#1815 Pupppy - Shit in the Apple Pie

Listen / buy here!

Tones of Built to Spill, that meander and moan and whining guitar into crash that sounds like pure Boston Local Band, even if they're from NY, that slacker lo-fi swoon. Everything's a little too slow, a little too Sunday stoned, ending up unassuming and a little boring 2.5/5

#1814 Vundabar - Gawk

Something about these guys still doesn't add up. They're so polished, so fucking good live, touring the world again and again, and now putting out this rock-solid, totally legitimate, professional album, all while being 20 years old and not even really making that big a splash with the youth of Boston. Everything is so /honed/, so /nailed/

Good management? Just that talented??

Everything I loved about their debut's back, even if it's without that bracing sneakattack factor - those killer hooks, those quicksilver guitar/vocal interplays, those dimestopper hitches, bringing surfy poppostpunk to the masses. It's so goddamned listenable, a totally solid representation of their unbeatable live show.

What's the future for these guys? Can you go up from here? They're made their point. This piece of sound has got their flag in it. They are the masters of their domain. And that's a good start, but here's hoping they're not Spoon, they're not The Strokes, that they've got another gear in 'em, some nextlevel secret weapon that's gonna blow this whole thing wide open.

High hopes here 4/5


____/\_____/\____/\_/\______

edit: to be clear! this is a soaring, exciting album, and there's nothing samey about it on its own. It just feels on the same continuum as the debut, like its bumping up against a high ceiling with urgent force

#1813 Fleetwood Mac - Then Play On (Original CD Tracklist)

A sweet spot where pre-Buckingham-Nicks Fleetwood Mac grew out of pure bluesrock, into something a little more adventurous, something that sounds like Classic Rock. The pacing's patient, ebbing and flowing and pushing and pulling, using those big rich guitars to wring out motion and emotion. It's still pretty stuffy, no real sense of GOINFORIT, but it can still be fun to watch a band trying to streeeeetch its blueprint 3.5/5

#1812 Led Zeppelin - In Through the Out Door

And after getting back to bare bones on Presence, Zepp slathers that skeleton up like Mexican dead people Christmas. Nothing sums up the problem quite like All My Love - rehashing the most well-trod lyrical theme, tempo, basic riff and structure, but with fake strings and synth solos and just generally a bunch of bullshit that doesn't belong here. And are you *sure* Fool in the Rain isn't a Billy Joel song? The whole thing's a mess, swinging for Elvis, The Who, The Stones and Yes without sounding much like Led goddamn Zeppelin.

And yet, I have to almost admire that reckless experimentalism - and when they really go for the prog on Carouselambra it's actually kind of brilliant.

Here's a test I go back to sometimes: what if this was the first and only album by some unknown band? Would it be a cult classic? It's helped redeem the likes of Adore and Vitology and I think it works here: this is a weird pile of everything, and if it wasn't for its aggressive Not-Zeppelinism clouding our judgment, I think we could learn to like it a lot better, to love it as a smart, dumb hot mess 3.5/5

#1811 Led Zeppelin - Presence

Nothing new to say about this one in 2015: it's stripped to the bone, all the instruments just there in perfect balance. Blues + rock = blues rock, as pure as it comes, and it's pretty goddamn great. Just the riffs and songsmanship and rhythmic lockdown that you like about Zeppelin, without any of the pretention and nonsense.

None of the riffs here live up to their best, but for every Black Dog you had to suffer a Stairway to Heaven*. No more! All almost killer // absolutely no filler 4/5

* still hands down the most overrated song of all time, and it's not close, and if you disagree you can kiss my whole ass

#1810 Fleetwood Mac - English Rose

Reminder one more time: Fleetwood Mac used to be a full-on blues band. No ladies, no pop, no damn nothin'. This is from then.

And it's by the book. A couple books anyway. We got a boogie, a rumble, some Fats Domino shuffle, and lots of straight up 12 bar blues. Got some chops, got some heart, though no great heaping helping of either 3/5

Month in Review: July '15

Life continues to make demands, a scant sampling of new stuff, cult classics, and Scott Ganem recommendations managed to yield a solid crop of shit worth hearing.

Album of the Month
 
Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated at Last - relentlessly thrilling, the realization of all the potential these guys have always shone. A busy, galloping, hooky masterpiece

Also Recommended!

Wilco - Star Wars - these guys are still around, putting out another twisty, solid, subtly brilliant album

Nina Simone - Pastel Blues - maybe it's my relative unfamiliarity with Simone, but this blew my socks off. She's truly a force, and this has got all the nuance and character you could dream of

Langhorne Slim - The Way We Move - an earthy, inviting record that takes the long way around to a dozen of my favorite 00's indie rock sounds