#2855 Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens

Long-dormant-band comebacks have been on a hot streak lately! Hot Snakes didn't miss a clattering beat; surfy guitars rolling out, ever-sputtering on the edge of disaster; Rick yelping out his latest string of desperate demands. Good, noisy, frantic fun 3.5/5

#2854 Dungen and Woods - Myths 003

A mostly muddy mix of the two band's styles. Spacy, pretty, but with too many blurry layers piled on top of eachother to make much impression. It finally all gels on that last track -- too little too late 3/5

#2853 Gruff Rhys - American Interior

Gruff does his take on Muswell Hillbillies, rolling around in Brit-tinged Americana to tell the true story of a Welsh explorer chasing the false legend of Native Welsh-Americans. Electronic tones, strings, ragged guitars goose the dustier roots off track, because Gruff, and the tale's told loosely throughout, ranging from awkwardly specific to hypnotically abstract.

There' barely a memorable moment; the thematic carts lead the musical horses as usual, but American Interior gets by on its endless chugging momentum. The story predates the railroad, but there's something about the clipping rhythms, the too-long stretches of repetition, that captures something deeper about crossing the vastness of America, that speaks louder than any expository slice of libretto 3.5/5

#2852 Albert Hammond Jr. - Frances Trouble

Grabs hold out the gate, digs in deeper with every listen. This could've been the 3rd Strokes album and I'd have been perfectly happy. Freed from the obligation of being cool enough, Hammond makes effortlessly hooky, exciting poppy rock that changes lanes smooth as silk, from bristly indie-motorik to muted brushiness and back. One of the best bandmember-gone-solo albums in recent memory 4.5/5

#2851 The Men - Leave Home

The Men's Open Your Heart's one of my favorite albums of the decade, drifting effortlessly from immediacy to patience and back. Everything The Men did afterwards fell flat: failed at the simmer, the boil, and the movement between.

2011's Leave Home has some of that old magic though, even if the structure's a little more predictable. If You Leave... spends a solid 3 minutes getting going before stomping in place for 4 more; it's organic, live, exciting, connected. And then the fury goes up and up, staying way too long in the shrieking nothing of LADOCH, before making a miraculous recovery, winding its way back down through thrilling, textured punk-motorik contours.

I like noise, but those six LADOCH minutes in the middle are a total momentum-killer, sounding sloppy and indulgent, and it's a shame cause the rest is so good. These guys had a deadly sense of pacing, letting riffs spool our organically, hitting the subconscious and the pelvis in all the right ratios. A near-great album, at least made more memorable by its mistakes 4/5

#2850 Delicate Steve - Cowboy Stories

I'm a sucker for any touch of cowboy strut, those long tones and rambling runs on the title track are good shit. Steve's not going to blow you away with his chops, but damn he's got a super tasty guitar tone.  All the production, dang. Way too clean, with no personality whatsoever, but so pretty you're gonna wanna take it home anyway 4/5

#2849 Wreckless Eric - Wreckless Eric

Clumsy and arch all at once, plagued by some truly awful vocals. Clumsy, arch kids might find kinship, and those saxes are pure ragged sweetness, and Whole Wide World's a classic but oh god that singing knives in my ears 3/5