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A NORTHERN CHORUS
Bitter Hinds Resign
Sonic Unyon
Hear me out. America. Don't tile A
Northern Chorus's Bitter Hands Resign
away with the latest batch ol forgettable
sk>-glo throwbacks. Keep it in the living
room. Let it accumulate coffee rings.
Like Godspeed You! Black Emperor. A
Northern Chorus is a Canadian neo-
shoega2e outfit with epic pretensions,
and seeing the band live rs probably
about as exciting as watching tea evapo
rate Bu* don! s*p on Bitter Hands .
Resign, it's an elegant beast with
enough buried sentiment to maintain
this wett-hewn tapestry of eclectic drives
and influences coming together in a
diverse but succinct and darkty cheerful
musical journey.
Lifting ofl from a base of iconic
influences from Presley, Dylan and
Nelson. Gtesf travels a track bor
rowing from the earty alt-ooun(ry feel of
Whiskeytown combined with the slick
.and charming pop-rock vibe of Paul
Westerberg or Morphine. On the track v
■R&R.’ there's even a blast of (he heavy
ringing guitars and emphatic drums
similar to Coldplay* "PolitHc*
McOonald rs formerfy o( the Alhens alt-
rock band The Ohms, but has since
relocated to Birmingham, AL; his home
grown, -recorded and -produced album
overflows with upbeat country, and his
rockabilly beats and charismatic folk-
rock vocals are infectious. Bd as on Tm
Gone.’ TheGuestslows down just long
enough lo let you relax into acoustic
sensitivity before building up a head ot
steam on the rustic crooning locomotive
charge ot a song like *5 & 10.’
BenGerrard
Wes McDonald is playing at Tasty
World on Saturday, June 11.
choir—which includes local musicians
like Liz Durrelt and members of Bf
Power and Summer Hymns, among
others—sounds a little delirious makes
me like it more. Aw Come Aw Wry is an
honest folx-rock gospel, and that's true
good news.
Chris Hasskrtis
Phosphorescent is playing tithe
EARL in Atlanta on Saturday. June 11.
HYPNOTE CLAMBAKE
Mayonnaise
Blue Button
At last, a record I can enjoy with my
esque guitar line gives way to a rot
licking bossa nova, and Pretop* laid-
back croon settles into Its natural efe-
ment. His voice finds a natural comple
ment in the upright bass ot Josh
Abrams and the comet of Rob Mannk;
this communal quality only cements
itself further as the distinctly different
songs carry the listener forward in an
exceedingly natural progression.
The 12 songs on display show
Prekop* growth as they use very real
dynamic and melodic shifts to separate
the nature ot the songs, in efforts ot the
past—The Sea and Cate's The Fawn.*
for instance—changing arrangements
and upside-down mixes had been the
strength and the heart ot the song
dynamics available. Now the styles and
melodies are easily separated; a sense
ot freedom and breeziness flows from
the album Tracks like *C+T and
•Density* escape the Braziha mold and
aid in the ever-widening breadth and
scope ot the influences. Pretop artfully
balances his lyrics on the offbeat and
his heart on his sleeve. As long as it
sounds like WhoS Your New
Professor?, Piekop can leave his heart
wherever he wants
Paul Nunn
interest for decades
The drum rolls on ‘Costa Del Sol*
carry it along like a funeral procession,
but the song only plays dead
Sometimes one has to. to get through a
day or an unwanted adulthood. So long
as the heart beats, pain, pride and hope
will sneak out. all the more spectacular
in their irrepressible rebellion.
Dipping and soaring in waltz time,
T h * Shepard and the Chauffeur* plays
similar games with ambiguity: “YouVe
been speaking in tongues now for years
now haven't ya? / Encoding the view
into your body ot work * After that, it
makes little sense unless one wills it.
But puffing these literate lyrics in per
sonal context could prove a tonic for
some serious psycho-philosophical ills.
When this record catches its reflec
tion. perhaps it sees the sort of decadent
grandiosity heard in theatrical British
pop. It has those leanings. But music
sch ?* this moves more gracefully on
Mus Eiegant sadness never rousts the
neighbors Q: How do you get 40
Canadians out of S swimming poof? A:
Ask. politely, that everyone please get
out of the pool.
Emerson Darner on
WES MCDONALD
The Guest
Skybucket
I put The Guest on pretty loud while
I went to Ihe kitchen to wash the (fishes.
I nearly had a heart attack when the CO
cover fed off the speaker wtere I’d left it
before crashing onto the hard wood
flocr boards (as a result of its strong
reverberations through the stereo, com
bined with my jigging to its infectious
upbeat country timings) leaving me
momentarily tearful that I was no longer
atone in my small house. After I checked
all the rooms and calmed down. I was
drawn straight back into Ihe swing of
PHOSPHORESCENT
Aw Come Aw Wry
Misra
There are many things I like in
many kinds of music: brass instru
ments. multi-voiced choruses, sad
sounds, happy sounds
Phosphorescent's Aw Come Aw Wry
incorporates all of these. But liking and
needing are different, and the one thing I
need in music is evidence of human
emotion. That's one of the reasons I
donl click with, lor instance. a lot of the
hyper-technical math-rock bands or the
more experimental glitch-based elec
tronic. Yeah, your stuff's impressive
and you're talented but. um. what’s it
supposed to mean to me? Maybe I'm
being selfish, but I value musicians who
are unselfish. Matthew Houck, the
songwriter behind Athens'
Phosphorescent, creates music that is
generous, humble, open and human.
And also very very good Here's
why: Houcks songs sound tenuous, but
are not. And what's more human than
unreasonable and completely natural
contradiction? On Aw Come Aw Wry—
Houck's third Phosphorescent release,
and his second full-length—he presents
an eight-song cycle interspersed with
variations on the titular musical theme.
(The album closes with a 19-minute-
long track of a thunderstorm which
Houck recorded Pretty, yes. but maybe
a little too precious?) Houck* lyrics deal
with love, lust loss, hope. etc. ibut what
songwriter* donTT). It* in Ihe presenta
tion that Phosphorescent shines, and
Aw Come Aw Wy alternately captures
the rousing feel of a late-night tent
revival and Ihe subtle, subdued nature of
a funeral service. And the in betweens
. That Houck* voice breaks and
cracks makes me like it more; its initial
indicators of fragility reveal an emo
tional strength. The fart that Ihe backing
daughter! No. she* not a teenager
enamored with late-rock and hip hop,
and Tm not an old man clinging to vinyl
stacks and the music of my youth. I'm
twenty-something and she* seven
months old, and Hypnotic Clambake
makes music you'd expect if Sesame
Street had a band in residence;
Mayonnaise is quirky, cute and perfect
for sharing.
The album* Wed with delicious
harmonies, clever lyrics and impressive
musicianship. Catchy kindergarten jams
like *500 Robots' and 'Beans* Wend
nicely with impressive instrumental
compositions (“Danger Mouse' and
'Clambake') delivered with a post-gad
prowess *Just a Mountain' captures a
zydefolk tent revival and confirms .
Clambakes knack for comfort in any
genre while not spreading Mayonnaise
loo thin.
Not since Grisman and Garcia
teamed up on Not tor Kids Only has an
album been more furvlor-ail-ages
without the cloying saccharine qualities
that phrase implies. Mayonnaise is tor
children, gown-ups with children,
stooers and stoners with children Most
minivans come standard with CD
players: nice!
David Eduardo
SAMPREKOP
Who's Your New Professor?
• Thrill Jockey
Five years and two full-lengths from
his band The Sea and Cake have passed
since Sam Pretop* first solo album:
time well spent On the near perfect
summer album that is Who's Your New
Professor?, Prekop seems to h3ve
become a master in his own style of
‘nrt-totally-melanchofy-Brazilia-pop-
jazz-fusion.* Opening track
“Something* sums up the past and the
present as a typlcatly Archer Prewift-
. Sam Prekop is playing at the Red
Light Cate in Atlanta on Friday, June 10.
NKKAC081A
can'tneverdidnothin'
Virgin
Context is a bitch. While listening
to the new Nikka Costa album canto-
ewdidnothin', I happened to be reading
about Charlotte Church, and the com
parison was instructive—or damaging,
maybe. Both were performers when
young. Church as a Pope-performin'
opera tyke. Costa as a lil popkateer. but
white Costa* move into 'adult music'
involves namechecking good-taste
icons of the past like Stevie Wonder and
Aretha Franklin. Church* new stuff
seems inspired by contemporary adven
turous pop, and explicitly looking to the
present rather than the past is always a
risky move, seriousness-wise. But white
Church* gamble pays ofl. Nikka Costa
takes her debt to the past and sets about
dutifully paying it off with above- ‘
average but ultimately pointless soul/
funk workouts that could just as easily
be Joss Stone. And I don't mean (hat in
a good way.
There are some bright spots—or.
rather, one. The deceptively good
opener Till I Get To You* sports
musical, melodic and lyrical hooks, the
conceit being that it* a song about a
series of lovers, each represented by a
different letter, until she reaches *1).* at
which pointlhescng ends. (Geddit?)
But the title track, an ostensible Tocter,'
shows why Costa ended up sticking
with the tunk stuff—she* got nothing to
add to what* actually a great Nflto
goove, hitting all Ihe pentatonfcs but
never quite reaching the ecstasy it
would require. If this is her passion, I
fed sorry for alt her aipItebiBcai tows.
Michael Barthei
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