Liars
(Mute Records)
Just as a whole slew of hipster bands, from the Rapture to the Radio 4, continue to find success with the gritty-yet-poppy elements of dance-punk, Liars have chosen to ditch their contemporary's musical genre and devote their efforts into creating a noisy concept album about, of all things, witches.
Liars' perplexing but extremely engaging new record is inspired by the great witch trials of the 16th century. Exploring the anonymous and captivating deaths the persecuted suffered is an odd undertaking for any album let alone one by a New York-based band best known for its previous and so un-witch album, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top.
Liars' song and album titles have always been amusingly undecipherable, but this may be one of few qualities fans of their previous albums will recognize. sound is distinctively more electronic and less guitar-based than their prior releases. The modulated bass responsible for the driving pace of \Mr. You're on Fire Mr."" and ""The Garden Was Crowded and Outside"" is also less central to this album. Noise is also a more pronounced element on but for practical reasons: noise was believed to repel the dark spirits that inhabited the German countryside.
The album's concept was conceived on April 31, Walpurgisnacht, a night where witches were believed to gather on Brocken Mountain in Germany to participate in one final heretical sabbath before spring arrived. During Europe's early Renaissance, Christians accused thousands of people of being witches-girls, boys, men and women were thrown into rivers and lakes, only proving their innocence after sinking to the bottom. The songs on successfully convey the heightened anxiety of those cursed times and places by using alternate perspectives in the songs-from witch to innocent to accused. Drowned was recorded in New Jersey's remaining deep, dark woods and the band would walk outside late at night to induce panic and fear, adding to the authenticity of the record.
With its prominent distortion and often incomprehensible lyrics, 's theme may not be readily apparent to listeners, but the dark tone of the record is obvious. The opening track, ""Brocken Witch"" establishes an unsettling tone as ""Blood / blood/ blood"" is repeatedly chanted. The record's single, ""There's Always Room on the Broom,"" sounds the most like Liars' previous work. A sped-up, abrasive and bass-driven song, the track features lead singer Angus Andrew's memorable falsetto. The last song on the album, ""Flow My Stupid Tears the Spider Said,"" smacks of ""Something Wicked This Way Comes"" with its demonic-carousel riffs. The track closes by placing the listener outside with , unrecognizable noises and curious birdcalls.
Although Drowned may be passed off as some new reincarnation of devilish rock, self-serving or maniacal, the album ultimately succeeds because of Liars' ability to completely and unapologetically embrace their muse.
-Kristin V. Johnson
All Night Radio
(Sub Pop)
Almost every musician who dabbles in home recording goes through a phase of unabashed effects usage. Pitch shifted and robotic vocals, insane echo, and mountaintop reverb are all well and good for a time, but eventually most people move on.
All Night Radio's former band, The Beachwood Sparks, decreased effects and excessive overdubbing with their last EP, Make the Cowboy Robots Cry, which features subtle electronics and lazy acoustic country-folk. But on their debut album , Dave Scher and Jimi Hey of All Night Radio are yet to outgrown their effects loving ways.
Effects are not an evil presence in kill rock 'n' roll by any means. But when they become overused it may signal that a band is trying to cover up for something. This is not the case with All Night Radio, although they do have an almost unhealthy reverb infatuation. The vocals are very spacey and melodic, but instead of highlighting them in the mix, they sound like they are under water and slightly buried behind some blips, laser guns and guitar tracks. Although they sacrifice the intelligibly of the vocals for reverb and echo, their cosmic wall of sound production makes the songs almoststand up on their own instrumentally.
This is because the musical aspect of the song writing is top notch. They are not satisfied with just stacking verses and choruses on top of each other for 10 songs and then collecting their huge Sub Pop Records check. They have many instrumental sections in each song that are unexpected and creative. ""You'll Be On Your Own"" is compositionally great with a Nuggets style guitar riff, distorted bass and a space/folk/pop section. ""Daylight to Dawn"" and ""Sad K"" feature uplifting '60's pop choruses that will make any day feel better.
The main problem that greatly affects the quality of the songwriting and production is that often they get so hung up on sound effects they won't end the song. The Beatles used long fade-outs on their later LP's that gave you a bizarre treat before you had to flip the record. All Night Radio overuse this same trick-they put long fade outs in almost every song. Some of their endings are so long The Ramones could have played one song and started in another.
The inability to end a song rears its head the worst during the last track ""All Night Radio."" The song itself is a nice psych-pop gem with the title repeated over and over, but at about the four minute mark the song itself ends but the effects keep going for another three minutes. Ether an attempt to make that brilliant ending album epic or to plays into the concept of an insomniac's night waning down until dawn, if they ended at the four-minute mark they could have left the listener with a happy feeling. Instead it goes on for another three minutes.
Overall there are many creative melodies and production techniques in a number of songs on "" that will hold up with multiple plays because of their intelligent arrangements. But all of their accomplishments are overshadowed by effects overindulgence. With a quality producer to keep them in check their next album could be a space rock masterpiece.
-Eric Van Vleet
Dolorean
(Yep Roc)
What would happen-one shudders to imagine-if other bands followed Dolorean's example and named themselves after cars that conjure up images diametrically opposed to their sound? The Strokes could rename themselves the Camrys. The Shins might find the Tonka Monster Trucks a more suitable name. The Datsuns would, of course, remain the same, thus avoiding confusion and legalheadaches.
Happily, on their debut album, Dolorean sound nothing like the connotations their name implies-the '80s, sporty/fast, Michael J. Fox. In fact, the album's title concisely nails their sound: . One could add: not groundbreaking, not bad, not brilliant.
The album's first sound, a mournful cello, sets the mood for the entire album-lush, pretty and sad.It also announces the influence of Nick Drake, which lingers over this album like a dark cloud.Dolorean's singer-songwriter Al James also acknowledges the influence of Harvest-era Neil Young that is strongly evident in his introspective, acoustic songs.A musician whose songs flirt with folk and country could hardly pick better influences.However, James lacks the charisma and musical genius of either Drake or Young.
You can't fault him much for not measuring up to these musical divinities on his debut, though.Indeed, is an assured and often-gorgeous album that has a lot going for it.
's nine tracks were recorded live in the studio during a five-day session, making the album sound like a performance. The result is a kind of rustic honesty that is ultimately winning.
Veteran producer Jeff Saltzman (Stephen Malkmus, Death Cab) contributes mandolin on the album's first standout track, ""Jenny Place Your Bets.""The song, which sounds like it came off Wilco's Being There, deftly compares a poker game to a failing relationship.James sings, with a palpable sense of defeat: ""It's hard to know how/To play this game with precision/I think I should go now/It doesn't look like I'm winning.""
Many of 's songs, while often beautiful, tend to have overly subtle melodies, which makes many tracks sound too similar.""So You're A Touring Band Now,"" features the strongest melody of the bunch and is instantly likable.
""Sleeperhold"" could conceivably have been written and performed by an early incarnation of Ryan Adams-although the lack of bar references discredits this theory.""Hannibal, MO,"" the album's darkest and most intriguing song, could pass as a revision of Young's ""Down by the River."" This haunting narrative about a lover being lost to the sea, a murder charge and a family's threat of vengeance shows how gifted James is as a gifted songwriter.
Dolorean havecreated a quiet, searching albumthat recalls the late Elliot Smith. This is an album that you need to sit with and let unfold at its own delicatepace.But if you do,if you listen closely,you will be rewarded with's many subtle pleasures.
-Adam Malecek
