Indie and Lo-Fi music reviews

My favorite album for the past couple years. While some may not appreciate the slow pace of the songs, each grows on you. Try listening to it as background music first. This is also a great CD to start listening to Iron & Wine - this is the most polished, studio-produced of their (his?) music. If you enjoy this album, I'd recommend The Creek Drank the Cradle for your next purchase.

I am a huge fan of catchy, quiet yet melodic folk/pop. If you enjoy this album then I strongly recommend that you check out the following:
1) What's Next To The Moon by Mark Kozelek
2) Paper Dolls And Paper Plates by Fear Of Commitment
3) So Tonight That I Might See by Mazz Star
4) 21 Singles by Jesus and Mary Chain

Iron and Wine's "Our Endless Numbered Days" is a fine treasure that I'm glad I invested money in. Blending what seems like Folk, Country, and maybe Blues in an Indie fashion, Sam Beam really shows his colors on this album.

Don't expect another "The Creek Drank the Cradle", "Our Endless Numbered Days" is completely different. Sam Beam doesn't show as much country influence in this album, but keeps the country instruments in the mix. If you're expecting more lo-fi, don't, Our Endless Numbered Days is mixed professionally and perfectly.

There are tracks like "On Your Wings", "Teeth in the Grass", and "Free Until They Cut Me Down" which will get your lips pressed out and your head boppin', which is one style that Sam Beam likes to portray. Then there are beautiful songs throughout the album as well, like "Naked As We Came", "Sunsets Soon Forgotten", "Fever Dream", and "Passing Afternoon. The mix of the two genres makes an interesting meal of an album that will keep you listening the whole way through.

Acoustic Guitars, Banjos, Snare Drums, Sam Beam and his sister's vocals, hints of piano, and other acoustic instruments keep the traditional and physical aspect of music alive. Melodies and vocal patterns composed though are very unique and very nice for the soul.

My personal favorite on this album is either "Radio War" or "Passing Afternoon". Radio War is a brief idea using simple high-octave guitar chords and Sam Beam's amazing vocals. Passing Afternoon is a constant build-up of soothing melodies and beautiful lyrics.

I enjoy every track on this album and have been listening to it constantly (almost daily) since I bought it a few months ago.

If you like unique bands, like most on Sub Pop, or acoustic guitar folk singers, then you'll LOVE "Our Endless Numbered Days".

I've heard this album referred to as the first one where they don't sound like they're just putting muddy demos on store shelves. In some ways, I agree. In other ways, it still has that muddy sound that many love about Pavement.

It's definitely the most accessible Pavement album, possibly second to Terror Twilight, but if you're interested in them either album is a great place to start.

But is it good? Yes! The riffs are catchy, the guys are adding new sounds to their style, and you just have a good time hearing the songs. Malkmus continues to belt out absurdist lyrics in his quirky yet alluring voice, and the rest of the band backs him with equally quirky charm. Give it a spin.

3 1/2 stars

Listenening to this album reminds one who can know better of when it actually meant something to be labled "alternative" and "indie"..Not that the label itself means anything, but the fact that it used to represent an aspect of music that was meant to dissect the normality of predictable, zombified sludge that sucks the life out of people and passes for the majority of consummed goods in our audio markets.. When bands like Pavement were in their prime back in the 90's, it must have felt really good to be a part of, as opposed to the marketed indie-esqe bands that continue to amplify today.. What seperates Stephen Malkimus from the wannabe generation to follow? The utmost respect for his own creative process in every track, and fortunately he has the talent to back it up..In what may be Pavements most solid album, the singer-songwriter does not waste any time in trying to get to know you and like you..If you want to get to know him and his band though, you will be entitled to some first class warped lyrics and first class defragmented pop songwriting..

It's impossible to pick a favorite Pavement album, but this one would definitely be close. I've always loved the songs "Shady Lane" and "Passat Dream". Not one of their most adventuresome albums, but still insanely awesome.

I can't decide which is more ugly, stomach-turning, and vile, the cover or the music inside. All the people who like this drivel better be glad that people like them were able to gain control of the American music mags such as Spin, etc. Otherwise this band and the horrible drivel they make would be consigned to the dustbin of obscurity. Well you can't win them all.

This album is a gem... mostly because you can really see the spark of something great in it.. which the band went on to create some wonderful and inspiring music over their 10 year career.

If i had been the ceo at matador and this album landed on my desk i might have thrown it out, if it weren't for the quirky genious of Stephen Malkmus' lyrics and the nifty guitar perversions the rest of the band keeps up with. Songs like "Conduit for Sale" which at first agitate you with its lo-fi assault... gradually trains your ears to adapt to understanding that not all music has to be prepackaged and glossed for you to realize how good it is. Songs like "Here" and "Perfuma-V" become instant classics, the former for its unconfindent lyrics sang with such acceptance of the subject matter. The end result of the album itself is the equivalent of Star treatment of the B-movie actor (not that i'm saying Pavement is a B-rated band... they're quite an A-list act, if you've heard different you must've heard it from Billy Corgan, and that's because he's jealous).

The B-sides, live tracks and Radio ONe-offs are awesome... restored so brilliantly it really feels like you're tuning into the radio and catching something new by the unheard of band Pavement...and helps send you into deep respect for re-experiencing (or in my case experiencing for the first time) a bands Roots.

This album is definately worth 4 stars, and should be enough to push you to their 5 star follow up "CROOKED RAIN, CROOKED RAIN" which has also recieved the 2 disc special edition treatment that Matador owes them.

Pavement had a perfect sound forever right here on S&E. My friends always thought they sounded terrible and I just couldn't hear it. All I heard was beautiful songs played and sung shambolically, but in such a great combination of earnest/kiss off flare, it made them even better songs than if they had been played and sung "competently." This is and was a truly groundbreaking album in terms of tossing off perfection which a lot of people have tried to do since. The new edition compiles some stuff that used to be sold seperately or was otherwise hard to find and they're all a boon for anyone who hadn't owned it before. I bought it again because I love this album so much. Now I have the original CD and this one. I'm just really bummed I neve saw them live. Nobody would ever go with me.

Issac Brock may be one of the smartest lyricists of all time. It has more to do with a greater understanding where and how you fit in the grand scheme of things than anything else. The lyrics are awe inspiring, and not just for one song, but seemingly verse after verse. Modest Mouse shed its simple songwritng from the older albums and became an indie rock band for the thinking man.

First of all, if you have heard "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" and have not heard anything else by Modest Mouse, forget everything you thought you knew about Modest Mouse. Building Nothing Out of Something is a dissonent, pure, and instightful album, unlike their watered-down new album, Good News"

And yes, i said album, even though it is a collection of previously unreleased and old material, there is more toghetherness and solidarity than a lot of other "albums" out there. What makes Modest Mouse, Modest Mouse is the evolution of each song. For instance medication goes from a lugubrious, down tempo mumble into a light, bouncing progression and back to the first tempo, this time with lyrics kick you in the chest. I know it sounds dumb when i explain it but it has to be something you hear to fully understand. Neverending Math equation is a tremedously effective opener and Workin on leaving the living is one of the most serene, beautiful songs on the album, albeit repetitive. Other excellent tracks are Baby Blue sedan sleep walking and Grey ice water. My favorite however, is the closer, Other peoples lives. If you dont hear any other MM song in your entire life, make sure this one is it. All i can say is, oh my god. Although MM is one of the best bands out there, in my opinion, they arent very accesible but if you like MM you REALLY like them. You'll just have to listen and find out where you stand.

I know it's not an official album but I could care less. To me, every song on this album is amazing. I would say it's a greatest hits album if I didn't know better.

I just want to say this to anyone discovering MM: Go out and buy every Built to Spill album. I found out about them years after I bought The Lonesome Crowded West and was so dissapointed because I missed out on them. Trust me, if you love MM you will become infatuated with Built to Spill.

Modest Mouse has the best lyrics that I have ever heard and this cd has the best by far. Its cold and dark setting in the music makes you want to go to Alaska and then hate it. It is a great cd to drive down the road and have it really loud. Grey Ice Water is the best because I can picture them in Alaska or somewhere cold and it makes them feel lonely and depressed.

The best way to describe the songs on this cd would be if you had a talented song writer come up with some great music, but then have it performed by two unbelievably high guys on a 4-track. Most of the songs seem like complete garbage, but if you look past the weird sound effects, drum machine, and distorted vocals, you'll find some great songs. To best hear them like that, just listen to recent live versions.

My personal favorites are Oh My Dear (Falling In Love), Frank, Pork Roll Egg and Cheese, and Sketches of Winkle.

I cannot deny this is one of the most brilliant rock records in history. It's like the mangiest, smelliest, yet most adorable stray dog you ever met on the street. It is rough, it is raw, and, at the time it came out, was "wrong" in every way compared to everything else at the time. It's one of Ween's funniest records... the more you listen to it the more the jokes sink in, to the point where it becomes part of your life, mang.

Up there with The Mollusk if you ask me!

If you ever listened to their later albums (c & c, mollusk, white pepper, quebec and most recently shinola) and wondered, how do these guys come up with stuff so cool and original while maintaining such high musical quality? Your questions will be answered when venturing a listen to The Pod. God Ween Satan was kind of the first discovery of brown and boognish (two words any ween afficionado should become familiar with immediately) and is a mad cap romp through the new world.

The Pod is the mastering of this world, and the establishment of a musical expression that is unparalleled in its uniqueness. The Pod is the reason why Ween fans are so anal about other alleged Ween fans. It's like an unadulterated look into the eyes of the boognish, and look that none of us could have uncovered on our own. Ween gets inside you if you get this album, and you feel happier and weirder for it. If you don't get The Pod, you do not get Ween. And that's the bottom line.

To get away from all this philosophical bulls***, this is an unparalleled sing a long album. Go ahead, get in the car, or gather your friends around the stereo at home. Scream "Dr. Rock" . Wail "right to the ways and the rules of the world." Feel on top of the world as "The Stallion." Feel the fuzzy glow of "she ... me." Better yet, go see Ween live. They are kings on stage. Kings among men.

fin.

The best way to describe the songs on this cd would be if you had a talented song writer come up with some great music, but then have it performed by two unbelievably high guys on a 4-track. Most of the songs seem like complete garbage, but if you look past the weird sound effects, drum machine, and distorted vocals, you'll find some great songs. To best hear them like that, just listen to recent live versions.

My personal favorites are Oh My Dear (Falling In Love), Frank, Pork Roll Egg and Cheese, and Sketches of Winkle.

I cannot deny this is one of the most brilliant rock records in history. It's like the mangiest, smelliest, yet most adorable stray dog you ever met on the street. It is rough, it is raw, and, at the time it came out, was "wrong" in every way compared to everything else at the time. It's one of Ween's funniest records... the more you listen to it the more the jokes sink in, to the point where it becomes part of your life, mang.

Up there with The Mollusk if you ask me!

If you ever listened to their later albums (c & c, mollusk, white pepper, quebec and most recently shinola) and wondered, how do these guys come up with stuff so cool and original while maintaining such high musical quality? Your questions will be answered when venturing a listen to The Pod. God Ween Satan was kind of the first discovery of brown and boognish (two words any ween afficionado should become familiar with immediately) and is a mad cap romp through the new world.

The Pod is the mastering of this world, and the establishment of a musical expression that is unparalleled in its uniqueness. The Pod is the reason why Ween fans are so anal about other alleged Ween fans. It's like an unadulterated look into the eyes of the boognish, and look that none of us could have uncovered on our own. Ween gets inside you if you get this album, and you feel happier and weirder for it. If you don't get The Pod, you do not get Ween. And that's the bottom line.

To get away from all this philosophical bulls***, this is an unparalleled sing a long album. Go ahead, get in the car, or gather your friends around the stereo at home. Scream "Dr. Rock" . Wail "right to the ways and the rules of the world." Feel on top of the world as "The Stallion." Feel the fuzzy glow of "she ... me." Better yet, go see Ween live. They are kings on stage. Kings among men.

fin.

The fact that this album wasn't huge amazes me. Not that quality can necessarily be gauged by popularity, but everyone I've known who's listened to this album has loved it. Songs from this album make it onto just about every mix CD I make and everyone asks about it. I love it. I guess you can tell. You probably will too.

one of the finest records of the 90's, for sure, it's incredible that it spawned no hits.

I am listening to the album right now! yep. Because it's good. This is perhaps the most fully developed work Lou Barlow has done to date, and the most consistent all the way through. It is missing some of that fun indie guitar rock that made Dare to Be Surprise and Sebadoh's Bakesale so good, but it makes up for it with some high quality layered and better produced songs (which isn't a bad thing). good songs, some might even make you dance!

3 1/2 stars

The repetition found throughout this disc leads to inspired head bopping serenity that doesn't quite sound, or effect, like anything else out there. At times overcome by their elaborate progressive-pop echo chambers, they often triumph in delivering that rare combination of quirkiness and melancholy, driven by a hungry ear from singer/guitarist in their layering tendencies inside the already intricate guitar and vocal layouts. Unabashedly melodic and quirky with subtly progressive undertones, Pinback can definitely help build some great bridges for some terribly dull music collections for alot of young listeners out there..

Offcell amazed with the 12 minute epic grey machine, Summer in abaddon had its moments of greatness, but it is Blue-Screen Life that remains as their best album to date. Song after song, Pinback delivers with the some of the most fascinating, endlessly replayable indie pop tracks i have ever heard.

Offline P.K. is an extremely good start, sporting the two vocalists trading off lyrics as well as fairly intricate basslines which continue through the disc. Concrete Seconds, Boo, and Penelope are instantly catchy. The remainder of the cd is great until it gets to tres- then its amazing. I could not imagine a more perfect closer than this profoundly beautiful masterpiece. The lyric " There's a definate feeling buried down/ recking itself taking you with me" is repeated through much of the song yet never loses its beauty.
this was actually the first indie album i listened to and is an album of which i compare all others.

Every Pinback album is great, but Blue Screen Life as a whole is my favorite. There really is nothing to compare it to. They have one of the most unique, individual sounds out there right now that is also very listenable. The beats and things they do with the bass and baritone quitar are incredible and like none other. Sure they have their influences, but they have created their own thing, taking full advantage of new home recording technology making simple yet very complex arrangments. Take a listen and see for yourself, it may not be for everybody, but if your like me you will fall in love with the first listen.

This is a beautiful and complicated album. Each song stands out and there are no introductory or gateway songs (as in The Coast is Never Clear). Even the songs that sound like some guy with his guitar at first turn out to be insanely complicated melodies with a thousand different levels and wonderfully deep meanings.

Don't start your Beulah collection with this album; get The Coast is Never Clear (it's easily accecable). If you like it get When your Heartstrings Break [...]. If you like that, get this. Only truly dedicated Beulah fans will spring for the long out-of-print first album, Handsome Western States.

Enjoy!

Sadly, unless Miles Kurosky and the other members of Beulah decide to reform at some point, this is the last Beulah album that we are going to get. At least we have the consolation that the band left us with three exceedingly good albums. Critical opinion seems to divide over which of the three is their finest. If one prefers the horns and intricate use of strings and other instruments, one will tend to prefer WHEN YOUR HEARTSTRINGS BREAK and THE COAST IS NEVER CLEAR, probably with a nod towards the former. As much as I like those two albums, I prefer the slightly sparer sound of YOKO. Although I never find the arrangements on those two albums distracting or overwhelming (indeed, I find their arrangements to always be restrained and exceedingly apt, and definitely one of the highpoints of those two albums), I am at heart a minimalist and gravitate towards smaller line ups and fewer instruments. For me, less is always more. So on a purely personal level, YOKO is just naturally the kind of album that is more likely to appeal to me.

Interestingly, though they have cut way back on the horns and strings and back up vocalists and musicians, the album feels more plugged in than the previous two efforts. On several cuts like "Landslide Baby" or "My Side of the City" there is an intensity that one rarely finds on the earlier albums. Not that the lyrical delicacy that is one of the hallmarks of the band is missing. There are numerous lo-fi gems on the album, such as "You're Only King Once," which even reintroduces the strings and horns that typify the earlier discs. The album also highlights the country sounds that were sometimes to be found earlier discs, and a number of places some delightful country guitar licks are to be found, often in places where not expected, such as in the marvelously titled "Me and Jesus Don't Talk Anymore." But the big change in this album compared to the earlier ones is in the content of the lyrics. There is more heartache, more darkness, less playful joy, as if the previous two years had been bad ones in Kurosky's life. Many of the songs appear addressed to someone who has departed, and while songs never necessarily reflect actual events in the writer's life, they frequently do.

I wouldn't necessarily argue that this is Beulah's best album, but after repeated listenings I have to confess that it is the one I most enjoy.

It is a constant source of mystery to me why bands like Beulah don't make it while a host of mediocre performers and bands do. The most I've been able to conclude is that physical appearance is a huge consideration. I definitely like Garbage, but if Shirley Manson hadn't fronted it, would they have made it? Think of all the bands that stand out only because they are visually memorable, despite bland or even awful results in the studio. Billy Corgan understood this, and deliberately chose some of the members of Smashing Pumpkins for what they contributed to the band visually rather than musically (figuring he could carry the band musically himself). Beulah, while one of the finest bands to emerge in recent years, was a strikingly unexciting group of guys to look at. Not one member of the band looked like a rock star. I hate to think that the contemporary music industry can be reduced to such stupidities, but what if each member of the band had dyed their hair a different absurd color, and changed their name to that color, and called the band itself RESERVOIR DOGS? What if Miles Kurosky had become Mr. Pink and Bill Swan Mr. Purple? Of course it would have been a stupid conceit, but think of all the bands that manage to make it exploiting such conceits, while stellar bands like Beulah do not? Ultimately, the responsibility for such silliness must rest on the shoulders of the fans. If we wouldn't go see bands like my fictitious Reservoir Dogs, and completely backed bands by going to see (no, record purchasing won't do it, since virtually all bands make their money by live shows-the record companies make the money from record sales) great bands like Beulah, maybe we'd start to see all the crappy bands fade away, and the great ones stick around for a while.

Really, others here might diagram this album track by track.

Let me say that it's simply one of the best albums I've ever wrapped my ears upon, and it makes me mourn for a band that could have acomplished beauty so much more then their own stellar catalogue's sum.

Bravo.

if you claim to like indie, then you must have this record. it is really that simple. everything that made guided by voices great is here. this and bee thousand represent the co-pinnacles of GbV's carrer. this could be their "best of" album. they really didn't need to release one of those, alien lanes already exists. my valuable hunting knife, game of pricks, motor away, watch me jumpstart, as we go up we go down, blimps go 90 and on and on and on.

perhaps the best record from the best band of our generation.

That's it. There's no better album than this. I recommend you get it.

Jesus, what a glorious mess this disk is. Side by side with some of the most ridiculous crap I've ever heard in my life are some of the most interesting and creative melodies I've heard in some time. Either these guys are completely incapable of editing themselves, or they simply don't care to. "Alien Lanes" makes it very obvious that the members of GBV, particularly head honcho Robert Pollard, does not discriminate among his various creations. That means that discerning listeners must do the job for themselves, but in my opinion, it's ultimately worth the trouble. For every ridiculous waste of my time like "Big Chief Chinese Restaurant" or "Ex- Supermodel", which features somebody making loud snoring noises throughout the track, there are that many more snippets of inspiring genius. "Game of Pricks," "My Valuable Hunting Knife" and "Motor Away" each deserve to be featured on your local `hit' radio station, or better yet, cleaned up and covered by a famous band that could only wish to write something so clever and catchy. Since Pink Floyd are incapable of generating fresh new material, why not cover "Always Crush Me"?
"Alien Lanes" actually shows the band trying a bit harder than usual to retain some semblance of sonic clarity, even stretching out to sparingly include some slide guitar and violin. Look, the CD has twenty-eight tracks on it. 28!!! Yes, a good percentage of them can be dismissed, but even if half of them are extraneous, that still leaves fourteen that are thoroughly worthwhile. I wish that they would spend a bit more effort focusing on what makes their best stuff so good and eliminate the chaff, but then again, maybe sorting through their output is half of the fun. ATom Ryan