CD OF THE MONTH

Or, the Whale - Light Poles and Pines

Produced by J.J. Wiesler and Or, the Whale
Recorded and mixed by J.J. Wiesler at Closer Recording in San Francisco, CA
Mastered by John Greenham at Area 51 Mastering in San Francisco, CA

Rooted in the golden hills and foggy mornings of Northern California, Light Poles and Pines resonates throughout with the excitement that comes from true collaboration. At its best, Or, the Whale is a textbook example of how to use a big group to its fullest potential. Songs like "Life and Death at Sea" and "Saint Bernard" draw out a full, substantial group sound with multiple vocalists and a wash of melody that feels like Arcade Fire by way of the Grand Ole Opry.

Slide guitar, bells, keys, bass, fingerpicked electric guitar, and male and female vocals play off one another without overpowering the listener or each other. It's rousing and heartfelt - the kind of sound to move a crowd.

Album opener "Call and Response" (which also appeared on last year's 7-inch) puts all seven band members to work in a rich, tense outpouring of feeling: "And all our lives / Were lost in vain / Now they've got more to fear than a hurricane." Written about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the song moves slower on the album than it usually does live, which allows its purpose to come through clearly and directly. The unaccompanied choral vocals at the end are the personification of unity itself.

Lead singer Alex Robins has a straightforward baritone that doesn't have to force a twang, and Lindsay Garfield has got a woman's voice - there's not a hint of Lolita flirt in her warm, honest tones. "Gonna Have To" pits their well-matched vocals against each other in a breaking-hearts duet between two lovers who sing the same lines without hearing each other. Like nearly all the songs on Light Poles and Pines, the lyrics lead somewhere worth going, and every instrument adds something worth having. (Self-released)

www.orthewhale.com

-Kjersti Egerdahl

Arthur & Yu - In Camera
Engineered and mixed by Grant Arthur Olsen, except for "Birds," engineered and mixed by Ben Kersten at MRX Studios
Mastered by Rick Fisher at RFI Mastering
Produced by Arthur & Yu

Seattle duo Arthur & Yu have a determinedly retro sound. Signed to Sub Pop founder Jonathan Poneman's new label Hardly Art as its premiere act, Grant Olsen and Sonya Westcott have crafted a debut album that recalls the sonic atmosphere of Laurel Canyon circa 1970. Acoustic guitar and wistful singing dominate every song, with deliberately simple production that evokes earlier recording technology.

The album starts with a ringing noise like church bells, the opening clarion of "Absurd Heroes Manifestos." A flute joins in shortly thereafter, followed in vocal interplay by Westcott, whose delivery is delicate and melodious, and Olsen's strong, clear tenor. The second track, "Come to View," is dedicated to Neil Young - obviously a huge influence on the pair, with their storytelling inclinations and generous use of guitars that call to mind Young's "Harvest Moon" on more than one occasion.

"Afterglow" provides a roadhouse blues sound with strong guitar strumming, and "Half Years" channels some 1960s pop chord progressions into its school reminiscences. "The Ghost of Old Bull Lee" visits the prairie, with whistling, a 1950s western movie theme song twang and lyrics about calling up an old-time spirit via séance and Ouija board.

Arthur & Yu have a lot of lively motion in their songs, even the ones with slower tempos. Notes go all over the place, covering a large range of melodies. This trait is especially effective in "There Are Too Many Birds," where twinkly xylophone sounds evoke a bird's song. Olsen and Westcott sing together sometimes in nuanced harmonies, and in other tracks trade off solo passages. This exchange also gives a birdlike effect, naturally graceful and sweet. (Hardly Art)

www.hardlyart.com

-Susan Brooks

Elliott Smith - New Moon
Mixed by Larry Crane at Jackpot! Recording Studio in Portland, OR
"Talking to Mary" mixed by Elliott Smith
"Seen How Things are Hard" mixed by Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf at The Shop
Mastered by Roger Seibel with supervision by Larry Crane at SAE

The greatest irony of Elliott Smith's posthumous album, New Moon is that it emphasizes the prolific nature of his songwriting against the backdrop of his truncated life. And so, New Moon serves as an apt title for the small sliver of light that one's art sheds on one's life, and the promise of trying to understand that life from a fresh perspective when all that's left is the art.

Comprised of songs Smith composed while in Heatmiser and during the recording of his self-titled album, Either/Or and several radio shows, the album could work as a release in its own right. All the quintessential Elliott elements are there: the cynical, yet hopeful lyrics filled with equally wistful and bitter recollections of relationships, the abounding drugs and alcohol, the isolation and the relief of connecting with another, as well as the guitar arrangements that secure him as a musician who will not be forgotten.

Opening the two-CD set is "Angel in the Snow," a song that effuses the deftness of Smith's guitar playing, combined with his ability to weave in lyrics that are just as immediate: "I'd say you make a perfect angel in the snow / All crushed out the way you are ... Sometimes I feel like only a cold still life / That fell down here to lay beside you."

Peppering the CDs are different renditions of album tracks, including a more sedate "Miss Misery," a whimsical sounding "Pretty Mary K," and Big Star's famous "Thirteen," which Heatmiser also covered. Salting the mix are all the songs that didn't make the final cut on other albums, but certainly make a savory mix on New Moon.
Nick Drake's last album was entitled Pink Moon, and perhaps the moon imagery of Elliott Smith's New Moon is another sad musical elegy for an artist that certainly had much more to give. (Kill Rock Stars)

www.killrockstars.com

-Kristen Schaer

Dntel - Dumb Luck
Recorded and mixed by Jimmy Tamborello at Dying Songs I & II, with additional recording by: Ben Kersten at MRX Studios; Valerie Trebeljahr and Markus Archer; and Christopher and Jennifer Gunst
Mastered by Norman Nitzche at Calyx Mastering

Listeners who are only familiar with Jimmy Tamborello's work with Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard in The Postal Service might expect the same kind of danceable, crystalline and anthemic electro-pop here on his second full-length as Dntel. Instead, they will find something a bit weirder, moodier, more challenging, and less immediately accessible - but just as accomplished and rewarding.

Tamborello has an extensive line-up of collaborators on this album, from the high-profile (Conor Oberst) to the below-the-radar (Mystic Chords of Memory). These combinations mostly work well. Oberst's vocals on the lovely, ambling "Breakfast in Bed" blend nicely with Tamborello's woozy, pitch-bent electric piano. Grizzly Bear's contribution on "To a Fault" is complimented by some spooky "Blue Jay Way"-style psychedelia. Valerie Trebeljahr and Markus Archer (both of Lali Puna, the latter also of The Notwist) blend seamlessly into Dntel's production on "I'd Like to Know." "Rock My Boat" with Mia Doi Todd is a combination of gritty trip-hop beats and pretty, mellow folk, like what one would imagine Portishead would sound like if they switched Beths - Orton for Gibbons.

Strangely, the least successful combination is with a former Postal Service compatriot, Jenny Lewis. Her sweet country-pop and Tamborello's manipulations are more at odds than in harmony, causing "Roll On" to sound more like a remix than a collaboration.

Tamborello has created sounds that are difficult to describe - an admirable achievement for a sonic innovator. As novel and ear-tickling as the sounds may be, they are nearly always in service of the songs. At its best, this music seems like the direct manifestation of moods, ideas or feelings, and its construction, painstaking as it may have been, is invisible. (Sub Pop)

www.dntelmusic.com

-Mike Baehr

Greg Ashley - Painted Garden
Recorded at home by Greg Ashley
Mastered by Tim Gennert at Prairie Sun Studios

If his new, genuinely homemade album is anything to go by, Greg Ashley's apartment must be a trove of enchanted curios. Perhaps his 8-track is moss-covered. How else could one explain the charmed and sylvan character that proceeds so effortlessly from the Gris Gris frontman's second solo outing?

Painted Garden is a wonderfully dark and labyrinthine affair, with various instruments sounding as though they're under a witch's spell. Ashley's voice wades through the lo-fi recordings in a barbital haze that succeeds in channeling Syd Barrett's disheveled enlightenment.

"Dye your eyes / Life is just a hand-me-down / Love is just a government," Ashley sings in the chillingly ruminative "Room 33." Other songs tell of wayward friends whose "Luck is done / Swallowed by that open door" (the seductive, steel-drummed "Sailing With Bobby"), or who are "enchanted by the sting" of a breakfast cooked up on a spoon ("Fisher King"). "Amnesia" conjures the heavy-lidded, amniotic swell of Big Star's "Big Black Car."

But there are also lighter moments. "Pretty Belladonna," with its wood nymph warbles, feels like a young Velvet Underground performing in a forest clearing for Bambi and her friends. Meanwhile, "Caroline and the Orange Tree" brings what sounds like amplified kazoos piped in from some lost age where "We could climb that orange tree naked / Like the magnolia in the park." As adventurous as it is truly haunting, the remarkable thing about this highly textured album is its bedroom origins. Staying in never sounded so far out. (Birdman Records)

www.birdmanrecords.com/gregashley

-Andrew Kersey

Gwizski - Loop Regions
Produced and engineered by Gwizski
Mastered at Freeform Studios

The Northwest is primed for the picking when it comes to good hip-hop artists - and they aren't all located in Seattle either. Portland's latest talent is the notable Gwizski, whose 17-track debut album is something to behold. The entire CD consists of luscious, jazz- and soul-induced beats that bring to mind the early era of creative hip hop production, a la DJ Premier and DJ Shadow.

Loop Regions feels like a nice trip down memory lane with the use of funky, vintage samples. "Slide," featuring Tableek, starts the album off with a laid-back groove placed over a chilled beat. "Need a Ride," featuring Scarub, lays down a straight-up funky beat with screaming guitars and some sweet organ wails.

After a while, the songs do start to blend and end up sounding very similar. "So Smooth Wit It" and "Living My Life," featuring Z-Man, seem to just plod along without any clear direction. But then "Loop Regions," featuring Derek Sims, comes along and Gwizski's star really begins to shine. The title track is taken straight from the playbook of song creation and features classic samples placed over one another in an expressive way. By showing that he knows what goes into creating a classic hip-hop song, Gwizski creates a sonic world that seems to elude the efforts of many seasoned producers.

For the most part, Loop Regions is an excellent album, especially for lovers of jazz- and soul-infused hip-hop beats. Though there are a few weak spots, there are also plenty of standouts, notable for their simplicity and luscious sounds. Gwizski is definitely a producer to watch out for - he clearly cares about his craft. (Advent Hustle)

www.myspace.com/gwizski

-Casey P. O'Neill

Ellul - Ellul
Engineered and produced by Chris Schlarb in San Francisco, CA and Long Beach, CA

Ellul's self-titled debut is a soul-filled mixture of down-tempo electronica and experimental folk, meeting in the tranquility of a long, dark night. The result is a somber but clean-sounding album that nods to artists like The Dining Rooms and Tara Jane O'Neil. Song architecture clings to the avant-garde, listlessly guided by sonic textures and undulating swells.

Dual Joels (Joel St. Julien and Joel Brown-Tarman) front Ellul, and together they alternate between acoustic guitar and vocal duties. The result is an exchange of modulating timbres from pleasant murmurs to atonal, nasally howls in which lyrics cloak heavy waves of bass, electronic bumps and stripped-down percussion in darkness. "We have been led to waste / And you're nowhere to be found / You love to see us split in half / While we dance around our golden calf" haunts the composition of the sparse and creepy "Fragrance."

The production value of the album is stunning. It's hard to believe this debut was mostly recorded in public spaces (warehouses, churches, etc.) because the instrumental clarity, both electronic and acoustic, is polished and bright. Guitars and vocals pierce the lulling atmospheric background like a shuttle through space. Most of the album is unique and inspired, with occasional influence from the pages of Radiohead's Amnesiac. This comparison is most apparent on the slow-burner "Swamp King," which begins with a wistful acoustic guitar and a Thom Yorke-ish vocal pitch that waffles from melismatic swoons to falsetto bellyaches.

Although the album never breaks any tempo records, the songs are consistent and generally easy on the ears. Ellul manages to skirt the line between experimental and minimalist pop, mastering the ability to dip into both sides while maintaining the breathy subtlety that is the band's signature. (Sounds Are Active)

www.soundsareactive.com

-Christopher Petro

Volunteer Pioneer - Volunteer Pioneer EP
Produced by Trevor Thornton with Volunteer Pioneer
Recorded at Blankspace in Oakland, CA
Engineered by Trevor Thornton

The shining centerpiece of Volunteer Pioneer is Sabrina Duim and her glittering harp. The San Francisco three-piece's self-titled EP is in fact dedicated to Duim, a seasoned musician whose musical resume includes touring and recording stints with Bright Eyes, Feist and Rilo Kiley, and who tragically passed away in January. This EP is therefore Volunteer Pioneer's first and last.

An entrancing concoction of the weird vocal bravado of Frog Eyes and the driving musical purification/transience of Arcade Fire, Volunteer Pioneer's songs are balanced by Kyle Williams' domestic lyrics. Domesticity is sent into the ether with opener "Separate Planes." Duim's understated harp plays over lashing guitar. As the song progresses, her harp slowly begins gaining its own authority as she sings with Williams about family mythologies: "I think you said / That your brother tried to stab your father through / The wall of your childhood home."

The resounding testament to Sabrina's ability, which causes some to make the knee-jerk comparison to Joanna Newsom, is found on "Fear of Cholera." A song that spits out historical figures like the Lone Ranger and William McKinley as fast as it can, it is a blistering exposition about "remembering everything." In the track's defiant chaos, Duim's harp is the sole buoy in a gnashing sea created by Jason Byer's cymbal crashes. Williams' David Byrne-like yelps fragment in jagged shards as the song closes.

The tension between the beauty of the harp and Williams' jolting voice finally unearths its resolution in the appropriate "Funeral Scene." The track starts off with an ambling harp line as Williams extols, "There's a funeral / Where the coffin sings." It is in these moments that Volunteer Pioneer start to pull away from life's struggles with death by transcending it. (Antigone Music)

www.myspace.com/volunteerpioneer

-Kyle Lemmon

Yacht - I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real.
Produced and recorded by Jona Bechtolt

Yacht's energetic, laptop-era electro-pop incorporates some interesting and disparate sounds, including but not limited to cut-and-pasted acoustic guitar loops (not a new trick, but still effective), post-new wave keyboards, barbershop harmonies, full-on techno breaks, what sounds like circuit-bent Speak & Spell, cheerleading chants, and the two-note bass line from the Knight Rider theme. Apart from a couple of guest turns from Bobby Birdman and Eats Tapes, Yacht is essentially a solo affair by Jona Bechtolt of The Blow.

While the songs are not without their charm for the most part (particularly album opener "So Post All 'Em" and the Of Montreal-esque "It's Coming to Get You"), Yacht probably could have achieved more depth with more outside creative input.

The Yacht philosophy seems to be summed up in the lyric "If you say it out loud you can make it happen," repeated mantra-like in "Platinum." Purportedly a dynamo of positivity, Bechtolt hectors the listener with power-of-positive-thinking slogans like "Do what you love / Love what you do" ("The Magic Beat") and "Why would you be drawing in the dark / When you could be drawing in the light?" ("Drawing in the Dark"). Unfortunately, by imparting his message this way, Bechtolt engages the listener on a level not much deeper than a loudspeaker broadcasting slogans in a stereotypical factory, and fails to inspire.

The most problematic sentiment is expressed by the line "Your magic's real, so why aren't you using it? / You could have the world for yourself." Self-empowerment is nice, but Yacht could be using its magic to advocate something altruistic rather than solipsistic, something more meaningful than buying a hot dog and climbing a lamppost. (Marriage Records)

www.teamyacht.com

-Mike Baehr

Veil Veil Vanish - Into A New Mausoleum
Produced by Veil Veil Vanish and Varun Kejriwal
Engineered and recorded by Varun Kejriwal
Mastered by George Bordin

Veil Veil Vanish is a San Francisco-based quartet of the darkest Gothic persuasion. Into A New Mausoleum is the group's first release, a six-song EP featuring a sound inflected by bleak touchstones such as The Bolshoi and Nick Cave. The liner notes helpfully include a lyric sheet, useful for deciphering the songs' dark sentiments. The words are impressionistic, painting a picture of internalized emotional responses rather than detailing the events that precipitated them, and they ultimately sound like Rorschach tests documenting psychic dissolution.

"Shadows Dripping Like Honey Kissing," which has been getting lots of current Bay Area radio airplay, features a mysterious lyric stream: "Why should I when we know that you will first so then you just go." Some of the expressions extend beyond simply disjointed to downright disturbing. The beautiful, dreamy track "All Hands In Prayer," with background tones like dusty shafts of light filtered through the stained glass of a cathedral, also balefully encourages, "Funeral man wants an order, so give him one."

The title track continues the depressed, stream-of-consciousness theme with what could well be the hallucinatory, yet lovely, ravings of a dissipated Romantic poet.
There is a great desolation in Veil Veil Vanish, and what small glow does manage to pierce the gloom is sunless, more like the nimbus of a total eclipse than any kind of rational daylight. Singer Keven Tecon sounds almost too sensitive for this world, while Amy Rosenoff's post-punk bass weaves a spider web to catch Tecon's inevitable fall. Cameron Ray's ominous guitar and Robert Marzio's subdued drums provide the final ingredients of VVV's somber spell. (Self-released)

www.veilveilvanish.com

-Susan Brooks

KIT - Broken Voyage
Recorded by Ryan Chittick and Vice Cooler at Club Short and by Eli Crews with Kevin Woodruff at New Improved Recording
Produced by Vice Cooler, KIT and Club Short

On their debut album, Broken Voyage, the members of Oakland quartet KIT often sound as if they are playing on a ship that is on fire and sinking. The band scorches through 11 songs in 22 minutes, combining hyper, no-wave noise, bratty, punk speed and touches of avant-garde distortion and weirdness.

"Forest" starts out with dinky-cute keyboards and vocals, takes a quick, quiet respite, and then is engulfed by thrashing guitars and breakneck rhythms. It's all over in about two minutes. The band keeps up this kind of scorched-earth approach throughout the album, always threatening to fall apart, but somehow managing to keep it together.
Like Bay Area neighbors Deerhoof, with whom they released a split single, KIT reduces music to its component parts and then reassembles it in odd, sharply-angled ways. Never content with simply one style, many songs cram in various tempos, sounds, and moods, such as "Nautical Lament," which features an odd acoustic interlude amidst the musical chaos.

Singer Kristy's vocals are frequently incomprehensible, but nonetheless provide some measure of unity within the songs. She sings with a gleeful abandon, like a possessed cheerleader, that at times recalls Karen O or Lydia Lunch. Many of the album's song titles ("Fixed Compass," "Maps") have to do with journeys and/or travel, and Broken Voyage is a kind of headfirst trip into an exploding rabbit hole of sound.
KIT's certainly not for everyone, as the band eschews traditional forms and pop niceness. However, it's a bracing, adventurous, slightly unhinged debut that finds the midpoint between the creative and the destructive. (Upset the Rhythm)

www.myspace.com/vvkitvv

-Lukas Sherman

Small Sails - Similar Anniversaries
Recorded and mixed by Small Sails; additional recording by Robert Bartelson at Haywire Recording Studio in Portland, OR
Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago, IL

Small Sails is a synaesthetic group. Live, this Portland trio adds a fourth member who projects films (a lovely one is included on this enhanced disc). Even without the visuals though, the group's gorgeous, abstract, mostly wordless electro-acoustic pop evokes images of flocks of songbirds in flight and moonlight shimmering on water.

The band's sound involves layering acoustic guitars and drums with clicking, glitchy electronic rhythms, a bed of keyboards and other instruments both acoustic and electronic. Vibraphone is used to very nice effect on about half of the album. The songs can be polyrhythmic (like album opener "Somnambulist") and sometimes busy with tiny noises. Yet they remain buoyant - thus the aforementioned flock of songbirds.

"Aftershocks and Afterthoughts" and parts of "Earthbound with Parents" are more beat-heavy, with live drumming reminiscent of fellow Portlanders The Helio Sequence. Elsewhere, songs are dreamier, like the floating, drifting psychedelia of "No Spirit Animal." Songs like "Farewell Weird Owl" and "House or Home" are given an expansive heaviness by harmonic bass and falsetto vocals, similar to Sigur Ros.

The mostly-wordless vocals ("Ha la la la la la," "Hi oh hi oh," "Oh way oh ah") are one part Teletubbies and one part Dream Academy (specifically, the "hey oh na na" parts of "Life in a Northern Town"). Even the two songs with actual lyrics just use simple repeating phrases like, "You can't see me at all" and "You're all right / It's okay / Oh yeah." A childlike quality comes across, and more variation in the nonsense syllables would bring the vocals closer to the level of sophistication displayed by the music. Small Sails are ear-tickling, head-nodding, and trance-inducing all at once, manifesting beauty, whimsy, and an undercurrent of sadness. (Other Electricities)

www.smallsails.com

-Mike Baehr

Rondo Brothers - Seven Minutes to Midnight
Produced and engineered by Rondo Brothers at the Bowl Noodle North in San Francisco, CA

Meet Diamond Jim and Bastard Prince - the San Francisco-based beat miner/alchemist duo commonly recognized throughout the music community as Rondo Brothers. Based on collaborations with industry-shakers like hip-hop innovator Dan the Automator and tours of duty with buzz-worthy bands ranging from The Cure to Interpol to Ima Robot, it is surely only a matter of time before Rondo Brothers become a household name.

Seven Minutes to Midnight, the second offering from the duo, is a stomach-churning laugh-riot that will leave listeners smiling with just a bit of bile dripping from their lips. Transcending genres while keeping a unified theme intact, the ingenious construction of Seven Minutes to Midnight spews a slew of styles suitable for consumption in any market - underground or commercial.

Themed around the last few dying moments before the total annihilation of life itself, the pacing of the album builds momentum like a locomotive engine. "Crazed" and "Dune Stalker," featuring the respective vocals of Kelly Atkins and Dirty Little Pedro & Latrice Barnett, are easy on the ears and attuned to laid-back love makers.
Where this album is most successful is in Rondo Brothers' ability to produce music that does not lean too far towards one genre. Case in point: "La La La (Get Out Now)" combines hip-hop mic-wielding with an air of light heartedness and a folksy, sing-a-long hook.

Seven Minutes to Midnight is a crazy carnival ride. There's a little of the spooky ("I Fell In Love"), a little of the goofy ("Liberation") and a whole lot of anything and everything else that true music aficionados will appreciate. Great for parties, but even better for the soul. (Citrus to Citrus)

www.rondobrothers.com

-Franklin Grimes

Acute - Arms Around A Stranger
Engineered by Dave Trumfio and Josiah Mazzaschi; assisted by Harry Trumfio
Recorded and mixed by Dave Trumfio at Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles, CA
Produced by Dave Trumfio
Mastered by Mark Chalecki at Capitol Mastering in Hollywood, CA

"You Want It? Take It! It's Yours!" is not just the opening song off of Acute's new full-length album, but it's also the approach that this Silver Lake band has taken. Working in Miami college radio ignited Isaac Lekach's interest as a musician and songwriter. Lekach found a home for his emotional lyrics and complicated guitar melodies when he formed Acute with Ozma drummer Patrick Edwards and Whispertown2000 bassist Colt Maloney.

Combined with wise insight from producer Dave Trumfio, Acute discovers a new sound of pop and rock on this album, and that mix is brought to the next level with help from Jason "The Professor" Borger's string and horn compositions.

Arms Around A Stranger showcases strong input from each member. On "Take A Step Back," Edwards' commanding beats fuse with Lekach's catchy guitar riffs as Maloney's bass acts as rhythm guitar, holding everything together. Other songs like "Follow You Home" (included on the band's earlier EP, Selections) become an obvious display of Acute's abilities as rockers. But it's when Borger adds his speckle of magic on keyboard that Acute really stands tall above the rest. Whether it's the piano parlor feel of "Trouble" or the pain-stricken moans of violin in "When We're Alone," the band goes out on a limb to sound unique, its subtle perceptions really shining.

All this musical talent may cause listeners to overlook Lekach's abilities as a songwriter, especially with a rough, hollow voice that is not always attributed to heartfelt lyrics like "So you're vicious and on the prowl / But I'm not worth your while" on "You Could End Up In Love." Acute's new kind of "orch-pop" - as Trumfio calls it - will leave listeners anything but disappointed. (Help Records)

www.acuteband.com

-Megan Clinard

Trip Device - Inside I Feel
Sylvia Massy Shivy Sessions:
Produced by Sylvia Massy Shivy
Engineered by Rich Veltrop
Mixed by Sylvia Massy Shivy and Rich Veltrop
Recorded and mixed at Radiostar Studios
Trident Sessions:
Produced, engineered and mixed by Bryan Wright
Recorded and mixed at Gravity Sound
Both sessions mastered by John Cuniberti at the Plant

San Francisco's Trip Device has created a new sound, and married its love of the unique with its love of music. Stemming from lead singer/guitarist Bryan Wright's previous band, Zero2, Trip Device combines technology with hard rock. The group's second release (recently reissued with new cover art), Inside I Feel, is the product of two different recording sessions - one with producer Sylvia Massy Shivy (Smashing Pumpkins, Tool), and the Trident Sessions. Wright was the producer for the latter (which consists of the last seven tracks on the album), yet one can still hear Shivy's impact throughout.

The first track on the album, "Angry," is a solid one, and helps set the tone and tie the rest of the nine songs together. With the chorus, "Wake up, wake up truly / To learn my lessons here / Cry out to save myself / From the pain," this song's heartbreaking lyrics resonate with the listener throughout the remainder of the album. "Silence," though it should appear higher in the tracklist, is a pleasant surprise along the way with memorable beats and Wright's pained lyrics, "I want to leave this place / To clear the air and / I've waited way too long / To savor this."

The last track on Inside I Feel, "Worth It" may raise a few eyebrows. The longest song on the album - clocking in at over six minutes - it combines Wright's vocals with spoken word samples before both drop out of the song entirely four minutes in, at which point it turns instrumental. Arguably a brave attempt by the band to showcase its unique sound, this song leaves the listener hungry for more. (Self-released)

www.tripdevice.com

-Allison Bloch

George Cochrane - The White Pinecone
Produced by George Cochrane
Mastered by Mike Lazer

After more than a decade break, George Cochrane, a.k.a. Origami, has returned to indie rock, trading in his down-tempo house for post-dance electro. Fortunately, Cochrane is able to create more on The White Pinecone than the latest Hot Chip imitator. His Dinner Party Records' release has its moments on the cheesy disco side, but on the whole, Cochrane puts forth an earnest and polished effort that makes for an overall interesting listen.

The standout, "My World," captures an electronic, indie-rock sound that brings to mind New Order. Cochrane's soothing voice fits mellower numbers like "The Key Is In the Lock," and he gives Broken Social Scene a run for their money on the aching and perfectly paced "Fervent Fascinations," which echoes a fragility that Cochrane can barely contain. His duet with Lydia White on "You Don't Know Me" comes off as a lovers' spat that feels exhausted - but in a good way. However, the Depeche Mode synthesizer thumping of "A Little Bit of Crass" promises to be a dance floor filler, but ultimately disappoints.As with "Click Clack Click," there is a lingering sense that the song could be even catchier with some unknown sound thrown in - perhaps cowbell.

Cochrane's production know-how really shines when he quiets the minimalist beats and allows the vocals to come through, and his true potential in the genre comes out on the last song, "Come Again Another Day." It takes more than two minutes for the chill intro to become a jazz groove akin to The Future Sound of London, allowing for the right amount of wanting. For Cochrane's first outing into a new genre, The White Pinecone - though not without its flaws - is a confident exploration. (Dinner Party Records)

www.thewhitepinecone.com

-Mark Szakonyi

Amestory - They Can Sing, They Can Sing, They Can Sing

Underwater EP
Produced by Amestory
Mastered by John Greenham

The members of Amestory state that their latest effort is not a protest album, but rather an EP that deals with their "disdain in the current events." With that said, "The March, The Parade" is a decidedly incognito anti-war song. It opens with orchestra-grade piano and sounds like a lilting ballad, but there's no mistaking what the band is trying to hint at when it comes to lyrics like, "Hide the guilt by hanging yellow ribbons...and put flags on your SUVs." They Can Sing, They Can Sing, They Can Sing Underwater is what could be expected sonically if Arcade Fire were in their 20s and more disenchanted with the head honchos of this country.

Overall, the album has a less-is-more blueprint. Most of the songs begin with barely-there instrumentation, leaving room for the lyrics to steal the spotlight. A phenomenal example of this quality is the CD's second song, "The Glass Dome, The Real Air." Starting off with an almost waltzy feel, tentative string plucking gives way to words that are just as artfully arranged.

Amestory demonstrates a thorough mastery of shortening or lengthening syllables of words to fit each song's instrumental backing like a glove, as seen in "The Inventors, The Investors" where the word "want" miraculously gains five syllables, and "I" has eight. Something like that has to be heard to be believed.

A hit from an orchestral and lyrically mature band, there is certainly enough room to flesh this EP out into a full-length CD. (Portia Records)

www.amestory.com

-Allison Foley

Ozma - Pasadena
Engineered by Billy Burke
Mixed by Matt HydeMastered by Mark Chalecki at Capitol Mastering
Produced by Ozma, Billy Burke and Greg Doyle

Ozma is often compared to Weezer because of the band's similar power-pop and indie-rock musical styles. The group's newest release, Pasadena, gets cameo support from Nada Surf's frontman, Matthew Caws, and Rachel Haden of That Dog and The Rentals, yet manages to carve out its own path across L.A.'s musical landscape.
Album opener "No One Needs to Know" is very pop-rock oriented.

The band surprises listeners with a mid-section that gets a bit more adventurous by mixing sashaying lounge drums with a moseying guitar two-note sidestep, coupled with a Hitchcock-esque element of surprise via flute. "Lunchbreak (Cobras Theme)" is a fun, upbeat arrangement with echo-affected vocals in the beginning that speed-warp the mind back to the days of talent shows in high school auditoriums. Heavy keyboards give the track a very progressive, electro feel.

"Heartache vs. Heartbreak" is Pasadena's standout track. Co-vocals from keyboardist Star Wick bring a sweetness and innocence to the song, hooking the listener immediately. Once again capitalizing on the mid-section of the song, Ozma also introduces sound bytes from an Atari-style video game. The use of these elements seems especially fitting as the chorus - "And we almost believed it was love / Yeah, we nearly perceived it as love / You know I would have sworn it was love" - tells that in hindsight, the relationship was nothing more than a game.

Despite the comparisons, Ozma is using its musical influences to create a sound all its own. (About A Girl Records/Reincarnate Music)

www.ozmaonline.com

-Krystal Iaeger

Astral - Transmitter EP
Produced by D. Han
Mastered by Arminhammer Mastering in San Francisco, CA

Transmitter, recorded entirely on analog and tube equipment, marks the fifth release from San Francisco three-piece Astral. The band's penchant for lo-fi production is immediately apparent in the title track, where a single jangling guitar brings to mind the proto-punk sounds of Manchester's Joy Division and The Fall. Astral takes the introverted mind space of the former to a danceable trod, highly reminiscent of Wire and Tones on Tail. Reverb-soaked drums and guitar create such a clatter that The Jesus and Mary Chain can almost be seen nodding from the balcony.

This first track finishes chaotically in a churning, tremolo sweep, suggesting that Astral is not here to tread familiar ground, but is instead aiming for true experimentation and innovation.

Then begins "In Circles," a sincere foray into the macabre theatre of oft-cited greats like Nick Cave and Tom Waits, with a dash of Jeff Buckley's seductive dreamscapes supplied via breathy vocal work. This song is a genuine escape and a fitting score for some erotic carnival dream, a stroll in space or even the everyday bad breakup. A variety of well-textured guitar lines weave in and out as if batting each other about in suspended gravity.

Tracks three and four are where Astral seems to break its concentration a bit, and more modern influences are worn directly on the band's sleeves. Though there's nothing wrong with heaping helpings of new wave and post-punk acts like those Astral draws upon in its other songs, more recent bands like Interpol and Modest Mouse are perhaps too fresh to be tapped for nostalgia.

As an EP, Transmitter is a success in that it offers four varying takes from a capable, yet enigmatic up-and-coming act. Perhaps future recordings will offer material cut more from its own cloth; while Astral writes a love letter to its idols, the band really deserves to scribe its own name in the sand. (Vibraphone Records)

www.astralsf.com

-Geoff Shiner

Slow Burning Car - Blowback
Produced by Troy Spiropoulos and Burt Malcutt
Engineered by Burt Malcutt
Recorded at Nightingale Studios
Mastered by Stephan Marsh at Threshold Sound

Slow Burning Car encompasses the entire scope of rock - from indie to alternative, country to metal - and as a result has been called the "future of rock." With Blowback, it's still too early to predicate whether or not this claim is true, but it is safe to say that the listener is sure to be intrigued and mesmerized by each of these 12 songs.
"King Con," the first track on the album, is reminiscent of old punk songs. Danceable and enjoyable, one can't help but tap a foot along as Troy Spiropoulos sings, "Don't you wanna get it / I know you wanna get it / I bet you wanna get it / You know you'll never get it from me." "Farkytootle" follows, introducing whimsical beats laced underneath harsh, honest lyrics.

As the album progresses, it becomes apparent that this L.A.-based band has the ability to change its sound ever so slightly from track to track, shifting from one subgenre to another, totally unobtrusively. What borders rockabilly at the outset naturally extends to folk by the third track.

The band slows it down a bit on "Respect," yet the song's bridge introduces faster vocals and harsher guitar to keep it interesting. Its message is clear and its lyrics resonate: "Respect / They'll only give you want you earn / You only earn by what you learn / And what you learn might get you burned."

Listeners will surely not get bored with this album. Hopefully the band's future forays will sustain this momentum, and reveal another layer beneath the surface of Blowback. (Self-released)

www.slowburningcar.com

-Allison Bloch