Listen to the first single from Estate’s new Nuclear CityEP.  The title track is a lush, synth driven dance track that highlights the groups 80′s tinged sound.  You can get the record tonight as the band celebrates the release of the EP with a great local lineup featuring Mystery Palace, Dada Trash Collage and DJ Sweet Talk. 

Estate- Nuclear City

     -Josh

Myspace

New Labor

I know almost nothing about South Korean artist(s) Sunkyeol other than the fact that I very randomly stumbled across their tune “Songstress” on Milk Milk Lemonade the other day and dug what I heard.  “Songstress” is a delicate little piece of low-fi dream pop, with hazy female vocals sung over a music box generated beat accompanied by all sorts of tinkly little bells and chimes.  It’s a little slice of twee freak folk that could be in Korean or English, but its hard to tell.  Comprehension of the lyrics isn’t entirely necessary though to enjoy the syrupy sweet atmosphere the tune creates.

– Jon Behm

Sunkyeol – Songstress

Sunkyeol:          Myspace

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On their last album Skeleton, tropical punks Abe Vigoda were not short on short bursts of melodic, sharp punk rock songs.  On the first song for their upcoming album Crush, the group seems to be taking a stab at more athemic material.  The first song from the upcoming album, out Sept 20th, is the almost Arcade Fire sounding “To Tears,” which seems to find the group really using the studio to refine their sound.  It will be interesting to see if the rest of the album follows suit.

Abe Vigoda – To Tears

    -Josh

I have really been liking the EP former Digable  Planets rapper Palaceer Lazaro, now known as Shabazz Palaces, dropped earlier this year.  If you haven’t heard the record from the group, who recently signed to Sub Pop records, it comes highly recommended to all hip hop fans.  Another thing I like very much is the TV show The Wire, so when I saw that his latest song is the Wire referencing “Barksdale Corners,” I knew I was in for a treat.  The hazy, ominous track  was released by a Seattle arts weekly and comes in advance of his first full length, which should be out in 2011.

Shabazz Palaces- Barksdale-Corners

-Josh

(via)

It can be difficult to gain a balanced perspective on an album after reading a single summary of the music. Bias can tilt a review, as can personal taste, history and just about everything else that is unique to the person writing it. So in an effort to offer an expanded perspective in such a medium, here are four reactions, four impressions, Four Takes on Harlem River Blues by theJustin Townes Earl.

Jeremy(Reviler)

82/100 

Justin Townes Earle plays it straight on his third album in as many years, Harlem River Blues, crafting classic country and gospel tunes that sound as if they’ve been playing on the radio forever.  The lyrics weave a simple yet fully fleshed-out narrative of a country boy struggling to make it in the big city, feeling displaced and all alone.  The narrative enlists many well worn country & western tropes, from the railroad ballad, “Working for the MTA,” to the my-baby done-left-me of “Learning to Cry,” to the rambling-traveler of “Wanderin’,” and the looking-for-a good-Christian-woman of “Christchurch Woman,” and somehow manages to inject new life into them.  There’s nothing flashy or showy or here, just a collection of solidly-crafted, traditional songs, telling an age-old story in a brand-new way.  After this album there shouldn’t be any question about whether or not the boy inherited all of his daddy’s songwriting genes.

Lauren Alexis Wood (site)

-2/100

When I was approached by Reviler.org to write my take on Justin Townes Earle’s Harlem River Blues, I was like “Who’s that guy? Sure!” After listening to the album, however, I am going to have to label myself as not his biggest fan, based on this album. NO offense to you Justin Townes Earle. Totally go for it with the Americana Honky Tonk, you could be the next Elvis or Johnny Cash or whatever. Like if you are reading this and you are a fan of either Elvis or Johnny Cash, you should probably go out and buy this album RIGHT NOW, but for me, this album was depressing as fuck. I’m also not into Country music. At all. Except Chris Gaines. What? Anyway, right off the bat in the title track with the “something something up town, to the Harlem River to drown”.  This obviously this came from a dark time in your life, I am glad you did not actually go do that, but when I heard that line I was just like “WTF, next song, PLEASE.” The WORST was ‘Learning to Cry’. Make. It. Stop. The ONLY song on this album I liked was ‘Ain’t Waitin’”. Ain’t is not a word, I mean it IS, but not technically… anyway this song got me thinking more along the lines of “I’d like to participate in some sort of harmonica party” versus “fucking just punch me in the throat with your slide guitar I have no reason to live”. Please take a deep cleansing breath Justin Townes Earle, if you are still in a tough spot, I will literally come give you a hug right now if you just promise me you will just never make another album like this ever again holy shit.

Zack McCormick (Radio K’s Culture Queue)

93/100

Although he’s probably sick of hearing about it, it’s difficult not to contrast the works of Justin Townes Earle with that of his iconic father. While Steve’s music seems dogged by a near constant sorrow, his son’s seems to stem from a joyful, hopeful place. Even when dealing with topics like suicide on the album’s title track, Harlem River Blues feels almost reverential, a few songs on the record even feature a lush gospel choir. Justin’s more inclined to go for the grandiose, sweeping movement than his father, his music is equal parts Roy Orbison and Ray Charles, stringing together subtle horn and string arrangements like a seasoned composer. Bursting the genre limitations of country, this record takes stylistic cues from Tom Waits’ early singer-songwriter crooning as well as NOLA  R&B and rockabilly.  In songs like “Working for the MTA” Justin takes the role of historian, chronicling stories of working men long since passed, but Harlem River Blues often seems more personal. “Wanderin’” and “Christchurch Woman” open a window to a profound loneliness and pain, while “Move Over Mama” details the minor frustrations and dysfunctions of dating a touring musician with warmth and humor. Mr. Earle Jr. seems delight in contrasting sorrowful, moving dirges with swaggering, winking rockers like the morning-after strut of “Ain’t Waitin”. Harlem River Blues anchors its myriad of musical textures onto a strong, present upright bass and gorgeous piano and guitar work. The album’s complexity actually may be it’s downfall though, the record can sometimes sound sterile and separate, missing some of the warmth and vitality of Justin’s liver performances. The whole package, however, is thoroughly uplifting and winning, a masterful effort from a showbiz kid ready to step out of his father’s shadow.

Jon (Reviler)

69/100

Justin Townes Earle is an artist of many faces.  And on his fourth album Harlem River Blues, he seems determined to show all of them, and the result is oftentimes disjointed – sort of like an album of guest stars, each starring Earle playing a different character.  In the titular track he’s an organ infused Johnny Cash, crooning about life’s struggles.  “Move Over Mama” presents a sort of honkeytonk Johnny Paycheck-meets-Elvis Presley meld.  In “Wanderin’” and “Workin’ for the MTA” Earle plays a bluesy folkster in the Guthrie mold while “Christchurch Woman” he’s a Boss aping classic rocker.  So in all these styles, where exactly does Justin Townes Earle stake his flag?  It’s never really clear.  Call it mercurial, call it a strength if you will, but to me it just comes off as schizophrenic.   I enjoy Earle as the stripped down, hard-luck country singer of quite a few of these tracks, but when he strays from this mold his songs (at least to my ear) suffer.  “On More Night in Brooklyn” is the most egregious example – an utterly putrid piece of country pop that sounds like a cross between Ryan Adams at his worst and O.A.R.   If Earle could make up his mind as to what kind of country singer he wants to be I think he could achieve great things – when it comes to Harlem River Blues though it seems that he still wants to be a little bit of everything.  And at times that is just a little bit too much.    

Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues

Harlem River Blues will be out on September 14th on Bloodshot Records

Justin Townes Earle:          Site

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It can be difficult to gain a balanced perspective on an album after reading a single summary of the music. Bias can tilt a review, as can personal taste, history and just about everything else that is unique to the person writing it. So in an effort to offer an expanded perspective in such a medium, here are four reactions, four impressions, Four Takes on Everything In Between by No Age.

Jon Schober (Radio K)

85/100

Dean Spunt and Randy Randall are at it again: continuously pushing the boundaries of noise rock, they’ve now turned to a sort of sonic escapism on the new album “Everything In Between.” Their biography on Sub Pop explains their method; “they are on a constant journey to explore the furthest reaches of sound.” This effort is easily their most listenable, and I won’t lie, I was not a big fan of “Weirdo Rippers” because it was so unbelievably choppy, perhaps now in retrospect because it was  collection of 7”s instead of a cohesive set. The accessibility comes at a time when their opening tour for Pavement is going to create thousands of new fans and potentially turn the band into one of the leaders on Sub Pop’s roster. Could it be they will surpass Beach House’s popularity?
 
This thing is totally solid. Lead single “Glitter” was great, but it’s nothing compared to the rest of the album. The hook on “Fever Dreaming” is catchy as hell, fast and breathless, and the vox are somewhat more coherent than previous efforts. The duoare playing with as much energy as they can muster; it’s no surprise they hurt themselves during their shows. In general there are just more melodies to remember on the album and things are sounding a little more surf-rocky (“Valley Hump Crash”). My only complaint here is a personal preference- when it comes to this type of sound, I can’t handle it for too long before the fuzziness overloads my head. It’s only a roughly 40-minute album, but 13 tracks is a lot to process, especially when I’m used to the 25-30 minute influx of garage rock albums that have come out this year.

John Grimley (Radio K, Green Shoelace)

75/100

Fuzz-popsters No Age have been at this for a while, having risen from the ashes of the seminal punk outfit Wives back in 2005. Their newest record, “Everything In Between” has much of the hazy pop that No-Age fans may be used to but it also includes instrumentals and somewhat paradoxically, ambient punk.
 
The first half of the album refuses to be predictable, setting the tone with the opener “Life Prowler”, a slow burning and melodic song that comes at you in waves, eventually retreating into silence. The album then abruptly mixes up the pace with the third song, “Fever Dreaming,” which sounds like tamer, gentler Oblivians. 
 
With “Everything In Between” No Age has basically, like many other bands before them, proved that punk rockers are “real” musicians not confined to power chords. From the instrumental “Katerpillar” to the gloomy electro-pop of “Sorts” No Age delights in showing off the different ways they can present material.
 
“Everything In Between” tends to fade toward the end (they could have done with one instrumental instead of three) but the band should be commended for experimenting. Even though the results aren’t all positive, the first half of the album shows a band that can switch skins easily and still be distinctly No Age.

Matt Linden (Reviler)

89/100 

Skuzzy, skuzzy, skuzzy. Damn, The Ramones and The Stooges and would be very proud grandfathers if they heard the third full length from the lo-fi punk revivalists No Age. So much of what these two guys are able to accomplish is indebted to their punk forefathers and they wear that fact readily on their sleeves. And much like their previous efforts, it’s an ongoing mystery as to how only two men can make a wall of sound this immense. But unlike Nouns and Weird Rippers, from the onset of Everything In Between, it’s apparent that the duo have kicked in a few extra bucks for production and hushed up the swaths of reverb a bit. They are still whirling in their lo-fi haze, as frantically as ever, and with enough energy to start a mosh pit at an old folks home – See: the chaos that ensues on “Fever Dreaming.” But there is a change is their songwriting approach, which sees the band calculating the vocal hooks to make catchier pop gems. “Skinned,” for instance, is one of the most straight forward pop punk songs the band has written and could see repeated radio play while “Depletion” is steeped in 90s alternative nostalgia. But six tracks in is where things go from as traditional as traditional can go with No Age to the wall of noise that I mentioned above. Once “Skinned” fades out the two meander through tracks filled to the brim with glitchy riffs, ambient noise, crunchy reverb and almost no vocals – save for the banger “Valley Hump Crash” and the shrouded vocals on “Sorts.” “Dusted” is the perfect No Age trademark that shows the guys creating something from nearly nothing as they loop one washed out guitar over another. After wandering they kick back in with two strong tracks with “Shred and Trasend” and brilliant driving closer “Chem Trails.” While Everything In Between probably has a few of my favorite single tracks from No Age, I don’t think it lived up to Nouns as a whole. For me, I would like to see the band bang out 10-11 tracks of songs rather than dedicating half of an album to pure noise. That being said, the guys deliver on their new LP and fans of the band are going to fall in frenzied, spazztic love all over again.

Josh (Reviler)

83/100

For me, it doesn’t get much better than when a band is able to deftly mix noise-y, punk ethos with some solid pop songwriting.  One of the best bands doing that right now is No Age, and they provide more evidence with their latest record Everything In Between, which follows up last years excellent Nouns.  Starting with the straightforward (at least for them) “Life Prowler” and “Glitter,” the production and execution on Everything in Between is as good as anything the group has ever recorded.  The first half of the album is more pop focused, with the back half turning the groups attention to more noisy aspect of their songwriting.  The group walks a tightrope of dissonecence and beautify just about better than anyone these days, and Everything in Between is another example of their readily evident talents.  From the slacker rock of “Common Heat” to the wild dissonence of “Shred and Transcend,” No Age prove again with Everything In Between to be a band that is hard to pin down, but very easy to like.

Legendary Brazilian psychedelic/tropicalia group Os Mutantes will return to Minneapolis on November 20th to play at the Cedar Cultural Center, with legend-in-the-making Ariel Pink opening the show.  Get your tickets fast because this one is sure to sell out in a hurry.

     — Jon Behm

Os Mutantes – A Minha Menina

Ariel Pink:          Myspace

82/100

It is a relatively tired narrative to complain about Minneapolis rappers being “emo,” but me being sick of things don’t generally make them go away.  If you are one of those people who think that Atmopshere, Brother Ali and Toki Wright are too autobiographical, you might be inclined to check out Muja Messiah. The Minneapolis rapper, whose dense but smooth rhymes about the street, politics, girls and Minnesota flow freely over hard hitting, soulful beats, has just released his latest mixtape M-16s. 

Muja comes from multiple different angles on M-16′s, ranging from the previously released banger “Bobby’z Angelz” to the remix of “Dear God” featuring POS that finds each rapper laying their existential doubts down over the Monster of Folk song.  Muja is joined by Maria Isa on the somber “Cruel and Unusual Punishment,” new rapper Dodi Phy on “Dodi Phy State of Mind” and M.anifest on the excellent “Live to Die Another Day.”  On the back to back tracks “Leech Lake” and “Minneapmurderrap/Joe Mauer,” Muja raps all about his home state, weaving in about more references than I can list, ranging from Denny Hecker to Leech Lake to Holy Land to Minnesota having the 4^thbest education in the country. He also somehow found a way to incorporate that annoying horn that goes off whenever the Vikings score. 

The flip side to the “emo rap” argument is that their tracks aren’t full of misogynistic, chest thumping macho bullshit, and there are a few times where Muja falls prey to these traps.  For a guy who obviously is smart enough to talk about lots of issues over the course of the album and clearly has the ability to rap about just about anything, a song like “Pussy Galore” and a few others feel out of place and heavy handed on an otherwise smart and engaging album.  Luckily, these few hiccups don’t overshadow an otherwise excellent album. M-16′s is a really great album that should scratch the itch of local rap fans, both ones tired of the current scene and fans of rap in general.

Muja Messiah- Gary Coleman 

     -Josh

Catch Muja tonight at his CD release show at the Entry tonight with Black Blondie, I Self Devine and Benzilla

Back in the early 1960’s when American bands like the Crystals, the Ronettes, and the Shangri-La’s were debuting the R&B infused “girl group” sound stateside, a similar revolution in female pop music was taking place across the ocean in France.  While the Yé-Yé sound (basically French for “yeah yeah”) never really caught mainstream success in the U.S. the genre won widespread acclaim in much of the French-speaking world, with artists like Serge Gainsbourg and France Gall becoming bona fide legends. 

Francoise Hardy was one of the defining artists of the Yé-Yé sound, alongside France Gall, Sylvie Vartan, and Jane Birkin, amongst others.   Her beauty and youth and pristine vocals made her a natural in a musical genre that branded its stars as naïve yet beautiful sex kittens who sang seemingly innocent songs about pie-eyed teenage love.   Hardy’s 1962 debut never carried an official title (neither did several subsequent releases) but by word of mouth eventually became referred to as Tous Les Garçons et les Filles after the record’s lead single. In 1965 the LP was officially re-released under the name The Yeh Yeh Girl From Paris! Perhaps more than any subsequent release Yeh Yeh defined Hardy’s sound, the aforementioned lead single being arguably her best known work today, even after a career that now spans over forty years.

And unsurprisingly Yeh Yeh still holds up very well after all these years.  Made especially relevant due to our current girl group resurgence (Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls, etc) it isn’t difficult to draw parallels from the past to the present.  Starting with the career defining single “Tout Les Garçons” Yeh Yeh contains a wealth of intricate styling and pop hooks that will get toes tapping even today.  Tracks like “La Fille Avec Toi” and “On Se Plait” are great examples of Hardy’s timidly romantic pining, while the addition of guitar noodling and a slightly smokier tone gives “Ca a Rate” a a psychedelic cum R&B edge.   Hardy even dabbles in what sounds like Patsy Cline territory in country inflected “Oh Oh Cherie” and “J’suis D’Accord.”  Yeh Yeh is without a doubt a pop record though, more than anything else, with Hardy incorporating every influence into the umbrella of her saucer-eyed chanteuse façade.

Hardy went on to release a mountain of records all the way up through the nineties, even releasing a La Pluie Sans Parapluie as recently as this year.  I haven’t listened to even a sliver of them, and chances are most other Americans haven’t either.  If you were looking for a starting point though you couldn’t do much better than The Yeh Yeh Girl From Paris!, the first and perhaps finest example of a genre-defining artist at the peak of her talent.

– Jon Behm

Francoise Hardy – Ca a Raté

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Just last week we brought you the first single off of local noise auter Dada Trash Collage’s forthcoming album Cool Waves / Bad Days (11/2).  Now we are please to present another:  “Moon” is another epic piece of moody, electronic pop that features Dada (William Freed) howling over piano and synth beats.  Check it out and make sure to stop into William’s show at the 7th Street Entry tomorrow night (Estate’s EP release show).

     — Jon Behm

Dada Trash Collage – Moon

Dada Trash Collage:          Myspace