Belle and Sebastian: The Boy With The Arab Strap CLASSIC REVIEW

Belle and Sebastian are a quaint little band from Glasgow, Scotland. They produced (and still do to some extent) some of the best pop songs in all of indie music. In recent years the band has expanded their sonic pallet, and have moved towards more grandiose portrayals of pop music that is less Nick Drake, and more Beach Boys in execution. However, I would like to point to the early goings of this band's music, as most critics often do. Though I'm not here to talk about the obvious choice, If You're Feeling Sinister; an album that has won accolades on darn near every major music site and magazine known to man. Of course, that LP deserves it, but as a newly initiated fan, I actually think that (at least in the eyes of certain critics) The Boy With The Arab Strap falls by the wayside when the discussion of the best B&S albums is brought up.

That's a shame really because I think that TBWTAS is not only as good as IYFS, but shows that the band was capable of doing something a bit different, yet still retain every ounce of charm that made them such a compelling band. TBWTAS is the same mixture of sweet and melancholy with just a touch of cheekiness. Tracks like "It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career" and "Summer Wasting" see lead writer and singer Stuart Murdoch doing what he does best, writing songs about people and seasons, but making them feel like the most beautiful, yet tragic things you could imagine. Other songs, such as "Seymour Stein" or "Is It Wicked Not To Care?" show the other members of the band flaunting their vocals, and in the case of "Seymour Stein", they manage to be just as conceptual and romantic as Murdoch. 

Like its predecessor, TBWTAS flows elegantly from track to track, but this LP has a few more surprises than IYFS. For example, the track "A Space Boy Dream" is a surreal spoken-word piece that lands halfway through the album and essentially breaks up the A and B sides of the LP in a very interesting way. 

I find that I enjoy the sincerity and earnestness of IYFS, but I find TBWTAS to be the more confident of the two. They had nothing to prove at this point and were well on there way to becoming one of the most loved bands in the indie music scene. The band still holds that place to this day, though I think the music they produce now is a bit more straightforward. However, I still can't deny that their early output is some of the most delightful and beautifully breezy music I have ever heard. 

9.5/10

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib: Pinata ALBUM REVIEW

This project came out of left field for me, which is mostly because I've never really been a follower of the MC, Freddie Gibbs. I am however, familiar with Madlib, the mastermind behind the production on this latest collaborative album, Pinata. And I have to say, both of these guys are putting forth some of their best work ever, especially Gibbs, who sounds hungry, and has plenty charisma, especially on the opener "Scarface". 

In fact, I almost get a 2-pac vibe whenever Gibbs starts rapping. This comes from the fact that he sounds relaxed and confident in his ability to deliver bar after bar of hard-nosed hood life raps. However, if you put these rhymes over your run of the mill production, they wouldn't be nearly as potent; enter Madlib. He is, as he always manages to be, the center of attention on Pinata, with his penchant for beautiful soul samples and funk based boom-bap drum beats, Madlib is concentrating his finest attributes on this LP, and it leads to some of the finest beats I've heard in hip hop in a good long while.

To start, I'll go back to the opener (aside from the intro skit), "Scarface" which sounds like a 70s exploitation film with Gibbs riding the beat like a champ. While the following track "Deeper" sees Gibbs rapping about a girl who he seems to have feelings for getting knocked up by another guy, while Madlib incorporates a wonderfully soulful vocal sample. "High" is a more up-beat track, and features a pretty lively verse from Danny Brown, who hasn't rapped over beats like this in what seems like forever, and that's a shame. 

What is truly amazing about Pinata is how it actually manages to be excellent from track one, to track seventeen. In fact, there isn't a single track on here that I don't enjoy listening to, even the interludes have great production and some funny moments to boot. The only slight complaint I have is that maybe Gibbs's rapping starts to wear thin towards the hour mark, but Madlib saves it with production that never ceases to be excellent through and through. 

This album is stellar, and it may just be the best Rap album that 2014 has to offer. If that is the case, it will be a fine year indeed.

9.5/10

Pixies: Indie Cindy ALBUM REVIEW

Pixies are one the most important bands in all of Rock music. That statement is proven true by the bands output between the years of 1987 and 1991 with albums like Surfer Rosa, Doolittle, and my personal favorite Bossanova. They were weird, abrasive, and utterly wonderful. Unfortunately, the band broke up after this stellar creative streak, and the world was left to wonder what Pixies would have done if they had stayed at it.... But nobody wanted this.

"This" is Indie Cindy, and album so crushingly generic and bland, it is bound to make even the most hardcore fans of the band cringe. And if you couldn't tell that this LP was going to be bad by the three EPs that led up to it, good news, the album is literally just those three EPs repackaged! Yipee.

The album starts of with what I can honestly say is the only track that can hold a candle to Pixies past work, "What Goes Boom". However, that's not to say that this song is anything remarkable, in fact, the production all but drains this track of what little vitality it possesses, with Frank Black and all of the instrumentation sounding far too clean. The following two tracks include the only slight highlight from my EP 2 review, and the underwhelming title track. 

But honestly, that is where the bearable parts of this album essentially end, as the rest of the album is a mishmash of modern Rock cliches and poor choices. Ugh, I just can't get over how terrible songs like "Blue Eyed Hexe", and "Andro Queen" are. Seriously, this is the same band (minus Kim Deal) that produced such amazingly intense and memorable songs like "Here Comes Your Man" and "Gigantic", yet here, they sound like a bar band version of AC/DC and a pretentious electro-folk band that nobody would think twice about if they weren't the Pixies.

I could just go on and on about things that could have been better on Indie Cindy, but I'll hold off from making this a full on rant. Simply put, this LP is boring, and pretty much sounds like your run of the mill Rock band. In fact, I could see this album getting a lot of play on current rock radio, and that upsets me because I think Pixies are better than that, or at least, they used to be. Maybe I'm just being unrealistic, or maybe we should have never put the idea of a reunion out on the table.

For now, I'll be listening to the LPs that make this band one worth remembering.

2/10

Timber Timbre: Hot Dreams ALBUM REVIEW

Timber Timbre have been a favorite of mine ever since I heard their last LP Creep On Creepin' On. That LP certainly lived up to its title, with music that was part nostalgia, part mad ravings from a very emotionally distraught individual. It was captivating to say the least, and when I heard they were following it up with an album called Hot Dreams, I was stoked.

Luckily, Hot Dreams is more than just a snappy title, it also happens to be a great addition to the Timber Timbre cannon, with one song after another finding a new way to be dark, brooding and surprisingly, intoxicating. For example, the title track, five minutes of smooth, kind of schmaltzy balladry that is consumed by a swirl of saxophones towards the end. This track is not simply one of the finest on this LP, but is in fact sure to be a highlight of this entire year. 

Other tracks take a less seductive approach, and opt instead to stir up emotions more familiar to Timber Timbre albums, paranoia and a general vibe that something sinister is lurking nearby. Some may find this sound to be  a little cheesy, or Halloween-y, but I actually like the mix of 60s style pop with more abstract and disturbing imagery. 

Simply put, this album feels like a bunch of greasers from the 50s felt like writing a bunch of moody, yet gorgeous tracks that aren't afraid to indulge in the darker side of the emotional spectrum. Songs such as "Simple Men" and the opener "Beat the Drum Slowly", creep along at a steady pace, and pull me in for the entirety of the track. Other tracks like the oddly titled "Curtains!?" or the interlude "Resurrection Drive Part II" go for a more straightforward rock approach, but still manage to weave in saxophones and a general spookiness to their instrumentation.  

But perhaps the most beautiful moment on the entire album (save for the title track), comes in the form of "Grand Canyon", a track that feels almost country influenced. Though more of a latter era Johnny Cash country, when he was more into covering industrial hits and singing about the wrath of God. Anyway, this track just moves so wonderfully from one stellar instrumental moment to another, and is a true highlight from an album that is already full of them. 

Overall, Timber Timbre have come through with a really solid LP. If I had one major complaint, it might be that I wish that the band went a little more out of their comfort zone, since this album is really just a fine tuning o the sounds they were working with on their last LP, but hey, I'm just happy they make the kind of music they do.

9.0/10

Tony Molina: Dissed and Dismissed ALBUM REVIEW

What if I told you that I found a band that sounds almost exactly like old Weezer, but more lo-fi and prone to writing about heartbreak? Doesn't that sound great!? Well there is one catch, it only lasts a whopping twelve minutes... yep, in fact, in the process of writing this review, I'll probably end of listening to this LP at least twice in its entirety. 

On one hand, that doesn't exactly mean that you'll be getting the best value if you decide to purchase this album, however, the tracks that are here may actually convince you otherwise. Because, even though it is so short Dissed and Dismissed is an undeniably fun record that has enough catchy melodies and harmonized guitar solos to make any fan of early nineties guitar rock giddy. 

Though the tracks themselves never reach the 2-minute mark, there are actually a lot of standout moments on this LP. For instance, the opener with its glorious guitar solo toward the end of its 48 second run time, and the following track "Change My Ways" which is so catchy it may be my favorite song on the entire album.

"W.B.P" is a pretty nice slower moment on the album, and the ironically titled "Sick Ass Riff" is a decent change of pace with its acoustic guitar. Really, I could talk about any of these tracks an pick out a moment that I enjoyed, but that is both a blessing and a curse because for all the things I like about these tracks, they usually don't stick around long enough to do anything else. Which if you're short on time, or have a short attention span could potentially be a good reason for you to love this album. For me, I had a good time, but can't really say this LP is great simply because I believe that if the tracks were more fleshed out, they would leave an even bigger impact.

7.3/10

Cloud Nothings: Here and Nowhere Else ALBUM REVIEW

Back in 2012, when I had just started to post reviews, I reviewed an LP called Attack on Memory. I gave it a pretty solid score and acknowledged that it was a solid, no frills Rock album. Well, it's been two years, and Cloud Nothings are back with their followup, Here and Nowhere Else. And if I was to put it bluntly, I could easily say that this LP is like Attack, a very solid Rock LP, but maybe some of the excitement has been lost along the way. But what does that mean? Well, one has to think back at 2012 and remember that strong Rock LPs were few and far between. In a year that was dominated by stellar Rap albums, and Rock music that was less concerned with being aggressive and straightforward, and more about dolling out a heady concept.

However, 2013 produced some of the finest LPs that the genre has seen in quite a while, and 2014 hasn't been around long enough to make that judgement. Regardless, the fact that there is a loud, catchy and slightly wild Rock LP is just not as surprising as it was a couple years ago, couple that with the fact that we now expect this kind of thing from Cloud Nothings, whereas Attack was a complete left turn for the once low-fi indie rock of their previous LPs.

Enter Here and Nowhere Else, an album I feel is perfectly acceptable and actually features the bands finest single yet, "I'm Not Part of Me". Unfortunately, there is some dead weight, I felt the same way about Attack initially (though the album did grow on me). For instance, the seven minute "Pattern Walks", a track that tries to recreate the magic that was "Wasted Days", but lacks any real propulsion or a memorable melody. Or the completely forgettable "Giving Into Seeing" which I still can't remember even minutes after listening to it.

But, that is the extent of truly poor moments on the LP; the rest are either great, or middle of the road for me. I really enjoyed the first three tracks, especially the freak out at the end of "Psychic Trauma", and I really like how aggressive the vocals sound on a lot of the tracks here.

All in all, this is a decent LP from a band that I still see a lot of potential in. They just need to hone their songwriting chops a bit more, and focus on writing good tunes rather than sprawling ones.

7.0/10

Mac Demarco: Salad Days ALBUM REVIEW

Over the course of roughly three years, it seems as if Mac Demarco has become every music fan's favorite slacker. With his last album 2 widening his audience and showing him off as a laid-back, slightly stoned romantic of all things domestic, Mac and his band have been enjoying the shine. It's hard not to see an interview or live performance from this guy and not think he's having the time of his life, writing songs and touring. However, on his latest LP Salad Days, Mac Demarco seems to be realizing, in his own way, his mortality; but he's not exactly worried about it. 

The opening track, also the title track, sees Mac reminiscing about how his "Salad Days are over" and how people are telling him to "act his own age, and try another year". But instead of seeming bitter or mournful of his growing age, Mac embraces it with the same dreamy, laid-back attitude that he did with tracks from his last LP like "Ode to Viceroy", a track that put Mac's cigarette habit in the forefront. 

The opener may be the most directly personal track on the LP, but the rest of the album builds upon the theme of feeling older, or having people tell you to grow up, with Mac and the boys sounding even more relaxed and delightfully out of tune than usual. The tracks "Goodbye Weekend" and "Passing out Pieces" bend and bow in a wonderfully jangly and chilled-out way.

There are plenty of highlights on this LP, that like his last LP, took a few listened to grow, but were overall well worth the effort. The track "Brother" is smooth and reminds me of one of my favorite moments from 2, the ever alluring and engrossing "My Kind of Woman". In fact, it would be easy to simply chalk up Salad Days as being a slightly more mature and fully realized version of 2, however, I believe that takes away from what Salad Days is actually trying to do; show that even though he may be older, or famous or whatever, Mac Demarco is still the same old guy-- Un-tuned guitar and all.

I thought this album was pretty great, maybe not as big a leap from 2 as it could of been. However, I don't think we should be too hard on Mac at this point, he's still young (physically and musically) and he has so much style and sincerely enjoyable tunes that I'm just happy that I have an entire other LP to love from him.

8.5/10