WK30 - Miniature Tigers - Fortress (6.5)

Released - 7/27/10

Label - Modern Art / ILG

BLURB - Perhaps one of the biggest question marks entering the indie scene this year was Miniature Tigers. After breaking through in 2008 during the CMJ music festival in NYC, they quickly garnered some steam and actually toured with Ben Folds months later. The big selling point for Miniature Tigers is, predictably, their effortless ability to be quirky while actually putting out a solid product. "Tell it to the Volcano," the band's first full length, was filled with jaunts of indie pop and folk that captured the hearts of young hipsters everywhere. The group, looking to further elaborate on their sound, encored with "Fortress," but unfortunately they may have gone a bit off the deep end. "Fortress" wanders about and is the equivalent of musical kryptonite for those with short attention spans. But don't write them off quite yet. While the album comes off a bit experimental, there are certainly flashes of brilliance that will reward those that decide to stick around.

Rating - 6.5 out of 10

FULL STORY - I've been on the Miniature Tigers bandwagon for some time now, admittedly. Their ability to spit out catchy, thoughtful, melodic and clever indie-rock tunes is, if nothing else, impressive. So going into this album, I had very high hopes and expectations for more of the same.

Unfortunately, opener 'Mansion of Misery' fails to live up to the above precedent. The track starts out catchy enough and has much more production value than past records, but it just kind of sits there. The song has about three core, solid sections, but the band has trouble tying them all together into one. This results in a lack of momentum and unity and hurts what could have been a great song. Not the best way to start an album off.

'Rock N' Roll Mountain Troll' is immediately likable and instantly redeems the band for their opening track. After a brief intro, pounding acoustic guitars (I know...quite the oxy moron) serve as the foundation for this song. While chord changes are few and far between, Miniature Tigers somehow find a way to keep the listeners attention by constantly building momentum and depth. 'Rock N' Roll Mountain Troll' certainly features a variety of inane and weird lyrics, but you'll inevitably find yourself singing along without even realizing what you're saying.

'Dark Tower' finds vocalist Charlie Brand offering up some self reflection as he pines over pursuing his career or a girl. The song is beautifully constructed and features tons of backing vocals and melodies, while remaining gentle and full of air.

"Don't wait for me girl, cause I don't know what I'm after - you or my career. Don't say it's the end, cause I could not take it. Do you know me still?"

The track continues to revolve around this premise of Brand not entirely knowing what he wants to do with his life, feeling ever more alone. Brand goes as far as to compare this to living alone in a dark tower where he's constantly living in a daydream. Clearly one of the more serious songs on the record, 'Dark Tower' is not only relatable and honest, but enjoyable.

Neon Indian throws his weight around guest-producing 'Goldskull' and bringing his chillwave persona with him. 'Goldskull' is very down tempo and stabbed with lines of bright synthesizers - typical Neon Indian. While it's a decent song, parts of it just don't feel right. It's not a Miniature Tigers track and lacks a certain authenticity to it. More or it less, it just sounds like Miniature Tigers doing a Neon Indian song.

Miniature Tigers go all 'Animal Collective-y' on 'Bullfighter Jacket.' The song opens up with some sort of tribal chant that you would here on Strawberry Jam, which regrettably resurfaces throughout the track. What's worse is that 'Bullfighter Jacket' - minus the chanting, is probably the best song on the album. Clearly, Miniature Tigers are using their second record to really wander about their musical capacity and mess around with sounds and concepts. I get that, I am okay with that. But at some point as a band you need to realize who you are, and just stick with that.

And so with that being said, the album is still great. The cleverness and wittiness with which Miniature Tigers write and compose songs is still there, and present - but I think for some tracks they just went a bit too far. They've got some many ideas and concepts and sounds floating around that maybe it was just too much to compress down into one album. This really shows as the record is kind of all over the place and never establishes any kind of flow or solidarity. What's really missing are the genuine, simple, quirky tracks like 'Hot Venom' or 'The Wolf' that we all fell in love with on the first album. Oh well...just Miniature Tigers I guess. I bought this album and will certainly buy the next.

Tracks

1.) Mansion of Misery

2.) Rock & Roll Mountain Troll

3.) Dark Tower

4.) Gold Skull (Ft. Neon Indian)

5.) Bullfighter Jacket

6.) Egyptian Robe

7.) Japanese Woman

8.) Tropical Birds

9.) Lolita

10.) Coyote Enchantment

The End of an Era

This isn't a blog post or review for an album, so I apologize in advance. But I think in certain circumstances, this site should be an outlet for music related news that I've come to take part in.

As many of you may or may not know, I have worked at Cherry Lane Music Publishing, in some capacity for the last 4 years of my life. Cherry Lane has been my home. It's where I served my internship during my junior year of college. It's where I was hired in 2007. It's where I wore khakis and polos everyday for a year, thinking, 'Oh this will make me look good.' It's where I've met some of my best friends. It's where I've been until 9pm some nights, banging away on a calculator. It's where I met my roommate. It's where I've played softball and volleyball with everyone. It's where I've bowled. It's where I've thrown birthday parties. Simply put, it was the good life.

Cherry Lane was more than a company, it was a family. It ran the entire gamut of emotions and was everything one could want to expect from a company. Yes, we're all co-workers, but moreover, we're all friends. We all made the conscious decision to work there because:

a.) we absolutely love music

b.) we absolutely love the people we work with

Yes, sometimes we complained about the money and the workload and questioned what we were doing. But we were all brought together by this common thread of music and friendship. At the end of the day, we were a family. We worked together, ate together and in some instances...lived together. There is no possible way for me to clearly convey what it meant to take part in this, but for those of us that did...it was nothing short of amazing.

There were points, for all of us, where we were just swamped with work and it felt like we couldn't breathe. There were points when we would all leave work to go to drink at happy hour. We would all go to BBQ's. We would all go to concerts. We would go to each other's apartments. We would go on road trips. We would call and e-mail each other, across the country, just to let the other know that the softball team won. But whatever we did, it was always together. Hell, just about all of us even go to the same gym!

We've experienced funerals, weddings and births together. We've been to each other's bachelor parties, likely taking part in inappropriate behavior. We've met each others families. We've visited each other during breaks. We complained about not getting paid enough, but never had a problem paying $10 to go see someone's band play.

It was comfortable. It felt right. There was never a time where someone would say:

"I can't talk to him, he won't understand."

"Oh, I don't like her."

"He doesn't do any work."

"I don't want to hang out with him, we don't get along."

Everything had this tremendous organic nature to it. We were all in it together. We were all in it for the same reasons - and more importantly, the right reasons. Yes, collectively there was probably about 70 of us, but together we were Cherry Lane. And that meant something more than words could. When I would introduce co-workers to personal friends of mine, it felt great saying, 'Oh yeah, he works at Cherry Lane with me. He works in this department. He plays softball with me and he's in this amazing band. He's the man."

Today was, in all likelihood, one of the worst days I've ever had to endure. The majority of co-workers that I had become friends with were let go. These were bosses, co-workers...and more importantly - friends. These were the people I worked with when I was the nervous intern from Pennsylvania. These were the people that I went to festivals with. These were the people that I worked on research projects with. These were the people I had no problem going out drinking with on a Tuesday night. We all had each others back.

Knowing that they're gone is bittersweet. I know how close I was to being lumped into that group, and in certain instances I kind of wish I was. I feel the days of being this tight knit family are all but gone. I keep saying it, but Cherry Lane really had a 'family' feel to it. It never felt like work. When we all wake up in the morning, we would throw on our iPods, catch the subway and go meet up with our friends for the next 9 hours. While it was work, it never felt like it. And I think in the world we live in, this is something all entirely too rare - and I'm glad I was able to take part in it.

From here on out it's going to be weird. It's going to be awkward. It's going to be quiet. Impromptu coffee runs to Starbucks and Jamba Juice will likely dwindle. I'm thankful that I'm staying on, but at what cost? I'd like to think this is a great personal opportunity for myself. However, the idea of being a benefactor to the unemployment of a large group of my friends is a notion that I'm not entirely comfortable with.

At any rate, we all of have to move forward. We all have to put our heads down and keep working towards our goals. I guess that is kind of the silver lining here. The fact that everyone was such intelligent, hard workers, and more, such great individual humans - I'm confident that everyone will land on their feet. And I'm sure that most will go on to even bigger and better things. And so it's the end of an era. It was fun - and will not be soon forgotten. To everyone that won't be at work tomorrow - just know you'll be missed.

WK29 - Fang Island - Fang Island (8)

Released - 2/23/10

Label - Sargent House

BLURB - This album truly takes me back to my good ol' pop-punk days of high school. You know...Blink 182, New Found Glory, Saves the Day, etc.? Looking back now, it's kind of like...'wow, what the hell was I listening to?' However, in that same breath, a lot of that music is what shaped the person I am now (as much as I love making fun of emo fans everywhere). And so, enter Fang Island, roughly ten years after I bought my last Fenix Tx record. Fang Island brings that same youthful energy, feel and enthusiasm, but actually back it up with some talent and creativity. The lyrics are few and far between on their debut full length record, but that's not to say they aren't offering up some of the catchier, more melodic-rock tunes of 2010. The musicianship here is second to none and the arrangements will remind you of something Rush might have concocted back in the day. The entire album has something of a triumphant and celebratory feel to it - perhaps that's what the whole appeal behind Fang Island is. Good people making good music...something that's easy to get behind.

Rating - 8 out of 10

FULL STORY - First things first, can we give Fang Island the best album artwork award for 2010? I mean c'mon, it's a picture of a fairy hitting a robot-castle. I think it's the hands-down winner.

I bought this album strictly because Pitchfork gave it their 'best new music' tag. Ridicule me if you must, but that was the scenario. After reading the review I bought the album and have been listening to it consistently for the last month or so. Prior to creating my own review, I wanted to see them in person, and was fortunate enough to check them out at the first pool party of the summer in Williamsburg. Truth be told, I was blown away. Usually at outdoor venues the sound really suffers and it's difficult to gauge just how great an act actually was. Be this a testament to the sound guy or Fang Island, I don't know - probably both. At any rate, the tightness and synchronicity with which they performed was at the very least, impressive. This is actually what makes Fang Island, Fang Island. Their sound is comprised of precise solos and well-thought out progressions that effortlessly push the music forward with great momentum and magnetism, making it very easy to sucked into to any one of their tracks.

The album opens with an introduction of fireworks...but of course. Harmonic guitar riffs, an organ solo and four part harmonies eventually prevail, serving as an auditory ice breaker for the band. For whatever reason this (and several other tracks) remind me of Queen. There's something in the build up and celebratory feel to their music...every song seems to be some kind of melodic-punk interpretation of 'We Are the Champions.'

'Careful Crossers' is the first real track of the album and features a slew of thundering drums and varying guitar progressions. The benefits of having three talented guitarists really shines on this track. At any given point, each guitarist is performing their own section against the other two. While you would think this would become chaotic and hazy, each riff and progression plays off of the other and everything winds up fitting like a 300 piece jigsaw puzzle.

'Daisy' is the single and definitely has that single vibe to it. Maybe that's why it's the single? Featuring a rare display of group vocals and harmonies, the track ebbs and flows with catchy guitar riffs and melodies that will inevitably get stuck in your head as they counteract with the vocals. Despite the general lack of vocals on the album as a whole, Fang Island finds a way to create memorable lines of instrumentation (usually guitar) that have an incredible 'hum-along' factor, and 'Daisy' is a great example of this, while also supplementing the track with vocals as well.

The fourth track, 'Side Swiper' is yet another success that combines driving guitars and distortion with a slew of memorable guitar lines. The song itself evokes the personification of persistence and determination. After an embattled collection of progressions and solos, the song finally lands on solid ground about halfway through as we're met with, more or less, some a cappella group vocals. Following the vocal section is an entirely different feel. Fang Island diversifies their punk/rock vibe as they ditch the overdrive distortion for an acoustic guitar and some well thought-out pop leads. The song continues to build and in doing so the distortion slowly works itself back into the forefront. The blatant lack of structure (verses, choruses, bridges, etc.) allows Fang Island to really be creative on the album. It allows their songs to take on new and different shapes, constantly. There is never a period of monotony or predictability.

The track that perhaps doesn't quite fit on the album is 'Davey Crockett.' Contrasting to the rest of the album, the track is (for the majority) a slow burner that evokes atmospheric tones through its use of synthesizers and keyboards. Casual 'oh-woah, woah's' begin to take shape as the songs appears to be readying itself for liftoff. When the hi hat starts counting off and the palm muted guitar appears you know it's time. Erupting from the buildup is likely the most recognizable solo of the album. It's not overly fast or incredibly intricate, but it accomplishes the task of finality. It's ceremonious and holds a lot of weight. Switching off with the 'oh-woah, woah's' are the words 'Davey Crockett' which gives it a real Phish feel. Pretty weird, but I can definitely hear it. The track really reminds me of the Trey Anastacio-classic, 'Lizards.' A bed of triumphant and melodic solos, only to be supplemented with weird vocals, a la 'Davey Crockett.'

Fang Island knows exactly what they are and they know exactly what they are trying to accomplish. They have a certain ingenious way of evoking excitement and enthusiasm solely out of their cleverly devised guitar solos and progressions. That being said, perhaps in the eyes of some, that could be a major detracting factor. The lack of any kind of structure or vocals definitely factors as a hinderance for the band, but I really don't think they care about that. They're here to rock, clearly.

Tracks

1.) Dreams of Dreams

2.) Careful Crossers

3.) Daisy

4.) Life Coach

5.) Sideswiper

6.) The Illinois

7.) Treeton

8.) Davey Crockett

9.) Welcome Wagon

10.) Dorian

WK28 - Sleigh Bells - Treats (10)

Released - 5/11/10

Label - Mom + Pop / NEET

BLURB - I finally got the hearing back in my ears. We can stop worrying. I truly don't know where to begin with "Treats." This is perhaps the loudest, most 'in your face' album I've ever heard. After the first time listening to this album, I was like...'wow...what just happened?' I felt like I just got out of a fight or something. It's aggressive, it's fierce and at points intimidating. Yet somehow at the same time, Sleigh Bells have this unmistakable swagger, style and creativity that sets them apart from everybody else. It transcends anything and everything I've heard so far this year. Label them however you want - noise pop, alternative hip-hop, dance punk...it doesn't matter. "Treats" is so unique and new, it's impossible to classify...or put down. With each listen, their fusion of uber-distortion and hip-hop beats will find a way to grow on you. It's inevitable.

Rating - 10 out of 10

FULL STORY - According to my roommate, Alexis Krauss used to work down the street at one of our favorite mexican joints, Papacitos (by the way, awesome fish tacos), for a couple of years. Who knew? The story goes that Krauss teamed up with former Poison the Well guitarist Derek Miller after meeting each other in 2008 and deciding to do something entirely new. After Poison the Well, Miller had moved out to the west coast and began learning how to program drum loops and beats. He eventually moved to Brooklyn where he met Krauss, who, in addition to working tables, was teaching music on the side. I know this because I read it while leafing through the latest volume of Fader at Barnes and Noble, as I waited for a friend. It almost seems like it could be a great plot for a movie. It's just two strangers with entirely different lives, sharing a common passion for music. And now they seem to be the hottest, most sought after act in the music industry right now. Great story.

Opener 'Tell Em' begins with a drum beat that sounds like a machine gun. As only the good ones do? As soon as you hear that beat and the aggression, you can instantly tell this is going to be crazy. Short, screeching guitar riffs come in, only to be followed with a clap track, giving the song both an instant metal and hip-hop feel...and yet, thankfully, it sounds nothing like Limp Bizkit. What further gives this creative blend of instrumentation credibility, is the nearly angelic voice of Krauss. It's a pairing that you would think could never work in a million years, but it does.

'Kids' proceeds to enter with a growling wave of synth that slowly builds into a monster of an opening. As the intro reaches it's apex, Miller throws in an ingenious loop of hi hats, reminiscent of something off of a T.I. or L'il Wayne track. The song as a whole has this huge, massive feel to it. Every instrument sounds like it's peaking on the monitors (which they probably are), giving the track this raw, super-distorted quality. Had the entire song been made up solely of this sound, it would likely have been too much. Being the good musicians they are, the two manage to go back and forth between these overwhelming waves of distortion and softer, more laid back verses in which Krauss provides the vocals over. The balance is perfect and gives the track enough variety and flow to keep it interesting.

The best track on the album, in my opinion, is 'Rill Rill.' What's weird is that I love this album for how loud and aggressive it is, yet 'Rill Rill' is the softest and slowest track on the record. It effortlessly flows across the speakers with a certain arrogance, blatantly defying the rest of "Treats." The song showcases both Krauss' vocals and her personality over several different guitar samples and a relaxing, yet powerful beat. The overall feel reminds me of something that M.I.A. would have concocted as a b-side for "Kala." The lyrics, ironically, are both introverted and ambitious, creating a very personable flow that is easy to dive into:

"You are the river flow and we could never know. We're just the weatherman, you make the wind blow. Keep thinking about every straight face yes. Wonder what your boyfriend thinks about your braces. What about them? I'm all about them. Six such straight A's, cut 'em in the bathroom. So this is it then? You're here to win a friend? Click, click, saddle up, see you on the moon then. You're all alone friend, pick up the phone then. Ring, ring, call them up, tell them 'bout the new trends."

It seems only fitting that Sleigh Bells would follow up the slowest track on the album with their most vicious. I'm warning you now..."Crown on the Ground" is intense. The fury of sound and distortion will overwhelm your senses and it's guaranteed that you'll inexplicably reach to turn the volume down. When I first heard this track, I was like....'this is too much,' but somehow this remains another one of my favorites. Despite the sensory overload of distortion and chaos brought on by the guitars and synthesizers, the beat and underlying drum patterns are so addicting that you won't be able to comprehend the fact that you actually love this song. Accompanying this over the top instrumentation, is a flood of arrogance and swagger that will ooze out of your now-broken speakers with complete disregard. And yet, it's because of this confidence and freshness, that I continue to give my co-workers headaches from my cubicle as I blast 'Crown on the Ground' at ten in the morning.

As of right now this is my favorite album of the year. I can't put it down. I send it to everyone, and then they tell me that they can't put it down. The main reason for this, I think, is because of how new and different it sounds. The approach and mentality behind the making of this record strays so far away from the norm, that it instantly has appeal. However, after the initial appeal and newness rubs off (believe me it does, I've listened to it 3,000 times), it still stands on it's own and towers over everything else that is out there.

Tracks

1.) Tell 'Em

2.) Kids

3.) Riot Rhythm

4.) Infinity Guitars

5.) Run the Heart

6.) Rachel

7.) Rill Rill

8.) Crown on the Ground

9.) Straight A's

10.) A/B Machines

11.) Treats

WK27 - Ratatat - LP4 (3.5)

Released - 6/8/10

Label - XL Recordings

BLURB - I’ve had a limited experience with Ratatat over the past few years, only ever allowing a few stray tracks to make their way onto my iTunes. I’ve never really known what they were about, where they were going or what they were attempting to accomplish. I purchased their recently released, “LP4” with hopes of getting to the bottom of this. The thing is, though, after a month of listening to this record I still don’t know what they’re about, where they’re going or what their trying to accomplish. The album falls into this ‘guitar-tinged electronica’ category that seems to lack both excitement and consistency. It reminds me of a more experimental take on the record that Fang Island put out this year (which I’m planning to review soon). There are some moments of creativity and fairly ingenious instrumental pairings, but this album really never finds it’s stride, leading the listener on a forty minute ride of bland and monotonous electronica.

Rating - 3.5 Out of 10

FULL STORY - ‘Bilar’ opens the record off with a bellowing organ-esque chord that segues directly into a very industrial, machine-like beat. Accenting what sounds like a growling bass line are random and trivial punches of synth, piano and computer effects that seemingly serve no purpose. Without any chords, or keys for that matter, it’s comes off extremely hackneyed. It’s as if the duo of Mike Stroud and Evan Mast just said, ‘Hey, let’s just push all of these buttons and see what it sounds like.” Structure does arrive in a refreshing array of strings and horns halfway through the song, but what was the point of this? What we now have is this introductory track with two distinctly separate musical ideas that are tied together without any regard for continuity.

Thankfully, ‘Drugs’ redeems Ratatat with a stunning composition that fuses elements of electronica with metal guitar riffs and heavy synthesizer bass lines. The track does a good job sustaining it’s groove while altering it’s pace and energy. Portions of this song can vaguely remind you of something from Daft Punk, but it’s equally balanced out with waves of screeching guitar solos that give the song a really unique taste.

‘Party With Children’ blends a cool fusion of high pitched synth leads against a calming collection of harpsichord progressions, over what is in all likelihood the best drum pattern on the album. Shortly thereafter the guitars come gently into the foreground with something of a Latin flair that gives the track a touch of breeziness. Throughout the track the harpsichords are constantly morphing from chords to arpeggios and leads, giving the song enough variety to prevent it from becoming stagnant.

Both ‘Neckbrace’ and ‘Bob Gandhi’ are decent tracks, but nothing to write home about. ‘Neckbrace’ slants more electronic and features a funky bass line that spends much of its time battling against more random effects before the song actually begins to take any real form. Eventually strings and some acoustic guitar find their way into the mix, but they are mainly used for transitions back into more electronic dabbling. ‘Bob Gandhi’ starts off with a fairly subdued pace but transforms into a collection of anthemic guitar riffs, which will certainly draw some comparisons to Fang Island. The guitar riffs certainly make the track stand out, but the song lacks diversity and can become tired very quickly. You can’t just go: slow part -> cool guitar part -> slow part -> cool guitar part -> slow part, and call it a day.

The remainder of the album consists of all the negative factors that I’ve described so far. There is far too much dabbling and button pressing to create any kind of flow or continuity to this album. ‘We Can’t Be Stopped’ and ‘Maholo’ are so painfully boring that they can be deemed as ‘must skip’ songs. I know that to some extent they are serving as transitional pieces in between other songs on the album, but as separate tracks they just feel like unnecessary filler. If Ratatat was going to include these tracks on the album I’d much rather see them attached or weaved into other songs. This would, at the very least give some of the tracks a little bit more of an adventurous and experimental feel and would provide some sense of change and variety. But instead, they’ve inserted these two minutes songs as individual tracks that halt any pace that was accrued and prevent the audience establishing any kind of listening groove.

Another pet peeve of mine on this album is the fact that 80% of the songs all sound the same. Almost every track has some kind of slow introduction that turns into some mediocre groove, which then slows down with a collection of strings and/or harpsichords - and the whole time there are injections of synthesizers and other effects and noises. It’s entirely too predictable and the listener has no way of rembering which songs are which. I know its tough to remember song names on a purely instrumental album, but Ratatat takes it to a new level. I’ve been listening to this record for about a month now and aside from ‘Drugs.’ I’ve never been able to listen to a track on my iPod and be like, ‘Oh, this is ________ song.’ They all sound the same.

With all this being said, the album is pretty bad, but it’s not a complete disaster. You’ll be able to find some creative elements and brief glimpses of excitement, but don’t expect them to be around every corner.

Tracks

1.) Bilar

2.) Drugs

3.) Neckbrace

4.) We Can't Be Stopped

5.) Bob Gandhi

6.) Mandy

7.) Mahalo

8.) Party With Children

9.) Sunblocks

10.) Bare Feast

11.) Grape Juice City

12.) Alps