Mountains - Air Museum

(Thrill Jockey, 2011)

I feel I take Mountains’ consistency for granted. That, because they consistently release solid albums, I somehow register the consistency as stagnancy or mediocrity--that straight line of high quality from release to release. How did it become this way with me? How have I neglected the proper appreciation deserved by Mountains. Of course, anytime when I’m in the throws of a Mountains record all this nonchalance towards the band is dashed. The band's every bit as good as acts like Belong, Eluvium, Stars of the Lid. Better? In some cases. In many cases? At the very least, very much in the same league. Though, you’ll read this and think, What? Of course they’re in the same league. What’s the matter with you? I don’t know. I feel bad. I’m sorry Mountains.

What am I getting at?

Air Museum is the best Mountains record. Maybe. It's hard not to think so after listening to it. Indeed, mountains (the earthen structure) were meant to sound like this, to be represented this way. Or: don’t take Mountains for granted.

One of the wonderful things about Mountains is their ability to move. Not a trait commonly attributed to the landform, I know. But Mountains make moves delicately, nobly, as a mountain should, And from release to release, they’ve progressed great distances across the landscape of experimental leaning music, music digging away at the top soil, music with caves in it. And, on that broad canvas, have created an eminently balanced series of work that is blessed to be both abstract and widely listenable.

Mountains are a gateway. And Air Museum is the keystone, washed with warbling electronics, windswept fuzz, humming melodics, and all that. It’s a Mountains album, that much is easily established. That it is the Mountains album, that requires some time. I think it is. At least it maintains the standard--a standard that couldn’t reach much higher.

Mountains - Thousand Square (from Air Museum, Thrill Jockey, 2011)

Thank You - Golden Worry (2011, Thrill Jockey)

RIYL = Ponytail, Battles, Deerhoof

Glory be; the ceaselessly gracious Thank You are back and even better than before. Wait, what? You don’t remember Thank You? Their debut album was Terrible Two... Nothing? Oh man, you best get on top of that. A blessedly blustery piece of mad-mathy rock workouts, that one is. And Golden Worry? Similarly blessed, wide-eyed, grinningly (though, not mischievously so) aggressive, superlative, superlative, math, superlative, superlative, rock agility, ad nauseam, sans nausea. The wide-smiling, hard-hitting glory of Golden Worry is the dog who, road-tripping across the Midwest, has his head out the window, jowls flapping madly, tail wagging relentlessly, all the energy in the world and just glad to be alive. Golden Worry fits that, even amidst its chant-happy, prog-heavy, drum-limberingly airy, out-rock gung-ho-ness. It’s there; a master class rock album that flips and turns effortlessly, bursts wildly, and satisfies.  And satisfies.

Thank you - Pathetic Magic

OOIOO - Armonico Hewa

OOIOO
Armonico Hewa
(2009, Thrill Jockey)
RIYL = Gang Gang Dance, Boredoms, Ponytail

I understand that the Boredoms are pretty much experimental psych rock deity, but I have to admit that I have always preferred OOIOO (the band which Boredoms drummer, Yoshimi P-We (yes, that Yoshimi), created after the Boredoms kind of evaporated). And OOIOO absolutely, positively kill it on Armonico Hewa. It appears that as we sneak closer to the year’s end things are only picking up speed. The last couple of months have just been stellar. And now we have Armonico Hewa, the pinnacle achievement in a long line of increasingly awesome albums from OOIOO. For those who are unfamiliar with the band, here are some instructions when listening to Armonico Hewa: (1) Blast this thing loudly! The record is the spiritual successor to Gang Gang Dance’s inscrutable Saint Dyphmna and as such benefits from block party volumes. (2) Make sure you do some face exercises because there is a good chance that you will be smiling all the way through this manic, Japanese glee/funk/psych/rock/+ anything-and-everything-else fest. OOIOO’s musical constructions feel borderline Frankensteinian as lumbering monstrosities ever falling into electrified chaos. Proper descriptions are going to fail me here because OOIOO’s polyrhythmic kaleidoscope is too all encompassing. However, some semi-constants amongst the bliss-inducing rock chaos are beautifully wiry guitars that flex your bones, hollow/hallowed krauty pummeling and thick muscle-upon-muscle bass grooves. Oh, and we can’t leave out the vocals (these too being used solely for instrumental effect). I mean, the vocals! They sound like the opposite of a group exorcism, their vowel heavy chanting made for the purpose of opening up bodies for claiming by ghosts (though, only freakin’ sweet ghosts need apply, like Slimer or something). I’m listening to “Konjo” as I write this and the chirps in the background it sounds as if the band is startling puppies by stepping on their unsuspecting tails. It’s absolute confetti hilarity of Katamari proportions on Armonico Hewa. You can see that the album affects me in a somewhat nonsensical way, so it is probably most appropriate to just leave you with a hearty recommendation, as if you didn’t know.

-Thistle

High Places - High Places

High Places

High Places

(09.2008, Thrill Jockey)
Verdict: A sure-fire equation to get your accolades and adoration.

A few of the hottest indie trends in music right now are: boy girl indie electro duos, creepy cover art, anything "experimental", gatefold vinyl packaging containing colored pressed wax, danceable jams, and don't forget that important and mesmerizing throwback of a word, psychedelic. High Places have hit all those trendy but enjoyable nails squarely on the head and have newly released a fresh batch of hypno-tribal subtle pop songs for you to fall asleep/meditate to, or boogie to, whichever you prefer. High Places is definitely a good addition to the 2008 catalog of good music, and is very enjoyable to listen to. I just worry that with all the trendiness ensuing, the novelty may wear away quickly and High Places will become forgettable, but for now, let us enjoy and praise the bold new steps of the young newish-comers and thoroughly congratulate them on combining all the things we can't get enough of in music as of late.

-Sassigrass

-High Places on Myspace

Thank You - Terrible Two

Thank You
Terrible Two
(04.2008, Thrill Jockey)
Verdict = Hyperactive instrumental blitz

Do you ever feel like your energy has been literally sucked out of you by some invisible force? Suddenly just out of energyand hittin' the hay at hours that defy your youthful age? Well, if so, I may have discovered culprit. Baltimore’s Thank You may very well be the energy thieves that have so subtly extracted our energies in order to use them for the creation of their debut album, Terrible Two. Why am I making such a baseless allegation? Oh, it is only baseless to those of you who haven’t heard this record because I tell you what, the three band members credited with creating this frantically energetic monstrosity could not have done so on their own. So, obviously, the only logical conclusion is that the band has created some machine that slowly steals the energies of the entire human race in order to hone said ‘energy’ into a berserk concoction of their personal fancy. See, that is why the band is named “Thank You,” it is a joke on its own listeners whose lives they have partially stolen. Either that or these guys are just simply bananas in terms of musicianship and creativity. Terrible Two contains generally identifiable parts (guitars, drums, bells, synths, eceteras) that have been twisted, contorted and hyper extended into mathy, chaotic, post-rock-esque jams that sound like they are causing their players to form massive blisters. It’s pretty exciting stuff to say the least. You could probably make fair comparisons to Battles, Animal Collective, WZT Hearts or By The End of Tonight, but Terrible Twos definitely stands on its own. A wild chaotic utterly enjoyable ride. Delicious.

-Mr. Thistle

Stream of Terrible Two

The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City

Fiery Furnaces
Widow City
(10.2007, Thrill Jockey)
8.5/10

The only Furnaces record I haven't heard is the grandma one (Rehearsing My Choir) and according to the record, I am all the better off for it. I was actually really interested in the album, even with the bad reviews, but just never got around to it. I know some people who won't listen to The Fiery Furnaces anymore just because of it. The idea never bothered me much because I was never really into their first two records. In truth, I just started warming up to the Friedbergers on last year's Bitter Tea, a wonderfully schizophrenic pop maze with heavy electronic flourishes. For all their previous chameleonisms, Widow City is a less than jarring progression from Bitter Tea. The Furnaces have retained the standard mega bizarre lyrical monotone of Eleanor Friedberger and mid-song musical U turns ala Matthew Friedberger. The real difference here can be characterized by the inspiring air guitar provided by a drunken homeless man in attendance of this summer's Twilight Concert Series where the Furnaces played along side Yo La Tengo. First of all, for anyone who saw him, that guy had some genuine rock star moves. Second, he was absolutely right to bust out the old invisible guitar because the Furnaces have turned up the rock n' roll on Widow City to ten. With busty riffage on tracks like "Navy Nurse" and "Clear Signal From Cairo," The Fiery Furnaces have laid down some serious head bobbing tunes. Widow City is the quintessential Fiery Furnaces release – the Friedbergers have cut down the fat that has accompanied all their previous releases and produced an album of concise Willy Wonka pop: loaded with sugar and visiting the most oddly enchanting rooms of candy production ever imaged…except, like, a musical version of that. For all the skeptics, Widow City is the album that will make it ok for you like The Fiery Furnaces again.

-Mr. Thistle

The Fiery Furnaces - "Japanese Sleepers"