CD review - Architecture in Helsinki, Moment Bends (2011)

Architecture in Helsinki continues to mature, moving further away from their more eclectic beginnings. On Moment Bends, the band throws themselves wholeheartedly into heavily dance oriented pop. The smooth mix of instruments include traditional pop guitar and bass, but electronic sounds dominate the tracks. The pop vibe is almost manic, but the lyrics occasionally add depth.

Between the disco dance beats and almost familiar riffs, the songs have a kind of retro veneer. Here's a bit of Katrina and the Waves, there's a touch of Bangles. It's not so overt as homage or rip off; it's more of a mindset.

There's a run of funk oriented songs in the middle of the album that provided my favorite bit of flow. That Beep, released earlier as a single, has a stripped down girly pop funk groove. This leads into a stiffer, sparse electro-funk groove on Denial Style, which sounds a bit like parts of Prince's Black Album. At first, Everything's Blue seems to break the mold, with an electronic intro cadenza. But then the funky, Michael Jackson inspired R&B pop kicks in.

Everything's Blue shows off Architecture in Helsinki's breadth of vision. The MJ style vocals of the initial verse fall away when the chorus slides into a short pop groove like Toto's Africa. The shift between these two sections is large but adeptly handled. The brief guitar pop bridge adds yet another flavor to this mix. The way these sections stream together is smooth and effortless.

The big single, Contact High, locks into the dance beat driven pop groove. The sparse electronic riffs and falsetto vocals create a fun feel for the verses. The catchy chorus bounces into indie pop. It's enjoyable fluff, but ultimately a bit sterile compared to some of the other tracks.

By contrast, W.O.W. ("Walking on water") offers beautiful pop perfection. I love the Kellie Sutherland's expressive vocals. With a touch of Enya layering, the R&B pop is simple and pretty. Sutherland's voice seems looser and richer than Cameron Bird's more heavily processed vocals.

Fans of the band's earliest work may grouse about the stripped down electro pop of Moment Bends, but it's an obvious refinement of the shimmery pop of songs like Do The Whirlwind (from 2005's In Case We Die). While Architecture in Helsinki has pared away much of their quirky instrumentation, the songs are catchy with some gems scattered about. Pick your favorite energy drink and groove along to the beat.

CD review - Xray Eyeballs, Not Nothing (2011)

Xray Eyeballs are so garage that you can hear the lawnmower and gas can in the corner adding their own sympathetic vibrations. Their sludgy mix is thick with guitar fuzz and subway wall vocal echoes. Like Thee Oh Sees, Xray Eyeballs pound their way through low-fi garage rock. The standout difference is that they have an affinity for early '80s post punk riffs.

Front man O. J. San Felipe assembled the band out of fellow Golden Triangle bandmates, Carly Rabalais and Jay High, along with Rop Style and Allison Press. San Felipe has worked overtime on promotion, saturating the band's Brooklyn home with "Ghost Girl" design t-shirts and hyping a sexy/disturbing video for Not Nothing's lead off tune, Crystal.

Crystal starts out with a post punk groove that shoots straight to garage as soon as the guitar comes in, heavily tremoloed and echoed. The voodoo torture story line for the song (moral: don't snag any choice vinyl out of someone's hands at the record store) evokes the Cramps, although the underlying music is bouncier. In fact, despite the static infused sound, Xray Eyeballs sound fairly tight.

Things get more interesting on the second track, Nightwalkers, which leads off with a low-fi jangle steal of the main riff from Modern English's I Melt With You. Then, the guitar line from Egyptian Magician hits a similar 1982 vibe, albeit drenched in distortion. These post punk touches give the band the bulk of their character to stand out from other garage rock thrashers.

The singing is marginally clearer than fellow garage noisers like Thee Oh Sees, but the muddy, distant vocals is Not Nothing's weakest element. They're buried down too far in the mix, sometimes contributing little more than sneer. It's best to brush them away and focus on the pop beats, post punk riffs, and noisy guitar.

CD review - Zula, Crescent Intake Session (2011)

Zula's new EP, Crescent Intake Session, is a nice bridge between a late '80s indie rock sound and a more modern indie psychedelic pop groove.

The opener, Gallop, quickly abandons its misleading electronic intro for a choppy indie rock groove. It's catchy, with ironic hipster vocals and a head nodding beat. Chop out the intro and it would be perfect. Repetitively poppy with a new wave edge, this was the sample that hooked me for the rest of the album.

I'm glad because the next track turned out to be my favorite. Shift (live version here) emphasizes the new wave feel, sounding a bit like Tom Verlaine's old band, Television. The steady beat and jangly, slightly angular guitar riff playing against the bassline took me back. The various musical parts form an uneasy alliance that meshes surprisingly well. The cool intensity builds, taking on a mild black light psychedelic groove. As the instrumental section near the end evolves, it sounded like old Radiohead.

Crescent Intake Session has a few more tricks up its sleeve. Dub style breaks near the end give Grind Is A Shuttle character. Psychedelic mechanics provide spark on Is This Flow or Flood or Squeeze? The Timbuk3 funk of You and I drives relentlessly. The drumming is standout on all of the tracks. Zula's psychedelic aspect is often secondary to the song, largely tied to how they saturate the sonic space with vocals or swells of harmonic tone.

The EP's continuity lies in its modern new wave groove, but the songs themselves each standalone. Zula has gotten my attention, I'd like to see what they do with a full length release. So far, I like their G&T bite.

CD review - The Lonely Forest, Arrows (2011)

The Lonely Forest has followed up on last years self-titled EP (review here) with their new full length CD, Arrows. A couple of the songs were carryovers from the EP (alas, not my favorite track, Let It Go), but there's plenty of new material to explore.

Arrows picks up where The Lonely Forest EP left off. The clear, earnest vocals and interesting flavor of indie rock provide continuity. The band still shows a lot of the REM influence they shared on I Don't Want to Live There, which was one of the carryover songs. But they expand on that to offer glimpses of Dada, Dramarama, and others. In this longer format, John Van Deusen's vocals picked up a David Lowery vibe (Cracker), but the music still adds some interesting twists and turns that reflect the Lonely Forest's unique sound.

It's a strong collection of songs. I really liked the matched pair, (I am) the Love Skeptic and (I am) the Love Addict. The former has a Dramarama power pop edge, laying out its cynical message. The latter is an upbeat indie pop track. The steady slap beat of the drums carries the song forward. By the second verse, they've pulled in a Blues Traveler looseness. On the surface, it's simple but infectious. A closer listen reveals the subtlety: the chord changes are simple but the shifting song sections, cool dynamics, and surprising lyrical depth take the song to another level.

Tunnels is the closest that Arrows comes to the Trail of Dead progressive sound they showed briefly on Let It Go. The echoed intro sets up an interesting set of changes, that powers up nicely. The build throughout the track is great, letting the bass do much of the heavy lifting. It doesn't stray as far afield as Let It Go, but it shows that the Lonely Forest can shift their sound beyond their indie rock foundation.

The standout track, Two Notes and a Beat, is another one that stretches their sound. It has a groove somewhere between Joy Division and U2. The staccato guitar chop and vocals set up the former, but the soaring chime of chorused guitar is firmly based in the Edge's style. The relaxed flow of the song balances the choppy music nicely. The lyrics are simple and repetitive, but they're still satisfying:

All I really need is two notes and a beat
To sing to you my heart,
It's a great way to start

The music gives the appropriate meta backing to these words. The song hits at what I like most about the Lonely Forest: well planned music that feels loose and supports a sincere and clear lyrical message. It's like a well-made cider, which is nothing more than apple juice...but it's juice that's been tempered and clarified by fermentation to reveal the depth of its origins.