1) Beach House - 10 Mile Stereo
Everyone has been masturbating over the new Beach House album, Teen Dream, but I'm having a hard time figuring out why. I understand the popularity of the band - at their best, their dreamy sound can be stunning - but here, a good half the songs sound exactly the same. It's still worth checking out, though. Here's one of the better ones.
2) Sunset - Gold Dissolves to Gray
The new album by Bill Baird's Sunset is kind of disappointing. Unlike most of his other material, Gold Dissolves to Gray (which is also the name of the album, is largely folksy. He doesn't entirely disregard the reverb-heavy psychedelic pop of his other material, but it's definitely not his main emphasis. Like the Beach House album, it's worth checking out, but not the best.
3) The Soft Pack - C'mon
The Soft Pack play really catchy garage rock, and there's very little that's going to stop them from their mission. Their self-titled debut is fun enough, but when there are so many bands doing a similar thing to similar success, what's the point?
4) Spoon - Who Makes Your Money
I've never been a huge fan of Spoon, nor am I familiar with them (except those couple of singles from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga). I don't know how Transference relates to earlier Spoon releases, it doesn't feel very consistent. It doesn't help that about half the songs are (supposed) demos. This track, as well as The Mystery Zone, are probably the most interesting songs on the album - kinda sexy, with a neat synth touch.
5) The Magnetic Fields - Better Things
The new Magnetic Fields album, Realism, is (thankfully) the last in what has been termed the "no synth trilogy". Realism goes beyond that, though - it uses almost entirely acoustic instruments (to contrast its sister album, Distortion, which was all...distorted). Stephin Merritt's songwriting is pretty samey on this disc (the first track even is reminiscent of I Don't Believe You). The arrangements of the tracks make the songs seem distant, almost like museum pieces separated by glass. A weird album, to be sure.
