album of the week: 11.5

Buffalo Daughter

The Weapons of Math Destruction

Buffalo Ranch (2010)

why you'll love it: some driving instrumentals. Pleasing moog heavy sound.

why you'll hate it: Aimless, flat, uncharacteristic childish moments.

A new Buffalo Daughter album is one of those things to come across my media radar as an absolute gift. Something that I didn't even bother crossing my fingers for because it seemed so improbable. Over the past couple years, musings over twitter, rumors, and a couple leaked songs here and there, have finally led to a real-life physical release by the progressive krautrock pop act.

While trying my best not to turn my nose away from this "gift", I gotta say, The Weapons of Math Destruction falls short of the inspiration left by most Buffalo Daughter albums. Many of the songs have a disappointingly simple, even sophomoric, delivery to them that you wouldn't expect in a 4th album. There are a lot of outdated Shibuya-Kei tropes (of which I feel the band has never had a significant relationship with in the first place), like Microsoft Sam/Speak-N-Spell vocals, a flat G-rated rap, and some badly placed show-tunes samples. It's not just the presence of these cliches, but the flippant and insignificant use of them that make me stunned that this was the same band that made such fantastic progressive works like I (2001) and Psychic (2003).

While the album does spend a good chunk of its time suspended in air flailing, there is at least a good half hour of solid music (which is all I ask of any album really). Most of these moments of joy come from instrumental tracks such as "Two Two" and "Run". bd still can build an hypnotizing beat better than more popular party-driven krautrock acts like !!! and Fujiya & Miyagi. "A11 A10ne" is one of the few impressive tracks with lyrics. Other songs I'm on the fence with are "The Battle Field in My Head" (very Tom Tom Club inspired) and "Unknown Forces" (which never quite emotionally manifests itself as intended).

This is sort of the same situation I ran into with this year's releases by Gorillaz and Hot Chip. It's a good album; but with all the filler, and comparing it to their back catalogue, it's hard not to see it as a failure. Hot Chip was trying something new, Damon simply doesn't care about the Gorillaz universe anymore; but bd's case apparently seems to be incompetence. I mean, they released a song last year ("Galactic S-O-U-L") that is dramatically better than anything on this album. They certainly aren't over the hill, or out of ink; it just seams as if this time they fumbled the ink and spilled it all over the canvas.

I heart Labrador Records

2010's most improved band, Club 8, has a new single called "Closer Now". It sounds like the rest of The People's Record, which means it's fantastic. You can download the song here

album of the week: 11.4

Marnie Stern

Kill Rock Stars (2010)

why you'll love it: A surprisingly mature approach, crazy good drums/guitar

why you'll hate it: not enough wild unpredictability.

Marnie Stern is one of those personalities where superficiality is enough. She's a Hella fanatic, has an amazing finger-picking guitar talent, has a charming bubbly vocal delivery, and writes a lot of songs about math and time-traveling. 2008's This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That was a triumph of organized chaos. Its as if she can just coast on "insanity with talent" for an entire career… which makes an introverted self titled album a bit of a surprise.

There are no corny acoustic ballads, but a distinct change in tone. To accommodate this outpouring of the heart, no songs truly explode with "Woah, what am I listening to?" levels of insanity. There is a steady flow of rocking provided by Marnie's guitar playing and Zach Hill again on drums, but the music structure isn't priority, thus rendering some of this album forgettable.

The rest adapts well in subtle ways. "Risky Biz" is a catchy little number. "The Things You Notice" and "Transparency is The New Mystery" mirror her humbling lyrics well. After a few listeners, I started to see interesting vocal progressions in "For Ash" and "Female Guitar Players Are The New Black". To be honest, the only song that feels like the Marnie Stern I had became enamored with in the first place is "Nothing Left"

I enjoy the fact that this album exists; and it's nice to hear Marnie show us a more personal side. None of the songs are bad at all. Zach Hill is along for the ride, how can the quality possibly slip? It just isn't very representative of what she does best.

DDD

A lack of embedding makes the reveal much less exciting, but the first post-Kayo Polysics song is online!!

At least I can embed this!

album of the week: 11.3

Zach Hill

Face Tat

Sargent House (2010)

why you'll love it: out of this world noise rock. chaos chaos chaos!

why you'll have it: Some will find it to be hardly music. Not as imaginative as last album

Becoming a relevant rock act today is quite hard. Not only is mainstream success about as likely as winning the lottery while being struck by lighting, but the indie world has the internet to compete with, where anyone can get 15 minutes of fame. It takes a lot of hard work, practice, and patience. That or just align yourself with Zach Hill.

Since gaining notoriety as 50% of Hella, the SoCal ultra-drummer has worked on about a dozen side projects with the likes of Boredoms, Marnie Stern, and Omar Rodriguez (of The Mars Volta), to name just a few. in 2008, his gonzo prog influenced solo album, Astrological Straights, proved he can do more than just trash a drumset into rubble.

Face Tat starts off along the same lines as Astrological Straights. Apart from the noticeable increase in volume, the Frank Zappa vibe is strong and still welcome. Suddenly, with the song "Ex Ravers", we get a taste of the Zach Hill that made Hella famous. Face Tat is NOISE ROCK, and "Ex Ravers" is only the tip of the iceberg. If noise rock isn't your bag, "The Sacto Smile" and "Green Bricks" will send you running.

This is probably the best noise rock album I've ever heard. A complete attack on the eardrums. Even at minimal volume, it still sounds loud on my headphones. Aside from the last track, none of this album drags or repeats. Every song (if you can call some of them songs) hits a different nerve.

While I still prefer Astrological Straights simply because it was so unexpected and different, Face Tat is pure genius. Not much of a surprise from the guy who improves the quality output of whoever he associates with.