Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen (2009)

01. In the Now
02. From the Hips
03. I Couldn't Love You
04. Donkeys
05. Caveman
06. We're Going to Hell
07. Mama, I'm Satan
08. Let Me Up
09. Mama, I'm Swollen
10. What Have I Done?

Since their roughly emo beginnings, Cursive's nature has been one of progress. Never particularly adept at sticking to genre specifics, they've traversed that vast Indie underworld armed first with thrashing riffs, then glorious strings and dissonant brass. Their trajectory over their last two albums (2003's The Ugly Organ and 2006's Happy Hollow) has been one of dramatic irony and clever prose, but not without the sinking sadness of personal anguish. Cursive have all but perfected the blending of the meta and the melodrama, and come away with a sound that is surprisingly unique. Mama, I'm Swollen (the band's sixth release on Saddle Creek Records and their first release in three years) looks to continue this method, and keep Cursive ever moving forward. -Prefixmag.com

Ladytron - Velocifero (2008)

01. Black Cat
02. Ghosts
03. I'm Not Scared
04. Runaway
05. Season of Illusions
06. Burning Up
07. Kletva

08. They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name
09. Predict the Day
10. The Lovers
11. Deep Blue
12. Tomorrow
13. Versus

Velocifero is the fourth album from four-piece electro-pop innovators Ladytron and their first since 2005's great leap forward, Witching Hour, and a change of label.

Picking up where they left off, the 13-track studio album sets out with customary disregard for categorisation by referencing as many genres, bands, percussive riffs, cheesey keyboard lines, airborne melodies and souped-up synths as they can. So many in fact that you'll want to play this on 'repeat' so that you can keep a running tally.

Even the choice of recording venue seems more than just coincidental. The Studio de la Grande Armée in Paris was where Duran Duran recorded their career-making Rio and other notables – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, INXS, Françoise Hardy and ABBA's Frida (the blonde one) among them – have all benefitted from its Gallic magic and charm. Factor in additional production credits here for Ed Banger Records' Vicarious Bliss and Nine Inch Nails keyboardist Alessandro Cortini and something special was bound to happen.

Velocifero gets under way with the delightfully dark wrap-around fuzz of Black Cat – Roxy Music out of Gary Numan driven along with Kraftwerk-like discipline and held together by Bulgarian vocals.

Lead single Ghosts carries itself with a jaunty Goldfrappian bounce but eschews glitter and cod glam to offer something altogether more rewarding. Runaway's infectious Pet Shop Boys-accented mantra is no less retro but staunchly refuses nostalgia and where Deep Blue rises to blissfully enraptured heights and Tomorrow coasts on the sweetest simplicity of execution, Predict The Day delivers a steadily mounting maelstrom of sound that boils over into a magnificently crafted messiness.

Ladytron have never made much of an impact on the UK charts. If there's any justice, Velocifero will catapult them out of their decade-long cult status into deserved commercial success. -bbc.co.uk

Conductive Alliance - Conductive Alliance (2009)

01. Siver

02. Turtles

03. Harmonics

04. Neko

05. Water Like Mountains

06. KOC

07. Detrimental Effects

Conductive Alliance mixes acoustic and electric instrumentation to create a distinctive sound that is rooted within many styles and traditions.  This Chicago group formed in 2007, when longtime friends began writing and performing high energy instrumental music.  In the Fall of 2007 their debut EP "Wind Up Bird" was released. Soon after recording "Wind Up Bird", bassist Nicholas Hill, and drummer Corey Breker joined the group, building upon and expanding Conductive Alliance's unique sound.  Conductive Alliance's latest self-titled EP was recently released, and is widely distributed throughout Chicago. -Sonicbids.com

Pretty & Nice - Get Young (2008)

By now, our collective new wave nostalgia hangover should be staggering. But there's something about the way Boston trio Pretty & Nice re-imagine the playfully manic, barbed-wire sounds of Devo, XTC, and This Year's Model-era Elvis Costello. Their approach is so guileless and giddy, you'll get drunk on that spazzy, sneering sound all over again. Though the rousing, delightfully messy songs on their sophomore album (their first for Sub Pop affiliate Hardly Art) are neither pretty nor nice, they do show off some masterfully economical riffs and herky-jerky (if not outright dance-y) rhythms.Get Young, which clocks in under 28 minutes, swells with energy and amphetamine-addled pop hooks, making it hard to ignore and near impossible not to like.

More insistent and deliberately aggressive than the tunes they are modeled after, Get Young's tracks spit their muscular guitars out in percussive bursts, teasing listeners with a playful Jam-like melody or some flirty/flinty synthesized textures. But then, lest they sound too likeably pop, P&N wrap their songs in antagonistically tinny production that leaves them buzzy, muddy, and intentionally amateurish-sounding. Frontman Holden Lewis can't help that his reedy voice recalls Elvis Costello's (though he certainly could avoid the faux-British pronunciation), but it can make it hard to not see every song in light of the comparison. "Tora Tora Tora", with its choppy staccatos, sing-along chorus, and churning keyboards, admittedly owes more of a debt to the rhythmic weirdness of Devo. But the way that Lewis delivers his words, with that familiar demanding foghorn of a voice, he may as well be singing "Radio, Radio".

But Pretty & Nice modernize their sound with computer-age flourishes. Songs like "Hideaway Tokyo" and "Grab Your Nets" bury a bleeping Nintendo soundtrack underneath their breakneck rhythms and prickly guitars, as if the Attractions added a game of Tetris as their secret mechanical fourth member. And with their fuzzy, blown-speaker frequencies, the keyboards often recall the screaming feedback of Justice's synths rather than the hollowed out 1980s versions of their heroes. Likewise, "Peekaboo" is a nice surprise, breaking up the album's disorienting rhythms and shout-singing with its easy, dreamy pulse. On that track Lewis' wispy falsetto spills over thrifty guitar strumming and drummer Bobby Landry's gentle-heartbeat percussion. Pausing for such a break three songs into their throttling collection, Pretty & Nice give you just enough time to catch your breath and give into the reverberating loveliness before diving back into the fray at a pulse-racing pace.

It makes sense, then, that their album's title is a demand. It's not We Are Young or You Are Young or even Being Young; it's Get Young, the imperative. Pretty & Nice's songs challenge listeners to keep up with their blasts of catchy melody purposely obfuscated by noisy clatter or aggressive chugging. "Get with it," the collection seems to insist. "Give in, don't be such an adult!" Some who won't like Get Young are probably too grown up for its enchantingly juvenile thrill ride, but there's something to be said for taking the album's titular advice to heart. -Pitchforkmedia.com

01. Piranha
02. Tora Tora Tora
03. Pixies
04. Peekaboo
05. Nuts & Bolts
06. Hideaway Tokyo
07. Grab Your Nets
08. Solar Energy
09. Gypsy
10. Wandering Eye

Eric Lindell - Gulf Coast Highway (2009)

01. If Love Can't Find A Way 

02. Willin' and Able 

03. Love and Compassion 

04. This Love Is Gonna Last 05. Turnin' It Out 

06. It's A Drag 

07. Lullaby for Mercy Ann 

08. The Look 

09. I Can Get Off On You 

10. Country Livin' 

11. Dirty Bird 

12. I'll Be Around 

13. Here Comes The Blues Again 

14. Crying Time 

15. Raw Doggin' 

Balmorhea - All Is Wild All Is Silent (2009)

Austin's Balmorhea has always made beautiful music, but that pulchritude has often belied the underlying sensuality that makes their music so inviting. The band takes a giant leap forward, embracing that sensuality, on their bold and variegated new album All is Wild, All is Silent. Now a six piece, the band known for their understated simplicity and restraint has produced an album as complex as the workings of the lonely human heart. -Musicremedy.com

01. Settler
02. March 4, 1831
03. Harm and Boon
04. Elegy
05. Remembrance

06. Coahuila
07. Night in the Draw
08. Truth
09. November 1, 1832

K'naan - Troubadour (2009)

Somalia-raised, Toronto-based rapper K'naan thinks like Bob Marley, flows like Eminem and mixes African music with conscious hip-hop, unabashed pop and even metal. The results are usually catchy and interesting: On "ABC's," K'naan contrasts North American gangster fantasies with his war-torn childhood, trading verses with old-school MC Chubb Rock, and then rocks out with Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett on "If Rap Gets Jealous." Over the timely upbeat funk of "Dreamer," he sees the utopia of John Lennon's "Imagine" through a hip-hop lens: Troubadour is K'naan's unique vision made real. -Rollingstone.com

01. T.I.A 
02. ABC’s (feat. Chubb Rock) 
03. Dreamer 
04. I Come Prepared (feat. Damian Marley) 
05. Bang Bang (feat. Adam Levine) 
06. If Rap Gets Jealous (feat. Kirk Hammett) 
07. Wavin’ Flag 
08. Somalia 
09. America (feat. Mos Def and Chali 2NA) 
10. Fatima
11. Fire in Freetown 
12. Take a Minute 
13. 15 Minutes Away 
14. People Like Me 

Prefuse 73 - Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian (2009)

01. Periodic Measurements of Infrequent Smiles
02. Hairy Faces (Stress)
03. Parachute Panador
04. NoNo
05. Punish
06. Half Up Front
07. Sexual Fantasy Scale
08. DEC. Machine Funk All ERA’s
09. Get Em High
10. Ampexian Tribe of a Lesser Time
11. When Is a Good Time?
12. Fountains of Spring
13. Whipcream Eyepatch
14. Regalo
15. Rubber Stems
16. Oh Is It
17. Four Reels Collide
18. Fringertip Trajectories
19. Violent Bathroom Exchange
20. Natures Uplifting Revenge
21. Yuletide
22. Simple Loop Choir
23. No Lights Still Rock [feat. Dimlite]
24. Gaslamp Killer Feedback Text
25. Digan Lo
26. Preparation’s Kids Choir
27. Pitch Pipe
28. Periodic Measurements of Infrequent Frowns
29. Formal Dedications

Plushgun - Pins and Panzers (2009)

01. Dancing In A Minefield
02. How We Roll
03. Just Impolite
04. A Crush To Pass The Time
05. The Dark In You
06. Let Me Kiss You Now (And Ill Fade Away)
07. Union Pool
08. 14 Candles
09. Without A Light
10. An Aria

Popup - A Time And A Place (2009)

If it has felt like a long time coming for Popup’s debut long player to land in our arms then maybe it’s because we’ve been aware of them being damn good from very early on. Furious early demos, bursting with barely contained energy, recorded the spittle-strafed epithets shot from Damian Gilhooly’s lips, setting the bar high early on, and as a slow trickle of songs suggested, considerable promise. For A Time and a Place they’ve come good on that promise.

The musical reference points are plentiful but it points to a certain romance and freewheeling – Arab Strap in their fondness for a wandering narrative, The Delagados’ skill with a delicate image and Sons and Daughters’ nous for a rollicking driving beat. At the same time, however, their sound is all their own.

At points wistful, warming and biting, Popup sound like indie music from back when indie meant music made by intense young men and women whose fondness for a trebly guitar sound was second only to their taste for a confessional lyric; music made for its own sake regardless of the potential for global stardom. This band are the real deal, trading in blunt confessionals instead of vast terrace chants.

All we ever want from our pop music is a connection, someone who understands the pain or pleasure in our predicament, our hopes, our dreams, and perhaps most importantly, our failures. We want someone who can convey our hurt in a way that makes us not sound like a clown. Look no further. -list.co.uk

01. Love Triangle

02. Poison Apple

03. Stagecoach

04. A Year In A Comprehensive

05. The Saviour Of Judas McDade

06. Dreams Like These

07. Chinese Burn

08. What’s The Matter Now?

09. The First Weekend Of The Smoking Ban

10. Pure

11. In Her Day

12. Pull The Fuse

13. Lucy, What You Trying To Say?

martyn - great lengths (2009)

01. The Only Choice 

02. krdl-t-grv 

03. right?star! 

04. Seventy Four 

05. Little Things 

06. Vancouver 

07. These Words feat. dBridge 08. Bridge 

09. Elden St. 

10. Far Away 

11. Hear Me 

12. Is This Insanity? feat. Spaceape 

13. Brilliant Orange 

14. Natural Selection

The Boy Least Likely To - The Law of the Playground (2009)

Predating the current C-86 revival by a good four years, Jof Owen and Pete Hobbs aka The Boy Least Likely To return after a long overdue absence with their latest slice of delicious indie pop.

The duo's debut album The Best Party Ever was one of those sleeper hits that took a while to seep through to many people but received a rave review on these very pages back in 2005.

After an enforced hiatus due to record company shenanigans, Owen and Hobbs have returned to their Too Young To Die label to release this new album. And for fans of their earlier work there is plenty here to delight.

The Law Of The Playground is a more cohesive set than the debut album, which essentially bundled three EPs together. This time around there is a greater sense of purpose in the music and lyrics that marks The Law Of The Playground as a definitive statement for Owen and Hobbs.

The opening Saddle Up is a perfect introduction to the duo's musical ethos: sweet vocal harmonies, a melodic structure straight out of country music, and parping brass and glockenspiel sprinkled like a sugar coating over everything. Meanwhile, the underlying threat beneath the surface pleasantness of the lyrics ("I know there is a big scary world out there just waiting for me") carries on the themes of the first record.

A Balloon On A Broken String could be the perfect song title for Owen and Hobbs, evoking the strange mixture of childhood wonder and adult melancholy that permeates all their music. The track itself, with its recurrent fuzzy guitar motif, introduces a more urgent tone than is normal in The Boy Least Likely To world, while Owen finally nails the perfect Green Gartsideimpression.

When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade is the closest track in structure and melody to the debut album, while Owen's assertion that "I've always been a hopeless romantic" brings a warm feeling to the heart in chilly times. There is an even greater cautiousness to his starry-eyed optimism this time around, however, as he reminds us that these days he always "sleeps with the light on".

As on the debut album there is the occasional lull in proceedings, with both I Box Up The Butterflies and Stringing Up Conkers marking time. Fortunately, these two tracks bookend the absolutely gorgeous The Boy With Two Hearts, which positively skips by on the back of an exquisite brass arrangement.

The Boy Least Likely To Is A Machine is a curio, introducing a thumping beat and electronic squiggles to back up some unsettling lyrics. More than any other track on the album, it reassert the feeling that where the debut album was full of jejune optimism this time around all is not well in the world.

Despite its cutesy title, Whiskers reaffirms this feeling. The martial drumbeat lends lyrics such as "he sits around the campfire and licks his wounds" and "I found his little plastic shield chewed up on the battlefield" an added oomph. It's as if nature red in tooth and claw has descended on the cute animals from the cover of The Best Party Ever in all its vengeful fury.

The Nature Of The Boy Least Likely To mines a similar seam, managing to make cricket pitches, chocolate raisins and fallen leaves sound eerily sinister. The increasing sense of isolation that pervades the second half of the album is writ large in I Keep Myself To Myself and The Worm Forgives The Plough.

A Fairytale Ending brings the album to a close on a note of doubt that belies its title. And this is why this album is such a triumph. Owen and Hobbs could have just rewritten their debut note for note, but instead they have chosen to take us on a journey that many of us know all too well. Here's waiting for the next instalment. -Musicomh.com

01. Saddle Up
02. A Balloon On A Broken String
03. When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade
04. I Box Up All The Butterflies
05. The Boy With Two Hearts
06. Stringing Up Conkers
07. The Boy Least LIkely To Is A Machine
08. Whiskers
09. Every Goliath Has Its David
10. The Nature Of The Boy Least Likely To
11. I Keep Myself To Myself
12. The Worm Forgives The Plough
13. A Fairy Tale Ending

milieu - colortone (2009)

01. Cropduster       
02. Color The Waves 
03. Sun Dress 
04. Summer Friends
05. Acid Fried Skate Rink 

06. Jacket Holograph 
07. Pillow Whiter 
08. Night Ride 
09. Silver Fountain Cascade 
10. Waving Goodbye 

mary & the boy/felizol - time machine (2009)

Mary & The Boy's new album 'Timemachine' was released in January 2009 by Inner Ear Records. This album is a collaboration with Felizol. The album was recorded and mixed by Callmelazy at Soundflakes Studios and mastered by Cristian Vogel. -Playourmusic.net

01. Burning Books, Detuned Trombones And The
Principles Of Time Travel (Death Waltz)
02. You, You, You 
03. No More Bad Trips For Little Mary 
04. Afraid Of The Devil 
05. Staring 
06. My Dance Is Getting Better 
07. Are You Still Dancing Can Can? 
08. I Was Able To Begin Again (Death Soul) 
09. Cock 
10. Mama 
11. Death 
12. A Hopeless Case (Death Samba)
13. Timemachine

And Then There Were None - Who Speaks for Planet Earth?

01. Murmurs Of...
02. John Orr The Arsonist
03. The Hospital
04. Reinventing Robert Cohn
05. Action Is The Anecdote
06. The Atmosphere
07. Cloak and Dagger
08. Right Here Waiting
09. Bed Of Nails
10. Thank The Watchmaker
11. The Alamo
12. Insozzz...

Eleni Mandell - Artificial Fire (2009)

Eleni Mandell's musical coordinates obviously include sultry sirens Chrissie Hynde and PJ Harvey, but she also possesses an uncanny knack for sweetly sinister, heartsick vignettes. "God Is Love" is both brooding prayer and lament, fueled by guitarist Jeremy Drake's staccato, scale-running riffs. Dreamy, upper-register chord changes power "In the Doorway," imbuing a blushing line like "I was dizzy, I was guilty, I wanted to confess" with manic lust and morning-after regret. The album's rockers are a serviceable change of pace -- especially "Little Foot," which channels early, Farfisa-laced Elvis Costello -- but it's Mandell's torch songs that ignite. -Spin.com

1. Artificial Fire
2. God Is Love
3. Right Side
4. Personal
5. Tiny Waist
6. It Wasn't The Time (It Was The Color)
7. Bigger Burn
8. Little Foot
9. Don't Let It Happen
10. In The Doorway
11. Needle And Thread
12. Front Door
13. I Love Planet Earth
14. Two Faces
15. Cracked

Emily Loizeau - Pays Sauvage (2009)

01. Pays Sauvage 

02. Fais Battre Ton Tambour 03. Tell Me That You Don'T Cry 

04. Sister 

05. La Dernière Pluie 

06. Songes 

07. Coconut Madam 

08. La Femme A Barbe 

09. The Princess And The Toad 

10. Ma Maison 

11. In Our Dreams 

12. Dis-Moi Que Toi Tu Ne Pleure Pas 

13. Le Coeur D'Un Géant 

14. La Photographie

Candlestickmaker - Seeds

Welcome to the neon-coloured world of Alexandru M. Seidiu aka Candlestickmaker! Enjoy a ride full of squashed and mashed up beats. The correctly tickled rhythms swoosh over you in a hustle and bustle, take you direclty on a rollercoaster through a happy-acid-megalomania, into a world where SpongeBob enjoys playing with the nipples of Hello Kitty...

Fantastic, mad, ill, sweet, trippy... So don't take neither the blue or red pill! Take the coloured one! -Phlow-magazine

1.  Celeste
2.  Aquarius
3.  Beam!
4.  107049
5. Canvas In The Sky
6.  Drops Of Light
7.  Don't Worry About Me
8.  Nov, 27
9.  Sun, Rise!
10.  Seeds
11.  Drops Of Night / Dreamer
12.  Summer Break
13.  Seeds (128 Mix by Olga Bancic)

Download

Old School Freight Train - Six Years (2009)

Old School Freight Train, from Charlottesville, VA combines thought provoking lyrics with captivating melodies, soulful vocals, virtuosic instrumentals and imaginative arrangements. Blending folk, jazz, soul, pop, bluegrass, latin and celtic, OSFT offers a unique musical experience the BOSTON GLOBE claims is "the Next Big Thing" and the CHICAGO TRIBUNE claims is "accessible but uncompromising in creativity." DAVID GRISMAN says, "After forty years of recording acoustic music, it's not very often that a new band catches, and keeps, my attention. Old School Freight Train has done that and more." "Shades of Jack Johnson, Ben Harper... even a kiss of Van Morrison... Old School Freight Train is off on a timeless new track blending roots and rock to create a sound that's all their own." - Tim Dickinson, National Affairs Correspondent, Rolling Stone

01. Heart Of Glass 
02. Millionare 
03. Let Me Go 
04. Memphis 
05. Wake Up 
06. Seems Like It’s Over
07. I Won’t Say Anything 
08. Six Years 
09. Get Down 
10. Dunedi 
11. Like You

I Monster - A Dense Swarm Of Ancient Stars (2009)

01. The Circus Of Deaf  

02. A Sucker For Your Sound  03. Goodbye Sun  

04. Cool Coconuts  

05. Lust For A Vampyr    

06. Mr. Mallard   

07. She’s Giving Me The I  

08. Escape From New Yorkshire   

09. Dear John   

10. Inzects   

11. Inzects 2 (The Mutations)   

12. Sickly Suite Part 1 How Are You?   

13. Sickly Suite Part 2 Out Of The Shadows 

14. Sickly Suite Part 3 Gone   15. A Pad Is Waiting   

16. The Best  

Miss Kittin & the Hacker - Two

01. The Womb 

02. 1000 Dreams 

03. PPPO 

04. Party in my Head 

05. Indulgence 

06. Emotional Interlude  

07. Suspicious Minds 

08. Electronic City 

09. Inutile Eternite  

10. Ray Ban  

11. 1000 Dreams (Reprise) 

Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight

Sometimes it truly is the quiet ones. Frightened Rabbit are testament to this. Two years after the (first) release of their debut album Sing The Greys, a good album but by no means a classic, and infrequent trips around the UK toilet circuit the Selkirk, Scotland-based four-piece have, from nowhere, released one of 2008’s truly great indie-pop albums. Michael Stipe, take note.

On their sophomore offering the band have shaven off the instrumental passages that snaked through their first release and created 14 blissfully simple pop songs. Opener’The Modern Leper’ and recent single ’Heads Roll Off’ yearn for Radio 1 A-List inclusion, all witty turns of phrase and soaring, catchy choruses, and yet they still have an undeniably rustic, scruffy quality, aided by Scott Hutchinson's wailing vocals and the substitution of a bass guitar for a second acoustic guitar playing lower notes.

It is on 'I Feel Better' that this mix of cohesive songwriting and clumsy delivery is at its most potent; a decidedly up-tempo number that has the same high-octane caterwaul-led feel to it as that on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's more jaunty moments, but transposed into the near-orchestral resplendence of The Hidden Cameras.

But the beauty of The Midnight Organ Fight is that it works in any location and/or situation. It is of such a substantial quality throughout that it can last through repeated full spins on lonely train journeys through idyllic landscapes, yet still has a high enough ratio of glorious pop hooks and distinctive ideas per song to not be ruined by a click of a ‘random’ or ‘shuffle’ button.

Although this album could very well catapult Frightened Rabbit into the mainstream, and deservedly so, it is evident this is by no means intentional. The Midnight Organ Fight is neither a genuine 'safe' option for the band nor a blatant fan-base builder which obscures the band’s own charms as has been the case for fellow countrymen Biffy Clyro and (sort of – they’re based in Glasgow) Snow Patrol.

Here there can be no snobbish derision and calls of 'selling out' or playing to the average man; in creating an album showcasing the very best of the band’s talents they have created one so perfectly fit for, as Scott so vividly puts, “the soft, soft static” of popular radio. A happy coincidence, then -drownedinsound.com

1. The Modern Leper

2. I Feel Better
3. Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms
4. Fast Blood
5. Old Old Fashioned
6. The Twist
7. Head Rolls Off
8. Backwards Walk
9. Keep Yourself Warm
10. Poke
11. Floating In The Forth
12. Who'd You Kill Now

Mercury Rev - Strange Attractor

I'll call it like I see it, Strange Attractor is not the greatest piece of work in the Mercury Rev catalogue.  But nobody expected it to be.
Strange Attractor is the free instrumental album and companion piece to the proper record Snowflake Midnight.  
On the album, the Buffalo band renowned for the sweeping cinematic feel of their records, branches out a bit to delve into electronic aspects we aren't used to hearing from them.  After a couple of so-so studio albums, the attempt at something new is welcome; even if it's not always successful.

Many of the songs do end up blending into one another.  However, like much of the Mercury Rev oeuvre, it is perfect for a stormy candlelit evening...www.snobsmusic.net

01. Love Is Pure

02. Taken Up into Clouds, Changed and Rained Down
03. Pure Joie de la Solitude
04. Persistance and the Apis Mellifera
05. Fable of a Silver Moon
06. Loop Lisse, Loop
07. In My Heart, a Strange Attractor
08. Incident on Abeel Street
09. Af Den Fader Kommer Den Sol
10. Because Because Because
11. Nocturne for Norwood

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains

There's a certain strain of indie rock that excels at exuberance. From Built to Spill's "In the Morning" to Modest Mouse's "Doin' the Cockroach" to Pavement's "Stereo", you can get some serious uplift from chiming guitars, a ramshackle rhythm section, quiet/loud dynamics, and a dude who's ready to put it all out there vocally, even if he's not Jeff Buckley. New York's Cymbals Eat Guitars, whose remarkably assured debut album Why There Are Mountains came out digitally recently, understand something about the infectious spirit of that era. Mountains' "Wind Phoenix" is just a bit over five minutes long, but it feels like three great songs climbing all over each other that somehow manage to exceed the sum of their parts. Opening with a jubilant horn refrain, it skips along on a tuneful melody, slows down, ramps up to a climax, sticks with it for a while, and then crashes back down to its opening section. It's breathless, forceful, loose but not sloppy, and brimming with a sense of joy. Singer Joseph Ferocious says something about an "Ikea finery" and watching Notre Dame; the details aren't all clear, but you get a sense of someone fighting hard to get it all in. With so many ideas and feelings spilling out at once, there's not a song built that can quite contain them -www.pitchforkmedia.com

01. And the Hazy Sea

02. Some Trees
03. Indiana
04. Cold Spring
05. Share
06. What Dogs See
07. Wind Phoenix
08. The Living North
09. Like Blood Does