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Last Updated:
Mar 19th, 2008 - 07:43:02 |
Fiery Furnaces
Rehearsing My Choir
Rough Trade
Deep in our subconscious dwells the concern of our mortality, the
realization that life is fleeting, the discomfort that the future is
unknown. This undeniable truth is a sub-theme of the Fiery Furnaces’
ambitious (and bold) concept album Rehearsing My Choir, featuring the
spoken word artistry of band members Eleanor and Matt Freidburger’s
grandmother.
The intriguing matriarch reflects on the life she’s lived over the
Furnaces’ wavy electronic ruminations and indie-rock jams. Certain
melodies endure throughout, entering and exiting through tracks as
though they were rooms in a house, meanwhile Eleanor and her
grandmother bounce off each other with poetry, story telling and
singing.
The music ranges from focused and masterful to noisy and experimental.
It’s haunting, it stirs the soul and demands attention, it will
challenge your psyche and it will make you reflect on your life so far
and make you wonder what lies ahead. That is, if you’re open to the
experience of a grandma waxing reminiscent in a
gather-round-and-I-will-spin-you-a-tale sort of way. — JM
3
Wake Pig
Metal Blade
Metal Blade? Are you okay? Because you just released a
prog-as-eff record from a band with a prog-as-eff name! 3 fall
somewhere in-between Coheed and Mars Volta, but mix in the heavier prog
bands like Tool. Somehow, Rush are the most influential band of 2005.
Who saw that one coming? — BK
Anti-Social Music
Sings the Great American Songbook
Peacock
Stirring strings, guitar squonks, meandering horns and
fluttering flutes — and that’s just the first two minutes. This is
indie and post-rock’s version of an orchestra. Noisy and cluttered,
then awkwardly beautiful. Accordions, tubas, free-jazz sax, noise-punk
guitars, dancing pian-y and tender singing going to and fro. Nothing
else like it. Ever. — BK
John Coltrane
Live At The Half Note
Impulse
Originally recorded for a radio broadcast in 1965, Live At The Half
Note finally gets a legitimate CD release. Coltrane loved playing at
the Half Note and you can tell from this recording. The show captures
the John Coltrane Quartet at their peak. Their improvisational skill
throughout the show just leaves the listener in awe. — WW
Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom
The Days of Mars
Astralwerks
This disc explores synth-driven sonic manipulations that recall
Detroit’s earlier techno sound without the techno. Think Detroit
Escalator Co. and (gasp) “Strings of the Strings of Life” — it never
really peaks, but gradually evolves in the span of four 12-minute
compositions. Don’t expect a 4/4 kick six minutes in, just sit back and
realize the most important part of sex is foreplay. — JC
Ryan Cabrera
You Stand Watching
Atlantic
He’d get an extra star if it wasn’t for the hair. His other sins
don’t really affect me: the middling goo-doll pop, the fake
on-again-off-again relationship with Ashlee Simpson, all orchestrated
by her dad, who manages both of their careers. But that god-damn
perfectly spiked, perma-frosted unmovable hair; it’s more evil than his
songs, but that ain’t saying much of the music. — SS
The Occasion
Cannery Hours
Say Hey
With a lot of so-called indie-rock bands, it’s difficult to
describe what a band sound like versus simply describing who they sound
like. The Occasion is a trippy, eclectic outfit; they sound like a
hundred different sounds swirled together — xylophones, electric
guitars, pianos, toms, the female vocal in “Great Gig In the Sky.”
Eerily enchanting, “The Maiden” is a 10-minute beauty. — KC
local
The Pop Project
TGIF
Suburban Sprawl
The Pop Project live up to their name with a CD that is ultra-poppy and
quite the project: an un-ironic revisiting of the TGIF TV theme song
work by composer Jesse Frederick. "Everywhere You Look," "Second Time
Around" and "Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now" have never sounded better. — KND
in my ear
The Deadly Snakes
Lately, it’s like we’re trading our refuge-seeking soldiers to Canada
for their indie-pop bands at a three-to-one rate. Actually, that could
be an excellent program. They shelter our defectors, we support their
Arcade Fires. Can you say win-win? At it for almost a decade, The
Deadly Snakes have really hit their stride with last month’s Porcella.
It’s another eclectic, bright-leaning, sing-along stomper from our
neighbors to the North. We’ll send a few GIs their way after DS play
the Magic Stick on Nov. 16.
Bill Fay
The Time Of The Last Persecution
Black Lips
Let It Bloom
The Kinks
Powerman Versus Lola and The Moneygoround
John Cage
The Seasons
Nico
The End
Cat Power
You Are Free
Pink Floyd
Atom Mother Heart
Reigning Sound
Home For Orphans
Serge Gainsbourg
L’Histoire de Melody Nelson
Colin Blundstone
One Year
dmrc top 10
1. Slum Village — Slum Village • 2. Children of Bodom — Are You
Dead Yet? • 3. Danger Doom — The Mouse and The Mask • 4. Buckethead —
Enter The Chicken • 5. Go! Team — Thunder, Lightning, Strike • 6. Rogue
Wave — Descended Like Vultures • 7. My Morning Jacket — Z • 8. Broken
Social Scene — Broken Social Scene • 9. John Coltrane — One Down • 10.
Cream — Live
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