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SIGUR ROS
Med Sud I Eyrum Vid
Spilum Endalaust
EMI/XL Recordings
listening te Sigur R6s das the
effect ol staring at the sun awe-inspit-
ing yet equally terrifying in its radiant
beauty The album's translation, “With
a Buzz m Our Ears We Play Endlessly *
captures its optimism while contrasting
with the ominous tendency of previous
works Bordering on the arctic circle
S'gur ROs native Iceland is known for
its unusually lengthy summer days and
equally barren winters—a sentiment
the band has tended to embody within
the extiemities ol its music ''Festival'
explodes into a frenzied tantare but
only alter JOnsi Birgisson's reverb-
laden soliloquy and even the albums
more despairing moments are uphttea
by glimmers of hope
the t'rst hah ot the album gleams
with the rising sun ,)t a celebratory
new year as Gobbiedigook ioits
with 'ribai percussion and syncopated
acoustic guitar alongside Jbnsis cm id
like melody Progressing further the
album cuts back on i oinJon Sm*on»etfa
outbursts as it gradually slows t;
the nands familiar enigmatic sound
complete wth violin-bowed guda'
swells the whole atfa<» ends or a
fragile moment sung unexpectedly
m English a risky maneuver for ^
band that has mealed its 'olluwinq by
shrouding itsed in obscurity Though
tans needi f worry as lyrics in A;
Alright are still relatively mdistm
guishabie m gonsi s :oo>nq faiseth '
Its teiimq that each successive
Sigu 1 ROs albutTi has matured if
become more light-hearted m tight pt
receiving such worldwide reverence
Med Sud is the groups first album
recorded away from home and ii
displays all the energy ol a band eager
to continue exploring its limitless
potential
Ryan Monahan
BROKEN LETTERS
Sing the Burning Alphabet
Bent Rail foundation
Br sken . etters s comprised of
'or me' members 7 me band Plate Six
•1 group vnuwr- tor its dissonant music
e conventional time signatures and
be- ;w*'d melodies However members
;,Hvid Hi k.,«a?»d Brad Davr, s>q-'n!
ft f '3v»- OdiuM ’>■■■■ e ‘hose lay
a' ! thee leCuf full length adsii’ >mg
"•» B c'-'c; Alphabet showcase' rtv
duos newfound confidtu^e in fact,
the album quite possibly is the group's
most solid collection oi material to
dale
Htckox has grown into a songwriter
in the tradition ol Jason Molina, and
fans ot Magnolia Electric Co quickly
will recognize the similarities between
the two men However, the music ol
Broken Letters can be distinguished
from Molina's Broken Letters are a
tighter unit, a two-piece band that has
been playing together lor decades The
songs on Sing the Burning Alphabet
are moodier and sparser than are the
bulk ol Molinas songs Also, Hickox
plays the guitar uniquely, fluidly oscil
lating between picked notes and broken
chords m a manner >hat befits the sub
ject matter of many of his songs
Sing the Burning Alphabet is like
one long exhale ol breath from a master
songwriter, and the songs are compact
units that form a cohesive album in
the truest sense ol the word Though
Hickox holds his vocal melodies close
the songs on the album are dynami
cal and not repetitive On Sing the
Burning Alphabet. Broken Letters string
together bruised and broken words and
chords to describe the bleak and rural
landscape ot the American soul
John Seay
AL GREEN
Lay It Down
Blue Note
1 he iron simply couidn! be hotter
lor a eqend like Al Green to be reporrt
R&B has gone so wayward that its cur
•ently having to retrace its steps back
to the soul of the 60s and 70s in order
to properly re-calibrate tenter neo
soul) Furthermore building creative
bridges to prominent young followers
of the tradition, as hes done on Lay It
Down is a smart synergistic maneuver
Besides featuring the voices ot new-
schooi hotshots like John Legend
tonnne Bailey Rae and Anthony
Hamilton the album was co-produced
by celebrated Roots drummer Ahmir
"?ues!love" Thompson
The all-star cast ot young players
lovingly interprets the sound ol Greens
pome 7Qs-era while he simply does
what he does And man. is it sweet
Few sou. voices have ever been able
to juggle tmesse guts and depth like
Greens does and J's a trick that's stiti
asioundnigly intact The warm produc
tion -s lespecttui without being nostai
gic The music s.mmers with a touch,
ot modem vibrancy but its ctassn
through and "'rough Withou* apology
or hesitation this record <s a glorious
block it old-schooi Southern souf
butte? Highlights include (be sensuai
pillowed bum ot ay it Down ' 'fie
supple smoidK ot just tor Me" and
the htfie breeze' o' M One I ike v -.
I ay i f Down may •■•of tie the n***?
ievei but its an authentic return t
form 'hat sounds vital aria ?ea !
todays musical landscape Mure mat
anything it's a steamy lessut - ■ hj/wla
mentals tha- 'nmtoM* v ud icvc
Ra Le Hijn
HARVEY MILK
Life The Best Game in Town
Hydra Head
Angrily perched atop some deso
late crag at the edge ot the world, the
God of Rock squatted and defecated
Calling his creation Harvey Milk, He
then sent it into the world to perlorm
the kind ot slow, heavy and uncom
promising music that would perfectly
mimic the process of the band's own
creation Servile flatterers to its death,
Harvey Milk now has returned with the
latest in its string of stinky tributes
And, oh, dang is it good
In many ways. Lite is a perfect
mixture ol Harvey Milk s disparate
styles the painfully slow drum-
accented. sludge-rock ot its early days
and the fast-and-loose classic-rock
leanings ot the bands latter record
ings The guitar rifts on Lite further
prove that Harvey Mi Ik is the new Led
Zeppehn (however Crestons puma-
howl makes Robert Plant sound like the
shrieking o! a tig-displaying dandy)
Fo> anyone not lucky enough to
see Harvey Milk perform at me 40 Watt
m June. Lite is the next best flung
Sure the music is not tor everyone
and its probably not the kino ot music
you d play on a first date but at the
very least, the songs on Life are
unique offerings from one of the most
idiosyncratic artists ol the 90s Help
cool the God ol Rock's irritable bowel
syndrome and give this hometown
band's collection ot anthems a listen
John Seay
Ail THE SAINTS
Fire on Corridor X
Killer Pimp
What a ^mastic provenar.ee Ail
tne Samis are an Atlanta band on *
Boston label Those are the tr > ' ..est
and mos' diametrically opposed cities
>n America One is sprawling the other
s compact One <s ho* the other is
: old Atlanta tears down and paves over
4$ history every 15 years wn.le Boston
averted that damn thing called bistoo
and cun! escape from it Ail me Saints
debut record 'e< aided m one Inwn and
promulgated by tne other reflects e-u -
try - attitude towards the past
You can say that rock and roll
is moribund that its impossible 'or
purveyors ot 'res hidebound an form in
■Wpomtiessly dreaqe up the past A|.
it..- .dints, and wouid viy you (e a fooi
Wen i ar t speak for them but f a
aSSumi- ’’’i-hand Mi.iA". Vslur (
well enough to take what it should and
then damn the rest All the Saints also
know you can't just regurgitate what's
done been gurgitaied and weld that
knowledge ol the past to a forward-
thinking artistic sentiment that's
resulted in one hell ot a fine record
Fire on Corridor X suffuses the slug
gish heft ol Black Sabbath with ambient
atmospherics both raw and sublime,
murky and pristine It’s like if Dead
Meadow made a shoegazer record, or
it Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was
actually any good al^ll This band does
right by both towns, if you ask me
Garrett Martin
THEM'S
Real Close Ones
Polyvinyl
Somewhere between the hyper-
sexual strut ol David Bowie and the
laconic crawl ol Pavement lie The Ms.
and on their latest album. Real Close
Ones, they tiptoe through the tulips
with listeners to a wonderful land full ol
song sketches, lazy playing that never
feels haphazard and smart songwnfing
that feels effortless
Throughout Real Close Ones 13
tracks the band manages to blend
Bowie s spacey come hither vibe with
tbe hilariously homely and stoned
routine that Pavement rode to a legion
of Ians hearts years ago Tne result
works especially on "Impossible View
and the hilarious hummable and
all-loo-true "Get Your Shit Together"
There may be more adeptly written and
performed songs released this year but
none will ring as true through a haze ot
ramshackle guilars and drums that just
oarely keep the time
Real Close Ones is nardly a perfect
album Sometimes the melodies aren’t
distinguishable (rom track to track bu’
it's overall a satisfying listen that keeps
unfolding itself to reveal gems where
you once thought were only duds
After lour listens the album s closer
“How Could You" is turning into a slow
burning soul-infused torch song tor
the man-purse carrying bespectacled
vinyl junkie in all of us and attei all
isn t that the sign ot a great rock and
roll album?
Jason Bugg
CHROMEO
Fancy Footwork Deluxe Edition
Vice
On the things hipste's embrace
m ‘he name of fashion With dated
keyboards robotic voices synthesized
vocal stabs and sa* soios Chromed r >
"■eon bag .s a by-fhe-numbers f econ
struobun o' the electro pop and lunk
tp ,r me dOs 'or the sake or a stylish
goo' Beyond me ’.hansmat- veneer or
pushing ironic post-modernism to the
max, however, its allure is but a fleeting
dalliance
The bonus disc reprises three
songs from its debut album She's in
Control (“Needy Girl,’ “Rage 1 " and
You're So Gangsta"). which only reaf
firm the limited shelf-iife of :;s hustle
The largely unremarkable remixes
don't exactly ride in to save the day.
either They either protract things with
only minor tweaks (Lifelike's remix
ot "Needy Girl’) or just drain them of
blood altogether with anemic house
treatments Most seem to be created
on auto-pilot, simply beefing up the
groove and inserting a stock buildup
here and a boilerplate breakdown
there (Laidback Luke's remix of "Fancy
Footwork"). Few actually push the
boundaries and make the songs their
own, as any self-respecting remix
should do
The two exceptions are the viscid
plasticity of MSTRKRFTs remix ot
’Tenderoni’ and the acid-techno
buzz ot DFA’s iemix ol ’Destination
Overdrive ’ Otherwise, it's a collection
lor devout completists only
Bao Le-Huu
WOODEN SHJIPS
Volume 1
Holy Mountain
A collection of the earliest vinyl
singles by the ascending kings ol the
West Coast psychedelic scene this
Volume i finds Wooden Shjips at its
youngest loosest and most inspired
A tew ol these singles were limited
pressings, or given away by the band
m exchange for a nice letter, so it s nice
to see then all collected on one plastic
Fnsbee
These singles find Wooden Shjips
digging deep, into Hawkwmd into
Can into fellow Bay Areans currently
missing m action. Comets on Fire
• be tracks otter a singular fuzzed-ou'
guitar ritl standing over a locked bass
groove with the Japaneses tradema'k
echo vocals haunting the proceedings
Simple organ phrases dot the land
scape The sell-titled album released
last year devolved into a slimy Doors
tribute, but here the San Francisco
foursome is/was as mysterious and
obscure as its name conjures
The collection is only six tracks
but Ibis stuff is as memorable as it is
enthralling A 2007 live tribute to the
1967 Summer ot Love rides that groove
as hazy trumpets dance m and out
Heres hoping they continue to mine
their influences deeper and keep turn
mg coal into shimmering diamonds
Scott Reid
THE TING TINGS
We Started Nothing
Columbia
This debut album by the
Manchester all pop duo is just
rowded with booky devices Gass'
Check Bop? Uh-buh Brit-gui cbeek 1
You tel in tact it's an a bit too sus
piciously ingratiating Clearly >'s
•designed lor instant appeal However
a deeper listen to me record reveals
utile to support its attention grabbing
’aqade f ven shallow pop music can
;>■ tone wed But m the absence .'
MUSIC
JULY 16
depth, there better be some watertight
melodies for the ship to tloat Songs
that hold the attention hostage without
satisfying the heart will only annoy
Despite a zeal for cutesy hcoks.
their melodic ability ultimately proves
thin The Ting Tings seem willing to
do anything to charm, mimicking the
likes of The Pipettes, Lily Allen. Teagan
& Sara, among countless others
Anything, that is. except for write solid
songs This lack of melodic precision
makes the album play like a soulless
crib sheet
The lone exception is "That's Nol
My Name." which moves along a!
a bouncy Tom Basil gallop only lo
swell into a some tsunami by the end
Unfortunately, the preponderance ol
the album instead resembles dead-end
songs like “Impacilla Carpisung."
an anemic number marked by silly
elementary raps that unfortunately
channel Fergie The Ting Tings lack is
immediate but tar from lasting, degrad
ing into simple-minded transparency
all too Quickly
Bao Le-Huu
UL WAYNE
Tha Carter III
Universal
The most eagerly anticipated hip-
hop album ot 2007 finally arrived m 'he
second quarter of 2008 and >ts worth
every minute ot the wait Lit Waynes
Tha Carter III is a 16-track collection
ol varied tiers of pathos rap aesthetic
and serotonin highs Always remaining
collected, the New Orleans rapper airs
moods ot anger sadness, joy paranoia
and so many others all backed by sub
lime. but never outrageous beats
The sett-proclaimed "best rapper
alive' has been releasing increasingly
brilliant and bizarre mixtapes showcas
mg wordplay that's totally out ot left
field and sc very drug-fueled On C3
the oddity is mostly toned down out
some remains Theres Mrs Office:
in wnich in Wayne imagines himsen
dating a temaie cop while keeping up
his criminal behaviors meres Wayne
as an ET in 'Phone Home" and there s
Wayne as a rap therapist scheduling
appointments wth rapper clients taifmq
off their game m Or Carte'
The production isn't strictly
Southern nor geared toward lub
songs either Cofeatures heats irom
Kanye West The Alchemist and David
Banner Theres everything from up-"
mg sou! to psychedelia lo electro-pot
it's nol even a minute into Rta
Carter Hi that Li! Wavne elicits a truism
to other rappers You can 1 gel on my
level You will need a space shuttle
a ladder (hats rorevei Fvryune eiv-
shouid consider givmq up
2008 FLAGPOIE COM 25