WAVVES - King Of The Beach (Fat Possum)

Last year was a bittersweet one for Wavves. The band released their excellent sophomore collection of fuzz punk early in the year to much acclaim only to be followed by mainman Nathan Williams less than brilliant performance at the Primavera Sound Festival in Spain after ingesting a cocktail of ecstasy and valium. Unfortunately some rather influential music sites on the interweb took to the incident like a LiLo moment on TMZ. Williams was suddenly painted as an unstable trainwreck at worst, and a dick at best. In reality Williams, who only a year before had released his first album, was feeling pressure to perform while coping with becoming an indie rock darling overnight, and made a very bad decision on how to deal with it all. Williams canceled the band's European tour so he could get his shit together and issued an apology that appeared pretty heartfelt, stating at the end "I made a mistake. Not the first mistake I've made and it for sure wont be the last. I'm human. Don't know why I chose the biggest platform I could imagine to loose my shit, but that's life. You live and you learn." Unfortunately the blogosphere were less forgiving. Williams broke his arm during a skateboarding accident a few weeks later, allowing everyone to recall and reprint the Primavera incident, subtly implying that Williams was still just kind of a trainwreck. Then there was a bar fight with the Black Lips (although Williams seemed more than justified to pop the Lips' Jared Swilley in the face). So yeah, it was kind of a contentious year for Nathan Williams, add to this that drummers came and went, and more than a few voices in the blogosphere questioned Wavves' sustainability.

Things started to turn late last year when former Jay Reatard backing band members drummer Billy Hayes and bassist Stephen Pope joined Williams to make Wavves a fully functioning trio. The band went into the studio together and began working on what would become "King of the Beach." Early on Williams announced that the album would signal a change in direction from previous records. He stated that he didn't want to make the same album again, and that the new album would be something completely different than what he had produced before. To his credit Williams wasn't kidding. "King of the Beach" sounds very little like Wavves' previous work, for better and worse.

The better is that the band has adopted a much cleaner production style, while still keeping the guitars nice and fuzzy. There is a crisp leanness to many of the tracks that serves the songs well. Williams has always been a skilled pop songwriter, but on previous works one had to dig beneath the rubble of lo-fi noise to get at the melodies. On "King of the Beach" the melodies are front and center. As a result, tracks like "Super Soaker" and "Post Acid" are on the short list for best songs of the year. Both are pop masterpieces of stop start dynamics, soaring choruses and inspired bridges and breakdowns. Even lesser tracks like "Idiot" are catchy as hell because hooks that previously would have been buried under static stand out crystal clear.

The worse is that when Williams attempts to stretch beyond the pop punk that he does best, he falls flat. "When Will You Come" is the album's first indication that not all of the songs are going to be in the red guitar blowouts. It's a pleasant enough drowsy slab of 60s SoCal beach pop, but nothing revelatory. Unfortunately Williams doesn't stop there. Songs like "Baseball Cards" "Mickey Mouse" and the unforgivable "Convertible Balloon" drag the album down with songs that sound like half-hearted attempts to cross breed the Beach Boys with Animal Collective. Thankfully Hayes and Pope save the day with their contributions "Linus Spacehead" and "Baby Say Goodbye" both of which provide strong album closers. Hopefully these guys will step up to the plate more often in the future, especially when Williams gets the urge to pull out "Pet Sounds" for inspiration.

In the end "King of the Beach" is a mixed bag. The album contains some of the best songs of this year, but also some of the most underbaked (or maybe overbaked given Williams propensity for weed). I still strongly recommend it because the highs outweigh the lows and the highs are really high (no weed pun intended this time). Even if you have to live with "Convertible Balloon," the songs that make this album worthwhile are plentiful and they are so good that they easily allow for a blind eye toward the few songs that admittedly suck. It's good to see Williams stretching out a bit and changing things up, but a great songwriter knows their limitations as well. As Williams said in his apology for the Spanish incident, "you live and you learn." Hopefully he adopts that same attitude to the experiments gone wrong on "King of the Beach."

Wheeler, who apparently hates all things fun, really hates Wavves, as will become abundantly clear in a moment. The following is a smattering of her commentary as I listened to the entire album:

"Why are you playing Blink 182?"
"How can you listen to this without hurting someone or yourself?"
"Do we have to listen to this whole thing? I'm not even trying to give you quotes here."
"Can't have a hipster album without video game sound effects, can ya?"
"Oh God, sounds like someone has been listening to 'Pet Sounds'."
"What happened is he smoked too much pot and recorded this high and didn't play it for anyone else before he released it."
"I actually like this part - the part where it is ending. No, seriously I like that outro."

"Super Soaker" live


Awesome Charlie Brown "King of the Beach" fan video

BEST COAST - Crazy For You (Mexican Summer)

There has been a steadily growing buzz surrounding Best Coast's debut album "Crazy For You" that began months ago with the release of the band's early eps and singles. Now, it's my opinion that too much blogger buzz is usually a harbinger of bad things to come. More often than not decent, but not great, bands like Girls, are overhyped to the point that their decent, but not great, album ends up ultimately being a let down. Even worse, absolutely shitty bands like Neon Indian are crowned musical saviours. I can't tell you how many times I tried to listen to "Psychic Chasms" wondering what it was I was missing before realizing that blog buzz is, more often than not, a self-perpetuating bullshit machine. I would go so far as to argue that there is an indirect proportion between the quality of a band, and/or record, and the amount of pre-release buzz they receive. So it was with great trepidation that I approached Best Coast initially. Their early singles certainly hit my soft spot; girl fronted garage pop, but they didn't rock my world nearly as much as similar artists the Vivian or Dum Dum Girls. Then "Boyfriend" leaked. A simple pop song with a slightly downbeat flavor that reflected the longing in mainwoman Bethany Cosentino's gorgeous voice, "Boyfriend" completely captivated. Suddenly all those earlier singles sounded like a prelude to something grander, and any trepidation I had quickly turned to anticipation.

Thankfully, "Crazy For You" does not disappoint. More than that though, it actually merits, matches and one-ups all of the hype leading to its release. Yeah, it's that good. At the center of the album's success is Bethany's voice. The band's early singles were typically fuzzed out affairs that buried her vocals under layers of noise. Even while maintaining plenty of lo-fi jangle, "Crazy For You" offers cleaner production that highlights her voice; and what a voice it is. Reminiscent of sweet, but powerful, 60s girl group vocals, Bethany possesses the range to coo, snarl or soar in equal goose bump inducing measure. Her voice is absolutely intoxicating, and easily the most powerful instrument on the record.

Vocals alone does not a great album make though. The album wouldn't be the work it is without top-notch songwriting and instrumentation, of which "Crazy For You" has in spades. As a songwriter, Bethany has crafted 13 pitch-perfect sun-soaked pop ditties about things like boys, weed, boys, summer, boys, cats, and, if you can believe it, boys. Lyrically Bethany is a one woman girl group updated for modern sensibilities. Traditional lovesick lyrics are punctuated by nods to sex and drugs with a sly wit and humor that will have fans shouting out lyrics and grinning ear to ear, as they recently did at Pitchfork when Bethany delivered the lines "I lost my job, I miss my mom, I wish my cat could talk," during a performance of "Goodbye," one of the album's many highlights.

Musically, as well, the band keeps it seemingly simple but with plenty of twists, turns and subtle flourishes to warrant a close listen. Bethany and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno create a rock solid sound that is equal parts jangle pop and traditional girl group. At times Bethany's vocals are multi-tracked to achieve the girl group sound, which is complemented by the band's simple restrained playing in places and contrasted in others when they go for broke on tracks like "I Want To." Some songs, like "Honey," "Boyfriend" and "When The Sun Don't Shine," features a bit of shoegaze inflected rock that provides comforting layers of guitar to match Bethany's voice. Overall, there is a lot more musical variety present here than what was evidenced on the band's early singles. That variety, along with Bethany's songwriting and vocals, make "Crazy For You" one of the most satisfying repeat listens of the year.

So yeah, for once the Internet hype was right. Best Coast pretty much rules. They are the whole package, and "Crazy For You" will deservedly end up on a lot of year end lists for 2010. I don't recommend waiting that long to pick it up though, because this is a summer album through and through. Play this at the beach, the pool, on the front porch, the back deck, in your car with the windows down, wherever. Just play it. I promise that you'll be happy that you did.

Wheeler says: "This is the official mid to end-of-summer soundtrack, so declares Wheeler."

"When I'm With You" 7" version


Interview and early version of "Crazy For You" live


"Goodbye"


"Boyfriend"

THE BOOKS - The Way Out (Temporary Residence)

Way back at the beginning of this strange century the Books emerged with a sound that seemed to reflect the frenzy of our times. Appearing amidst the height of post-rock and toward the end of glitch the duo of guitarist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong combined elements from both genres into a wholly original sound. Mixing bizarre spoken word and vocal samples with original instrumentation the band's sound bordered at times on aleatory, but was too tightly constructed to be. It sounded like chaos, sure, but it was controlled chaos. Their cut and paste compositions mirrored the speed and information overload of the world we were living in, slowing on occasion long enough to focus on individuals caught in the midst of the whirlwind full of fear, longing and sometimes wonderment. Although their music clearly grew out of the duo's advanced understanding of experimental composition, it never sounded academic or clinical, instead, more often than not, there was a sublime quality in their work that allowed listeners to feel connected to their humanity amidst the post-modern insanity. It was also, at times, darkly hilarious, given the duo's choice of vocal samples.

"The Way Out" is the band's fourth album and their first release in five years, and for the first time The Books sound less like a reflection of our times and more like one big in-joke between Zammuto and de Jong. New Age self-help tapes appear to be the primary source of inspiration for the band here, which greatly diminishes the appeal of the album over time. Ramblings about consciousness and energy centers of the body are suspect at best, annoying as hell at worst. Either way once the joke (at least I hope it is a joke) has played out over the first couple of listens there isn't much to warrant repeat plays. In the past the band sampled various vocal snippets throughout a song to create meaning between disparate sources, here songs are often dominated entirely by the same spoken word source throughout. "Chain of Missing Links" consists of a single new age guru talking about who knows what before the band edits his final sentence to make what is basically a zombie joke. "Group Autogenics I" does combine sound sources, but given the sameness of themes concerning new age meditation and consciousness it's hard to understand why the band even bothered cutting and pasting vocals for the piece.

Some tracks feature original recorded vocals like "Beautiful People," a religious hymn about an irrational number in trigonometry. I'm sure this shit will kill at M.I.T., but I don't pretend to begin to understand it. The idea of a religious hymn to math is kind of funny, and certainly there is plenty of fodder here for a discussion about reason and spirituality, but frustratingly the piece feels like a missed opportunity. In the past, The Books achieved transcendence by building tension that would break against moments of pure musical beauty that was usually punctuated by a well placed vocal sample. Here the band stifles those moments with either all too clever lyrics like "Beautiful People," or obnoxious spoken word samples like "Chain of Missing Links."

Musically the band's compositions are pleasant enough, but there is nothing here as inspired as their work on "Food For Thought" and "The Lemon of Pink." "I Didn't Know That" and "A Cold Freezin' Night" certainly sound like The Books, but they also sound kind of like some grad student's thesis performance in experimental composition who has a grand appreciation of Les Claypool, and I don't mean that in a good way, not that it could ever be taken in a good way. The band incorporates more original "sung songs" on this album than in the past, which does little to improve matters. With the exception of "Beautiful People" the album's other original vocal tracks "We Bought the Flood" "All You Need Is A Wall," and "Free Translator" are so subdued and, frankly, normal that there would be no reason to suspect that they were Books songs if you heard these tracks outside of the context of the album.

Not everything is a wash. "I Am Who I Am," reminds one of what a good Books song sounds like. Sliced and diced spoken word samples come in and out of the piece as the band lays down a propulsive electronic soundscape that verges on techno before some crazed speaker starts screaming about who is he. The band punctuates his rant by fitting their beats to the rhythm of his speech. It's pretty inspired stuff, and sticks out all the more because of what is, sadly, the mediocrity of the rest of the album.

I feel bad about having to give "The Way Out" such a poor review. At their best The Books blend humor, intelligence, art and humanity into a seamless whole. Unfortunately they seem to have lost the script here, instead focusing on quick and easy jokes about a new age culture that needs no help in being hilarious. At one time The Books were a reflection of our times, and in turn each of us, with "The Way Out" they appear to be as guilty of navel gazing as the ridiculous subjects of their spoken word samples.

Wheeler says: "What is this? Are you fucking with me?" After a few more minutes...."I'm vetoing this. That is it for the 'let's fuck with Wheeler moment."

"Beautiful People" unofficial video


"A Cold Freezin' Night"

SUN KIL MOON - Admiral Fell Promises (Caldo Verde Recordings)

It takes a special kind of musical talent to be able to stand alone with just a voice and an acoustic guitar and make music that captivates for the length of an entire album. It's a pretty short list of musicians that can do that sort of thing. Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, of course, Nick Drake, Johnny Cash, Townes Van Zandt, Elliot Smith, the point is that it isn't just anyone who can conjure magic with only vocals and a guitar. "Admiral Fell Promises" confirms once and for all that Mark Kozelek is indeed one of those rare talents who can produce an entire album full of compelling and emotionally resonant songs with just his voice and a guitar.

Kozelek's third album of original material under the Sun Kil Moon moniker, "Admiral Fell Promises," is also his first all acoustic studio album. Certainly Kozelek has produced similar albums before, but they have been live recordings usually consumed solely by die-hard fans. This is the first time that he has stepped forward without the aid of a backing band or collaborators and produced a wholly original album within the solo acoustic framework. While on paper one may fret over the absence of varying instrumentation to fill out Kozelek's songs, a single listen to "Admiral" will assuage any fears (and trust me, I had those fears. What makes "Duk Koo Kim" the "Stairway to Heaven" of indie rock - and it is - is its slow burning electric guitar, percussion, drums and strings, so I was more than apprehensive when I learned of Kozelek's approach here).

Kozelek's voice has always been immensely powerful. Hell, even his speaking voice is alluring, so it isn't entirely surprising that it could carry an album. What makes "Admiral" so successful, though, are the compositions, as well as Kozelek's talents as a guitarist. Kozelek has crafted an album of songs that are as gorgeous as they are complex, which is no small feat. Album highlight "Third and Seneca" is a perfect example. While Kozelek is tossing off lines like "scenesters with their beards and tennis shoes, skinny girls and pudgy ugly dudes," he is also meticulously crafting bridges of classical guitar breakdowns, as well as shifting musical movements.

The album is split between sublime love songs and dark autumnal numbers. What is kind of amazing is how seamlessly each blends together. This isn't an album where you skip the romantic numbers when you are in a dark place, although I'm not so sure the same is true in reverse, regardless of how seamlessly they flow. Overall this is an album that will play best late at night or in the fall and winter.

As far as the songs to put on your new girlfriend's mix tape, "You Are My Sun" is my vote for the most romantic song of the year. A gently picked number that features Kozelek comparing his lover to all the things she reminds him of is punctuated by a multi-tracked delivery of her name, "Leanna," that will have any listener swooning. The album's titular track finds Kozelek continuing to woo with lines like "a million nights lead to this one night we are spending, and I know it's better here than anywhere I've been going," while playing overwhelmingly exquisite guitar motifs. Although the song's final lyrics are ambiguous it hardly matters in the face of such beauty.

Like I said, though, there is some dark stuff here. Tragedy casts its long shadow over the deeply affecting "Half Moon Bay." Early on Kozelek sings of "the painful midnight cry, when one leaves the world behind," and spends the rest of the song attempting, and failing, to pick up the pieces as a survivor left behind. "Australian Winter" and "Church of the Pines" are equally drab (in a good way) and meditative. "Church" is one of the only songs here that subtly introduces extra instrumentation. There is a tiny touch of brushed percussion to compliment Kozelek's multi-tracked vocals and guitar that makes it easy to imagine what this song could have been had he instituted a full backing band. Fortunately the song is still a highlight on an album full of them, so even though it nods ever so slightly toward the fuller sound of previous Sun Kil Moon albums, the song is perfect as is.

"Admiral Fell Promises" is easily the most beautiful album of this year. It isn't entirely surprising that I would be writing that about a Sun Kil Moon album. What is surprising is that after all of these years Mark Kozelek can entirely forgo the aid of a backing band, and all of the instrumental flourishes they have provided, to captivate singularly with his voice and talent as a guitarist and join the ranks of those legends I mentioned earlier. This is the wheat separated from the chaff, it is the album that solidifies Kozelek as the talent he has always been.

For whatever reason Koz has never penetrated Wheeler's cold cold heart, but she did say this: "I liked him in Shopgirl."

"You Are My Sun"


"Third and Seneca"


"Australian Winter"

Pitchfork: Let's Do This!

Seems that Sunday is the day that everyone and their brother are going to be at Pitchfork. Might have something to be with some allegedly legendary indie rock band that I've never heard of...Asphalt, or Concrete or something like that. They reunited after splitting over a decade ago and supposedly it's going to be awesome. N E way, before everyone gets hopped up on Sparks and forgets their own names here are just some bands you might want to check out before hand:

Best Coast - "When I'm With You"


Washed Out - "Feel It All Around"


Beach House - "Zebra"


Local Natives - "Airplanes"


Lightning Bolt - "Dracula Mountain"


Surfer Blood - "Swim"


Big Boi - "Shutterbug"


And that one band, who are apparently called Pavement, although I like Asphalt better...but whatevs, it's alright, I guess.

Seriously folks! Fucking Pavement!!!

Countdown to Pitchfork...

Not sure who to see up in Chicago this weekend? Let's continue checking out some of the sounds that will be going down. Here are more of Saturday's featured acts:


Raekwon - "House of Flying Daggers"


Why? - "These Hands/January Twenty Something"


Wolf Parade - "I'll Believe in Anything"


Panda Bear - "Comfy in Nautica"


LCD Soundsystem - "All My Friends"

Countdown to Pitchfork continued...

This week we'll be featuring some of the acts that will be playing at the Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend in Chicago. Yesterday we looked at some of Friday's acts like Modest Mouse, Tallest Man on Earth and others. Today let's check in with some of Saturday's bands...

Real Estate - "Suburban Beverage"


Kurt Vile - "Blackberry Song"


Titus Andronicus - "A More Perfect Union"


Dam-Funk - "Mirrors"


The Smith Westerns - "My Heart"

Countdown to Pitchfork

This weekend the annual Pitchfork Music Festival will once again unfold at Chicago's Union Park. Say what you will about Pitchfork, they know how to put on a festival. Every year festival organizers fill the bill with some of the most legendary independent musical acts alongside buzzworthy newbies. Every year I have attended I have come across a new act that caught my attention, and old ones that I grossly underestimated. It's also always a great place to chill with friends, eat affordable local food, check out some cool art and record label swag, as well as people watch while waiting in line at the port-o-potties. Being in Chicago, it kind of feels like a regional event as well, and because of that I'm going to take this week to feature some of the acts playing this year's festival. I won't be able to feature everyone here, but I'll try to highlight some of the best on deck, of which there are plenty. So enjoy as I gild the lily over the next few days...and remember if you hear something here you don't already have, well...you know what to do. Get down to the store and pick it up. You don't want to be that loser that doesn't know what song Big Boi or Washed Out is playing, do you?

Here is a taste of some of Friday's acts, including an amazing live performance by Modest Mouse:

The Tallest Man On Earth - "The Gardener"


EL-P - "Stepfather Factory"


Liars - "Scissor"

Liars "Scissor" from A Bruntel on Vimeo.

Broken Social Scene - World Sick


Modest Mouse - "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine"

WILD NOTHING - "Gemini" (Captured Tracks)

I really wanted to hate this album. The 80s revivalism over the last few years has seen 80s komische, dance, industrial, new wave and what was once generically called "alternative" plundered by modern independent artists initially for inspiration, but increasingly for counterfeit. At first artists co-opted elements of the 80s and mixed them with whatever genre of indie they were trafficking in, while crafting their own sound. That sound, wasn't just a reproduction of the 80s, it was, in fact, something new. A band like Blank Dogs certainly stole generously from the Cure, but the grimy lo fi take on Robert Smith's spooky minimalist rock was something different. Yeah, it struck the mystic chords of memory for anyone who came who came of age in the 80s, but it didn't feel like the eternal return. There were shades of the familiar that drew listeners like myself in, but it wasn't like we were stuck in Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. Increasingly though, more and more musicians are skimping on the innovation altogether and appear content to simply repeat, or rather rip-off, the past. Nothing pisses me off more than skimping on innovation, especially when the pillaging that is taking place happens to be of MY past. If I want to hear a band that sounds like the Cure, I'll pull the goddamned Cure out and put them on my turntable, I don't need to hear a hipster's second tier interpretation. Certainly I have let it slide already with plenty of bands, but I always knew in the back of my mind that if things kept going as they were, there was going to be one band too many - a bridge too far - that would break the camel's back and cause me to lose my shit altogether against the wholly unoriginal tripe that passes for "new" and "fresh" these days.

When I first heard Wild Nothing I thought for sure this was it. I was positive this would be the band I would unleash all of the pent up anger over this continuous musical necrophilia. To make it worse they are tweer than twee, and I like twee, Belle and Sebastian are one of my favorite bands of all time, but Christ they are twee. Just listen to the lyrics of "Live in Dreams," the lead track from Wild Nothing's debut album "Gemini," the chorus of which is; "Cause our lips won't last forever and that's exactly why I'd rather live in dreams and I'd rather die." I mean, this is the kind of shit that Edward Cullen and Bella Swan listen to together. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that? Oddly enough; love it in spite of myself.

Yes it sounds like so many C86 bands, and yes it recalls, nay copies, the whole general sound of pre-shoegaze indie rock, and yes, it's a second tier interpretation of the Cure (among others), or, for you youngins, an even more twee Pains of Being Pure at Heart, but damn if the songs aren't catchy-as-hell. These are perfectly written pop jewels, well except for some of those ridiculously maudlin lyrics. Yet, even the lyrics are saved by Jack Tatum's delivery and voice. It's all dream-pop romanticism, and, try as I might, as someone who still gets chills when Morrissey croons during "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out," I am not immune to Tatum's wiles.

The whole thing actually becomes downright impressive when you consider that Wild Nothing is Tatum and Tatum alone. "Gemini" was recorded as a one man affair, but you wouldn't know. Wild Nothing sounds like a fully formed band more so than any other bedroom act. That fact alone makes Tatum's 80's revivalism somehow more palatable. This is his voice, and his alone. This isn't a band who got together and decided they wanted to one up Pains of Being Pure At Heart, this is a guy saying 'hey, this is me, this is what I like and this is what it sounds like.' If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Tatum is clearly an even bigger fan of the sounds that informed much of my teenage years than I. For that I admire him. That and the fact that he's a pretty damn good songwriter who put together an album that sounds nothing like a one man project.

Another endearing aspect of "Gemini" is Tatum's ability to combine the sunny with the dreary. The pitch perfect "Summer Holiday" sounds exactly like its title, while "Confirmation" is just as kinetic, but darker and more desperate sounding. Between seemingly happy pop numbers, majestically sounding down beat tracks like "My Angel Lonely" "The Witching Hour," and title track "Gemini" shine. Tatum doesn't flip the script or slow things down to a mournful pace, as much as he darkens his jangly pop palette with shades of grey.

So, like I said, in spite of myself I kind of love this album. It isn't life changing, although maybe it could be for a teenager who hasn't already had their life changed by the Smiths, but it is a damn fine indie pop album. I would at least like to say that this isn't something that I would consciously put on, but instead enjoy when it appears on my iPod during shuffle mode, but that would be a lie. A lot of these songs have become addictive and I find myself rushing to put them on when the little earworms they have planted do their trick. In the end, I have to begrudgingly admit that Jack Tatum and his Wild Nothing are great, and "Gemini" has stilled the beast within that seeks recompense for the incessant pillaging of the 80s. This was going to be the album I loved to hate, but instead it turned out to be the album that I just plain loved.

Wheeler says: "Is this House of Love? It's not? Well, it's been done before."

"Summer Holiday" live


"Live in Dreams" unofficial video

WILD NOTHING - LIVE IN DREAMS from John Paul on Vimeo.

"Gemini" live

BIG BOI - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (Purple Ribbon/Def Jam)

Of the stupidest decisions made by a record company in recent years is the one made by Jive records to cock block the release of Big Boi's, a/k/a Antwan André Patton, proper solo debut "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty." Originally set for release in 2008, the album quickly became a point of contention between Patton and Jive, whose parent company, Sony Music Entertainment, had released Outkast's classic and innovative albums "Aquemini" and "Stankonia." Jive felt the album was not "radio-friendly" enough, but instead "a piece of art" that, according to Patton, they didn't know what to do with. Patton has said that they wanted something a little more in line with Little Wayne, than apparently the groundbreaking work he had already produced as one half of Outkast. As a result, Patton left Jive records altogether to release the album on Def Jam, but not before Jive's shortsighted doucheness robbed the album of three songs featuring Patton's Outkast partner André "André 3000" Benjamin, including, unforgivably, the much heralded "Royal Flush" (Outkast still have one album left on their Jive/Sony contract and Jive prevented anything resembling Outkast from being released on Patton's album). Maybe part of Jive's problem was perception. Big Boi has always been seen as the more "normal" member of Outkast in comparison to the more flamboyant and tripped out André 3000. Jive probably thought they could count on Big Boi for a banging Dirty South party album, and instead got something more in line with the popular experimentation that made Outkast so damn unique in the first place. Regardless of the reasons for their disconnect, Jive fucked up - big time. Big Boi's proper solo debut is a sound to behold. It's a hip hop album for the ages.

Like Ghostface Killah and Raekwon before him, Big Boi has produced a solo work that sets him apart from the legendary group from which he sprang. And like Ghostface and Raekwon's classic albums, "Sir Lucious Left Foot" sounds like nothing else. There is certainly a bit of the Dirty South flavor here, but this is far from a southern rap album. If this were food it would be fusion with a southern undertone. It's just as satisfying as a well cooked traditional meal, but way more complex. Take a song like "Daddy Fat Sax;" with a beat that will rattle the hell out of any subwoofer, the song also features a melody of chilly synths that wouldn't sound out of place on an Oneohtrix Point Never album. Understand, though, this isn't Big Boi grabbing onto current trends and mixing them up with hip hop beats, not only because most of these tracks are at least two years old, which places these songs well ahead of the curve, but because Patton, the constant innovator, has crafted a wholly original sound on "Sir Lucious," with zero regard for anyone else's trendsetting. He is, as he declares throughout "Sir Lucious," a leader, not a follower. That isn't bravado, it's just a simple fact. Even while ensuring that the tracks have at least one toe in traditional head-bobbing, booty-shaking territory, Patton is constantly taking left turns at every corner. For instance, "Follow Us," contains a catchy as hell rousing pop chorus that could easily have ended up sounding like one of those crappy bands that Jive loves so much, but instead Patton's wordplay and a synth arpeggio that runs throughout the piece elevates it into something else entirely. It's just as catchy and just as accessible as what passes for popular music these days, but instead of crushing your soul it's actually good for you.

This is where Jive's, and by extension most major labels', shortsightedness, really comes into focus. "Follow Us," along with the pitch perfect "Shutterbug" and the deliriously wonderful "Night Night" are some of the finest hip-hop pop songs of this, or any, year; and those are just the tracks that immediately come to mind. The fact that no one at Jive could find a hit on this album is pathetic beyond belief, proving a disturbing lack of imagination at Sony. But enough of my anti-major label rant, back to the wonderfulness that is "Sir Lucious Left Foot."

Two tracks that deserve special attention are the album's heaviest - "General Patton" and "Tangerine." "Patton" is all well-earned bravado whose muscle comes not from the beat, but from a repeated horn fanfare and the chorus of an Italian opera. It's a banger all right, but it sounds like nothing else, other than Big Boi's ceaseless innovation. "Tangerine" is dark dank and x-rated. Toms bash out the beat, while a subdued blues guitar winds its way through the hot and heavy track like a snake. The song also contains the refrain "shake it like a tambourine," and once you hear "Tangerine," you may forget all about shaking it like a Polaroid.

It isn't just Patton's ability to stretch musical boundaries that makes "Sir Lucious Left Foot" the success it is, lyrically as well Big Boi never ceases to amaze. Patton's rapid fire delivery punctuated by perfectly timed breakdowns of certain words in service of the rhythm makes for one of rap's truly great voices. Combining bravado, horniness and social commentary (often within the same track), Patton's lyrics, even at their rawest, are sometimes thought provoking, sometimes grin inducing, but always brilliantly constructed.

In the face of delays, label drama, and wrongly being considered the less creative half of Outkast, "Sir Lucious Left Foot" is Big Boi's vindication. It's an album that reinvigorates a genre, taking its place alongside other boundary busting classics like "The Black Album," and "Graduation," while, at the same time, providing a mid-career revival similar to Raekwon's return to greatness on "Cuban Linx II." More than anything though, "Sir Lucious" sounds fresher than fresh. This isn't a titan returning to form, this is an innovator hammering out new ideas and sounds that moves minds and bodies, in equal measure, at every delirious twist and turn.

Wheeler was too busy shaking it like a tambourine to comment on this album, other than to say "I need this."


"General Patton"


"Follow Us"


"Shutterbug"


"Shine Blockas"

Big Boi Ft. Gucci Mane - Shine Blockas Video from SNORTTHIS.COM on Vimeo.

Happy July 4th courtesy of Galaxie 500

To help celebrate the holiday, as well the recent reissues of Galaxie 500's classic albums "Today" "On Fire" and "This is Our Music," here is a video for the band's "Fourth of July"



While we are at it, let's enjoy some more Galaxy 500, shall we? If you don't already know and love Galaxie 500, it's okay, I promise not to point and laugh. Since life is a learned experience, there is always going to be a point in time when you were not nearly as cool or wise as you will be after learning something new. But, after reading this and listening to these tunes, you have no excuse. This is your chance to discover and learn about one of the most important and awesome bands in the history of American music.

Consisting of indie icons Dean Wareham, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, and spanning the period from 1987 to 1991, the band is pretty much responsible for more than a few genres (dream pop, slowcore, even, it could be argued, chillwave). Their originality and incredible songcraft backed by the undeniable talents of its members, quickly made them one of the most revered bands in the American underground. The same year that "Daydream Nation" was released, Thurston Moore declared Galaxie 500's "Today" the "guitar record of 1988." The band's acrimonious split in '91 didn't stop their legend from growing, and since that time their shadow over independent music has only grown longer and larger, making Galaxie 500 one of the most essential American bands alongside Velvet Underground, Big Star, Husker Du and Sonic Youth.

It's only appropriate then that on this most American of holidays we celebrate one of the country's great musical legacies...and if you haven't already, get down to the shop and pick up their reissues. If you don't then I am going to point and laugh at you the next time I see you, since you won't have any excuse now for not knowing and loving Galaxie 500.

"Tugboat" live


"Strange" live


"Blue Thunder"

Galaxie 500 - New Music - More Music Videos

BEACH FOSSILS - s/t (Captured Tracks)

Ever summer needs its soundtrack. More than any other season summer requires a defining cannon of music. This isn't to say that music isn't just as important throughout the year, but each season's musical needs are different. Certainly fall and winter need their backing score, but their soundscapes are often comprised of comfort choices dictated by nostalgia and the need to survive the year's darkest months. For instance, once the leaves start to turn and the skies darken, I find myself queuing up shoegaze artists like Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine as well as metal bands like Immortal and Slayer, the former as the audial equivalent of a security blanket, while the latter provides the spark needed to survive though the cold dark months. Spring, on the other hand, requires a disparate cacophony of sounds to shake off the darkness of winter. Summer, though, summer demands something new, bright and shiny.

Enter Beach Fossils. Picking up on both the lo-fi and chillwave threads of the last couple of years the band seamlessly combine both trends into a unified sound on their bright and shiny new self-titled debut. In the process they have crafted the perfect summer record. The album's eleven songs all grow out of the band's basic template of dreamy reverbed vocals and picked guitar melodies over restrained drums and subdued, but busy, bass. There are all sorts of points of reference that jump out on first listen - early R.E.M., the Feelies, Real Estate, maybe a sunnier, less British, version of mid-80s Cure and New Order. To the band's credit, though, while all of those nostalgia-baiting touchstones are unavoidable, in the end these guys have their own sound going on. Maybe it is the utter consistency by which these guys stick by their own blueprint, or maybe because nothing else sounds this simultaneously relaxed and invigorating. You can nap to this, or you can have a party, preferably a beach party, of course, regardless this album makes either choice equally viable.

What criticisms there have been of Beach Fossils is that there is too much consistency too much of the same that it threatens to become sonic wallpaper, easily blending into the background. I get where those critiques are coming from, but it also shows a lack of attention on the part of critics. Eventually each song emerges on its own terms and highlights like "Twelve Roses," "Golden Age" and "Daydream" stand out. Furthermore, even if the album's sonic sameness is overly consistent, it's consistent in a good way - it's a perfect sound, so why complain about eleven perfectly crafted and performed indie-pop songs?

Lyrically the band comes off a bit more introverted, as reflected in the reverbed vocals of lead man Dustin Payseur. Some songs are straightforward, like "Vacation," and "Youth," which explore the freedom and longing that both provide, while others, like "Daydream" and "Sometimes" are more vague, featuring generalized lyrics that allow listeners to personalize their meaning. Here too the band hits the sweet spot. What could be more inviting for a summer record than hazy, but sunny pop songs with just the right amount of wanderlust?

This is music that wraps around you and fits like that pair of your favorite worn Chucks that you lace up as you are getting ready to hit the road. It's the music of those dust particles caught in late-afternoon light, as well as the sun and the breeze that runs through your hair when the window is rolled down and you are going in the opposite direction of your hometown. It's the music of both comfort and new adventure. In other words, it is the perfect summer soundtrack.

Wheeler says: "It's sleepy, but it's good and it makes me want to tap things."

"Daydream" acoustic live


"Lazy Day" live


"Twelve Roses" live


"Vacation" live