrangements for strings.

“Life Between Cigarettes” is one of several highlights on the record — a pretty piano-ballad-turned-funnel-cloud of commotion. Garcia’s vocals ride atop the gathering turbulence like Slim Pickens straddling the falling A-bomb in Dr. Strangelove. “What will I be? What will I be someday?” Garcia sings, while piano and harp provide a counterpoint.

However, as the final dying notes cross-fade seamlessly into “Television Blackhole,” the timbre set forth so succinctly by the first four songs of the album is cracked and divided. An angst-ridden guitar scorcher about the boob-tube, this track has more in common with Sunny Day Real Estate than the tawny-hued songs of the album’s outset. Again, Garcia does justice to his influences, but gone are the harp, the cello, the flute and the music box. Here now is the stomp-box.

The remaining songs on this album can be divvied into either of these two camps. “Ashes Black and Roses All Around” and “Life’s a Wave” are characteristic of the jagged guitars that were fodder to the 120 Minutes generation, while “The Delaware Carousel” and “Saturday Morning” live in the same zip code as Rufus Wainwright.

While its divided loyalties diminish the effect of the whole, Garcia’s album is nonetheless an able effort filled with strong song-craft. (Self-released)

www.jongarcia.org

-Henry Baker

The Sea Navy — Oh These Troubled Times

Recorded and mixed by T.W. Walsh

Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering

Oh These Troubled Times is an indie rock album with an Americana twist. It’s not alt-country like My Morning Jacket, but it rollicks and stomps in the vein of a Ryan Adams album — short songs (nine tracks in a pinch over 20 minutes) with a backcountry tempo. Surely an influence, the band’s mastermind/singer Jay Cox subscribes to the Guided By Voices philosophy of getting to the point and moving on. The album offers glorious, fast-paced anthems about solemnly exploring an immense, austere landscape and the self-righteous idealism of not caring about where the road leads.

The candid honesty found on The Sea Navy’s debut album is refreshing — Cox isn’t pulling any aces and has no agenda to push; he simply delivers a fast-moving sequence of events. “I don’t want to waste anymore time / In the end it’s annoying I’ve got nothing to show you,” Cox sings bluntly in the jogging-paced song “Action.”

If the gospel is in the three-minute song, then the guitar, bass and drums are the Holy Trinity; from thenceforth The Sea Navy pairs familiar instruments alongside absorbing, uniquely crafted songwriting. However, the real glory of The Sea Navy is found in the coupling of youthful, shaky vocals with pithy narratives, framing their lo- to mid-fidelity indie rock. This sound drives the melody and upbeat rhythm through a heavy helping of instrumentation and shallow idealistic narratives of taking the wrong highway, snakebites, moving on and redemption found in happiness.

The tracks on the album work so well because they are the antithesis of pandering and hold no hidden agenda. Instead of being baked in nostalgia, or force-feeding the listener with elite tradition, Oh These Troubled Times takes what works, trims the fat and serves the listener a heavy dose of tidy brilliance. (Self-released)

www.theseanavy.com

-Christopher Petro

The Ovulators — The Ovulators

Engineered by Jeff Olson and Bill Barnett

Mixed at Dogwood Studio

Mastered at Gung Ho Studio

The Ovulators certainly make the concept of what they want to sound like and who they want to be very clear, but they are not there yet. They have a perfect foundation set for greatness, but this particular album shows that they are fledglings by hinting at the awesome potential they will surely build upon in future releases.

What they are starting to sound like is everyone’s favorite trend in the ‘90s — girl bands! They have the flavor and the attitude, are not afraid to devote an entire song to drag queens, and certainly make it apparent that an all-girl band is just as good as an all-guy band. However, the overall feeling of this album is that the listener is left desiring a little more. There are influences of the much harder girl bands of the ‘90s, such as Hole and L7, but The Ovulators are a “serving suggestion” of sorts.

The first problem is that each song lasts far too long, dragging on from four to six-plus minutes needlessly rather than making their point in the first three minutes. There is also an overuse of repetitive and rhyming verses. The ninth track, “Stalling,” is probably the best showcase of where the band is headed. They pick up the pace and rock a little harder here, and the lyrics do improve. On “Drag Queen” the lyrics are genuinely funny, but the song suffers from the odd placement of lighter-style vocals with harmonization.

Track five, “Insane Genius,” was also an improvement, but with “You see what you want to see / You be what you want to be” as a chorus, the song becomes another example of the band’s lack of punchy lyrics. (Happy Mistake)

www.theovulators.com

-Allison Foley

Prince Ali — Corner Ensemble

No production information provided

With the entrance of the Bay Area’s unique Hyphy sound into the musical spotlight, more national attention has now been granted to the local scene. From Sacramento to San Jose, artists are gaining recognition and, with the release of his debut full-length, Corner Ensemble, Prince Ali out of Hayward is no exception. However, this album is no standard Hyphy disc. Prince Ali rhymes over a ‘70s contemporary acid jazz throwback sound with energy and precision, deserving of the same attention as his Northern California brethren.

With production and instrumentation by Los Angeles-based group The Destruments, this album veers away from standard electronic beat box production and breathes organic life into the scene. Proof lies in the fact that not one turntable scratch can be heard on the entire album. Instead, live drum kit riffs, bongo beats, smooth synthesizers and horn melodies create a full sound in a manner similar to The Roots or A Tribe Called Quest live.

A more laidback So Cal feel compliments Prince Ali’s Mos Def-reminiscent tenor and semi-political voice. A neck-cracker or purple-smoker beat from local independent producers CHIII, Skavenger, J2, Sir Monocle Watson, Roy Butterfields Project and Big North, or MC contributions by Israh of Essenes, Faraz Sahib of Pacific Sonz, Van Hunt, Malik, and J2 round out Ali’s sound without once feeling intrusive. High profile guest vocals from Iriscience of Dilated Peoples, Opio of Hieroglyphics, and the mainstay of underground hip-hop, Defari, prove Prince Ali is working hard in the game and isn’t going anywhere soon. He has already been spotted rocking local live shows with The Destruments and opening for top acts like Kool Keith and Hi-Tek. In addition, Corner Ensemble will be released on Ali’s own Eye5 Recordings label.

Time will tell where Prince Ali’s music will take listeners — as of now his sound locks down what few other artists have dared to explore. A bit more recognition and Prince Ali will remind the nationwide hip-hop audience that there was a time before Hyphy in Northern California.
(Eye5 Recordings)

eye5recordings.com

-Grant Inaba

Tempo No Tempo — The Get Down

Recorded by Tempo No Tempo

Out of Berkeley, California comes the unsigned band Tempo No Tempo. The songs on The Get Down have a rock ‘n’ roll edge, but contain electronic elements synonymous with the exploding dance rock/electronic revolution. Drawing from obvious influences like Bloc Party and The Rapture, Tempo No Tempo seem like they want to be an alternative rock band more than anything. These songs would find a good home on the Bay Area’s alternative station, Live 105. They have this “18-year-old girl who liked Madonna then fell in love with a tattooed rock ‘n’ roll guy and now wants to dance all night” feel, throwing off the shackles of pop constriction. Or, as the band’s press sheet says, “Part hot-shit dance floor and rock radio.” Done at home, the actual recording sounds great — most likely a product of the evolving digital recording world and some strong musicianship.

On “Static,” the drums lead the dance revolution with off-tempo hi-hat beats, accenting distorted staccato guitar parts. Although the vocals are difficult to hear over the mix, they blend to create a more unified sound, unlike the more common vocals-in-your-face alternative rock sound. The melodic keyboard follows the vocal pattern to create a retro ‘80s pop sound.

“State of Emergency” would fit well on the soundtrack for one of those new fancy car crash video games, just after you’ve shot up the bank and are running from the cops. The song pulsates with electronic and guitar sounds, which swirl around the vocals.

On this six-song EP, about two-thirds of the songs feature the offbeat-hi-hat-versus-snare-drum conflict. This clash works wonderfully on “A Different Weapon” and “State of Emergency,” but after a while the songs all run together with the same feel over and over. Tempo No Tempo have plenty of rocking ahead of them. Luckily, they have little in the way of tempo problems — just maybe a few dance beats could be spared. (Self-released)

www.myspace.com/temponotempo

-Matthew Johnson

Wonderground — Become Water

Produced by Aaron Espinoza

Become Water, Wonderground’s newest EP, can be a lot to take in at once. With pop-driven songs and fun melodies to dance around to in the hipster fashion, the group has succeeded in truly getting its audience to connect with its backing music. Front man Paul Schoemehi’s unique voice, however, is something one has to get used to. During the first track on the EP “Marionettes,” his whiney vocals almost overpower any music lingering in the background.

As the album progresses though, one tends to adapt to the sound and Schoemehi’s voice becomes much easier to take in, much like the initial growl of a weed-whacker that eventually becomes a soft purr in the background. “The Bells,” the second song on the album, captures the cute, indie pop vibe for which the band is best known. The lyrics “I always walk outside” hint at being apart from the norm, which the group is very aware of, drawing the line between themselves and the rest of the hip bands out of Silverlake. Though, with Schoemehi’s cute Ben Gibbard-esque looks, it’s easy to see why Wonderground is quickly becoming a favorite in that crowd.

Choosing to use guitar riffs that battle against simple xylophone melodies proves that the group likes to take risks over the easy road. The sound of this EP, produced by indie rock staple Aaron Espinoza of the band Earlimart, indicates that the band has definitely taken a step in the right direction. A huge leap from Wonderground’s earlier demos, Become Water shows the band sticking to its roots while also hugely progressing from its original work. The arrangements are much more professional and better put together, and it seems the group has finally gotten into its groove. (Snow Day Records)

www.wondergroundsound.com

-Katie Burnett

LoveLikeFire — Bed Of Gold

Recorded and mixed at NuTone Studios by Willie Samuels

Produced by LoveLikeFire

For a band that’s just over one year old, San Francisco’s LoveLikeFire has accomplished quite a bit. Already having played live dates with the likes of Morningwood and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the band commits six songs to posterity here on their self-released debut EP, Bed Of Gold. Through a mix of driving rock, occasionally moody chord progressions and gentle, atmospheric background vocals, singer/guitarist Ann Yu alternately howls like a punk rocker, sings it straight with a slight British accent and softly coos. Most prominent on the EP’s opener “Inner Space,” this sound aims for both the feet and the fist on “A Million Pieces” by adding a pumping bass drum and emotive shouts of “Go! Go! Go! Go!” in its coda. “Bullet Proof” also provides a prime soundtrack for a frantic dance floor.

Yu’s British accent falls right into place and the band’s U.K. influences start to come out on the distorted bass lines of “Radio Nurse,” recalling Radiohead. In fact, looking back to the early ‘90s, LoveLikeFire could easily be called the American version of Lush.

The sounds created on Bed Of Gold thrive on musical drama — with varied dynamics, drum patterns and key changes — in ways that aren’t always knock-you-over-the-head obvious. Case in point would be the subtle placing of synthesized strings in “A Million Pieces” and “Radio Nurse.” LoveLikeFire also keeps the guitar sound fairly consistent throughout the course of the EP, sticking to a limited pallet of musical colors. Slight, occasional changes become all the more interesting against such a backdrop — these subtleties are the very things that make repeated listening to Bed Of Gold such a pleasure. All bodes well for a full-length follow-up, but until then this album remains a very strong debut. (Self-released)

www.lovelikefire.com

-Michael Fortes

Peter James — Footnotes to Fairytales

Engineered by Christopher Scott Cooper at Blue Seven Audio

Mastered at The Annex by Tom Carr

Produced by Peter James

San Francisco-based Peter James is a busy man this year, promoting his debut album up a storm. Born in the U.K., James has clearly taken influence from musicians as diverse as Morrissey and David Gray. Footnotes to Fairytales is warm and rich, as everything on the album hums underneath the singer’s golden baritone vocals. Centered on James’ voice, the songs tend to the mild side, working an under-paced angle with a strict adherence to listenability.

As for structure, the songs are fairly uniform verse-chorus numbers, with oodles of nonsensical lyrics about movement and change, as when James sings “It’s been said / This hell just runs loose in my head child / I’ve been proved / Fools lose / I‘ll rise to fall again.” Sadly, the common thread for James is building anti-climactic endings. Most songs follow this pattern: profound acoustic guitar finger-picking that grows in intensity behind gentle lyrics and chamber pop, eventually fizzling out and giving way to the next finger-frenzy song.

All songs on the album exhibit James’ ability to churn a melody with his fingertips; in fact, the technique is milked pretty profusely. On the slow-burner “Shy Side,” James sustains a genuinely gorgeous full sound from initial verse to last chorus, but gives the listener an unwavering six minutes of the same rolling finger-work. Overall, the album’s sound is definitively original, but it narrows James into a formula. It’s a shame, because he’s clearly deeper than the formulaic songwriter. Aside from the gratuitous finger picking, his songs are unconventionally dotted with cello, harmonium, and tabla, giving the whole work a chamber pop quality.

All in all, aside from the occasional repetitiveness, James offers listeners a beautiful debut. It’s admittedly numb with respect to lyrics and sagging vocal range, but the relentless attention to instrumental detail carries the album. (Shy Side Records)

www.peterjamesmusic.com

-Christopher Petro

Midnight in a Perfect World — Midnight in a Perfect World

Recorded by Peter Thomas at

Studio Hibiki

Produced and Mixed by Jerry Becker

Mastered by Michael Romanowski at Paul Stubblebine Mastering

Placing Midnight in a Perfect World’s self-titled debut album into the CD player is a game of hit and miss. From the start the San Francisco quartet selects a clear path, heading towards the opening slot of a Chad Kroger concert. However, the band fails to make it out of the parking lot, indecisive as to whether to turn around and head towards the metal show or the local dive bar.

The raw, untamed wanderings of lead guitarist Phil Pristia bring back memories of the glory days of Seattle grunge, with Nirvana cranking out pure energy and Alice In Chains testing the waters by dragging the listener into the band’s hole of depression. Singer Sean Cass’ voice doesn’t quite fit with the music — at times, the beats are too harsh to match him. However, add a touch of softness to the backup instruments, and the rest falls naturally into place, as the closing track “Tonight” perfectly illustrates.

The album takes a while to build — not until the fifth track, “Maybe I’ll Stay (To Find Love),” does the album pick up. Nevermind the cheesy title; the song starts off strong and continues with one quick hook after another. At over five minutes (the longest track on the album), the band makes room on the track for a nicely placed bridge, dropping levels down to near silence midway through before bringing the tempo back up. It’s not until “Snake,” three tracks later, that one finds another enduring song — this time a mini-ballad where Cass playfully sings a lyrical tango with the guitars.

All in all, Midnight in a Perfect World simply tries to combine too many elements of rock — from grunge to hardcore, alternative to indie — into one sound, causing some confusion. It is impressive how well this band stays true to its passion of instrumentation though, and the sensitivity of its members to not be overbearing or outplay one another deserves credit as well. (My Two Cents Records)

www.midnightinaperfectworld.com

-Marcelina Blea