Microcastle / Weird Era Cont, Deerhunter
Ah the internet. What a cruel bitch.
Atlanta Georgia's Deerhunter rose to notoriety thanks in part to bloggers worldwide raving about last year's CRYPTOGRAMS and their incendiary live show. They became cult favorites, and outspoken lead singer/songwriter Bradford Cox became an unlikely - though well deserved - indie rock cover boy.
PLAY! ZEUXIS: XIGHT? ZEEN...
Much like his previous band Sidewinder, Nick Craft uses wall-of-sound sonics, distorted guitars and more of that lovely stuff that made his former cult act Australia's answer to My Bloody Valentine. Craft's voice floats between that of Morrissey and McLennan while instrumentally the feedback and reverb hit at different points across the album, most strongly in 'Back In Your Arms' and glorious album closer 'Where Were You On The Weekend'.
Pacific Ocean Blue, Dennis Wilson
Sometimes, just being a cool guy is enough. For much of Dennis Wilson's career as the Beach Boys' charismatic drummer, this was certainly true. The only member who actually surfed, his shaggy beard and beach rat lifestyle informed much of the group's look and feel. Musically though, Dennis was overshadowed by his brothers and cousins, contributing just a few songs to the Beach Boys canon.
(C'mon) Do The Beach Thing, The Woods Themselves
"Space country" is such a strange concoction. Thank The Byrds for having the audacity to pair Graham Parsons with the space jams of Can.
Stranger still is hearing a group of young Sydney-siders carry on their tradition. There must be a hint of irony in The Woods Themselves' album title, (C'MON) DO THE BEACH THING, as this is an album definitely more suited to the backwoods - or the city - than the surf.
Playtime for John Mountain, The Rectifiers
PLAYTIME FOR JOHN MOUNTAIN is an album caught somewhere in time; between Zombies 'Odessey and Oracle' [sic] pop, '60s film soundtracks, four-part baroque harmonies, and the pastoral soundscapes of contemporaries like Mountains in the Sky, Caribou, or even Wilco.
The third full-length album from this Melbourne four-piece (and their first in five years), is dreamy, lush, and atmospheric - an accomplished equal to Sensory Projects' terrific team of mood masters, The Sand Pebbles, Canon Blue, Mono and Hood.
Ceduna, The Sand Pebbles
Like a scene out of Oliver Stone's sixties psyche-crapfest THE DOORS, last summer Melbourne's Sand Pebbles trekked out into the desert with a bag full of 'shrooms and kicked out some jams motherfucker! And they ended up there during Melbourne's hottest heat-wave in years. Um, oops. Hydrate dudes.
Smoke, White Williams
The thing is, I love Mexican food. And even though half the taquerias around the world taste pretty much the same, do I care? No. Gimme a margarita and some cheese enchiladas and I'm stoked.
So should it really matter that this debut from Cleveland-born, Brooklyn-based Joe Williams aka White Williams kinda sounds exactly like outtakes from Brian Eno's HERE COME THE WARM JETS? It's one of my favorite albums - great pop songs with crazy space glam production, combining camp, horror, sex, artifice, and art in equal measures.
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