Catchy Stuff

A Place To Bury Strangers: A Place To Bury Strangers
(Killer Pimp 2007)

Glorious noise-pop with near-mystical guitar roars. The APTBS frontman Oliver Ackermann started building his own guitar pedals while in his earlier band Skywave, later making it a business. The pedals have names like Total Sonic Annihilation, Supersonic Fuzzgun, Interstellar Overdriver, and Soundwave Breakdown. That's pretty much what APTBS sound like. Their debut is a relentless piece of static distortion and trebly feedback. The reverbed sound, including vocals, evoke The Jesus & Mary Chain, but surely these guys have spent time with New Order and Ministry as well (check out, respectively, the bass-driven "I Know I'll See You" and the interplay of live drums and ticking drum machine on "To Fix the Gash in Your Head"). I would be amiss not to mention that the album has moments of vaporous melodic beauty as well (on "The Falling Sun" and parts of "Don't Think Lover"). One of the top albums of the year. COID: "Missing You"

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: 100 Days, 100 Nights
(Daptone 2007)

Though not as good as Naturally (2005), this album (together with Bettye LaVette) tops my 2007 soul list. (Amy Winehouse was 2006.) The immediate draw are Jones' impressive vocal range and soaringly sexual timbre and the immaculate horn charts and guitar fills of the slinky-funky Dap-Kings. But the song material holds up well through repeated listens despite the throwback he-done-me-wrong lyrics. When it comes to horn-laden Stax/Volt style soul that's this fine, down to the ability of mere rhythms and phrasings to convey a wide palette of passion and pain, joy and regret, the accuracy of descriptions like "derivative" or "reverential" are beside the point. COID: "Humble Me"

Red Dons: Death To Idealism
(Deranged 2007)

Death To Idealism is the best punk rock record I've heard this year. Sonically it's much like the classic So What's Left Now by the Red Dons predecessor band The Observers. Telecasters pump trebly chords on top of pummeling drums and limber and driving, almost Rezillos-like bass lines, joined by chanty, T.S.O.L.-like vocals that drip passion. The song craft, though not breathtaking, is still good enough to count as top-notch. The record conveys its dominant theme, social alienation, not only through lyrics that lament mass consumerism, religious fundamentalism, the current political direction of the United States, and the difficulty of finding one's place in the world. It conveys alienation also by its sound: the vocals are mixed to sound distant, and as if echoing in an empty space, and the overall tone is quite cold and clinical. No doubt this is due partly to the cheap production, but it's there nonetheless. A perfect soundtrack to feelings of rootlessness. COID: "Walk Alone"

Interpol: Our Love To Admire
(Capitol 2007)

Our Love is by no means a bad album, and in fact it's pretty good. There just isn't much new to say about it. Nearly every song ticks off some other Interpol song (including within the album the intros to "Pace Is The Trick" and the transporting "Pioneer To The Falls"). Some small tweaks suggest that musical evolution may have made a quick stop in Interpol's general neighborhood. A few songs feature moody keyboard flourishes. "The Lighthouse" has atmospheric fragility. My fave track "Heinrich Maneuver" sports lovably sneering vocals and biting guitars. Evolution be damned, "No I in Threesome" and "Who Do You Think" are just cracking pop songs. But Our Love doesn't inspire much curiosity about what kind of an album Interpol will next take another three years to make. COID: "Rest My Chemistry"

Tranzmitors: Tranzmitors
(Deranged 2007)

If, like me, you found the new Hives record uninspired and dull, I've got a Plan B for you: Tranzmitors. These guys look like they could have starred in Quadrophenia! Their debut is a 32-minute blast of punchy power pop with infectious sing-alongs, sharp guitar riffs, a Scientists cover ("Last Night"), some rhythm bounce à la XTC , and a dose of punk à la The Undertones, The Boys, Buzzcocks, The Jam, Pointed Sticks, and really the whole Stiff Records back catalog. If that's not enough to perk your ears up, let's add that the band can write some great songs. As Razorcake said of an earlier Tranzmitors single: "This is that kind of bubble gum that's so good it's poisonous." Highly recommended. COID: "Is Your Head Hollow"

New Pornographers: Challengers
(Matador 2007)

An occasional Dan Bejar song excepted, New Pornos have become the Volvo of indie pop: dependable, safe, pleasant – and dreadfully boring. I can appreciate the craft evident in carefully constructed arrangements and hooks. But why are the choruses so repetitive? What happened to the exuberance so evident on Mass Romantic? Challengers isn't up to standards already set by the band's early work. I've moved on to waiting what Bejar and Neko Case cook up next in their solo pursuits which have of late been considerably more delightful. COID: "Myriad Harbour"

Bad Religion: New Maps Of Hell
(Epitaph 2007)

If you've heard even a chunk of the nearly 200 songs that Bad Religion have released in their 25-year, 14-album career, you know their dilemma. It's how to avoid going stale when producing new permutations of the various awesome elements of their trademark sound, such as massive hooks, the acute sense of melody, and the incredible three-part vocal harmonies. New Maps never quite resolves this. Its first third looks back to the hardcore anthems on their classic 1988-90 releases, achieving the same hard and fast conviction but less inventive and unforgettable songwriting. Too often the vocals don't cut through the guitar-heavy mix. There are some surprises among the rest, and not merely because "Grains Of Wrath" and "Scrutiny" reach up to the band's original snarl and spirit. Some of these surprises are less pleasant: "Honest Goodbye" tries too hard to sound like radio-friendly AOR. On the more pleasant side "Prodigal Son" hints towards the up-tempo Elvis Costello & The Attractions in their early period. New Maps is a mediocre release from a band that even in its mediocre moments is tighter, more likable, and simply better than most other punk acts. It's tough and hooky enough to please the fans, especially those who like guarded hope and appeals to reason in the lyrics. But excuse me while I go and get killed by Suffer, No Control, and Against The Grain, for a thousandth time. COID: "Lost Pilgrim"

Sweatmaster: Animal
(Fullsteam 2007)

The third album from this Finnish trio totally lives up to its name. "Down To Size" and "Dead Legs" kick off with an impressive display of rock dramaturgy: tight, spare, and hard-hitting songs that mix garage, raw blues, and melodic heavy, and feature pounding bass, vocals with urgent swagger, and lyrics that proudly follow the simple and dumb "I'm a street-walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm" tradition infested by the smell of gas and an occasional zombie. But, equally importantly, Animal also finds more nuanced and varied expressions for the breathless rock attack that dominated Sweatmaster's first two records. Witness the majestically melancholic "Cut Up In Half" or the poppy "World Of Disease" and the sinister "Blisters". This is a wild and convincing record with touching points in MC5, Stooges, Wipers, and the more minor-key rumblings of QOTSA. Sweatmaster wipe the floor with the current Wolfmothers and needn't pale at all beside the likes of Hives, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Mooney Suzuki. COID: "Cut Up In Half"

Arctic Monkeys: Favourite Worst Nightmare
(Domino 2007)

Some unnecessarily condescending lyrics aside, Nightmare is a vibrant improvement over the band's over-hyped debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. Most songs on that album left me bored. Not so here, where songs are concise, the interplay of instruments is really precise whether they blast out post-punk riffs or slow things down, melodies are more clever, and yet the overall feel is one of urgent restlessness. I'm especially struck by the frantic energy of "Brianstorm," the guitars on "The Bad Thing," the harmonies on "Fluorescent Adolescent," and the wistfulness of "505." Nightmare is slowly turning out to be among the best records of the year. Now how about a band name change?

The Detroit Cobras: Tied & True
(Bloodshot 2007)

Another satisfying selection of mostly very obscure R&B and garage-soul songs from my favorite cover band. The hard-edged guitars, Rachel Nagy's impressive throaty voice, and overall raw groove find an effective balance with some slower, more sultry songs than you find on their previous albums. Highlights include versions of "Nothing But A Heartache" by The Flirtations, "Only To Other People" by The Cookies, "The Hurt's All Gone" by the Detroit Cobras staple Irma Thomas, and especially the astonishing "As Long As I Have You" by Garnet Mimms.