Reviews, Part. 3

I made a mistake! I thought I had gone through all the material I had to review for September, but I missed one item. So I'll cover that here, as well as the first half of October. I hope you enjoy.

Download Here. (21:56)

1) Joey Casio - Artists in Times of War
This is the b-side to a K Records 7" called "Debtor's Prism". Both sides are very similar - bedroom styled acid house with post-punk styled singing on top. If you got the reference to Howard Zinn in the title of the song, then you've realized how political this guy's material is. Still, pretty fun stuff.

2) Le Loup - A Celebration
Sam Simkoff is Le Loup. Or was, rather. His first album was recorded by himself and was largely focused upon synths and banjos (an odd combination, to be sure). But when he decided to tour for that album, he needed a band...so he used Craigslist to gather together similar minded musicians. On their latest album, Family, nearly every track seems like Akron/Family doing an impersonation of Animal Collective. I don't know if that's a bad thing or not. This track might be the best example of the tribal feel that they have throughout the whole album. Out on Hardly Art.

3) Karl Blau - Apology to Pollinateurs
I've loved Karl Blau ever since I became obsessed with Phil Elverum's work as The Microphones. He seems more wholesome in general than alot of the Anacortes recording folks; taking influence from Beatnik-related Buddhism and world music, his works always have seemed really pure. His latest album, Zebra, might be among his best. Almost every instrument was played by him; and while sometimes his ideas don't come across as well as they might have if a full band was playing, the ideas in themselves are strong enough to carry the songs along. This is the only track to feature other people (Arrington de Dionyso of Old Time Relijun and the lady from Tender Forever). Out on K.

4) BK-One with Benzilla - Eighteen to Twenty-One (featuring Murs)
BK-One is best known as Brother Ali's DJ...which (to me anyway) seems more like a detriment than anything else. Brother Ali, along with almost everyone else on Rhymesayers, is a horrible MC. Fortunately, BK-One isn't as bad at producing and DJing as compared to the rest of the Rhymesayers crew. On his first "solo" album (Benzilla helps produce more than half the tracks), Radio Do Canibal, the music is entired created from samples off of Brazilian records. The Brazilian influence does not show on this track...however, Murs has one clever metaphor in this otherwise kitschy track about sex.


5) The Mountain Goats - Phillipians 3:20-21

John Darnielle has been disappointing me almost consistently after he moved into a studio. His latest album for 4AD, The Life of the World to Come, is still not that good. Despite the occasional string work by Final Fantasy, he's still slumped in his MOR-styled production, whispering what seems to be imitation Darnielle lyrics. This disc has better lyrics, but the songs themselves still seem underwritten. This track is the one of very few that has any sort of melodic hook in the actual instrumentation. And the lyrics aren't bad either.