Heavy Rotation: Week Ending November 21, 2008

01. Starflyer59 – Dial M, (Tooth & Nail Records.2008)
02. Pas/cal – I Was Raised on Matthew, Mark, Luke & Laura, (Le Grand Magistery.2008)
03. Wire – Object 47, (Pink Flag.2008)
04. Six.By Seven – The Way I Feel Today, (Mantra Recordings/Beggars Banquet.2002)
05. “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot, (Reprise Records.2008)
06. Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era Cont., (Kranky.2008)
07. Crystal Stilts – Alight The Night, (Slumberland.2008)
08. “Keep Me In Mind” by Little Joy, (Rough Trade.2008)
09. The Dears – Missles, (Dangerbird.2008)
10. Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha, (EMI.2008)



Deerhunter has enjoyed (?) a plethora of praise from the hipster press (namely, Pitchfork which gave this a 9.2 ; 2007’s Cryptograms and Fluorescent Grey EP got a strong 8.9 and 8.8, respectively) . Given what is contained on Microcastle/Weird Era Cont., they have been given much latitude. Microcastle is a stunning mixed-bag of a record --> the record starts extremely strong with the gorgeous gauzy miniature instrumental “Cover Me (Slowly)” which slides right into the lovely “Agoraphobia”, the punchy-addictive-incredibly-hooky “Never Stops”, and the controlled chaos of the last half of “Little Kids” (those first two tracks are among the year’s best songs, truly killer shit) --> then comes the middle of the record – four songs over nine minutes of b-o-r-i-n-g poo poo --> @ track nine, “Nothing Ever Happened”, the slack is picked up in a major way, snapping with a real heavy Sonic Youth-y-kraut-rock-y intensity only to quickly return to just-above-mediocre shoegazed revivalist yawn. What’s weird about Microcastle is how parts of/entire songs (see “Twilight at Carbon Lake”, “Cover Me (Slowly)”) sound like Starflyer59 circa Gold (1995) – it’s a real fanboy thing of me to write, but honestly, the similarities are creepy. My gripe with 2007’s Cryptograms was that it was unbearably uneven – Microcastle is even worse because those first four tracks are so great, I just can’t figure out what the hell happened. Chicago Public Radio’s Sound Opinions rock-n-write talk show rates records on a “Buy It”, “Burn It”, “Trash It” scale and Weird Era Cont. is a “Burn It” all the way – by no means is anything terrible, but nothing is compelling because it gets lost in its artiness (some may say, “up its asshole” … to each his/her own). Actually, let me clarify, the best track on WEC is the closing ten minute opus, “Calvary Scars II/Aux Out”, where the band discovered a way to balance their experimentalism with classic songwriting prowess.

Six. By Seven has become one of my favorite “unheralded” bands to name drop all over the place … hey, at least I'll admit it ... I can’t help myself! The Way I Feel Today was released in 2002 and inhabits this weird nowhere land of post-shoegaze/post-Brit Pop/post-grunge that didn’t fit with anything going on at that time (remember the ascendancy of Interpol?). “So Close” opens the record with a quizzical intense urgency of guitars in overdrive and vocals too graveled for the Yourke-sters (further, too smooth for punk/post-punk). “I.O.U. Love” is the pop song that appropriates The Church’s “Under The Milky Way” on the verses, but the chorus is mega-guitar-crunch and soaring, “All My New Friends” is the band’s take on Radiohead balladry, “Flypaper For Freaks” and “Speed Is In, Speed Is Out” are a glorious In Utero abrasion-splat-punk, “Karen O” is intense hook-filled-noisy The Jesus & Mary Chain, “American Beer” is a terrific slow-burn, “Anyway” is head-nodding driving pop bathed in guitar-noise-pop, “Cafeteria Rats” and “Bad Man” are just heavy-thrashy-smacks-in-the-head. Whew. Top to bottom, the record is intense, uneasy, brittle, and oddly catchy.

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