Liars-Liars(Liars)(Mute)
I've held a grudge against Liars for too long, simply because they came out of New York at such a buzzy time. I am grateful that I put my presuppositions aside and gave Liars a good listen, because it led to me viewing the video for second single "Houseclouds," a clip which combines two of my favorite things in the world:  pastiness and kittens. And, alright, the song is good too, with its excellent fuzz-to-blips ratio, it's arty in the all right ways; just as "Freak Out" is bang-the-trashcan-lids-together-stupid in all the right ways; just as "Clear Island" is get-the-punk-out-chanty in all the right ways; just as "Pure Unevil" is shoe-gazing-into-the-gutter-wrenching in all the right ways. And when the shantyesque "Protection" gets sick in that very same gutter, it seems like a fitting conclusion.
   If we want to get lazy, I guess we could compare and contrast Liars to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, seeing as the latter band's "Maps" was written about Liars lead singer Angus Andrew, and we could say that Liars are a rare band standing in the shadows of a female-led counterpart. But Liars aren't Yeah Yeah Yeahs, because they've taken more risks and even though some critics pulverized They Were Wrong, So We Drowned, I am skeptical that it's as disappointing as Yeah Yeah Yeahs sophomore release Show Your Bones.  And I am skeptical of Liars being lobbed into that same scene, as so many of their peer's follow-ups have failed due to a lack of innovation, a trait which Liars are at least aiming for.
   Despite their valiant effort, I still feel the quote unquote New York scene could do a little more by way of flourishing. I doubt many bands could think far enough out of their borough borders to even consider employing a moodswinger, as featured on "Leather Prowler."  Liars are doing their best to keep the noise-rock exciting and stimulating, and I admire this effort. -.Maria Schurr

(Jens Lekman)(Secretly Canadian)
Jens Lekman's third album is banked in a '60's soul influence that some might peg as veering into twee territory. But Lekman's music isn't twee, and indie-pop is too broad a term; these songs are far more lush than that title suggests. This is swooncore, the sound that hits you like the sun's rays glinting off the sea, music that makes you feel like putting on lipgloss or fixing your hair before popping the CD in your stereo or cueing it up on your MP3 player. With music this sumptuous, even the sentiments expressed in a track entitled, "I'm Leaving You (Because I Don't Love You)," are about as painful to take as a blow from a feather pillow.
    Night Falls Over Kortedala is full of pretty songs that make you feel as though someone loves you, even if the admirer turns out to be that special person's father. This scenario is recounted in "A Postcard to Nina," a sweet song with some of the cleverest lyrics I've heard in quite some time. And that's where the album's main charm lies, what saves it from being just an appropriation of the big soul sound and raises it to the swooncore level.
   "But Nina I can be your boyfriend/So you can stay with your girlfriend/Your father is mailing me all the time/He says he just wants to say hi/I send back out of office, auto-replies" goes the second-to-last verse. And if the lyrics don't stand on their own, Lekman's goofy phrasing and "if you haven't guessed by my name, I am indeed quite Swedish" accent is another asset in keeping any hand-claps from appearing hokey, the lightness of the melodies from floating away.
    Oh Jens, as long as you don't lose your accent and you keep making songs like "Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig" which sounds alarmingly like an unearthed Orange Juice rarity that you put quirky lyrics to, I will forgive you for dissing shy people during "It Was a Strange Time in My Life."-Maria Schurr

Wu-Tang Clan-8 Diagrams(Wu-Tang Clan)
I just read another interview where Inspectah Deck joined Raekwon and Ghostface Killah in their displeasure with the Wu-Tang Clan album 8 Diagrams.  In case you haven’t heard, the first album from the Clan in six years, and the first completed group project since the passing of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, has been criticized and castrated by some of the guys who, you know, ACTUALLY MADE IT.  This isn’t like Let it Be or anything—this album just came out on December 11^th, 2007.  This isn’t a b-sides compilation or collection of outtakes, demos, etc.  This is a proper release on a major label, and yet some members have seemingly apologized in advance for an album that isn’t going to move tons of units, receive any radio play, or rekindle the glory days of Wu-Tang’s great run of the late 90s.  In other words, they’re setting up the listener for an album that, at the minimum, would be completely interesting.     

8 Diagrams is definitely east coast hardcore rap, but it doesn’t sound distinctly likeNew York.  It was recorded LA, but it’s not loud and flashy, and would definitely not work as the soundtrack for a barbeque (unless Jim Jarmusch, Rob Zombie, and Anton Chigurh were hosting it).  8 Diagrams takes samples, hard drums, R&B hooks, good ol’ headbanger boogie rhymes, and live instrumentation, loads them all into a pistol and fires them wildly into a crowd.  It’s very unsettling and shocking, but addictive and thrilling at times.  It’s like the “new”

The Black Swans-Change!(The Black Swans)(La Societe Expeditionnaire)
In Gene Wolfe’s classic post apocalyptic novel The Shadow of the Torturer, apprentice torturer Severian wears a cloak made of Fuligin. Fuligin, per Wolfe, is a color that will exist in the future that is darker than black. The Black Swans’ Change! seems to be painted in coat after coat of Fuligin.

Mix Tape Song: Shake

Film School-Hideout (Film School)(Beggars Banquet)

All art and especially music is the product of its past touchstones. Influences and marks are left like inky fingerprints after finishing the evening paper on the downtown train. Listening to Film School’s latest, Hideout one can watch those fingerprints smear across 30 years of dark emotive music, all contributing to something breathtaking and new.

The trajectory seems to begin with the chilliest of post punk (Joy Division, The Comsat Angels) to the bleak dives of 80s NYC (Swans, Sonic Youth), to the lusher of the shoegazers (Slowdive, Pale Saints) with a glance cast back towards the quiet blip-blip of ambient (Boards of Canada, Labradford). Every artist working today is a stew of influences and if they tell you differently they are lying. The reason I named the ones I noticed here is not to play some sort of game of spot the influence, but rather a path to see where this dark and mysterious record was borne.

Mix Tape Song: Go Down Together

Richard Hawley-Lady's Bridge(Richard Hawley)(Mute)
Richard Hawley sings free of any thick-accented intonations or other Brit-pop leanings, an amazing feat as, due to doing time in the Long Pigs and touring with Pulp, he is a Brit-pop survivor. Yet his albums are very devotional to Sheffield, with both Coles Corner and, his latest, Lady's Bridge, taking their names from hometown landmarks. Neither album deviates too far from Hawley's signature sound, each song a croony, sepia-tinted snap-shot with jangly-guitar trimmed edges; this is fine as everything about Hawley is suited to corner this style that, in other hands, might seem like another dull rehash on nostalgia.

That trick of making a melody sound like the bob and weave of the ocean is employed in "The Sea Calls." Other artists have strived for the effect, but Hawley's weathered vocal seems more fitting to the music's drowsy pull. Elsewhere, songs on the album aim for a monumental, Spectorish wall-of-sound; again, it's been done before but in Hawley's hands, the results seem more authentic. Lady's Bridge's first single, "Tonight the Streets are Ours," is one of the best songs of the year, a song inspired by a modern British problem (anti-social behavior order) with a timeless feel and oblique lyrics that render the song universal. It's big and swoony and also quite sweet, as is the way the entire composition of "Serious," the coy lyrics and rockabilly guitar, wink at the listener.

In spite of all the swoons, there's no denying the yearning underlying "I'm Looking For Someone To Find Me," and the final tracks on Lady's Bridge are downers.  As a whole the album doesn't feel quite as polished as Coles Corner, although topping that outing is hardly a small feat. How many times can someone be expected to combine Johnny Cash, Scott Walker, and Frank Sinatra, and actually make it work? This is a pleasant, timeless record free of nostalgia and kitsch, traits that can be difficult to avoid when dealing with such a vintage sound..Maria Schurr

Murder Mystery-Are You Ready for the Heartache Cause Here it Comes(Murder Mystery )
Are You Ready for the Heartache Cause Here it Comes sounds to me like a record that could have only found life in New York City. For all the great things our east coast mammoth has to offer anyone who has ever spent more than a day there knows the hardest flower to bring to bloom there is love. Could be the crammed together population, or the chilly demeanor of its denizens but its roots never seem to be able to push themselves up through the cracks.

Murder Mystery’s full-length debut explores this phenomena over twelve well-crafted pieces of jagged yet hummable power pop. Fully informed of it’s city’s elder fathers like Television and the Modern Lovers, and fitting in nicely with both the latest nouveau power pop movement (joining the Isles, and Office) and the post punk re-awakening its city has been producing for a few years now (The Strokes, Interpol). But don’t let that pigeon hole them. Sure there are pieces of Bowery love-lorn rock like “Who Doesn’t Want to Give Me Love?” and “Honey Come Home”. But they also explore some tasty country-rock with “Think of Me”, revise and warp the Chicago blues with “Cold, Hard Workin’ Man” and even echo 90’s masters Velocity Girl with “In a Sentimental Mood”.

Deeply and securely anchored against the assured rhythm section of Adam Fels and Laura Coleman, Jeremy Coleman and Kevin Jaszek’s guitars flutter and jab around the tight bass and drum rope. Jeremy Coleman sings like he is really trying to give this love biz a chance, but has been wounded to the point of laconic.

I first heard Murder Mystery on their teasing 3-song ep about a year ago. Here they flesh out their songs, make them pulse, give them life and prove that they are indeed a band to keep a keen eye on.

.Trout

Mix Tape Song : Who Doesn't Want to Give Me Love?

Beretta 76-Black Beauty(Beretta 76)
Let me say Beretta 76’s Black Beauty is perfect for walking down South Street on a sunny day listening to your iPod, which is exactly how I experienced it for the first time. This is a slickly produced collection of classic power-punk-pop goodness with edgy guitars. Rife with catchy, lush vocal melodies brought to you by Camille Escobedo, Beretta 76 reminded me of all the good parts of bands like Veruca Salt and Elastica. At the same time they’re not afraid to straight out rock with a fat guitar solo once in a while like in the songs Hostile City and Runaway Son. All in all, this is a well crafted offering that never gets stale or boring which is a credit to them all as songwriters and arrangers. I did get a chance to see them live at The Khyber about a year and a half ago. While it’s difficult for me recall the exact details of a show that far back, as I’ve seen thousands of local bands, I do remember that I was impressed with them and enjoyed the set and that in itself is a ringing endorsement-.Johnny Hollywood

Johnny Hollywood Moment of Zen Pop Righteousness: Legs

Jonathan Wilson-Frankie Ray(Jonathan Wilson)/(Koch Records)
Jonathan Wilson is a holdover from a bygone era. Luckily, for all of us, retro is always in. Frankie Ray could have been released 35 years ago and it would have been right at home sitting next to new releases by Jonathan’s influences such as Nick Drake and Gram Parsons. I can picture myself clearly - mildly stoned on some Panama Red, killing my munchies with a Big Mac in the old fashioned non biodegradable Styrofoam container, taking the last drag of a Marlboro and flicking the butt on the ground and watching it roll, coming to rest underneath the gas tank of a brand new Ford Pinto. Then, I stumble into the corner record shop looking for a new album to drop on my new Hi-Fi stereo so I can come down nice and easy like. Jonathan Wilson’s Frankie Ray would be the perfect vehicle for that experience.

My first listen came at dusk, as I moved silently through the shadows of the city. Frankie Ray’s other worldly resonance was apropos for the first cool evening of September announcing the coming of fall and I will forever equate it with that season. Subsequent listens have been more banal in nature, such as fixing the wall in my bathroom and folding clothes. Yet Frankie Ray still manages to alter my perception and transport me to times long forgotten.

I know I’ve spent a lot of time reminiscing, but I have had an eye on the future the whole time. One of mans greatest achievements of the 21st century is personal electronics. As far as I’m concerned, mankind’s crowning achievement is the ability to enjoy music virtually anywhere. All 16 songs from Frankie Ray have become permanent additions to the library of my 2 GB iPod Mini. That’s a lot of valuable electronic real estate. And you know what? It’s worth every byte.-Johnny Hollywood

Johnny Hollywood Moment of 70’s AM Gold Inspired Fender Rhodes Drenched Zen Enlightenment: Carousel

Scareho- Friday Night Beaver Hunt (Scareho)
Vile, offensive, disgusting, sexist, crude, rude, juvenile, vulgar, offensive & sexist? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes yes, yes, yes & yes. Do they back up these repetitive distasteful songs with great musicianship? No. Scareho sucks. Their MySpace profile address is myspace.com/scarehosucks

The reason I love Scareho and Friday Night Beaver Hunt isn’t their musicianship or their over the edge song lyrics. I love them because they follow 3 basic rules of song writing:
1. REPETITIVE CATCHY PHRASES like"Iroc. Iroc. You Suck You Suck Iroc.
Iroc. You Suck You Suck Iroc. Iroc. You Suck You Suck." from Iroc. Over and over again
2. MUSICAL OR LYRICAL HOOKS like "your just a mercy fuck" from Mercy Fuck and the guitar hooks in Date Rape.
3. PERSONALITY with the phrasing and knowing when to throw in a clever lyric like "Botox. Multiple Cocks sent to detox" and in Sober Strippers "now that you’re a joy sore hit the door/Take that fat ass back to the dollar store" in Crack Whore. Despite the fact that they bill themselves as Old school hardcore and cover an old school Bad Posture Song -Time For Smack, they are actually a fun loving band full of hate along the lines of the Meatmen.Rich Hillen Jr.

The Clientele -God Save the Client(The Clientele)/(Merge Records)
I really had to warm up to this, like I had to for the last two Clientele records. Why? When I heard the Clientele's first offering, Suburban Light, it was like finding a treasure when I wasn't looking. I liken it to discovering a tattered paperback in a dusty used bookstore that you've never heard of, yet seemed to be written for you. It was like slipping said paperback into your brown overcoat and stealing into the October night to a coffee shop and finishing it, emotionally overcome by the experience. The sounds were warm and, while they were new-seemed worn to perfection.

With their last three releases the sounds are a little slicker and a little tighter, and it puts me off. I fell in love with their scratches and was scared to hear them buffed clean.

That is extremely unfair of me, and you know what? God Save the Clientele is a brilliant pop record. Musically it's the same tattered paperback I fell for, and also a bottle of summer wine. Alasdair MacLean's plaintive voice backed by the lush and autumnal backing of Mark Keen, James Hornsey and Mel Draisey still bring me to a distinctly European place with their tender songwriting and tales of distant memories. The best example is "Isn't Life Strange?", it evokes the same feeling that you would have with your beloved snoozing on your shoulder when you realize that 'Breathless" is just beginning on PBS. The Clientele are all about feeling and euphoria. God save them indeed.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Isn't Life Strange?

Matteah Baim-Death of the Sun(Matteah Baim)/(Dicristina)
You just don't hear Matteah Baim's spooky soundscapes. They wash over you. Filled with impressionist lyrics, found sounds, chants, whispers, and multi-layered instruments and beats, it's a quiet yet menacing experience. One moment it rumbles and the next moment it drifts. Helped along by such esteemed friends as Devendra Banhart and Jana Hunter but maintaining a unique and otherworldly vision, Baim is going to be interesting to watch develop. Fully informed of Psych-Folk, Ambient and Prog its a glistening package. One of the singular joys of it is its organization is the order of songs. Heard as intended they move you slowly from a sort of slumber to mad awakening and finally certain satori. From a whisper to a scream. An experience to be had to be sure.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Up is North

Office-A Night at the Ritz(Office)/(New Line Records)
My friends, we are in the midst of an underground Power-pop Renaissance and you don't even know it. New York's Murder Mystery, the Isles, and now Chicago's Office are keeping the spirit of three minutes alive and well.

These thirteen tight, taut and unforgettable tunes take me back to days of cranking Squeeze and the Raspberries at full blast. Just listen to 'If You Don't Know By Now' and I defy you not to listen to it again, and then to ever stop humming it. Scott Masson & co. know what they are doing and are doing it right. Throw this on the next time all the boys and girls are at your place spinning records in their socks and prepare for a late night. Pure pop bliss.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: If You Don't Know By Now

Little Aida-Mad Country(Little Aida )/(Second Shimmy)
One of my favorite trends in indie music is a tradition of deconstructing country music. From Nick Cave to X to Blood on the Saddle to Uncle Tupelo to Tarnation to 16 Horsepower the maverick American form has been an endless inspiration to some of indie's most creative minds.

Carrying on this grand plan is Australia's Little Aida. Returning after 10 years with this new record they come covered in dust and reeking of whiskey. In a quiet, quiet way mind you. Sister act Tessa & Susannah Rubenstein float into the cricket trumpeted night with weary tales of romance and loss. Lilting along passionately they deliver gems like "The Dam is Broken", and "Dream Pony" like a day in Nashville in a hypnotic state. A unique vision that you should hear.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Dream Pony

Bat for Lashes-Fur & Gold (Bat for Lashes )/(Caroline)
The other night I was on my out the door to see Bat for Lashes play in Philadelphia and someone asked me to describe their sound. I thought for a moment and offered "They pulse". Not in a dance rock way, but in a human body way. Their concocotion of Bass, Drums, Strings, and electro sounds feel like passionate life is passing into you. There is no denying and one cannot go without mentioning the heady eroticism that drips from Natasha Khan's every sung note.

Looking like an all girl cult that is part Norma Desmond and Part Manson cult, Bat for Lashes are the logical next step from Siouxsie and Bjork. Songs like 'Trophy' and 'What's a Girl to Do?' crush pop music in their fists and blow it back to you as glitter. They are on tour this month, in bars and clubs. Take advantage of the opportunity to stand mere inches from them before they become the superstars they are destined to be.-Trout

Mix Tape Song:What's A Girl to Do?

Taken by Trees-Open Field(Taken by Trees)/(Rough Trade)
When you purchase "Open Field" by Taken by Trees go directly to track 5 "Lost and Found". I'll explain why in a moment.

Taken by Trees is Victoria Bergsman's new project. You might remember her singing for the Concretes, or maybe on Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks". Either way you know she has a lovely voice. With a new record that I hope doesn't get pigeon-holed in the already too crowded 'Psych-folk" genre, she has created pretty much her own thing. Sometimes orchestral and sometimes spare, its all honest, true and beautiful. Her lilting voice, and pastoral lyrics evoke a summer day at a botanical garden with a special someone and a glass of nectar.

But, "Lost & Found", I have to say is aptly titled. On that track and also "Too Young" she evokes a spirit I thought lost. That little comfy thrill of Francoise Hardy's best days at Philips. It encompasses all the joy, attraction and mod hip-sway that the great Ms. Hardy brought us with treasures like "Comment Te Dire Adieu" and "Tout Les Garcons et les Filles" that makes being a music scholar magic. If she is coming to your town go see her, if you see her record buy it. This is a little bit of magic.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Lost & Found

The Sky Drops -Cloud of People(The Sky Drops )/(Northern Star)
The Sky Drops make music for the night. Sounds best heard in ones room while scribbling in a notebook or looking over scraps from the past. There is a lonely haunt and longing in their songs. From the windswept otherworldly feel of their vocals to the dreamy guitars that recall Kevin Shields a little (dig the distortion in 'The Go Go Go').

The Sky Drops are Rob Montejo and Monika Bullette. Both are no strangers to the independant scene and have been touring the east coast relentlessly behind this. Sadly, I have yet to catch them as I truly believe the din they create is probably transcendent live. I implore you, readers to go to their site, get the record and close your eyes...-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Hang On

The Lost Patrol -Launch and Landing(The Lost Patrol)/(CD Baby)
I often wonder if it bothers bands or artists when us critics play spot-the-influence when reviewing records. Do artists sigh and wish we would just take the stuff on its own merit, or is it somewhat satisfactory to see that we get their touchstones? I don't know, maybe some of you rock stars out there can help me with that.

I do know that with the Lost Patrol its almost impossible. Why? Because somehow, SOMEHOW they figured out a way to cram everything that's cool about pop culture into a sound and their new record. Between Danielle Kimak Stauss' breathless and otherworldly vocals, that sound like she is singing torch songs in a casbah on Venus, Stephen Masucci's internationally hip guitar signatures, Michael Williams and Seth Clifford's rythmic and architectural backing they sound like they are capable of anything. It's all here: Republic serials from the 40's, Angelo Badalamenti, Night-timey surf & twang, Siouxsie/Sisters Gothic strut and vintage 80's college rock jangle. There's even some Mod keys and of course...those vocals. On this, their seventh release they hone all of these conceits into a glittering stew, that you would be daft to miss.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Only Love

Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter /Like Love Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul/(Barsuk Records)
I shouldn't have received this in a plastic cd jewel case. In a perfect world I would have purchased at my favorite local record shop (like Philadelphia's AKA Music). It would have been in a gate fold 12 inch LP version. With thick coarse cardboard, and a gate fold that opened up to reveal song titles in a script like on the cover and who played what on each track. I can even picture it spinning around on my turntable with that great, classic orange Reprise label. Furthermore this record should be gathering ash sitting on top of the turntable from incense and passed around weed from my late night visitors in my farmhouse in the wilds of Pennsylvania circa 1974. It should be the subject of heated discussions and dissections with wet grass and chirping crickets just past the window. It should be sitting atop tattered copies of records by the Band, Joni Mitchell, the Allman Brothers and Emmylou Harris. Sure, those aren't her contemporaries and she truly should exist in today, but this is the realm this record puts me to...

Fronting a band so tight that they seem to have been born to play together she mashes so many influences together to make them indistinguishable in execution. Folk, barn storming rock, country-rock, confessional singer songwriter stuff, Americana-but it seems insulting to pigeonhole her or even mention influences. Her gigantic personality is all over this record and it bleeds like the longest, smokiest dark night of the soul since Bukowski spilled whiskey on a typewriter or Woolrich looked out a city window and shivered.

For instance, on 'The Air is Thin' she connects with her audience in ways that most singer-songwriters can only dream of: "When nobody listens to you/Does your heart remain/with the unsettled few/that are true?" going on to paean to her fellow disenchanted travelers that she knows that "The air is thin for you". in a fell swoop she scoops us all up in the middle of the night to band together and look for hope. In the musically perfect-night-timey "How Will We Know" her band washes us, baptizes us with a Hammond B3, pushing us to wonder if we just gaze at the moon, maybe it will be alright. The quiet and menacing "Hard Not to Believe" with its violins and muted twang take us on a night drive through the soul. But the centerpiece, the true masterpiece, the song that should be the soundtrack to every revelation felt on a country night near water under a still sky is "LLL". A screaming, perfect beautiful baby-monster of a song. It's a loud, lilting plea to understand a good-in-the-past and painful-memory-in-the-present memory of a time spent together with someone who no longer understands you.

The whole record is pure, burning bliss. I haven't heard anything that has moved me this much in a long, long time.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: LLL

Elizabeth Harper /Elizabeth Harper/(Angular Recording Corporation)
It was 11pm on a Friday night. I didn't want to go out, and I didn't want to stay up. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep. It seemed that night in my building there were parties everywhere. I had Gnarls Barkley blaring in my left ear and Whitesnake in my right. I put on a record I had received but hadn't listened to yet. Elizabeth Harper's self-titled debut. The second her voice poured out of my speakers like a sainted honeyed tongue I was transfixed. I was transported to her world of hopeful heart-break, of Sunday papers on Saturday nights, of ill-fated seaside drives and questionable trips over a bridge. The following week I traveled to see her perform at the Khyber in Philadelphia. I don't know if you have ever been there, but if you have you know it's a dump. A crumbling, filthy mess that is about as big as your living room and nowhere as near as welcoming. Just exactly the wrong place for the performance of such fragile beauty. As she took the stage 'neath water stained ceiling tiles, copious graffiti and peeled stickers a red light and green light divided her face. As she wiled her way through her catalogue it was an almost David Lynch-like placement of pretty art among squalor. Like Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" among the garbage and the flowers. She deserves better.

The record? A revelation. Backed by a lean instinctive combo who can twang like Badalamenti ("Trouble in the Palace", Rock Like a Baby"), twirl a mod edge like the Pretenders ("Parlor Window", "Don Juan"), rock New York-maudlin ("Clean Cut"), even sound like the great Philips house band that made Francoise Hardy sound so good ("Accidental Flirt"). But it's "Rock Like a Baby that owns my imagination. Existing in a smoky late night world where Roy Orbison and Gene Tierney reign supreme, it's torch song lilt is matched perfectly with the ebbs and flows of Harper's flawless voice. Every time she hits that "rah-rah-rah-rock like a baby" note my heart flutters and I forget what I am doing. Ever since I heard this record two months ago I have sung "Rock Like a Baby" to myself every time I am alone. I chant it like a mantra. I can't hit her notes, but I can feel her loneliness. If a record can get that far under your skin, you know it's worth hearing-Greg Trout

Mix Tape Song: Rock Like a Baby

Broadcast-The Future Crayon(Broadcast )(Warp Records)

Ever see the movie Alphaville? It’s Jean-Luc Godard’s classic French new-wave sci-fi flick from 1965. It concerns a private eye in the future (it’s a bit more complicated than that but that’s all you need for now). Rather than use special effects Godard merely used contemporary Paris as a stand-in for the future. When the hero needs to go to another planet, he merely gets in his Galaxie 500 and drives there. That’s what Broadcast sounds like to me. Everything cool about the past, and everything cool that may be in the future in one sound.

The Future Crayon is their B-Sides and Rarities collection. I often find these sorts of collections to be telling and fascinating glimpses into a bands psyche. Nick Cave’s was of the same ilk. Jesus and Mary Chain’s went on to actually eclipse their releases proper. The Broadcast collection serves as a reminder to the faithful and maybe a revelation to the unconverted.

Long, unfairly lumped into a category with Stereolab, Komeda, and Ivy (for their retro sounds and female euro-vocals). The Future Crayon proves that they are not so much a band as an artistic, collagist event. Various aspects of their eclectic sound are on shimmering display here. From the future meets the present at a super-cool discothèque pop sounds of “Illumination”, “Poem of Dead Song”, and “Unchanging Window”, to Dreamy, romantic soundscapes like “Chord Simple”, to challenging Musique concrete like ‘Hammer without a Master’ and ‘One-Hour Empire” Broadcast shine in their own distinct pop-art luster.

The ideal soundtrack for your super-cool cocktail party, or in my case the (current) perfect 3am I miss someone record, go get this one. Then go get the rest of their albums. -Trout

Mix Tape Song: Unchanging Window

Magnolia Electric Co.-Fading Trails(Magnolia Electric Co. ) (Secretly Canadian )

Literally, it is almost impossible to keep up with Jason Molina. Since 1997 he has released no less than 33 singles, eps, splits, and lps under his own name, Songs:Ohia, and the Magnolia Electric Co. So this creates a near-impossibility of writing with total credibility about each new release. That said the records I have heard have been some of my favorites of the past few years. Molina’s desperate voice and knack for matching words/riffs to emotional wreckage has created its share of familiar cringes in my heart.

His latest offering under the nom-de-plume Magnolia Electric Co. is the product of four different sessions, with four different sounds and four degrees of quality.

The first three tracks “Don’t Fade on Me”, “ Montgomery”, and “ Lonesome Valley” were produced by Steve Albini. I love what Albini brings out of artists. Check his production work in the past with PJ Harvey, the Auteurs and Low. He deals in scratching wounds and gouging out pure essence. Here, he pulls a punch out of Molina and co. I’ve not heard before. His voice is deeper, more resonant and the musical delivery cuts like a hot knife through cold butter. All of Molina’s bare-naked confessions of self-doubt, emotional horror and the fear of his lover ‘fading on him’ hurt just as bad as they hurt him. Tracks four and five “A Little at a time” and “That Old Horizon” was produced by Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven’s David Lowery and are a bit of a let down. Too lethargic and understated, they seem to be treading Smog territory. “Memphis Moon”, “Talk to My Devil, Again”, however are more mini-masterpieces this time recorded at historic Sun Studios in Memphis, TN. It almost seems as if the ghosts of past Sun luminaries like Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash are with him as emotional paeans are matched with a rollicking country-rock backdrop. Finally “Spanish Moon Fall and Rise”, and “Steady Now” are home recordings. I have never gotten the lo-fi appeal of the home recording. They usually don’t represent anything more than curios. The songs here are going to be brilliant one day with the full band backing.

As good a place to start as any, Jason Molina is a vital, if difficult treasure in the way too crowded singer-songwriter ocean.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Don't Fade on Me

The Sleepy Jackson -Personality:One was a Spider, One was a Bird (The Sleepy Jackson ) (Astralwerks)

I always felt like I owed the Sleepy Jackson one. In 2003 Luke Steele, their ubiquitous frontman, released their debut effort and it featured the single 'Good Dancers' and it pretty much saved my summer. I had hit hard times, had just moved into the smallest apartment in all of Philadelphia and was feeling pretty hopeless. Sometimes it just takes a good time summer song to make everything figure itself out, and that's what it did for me.

As a whole the record, Lovers, confused me, however. There were some really great songs (especially "Come to This", and "Miniskirt", probably the best country-rock song this century thus far). But it was just too eclectic. It seemed like too many things were trying to be accomplished.

Someone else must have mentioned this to Mr. Steele, because this time around things are a cohesive whole. In fact it’s the complete opposite of the first outing.

Creating a deep, lush palette that recalls Phil Spector's production work on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass , the record could almost be described as same-y if each and every song weren’t so memorable. It seems from the title that this is some sort of concept or song cycle, concerning everything from God to the perils of the road, The Sleepy Jackson have created a sweet box of candy, that once again threatens to save me from sadness and uncertainty. How do they do that? -Trout

Mix Tape Song-You Needed More

Midlake-The Trials of Van Occupanther(Midlake ) (World's Fair )

Can a record have a temperature, and a feeling of place? I think so. Midlake’s the Trials of Van Occupanther does. Spinning this I feel a warm room in the woods, I smell wood smoke, I taste red wine.

A few years back I picked up Rhino’s box-set Supernatural Fairy Tales: The Progressive Rock Era. Listening to bands like Caravan, Ange, and Traffic I was struck by the warmth these euro-hippies conjured. "We Gathered in Spring" even features an antiquated synthesizer evoking the classic work of Van Der Graaf Generator.

Not only does the Trial of Van Occupanther evoke that but it brings a communal, folksy spirit to the fore that is usually reserved for the early recordings of Fairport Convention, and Family. It sounds like the work of men sequestered in the wilderness caught in their own timeless reality and focused on their art, of late nights, and coffee stained mornings. Sometimes a record sounds like a bunch of songs some talented people put together and other times it sounds like you were invited to be a part of a place and time that may not happen again. -Trout

This is the latter.

Mix Tape Song: Young Bride

Richard Hawley-Coles Corner(Richard Hawley )(Mute)
Stuart A Staples-Leaving Songs

Mix Tape Song (Rickard Hawley): The Ocean
Mix Tape Song: (Stuart A. Staples): That Leaving Feeling

The Slow Poisoners -Melodrama (The Slow Poisoner ) (Cd Baby)

Low Skies-All the Love I Could Find (Low Skies ) (Flameshovel)

Yesterday I sat in my idling car waiting to pick up a friend. He was late. As I sat the sky grew dark and a storm swelled up I watched the rain soak my windshield and the boundaries and colors bleed around what once was defined space.

That’s what Low Skies sound like to me. Bled boundaries and blurred judgment. A while back I received their ep I Have Been to Beautiful Places and fell in love with the track “Five’s Gone Quiet”. It punched me in the gut. It gave me hope for post-punk and wanted more. In February I got it, and didn’t know what to do with it. I needed to digest it and let it flow through me. All the Love I Could Find is a terrifying record. Full of ill-defined thumbnail sketches of forgotten love, unpunished murder and forbidden trysts, it haunts me even as it’s playing. Like a musical Mary Gaitskill, just enough details are omitted to signal something dark and irreversible. Lurching around a sort of post-Band country morass, Chris Salveter commands unspeakable requests from the night in a passionate warble that almost hurts. Conventional song structures and chord changes are tossed to the wind in an aural stream of consciousness that demands repeated listening. This is a dark, challenging work from a pitch black band. And it’s my favorite record of 2006 thus far.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: The Cause of It

The World Famous Crawlspace Brothers(Crawlspace Records )

French intellectual Jean Baudrillard uses the concepts of the simulacrum-the copy without an original-toaddress the idea of mass reproductability thatcharacterizes our media culture. He believes that an artistic statement is never the mirror of it's successor. They can only be added to each other, and thus "know nothing of death". Abraham Maslow, "The Father of Psycholgy", wrestled with "the source of human evil" but was never able to formulate a conclusive theory. It is these twin devils, Sin and Fear of Death, which drive the new eponymously titled CD by The World Famous Crawlspace Brothers. They sing about serial killers. The songs are always heartfelt (occasional kitsch is merely added as a
vehicle of delivery) but the placement of the murderers in The Brother's hall-of-mirrors serves to desensitize us from the original heinous crimes. Art transcending Death? Perhaps. In any case, the carnivalesque odes and dirges that populate this Disc are truly brilliant. It opens with the jive-struck nocturne, "Mad Beast". The Gran Duchess Kiser Boneaparte provides feral Kate Pierson caterwauling. "Richard Speck" shimmers like the dew on Ivy Rorschach's thighs. When The Julian Barrett snarls "I have to kill her" (in "A Litany") I felt the silence of that falling star in Hank William's despondent sky. "Something Blue" features the phenomenal flatpicking of King Gary and recalls the backwoods purity of Clarence White. Richard Hillen Jr. emotes the bleak mindscape of the child-murderer
Ottis Toole with Jimmy Rogers precision. All in all, a sonic whirlpool of Dark Delights.
Buy this Disc!-Marcus Shepherd

Murder Mystery (MurderMysteryMusic.com)

A few days ago I was talking about the subject of dating. I referred to it as a ‘Blissful State of Hopeful Bewilderment’. In other words something that makes you ache and ecstatic simultaneously. Greenwich Village’s Murder Mystery have captured that feeling in song. Jeremy Coleman’s just-north-of-Lou-Reed’s vocals surf along on a jangly, intricate pop confection, that is as sweet as it is bitter. The four songs on this EP tell of love lost, unrequited from afar, misunderstood, and just plain felt. There is something happening in indie rock right now, with the likes of the Isles, New Estate and Murder Mystery. They don’t seem to be doing anything different, but something seems to be working. Put this record on the next time she doesn’t call back.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Who Doesn't Want to Give Me Love?

Easy Action-Friends of Rock & Roll (Easy Action .org)

From MC5 to the Stooges to Alice Cooper to the White Stripes to the Go Detroit has had an undeniable monopoly on fuzzed-out, loud, and at times scary Guitar rock. There, I began this review the same way every other writer on earth has. But let’s face it, if you come from Detroit and play riffs this raw and dirty, the previous mentioned bands are going to come up, but truthfully its good company. I don’t know if it’s the crime rate or just Midwest boredom, but no one turns out scary, grimy music like the Motor City. Take Easy Action, John Brannon of Negative Approach and the Laughing Hyenas latest band. Over the course of roughly 40 minutes, this disc delivers nothing short of sonic assault with your crotch in the crosshairs. Bringing with him the hardcore stance and sound (and vocals) that served him so well in Negative Approach, Brannon has created that rare creature: the successful music hybrid. The hardcore elements burn with authority and the rockin’ elements just plain rock. Extra flourishes like an organ that sounds like it was stolen from the Stax/Volt studio in 1971 only up the gritty ante. Proclaiming that ‘They are the friends of Rock and Roll’ is a pretty clear indication that we’re not intellectualizing here. This is a soundtrack for cheap beer, loud bikes, bar fights and a girlfriend named Rhonda. And if you’ve ever read anything I’ve written before, you know that’s just how I like it-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Worse For You

Allen Ginsberg-First Blues (Allen Ginsberg.org)

"Wake the Great Mother's corpse!" I once asked Allen Ginsberg what he meant by this quixotic line from his album "First Blues". His only response was "How did you manage to find that record?" Considered too pornographic by all of the Major Labels, this curious
batch of Ballads and Chanteys was originally released by John Hammond and has now been reissued on Water Records. "Cocksucker Blues" Director Robert Frank
provided the striking cover photography. The musicianship is stellar. Bob Dylan coaxes silvery chords from an old Guild and David Amram beguiles on French Horn, but it is the songs themselves that reveal The Old Scribe's true legacy. Ginsberg once performed the incendiary "Don't Smoke" to a mystified Dick Cavett on his Variety Show. "CIA Dope Calypso" is a true history of CIA involvement with Indochinese opium trafficking while "Gospel Noble Truths" finds the poet expounding on The Eightfold Path of Buddhism. It climaxes with the chilling decree "Existence is Suffering, it ends when you're dead."
Allen wrote "Father Death Blues" on a Harmonium on the way to his father's funeral. A solemn Ode of grief and deliverance, it is the most haunting song on the collection. "Capitol Air" is an early version of a Call-To-Arms he would later perform with The Clash.
Their audiences bellowed his testament, "I don't like Right-Wing Deathsquad Democracy!" Ginsberg's ex-lover Peter Orlovsky rounds out the anthology with the
whimsical "You Are My Dildo", taken from his own classic book "Clean Asshole Poems". He once scrawled a Haiku on the back of my copy of the record. I later
recited it to Allen and he repeatedly chanted it, aching like Dante with Unrequited Love. This is a Must-Have CD. - Marcus Shepherd

Broadcast-Tender Buttons(Broadcast at Warp Records ) (Warp Records)

First of all, Broadcast won my heart back in 1996 with their classic single "The Book Lovers", if you've never heard it, seek it out. It's a beautiful gem of pop hooks and literary smartitude. I've always dug Broadcast. Not only because they are a great band but because they take their status as an electronica combo (now duo) and constantly push it to new horizons. It seems electronic bands sound good at the outset and then can't figure out where to go next. Such as the problem with Air and Adult. But Broadcast surprise over and over. This time in a very risky move they augment their sound by not augmenting it. Approaching their new batch of songs with a decidedly spare and minimalist angle has made for perhaps their most exciting record yet. The blips and bloops are still evident in tracks like "Black Cat" and "I Found the F" But the real revelations come in the musique concrete of "America's Boy", the hauntingly sad ballad "Tears in the Typing Pool" and the downright sexy "Corporeal". I had the chance to see them perform recently here in Philadelphia and they were transcendent. Old French medical educational films were projected on them, the machines sounded warm and Trish Keenan’s voice and presence was cool and dreamy. Excellent. -Trout

Mix Tape Song: Black Cat

Tarentella-Esqueletos(Tarentella at Alternative Tentacles ) (Alternative Tentacles )

The Tarentella is a sicilian folkdance intended to ward off the effects of a tarantula bite. I cannot think of a more apt name for this atmospheric quartet. Led by argentinian born Kal Cahoone and backed by various members of Slim Cessna's Auto Club, this is the musical equivalent of the hallucinatory effects of venom, a steamy night full of red wine, straps sliding off shoulders, and a great crime novel wrapped in one. Coming from the same antiquary sort of dark star as 16 Horsepower, Nick Cave and Jolie Holland, Tarentella crams in twangy swamp rock, spanish influences (both continental and European), and good old fashioned Melodrama to fashion a stew that makes me as excited as the first time I ever heard the Gun Club. Check out tracks like "A Chi Sa Dome Sara", "Misa Gringa", and "Dame Fuego" and don't tell you don't feel a little bit in danger and a lot bit ecsatic.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: A Chi Sa Dove Sara

New Estate -Considering....(http://www.kittnet.com/catalog/019.php) (Kittridge Records )

I am really going to date myself here, but alas we all have our references. I remember a time, when we called "Indie Rock" "College Rock" and a band that looked bookish and like they dressed no different for photo shoots or shows than they did at home was the domain of the Modern Lovers, The Feelies, and Beat Happening. To hear music made by people that looked and, one assumed, acted like you was a rare and mysterious thing in those scary 80's. New Estate maintains that same aesthete. Listening to this CD I was reminded of sunny days driving to college listening to early Throwing Muses or Salem 66. Not a nostalgia band, this is just good, murky Indie pop. Where the mics sound hot and they sound like they just might lose control of the whole thing at any moment. Songs like "Free Sherry", "Broadway" and "Out of Control" really re-affirm my faith in the greatness of little Indie labels like Kittridge. Recommended-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Out of Control

Sir-The Night I Met My Second WIfe//www.pehrlabel.com/sir/index.htm) (Pehr)

This record came out in 2002. I found it late. Due to my respect of the great things coming from the Pehr label (Grimble Grumble), I decided to start mining the rest of their wares. This one took my breath away.Sir is the (once) husband and wife team of Elizabeth Downey and Jesse Jackson Shepherd, and it's the sound of the end. It's our generation's "Shoot out the Lights", for those in the not-know that’s the classic chronicle of a marriage ending from Richard Thompson (of my beloved Fairport Convention) and Linda Thompson. They chronicled the demise of their betrothal over the course of a masterful set of give and take songs each addressing/attacking the others sorrow. That's sort of the case here. Most of the dour work is Elizabeth's but Jesse gets a number in here and there. But this is it, the sound of the end, an ode to demise. To categorize it I would place it in the company of Tindersticks or Nick Cave. At first it's jarring in its lethargy. Each song a lilt of a twangy guitar and a scary far-off beat. Elizabeth sings of Jesse being "Too good to be true to me" and "Too handsome to be lonely". At one point Jesse chronicles 'The Night I Met My Second Wife' the record ends, and it's all over. This is not a record for the daytime and not for your next get together. This is a quiet paean to the end of a place in two people’s hearts. It's a place we've all been, and it hurts to hear, and it's a wonder to behold.-Trout

Mix Tape Song: Too Good