Review: Harold’s Leap – Too Much Time

So, that whole festive period is out of the way, which for me meant revision for a week of exams rather than much in the way of rest and recuperation. Subsequently, this is the first opportunity for quite a while to write anything here. Top of my pile for (overdue – they pretty much all are at this point) review is Harold’s Leap’s Too Much Time, which brings about the issue of how to review an album by the band of somebody you consider a friend (Tim Young, whose voice can often be heard along with mine – and many good others – over at his Contrast Podcast).

Besides Tim Young, who here sings and plays the guitar, are Chris Llewellyn on guitar, Tom Lusty on bass and backing vocals and Nick Richardson on drums who have written and recorded together in London over a rather extensive period that culminated with the album release through Constitution Records in 2011.

I am not sure how others might do it, but I have come to the conclusion that anything I write would be unavoidably affected by this connection. I will content myself with the following brief Tweet-sized recommendation:

“This album is excellent; if the weaving of the smart lyrics of a keenly aware contemporary poet over catchy guitar hooks with a pop sensibility sounds the sort of thing you might enjoy, then you should check it out.”

Checking it out can be done via the usual routes: Amazon | iTunes | cdbaby | eMusic

You can also sample the album over on their Facebook page.

Review: USAISAMONSTER – R.I.P.

This might have the appearance of an overdue review, seeing as this was released on Northern Spy Records back in October of last year, but as it came my way a couple months back as the result of their marking their first year, I figured it should be given an appraisal as their first release, in terms of catalogue numbers, as an example of their inception.

Regular readers will already know the name Colin Langenus from my review of Infinite Ease/Good God by the Colin L. Orchestra, released earlier this year also on Northern Spy Records. While I had my reservations about Good God, Infinite Ease really won me over. The same is true of R.I.P., the last release of his many (at least ten) years’ project with Tom Hohmann, started when squatting Charlottesville, VA.

Langenus’s leaning towards surfer and stoner rock is as apparent as is Hohmann’s interest in Native American culture (this latter most notably within the phenomenally catchy album opener Grey Owl, which, in charting the tale of an Englishman’s conversion from trapper to natural spiritualist, wears these influences right on its sleeve). So, too, is the fact that they have a history together. Their being more than capable of weaving through various styles, complex time signatures and an almost-atonally (especially come the closing track, Dynamite Day) with such cohesion as this  is testament to this fact, even without necessarily knowing the journey they have taken together.

For those who have followed the band along this journey, this album sees them leaving on top of their game and is not so much a swan-song as a taking off (and neither seems to show signs of slowing down – Langenus continues to work various projects, including the Colin L. Orchestra, while Hohmann went on to form new band (from) the Sky [not to be confused with London's From the Sky, though I cannot find (from) the Sky's web presence]). However, for me it has left voracious a hunger for more, so I feel almost at an advantage to have been hitherto ignorant of their work, as I have a whole back-catalogue to explore.

Before I wrap this up, I feel I should mention, as an aside, that the album art is Hohmann’s original work. As a further aside, during the long periods of touring with USAISAMONSTER he took to knitting and may or may not still do custom knits on etsy.

You can stream (edit: samples only) and purchase the album direct from Northern Spy Records.

Overdue Review: Sarandon – Sarandon’s Age of Reason

The spirit of C86 is alive and well and inhabiting London’s Sarandon. Sarandon itself has been a band since 2003, but has been quiet on the album front. This is their second or third, depending on whether you count 2006′s culmination of their singles to date, The Completist’s Library. Members have come and gone, but the constant remains Simon Williams, a.k.a. Crayola, whose resume is rather intimidating.

The album has the thread running through it of its narrator, Big Trev, observing in a haphazard, meandering (which is not to say entirely unfocussed) fashion, often shot through with a splendid bitterness, everything from irritation at people thoughtlessly calling him whilst he is eating, feelings of bewilderment and disgust at the discotheque, the dent he expects to make in the world, as well as – once the overpriced booze seems to kick in – love and happiness and the things that really matter in his life.

While these passages are soundtracked by a hideous looping effected accordion dirge, each is punctuated by instances of exquisitely angular pop-punk that expand upon the themes of the spoken word segments (it is splendidly difficult – if not impossible – to tell if the ramblings are constructed around the songs or vice-versa). In a little over half an hour you are taken on a journey with a character it is easy to feel comfortable with and to cheer for with a band that know how to, in Big Trev’s words, “[hit] the nail firmly and squarely on the head.”

This is garage pop-punk at its brightest, the concept helping to hold everything together so not one track, even the 5-minute Mustn’t Grumble, outstays its welcome or feels like filler (the lack of filler is evidenced by the album’s brevity). Its sound has all the hallmarks of authentic punk, and you can rock out to it if you so desire, but there is precision and control at work in its composition. The guitar, bass and drums are capable of working together to create surging waves of noise, but more is built on melodic riffs than heavily distorted power chords. There is much to be heard here, and each of my visits has been as fun as the last.

This aside, you know you have a winner on your hands when an album is released with its own IPA.

Stream a couple of songs below. Piglet, the title track from their latest EP, may also be downloaded.

Sarandon – Big Trev by Odd Box Records

Sarandon – Piglet by Slumberland Records

Buy it on CD or vinyl from Odd Box Records or Slumberland Records, where digital download links are also available.

Sarandon: Official website

Review: everyBoy – Parachute Mind

Not quite an “Overdue Review” (but close), this has been in my listening heap quite a while. It is one of those I find difficult to review because my first impressions have dwindled over time and, given that as a rule I feel more immediately if I dislike something (I did not immediately fall in love with Parachute Mind‘s title track) and I – at least where the blog is concerned – subscribe to the philosophy of not saying anything if I have nothing nice to say, this means that there is something that has shifted in my opinion since that allows me to put some words about it here and, in spite of some qualms I cannot quite overcome, there is something I like about this album, so bear with me if it seems I am derailing a bit here.

We shall start with some words of introduction. everyBoy is the project of South California’s Bruce Nathan, with producer John Holbrook (who has produced most everybody important, it seems, from Pink Floyd through The Rolling Stones to Fountains of Wayne) and Jack Johnson’s drummer Adam Topal. Parachute Mind is their second album after last year’s The Last La-La’s.

In spite of the wealth of (very apparent) talent on this record, I cannot help but feel that either something is missing, or, more accurately, there is something stood in the way of the heart of the record. There are occasions when it seems the production has let its guard down, such as within TV News, and these are my favourite moments on the record. And whilst this is clearly a personal document, with an emotional cord running through it, especially noticeable within tracks such as Bully Me and Ego Solo, there is a near-clinical tightness that refuses to let this emanate at times; to lapse into clumsy metaphor one might compare it to an actress after one too many botox injections: the tears might be seen to run down the cheeks, and there may be power in the words, but the tautness prevents an altogether clear, uninterrupted demonstration of feeling. This is a pity, because overall this album is one that has more going for it that I like than that which I dislike in terms of both quality and quantity and it could be argued that some of that to which I have been exposed lately has given me a need for immediacy of intent that this record cannot quite provide. Time has opened me up more and more to this album and I expect it to grow on me with each listen, and certainly I have kept on coming back to it.

I shall stop with my words and provide a sample or two so as to help you decide for yourselves what my somewhat conflicted rambling means. I will start with title track Parachute Mind, but bear in mind that, as I stated above, this is not in my opinion one of the finer tracks on the album (the actual opening track To Arjun, also below, is to my mind a far better introduction). It was, however, the lead-off single and has a video to go with it (and I cannot deny that it has an awful habit of sticking in my head), so I will leave you with this and encourage you to look into it if afterwards you are even only slightly inclined.

All the links you might need to purchase the album in various formats are available via everyBoy’s official website.

everyBoy – To Arjun by fanaticpro

EDIT: It transpires everyBoy has made a full album stream available, if you want to delve a little deeper and judge for yourself:

Review: Zs – 33

Remember two posts ago, when I said that Ben Greenberg’s group project – with Sam Hillmer on tenor saxophone and Ian Antonio on drums – Zs’ 33 was due for review soon? Well, not quite as soon as otherwise expected, here it is. (It is expected to be my last Northern Spy review in a row for a short while – though I expect to cover everything they have released in their year-and-a-bit of existence eventually.)

As with Hubble (Ben Greenberg’s solo project), this is improvisational performance at its most immediate and rawest. Unlike Hubble, the dynamics are altered by the varying timbres of the instruments to hand, the drums here largely providing a foundation on the top of which the guitar and sax intertwine, both as able to let their instruments ring out to create the impression of a great breadth of space as to fill out all the niches with a controlled cacophony of sound. Also unlike Hubble, the four sides of this vinyl release seem more like excerpts of a potential larger picture, meaning the risk here is that at each side’s close you will want for far more than is given.

Zs have, according to the description on the customary video located below, existed for ten years, over the course of which it has been a trio, a quartet and a sextet, so each member is well aware of being a part of something greater. This awareness is what prevents the sound from derailing; as a direct consequence, everything feels as carefully constructed as it does free-flowing and chaotic.

ZS from Haba on Vimeo.

33 is available for download now from Northern Spy Records, with a physical release date of November 8.

Review: Dan Melchior und das Menace – Catbirds & Cardinals

The return to university and Freshers’ Fortnight has taken up a lot of my time lately, which is why there has been a lull in activity there. I am keen to address this, so here is the next review from my increasingly formidable stack of items for review, another from Northern Spy Records: Dan Melchior und das Menace’s Catbirds & Cardinals.

This is a record I want very much to love. Indeed, the good moments outweigh the bad; the lyrics – when they can be discerned (see below) – are excellently crafted and there are many well-crafted melodies to be found hidden beneath all the fuzz and distortion. Yet for all that makes me want to keep coming back for repeated listens, there is also something that pushes me away.

“What’s the use of even (evil?) speaking if you’re buried in bad static? May as well be mute like one of those masked record clerks,” Melchior may or may not sing (I listened closely three or four times and could not work out the words here), and this is probably my biggest problem with the record. Melchior’s heavily overdriven sound does not lend itself to easy listening, which is partly the point, but there is so much in songs like Catbird (from which these lyrics were taken) and Crow Radio #2 that contains inherent threat that it feels that one unnecessary extra step into the alienation territory.

Maybe I am trying too hard to review this as a pop record, which is not (quite) what it claims to be. Melchior’s construction should be perhaps seen as a sort of artful play, an antithesis to works such as Poptastic’s The Teen-Pop-Noise Virus (a project in which carefully-crafted pop songs were transformed by way of effects into a sonic barrage) – meeting at a similar juncture from opposite directions; Melchior has created something akin to ‘pop’ from the chaos of his sludgy signature sound and, on this basis alone, given that there is much to be explored that you have to work for, this album can be said to be a success. Certainly, this is not an album you can casually exhaust.

Below, you can stream and download English Shame (which would not actually be my pick of the tracks from the album) and watch Melchior perform No Horizons/No Prescription at Scion Garage Fest 2009:

Scion Garage Fest 2009: Dan Melchior “No Horizons/No Prescription” from Scion A/V on Vimeo.

Catbirds and Cardinals is available direct from Northern Spy Records and the usual others:

Amazon UK (MP3) | US (MP3)

Review: Hubble – Hubble Drums

Hubble Drums is clearly born of a great deal of experience with live adaptation and experimentation. The solo project of guitarist Ben Greenberg (of Zs, whose 33 is due for review here shortly), it showcases his ability to harness nothing more than his virtuoso abilities and a loop pedal [EDIT: apparently not; see comments] to create dense, swirling sonic soundscapes. The three tracks each seem to stem from a core motif which is expanded on and explored, owing more to minimalist compositional techniques than simple riffing, each filling the space with a tremendous, near-unrelenting energy.

It is better – to say nothing of how much easier it is for me – to allow you to experience this first-hand, so see below Greenberg performing as Hubble live on a New York rooftop.

HUBBLE from teresa eggers on Vimeo.

Hubble Drums is available from Northern-Spy Records on November 8.

Review: Pocketbooks – Carousel

Having taken a little look around to see what the rest of the world thinks of them, it would seem it would be impossible to review Pocketbooks without mention of Belle and Sebastian, but my first thoughts upon hearing this London-based twee-pop quintet were of Tender Pervert era Momus. Admittedly, this may be because – I must here admit – I have only the one Belle & Sebastian album in my collection (The Boy with the Arab Strap) and have not heard anything since their Books EP of 2004. But I digress. The point I am trying to make with this opening paragraph is that, like those other bands unafraid to engage playfully with their words, pen yarns about such seemingly trivial topics as waiting tables on New Year’s Eve, losing the love of your life to stargazing and al fresco apple orchard all-nighters and do so over well-crafted piano and jangly guitar accompaniments such that each and every track oozes with delirious charm, conjuring images of cinematic summer days, all free-wheeling tandems, hands holding hands on park benches and the dizzy falling into new love, dropping the nod to Belle & Sebastian in your review does not quite do them justice.

Never mind a whole paragraph…

Instead, let us review Pocketbooks as an entity unto themselves. Well, everything I said above is true. Carousel is a joy from start to end. Andy Hudson – their chief songwriter – is a master of distilling life, where feelings of sweet abandon are here and there checked by bitter stings of regret at mistakes made, opportunities missed or trust misplaced, all penned with such aplomb and verbal agility as to vividly bring each scene to life. From the opening piano line and arpeggios of Fireworks at Midnight (itself revisited a little into the second half of the album, in The Flowers Are Still Standing, which seems to view the same scene from another viewpoint), the album unfolds slowly into being, adding a little at a time until leaving one last lingering note that explodes into the full band opening of Promises, Promises, replete with strings. The album proceeds to visit its different moods, maintaining both its energy and brightness throughout; even when lamenting life’s losses, there is joy to be found in the details – the inherent poetry found in coupling the vast expanse and the minutiae of everyday experience.

Pocketbooks’ various releases are available to purchase, with some streaming tracks and the occasional free download, from their Bandcamp store. Carousel is available direct from Odd Box Records or the usual:

Amazon: UK (MP3)

Pocketbooks: Official Website

Review: Haunted House – Blue Ghost Blues

What is in a name? In a world where image is increasingly all-encompassing, you still feel that with many bands nowadays it is as though their name has been plucked from the air almost at random and means about as much to the project as does their choice of toothpaste. Klaxons aside, I really struggle to pick out many examples, from my increasingly wavering awareness of contemporary popular music, where you could see the name after hearing the music – or, indeed, vice versa – and think, But of course; how could they be called anything else? I am sure you could perhaps think of a couple names yourself, but the point is that these bands are in a tremendous minority, amongst whose ranks few fit quite so well as does Haunted House, Loren Connors’ latest group project with his wife Suzanne Langille, alongside Andrew Burnes and Neel Murgai.

Reminiscent of The Birthday Party at their rawest, Connors, Burnes and Murgai employ guitars and Indian hand percussion to create what is an undeniably solid, yet continuously strange and shifting, structure, from the depths of which Langille’s wailing cries are allowed to resonate, always seemingly just outside of your grasp, lingering at the edge of your vision, but feeling all the more a presence for this, something transient a human to try to hold onto – albeit not quite a comfort – in the otherwise all-encompassing swell of evolving, but never quite abating, menace, which wraps itself about you, pulses through and becomes you, and refuses to let you go until the last note fades. When it does, you feel as though, much as with Alice’s own White Rabbit, you have chased a dream, stepped out and let yourself fall beyond all that is familiar and comforting and, by allowing the seeming disconnected currents of dream logic to carry you, have found your way back into the warmth of the sun again. Yet a sense of yearning is left with you, as though some small part of you has been exchanged for something altogether other in a not-quite-of-this-world experience that it is only fair to describe as genuinely sublime.

Sample this closing moment in the bonus track of Blue Ghost Blues, White Rabbit:

Watch Loren Connors perform live at NewIdeas MusicSeries early last month:

Loren Connors – NewIdeas MusicSeries IX – 5.8.11 from Michael Waller on Vimeo.

Blue Ghost Blues is out now, available direct from Northern-Spy Records or from Amazon:

Amazon: UK (MP3) | US (MP3)

Overdue Reviews, Part 4: Manorlady – Home

Photo by Laura DeAngelis

Homeliness, as those who have been following my online music appraisal career for some time will perhaps be aware, is a troubling concept for me. Therefore, an album that attempts to take on that topic head-on will usually manage to attract my attention; Manorlady’s Home, telling  the band’s “semi-fictional story of … finding their way Home”, certainly did.

Helping the concept hold together is the band’s familial ties and common origins. Consisting of husband and wife Aaron and Melissa Bailey along with her brother Donald Wooley (and sometimes drummer Tony DeAngelis – “brother of the band”), Manorlady identifies foremost as a “family band”. The three core members grew up in Eastern California before relocating to Charlottesville, VA.

It is the former that seems to have made the biggest contribution to their sound, however, as though exploring the Eastern Californian landscape, this album swoops and soars, riding the dizzying heights and the shadowy lows, doing wonders with their instruments and voices that successfully conjure the rich diversity of this terrain. The songs are diverse, ranging from the sheer intensity of International Boys Club, which opens like the climax of a western, where the crashing guitars may signify the last climactic stand-off as the lone sheriff facing the clutch of villainous gunslingers wanting to take over his town, to that of which you might consider the ‘eye of the storm’, Waltz for Couples, the saddest music box in the world. Throughout, the Baileys’ voices weave in and out and over and under each other, in a fascinating sort of slow danse macabre (the closest existent visual image I can think of as a comparison to this is the music video for Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s Mary Jane’s Last Dance), and while Aaron typically leads this dance, when the two step together they fit so well as to seem part of one unified organic machine.

The subject matter of the lyrics themselves are not quite in keeping with the vast cinematic scope of this sound, ranging from “misbehaved pets, un-had vacations, reality television disasters, [to] disagreements over baby-making”. The juxtaposition is sublime. As the overarching theme of homeliness weaves in and out, various ideas as to what it is are presented, but in the end, with Sungazing, these thoughts are rather abruptly cut short and the question, “What or where is home?” seems to be left unanswered (or unanswerable), a starkly cold – but fitting – end to a tremendous debut album.

If “home” – the concept itself – could be said to be where the day-to-day trivialities are coupled with a sense of intense emotional significance, then this album nails it. If home feels like a shelter from a storm, it is that, too. And if home is simply something to which you want to return when its warmth has at long last faded, then – above all – Home is that.

Watch the video for the original Home Away EP version of Boy and Flippers:

Manorlady “Boy and Flippers” from Matthew Gatto on Vimeo.

And stream Home in its entirity here, or below:

Manorlady: Website | Digital Store (where a handful of freebies are available)

Purchase: Amazon UK (MP3) | US (MP3) … (or get it on CD direct from the band)