by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director
I had blurbs written, and then I closed the box apparently. Without saving.
That is infuriating!
Okay. I have been at KUCI for going on over 7 hours. The fluorescent lights are starting to hurt my head. This is Blurbs take 2. Brian (Mysterious Rainbow Quon) and Emily (Sweater Weather Hsiao) have written some blurbs on their own volition. They wrote them on paper, which means I have to transcribe them.
I played one hour of LIGHTNING BOLT to celebrate KUCI today. It made me feel strong and tough. Then I ate a French sandwich and a mini carrot cake.
Islands - Arm's Way [Anti-]
(guest written by Emily)
Most people already know what to expect from this band. A magical unicorn died and from its blood sustained an evil island beast with [plpent of quirk and catchy melodies. Weirdo pop. Arm's way is darker than the last album as evidenced by the creepy album art. (NUDE YOUNG PREGNANT PRETEENS XXX)
Gossip - Live In Liverpool [Columbia]
(guest "written" by Emily)
Beth Ditto, the pleasantly plump lead singer of this band once posed nude for some magazine. If that doesn't give you a sense of her riot grrltude perhaps this album will. This was recorded live. In Liverpool. Loud and rockin' and sleazy with a devil may care air. Damn.
Ecstatic Sunshine - Way [Cardboard]
(guest "written" by Emily)
"All the bands they thank on this album are so awesome."
"So after writing the fastest [guitar] pop songs they could imagine they wrote drone songs."
Not exactly drone, more prolonged instrumental guitar chirping. Lots of layers, this 30 minute album has 3 songs.
(ed. note: This band put out one of my favorite albums of 2006 and because of that I love them and because of that this is in my adds; sorry Eric!)
Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell [Saddle Creek]
(guest written by Emily)
This is the long-awaited fill legnth from the Canaian indie band. Tight crisp hangular hooky indie rock. there are too many adjectives int he rpevious sentence. Did I mention this is tight and crisp?
The Death Set - Worldwide [Counter]
This is so awesome. You have heard everything on this record before, except it has never been as tight, as loud, as cohesive, as nonsense-spazz, as Australian-by-way-of-Wham-City-Baltimore. Every song has shoutable vocal melodies, usually paralelled by a glistening cheap synth line. Safe harbor shows, please please please play "Negative Thinking."
M83 - Saturdays=Youth [Mute]
Everyone knows M83. What every may not realize is that M83 is basically the same as Death Set, except without the gain distortion and at 2 BPM.
Bad Dudes - Eat Drugs [Retard Disco]
I ignored this band for awhile because I thought their name was not engaging. I REGRET THIS. This CD rules. It is a little mathy, a lotta loud, a lotta dance-party, a lotta awesome. Play it 24/7.
El Perro Del Mar - From The Valley To The Stars [The Control Group]
(guest written by Emily)
Tranquilized girl pop from Swedish singer-songwriter Sarah Assbring (unfortunate last name, but her genes make up for it). Very gentle inoffensive music with barely there vocals. You could play this for your grandmother.
Sun Kil Moon - April [Caldo Verde]
(guest written by Brian)
Former front-man for Red House Painters and "every-once-in-awhile" contributor to his own solo act, Mark Kozelek has an expansive library of music satisfying a particular "man and his guitar" musical niche. And while that particular musical niche has a lot of competition, Kozelek has endeared himself to many with expansive yet intimate compositions filled with a literary style that rarely hides behind metaphor in discussing personal subject matter. Clocking in at a billion minutes long, this album shouldn't be that surprising for anybody who is familiar with any of his prior work. If you like Neil Young, Mark Eitzel, Nick Drake, times new roman [sic], and hueless cover art, this album is for you.
The Mugs - Here Tomorrow [Skinnyfat]
Miller Carr & The Shalants - Passage Through Wilderness Vol. II [American Dust]
(guest written by Brian)
You know those bands that use dusty old photographs that look like they were yanked straight from "The Wonder Years" and then use analogue recorders to sound super retro? well that's Miller Carr, only he manages to pull it off. This is an album that encapsulates the niceties and complexities of the Velvet underground - only without the extra gear that they had.
Nat Baldwin - Most Valuable Player [Broken Sparrow]
(guest written by Brian)
Wow we're doing a lot of "former member of" bands today. This is ex-Dirty Projector Nat Baldwin's solo work, and it's an album filled with coarse-yet-relatively predictable double bass, arpeggiated guitar (ed. note: by Dirty Projectionist Dave Longstreth), and vocals extremely reminiscent of (wait for it) the Dirty Projectors. Man, that really makes this sound like Dirty Projectors, but I promise that it has a distinct sound all its own. This is the Heisman Super Bowl Cy Young winner of ex-Dirty Projector bands.
Various Artists - Esopus #10: Good News
Esopus magazine asked a bunch of cool bands to submit a news story they considered "good" and write a song about it. Langhorne Slim, A.C. Newman and Neko Case, Marnie Stern, Busdriver, Man Man, Atlas Sound, Ryan Adams, Gowns, and some others contribute. AWESOME.
AND A LATE ADD:
Tapes 'N Tapes - Walk It Off [XL]
Indienet superstars return with sophomore (slump?) record. Admit it, everyone liked their last record. "Cowbell?" That was a jam.
I have also added the Me You And Everyone We Know soundtrack. I don't know why it was kicking around my office instead of in the library. Crisis averted!
I am so tired.
Good evening, KUCI!
Sam
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