The Field - Yesterday & Today (2009)

Rating: 8.6

When Yesterday & Today starts, it doesn’t seem like much has changed from the Field’s stellar debut, From Here We Go Sublime. “I Have the Moon, You Have the Internet” sounds fairly similar to what he did for most of that album, settling into trance-like grooves that change subtly over time, but remain fairly similar throughout. Likewise, “The More That I Do” (the first song most people heard from the album), sounds like it could’ve been taken straight from From Here We Go Sublime, with just a few minor changes made at most. Both are just as good as what he did on From Here We Go Sublime, but perhaps not what fans were hoping for, especially since he described the record as more organic than its predecessor.

But, while Axel Willner is still doing what Axel Willner does, his new album does show musical growth. The Krautrock elements found near the end of “Leave It” and on album closer “Sequenced” display a new technique in his repertoire, one he uses to great effect on both songs, making them highlights of the album. They also provide the organic feel, as does the title track, with its use of some live drumming to augment his otherwise totally sequenced sound. Likewise, on “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime,” his use of vocals is very ethereal, rather than the mantra-like repetition of short wordless fragments of Sublime songs like “Over the Ice.”

As such, about half the album feels like a throwback to Sublime, a slightly updated take on the sound of that album. The other half shows him pushing in new directions. While he does both very well, it makes the album slightly less cohesive than Sublime. The result is that he has made a very good transitory album, one that suggests that he his next album could be even better if he pursues the new sounds found here even further. Fans of Sublime will no doubt enjoy this album, as it is another very solid entry in what is looking to become a very impressive discography.

-Pnoom

Piper's Single Reviews: Issue 6

This is the sixth installment of Piper's Single Reviews. Each post, I will review six songs by various indie and/or alternative bands (or artists that you might chance upon when listening to an American college or modern rock station) and rate them on a scale from 1 to 10.


Company of Thieves - Oscar Wilde
Company of Thieves seem really out of place on Wind Up Records, the home of active rock radio stalwarts Creed and Evanescense and emo bands like Tickle Me Pink. In fact, the closest sounding band on the label is Welsh alternative rock act People in Planes. Which is saying alot because Company of Thieves sound nothing like People in Planes. CoT is an indie rock band from Chicago led by singer Genevieve Schatz, whose singing voices sounds like Regina Spektor without the Russian accent. Their single "Oscar Wilde" is filled with hooks (notably second half of the chorus and first verse). The video for the song - like ones by The Decemberists and Shout Out Louds before it - is a Wes Anderson homage. It's a really good song and if we lived in a perfect world, it would be a big alternative radio hit.
9/10

Regina Spektor - Laughing With
Speaking of Regina Spektor, "Laughing With" is the antifolk singer/songwriter/pianist's new single. I really enjoyed Spektor's last two records, 2003's Soviet Kitsch and 2006's Begin to Hope and "Laughing With" gives me high hopes for her new release Far. Its not as good as "Us" or "Better" and it sounds like it was made specifically to soundtrack a somber scene on Grey's Anatomy with its lines about all the misery that God brings the human race, but its a nice little teaser for what i'm hoping is one of the highlight albums of 2009.
7/10

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Wind Phoenix
Cymbals Eat Guitars are Pitchfork-endorsed indie band from Staten Island, New York. "Wind Phoenix" is the clear standout on their debut album Why There Are Mountains. CEG's singer - who goes by the whimsically goofy name of Joseph Ferocious - sounds just barely like Jeremy Egnik of Sunny Day Real Estate and the band's sound itself is vaguely psychedelic and I can hear an influence of Olivia Tremor Control and other Elephant 6 bands in their sound as well. A great song and I have high hopes for them in the future.
9.5/10


Wilco - Wilco (The Song)
This seems to be the first single from Wilco's upcoming Wilco (The Album). It was premiered last October when the band performed it on The Colbert Report. The song is very piano heavy and reminds me alot of the Sky Blue Sky highlight "Walken". Its also probably one of the strongest songs in the Wilco catalog, up there with "War on War" and "Heavy Metal Drummer". This has to be one of my favorite songs of the year so far.
10/10

311 - Hey You
Oh, they still exist? Everyone stopped liking this band (who produced a handful of rock radio classics, notably the always popular "Down" and "All Mixed Up") after they recorded the pop crossover smash "Amber" (which is a really wretched song) and a terrible cover of "Love Song" by The Cure. This song tries to capture the sound they had in their heyday but wind up sounding really flat and really bored. These guys clearly aren't having any fun anymore
3.5/10

Kings of Leon - Revelry
This is not as good as their other singles. It doesn't make me want to listen to it again the way that "Molly's Chambers", "The Bucket", "On Call" or "Use Somebody" do. "Notion" would've been a better choice for single #3 from Only By the Night. It's not a bad song, but its forgettable and not up to the same standards as Kings of Leon's other singles.
5.5/10

Piper's Single Reviews: Issue 5

This is the fifth installment of Piper's Single Reviews. Each post, I will review six songs by various indie and/or alternative bands (or artists that you might chance upon when listening to an American college or modern rock station) and rate them on a scale from 1 to 10.


Hockey - Too Fake
By all accounts, I should hate this band. They're an American ripoff of British "new rave" bands like Friendly Fires and Klaxons. However, because both of those bands are fantastic, some of that excellence rubs off on even carbon copies, which is the case with Portland, Oregon's Hockey, a band that somehow stumbled into a record deal with Columbia Records. "Too Fake" is not a great song in any sense, but its damn fun. At times, it seems to copy parts of "Skeleton Boy" by Friendly Fires, "Dance in my Blood" by Men Women and Children and "The Perfect Kiss" by New Order (doesn't that intro sound familiar?), but I expect that isn't very hard in electro-disco-rock, since most of it kind of sounds the same anyway. Overall, a pleasant and breezy summer song, but it won't find Hockey any die-hard fans.
7.0/10

Black Kids - Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo)
Shit, remember these guys? Their whole hype was created by a handful of great demos on their MySpace page and a glowing review of the same demos on Pitchfork. Then once their debut studio album, Partie Traumatic came out, Pitchfork half-assed a bad review (look it up, it's a picture of two pugs) and everyone who cared about them forgot about them. "Look At Me" follows the UK hits "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" and "Hurricane Jane" as the third single from Traumatic and its alright. I mean, It's certainly no "Boyfriend" or "Hurricane", both quality alternative radio tunes. Singer Reggie Youngblood tries to sound British on the chorus (he's from Jacksonville, Florida, folks) and like most attempts to do so from American bands, sounds fake and forced. Still not a bad song though. One of those songs you'll listen to if your local college or indie-loving alternative radio stations play it, but not something to download on your hard drive.
6.5/10

Band of Skulls - I Know What I Am
Band of Skulls sound like a mix between The Kills and The Asteroids Galaxy Tour mixed in with a bit of Kings of Leon. The chorus for their single "I Know What I Am" sounds really damn familiar. This is because it cribs the melody from "Sour Cherry" by The Kills, but manages to make it better. In fact, the band seems to have a very Kills-esque back-and-forth between the male singer and the female singer. I was surprised to find out that the members of the band were English because the vocals sound very American on this song. Like the Black Kids song, its another song that you won't mind on indie-leaning alternative radio, but if you're not into that sort of thing, pass.
6.5/10

Dan Deacon - Paddling Ghost
This is probably my favorite song from Dan Deacon's latest album Bromst . This might have something to do with the fact that it is easily the most accessible song on the record. Everyone I know insists that "Snookered" is the best song from Bromst but I didn't really care for it. "Paddling Ghost" is successful in the same kind of radio friendly what-the-fuckery that made Animal Collective's "Peacebone" a college radio hit. It build satisfactory and ends in a very fun and sunny way.
8/10

The Prodigy - Omen
Oh, Prodigy, why do you even try anymore? Prodigy's new record Invaders Must Die sold like gangbusters in England despite the fact they have not been relevant in almost 10 years. Their two major US hits "Smack My Bitch Up" and "Firestarter" were way back in the mid-90s, when we thought electronica was charming. "Omen" is exactly like you'd think a new Prodigy single sounds in 2009: very tired. Once you hit a certain age, clubbing and taking drugs becomes extremely embarrassing. Prodigy should take this hint.
4/10

Bat for Lashes - Daniel
I think that Pitchfork and the 4,000 other blogs who made this connection are totally right: Bat for Lashes' new single "Daniel" is totally her "Running Up That Hill". I'm not going as far to say that BFL is the new Kate Bush, but "Daniel" is the closest anyone's made to emulating the reclusive alternative singer's style since she last released an album in 2005. "Daniel" is also the best song BFL has ever done, beating out her previous big hit, the trip-hop influenced "What's a Girl to Do?". If "Daniel" is anything to go by, expect big thing from Bat for Lashes in the future
9.5/10

Piper's Single Reviews: Issue 4

This is the fourth installment of Piper's Single Reviews. Each post, I will review six songs by various indie and/or alternative bands (or artists that you might chance upon when listening to an American college or modern rock station) and rate them on a scale from 1 to 10. Sorry about the delay, I usually do this on Fridays, but something came up.

Animal Collective - My Girls
This is the first single from Animal Collective's excellent new album Merriweather Post Pavilion. It is the sex. That is all.
10/10

Kasabian - Vlad the Impaler
Kasabian are known as one of the few bands still making music in the "alternative dance" genre that Big Audio Dynamite once ruled in the late 80s and early 90s. "Vlad the Impaler" is the preview track (not the first single, although it is certainly singleworthy) from their upcoming Dan "The Automator" Nakamura-produced third record The West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum and is just as anthemic as "Club Foot" or "Empire". It's a good song, but I have a feeling it could be the starting point for some great dance floor filling remixes.
8.5/10

Passion Pit - The Reeling
Coming off the internet buzz of their 2008 EP Chunk of Change and its single "Sleepyhead", The Passion Pit have released "The Reeling", the first single from their new album Manners. It's probably the most 1980s sounding song that has been released in the past few which is quite a feat to say the least. It's got a nice beat and good chorus and actually managed to be infinitely better than "Sleepyhead". This is probably one of the finest songs of the year right here.
9.5/10

Green Day - Know Your Enemy
Who would've thought that Green Day, of all bands would wind up being one of the most popular alternative rock bands again? The band's first wave of popularity was between 1994 and 1996 with their wonderful third album Dookie and the harder Insomniac. Their next two albums - nimrod. and Warning: featured a few good songs (OK, two a piece: "Hitchin' A Ride" and "Macy's Day Parade", respectively) but were otherwise middling. Then in 2004, the band released another middling album, American Idiot (again, it featured one good song - the nine minute "Jesus of Suburbia"), but it managed to become their second breakthrough spinning off their biggest hits since nimrod.'s "Time of Your Life". Now they're back with a new single called "Know Your Enemy" - the first single from their upcoming eighth album 21st Century Breakdown. It's not very good. In fact, it's instrumentation sounds a bit too much like Bad Religion's 1994 hit "Infected". The lyrics are forgettable, you'll know that the words "know your enemy" are sung ad nauseum but you're not sure how or when a few hours after listening. Such is the laziness of the songwriting of Billie Joe Armstrong. But no what I or any other critic says, it's going to be a hit anyway. You will eventually remember how the song goes after the four zillionth time you hear it on the radio this year.
5.5/10

Camera Obscura - French Navy
"French Navy" is the new single from My Maudlin Career, the fourth album by unsmiling twee pop outfit Camera Obscura. Like most CO songs, its all about the vocals of leader/guitarist Tracyanne Campbell, who sounds like a cross between a member of a 60's girl group and Amelia Fletcher of twee pop heroes Heavenly. "French Navy" is probably the band's best single since "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken", and even without a strong chorus it manages to be extremely catchy
8.5/10

Blue October - Dirt Room
Blue October's 2006 pop and rock radio hit "Hate Me" brought the long-running Texas rock group into the national spotlight for the first time in their eleven year career. Foiled, the album featuring "Hate Me" and its followup rock radio hit, the divine "Into the Ocean" was one of the best rock albums to go platinum that year. The band follows up that record with their highly anticipated fifth album Approaching Normal. The first single "Dirt Room", sadly, does not live up to the hype that was expected. Its a revenge song about the narrator kidnapping someone who really, really pissed him off. The song is cursed with bad lyrics and an embarrassingly terrible second verse. It seems to serve the purpose of showing fair-weather fans of the band's two big singles that Blue October can rock hard. Unfortunately, Blue October kinda sucks when they rock hard (they do some good up tempo songs, though). There's better choices for a first single on Approaching Normal ("Say It", anyone?) than this stumbling block.
5/10

Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster...

Rating: 9.0/10
Release: 2008
Label: Wichita/Arts & Crafts












[an earlier version of this review appeared on the forums of the website DigitalDreamDoor on August 18, 2008. The review has been significantly altered from its original form to add, remove and expand some content and to fix some egregious spelling errors.]

Its pretty safe to say that the two best debut albums released in 2008 were by Welsh indie pop septet Los Campesinos! and Brooklyn alt-rock heroes Vampire Weekend. It's even safer to say, that upon comparing the two, Hold on Now, Youngster..., the offering by Los Campesinos!, is a better record than Vampire Weekend's. Vampire Weekend's record drowned to death in a wave of unanimous praise and non stop press coverage that continues eight months after it's release. However, the only press coverage Hold on Now Youngster got was a few scattered reviews, yet most of those were positive. Everyone from respected journeyman critic Robert Christgau, to Allmusic to Pitchfork Media loved this album. In fact, the only bad review i've found was from Alternative Press, who don't count anyway, because its an awful magazine and it mostly focuse on the "pop punk/emo" side of music instead of, you know, actual alternative rock. Also, unlike Vampire Weekend, which made the fatal flaw of featuring 5 of the records' best tracks all in a row, How On Now, Youngster works almost like those cassette mixtapes your hipster friends make for you: each track is exactly where it should be.

The band has two lead singers (the other five shout around them): Glockenspiel player Gareth Campesinos! and keyboardist Aleksandra Campesinos! (the band members all share the last name "Campesinos!" and their song lyrics are attributed to "Team Campesinos!". Their real names are on the internet via one or two music publishing sites, but I prefer to respect the band's naming conventions) who have the ability to not only to blend their voices perfectly together but also have the ability to build off of one another but also are able to sing in the classic "call/response" style ala Heavenly's classic twee duet with Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson, "C is the Heavenly Option" (which the band actually covered). This is best exemplified by "We Are All Accelerated Readers" in which Aleksandra answers back to Gareth's "And no more conversations about what Breakfast Club character you'd be, I'd be the one that dies" with "no one dies" to which Gareth replies "oh well, then what's the point?"

The first track "Death to Los Campesinos!" is a strong song and great choice to open up the record (it actually starts with the band tuning their instruments of all things). In the course of the track's nearly three minute running time, the band manages to rhyme "botany" with "dichotomy" without sounding pompous, singer Gareth actually pulls off the lyric "i'll be ctrl-alt-deleting your face with no reservations". And there's the glockenspiel. I actually think they are the only band in the history of ever to actually use the glockenspiel as the featured instrument.

Of course, the main attraction of the album is the fantastic "You! Me! Dancing!" (in a rerecorded and slightly longer version than the version that was issued as a single and appeared on Sticking Fingers Into Sockets, the band's 2007 EP), a track which features a gorgeous and building guitar and violin intro, a nice little rant at the end by Gareth about his confusion over how discos turn the lights on when they want you to leave and supermarkets turn the lights off and - the standout part of the song - a glockenspiel solo. I've previously taken flack proclaiming that "You! Me! Dancing!" is this decade's equivalent of "Marquee Moon" or "Good Morning, Captain". Well, until a better, longish indie/alternative/punk track comes along in the remaining year and a half of this decade I stand by my proclamation.

Other tracks of note include the short but sweet "My Year in Lists", the witty "...And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes in Unison" and "Drop It Doe Eyes" which has some great vocal harmonies.

Are there a few missteps on the album? "Knee Deep at ATP", despite being pretty good, is the most forgettable song on the album, and you want more of "My Year in Lists" due to its brief play time, and "This Is How You Spell "HAHAHA, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics"" is a horrible title of a song, despite it being one of the standouts on the record (and they actually say the title in the song, take that shitty emo bands!). The album ends with "2007: The Year Punk Rock Broke (My Heart)", which has only one verse and then turns into an impressive instrumental. "2007" is not listed on the album, but its not one of those stupid hidden tracks that record labels love to add after a long silence on the last track. It is a seperate track, it's just not listed and the band considers it a "bonus" song.

They could have included the fine single "The International Tweexcore Underground" (released a few months after Sticking Fingers Into Sockets) or "How I Taught Myself to Scream" the wonderful little song the band released to mailing list subscribers a few months after the album's release (it was recorded for HON,Y but the band did not include it in the final track list). But the album is still a great listen that only wets for We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, the band's second "record" (its too long to be an EP and too short to an album), released only 7 months after, which is another excellent album that proved that Los Campesinos! weren't a one album wonder and that Hold On Now, Youngster... was no fluke.

Note: "The International Tweexcore Underground" does appear on the Japanese release of the CD along that cover of "C is the Heavenly Option" by Heavenly and a completely unexpected cover of "Police Story" by Black Flag. Of course, you're not going to buy the Japanese import, are you?

- Piper

Piper's Single Reviews: Issue 3

This is the third installment of Piper's Single Reviews. Each post, I will review six songs by various indie and/or alternative bands (or artists that you might chance upon when listening to an American college or modern rock station) and rate them on a scale from 1 to 10.

Sonic Youth - Sacred Trickster
Buzzing along in just over two minutes (it does begin with some guitar dissonance), and sounding just barely like the band's masterpiece "Teen Age Riot", "Sacred Trickster" is a preview track (and possibly the new single from) the band's upcoming record The Eternal (to be released on Matador and is their first indie label release since Daydream Nation). Like many of my favorite SY songs (of course, excluding the Thurston Moore-sung "Teen Age Riot"), its sung by bassist Kim Gordon. It's got a good guitar riff, but its over far too quickly for me to make much sense of it. Good track, though.
7.5/10

P.O.S. - Optimist (We Are Not For Them)
Stefon Alexander, the punk-influenced alternative rapper, has finally had his breakthrough after two overlooked albums with Never Better. Of course, the hip-hop mainstream will never accept P.O.S. or his ilk (Why?, Atmosphere, the entire Definitve Jux roster) becuase alternative rap is often seen as apart of alternative rock (and alternative rock fans do make up most of the genre's fanbase). "Optimist", with its odd time signature, mellow tempo and what seems to be a sample of cup stacking as its main beat source, is not going to end this generalization. It's too damn weird for hip-hop radio, who mostly want to play the same gangsta and dance rap to no end. However, it sounds just at home on college radio, where P.O.S. has flourished. That cup stacking sample is really what makes this track great, along with P.O.S.' rapping as you know just what you're getting into with "Optimist". P.O.S. includes his trademark Fugazi-influenced screams at the end of the track, but surprisingly he doesn't sound as emo here as some of his detractors claim to be. All-in-all a good track that should find a home on anyone's hard drive
10/10

Doves - Kingdom of Rust
The title track of British indie rock stalwarts Doves new record Kingdom of Rust is mostly dominated by acoustic guitar, which pushes it towards an expansive chorus and one of Jimi Goodwin's best vocal performances. This song alone proves that the long wait for a new Doves album has been worth it. The song is easily one of the best songs of this year, and it definitely deserves to stand along side Doves' other high quality singles like "There Goes the Fear" and "Black and White Town"
9.5/10

The Low Anthem - The Horizon is a Beltway
Not alot of people outside of New England have heard of the Rhode Island folk rock band The Low Anthem, but their recent signing to Nonesuch Records, their performance at Coachella and their upcoming appearences at Lollapalooza and the Newport Folk Festival are going the change that. The trio - multi-instrumentalists Ben Knox Miller, Jeff Prystowsky and Jocie Adams - released their third album Oh My God, Charlie Darwin in September 2008 (it will be rereleased by Nonesuch later this year). The highlight from that record is "The Horizon is a Beltway" a song that mixes the acoustic sound of Fleet Foxes with the rollicking alt-bar band sound of The Hold Steady. The track's chorus, dominated by the line "the skyline's on fire" is soaring and its a shame that the song isn't longer.
8.5/10

Peter Bjorn and John - Nothing to Worry About
After conquering the world with "Young Folks" - easily the most popular indie rock song since "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service - Swedish trio Peter Bjorn and John are back with "Nothing to Worry About" which features a chorus of children singing along with Peter Moren on the chorus. It is nowhere as good as "Young Folks", but its still an OK indie song. It really could've been better, though
6.5/10

Dogs Die in Hot Cars - Pop Nonsense
Back in 2004, a Scottish band called Dogs Die in Hot Cars released an album called Please Describe Yourself, a fun alternative pop album featuring three fantastic singles - "I Love You 'Cause I Have You" (if you remember DDiHC at all, chances are its for this song), "Godhopping" and "Lounger". It was moderatly successful in the UK and the band developed a small cult following in the US. Then shortly after, the band disappeared: they announced their breakup in 2006, midway through their second album. Flash foward to late 2008, where singer Craig MacIntosh and keyboardist Ruth Quigley re-emerged, announcing that the Dogs were back. The band released the 17 demos from their second album on their website urging fans to remix the songs, add their own instrumentation, vocals, whatever. Several people have said that the demos are already good as is, and one in particular - "Pop Nonsense" - truly stands out from the crowd. While its nowhere as good as "I Love You 'Cause I Have To", its still a good song. The chorus is a little doofy and so are most of the lyrics in general, but that's kind of the charm of it: it's really stupid but really fun. However, that's not what the Dogs were about in 2004; they were a pop group for smart kids. They're still a great band and many of the demos are good as they are, but maybe DDiHC lost their way on their second album (which is not a reason to abandon it). Here's hoping that the band continues after the project. I'm waiting for a full Dogs Die in Hot Cars reunion.
7.0/10

Walé - The Mixtape About Nothing

Rating: 8.9

Release Date: May 30, 2008
Label: Self-Released

At the beginning of the “Perfect Plan”, an audio clip of Jerry Seinfeld is heard saying “It’s the perfect plan. So inspired - so devious - yet, so simple!” with George Costanza smuggly recountering “This is what I do”. This is kind of how this mixtape works. We all stand back in awe like Jerry, while Walé basks in his own accidental genius, very much like George himself, only with a higher success rate.
Inspired? Oh yeah. As Lil Wayne predicted, 2008 was a year-long drought for rap music, sans Weezy’s own effort. Tracks from Tha Carter III monopolized the radiowaves all year long like he was Microsoft in the 90s. When Walé came out with this one, it was almost completely ignored until the end of the year. The beats and production are so crazy and the lyrics are fresh to death.
Devious? Well, on the topic of lyrics, TMAN could very well be seen as a practice in overanalysis. With it’s theme revolving around the sitcom Seinfeld, Walé managed to come up with one of the greatest concept albums in hip-hop history ever. Looking beyond the nothingness of each episode and their topics, he seems to read them as an outward commentary on society. Well at least that’s how he incorporates them into his raps. He uses Seinfeld as a never-ending allegory for hip-hop. Whether it be talking about self-loathing racism (“The Kramer”), the decline of the industry (aforementioned “The Perfect Plan”), selling out (“The Artistic Integrity”), and even (un)intentional parody of Lil Wayne’s 2008 throne (aptly titled “The Cliché Lil Wayne Feature”).
Yet, so simple. At 73-minutes, The Mixtape About Nothing never outstays it’s welcome, and for an album so full of surprises, the biggest surprise is definitely it’s replayability factor (well except for the Julia-Louis Dreyfus cameo, but what’re you gonna do?). While exploring every nook and cranny of the hip-hop pond while it was drained due to drought, Walé made a mixtape that’s not just a hypemaker for his upcoming official debut, he made a full-fledged album, the best hip-hop album of last year, in fact.