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Zero 7 - Yeah GhostStudio mainstays for well over a decade, Zero 7's Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker can wring an expert production from nearly any song, whether it's synth-based or band-based, instrumental or vocal, unadulterated pop or colored with some other genre shade thereof. Their fourth album as Zero 7 includes all of those approaches, so file it as another in a career of ever-evolving records that have moved them from chilled downbeat into dynamic alternative pop. A dedicated rhythm section appears on half the record, accentuating the feel that this is a band record -- albeit impeccably produced -- with an array of guests taking vocal turns. As before, the songs are written well and the guest vocalists are selected with care, but they're usually overwhelmed by the numerous production touches. Each song is a variation on the pop form, whether it's straight commercial pop on "Mr McGee," neo-soul on "Medicine Man," folkie introspection on "Swing," or starburst electronica on "Pop Art Blue." The best and most natural blend occurs on "Everything Up (Zizou)," which has a bit of indie guitar over its sheen of electronic pop, with vocals from Binns himself and the most impressive of the guests, Eska (who sings over five tracks total). Though Zero 7 are still not in the same class as Air (or even Phoenix), Yeah Ghost is an enjoyable record that shows them apparently on the way to something more unique.
(This record is way better than Air's latest)
http://www.mediafire.com/?vmjiqdmtn22
Lackthereof - Retrospective 1998-2008Lackthereof , the nom de solo project of Danny Seim, came into existence in 1997, several years before Seim became part of the eclectic, Portland-based indie trio Menomena. Initially, the project embraced a spirit of electronica-tinged experimentalism, sounding something akin to the eccentric work of John Maus; Lackthereof's later work became more spare and folky, nodding to artists like Bon Iver and Bonnie "Prince" Billy. In the early days of the project, Lackthereof's recordings were relegated to CD-Rs; six of these discs were recorded from the project's birth up until Seim became engrossed with his work in Menomena. A few years down the road, Seim was picked up by FILMguerrero for his seventh Lackthereof release, Christian the Christian, which was released on that label in 2005. Lackthereof's second full-length on FILMguerrero, My Haunted, was released in the spring of 2008. It was followed a few months later by another full-length, Your Anchor, which was released on Barsuk Records.
(For people who like Atlas Sound, or DIY Radiohead-y music)
http://www.mediafire.com/?nvew0cnomzx
Katastrophe - The Worst AmazingCan't find any reviews of this album. Suffice to say it's got a pretty upbeat Anticon / Buck 65 feel to it, which is to say, this is rap done by a white dude. Suffers from low budget production in a few places, but it has a lot of bright spots. Worth a listen.
http://www.mediafire.com/?jamotmqytei
The Hidden Cameras - Origin: Orphan
Can you make a mature album with a band called the Hidden Cameras? It's been an appropriate stage name over the past decade for Canada's Joel Gibb, describing aptly the explicit sexuality of his lyrics and the dark undertone hiding beneath his baroque orchestrations and genteel vocals. But most of all, the name telegraphs the band's distinctive playfulness (if we're thinking hidden cameras more in the "Candid Camera" sense than the Erin Andrews sense), a joyful glee that turns their concerts into pep rallies and makes Gibb's songs humorous without being novelty.
But the inevitable trajectory of any band, any life really, is to evolve from goofy prankster fun to rote adult seriousness. That's not always a bad thing, musically, but can the foundations of a concept like the Hidden Cameras-- with its Oscar Wilde wryness-- withstand the thematic shift? When asked about the old "jubilant" material, Gibb told a hometown website, "that naivety is kind of worn, I would say." Depressing words from the man who titled his last record with perhaps the most economical description of the band's sound and message to date (Awoo) and who bookended his best album with two songs about watersports-- and I don't mean synchronized swimming.
Like a pitcher tipping his curveball, Origin: Orphan signals this increased gravity in familiar fashion: two minutes of thick drone to introduce the dreary "Ratify the New". Wide-screen ambitious, the crescendos are both too bleak to be inspirational and too mannered to be cathartic. The album's other landmarks are equally drenched in gloom: with its chattering preset drums and air-raid guitars, the self-loathing title track is easily the dreariest thing Gibb's ever set to tape, and closer "Silence Can Be a Headline" is a sludge through last-dance arpeggios and maudlin strings. Only "Walk On" stands out among the new-direction material, retaining the boisterous chamber pop the Hidden Cameras are known for, but cranking the tempo down to a New Orleans funeral crawl with Gibb's searching tenor fitfully peeking through.
But as depressing as these hit-or-mostly-miss attempts to slow down and get serious may be, it's even more deflating to hear the songs that approach the Hidden Cameras' old team spirit but fall short. "He Falls to Me" and "Colour of a Man" both contain disappointingly monotone vocal lines rather than Gibb's typically ornate vocal runs, and show glimpses of hitting the raucous folk-punk strides off earlier material before slipping out of gear.
Only in a couple of places does the band's old giddiness shine through. "Underage" is a brief reprise of Gibb's sauciness, with a risqué refrain-- "let's do it like we're underage"-- made taboo when Gibb asks his partner, "I'll pretend you're seven, you'll pretend I'm eight." The song's Graceland-ish afro/electro-pop vibe is also very in tune with indie trends, a timeliness the Hidden Cameras come by honestly after peppering their songs with Ladysmith-lite backing chants. And Gibb adds a synth-pop edge-- flirting dangerously with the band's Magnetic Fields resemblance-- on the 8-bit beat of "Do I Belong?" and by borrowing Pete Townshend's old keyboard for the contagious "In the NA".
But when Gibb blandly promises there to "marry one day in the NA," it's hard not to recall his impish proposal to "Ban Marriage" three albums ago, just as the gay marriage movement began to catch fire. That mischief is largely missing from Origin: Orphan, and the lack of lyrical cleverness seems to have infected the music as well, making for a mostly cloudy listen from a formerly sunny-day band. You can't blame Joel Gibb for wanting to grow up, but nobody wants to watch a hidden camera unless it's focused on something fun and forbidden.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ynyglgzdyyw
Boys Noize - PowerCan't find any reviews for this. It's bloghaus, so if you like Justice or MSTRKFT or any of that shit, this is an album for you.
http://www.mediafire.com/?wn2zmmznyiz
Alarm Will Sound - A RhythmiaNo reviews for this either. If you know and like Alarm Will Sound you will like this. Basically it's sort of an avant-pop string quartet, much better than Apple records cover album tripe. Their most famous record is an album of orchestral Aphex Twin covers. They continue their reverence of IDM composers with an Autechre cover here, but it's mostly classical music here - modern and old-timey (I believe there's a Josquin number that's just gorgeous).
http://www.mediafire.com/?gdqvwotiqyu
(not the actual cover, but that image is on the cover of the disc)
Pere Ubu - Bring Me the Head of Ubu RoiIt's Pere Ubu and some lady putting on an audio version of
Ubu Roi, a play about a coup against the royalty of Poland, originally written in 1896 and widely credited as a cornerstone of Dadaism and surrealism. The disc is mostly audio of the play, which is pretty funny if you like absurd things (you do, don't you?), but there are some kraut-rocky Pere Ubu asides. Worth a listen.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ikzryzumgfj
