Review: Anyway – Dead End

Originally published in Punk Planet January/February 2007

Finally, a title that doesn’t fit for all the right reasons.

The second full length from this Czech quartet will open far more doors for the group than it will close. From blasts of high-octane punk to more angular, Fugazi- or Husker-infused refrains, this excellent 12-song outing displays a frighteningly developed grasp on how to craft calculated explosions.

The record’s best played with speakers trembling, especially for floor-shaking tracks like “Lost,” “Sick” or “I Feel Bad.”

Anyway also harbors a great sense of pacing and keeps the disc from becoming redundant by knowing just when to cool things down (the moody lull of “Bar Song” or “Dirty Shoes”) or toss in a blood-curdling barnburner.

Much of the disc’s second half, beginning with the blistering one-two punch of “The Future” and “Cunny,” feels like a call to riot, all furious guitars and barked vocals. Consider it an invitation.

Top 10 Records I Reviewed (Or Should Have Reviewed) In 2006

Originally published in Punk Planet January/February 2007

1. Clogs – Lantern

An almost sublime offering from a quartet that blurs the line between classical composition and post-rock experimentalism without cranking out songs that feel over-cooked or over-analyzed. The hushed silences from the audience that watched them open up for Rachel’s in New York City in 2006 said it all: this sound engulfs you.

2. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Letting Go

Will Oldham adds another gem to the Palace stable with what might be his finest outing in years, a 12-song set marrying the studio-refined precisions of Sings Greatest Palace Music with the tender acoustic refrains that have captivated listeners from Days In The Wake right up through Master and Everyone.

3. STNNNG – Dignified Sissy

An incredible disc from a group that doesn’t write songs as much as it plots explosions. Blistering, borderline-apocalyptic punk with lyrics as bizarrely literate as they are incendiary. You must find this record.

4. The Lesser Birds of Paradise – Space Between

Mark Janka and company follow up String of Bees with a disc that’s even more fragile and aching than its predecessor. If the whispered folk of “I Envy The Photons” doesn’t break your heart, Tim Joyce’s piano-laced take on “You Are My Sunshine” definitely will.

5. Don Caballero – World Class Listening Problem

You know the storyline: thunderous Pittsburgh math-rock outfit releases critically lauded catalog, goes silent during lengthy hiatus, reunites with new record with only one original member. The result? An unexpected return to form. It’s no Don Caballero 2, sure, but it’s pretty damn good.

6. Calexico - Garden Ruin

I know, I know, it’s not The Black Light. Then again, what is? Joe Burns and John Convertino crank up the radio-readiness on their desert rock and Latin-tinged acoustic ballads and the outcome still captivates you.

7. Tris McCall & The New Jack Trippers - I’m Assuming You’re All In Bands

Synth-pop as satire and social commentary. Jersey native Tris McCall toys with a rougher-around-the-edges live sound to punch holes in Brooklyn’s hipster scene. If you swear this record’s not about you, it just might be.

8. Jack Endino – Permanent Fatal Error

This Skin Yard alumnus/Seattle studio guru’s first solo outing in years is all the proof you’ll need that the Pacific Northwest still understands the vitality of grungy guitars and distortion-drenched choruses.

9. The Sea, Like Lead – S/T

A quietly released EP that could be one of the year’s better debuts: a three-song demo whose long-form post-rock exercises call to mind early June of 44 and the tangled eruptions of A Minor Forest.

10. The Vanities – Coma Kiss

A local band comes into its own. After a few records and a few years, this studio-polished quartet – part At The Drive In, part Mr. Bungle, part Nirvana – sounds like it’s teetering on the big time. Catch them before the cover price at the door climbs skyward along with them.

Psychedelic Horseshit – Who Let The Dogs Out?

Originally published in Punk Planet November/December 2006

It’s with mixed emotions that listeners may discover the debut 7” from these punky noisemakers is neither psychedelic or horseshit. Go figure.

The three-song platter depends less on acid-inspired guitar noodling than it does the clattering lo-fi rumble of early Pavement, Ariel Pink and even Bill Callahan.

The result’s inviting, if you like your choruses rough around the edges and punched up with a good dose of attitude. Best played through a busted boombox, where the “Peter Gunn” snarl of “Ring on the Curse” can leave blisters.

Review: Casey Holford – All Young And Beautiful

Originally published in Punk Planet November/December 2006

Bright and perky, this occasionally keyboard-laden pop-rock outing hits its stride quickly but also feels like it’s repeating itself before nearing the end of its 40-minute running time.

Holford’s got a knack for writing quirky acoustic numbers and parts of the full-band exercise “Neon Shining Star” suggest a mid-fi Sufjan Stevens. The disc offers some engaging take-outs (the comparatively grimy “Summer Storm,” the chart-ready acoustic romp “Moving Song”) but, in the end, some of the stabs at big Top 40 refrains, no matter how catchy, feel a little flat.

Review: DK Limb – Defy Define Definition

Originally published in Punk Planet November/December 2006

This southern Florida quintet feels like it’s aiming to create energetic and densely layered pop-punk but instead ends up churning out that familiar brand of chart-conscious nu-metal (or whatever you’d like to call it) native to your radio dial.

Dueling guitarists Ryan Alvarado and Nick Ziros weave together some interesting verses, from time to time mimicking Tool or Boysetsfire, but it’s easy to file away a band hammering out choruses of “All we are is dead and buried/ Don’t want to let it go” as just more of the same.

Review: Chrash – Audio Feng Shui

Originally published in Punk Planet November/December 2006

Poppy, poppy, poppy, with all the high-in-the-mix vocals, jangly guitar hooks and bouncing bass lines to prove it.

While tracks like “Raised By Gays” or “Box Cars (A Long Line Of)” strike their intended targets, it’s a little unclear if the commentary contained in “The New Immigrant Song,” obvious title aside, resonates on anything below the surface.

Recommended for Wire enthusiasts and, moreso, for those who like their bubblegum with bursts of conventional flavor.

Review: The Sea, Like Lead – S/T

Originally published in Punk Planet November/December 2006

There’s not much here in terms of volume — three mostly instrumental songs and a pair of 40-odd second interludes — but this unassuming EP may be one of the better debuts you’ll find this year.

The Pittsburgh-based trio, like June of 44 and A Minor Forest before it, knows the value of well-timed silences and their sometimes-glassy, sometimes-erupting brand of post-rock shows a surprisingly intuitive ability to navigate the deceptive passages between quiet and loud refrains.

The fact that the record’s three core songs, all meandering guitars and somber bridges, were captured on audio tape for a demo should only heighten listeners’ excitement about what’s waiting around the corner. If this disc, with its Joe McCarthy samples and “Memory is a map” declarations, is any indication, it’s not to be missed.

Review: Oneida – Happy New Year

Originally published in Punk Planet November/December 2006

Genres merrily collide on this eclectic and carefully crafted 11-song disc, which marks the 100th release for Bloomington’s Jagjaguwar label.

Melancholy jaunts bleed into electronic cut-ups. Frenetic dancehall exercises rub elbows with dissonant pseudo-acoustic ballads. Poppy bridges lead listeners toward a closing requiem fleshed out with spare keyboard/piano motifs and horror-house interjections.

Simply put, it’s exactly what you’d expect from these Brooklyn vets, who shine brightest when the sometimes-mutated forms they adopt as their own are predictably unpredictable.

There are threads running through the disc, of course, but the group’s latest full-length may be better experienced as a sequence of disjointed moments, each lovingly composed and welcoming in its defiance of expectations.

Review: Thee Moths – Nature

Originally published in Punk Planet November/December 2006

This spare, bleak record defines itself not through somber acoustic ruminations or Alex Botten’s breathy whisper of a voice but in how those elements are cut up and filtered through Botten’s prominently featured laptop.

(A painted homage to the machine, one’s led to believe, is even featured on the cover.)

The result is hit or miss and, sadly, more often the latter.  Tracks like “Shallow Blue Ocean” or “Do Not Be Ashamed,” for all their dead space or forced found sounds, are genuinely beautiful. But, do we really need to find them after wandering through a landscape so cluttered with digital glitches and stitch-weary segues that one must wonder if their CD player’s on the fritz?

Review: I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness – According To Plan

Originally published in Punk Planet November/December 2006

Thirteen minutes, apparently, is all these guys need to envelope you.

This bite-size, three-song offering packs as much of an emotional punch as the lauded Fear Is On Our Side, the full-length platter the Austin quintet released just a handful of months before it. Maybe it’s the sequencing or Paul Barker’s crisp production, all clean edges and 1980’s-pop-hued. The obscenely catchy outtakes certainly don’t hurt: a pair of atmospheric odes saturated with dreamy synth washes, reverb-laced vocals and — oddly enough — soaring guitar refrains not far removed from the crescendos of Godspeed You Black Emperor!

The whole record, despite its brief running time, just sings. As good an introduction to the band as it is an addendum to their growing success.