Matthew Berlyant: September 20, 2009

1. Yo La Tengo – Adventureland (Matador)

   A bonus Lp that only comes with the pre-order version of the new album Popular Songs, this contains their score for the wonderful movie Adventureland. Although all instrumental, it’s surprisingly compelling listening outside of the movie for which it was composed.

2. The Clientele – Bonfires on the Heath (Merge)

   Well, at this point The Clientele aren’t going to surprise anyone. You either like their brand of bedroom-friendly, late-summer, melancholy indie-pop or you don’t. I’ve been a fan since Strange Geometry and this one returns them a bit more towards that album (as well as earlier efforts like The Violet Hour and Suburban Light). It’s a bit more upbeat, though, and several songs even have traces of (gasp) the disco-ish dance punk revival that’s been all the rage over the last decade or so.

3. Mission of Burma – The Sound The Speed The Light (Matador)

   My initial impression of this is that it’s surprisingly non-descript. Perhaps it’s gonna take a while for these songs to sink in. It’s not bad by any means, but it just doesn’t hit me like their early ’80s stuff or their incredible last album, 2006’s The Obliterati. All the classic Mission of Burma elements are here, but I’ll definitely need more time with this one.

4. Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band (Not Rated)

   As the name implies, this is a documentary about the long-running “queercore” band PANSY DIVISION. I put “queercore” in parentheses because their music often veers closer to power-pop than to anything resembling hardcore punk. In any case, this documentary, made by bassist and founding member CHRIS FREEMAN, chronicles their entire history and is pretty much required viewing for fans.

5. Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs (Matador)

   They just keep going. This album, like their last four dating back to 1997’s I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, is astounding.

6. Rodriguez – Cold Fact (Light in the Attic)

   I definitely missed the boat on this 1970 lost classic when it first got reissued last year by the great Light in the Attic label, but boy am I glad that I finally heard it. This album has the best elements of mid ’60s BOB DYLAN, LOVE and the street poetry of mid ’60s proto-punk acts like THE FUGS rolled in one! That’s not to say that Rodriguez sounds like anyone other than himself. It’s late ’60s/early ’70s folk-rock with incredible vocals, great songs and a punk rock attitude that songs like “Rich Folks’ Hoax,” “Crucify Your Mind,” Inner City Blues” (not the MARVIN GAYE song) and of course, “Sugarman”, which rivals anything on CURTIS MAYFIELD‘s Superfly (or the aforementioned Fugs or for that matter, DAVID PEEL AND THE LOWER EAST SIDE) for its explicit drug references.

7. Dean and Britta – Arts Bank (Philadelphia, PA) – September 18, 2009

   This was no ordinary Dean and Britta show. Instead, they were commissioned by the ANDY WARHOL Museum in Pittsburgh to write music for 13 of his most famous “Screen Tests”, instances where he would film “superstars” like NICO, LOU REED, BILLY NAME and other key players in the Factory scene (like a young DENNIS HOPPER, for instance) of the early to mid ’60s, instructing each of them to be as still as possible. Conveniently, the tests were about four minutes each, making them perfect for Dean and Britta to compose songs to. A few of the numbers were instrumental, the Nico test featured a cover of BOB DYLAN‘s “I’ll Keep It With Mine” (a song Dylan wrote for Nico; she recorded it on her solo debut Chelsea Girl) and the Reed test featured a cover of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND‘s “I’m Not a Young Man Anymore”. Otherwise, though, it was almost all original songs (aside from one other cover) and it was all terrific!

8. Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy (Matador)

   At times this reminds me of THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN‘s early to mid ’90s work and at others of the lo-fi indie-pop of that time around. There’s a heavy psych-pop shadow hanging over this, Vile’s Matador debut (and his follow-up to last year’s Constant Hitmaker), as well. I don’t quite know what to make of all of it yet, but I know I like it.

9. The Feelies – Crazy Rhythms (Bar/None)

   For those of you who have been waiting years for this to get reissued, your lucky day has come! I’m happy to report that the sound (at least on the digital version I’ve listened to) is absolutely incredible and eons above the only previous CD release of this, A&M’s 1990 hatchet job (which also oddly added their cover of “Paint It Black”, a nice addition but totally appropriate because it was recorded with a totally different lineup).

   As for the music on here, do I even have to tell you all that this is one of the finest albums of the last 30 years? If you don’t believe it and just want a taste, try “Original Love” and hear THE STROKES AND INTERPOL almost a quarter century before their emergence. There’s also a nice version of the live staple “I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms” (a great MODERN LOVERS tune) added to this reissue as well.

10. The Feelies – The Good Earth (Bar/None)

    In truth, this has always been my least favorite Feelies album. Not that I didn’t like it. To the contrary, songs like “Let’s Go” and “Slipping Into Something” are among their best. It’s just that I thought the only version of it I’ve ever heard (an early CD issue) sounded tinny, obscuring the vocals and making it so that the amazing interplay between guitarists GLENN MERCER and BILL MILLION was barely audible. Not so with this reissue, which again like the reissue of Crazy Rhythms sounds absolutely amazing. Now I’m starting to really love this album!