Sunday, November 23, 2008

A few administrative details before we start: This will likely be my final regular post for the year, so I’m doing my best to fit in a few last albums.  Don’t worry though, the whole SOTO family will be hitting the year-end lists pretty hard this year, and I’ll be highlighting some of the best local albums of the year.  Look for that around mid-December.

Got it? Good. Onward and upward:

Ume

This new EP from Ume found its way to me at Fun Fun Fun Fest (where the band played early Sunday morning), but I didn’t give it the listen it deserved until this past week or so.  Ume are a force to be reckoned with (even if they haven’t put out an album in a good three years or so), mining that same brooding energy that New York bands like Sonic Youth pioneered in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but with heavier guitars and a frontwoman much more prone to shredding, as they say.  Settling locally at the Bubble to track with Frenchie Smith (of Sixteen Deluxe) does wonders for the band’s sound, capturing in High Definition the entire Ume spectrum from the fiery guitar solos to the thundering bass and drums that push the tunes ever forward.  Plain and simple: This album rocks.  Hard.

:Ume - The Conductor:

Future Clouds And Radar - Peoria

USA Today apparently compared these guys to an older Austin band, The 13^th Floor Elevators, which sounds to me like someone was reading the Wikipedia entry for "Local Music Capital of the World."  Actually, the band does sound like the psychedelic 13^th Floor Elevators, in the sense that you could get a pretty good trip going just from licking the CD jacket.  Unfortunately, the band sound their best when they stick to more melodic approaches.  Which is not to say the noisy meandering tracks aren’t interesting - the band does have an ear for tracking raw noises that are quite interesting, whether by nature or by the way they are woven into the songs - but when the melody lapses for too long, it’s easy to feel lost as a listener.  And not the "artistic" feeling of lost, but the "skip, skip, skip" kind of lost.  That being said, for the most part this album is classic and creative all at once, mixing go-to clean tones with psychedelic guitars and unconventional electronics and field recordings in a way that seems almost natural.  This slower song, Old Edmund Ruffin, captures the sound well.

:Future Clouds And Radar - Old Edmund Ruffin:

Quick Mention

Also, one of my local fav’s Leatherbag has a new EP that he’s just finished with his new band The Pretty Tuffs (which is essentially just Jude Ross’ band).  Watch for it (and the new Jude Ross album that LB produced) in the coming months while I’m away.

National Picks

There are tons of albums on my shelf right now, so rather than my single non-local pick, I decided to make a quick playlist with some of the better bands this week.  Enjoy.

:The Danks - Treaty Connector:  I guess I expected something more musky from a band called the Danks, but instead I got shiny pop bliss which, simple as it may be, is excruciatingly loveable.  They're from Canada.  Look them up as soon as possible.

:Wilderness - Strand The Test Of Time:  Cool things in Baltimore: The Wire, Wilderness’ new album (K)No(W)Here.

:The Olympic Symphonium - Intentions Alone:  This album (More in Sorrow than in Anger) has quickly found its place as a favorite albums to welcome in the colder weather, namely along with Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois.  It’s subtle and has some great banjo lines, a must for any winter track.  They should know a thing or two about cold weather, they’re also from Canada.

:Pop Poppins - A Certain Person:  This song isn’t new, it’s about 10 years old, but a friend just burned me Delight and Disorder from the now defunct, should’ve-been-famous Dallas rockers Pop Poppins.  It only gets better with age.

- John Michael Cassetta -



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