WEEK 2

Straight To Video
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

Lighter than punk, heavier than garage the unfortunately (or perhaps inspirationally) named Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments offer the kind of full frontal straight ahead rock that sounds more melodic and controlled than it has any right to be. The guitars often sound as though they are being played by a cheese grater rather than a pick. There is as much steel as skin in the percussion and the bass spends most of its time trying to keep up. The lyrics (as embodied by "Outside My Scene") both celebrate and lament the life of the drunken bar band. Straight to Video represents a kind of joyous bacchanal held during the dark night of a lost soul where anything is possible but we’re not disappointed when only rock happens. GRADE: B+


This Nation's Saving Grace
The Fall


I always loved stretching out in my parent's basement and so apparently does Mark E. Though the basement where he recorded This Nation's Saving Grace sounds as though it is located beneath Vivian Westwood's OBGYN practice and above a 18th century smithy's hut. Punk doesn't disappear on this album so much as grow from the angry growl of the band's 70's work to a more impressionistic growl that portends the electronics and sonic layering they would increasingly adopt to redoubtable ends in the coming years. . GRADE: A-


Through The Windowpane
Guillemots

Plays great on a ride through the heart of Manhattan. As I learned when my now wife, then girlfriend took our first trip together. I was amazed at her boldness, demanding that we drive all the way to our midtown hotel. So this review will be colored in the best way, as all music we share with lovers is, unless of course they leave us.
Avant-pop seems like a fair label if only because back in the day in a church somewhere near, say Cologne someone said the same thing about Bach. That's right I'm comparing this to Bach.
"Redwings" is the highlight here, balancing as it does harmony and emotion; those exquisite layers of gossamer. GRADE: A-


They Live On The Sun
Cloud Cult


These clouds float by looking all too familiar. Fuzz, beeps, blips and whole lotta meh. Listeners are better advised to listen to the Clouds Taste Metallic by The Flaming Lips. GRADE: D+