Nick Lowe – The Old Magic (Yep Roc)
Please see my full review here.
Wild Flag – Wild Flag (Merge)
The more I listen to this, the more I like it and the more I’m OK with something like this in place of Sleater-Kinney‘s hiatus. This sort of picks up where Sleater-Kinney’s last few albums left off, but different elements (like Rebecca Cole‘s psychedelic and at times prog-like organ parts and the tradeoff in vocals between Carrie Brownstein and Mary Timony) make it stand out amongst familiar (albeit great) elements like Brownstein’s impassioned delivery and Janet Weiss‘ incredible, all-over-the-place, fill-heavy drumming. One of the year’s best albums for sure.
Patton Oswalt – Finest Hour (Comedy Central)
After one album My Weakness is Strong, released on Warner Brothers, Oswalt is on Comedy Central’s record label for this, his fifth comedy album. Like all the others, this is a winner with Oswalt riffing on everything from the Museum of Spam to Disneyland and sweatpants, seemingly his favorite topic.
Sheer Terror – Spite EP (Reaper)
Please see my full review here.
Human Switchboard – Who’s Landing in My Hangar? Anthology 1977-1984 (Bar/None)
This is a long-overdue CD reissue of not just the titular, long out-of-print 1981 studio album (their only one released during their lifetime), but the reissue adds singles, EP tracks, demos and an unreleased 1983 album recorded at CBGBs. I’d describe Human Switchboard as a great American post-punk band somewhere between early Romeo Void and The Waitresses, but with hints of Richard Hell and Jonathan Richman in Bob Pfeifer‘s voice and hints of singers like Jennifer Miro of The Nuns or Blondie‘s Debbie Harry in Myrna Marcarian‘s vocals.
Various Artists – The World’s Lousy with Ideas Volume 8 (Almost Ready)
As the title implies, this is the eighth and to the best of my knowledge, most recent volume of this series. It’s also a few years old already, but I got it recently. I bought this for the original recorded version of Vivian Girls “Lake House” (which they re-recorded for their new album Share the Joy) and while that’s my favorite track here, Blank Dogs‘ “Ages Ago” is a close second, falling somewhere between early Killing Joke and many of the other bands (Tyvek, Thee Oh Sees and Sic Alps are some others, along with Times New Viking) on this quite listenable compilation.
Ellen Willis – Out of the Vinyl Deeps (University of Minnesota)
Ellen Willis was a towering feminist cultural figure, writer, critic, academic and historian. Additionally, she was also the pop music critic for The New Yorker between 1968 and 1975 and this book compiles her columns from that time period along with some other writing for other publications like The Village Voice as well. I’ve only read a few of the pieces so far, but reading this is almost like encountering a female Lester Bangs (for example, her love of The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed almost rivals his) without the excessive booze or Romilar consumption, but with an equal love of the sensual world and a desire to expand rock criticism beyond the scope of a mere album review and relate it to the outside, general world.
Dum Dum Girls – Only in Dreams (Sub Pop)
This, their second full-length, is definitely a bit slicker than their first album I Will Be and as such, it builds on their fabulous “He Gets Me High” EP from earlier this year. This is far from an attempt at mainstream acceptance, though, but rather a perfect balance of scruff and polish. At times, this reminds me of Lush had they attempted a girl group/wall of sound type record or perhaps even a female-fronted Jesus and Mary Chain. This will surely be one of my favorites of the year. It’s not out yet, but is currently streaming here.
Jens Lekman – An Argument With Myself (Secretly Canadian)
I love Jens Lekman, but this EP is perhaps the disappointment of the year. After a 4 year hiatus from recording, this is his first material since his first full-length Lp, the brilliant 2007 release_Night Falls Over Kortedala_. Unlike that Lp or most of the singles and EPs collected on his career apex Oh You’re So Silent Jens compilation in 2005, there are no standout tracks here. This has some clever lyrics, but unfortunately no hooks. Instead of the bedroom-level intimacy, catchy songwriting and liberal use of samples of the past, this has female backing singers and Afro-pop beats Vampire Weekend wouldn’t touch. I can only hope this is an aberration or misstep at best and that Jens hasn’t lost his touch completely.
R.E.M. – entire discography
As the world knows by now, R.E.M. officially announced their breakup earlier this past week. Thus, I’ve been playing a whole bunch of their stuff. They will be missed. Here is a great column featuring musicians like Bob Mould, Glenn Mercer and Steve Wynn reminiscing on them.
