Like we expected earlier this year, The Art Museums are all geared up to be one of the first band’s to steal some hype from the hypnagogic, beach fetish-centered state of music with their dressed-down anglophile pop jams. Sitting pretty on the keen eyed Brooklyn label Woodsist, the Bay Are duo will unveil their debut ‘mini-LP’ Rough Frame to the public today. In just under half an hour, Josh Alper and Glenn Donaldson (of Skygreen Leopards) filter 9 tracks of urgently mundane tales of cads, mods, and lovers through a crunchy Tascam 388 tape machine. Along the way, they tap into thirty-odd years of pop music, amalgamating the gentle angst of Television Personalities, the pastel-colored mannerisms of the New Wave, and the bare-boned song writing prowess of the early K Records scene. As such, the results are mixed. The paper thin drum machine is only there to carry the rhythm section, which in turn is immediately buried by duo’s harmonies, shifting all the grunt work onto the shoulders of the song’s vocal melody.
Occasionally, that strategy works out just fine, like on the lead-off singles “Sculpture Gardens” and “Paris Cafes” which burrow their catchy verses so deep inside your head that you completely overlook the fact that you’re tapping along to what sounds like Peter Gabriel fronting the Magnetic Fields. Problem is, after those immediate fixes, the other 15 minutes of this album sound comparatively uninspired. That aside, they still get points for not hiding behind an ocean of reverb, proving that whatever moments of glory they achieve are won by craftsmanship and not some cheap post-production solution. Rough Frame’s end result sounds like it was untouched from it’s original form as a demo, and it reaps the pros and cons you would expect. It’s eager, fresh, and un-calculated, but it also feels like it was peeled a little before it was ripe enough to do so.
Rough Frame is available here.
MP3 :::
Art Museums – Sculpture Gardens
Art Museums – Paris Cafes
The Art Museums are the duo of San Francisco players Josh Alper & Glenn Donaldson (of Skygreen Leopards) who describe themselves as “Anglophile jams on a Tascam 388″. What this basically translates to is a lo-fi pop rendering of Belle and Sebastian’s through-a-keyhole high culture digest. They summon the extroverted geek musings of the Magnetic Fields minus the baritone, matching drum-machine beats and hand claps with flatly recorded guitar riffs that jangle in their Mod glory.
What I have heard so far is fay, catchy as hell, and full of possibly ironic nods to the Style Council, Wham!, and other Members Only patrons. Perhaps our point of drilling for 80’s influences is shifting from the once fertile land of warm electro workouts to the pastel bistros of new wave hedonism. Compared to their peers, Art Museums have their reverb settings at half-mask, preferring a sharper, drier aesthetic that closely mirrors the tone of the artwork.
Recently signed with the steamrolling Woodsist, the duo are set to release their debut mini-LP Rough Frame some time this February. You can also listen to a bunch of their songs on their myspace. It’s too early to really dissect these guys, having only one single at my disposal, but feelings aside, you can expect this album to have one of the first ripple effects in the new year.
For Fans Of: The Magnetic Fields, Television Personalities, Surfer Blood
MP3 :::
Art Museums – Sculpture Garden
Is it safe to say that Woodsist may have the greatest batting average of any record label this year? Looking to put one more trophy in the cabinet, they plan to release the debut full-length from Real Estate next month. The garden state group uses phased surf guitar working in cahoots with autumnal acoustic overtones to produce something along the lines of a slacker Yo La Tengo. A dejected tropical palette forged by guitarist Matt Mondanile of Ducktails (although this is closer sounding to his recent work with Parasails), and vocalist/guitarist Martin Courtney, whose singing evokes a folkier Doug Martsch. This new self-titled album is largely a collection of rerecorded tracks from previous EP’s and 7″s . The changes are mostly on the mixing/mastering end, and while it’s usually a polarizing venture to polish up a band’s style, the smoother production more than suits Real Estate’s gossamer melodies. You can find all the dates for their current fall tour here.
The self-titled debut will be out on Woodsist November 17th.
For Fans of: Yo La Tengo, Ducktails/Parasails, Best Coast
MP3 :::
Real Estate – Fake Blues
Real Estate – Snow Days
Portland’s Meth Teeth recently released their full length record Everything Went Wrong. Surprisingly enough, Mattey Hubele and company found time to release the record despite MTV’s Portland invasion and a handful of other musical projects. Hubele is a busy dude these days, acknowledging however that Meth Teeth has been taking up most of his time.
The band’s playfully dirty aesthetic is heard throughout the record, a sort of stylistic trademark I come to think of when listening to up and comers from the Pacific Northwest. Huebele’s folk roots can be heard from time to time, mangled beautifully by truckloads of lo-fi distortion. Honesty seems to permeate throughout; the amalgam of blues, folk, garage rock and pop melodies are all managed and intertwined cleverly. Comparisons to Eat Skull seem to be spot on, especially in tracks like “Never Been to Church” and “I Was Wrong,” both of which happen to be two of the better tracks on the album. Be sure to check out Portland’s latest gem ASAP via Woodsist (home of the beloved Fuck It Tapes).
For fans of: Eat Skull, R Stevie Moore, Beachwood Sparks on the *brown* fuckin’ acid
MP3 :::
Meth Teeth – I Was Wrong
Meth Teeth – Never Been to Church
How can you pass on a band called Psychedelic Horseshit? These Columbus, Ohio psych-poppers are largely dismissive of the shitgaze scene that they are often lumped into, and talk their fair share of trash about its guilty participants. Core member Matt Whitehurst recently chatted with the Washington Post about the current state of lo-fi music noting, “I’m not Rick Rubin, but I wanna be,” and going on to accuse peers like Wavves of, “hiding behind static.” And while he’s probably right, all this “constructive criticism” is just gonna land these guys in the bitter has-bin with Lydia Lunch one day.
Of course, none of this gossip would matter if Psychedelic Horeshit didn’t have some killer bite to back up the nagging. Their most recent assault is the cheekily-titled Shitgaze Anthems, a self-desribed “b-sides EP from an album that hasn’t come out yet.” It’s loud, catchy, and filtered through the kind of fuzz that really sticks to the bottom your shoes. These six songs willfully interchange psych, punk, dub, folk, psychobilly, and garage rock for their unique sound that could sit comfortably within the Black Lips early catalog. Opener “We’re Pink Floyd, Bitch” juxtaposes snot-nosed vocals and insane choral explosions of grinding stone melodies and chirping synths into some seriously thick-skinned pop. There are many surprises on this EP, from amphetamine C86-style punk of “Dreadlock Paranoia,” that abruptly dissolves into a clunky reggae bridge, to the coarse acoustic strumming of “As in Dreams Pt. 2″. With the adventurous song-structures, the vocals are the most lack luster component of this outspoken group, but if he ever takes the clothes pin off his nose, these guys may someday replace their umbrella-peers like Vivian Girls as no-fi royalty.
Shitgaze Anthems is available now on Woodsist, and no one blames you if you can’t get into it.
For fans of: Sic Alps, Eat Skulls, early Black Lips
MP3 :::
Psychedelic Horseshit – Dreadlock Paranoia
Psychedelic Horseshit – We’re Pink Floyd, Bitch
