gray/matter

eMusic Picks - Feb

February 15th, 2008 @ 2:11 am by gray

Featured Articles

Basia Bulat’s Valentine Day Mixtape (11)

Featured Releases

Grenadine, Nopalitos (12)

While not as shimmeringly playful as their peerless Goya album, Grenadine - indie supergroup composed of Jenny Toomey (Tsunami) and Mark Robinson (Unrest) and produced by Warren Defever (His Name Is Alive) - still provide a refreshing set of tunes that combine the Simple Machines label aesthetic with the imagined lo-fi radio past shared by bands like Squirrel Nut Zippers. The tongue-in-cheek aspect is exemplified in romps like “Hell Over Hickory Dew” with its miniature comedy routine.

Hooverphonic, The President of the LSD Golf Club (10)
-, Expedition Impossible (2)

Hooverphonic have wandered afield since the seminal trip-hop explorations on their first two albums, pursuing an independent study of epic psychedelic pop that has ranged from the sublime to the occasionally silly and downright baffling (although they stop well short of, say, the Fiery Furnaces). After the less-heralded but worthwhile efforts on Presents Jackie Cane and the double album concept of (No) More Sweet Music, this release is solid if a little unengaging at times compared to those works. Lead-off track “Stranger” has the gauzy effervescence of Mono’s Formica Blues, which is a closer touchstone to the album’s mood than the smoky torch-beat of something like “Tomorrow” or “You Love Me To Death” from More Sweet Music. The instrumentation on songs like “Circles” and “Gentle Storm” is stripped back, with radio-friendly gloss befitting a Cardigans album, while the organ on “The Eclipse Song” is more 60s psychedelia by way of The Inspiral Carpets. The CD still has no distribution domestically, so downloads here or via Amazon are the best option available to get your Belgian sweet-tooth fix.

Minipop, A New Hope (10)

With an aptly descriptive name, Minipop resurrect the tightpacked jangly bliss-pop of 90s college radio with supreme ease. Hints of The Darling Buds and an electrified Mazzy Star are combined in exquisitely crafted vignettes too clear to be considered shoegazer, too upbeat to be darkwave, but with some of the best elements of both. Putting aside the geek subtext of the album’s title, the cover image of a dandelion in mid-blow is a wonderful motif for the sundrenched meadowlands where Minipop will transport you.

Silver Mt. Zion, He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Grace the Corners of Our Rooms (8)

One of the chamber-rock ensembles in the wide spanning debris field of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, the equally pithy A Silver Mt Zion hew more to the spare acoustic dynamics of Rachel’s than the overloaded rush-to-the-climax build of GYBE. Quiet piano elegies, weeping strings, and the occasional sampled dialogue usher you slowly through mostly wordless, expressive emotion - “Movie (Never Made)” adds a plaintive vocal well-suited for the backside of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. (You can save a download by skipping the 5-second blip of track 6.)

Stoa, Zal (11)
-, Porta VIII (9)
-, Urthona (11)

More in the ongoing series “wish I had eMusic years ago when I paid import prices to track these down.” Stoa is one of the stronger entries of the neo-classical darkwave genre alongside In The Nursery, with layers of sweeping strings and piano accents that can sometimes pass for segments from Mark Snow’s X-Files scoring. A lovely version of Black Tape for a Blue Girl’s “I Wish You Could Smile” (from the Of These Reminders tribute collection) is also included. With the addition of Zal, you can now pick up all three of Stoa’s releases, darn you.

Under Byen, Siamesisk (5)

Siamesisk includes selections from Samme Stof Som Stof (12) performed live by the Danish Radio Sinfonietta, adding an expressiveness and urgency to the arrangements with a charm alike to Bjork’s performance at London’s Royal Opera House on her Vespertine tour.

Free Stuff

The Postmarks, By The Numbers 2 (1)

various, ICON Music Group Sampler (11)

various, Kaleidoscope Room 2 (12)

See Also

Ace of Base, Singles of the 90s (16)

Aluminum Group, Little Happyness (11)

Back 2 Bass, The Beating of My Heart (2)

Basia Bulat, Oh My Darling (13)

Try the instant classic “In the Night” and see if Basia’s sheer joy in performing doesn’t win you over.

Can, Inner Space / Out of Reach (15)

Cat Power, Jukebox (12)

Dir En Grey, The Marrow of a Bone (13)
-, Withering to Death (14)

Visual kei turns more metal as Dir En Grey begin their crossover from big-in-Japan status. The more recent Marrow of a Bone tends more towards moody grumbles than the punctuated screams of Withering.

Fiery Furnaces, Widow City (16)

Aretha Franklin, Best Of (19)

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton, What Is Free to a Good Home? (6)
-, Knives Don’t Have Your Back (11)