Indie and Lo-Fi music reviews

The von bondies are trying so much to sound like another group *ahem* another few groups out there. I hear talent but..where is it coming from? The desire to immitate other artists or real passion about the music.

This group has talent to burn! They are an excellent group of musicians, and I love their punk/blues sound. Also, I would love to hear more from the female vocalist on the hidden track at the end of the CD. My only problem with this CD is that I felt that the lead singer was trying too hard to sound like Jim Morrison. That got annoying. He has a great voice, and needs to work on developing his own style rather than doing the cliche bluesman howls and the whole Doors vibe.

First off I am thirteen but this says something about a credit card or something.

But this album rocks! buy it right now if you don't you will be depressed every track is awesome!

With this 1999 release Elf Power have an interestingly detailed and certainly bold, albeit cloying record.

Most of the time, Andrew Rieger (vocals) is content to whimper in a syrupy, Jeff Buckley's-sickly-little-brother-with-asthma falsetto, though his voice would hold pitch better and soar beautifully if he'd breathe better and project more. I realise that he does this on purpose as a matter of aesthetics, but he sounds a bit like the Prince of Swamp Castle in Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail.

The guitars tend to slip beneathe the drums and layers of atmosphere in places, and it detracts from the band's sonic profile. The melodies wander to and fro from sweetly catchy to grating, the latter of which is made worse by Rieger's aforementioned vocal tendencies. The keyboards tend to be a bit annoying and garishly stark. Certain moments conjure the impression of cheesy christmas themes.

It seems that every other song on ADIS is either interestingly catchy and fey (Will My Feet Still Carry Me Home, Jane, We Dream In Sound, the Well, Simon, O What A Beautiful Dream) or embarrasingly sappy and juvenile (High Atop the Silver Branches, Olde Tyme Wayes, Carnival, Noble Experiment, etc.) It's like a giddy Radiohead hosting a daytime children's show on public television in the late 1970's.

No, it's not the kind of elf power that we saw in "Lord of the Rings," with the rings and the river and so on. It's one of those deliciously weird names that Elephant 6 bands frequently use. And in "A Dream in Sound," Elf Power magicks up a sweet, vaguely psychedelic batch of catchy pop tunes.

Expect to be hooked in by "Will My Feet Still Carry Me Home," a catchy, light little tune, because then it's off into the even catchier "High Atop The Silver Branches," a wistful yet bouncy melody, and the rollickingly staccato title track. This tendency peaks with "Simon (The Bird With The Candy Bar Head)," which is augmented by playful horns and birds twittering.

But don't expect Elf Power to be all brightness and fun. "Willowy Man" establishes a handful of aching, bittersweet ballads, like the melancholy "Jane." And "Carnival" is pure fun -- horns, sparkling twitters and fast drums establish a wonderful circus atmosphere, before dying out with a horn blat into the psychedelic-rocker "The Well."

Okay, who could resist checking out a band with a name like Elf Power? They don't measure up to sister band Neutral Milk Hotel, as few other Elephant 6 bands can. But taken alone, Elf Power is refreshingly fun, catchy, and has the talents of other Elephant 6 alums like Jeff Mangum to give it some extra flavor.

Their sound is more like Britpop, and less like the eerily strange creations of their sister bands. Instead of sounding surreal, they opt for catchiness. They start off with the obvious guitars and percussion, but also use lots of organs, horns, distortion and weird sound effects to make it sound just a little psychedelic.

Andrew Rieger's vocals are not stellar, but his airy lilts are somehow soothing, trying out the singsongy approach in "Will My Feet Still Carry Me Home," then murmuring in counterpoint to Laura Carter's even more lovely vocals. The songwriting isn't too amazing -- at one point, Rieger actually sings "tra la la!" -- but it's pleasant enough. "It took a thousand light years/for you to trip down into my eye..."

Elf Power has a power all its own. Don't compare it to its more highly-regarded siblings. Instead, appreciate it for its beautiful, catchy, and thoroughly addictive pop melodies in "A Dream in Sound."

Elf Power is one of the best indie rock groups around. If you don't believe me, listen to this album, "Creatures" and "Walking With The Beggar Boys". The lyrics may not be very interesting in the long run (though they are indeed very catchy and memorable which helps if you wish to sing along), but boy is it entertaining! Every song on this album has great instrumentation and is extremely fun. Andrew Rieger's vocals are, once again, very soothing and dreamy (though it varies - "Creatures" is way more dreamy sounding than this one). Every person I've played these two albums for ended up has humming or singing the choruses right after. If you're a music collector or even just a fan of rock music do yourself a favor and buy this album.

Highlights include:
the whole album!

I suspect that those people who wrote less-than-positive reviews of this album did so without giving it a chance. These are not "one night stand" songs that you jump and thrash around to for a brief moment before moving onto something else. These are songs that you will end up burning on mix CDs you make for your girlfriend, or playing when you miss someone, or having on in the background while you do dishes because they make even that pleasant. They are beautiful songs, sometimes haunting, and perfectly express some of those difficult-to-pin-down relationship moments as only Stephin Merritt can.

This being the first record involving Stephin Merritt I've listened to, can't respond to the comparisons with his other records and projects. I've had it in my car CD player for 2 months... it has been the soundtrack to my life, and its power continues to grow. So for me it's very much a whole now; the songs complement and resonate against each other in different ways each time I hear it, and the different timbres of voice populate a complex inner world of dreams. "As you turn to go" would/will probably be on my list of "songs that made me cry" if I would only hear it under certain circumstances... In time even the overblown and out of tune "Volcana" developed a fevered charm and replayed itself in my head. Lovely, timeless, keeper record. If Amazon hadn't deleted my listmania lists, this would've made one...

yessum this is a mighty fine album here this is.... Damned good mussic

IT'S MY FIRST TIME DOING THIS BUT I HAVE BOUGHT 2 CD'S BY GUIDED BY VOICES -EARTHQUAKE GLUE AND THE BEST OF.THEY GROW ON YOU AND GET BETTER EACH TIME LISTENING TO THEM.NEVER HEARD OF THESE GUYS. HEARD THEM ON THE RADIO AND HAD TO INVESTIGATE.AL STEWART STILL IS THE MAN.

Guided by Voices are one of the best bands I ever heard because they can create epics out of concentrated, 2 minute blasts. Just gorgeous.

This album works. Buy it and listen to it a few times in a row. You'll think, "Um, this is okay, but is this really the band that's released dozens of CDs and has one of the most fanatical cult fandoms in rock?"

Put it down for a few weeks. Then get it out and listen to it again. The songs will suddenly click, and you will be consumed by the insatiable urge to own everything Robert Pollard has ever touched. (Start with "Alien Lanes," "Under the Bushes Under the Stars," "Mag Earwhig!", and "Bee Thousand." Then proceed to the other 837 GBV/Pollard albums.)

Guided by Voices' weird, fragmented genius just doesn't sink in right away, but when it does, you'll join the cult too. It worked for me!

Really though, where are "Don't Stop Now" and "Sad If I Lost It"?! "Kicker of Elves" would have been nice too. "Blimps Go 90"? "Man Called Aerodynamics"? "She Goes Off at Night"? "Jane of the Waking Universe"? "Now to War"? Okay, I'll stop now.

This is probably the first time I've come across a band whose name better represents the music rather than the album title, but there it is. There is a very mellow, laid back feel to this album. The music is mostly good, with the exception being 'No More Options' which uses crappy chuggah-chuggah guitars rhythms. The main problem I find with the album would be the lyrics, most notably with passages like "Excuse me is my rant taking too long/is it getting in the way of this lovely song". Yes the words do need some fixing up.

The best moment on the album comes on 'Beautiful Day', which is great not just because of the music, but because of the irony of the most optimistic song on the album being sung and played in such a disinterested, laid back tone.

The highlights of this album are 'Tinylittle', 'Fashionably Uninvited', 'Beautiful Day', and 'Bitelip', though 'Bitelip' is kinda ruined by the lyrics in the last half. The other two songs on the album just aren't very good.

mellowdrone is coming out with a full length album later this year (October 4th so says the website), but if you can't wait, then this isn't a bad EP to get.

This is actually mellowdrone's 3rd ep and it was recorded in a bedroom by one man. mellowdrone is a full band now and they have a full length album titled "Box" coming out January 24th, 2006. If you can find this EP or "Go Get 'Em Tiger", then you should get them. If you search well, you can find them for $5 or so. Comparisons made by other reviewers are way off.

An excellent EP: beautiful, cohesive, and with an endless replay value. Johnathan Bates accurately self-describes his music as feminine, with sexual undertones. Brooding and subtle, but not requiring any effort to enjoy. It elegantly manages to be depressed, intellectual music without ever sliding into the disgusting realm of whiny self-pity. It can be pretentious at times, but never unbearably or unjustifiably so.

Take note, Phantom Planet lovers: This is one of Phantom Planet's all-time favorite bands.

This great debut, though not polished, is the best the Apples in Stereo have to offer. The songs are very upbeat and reminiscent of the Beach Boys, though Schneider's nasal vocals can be a little irritating, they are tolerable and fit with the songs. Highlights of the Cd are the first 9 songs except the intro narrative, especially "Greenmachine" and "Glowworm". If you like sunny upbeat music this Cd is definantly for you, and if you have to own one Cd of the Apples in Stereo this is the one to own.

I don't have all of AIS' albums, but of the three I either own, or have owned, this one's much better than "Tone Soul Evolution" and TONS better than "World Inside the Moone," which I turned right around and sold about two weeks after buying it (read my review of it!).

This album does sound original, not too derivative of the sunny 60s, and is a helluva lot of fun. It sounds a LOT like Let's Active to me as well -- Schneider's vocals are almost dead-on Mitch Easter. The only flaws, as with other Apples albums, are that I'm not too fond of Hilarie's vocals, and there were a few times when I was listening to the album that I forgot I was listening to it; that is, I sort of tuned out.

"Dots 123" is my favorite song on the album, by the way. A FUN blowout!!

How this band can play such ultra-lighthearted, blissful, trippy pop reminiscient of Saturday morning cartoons when Gen X were children without being schmaltzy and pointless, I have no idea. Must be genius. :~)

Like many I saw them first on Cartoon Network in the video for their great "Signal in the Sky" song done for the Powerpuff Girls series. But since then I've delved deeper into the band's work and found a lot of gems there. My favourite Apples songs weren't to be found here, but there were some great new discoveries to be made.

As I said before, their music is pure fun, pop in its truest and purest sense. Most bands that try this come across as trite and silly, but not the Apples. The only other band I've seen manage it are the B-52's.

I've already ordered some more of their CDs. :~)

I bought this CD on reccomendation from Amazon.com - that was a mistake. It's just boring lo-fi humdrum. I think they recommended it because I had purchased a Red House Painters CD - well, these fellas sound nothing like the RHP. Be wary of a computer telling you what you might or might not like.

You could paraphrase this CD's title and call it Music for the Golden Age of Driving Around, something that, with gasoline now selling for upwards of $2.25 a gallon, feels more distant than mere decades. Just like driving around though, The Gasoline Age delivers some kind of joy even as all that movement along highways only changes the location of one's disappointments.

The best songs are car songs -- that's a statement about this particular CD, but, come to think of it, maybe not far wrong if you wanted to universalize it as well. Thunder Road, Dead Man's Curve, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (OK, that was a motorcyle), Phil Ochs's lost classic My Kingdom for a Car, Little Honda (OK, another motorcycle) in Yo La Tengo's version. Here you have Shiny, Shiny Pimpmobile; Party Drive; Down 42nd Street to the Light; and Atlantic City.

F.M. Cornog has staked out a narrow and oddball musical niche, low-fi, or maybe bedroom-fi, but it's a niche worth exploring. As with the music of M. Ward, his CDs feel like a newly minted relic, a good thing, strange, fresh, but somehow ageless and aged too.

I'd choose Shining Hours in a Can slightly before Gasoline Age, only because this one is weighed down by a few cuts -- Wholesale Lies, My Little Rainbow, 14th Street Boys Stolen Car Club and Astrofarm -- of needless filler.

odd how well one guy and a home studio can do--yet not so strange when you consider the beautiful, savant nature of FM Cornog's melodies and childlike lyrics: this is simply a majestic little record--like a mountain contained in a tiny box. i know that's a silly metaphor but i love this guy's sad voice and soothing worldweariness. if you are at all familiar with red house painters, the black watch, idaho, or her space holiday (great great melodic bands every one of them--and i urge you to look at their releases too) you will fall in love with east river!

I have an original "Jack Logan" hanging in my house. A poem he wrote at age eleven about our grandparent's home town. It was the first amazing sample of a truly gifted poet. I am truly amazed at his writing ability, and think EVERYONE should listen to Buzz Me In and all his other music!

This CD has its high point right at the beginning with I Brake for God, a mid-tempo rocker of open window driving and the Supreme Being. If nothing on the rest of the CD quite measures up to that near perfect pop two and one-half minutes, all of it is good, solid music with some almost blues (Gimme a Room), two exceptional ballads (Melancholy Girl and Anytime), and the memorable Pearl of the All which reaches way across the years to remind this listener at least of Janis Joplin, although almost certainly (Logan probably would have been all of 10 or so when Janis died) it is not about her. Logan's voice is pleasant on the ear, calling to mind Dave Alvin, and the playing is first-rate tight. He will never be a household word, but Logan is a distinctive voice in the signer/songwriter niche and if you stumble across this CD, it's worth having.

"Buzz Me In" is Jack Logan's first "fancy" studio recording. Logan is a man who seems more at home recording, well, at home. But this album proves that if you give the man money and the means, he can craft a beautiful album.

In most ways, it's a typically Jack Logan record--genre-hopping, stylistically all over the map, with lyrics focusing a common man's lament over love's lost, chances not taken, and celebrations of the little victories life presents once in a while.

Logan creates songs that often defy pigeon-holing, possibly due to the large number of influences he tries to incorporate. The first track, "I Brake For God" is certainly one of those songs--while lyrically reminiscient of old blues numbers (Logan is from Georgia, and the blues is one of his key influences) the musical structure is something else altogether.

The next track, "All Grown Up", would be right at home on a Black Crowes or Rolling Stones album. "Hit or Miss" is a string quartet driven song with lyrics that somehow take the idea of listening to a broken ceiling fan and make it sound beautiful.

Logan is a talented lyricist, and has a disarmingly emotive vocal style. He is also surrounded by talented friends (listen for Vic Chesnutt's Trombone Cameo on "Diving Deeper").

I have the feeling I may be preaching to the choir--I suspect anyone reading Jack Logan reviews is already a fan. However, if you have never heard Jack Logan, this album is certainly an excellent introduction to his varied and somewhat hard to find catalog of work.

I have to add this--I have yet to find a single person not entranced by the song "Glorious World". It is pure Jack, and Logan at his best is quite simply one of the best American songwriters alive today, and he is criminally underrated.

I have an original "Jack Logan" hanging in my house. A poem he wrote at age eleven about our grandparent's home town. It was the first amazing sample of a truly gifted poet. I am truly amazed at his writing ability, and think EVERYONE should listen to Buzz Me In and all his other music!

This CD has its high point right at the beginning with I Brake for God, a mid-tempo rocker of open window driving and the Supreme Being. If nothing on the rest of the CD quite measures up to that near perfect pop two and one-half minutes, all of it is good, solid music with some almost blues (Gimme a Room), two exceptional ballads (Melancholy Girl and Anytime), and the memorable Pearl of the All which reaches way across the years to remind this listener at least of Janis Joplin, although almost certainly (Logan probably would have been all of 10 or so when Janis died) it is not about her. Logan's voice is pleasant on the ear, calling to mind Dave Alvin, and the playing is first-rate tight. He will never be a household word, but Logan is a distinctive voice in the signer/songwriter niche and if you stumble across this CD, it's worth having.

"Buzz Me In" is Jack Logan's first "fancy" studio recording. Logan is a man who seems more at home recording, well, at home. But this album proves that if you give the man money and the means, he can craft a beautiful album.

In most ways, it's a typically Jack Logan record--genre-hopping, stylistically all over the map, with lyrics focusing a common man's lament over love's lost, chances not taken, and celebrations of the little victories life presents once in a while.

Logan creates songs that often defy pigeon-holing, possibly due to the large number of influences he tries to incorporate. The first track, "I Brake For God" is certainly one of those songs--while lyrically reminiscient of old blues numbers (Logan is from Georgia, and the blues is one of his key influences) the musical structure is something else altogether.

The next track, "All Grown Up", would be right at home on a Black Crowes or Rolling Stones album. "Hit or Miss" is a string quartet driven song with lyrics that somehow take the idea of listening to a broken ceiling fan and make it sound beautiful.

Logan is a talented lyricist, and has a disarmingly emotive vocal style. He is also surrounded by talented friends (listen for Vic Chesnutt's Trombone Cameo on "Diving Deeper").

I have the feeling I may be preaching to the choir--I suspect anyone reading Jack Logan reviews is already a fan. However, if you have never heard Jack Logan, this album is certainly an excellent introduction to his varied and somewhat hard to find catalog of work.

I have to add this--I have yet to find a single person not entranced by the song "Glorious World". It is pure Jack, and Logan at his best is quite simply one of the best American songwriters alive today, and he is criminally underrated.

The idea: Send the Groovebox, a synthesizer combining the sounds of the 808 and 909 drum machines with the 303 bass machine and other sounds, to a list of the most credible names in the indie rock biz, have them make songs with only the Groovebox, and compile the results.

The result (theoretical): These talented artists will utilize the Groovebox in many different ways and each will be intriguing and new and will make for a fun album that's also a study on the way artists work with modern technology.

The result (reality): Who you expected to be the most talented with the Groovebox produce the worst songs, and the people who you thought would have difficulty with it actually made the best songs, while still the album remains disappointing on the whole.

Old school electronic musician Jean Jacques Perrey kicks off the disc with a funky song that almost sounds entirely assembled from sound effects. His song may be the best on the whole album and it bares repeated listening. Many of the other songs, unfortunately sound as if the band decided to just finish a song quickly unconcerned about the quality so they could get it done and out of the way. They're one-offs. John McEntire tries to approximate some kind of Stereolab space pop, but fails. Then Air takes it's turn and the song they turn out is of course wonderful. I think the best way to describe it is as the feeling you have when you're know you're going to sneeze, and you feel it coming, you're eyes are squinting and it's just not coming out and you're hanging there. Air builds up a great sense of nasal tension. You're just sitting there waiting for the payoff. Pavement ends up with a strangely successful song called "Robyn Turns 26" with typically enigmatic Pavement lyrics. Coming from the other side of the indie spectrum, Money Mark and Beck surprisingly make two downright boring songs. Even Cibo Matto's contribution isn't as spectacular as you might expect. Then there's Sean Lennon... but at least Gershon Kingsley's reincarnation of "Popcorn" is nice.

Of course, I don't expect everyone to love this album. Those who will definitely be smiling are those who own or have used a "groovebox" and to hear their favorite Shibuya-kei artists make their own songs on it.

Anyway, the album can be found pretty inexpensively these days since the company is no longer around but it's one of those albums that you just want to buy because where else are you going to find awesome Shibuya-kei and electronic artists using a Roland Groovebox to make their own music. For several years, I have been accustomed to listening to people's music made on the groovebox via mp3.com but by buying this album you can hear Cibo Matto, Buffalo Daughter and much more mess around with the machine.

This by no means is an awesome album compared to other electronic music albums. To me this is a project album of artists being given a groovebox and to make a song and then an album is released. But I'm a groovebox owner and to hear these artists make their own music is just too awesome!

Of course, it's not for everyone but it's one of those rare gems that you just don't find anymore.

This CD is exactly what I need: a light, fun disc to counterpoint all my metal and industrial discs. I like a lot of the groups on here (Beck, Air, Sonic Youth) and their tracks are an interesting variation. Mister Will Oldham performs as Bonnie Prince Billy, and his contribution is a good twist on his work as Palace. Bis, Buffalo Daughter, and Cibo Matto also contributed good works, but the highlights are definitely Perrey's, Kingsley's, and Pavement's tracks. Pavement twists their noise-rock into a minimal funk tune, while Kingsley and Perrey both expand upon their groundbreaking early experiments as a duo. All in all, if you have an open mind and you dig the experimental, give this a spin. It'll be well worth it.