Brain-teasing intellectual weirdos all, the quartet we call Singer has taken it upon themselves to dispel the rumors that independent music was doomed to cough up its predecessors. The band (composed of some ex-U.S. Maple folks) summons all the greats of obtuse, atonal and jazz-influenced punk rockers: the machinations of subtly Albini-ish guitars grind against Karate'd strums and twinkles, the relentless kick drum bellows out for Slint while the cymbal work (while minimal) and snare-tom exchanges flirt with pure jazz. Robt A.A. Lowe's vocals flatly ignore convention, cooing in high registers like a bratty young Craig Wedren.

All this reference is not to say there's nothing but regurgitation here: far from it. If you've been floating along the steady course of indie rock normalcy, you're in for a shock with Unhistories. There is a distinct feeling of '70s soaked jam highs and lows, as grumbling bass lines flutter along patient (almost excruciatingly so) expositions. It's easy to listen once or twice and become appalled by the unavoidable difficulty of it. They refuse melody, they jam, they take it slow with sometimes quiet payoffs ... but it works, it's like nothing else, and it's truly out. Not afraid to wail, shred and howl, Singer offers what will undoubtedly be one of the most unique records of the year.

Singer @ Drag City
Singer MySpace
Buy @ End of an Ear

Also recommended this week: Lindsey Buckingham's Live at Bass Concert Hall CD/DVD, The Raconteurs' Consolers of the Lonely, and Elf Powers' In a Cave. There's also a grab-bag of Jesus and Mary Chain reissues that are worth delving into.

The London-based quartet's (pronounced "gilly mots") 2006 effort, Through the Windowpane, used broad emotional strokes and bright splashes of psychedelia to produce a work both temperamental and bold, Fyfe Dangerfield's expansive vocals acting as bootstrap to the aural festival of sound. On Red, the band has continued to tread into over-the-top dramatics, but the mood has changed. Windowpane's theme was one of fear, hope and possibility: the entire record was held together with the promise of a connection between the world of dreams and actuality. Red seems to be held together with the hope of an Andrew Lloyd Webber curated stage. Flooded with excess, the songs struggle to find climax upon climax, never really reaching arch, resolution or meaning. The sound no longer pays dues to Nick Drake or Pretty Things, it --if anything-- howls at the moon of early '90s big pop. Unfortunately, the word 'pop' is getting tons of use here: Red leaves us feeling quite deflated.

Guillemots MySpace
Guillemots Official
Guillemots "Get Over It" (YouTube)

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Anna Nalick: Shine EP
The B-52s: Funplex
Borko: Celebrating Life
Brad Mehldau Trio: Live
Counting Crows: Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
David Lynch: Polish Night Music
David Thomas and the Two Pale Boys: Erewhon
De Novo Dahl: Move Every Muscle, Make Every Sound
Elf Power: In a Cave
Excepter: Debt Dept
Ghostface Killah: The Wallabee Champ
Gospel Gossip: Sing Into My Mouth
Guilty Simpson: Ode To the Ghetto
Head of Femur: Great Plains
The Heavy: Great Vengeance and Furious Fire
Helvetia: The Acrobats
Hello Operator: The Breaks
Jesus & Mary Chain: Automatic (remastered)
Jesus & Mary Chain: Darklands (remastered)
Jesus & Mary Chain: Honey's Dead (remastered)
Jesus & Mary Chain: Psychocandy (remastered)
Jesus & Mary Chain: Stoned & Dethroned (remastered)
John Fahey: The Mill Pond EP
Justin Townes Earle: The Good Life
Kate Nash: Merry Happy
Korpiklaani: Korven Kuningas
Lach: The Calm Before
Lemonheads: It's a Shame About Ray (Collector's Edition with DVD)
Lindsey Buckingham: Live at the Bass Performance Hall (with DVD)
Lionel Loueke: Karibu
Miguel Migs: Those Things Remixed
Morrissey: Greatest Hits
Panic At The Disco: Pretty. Odd
Pennywise: Reason To Believe
Philip Glass: Of Beauty And Light: The Music of Philip Glass (box set)
Plants And Animals: Parc Avenue
The Raconteurs: Consolers Of The Lonely
Randy Newman: Leatherheads (soundtrack)
REM: Supernatural Superserious Pt. 2
A Silver Mt. Zion: 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
Singer: Unhistories
Soltero: You're No Dream
Temposhark: The Invisible Line
Tim O'Brien: Chameleon
Triclops!: Out of Africa
Under Byen: Siamesisk
The Waybacks: Loaded