CD OF THE MONTH

Seaweed Jack — Haunt

Recorded by Joshua Simon

Nautical rock has enjoyed an enthralling last two decades, the tidal tug of the seven seas inspiring some unforgettable concept albums. The Decemberists and Primus, for a couple of diverse examples, have both gone overboard with the idea in the past. Like Brooklyn’s The Book of Knots, Spokane’s Seaweed Jack proves that a band can even take nautical themes as its entire raison d’etre without falling into outright gimmickry.

Geoff Doolittle (vox, keyboard), Brian White (guitar), Jack Sheehy (bass), and Anthony Stassi (drums) began their version of the seafaring concept band two years ago with dependably raucous live shows and a self-released debut, Captain, that captured contagious local praise. To stay the course, Haunt had only to hoist the flag and follow the wind, but from the first plodding beats of opener “Fire From Ice,” Seaweed Jack aims to continue the pillage.

Doolittle’s adventurous, octave-plus vocal harmonies steer the helm of tunes that traverse rough, unpredictable sonic waters. Towering organ lines (“Into the Wind”), blistering guitar riffs (“Big City Dreamer,” “Cooking with Gas”), and bludgeoning drum cadences (“Hang the Clock,” “Heel Clicking Skeletons”) lash from left and right. “Hang the Politician” lists like a drunken ghost in an abandoned shipyard, culminating in an inebriated trumpet solo that blacks out almost as soon as it begins. With its minimal backdrop of arpeggiated guitar lines, “Asleep at the Wheel” best showcases the spectral charisma of Doolittle’s voice, but it’s a rare breather in an otherwise pounding tracklist.

Deeply nostalgic but never dusty, the good ship Seaweed Jack could sink tomorrow and it would still have already earned its place in the nautical rock pantheon. Hopefully, the band will soldier on, as impossible to ignore as a sail on the horizon. After all, this ain’t ye father’s Procol Harum yet.

(Self-released)

www.seaweedjack.com

-Jason Kirk

Castanets —In the Vines

Recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Rafter Roberts at Singing Serpent

Castanets’ third full-length album, In the Vines, is an organic, largely acoustic, late night American ramble that takes the listener through various patches of dark and light. It’s anchored by bandleader Raymond Raposa’s quietly compelling voice, which, like Will Oldham’s or Bill Callahan’s, has a textured, lived-in quality.

The first song, “Rain Will Come,” begins with a solitary acoustic guitar and Raposa’s distinct voice, conjuring a haunted wasteland before being overtaken by what’s probably a guitar, but sounds like an amplified drill. It suggests darkness and violence and could score a Cormac McCarthy novel.

The rest of the album is not so gloomy. “This is the Early Game” has a classic, slow country-song rhythm and mood, full of twang and yearning, evoking both the open road and a stalled car. On many songs, Raposa is joined by other singers, including Jana Hunter and Rafter Roberts (who completely engineered the album), which gives In the Vines a rich, warm, communal feel.

“The Fields Crack” may be the album’s centerpiece. It moves from a shimmering, ambient piece to a quietly lovely folk song with hushed male and female vocals, to a brief sci-fi moment before ending with just a spare, steady drumbeat. Its lyrics about various cities and points on the compass nicely encapsulate one of the album’s themes — that of place, travel and movement. It’s not a rootless album, but it does have a drifting quality.

In the Vines ends with a spacious, gentle song, whose comforting aspects stand in stark contrast to the foreboding feel of the opener. Raposa and his band are equally adept at each and it’s this ability to work both sides of the divide that vivifies Castanets. They make music that, while rooted in traditional forms like folk, country and blues, is also experimental, idiosyncratic, and full of engaging strangeness.

(Asthmatic Kitty Records)

www.asthmatickitty.com

-Lukas Sherman

Two Gallants —Two Gallants

Recorded at Hyde Street Studios

Mastered by John Greenham

Produced by Alex Newport

There’s no shortage of dissonance on the new self-titled album from Two Gallants. Self-pity (“Who misplaced my soul?”), self-hatred (“I’m as full of hate as I used to be”), and bitter resentment (“I don’t want to see you fall, I just want to see you fail”) abound. There’s no shortage of the now classic Two Gallants metric flexibility, simple instrumentation and narrative power either. Adam Stephens and Tyson Vogel have harnessed their grit, delivering a record that is as polluted as it is pure, as pointed as it is peaceful.

Embracing contradiction, Two Gallants revel in the juxtaposition of beauty and horror. Gorgeous melodies, like “Trembling of the Rose,” coexist alongside thrashing drums and shrill vocals. Lush, radiant guitar picking outlines sordid tales, both distracting and reinforcing the raw integrity of it all. “The heights to which you dragged me, just to hurl your scorn,” is a cry for help in ‘The Hand That Held Me Down;” “Let the river be my guide / Let the desert be my bride,” from “The Deader“ is a desperate howl.

Conceptually though, this is simply a break-up album, summed up nicely in the last track “My Baby’s Gone.” Almost every song uses recurring imagery to depict a relationship in shambles. In the standout “Reflections of the Marionette,” an entire romance runs its course: “She blew in with some angel dust / From southern state where love is lust / I hope she’s gone by the time this song is through.”

A self-titled record reflects a certain amount of pride; it indicates a debut, a crossed threshold. And all this decadent rage speaks more to a vibrant creative force than pensive self-analysis. Pride and love are not so far apart, and Two Gallants know a lot about love — evident from the fury with which they play their instruments.

(Saddle Creek Records)

www.twogallants.com

-Ali Marcus

Let’s Go Sailing —The Chaos in Order

Engineered by Chris Chandler, Jim Putnam, Brian Thornell and Ben Mumphrey

Recorded at Autobahn, The Ship, and Skylab Phase IV

Mixed by Shawn Levy, Jim Putnam, Ben Mumphrey, Chris Chandler, Dave Trumfio and Ethan Gold

Mastered by Mark Chalecki at Capitol Mastering

The Chaos in Order opens with deep cello unraveling sweet ribbons of melody, as a piano lurks in the harmoniously textured background. Singer Shana Levy, previous member of Los Angeles band Irving, is finally bringing her audience a debut. Engineered by Ben Mumphrey (who worked with Frank Black) Levy has made a sultry album that’s lifted by a sentimental tone and carried by whispering, sunny-toned melodies.

Although The Chaos in Order has its finger on an uplifting pulse, the album tempo tops out at a jog, striding gently with circling electric guitars, doubled vocals and jangly rhythms, pinning inspiration to vintage pop verse/chorus arrangements. The rhythmic textures rush under Levy’s vocals like a glittering brook, while lyrics waffle between a singer pining through adulthood and exuberant with youthful curiosity.

Levy’s pen offers intelligent poetry, which guides the backing instrumentation. She takes an uplifting melody and duels it with a bittersweet edge, as found in “Icicles:” “All the icicles are falling down / Like tiny little daggers in the ground / I better run for cover or they’ll soon be / Sticking in the softest spots inside of me.” Additionally, “Too Many Stars” and “This Rope is Long” prove that cloudy days are just as common as sunny ones by juxtaposing a haunting air, and featuring a melody tugged by a lazy piano and Levy’s vapor-like vocals.

Chaos in Order marks a tender and confident delivery for a growing artist torn by love and loss, yet conscious and self-aware enough to reflect on personal change. This is summed up perfectly on the paradoxically sad-halfway, uplifting-halfway “Heart Condition,” as Levy swoons, “My heart has finally stopped beating / And the world has revealed itself.”

(Yardley Pop Records)

www.letsgosailingmusic.com

-Christopher Petro

The Beltholes — For Whom the Beltholes

Recorded and mixed by Kurt Bloch at Chroma Sound in Seattle, WA

Additional tracking at Audio Bardahl

Mastered by KB at The Birdtime(tm) Bird Co.

Seattle’s The Beltholes carry on the proud tradition of artists who have used the iconic Meet The Beatles record as the basis for an album cover and some folks will probably check it out on that merit alone. The music inside For Whom the Beltholes, however, only occasionally recalls The Beatles. The Beltholes’ musical tastes are so varied that a single sound can’t be pegged on these guys. Producer Kurt Bloch manages to wring a thoroughly satisfying, big-time sound out of the band, with occasional segues to keep the music from encountering too much dead space.

The best tunes include the opener “Once in a While,” which strikes a decidedly melancholy tone with some beautiful acoustic guitar voicings in a slow, moody rock arrangement. “Creeps in the Park” adds a touch of bossa nova to the band’s sound as surf guitar beds the murky, sarcastically dramatic vocals about destructive hoodlums. And in yet another switch, a straight-up rockabilly number (“More Bad News”) follows, opening with a lightning-fast acoustic riff, while the piano-based rocker “Cruel Lida” pays tribute to The Kinks’ mid-’60s British music hall stylings.

The record’s punkier overtones yield mixed results. “Three Legs Running” works its double entendre of a title into a humorous set of lyrics and adds an old-time rock ‘n’ roll texture via some boogie piano and harmonies. The angry/sarcastic tone of “Ex-Girlfriend,” however, is lost in translation as the vocals carry too much sarcasm and not enough anger.

Any faults are redeemed on the album’s single funniest song, “Rockin’ Retro Losers,” in which the band assumes the point of view of a misguided critic and takes shots at bands who rip off the old masters — bands like The Beltholes, for instance. They can and do laugh at themselves, and it makes all the difference.

(Burn Burn Burn Records)

www.thebeltholes.com

-Michael Fortes

Grand Hallway —Yes Is the Answer

Produced and mixed by Jeramy Koepping

Recorded by Moe Provencher at Jack Straw Productions, Jeramy Koepping at Park Studio, and at home by Tomo Nakayama and Keith Negley

Mastered by Ed Brooks at RFI

Emerging from the Seattle suburb of Bellevue with this improbably accomplished debut, Grand Hallway joins the departed Seldom and The Prom in the area’s pantheon of talented, young, piano-based pop bands. Led by singer and songwriter Tomo Nakayama, the group has created an album of orchestrated chamber pop that manages to be simultaneously lush and delicate, all while maintaining Nakayama’s personal and idiosyncratic vision.

Nakayama’s songwriting builds on a classic pop foundation with complex, sophisticated structures and arrangements for strings and other instruments, like “bottle flute” and pedal steel (one of the most beautiful instruments when used judiciously, as it is in “Waltz (On a Headache)” and “Minimum Wage”). Befitting the exquisite Beatles’ Revolver-meets-origami cover illustration, there’s a distinct inflection of traditional Japanese music in the crescendoing “Darling, Wife” and McCartney-esque flourishes elsewhere. Nakayama also does well by Neil Young with a delicate cover of Young’s “Philadelphia,” one of the most indelible and moving moments on the album.

Like Young, there’s an expressive fragility to Nakayama’s voice. He sings in a fluid, soaring tenor and falsetto that ranges between a less over-the-top Jeff Buckley and a less-strident Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger. It’s well suited to his lyrics, which combine unforced sentimental romanticism (“I want a place to go when it’s dark and cold / I want someone to hold even when I’m old / And I want to settle down, settle down with you,” from “Brooklyn”) and storytelling with gentle brushes of surreal imagery (“Mushroom cloud over your bed / After it has crawled into your head / Forms a giant novel to be read,” from “Giant Novels”). “Napoleon’s Left Shoe” even indulges in some Lewis Carroll-style wordplay. This kind of eccentricity that Nakayama brings to Grand Hallway’s music is ultimately even more seductive than its polished surface.

(Self-released)

www.grandhallway.com

-Mike Baehr

Tractor Operator — Bleeding Hearts and Severed Legs

Recorded and produced by Eric Jensen

Mastered by Rob Jones

If it’s possible to bottle every apprehensive glance of trauma from the night, Eric Jensen almost realizes it on Bleeding Hearts and Severed Legs. The album personifies this cold, tough theme, but feels clumsy in its stabs at genre as Jensen oscillates from gloomy back-porch folk to simmering indie rock that nods towards Pavement’s Wowee Zowee. On the clipped opener “You Should Have Kept Your Mouth Shut, But You Didn’t,” Jensen sounds like a subdued Frog Eyes with looping vocals that dive immediately into the tunneling bass line on “Rusty Nails.” Scraping abruptly between styles, the album chronicles the type of sleepy town where “homes are hell.”

Jensen relies on the nuances of his stripped-down and browbeaten vocals to fully communicate his stories. Though “March 30, 1958” lends itself to one lone guitar strumming the same group of chords and a spectral wind, the lyrics remain bracing. Severed Legs‘ scrawling attention to the mania of the night comes to a head on the brilliant “Busdriver.” It’s an unfortunately short song about a livid bus driver, “shouting the names of the streets that she hates,” that closely resembles a nightmare — something Jensen loves to explore. Haunting chants and an agitated riff personify the scene perfectly.

Jensen’s night journals all end up in the seedy part of town and the mind, without revealing any context outside of the crippling necrosis of haunting folk and minimalism, which just may be the point. Jensen lets these dark thoughts swallow him up and it shows in his lyrics. Though his guitar work is evocative, it’s not as gripping as his words.

(Jealous Butcher Records)

www.tractoroperator.com

-Kyle Lemmon

El Capitan — Stickeen

Recorded by Bart Thurber at House of Faith in Oakland, CA

Mixed by Nigel Pavao at Pine Studios in San Francisco, CA

Mastered by Myles Boisen at Headless Buddha Mastering Lab in Oakland, CA

Produced by El Capitan and Bart Thurber

Deep in the heart of Yosemite’s vast forest stands the mighty and ancient vertical rock El Capitan. The thing is intimidating, a landmark of ancient scope. It’s clearly left its mark on this San Francisco group. On the group’s third album, Stickeen, El Capitan serves up a rural mix of psychedelic rock and folk charms.

Opener “Happy All the Time” embraces its listeners with a sing-along anthem (“moonshine, moonshine yeah”), alongside tambourine shakes and guitar strums right out of a drunken campfire song. The steady rhythms of Kris Branco’s drums and Ryan Henry’s guitar are like smooth granite sliding seamlessly into love ballad “Wait On Me,” then falling easily into the rough darkness of brooding youth in “Seventeen Year Cicada.” Harmonies from Branco, Bill Luty and Chris Connolly add a sometimes-eerie sometimes-triumphant chorus to Henry’s thick, forceful twang.

The colorful erosions embedded deep into El Capitan’s style come from Connolly’s ever-changing instrumentation. Frantic cries on harmonica in “Catalina” and the backing guitar, banjo and lap steel coyly placed throughout Stickeen really bring out the wild side of the band. Then with the help of bassist Dave Kearney’s fluttering melody, El Capitan is able to “let a little control slip by” on “Feltpicker” with curves and tumbles that avoid the simple path.

Though El Capitan peaks when climbing fast-paced rock anthems like “Black Ice,” they also happily reside in and out of peaceful serenades like “Take Cover” — both aided by the faint keys of Luty. Even in “Cloud’s Rest,” nature’s lullaby is emphasized with a voiceover storyteller describing the morning forest. Over the river and through the woods, listeners will discover a strong standing musical fortress in Stickeen where rockers and country folk mingle and play to their hearts’ content.

(Grass Roots Record Co.)

www.elcapitanland.com

-Megan Clinard

Imperial Teen —The Hair the TV the Baby & the Band

Recorded and produced by Imperial Teen, Steve McDonald and Anna Waronker at Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles, CA

Mixed by Danny Kalb

Mastered by JJ and John Golden at Golden Mastering in Ventura, CA

It’s the return of Imperial Teen — a welcome back to summery weather and songs straight from the vein of youthful, peppery pop. The hiatus years we’ve been subjected to by these folks’ have allowed for some individual growth and added mature notions to the group’s wistfully indulgent sound. Most easily spotted in the album’s unremitting hooks, this maturity also subtly pops in its lyrics.

A crashing cymbal begins the The Hair..., welcoming listeners with the gleeful and boisterous opener “Everything.” On the song’s sprinting second verse, “Everything is beautiful / Everything is horrible / Everything consistent / Everything rhetorical / Everything dramatic / Everything with tragedy...” (continuing with several dozen more everything’s), the lyrics, punctuated by their staccato delivery, behave like a percussion instrument. This simplicity effectively cuts the cord from the words, the vocal delivery and the unwanted baggage of narrative or meaning. The result is refined and fundamental pop. Think of it like pop minimalism.

Commanding the album are slightly dirtied guitars, frenzied drums and more boy/girl harmonies than a utility pole full of songbirds. The swishy “One Two” features a hook that feels like one of those 1950s tunes turned national dance craze: it’s easy to imagine everyone doing the “One Two” in starched slacks and neat sweater vests.

It’s been five years since the frolicking indie-pop quartet released an album. Their last, the critically praised On, ensured listeners would sway via mid-tempo, listless three-minute pop. Imperial Teen’s latest takes the band back to the budding, upbeat early years, keeping the pace at 11 and offering more playful hip shakes than one gets from brushing teeth.

(Merge Records)

www.imperialteen.com

-Christopher Petro

Jenny Hoyston —Isle Of

Engineered and mixed by Collin Dupuis, Jenny Hoyston and Christina Files at High Bias in Detroit, MI and Holy Ghost in San Francisco, CA

Mastered by JJ Golden at Golden Mastering in Ventura, CA

Produced by Jenny Hoyston

From start to finish, Isle Of never lingers for long in any one place. In just under 30 minutes and with sparse instrumentation, Erase Errata frontwoman Jenny Hoyston transports listeners across a wide spectrum of genres on her solo album, from dirty guitar rock to lo-fi electro pop, folk and country.

The album begins with the stripped-down garage rock opener “Spell D-O-G,” a track that shines with its raw, snappy riffs. Several electro tracks such as “Everyone’s Alone” also stand out with their lo-fi Le Tigre quality. It’s quite a departure from the blistering, chaotic pace of Erase Errata’s 2006 offering Nightlife, and occasionally, the simpler, more traditional songs on the album start to lag, lacking the depth to stand alone. “Break Apart Reattach,” for instance, falls flat with its conventional singer/songwriter style and lyrics such as “Harder rains are gonna fall / That is a fact that is the honest truth.” Still, the album works as a whole, and with half of its tracks clocking in at under two minutes, these compact tunes pack a punch.

As a solo artist, Hoyston lets her songs breathe as she explores new musical territory, combining the noise of Erase Errata with the sounds of her previous releases as Paradise Island, and her past collaborations (notably her 2006 country duets album Hallways of Always with William Elliott Whitmore). More than any previous release, Isle Of demonstrates Hoyston’s strengths and versatility as a songwriter, and the juxtaposition of these various styles makes for a record with never a dull moment.

(Southern Records)

www.southern.com

-Britta Kelley

Prosser — Prosser

Produced by Paul Turpin

Recorded at the Ballard House and Bayside Recording

Engineered by Eric Woodruff, Paul Turpin and Christian Danielson

Mixed and Mastered by Paul Turpin at Bayside Recording in Bellingham, WA

“I think I’ll sell my truck / And split this town...” From the twangy opening lines of the self-titled debut album from Seattle-based Prosser, it’s clear this is going to be a whiskey-soaked affair. Born from the ashes of Bellingham, WA space rock band Delay, Eric Woodruff’s indie rock/ alt-country project is essentially a one-man band, with pal Dylan Rieck chiming in occasionally on cello. And despite the lo-fi label it carries around, this project is surprisingly realized.

Woodruff’s folksy, parched vocals feel cozy against the lush instrumentation of the album, with engaging, moody breakdowns and atmospheric Wilco-esque pop elements thrown in for good measure. Bands like Sea Wolf have been doing a good job re-imagining the strummy, indie alt-folk genre as of late, but Woodruff’s background adds a new element: the introspective ebbing and flowing guitar lines that are the hallmark of good shoegaze and psychedelia.

Woodruff began these recordings back in 2003, and as such they tend to be a bit choppy in overall flow, consistency and style. Songs vacillate between straight-up cowboy country to excessively radio-friendly fare. Woodruff’s voice is not particularly distinctive, and therein lies its beautiful simplicity as it blends effortlessly into the more intricate backing melodies. He runs into a bit of trouble toward the middle (“Get Gone” and “State I’m In”) and end of the album, when he attempts a more standard vocal sound and more formulaic song structure instead of letting the musical composition and his own diverse musical roots take center stage. For leaving these less original offerings in the mix, Prosser can only be accused of creating an album that is slightly overlong. In all other ways, it completely succeeds.

(Clickpop Records)

www.prossermusic.com

-Jessica Watkins-McClain

Sole and the Skyrider Band — Sole and the Skyrider Band

Produced and engineered by Sole and the Skyrider Band

Even though Sole has been busy releasing music under the alias “Mansbestfriend” and relentlessly touring both the U.S. and Europe for the past two and half years, he still considers his new 13-song release Sole and the Skyrider Band his comeback album. This probably has more to do with the musical shift from straight up hip-hop to the more rock-based, experimental hip-hop found here. With a great new backing band that can obviously rock out with the best of them, Sole has found a new platform to express himself.

The electrifying “A Sad Day for Investors” opens the album with relentless distorted guitar and fuzzed out drums, elevating the song to an explosive level. “Nothing is Free” features a deep funky bass groove with Sole’s lightning-fast rhymes and raps. “100 Light Years and Running,” with its near-tribal drumming and acoustic guitar, invites the ambience of an old country western movie; the way it builds from a furious pace to a great crescendo makes it one of the album’s stand outs. However, not every song on the album achieves such greatness. Starting out with an amazing piano sample cut into little pieces and placed under a twitchy beat, “Bones of Pets” quickly loses steam as it starts switching back and forth to another completely different beat too sporadically. Other songs have a tendency to keep dragging on and on, and Sole’s raps can be so blistering fast that his lyrics seem almost unintelligible.

For the most part however, Sole and the Skyrider Band’s self-titled album achieves a raw aggression and unique dynamic that many artists never accomplish. Although far from perfect, it is an excellent steppingstone towards what could be truly great.

(Anticon Records)

www.soleone.org

-Casey P. O’Neill

edIT — Certified Air Raid Material

All songs written, produced, mixed and mastered by edIT at The Mob Compound in L.A. Additional engineering by Daddy Kev

Sound the alarms and hit the floors, there’s a glitch in the hip-hop matrix. Certified Air Raid Material is a salvo of electrical impulses and rolling surges of bass grooves concocted by the mad scientific pioneer of glitch-hop music, edIT. Described as strip club music for the next century, the album is an amalgam of the hip-hop influenced glitch hop and IDM (intelligent dance music), a dancehall inspired strain of electronic music.

“Battling Go-Go Yubari in Downtown L.A.” acclimates those crate-digging Curious Georges to the chopped up percussions and vocoder synths made infamous by Roger Troutman back in the computer love days. Although it feels as if edIT opted to stick with a select set of sound banks on his palette, “Fire Riddim” dips into the dancehall bounce and adds some much needed variance in bpms. “If You Crump Stand Up” is yet another complex sequence of electrical stimulants primed at triggering every twitch muscle in your groove thing.

With guest appearances from underground pall bearers the likes of The Grouch, Abstract Rude, Busdriver, and D-Styles on the cuts, Certified Air Raid Material makes itself palatable to even the most stubborn of backpacker purists. “Artsy Remix” featuring The Grouch is a light-hearted commentary on those holier than thou individuals who are too cool to crack a smile while cutting loose to a club banger.

If edIT’s main aim is to set dance floors ablaze with sweat as the fuel and stampeding feet as the spark, then he might be up to something here. Not quite molded for the Top 40 variety, edIT most certainly caters to heads appreciative of envelope-pushing artists the likes of DJ Shadow, RJD2 and Roni Size.

(Alpha Pup Records)

www.myspace.com/edit

-Franklin Grimes

Crash Encore— Crash Encore

Produced by Bryan Stratman and Jon Bishop

Mastered by Gavin Lurssen at Lurssen Mastering

Although 1990s alternative rock music took a backseat in the early part of this decade, it never truly went away. Bands like San Diego’s Crash Encore have been continuing the tradition on college and indie radio stations for years. Crash Encore’s self-titled 11-song debut is no exception, reveling in its intense catchiness almost to the point of no return.

With a driving drum rhythm, distorted guitars and organ filling out the opening song “Quicksand,” the melodic journey begins and quickly segues into the fuzz guitar driven “Stormy Weather,” a charming ode to making it through life’s roughest times. Of course the best elements of both songs are the soaring melodies and vocals that make up each of the chorus sections. “My Life” is the album’s stand out, featuring classically depressing lyrics gently sung over an orchestrated swirl of climaxing sound. With one of the strongest choruses on the album, the song sounds as if it was taken straight out of Weezer’s songwriting playbook. Of course, the extreme popiness can easily work against the band as well when a lot of the songs start sounding a bit too similar.

However, for the majority of the album, Crash Encore show that they are an extremely tight band with an excellent writing team creating well-crafted pop songs. Their innate understanding of melodies and the importance of orchestrating different instruments in a sonically pleasing palette showcase a band that has the potential to pave an excellent path for itself.

(Self-released)

www.crashencore.com

-Casey P. O’Neill

Company Car — Collars

Recorded by Joe Kay at Faultline Studios

Mixed by Franquito at Blue Koy Studios

Mastered by Thomas Dimuzio at Gench Studios

Produced by Franquito and Company Car

The San Francisco-based quartet of alternative rockers Company Car have recently debuted their first full-length album. Titled Collars, it’s a collection of 10 songs with humble beginnings of soft melodies instantaneously halted with the explosive roaring of guitar riffs and vigorous drum rhythms. With Dave Parker and Albert Chough at the guitar accompanied by bandmates Noah Heldfond and Frank Martell respectively at the bass and drums, Company Car has the appeal of producing a high-energy combination. They create a lively compilation of music reminiscent of a laundry list of influences that could be pegged as Sparta, My Bloody Valentine, NOFX, and Queens of the Stone Age.

Instrumentally, the band succeeds in presenting a sound that is very animated in its energy-pumped execution. Between the unexpected tempo changes, long strains of chords and erratic pace of the drums, Company Car’s unusual musical creations stand alone. But a gaggle of high-pitched voices talking and whining throughout the album undermines a lot of those musical accomplishments. Every song begins to sound exceptionally similar as a consequence. Lyrics like, “Sometimes I get drunk and forget where I am / And run into people I respect ... it’s embarrassing,” make for a lethal combination. The way the vocals work against the guitar and drums is an unpleasant battle — it would be great to see this band resolve it and move on to bigger and better things.

(Self-released)

www.companycarmusic.com

-Meja Shoba

Farewell Typewriter — Selfish EP

Recorded and mixed by Brad McGowan at Little Red Wagon Studios in Fremont, CA

Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering in Newton, MA

On Selfish, Farewell Typewriter remembers what it’s like to be on the verge of adulthood. A coming of age story, the CD finds the Bay Area quartet revisiting the trials typically associated with one’s late teens and early twenties to the beat of catchy indie rock tunes.

The album starts off with “I’m Good I Swear,” a song about the challenges of upholding moral beliefs when faced with being responsible for one’s own actions. Grant Shellen sings, “I knew when I went to college / That my head would fill with knowledge / But I hoped it wouldn’t push my values out / Seven bottles later / As I puked in the elevator / I knew there had to be an in-between.” Following this opening track are several variations on the “girls are so confusing” strain of boy-talk. The final song, “You Know the One I Mean” attempts an ode to the moochy friend: “I’m the ghost that always haunts / I’m the friend that always wants / Something done for him and done ASAP.” A very truthful and seriously funny song.

The tone and overall vocal style are very straightforward on Selfish and the CD is generally no frills as far as instrumentation is concerned. Solid drumming by Steve Slater propels each song forward into a swelling bridge or a swinging chorus. A synthesizer comes in on two songs in a successful attempt to up the dorkitude.

For an initial effort, this album presents itself well. It seems it would be most relatable and enjoyed by those currently struggling through this limbo zone of growing up, with plenty of potential for new dimensions to be added musically as the band matures and other lyrical themes are explored.

(Snow Tiger Records)

www.farewelltypewriter.com

-Allison Foley

The Val Papadins —No One Wants to Move the Piano

Engineered by Max Lynch at Islay Studios

Recorded and mixed by Sasha Papadin at Islay Studios

Mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios

Produced by The Val Papadins

No One Wants to Move the Piano is the first full-length album from Sonoma County’s countrified rock quintet, The Val Papadins. On it, the band delivers ten very accessible, introspective tracks that sonically create that fuzzy glow oft obtained after slowly glugging down a bottle of Wild Turkey. The album is full of soft melodies, slightly off-tune background vocals, and an overall somber and reserved delivery. Piano isn’t the prescription for getting the party started or for relieving depression. It’s more like an invitation to sit in a dark corner, lamenting lost loves.

The Papadins’ lyrical content is quite dark, covering topics of longing and leaving, disappointment and cynical hope. It’s easy to hear influences such as Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, especially in vocalist Sasha Papadin’s words and delivery. Opening track “Night Train” showcases the band’s ability to create eerie while rhythmically catchy hooks. “Siren Song” is a longer track with standout guitar riffs and a larger display of vocal range from Papadin. On “The Terrible Fields,” Papadin laments, “Hold me close I’m falling apart — piece by piece, this derelict heart,” as he sings to his “terrible lover” who has destroyed him. This heavy lyrical content is offset by childlike background vocals sing-songing over melodious piano.

While each track is interesting in its own right, there isn’t a lot to distinguish one track from the next and the overall album stays quite consistent. So it comes as a nice, subtle change when the band attempts a more upbeat performance on “Long Cold Winter,” which features clap-along beats and jangly, discordant guitars. But as Papadin slows his vocal delivery down to an almost spoken word on “One Blue Moon and a Grave,” it’s hard not to wonder how he’s made it through such a cruel-hearted world.

(Islay Records)

www.thevalpapadins.com

-Veronica Young

Saturna— Some Delicious Enemy

Produced by Steve Anderson and Saturna

Mixed by Brin Addison, Tony Lash and Steve Anderson at Mandible Studios

Mastered by Brin Addison at Hype Schwartz Productions

One can detect many influences in Saturna’s new album, Some Delicious Enemy: the songwriting style is reminiscent of Tom Petty, and the songs themselves (at least at first) have a Steppenwolf downbeat feel, with the drums and keys featured prominently in front of a distant guitar. There is a heavy psychedelic rock influence as well as an epic quality more common in the days of Pink Floyd than today. However, Saturna doesn’t simply pay homage to these bands — they take the next evolutionary step, utilizing technology that was not available to the progressive rockers of the ‘70s, mixing in some elecronica and even industrial elements to the mix.

Though a couple of early songs like “Pop Rocks” have an undeniable groove and the already lively “Fall” goes several notches further with a two minute industrial-techno instrumental ending, the album’s energy follows a gradual decline. Its keeps things to a simmer while the tone turns darker and more introverted — though songs like “Chasing the Unpredictable” manage to find beauty in that.

The effect is hypnotic. The album’s steadily deteriorating energy is evident not only in the songwriting but in its execution. Even with songs like “Just for Thrills,” an angry song appearing late on the album, the lyrics aren’t as crisp, and the effects lose their sharpness or disappear entirely. By the end of the CD, even though the songwriting remains relatively upbeat, the energy is gone. Vocalist Ryan Carroll’s voice is barely louder than a whisper, the drums and keys fade away, and all that remains is the distant sound of the guitar.

(Self-released)

www.saturnamusic.com

-Bonwell Parker

Lucy — Winter in June

Produced by d.Fly Schwartz and Gabriel Mann

Mixed by Ryan Freeland

Engineered by Jason Tregoe Newman, with additional engineering by d.Fly, Gabriel Mann and Jason Ryterband

Mastered by Gavin Lurssen at Lurssen Mastering

Lucy Schwartz is a seventeen-year-old prodigy. She has already accomplished things musicians twice her age have yet to mark off their list, a few of which include winning an international songwriting competition and writing piano pieces at the ripe age of eight. Lucy’s compilation of original songs Winter in June establishes her as a songbird truly wise beyond her years.

The album starts off strong with “I Don’t Know a Thing” (the song that won her that competition). In it, Lucy flies a white flag to anyone ready to accuse her of youthful ignorance: “Funny faces lineup quick to catch a glimpse / Of a world that’s drenched in darkness from a solar eclipse / Only thing I know is I don’t know a thing.” One cannot help but note the similarity in style and melody to that of proven songstress Regina Spektor. Like Spektor, there is lightness in the quality of Lucy’s voice that creates an ethereal feeling and leaves the listener desiring more — exactly what the first song on any disc should do.

It’s easy for any young singer to fall into the habit of being safe. Thankfully, Lucy does not. Showcasing her ability to tackle different melodies and arrangements both vocally and instrumentally (she plays the guitar and piano on the album), Lucy strikes a different chord with each of the nine tracks. Compare the jazz-infused pop number “Strange Feeling in the Night” to the typical acoustic fare of “Pushed and Pulled,” and it is difficult to sense any weaknesses in execution or lyrical penmanship.

Lucy may be young, but she has demonstrated with Winter in June that she will be a force to be reckoned with. In many ways, with this release, she already is.

(Self-released)

www.myspace.com/lucysong

-Philiana Ng