Dulce Sky – Lands
Type of Music: Torrid Shoegaze!
One Liner: “Textbook shoegaze doesn’t break any new ground, but pays homage to bands of the past.”Random Notes: From Salt lake City… I was unaware there were shoegazers in Utah!
Favorite Tracks: Infinite Galaxy Eyes is a breathy, droney jam with a nice boy/girl chorus…
Half Moon is a bit more upbeat in a Catherine Wheel kinda way… and you’ll be saying that
Lands sounds just like The Railway Children… if you know who The Railway Children are.
RIYL: Ride, Catherine Wheel, The Railway Children, Slowdive, Red House Painters, The Church, The Radio Dept., House of Love
Mystery Jets – Flotsam & Jetsam EP
Type of Music: Britrockiepop!
One Liner: “Who knew playing in a band with your Dad could be so cool?!”Random Notes: Band out of UK features Dad on guitar on and son on vocals. Should be a hell of a tour. Who will get sloppy seconds?
Favorite Track: If we’re being honest, I really only like
You Can’t Fool me Dennis… but I mean, I REALLY like that song… It’s like Supergrass covering Madness!
RIYL: Supergrass, Madness, XTC, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz, British Sea Power, Blur, Elefant, The Divine Comedy
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint – The River in Reverse
Type of Music: Soulful Rhythm-n-Blues
One Liner: “It’s like a whole album of Deep Dark Truthful Mirrors!”Random Notes: Elvis once again rubs it in the face of all us so-called musicians that we are barely even worthy of listening in on his sessions with New Orleans great Allen Toussaint.
Favorite Track: A listen to
All These Things and your mind is filled with thoughts of slow dancing on the porch of a New Orleans plantation on a humid, smokey summer night with fireflies providing the lighting and crickets providing the soundtrack.
RIYL: Elvis & Allen (duh) … Blues... Soul…
Puffy AmiYumi – Splurge
Type of Music: J-POP!
One Liner: “Once again, Puffy AmiYumi jump from genre to genre quicker than Sam Endicott lobbed off his dreds to join The Bravery!”Random Notes: This ain’t your children’s Puffy AmiYumi! Despite the inclusion of a “Teen Titans” remix, this album allows our fave Japanese girls to blossom into womanhood! I mean… its about time… they only have like kids and stuff!
Favorite Tracks: Best English track is
Radio Tokyo which sounds like everything you ever wanted out of a Jellyfiish song. The best Japanese tracks are
Etude, which sounds like The Ronettes covering early Elvis Costello,
Missing You Baby which takes a page from a Phil Spector songbook, and
Sunday In The Park which enables the girls to leave their cartoon image behind and present a proper mature pop song.
RIYL: J-Pop, 60’s Girl Pop, Pizzicato Five
Sugarplum Fairies – Country Intl. Records
Type of Music:Alt-country/indierock
One Liner: “Austrian natives move to California and trade in their Vienna sausages for a couple of cowboy hats!”Random Notes: Do “dorky guys really fly kites?” Just wondering.
Favorite Tracks: Summerland is like Ivy covering a folky Aimee Mann song,
Velcro Girl is a bit more indie rock than alt-country, and
All I Want is You is indeed a fine cover of the U2 hit.
RIYL: Aimee Mann, The Concretes, Cowboy Junkies, Ivy, Mazzy Star
Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out of This Country
Type of Music: Scottish Pop!
One Liner: “Camera Obscura take a lesson from Belle and Sebastian and grow some balls!”Random Notes: Confident, dry, and secure… Tracyanne Campbell’s new tunes and polished production lift the band out of the doldrums of Twee and out of the shadow of Belle and Sebastian.
Favorite Tracks: Let’s Get Out of This Country, If Looks Could Kill, and Lloyd I’m Ready To be Heartbroken pay tribute to girl groups of the 60’s without sounding Tracy Ullman camp.
RIYL: Belle & Sebastian, The Concretes, The Sundays, 60’s Girl Groups!
