Girl in a Coma
Exits & All the Rest
Blackheart Records
By Al Kaufman
If ever a band name has been a misnomer, than it is for Girl in a Coma. Yes, this trio from San Antonio grew up as Smiths fans (hence the band name), but their music is very much alive.
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Gringo Star
Count Yer Lucky Stars
Gigantic Music
By Ellen Eldridge
To say a buzz has been brewing over Atlanta’s Gringo Star would downplay the frenetic reverberations on the music industry radar. The allusion to Beatles drummer Ringo Starr remains a cute sarcasm, and fits the band’s style well with the choice of instruments including Rickenbacker and Fender guitars. The microphone used in the video for “All Y’all” off the debut looks like it came straight off the set of the Ed Sullivan show, so I think it’s safe to say Gringo Star is a loving reference to a musical influence. … Continue Reading
Wild Flag
Wild Flag
Merge
By Al Kaufman
Supergroups of any type rarely live up to their hype, but since the hype for Wild Flag was practically non-existent, and since the women in this band don’t care about such petty things, their debut album far surpasses any expectations that may have been garnered. … Continue Reading
Army Navy
The Last Place
Fever Zone
By Al Kaufman
For a band that doesn’t have a label, and has never had a pop single, Army Navy sure has a lot of friends in high places. Frontman Justin Kennedy was in a band with his high school buddy, Ben Gibbard, before Gibbard left to start Death Cab for Cutie. When Army Navy’s drummer left the band before the first album was recorded, Pete Thomas, one of Elvis Costello’s Attractions, picked up the beat for that record. Kennedy, who still holds a day job as a wardrobe stylist, has outfitted everyone from Elton John and Morrissey to Ted Danson and Tom Cruise. Through connections, the band has managed to get songs in movies such as Nick and Nora’s Ultimate Playlist and Shrek Forever After. The money attained from that has allowed them to put out this sophomore release. … Continue Reading
Mutemath
Odd Soul
Warner Brothers Records
By Ellen Eldridge
My interest in Mutemath reached its peak when I heard the term “mathrock,” because I assumed Mutemath would use more than the standard 4/4 time signature. I expected something of an intellectual band rich with musical texture, and style. Honestly, I don’t know why I thought this way. Mutemath played it Armistice Tour in the fall of 2009, and I heard them while covering the support act As Tall As Lions. Again, I felt intrigue and liked what I heard from the stage, but never gave the music much of a chance. With the release of Odd Soul, I can wrap my mind around the song structure and intelligent lyrics. … Continue Reading
Man Overboard
Man Overboard
Rise Records
By Al Kaufman
Now that Blink 182 have gone all mature with their new release, Neighborhoods, it’s good to know that there are bands like Man Overboard (who take their name from the Blink 182 song) to hold high to pop-punk, smarmy teen trophy.
Man Overboard, a five-piece out of New Jersey, has finally come into its own in 2011. They welcomed back founding guitarist Wayne Wildrick (who left in 2010 for personal reasons), signed with Rise Records, and are touring this fall with New Found Glory on the Pop Punk’s Not Dead Tour. They also nabbed New Found Glory’s guitarist Steve Klein to produce the CD. … Continue Reading
We Are Augustines
Rise Ye Sunken Ships
Backbeat/Turnout
By Al Kaufman
Too many people think that if they have had a hard life, all they need to do is write about it and people will think they are geniuses. Sure, the melody may never get going, the lyrics may be a bit clunky, “But it’s a true story, man. Isn’t that amazing?” Those people need to listen to We Are Augustines to see how to do it right.
Songwriter, lead singer and guitarist William McCarthy has had as tough a life as anyone. He never knew his father. His mother was an alcoholic schizophrenic and her children ended up in foster care. His brother, James, was also a schizophrenic who lived in and out of institutions prisons. At about the time his original band, Pela, was breaking up, McCarthy’s brother committed suicide. McCarthy, along with Pela bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, and songwriter Eric Sanderson, and drummer Rob Allen, regrouped to form We Are Augustines. Picking the name was easy. McCarthy and Sanderson both have August birthdays, Pela dissolved in August, and McCarthy’s brother committed suicide the same month. August plays a heavy role in the band’s life. … Continue Reading
Scott H. Biram
Bad Ingredients
Bloodshot
By Al Kaufman
Scott H. Biram doesn’t give a shit.
The Austinite simply wants to wail on his guitar and belt out some hillbilly blues, which is what he does on Bad Ingredients. There’s no spit-shine polish here. No long-haired, pony-tailed guy twisting knobs in the studio. It’s just lots of hiss, fuzz, feedback and distortion that sounds like it was recording on equipment from the 1920s. Yes, it’s that good.
Hiram has the blues in his soul, and belts them out full of passion and fury. From the Delta sounding “Just Another River” to the loud and nasty “Doncha Lie to Me Baby,” to the straight ahead, the title says it all, “I Want My Mojo Back,” Hiram does not hold back. Even when he gets sweet and sentimental, as he does on the country-tinged “Broke Ass,” a song that Todd Snider would be proud to write, he still lovingly refers to his woman as “my broken piece of ass.” Sorta brings a tear to your eye, don’t it?
Hiram does a nice country turn, covering Bill Monroe’s “Memories of You,” and follows it up with a slow and distorted Lightnin’ Hopkins’ blues ballad, “Have You Ever Loved a Woman.” This in no way sets us up for “Killed a Chicken Last Night,” but, then again, nothing could. It seems that the main character in the song is in love with a Louisiana woman who likes to drink a lot and is never satisfied, so he goes out and kills a chicken. Seems mighty angry about it as well. It’s fun and furious and full of swagger.
As always, Biram’s guitar playing is stellar. Check out the slide on “Born in Jail.” He also plays just about every other instrument on here as well, with that same sort of wild abandon. This is what the music in hell should sound like, and if it is, I don’t want to go to heaven.
Scott H. Biram plays the Black Cat in DC with Jonny Grave & the Tombstones on Thursday, September 22.
Bad Ingredients will be released October 11.
Male Bonding
Endless Now
Sub Pop
By Al Kaufman
John Arthur Webb is not a happy guy. He lives inside his head, and what is in there is the type of stuff that makes Eeyore look like Barney. He just seems so resigned; like he knows his life will always suck and his girlfriend will always leave him. And from this inner torture emerges the type of hook-filled punk-pop that one can only dream about, except for Webb, who admits he “Can’t Dream.”
Endless Now is the sophomore effort of the London trio led by Webb, and it is a a hard sock to the gut. Webb’s guitars slash and burn, and Robin Christian’s drums pound unmercifully. Robin Christian, who shares the singing (and sometime mumbling) duties with Webb, supplies fat bass lines. If it all fuzzes and buzzes a little like Dinosaur Jr, that is to be expected. John Agnello, who has worked with Dinosaur Jr, produced. And the band recorded the album at Dreamland, a converted church in New York where Dinosaur Jr cut Where You Been?. Yet Endless Now has a slightly more polished sound, and while their instruments whizz and whirr, Webb’s voice does not grate like J Mascis’ does. While Mascis sounds like his inner turmoil is about to make him explode, Webb sounds like he just wants to take a nap. It’s calming in its way.
The wonderful thing about Endless Now is that, while all the songs on here (save for the two-minute ballad, “The Saddle,”) offer up a a sort of melodic food fight, each song takes on its own identity. “Tame the Sun” begins with a scratchy bass line until the drums and fuzzy guitars kick in. “Carrying” offers a cool pop sound, complete with some “ah-ah-ah” Beach Boys on heroin chants. “Bones” is powered by its pounding drums but has a goth choir-like ending. A song about feelings and dreams locked inside, the music beautifully conveys that struggle.
But the masterpiece here is “Mysteries Complete.” The guitars and drums duck and dive according to the ever-changing rhythms, but they continue to chug on; as does Webb, even though he confesses that he betrays himself and wishes to leave. It’s a damn fine nugget of pop, as is just about every other ditty on here.
Male Bonding play the Red Palace in DC on Saturday, September 10th.
The War on Drugs
Slave Ambient
Secretly Canadian
By Al Kaufman
Much like Beck is essentially a folk rocker with ambient tendencies, so too are Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs.
The band’s 2008 debut, Wagonwheel Blues, was more of a straight ahead rock and roots affair. Then Kurt Vile left the group for his rather promising solo career and Adam Granduciel became the heart and soul of the now trio. … Continue Reading
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