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BANG-U-TOT
Bang-U-tot
Independent Release
Bang-U-tol has made a rock
album The local band eschews reverb
on its debut, culling from just guitar,
bass and drums a nuanced, rounded
sound that brings to mind Television's
Marquee Moon and is certainly
informed by—but not beholden to—
the last decade's garage rock revival
The album's biggest strength might
be the band's comprehension of form.
Each song is its own entity, each sec
tion distinct; the record's pacing is
nea.-perfect.
Singer Daniel Gold's lyrics have a
bitter, satiric bite, encapsulating a wea
riness with a lifestyle familiar to many
in town. These observations are never
self-righteous; rather they are neurotic
in the tradition of David Byrne, sincere
without being preachy. Leavened with
humor and self-deprecation. Gold's
delivery is endearing and, above all,
truthful.
Recently, bands have tended to
accentuate the novelty of genre at the
expense of individuality. The result
can be a blandness masquerading as
cutting-edge. There are no external
signifiers—excessive reverb, overt
distortion—to mark Bang-U-tot s
uniqueness. They aren't necessary.
Marshall Yarbrough
Bang-U- Tot is playing at Go Bar on
Saturday. Nov. 13.
Interpol
Matador
Interpol used io make two types of
songs; modem pop ballads with heavy,
pixetated riffs that moved in stop-
motion and danceabie ones with a killer
rhythm section and angular guitar. .
But according to Interpol's new sound
design, most tracks ride the middfe:
mid-tempo, minor-key, some planned
piano. Even the structurally dynamic
songs come ofl as aimlessly inert with
out real hooks or real climaxes.
Still, loo big (and talented) to
tail, there are transcendent moments.
“Summer Well* maintains the band's
sexy, slow-dance slow-bum, and the
layered polyolol finale The Undoing*
ambles with the miserable beauty ot
past heights. .
Seemingly directionless and
unable to expand upon (he tightiy
defined sound that has become its
trench. Interpol has gone completely
insular, crafting an album psychopathic
in its narcissism, darkness and clean
sounding perfection. By this mining
inward. Interpol the record, although
pretty to look at. makes lor a detached
and anti-cathartic listen
Christopher Benton
TUNABUHIY
Tunabunny
Happy Happy Birthday to Me
The inventive feel of Tunabunny’s
debut comes from an odd sense you
get while listening; it's as it the band
didn't take for granted the idea that
every member should be playifig in
unison The songs hit familiar points of
reference in a way that highlights their
idiosyncrasy. The approach is similar
to taking a machine apart and putting
it back together: it works, but it doesnT
!ou quite the same.*
The effect is recognizable, but
the means are strange. On *When We
Go Out,* for example, the band plays
a propulsive, straight rhythm, both
singers shout-singing in unison. The
line *Gc! Dance!* repeats and you note
that the drummer is playing in a swung
rhythm at odds with the rest of the
band. The tension persists lor the rest
of the song; *1 Miss You (You Miss Me
Yes)* employs the same device.
Songs like 'Gasmasks* take a
single-note Pylon guitar line but
eschew that band's sparse sound,
choosing instead to submerge the
notes in a distorted mire. It at times the
tools are borrowed, the builder’s hands
are Tunabunny's.
Marshall Yarbrough
Tunabunny is playing at Caledonia
Lcunje on Saturday. Nov. 13.
S\’K
SHARON VAN ETON
Epic
Ba Da Bing
Though she collaborated with
Megafaun, sang on The Antlers'
breakout record. Hospice, and boasts
Ians like The National and Bon Iver.
this northeastern chanteuse has yet to
become a household name herself. But
with this sophomore work unfurling a
robust full-band rendition of her songs,
she can no longer be ignored. The gor
geous, spacious acres of atmosphere
on this mini-album are carved by slow,
sumptuous rivers of genteel country
and smooth rustic soul Too hip to be
adult alternative and too classically
elegant lor the ephemera of trend, this
is some of most gracefully durable
music being made today.
*A Crime’ proves that all it takes
lor the wonderfully sonorous Van Etten
to make a complete-sounding song is
an acoustic strum and the tall yearning
of her voice Add the full band and
you've got magic like the lush country
majesty of ’Save Yourself and the
absolutely perfect heartbreaker 'One
Day,' one of this year's loveliest songs
Epic is patient and restrained but
never bores. Instead, its quiet, romantic
intensity and velvet hand beckon,
bewitch and consummate. And it
places Van Etten squarely in the class
of leading—if criminally unheralded-
ladies like Jennifer O'Connor and
Kathleen Edwards
Bao Le-Huu
overdubs is the knob wizardry of Daniel
Lanots Though the stripped-down,
collaborative setup between producer
and solo musician is similar, this
isn't as naked as the dance between
Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin. Lanois
is a master of texture and atmosphere,
and this record is as much a showcase
for his recording flair (and the sonics
in his Silvertake home studio) as it is
for Young’s raw expression And that
means Youngs character-rich voice
and playing are set adrift in a swifting
bath of spacey atmospherics.
Though the tapestry's undeni
ably compelling and rich, it's still a
confined approach that can occasion
ally seem forced. In tact, the album's
least heavy-handed, most naturalistic
moment—the melodic intimaev
and Mexican romance ot ’Love and
War’—happens to be one of the most
effective. But strong moments where
the grand production device clicks
include 'Hitchhiker.* wtitch boils rest
lessly with big heart, and particularly
'Angry World.* a towering song almost
tunefully equal to eternal anthems like
•Rockin’ in the Free World.*
However, these work primarily
because of their exceptional songwrit
ing. And though much mileage is
covered by few elements, this is more
an interesting concept study than a
revelatory homerun.
Bao Le-Huu
Ghost Fits
Namack
Unlike the ‘50s and 60s pop
at the twee heart ot bands like The
Raveonettes or The Legends, the core
of this Brooklyn noise-pop duo lies in
■90s indie rock. On this debut. Sisters
wed slacker wobble with sharp hook-
heavy instinct and then redline the fuzz
and distortion. Such textural tempera
ment isn't surprising when you con
sider that the band is pan of the Death
by Audio crew, the musical cabal made
famous by sonic crushers A Place to
Bury Strangers).
Likeable stylistic signposts
abound, including the loud, detached
Sonic Youth crests of "Visions* and the
head-on collision between the Wedding
Present and Dinosaur Jr. in *Sky.* Top
picks include the full-throttle pogo-
pop of ‘Highway Scratch,* the stout
Pavement-loving indie-rock heart ot
*Gfue* and the unbridled jubilance of
The Curse.’
Sisters’ lo-fi, high-octane angle is
bashed-out and swooning, sloppy and
enthusiastic. But unlike others mining
similar ground, there* more clarity,
richness and heart amid all their angles
and jangles. And that extra cohesive
ness and depth is what makes Sisters
one of this y8ar* best new bands.
Bao Le-Huu
Le Noise
Reprise
The great iconoclast Is at it
and in the place of a band or even
XBXRX
0
Polyvinyl
Anyone would be stoked at the
bonanza of a 10-song, 7 release. ,
Now you might shift to concern il
told that it all blazes by in under nine
minutes. But if you knew experimental
ists XBXRX—who can condense the
mileage of a full song into a fraction of
the expanse—then you’d know that*
plenty of space to do their damage.
Filled with density, paranoia and pure
release, Abridges post-hardcore,
noise-rock and squelching electronics
to land somewhere between Daughters
and The Locust. It* a return tc the
full torque of their more structured
work, featuring songs that—despite
occurring like facial detonations—are
actually fully-crafted and articulated
compositions featuring intros, outros,
breakdowns and bridges
Among the highlights are toe
virtually identical sister tracks Decay
I’ and Decay II,* which cculd be Melt-
Banana breakdowns fronted by shout
ing teenage boys instead of a barking
Chihuahua, life Is Our Grave’ and
'Stop the Signs' pair live-wire tension
with grinding, unrelenting noise-core.
And “Sand Dimes’closes wito a vortex
that'll strip the paint off your walls.
A is sonic power from a purer
malm where noise, punk and rock exist
in concentrated form, abstracted from
their own respective social mores
it* a feral sound that kicks, punches.
grinds and scrapes. Most importantly,
It*fu8-til!.
Bao Le-Huu
16 FLAGPOLE.COM • NOVEMBER 10.2010