by: Kyle Olson, KUCI Music Director
Hey y’all,
Guess who’s getting out of here crazy early! Me. You know why? Everything anyone sent me this week was laaaaaaaame. I hate music again. I hope you never experience the pain of listening to a crate full of music and having it all suck. It is an oppressively soul-crushing experience. Also, just so you know, I got buzzed watching Harry Potter on Friday. Insert a totally inappropriate joke about Hermione here.
The Apples in Stereo – New Magnetic Wonder (Yep Roc)
I totally rep for the Elephant 6 Collective. I ride around on brightly colored bikes with a bunch of other indie pop kids and dispense beatdowns on anyone who is not about E6 with those old school rubber dividers they used to use at the grocery checkout lines. It’s sort of like those hardcore straightedge kids, but completely not idiotic in any way. Bright, shiny pop that would sound pretty tasty coming off of an AM radio. Fun fact story time: When I worked for the water district down in Laguna Beach, the trucks only have am radio. So, the things you could listen to during the day consisted of Dr Laura, Jim Rome, Rush Limbaugh, etc. Nothing really up my alley. If you wanted music, it was either tinny big-band jazz, or radio Disney. Let me tell you something. It is not easy to talk to cute girls when you’re covered in mud and Hanson’s “MMMBop” is coming out of your truck.
Loney, Dear – Loney, Noir (Sub Pop) )
Sweden’s chief exports are timber, iron ore, and totally amazing pop. The country that brought you Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, Jens Lekman, and innumberable others that Emily of the show Sweater Weather could rattle off alphabetically in her sleep now brings you Lonely, Dear. This album has been out a while, in their native Sweden, but Sub Pop, recognizing the value of such a perfect piece of melancholic euro-pop has brought it to you, the American listener! Thanks Sub Pop. Though, does anyone get the feeling that Sub Pop is like, the creepy old man of indie labels? Like, they’ve been around a long time, and have put out some AMAZING stuff (and continue to), but it feels like they may engage in some weird frotteurism on the bus? Is that just me? If you don’t know what that is, wikipedia is always there for you. Or your mom. Your mom is a frotteur. (Bear in mind, it’s LONEY, not “lonely”)
New Young Pony Club – New Young Pony Club EP (Modular)
Modular seems to specialize in dance-electro-punk. They’ve brought you Klaxons, and have put out stuff by the Avalanches, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Chromeo, et al. Basically, Modular is about you getting your ass-shake on at any cost. I heard once, they said that they would walk 500 miles, and they would walk 500 more just to be the label that walked 1000 miles to get you to shake your ass hardcore.
Ono – Yes, I’m a Witch (Astalwerks)
John tried to give me shit for adding a Yoko Ono album. Then he saw the old training manual flow chart that says “Playing screechy songs by Yoko Ono, however, is encouraged”. I win at life! This album is Ms. Ono singing her jamz while popular modern bands play along. These partners in crime include: Le Tigre, Peaches, Apples in Stereo, Flaming Lips, Polyphonic Spree, Cat Power, Antony and the Johnsons, Spiritualized, etc. Also, I’m glad she titled the album “Yes, I’m a Witch”. I always suspected Yoko Ono was a “bride of Satan”, and now I have proof. I will have to alert Witchsmeller Pursuivant and Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer (that joke will be laughed at by no more than two people, both of whom are at least as dorky as I am).
Maps of Norway – Sister Stations (Guilt Ridden Pop)
This album features a lot of music that reminds me of Blonde Redhead and the like, and next to no cartography. What a misnomer.
Warm in the Wake – Gold Dust Trail (Livewire)
A nice stew of the sounds of Grandaddy and the Shins with some twanginess thrown in. Twanginess, surprisingly enough, is not being recognized by the spellcheck program. Neither is “spellcheck”. Dude, Microsoft Word. Why you gotta throw salt in my game like that?
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go eat some veggie food with John before I go try to convince the training class I know something/anything about music.
<3,
Kyle
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