Indie and Lo-Fi music reviews

This album kicks some major [...]!!! As I have always known the Athens Georgia Music scene is always the place to be to see and hear some amazing artists with strong inner music quality. True to the music and what the believe in. The souls behind the music will touch even the hardest of hearts and inspire the youth to create an original status when composing there music. Athens music scene will always bring out true talent and competition among bands who bond together to share the spotlight and live the dream of being heard by millions. The ~REBELCOWBOY~ Will take his hat off and bow to all of these great artists who inspire all of us with there wide range of sould driven talent.
Thanks for the album and Please contact Jackpot City and let them know there new video is up on the Brand New www.rebelcowboyrocks.com site we have lost there contact information and are desperate to get in touch with them as for they have vanished on us...LOL
Once again Thanks for keeping it real as usuall all of you!!!

The AudioVisual Club. I caught the full blast at several club dates and picked up the cd. They rock on both the "A" and the "V" levels. The cd does a fine job of conveying the upbeat nature of the shows, but don't mistake "upbeat" for "fluffy". These guys are supertight and hard rocking. Punk energy and drive, plus engaging melodies and pop hooks that shirk the cliches. These are well-written songs played by guys who aren't afraid to show off their chops.

I have been fortunate to see the AV Club a few times in concert and they always rock. It's pop/rock/alt-country for people who appreciate a finely bearded bass player. The songwriting is solid, the production is classy, this is just a great cd that I haven't taken out of my cd player since I got it. Check out Lost my Head, that IS the cut.

This album is unequivically great. Girl from Mars is an excellent track if you want to listen to a sample of the album.

Five Stars!

Piano, breaking voices, horns, strings, very Syd Barrettesque vocals. pretty interesting. listen to the demo tracks, well worth your troubles. It's not Sgt. Pepper but it is at least as good as side 4 of the white album.

A celebration of brass, steel strings and the simple waltz for the first half of this high quality album.

The 2nd half takes you to an entirely different place where a droning pump organ and 9 person choir massage your weary brain.

For fans of New Folk and Americana, Matthew Houck's opus is a joyride that deserves widespread attention.

One detail I love is that Houck saves his only pure Folk song ("Endless") for the end of the record, and it is a gem and a half.

The Elf is Weak!

For me, Elf Power's always been a band that's only had one or two incredible songs on an album while the rest define the essence of mediocre. That was a pattern that is clearly seen on their last two releases, Creatures and Walking with the Beggar Boys. They did not stray far from this pattern on their 8th full length, Back to the Web.

They emerged out of the now defunct record psychedelic pop label Elephant 6 along with Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Trebel Control. Their music is similar to those and all the other bands on the Elephant 6 label - singer Andrew Reiger even has a nasally voice - but their music always seemed to me a little more folksy-pop than the rest, probably because of their inclusion of stringed and other more traditional instruments, ones they include a lot in this release.

Taking into account their experience for music making, I was really excited to hear this album. Unfortunately, they have disappointed me once again with their lack of consistency. All the songs on the album are at least OK just like they were on the higher intensity album Walking with the Beggar Boys. But this time the album is more mellow and there are only two standout tracks: "An Old Familiar Scene" and "23rd Dream" because, well, they have exceptionally catchier melodies than the rest. The rest of the tracks don't really encourage me to listen to them ever again because they are simply boring, and that's consistently Elf Power's problem.

The first Elf Power song I ever heard was "Let the Serpent Sleep" off of Creatures. It was a really addictive and engaging combination of catchy pop, psychedelia and lo-fi fuzz. Every other song I've heard since is a disappointment, including those on this album.

This takes a while to sink in, and against their whole discography it'd be more like 3.5 stars, but since the other two reviews (a five and a three) average to 4, I balance the norm! However, direct in its delivery and relative economy as it is, this is not their strongest album. Not until the final track does the earlier sound of EP return, the quasi-minstrel side with layered and exotic instrumentation. Honestly, the difficulty I think holds back EP from wider acclaim still has always been too much reliance on Andrew Riegen's lead vocals--on single songs they can be tolerated, but for me they tend to get whiny-sounding over the course of an album, even one as short as this at 35 minutes for a dozen songs. The songs seem to take their time despite their brevity, and there is depth lurking in the grooves; it's just that the offerings on BTTW feel more polished so as to appeal to a wider crowd of passers-by--as if window displays--whereas early albums were akin to the amateurish looking but adeptly assembled curios what you'd find tucked away dusty at the back of ye olde sonick shoppe.

I can't blame any veteran indie band for this. Yet I must point it out to those expecting a reprise of an Elephant 6 ambiance from a decade ago. This is simpler music. Here, the instruments seem more downplayed, not surprising to listeners of "Walking with the Beggar Boys," an album that showed them breaking their earlier mold in favor of more of an REM evocation--not an imitation...although on "Back to the Web," a couple of the catchiest tunes are soundalikes for that other band from Athens GA. While the "Creatures" album showed the band in that transitional stage between their earlier folk and their incorporation of a brighter, pithier, and more accessible pop-folk sound that cleared some of the cobwebs that made their earlier music both more challenging and more muted. On "Back," the band does not assert itself as much; like the previous two albums, they have stripped away some of the veneer that I liked, but that probably kept some listeners at a distance from what may have sounded to them too twee or fey a style of folk-rock.

EP are one of my favorite bands, and it's gratifying to hear them still at it after so long and after the trends have moved on. This album does hold its best for the last few songs; the others are paced with not enough regard for sequence, and tend to blur more--again given the vocalist's limitations and the greater prominence given singing over playing in this production--into more generic-sounding efforts. I do wish the band well, and it sounds like they still have some stamina in them--the last track rewards your patience with the earlier and sometimes slicker (by comparison only!) songs. I may sound more critical than praising, but if you're reading this you may already be pleased by EP's earlier career anyway! I merely wanted to explain how this album compares to EP's past product. This album (like its two predecessors) may be a good place, however, for a newcomer to EP to begin, for it is an easier listen, and from here working backward might draw a casual consumer into a faithful fan.

Three ghosts haunt Elf Power's "Back to the Web."

The first is the ghost of sixties exotic psychedelia. It conjures up that time when the gods inspired heroic mortals to make epic journeys to the east. These heroes brought back with them unfamiliar tunings, new instruments, and complex polyrhythms and time signatures. George led the Beatles to India ("Within You and Without You"). Led Zeppelin traveled to Morocco ("Immigrant Song," "Tangerine"). The Rolling Stones recorded "Paint It Black." They inspired everyone from Donovan to the Hollies. This ghost gives "Back to the Web" its edge.

The second is ghost of Pet Sounds Brian Wilson--sweetness and sonic experimentation.

Over it all hovers the ghost of Elephant 6--the now-dead collective that made music like it was 1969 (only way, way cooler). Their music is easily categorized as lo-fi, Brian Wilson, experimental, psychedelic, sixties, ambient, folk, noise, singing-saw pop. If you don't know what I mean, pick up "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel or "Black Foliage" by the Olivia Tremor Control.

Now that E6 is dead, who carries the Elephant 6 banner? After listening to "Back to the Web", I believe that Elf Power is the true heir. First, the line-up has enough first-tier E6ers to secure its bloodline. Second, with this CD, Elf Power has the depth, complexity, generosity, and experimentation that characterized the best of the Elephant 6 classics. This ain't no Bird-with-the-Candy-Bar-Head Elf Power (I loved that Elf Power too); this is a deeper, more durable Elf Power--and band with more to say.

Those three ghosts (exotic sixties psychedelia, Pet Sounds, and Elephant 6) explain most of the success of "Back to the Web," but not all of it. Another key element is that Elf Power is (and always has been) a drums and percussion-driven band. (This distinguishes them from the rest of E6.) When you buy "Back to the Web," listen to the drums. They are mixed to the front of most tracks, creating a driving foundation for whatever is laid in on top.

Elephant 6 is dead. Long live Elf Power.

i have enjoyed Julian Cope's old band The Teardrop Explodes as well as his great solo cd's. but Autogeddon is one album that has yet to pull me in. i'm not sure what it is. perhaps it's just that Peggy Suicide & Jehovakill are such superb and realized albums (and 20 Mothers is pretty great, too) that in comparison, Autogeddon just falls flat. there are some good songs on here. but they seem a bit lost within the context of this muddled album.

While this is not Julian's best album, it certainly does contain a couple of his best songs, "Don't Call Me Mark Chapman" and "Ain't But the One Way". Copey is starting to get cranky on this record and he's got a lot to venting to do. In a lot of ways Autogeddon is like his newer Citizen Cain'd release, Julian picks his targest and guns them down. The only problem that I have with Autogeddon is it's inconsistency. While I can appreciate songs like "STARCAR" and "Ain't No Gettin Round Getting Round" they don't quite fit in with the intensity of the other tracks.

If you are new to Julian Cope's music I wouldn't start with Autogeddon. Try St Julian or Fried and then move into the more dangerous teritory. And be sure to bring your head.

I don't usually write these reviews, but I couldn't let the only thing said about this album be so negative.

This is the first Cope CD I bought and it opened my eyes and is still my favorite. His angry violent tripped out, yet brilliant vibe fills the CD throughout. From ranting rages to humor tinged comments on the impossibility of living outside of where you live. He takes car culture out back for a good flogging but admits "There ain't no gettin' 'round gettin' 'round"

This is the album Psychic TV should have made.

Mention should also be made of Thighpaulsandra's excellent synths and production. His hand is apparant in the lushness of the overall sound and the brilliance of the synthesizer work (it was his connection that got me to buy this record in the first place). I think the 3 records he worked on are the best produced of what I've heard by JC.

This album may just blow your mind and tune you into a Head Heritage you never suspected was there.