One Line Reviews Volume 3

And here we are once again with another volume of One Line Reviews. We wrap up 2012 here with another series of short, sweet, and to the point reviews. We hope you enjoy reading them and hopefully will pick up some of these records.

Enjoy!

Dum Dum Girls: End of Daze (Sub Pop)
Another day another record by the Dum Dum Girls. And that's ok. A bit more gazey than usual, this is still a perfect record that's equal part twee and brokenhearted. Oh how I love these guys.

Metz: s/t (Sub Pop)
Remember when Sub Pop was only grunge (ask your dad)? This record harks back to those days so much so that Metz's tune, "Bats," sounds disturbingly similar Nirvana's, "Negative Creep." Awesome post-grunge grunge...break out the flannel and whiskey. Here we go again.

Ana Gazzola: Musicas e Palavras Dos Bee Gees (Fuel)
Imagine the songs of the Bee Gees sung in Spanish all very seductively by the lovely Ana and you have this record down pat. "How Deep Is Your Love," will leave you in tears. Seriously.

LCD Soundsystem: Shut Up And Play The Hits (Oscilloscope)
As the tag line says...the very lound ending of LCD Soundsystem. Simply an amazing DVD sprawled out across three DVD's. If you love Mr. James Murphy than you definitely need this thing. It's a rave to the grave here. Essential.

Defiler: Nematocera (Razor & Tie)
Melodic metalcore that's got vocals screaming and growling everywhere while grinding riffs churn like butter. It's almost like Carcass if they slowed down...but you know this is all done with studio wizardry instead of being authentic. Regardless, this isn't bad at all.

For the Fallen Dreams: Wasted Youth (Artery)
Well this started out ok...then all these wimpy emo vocals came in and killed the sheer power of this record. Shove the emo kid out of the band and just grind it out guys.

Chelsea Grin: Evolve (Razor & Tie)
Melodic rifftastic metal that combines Dragonforce like guitars with soaring vocals and bucket loads of death grunts. It's interesting stuff that feels like axe blades being repeatedly rammed into your skull.

InDyingArms: Boundaries (Artery)
If Gollum was in a deathcore band this would be the one. Completely frenzied stuff that alternates between spazzcore, Mortician, and doom metal. It's atmospheric, kind of screamo, but surprisingly rather good.

A Bullet For Pretty Boy: Symbiosis (Artery)
You'd think with a name like that they wouldn't be emo/screamo...and they're not really. Instead of overpowering death grunts and screams the band seems to layer in synths and thrashes around a bit more than usual. It's not bad stuff to be honest and the design on this project is top notch. It doesn't look like a metal record at all which I really like.

Close To Home: Momentum (Razor & Tie)
Soaring emotastic stuff that looks and sounds like a million bucks. These guys are polished, produced, and deadly. It's nothing really original, but they fill in the template rather nicely and their soaring choruses will melt girls hearts everywhere. This is the sound of angst.

One Line Reviews Volume 2

As promised, we continue our stroll through the stacks with a second volume of One Line Reviews. Slowly, we're catching up to present day and we hope you enjoy catching up with us.

On with the show...

Egyptian Project: Ya Amar (Six Degrees)
Traditional Egyptian music mingles with modern technology to come up with the sound of what Egypt is hoping for...a peaceful blend of the old ways and the new traditions.

Very Be Careful: Remember Me From The Party (Downtown Pijao)
Traditional accordion lead Columbian vallenato via Los Angeles that has a wonderful gypsy feel to it and is the sort of thing that will have you dancing in the streets.

Helstar: 30 Years of Hel (AFM Records)
Holy heck...it's hard to believe these guys have been around that long. But here they are three decades later thrashing like maniacs. This CD sounds ridiculous and is amazing. Perfect thrash that captures all the energy of their 30th anniversary show. Even better than the two CD's of audio that's included is a DVD of the same performance! Throw the horns up and headbang in Hel! Essential stuff.

Johnny 5th Wheel & The Cowards: Music To Shake n' Shuffle To (Sotones)
Quirky as all heck pop that would make the Monochrome Set and Television Personalities blush. Imagine Divine Comedy...only weird and you have Johnny and his Cowards. Fun stuff indeed.

Emerson Lake and Palmer: Tarkus Reissue (Razor & Tie)
If you were to look prog rock up in the dictionary (go ahead we'll wait) you'd see this record listed as a Masterwork. This sprawling three disc set has more music on it than any calculator could calculate. This was the sound of the future circa 1971 and it's still amazing. Absolutely essential this is ELP at their indulgent best.

Emerson Lake and Palmer: s/t (Razor & Tie)
Another masterful reissue spread across three CD's with enough jazzy fusion influenced rock to make John McLaughlin's head explode. This is epic stuff and it's fantastic.

Chaos Chaos: s/t (Self Released)
Despite their name these guys aren't chaotic in any way shape or form. What they are though is another brilliant band to emerge out of Smoosh! This one has Asy and Chloe in it and they create dynamic synthpop that's seductive, cool, and controlled.

Knock Knock: We Will Raise Your Child (Test Pattern)
Fantastic power pop that doesn't reveal it's charms until you sit down to listen to it. This is like Carnival of Light era Ride mixed with an American pop sensibility and boy/girl vocals. Surprisingly brilliant.

Lost Animal: Ex Tropical (Hardly Art)
Atmospheric and worldly sounding indie pop that's kind of sedated. It's an interesting sonic experiment that seemingly works despite being a bit lo-fi and odd at times in a Lou Reed on drugs kind of way.

Empresarios: El Sonido Magico (Fort Knox)
Another impressive album from one of the coolest bands to emerge from DC in recent years. Playing salsa, cumbia, electronica, exotica, chill out and just about everything else Empresarios are as diverse as DC itself. This album does not suffer from a sophomore slump in any way. Enjoy the Magico and chill out with Empresarios.

Ending People: Fill Your Lungs (Unknown)
Crystalline guitars, dramatic vocals and a complex sound that's equal parts post-shoegazing and post-alternative. It's interesting stuff that's deep and soulful.

The Growl: Cleaver Lever (Planetary)
Disjointed blues based rock and roll that had it come out in 2003 could have given bands like Vue a run for their money. This is the sound of hard living and the effects it has on your health both physically and mentally.

Challenger: The World Is Too Much For Me (Self-Released)
The label says Recommended If You Like Peter Gabriel and Vampire Weekend. They're not lying. The first song just feels like a modern take on "Biko," and sets the stage for what follows. It's huge worldly sounding stuff that's seemingly optimistic, ridiculously catchy and jumps back and forth between massive pop anthems and synth pop stylings. Neat stuff.

Allah Las Go Back In Time

Someone has clearly forgotten to tell the Allah Las that it is not 1966. You see, this is a band that is more Rolling Stones than the Rolling Stones and more Sonics than the sonic boom. With a sound that feels, oozes, and seeps authenticity you half expect these guys to be all dressed like Roger McGuinn and sound like him as well. They're that convincing and in a word this band is awesome. How can you not like a band that's more 60's than the 60's and cooler than a pack of James Deans?

The Allah Las self titled album is twelve songs of Hammond organs, jangly guitars, slightly psychedelic vibes, and vocals that almost seem like they've come straight from forty years ago by very primitive satellite. Psychedelic pop with a heavy emphasis on the grooviness; the lackadaisical and hypnotic feel of Allah Las comes to us courtesy of the drawn out vocals, slow rolling drums and strummed guitars. While the Allah Las might have been recorded earlier this year it's so incredibly old sounding that it's hard to believe it's actually new. This record is jaw droppingly amazing and the it's the sort of thing that the Brian Jonestown Massacre could only ever hope of recording.

Psychedelic pop hasn't been this good since the Jefferson Airplane graced Haight & Ashbury and the Allah Las have done their best to make sure of it. They do a great job as Allah Las is a post-modern work of genius that's lost in a parallel universe where everything is feelin groovy; this is one for Baby Boomers and their children to trip the light fantastic to. If ever there was an essential classic rock record that wasn't classic rock the Allah Las would be it.

Dan Deacon Loves America

Dan Deacon isn't what you would call your run of the mill electronic artist. This is a guy that is far to spastic to just concentrate on any one area of music, so he doesn't and as a result he create collages of twisted sounds and loops that manifest themselves into something resembling songs. He is avant garde and slightly atonal at times, but if you look hard enough and listen long enough you'll spot a song just waiting to get out of this guys head. His latest effort, America is no different as it's a journey in electro-acoustic mayhem that sounds like it's about to spiral out of control but never quite does.

America is unabashedly proud of the fact that it is frenzied electronic noise. Sounds, loops, and synths come hurling at you from all directions almost as if Dan was trying to exorcise them from his brain. It's a record that spirals out of control with melodicism and hints of songs that could be hits but never will be. That isn't necessarily a bad thing because this little disc of pandemonium still manages to be an intriguingly strange listen.

To say Dan Deacon has made a hypnotizing record would be understatement. Through simple repetition much of this record will wear you down and make your eyes go cross in a daze. By about the 350th loop you'll be having odd thoughts, cold sweats, and ideas for making synthesizers do things they never thought they could. It's almost as if you're listening to Stereolab on about 50 shots of espresso meeting some wayward indie rock kid hooked on Radio Shack Electronic Project Kits.

As bizarre and as twisted as this all sounds, Dan Deacon actually has made a record that is listenable. American, while frenetic, has loads of melodies coursing through it that save it from being a giant avant garde experiment gone wrong. While Dan Deacon is obviously overjoyed to be experimenting and manipulating sounds like a aural wizard, he knows from experience that you can only do so much before you lose the plot. The key with him is that he teeters on that line between crazy and genius. Thankfully, he never crosses into crazy and instead hides the pop sensibility of each song deep within the spasms of noise and that's what makes America such a good record; its like discovering pop gold on each of it's eleven outbursts.

Helio Sequence Embark On Negotiations

Ya know, the band Helio Sequence always reminds me of DNA. I'm not sure exactly why but I suspect it has something to with it's proximity to sounding like it's part of the double Helix that makes up DNA. Anyway, scientific explanations aside, this atmospheric and dreamy band has returned after a four year absence with their new album Negotiations. After spending some time with this record its easy to say that this release is a woozy doozy spellbinding trip beyond reality.

At times sounding like Echo and the Bunnymen if they were placed on Lithium, Helio Sequence are an ethereal bunch that coax their inner dream popper into something far more grandiose and spectacular. Songs are massive in scale and scope and they seem to spread out over the course of the record filling in every possible gap. The record is gauzy, hazy, dreamy and utterly fantastic. This is a record that conquers your ears with slow, translucent passages that barely raise a ruckus but still find a way to attach themselves to your consciousness. Helio Sequence tune their guitars to shimmer and the vocals to sigh and then just coast heavenward through all of Negotiations.

If ever a record was sleepy in the best possible way this would be it. It seems as though Negotiations was recorded under hypnosis and Helio Sequence were simply too mesmerized by the process to emerge from it. This is a record that is seemingly intimate but in reality rather epic. It's songs are gargantuan and gorgeous and it's effect is calming and peaceful. If there's beautiful guitar music to be had in this day and age, Helio Sequence are making it and no Negotiations are necessary.

Jeremy Panda's Amazing Mystery

Jeremy Panda is an interesting artist that I know next to nothing about. His album just kind of showed up at my door unexpected encased just in a brown envelope w/no bio or information attached. Through clever deduction here's what I've learned...he's Canadian, he's from Toronto and he can play at an exceptionally high level. His album Son Ame Feliz is a heady mix of indie rock, jam rock, fusion, and mighty fine musicianship that combines into a mind numbing concoction.

With riffs flying everywhere and a level of energy that would suggest some sort of post-nuclear thing, Jeremy Panda and his band set out on a course to out play themselves. They just about succeed as this is one band that's spent a fair amount of time in a practice shed for ages. Hopping between more adult oriented alternative and youthful inspired tunes the band tend to be at their best when they have it floored and their chops are on display. Thankfully, Son Ame Feliz gives the band plenty of opportunities to show all this off. From drumming to synths, to guitars and everything in between Jeremy Panda and his cohorts let it all hang out here. Musically, it's an impressive listen that only occasionally stumbles with rather slow paced songs and kinda middle of the road vocals. But for the most part when these guys play they're on fire.

I'm not sure what to call or what genre Jeremy Panda is. That's a good thing because he's all over the place on most of Son Ame Feliz and as a result my interest never faded. From dark and dim passages to jazz fusion-like workouts it all finds a place on Son Ame Feliz and it only adds to the mystery of who the heck this guy and his band are. My advice to you is don't cop out and Google the band but rather pick up the record and become part of the mystery...it's far more fun.

The Philstines Are Therewolves

To hear the tale of how the Philistines came to be is to understand the phrase (and James song) Born of Frustration. Colin Daly, founder of the band, was literally left at the musical altar as this record was coming to fruition. Abandoned and upset the project was in doubt. Thankfully, his twin brother offered to take a shot at writing leads of the skeletal versions of what would become Therewolves! Through the magic of technology and family sticking together Philistines rose above it all with Therewolves! in hand.

Philistines modus operandi is to take pop music and strip it down to the core and then duct tape it all back together without much precision. The result of this is a shambolic effort to sound something like Radiohead, when they're weren't musos, and smashing al that into some sort of post grunge power pop monster like The Kooks. Therewolves! As a result is noisy, messy, and gnarled in all the right places. Guitars seem to have strings being pulled out of them mid-song while the vocals are gritty and slightly angsty and yet, somehow, the whole thing has this pop sensibility about it that makes you wonder if being left at the musical altar wasn't the best thing that could have happened to Philistines.

Therewolves! is a great little record; it's filled with cool hooks, noisy pedal driven guitars, enough ooh's and ahh's to last you a lifetime, and so much angsty pop you'll think it's 1993 all over again. This is the sort of record that reminds me of so many classic alternative/indie rock albums from my college radio days it scares me. I enjoyed Philistines accidental classicism and their ability to construct a gem out of a potential disaster. Therewolves! is impressive and if you like noisy pop music then howl at the moon w/Philistines.