April 8, 2008
New Release Tuesday: Fleet Foxes, Man Man & the Breeders
Look for a feature review and interview with Clinic's Ade Blackburn in conjunction with their latest, Do It! later this week.
Xachua’Bsh, Washington's quintet has quickly become a buzzing glimmer of hope in a massive onslaught of post-SX dance rock fervor, offering ornate instrumentation and traditional folk elements in non-traditional ways with their EP, Sun Giant. Thick reverb (which earns them unfair Band of Horses comparisons), Fleetwood Mac inspired harmony, and layered instrumentation (tin pans, fiddle, piano, shakers, mandolin) lend the songs a focused yet limber vibe. "White Winter Hymnal" borrows from traditional folk songs and church choir on the front porch purity, but the precise execution of the harmonized round and the pristine production give the track a feeling of soaring perfection. "English House" is a particularly '70s driven piece, but more recently you'd find strains of this kind of arrangement on a Grizzly Bear or Midlake record. Most impressively, Fleet Foxes utilize a small shop's worth of instruments and personnel for this succinct and dense little EP, and not once is anything overblown or overdone: each piece offers it's own glimpse into something purposeful and elegant. Finally, folk music is serenading rock instead of the other way around.
Fleet Foxes MySpace
Fleet Foxes @ Sub Pop
Philly's experimental vaudevillian vikings have a lot going on. Since 2006's Six Demon Bag, they've toured with Modest Mouse, had some quite literal commercial success with Nike, and had a couple of songs purchased for the television show Weeds. This year, they're scheduled to tour in support of Rabbit Habits with Yeasayer, another genre-repulsive rock band known for its live show. With Rabbit Habits, Honus Honus & Co. continue the trend of utilizing bizarre instruments along with traditional (the preferred stage piano for tour is none other than the '70s' most valued bandmate, the Rhodes) to execute their particularly haunting, tongue in cheek off-Broadway rock. It's their debut on Anti, and it seems fitting ... after all, the manic bizarro-church choir troupe should feel right at home with Tom Waits and Nick Cave. Musically, the band continues down the path they tread with Six Demon Bag, joyfully crafted songs that sound like a creepy circus soundtrack, and despite the cacophony of instruments and yelps and moans, there is beauty, serious rock'n'roll and undeniably great stuff to be found here.
Man Man Official
Man Man MySpace
I know that Kim Deal wants to pretend that it doesn't need to be mentioned, but it does: 1993's Last Splash was the last true Breeders release (not counting 1994's Head to Toe EP). Since the wait has been so long for loyal fans, it's easy to see why listeners might be a little frustrated out of the gate. Mountain Battles' opener, "Overglazed", stagnates immediately, as Deal whines "I can feel it" repeatedly for the duration of the track, and not much else happens. Brush that off and move on to "Bang On," where both Deal sisters stagnate immediately. Everything that is ever going to happen in the song happens in the first 20 seconds, and as a bonus, we get Kelley Deal's prepubescent vocal harmonies whining along with Kim, "I love no one, and no one loves me. I'm missing ... " ad nauseum. What's most disappointing is that Deal waited more than ten years to follow up what was (in 1993) a fantastic album, with a record that sounds like it was written in 1993. Even the album art looks like it was stolen from a pile of Pixies rejected singles covers. Steve Albini worked hard to give the record a fuzzy edge, and it's a good thing, because without it we'd simply fall asleep.
Breeders MySpace
Breeders Official
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Black Kids: I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You (import single)
Boredoms: Super Roots, Vol. 9
The Breeders: Mountain Battles
Client: Untitled Remix
Clinic: Do It!
Colin Meloy: Colin Meloy Sings Live!
Cloud Cult: Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
Courteeners: St. Jude (import)
Cut Copy: In Ghost Colors
Dark Meat: Universal Indians (Expanded Edition)
Drift: Memory Drawings
Drive By : A Delicate Situation
The Duke Spirit: Neptune
Eric Avery: Help Wanted
The Felice Brothers: The Felice Brothers [lp]
Finest Dearest: Finest Dearest
Fixer: Before the Sun
Fleet Foxes: Sun Giant EP
Foals: Antidotes
For Against: Shade Side Sunny Side
Gran Ronde: Secret Rooms
Hayes Carll: Trouble in Mind
Ike Reilly: Poison The Hit Parade
Jason Anderson: The Hopeful and the Unafraid
Jim Noir: Jim Noir
Jonathan Richman: Because Her Beauty Is Raw & Wild
Karan Casey: Ships in the Forest
Leona Lewis: Spirit
Lo Fine: Not for Us Two
The Long Blondes: Couples
Man Man: Rabbit Habits
Marcia Ball: Peace, Love & BBQ
Marie Digby: Unfold
Meat Beat Manifesto: Autoimmune
The Microphones: Glow, Pt. 2 (remastered)
Miss Murgatroid and Petra Haden: Hearts and Daggers
Mountain Goats: The Sunset Tree [lp]
Mountain Goats: Tallahassee [lp]
Mountain Goats: We Shall All Be Healed [lp]
Neva Dinova: You May Already Be Dreaming
The New Bloods: The Secret Life
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!
Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I - IV
Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I - IV [lp]
Old Haunts: Poisonous Times
Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark: Live: Architecture & Morality and More
Pacifika: Asunci'97n
Peter Moren: The Last Tycoon
P.O.D.: When Angels and Serpents Dance
Richard Swift: Richard Swift as Onasis EP
Robert Kelly: Just the Tip (with DVD)
Robots in Dusguise: We're in the Music Biz
Rosey: Luckiest Girl
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: Pershing
Spanish Prisoners: Songs To Forget
Spoon: Don't You Evah EP
Tapes 'n Tapes: Walk It Off
Thee Oh Sees: The Master's Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In
Thurston Moore: Sensitive/Lethal
Tina Dico: Count to Ten
Various Artists: Bite the Ivory: The Piano Tribute to Metallica
Various Artists: Green Owl Compilation: a Benefit for the Energy Action Coalition
Various Artists: Imaginational Anthem, Vol. 1-3 (box set)
Various Artists: Imaginational Anthem, Vol. 3
Various Artists: Punk Goes Crunk
Various Artists: Strung out on Madonna: The String Quartet Tribute
Was (Not Was): Boo!
Wye Oak: If Children
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Maybe before your "Last Splash 2" hopes were crushed, you should have done just a little homework about this obscure band called The Breeders.
...and their 3rd, LP called "Title TK."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_TK
Maybe then you would have seen an arc, instead of wrong information spewed by someone who loved the video for "Cannonball."
Show some respect.
...Nothing...?...No response from Paige Maguire, musical genius/journalist? How you can review anything after making such a musically retarted remark about this record?
Sorry it took a while for me to see this ...
You're right, I completely forgot about TK. Thank you for the correction.
Perhaps there is an arc, though I must admit I haven't listened to TK since it came out, and then only a handful of times.
Regarding the critique itself, I certainly didn't intend to convey a hope for Last Splash 2, quite the contrary. I was hoping to hear something much more energetic and exciting. Their performance at Waterloo during SXSW was great, but my opinion is that this record is a little flat, and that it doesn't convey the talent she clearly has for songwriting. For me, the benchmark of great writing for her was Last Splash, but I'm pretty sure I'm not basing that simply on a love of the music video for "Cannonball." In fact I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who finds that true ...
I have tremendous respect for Deal, and this brief review is just a reflection of my feelings for this particular record. I'd be happy to have a more thorough argument / discussion about it - feel free to email me. I enjoy the conversations when they aren't personal attacks, and I can argue passionately about music all day long. I'd love to hear your thoughts -- it wouldn't be the first time I didn't like something the first few times I listened but then came around later.
As for the music genius part, I'll need to fire the imaginary PR team purporting that rumor: I'm just a person who likes talking about music and listens to it a lot. I'm not infallible ... and I do appreciate your correction.
I don't love the record either...but it was more your false history of The Breeders that offended those who know better...And that nobody really cared to check your ''facts'' before putting this ''review'' on the website. And why you couldn't just say 15 years since "Last Splash" instead of "over ten" made me giggle. You write funny.
xo,
hw.