Rain Machine – Rain Machine

rain_machine_covRating: ★☆☆☆☆

We all know and love TV on the Radio, right?  So it seems only natural when one of the band’s most integral members, guitarist/vocalist Kyp Malone (recording as Rain Machine), steps out and releases a solo record we should take notice, right? Well, you would be about half right.

The first half of Rain Machine’s self-titled debut (released this week on Anti-) is good, maybe even better than good. The songs are the polar opposite of what would be released as a TV on the Radio track. They lack the density and the sense of paranoia that the band has finely crafted over the years. Malone, as Rain Machine, writes songs with room for the listener to breathe. The tracks almost seem like skeletons of TVOTR songs, waiting for Dave Sitek to fill them in.  Standout tracks include ‘Give Blood’, ‘Smiling Black Faces’ and ‘Driftwood Heart’ which easily rival anything Malone’s main band have ever released.  Seriously, these songs are that good.

But after track six, ‘Hold You Holly’, something happened to the album. It appears that Malone, for lack of a better word, stopped giving a fuck (Sorry, Ma! If you need proof I’ll let you listen. The expletive is warranted.).  The last six tracks make up for 35 minutes of the albums one hour running time, and boy are they painful.  The seventh track, ‘Desperate Bitch’ could’ve easily had four minutes shaved off it’s almost nine minute life span. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the lengths of the tracks that get my goat, it’s the lack of respect for my time.  Author Kurt Vonnegut believed, and I’m paraphrasing here, that you should make your writing (here, songs) easy for your audience to ingest, because you are asking a lot for them to pay attention to you.  If you are going to write a 1,000 page book or 9+ minute song you makes sure fill with as much meat as possible (TWSS!). Malone has a blatant disregard for this listener’s time.

The last half of this album is pure, self-indulgent jack-assery.  Sorry, Kyp, I don’t mean to rain on your slow, boring parade. You are not Curtis Mayfield, you do not have the fortitude for an extended, meandering jam.  I used to have a theory that every song was someone’s favorite song.  For the million of people that love U2’s ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ there was always one that loved ‘Lemon’. But Kyp Malone disproved this theory. It is impossible for anyone to like the last six songs on this album, let alone having them be someone’s favorite song (It’s a fact, I did extensive research.)

A five to six song EP or a couple of singles would have easily brought three to four stars, but as a full length, those first six songs just aren’t strong enough to carry the bloated dead weight of the rest of the album.

New Music From Real Estate

REALESTATENew Jersey boys Real Estate have a brand new LP coming out this fall and we’ve got a tasty little preview of that one for you now.  This new track is called “Beach Comber” and will appear on the band’s upcoming debut self-titled album out Nov. 17th via Woodsist.  It’s a fun one.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Real-Estate-BEACH-COMBER.mp3]

Download: Real Estate – Beach Comber [MP3]

New Tunes from Free Energy

freeenergyFree Energy busted out their self-titled 7″ off DFA recently, and we brought you that track, and all its glam-rcok swagger, but we’re here now to throw you the other side of the coin.  “Something in Common” is the B-Side, but it’s completely different, wearing the tag of maybe an Albert Hammond Jr. pop influence, which knowing us, is sure to win our hearts. Get into it.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Free-Energy-Something-In-Common.mp3]

Download: Free Energy – Something In Common

The Twilight Sad – Forget the Night Ahead

twilightsadRating: ★★★★☆

From the depths of the Glasgow music scene burst forth another band in 2003.  Since then, The Twilight Sad have slowly been building up a reputation for their melodic rock meets shoegaze, creating beauty surrounded by squalling guitars.  Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters won over many critics, and the world was eager to see if Forget the Night Ahead could keep the band riding the wave of popularity into the hearts and ears of everyone.

As “Reflection of the Television” opens the album up, you can see the screaming feedback you can see that the band still has some of their traditional elements in place.  But, you will also notice that those elements no longer live in the foreground of the song, as they did on previous efforts.  Singer James Graham now has his vocals standing before you for all to see, and while it dramatically changes the aesthetics of the release, you still catch onto the power of music.

“I Became a Prostitute” is the band’s first single off this album, and you can see that it definitely has a presence that can rise above the indie status. Like Glasvegas, it’s a grandiose number full of wave upon wave of guitars accompanied by Graham’s vocals, which just so happen to crash atop the song as well during the chorus.  All in all, it’s a softer approach to writing than the group took in the past, but for most listeners, you will find that it’s equally as effective.

Fortunately for us, this album is longer than their previous affairs, despite the fact that each song reaches well beyond the mark of 3 minutes, with most running near the five minute mark. However, the dynamics of the atmospheric guitar flourishes combined with Graham’s new vocal presence do make some of the songs blend into one another, making it hard to differentiate between the album’s best numbers.  Don’t take this to mean that there aren’t standout tracks in abundance.

“That Birthday Present” is a clever song, with the majority of the tune relishing in the bouncy guitar work.  All this comes to light even though this also happens to be one of the noisier songs on the record.  The Twilight Sad at this point seem sort of like a cross between M83 and Mogwai, except they rely upon a more traditional songwriting structure.  It allows their songs to breathe, instead of wallowing before they fade into obscurity like other bands that implement noise attacks.

“Floorboards Under the Bed” is different than most tunes you’ll find in the groups catalogue.  It seems to wear the influence of tour-mates Frightened Rabbit, but then it fades into a piece of tinkering flare.  Albeit an interesting opening, the song quickly disappears into the back of your mind.  All the build up will lead you into the final three tracks.  Of the final three, “The Neighbours Can’t Breathe” is the stand out, although the closer, “At the Burnside,” has an emotional appeal, with a hint of Glaswegian balladry wrapping it all up.

This album has some really beautiful moments, more than way out the few weak points.  The Twilight Sad are able to build upon their own sound, pushing the shoegazing into the realm of a more pop-centric world, and Forget the Night Ahead wins because of its ability to step into these new realms, encouraging the band to become more than just another stagnant noise-rock act.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/reflection-of-the-television-1.mp3]

Download: The Twilight Sad – Reflection of the Television [MP3]

Republic Of Austin/ACL Picks

A fairly new blog to town, Republic of Austin, just wrote up a little blurb about myself and the ATH website.  He also included my picks for this year’s ACL Festival.  This is all part of the site’s plan to run features about local bloggers/musical people and their favorite things about ACL.  Check it out.  Now the internet knows what I look like.. aaaahhhh!  Oh and many thanks for the kind words friend.

Frightened Rabbit @ Mohawk (9/24)

frightened_rabbit

Date 9/24/09
Location Mohawk
Doors 8pm
Tickets $10 from Frontgate

Mohawk is the place to be on Thursday night with solid bands playing on both the inside and outside stages.  The outside stage features headliner Frightened Rabbit along with The Twilight Sad and We Were Promised Jetpacks.  After the outside festivities shut down, the inside stage lineup includes locals Corto Maltese and buzz band Division Day.  Now that’s how you get your monies worth.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/frightened-rabbit-last-tango-in-brooklyn.mp3]

Download: Frightened Rabbit – Last Tango in Brooklyn [MP3]

ACL Interviews: Phoenix

phoenixLet the ATH ACL festival madness begin! So we’ve started off light with a few spotlights on lesser known ACL artists and now we’re really getting serious with artist interviews. Last year we spoke to some pretty big bands and we hope to reach as many artists as we can this year. To start off our interview series, we have none other than French pop hit makers Phoenix. Guitar player Christian Mazzalai recently sat down with us to chat a bit about his now 10 year old band. Follow the jump for full interview.

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Cursive on Daytrotter

cursiveDaytrotter really made my day this week by throwing up a session with Cursive.  Not only do they include a song off Domestica, which is my favorite album by the group, but they included several unreleased covers that you likely can’t get anywhere else…one of them is “Love Cats!”  Why not go check it out.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/cursive-modern-love.mp3]

Download: Cursive – Modern Love [MP3]

Also, Daytrotter ran a Rock Plaza Central post a few days back , which is also worth the visit.

Roman Candle

RomanCandle-11I know very little about North Carolina band Roman Candle, but I do know that I really dig this track “They Say”.  I would dare say that we may have missed this one when discussing our songs of summer.  This song appears on the band’s most recent release Oh Tall Tree in the Air which hit stores back in May.  If you like this one, you can stream more tracks from the band on their website.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/they_say.mp3]

Download: Roman Candle – They Say [MP3]

Islands – Vapours

islands_vapoursRating: ★★★½☆

Let’s face it, Nic Thorburn just churns out the tracks, time and time again.  Last year he threw Arm’s Way at us, and then backed it up with another solid outing under Human Highway. Now, his buddy Jaime Thompson, another ex-Unicorn, has rejoined Islands to record Vapours.

One thing you’ll notice as soon as you press play on this disc, or touch the needle to the record, is that the guitar has seemingly disappeared.  Sure, Nic and Jaime have always had an affection for oddities included upon their work, but after all the guitar work Nic put into his last few releases it seems odd that he would leave it off.  “Switched On” just seems like a collection of drum loops with Thorburn’s vocals patched atop.  Don’t get me wrong, the vocals are great as usual, with Nic’s unique inflection and range, but there’s just a lacking of punch.

“No You Don’t” also has a danceable jive all over, which will no doubt get you moving your shoes, but the minimal guitar work makes this seem like an entirely electric affair.  Still, you’ll find that the electronic affair clears out enough space for “Vapours” to enter the room.  It comes across as the first song to fully utilize the guitar, miming the sound of Albert Hammond Jr., intentionally or not.   And as the album winds its way to the end, you’ll find that more traditional songwriting does take place, just don’t expect it to be nearly as prevalent as the last effort; this may be good, as many people thought the last one was a bit too self-indulgent.

“Tender Torture” is personally one of the more rewarding songs.  Washing over the song is a mass collection of samples and beats, but Nic maintains his domineering presence throughout, and you just can’t ignore the man’s voice.  It’s one of the most remarkable, and he pushes it through various different notes, both high and low on this tune.

And really, up to this point, all the songs are pretty enjoyable, each offering various things for various listeners.  Upbeat danceable songs countered with mellow electronic soundscapes.  Honestly, it’s really reminiscent of Kevin Barnes move after he changed up from Satanic Panic in the Attic and then went to Sunlandic Twins.  Could this be a climatic change for Islands as it was for Of Montreal?   Only time will tell.

But, one thing going against this record is the way that it drags on towards the end.  It suffers from an odd sequencing, much the way Arms Way just wore you out by the end.  All in all, this new Islands effort is something that you’ll find rewarding, and ultimately you’ll uncover various secrets for you as a listener as time goes on.  Vapours is an album that shows the group who always seem to change, still changing; only time will tell how this will pan out for the group.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Islands-Vapours.mp3]

Download: Islands – Vapours [MP3]

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