Joshua Radin - Simple Times (2009)

1. One of Those Days
2. I'd Rather Be With You
3. Sky (Featuring Meiko)
4. Friend Like You
5. Brand New Day
6. They Bring Me To You
7. Vegetable Car
(8. Free Of Me
9. You Got Growin Up To Do (featuring Patty Griffin)
10 We Are Okay
11 No Envy No Fear

There is a tangible sincerity to Joshua Radin. While his brand of singer/songwriter tunes aren't terribly original, they never feel false or fabricated. Simple Times, his sophomore release, is just that: simple. It sticks to his formula of pensive, vaguely introspective lyrics (example: "you make your past your past") echoed through his hushed, whisper-thin voice, peppered with wistful piano and string arrangements. Songs like "One of Those Days" and lead single "I'd Rather Be With You" are fleetingly pleasant. "Sky," the sprightly confection with fellow Hotel Café artist Meiko, is charming and earnest ("Sometimes I forget to love you like I should / But I'd never leave you / No, I never would"). The muted, melancholic "They Bring Me To You" is a stunning standout, with pitch-perfect vocals from Erin McCarley that melt in tune with Radin's. When Radin strays too far from the formula, like the African-twinged "We Are Okay" and the grating "Vegetable," the album stalls. But even though nothing approaches the honeyed intimacy of "Star Mile" or the lush instrumentation of "Sundrenched World" off 2006's We Were Here, Radin has crafted a worthy collection of songs destined for future Zach Braff movies (his close friend). That's not necessarily a bad thing. - Pastemagazine.com

Disrupt - The Bass Has Left The Building (2009)

01. The Bass Has Left The Building 

02. 21st Century Planet Smashas 

03. Berzerk Dub 

04. Echobombing 

05. Bruce Lee 

06. SEGA Beats 

07. Hail The Robots 

08. It's More Fun To Dubpute 

09. Wir Rufen Die Venus 

10. Impossible Mission III 

11. Bit Defender 

12. Love On

Germany's top soundbwoy Disrupt aka Jan Gleichmar drops the follow-up to Werk Discs awesome 'Foundation Bit' LP, teasing our bowels with rumbunctious subbass and cheeky 8-bit game music lifts on 'The Bass Has Left The Building'. Almost anyone that's come into contact with Disrupt's fun dubs has quickly developed an addiction for his compact and highly disciplined form, channeling the spirit of early Jamaican digi-dub and dancehall produced on early Casio keyboards and cheap drum machines through a matrix of 8-bit samples and pungent dub FX for an entirely endearing sound which attempts to maximise the potential of the stripped dub format with constantly mutating FX meaning no two succesive bars sound identical. The title track lifts the theme from the C64 game 'Future Knight' and piles a tonne of epic dubbed pressure upon it before 7" detonators 'Bezerk Dub' and 'Echobombing' squeeze out the slow and heavy jams for all bass luvvas. The version of C64 chip tune 'Bruce Lee' will probably flood back memories for those old enough (albeit with added subbass), and acid fried stepper 'Wir Rufen Die Venus' takes our money for the album highlight. You'd best check this if you like Darkstar, Quarta 330 or classic digi-dub dancehall. Big. -Boomkat.com

Raina Rose - End of Endless False Starts (2009)

01. Are You Still in Love With the World?
02. Desire
03. The King's Flashlight
04. Blind Cyrus
05. Air & Water
06. The River
07. Misaligned Tires
08. This Ain't My House
09. Not Not Love
10. Starts With a Low Hum
11. End of Endless False Starts
12. I Would Like to Kiss Everyone *Bonus*

Raina "Railroad" Rose first began performing when she was three, singing "Johnny B. Goode" with her father and sister in a house high on a hill in Eagle Rock, CA. In 1988 her family moved to Portland, Oregon. Although she considers Portland her home, she currently splits her time between the Pacific Northwest and Austin, Texas. 

As young girls Raina and her sister, Marisa, used to rock out with their dad as he played "Jugband Music" by the Spoonful, or "Maybelline" by Chuck Berry and when Marisa started playing Beatles records on an old beat-up record player in the other room late at night, Raina would absorb them for hours listening through the wall as she sang along. 

Raina's dad, Mo, introduced her to the guitar when she was 11, right around the time he found a double live Ani DiFranco album in a studio space he was renting out. So he gave her the album and encouraged her to start pickin'. From that moment forward, Raina's musical world burst wide open. She devoured songwriters old and new, such as Joni Mitchel, Dar Williams, the Indigo Girls, Dan Bern, Robert Hunter, Paul Simon, Elliott Smith, and a whole slew of new folks who used to and still create good, honest, soul-wrenching music that may or may not fly under the radar of the masses. 

Raina's solo debut "Despite the Crushing Weight of Gravity" came out in August 2005. Produced by Jim Brunberg at Mississippi Studios in Portland, OR, it has been called an indiefolk masterpiece by the press. Produced in collaboration with her father Mo (Western & Country music history buff), and featuring original illustrations by Three Pin Artist Giovanni Salimena, The Prophet, The Panhandler and The Moon is a strikingly sweet sophomore album from a serious yet sincere indie-folk-singer. –threepin.org

Bosque Brown - Baby (2009)

01. White Love
02. Went Walking
03. So Loud
04. On and Off (Part 1)
05. Texas Sun
06. Whiskey Flats
07. On and Off (Part 2)
08. Train Song
09. This Town
10. On and Off (Part 3)
11. Oh River
12. Phone Call
13. Soft Love 

Texas dove Bosque Brown (a.k.a. Mara Lee Miller) has a voice that can only be compared to the comfort that one finds in a pillow. Mara Lee Miller ’s voice is as soft as the flowing river that Bosque Brown is named after. However, this is not the sort of soft that we are all used to, but a pure southern, raspy softness, which is nothing short of beautiful.

Four years after their first record,Bosque Brown has released its second album, Baby. Having lived in Texas my whole life, I know oil when I see it, and after listening to all thirteen tracks of Baby, I know I have struck it. With a voice like that of Norah Jones(and what sounds like a female version of Thom Yorke), Mara Lee Miller paints such beautiful pictures with her singing.

The songs, “On and Off (part I)”, “On and Off (part II)” and “On and Off (part III)” are testaments to how versatile and elegantly she can use her voice with no help from background music. The first track, “White Dove” is a beautiful song about rising up and shedding the little things.

Not only is the singing a masterpiece, but the lyrics in the song are just as immaculate. This holds true for all of the songs that Bosque Brown has on Baby. -Popwreckoning.com

The Cloud Room - Waiting (2009)

01. Follow Me
02. Waiting...
03. Sonic Youth
04. 24 Hr Heartbreak
05. La La Losing
06. When Dogs And Wolves Split
07. The Bomb Is Boring
08. T-Shirts
09. Sticks And Stones
10. Memories
11. Blue Monday
12. Melody Like Snow
13. Sunlight Song (Part 2)

Named after the Chrysler Building's abandoned speakeasy, The Cloud Room is a Brooklyn-based quartet that forges the wistful, Kinks-esque pop of the 60s with the second coming of New York rock into hooks the most Ritalin-crazed fan of Justin Timberlake and New Order could sing in the shower. The Cloud Room thrive on their unique way of blurring the lines between today and yesterday. According to J, "People always groan about how good rock used to be. To hell with that, there's still great songs out there waiting to be found." -insound.com

Cinemasophia - Fits & Cycles

01. Detailed Night
02. Failed Drum Circle
03. ...And Then Quietly
04. Neutral Burst
05. Given Hell
06. I Refuse Yr Fourth Dollar
07. Pet Enemies
08. Dislodge From Thee
09. Light of My Life
10. Two Flights Downstairs
11. Whole Ghosts

Cinemasophia is a top notch indie rock band with all the twist and turns of a world class rollercoaster. In fact when we at Little Black Cloud Records heard the demos to this release we begged the band to let us put them out.

If you love '90s American shoegaze (Lilys, Swirlies, all that is Slumberland) and are looking forward to a new Polvo record as much as we are, then Cinemasophia's "Fits & Cycles" will be sure to wildly please you too.

What others are saying:

"It's quite reminiscent of the remarkably multi-personalitied Philadelphia band The Lilys, but also akin to more recent bands such as Grizzly Bear -- both with whom Cinemasophia have shared the rock stage. It's a lush, yet loosely woven tapestry of dream pop, shoegaze, and post-rock. In turn, the band can be all warm and fuzzy, robust and driving, introspective and intimate, fiery and dissonant."

– Aquarius Records

"As a record store owner, it can become quite the pain in the ass to describe music as you exhaust your vocabulary through miles of post-its. And, as you read record reviews all day, it becomes more difficult to understand what a band sounds like through words. Cinemasophia is a sonic assault of poly-rhythmic structures, minimal lyrics, satellite beeps, blah blah blah. This shit is good."

– Relative Theory Blog

-littleblackcloudrecords.com

The Super Vacations - S/T (2009)

01. Weird Beard
02. El Secret
03. Pyramids
04. Sea Song
05. Mr. Mystery
06. Congratulations
07. Terrible The Cat
08. Landing Site
09. Candy Hearts
10. Van.America
11. Endless Bummer
12. Remain In Wonder
13. Stack/Stacks
14. Solid Gold
15. Grown
16. Sidewalk

Another excellent contemporary psych monster from Shdwply, rapidly becoming one of VT’s favourite imprints. The Super Vacations take off on the whole Gary War style of F/X-occluded psych/pop mutants, creating a form of modern psychedelia that has nothing to do with loon-pants but is as brain-rearranging and specifically drug-keyed as anything on the International Artists label. The Super Vacations have a weird, refracted garage/surf guitar sound that’s somewhat akin to alla them great groups on the Pebbles surf set The Pyramids, The Fantastic Baggies, etc if they hadda re-grouped in a secret basement sometime in the 90s and re-connected to the freak tradition via Royal Trux (with a guitar sound specifically keyed to Neil Hagerty circa Bad Blood), electric Jandek and classic teenage stones like The Bachs, 13th Floor Elevators, Bubble Puppy, et al. Another beautifully muzzy trip through teenage USA from Shdwply. Highly recommended. - VT -Sarcaticsunrise.com

The Wooden Birds - Magnolia (2009)

01. False Alarm
02. The Other One
03. Sugar
04. Hailey
05. Hometown Fantasy
06. Choke
07. Quit You Once
08. Never Know
09. Anna Paula
10. Believe In Love
11. Seven Seventeen
12. Bad

Antje Duvekot - The Near Demise of the High Wire Dancer (2009)

01. Vertigo
02. Ragdoll Princes and Junkyard Queens
03. Long Way
04. Lighthouse
05. Dublin Boys
06. The Bridge
07. Scream
08. Reasonland
09. Coney Island
10. Merry Go Round 

Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years (2009)

01. Crazy Naked Girls
02. Mt
03. Moped Eyes
04. Inagural Trams
05. Inconvenience
06. Cardiff In The Sun
07. The Very Best Of Neil Diamond
08. Helium Hearts
09. White Socks/Flip Flops
10. Where Do You Wanna Go?
11. Lliwiau Llachar
12. Pric

Reconvened after various side projects - Gruff Rhys's Mercury-nominated Neon Neon, the Peth, Acid Casuals - these economic dark days find Super Furry Animals in buoyant mood. Their ninth album falls decidedly on the side of Light Years, re-embracing psychedelic pop with the vim of a bunch of bearded men who really aren't in showbiz for the opportunity to be papped. Standout track "Inaugural Trams" celebrates public transport with the band's customary beatific wryness and a guest rap in German from Franz Ferdinand's Nick McCarthy. Even the list of inconveniences in "Inconvenience" fails to be grumpy; rather, they galumph along groovily, spiritually very much at one with tracks called things like "Crazy Naked Girls" and "Cardiff in the Sun". -guardian.co.uk

cotton jones - paranoid cocoon (2009)

01. Up A Tree (Went This Heart I Have)
02. Gotta Cheer Up
03. Some Strange Rain
04. Gone The Bells
05. Photo Summerlude
006. By Morning Light
07. Cotton & Velvet
08. Little Ashtray In The Sun
09. Blood Red Sentimental Blues
10. I Am The Changer

Cotton Jones is the new project from Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw of Page France and their debut album Paranoid Cocoon sounds almost nothing like their former band. The sound of Cotton Jones abandons any pop sentiment and takes a pensive approach that is apropos for the gloomy happenings out in the real world.

Paranoid Cocoon sounds like a folk album The Doors may have made. It’s pouring down rain in the Bay area and their low-fi sound in the perfect accompaniment. Nau’s baritone voice and McGraw’s sweet sound create splendid harmonies and the lo-fi recording gives the album an otherworldy feel.  Standout tracks include “Up a Tree (Went This Heart I Have),” “Gotta Cheer Up,” “Cotton and Velvet” and “Blood Red Sentimental Blues.” Lo-fi has its place and it works on this album, but after hearing Cotton Jones perform “Cotton and Velvet” on Daytrotter , I’d like to hear crisper recordings to bring out the vocals. I guess that just gives me more reason to track them down at SXSW 2009.

If you are looking for a pick me up, this ain’t the album. But if you’d like to escape into the foggy, damp backwoods and simply get lost for awhile, Cotton Jones is the lantern that lights your path. The debut full-length,  Paranoid Cocoon, is out now on Suicide Squeeze Records. -hearya.com

Rhythm and Sound - See Mi Yah (Remixes)

1 See Mi Version (Basic Reshape)

2 Free For All feat. Paul St. Hilaire (Soundstream Remix)

3 Let We Go feat. Ras Donovan & Ras Perez (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)

4 Poor People Must Work feat. Bobbo Shanti (Carl Craig Remix)

5 Boss Man feat. Walda Gabriel (Tiki's Pure Blue Remix)

6 Let Jah Love Come feat. Sugar Minott (Sweet Substance Remix)

7 Lightning Storm feat. Rod Of Iron (François K. Remix)

8 Truly feat. Freddy Mellow (Vladisav Delay Remix)

9 Rise And Praise feat. Koki (Vainqueur Remix)

10 Dem Never Know feat. Jah Cotton (Sleeparchive Remix)

11 See Mi Yah feat.Willi Williams (Hallucinator Remix)

This CD collects four vinyl releases during 2006, if you didn't check them then I tell you that some of the reworks are quite weak, others are very good but there are three absolute masterpieces that make See Mi Yah Remixes a must buy. 

The Basic Reshape of "See Mi Version" is one of those untouchable mixes, where techno and dub doesn't sound as two distinct genres, showing once more why Basic Channel are undisputed milestones of electronic music. The Soundstream remix of "Free For All" is a nice, smooth house tune, a summer hit to play on the beach, while Villalobos uses slick sounds, bass is made from velvet, but his long remix is a bit plain. Then comes Carl Craig, and his version of "Poor People Must Work" is utterly amazing, perfection applied to techno music, I won't spend more words because I fear they could be inadequate. Just keep in mind that if you don't own this tune, you're missing something very important. Tikiman's dubby mix of "Boss Man" is good but it won't stick in your head, Sweet Substance does better with a massive dose of submarine beats and bass, designing a spacious, uplifting dub anthem. One of the major letdowns is the Francois K remix, a producer of his experience delivers a standard jungle/breakbeat track, so stereotypical that one of the thousands of bedroom producers around the world would have done better; Vladislav Delay also offers a break based mix, but at least it's more entertaining and the bassline is properly shaking. 

The final part of the record is where you find the most refined mixes, first of all there's Vainqueur with an ethereal version of "Rise And Praise," and before the very last ragga remix by Hallucinator, you get the mind-blowing Sleeparchive touch on "Dem Never Know." The minimal master starts all bleeps and clicks, with a single fat sinewave as bass, before unleashing a mesmerizing evolution of dub music: vocals are clear, a tapping beat brings you back to the roots with the help of glacial bleeps on the upbeat and a bouncy bassline that will make you jump and shiver at the same time. It's incredible how this tune still sounds truly Jamaican with all those cold minimal elements into it. 

Either buy Volumes 3 and 4 on vinyl or pick this, otherwise you'll regret not listening to such beautiful material...www.igloomag.com

Steppas Delight

CD 1

1. Kode 9 - 9 Samurai
2. Benga - Evolution 
3. Search & Destroy - Candy Floss
4. Plastician & Skepta - Intensive Snare 
5. Uncle Sam - Round The World Girls
6. Bug & Warrior Queen - Poison Dart
7. Goth-Trad - Genesis 
8. Seventeen Evergreen - Ensonique
9. Martyn - Broken 

CD 2
1. TRG - Broken Heart
2. Joker - Gullybrook Lane 
3. Quest - Hardfood 
4. Ikonika - Please 
5. Silkie - Dam 4 
6. Geiom & Marita - Reminissin' 
7. Shonx - Canton 
8. Gatekeeper & Grilza - Shade Darker 
9. Peverelist - Roll With The Punches

Steppas’ Delight tells the story of Dubstep – from its South London roots up to its present status as the most vibrant musical sub-culture in the UK - and its subsequent virus-like growth throughout the world. The album is made up of exclusive new tracks alongside some choice tracks from Dubstep’s recent history and features many of the original groundbreaking names alongside the current underground new wave of Dubstep producers. In the early 2000s Dubstep was a marginal music made by a handful of young producers in the concrete-coated suburbs of South-West London. Using free PC software like Fruity Loops or PlayStation’s music-making software Music 2000 and making their own left-field versions of dark garage records: Fast forward eight years and Dubstep is easily the most vibrant scene in the UK with many of the original Dubstep artists now the most in-demand producers, remixers, DJs and label-owners in the UK today. Steppas’ Delight traces the musical journey of Dubstep from these small beginnings to the current new wave of young artists and producers on the scene today. This release is both a snapshot of the present and future and an essential guide to Dubstep, and tells the story of the music – the artists, labels, clubs, radio stations, cutting houses and more. This release is a continuation of Soul Jazz Records’ prolific Dubstep releases such as the Box of Dub albums and singles from the likes of Digital Mystikz, Skream, Ramadanman, Cotti, Kode9, Ladybug, Warrior Queen and many more …

Daniel Johnston - Daniel Johnston At Home Live

01. Kool Aid
02. The Spook
03. Bloody Rainbow
04. Silly Love
05. I Had a Dream
06. Love
07. Tuesday Waltz
08. I Hate Myself
09. And I Love You So (And I Can’t Let Go)
10. Mama’s Trying for Showland
11. History of Our Love
12. Try to Love
13. Wishing You Well

The title of the latest work of Daniel Johnston Daniel Johnston is titled At Home Live. Strange as this is a description that applies to almost 80% of their discography. And it's a nice little, that this recording Johnston feels like a return to his beginnings.

Lo-Fi no more power, work collects 13 songs that are within the least known of his catalog. Only "Silly Love" in Fun, it is possible that in some way and round in their iTunes. The rest while working man may sound new to their ears.

Sonorously sounds like a mockery of the concept of a live album. When the disc opens with "Kool Aid" is heard the constant barking of a dog, as if in some way to replace a public auditorium and at the same time plays with the cliché of the dog barking because of the music Desafinado. Better introduction to the distinctive sound of Johnston does not exist, it is curious that he had not used before.

The rest of the album feels like a trip to the past, completely away from the production of fine Fear Yourself, her latest album. Nostalgic fondly, like myself, feel very grateful.

Art Brut - Art Brut Vs. Satan

1. Alcoholics Unanimous
2. DC Comics And Chocolate Milkshake
3. The Passenger
4. Am I Normal?
5. What A Rush
6. Demons Out!
7. Slap Dash For No Cash
8. The Replacements
9. Twist And Shout
10. Summer Job
11. Mysterious Bruises 

Post-punk troublemakers Art Brut are coming back 'atcha with an all new LP (their third) sporting the glorious moniker of "Art Brut VS. Satan"--which can't possibly end up being as awesome as that title. The band seems confident, though. Frontman Eddie Argos assures that their "punk as funk" recording time of two weeks with the legendary Frank Black will work to Art Brut's advantage in the long run. "Art Brut vs. Satan" is scheduled for an April 20th release, with first single "Alcoholics Unanimous" due out April 6th. 

The Decemberists - The Hazards Of Love

1. Prelude
2. The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)
3. A Bower Scene
4. Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)
5. The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)
6. The Queen's Approach
7. Isn't it a Lovely Night?
8. The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid
9. An Interlude
10. The Rake's Song
11. The Abduction of Margaret
12. The Queen's Rebuke / The Crossing
13. Annan Water
14. Margaret in Captivity
15. The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)
16. The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise)
17. The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)

The Decemberists' Hazards of Love, their second album for major label Capitol, is something of a rock opera about a girl named Margaret, her lover William, a lecherous rake, and a scary forest queen. So, basically, it's only slightly weird for the Decemberists.

 

Hazards is the follow-up to the Portland band's The Crane Wife, an album based on a Japanese folk tale, and features 17 songs and guest appearances from Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, Jim James, and Robyn Hitchcock. The band had initially hoped to stage the album as a play, but lead singer Colin Meloy decided it was unstageable. Instead, the band has mentioned doing a tour where they play the album front to back. 

Pete Doherty - Grace/Wasteland

1 Arcadie
2 Last of the English Roses 
3 1939 Returning
4 A Little Death Around the Eyes 
5 Salome 
6 Through the Looking Glass
7 Sweet By and By
8 Palace of Bone
9 Sheepskin Tearaway
10 Broken Love Song 
11 New Love Grows on Trees 
12 Lady, Don't Fall Backwards 

Pete Doherty, most notably known as a heroin junkie, then as the singer of Babyshambles and the Libertines, apparently has been working on a solo album slated for release on March 24 via Astralwerks. The album is calledGrace/Wasteland and the NME has gotten a listen, calling it "the most diverse album Pete has made by a long stretch." Considering his four albums have jocked the Clash and the Strokes unrepentedly, that can't be too hard, I imagine. Doherty was joined in the production of the album by the guitar work of Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, and the album was produced by Stephen Street, who produced Blur'sParklife, among other albums. There will be a single, called "Last Of The English Roses," out on March 2 in advance of the album, and the NME says it sounds like Gorillaz (yes!!!????).

The Honeydogs - Sunshine Committee EP

01. Sunshine Committee
02. Fiber Optic Paramour
03. Good Fight
04. Balaclava
05. Stash
06. Levers, Pulleys & Pumps

Metric - Fantasies: Limited Download Bundle EP

01. Gimmie Sympathy (Acoustic)
02. Help, I'm Alive
03. Nobody's Home (Pink Floyd Cover)
04. Waves (Bonus Track)

Sara Lov - Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming (2009)

01. Just Beneath The Chords
02. Frankie
03. A Thousand Bees
04. New York
05. Old Friends
06. Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming
08. Touched
07. Animals
09. Tell Me How
10. Fountain

Sara Lov seems to have emerged from the Hotel Café generation. Her light and fuzzy singer/songwriter songs are similar enough to Ingrid Michaelson, Sara Bareillis, and Lenka that it’s like they all decided at a slumber party in the late 80’s that they would be grow up to be famous singers and be best friends forever and Sara Lov is just the dark horse of the ranks (and I have no idea if they’re all BFFs or not). Lov hails from Los Angeles by way of Israel and Hawaii, and is a former member of the Devics, a dream pop band with a number of albums to their name. Here Lov ventures only a little ways from her dream pop roots and presents a lovely piano-based EP and full-length that is worth repeated visits. 

Lov’s The Young Eyes EP opens with “New York”, a typical forlorn love song – we all have that friend from college we visit in New York and reminisce with about “the long ago.” Lov’s songs are relatable and though mellow in sound are not entirely made of despair and longing, though she does touch on those subjects. She breaks up the mellow with “Timebomb”, a perky but less discothèque Beck cover. While an excellent take, her Arcade Fire cover of “My Body is A Cage” is fabulous enough to overtake the rest of the EP. It has the same amount of emotion as the original without the need for much added instrumentation. Absolutely gorgeous.  

Her follow-up full-length Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming (to be released in March) turns it up just a notch. It contains a more produced sound, but in essence retains the same spirit as her EP. The album starts out with “Just Beneath the Chords”, a very 1970’s-sounding ballad. “A Thousand Bees” has the feel of a lost George Harrison song with its arrangement and sage message. “Old Friends” is an obscure Simon & Garfunkel cover that is done so well and thoroughly claimed by Sara Lov it seamlessly flows with the rest of her original work. The title track is more updated and modern in sound, much more akin to the ladies of the Hotel Café, but doesn’t detract from the work as a whole. By the end track, “Fountain”, made familiar by it’s inclusion on an episode of “Bones”, one feels satisfied and enlightened. 

This is a woman whose voice isn’t as affected as so many current female singers. She knows music and knows how to convey it properly. She has an almost child-like voice, but more commanding with her adult years. It’s not the over-powering wail so favored today, but a croon, a siren in the mythical sense. The frequent cello mixed with her voice give the EP especially a haunting feel, but not enough to make it dark cabaret or goth. Lov’s records are a lovely example of modern folk rock, with soothing instrumentals and vocals that portrays a certain mix of emotions, a certain maturity.  

Overall there’s a retro feel to Sara Lov’s music. Her gentle use of slow chord progressions, light drums, and echoed riffs bring to mind early solo Beatles and the era of classic pop singer/songwriters. She doesn’t produce a full-on copy of the sound, but rather a revival and reference out of love for it. Her music reflects her voice – she is a girl who is emerging as a woman, and is coming to realize the differences of perspectives she thought of life from before. Lov has crafted a wonderful album of inspirational and relaxing songs that don’t jar or cajole but ease and comfort. -staticmultimedia.com

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009)

01. Southern Point 

02. Two Weeks 

03. All We Ask 

04. Fine for Now 

05. Cheerleader 

06. Dory 

07. Ready, Able 

08. About Face 

09. Hold Still 

10. While You Wait for the Others 

11. I Live With You 

12. Foreground

This is one of 2009's big ones, kids. On May 26, Warp will release the long-awaited follow-up to Yellow House, the breakout album from Grizzly Bear, Brooklyn's finest purveyors of cavernous whisper-sigh experimental rock. Neoclassical composer Nico Muhly and Beach House singer Victoria Legrand both contributed.

Last week, we reported the title: Veckatimest, named after a small, uninhabited island off the coast of Massachusetts. And today, they've revealed the album cover (which can be viewed right up there) and tracklist (see below). Check back early next week for an interview with frontbear Ed Droste about the album.

The band has a busy year coming up. This weekend, they've got a New Yorker-sponsored show with (seriously) Gabriel Byrne coming up at Brooklyn's Galapagos Art Space. On February 28, they'll play the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Howard Gilman Opera House with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, who will play some arrangements that Muhly wrote specifically for the show. Also on the radar: SXSW, Bonnaroo, and a to-be-announced nationwide club tour. -pitchforkmedia.com

The Explorers Club - Freedom Wind

1. Forever 

2. Honey, I Don’t Know Why 

3. Don’t Forget The Sun 

4. Lost My Head 

5. Do You Love Me? 

6. Summer Air 

7. If You Go 

8. In The Country 

9. Safe Distance 

10. Hold Me Tight 

11. Last Kiss 

12. Freedom Wind

Freedom Wind is The Explorers Club’s debut album. The Beach Boys are the obvious touchstone, but dig a bit deeper and you’ll hear flourishes of Paul McCartney,The Byrds, Emitt Rhodes, ELO and doo-wop. Embracing a pop blueprint from a time when great songs were played on the radio and everybody loved them all, The Explorers Club has produced one of the sweetest pop records you're likely to hear this year. Whether it's the soaring harmonies of “Forever,” the playful psychedelia of “In the Country,” or the classic choruses of “Do You Love Me?” or “Last Kiss,”  
The Explorers Club consistently displays a knack for writing undeniably catcy pop songs that drip with youth and exuberance. The lush arrangements and cushy four-part harmonies are complemented here by an ensemble of guitars, accordion, banjo, mandolin, organs, piano, lap steel guitars and more.The Explorers Club hails from Charlestown, South Carolina. Twenty-six-year-oldJason Brewer does the songwriting and arranging, while the complex vocal harmonies come courtesy of James Faust, Wally Reddington, and David Ellis. Filling out the instrumental sound of The Explorers Club on organ and drums, respectively, areStefan Rogenmoser and Neil Thomas.

Wild Light - Adult Nights (2009)

01. California On My Mind
02. New Hampshire
03. Canyon City
04. Surf Generation
05. Call Home
06. Heart Attack
07. Future Towns
08. The Party (Oh My God!)
09. My Father Was A Horse
10. Lawless River
11. New Year’s Eve
12. (Surfer’s Reprise)
13. Red House

Wild Light have been receiving a lot of attention for their single “California on My Mind”, and with good reason. The track is simple but not too simple; repetitive but not annoying. So okay, Reader, you’ve got this track lodged in your brain and you want to know if this is some buzz band throwaway, like say a Rooney. The answer is yes and no. It’s ballsy to kick off the record with the single and leave the listener to 12 more uncharted-territory tracks, but Adult Nights propels from its strong start and never really loses the momentum hook-wise. Having said that, there’s definitely no improvements made on the “California” style, and so while no individual track sticks out sorely, that’s exactly the problem: no individual track sticks out at all. You’d probably be better off buying the single.

Nothing is groundbreaking about the album; there are plenty of borrowed tricks from peers like Arcade Fire, and none with the same artistic flair – but the songs really are catchy enough to hold their weight. Subtle flourishes like the keyboard leads in “New Hampshire” truly make the song. Then there’s the stop-start rhythms of “The Party (Oh My God)”, which save it from being a mere Interpol replica. It’s an extremely listenable disc, even if it never finds its own style exactly.

But there’s really only one moment on Adult Nights where the group seem to have their own personality, and that’s in the folky “Heart Attack”, easily the most memorable song on the album (save for the single.) There’s equal parts The Bends-era Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and Arcade Fire. You might have a better time listening to The Bends once and then Arcade Fire twice, but Wild Light may have just saved you some time.

It was tough for me to get used to the fact that the vocalist sounds like he used to front Sixpence None The Richer, The Cardigans, and Matchbox 20 (in that order.) But if you take your indie rock with a subtle hint of yodel, then Wild Light should be right up your alley. Besides, once the album has been running for a little bit, you tend to forget about those vocal quirks anyways. 

Catchy single aside, Wild Light may have a tough time being remembered. I can foresee either a radically different, genre-swapped sophomore release or else a quiet drift into the background of popular music. But there will surely remain some indie music enthusiasts who make it their responsibility to keep up with the group.

-absolutepunk.com