Babe, Terror - Weekend

Babe, Terror
Weekend
(04.2009, Perdizes Dream)
RIYL = Excepter, Panda Bear, Julianna Barwick

Oh Babe, Terror, you dog you! As the premiere release of Brazilian label, Perizes Dream, Babe, Terror’s Weekend sets a high standard. The record is a dream space created almost solely through manipulated vocal loops, lovingly layered into a soft oblivion. It’s a fairly simplistic idea, but one that proves blissfully successful in the hands of Babe, Terror. Most of the vocalizations here are wordless and carry a sort of waterlogged ghostliness. It feels like the male counter part to Juliana Barwick (with some increased hallucinogenics). I just recently read Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo for my international literature class, and something about Weekend feels like the fitting soundtrack to that narrative, filled with poetic surrealist voices from a deserted town whose inhabitants are stuck in an infinite purgatory. Kind of an obscure reference, but it you pick up this album you should read that book and vice versa. It also reminds me a lot of the dream imagery captured by illustrator David B. Anyway, I’ll move on. Weekend’s working parts, its songs, are paced ventures into the subconscious, tapping into a weird half-world that is disorienting and yet grounded by a stream of effervescent loveliness. It is the kind of thing that an ignorant, untravelled American, such as myself, imagines is soundtracking the exotic jungles and cities of Babe, Terror’s home in South America. It’s night music for humid climates, or perhaps dream music is more appropriate. Either way, Weekend is an exciting document of experimental music that you should definitely check out. And why not, he's spotted you a link on his MySpace page. Check the link below dudez!

-Lil' Thistle

Babe, Terror on MySpace

Vampire Weekend - Self Titled

Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
(1.2008, Xl Recordings)
Verdict: A successful combinations of the last six decades

I read a review on this album yesterday that was titled "wimpy wimpy wimpy." It's so true, this is wuss music at it's finest. I love it. It seems 2008 is going to produce some of the happiest since a half centurty ago. It's about time. Vampire Weekends' first full legnth sounds like a sunbleached surf excursion to a charming old fashioned beach town, or carnival by the sea, possibly how I envisioned Coney Island in it's heyday. Complete with a ratty organ and what sounds like a toy drum set, Vampire Weekend sounds like cheery and joyous pop from the 50's and 60's, or wait, sometimes I can hear some Talking Heads and Paul Simon which would be the 80's, but then again, sometimes they are reminiscent of a slight ska or punk wave in the 90's, oh ya, but it all sounds really fresh, in a revival sense, like Panda Bear or No Age as well. They sound a bit like Brit Rock and sometimes I can hear Afro Pop. Their sound is a combination of good aspects of music spanning generations and all different geographies, which makes this one of the more infectious albums I have ever heard. You can feel the grittiness, as the album was recorded in various locations from their school (Columbia University) to a family barn. Each song is distinctly itself, but the album is very unified and functions well as a whole, although I do have a few favorite tracks. "Oxford Comma" has a genious break beat and charming organ chords, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" sounds like Rhythm of the Saint's Paul Simon with a yelled chorus which will have you sining along on sencond listen, and "Bryn" has some wonderful guitar work. Get ready for some finger muting madness and pick up a copy of one of the most playfully enjoyable modern albums in existence.

-Sassigrass