Album Review: Panda Bear - Tomboy

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This review will feature in the April edition of Notion Magazine

For all the wild exaltation heaped on neo-psych savants Animal Collective, it seems the most dedicated of discerning musos have found greater kindred spirit in Panda Bear, the solo side project of AC founder-member Noah Lennox. Scene-screening blogs Tiny Mix Tapes and Gorilla vs. Bear both picked the last Panda Bear record, 2007’s Person Pitch, as their best of the decade. Pitchfork placed it eighth – a full six places above its more illustrious cousin, Merriweather Post Pavilion. Early, and erroneous, whispers of a chillwave godfather spurred the record on, while the woozy adventures across borderless meter and time kept it on heavy rotation from East London to East Village.

However, those expecting Tomboy to ape the gurgling atoll-pop of Person Pitch may well fall off their Fixie bikes. Rather than floating a pedalo off a Pacific shore, this time the good ship Panda Bear has been anchored, with Lennox finding his feet on more concrete musical ground. Lead single ‘Tomboy’, which emerged last July, served early notice of a change of direction. Rolling dub-rhythms provided new rhythmic ballast. Huge riffing slabs of guitar – something Lennox attributes to “thinking about Nirvana and the White Stripes” – replaced the clicks, whirs and keys of yore. And while the multi-tracked tribal vocal attack remained, the spears had been sharpened. This was experimental music with songform, designed for the dancehalls, not the bedroom.

It’s not an exception that proves the rule. Experimental producer par excellence Sonic Boom (formerly of Spacemen 3) shows himself either to be a genius of reinvention or utterly superfluous to the recording process – having helmed the diffusion of MGMT’s clipped electro-pop into one big lysergic meander last year, here his mix performs the opposite trick. Tomboy contains 11 tracks, and ‘songs’ abound – great, soaring, bombastic ones, superabundant with killer hooks.

Only a late run of ambient numbers, starting with the sore-thumb shimmer-sprawl of ‘Scheheradze’, break rank. Juxtaposed with breathless, intelligible pop singles like ‘You Can Count On Me’ and ‘Surfer Hymn’, the wobbly stuff falls flat. Poppiest, and best, is the superb ‘Last Night At The Jetty’ – which twists the disposable afro-prep whimsy of Vampire Weekend into something at once bouncing and brash, yet suffused with glassy-eyed regret. “Didn’t we have a good time?” sigh a thousand Lennox’s in undulating unison. Aren’t we now? 

8/10

Choice Cuts: Last Night At The Jetty; You Can Count On Me

Tomboy is released 11 April on Paw Tracks 

Short Cuts! 8 March 2010

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This week's batch includes Gorillaz, Titus Andronicus and Broken Bells.

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

Plastic Beach perhaps, but this is no plastic pop – the irony of Blur’s demise is that Albarn is now too smart to push his (increasingly forlorn) hooks too far to the front.  Duly, he mixes things up with a Mick Jones here and a Bobby Womack (!) there, burying the Gorillaz-as-band continuity, but can’t resist marrying the whole together with an eco-harmonious back story. As always, no-one else would’ve dared, or bothered.

Choice Cuts: ‘On Melancholy Hill’, ‘Some Kind of Nature’, ‘Empire Ants’

7.5/10

Titus Andronicus – Monitor

Punk concept records (an oxymoron, surely?) are a bit like algebra for toddlers. Even the smarter ones, of which Titus Andronicus must rank – they like history, for chrissakes – struggle with the step-up. Unfortunately, the American Civil War deserves better treatment than “you will always be a loser, man” repeated ad infinitum, and clocking your songs in at 7 minutes doesn’t constitute ‘maturity’. Disappointing.

Choice Cuts: ‘A More Perfect Union’, ‘Theme from Cheers’

5.5/10

Broken Bells – Broken Bells

James Mercer (Shins’ voice/strummer) and Danger Mouse (ubiquitous producer type Brian Burton – see Gnarls Barkley; The Good, The Bad and the Queen) team up for this debut collaboration. Muso matchmakers expect a soaring majesty of cred and class, substance and sheen. Neither materialises – Mercer’s vocal yelp is familiarly adequate, whilst Burton feeds everything through the usual washed-up electronic filter (then tacks on dub bass), but the results are uncharacteristically stilted.

Choice Cuts: 'Vaporize', 'Your Head is on Fire'

5/10

BRMC – Beat the Devil’s Tattoo
Shouty garage rock noise meets blues stomp with the occasional point of interest – namely ‘Bad Blood’ and the meditative ‘The Toll’, which sounds like the Jesus and Mary Chain singin’ the country-blues. As is customary with this vastly over-egged band, however, their couldn’t-care-less disappointment and ability to make two chords sound like such a chore eventually conspire to grind out another failure.

Choice Cuts: ‘Bad Blood’, ‘The Toll’

4.5/10

Short Cuts! New Releases 1/2/2010

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*** Digestible run-downs of this week’s new releases, including track recommendations from THE POPSCENER***

From the sublime to the ridiculous this week...

Soft Pack - The Soft Pack

Cheering me up from the get-go isn’t a bad route to currying favour, so the fact that The Soft Pack bursts into life with a throwaway guitar chord and a relentless hi-hat hardly hinders its prospects for a positive review. Whilst nothing else quite touches opener ‘C’mon’ for pitch-perfect honing of Replacement-esque recklessness, plenty (‘Answer To Yourself’, ‘Move Along’) come close, as a breakneck half hour of breathless bliss surfs its way to crest of 2010’s garage-rock wave. Released in June and it would’ve been the sound of the Summer – a joyfully lively, well-crafted and coherent effort.

Choice Cuts: ‘C’mon’, ‘Answer To Yourself’, ‘Move Along’, ‘More or Less’

8.5/10

Los Campesinos - Romance Is Boring

The Cardiff band have always been a favourite with the fanzines, but their third coming seems to have provoked a muted response this time round; a raised eyebrow replacing wide-eyed enthusiasm. If I were a betting man, I’d suggest this was because they’re still trading in the same currency that won their debut a coterie of admires – Romance is Boring duly offers up the usual painful mix of shy, rambling emo platitudes and a propensity for being extroverted about their social and emotional impotence, backed with familiarly punky indie-pop. Again, the hits typically revolve around  the more breathless beats (‘There Are Listed Buildings’), while the misses (‘Straight in at 101’) afford singer Gareth the kind of excruciating airspace that his grating vocals certainly don’t deserve. Par for the course, then.

Choice Cuts: ‘There Are Listed Buildings’, ‘Romance Is Boring’

5.5/10

Hot Rats – Turn Ons

Taking some time out from their day jobs in Supergrass, Turn Ons sees Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffney tackling a series of new wave, post-punk and rock classics likely to appear on any self-respecting indie band’s influences list. The predictability of the track listing is largely mirrored by the finished article – that is, it sounds like Supergrass and the songs largely speak for themselves. Even so, super-charged versions of Roxy Music’s ‘Love Is A Drug’ and Gang of Four’s ‘Damaged Goods’ sound great, as does the hammed up glam version of the Kinks’ ‘Big Sky’. Meanwhile, the whispy, atmospheric take on ‘Up the Junction’ is crap, whilst the majority are as agreeably irrelevant as the concept itself.

Choice Cuts: ‘Love Is A Drug’, ‘Big Sky’

6/10

Ocean Colour Scene - Saturday

Having owned the obligatory copy and cheerfully appreciated the four good songs of ‘Moseley Shoals’, I was under the impression that these Britpop behemoths had long since met their demise, but apparently this is their 7^th record since their 1996 breakthrough. Apparently the sound hasn’t changed much, meaning there’s more sub-Who melodies, sub-Weller vocals, and the odd Beatles off-cut (‘What’s Mine is Yours’) thrown in. In actuality, some of it isn’t half bad – the bar room stomp of ‘Mrs Maylie’ in particular is worth a listen – but there’s no ‘Day We Caught the Train’ to ease the sense that it’s all painfully inconsequential. ‘100 Floors of Perception’ maybe, but evidently not a single one that deals in brutal honesty.

Choice Cuts: ‘What's Mine Is Yours’, ‘Mrs Maylie’

5.5/10

Midlake - The Courage Of Others

After four full spins – including one where I sat, listened, researched the lyrics and read about the band’s background – I still can’t formulate any opinion on The Courage of Others beyond that in which my bile runneth over. Perhaps I’m cold and dead inside; perhaps this is unrepentantly boring, nondescript shit that’s too tedious even to classify as indulgent, despite wearing an air of misplaced self-importance. This one doesn’t even qualify as the Fleetwood Cack of their last effort – worse, this time it’s the Eagles if Don Henley had sung in a yawning monotone and never written a pop song. By the time the mildly energised folky psychedelia  of ‘The Horn’ arrives, you won’t be sure if it’s genuinely listenable or someone has applied some polish to the turd. Just awful.

Choice Cuts: ‘The Horn’

2/10

Short Cuts! New Releases 25/1/10: Part 2

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*** Digestible run-downs of this week’s new releases, including track recommendations from THE POPSCENER***

Laura Veirs - July Flame

At first glance, this record appeared to be more of the kind of twiddly folk music tailor made for Waitrose adverts. At second glance, it still is, but in contrast to the perpetually disappointing ‘nu-folk’ from this side of the Atlantic, Veirs’ Portland residence gives this a more satisfying slant – dryer, less faux-authentic, and far less sorry for itself. Two dazzling tracks (‘Where are you driving’ and ‘Life is Good Blues’) help, whilst the others lope along in a soothingly pleasant, if unremarkable, manner.

Choice Cuts: ‘Where Are You Driving’, ‘Life Is Good Blues’

7/10

Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM

Sacre bleu! The brain haemorrhage debacle around which this concept-ish effort is based not only makes IRM a remarkable achievement in itself, but also provides a complimentary sub-plot to the songs, without ever becoming intrusive. Musically, writer/producer/arranger extraordinaire Beck leaves his indelible mark – notably dry beats and squirming sound effects – across tracks such as ‘IRM’, whilst Gainsbourg does her Francoise Hardy bit on couple tracks (‘Le Chat du Cafes des Artistes’), and the slightly unlikely collaborators even manage to enliven honky blues run throughs such as ‘Dandelion’. Bon.

Choice Cuts: ‘Master’s Hands’, ‘Le Chat Du Cafe Des Artistes’, ‘Time of the Assassins’

7.5/10

Beach House – Teen Dream

Objective as ever I am, seeing the ‘dream-pop’ label on Wikipedia made me feel I should like this more, but unfortunately I don’t. Minor problems thus: Legrand’s vocals approach Nico-esque baritone but are drowned in the mix; ‘Zebra’ could have been great but has one wrong chord choice in the chorus. Major problems thus: too pedestrian to convey emotion through energy but also lacks the sonic histrionics to do it via bursts of sound – in short, the whole thing strolls with such sloth that it ends up as the musical equivalent of the tortoise who doesn’t end up winning the race. An unmitigated disappointment.

Choice Cuts: ‘Norway’

3.5/10

Magnetic Fields - Realism

Whilst a healthy portion of the music on offer here makes me yawn with indifference and yearn for creative thrust Stephin Merritt to plug in as with previous efforts, thankfully enough quality exists elsewhere to redeem Realism. For instance, rib-tickling lyrics such as “seduced and abandoned and what can I do, I think I might drink a few” recall Neil Hannon at his most childishly subversive, and Merritt’s voice remains the measure of dry indifference. Sufficient for now.

Choice Cuts: ‘You Must Be Out’, ‘Seduced and Abandoned’

6/10

Short Cuts! New Releases 11/01/10

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*** Brief run-down of this week’s new releases, including track recommendations from THE POPSCENER***

Vampire Weekend – Contra

It’s hardly gone unnoticed that these self proclaimed “Upper West Side Sowetos” are Paul Simon fans – that original vinyl copy of Graceland must now have worn to the flat – but frankly I’m bored of hearing it, and quite why the critics continue to treat the slightest hint of cod-reggae with a pious fanfare befitting of the second coming is beyond me. Nonetheless, irritating dance voice on ‘California English’ aside, this IS simply Vampire Weekend mark II, albeit slightly more subdued. Unsurprisingly, the afrobeat rhythms (‘Run’, amongst others) and white-boy calypso (‘White Sky’) fall flatter second time round. Flatter doesn’t necessarily mean failure, and there’s still enough sublime melody (‘Horchata’, ‘Giving Up the Gun’) here to keep me interested, but Vampires be warned: the critical bonhomie won’t last a third outing of this ilk. 

Choice Cuts: ‘Horchata’, ‘White Sky’, ‘Giving Up the Gun’

6.5/10

Adam Green – Minor Love

The former Mouldy Peach returns with another collection of weirdy Americana-tinged indie which remains more Beck than the Eels (less melody, more scratchiness), but is less arch and more bored than his flaxen-haired contemporary. And so, the blocked-nose delivery provides a certain sardonic romance to two-minute vignettes such as ‘You Blacken My Stay’. Meanwhile, Minor Love is still pleasingly committed anti-folk in terms of lyrical miserablism  (“she punched me in the face like a goblin” is a personal favourite), and tracks such as the spitting lo-fi junk of ‘Oh Shucks’ also show a willingness to change the sonic scenery – and avoid falling asleep at the musical wheel.

Choice Cuts: ‘Goblin’, ‘Buddy Bradley’, ‘You Blacken My Stay’

7.5/10

OK Go - Of the Blue Colour of the Sky

Clearly realising they can’t dine out on “you-tube sensation” (shudder) ‘Here It Goes Again’ forever, and perhaps keen to show they’re not just treadmill-worryers in Weezer-wear, Ok Go finally return with their first record since 2005. After the first half hour you’ll wish they had stayed away, but just when I thought this was going to be a fuzz-bassed, poorly worded, sub-Prince floater, the band almost redeem themselves with a run of good songs late in the day. The off-kilter, cross-eyed pop of ‘Before the Earth Was Round’ is so well crafted I’ll forgive the irksome Kraftwerk vocals, dainty acoustic ballad ‘Last Leaf’ is sweetly realised, and the meditative swoon of ‘While You Were Asleep’ gains them half a point, given the week, for sounding like Vampire Weekend with Africa subtracted. Naturally, closer ‘In the Glass’ is crap, but you can’t have it all. Keep an eye out for a snappy video or two.  

Choice Cuts: ‘Before the Earth Was Round’, ‘While You Were Asleep’

5.5/10