Erik Blood Loves Touch Screens

Erik Blood is a solo artist with a difference. Having worked with a diverse roster of artists like Shabazz Plaaces and THEESatisfaction the guy has been exposed to an amalgamation of sounds and influences and as a result managed to expand his fan base while doing it. His album Touch Screens is a reflection of all those outside forces and his own personality coming together under the guise of song. The result is a record that sounds like a post-shoegazing blue-eyed soul dream come true that's lost in a sea of distortion.

Easily lumped into the growing numbers of post-shoegazing bands out there, Erik Blood ends up sounding something like Kevin Shields practicing in his bedroom on a 48 track analog recorder. If you can imagine how rehearsals that epic would sound then you can imagine just how great Touch Screens actually is. While released within the last year it has that authentically vintage 90's vibe to it. Probably recorded with more pedals imaginable and enough riffs to last a lifetime, Erik Blood crafts sheets of noise that reverberate off of everything and wash over you like a twenty foot wave. It's dreamy and psychedelic stuff that while noisy and chaotic is still remarkably easy on the ears.

The songs themselves come at you like a right hook because just glancing at the packaging you would not expect what is contained within. These heavenly songs are hidden underneath and behind rather perverse packaging that's all very clever and misleading. Unless you actually sit down and listen to Touch Screens you'll have no idea what you're in for or what it's about. Quite honestly, I thought I was in store for an electro record or synth pop seduction and not something so unearthly and noisy. Erik Blood has done a good job of playing tricks with your ears and sensibilities here and it's one reason why this record is so good.

Good things do come in small packages and Erik Blood is proof of that. Touch Screens is an impressive effort and it's a reflection of Blood's exposure to many outside forces. It's an expansive soaring record that's soulful while being lost in a haze and it has enough distortion and noise to keep you hypnotized and stunned. There aren't a lot of records nowadays that sound as if they were beamed in directly from 1991 but this is one and it's simply fantastic.

Take Maserati VII For A Spin

From the world of automobile named post-rock bands comes Maserati. Named after the incredibly cool Italian sports car company (I'm assuming) this group of musicians turns on the ignition, gives it some gas and just goes with the flow. That of course is to be expected when your named Maserati, in fact you kind of expect a band like this to make albums perfectly designed for driving under a variety of conditions while taping Top Gear. And while they may not be Jeremy Clarkson, the band manage to create a rocket powered trip through sci-fi landscapes on their latest album Maserati VII.

Using synths, guitars, and nary a vocal anywhere, Maserati actually share a bit in common with fellow auto-themed band Trans Am. But, while Trans Am slowly evolved into a bizarre electro pop band, Maserati have remained true to their sound and continued to ponder the universe and automobile through instrumental jams. Maserati VII is awesome, futuristic, crazy stuff that if you're not careful will inspire you to speed through traffic at light speed. It's expansive and infinite in it's reach and the four guys that make this fast paced tour de force are incredible musicians who are willing to push the boundaries of their instruments in the name of a cool soundscape. Maserati VII is the sort of record that will keep your mind gripped and gas pedal floored throughout; you just strap in, hang on, and hope you make it to the end.

Absolutely mesmerizing, imaginative, loud, speedy, cool and good Maserati VII is post rock for the Top Gear crowd. In fact, somewhere right now, the Stig is driving around a mountainside at breakneck speed with Maserati VII blasting out of the car and you know he loves it. Like the Maserati, Maserati VII is a high performance vehicle that occasionally needs the carbon blown out of it so why not pick this record up, start your engines, and take it for a test drive.

Niki and the Dove

Niki and the Dove answer the question what would happen if Stevie Nicks were to join electro weirdos The Knife. This dynamic duo are such dead ringers for that dynamic duo that it's almost impossible to ignore. Their album, Instinct is a lush, sensual, seductive electro slash synthpop record that seems to be covered in luxurious swathes of electronics and vocals that could melt your heart. This is one heck of a record that's sexuality practically oozes out of the speakers.

Instinct is gorgeous music for gorgeous people. It's opulent, crystalline, gauzy, and at times otherworldly. In fact, vocalist Mailin sounds like at angel, cooing and sighing her way through the haze of synths and beats as if she were from the great beyond. It's all very alien sounding and is cool to the touch but warm and in love on the inside. It's a stupendous sounding album whose production seems to bathe itself in translucent sounds that hit your ears like waves caressing a deserted shore. Call Niki and the Dove chillwave, electro, or whatever the heck you want just make sure you understand that Instinct is an excellent album.

Complete with hipstertastic imagery (cheetahs...really??), ridiculously great hooks, and enough chilled beats to lull you into another world, Niki and the Dove are the latest dynamic duo to knock it out of the park. Instinct is an awesome record, it's heavenly synths and lovelorn vocals hit you right between the ears. It's a record that encourages you to just sit back and go along for a ride into the afterlife. Dreamy and seductive Instinct wraps itself around your heart and never, ever lets go.

Poor Moon Is Fragile

In listening to Poor Moon's self-titled album it becomes obvious that if Nick Drake had been a fairy he may well have formed this band before they came along. Poor Moon is an intimate, folky, and mildly psychedelic record with odd flourishes, strange lyrics, vocals that seem whispered and a general feeling of living in a much simpler time.

Poor Moon for most of it's thirty minutes seems almost half awake and half in a dream where the band teeters in and out of REM sleep. It's a weird fairy folk record that at times seems pastoral, winsome and quirky. Poor Moon, I suspect, may have recorded this album after awakening from a Nyquil fueled coma as the dreams they were running through continued. It's an up close and personal record that's so quiet it almost seems like it's a bit too medicated for it's own good; as a result I'm not sure how I feel about it. Things going against it include the fact that it is a folk record and it's got zero in the energy department. But there are things for it including just how original much of the band's ideas are and just how dazed and confused it all seems. Having listened to this thing a bunch it's a bit too hard to decide.

Decisions aside, the album peaks about mid-way through on "Waiting For," and, "Heaven's Door," where the band seems to wake up long enough to skip and march through these two, two and a half minute jovial jaunts. If there were more moments like this...it would be the best thing that Danielson Family never recorded but as it stands it's really the highlight of the record. Not short on ideas, but a bit short in the energy department Poor Moon seem almost too lackadaisical to be imaginative. If they'd let their imagination wake up and run rampant the record would benefit greatly and I'd probably be over the Poor Moon.

The Hives Return With Lex Hives

If the whole garage rock explosion that started way back in 2001 died somewhere around 2003, someone clearly forgot to tell The Hives. These Swedish purveyors of all things rock and roll (and snazzy dressing) have carried on for the better part of the last decade turning it up to 11 and just rocking the heck out. They're discography is a statement of consistency and purity that can't be beat. Their latest album Lex Hives is no different and only goes further to perpetuate the legend of the Hives.

While their look may have changed over the years (ties, bow ties, blazers, and now tuxedo's) The Hives sound hasn't. Still rooted in the sixties and then mixed with a dose of punk, the band sounds something like the Sonics as if they were living with Iggy Pop. They are brash, loud and groovy and their songs force you to move despite how hard you try and resist. Lex Hives is a fierce record of kinetic forces colliding in fifteen different directions and the results are a frenzy of rock n' roll insanity.

While they've obviously gotten tighter and more polished over time, the ferocity that's become the unofficial trademark of the band is well intact. These guys are so aggressive and musically compelling that it's as if they're constantly challenging you not to like them. It's as if they're saying, "Go ahead. We dare you." You just can't dislike this band because with exception of Black Keys and Jack White no one is keeping the torch of rock burning brighter than these guys. Lex Hives is amazing because it's simply pure rock and roll with no gimmicks, no tricks, and no technological reliance. This is a record of five guys having the time of their lives creating face melting, butt kicking rock and roll the way nobody does anymore.

If rock and roll is dead than Lex Hives is the sound of it digging itself out from premature burial. This is the soundtrack to the genre refusing to go away easily and biting, kicking, and punching its way back to life. The Hives are along for the ride, carrying the flag for rock and roll and it seems as though they are only too happy to obliges. Lex Hives is amazing, it's nothing new or different just more of the Hives being the Hives and truth be told that's a lot more than some people can handle. Without a doubt one of my favorite records of 2012.

Naama Kates' Unexamined Life

Ok, most of you know my feelings toward singer songwriters, folkies, acoustic musicians and the like; I can't stand them. So the prospects for Naama Kates wasn't good. Then I listened to her album The Unexamined Life and boy was I pleasantly surprised. Wow, was I. Let me just say that this isn't you're typical singer songwriter album. In fact, I'm not sure it's even fair to consider it something like that at all.

What The Unexamined Life is , however, is a theatrical, emotional, and gut wrenching album that has more in common with Amanda Palmer than Joni Mitchell. Using a piano and what seemingly sounds like an orchestra backing her up she out Tori Amos, Tori Amos and creates this complex, lyrical, and musically rich tapestry of tunes that simply aren't boring. This is lush stuff that's sweeping and breathtaking and on top of it all sounds like a million bucks. It's good stuff and while her voice might not be as polished as some of her contemporaries the whole environment she creates here more than elevates her and her voice.

I'm not ashamed to say I actually enjoyed The Unexamined Life. Naama Kates is a capable musician who constructs fascinating passages and songs that are slightly dark but always striking. She's a thrilling artist to listen to simply because she's sort of carving out her own niche in a sea of cliches. She might be living The Unexamined Life right now but with a record like this she won't be able to for very long.

I'm Across I'm Ashore With Nat Johnson

Nat Johnson and The Figureheads are an interesting clash of ideas. On one side Nat sounds like she's straight out of the 90's and on the other she's a delicate singer songwriter. Here album I'm Across I'm Ashore is the battleground where these two sides compete for attention. It's 90's alternative vs folk in a ladder match of music. Who wins is entirely up to you and your ears.

Her alternative side is something special. Nat's voice is so similar to folks like Tonya Donnelly, Veruca Salt, and the like; it's sweet and authoritative. Her band trounces along with her as fizzy riffs and post-grungy dynamics plow through the songs leaving a trail of old school indie rock in it's wake. I really enjoyed these moments as they're catchy, fun, and really quite good.

On the other side of the coin is Nat Johnson's delicate side. It's the side where she taps into her inner folkie and meanders across songs in an unassuming manner. This is the fragile and sweet angle of the band and while it's charming I much prefer the fizzy energetic side. The softer side of Nat is a bit too gentle, fey, and acoustic for me but I do appreciate the breathers that these odes to quiet provide.

Quiet or loud I'm Across, I'm Ashore is a fine album that takes the best of two worlds and makes them live in harmony.