Haiku Review - Visions by Grimes

Haiku Review of Grimes' Visions:

Synthesizers burp
Bubble and loop, hook your ears
Homemade, angelic
Notes: I profiled Grimes briefly at the tail-end of last year, applauding the catchiness and caprice of her latest output, which at the time was limited to her Darkbloom EP and "Oblivion." Well, Grimes (real name, Claire Boucher) released her third full-length today and as predicted, the record is gorgeous synth-pop; consider this a victory lap.

It's easy to get a sense of Boucher's sound from the opening of "Genesis" or the first arpeggio of "Oblivion"--craftily repetitive synth lines swirling together with gentle falsettos and coy lyricisms, genre-hopping maintained throughout. To pseudo-recycle my previous commentary, she's equal parts Madonna, John Carpenter and New Order, blending pre-pubescent proclivities with art-school psychedelics and GarageBand.

While I'd like to assume other listeners find her equally captivating, it really depends on their predisposition to music filled with so much sugar. I own Like a Virgin and Madonna on vinyl; clearly, this isn't an issue for me. In Pitchfork's ho-hum review, Lindsay Zoladz aptly argues that Visions "is an unabashed embrace of its source material, whether it's K-pop, new age, or bubblegum." That's certainly true, with a wide range of rather quirky, retro or "guilty-pleasure" influences coloring the album, un-ironically.

Of course, this is a relatively low hurdle to clear. Grimes' peculiar brand of pop-bliss is cherubic, her voice unique and if you can't enjoy the gloss, you're probably not the type of person who dances alone in their apartment.

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Grimes - Oblivion
Grimes - Genesis
Grimes - Infinite ♡ Without Fulfillment (intro)
Grimes - Eight

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Haiku Review - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain by WU LYF

Haiku Review of WU LYF's Go Tell Fire to the Mountain:
Sounds you may have heard
Before, in dreams or in bars
But hey, still so great
Notes: If you've heard of World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation (aka WU LYF) by now, it's probably because of the hype (BNM'd by Pitchfork) or anti-hype (see: The A.V. Club's review) surrounding the band. Sadly, those are the two worst reasons to spin this record.

I'd be remiss not to cobble together my own version of the band's now-ubiquitous PR story, so here goes nothing: Formed in Manchester 'round 2008, the quartet captured a whole bunch of attention from the UK music press by doing things like sending them mysterious band photos, charging record labels for demos, declining interviews, running a bafflingly cryptic website, refusing any major label support, self-recording and producing Go Tell Fire to the Mountain in an abandoned church, and telling most journalists and interested parties to literally, "Fuck off."

As the A.V. Club's Steve Hyden eloquently put it, the band's antics "[stand] out against the 24/7 celebrity confessional of the social-media age. By seemingly shunning hype, WU LYF [is] actually embracing one of the oldest show-biz tropes of all: Always leave them wanting more."

And so, we now have bloggers and Tumblr posts dedicated to deconstructing the band and their mission statement, while at once arguing over their legitimacy*.

Let's talk about the record itself, which is very, very good. Right off the bat, any review you read is going to throw Explosions in the Sky, Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire and Animal Collective parity your way, but the most apt comparison to my ears is Modest Mouse.

As early as album-opener "L Y F," the vocal yelps of front-man Ellery Roberts recall the barks of Isaac Brock circa The Lonesome Crowded West, not to mention all of WU LYF's lumbering musical allusions to Modest Mouse's This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About and Building Nothing Out of Something.

So yes, despite their peculiar background and relationship to the media, WU LYF are a relatively straight-forward indie-rock band, but what sets Go Tell Fire to the Mountain apart as a record in 2011 are two things: energy and the fact that no one else has put out such a bombastic, loud and anthemic LP this year.

While Pitchfork's review goes too far in championing the band's galvanizing call-to-arms**, the indie king-makers are right to recognize the potency of the WU LYF's ad campaign, no matter how juvenile, and the LP itself, no matter how familiar it may sound--"But underneath all that bouncing room echo, you hear a band trying to live up to its own hype, unglamorously woodshedding until every arrangement was tight as hell," wisely concludes P4K's Ian Cohen.

At its worst, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain is a batch of songs perfect to hear live, in some crowded, dank venue, beer in hand, arms around your best friends. What's so wrong with that?

*More on this phenomena in a later post.

**Doing so widely ignores rabble-rousing bands like Titus Andronicus or The Hold Steady, who both share a lot of similarities to WU LYF. I mean, really?

We bros, you lost man / We bros so long / Put away your guns, man / And sing this song

Mediafire Link:

WU LYF - Go Tell Fire to the Mountain

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WU LYF - We Bros

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Haiku Review - Goblin by Tyler, The Creator

Haiku Review of Tyler, The Creator's Goblin:

Shocking rhymes and words
Hide the wunderkind Tyler
Listen, potential
Notes: I wrote over 700 words on Tyler, and his helmed hip-hop collective, Odd Future, speaking at length about what it might take to appreciate his visceral brand of rap and what makes it so great. You can read that post by clicking here.

MediaFire Link:

Tyler, The Creator - Goblin

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Tyler, the Creator - Tron Cat

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Haiku Review - Maya by M.I.A.

Haiku Review of M.I.A.'s Maya

Look past all the noise
Find a frustrated record
More hits than misses

Notes: In order to give this record its fairest shake, one must strip away all the recent anti-hype bullshit surrounding M.I.A. (i.e. TruffleGate). Let it be said that this album is not The Last Airbender of music, nor is M.I.A. the M. Night Shyamalan of pop -- Maya is not the travesty its being hailed as.

It is, however, a disappointment. Especially when compared to the fan-adored/critically-acclaimed Arular and Kala, Maya's successes are far less obvious, which makes for a pretty difficult listen; not something most look for from a dancehall-pop artist whose last hit was featured in a Judd Apatow movie.

While Maya is a tough album to crack, there's plenty to be mined from all the noise, dissonance, and artistic confusion. Of the albums twelve original tracks (excluding the bonus iTunes cuts), I consider seven to be solid and accessible ("It Takes a Muscle" being a personal favourite). The rest sound either unfinished ("Lovalot") or are bogged down by overproduction and choke on their hyperactive concepts ("Teqkilla").

Each track on Maya fits firmly in one of two camps: more "traditional" pop or M.I.A.'s newly-adopted industrial aesthetic, the most successful example of the later being "Steppin' Up," with it's power-drill samples and Ministry-riffs. In terms of the mainstream, tracks like "Tell Me Why," "XXXO," "Space," and "It Iz What It Iz" attest that M.I.A. still understands how to write for the radio.

M.I.A.'s recent antics and attributions have made her a polarizing figure in both the blogosphere and at the dinner table; this LP will only add to her unstable mythology. After only a handful of listens, it's clear that Maya is an album made by a frustrated artist, one that is purposely challenging and unintentionally half-baked, but not the wash its being made out to be.

Maya Tracklist:
1. The Message
2. Steppin' Up
3. XXXO
4. Teqkilla
5. Lovalot
6. Story to be Told
7. It Takes a Muscle
8. It Iz What It Iz
9. Born Free
10. Meds and Feds
11. Tell Me Why
12. Space

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It Takes a Muscle - M.I.A. Removed by Request
Space - M.I.A. Removed by Request
Steppin' Up - M.I.A. Removed by Request
Born Free - M.I.A. Removed by Request

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Haiku Review: The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man on Earth

Haiku Review of The Tallest Man on Earth's The Wild Hunt

Sparse and lonely picks
His voice is the instrument
Dylan lives on here

Notes: Hands down, the year's best folk album. Wild Hunt takes all the charms of his near-flawless previous efforts (2008's Shallow Graves and his 2006 self-titled EP) and inexplicably improves upon them.

The Tallest Man on Earth (aka Kristian Matsson) has perfected his take on Dylanesque songwriting and with it, created a record that is as immediate as it is intimate. Cooked using his powerful, croaking voice and an acoustic guitar almost exclusively, Wild Hunt is an incredibly sparse, personal experience -- and this album is an experience. His songs may be mere retellings of the everyday, but the romantic urgency in which he delivers couldn't make his words sound more real, more beautiful.

You can download some exemplary tracks down below, but really, this LP is designated vinyl listening...

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You're Going Back - The Tallest Man on Earth

Troubles Will Be Gone - The Tallest Man on Earth

Graceland (Bonus Track) - The Tallest Man on Earth

Haiku Review: Astro Coast by Surfer Blood

Haiku Review of Surfer Blood's Astro Coast

Armed with fuzz guitars
Rocking like Rivers used to
Florida SoCal

Notes: Before I say anything about Surfer Blood's excellent Weezer-esque debut record, Astro Coast, let's get up to speed and take a look at what I had to say in October when I'd only heard their "Swim" single and news of the LP just broke...

"Remember what Weezer sounded like when they were good? Kanine Records does and they’re indulging their power-pop nostalgia by releasing Surfer Blood’s semi-anticipated debut record. Titled Astro Coast, the long-player was recorded in the band’s dorm room at the University of Florida. Even more impressive, bandmates John, Tyler, Thomas, and Brian were just freshmen. Though the guys aren’t surfers or from California their pop strokes are SoCal through and through. That said, Astro Coast should shake the snow off your headphones by the time January 19th rolls around or you know, whenever it leaks just before Thanksgiving."

So there you have it, succinct, no? Now, let's get to the meat. Why is this record so great? Well, not only does it recapture some of the primitive magic of The Blue Album, but it's something not too many indie-rock releases are these days: a guitar record. True, the guitars may be washed with reverb, but there are solos to be found, melodic ones, and in the front of the mix no less! No twinkling, arpeggiating keyboards, but plenty of distortion and squall. A welcome change-up.

On Astro Coast, the aforementioned Weezer comparisons are both apt and weak. These Floridians distinctly mimic west coast vibes, Dick Dale Stratocasters and all, playfully mixing them with pop-charms, which (duh) mirror Rivers Cuomo's early labors. The lyrics, not so much. While there's a fair amount of teenage wanderlust and desperate romance, nothing is as heart-on-it's-sleeve as you might expect.

The closest the gang comes to Mr. Cuomo's jaded romantic observations are found in "Twin Peaks," with lines like "Twin Peaks and David Lynch / Met on your couch at Syracuse / Your sexual advances / Are unconvincing and untrue" or "Why Is everything a chore / I'm too young to be defeated / Let's make fun at the video store / With Blue Velvet and other titles." All sang like a Weezer track and backed by a "Sweater Song" interlude, mind you.

Thankfully, Weezer isn't the only influence to be heard. A crafty ear can make out plenty of Built to Spill, Born Ruffians, and even some Pixies, so it's not like Surfer Blood are trying to re-make one of their favourite records. AKA, there's plenty here for Weezer-haters to take home.

Let me be clear, none of this a bad thing. While you may have heard pieces of Astro Coast before, the overall delivery is refreshing and frankly welcome in an era where everyone with a laptop is aping Animal Collective. While the album is fairly one dimensional, Surfer Blood catch a break for being 18 and producing a literal freshmen LP. If anything, they show a lot of promise. Album art that would make Robert Shaw blush is just a bonus.

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Swim - Surfer Blood

Floating Vibes - Surfer Blood

Twin Peaks - Surfer Blood

Haiku Review: Contra by Vampire Weekend

- Haiku Review of Vampire Weekend's Contra -

The boys have grown up
Songs more busy, full of heart
Still, backlash will come
Notes: So Vampire Weekend's Contra has been out for almost a month (even longer if you count those scurvy digital pirates) and most everyone has by now come to their own critical conclusions. There are plenty of those who dig it and plenty of those who despise it, but most subjective minds (should) agree that the record is a solid sophomore effort.

Put me in that last camp. Upon my first few listens, I felt the record came off as top heavy, but the more time I spent with it, the album felt back loaded. Now, things have evened out in my ears and while Contra may have at first sounded foreign, the parallels to Vampire Weekend are much more obvious.

For example, from a thematic perspective, it's pretty clear that these things equate:

White Sky = Mansard Roof
Horchata = Oxford Comma
Cousins = A-Punk
California English = M79
I Think Ur a Contra = The Kids Don't Stand a Chance
Which is just fine. While the East Coast, boat shoe lovin' quartet may have added a bevy of bells and whistles to their sound, they're still the Vampire Weekend you know and love. Or hate. Still, VMPR WKND do take some risks. For starters, this record isn't nearly as immediate as its descendant; those hooks are harder to fish out this time around. And those bell and whistles I mentioned? They add some unique sonic depth and shoehorn fresh ideas into Ezra's blue blooded lyrical playground.

By definition, Contra's a successful sophomore record: it sticks with a working formula, but throws enough curve to distinguish it from its predecessor. If you're a fan of Vampire Weekend, you already own it. If you loathe them, you've already bashed it. Move along, there's nothing left to see.

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Horchata - Vampire Weekend