album of the week: 10.5

the pillows

OOPARTS

avex trax (2009)

why you'll love it: you need something to fall asleep to

why you'll hate it: bland

I have a theory, the more the pillows overuse the word "yeah" - the better their albums are. The much praised FLCL era had a steady flow of yeahs. Last year's renaissance album dropped em on the two best songs. Ooparts has one yeah, and its on the best song, which is fairly mediocre anyway. Conclusion - a modern pillows album has to have at least 4 uses of the word "yeah" to qualify as good. When you put out an LP every year without every really changing your sound, you may lose your "yeah" somewhere along the way...

the pillows is a band that that puts quantity over quality quite often, so it comes to no surprise that Ooparts is pure mediocrity. On average, their yearly albums only have 7-8 outstanding songs, but this album has zero. It's the same old stuff they've been doing for a decade, but without any enthusiasm.

Usually I'm not so hard on the band for underachieving, since they've done so much good stuff in the 90s. But, last year's album, Pied Piper, was really fun. The songs had a surprising amount of energy and originality to them. Sadly, Ooparts falls into the same old trappings once again - even worse than usual this time. This whole album sounds like it was written and performed in the band's sleep. Everything from the production to the freakin' album cover is bland city.

Sorry for the recent lameness. It's been a mediocre month of music so far. Some really good stuff came out last week though, so the future is looking bright!

album of the week - 10.4

Built To Spill

There is No Enemy

Warner Bros (2009)

why you'll love it: mellow, modest, lots of guitar solos

why you'll hate it: aimless, songs kinda go nowhere

Either this is a disappointingly routine album, or I'm getting BTS fatigue. I've never been a die hard fan to begin with, but I certainly enjoy a good dose of Keep it A Secret. Ancient Melodies of The Future was a total dud, but the two albums that followed featured a brand new epically layered sound. There is No Enemy winds up to be a compromise of the two faces of BTS, but taking the wrong parts from each of them.

Most of these songs are very long. Fans of the the last two albums, like me, assume the best from that. The band has historically done a wonderful job at twisting and progressing their longer songs so that they take you on a well-directed ride. This album on the other hand feels adrift, with long expanses stuck in the same melody and no real ups or downs. A lot of this album just sounds improvised, like when you see a band perform live and they do a jam in the middle of the song. Those jams are cool to experience live, but its a tiring blueprint for the official recording of the song.

These songs are very easy to pick up. It's just a matter of how long your attention can hold them. At the risk of sounding like a moron, I get bored with most of this album. There are parts i love - I love the outro to "Done", and the first two songs. Most of the songs on this album are pretty good, it's just that they meander around for a couple minutes too long and don't really go anywhere.

gg, internet

ok facebook, you win this round.

album of the week: 10.3

Kenichi Asai

Sphnix Rose

BMG Japan (2009)

why you'll love it: Best straightforward rock and roll Japan has to offer

why you'll hate it: Nothing original

A big reason why classic rock is still strong in modern day Japan is because of Kenichi Asai. He's successfully led four bands experimenting with classic rock, blues, jazz, garage rock, and punk. He's also released four solo albums, including this one.

Sphinx Rose is quite restrained compared to his past material, but comfortable with its own pace. Kenichi is in his mid-forties now, and I love to see artists act their age. The biggest rock songs are held back to a David Bowie easy going anthem style. There is nothing on this album that tries to knock you out of your seat with power, but the melodies are well crafted and atmospheric.

As with his recent past material, the best songs on here are the very mellow ones. Hypnotizing songs like "Cooler" and "Light Screw" do anything but put you to sleep. The album's shortcomings are a few of the ballads in the first half, which I found to be a bit hammy.

I personally prefer music to be more impulsive or experimental than this, but I can't fault an album for not being what it isn't trying to be. This album does what it sets out to do, as if we needed any more proof that Benzie is a rock master.

Polysics@RIJ09

This is a really good setlist for a festival performance. Three old songs, a couple hits, and a brand new song not yet released. This also marks the second year in a row the band has dressed up for the festival. Enjoy it while its still on youtube.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

album of the week - 10.2

Taken By Trees

East of Eden

Rough Trade (2009)

why you'll love it: Beautiful voice, interesting departure from straightforward pop

why you'll hate it: boring lyrics, most of the experimentation doesn't pay off

Despite her obscurity, there sure is a lot of trivia about Victoria Bergsman, and her second solo album . The nation of Sweden knows her best as the former vocalist for indie-pop band, The Concretes. The US can spot her voice as being not Peter, Bjorn, or John's in the modest hit, "Young Folks". Her first Taken By Trees album, wasn't much of a splash, but a good piece of work.

Her second effort, called East of Eden, is again preceded; not by reputation this time, but the company Victoria has chosen to bring along. The album has a strong Pakistani influence, which seems a bit arbitrary to me. The percussion and windwork sound quite nice, but extended bits of field recordings and traditional singing feel tacked on, especially when juxtaposed with run of the mill love song lyrics.

The oddness doesn't end there. I couldn't help but think how much the song "Anna" sounds like an Animal Collective song, and was even more confused when Victoria would go on to cover an Animal Collective song later in the album. One that is only a few months old, no less. It turns out Panda Bear himself sings on "Anna", so my curiosity was justified there. By the way, the cover of "My Girls" is rubbish. It sounds like it was hastily thrown together with little care.

Even though some of the songs on this album sound nice, it's burdened by gimmick, and left me wondering what the point of it all was. Bergsman doesn't need a fresh new style or celebrity hook ups. She has a wonderful voice and a natural talent for writing modest and competent music. This is a case of experimentation just becoming fluff.

Why I love Rx Bandits

Exhibit A

Exhibit B