It’s the beginning of a new month, which means its time for my periodic emusic orgy, inflated, this time, by a certain degree of laxness in my compulsive purchasing for May. Here are some excellent things I have acquired in the last week:
Of all my new acquisitions, this is probably my favorite. It’s indie-pop, with some very folky undertones, but the music has a lot of really interesting textures and unusual instrumentation. The album is amazingly strong througout – Anyone who’s ever ridden in a car with me will attest to the fact that I’ma track-hopping whore when I listen to music, and I’ll let this album play start to finish every time. It’s also just very, very pretty.
A great smouldering slab of droning, fuzzed-out psychedelia. If Spacemen 3 had been into stoner metal, it might sound like this, though the Black Angels are unabashedly retro in a way that Spacemen 3 never were. Weirdly, the cadence and vocal delivery here sometimes really reminds me of the Tragically Hip, though I wouldn’t compare the two bands in any other way. The percussion on this album is also really distinctive, and sometimes feels almost trip-hoppy. This album is from 2006, and they’ve got a new one, out last month, which is on my list for July.
This is another pretty retro-sounding album, this time more 60s-garage style, but it really transcends that sort of pigeonholing. This is a really jubilant-sounding album, full of loud, uplifting hooks, great pop sensibilities, undercurrents of southern rock, and raucous, semi-shouted vocals. No element in the mix sounds particularly new, but they go together perfectly.
The Bellrays – Hard Sweet & Sticky
I have been trying to like the Bellrays for years now, and with this album, I have finally succeeded. The Bellrays play what I suppose could be described as bluesy soul-punk, and do it very well. With their newest album, the Bellrays have added a melodicism and pop sensibility to a broader sonic palette which has finally allowed me to love, rather than respect them. This is a hard-rocking and diverse album that’s well worth owning.