seven

49-56


Anoice - Remmings (Important) 2006

Next in the series of post-rock review offerings is this Japanese six piece. This is what I said in my Exclaim! review:

Anoice are a young Japanese sextet together for just over two years. Remmings is their first album and probably a play on the L/R transposition… ergo, Lemmings. In the absence of other biographical facts we have a work that is a veritable sample platter of styles and approaches. Only four of the nine tracks are titled, these being the more “rock” pieces built around piano, guitar, drums and viola. “Asprin Music” [sic] has a bass chug that drags along strings, synths and drum machines in its wake, finding a point halfway between Radiohead and label-mates Larsen. “Kyoto” has an echo chamber piano and sudden crashing drum parts that feel like late Three Mile Pilot/early Broken Heart Procession. The three central (and shorter) untitled tracks smell of interludes, either through abstraction or paring down of instrumentation. The opening and closing tracks are tonally matched: deliberate pacing, meandering figures, emphasis on space and pure sound — easily the most interesting pieces here. The album has a pleasant atmosphere and the band are talented instrumentalists, but they often grasp at ideas just out of reach only to lay hands on fairly generic substitutes. They warrant keeping an eye on, though.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Antenna - Hideout (Mammoth) 1993

One of the more endearing and beloved figures in the the early days of so-called "Indie Rock" was Boston's Juliana Hatfield. Before she was an honorary Lemonhead and then went off on her own she was a member of the trio Blake Babies. Sharing songwriting credits and occasional vocal duties was bandmate John P. Strohm, who started Antenna along with other ex-Baby, drummer Freda Love. Hideout is their second album, and first without Ms. Love on drums. The sound is a little closer to "Rock" than "rock," but it's a good "Rock" with shiny choruses, power chords and whispered lyrics that don't say much, but say it nicely.
++++++++++++++++++++


Anthony - Neu York (Secret Crush) 2004

Anthony Reynolds is a man of many pseudonyms, recording under his full name, this truncated "first-name-only" version and in bands Jack and Jacques. Confused? Well each of the projects have similar aspects but with individualized characters... like a big close-knit family. The Anthony work has a love for mid-to-late 70s David Bowie and Lou Reed, but with a certain affinity for grabbing found voices and sounds and making the whole thing sound like a audio tour through Soho on a late summer afternoon.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Antony and the Johnsons - Now I am a Bird (Secretly Canadian) 2005

Much-fêted and award-grabbing release from the pandrogynous Antony Hegarty, who parlayed his toast of the town status into a rolodex choking array of guest spots with everyone from CoCoRosie to Lou Reed (again). With an Andy Warhol/VU fascination (that's Candy Darling on the album cover), Antony works his near-falsetto to create an atmosphere that is comforting, alien and a little seedy all at the same time. I'm still working out how much I do or don't like this one, but it is definitely worth the time.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Appleseed Cast - Mare Vitalis (Deep Elm) 2000

This label was/is much maligned for propping up and pushing out a seemingly endless queue of undifferentiated punk/pop/emo bands whose sheer numbers triggered a kind of critical mass and ensuing scene that belied the fact that no one seemed to like any of the artists. Appleseed Cast stand a little to the left of all this... preferring the pocket-sized epic gesture of instrumental post-rock married to the tension and drama of early Sunny Day Real Estate. It doesn't always work, but when it does it can make you all shivery.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Appliance - Imperial Metric (Mute) 2001

Another one of my cheap eBay purchases. British 3 piece that, at their best, combine the dark bass groove of Joy Division/New Order with the drone wash of Spacemen 3. For better or worse listening to this, their second album, is often an exercise in deciding what each track reminds you of... though it usually reminds you of other great bands.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Arab Strap - The Week Never Starts Around Here (Matador) 1996


Arab Strap - Philophobia (Matador) 1998

Here are the first two of the six Arab Strap records I proudly own (I'm missing a live album called Mad for Sadness, but that's about it for full lengths). The core membership of the group is the duo of Macolm Middleton and Aidan Moffat. A neat side note is that one of the first things I remember buying at Backstreet when I started working there was a double CD titled Alison Rae by a Scottish group called Bay. It was pleasantly dour acoustic stuff with a pretty good cover of Nick Drake's song "Which Will." What I never realized until I was into my third or fourth Arab Strap album is that Aidan Moffat was also a member of Bay. I'll leave the individual album detail stuff for the next post.