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28 April 2006

The Texas Governor, The Experiment (Archenemy) Rating: 8
A man with a chimp's head graces the cover of the Texas Governor's new album. Is this some kind of Dubya reference? Hard to say, but obscure motives are part of the Goolkasian mystique. After fronting the semi-campy Boston alterna-glam Elevator Drops in the 1990s, the first-name-dodging singer-guitarist formed this loopy group, and The Experiment is its second album. A decidedly low-key affair (at one point it lapses into a near-ambient drone), it's nonetheless packed with exhilarating moments. Opener "Shortwave Radio" sets a winning tone with its infectious, lo-fi pop melody (the whole album revels in its marginal sound quality, which brings an intimate spontaneity to the proceedings), while other tracks range from country influences to charmingly cheap electronica, and even to the bashed-out "1234," a mostly instrumental track with the freewheeling glee of Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips Pt. 2." Consistent in sound this Experiment is intentionally not, but consistent in recapturing the breathless wonder of the '90s lo-fi revolution it is; that it does so without wallowing in imitative nostalgia earns it even higher marks. Elect to hear it. [Amazon | Insound]
      — Whitney Strub
multiple songs: [MySpace]

Mason Proper, There IS a Moth in Your Chest... (Mang Chung Rec.) Rating: 7
Let the music do the talking they say. And for Mason Proper, they are on the mark with the winding and engaging "A Chance Encounter" that sounds far more crafted and powerful than any band should sound with its opening track off its debut album. From there, "Miss Marylou Carreau" is a slow-building pop song that comes off as a cross between Sloan and Guided By Voices with an axe to grind. The album is never dull or boring, with the punchy, old-pop style of "100 Yrs". Meanwhile the short and sweet "Intimidation" has an angular, arty style to it a la Franz Ferdinand. From there Mason Proper do things quite properly on the infectious, punchy and winding "Mr. Charm" that oozes, well, charm. They can crank things up as they do with the edgier "Lights Off" with the same flare and substance as they polish off the melancholic, somber "Life's Cornucopia". And things never come apart at the seams, with the rudimentary but catchy "My My (Bad Fruit)" as alluring as track one. Topping things off is the swaying and lush neo-power ballad "Carousel! Carousel!" that resembles Death Cab For Cutie backed by the Polyphonic Spree. [Amazon | Insound]
      — Jason MacNeil
"The World is Smaller Than You Think": [MP3]
"A Chance Encounter": [MP3]
"Mr. Charm": [MP3]
"Chemical Dress Eliza": [MP3]

Morgan Doctor, Is This Home (Aporia) Rating: 7
Is This Home begins with the sound of a woman talking -- she's talking about her home -- and then an electronic trickle comes from below and the woman is swallowed by a dense swell of sound which rises from some deep place. It surges back and forth; a violin comes in over the top, played by Karen Graves. We stay with this swell, and variations on it, for the rest of the album. Is This Home is built around patterns of noise that repeat themselves -- a guitar playing three short phrases in "Helms in the Morning"; Leah Saloma's voice singing the same words again and again in "Dromla-la"; a tabla tapping out bunkabunka ba-ba and a keyboard playing la la la LA for eighteen minutes in "Centre Island" -- until everything comes together into a druggy, heaving haze. It's relaxing music, thoughtfully executed. [Insound]
      — Deanne Sole
multiple songs: [MySpace]

Pedro, Pedro (Mush) Rating: 5
My... My... My... How Pedro the wunderkind sounds well, so aged. In this reissue of his much-heralded debut, bundled with the remixes EP Fear & Resistance, everything just sounds so inconsequential in the light of the recent stellar efforts by Madlib, Diplo and Jason Forrest. To his credit, there is a reason for his current reputation of good stature, displaying a perchance for creating maximum atmosphere with minimal tools. It is Zen meditation shaped with hip-hop beats, the trickling of bloops and bleeps that etch miniature carvings of snowflake-shaped droplets into our consciousness. Unfortunately, to stretch the metaphor, even though it's pretty and unique enough, but it melts away when the sun comes up. Alas, it suffers ambient's curse of being pleasant yet unmemorable. The remixes EP fares much better. Featuring the likes of Four Tet and Danger Mouse, the reimaginings of Fear and Resilience takes one of Pedro's strongest tunes and warps it into unrecognizable, though interesting shapes. Anyway, this mediocre release is not really his fault. After all, who can predict the indietronica glory-to-glory growth that has happened the past few years? Given the benefit of the doubt -- I'm quite sure that Pedro has improved exponentially as well. Thus, I am looking forward to his upcoming release. [Amazon | Insound]
      — Kenneth Yu
"Fear and Resilience": [MP3]

.: posted by Editor 9:14 AM