july/august album notes and recommendations

art brut "it's a bit complicated" - ok, this is up here mostly because of the british accent, but there's also a certain charm to the very simplistic lyrics accompanying the art-rock music: "people in love, lie around and get fat. I didn't want us to end up like that. this isn't the first time you've fallen apart, now you're indulging, and just playing a part" or "I know I shouldn't - is it so wrong? to break from your kiss, to turn up a pop song?"

au, self-titled: pastoral minimalist music. the first track has a really impressive build-up, which I like even if it is a cheap trick. the rest of the album is like one big sigh.

augie march, "moo you bloody choir": another great album from one of my favorite aussie ballad-singing bands. although very good, it doesn't top their last album, "strange bird" - mostly because it's missing a banjo song. (yay banjos!)

caribou, "andorra": creative texture, diversity of sounds. maybe a bit vague and unremarkable in retrospect, but was enjoyable to listen to.

earlimart, "mentor tormentor": polished autumnal music for cold days indoors. all in all, a very "nice" album, but I wish they'd kick it up a little more.

emily haines & the soft skeleton "what is free to a good home?": it's a little slow, so it takes a few listens before it sinks in. it's good ,but I think emily haines really needs collaboration to make a completely appealing album. her voice is great, but her music is a bit too delicate without influences of others. but, I think it's still a good solo project.

*joan as police woman, "real life" - debut album! beautiful voice, great melodies. simple, but nice piano lines. voice sounds like cat power. indie soul music (?)

Linda Thompson, "Versatile Heart" - folk-rock, the song "versatile heart" is really great, but it gets a bit boring after that.

mekons, "natural": I haven't really been following this band (this is their 26th album!), but I like this avante-guarde-post-folk-whatever music on this album. it's very calming..plus, jon langford is a pretty cool guy. I think I met him once. either that or I saw him once. one of the two. he has a big head.

laurie anderson, "big science": a very the books-like combination of noises and voices, and voices used as noises, and noises used as voices. I enjoyed listening to it, but I'm not sure if I'll ever really feel inclined to pick it out of all my music to listen to again. I might want to give that old laurie anderson cd my dad bought me years ago (but which I, at the time, disregarded as "weird") another try

metric, "grow up and blow away": some combination of blonde redhead and electrelane. it's a god damn pity some of these songs have been licensed for polaroid commercials. also, emily haines is kind of everywhere (broken social scene, her own solo project - which isn't as good as this), so that makes me want to resist liking them.

nina nastasia & jim white, "you follow me": there's actually a remarkable balance between vocals and music in this album..its nice to hear an album where the vocals are actually almost used as another instrument, rather than being backed up by instruments. good composition.

*okkervil river, "the stage names": THIS ALBUM IS GREAT. go buy it. (my enthusiasm is probably partially due to having seen them live the other night. maybe even entirely due to that).

prinzhorn dance school, self-titled: sounds like the fall. interrupted, abstract, repeated art-punk..?

spoon "ga ga ga ga ga": expectedly great, but I still like "girls can tell" better.