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26 May 2006
Foundry Field Recordings, Prompts/Miscues (Emergency Umbrella)
Foundry Field Recordings is no indie rock irony. Here the studio mingles with the outside world, the common denominator being men with microphones and a mission. The blending of the two is most apparent in the first and final songs. In "Battle Brigades Part 1", a man's voice recites coordinates over the click-clack of a train pulling from a station as the music builds to a shoegaze roar. In "110304", a complex field recording called The Alarm Clock Radio Experiment is layered over an acoustic performance by bandleader Billy Schuch. FFR are morose in many of its forms. Lo-fi, shoegaze, slow-core, and even the grey theatricality of the Arcade Fire help the group extricate their feelings. Schuh floats words on a disfigured sine wave through the air, with all the crests and troughs you remember from physics plus all of the emotion you don't. The driving guitar fuzz in "Buried Beneath the Winter Frames" and Schuh's repetition of "All those crates / All those graves" in "Circuits on Board" may lull you to rest, but something less tangible will hold you alert. Prompts/Miscues is a fascinating fusion of the familiar and the strange.
[Insound]
— Nate Seltenrich
"Battle Brigades": [MP3]
"Buyselltrade": [MP3]
"Dancing Lightsslow Machines": [MP3]
"Beneath the Winter": [MP3]
Pop / Rock / Indie 
Lotus, The Strength of Weak Ties (Harmonized)
Electronica and rock music have always had a cautious relationship, hooking up for the occasional one-night stand but still avoiding each other at parties. Sure, sometimes the match up is kinda fun (Fatboy Slim...), but only for awhile (...until he released Palookaville). For Lotus, the mix moves slowly into jam-band status, creating instrumentals that -- for the most part -- don't go anywhere, but occasionally pulling out something that is genuinely thrilling, and making you think the courtship can continue again. "Epidemic", the most Bonaroo-ready track of the whole bunch, is also one of the best, following a true jam aesthetic while actually incorporating many different styles of electronica into its mix, making it one of the most genuinely memorable songs on The Strength of Weak Ties. Unfortunately, it's those very weak ties that pull the album apart, mini-epics like "Kesey Seed" and "Blue Giant" wandering around but never finding any melodic place. Leave it to jazzy instrumentals like "Drunken Giraffe" and "When H Binds to O" to save the day, leaving you thinking that someday Lotus is going to bloom into something beautiful.
[Amazon
| Insound]
— Evan Sawdey
multiple songs: [MySpace]
multiple songs: [player]
Progressive / Ambient / Psychedelic 
The Tall Boy, Go Forth (Banazan)
Hey there ol' James, let's start a band!
C'mon, whaddya say, it'll be grand!
I'll sing and play guitar and Jamie drums.
Shall we go 'head and ring our mums?
You're on bass, Yosh' keys and trumpet.
Don't answer now; think about it:
Do you mind if we call it the Tall Boy?
As you can see, I'm one tall boy!
But Matty, what'll we sound like?
Something Ocean Blue and Smiths-like?
And oh Matty, what'll you sing about?
Our lives and lasses I don't doubt.
Write some good tunes, play them around.
We'll be known far beyond our town!
The Tall Boy -- the toast of many a fan.
Okay Matty, let's start a band!
Righto James, let's make an album.
All four of us as one, how fun!
Start with an EP, seven songs only.
Mellow, inoffensive, poppy.
From Glasgow to Cal'fornia.
Banazan Records, thanks to ya!
Hope they like us here and across the sea.
Tall Boy brings you adequacy!
[Insound]
— Nate Seltenrich
multiple songs: [official site]
multiple songs: [MySpace]
Indie / Alternative / Pop 
Treeball, A Cat Formation of a Mouse EP (Rhythm Barrel)
Treeball might not be out to reinvent pop music, but they do one thing really well: Across this four-song EP (stand-out track: the glorious, but unfortunately named "You Remind Me of Your Aunt"), this group -- fronted by ex-Supermodel Nick Triani -- clearly write catchy, pleasant songs that wouldn't offend you if you heard 'em in a café. Want some Tom Petty-esque country rock? Done. You want Spencer Davis Group-esque organ-squeezed soul? Done. You want some of the sweetest ping-pong-y boy-girl vocals this side of Evan Dando and Julianna Hatfield? Done. Nothing striking here, but it's pretty sweet when it hits.
[Insound]
— Zachary Houle
multiple songs: [official site]
multiple songs: [MySpace]
Indie / Alternative / Pop
.: posted by Editor 7:52 AM
