Indie and Lo-Fi music reviews

Hitting the space somewhere between 2000's You Secretly Want Me Dead and 2005's In the Red, The Thrill of the Hunt is the quintessential Kind of Like Spitting record. It is lush, quiet, honest, and notably humble. Songwriter Ben Barnett maintains an unmatched level of genuine authenticity and artistic vision here. Conor Oberst can't touch this, how could he? A musician only matches this honesty by making the ultimate sacrifice, commercial viability for artistic vision.

I agree with the previous reviewer who recommended starting with this album; if you like this you will love his more divergent and raw tracks. If you like what you hear and Barnett's style of music clicks with you, you WILL be overcome by his vast and expansive discography. 100 Dollar Room, Old Moon in the Arms of the New, In the Red, they are all something special.

Ben Barnett - you have that thing.. . well, those things. That voice, that talent and that barrier that protects you from letting any outside influences of the current taint your style. Normally just a guy and a guitar (electric or acoustic) - on these 13 tracks (including fantastic covers of material by Big Star & others).

If you are just getting started with KoLS - go ahead and start here (a companion album, 'In The Red', was released on HUSH) - but find '$100 Room' as soon as you can.

This fine, if a bit subdued debut does in fact invoke the spirit of Nick Drake--particularly in the first two cuts, "All My Days" and "Breathe". After that, aside from the ballads, Murdoch's songs exhibit a strong pulse-like rhythm which is decidedly unlike Drake.

With a fine, warm and ruddy voice, Murdoch's music is more sanguine than Drake's. Though he sings of loneliness, there are many hints of optimism here--a studied reflectiveness instead of the pensive gloom of Drake's albums. The songs flow along effortlessly, and some of Murdoch's other influences assert themselves. He has obviously listened to John Martyn quite a bit, as well as Bert Jansch and Pentangle. Compare "Dream About Flying" with Pentangle's "Light Flight", as it bustles along. "Blue Mind", with its tabla rhythms, sounds very like John Renbourn's work.

The pleasure of this album is that like his predecessors, Murdoch is a craftsman who builds his songs around solid guitar work, like a carpenter uses strong beams to build a house. Contrast that to a lot of the three chord strummers trying to ride the wave of so-called "emo' music. Virtuosity--could it be making a comeback?

These are subtle songs that take a while to insinuate themselves into your brain. It's one of those albums that is best listened to alone, when the intimacy of it can be appreciated. There is a lot of moodiness, shadow and space, and thankfully not a whole lot of clutter. Good music for contemplation.

It is heartening to hear a young artist who is ardently pursuing one of those " roads that are not often taken."

I look forward to his next one.

Maybe someday I'll find out who Nick Drake is.

In the meantime, Alexi Murdoch is EXQUISITE.

I, like many others, have been waiting for this album for quite some time. Right from the first track, I was hooked. "All My Days" is a haunting, melodic, heartbreaking opening to a fantastic album. "Breathe" has a subdued yet powerful message. "Home" is just plain fun. "Song For You" is sweet, somber, and hopeful.

However, I must say that the Four Songs version of "Orange Sky" is what I consider to be the greatest song ever written. However, the Time Without Consequence version is devastatingly bad (when held up to the light of the original). The new version is too fast, has an inexplicably irritating percussion, and just doesn't dig into the soul the way the Four Songs version does. I will always be baffled by this remake. It is truly awful. Its only saving grace is that the original is still available.

But that is by no means any reason to avoid this CD. In fact, those who do not know the original "Orange Sky" may fall in love with this one. But it is my duty to warn those looking for an "Orange Sky" that matches the original that you will be severely disappointed. Outside of this single-song complaint, this CD has vaulted to one of the best I own.

This album is unbelievably great. It was recorded in a basement in the winter...and it sounds like it. Listen to it late at night. Listen to it in the dark, while driving. Buy it, and recommend it to all your friends. For anyone who likes bands like Badly Drawn Boy and Bright Eyes, you should know that you are wasting your time and money: those guys are shadows, pale imitations, of the true greatness that an indie-rock singer-songwriter can actually achieve. Soltero---now that's where it's at. I'd recommend him/them to anyone who likes Elliot Smith, Neil Young, Yo La Tengo, or even the Mamas and the Papas.
This is great stuff. Lyrically, there's nothing so good. Musically, there's nothing quite so mind-altering.
Soltero is genius, and this is, for sure, one of his best--definitely his quietest and most intimate. Listen to it to relax, to unwind, and to creep yourself out.

Not really sure what to say about this except that I can't stop listening to it. Somehow I find the ragged edges endearing, the cryptic lyrics make sense after a few listens and the melodies won't leave your head. This was a good gamble.

This band is a blast. The first track, "Glorious," with its unlikely indie rock choral arrangement, took on a life of its own in the Kansas City-Lawrence area, where these guys hail from. And there's a pile of other great stuff in its train, lots of it unexpected and refreshing, trumpet intrusions and long slides of pedal steel and marvelous departures from the script. The lyrics are cool too, smart and strange. The Moment has huge energy and a great ear for the out-of-kilter. The collision produced some mesmerizing fire.

This hurt the first time through, but damn if it didn't keep coming back up on the ipod when it wasn't on shuffle. The lo-fi comes off a mite forced but still works.

It's such a blast to listen to something that sounds so good, but so different. There is a lot to like here: from the myriad of intstruments Seth plays (are "llama tonails" an instrument?) to his crazy voice to songwriting that doesn't give everything away the first time you listen to the album. This record is going to be in heavy rotation for a while.

'Thy Is A Word...' is their third effort.This Tennessee's band is perhaps best described as indie pop.Even though I usually like that genre,this CD I thought was so-so.Everything with Half-Handed seems to be handled if not led by main man multi-instrumentalist John Ringhofer.A couple of tracks I sort of liked were "You Get A Horseshoe","Disaster Will Come" and the Syd Barrett-ish "Consider It A Loan".Just might appeal to fans of Elf Power,American Flag and Olivia Tremor Control.

Think of it as a "what if" album: What if the Olivia Tremor Control made folk music? Or if the Polyphonic Spree made Christian-tinged psych-folk?

Those "what ifs" about describe the sound of Half-Handed Cloud's third album, a slightly skewed but very charming collection of psych-folkpop. For an album with acidic instrumental interludes and perky Biblical titles, "Thy is a Word and Feet Need Lamps" is a remarkably unpretentious collection.

It opens with a horns-and-piano pop melody, which announces cheerily "Thy is a word/and feet need lamps/bite for your horseshoe/and light for your toes." No, I don't know why feet need to be lit up, but it doesn't really matter. It's a sweet little song, and is followed by similarly upbeat pop melodies, which straddle the line between nonsensical Christian pop and twee psych-pop.

But sprinkled between these cheery songs are... even shorter songs, usually experimental and under a minute and a half. Some are instrumental, like the densely swooning "Mud." And others have frontman John Ringhofer singing hurried ditties about "adorable bunions. During these short songs, usually a violin is slowly strangled, a tambourine takes over the song, or other little quirks.

It resembles the Polyphonic Spree when a chorus strikes in, and Olivia Tremor Control with its short, semi-experimental songs. But in truth, Half-Handed Cloud doesn't sound like either band -- instead, it sounds like a folky, twee little journey with a wholesome edge that doesn't choke you.

Multi-instrumental Ringhofer sounds a bit like Colin Meloy, though more melodious. He also contributes a lot to the unique music here, which can be both lush and sparse. Sometimes the instrumentation shrinks down to one tambourine, and at others it's as thick and rich as garden soil. Horns, cello, sax and many others add extra flavour to the folk-pop sound, and Sufjan Stevens contributes his drums.

It's easy to be scared away by the label of Christian lyrics, since that usually means heavy-handed fluff pop. But Ringhofer's music avoids the usual pitfalls -- he merely mentions things like Moses, concubines, the twelve tribes of Israel, and that semi-amusing story about Noah getting naked. But there are also mailboxes, flea markets, and other cute anachronisms. Think of it as the Bible on acid.

In "Thy Is A Word & Feet Need Lamps," Half-Handed Cloud has managed to create twee pop that isn't sickening, with a Christian bent that won't bug anyone. Charming, sweet and severely offbeat.

I bought this CD on the basis of the 30 second samples, the reviews and the fact that these guys were somehow associated with Sufjan Stevens whom I really admire. Clocking in at slightly under a half an hour there is not a wasted or boring moment on this exuberant and surprising piece. It works in it's entirety although I'm sure I'll get around to having specific favorites. As a person of faith I am happy to see Christians creating art that is inventive and adventurous and not constrained to the "contemporary Christian" mold. In short, this CD is a real joy to listen to.