Pavement – Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement (Matador)
For years, I ignored Pavement for whatever reason. In recent years, I’ve started to warm up to them, but this excellent new “best of” compilation has definitely made me into a fan. With all of the classics (“Gold Soundz,” “Cut Your Hair,” the PIXIES/WEEZER-like “Stereo”, “Spit on a Stranger”, et al.) and lots of deep cuts from their four studio albums and early EPs like Perfect Sound Forever and Watery, Domestic, I can’t think of a better place for a novice to start. Even for all of you long-time fans, this is worth picking up as it may make you all appreciate them all over again.
Dum Dum Girls – I Will Be (Sub Pop)
This year’s answer to VIVIAN GIRLS‘ two Lps, DEE DEE and her L.A.-based crew (featuring a member of CROCODILES and FRANKIE ROSE, formerly of CRYSTAL STILTS and Vivian Girls) trade in the same kind of lo-fi, ’60s-inspired noise-pop. “Jail La La” is the definite highlight and will probably be one of my favorite songs of the year, but at 11 songs in less than half a hour, this is a fast, easy, breezy, fun joyride of an album. After the whirl, it’s then appropriate that the album closes with a beautiful, winsome version of SONNY AND CHER‘s “Baby Don’t Go”, a song also covered by CAMERA OBSCURA.
Mission of Burma – “Innermost” EP
This two-song 7” came out last summer before their last full-length The Sound, The Speed, The Light, but I just picked it up last weekend. I can see why they wanted to release these songs separately as they’re a bit more like the more straightforward attack of 2006’s awesome The Obliterati and as such, they’re very easy to like.
The Reigning Sound – Love and Curses (In the Red)
The only other Reigning Sound album I’ve ever heard is 2002’s Time Bomb High School. From its cover, featuring a guy in very tight jackets and a leather jacket, maybe you would expect RAMONES-inspired three-chord jams ala THE QUEERS or SCREECHING WEASEL. Instead, it’s an album of inspired, energetic and yes, garage-y, but ultimately mature, lovelorn tunefulness that has just as much in common with BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN or WILCO as with GREG CARTWRIGHT‘s previous band THE OBLIVIANS‘s raging, garage rock attack.
On this, however, their first album in 5 years, the cover features a portrait of a woman and a candle. Thus, one might perhaps expect a soft, slow album of torch songs. Then again, this is The Reigning Sound we’re talking about here, so to the contrary, this rocks like a jackhammer. Still, with an entirely new lineup backing Cartwright, the soulfulness and girl-group melody that has characterized their earlier work is still here and at times this suggests Born to Run if it was recorded in the mid ’60s and if it lost its Broadway-esque elements.
Rep. Steve Cohen memorializes Alex Chilton on the House floor
See it here
Jeff Buckley – “Kangaroo”
This fine cover (which stretched up to 14 minutes) of the BIG STAR classic is on both the expanded version of his debut album Grace and the live album Mystery White Boy.
This Mortal Coil – It’ll End in Tears (4AD)
I’m putting this on here because of the fine covers of Big Star’s “Kangaroo” and “Holocaust” (sung by HOWARD DEVOTO). Of course, this classic album features (amongst other songs) a beautiful and haunting version of TIM BUCKLEY‘s “Song to the Siren”, sung by the COCTEAU TWINS‘ inimitable ELISABETH FRASER.
Leatherface – The Stormy Petrel (Big Fish Recordings/No Idea)
An absolutely incredible album that so far, at least, is my album of the year. “Nutcase” and “Diego Garcia” may even rival Mush‘s “I Want the Moon”. It’s a thrill to have them back after a five year absence.
Buzzcocks – A Different Kind of Tension (EMI)
This is an excellent 2-disc reissue of one of the finest albums of the post-punk era. The last Buzzcocks album, side 2 in particular has always blown my mind and still fascinates me now even as I’m almost twice as old as when I first heard it. The rest of disc 1 includes 4 singles from the same time period, all released on Singles Going Steady.
It’s disc 2 that makes this worth the purchase, though. We not only get the original incarnation’s last released singles (available on previous reissues of this album and Singles Going Steady as bonus tracks), but previously unreleased demos of most of the album’s tracks along with the associated Peel Sessions as well. This is a must.
Spoon – “Love Song”
I had no idea that Spoon covered this classic Machine Gun Etiquette DAMNED song, which is available on (of all things) a Starbucks compilation, until I listened to a broadcast of their SXSW show at Stubbs. Their version is completely different from the original, but quite compelling, turning the speedy original (fueled by ALGY WARD‘s incredible bass playing) into an early ’80s-inspired/almost darkwave tune with a melodramatic flair.
