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ISLANDS
Arm's Way
Anti- Records
Islands aren't the most original
band in the world. In fact, there are •
moments on their latest album, Arm's
Way, where if the listener isn't pay
ing attention they might think they
are hearing long-forgotten Velvet
Underground, T-Rex or The Who
b-sides But this isn't a bad thing; in
fact, it's one of the more endearing
qualities of the album.
While some artists n ay wallow
in their collective influences until it
reaches Lenny Kravitz or Black Crowes
levels of absurdity. Islands instead use
these familiar sounds as a launching
pad to lure listeners into their sprawl
ing, upbeat and unable-to-write-a-
song-in-under-three minutes world,
and that world is quite hospitable and
warm.
Arm's Way is at its best when
Islands revel in the retro leanings
of their sound (including the excel
lent "Creeper") while maintaining
the upbeat and rootsy sound (think
Brian Wilson's pop colliding with
Neil Young's guitar sound caught in a
vacuum with Marc Bolan). In fact, the
rootsy state of the art circa: 1973 sound
of Arm's Way is best personified on “In
the Rushes," a song that goes straight
from a Skynyrd-style lead guitar line
and into an outro that recalls the best
parts of The Who's "A Quick One While
He's Away."
While Islands aren't going to
rewrite the Great Book of Rock any
time soon, they do display a knack lor
writing smart, engaging songs that are
full of pomp and circumstance while
being devoid of pretense; and in today's
irony-drenched rock world, isn't that
enough?
Jason Bugg
GHOSTS OF THE
RUSSIAN EMPIRE
The Mammoth
30 Ghosts
This is Radiohead scion. I’ll hazard
a thesis, though: as Eric Clapton begat
Robin Trower, so did Radiohead beget
Ghosts of the Russian Empire. So,
it's all about diminution: the Sonic
Reduction theory in action, like Hendrix
or Keiji Haino reducing Coltrane's
virtuosity to gloriously inactive swords
of feedback. But. as the Clapton-Trower
problem dictates, diminution from
nothing equals nothing. So there, at the
very least, this band conjures primor
dial physics.
I'll start at the bottom. This record
sounds great. It’s well.recorded and
well mixed. It's got crispy. Western
sounding guitars and swirling synths
plus some nice bottom-end to the
intermittent acoustic piano. The bass
playing has lhat propulsive, slinky
Manchester thing; he sure doesn't
listen to Motown, and that's just fine.
There's echo all over the vocals, reduc
ing them to a mere musical affectation
rather than an instrument of emotional
expression. Drums plod, as they are
wont to do, and yet they persist through
the tempo-shifts.
This is a sturdy structure stocked
with nothing, and it puts me back to
when I and my filmmaker friend James
Ponsoldt caught Ocean's 12 a) Georgia
Square. Chief among our amazements
was the film's ability to make us feel
absolutely nothing. Now, the film
wasn't wholly ineffective, it's just that
its main effect was to inspire a barely-
yawning emptiness, a la the hunger you
experience after eating cheap lo mein.
If this is the sort of sonic ephemera
I can expect in Radiohead's wake. I'll
reward them with a more active boycott,
resulting, appropriately, in nothing.
Jim McHugh
WHEN DINOSAURS
RULED THE EARTH
Not Noiice
Chalk Circle
Whilst crisscrossing our great
nation with a friend, eliminating items
from our respective "Bucket Lists." I
found myself in our nation’s capitol.
The primary attraction was obvious: the
bones of long-extinct giants found in
the Smithsonian. Standing in their pres
ence, fully assembled and monolithic,
two things were immediately apparent:
these creatures, in their halcyon days
of Jurassic chaos, were innately great,
but hanging out with them would have
been a really bad time And there’s
nothing I like more than a great bad
time, which is something Austin. TX's
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth knows
a thing or two about
Any punk band coming out of
Texas has a high mark to hit, consider
ing the drug-and-dust-coated pantheon
that ranges from The Butthole Surfers
to the homophobe-baiting blues-punk ■
OGs The Dicks. While Dinosaurs
doesn't work according to party lines
stylistically, it's got scuz for days and
sounds legitimately troubled/troubling.
An astute friend of mine pointed out
recently that "two drummers" is the
new "no bass player." but you know
what? I'll take it. Dinosaurs has the two
drummers (nice and stoopid). the two
vocalists (alternately lobotomy-blank
and spittle-dripping manic); everything
you need for your art-punk house
party gone horribly awry. Armed with
these tools, it's hard to go wrong, and
Dinosaurs acquits itsell admirably.
The stand-out one-two punch is
"Hypnotic Locks," which ends with a
dizzying freakout, perfectly setting up
the head-nod riffs of "It's Not the Heat,
It's the Humidity." The one aspect of
Not Noiice that gave me a moment
of pause was the slightly vague air of
aimlessness: it's all a great mess, but...
why? Of course, the answer is “Why
not?" and that's good enough for me.
They're nihilists, sure, but there's plenty
here to be afraid of.
Jeff Tobias
TILLY AND THE WALL
0
Team Love
Tilly and the Wall arrived on the
scene back in 2004 as the flagship
band of Conor Oberst's Team Love
imprint with their debut album, Wild
Like Children. At the time it was a
breath of fresh air. full of emo lightness
and childlike sentimentality. The record
successfully walked the line between
innocence and adulthood unlike many
indie-pop counterparts (My Chemical
Romance. You Me at Six), who tended
toward emotional exploitation. It also
helped that the band featured a tap-
dancing percussionist in the form of
Jamie Williams Its follow-up album.
Bottoms of Barrels, also lacked the
ironic hipster sensibility typical in
so much of this decade's indie-rock
music.
The group's latest release. 0, offers
more of the same - a counterbalance
between youth and adulthood. Neely
Jenkins’ opening verse on the first
track, "Tall Tall Grass," sung in her
sweet soprano offers the lines, “When
I was young/1 used to sleep/ out in
the garden/wait to sneak in/ when the
house grew quiet." and the chorus,
"When there wasn't anywhere for me
to go/1 stumbled into deep love with
you, rock and roll." These lines hint
(or perhaps more aptly, explicitly point
out) what can be expected thematically
from the next 10 tracks. There's no
stand out single like "Bad Education"
from Bottoms of Barrels, but songs
like "Falling Without Knowing’ and
"Cacophony" (released originally as
the b-side of the EP Beat Control)
stand strong, particularly because
both feature Jenkins' vocals. II the only
criticism that can be offered is that
Tilly and the Wall hasn’t dramatically
evolved its sound over the past four
years, it seems safe to say that's not
much criticism at all. Fans of the first
two albums, or of anything in the pro
lific Oberst/Team Love discography, are
sure to be pleased by 0
Liz Lawson
ALEJANDRO
ESCOVEDO
Real Animal
Back Porch
After his near-death experience
in 2003 from the Hepatitis C infection
he had been living with for nearly a
decade, Alejandro Escovedo knew he
needed to clean up his act - and now.
His next album, the critically acclaimed
The Boxing Mirror, worked through
the personal pain that resulted from
his hard living, rock and roll ways on
songs like "Castanets" and the beauti
ful, orchestral "Across the River." On
his ninth effort. Real Animal, Escovedo
moves away from his signature intro
spective songwriting style, instead
consciously deciding to chronicle the
story of his life as a musician
The album opens with “Always a
Friend," and from the first notes it's
clear that Escovedo has returned to
his rock roots, forgoing the country-
fied ways of his previous eight solo
albums. Gone is the melancholy of
The Boxing MirroTs pained and some
times heartbreaking lyrics. Instead.
Escovedo treats listeners to some true
rock and roll tunes, slowing down
only for nary a one until the dreamy
"Sensitive Boys." Though some fans
that Escovedo gained via his last studio
record may be put off when they real- *
ize that musically he's turned away
from his alt-country solo roots with
Real Animal (something that can be
discerned even by simply listening to
his vocals, which have lost a bit of their
twang), shame on them if they pass it
by because of pre-conceived notions.
With Rea! Animal, Escovedo not only
demonstrates that he has moved on
from the inner turmoil that nearly cost
him his life five years ago. he shows
that he's retained the hard rocking roots
that first pushed him into the spotlight
as a member of Rank File and the True
Believers nearly two decades ago.
Liz Lawson
USD's Top 10 Spins This Week
1. Boris - Smile
2. Vetiver - Things of the Past
3. Demian - Demian
4. Long Legged Woman - Something Pressed Against It
from the Inside
5. Sun Kit Moon - April
6. Various Artists -Oh, Run Into Me, but Don'* Hurt Me!
7. Matmos - Supreme Balloon
8. Peter Brotzmann/ Peeter Uusikyla - Bom Broke
9. Shy Child - Noise Won't Stop
10. Various Artists - Classic Piano Blues
Rankings are based on Radio 200 charts as reported to CMJ. For
more information, visit www.wuog.org or listen to 90.5FM.
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