album of the week - 4.5

Metric

Fantasies

02. Records (2009)

why you'll love it:  easy listening indie rock

why you'll hate it:  boring.  plays it too safe

Biggest disappointment of the year!  

Metric has been a band that has always taken me by surprise.    On the surface and through descriptions, they've always sounded like a band that thinks its bigger and cooler than it really is.  I've quickly found that each of their albums have way more to them when you dig into them.  I've been scratching and crawling at Fantasies for weeks now, and am coming up with nothing.  

It's a drab, monatone, album with no real interesting melodies.  The best guitar riff in the whole album is coincidentally the same as heard in "Dead Stock Paradise" by the pillows.

+ boring lyrics.  I'm not a lyrics guy, but admit that the last album (Live It Out) had some really interesting quotes.  The only lyrics that stand out to me are the hammy over-sexualized lines, and that is because they are so terrible.  I'd imagine them thinking that they are being a bit risky, but promiscuity is ironically predicable and only for people who have no imagination.   

Even the music video for "Gimme Sympathy" is pretty much just "Undone" by Weezer, only with lots of annoying rock star posing.  Emily Haines has always had a kind of Madonna complex, but I was able to let that slide because the music was actually good.  Now, with such an uninspired release, the group just comes off as quite arrogant.  This album has nothing going for it at all.   Enjoy!

legal downloading?

Last year I featured the Sherbets album Mad Disco. I regret not including it in my top ten last year because it's an album is still listen to quite a lot. Mad Disco still is not available in the US, but a few older albums are on iTunes, notably the live album, Sibera Gig, which is going for only $3.99! Sibera Gig also doubles as a great "best of" collection for the band's first few years. It's a fantatsic album that is very hard to find on the internet otherwise. I highly suggest you pick it up. Excellent blues-rock.

album of the week - 4.4

Mono

Hymn to the Immortal Wind

Temporary Residence (2009)

why you'll love it - emotional... atmospheric... all that pretty stuff

why you'll hate it - depressing.  Nothing new for post-rock.

One epic post-rock band is all you really need.  For most, it's Godspeed You Black Emperor.  For the kids today, it's Explosions in The Sky.  I personally enjoy Do Make Say Think the most.  Where does this leave, Mono?  I'm not quite sure.  If you have never heard any of these bands before, they probably will be your favorite of the batch, simply because they grabbed your attention first.

My entirely subjective conclusion as to what makes Hymmn To The Immortal Wind stand out from the rest is that it's a rather depressing album.  The feeling I usually get from this music is epicness.  I can visualize marching armies, and frightening tidal waves.  But for reasons unknown to me, I just get a feeling of loneliness from this album.   So if  you need to dish out a good old "NOOOOOOO" or cross a vast expanse, this album should provide the appropriate soundtrack. 

BOOM Meele spam!

A big Left 4 Dead patch hit today. As it's one of the only 360 games I regularly play, I'm very much looking forward to it. The sadistic survivor mode may be fun with the right friends, but personally can't wait for the vs patch. More specifically, fatigue meter on survivors who use the shove button too much, which I'm hoping will cut down on a familiar situation:

Picture this, if you will... the city is overrun with an infection menace. A novice survivor bumps a car and sets off an alarm, signaling a wave of bloodthirsty scary ass looking meth addicts pouring into the street. Quickly, the 4 survivors... get in a corner and sit on top of each other like a totem pole and wave their arms about for ten minutes and are untouched.

Kinda falls apart at the end, doesn't it? Perhaps now, this will force players to actually work as a team, and figuratively have each other's back, instead of literally when they clip together in a corner. I'd like it if my new favorite multiplayer game doesn't end up like my previous one.

Album of the week 4.3

The Thermals

Now We Can See

Kill Rock Stars (2009)

why you'll love it:  catchy dirty pop-punk with intelligent lyrics

why you'll hate it:  you think anything within six degrees of indie must burn

In just about all forms of art and expression, there are presentations that are so simple and common that you'd think anybody could have done it.  This could be a stand-up routine making glaring observations, art that is simply just a splash of color, or a three minute indie pop-punk song.  The Thermals certainly do what anyone can, but only they do.  Much like that comedian's tone and pace, and the artist's context and form, The Thermals use their own pitch and production to make them immediately stand out.

Not much has changed about this band over the past few years.  This album runs with a lot of the catchy melodies introduced in The Body, The Blood, The Machine (2006), and leaves behind the religious overtones.  While the meanings of the songs are a bit more hidden than usual, they feel quite romantic and nostalgic.  The album is reminiscent of Chisel, in its pace and dry delivery; only with more sharp edges and less variation in instrumentals.  Great album.  Keep this one around for summer road trips.

Surviving the survival horror drought

The announcement that Fatal Frame 4 is, like the ghosts they feature, is trapped in a torturous limbo; has created a dam in my steady flow of survival horror video games. Nintendo of America owns the license to the Wii exclusive game, and plans to keep it in Japan. It seems I'll have no choice now but to do a ton of research and figure out how to hack my wii into playing a game I'll be paying twice as much for in a language I don't know.

So until it comes to that, how am I gonna get my scary scary ghost fix now? Luckily I have an unplayed xbox port of the original Fatal Frame right here to hold me over. When I'm done busting ghosts, we'll hopefully see a release date for the Silent Hill reboot for the wii, which is surprisingly looking fantastic! A graphics and controls overhaul coupled with SH2 style mindfuckery and Clock Tower "run from everything" madness!

What else is there? There is no space in my survival horror heart for Resident Evil 5 and Redfield's "boulder punchin' roid-rage". Bioshock 2 (yes I'm counting that. Spider Splicers scare meeeeee), looks like nothing more than a mindless level pack. I wish I could say Siren: Blood Curse is worth a PS3, though that wouldn't seem as ridiculous as buying a PC to play The Path...

or I could just play a game that is actually fun, has tight controls, and is without a depressing storyline... nah. Maybe I'll just pick up a secondhand copy of The Room instead.

nevar forget

I pass this thing every day on my work commute.  It kinda creeps me out.

album of the week - 4.2

Peter Bjorn And John

Living Thing

Almost Gold (2009)

why you'll love it:  Refreshing crazy pop by songwriting vets

why you'll hate it:  too strange and silly for old school fans

I've never done drugs in my whole life, but I'm really glad when others moderately do; namely the Swedish-pop trio Peter Bjorn And John. Last year, the band took a dramatic musical shift from their safe and profitable songwriting style. "Young Folks" still has legs today as a karaoke hit, and yet the group brazenly released a full instrumental album in late 2008.

The trio has returned to 3 minute sing-alongs, but with a brand new weird soundscape. It's no Animal Collective, but certainly an evolutionary leap for the band. The songs are still catchy and easy on the ears, but the production features lots of booming drums, electronics, and choir singing. The song and video for "Lay it Down" is fearless in its humor and presentation. The latest single, "Nothing To Worry About" is the best song Gorillaz never wrote. Sometimes the weirdness tightens its grip too hard. "I'm Losing My Mind" sounds like fuckin heroin music. Luckily, there is little time spent sulking beyond this one track.

While most joy I get from this album is the very fact that PB&J is doing it, it stands on its own as an enjoyable wacky pop album. Beck, Gorillaz, and Architecture in Helsinki fans will get it. Most of their core fanbase will be left scratching their heads.

album of the week - 4.1

Obits

I Blame You

Sub Pop (2009)

Why you'll love it:  classic swami records style cow punk rock n roll

why you'll hate it:  a bit gimmicky.  Does not live up to past bands.

Obits is a band that is both noteworthy and restrained by its own past. A few years after putting to rest the greatest punk rock band ever, Hot Snakes, Rick Froberg returns to the mic. It's great to hear this guy's voice again. While it seems he's aging faster than Keith Richards, the vocals remain as young as his Drive Like Jehu days.

The album starts out very strong. The first three tracks are killer. "Widow of My Dreams" shows off the melodic talent of the group. It's a very moody track, like something right out of Suicide Invoice. Some well paced punk songs follow, and then things start to slow down... It's quite unfair, but I can't help but start to imagine how John "Speedo" Reis  would have punched up the weaker songs if he was accompanying Rick instead of leading The Night Marchers.

"Two Headed Coin" is my first hurdle. It's grown on me, but the thick southern-blues style of singing felt gimmicky, and thoughts of "Paid in Cigarettes" flood my mind, which is a far superior government ranting song. Next track, "Run" is alright, until I hear a familiar guitar riff that was used frequently between verses when Hot Snakes would perform "Let it Come" live. I can't get through "Talking To The Dog" without signing "This Mystic Decade", which has a slightly similar vocal progression. The ghosts of punk rock past linger all over this album.

This coupled with a rather tame closer that doesn't even sound like something Froberg would ever write, left me feeling rather deflated. I Blame You is a respectable first effort, but lost in the shadow of an outstanding punk rock career.

No pranks today

New album tomorrow.  For now, enjoy a bit of classic Monkeynews.