My Two Cent(ence Reviews)

MGMT's album 'Congratulations' lacks anything approaching the holy triumvirate of Kids, Time to Pretend and Electric Feel. Is it the big middle finger we all should have seen coming when their followup to Oracular Specatular was Metanoia?

'Together' lacks the "power" in the power-pop that The New Pornographers previously excelled at. Nico Case is great, but in the context of the N.P.'s she's better utilized as a foil for A.C. Newman than as the centerpiece.

While 'World Sick' is world class, I'm not sure the rest of Broken Social Scene's new 'Forgiveness Rock Record' measures up to that song or their previous two l.p.'s. This one still needs some time to grow on me.

Lost in all the hubbub of owning the internet earlier this year, OK Go released a really good album in 'Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky.' I also had to miss this show when they came to D.C. but at least I got to see them on Colbert. (Ok, three versions of the same song may be excessive, but just check out the rest of the album.)

I have no idea how I heard of them but somehow but I ended up with Drummer's 'Feel Good Together' in my digital music library. Made up of all Ohio musicians, including the Black Key's drummer (bah-dum) on bass, the album is definitely a rhythm driven rock record, punctuated equally by guitars and synths.

Delorean - Subiza

Although Delorean has been around since 2000, they only began popping up on the indie-radar last year with the ep Ayrton Senna. Originally from Basque country, the band relocated to Barcelona where their musical stylings became a mishmash of rock, pop and dance. Although most of the tracks on Subiza follow a pretty rigid formula, it doesn't grow wearisome. Dance music figures heavily in these songs, but techno it ain't. Think the atmospherics of M83 with the buoyancy of Phoenix. Or perhaps one could make a comparison to Cut Copy, but whereas that band has a cold and mechanical sound Delorean gives a strong sense of the warm Mediterranean locale that they now call home.  With song titles like 'Endless Sunset,' 'Come Wander' and 'Warmer Places,' it's pretty clear that Delorean aren't reaching for deep meaning and that suits these songs just fine. 

Unfortunately, Delorean set the bar pretty high on their previously mentioned ep Ayrton Senna. Although Subiza is solid from front to back, but it never comes close to reaching the ebullience of 'Seasun,' one of my favorite songs from last year. But no matter; Subiza has arrived just in time for summer and after just one listen, you'll know that summer is exactly what these songs were made for. 

  

Broken Bells - Broken Bells

Back in 2004, before internet buzz became ultra-instant, a young producer named Danger Mouse became famous by mashing up the vocals from Jay-Z's Black Album with the Beatles' White Album creating, you guessed it, the Grey Album. Ultimately, the Grey Album was more notable for it's concept than its execution (except for this badass version of 99 Problems, mixed with Helter Skelter). But the project launched DM's career into the stratosphere and he would go on to work with the likes of The Gorillaz, Cee-Lo, Beck, The Black Keys and many more, with the latest being the Shins' James Mercer. But we'll get to that soon enough.

Coincidentally, it was also 2004 when Natalie Portman's scripted recommendation was enough to create quite the buzz of it's own. I'm referring to, of course, the "indie" movie Garden State, in which Portman's character claimed that the Shin's would "change your life." That moment certainly changed the Shins' lives more than they changed mine (they didn't). (Oddly, several days after I wrote this sentence, I came across this article on that exact subject.)

So now here we are, 6 years removed from those two unconnected events that strangely found a way to come together (cosmic, man) in the form of Broken Bells, the latest collabo between Danger Mouse and __________. A lot of time has passed since DM splashed his name all over the internet with the Grey Album or even when he took over the airwaves with Cee-Lo as Gnarls Barkley. And much like the vegetables in my fridge right now, what was once fresh is now just old and soggy. Danger Mouse hasn't grown much as a producer these last few years. As documented in older posts, I found his recent projects with the Black Keys and Beck to be varying degrees of bland and uninspired. He took the funk out of Beck, and that is just plain wrong.

All that being said, Broken Bells still manages to be a solid album, probably on the strength of Mercer's voice. While DM's sounds are a bit vanilla, he doesn't take away from what the artists with whom he works are. That's great and all, but I feel that a good producer should push whomever they're working with into new creative heights.

Trying to pick out a favorite track isn't very easy, since they all sort of run together. This is an album you can play front to end, a rare feat, but not because it is so great, but because it's so plain. You probably won't skip any songs, but you won't be reaching for that 'repeat' button either.

Canadian Dominance To Continue Through May

It appears that the world will have to suffer Canadian dominance for a couple more months. On May 4th, the world will receive a one-two combo from Canadian heavy-hitters Broken Social Scene and The New Pornographers.  Check out the awesome 7 minute 'World Sick,' the first single from BSS's upcoming Forgiveness Rock Record. (I'll be seeing them in NYC in early May and will have a full write up.) I have high hopes for The New Pornographers fifth studio album, Together, which will hopefully be better than their previous effort.  Lank to their first single, 'Your Hands (Together).'

Fortunately, America will not let this aggression stand (man). On the same day, The Hold Steady will attempt to counter the Northern assault, but I'm just not sure one band can stand up to the awesomeness that is Canadian indie rock, especially short one member.