I can't say I'm a fan of the new album by Stephen Malkmus. He can never do any wrong in my eyes, but yeah, this latest effort continues the downward trend since his exciting debut. The Pitchfork review has it almost exactly right, but while they celebrate the exploration of full-out jam-bandiness, there's a reason why Pavement and Phish never shared a place in my collection. I don't like the extended jam band tendencies of the new album, nor the all-out progressive rock nature of many of the tracks. Sadly, I have to come to terms with the possibility that the jangly pop of Pavement may never return again, and I'm not happy about it. But here's one of the tracks from the Real Emotional Trash that I actually enjoyed.
65daysofstatic have re-released 2004 debut album The Fall of Math, which includes some blisteringly beautiful songs. I posted the amazing track (with accompanying video) "Retreat! Retreat!" two weeks ago. Here's another one, plus ones from their follow-ups, One for All Time and last year's The Destruction of Small Ideas. They are currently on tour with The Cure, of all people.
- Download 65daysofstatic - "Aren't We All Running?".mp3
- Download 65daysofstatic - "Wax Futures".mp3
- Download 65daysofstatic - "23kid".mp3
Lots more music after the jump...
Plants and Animals debut album is coming out on March 25. The first EP from this Canadian band, titled with/avec
included the song "Lola Who?" which was just about the #1 favorite song
playing on my iPod all winter. Unfortunately, the rest of the songs on
the EP didn't quite measure up (or at least used a different, more '70s
era style) and the songs on the new album seem to follow suit. A
couple tracks realize the beauty of "Lola Who?" but some remind me of
'70s psychedelia. I can't tell yet whether I love Parc Avenue or not, but I'm leaning towards love while I reserve further judgment. Here's the first track. It's definitely wonderful.
Tokyo Police Club is another Canadian band with only a bunch of EPs to its name, but their debut album is thus far very promising, at least as far as this wonderful first track is concerned. Take a listen. Elephant Shell is coming out on April 22
The Notwist is a non-Canadian band (they're from Germany!) with a new album out in May. Here's the first track and two of my favorites from 2002's wonderful Neon Golden. I didn't realize it's been so long since that album. Where have they been?
- Download The Notwist - "Good Lies".mp3
- Download The Notwist - "One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You'll Understand".mp3
- Download The Notwist - "Pilot".mp3
The first single for We Are Scientists sophomore album Brain Thrust Mastery, out March 18th in the UK, is now available.
I am actually enjoying the new Malkmus album. I know it is nearly impossible to follow on from Pavement, but I quite like the jammy moments. I think it still has a Malkmus flavour, although not as poppy as previous efforts.
Posted by: wayne | March 13, 2008 at 04:13 AM
I'm not liking the jammy moments at all, and yet, I'm really falling for the jammy moments of the new Plants and Animals album. Different kind of albums, yes, but both with sort of '70s influences that I wouldn't naturally turn to. Maybe I just need more exposure to the Malkmus tome. There are a couple "poppy" songs on there I do like -- "We Can't Help You" and "Out of Reaches" along with the one I included, so maybe.
But definitely check out Plants and Animals' "Parc Avenue." I'll probably post about it in detail next week. It's really absolutely wonderful.
Posted by: Bill | March 13, 2008 at 09:12 AM
Yeah, I like We Can't Help You. And I keep hearing good things about Plants and Animals so I am going to check them out. Apparently they toured with Wolf Parade last year.
Posted by: wayne | March 13, 2008 at 05:01 PM