Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours (Aarght/Shock 2008)

Hailing from In(High)Fidelity's musical and spiritual home of Melbourne, Australia, Eddy Current Suppression Ring hark back to a time when Australian bands like The Saints and Radio Birdman played brash, bratty rock'n'roll - and played it well. In a time when it is increasingly difficult to find a rock'n'roll band who plays just that: good, old-fashioned, meat-and-potatoes rock'n'roll; Eddy Current Suppression Ring need no bells or whistles to set themselves apart from the pack.
Drums, bass and guitars lock on to a groove; singer, Brendan Suppression, sings-speaks-screams over the top of a mighty fine raucous sound, and everyone is happy - i.e. all the folks here at In(High)Fideltity HQ.
The grooves are catchy as hell and embed themselves deep into your sub-conscious. It is just like that time when you and your mates were driving at high speed up the Hume Highway, listening to Neu!, just before ducking into the Dubbo zoo.
Brendan Suppression's lyrics are at times playful, yet for the most part, are poignant reflections of life in these troubled times (though he would probably never admit as much). The band leaves all pretension at the door, and yet, their ability to write intelligent songs - while never abandoning the brashness - is something to behold. Colour Television is perhaps the greatest anti-T.V. song since the Disposable Heroes Of Hyhoprisy's early 90's classic, Television. While, I Admit My Faults, is a man owning the fact that he is imperfect - something quite a few people should come to terms with.
The album's pinnacle, though, is the rip-roaring Which Way To Go - a sure bet for our end-of-year, best of 2008 list. Meat and potatoes never tasted so good.

Key Tracks: Which Way To Go, Wrapped Up, Colour Television, I Admint My Faults.

Check Out: http://www.myspace.com/eddycurrentsuppressionring

Rock'n'Roll Rundown

Our intrepid editor has been known to lend his pen to publications other than the amazingly good In(High)Fidelity. Check out his most recent work for L.A.'s Rundown right here: Rock'n'Roll Rundown. You're sure to recognize a few old favorites and a couple of new ones.

Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins (Jagjaguwar, 2008)

You know things have been busy at In(High)Fidelity HQ when we've have had our hands on the new Okkervil River album for over a month, and haven't yet found the time to write about it. For those of you who haven't been paying attention, we think that Okkervil River are the bee's knees, or, as Reinhoff would say: the cat's pyjamas.
Make no mistake, with the release of The Stand-Ins, our expectations prior to hearing the album were ridiculously high. Having seen the band improve with each new release, anything but the best could have very well tainted our view of Okkervil River permanently (Editor's Note: We have recently been researching the difference between "super fan" and "stalker" - luckily, we are still a short way from "stalker" status).
The Stand-Ins is an amazing album, and, quite possibly, the band's finest-to-date. At this point in his career, Will Sheff has few equals. His literary talent with words is explified on the Stand-Ins with tracks like Singer Songwriter, Blue Tulip, and On Tour With Zykos. His voice packs more of a punch than ever before and the band is on fire.
Holding a mirror up to both the life of a working rock'nroll band and the world of stage and screen might end up as a self-referential wank-fest in the hands of any other band. However, Okkervil River are not any other band. The subject matter is handled with a mixture of affection, empathy and disdain, backed by a soundtrack that reminds us of a time when the album, as a format, was still king.
I could write an entire thesis on this album, however, reading that would simply detract from the time you should be spending listening to it. So get out there and start listening.

Key Tracks: Lost Coastlines, Blue Tulip, On Tour With Zykos

Check Out: www.okkervilriver.com

Peter Bradley Adams - Leavetaking (Sarathan Records, 2008)

Leavetaking, the second solo album from Peter Bradley Adams, is a warm and inviting exercise in less-is-more songwriting. A mostly mellow affair, Adams mines a rich vein of American music that dates back to the Laurel Canyon crowd of the sixties and beyond. It is an album rich in texture and emotion, the sound of a man quietly pouring his heart out onto tape.
Prior to striking out on his own, Adams was a member of Eastmountainsouth, a group that was signed to the Dreamworks label by Robbie Robertson, a key member of The Band. If an endorsement from In(High)Fidelity isn't enough to grab your attention, then it would be foolhardy to ignore the judgement of a man, who in addition to being a part of the classic Americana album, Music From Big Pink, also served time with Bob Dylan and played an intrical part in the recording of the Basement Tapes.
Peter Bradley Adams sings with the conviction of a man who has lived, loved and lost. The album's opening track, The Longer I Run, speaks of an man suffering for his art, a man who "breaks his own heart to keep writing these songs". While, Under My Skin, is a paen to a love that transcends the everyday, the kind of love that consumes you whole.
Peter Bradley Adams is a modern-day troubadour of the highest order, and Leavetaking is an album that will stay with you long after the final note has played.

Key Tracks: The Longer I Run, Under My Skin, Always

Check Out: http://www.myspace.com/peterbradleyadams

Why? - Alopecia (Anticon, 2008)

Simeon's Dilemma is one of finest tracks on Why?'s incredibly fine album, Alopecia. It also utilizes an interesting spelling of the name 'Simon'; it looks Old Testament. Stranger still, is the little known story of how I came to be made aware of Why?'s music. Not very oddly, my old housemate - an excellent source for quality music - alerted me to the existence of Why?, recommending I give them a listen.
My old housemate's name: Simeon (spelt with an 'e').
Yet, the story does not stop there, for before I was able to give Why? a listen, I received another email from Simeon. He faced a dilemma brought on by a heady mixture of hard inner-city living, a fondness for the amber ale, life as a part-time student and a full-time connoisseur of only the finest musical delights.
Simeon's Dilemma
Weird... and Why?'s music is a little bit weird too, but in a very cool way. An eclectic melding of inie-guitar-pop-meets-a-little-bit-folkie-meets-ernest-hip-hop-troubadour. When is the NME going to start coming to me for genre descriptions?
Alopecia is an album unlike anything else your'e likely to hear this year. It is utterly original; a melding of music, words, and mulitple genres in order to create something entirely new.
Aside from all of my hype, though, the music is just really good. Listening to this type of music will make you cooler.

Key Tracks: The Vowels, Pt. 2; The Hollows; Fatalist Palmistry

Check Out: www.myspace.com/whyanticon

Girl Talk - Feed The Animals (Illegal Art, 2008)

Building upon the sampladelic stylings of 2006's much-lauded, Night Ripper, Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis) has taken his cut-and-paste-on-crack stylings to even greater heights on his latest release, Feed The Animals.
For music-nerds and dancefloor-fiends the world over, each new Girl Talk release is like some teenage wet-dream: a popping, locking, and dropping trip through modern musical history. Girl Talk's ability to bring seemingly disparate musical genres together is quite astounding; his ability to borrow from a multitude of artists to create something entirely new and original is, quite simply, jaw-droppingly brilliant.
To give you some idea of why we are so in awe of Girl Talk's skills, it is reported that in order to create Feed The Animals, Gillis managed to squeeze somewhere in the the vicinity of 300 hundred samples into the albums 14 tracks. Yet, it is not simply the number of the samples, but the way in which they are seemelessly interwoven, that reveals the true genius of Girl Talk.
Currently our favorite album track, Hands In The Air, blends Tag Team's Whoomp! There It Is, with Big Country's, In A Big Country, with Kraftwerk, and Hot Chip, and Afrikaa Bambastaa, and the Velvet Underground, and Aerosmith, and Michael Jackson, and Genesis, and so on and so forth. Excellent.
So, while copyright attorneys the world over breathe a collective sigh of despair, download Feed The Animals for the price you wish to pay, before the physical version hits record stores in September.

Check Out: http://www.myspace.com/girltalk

In(High)Fidelity Giveaway!!! Falcon!!!

You need only look below this posting to see what we think of Falcon's very cool debut EP. Now - in conjunction with the Planetary Group - In(High)Fidelity is happy to present you with the opportunity to win a copy of this stunningly assured set of songs.

The first two people who send benedmonds@hotmail.com an email, with "Falcon Giveaway Yes Please" in the subject line, will each receive a copy of the EP... Good luck.

Falcon - Self-Titled EP (Friends Of The American Songbook, 2008)

Falcon's debut EP is as good as any that In(High)Fidelity has heard in recent times. Soaring and cinematic, even at is most powerful moments, there is a fragility to Falcon's music that keeps it from floating beyond the stratosphere.
Jared Falcon was a song-writing prodigy in the small town of Petaluma, California. Recording over 300 songs onto a Fisher Price tape recorder before finishing high school. To say that Falcon was prolific a prolific writer would be an understatement. Sadly, though, while Falcon was able to translate his view of the world into songs of heartbreaking beauty, he was not able to detach himself from that same heartbreaking world, and, as a result of poor mental health, was never able to properly record his amazing songs.
Enter Shannon Ferguson and Neil Rosen, two of Falcon's classmates, who, having relocated to New York City, have paid the ultimate tribute to their troubled comrade, by recording his songs in a manner that does them the justice they deserve.
The opening track, The Sandfighter, is a slow-burning gem, that sets the tone of this compelling collection of songs. Comparisons to the likes of Arcade Fire and the National start here - and are well deserved.
With five songs recorded for this EP, In(High)Fidelity's mathematics whizz has calculated that their remain... a lot of songs yet to be put to wax (and he didn't even use a calculator). With so many songs yet to be recorded, we can only hope that a full-length Falcom album will follow shortly.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/falconmusic

Key Tracks: It's only five songs... all of them.

The Presets - Apocalypso (Modular, 2008)

For the benefit of our readers in parts of the world that aren't Australia, I would like to clear something up. Australian rules football is not rugby; it is not soccer; and, it is not American football. It is completely its own sport, and, in my humble opinion, far superior to any of the codes mentioned above.
The Richmond Football Club, who are one of the oldest clubs in the Australian Football League, are the team that In(High)Fidelity support; and, in the more than two decades that we have offered them our heart, each season they have retuned it to us just a little bit more broken. It takes a special sort of person to continually support a really crappy team for a really long time... it does strange things to your psyche.
At this point I'm sure you're wondering: "The folks at In(High)Fidelity have finally lost their mind", which wouldn't be too far from the truth; however, all of this relates to The Presets.
Julian Hamilton, lead-singer and keyboardist of The Presets, also supports Richmond; and so, I immediately feel a bond with him, as all Richmond fans do. What I am trying very poorly to illuminate, is the fact that it is not always music that initially draws us to a particular artist. Perhaps it is the way they look; maybe you like the artwork on their album; maybe you like their name. Whatever it is, go with it.
Having been drawn to the Presets for the most bizarre of reasons, I have fallen under their grimy, electronic, dance-rock spell. Apocalypso that feels like it was made for dancefloors the size of stadiums.
It also reminds me of 1999 for some reason. This one I can't explain, and in no way do I think the sound the Presets is somehow dated; there are just some songs on the album that remind me of 1999. 1999 was a great year for In(High)Fidelity, so it can only be a good thing.
So, in closing, check out the Presets and, as a weird-looking-old-woman-who-should know-when-to-quit once said: Get into the groove.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/thepresets

Key Tracks: Kicking & Screaming; Yippiyo-Ay; Eucalyptus

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (Sub Pop, 2008)

In the three years since Wolf Parade released their debut album, the excellent Apologies To The Queen Mary, the members of the band have splintered into numerous side-projects, which, given their quality, almost threatened to over-shadow the achievements of the original group. In fact, with the success of singer/keyboardist, Spencer Krug's Sunset Rubdown, and singer/guitarist, Dan Boeckner's Handome Furs, some began to think that perhaps Wolf Parade had become the side-project.
Such concerns were put to rest, however, when the band retreated in 2007 to the Arcade Fire's studio-within-a-church, to record their second album, At Mount Zoomer (named for the sound studio owned by Wolf Parader, Arlen Thompson).
On their new album Wolf Parade continue the sonically adventurous journey they began on Apologies To The Queen Mary, with nine tracks that twist-and-shake between the upbeat keyboard driven pop of Soldiers Grin to the more pensive Call It A Ritual and the psychedelic freak-out of California Dreamer.
As with their first album, the lyrical content of At Mount Zoomer is delivered with a heavy dose of the cryptic. If you are looking for a straight up boy-meets-girl/boy-loses-girl/boy-has-a-heavy-heart song; you are unlikely to find it on this album.
While a good deal of modern music is bland to the point of despair, Wolf Parade paint their music (and their album artwork) with a wash of vibrant and exciting colors. Here at In(High)Fidelity, Wolf Parade hold a special place in our heart - you should buy their album.

Key Tracks: Soldiers Grin, California Dreamer, Fine Young Cannibals, Kissing The Beehive.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/wolfparade

The Dodos - Visiter (Frenchkiss Records, 2008)

There is a great scene in one of The Simpsons' Halloween specials, in which Mr. Burns is secrectly Count Dracula. When Lisa tries to tell Homer that Burns is a vampire, Homer laughingly retorts: "Oh Lisa, Vampires don't exist. They're make believe... just like elves and eskimos." That line always makes me laugh.
Sadly, the Dodo bird no longer exists. According to my research, the dodo bird was a flightless bird that lived on the island of Mauritius and has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th Century. There is nothing funny about animals becoming extinct.
Somehow, in my mind, this all ties into the fact that the Dodos, a very cool two-piece band from the San Francisco area are not only existing, but thriving in a time when each week seems to bring new reports of the extinction of the music industry as a whole.
The truth of the matter is, people have always, and will always, need to hear and play music. It is a part of who we are: even when we are sleeping, our hearts are still keeping time. More importantly, as long as group's such as the Dodos continue to consturct albums as enjoyable as Visiter, music will remain a vital component of our culture.
Visiter, for the most part is a mellow, folky affair. Intricate compositions - ruminations on love, loss and life in general - disguised as simple pop songs, in the way that all great pop songs have been since the earliest days of the Brill Building writers.
Using the simplest of tools - a guitar, some very impressive drumming, a litte bit of banjo - the Dodos have created an excellent album that will no doubt fly under the radar of the general public (as all great art seems to), however, flying at all is a pretty impressive feat for a flightless bird.

Key Tracks: walking, ashley, undeclared, god?

Check Out: http://www.myspace.com/thedodos

Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (ATP Recordings, 2008)

Firstly, members of my family have been known to read this blog, so I would like to apologize in advance for the use of profanity in this piece. However, there is really no way around it when you're writing about a band called Fuck Buttons.
In my opinion, if you decide to call your band Fuck Buttons - an obviously provacative moniker - your music should be loud, weird and obnoxious. If the newly reformed New Kids On The Block changed their name to The Shit Eaters and were still spewing out tracks like Hanging Tough and The Right Stuff, it just wouldn't be right (Editors Note: NKOTB's music does eat shit, so it may be right). Luckily, Fuck Buttons' music is loud, weird and obnoxious (in the best possible way).
My trusted friend, Mr. Martin, turned me on to Fuck Buttons a few weeks ago, and I have been listening to them solidly ever since. As he told me, they are all "weirdo atmospherics and screamo vocals", the music is dense, often dark, and utterly compelling.
Building tracks such as Sweet Love For Planet Earth, and the amazing Race You To My Bedroom/Spirit Rise, with a mulititude of electronic textures, tribal-like drumming, and vocals that sound like they have been recorded in a cement mixer, Fuck Buttons create walls of sound that must be listened to at high volume (tinnitus be damned!).
If Sigur Ros are the house band in heaven, then Fuck Buttons are keeping the masses dancing down in hell.

Key Tracks: Sweet Love For Planet Earth, Okay Let's Talk About Music, Race You To My Bedroom/Spirit Rise.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/fuckbuttons

Leopold and his Fiction - Self-Titled (Native Fiction Records, 2006)

I am somehwat behind the curve in discovering Leopold and his Fiction - a group whose sound, much like their name, belies the fact that there are only two people in the band (Editor's note: As with gangs, a band of two is the smallest band possible).
Leopold and his Fiction's music is a very cool blend of country and blues inflected rock'n'roll, that harks back to a time when life was a little bit simpler, though no less hard. The opening track, She Ain't Got Time, is a thick slice of Nuggets-era garage rock, while Shakey Mama Blues sounds something like the Strokes crossed with a heavy dose of Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf.
Be Still refines the bands sonic attack somewhat, allowing the strength of the songwriting to shine through, while Miss Manipulation, with its plaintive slide guitar and melancholy feel, is a quiet case study on how members of the fairer sex are able to bend we mortal males to their will.
Leopold and his Fiction have not set out to re-invent the wheel with this, their debut album. They have, however, filtered generations of American music through guitar, drums, and microphone into a sound that is all their own; and a mighty fine sound at that.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/leopoldandhisfiction

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple (Downtown Music, 2008)

For a good part of 2006, no matter how hard you tried, it was difficult to make it through the day without hearing Gnarls Barkley's upbeat-musings on mental well-being, or lack thereof, in the shape of their hit-song Crazy. It was unlike any other music of the time; it was, and still is, an amazing song and deserved all of the hype it received.
I bought the group's first album, St. Elsewhere, on the strength of Crazy, and while it had its moments, I was disappointed by the album as a whole. Don't get me wrong - the pairing of Danger Mouse (note: if you need to be told who Danger Mouse is, you have been living under a rock for the past five years) and Cee-Lo Green had its moments of brilliance, however, there was just too much filler on the album.
As a result, I was reluctant to purchase the duo's latest album, The Odd Couple. Following the phenomenom that was Crazy, the hype surrounding the new album has been minimal; and while many bands suffer from a sophomore slump with their second album, Gnarls Barkley have gone above and beyond anything they have done previosuly.
The album's second track, Who's Gonna Save My Soul, is sublime, rueful and amazing. It has the feel of a classic soul track, re-invented for a time rife with post-millenial tension. As soon as I heard it, I rushed out and bought the album.
Cee-Lo Green once again delves into the darker regions of his psyche, his crooning equal parts mournful and menace; Danger Mouse's production work equals anything he has done thus far. With Crazy, Gnarls Barkley established themselves as a great singles group; with The Odd Couple, they have establsihed themselves as a group capable of creating entire albums brimming with imagination, creativity and soul. Very cool.

Key Tracks: Who's Gonna Save My Soul, Run (I'm A Natural Disaster), Would Be Killer

Check Out: http://www.myspace.com/gnarlsbarkley

The Whigs - Mission Control (ATO, 2008)

In 1955, riots broke out in cinemas across Britain during the screening of a film titled "Blackboard Jungle", in which rock'n'roll outlaws, Bill Haley & The Comets, played their soon-to-be hit, Rock Around The Clock. Rock'n'roll was still in its infant stages, and it seems it was all too much for the people to bare, though in those days, dancing in the aisles would have been considered rioting.
Some years later, a wise philosopher was prone to saying, "I know, it's only rock'n'roll, but I like it." And, later still, a young preacher from Western Australia implored: "Let there be light, let there be sound, let there be drums, let there be guitars. LET THERE BE ROCK!"
Luckily, The Whigs have followed the call of their forefathers, and, with their latest album, Mission Control, have unleashed eleven songs of unbridled rock'n'roll upon an unsuspecting world. In their music, you can hear the swagger of Australia's You Am I, the pop sensibility of Britain's Doves, and the southern-rock inflection of America's My Morning Jacket.
Album opener, Like A Vibration, and the awesome, Right Hand On My Heart, are smoking-hot, and while the band aptly display their tender side on tracks such as I Never Want To Go Home and 1000 Wives, they truly shine when their amps are turned up to eleven. With so much rock goodnes on offer, The Whigs need to be heard.

Key Tracks: Right Hand On My Heart, I Never Want To Go Home, Like A Vibration

Check Out: www.myspace.com/thewhigs

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (Last Gang Records, 2008)

Remember when you were young and liked to dance? When clubs were crowded with glow-stick waving, jaw-grinding youth; and the music was uplifting to the point of euphoria? Well, those days are gone, my friends. Enter Crystal Castles.
Crystal Castles are the greasers of today's electronica scene: all leather jackets and torn jeans, more likely to be carrying switch-blades than glow-sticks. Ethan Kath is responsible for the duo's music, while Alice Glass shouts/pouts/sings her vocals over a sound that is a melange of gritty electronica and digital beeps, bips and squeals. Glass, at times, reminds one of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O, albeit an angrier, feistier Karen O. The track, Love and Caring, feels like a short hug, followed by a swift slap to the face.
With tracks like Untrust Us, 1991 and Vanished, Crystal Castles' music is dancefloor ready, though their mission appears to be making music for the dark side of the dance floor. A point perhaps best exemplified through their collaboration with Los Angeles' own avant noise-makers HEALTH, on the punchy track Crimewave. Very cool.

Key Tracks: Vanished, Crimewave, Love and Caring, 1991

Check Out: www.myspace.com/crystalcastles

National Record Store Day - April 19th

April 19th is National Record Store Day here in the U.S., and I don't see any reason why it can't be International Record Store Day across the globe. Turn off your computer, put your Ipod in a drawer, get in your car and drive to your local record store.
Record stores are home to all types of good folk, miscreants, hipsters, vinyl junkies, confused teenagers, old peope in tie-dyed shirts, and, of course, your faithful scribe, who has been at least two of the above at one point or another in his short lifetime.

Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (Secretly Canadian, 2007)

I was at school in 1995, when I noticed that someone had scrawled "I hate myself and want to die" across the desk I happened to be seated at. In the spirit of sharing, I don't mind telling you that I had my fair share of angst throughout my teen years (that's the whole point of being a teenager, isn't it?), however, I was taken aback by the sight of those seven words. I was genuinely concerned for whomever had written them and hoped they were simply venting in the odd way that teenagers tend to do, rather than harboring any genuine ideas of self-harm. I'm not sure how much later it was that I discovered that it was Kurt Cobain, Mr. Angst himself, who had made the phrase "I hate myself and want to die" (in)famous.
Life can be hard, hearts can be broken, and people can be cruel. I argue, however, that it would have been far more constructive if Kurt had have said "I hate myself and need a hug". Which, brings me to Jens Lekman's wonderful Night Falls Over Kortedala: an album that is the musical equivalent of the hug you need when life has used you as its own personal doormat.
Jens is a pop-classicist of the highest order and each of the album's 12 songs is catchier than the next. He is also a highly talented lyricist, which is best exemplified on A Postcard To Nina, in which he is asked to pose as his lesbian friend's boyfriend at a family gathering.
Incorporating doo-wop, sock-hop and pop orchestration that would do Hal David and Burt Bacharch proud, Night Falls Over Kortedala is an album that will pick you up, dust you off, and send you back out on your way.

Key Tracks: And I Remeber Every Kiss; The Opposite Of Hallelujah; A Postcard To Nina; Your Arms Around Me

Check Out: http://www.secretlycanadian.com/onesheet.php?cat=SC160

Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (2008, Earthology)

Cloud Cult have long been an In(High)Fidelity favorite, and, with their latest album Feel Good Ghosts (Tea Partying Through Tornadoes), our love for all things Cloud Cult has been affirmed once again. It is a fantastic album and you should buy it.
You should buy it because of the great music, however, you should also buy it because Cloud Cult are a band that stand for something beyond their music.
Despite repeated offers from record labels to sign the band, Cloud Cult determinedly self-release all of their albums so that they are able to maintain complete artistic control over both the sound of their albums and the manner in which they are distributed. Cloud Cult work diligently to ensure that their releases leave no carbon footprint on our hastily perishing planet. The packaging they use is made entirely of recycled materials and the band tour in an eco-friendly van.
I have written much of Cloud Cult here on In(High)Fidelity and for good reason. If you have limited funds to put toward music purchases, why not put them towards a band that actually gives a shit about something real. Visit www.cloudcult.com now, to purchase the album directly from the band, before it is officially released in April.

Check Out: www.cloudcult.com

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar, 2008)

When I discover an album such as For Emma, Forever Ago, I immediately despair. I despair because I know my talent with words could never do justice to the beauty of the sound I hear.
For the past two weeks, I have been staring blankly at my computer screen, quietly becoming overwhelmed with the task of imploring you - the reader - to listen to an album of which you may have otherwise never heard. Is it enough to tell you that I have listened to this album repeatedly for weeks now, reveling in its quiet fragility; allowing the warmth of songs such as Flume, and, my current favorite, Skinny Love, to wash over me time and time again.
In trying to describe this album, the best I have been able to come up with is as follows: It is an album that makes me happy and sad at the same time; it is beautiful and fragile; it is a bit like the sound in my head when I try to think of how my heart truly sounds.
I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone but myself, or if, indeed, it makes any sense at all. I do know, however, that For Emma, Forever Ago is one of those special albums that appears at the very time you need it most. J'aime Bon Iver.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/boniver

Key Tracks: Flume, Skinny Love, The Wolves (Act I and II), Re:Stacks

Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals (We Are Free, 2007)

There has been much written in music pages recently, about Vampire Weekend and the way in which they have gotten all Paul Simon on our arses and injected afro-rhythms into their much-lauded self-titled debut album. From what I have heard of the album, it sounds like they have done a rather good job of incorporating these rhythms into their particular brand of indie-pop, however, our subject today is not Vampire Weekend. Nay, my friends, today we are here to talk about the band Yeasayer, and the beguiling album which they released a few months ago to quiet acclaim - All Hour Cymbals.
To be frank, when I brought this album home from the record store and threw it into my stereo, I thought I had been duped. I had heard only good things about the album from reliable sources, however, what I heard was... well, it was alright. It certainly didn’t blow me away upon first listen; or even the second listen for that matter.
However, through repeated listens, All Hour Cymbals began to open itself up to me. Instruments that I had not heard on previous listens; strange, engaging Eastern rhythms; layers of sound that danced around one another; a mélange of voices: singing, chanting, moaning. I was stunned that this sound had come from four guys holed-up together in Brooklyn.
Yeasayer’s sound is one that defies easy genre categorization. At times brooding, at others celebratory; thematically and stylistically, Yeasayer are all over the map, which, perhaps, may be their greatest charm. All Hour Cymbals is an album well worth taking the time to explore; and, having seen them put on one of the best shows thus far in 2008, I can vouch that Yeasayer are a band worth seeing live when they pass through your town.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/yeasayer

Key Tracks: 2080, A.H. Weir, Forgiveness

Black Mountain - In The Future (Jagjaguwar, 2008)

In the 1990s, groups of young men with long hair would often congregate in places where they could go about their business unnoticed (the southern Californian desert was a favored meeting spot); smoke a lot of pot, listen endlessly to riff-heavy rock from the 70s, and, eventually pick up instruments and make music of their own. The music they made, heavily influenced by the likes of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, came to be known as Stoner Rock - and, for the most part, it was good. The preeminent force in Stoner Rock, was the legendary Kyuss, whose lead guitarist, Josh Homme, would later go on to form Queens Of The Stone Age and bring his rock sound to a far greater audience.
While the term Stoner Rock fell out of favor at around the turn of the millenium, the reverberations of the genre's sound are still being felt today. Case in point: Black Mountain.
Released on what is fast becoming In(High)Fidelity's label of choice - Jagjaguwar - In The Future is an album of epic proportions, yet one that never over-plays its hand. This is no small feat, given that one of the tracks - the mighty Bright Lights, clocks in at just under 17 minutes.
To call Black Mountain's sound derivative, would be to sorely under-estimate the power and urgency the band brings to their sound. This is the best of what heavy rock has offered throughout the years, re-imagined for a time where war rages in foreign countries, while our own governments employ scare-mongering tactics to keep the population paranoid and sedate.
Black Mountain, however, are no one-trick ponies, and some of the finer moments on the album, the winsome Stay Free in particular, are those where the band pick up acoustic instruments and expose themselves for what they truly are: fine songwriters who are unafraid to where their hearts on their sleeves.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/blackmountain

Key Tracks: Stormy High, Tyrants, Stay Free, Bright Lights

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (Columbia, 2008)

Could this be the first great release of 2008? How about one of the best releases of the new millennium? No stranger to hyperbole, I am inclined to answer both of these questions with an emphatic "Yes".
Having garnered plenty of attention amongst the indie cognescenti in recent months, MGMT have released their debut on the very non-indie label Columbia; which I can only attribute to an Oracular Spectacular decision on the part of their A&R department. Who says major labels don't know their ears from their arses?
While it seems Brooklyn can do no wrong at the moment - see bands such as Yeasayer and The Dirty Projectors - it seems that MGMT are destined to take their sound to a world audience. Immediately captivating, MGMT defy simple genre-categorization, as they incorporate influences as disparate as Bowie, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Daft Punk.
The album's lead off track, Time To Pretend, is a ridiculously catchy, psych-pop fantasy of the rock'n'roll lifestyle: complete with models, shooting heroin in Paris, and, inevitably, choking on one's own vomit. Kids, which is the album's centerpiece, is an electronic track with a beat that you can't help but dance to; it should be the dance anthem of 2008.
MGMT jump between styles throughout the album, from guitar rock, to dance-floor filling electronica, to acoustic balladry; and they pull it all of with a finesse that belies the fact that this is their debut album.
Having recently seen the band live and being suitably blown away, I can attest that in 2008, MGMT is the shape of rock to come.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/mgmt

Sounds A Bit Like: An early contender for album of 2008.

Perfect Black Swan - Perfect Black Swan (Ambulance Records, 2006)

Having named his band after a Dirty Three album, one could safely assume that Australia's Toby Burke is well aware of the myriad of emotions that can be expressed in music without words. For those of you unfamiliar with the Dirty Three, they are a brilliant instrumental band - also from Australia - led by violinist and Nick Cave cohort Warren Ellis. The name of the Dirty Three album from which Burke took his band's name is Horse Stories. Knowing all this, however, will not prepare you for the tender, sublime beauty that lies within the music of Perfect Black Swan.
Following three albums with the aforementioned Horse Stories, that garnered praise for Burke's songwriting abilities from critics in the U.K, the U.S. and Australia alike; plus an excellent solo album, the aptly-titled Winsome Lonesome, Burke decided to put down his pen - at least as far as lyrics were concerned - and create a song cycle of six plaintive, guitar-based instrumentals.
Each of the songs has its own character, though as a whole, the album has a pastoral feel about it. Perfect Black Swan is awash with the feeling of wide open spaces; a feeling that has carried through the music of many of Australia's best songwriters, from The Triffids, to Paul Kelly, to Tex, Don & Charlie.
As a limited release available only through the mail, Perfect Black Swan is like a safely-guarded secret, that is far too good to keep.

Check Out: http://www.myspace.com/perfectblackswan

Le Loup - The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millenium General Assembly (Hardly Art, 2007)

I like to wake early in the morning. I like to hide under my covers as the sun chases away the cowering night yet again; taking comfort in the knowledge that Mr. Sun has done it many times before, and certainly doesn’t need my help. I like to turn on the radio on these early mornings, and listen to the various news pieces on NPR, letting myself drift in-and-out of sleepy, hazy consciousness. I love the sense of disorientation; the not-quite knowing of what is real and what is imagined as the stories on the radio and the dreams still floating around my head inter-mingle, becoming one and the same. Le Loup's music invokes the same feeling within me.
Springing from the mind of Sam Simkoff - the creative force behind Le Loup - The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millenium General Assembly is an exercise in catharsis. Song titles such as Planes Like Vultures and Outside Of This Car. The End Of The World, may lead one to believe that this album is a solemn affair, however, as with much great art, Simkoff has used a difficult period in his life, to inspire something that is anything but difficult. Inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, the album spins tales of despair into songs that are somehow life-affirming.
Recorded straight onto Simkoff’s laptop, the album has a distinctly lo-fi feel and sparse instrumentation. The instrumentation there is – all of which is played by Simkoff – is used to great effect; particularly a trusty old banjo and electronic sound that would not sound out of place on an Atari 2600. Le Loup, now fleshed-out to a seven-piece band, are sure to garner plenty of attention in 2008.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/leloupmusic

Sounds A Bit Like: The Books

Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub, 2007)

They tell me that Burial practice a form of electronica known as dubstep. Dubstep is a very London-centric style of electronica; it is moody, sparse and places a strong emphasis on that which my dubwise brother could appreciate - the bassline. I picked up this album after I had seen it pop up on a number of musician's end of year lists, and I am rather happy that I did.
While my exposure to dubstep is limited, it appears that Burial - a highly secretive London-based producer - is the genre's crowned-prince; and therein, my friends, is the root problem with genre catgorization: Burial is creating music that is worthy not only of the high praise Untrue is receiving from within the electronica community and those savvy enough to be in the know. On the contrary Burial is worthy of a far greater audience, as he is creating music that is as forward thinking, creative, and just generally mind-blowing, as anything I have heard recently.
I have been listening to this album on repeat for the past five days and it has had me grasping for a thesaurus to come up with new words for 'awesome'. If there is a way to be both sparse and dense at the same time, then Burial has it figured out. Untrue is densely textured, with layer upon layer of sonic goodness folding in upon itself, as dis-embodied voices slink in and out of the action. The wonders Burial works with pitch and tempo dynamics has me forever having to pick my chin up off the floor.
In short: Buy this album.

Sounds A Bit Like: Music I have been wanting to hear for a long time.

Check Out: www.myspace.com/burialuk