The Strokes, The Oh Hello's

The Strokes
New Release: Comedown Machine
Release Date: March 26, 2013
Record Label: RCA Records
Sounds Like: Metric (NMT), Passion Pit (NMT)
Location: New York, N.Y.

The Strokes are commonly perceived as the leading edge of the garage band revival of the early-to-mid 2000s, their 2001 breakout single "Last Night" serving much the same role to the sub-genre as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" did for grunge a decade earlier. Other acts with short names preceded by The – The Hives, The Vines, The Shins, and to a lesser extent, The White Stripes – are often lumped together, although the genre's overall impact didn't last much longer than a few years in the pop music realm. Adding to the lower profile was The Strokes' own lackluster followups after This Is It – which spawned "Last Night" – and an extensive hiatus from 2007 thru 2011, creating a vacuum for mainstream, accessible rock that was ultimately filled by groups like The Kings of Leon and The Black Keys (NMT). Today, The Strokes return with their fifth full-length effort – Comedown Machine – whose very title seems to suggest the band's freedom borne by lesser anticipation. As a result, the collection offers a much looser vibe and greater playfullness than found on much of the quintet's previous catalog. (Check out all the tracks streaming here; individual links added after release)

Come for: "All The Time" (arena rock spectacular; beefy hooks from guitarists Albert Hammond, Jr. and Nick Valensi and hearty chorus refrain from frontman Julian Casablancas)
Stay for: "Tap Out" (opener is bouncy and fun, with fantastic bass lines from Nikolai Fraiture and disco-ish beats from Fabrizio Moretti)
You'll be surprised by: "One Way Trigger" (synth-heavy, but sufficiently lighthearted; Casablancas' falsetto is spot-on and a nod to synth rock vocalists like Passion Pit's Michalel Angelakos; keyboard highlights from Hammond are well-executed; might be a tad long at 4:03, though)
Solid efforts: "Welcome to Japan" (although I don't typically associate funky numbers with Japanese culture, this one seems to hit the right note of international intrigue); "50/50" (briskly paced and Casablancas' distorted vocals that defined the band's early career are a welcome return); "Partners in Crime" (cracking percussion from Moretti defines this number, one that's fairly close to the heart of the group's signature sound; warbling keyboards in the chorus background are enjoyable); "Happy Ending" (there's a bunch of studio gimmicks here, but they're orchestrated nicely on the bones of an already solid song structure); "Call It Fate, Call It Kharma" (don't read much into this description, but the combination of the hazy organ and Casablancas' surreal vocals yields cursory glances of The Doors) 
Meh: "Slow Animals" (I'm mixed on this one: the chorus is bright and has a nice kick of power, and there's some very nimble guitar work from Hammond and Valensi in the verses, but the verses themselves don't hold your interest very well); "Chances" (its alright, but the drum samples are distracting for a band that doesn't do ballads all that well to begin with)
Skip to next track: "80s Comedown Machine" (too slow, moody and repetitive for this band; Casablancas is fairly monotone much of nearly six-minute track)

The Oh Hellos
New Release: Through The Deep, Dark Valley
Release Date: October 30, 2012
Record Label: self-produced
Sounds Like: The Last Bison (NMT), Hey Marseilles (NMT), The Head and The Heart (NMT), Southeast Engine (NMT, NMT)
Location: San Marcos, Texas

Add another entry to the indie-folk parade that shows no signs of slowing down. Readers need look no further than the cascade of reviews in this space over the last year or so of the proliferation of the genre. Here, brother and sister tandem of Tyler and Maggie Heath present a conceptually liberal concept record containing connective themes and tempo, but not a liner plot line or recurring characters. Like most other indie folk troupes, the siblings are joined by a crew of guest musicians contributing instruments such as banjos, accordions, violas and cellos. The result – like that of The Last Bison in our previous profile – that stresses consistency over spectacle across 11 well-composed tracks.

Come for: "The Valley" (thundering drums and gang vocals are no shy introduction)
Stay for: "Second Child, Restless Child" (fieverishly paced and fantastically urgent; Maggie Heath sets the standard for the record here; recalls the raucous energy of the Great Big Sea (NMT)/Russell Crowe collaboration "Hit the Ground and Run")
You'll be surprised by: "The Lament of Eustace Scrubb" (while the intro starts off incredibly drab, after the :50 mark, it gradually builds speed to a full-on Celtic reel)
Solid efforts: "Like the Dawn" (Maggie Heath displays a wholesome mix of blues and country vocals in taking the lead here, similar to the style of The Head and The Heart's secondary vocalist Charity Rose Thielen; nice alt-country flavor between the gentle acoustic guitars and fiddle from Matthew Hagerman); "Eat You Alive" (this Tyler Heath-fronted number resides somewhere between the hardscrabble tales of Southeast Engine's Adam Remnant and the full-throated, foot-stompers of agesandages (NMT) and The Head and The Heart); "Wishing Well" (Maggie returns to the restlessness theme that leads to a deal with the devil; the slower-paced ballad is a welcome change of gears, although it does pick up intensity over its closing third); "In Memoriam" (a love-amongst-poverty ode bereft of odiousness); "I Was Wrong" (the closest thing to a rock number here; find a spot for it on a playlist between Oh, No! Oh, My!'s (NMT) "You Were Right" and Onward, Soldiers' (NMT) "Cinder Blocks"); "The Truth Is a Cave" (another stomp-and-sing-along with some punchy percussion and jangly guitars); "Valley (Reprise)" (wraps up the collection back where it began)
Meh: "I Have Made Mistakes" (this one from Tyler doesn't quite have the same punch as the rest of the record, but there's nothing inherently wrong with it, and its quite lovely at points)      

Super Review – March

They Might Be Giants
New Release: Nanobots
Release Date: March 5, 2013
Record Label: Idlewild Recordings
Sounds Like: Fountains of Wayne (NMT), Jonathan Coulton (NMT)
Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.

After posting an extensive exegesis of the Johns' Join Us in July 2011 (NMT), this assessment will focus more directly on the new material at hand, namely the fully 25 tracks of varying lengths that comprise the duo's fourth full-length release. Most notably, Nanobots points most directly to their fourth record, the brilliant Apollo 18 from 1992. The similarities not only reside in the new collection's smattering of 11 song snippets under 1:30 in length – much like Apollo 18's "Fingertips" suite – but the same slightly obtuse oddity and recurring paranoia that defined the now more than two-decade old predecessor. "Call Your Mom" aligns nicely with "I Palindrome I" while "Insect Hospital" and "Tick" recall the group's earlier "Mammal" and "Spider."

Come for: "Nanobots" (quintessential nerd rock from the grand masters of the genre)
Stay for: "Stone Cold Coup d'Etat" (I love John Linnell's rockers ["Ana Ng," "Don't Let's Start," "Can't Keep Johnny Down"] and this is another great one; lyrics like "it has a certain gene se qua" just sounds tailor-made for Linnell's range)
You'll be surprised by: "Lost My Mind" (as straight-forward a power rock ballad as the Johns can create)
Solid efforts: "You're on Fire" (spritely; nothing says TMBG like a chorus of John Flansbaugh singing simply "combustible head!"); "Circular Karate Chop" (create a playlist including this, The Decemberists' "Perfect Crime #2" and Barenaked Ladies "Bank Job" for a killer caper soundtrack) "Call Your Mom" (surf rock vibe, nice saxophone track from John Linnell); "Telsa" (another fact-filled biography in the spirit of "Meet James Ensor" and "James K. Polk"); "9 Secret Steps" (the paranoia referenced above, see "No One Knows My Plan" and "Working Undercover for the Man" from the TMBG catalog); "The Darlings of Lumberland" (I dare another band to create something as odd as this; maybe The Flaming Lips could come close?); "Icky" (fun; more saxophone from Linnell); "Too Tall Girl" (the title alone should make you chuckle; Flansbaugh revives one of his distorted voice characters here; comically strange; "knows more etiquette than Connecticut")
Meh: "Black Ops" (the lyrics are intriguing, but I've never been a big fan of Flansbaugh's attempts at getting funky, ie. ); "Replicant" (its a bit slow, but too strange and intriguing to dismiss completely, with xylophones and jazzy percussion from longtime drummer Marty Beller) 
Skip to next track: "Sometimes a Lonely Way" (same reason I didn't like "Black Ops," but less interesting)
Exceptions: I have a hard time evaluating the short, quirky tracks like the rest, but I particularly enjoyed "Destroy the Past," "Nouns," "There" and "Great" 

The Last Bison
New Release: Inheritance 
Release Date: March 5, 2013
Record Label: Universal Republic Records
Sounds Like: Of Monsters & Men (NMT), The Head and The Heart (NMT), Agesandages (NMT), Seryn (NMT), Rural Alberta Advantage (NMT, NMT)

The multi-member, multi-gender folk collective concept is on the rise these days, with large-format, folk-based outfits seeking to follow the trail blazed by the hardly edgy Mumford & Sons and the more interesting Of Monsters & Men. Unlike those overseas acts, though, The Last Bison actually emerges from the American mid-Atlantic region where folk music finds its origins. The Chesapeake, Virginia's 11-track debut incorporates far more fiddles and mandolins than their pop-folk contemporaries and frontman Ben Hardesty benefits from that sour, nasally vocal timbre that imbues credibility in folks like The Rural Alberta Advantage's Nils Edenloff and Mathew Milia of Frontier Ruckus (NMT). I'll once again invoke my recurring complaint that if a group has multi-gender members, at least one of them should get some time out front to vary the tone and sonic canvas for the listener, although Hardesty's sister Annah gets some good backing vocals in on numerous occasions. Aside from that, it's pretty good.

Come for: "Quill" (brisk, full-throated)
Stay for: "Switzerland" (the type of large-scale folk song that gets airplay these days)
You'll be surprised by: "Watches and Chains" (by far the most complex and interesting material on the record, nearly theatrical in a Queen kind of way)
"Inheritance" (inviting instrumental appropriate sets the stage, but not quite as foreboding as The Decemberists' "Prelude" from Hazards of Love); "Dark Am I" (as the title suggests, its fairly moody); "Tired Hands" (Hardesty at his most passionate); "Autumn Snow" (not quite "January Hymn," but in the same vein); "Distance" (upbeat and driving; worth sticking around for)
Meh: "River Rhine" (not much to the chorus, and could take better advantage of the large band's talents); "Take All the Time" (I'm really not interested in Bon Iver knockoffs, let alone the real thing)
Skip to next track: "Sandstone" (not digging Hardesty in falsetto)

Assembly of Dust
New Release: Sun Shot
Release Date: February 26, 2013
Record Label: Stone Choir Music
Sounds Like: The Sheepdogs (NMT, NMT), The Overmountain Men (NMT, NMT), Frontier Ruckus (NMT), Band of Horses (NMT)
Location: New York, N.Y.

A band titled Assembly of Dust sounds like it should be either a death metal outfit or a Christian worship group. Instead, its straight-forward, uncomplicated alt-country and roots rock. With frontman Reid Genauer's easygoing vocals, Jackson Browne-style piano and organ lines and solid but unspectacular accompaniment by guitarist Adam Terrell, bassist John Leccesse and drummer Andy Herrick, the quartet's fourth full-length studio effort hardly stuns with grandeur, but more than compensates with consistency and accessibility – a perfect lure for the warmer days ahead in coming months.

Come for: "Vaulted Sky" (a bit of swagger in the rhythm; vintage veneer recalls the Steve Miller Band or, more recently, The Sheepdogs
Stay for: "Cluttered" (a nice little melody backed by the band's well-rounded sound)
You'll be surprised by: "Lost & Amazed" (fantastic classic rock groove)
Solid efforts: "Gray Believer" (warm, gentle, pleasant); "Sun Shot" (a little thin at first, but a good lazy day number); "Unvarnished" (appropriately titled, earnest); "Avenue of the Giants" (measured; the most countrified stuff here); "Arkansas Down" (a little more pep than your typical backroads ballad); "Myth of Mine" (touches of roots revival style, nice pedal steel part); "Weehawken Ferry" (a rockabilly number about a ferry between Jersey and Manhattan? It works surprisingly well); "Silver and Worn" (tremendously unburdened by urgency); "Mrs. What You Are" (well-constructed and lively; hardly the typical closing track)   
Meh/Skip to next track: As I said, its consistently enjoyable...

Hey Marseilles, Miracles of Modern Science (MEEMS)

As soon as I heard about this week's respective profilees, I was itching to review them in tandem, due to their mutual appropriation of folk foundations into unique and interesting rock-oriented applications. And thanks to this week's full album stream of Lines We Trace from the Seattle indie folk / chamber rock sextet Hey Marseilles, I now have that opportunity.

Hey Marsailles
New Release: Lines We Trace
Release Date: March 5, 2013
Record Label: Onto Entertainment
Sounds Like: Oh, No! Oh, My! (NMT), Hey Rosetta! (NMT), The Decemberists (NMT, NMT), Miracles of Modern Science (NMT)
Location: Seattle, Wash.

While I've only very recently become aware of this group – via a tip from NMT contributor Eileen Can (NMT, NMT) – I'm instantly glad I didn't have to miss any more than their 2008 debut, Travels & Trunks, although that was one ambitious effort. After steadily building their fanbase and unrecorded repertoire since then, the dozen tracks of their sophomore record more than hold serve in maintaining the group's signature complexity and assertiveness. The assemblage of strings, horns, accordions and organs all layered atop a hearty folk foundation hits at the center of your blogger's wheelhouse of musical preferences. Meanwhile, frontman Matt Bishop possesses as demanding a voice as you'll find in non-mainstream music, residing in tone closest to Oh, No! Oh, My's Greg Barkley, but in demeanor more like The Decemberists' Colin Meloy or Great Big Sea's Sean McCann (NMT) – compelling you to pay rapt attention through urgency and inflection.

I'd be absolutely giddy about the cohesiveness and comprehensiveness of this collection but for a few drawbacks: 1) I feel groups of this numerical stature should have at least one female member, especially to provide some vocal variety, and 2) the material's overall a little slow, with no single track capturing the steady gallop of "Cannonballs," the Latin-fueled playfulness of "Rio" or the increasingly epic "Calabasas" – all off Travels & Trunks. Still, Lines We Trace is no less lush than its predecessor and remains exquisitely arranged, which fills in the sort of lags in pace for which I've dinged recent reviewees. (Please note: listen to all tracks off Lines We Trace via Paste Magazine's streaming player until the album is released on March 5, when links will be updated here)

Come for: "Elegy" (hints of pop lightness, with strings alternating from precise plucking to swirling, sweeping bows; belies the lyrical pessimism; wafting organ paired with foreboding strings at the close)
Stay for: "Dead Of Night" (surprisingly sprightly at times; strong use of the noble, if uncertain voyager archetype)
You'll be surprised by: "Bright Stars Burning" (probably should be the song they should be promoting first here, as it's the record's most accessible concept and song structure; first of several tracks where drummer Colin Richey stands out; most rock-oriented on the album)
Solid efforts: "Tides" (a wonderfully warm instrumental intro); "Heart Beats" (thundering percussion rolls are the number's hallmarks; strongly recalls The Decemberists' "Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect" in its diverging tempos and intensity); "Building Glare" (elaborate, intricate, baroque); "Madrona" (instrumental featuring pianist Philip Kobernik and brothers Samuel (cello) and Jacob (viola) Anderson is simple, yet inviting); "Hold Your Head" (Bishop's most nimble lyricism on this collection; musically understated); "Rainfall" (folksy; appropriately Seattleite; file between Meloy's "Record Year for Rainfall" and Essex Green's "Sorry River" for a rainy day playlist); "Looking Back" (satisfyingly alternately ambitious and measured in tone); "Cafe Lights" (starts slowly, but the strings and accordion here make for the album's most interesting arrangements on its longest track [6:07]); "Demian" (another piano and strings instrumental, ideally positioned in the closing spot)
Meh: I liked 'em all
Skip to next track: ditto

Miracles of Modern Science
New Release: MEEMS (EP)

Release Date: February 19, 2013
Record Label: self-released
Sounds Like: Rural Alberta Advantage (NMT, NMT), DeVotchKa (NMT), Farewell Drifters (NMT, NMT), They Might Be Giants (NMT)
Location: New York, N.Y.

Since the latest work of this quirky, nerdy folk quintet is only a half-portion offering, this will be a similarly brief assessment. The group returns with an approach closely tacking to what made their December 2011 debut (NMT) such an unusual and enjoyable affair: acoustic stringed instruments utilized more as rock vessels than tools of folk matched with crafty lyrics.

Come for: "The Singularity" (ahh, here's that familiar nerd rock from their first outing; could be a new Big Bang Theory theme song with the mentions of nanobots and transcending biology)
Stay for: "Physics Is Our Business" (fantastically frenetic instrumental with a requisite spoken word sample from a mad physicist)

You'll be surprised by: "Don't You See?" (unexpectedly dark and serious for this band)
Solid efforts: "Ahem" (the most folksy track they've produced to date, especially with Josh Hirshfeld's leading mandolin work; the penny whistle touch later on is fun); "Dear Pressure" (a witty rebuke of the risk-adverse and ambivalent: "That was a killer show / Makes sense to take it on the road / Not me! I can't afford the risk / You tour, I'm on the mailing list;" are there hints of distortion pedals among the manic jerkiness of violinist Kieran Ledwidge and cellist Geoff McDonald?)
Skip to next track: "Breather" (doesn't really count at 00:19)

Super Review – February

Frightened Rabbit
New Release: Pedestrian Verse
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Record Label: Atlantic Records
Sounds Like: We Were Promised Jetpacks (NMT, NMT), Tired Pony (NMT), Alphabet Backwards (NMT)
Location: Selkirk, Scotland

Frightened Rabbit is one of those groups like Rilo Kiley or Essex Green that I mention often here, but haven't been able to review yet (although, unlike those two bands, this is not their fault; I couldn't get my ass in gear to cover The Winter of Mixed Drinks in 2010). Regardless, Scottish bands always seem to find their way into this space, trailing only the Canadians as non-U.S. groups reviewed here, and frontman Hutchinson layers everything underneath a filmy, viscous peat. On the dozen tracks of Pedestrian Verse, Hutchinson opens up the songwriting process to his mates and returns to the heart-sleeve honesty found on the quintets first two records, but largely missing on The Winter of Mixed Drinks. Collectively, there's a little less folk and roots influence here than found across their earlier catalog, an element that set the group apart from their power-punk counterparts in Jetpacks.

Come for: "Backyard Skulls" (measured, but forceful)
Stay for: "Holy" (as epic-sounding as Frightened Rabbit gets)
You'll be surprised by: "Late Match, Death March" (nowhere near as dour as the title would suggest, at least in tone)
Solid efforts: "The Woodpile" (rich, textured lyricism and musicality) ; "December Traditions" (the most Scottish-sounding track here; could be a slow-paced New Pornographers [NMT] cut); "Housing [In]" (urgent); "Dead Now" (despite the content, a fun little shuffle; something you'd expect from Los Campesinos! [NMT] on a sad day); "Nitrous Gas" (stark; "Shut down the gospel singers and turn up the old heart-breakers / I'm dying to tell you that I'm dying here" could have emerged from the notebook of The Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon [NMT, NMT, NMT]); "Housing [Out]" (a good compliment to its earlier-appearing counterpart; "The Oil Slick" (sounds most similar to the group's first two records)
Meh: "State Hospital" (good imagery, but very moody)
Skip to next track: "Acts of Man" (the lyrics and piano are fine, but I just don't care for Hutchinson's voice when it's high and fragile)

Feeding People
New Release: Island Universe
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Record Label: Burger Records
Sounds Like: Metric (NMT), Howler (NMT), Tennis (NMT)
Location: Orange, Calif.

I'm not sure how interested I'd be in Feeding People's mash of psychedelia and surf rock were they not propelled by the powerful and commanding voice of Jessie Jones, a frontwoman who'd be destined for superstardom if this were the 1970s. A mix of classic rock power along the lines of Grace Slick, Chrissie Hynde and Deborah Harry with a modern crispness of Metric's Emily Haines or Alaina Moore from Tennis, the 19-year old Jones transforms unfocused psychedelic haze into strident, blistering rock, and lackadaisical surf vibes into crystal-clear beach odes.

Come for: "Other Side" (muscular; the hookiest stuff here)
Stay for: "Big Mother" (sludgy at times, but arena-rock hugeness)
You'll be surprised by: "Island Universe" (as good as anything as Tennis did on Cape Dory)
Solid efforts: "Silent Violent" (great introduction of Jones' talent to get things started); "Uranium Sea" (measured, but forceful; a bit trippy); "Insane" (appropriately chaotic); "The Cat Song [Secrets of Luna]" (a little slow at times, by Jones keeps it from becoming grating); "Inside Voices" (middle-of-the-set anchor; tempo changes are fun); "Desert Song" (sufficiently surreal, Doors-y); "Each His Own" (the most psychedelic here, eastern influences); "Closer" (perfect for its track location; first encore ballad)
Meh: "Red Queen" (a track that wouldn't be very enjoyable without Jones)

Yellow Red Sparks
New Release: Yellow Red Sparks
Release Date: January 29, 2013
Record Label: org music
Sounds Like: Noel Gallagher (NMT), Her Space Holiday (NMT), Father John Misty (NMT), Melanoid (NMT)
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.

I feel almost the same about this record as I did about Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: after mentioning it previously, I now feel obligated to review it here, but it certainly isn't my favorite recent material. Like Gallagher's first post-oasis product, the L.A.-based indie-folk trio has assembled a collection of overly-moderately to slow-paced numbers, each of which is fine in its own right, but there's just too many of them. Frequent readers here will remember by preferred ratio of 3:2:1 of uptempo to mid-paced and slow tracks per album. Here, the balance is more like 1:3:2, yielding a yawning, ambling affair. Maybe for some this is their cup of tea, but I need something a little more spirited. To his credit, frontman Joshua Hanson – brother of previous NMT profilee Melanoid leader John Hanson – has gradually increased both the size and complexity of his work with Yellow Red Sparks by adding multi-instrumentalist Sara Lynn and drummer Goldy (no last names given) to round out the sound from previous records, much like Her Space Holiday's Marc Bianchi and Father John Misty (a.k.a. Joshua Tillman) have done. I also enjoy the self-titled album/single/band name triquetra.

Come for: "Yellow Red Sparks" (robust, Sara Lynn's mark is felt most clearly here)
Stay for: "My Machine Gun" (good rockabilly strut)
You'll be surprised by: "A Play to End All Plays" (Hanson's most expressive work)
Solid efforts: "Buy Me Honey" (earnest, swaying); "To Love and Loathe" (simple, clever lyricism); "Monsters With Misdemeanors" (good folksy/rootsy character); "Scents and Sensibility" (the second most upbeat track on the album, after "My Machine Gun");
Meh: "Happiness Comes In A Box" (not bad, just not very interesting); "Hope On A Rope" (a little more complex than the other slow songs, but not by much)
Skip to next track: "Mr. Wonderful" (yawn); "A Buffalo" (the same reason I didn't like "Mr. Wonderful")

Frontier Ruckus

Last week, I alluded to the potential for several reviews in the Super Review format, but after listening through the compelling double album concept record, Eternity of Dimming, by the Detroit folk-rock and Americana quartet Frontier Ruckus, I decided the collection required more than just a cursory analysis.

In order to properly take-in the delightfully intricate detail frontman Matthew Milia shoehorns into every track, I recommend heading over to the band's lyrical songbook and following along – word-for-word – as Milia chronicles the nuances of his own upbringing.

The 20-song effort is conceptual in the same way that The Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness or Weezer's (NMT) Pinkerton are, in that there are broad themes and a few specific references that span the album. But is not an account of characters or a plot-driven series of events like you might find in Green Day's (NMT) American Idiot, The Arcade Fire's The Suburbs (NMT) or Southeast Engine's From the Forest to the Sea (NMT). Still, there's no mistaking the excitement inherent to exploring a piece of music that is consciously assembled to fit together collectively, with the track order having significance and some ultimate voice and purpose being conveyed by the material. I still remember my nervous energy rushing up the street to the record store to purchase Mellon Collie the day it was released in 1995 to discover what Billy Corgan envisioned – and executed – as the group's masterpiece. In fact, those kinds of hallmark experiences of youth and adolescence is precisely what Milia's attempting to communicate here.

Frontier Ruckus
New Release: Eternity of Dimming
Release Date: January 29, 2013
Record Label: Ramseur Records
Sounds Like: Great Lakes Myth Society, Okkervil River (NMT), Southeast Engine (NMT)
Location: Detroit, Mich.

Somewhere between the group's current base in Detroit, the prototypical suburban enclave of Sylvan Manor near Valparaiso, Ind., and summer vacation destinations in New England is the rotating stage where Milia recounts the transition from the enduring, but challenging summertime of youth and the shifting boundaries of adolescence. The events and details become increasingly connected as the tracks unwind, all built atop the folk and roots-based Americana that the Great Lakes Myth Society's Timothy Monger (NMT) once coined as "northern rock," a counterpart to the boisterous and bluesy southern rock sub-genre. Here you'll here banjos, fiddles, organs and mandolins, but is hard to label as country.

Beginning with the opener "Everlashes" through the closing "Careening Catalog Immemorial," Milia is a lyricist on par with Okkervil River's Will Shelf and Colin Meloy of The Decemberists (NMT, NMT), but perhaps with even greater focus on narrative complexity than either. Although his nasally voice – somewhere in between Fountains of Wayne's (NMT) Chris Collingwood and The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne – requires some adjustment period, there's no suspicion that he needed to fabricate any of the fabulously intricate details, ranging from the opener's description of "a pine tree straighter applicator, bristling and whistling through the needles" to the ending's account of the "liquid wicked warping of an ambling ambulance’s distancing pitch," no adjective or flourish is spared to paint the most precise imagery possible. It's all very real, and it's all very personal to him.

Nowhere is this lyrical abundance more apparent on the collection's first half apex, "Granduncles of Saint Lawrence County." Consider the descriptive depth of the track's second stanza:

Where the handicap tourist-trap putt-putt courses
And trailers patched with corrugated scrap metal and divorces stand
Well, I got a granduncle and he lives inland
Where the pure manure summer vapors get fanned
By electric fence whir and a wave of the hand
Of the Amish infants standing barefoot in the sand
While the gas-station kids hang out idle and bland at the Subway

The surrealism contained in the passage – matched by angular acoustic guitar lines, a plucky banjo and wafting organ streams, all supplied by Milia and multi-instrumentalist David Jones, while bassist Zachary Nichols and drummer Ryan Etzcom provide a sturdy foundation – almost seems too nuanced to correspond with any factor of modern life, but actually represents the reality of daily life to those not painting with broad brushes.

Elsewhere, Milia takes advantage of the space afforded by the double album, concept format to link tracks together, such as the first half's "Bike Trail" and "I Met Rebecca" couplet. The first leg – "Bike Trail" explores the sticky and devolutionary treks of summer, where everything is squirming and drooping from the heat – a theme he threads throughout the collection, to which your blogger can relate to as a northerner who battled through many summers without air conditioning, the inverse of what's experienced by southerners as they confront harsh winters. (Somewhere, there's an implicit, hidden commentary of how the natural environment we're exposed to growing up has profound influence in shaping our perceptions of comfort and resilience).

Anyways, back to the music: the same instrumental constitution seamlessly transitions into "I Met Rebecca,"brilliantly underscoring how the landscape portrait of the slowly writing summer becomes more narrowly focused into a profile of a summer romance, replete with the neighborhood swimming hole setting.

On the album's second segment, a similar pairing unites what functionally serves as the entire effort's centerpiece – the tour de force of "In Protection of Sylvan Manor" and suburban malaise epic "Dealerships." In the former, Milia does battle with the forces of ambivalence and lethargy ("Does your dad fall asleep with the remote in his hand? / Does a digital beep promote gentle reprimand to share all your love?"), and goes so far to issue his own battle cry at the number's zenith:

Well, no two-bit piece of shit interloper
Is gonna touch my world or molest my hope or
My kingdom that lingers in each drawer I open
When I open it up I’ll be groping at what is for damn sure
In the dimming of Sylvan Manor   

Few lyricists of his era are so willing to issue as a personal and explicit declaration of willful identity. The credo is even more striking when contrasted with the track's counterpart, "Dealerships." Milia's deliberate strikes of descending acoustic guitar scales from "In Protection..." cultivate an urgency that materializes in the latter, the most grandiose instrumental output on the record, sounding almost triumphant in relation to the more restrained pace elsewhere. Here, although most of the remnants of suburbia were initially fabricated and processed in department stores , they ultimately became robust and authentic to those who were there. The passage of what's left to a mother after a lifetime living where "dealerships garishly light up the parish where we wore Catholic uniforms from K to 8" is nearly heart rending:

The shrink-wrapped cosmetics and cardboard aesthetics of department store picture frame inserts that my mother keeps under a sink in a cupboard with her high school diploma and it hurts to try
to keep all our treasures intact for forever in fact they are cluttered and muttering sighs;
The pipes froze and ruptured and so now her cupboard is full of possessions that she can’t keep dry

While Milia – or his titular character that appears here – knows that although what's left is frayed, becomes uglier the longer you look and had little substance to begin with, it still nonetheless belongs to them:

I’ll meet you out where the outlet malls turn to black holes
I’ll greet you cradling obsolete remote controls
To television sets in entertainment cabinets
From lost living rooms of trampled carpets
Of VHS sun-bleached cassettes and teenage trophies of plastic soccer nets
And the clip art signs are cartoonish on diners
Which are actually grimmer than hell in the night
And a bright CVS might make me obsess
But at least I have found what is mine in the light

And it feels so pure
Feels so singular
Still and sure
That’s the thing you were
Meant to see when you
Went through the
Dimming world

Of course, there's much more here that deserves more attention, which I'll provide briefly in the track-by-track rundown below, but – for now – spend some time with Eternity of Dimming, in order, and let the grand lyrical constructions of Milia and his instrumental collaborators deliver a continually refreshing cavalcade of imagery without illusion.

Come for: "Black Holes" (well-paced Americana rock; the most accessible on the record)

Stay for: "Bike Trail" / "I Met Rebecca" (the juxtaposition of surrealism and narrative earns the concept record achievement badge)

You'll be surprised by: "In Protection of Sylvan Manor" / "Dealerships" (these are the types of tracks that define a career)

Solid efforts: "Eyelashes" (fantastic imagery, gentle start to a complex collection); "Thermostat" (touches of rockabilly with Buddy Holly/Roy Orbison phrasing by Milia ["glass in your eye; oh, my!"]); "Junk-Drawer Sorrow" (even the thaw of spring can't drag with it our stubborn and lingering habits and decisions); "The Black-Ice World" (slow and frigid, like its subject matter); "I Buried You So Deep" (haunting, but less sinister than Okkervil River's "Westfall" or Colin Meloy's unending steam of burial accounts; at times, almost charming instrumental backing); "Granduncles of St. Lawrence County" (among the record's best, both in musicality and lyricism, with my favorite single lyric on the album: "Lunch meat on the kitchen counter / Mary’s counting bug bites on a sunburned shoulder");  "Eternity of Dimming" (sets the stage for the suburban exegesis on "Dealerships;" playful organ part in the background is a nice touch to lighten the mood, which is at its darkest and heaviest here); "If the Sun Collapse" (bluegrassy vibe is a good backdrop for the fleeting moments of both a sunny day and a romance with an expiration date); "Surgery" (the Fender Rhodes piano sound has a distinctly 70s vibe unique on this record, a nice change of pace); "In the Summer" (the piano focus continues here, complimenting the loping lull of summer suggested by the lyrics); "Open It Up" (the album's longest track at 7:52; extends many of the themes explored earlier; nice banjo + Hammond organ blend as the song builds; extra credit for use of the word "Phantasmagoria"); "Careening Catalog Immemorial" (a nice bookend with paired with "Eyelashes;" more references to vacationing in New England) 

Meh: "Birthday Girl" (I like this in the context of the concept record, and has more fantastic wordsmithing, but wouldn't be as fond of it as a stand-alone number); "Funeral Family Flowers" (again, not something I'd care for on its own, but short little numbers like this make sense on a concept album; Milia's nasal pitch gets the better of him a bit, though);

Skip to next track: "Nightmares of Space" (a little too morose for their sound, nor do I see how it fits into the concept; still, only one throw-away out of 20 tracks is not a bad success rate)

Super Mini Review (Or Is It Mini Super Review?)

This is a day late, but hardly a dollar short. After the dearth of interesting new music in the late fall, the dawning days of 2013 have seen a surge of captivating new material emerging. And although today's release of Beta Love by previous NMT profilees Ra Ra Riot is nothing less than a total abandonment of that band's prior greatness and the much-hyped We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen is not quite my style (but not bad), there's plenty to cover here in the Super Review format. And aside from the leadoff review of the sophomore effort of the Overmountain Men, all of this week's reviewed records are shy of the 10-track standard that qualifies as full-length album in our book, thus the Super-Mini title of this post. And stay tuned next week for reviews of new alt-country releases from Frontier Ruckus and Local Natives as well as some straight-ahead indie rock from Yellow Red Sparks.

Overmountain Men (NMT)
New Release: The Next Best Thing
Release Date: Today (January 21, 2013)
Record Label: Ramseur Records
Sounds Like: The Avett Brothers, The Decemberists (NMT), The Band
Location: Charlotte, N.C.

Our first repeat reviewees of 2013, North Carolina's Overmountain Men return with much of the same history-infused Americana that we liked so much back in with their debut, Glorious Day, in February, 2010. A formula only becomes stale when it no longer works or there's an overabundance of supply. Neither is the case here, as The Next Best Thing's dozen tracks exhibits an ease of delivery and a good stock of fresh material.

Come for: "Smoke And Mirrors" (hearty ballad duet; wish I could find out who the female guest vocalist is)
Stay for: "Grackles" (touch of Bob Seeger-esque blue-collar soul and punch)
You'll be surprised by: "Halls of Glory" (earnest tribute to  Teddy Roosevelt)
Solid efforts: "All Out of Diamonds" (refreshing mountain music); "Alexander Hamilton" (another history lesson, first person perspective); "To the Warmer Lands" (a dead Revolutionary-era loyalist solider recounts the story of his demise; gentile, but intricate instrumentation; shades of The Decemberists' "Yankee Bayonet"); "Hard Loving You" (tangy honky-tonk); "The Next Best Thing" (a hard luck tale in modern times; dark and moody); "Death Is So Romantic" (front porch picking; a cautionary tale); "Poison Cookies" (wry narrative; great harmonies, banjo and harmonica parts) 
Meh: "Segamore Hill" (slow, jazzy stuff isn't their forte, but its fine, if just a little too sleepy); "Twilight Road" (a David Childer solo ballad; nothing wrong with it, but not as compelling as the other choices here)

Ugly Thrash Demon
New Release: 2008
Release Date: January 12, 2013
Record Label: self-produced
Sounds Like: Miracles of Modern Science (NMT), Hey, Rosetta (NMT), Ra Ra Riot (NMT)
Location: Centerville, Va.

This is the record I wish I had the opportunity to hear from Ra Ra Riot: chamber rock featuring instrumental nuance and crafty songwriting. Instead, they gave us synth pop. Never fear, though: the well-intentioned Northern Virginia eight-piece ensemble – who sounds more like a metal band – is here just in time to satisfy our quirky, chamber rock needs. However, while I quite enjoy their embrace of a multitude of members supplying horns, strings, accordions, ukuleles and mandolins, the horns often come across as sour or thin due to the group's limited production capabilities while frontman and guitarist Chris Smith's vocals are frequently flat and nasally – and not in a good way like The Rural Alberta Advantage's (NMT) Nils Edenloff vinegary wail. Still, he smartly stays within his range, and the horns are a lightening presence for a collection focused on exploring the nostalgia of the late high school years. Still, considering the band's self-supporting reality, they should be afforded a pass until they can take advantage of better recording facilities and perhaps a producer who can round out the rough edges.

Come for: "You, Me and FFC" (joyful, well-composed, pop sensibility)
Stay for:  "Oh Well" (bouncy bass line from bassist Led Linghat centers this nostalgia trip)
You'll be surprised by: "It's Been Too Long" (quality vocal harmonies; slightly folksy)
Solid efforts: "Rotten Summer" (a look back at summer break that's more fond than regretful); "Nova Blues" (starts off a bit slow, but slides into a nice pace after the first chorus); "Nostalgic Again" (the record's core theme reinforced again); "Teen Queen" (most skillful use of the horn section here; enjoyable, but not overpowering background harmonies); "2008" (too-apparent chord transitions by Smith early on, but good framing of the theme to end the collection)
Meh: "Ghaty" (sounds more lighthearted than it actually is)

Melanoid
New Release: Jamais Vu
Release Date: January 15, 2013
Record Label: self-produced
Sounds Like: Telekinesis (NMT), Harriet (NMT), New Pornographers (NMT)
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.

Based on a Facebook from Joshua Hanson – an artist we're excited to hear from via his Yellow Red Sparks project, from their full-length, self-titled debut expected this time next week – about his brother John's band's new record, I decided to take a listen and am glad I did. Blending driving, anthemic song structures with indie rock hooks, the five-song EP culled by Hanson much like Michael Benjamin Lerner fronts Telekinesis should broaden the appeal of the project to a larger audience.

Come for: "1998" (swirling, a shade shy of epic)
Stay for: "Sweet America" (a Mick Fleetwood/John McVie punchy rhythm layered by staunch piano and sweeping hooks unite for the collection's best material)
You'll be surprised by: "Haunted" (a slow burner, but the last minute is quite triumphant)
Solid efforts: "Repositioning" (moody, but captivating out of the Thom Yorke playbook); "Emily" (power piano ballad extraordinaire)

Ambrosia Parsley
New Release: I Miss You. I Do.
Release Date: December 8, 2012
Record Label: self-produced
Sounds Like: Neko Case, Stevie Nicks
Location: New York, N.Y.

Ambrosia Parsley benefits from the same raspy, high-register voice that propelled singers like Stevie Nicks, Cindi Lauper and Gwen Stafani to stardom. While her debut, five-song EP – a preview of a full-length release anticipated later this year – is too subdued and musically sparse to launch her to a similar stratosphere as those artists, her voice is intriguing enough to see how she's able to utilize it going forward.

Come for: "The Other Side" (the most upbeat number here; a bit of early alt-rock edge)
Stay for: "Whispering Pines" (persuasive, fullest demonstration of vocal prowess)
You'll be surprised by: "The Answer [Tim & Becky's Wedding]" (sultry, but buoyant)
Solid efforts: "Nighttime" (sounds like a Neko Case / Dan Bejar New Pornographers duet; multi-instrumentalist Florent Barbier meshes well with Parsley);
Meh: "Losing the Holiday" (okay ballad, but not much to showcase here)

Marching Band
New Release: And I've Never Seen Anything Like That
Release Date: January 15, 2013
Record Label: U & L Records
Sounds Like: Of Monsters And Men (NMT), They Might Be Giants (NMT), Fountains of Wayne (NMT), Candy Butchers
Location: Linköping, Sweden

Straddling the line between quirky, hyper-literate nerd rock and more jubilant folk-rock is the Swedish pop rock duo of Erik Sunbring and Jacob Lind who comprise Marching Band. Continually refining and expanding their sound after previous full-length efforts Spark Large and Pop Cycle, the five tracks And I've Never Seen Anything Like That concentrate their output on tight and focused indie rock that could have as easily found an home in 80's-era college radio as today's more synth-influenced sounds.

Come for: "Die In My Arms" (full, intricate, jangly well-paced)
Stay for: "And I've Never Seen" (easygoing, if slightly jerking)
You'll be surprised by: "Artistic Man, Shaved Hand" (slightly dark and disturbing, like a They Might Be Giants deep cut)
Solid efforts: "Breaking Is Fun" (not far from something Sloan might write)
Meh: "But Not Anymore [Ja Ja]" (too slow and moody for these guys; they don't do emo well)

Family of the Year

In my last Super Review post, I reserved the right to still publish one-off reviews of individual groups or artists if opportunity and enthusiasm allowed. This is one such occasion, in the form of the Los Angeles-based indie-pop quintet, Family of the Year, and their sophomore full-length release – Loma Vista – which was released this past July on Netwerk Records.

Family of the Year
Release Date: July 10, 2012
New Release: Loma Vista
Record Label: Netwerk Records
Sounds Like: Library Voices (NMT), Weezer (NMT), The Arcade Fire (NMT), Vampire Weekend, Duran Duran

The 11-track offering is a significant step forward in consistency and power from their folksy 2010 debut, Songbook, which featured sunny Beach Boys-inspired harmonies paired with folk simplicity, but ranged from exceedingly playful to heartwrechingly dour in just a few tracks. Still, it was a solid start, and the group expanded their direction and focus here. They smartly ascribe to the 3:2:1 ratio of upbeat (3) to mid-paced (2) to ballad (1) selections that I believe contributes to the most enjoyable albums.

Opening track "The Stairs" comes close to a Neko Case – Dan Bejar New Pornographers' (NMT) duet, with frontman and guitarist Joe Keefe and keyboardist Christina Schroeter matching vocals with ease and comfort as the number builds in intensity with synthy guitars from Keefe and Jamesy Buckley channeling The Edge on top of the steady rhythm of Keefe's brother Sebastian and bassist Alex Walker.

The following "Diversity" is among the record's catchiest, with its looping chorus hook setting the stage early before breaking free into the type indie-pop power blast that's made careers for bands ranging from Duran Duran to Weezer to the New Pornographers and Library Voices. It's on tracks like these where Schroeter's keyboards make the difference between sludgy alt-rock instrumentals and more lighthearted fare. The same is true later on with "Living On Love," which adds even more punch and group dynamic to the mix.

"St. Croix" is sufficiently breezy and tropical, befitting its title, with Joe Keefe's acoustic guitars livening the beachy vibe, although the chorus lyrics are just a tad hokey. Still, it easily earns on a spot on a beach vacation playlist along with any pick from the Tennis (NMT) catalog and Weezer's "Island in the Sun." The countrified "Buried" is similar unburdened by heft and importance, and would pair brilliantly with the group's own "Let's Go Down" off Songbook, a classic kick-off-to-the-weekend anthem.

Lead single "Hero" is the collection's most restrained effort, with Keefe and his acoustic sitting center stage ahead of gentle accompianment from the larger band. With each chorus, though, the vocal harmonies grow more prevalent and round the number into a soothing example of contemporary folk rock. "Everytime" continues the record's gentle mid-section and might be the least interesting cut here and would have fit better on a Keefe solo project, but it's worth a listen nonetheless.

"Hey Ma" is power piano ballad that Fountains of Wayne (NMT) could have included as a late-appearing track on Welcome Interstate Managers. At first blush, it sounds more sentimental than it actually is, and the second-half crunch and Buckley's encore-lighter solo reinforces its power ballad status. Meanwhile, the late-appearing "In the End" (hooky, Sloan-flavored) and "Never Enough" (Americana, heartland rock) are far from filler and are the type of solid, if unspectacular material that constitute thorough records. And "Find It" is the archetypal closing track, a stress-free, send-off lullaby with subtle instrumentation and unforced harmonies.

Come for: "Hero"
Stay for: "Diversity"
You'll be surprised by: "St. Croix"
Solid efforts: "The Stairs," "Buried," "Living on Love," "Hey Ma," "In the End," "Never Enough," "Find It"
Meh: "Everytime"
Skip to next track: everything should be given as least one listen