Album: Grooms - Prom

Album: Prom
Kanine Records
Release Date: July 12, 2011
Rating: ******** (8/10)

To cut to the chase, Grooms' sophomore full-length is startlingly great. The album oozes the professionalism and confidence of a band that - finally - knows exactly what they're trying to do. It is refreshingly original and strikingly mature.

Grooms still often evoke Sonic Youth in their odd dissonance, the guitar (and vocals) often transcending key signatures to create mysteriously, deliciously warped harmonies and scales. Still, compared to their first album, Prom owes relatively little to Sonic Youth or anyone else for that matter. It's not hard to name reference points (Sonic Youth, Radiohead, Microphones, My Bloody Valentine, the Notwist), but Prom could only have been made by Grooms.

The album announces its identity immediately - "Tiger Trees" opens with a foreboding military march, traced out not by the thud of drums but rather by shards of static, then explodes into a wash of noise. It's that rare sort of noise that doesn't depend on volume as its primary ingredient, the kind you can find in albums by Eric's Trip and the Microphones and very few others. It's a sort of quiet roar that evokes mountains and oceans. It doesn't sound murky but it's nearly impossible to figure out exactly what is going on.

That sort of masterful engineering is coupled with noticeably electrodance leaning elements such as the relentlessly elliptical acid house bass on the title track, the sputtering drums of "Imagining the Bodies" and the industrial beat in parts of "Into the Arms." These elements recall Radiohead, with their deep, post-dub, asymmetrical b-lines, but they are always balanced with organic elements. Likewise, when the guitar drifts off into space on the slow "Expression Of," the bass is at its most earthy.

The album is impressively consistent - none of the tracks feel like filler, either in that they are underdeveloped or in that they don't fit with the record overall. The explosive, melting-out-of-key "Aisha" balances the gentle, sad ambient-folk of "Psychics." In "Sharing," Grooms take a cue from My Bloody Valentine circa 1988 with bassist Emily Ambruso's only lead vocal, a sticky-sweet indie pop song swimming in blurry, underwater noise.

My only major complaint about the album is that the vocals are too far forward in many songs. Some of the middle tracks ("Imagining the Bodies," "Skating With Girl") are about right, but many songs, including the first two (otherwise, the album's strongest), simply seem to have vocals pasted over the top. While everything is a whirl of sound, Travis Johnson's vocals are bizarrely exposed - which might work if they were better but realistically, vocals are not the band's strongest suit. They aren't bad, by any means, but the melodies are a little underdeveloped and Johnson's voice just a little thin in contrast with the rich tapestry of the instrumentals.

Still, for an album as bold and original as this, you gotta hand it to these guys. Prom is a keeper.

Album: Xray Eyeballs - Not Nothing

Album: Not Nothing
Kanine, 2011
Rating: ****** (6/10)

It may not seem fair, but timing is key in the world of pop music. A few years ago, Not Nothing would have been an interesting release but in 2011, the message is loud and clear: "Hi, we're Xray Eyeballs and we're a few years late to the party!" From the first reverbed notes on, Not Nothing identifies itself of a carbon copy of just about every band from the Woodsist-Siltbreeze-In the Red-Captured Tracks-HoZac catalog in the last three or four years, all jangly, lo-fi post punk with, gosh, a lot of reverb. A laundry list of bands to do just this could fill pages, but to name a few: Eat Skull, Vivian Girls, Beach Fossils, Thee Oh Sees, Babies, Dum Dum Girls, Real Estate, Fresh & Onlys, Nodzzz, Woven Bones, Crystal Stilts, Blank Dogs, Woods, Little Girls.....getting the picture?

Xray Eyeballs fall towards the darker end of this spectrum, evoking the discordant noise of Eat Skull (but with slightly less nasty lo-fi-ity) and the haunted post-gothic textures of Blank Dogs (but with no synths). It's that darkness that makes me think I might have enjoyed this if I'd heard it in 2008. But even at its freshest, the reverby lo-fi post-punk was a little stale by its very nature, and after the basic sound has been recycled dozens and dozens of time, there's simply no life left to suck out of it. Yes, Xray Eyeballs inhabit their own little slice of the genre, but it's a narrow slice with a lot of neighbors. The most distinctive aspect of Xray Eyeballs is their sneering, drunken vocal approach, but that alone isn't really enough to hold anyone's attention.

The opening track, "Crystal" starts with the same deep droning rhythm as a particular Bauhaus song (I forget which one [edit: it's "Double Dare"]) but the pace quickly establishes the song as more 1961 pop than 1980 dirge. "Nightwalkers" also takes a cue from the 80's with a riff that's more than a little reminiscent of a particular uptempo Cure song (I forget which one [edit: still can't figure it out, maybe it's not the Cure, but it's definitely something. Someone wanna help me out?]) but again bears more in common with the 60's than the 80's (or at least the 60's via post punkers like the Jesus and Mary Chain, who upped Brian Wilson's Beach Boys reverb to the point where it sounded like everything had been recorded in a cave). The third track, "Egyptian Magician" is a catchy ditty with sparkly guitar and anthemic vocals that are best enjoyed if you can ignore the unbelievably bad lyrics ("Let's take a ride to the sky / let's all get high"). Any momentum gained is sacrificed by the slow, western-inflected and extremely lamentably titled "Po' Jam." Name aside, "Po' Jam" is a valiant effort at a ballad which comes closer than most at pulling back the pace without stagnating. But for all the effort, the results are just so-so.

"Drums Not Dead," apparently named in reference to Liars' 2006 concept album of the same name (plus apostrophe), is one of the album's more interesting tracks. However, it's far more suggestive of lo-fi synthsters Blank Dogs than of Liars (who, unlike Xray Eyeballs, actually produce original and interesting music). In "Drums," the band swaps live drums for a drum machine and drive their plaintive guitar drone even deeper into chorus and reverb. That, in combination with the darkly chanted, lo-fi vocal tracks, makes the song legitimately haunting and would do Mike Sniper proud.

The subsequent tracks, "Broken Beds," "Xray Eyeballs Theme," "Kam Sing Knights," are all catchy, dark pop. The songs are well-structures and the melodies have hooks aplenty. But with a samey sheen and the world's most obvious two and three chord progressions, there's little to differentiate these songs from the similar output of the dozens upon dozens of bands that have been doing this same thing in recent years. Xray Eyeballs have mastered the form, but at this point, it's really hard to care. "Fake Wedding" is a bit of a standout, a bit bolder of a statement, but not by much. The closing track, "Escape from that Girl," is all Velvets and quickly bulldozes any interest you might have had left.

The adjective that best describes Not Nothing is "forgettable." And that has almost everything to do with timing - Xray Eyeballs are latecomers to a very overcrowded party, one that's been simply recycling its own output for several years. Sure, Xray Eyeballs have their own unique balance of these tired flavors, but despite their skill, the ingredients they are using went stale long ago.

Album: Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

Album: Astro Coast
Kanine, 2010
Rating: ******** (8/10)

Astro Coast is one of those albums that is nearly perfect in execution but uninteresting in concept. The one time I heard Surfer Blood live, I walked out after a few minutes because I could not stand another minute. My reaction to this album has been much warmer, but something about it really puts me off.

And that something is that this album is devoid of courage. It's a pop album with a semi-cool underground facade but the band doesn't take risks, emotionally or musically. The last thing we need to start 2010 is another Beach Boys influenced band of white boys making music no one could ever find scary. That said, if we had to keep one, I'd throw out Girls and Real Estate in a heartbeat and keep these guys instead.

Surfer Blood, though recording in a dorm room, have certainly created a masterful record. The production is astounding, with reverb on the vocals that captures the Brian Wilson-style three dimensions so popular these days. The melodies are far more tightly constructed than many of the band's peers - like it or not, it's an album of perfect pop songs, with greater maturity and greater composition than the others of its type. The most obvious reference point is Weezer, but Surfer Blood sound bigger. I suppose if there is an element of courage in Astro Coast, it's that the band doesn't cling to indie falsehoods. They are a pop band and they aren't afraid to sound larger than life.

The only other major flaw in the album is, for all its great songwriting, it manages to rip off more than one source. The opening of "Harmonix" almost exactly echoes the first bars of Arcade Fire's "Neighborhood 2 - Laika" while the major guitar riff in the chorus of "Swim" was lifted from an 80's pop-metal song I can't remember the name of ($10 to whoever names it!). "Anchorage" barely alters a few guitar licks on loan from the poppiest of late 80's/early 90's Sonic Youth. There are more familiar pieces than these, but none are nearly enough to constitute copyright infringement and given the limited possibilities of major key pop guitar tunes, I'm sure the band didn't consciously rip anyone off. But if you're well versed enough in music, you'll hear a lot more of other bands than you'll hear of Surfer Blood themselves.

That isn't to say the record is jumbled - it's a cohesive digestion of vastly varied pop influences, each song fitting well into the package. A few slower, longer, more involved songs like "Slow Jabroni" and "Anchorage" grant the album a little depth. Though not remotely groundbreaking, Astro Coast is an appealing record of professional quality and I wouldn't be surprised to see this band selling out some huge venues in the near future. I just won't one of those buying a ticket.

[myspace]

CMJ Summary - Part 1

The first band I caught at CMJ was Washington DC's True Womanhood at Cameo on Tuesday. They are known for their dark post-punk ambiance, with eerie guitar and vocals over complex breakbeats. When we walked in, the band was already playing and the sheer volume at that moment took the music to a new level. I thought, "these guys are on fire."

Unfortunately, they weren't quite as on fire as I had thought - the sound was awesome in the house, but it seems like they were having some difficulty hearing one another on stage. The drummer stopped at one point because he couldn't hear the guitarist - which was an error, since everyone should ultimately adjust to the drums no matter what. The band was still clearly great, but they weren't playing very tightly. Bassist Melissa Beattie once again, held everything together, keeping the drums and guitar on the same page, taking the lead in stage presence and seeing every song through from start to finish.

TW are definitely worth hearing. Tuesday night was clearly a bit rough, and even with all the setbacks, they still sound more far more interesting than most of their peers. [MySpace]

I stuck around for Naked Hearts and reached a new level of dislike for the band. Now, I used to like Naked Hearts alright, but the beginning of the end was their EP last winter. I liked them live when I only heard a couple of songs at the beginning or end of their set, but as it turns out, trying to sit through from beginning to end is really not for me. All the songs sound the same. When Noah Wheeler sings, he's way offkey. Amy Cooper is better, but even at their best, the band proves nothing more than an excellent example of cliched mediocrity. It's generic indie rock for the generic fan. [MySpace]

On Wednesday, I headed over to Cake Shop to catch the Kanine Records showcase, catching first Depreciation Guild. The more I hear of this band, the more I've cooled off on them. They are a electro-shoegaze outfit, with dense waves of guitar sound over sharp electronic beats (coupled with live drums). Their walls of sound are some of the best you'll find these days, and the beats are interesting.

However, all of the songs sound the same. The melodies, sung by guitarist (and Pains of Being Pure at Heart drummer) Kurt Feldman, fail to hold any interest, and there's not enough variety in the instrumentation underneath to make up for it. It's great for a song or two, especially their best one or two songs. Unfortunately, the rest of their repertoire sounds like inferior versions of the same.

The band also suffered from the lack of their usual visuals. Depreciation Guild are one of the only bands around to effectively use projections to enhance their music - they generally project changing blocks of color behind the band, enhancing the already multicolored sound of their layered guitars. Without it, the band's shortcomings are further unmasked. Though they have some great talent and are doing some things very right, they've stretched their one trick far too thin. Time to break the mold or dissolve into obscurity. [MySpace]

Next up was Ringo Deathstarr, my perennial favorite among contemporary shoegazers. Like Depreciation Guild, their guitar sounds are inpenetrable, but unlike them, Ringo Deathstarr has melodies and songwriting to match. The baritone vocals ground the music in irresistible Britrock pop tunes, while the guitars growl underneath.

Near the end of the set, the band began pleading with the audience to dance, which was a misguided effort - their beats are good for a shoegaze band, but they're a shoegaze band. Singer Elliot Frazier threw himself into the crowd to generation some motion, which was certainly a noble effort and made the show that much more fun - but it's a scientifically proven fact that shoegazers don't dance. However, Dinowalrus drummer Josh Somethingorother took the opportunity to jump on stage and turn up all of the knobs on Frazier's pedal board, ending the song in a screaming mess of feedback and fuzz.

The band got cut short, which is par for the course at CMJ. They may have made a little to much of a stink about it, but they did a good job cramming what they could into the end of the set and narrowing down their setlist to the best of the best. I sure would like to see something happen for this band, but they don't have that aloof DIY cool that seems to be the golden ticket these days. Which is one of the reasons they're so great. [MySpace]

I skipped most of Zaza, who played next, because having seen them a few times, I've become bored with their droning.

However, I stuck around for Dinowalrus, one of my hometown favorites. The band plays drum-heavy noise that doesn't sound enough like anyone else to give me a single reference point to work with. From droning groves to descents into noisy chaos, the band is certainly unconventional.

This set (only three songs, I think?) didn't excite me as much as the last couple I saw. I've mentioned before the band's "lack of structure." Frontman Pete Feigenbaum pointed out that the band spends a lot of time on their arrangements, and so I should clarify what I mean by that point - I never meant that the band was oblvious to structure. In fact, it's clear that what Feigenbaum says is true, the band must arrange their songs with great care. It's just that the conventional elements of structure in rock music - songs, choruses, verses, solos, etc. - don't apply to Dinowalrus. If they did, it wouldn't be the band it is, but it does put them in a tricky position. There is a reason 99% of rock music uses certain structural elements, and if you're going to buck tradition, you've got to make the music work just as well without them. Dinowalrus falls a little short of this, leaving the audience a little lost sometimes as to exactly what ideas the band is trying to convey.

That said, they are still one of NYC's best. And while the first two songs seemed to ramble a bit without really drawing me in, the third was crowned with a sparkling guitar riff that stood out for its straightforward beauty in the dirty, mess of sound. The juxtaposition and the composition surrounding it was nothing less than brilliant.

The main appeal of Dinowalrus, in any case, remains Josh Whatshisname. After watching his CMJ set, I tried and tried to think of a single [rock] drummer who could show him up. But if I've ever encountered one, I've forgotten. I think it's safe to say Dinowalrus has the best rock drummer I have ever seen. It's not just the beats he plays, but the way he plays them, with absolutely natural, organic rhythm, the drums an extension of the man, the man an extension of rhythm in the abstract. He doesn't overplay, he's never flashy, he just plays the drums. Hell yes. [MySpace]