Reid MacDonald: September 19, 2010

I’ve mostly been listening to singles, downloads, and EPs this week.

1. Crocodiles – Sleep Forever

   A 7” with the same name as their upcoming LP, both tracks are worth their weight in vinyl. The b-side is a surfer-fuzz cover of Deee-Lite‘s “Groove is in the Heart” and in a beat changes to a cover of The Beach Boys‘s “California Girls”.

2. Silje Nes – Branches

   The first release since 2007’s Ames Room, these songs give us more of that brain-sploding microtronica and her sweet, whispery voice.

3. Silje Nes – Crystals

   More subdued than Branches, Nes shows us that she still has an intimate side. Both singles will be on her upcoming LP, Opticks.

4. No Age – Glitter 7”

   “Glitter” has a sound that finds its way back to the first No Age releases and their collection, Weirdo Rippers. They are moody and mumbly, they play focused drums and guitars born from the age of Sonic Youth.

5. No Age – Glitter 12”

   The 12” inch version b-side starts with organ/moog-y “In Rebound” and then kicks into “Vision II” that incorporates firecrackers popping over the art-rockin’ guitars.

6. Owen Pallett – A Swedish Love Story

   High off this year’s exceptional album Heartland, this 12” is the first songs that doesn’t evolve that story (other than the Son Lux remix of The Great Elsewhere). The songs are refreshing and full of Pallett’s violin flourishes and are strong as anything he’s produced.

7. Parenthetical Girls – Privilege, Pt. 2: The Past, Imperfect

   Second in the series of a 5 part album that will make up the long-play “Privilege”, this one will be signed in blood by the cover-star and band-member Rachel Jensen. The songs can be dense but when they connect, the girls knock’em out of the park.

   From their website:
   Throats

8. Panda Bear – Tomboy

   Good things are coming with the next LP and you can tell from the pre-release tour and the 2 tracks off this EP of the same name. The money maker is the b-side “Slow Motion.”

9. Sufjan Stevens – Too Much / I Walked

   After a surprise but disappointing EP, All Delighted People, I hear redemption in these songs from his upcoming album The Age of Adz. These songs follow what Stevens did with the Castenet’s cover of “You Are the Blood” on the Dark Was the Night compilation.

   I got mine from the always inspiring Gorilla vs. Bear:
   I Walked
   Too Much

10. Eric Copeland – Doo Doo Run

    Cannot get enough of either of these songs. They are like a sugar addiction, play until you puke.