Quirky  Stuff

Les Savy Fav: Let's Stay Friends
(French Kiss 2007)

Let's Stay Friends picks up from where LSF left things at the strongest moments of their career-spanning singles compilation Inches. That is to say it's a really damn good, propulsive record. The band's trademark tightly wound angularity and incendiary guitar riffs intact, they rock like no other post-punk band out there now. More importantly, Harrington and co. offer us melodic advances and smart lyrics, and cover an even wider stylistic ground than before, from their roots in post-hardcore punk to more old school punk on "Raging In The Plague Age" and something like more risk-taking Spoon on "Patty Lee". COID: "The Equestrian"

Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
(Merge 2007)

This is another lean, meticulous, and tightly controlled Spoon record whose measure of quality isn't whether people go ga-ga over it. (Fine, don't pardon the pun!) What command admiration are Britt Daniel's ever more refined and focused song craft and the whole band's well-honed cerebral brand of rock'n'roll. Although it feels like Spoon consciously hold back in the studio, you can't fault them either for following fashion or for not evolving. Despite a couple of dud tunes, enough unresolved tension remains between rock snarl and genial pop to make the album a compelling listen that leaves one wondering where Spoon will go next. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is quite different from A Series Of Sneaks but not much inferior. That's high praise. COID: "Rhthm & Soul"

Shitdisco: Kingdom Of Fear
(Fierce Panda 2007)

Dancepunk was a flash in the pan genre, and most of nu rave doesn't get much better. But Shitdisco lay out punk-funk-disco whose saving grace among its derivativeness is the deliciously unhinged lyrical content. No? "Conversation ooo/ Deconstruction ooo /Showers me in your introspection/ Insurrection ooo/ No protection ooo/ I try to hide my erection and said/ 1, 2, 1, 2, I know Kung Fu." Oh yes. True, the persistent hi-hat of production-line dancepunk is ubiquitous, the word 'disco' could definitely occur less often in the lyrics, and overall the record runs on too few ideas to avoid internal repetition. But the sinister bass groove keeps glowsticks fired up long enough for a fun workout. COID: "OK"

Grinderman: Grinderman
(Anti 2007)

Unapologetically dirty music laced with rude black humor from a Nick Cave side project that falls not far from Birthday Party in its snarling, ferociously groovy blues drone that flies free of 12-bar shackles, marrying Bo Diddley with The Stooges and Suicide, especially on tracks like "Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)". Abrasive and raw like shaving on a dry skin in its overdriven menace, but also brutally funny, this is an album full of odd surprises and freakingly awesome evil little nuggets for songs. Can't wait to see them live in late July. (Update: The Grinderman concert was a memorable showcase of raw musical synergy which had moments of perfection in the art of dissonant noise.) COID: "Depth Charge Ethel"

Blonde Redhead: 23
(4AD 2007)

Somehow Blonde Redhead once again manage to achieve strange beauty despite changes in sound. Dominating this album are polished sonic panoramas of languid dream pop, subtle electronics, and occasional brass and vocal harmonies; older fans may find the virtual absence of baritone guitar regrettable. The band retains a knack for lush haunting melodies and well-written songs, but the lovely spareness and rhythmic sophistication of their mid-career work remains gone. The consequent lack of contrast (for some reason, I'm thinking of a spinning bicycle inner tube) combined with needless melodrama remains the one flaw that 23 shares with Misery Is A Butterfly. Many call 23 more fluffy and less intense. I'm glad that the production is now more streamlined and less suffocating. COID: "Top Ranking"

Midnight Movies: Lion The Girl
(New Line 2007)

Midnight Movies are essentially a more driving, smoldering, and cinematic Stereolab laced with the later Jesus & Mary Chain style drone (especially on "Lion Song"). Beside hypnotic drumming and well-placed guitar squalls, their striking feature are Gena Olivier's Nico-esque vocals (Olivier's vocal range is much greater though) which carry easy but grabbing melodies that on occasion remind you of a medieval minstrel. Those who need some sonic variety will be glad to hear that the songs with internal variety (e.g. the opener "Souvenirs") remain cohesive and the quieter tracks (e.g. the haunting "Ribbons") are no less mesmerizing than the tribal pummeling of tracks like "Hide Away". The way Lion The Girl moves beyond their debut album makes Midnight Movies seem like they're coming onto a sound of their own and promises good things for the future. I like it a lot. COID: "Coral Den"

Charlotte Hatherley: The Deep Blue
(Little Sister 2007)

Quite a departure from the delightful sunny bubblegum pop of her solo debut Grey Will Fade, this release finds the former Ash guitarist Hatherley slowing down the tempo and branching out in several directions at once. There is gliding, slightly baroque balladry ("Again"; "Dawn Treader"), there is seductively lilting moodsterism ("Behave"; "Wounded Sky"), there is punchy guitar-and-drum roll ("Very Young"; "I Want You To Know"). The end product displays unexpected melodic twists and turns much like those on Grey Will Fade and although it may not be as cohesive, it is more intricate and very close to exquisite. COID: "Behave"

David Kilgour: The Far Now
(Merge 2007)

In addition to his seminal work in The Clean, Kilgour has released half a dozen first-rate solo records to date. Like most of them, this one is an effortless combination of Clean-esque low-key indie rock in the familiar chiming New Zealand style and more dreamy folk-pop, with occasional swirly keyboard, string section, or harmony vocal for variety. Just below the surface of simple songs and melodies there lies serene, slow-burning intensity. COID: "BBC World"

Noisettes: What's The Time Mr. Wolf
(Universal 2007)

What's The Time is an inventive, tight, and pleasantly off-kilter post-punk album with a generous sprinkle of funky soul influence. It's the Noisettes' debut, and a little uneven in song material, but quite promising and fun. The vocalist has been compared to Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), and musically the band runs the gamut from Gang Of Four to The Bellrays and from jazzy drum fills to big riffs that drip sex. COID: "Bridge To Canada"

Arcade Fire: Neon Bible
(Merge 2007)

I'm not disappointed in Neon Bible because the sound is less anthemic or because it is more Mercury Revish piano-goth and more Springsteenesque than on Funeral, or because it lacks passion. (If anything, it emotes too much.) I'm disappointed because for every excellent song there's a real clunker in the bunch. I'm also disappointed in arrangements. All too often the kinds of vocal phrasings that made Funeral so infectiously giddy shine with their absence. Often the band overcompensates with the bombast of yet another orchestral component. Even "No Cars Go," one of the best tracks here (and tellingly re-recorded from 4 years ago), suffocates in its last two minutes with this kind of overkill and, frankly, self-indulgence. It's also crucially bad that the production of this instrumentative excess is muddy, stifled, and cramped. Arcade Fire are definitely capable of better. COID: "Intervention"