2008 Round Up Pt. 3

Three more releases that require a closer look.

Thee Oh Sees
The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In
(04.2008, Tomlab)

I blame this 2008 omission on Wooly Mammal. After listening to the record, his basic sentiment was ‘meh’ and you know what? I listen to way too much music to be bogged down by some meh-worthy album. However, I kept seeing the record lauded all over the place and finally decided that I needed to find out for myself and thank goodness I did. The Master’s Bedroom is a garage psych bliss fest! Awesome hooks underscored by a generally bombastic guitars the twist and warp like vibrant specter. Thee Oh Sees got weighed down a little too much by lo-fi tag; no, this is pure, adulterated rock music at its grimy best.


Love Is All
A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night
(11.2008, What’s Your Rupture?)

A perfect return to form after a three year hiatus, Love Is All delivers their second album filled with the same sugary Swedish charm that we fell for with their debut. It only took a couple plays before the anthemic, hook-heavy nature of A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night was vying for my soul (just like any good pop album). So, yeah, beware because there is a good chance that you won’t be able shake this album once you’ve heard it, AKA, the album provokes binge listening and will most likely end with a call to a local addiction hotline. Pure audio candy.


Sic Alps
U.S. Ez
(07.2008, Siltbreeze)

Sharing members with my adorably effed up lo-fi troupe of 2008, The Hospitals, Sic Alps produced an album that inhabited the lighter end of the Siltbreeze’s feedback-conscious community and turned out stronger for it. On U.S. Ez, Sic Alps must’ve busted out large portions the ceiling they were recording in because there’s plenty of sunshine shining through these tracks. Sure, there are some squealing amps and light fuzz that crops up here and there, but U.S. Ez is more interested in untainted song craft. That is the heart of the album – a collection of beautifully left-of-center pop songs to relax and sip lemonade to. It would be interesting to see if a more celebrated lo-fi band like Times New Viking would sound even close to this good if they stripped back their songs like this. Whether successful or not, there isn’t a chance it could be as good as U.S. Ez.

-Mr. Thistle

Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song

Love Is All
Nine Times That Same Song
(2006, What’s Your Rupture)
8.5/10.0

Bombastic! Yeah, I think that is the exclamatory descriptor here. Love Is All is the perfect post-punk pop band you have been waiting for, dishing endless hooks through 10 tracks. Nine Times That Same Song, title of the groups debut is probably a little bit more descriptive than you would expect or far more enjoyable than you would think. Completely by coincidence, Love Is All is the third Swedish band I have reviewed here (Dungen, The Knife) making me think that they be engineering creativity over there. Indestructibly consistent while rattling out hook after hook after hook, Love Is All is the champion of the summer making loud post punk anthems to eat popsicles too. Led by vocalist Josephine Clausson’s urgent singing and backed with angular guitars, bleating horns and blistering drums, there is something Jr. High about this stuff (but definitely not in a bad way). It is like music for crushes or music for cruising down to the gas station for a soda or something. Utter unabashed bliss that should not be missed!

-Mr. Thistle