Review: Lubec | Cosmic Debt

Dreamy underpop heroes Lubec return this week with a compelling sophomore sinfonietta, a collection that sees the Portland, Ore. trio table some of the widescreen optimism of its titanic 2014 full-length The Thrall to engage darker, more domestic themes. Although the relatively concise new set Cosmic Debt doesn't sprawl in the same attractively bohemian manner as The Thrall, it nonetheless presents arresting, figurative diversions into rawer emotion and almost provocatively dense production, as well as somewhat more literal diversions in the form of interstitial instrumentals that enhance the set's quasi-narrative arc. The true surprise of Cosmic Debt is not that it expands Lubec's already expansive view of guitar pop, not its beauty, sophistication or ready appeal, but rather that the whipsmart threesome does so many new things despite the record's smaller scale.

Cosmic Debt succeeds at being much more than a transitional effort, but is largely focused on difficult interpersonal transitions. It commences as if waking from a dream, with the steady, serene fade-in of "(high blood pressure)." The composition includes a pastiche of disembodied voices, including a decontextualized remark about the '90s that recalls the opening of Mogwai's classic "CODY." It's a transporting beginning, whose full potency is realized by the segue into "Clipped Wings." While that tune's title echoes somewhat the Icarus imagery from The Thrall's sparkling "Sunburn!," it also announces certain stylistic hallmarks of the album: a nearly saturated stereo field, Caroline Jackson's weighty and distorted piano, dueling and harmonized vocals, and thoughtful guitar playing. The most distinguishing element of Lubec's sonic arsenal, Ms. Jackson's booming, distorted piano, works in tandem with Matt Dressen's tasteful drumming to power the compositions, while fronter Eddie Charlton guitar playing applies more delicate textures. Dylan Wall's big, full production is most apparent in the ambient thrum that populates the space between the instruments and supplies substantial heft to Lubec's songs. Indeed, big reverbs magnify the restlessly creative trio's playing to such an extent it sounds as if it could blanket a large theater; fans can only hope Lubec's fortunes afford it that opportunity.

Lead single "Hard Potential" touts a driving rhythm and breathy vocals from Mr. Charlton, both lures difficult to resist, but the percussive bridge and cheese-grater, bending harmonics suggest the unease of Pac Northwest fellows Modest Mouse. The heretofore uncharacteristic angst on Cosmic Debt rings most true in the thrilling title track, whose serene but truncated verses give way to Charlton and Jackson confessing a seemingly generational bewilderment -- in what may be the band's most punk moment -- "I feel my cosmic debt, I don't know what it is!" Closer "Embers" -- shared with the universe by our friends at Post-Trash Monday -- stands particularly tall. While the tune deals with a particularly meaningful parting, in true Lubec fashion the song focuses on aftermath without dour mourning. Sure: the figurative and titular embers may not provide salvation, but damnation and purgatory are not Lubec's style. Here and elsewhere Cosmic Debt addresses the chasm between youthful optimism and idealism and the sometimes cold reality and necessary pragmatism that come part and parcel with maturity, but the band's resolve for positivity remains.

Cosmic Debt feels like an important step toward Lubec establishing a national profile, and certainly underscores that Lubec casually sips beers from a cooler at the vanguard of American guitar pop. Cosmic Debt will be released Sept. 30 by the Boston-based now label Disposable America; the set is available for pre-order now in a preposterously limited edition of 100 mustard yellow cassettes and will also be on offer as a digital download. An all-ages release show is slated for Saturday, Oct. 1, at Black Water in Portland, with support from fellow scenemakers Two Moons, Talkative, Dog Thieves and Radler. Stream the aforementioned "Hard Potential" via the embed below, and click through to pre-order your copy of Cosmic Debt. We are hearing chatter about an east coast tour this winter, so watch this space for all of your latest and greatest Lubec news.

Lubec: Bandcamp | Faceblorp



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Premiere: Pleasure Gap's Ambitious, Ranging Scatter

Manchester, NH indie rock five Pleasure Gap returns next week with its third full-length, an eight-song set impressive in its ambition and range. The collection is called Scatter, the music it contains bucks simplistic categorization, and we are pleased to premiere the entire thing for you today via the embed below.

Scatter commences with the mournful epic "Therapist," which deliberately interlaces guitar and bass lines, cycles through thoughtful tempo and rhythm changes, and detours almost too briefly for an arresting, harmonic-spangled interlude. Indeed, the compelling bones of Scatter are its complex arrangements, which eschew standard verse-chorus-verse construction in favor of rambling forays. Here and elsewhere across the album, fronter Ryan Egan's high and lonesome vocals slide around his range, sometimes depositing mumbles a la Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, and at others delivering adenoidal expostulations after the fashion of Alec Ounsworth. The result is a record with notable range, as adept at delivering the garagey, Pavement-ings of "Merkle" (that's no typographical error referencing the German Chancellor, but rather the last name of Pleasure Gap bassist and co-founder Sean Merkle), as it is the vestigially metal, melodramatic "Dumpster Dreams." But the track that shines brightest on Scatter is the smoothed-out, mid-tempo ballad "Murder Me Gently," which bobs and weaves along to prominent slide guitar, swaying gently -- as one would expect -- in subdued, heartfelt choruses that take on increasing color in the final minute via multiplying layers of moving, melodic, low-octave guitar work.

Midnight Werewolf releases Scatter March 29 as the third and final monthly installment of the label's Triple Threat series of cassette releases; it is available for pre-order now in a limited edition of 100 light pink cassettes in hand-crafted, hand-numbered cases, which come bundled with stickers and pins. Scatter will also be available as a digital download. Pleasure Gap plays on a particularly hot bill next month at O'Brien's in Boston's Allston Rock City enclave, a benefit for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The show transpires April 23 and also features hitmakers of the day and Clicky Clicky faves Funeral Advantage, Burglary Years and Kitner; full event details are right here, and Pleasure Gap's complete slate of upcoming shows is listed below. Pleasure Gap's first long-player Tropical Barn was self-released in 2013 [link]; a sophomore set Cream Wave arrived last summer [link].

Pleasure Gap: Bandcamp | Facebook



03.23 -- Manchester, NH -- Fuzz Hut
04.15 -- Providence, RI -- AS220
04.17 -- Dover, NH-- Wrong Brain HQ
04.23 -- Boston, MA -- O'Brien's
05.06 -- Portland, ME -- Geno's
05.07 -- Winooski, VT -- Waking Windows
05.08 -- Albany, NY -- The Tree House
05.09 -- Brooklyn, NY-- Palisades
05.29 -- Manchester, NH-- Fuzz Hut

Today's Hotness: Seeds Of Doubt, Flying Saucer Attack, The Ghost Of Electricity

>> London indie pop four Seeds Of Doubt have released another winner, although this one is not exactly new. The newly available split titled Let The Ghouls Out, which features three songs from our heroes along with three from The Big Smoke's Keel Her, was apparently slated to come out on Portland, Ore.'s Gnar Tapes in 2015. However, the release never materialized ("the tape machine broke?"), so now Seeds Of Doubt has pushed the EP out to the Internerds via its Bandcamp page in order to focus on releasing fresher material via the label this year. Seeds Of Doubt's side B is packed with scritchy post-punk, from the tumbling 90 seconds of "Mirror" to the more pop-leaning and uptempo rocker "Waiting Room For The World," which echoes the sound of the efficient aughts guitar-pop heroes Art Brut. Closer "Stay Classic" sticks with the same recipe but boasts a more muscular beat and bigger guitars and fronter Chris Hopkins deliciously starts to lose his composure as the song careens into its final third, where rock-steady bass guides a tight jam toward a cracking denouement. The song is the clear highlight of the Seeds' side. Keel Her's tunes incorporate fronter Rose Keeler-Schäffeler's expansive but simple organ into her quintet's otherwise classic indie pop sound. Opener "Typical World" boasts a moody verse, but brightens with each peppy chorus, and "Call Me Back" sparkles from within a well of reverb while a cleanly distorted lead slices through the mix like bagpipes. The A-side closes with the terrific "Forced Tradition," a tune about an "awful job" Ms. Keeler-Schäffeler previously held (a version of the song was also recorded for Marc Riley's BBC 6 program late last year). Seeds Of Doubt's most recent prior release, SOD's Law, slipped by us in December; we wrote about another EP, Audible Human Repellent, here a year ago. Attentive readers will recall that Seeds Of Doubt showed us around their rehearsal space in Show Us Yours #20 back in May 2014. We look forward to hearing more from both SOD and Keel Her.



>> Revered indie label Drag City announced last week it will reissue on vinyl two classic titles from Bristol, England 'gaze/drone legends Flying Saucer Attack. The static-und-psych landmarks Further and Chorus have been unavailable as LPs for at least a decade, and their return to the 12" format transpires March 18; the records were originally released in April and November 1995, respectively. Drag City pushed the cut "In The Light Of Time" out to YouTube last week to promote Further, which was FSA's sophomore release, and "Feedback Song" to promote Chorus, and you can stream these via the embeds below. "In The Light Of Time" is basically a classic English psychedelic folk song enshrouded in ambient guitar noise. The tune creeps into being with lightly fingered acoustic guitar and masterminded David Pearce's serene vocals, which are obscured by swelling, shimmering delayed guitar and feedback. "Feedback Song" opens all the band's characteristic channels at once from the outset, blending feedback, ride cymbal, universe-sized delay on edge-less electric guitar, gentle acoustic guitar fingering and meditative vocals. It's a thrilling presentation of both delicacy and power at one and the same time. Eventually slide guitar establishes an almost tidal ebb and flow to close out the track. Buy Further on LP, CD or as a digital download here; buy Chorus as an LP, CD or digital download here. Back in the day -- and in the era of auto-reverse -- Clicky Clicky's executive editor dubbed these titles to a single audio cassette, so they are inextricably linked in our mind. After a long period of inactivity, Flying Saucer Attack returned last summer with the set Instrumentals 2015, which Senior Writer Edward Charlton wrote about right here.





>> We were immediately taken with "The Great Tower," an appropriate spectral deep cut from a new release by Boston outfit The Ghost Of Electricity. Taken from an EP called Bones that was released last week by Spark & Fizz, "The Great Tower" gently attacks with reverse-tracked guitar strums and layered, dreamy, droning vocals. The overall effect is mesmerizing and suggests a marriage of Modest Mouse's fractured folk and Nuno Canavarro's infinitely futurist ambient pastiches. A glance at the lyrics seems to reveal the subject matter is dissatisfaction with spirituality of some form or another, and other song titles from the EP -- "The Ritual" and "The Question" -- also suggest deeper concerns of the soul. Bones, while relatively brief, boasts many curiously arresting moments, including the delightfully aimless guitar lead in the aforementioned "The Ritual" and the clattering percussion break and whispers in the midst of the entirely delightful "The Anthropophage." Incidentally, the percussion tracks on the EP were apparently crafted from sampled sounds of car parts and bones, we suppose striking one another or being struck by something else. The Ghost Of Electricity is the solo vehicle of Ray MacNamara, who also holds down the lead guitar slot in Ithaca, NY's experimental Afro-beat act Big Mean Sound Machine. Bones is available now in a limited edition of 100 dark blue cassettes that will ship Feb. 17, or as a pay-what-you-like digital download. Stream "The Great Tower" via the Bandcamp embed below, and click through to acquire the set in your chosen format.

Regolith A2E1: Sean Tracy Is A Songwriter

He rumbles the thunderstick for Boston anxiety-pop phenoms Chandeliers, he blasts the bottom end for Boston-and-New Hampshire-based shoegaze goliaths Bedroom Eyes, he does a bunch of other stuff, too. And now Sean Tracy is doing Regolith, Clicky Clicky's still new-car-smelling, month-long songwriting challenge. Attentive readers will recall it was just last month that we unveiled the results of Regolith Series 1, which featured scene stalwart Reuben Bettsak, and which produced this pretty dynamite collection of music (some of which will be performed this Sunday). We are very excited to have Mr. Tracy as our next songwriter-in-his-own-residence for this tripartite series. He's a New Hampshire native that has been keeping it real in the greater Allston/Brighton for several years, and we've been a fan since way back in 2010, when we put Chandeliers on a very hot bill at Precinct in Somerville, MA. As we mentioned supra, Tracy is also now playing bass in another Clicky Clicky fave act, Bedroom Eyes, which just released a totally sick new track called "Wild Sins" that we've embedded below. Incidentally, both acts he now plays with contributed tracks to our 2012 RIDE tribute comp NOFUCKINGWHERE. We think membership in two of the city's best bands is reason enough to bamboozle a gal or guy into doing Regolith, don't you? Either way, Tracy graciously has taken up the gauntlet and recently began work in earnest. We'll be sure to keep you apprised, as is the Regolith way, but before we go too much further, let's get acquainted. -- L. Tiburon Pacifico

CC: What is happening with your various projects right now?



 ST: Chandeliers is coming out with a full length LP this year. It's 12 tracks we recorded in January, that were written over the last two years or so. I'm really excited about it, and can't wait to put it out. We're doing a 2-day trip [this] week, out to Connecticut and Philadelphia, two places we have never played before, and planning a longer tour once we have records to sell.



Bedroom Eyes just released a single for a compilation and, besides that, we're finishing up some material that was tracked before I joined the band. That should be out soon. Besides that, we're writing new songs for an EP that we'll hopefully record later this year.



 I played in/play in a band called Dye (briefly, emphasis on briefly, called Kardashians). It's now mostly a recording project consisting of me and my friend Sam. We played two shows before he moved to the west coast and we have yet to release anything, but have 6-7 recorded songs that I really hope we will release this year. We practice as much as we can given the distance, maybe 2-3 times a year.



 CC: What instruments do you play? When did you start playing them?



 ST: I play guitar (7 years), bass (5 years), and I can play drums a little. I have a kit, but don't really (never) play it. I can also "play" keyboard, if pressing keys and hoping they make pretty sounds counts as playing... [it does. -- Ed.]



 CC: How long have you been writing music?



 ST: I guess ever since I got my first guitar. I always tried to write my own parts, really simple ones at first, even though I couldn't really translate the ideas into actual playing. I actually sort of learned how to write songs by recording my own stuff with Garageband when I was around 19 or 20, and that's when I started messing with multi-tracking, learning how to mix audio, junk like that. And then after being in a band that worked on songs together, and seeing how that process went, I kind of eventually started working on more complex parts and full songs of my own.



 CC: What are your songwriting influences? Do you feel like there's an influence on your music that is obvious to you but might not necessarily be apparent to a listener?



 ST: Very, very many. I guess the biggest influences are my favorite bands, mostly jangly guitar bands from the '80s, and c86 bands: McCarthy, The Bodines, The Smiths, The Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, '90s Slumberland stuff, especially Black Tambourine and Henry's Dress. Early Modest Mouse, '90s Kinsella-sphere emo, like Cap'n Jazz, American Football, Joan of Arc (that first album), The Promise Ring, and other stuff like Sunny Day Real Estate, Braid, early Fugazi, and older punk bands like Minor Threat, Bad Brains and The Wipers. For more contemporary stuff, Grouper, Deerhunter and Broadcast. Is this too many? [No. -- Ed.]



 I've also got a real place in my heart for old doo-wop stuff, like from the '50s and '60s. Not that I think that sound influences what I write, but I really admire how simple, in terms of structure and lyrics, that most of those songs are. But you can still tell there's real emotion that goes into it.



 CC: How would you describe your songwriting (not recording) process. Are the songs planned out, or is the process more organic, with single chords or melodies developing into parts, which then develop into songs? Or do you have a back catalog of riffs/parts/progressions that you mix and match until they find a home?



 ST: Well actually, I write quite a bit by recording. If I have one or two parts that go together, I'll record it and listen for how another part might work its way in there. Hearing something play back usually helps me decide what works and what doesn't, and where structural things and transitions should go. It feels a lot different playing a song vs. hearing it recorded. It's almost like how I "proofread" a song.



 Typically I'll have a few parts that will not really have a set order/duration, but almost always the part that comes to me first ends up being the chorus, and I kind of work the other parts around that.



CC: Do you normally write your songs alone, or are you used to writing with others? Will this project change the way you typically write?



 ST: Most of the songs that I write, I write by myself, so this is actually somewhat normal for me.



 CC: Where will you be doing your writing and recording throughout this project?



 ST: My bedroom/apartment, and maybe some in my practice space.



 CC: What are your goals/aspirations for this project?



 ST: My goal is really to push myself outside of my comfort zone, and by that I mean, actually PRODUCE something. Since I was 19, I have started writing and recording literally dozens of songs, some finished, many more unfinished, but zero that I've formally released. It's partly an insecurity thing, but it's also an attention span/schedule thing: I have ADHD, I work full time, I play and practice in two bands, and I have a girlfriend. There's not a lot of time in between for me to focus on songwriting, and this is a really good excuse for that, and it's just a cool idea for a project, too.

What else can we tell you? Here's the Face book deets for that show Chandeliers are playing in Philly Saturday night: all of our Philadelpia pheoples should hit that. The threesome is back in Allston Rock City April 30 supporting this bill at O'Brien's toplined by Streight Angular. Enough of my yakkin', how about some songs?





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All This Stuff Happening With Calories And Its Offshoots Makes Our Head Hurt 'Cause It's A Lot Of Things All At Once, Like This Awesome New Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam Record

The men behind Calories seem to have decided that, like the protagonists at the climax of "Ghostbusters," now may be the appropriate time to cross the streams. There was a time when the criminally unsung Birmingham, England-based noise-pop foursome appeared content to have a go at taking projects in turn. But at the moment four related entities are issuing new music, prepping new releases or, in the case of the completely mega but long defunct rock band Distophia, ramping up for a reunion show. All the moving parts and machinations have tempted us to create diagram of all the various band members and where they fit, but, you know, then we didn't, so we're hoping this round-up will suffice to go beyond these earlier blog posts (1, 2) to clarify who is doing what (frankly, it makes our head ache, and we wish we had a UK correspondent to deal with this, *makes "call me" hand motion*).

Here is where we stand today. There was a band called Distophia, they made all of these awesome songs (1, 2, 3, 4 and so on),and then suddenly about six years ago there was not a band called Distophia. Thereafter Pete Dixon, John Biggs and Tom Whitfield from that band formed Calories, which thankfully still exists. Sometime in the past year the then-still-a-trio decided they did not rule hard enough, so they added producer extraordinaire Dominique James on bass and Mr. Dixon moved to guitar. Along parallel tracks, there has been other action in recent years, namely the establishment of two side projects. First, Mr. Dixon has created a bass-free, noisy wonder called Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam with gentlemen who are called Andrew Bullock and Ralph Morton. Meanwhile, Mssrs. Biggs, Whitfield and James launched a new project of their own, the more moody Burning Alms.

OK, that's the who, here's the what. Calories announced late last month its third long-player is on the way. While no release date or label has been disclosed, the quartet has released to the wilds of the Interpants the strikingly ethereal preview track "Mausoleum." Calories has for some time been drifting from blunt, brief and anthemic post-punk toward a more billowing, spaced-out sound, as evidenced by the looser proceedings of its tremendous sophomore set released in 2010, Basic Nature [review]. But the dream-like "Mausoleum" -- which is pushed along by a high guitar riff we swear appears somewhere in the Modest Mouse oeuvre -- is an exciting step further into more spectral and indefinite spaces; a video for the new song is posted atop this item. "Mausoleum" is not the first new music we've heard from Calories this year: attentive readers will recall the band issued the EP DMT in January.

But wait! There's more. Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam at long last today issued its tremendous, self-titled, debut long-player. The collection -- recorded live to tape at Birmingham's Highbury Studio -- is filled with 11 bracing and noisy guitar pop songs that make a very strong argument against tagging the three-piece as a side project to anything. The sparkling preview track "Ibiza Rocks" -- which moves at a brisk pace, fist-banging through verses to gently pulsing choruses -- made its way online over the summer, and is not too far afield from the big, anthemic guitar music of Calories. Indeed, to a certain extent we feel that Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, of all of the aforementioned projects including Calories itself, is the one that most resembles the band that made the forthright belters of the first Calories full-length, Adventuring [review]. Just take a listen to the cracking opening triptych of "Sea Chanty," "Orange Grove" and "Sooooooo." Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam is crammed with very strong tracks, from which we have a hard time identifying favorites, although the echoing ballad "Teeth" distinguishes itself, perhaps because it is the first major downshift the collection executes. A very small number of physical copies of Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam will be available at the band's next show, in a bundle that includes one of two shirt concepts, but the majority of us will just have to live with the fact that we're not going to get our mitts on one of those. Fortunately, the record is available as a pay-what-you-like download which you can access via the embed below.



Not to be outdone, a brief note atop the Burning Alms Facebook page promises the band's debut LP will be released this year. Your move, Burning Alms! As if all this activity was not enough activity from which to infer an extreme state of activeness, it was announced last month that Distophia will perform a one-off reunion show Nov. 16 in Birmingham. Could this lead to an official release of the legendary "lost" Distophia record Beat Dysxlexia? Cross all those fingers. Then download the SFL record and take the rest of the day off, that was a lot for you to read on a Monday.

Today's Hotness: What Moon Things, Little Big League, Fridge Poetry

>> At least The Bradys had their popcorn trail... With the half-attention/limited attention span we employ on a regular basis given the various demands on our time, sometimes we paste a link in a text file to revisit later, only to completely forget any and all context for it. So we send out heartfelt thanks to whomever it was that pointed us to the Bandcamp page of What Moon Things recently, because the quintet-or-trio-we-can't-tell's new tune "Squirrel Girl" -- posted to Bandcamp late last month and embedded for your enjoyment below -- is a stunner. The groop appears to be based out of New Paltz, NY, as best we can tell, and formed just last year. But it has made good use of that short time, as between "Squirrel Girl" and "Astronaut..." the band has already written two tunes that we've returned to again and again this weekend. "Squirrel Girl" melds psych, shoegaze and post-punk styles into something dense, noisy and beautiful, creating an arresting sound that hints at influences like classic Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse. What Moon Things recently added bassist Chris Kehoe to a lineup that as best we can tell also includes guitarist Jake Harms, John (with no surname) on drums, Kyle James on synth and some person or thing called Metamorphic manning synth, bass and percussion. The presumed five-piece (it appears only three band members are present in the video linked supra for "Astronaut...") are preparing a full-length, and previously issued a digital single, "White Indian Ghost" b/w "Storm Moon," in August 2012 (available for download here). We're excited by the possibilities before this young band, and recommend them to your attention posthaste. Stream the swerving anti-anthem "Squirrel Girl" via the embed below.



>> Just when you thought we couldn't find more bands to like coming out of Phiadelphia right now, here comes Little Big League. The rising guitar-pop quartet, fronted by Michelle Zauner and including former Titus Andronicus drummer Ian Dykstra, will release via Tiny Engines next month a debut full-length called These Are Good People. The set touts dynamic indie punk tunes highlighted by neatly arranged guitars that leave plenty of room for Ms. Zauner's affecting, high alto (which works in that range that always reminds us of Kiss Me Deadly's Emily Elizabeth). These Are Good People is at its best at its most ambitious, and you can hear the band pushing itself in the record's thoughtfully constructed and produced centerpiece "Sportswriting." Its composition is patient, there is noticeably more reverb applied to the guitars, and Zauner offers her most emotional vocal of the record. These Are Good People is out Aug. 6, and it will be available on a vinyl 12" or as a digital download. Pre-orders are being taken now right here and include t-shirt or poster bundles, cheap downloads and a 20% off checkout code, according to Little Big Leagues tumblr. Stream the first three cuts from the nine-song collecton via the Bandcamp embed below. Little Big League previously issued a 7" single, "Tokyo Drift" b/w "St. John," in April 2012. Little Big League is presently on tour and will play a show in Boston at Church on July 21 before making their way back to Philly for a record release show at The Fire on the 25th.



>> Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, the chief architect of the Birmingham, England-based electropop project Fridge Poetry and drummer in noise-pop titans Johnny Foreigner, would seem to have stumbled on something of a vocal muse for the former concern in Philly punk fixture Evan Bernard. The pair met when Mr. Bernard signed on to drive Johnny Foreigner around North America last fall. The pair first collaborated on the epic, yearning ballad "I'll See" from Fridge Poetry's April Soweto Slo Mo EP that we wrote about here, and now Bernard's heart-felt singing now graces a second Fridge Poetry jam, "Like Poetry," a remix of which was recently posted for auditory consumption at Bandcamp. The "Froback Remix" of "Like Poetry" situates Bernard's characteristically nostalgic and soaring vocals within a sparkling array of tinkling piano and a crashing, crash cymbal-heavy jungle beat. It's unclear whether it will be this remix or a different version that will be included on a planned forthcoming EP from Fridge Poetry. But according to the project's Bandcamp the EP will be called Leen van Pelt and will feature additional collaborations with JoFo tour mates Playlounge, Mutes (the project of Johnny Foreigner guitar tech James Brown), and a fellow named Paul Rafferty (who is not this guy). We will, of course, bring you further bulletins as events warrant, but in the interim get set to bliss out to Fridge Poetry's latest and greatest via the embed below.

Review: Krill | Lucky Leaves

Some bands this year will release good records, and a very small number will release excellent ones. But Jamaica Plain, Mass.-based trio Krill has accomplished something exceedingly rare by fabricating -- in a breathtakingly brief 10 hours of studio time -- a whole and quirky sonic universe all its own. A universe that, we imagine, has the same fidelity to perspective and logic as an episode of "Ren & Stimpy." Indeed, the threesome's sophomore collection Lucky Leaves boasts 11 clever and patient compositions, but each is a crooked house of cards, each adheres to an off-world gravity tugging steadily on wiry and sparkling guitar lines, rubbery bass and drumming that approximates the collective cadence of a few wind-up toys running concurrently but intermittently. The sum of all this is a rock critic's dream record, one that boasts a singular world-view from a charming coterie, complete with smart-guy time signatures, syncopation and instrumental interplay, nuance and dynamics, all beholden to a masterful economy. While some bands succeed by doing a few things right, Krill surpasses whatever expectations anyone might have had by doing EVERYTHING right.

This is especially the case with the dub-tastic and twangy preview single "Never A Joke," a potent case study of the curious dynamics and the crackerjack performances that bless Lucky Leaves -- listen to the stumbling drum fill just past the two-and-a-half-minute mark, just prior to the guitar bluescreening into a cascading repetition that sucks the song right down the drain. That dub influence isn't always as explicit, but even so the power and kinecticism of Lucky Leaves is as much due to the wide and deep space left by the economical compositions as it is the clattering rhythm section and technicolor guitar melodies. And swooping over or looping through the airy mixes are the surprisingly direct and occasionally demented vocals of singer and bassist Jonah Furman, whose adenoidal delivery is given substantial weight by variations in tone and texture employed in rendering his losercore declamations. Mr. Furman's singing recalls that of Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!'s Alec Ounsworth, but Furman at this point is perhaps more relateable than the former and more believably unhinged than the latter. There is no effort to soften the loathing in the stark and harrowing lyrics to "Oppressor" ("...whenever I have a good time, I dismiss my suffering, I'm the oppressor...") or the irony of "Infinite Power" ("...if you wanna feel like a failure, that's your right..."). The latter is tempered somewhat by the follow-on and final track, the curiously content and centered acoustic reprise of the opener "Theme From Krill," but that contrast is perhaps the clearest example of Krill's greatest appeal, a wry but winking (if winking was coool...) humor.

Krill mark Monday's release of Lucky Leaves with a show at Great Scott in Boston Saturday; the bill includes Ava Luna (featuring Julian Fader and Carlos Hernandez, who recorded Krill's record at The Silent Barn in Brooklyn in February), SaraLee and Huge Face. All the details can be found at this Facebook event page; there's another release show in New York the prior night. The record was initially only available on a USB stick embedded in a ball of cheese, on a CD (150 ludicrously packaged in a 12" sleeve, because whatever forever) or as a digital download, but somewhere along the way some wise person ponied up money for Krill to press Lucky Leaves to vinyl. You can review all of your purchase options at the band's Bandcamp wigwam right here; know that there is now vinyl available in a limited edition of 350 units on "barfy"-colored media. In the meantime, click over to Noisey to stream the entire collection or hear the two preview cuts via the Bandcamp embed below.

Krill: Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud

Previously on Clicky Clicky:
Show Us Yours #16: Krill

Today's Hotness: Princess Reason, Ghost Outfit



>> Sometimes, Soundcloud really delivers. After all, without it we wouldn't have known about Princess Reason, a young and somewhat shadowy band from College Park, Maryland. The act's self-titled album, out now digitally and eventually on tape via Tricot Records, is a welcome breath of meditative, DIY pop. Not much can be gleaned about Princess Reason from the Interzizzles, but what little there is at the Tricot Records Web presence indicates that this is a group of friends unpretentiously offering a glimpse into its own aural, DIY reality. All product is presently made by hand, and most visual characterizations of the collective depict bookshelves, mixing station desks, and simple, clean visuals suggesting a bright, but decaying innocence. "We Are Splitting," one of the highlights of the Princess Reason release, commences with a picked, drop-tuned guitar figure that guides the singer's wandering melody through a rumination on the "little house we all share." With an ambient delay looped in the background, the song briefly pauses before doubling in volume for a more rambunctious passage that calls to mind the scratchy guitar work of early Modest Mouse, or the paralyzing melancholy of Brian McGrath's too-short-lived post-Wendyfix project Mantissa. "We Are Splitting" smolders to a single ember and then winks out; listeners can almost feel the cool wisps of air from the AC unit and the diminishing light coming through the blinds as the players push back from a shared, melancholy reverie and slowly regain their senses after another intimate bedroom catharsis. Grab this dreamy release for any amount desired at the Princess Reason Bandcamp right here; we've embedded "We Are Splitting" for your listening pleasure below. -- Edward Charlton



>> Industrial Britain: bleak, unforgiving and yet -- as history has shown for decades -- surprisingly inspiring. A steady thrum of clanging and droning acts sourced from gray, stiffening urban environs has sound-tracked the nation's musical comings and goings since a young Ian Curtis or Mark E. Smith first clutched microphones and gave voice to the disenfranchised. The tradition lives on in the music of Mancunians Ghost Outfit, a pair whose visceral sound is among the latest to have caught our ear. Ghost Outfit announced recently the pending release of a debut full-length titled I Want You To Destroy Me, due June 24 on Salford-based SWAYS Records. Singer/guitarist Jack Hardman, and drummer Mike Benson proffer a churning, thick, no-wave-indebted take on UK indie rock and noise-pop, and lead single "Killuhs" opens with repetitive string bends and colossal, destructive tom hits. When Mr. Hardman's pleading vocals edge in to the mix, the increasingly moody tune begins to echo the desperation of frayed and emotional contemporaries such as Scotland's We Were Promised Jetpacks, shoegazing Danes Heaviness and the Czech Republic's The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. It's here, too, that one first gets a sense of the precise attention to detail the band employs, despite its minimal set-up. Marvel in the cross-channel dimensions of Hardman's guitar tone, or the foreboding, over-dubbed whisper that accompanies his voice ever so briefly shortly past the minute mark. Thereafter, he manages a brief, faraway holler, before the song engulfs him with an instrumental groove that carries it through to its conclusion, uncontainable distortion sparking off in all directions. Ghost Outfit perform with such fresh conviction, and it's apparent the two live and breathe despondent rhythms and a thorny, de-tuned fever, an ideal soundtrack to all that is crumbling and soon to be missed. This reviewer can't recommend this album enough; I Want You To Destroy Me is available for pre-order now as an LP or CD (an LP purchase rates a CD, download and 10" x 10" art insert, as well) via Ghost Outfit's Big Cartel page right here. Stream the dynamite track "Killuhs" via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton

YouTube Rodeo: Yuck's "Suicide Policeman" Live

From the band's Sept. 7 set supporting arena rockers Modest Mouse at the Melkweg in Amsterdam. London-based Yuck plays a few U.S. dates next month, including an Oct. 20 show in Boston at Paradise Rock Club opening for dream pop sensations The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. That's a hot bill. We're hoping our blogging schedule frees up shortly so we can get back to more regular publishing alongside Mr. Piantigini. But in the meantime you'd best mellow out with Yuck. Tickets for the Oct. 20 show can be obtained here from TicketKnob.

Not In America: Hot Club De Paris' "Hey Housebrick"

Observe the video for a wonderful single from Liverpool, England trio Hot Club De Paris released on Moshi Moshi in the U.K. May 25. The tune "Hey Housebrick!," also appears on the band's sophomore full-length Live At Dead Lake, which was released June 16. When oh when will this fantastic record be issued in North America (or, why oh why doesn't some cool benefactor from the UK just send us the best records in the mail)? After all, the record was recorded here, in Chicago with Brian Deck (he formerly of Red Red Meat, he known for producing records by Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine and Chin Up Chin Up). Live At Dead Lake was also issued in a special two-disc edition, the second disc containing acoustic versions of selected tunes as well as videos. EMusic doesn't have anything by Hot Club De Paris save for the single "Will You Still Be In Love With Me Next Year?", which is actually their weakest tune, in our opinion. Still good, but not as good as the rest. Watch more good vids from Hot Club De Paris at YouTube right here.

Today's Hotness: Paper Cranes, Meneguar, Psapp

>> [Photo: The author, as shot by Watson, Cracow, 1997] In the 10 seconds it took us to rise from bed this morning and place ourselves under the shower head, some wiseguy on morning gabber "The Today Show" said the word "eastern;" we don't know if he was saying "Eastern Europe" or "Middle Eastern" or what. But what we do know is that immediately this Paper Cranes jam started playing in our head, and has been there most of the day. Right now we are attempting to exorcise it by listening to the track.

We can't recall where how this MP3 made its way to us, although there is metadata in the file indicating it must have come from AreYouFamiliar.Blogspot.com, which we don't recall ever reading and which hasn't posted an update since 2006. The mystery remains. As best we can tell the band is the same one you can find at this MySpace dojo, although we are not certain. If indeed it is them, The Paper Cranes' current material is decidedly more pop, less rough around the edges and spiky. But certainly worth a listen. But this one below is the jam, at least for frigid winter days, which of course is as far from the weather we have in Boston right now as it could get.

Paper Cranes -- "January In Eastern Europe" -- Demo 2005
[right click and save as]
[buy Paper Cranes records from the band here]

>> Indie punk geniuses Meneguar and freakier/jammier sister act Woods (it's not really a side project, it is really its own thing) have just disclosed some European tour dates that you can view here. None of the dates is in the UK, so we imagine somewhere right about now certain dudes in Johnny Foreigner are cursing their busy touring schedule and likely attendant inability to catch the tour as it wends its way from The Netherlands to the Czech Republic. Remember how awesome Meneguar's sophomore full length Strangers In Our House was? No? Here's a reminder.

Meneguar -- "Paint You" -- Strangers In Our House
[right click and save as]
[buy Meneguar records from Troubleman Unlimited right here]

>> Funny how we just mentioned electrotweesters Psapp the other day during our ramblings about the July Muxtape, and now today comes news that the British duo will be releasing a new record in October. The set, Psapp's third, is called The Camel's Back, and it will be out in the U.K. Oct. 27 and in the States the following week. Domino reissued the band's debut Tiger, My Friend, last November. It has the track "Curuncula" on it, which is divine, and so you should have that record. No word on which label will issue The Camel's Back, but it would not surprise us if it is Domino. Surprised we will not be. So there.

>> Clicky Clicky faves Mobius Band play a free hometown show this Sunday at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The notable trio is slated to appear around 9PM at what is being billed as a Breeders afterparty. So presumably The Breeders are performing thereabouts that afternoon, perhaps at one of those free outdoor swimming pool dealies? Where's our New York correspondent when we need him/her/it. Mobius Band's sophomore set Heaven was issued last year and was one of our favorite records of 2007. Believe it or not, despite the band tirelessly touring Europe and the UK during the last year, Heaven has yet to be released in the UK. This will allegedly happen "soon." Ahh, soon. Anyway, remember this jam?

Mobius Band -- "Hallie" -- Heaven
[right click and save as]
[buy Mobius Band records from Misra here]

>> At least one reader out there likes to tease us about our affinity for the various bands of Ben Parker, including Superman Revenge Squad and the mighty Nosferatu D2. So for him, here is a link to a blog post from Mr. Parker indicating a Nosferatu D2 reunion of sorts is planned for a gig to take place on Parker's birthday. A few more details here.

>> We would have loved to hear Modest Mouse cover almost the entirety of Built To Spill's unparalleled There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Alas.

Muxtape No. 12: Things I Need To Do Before The Batteries Die

Welcome to the weekly Muxtape, or at least the various scattered thoughts centering thereon. Seems like the theme this week is remarkable lyrics. Kind of a general idea, nothing like trying to prove a point about Dosh and Gastr Del Sol as we endeavored to do last week. You can listen to all the tracks here. Read on for our musings.

1. The Mendoza Line -- "Road To Insolvency" -- Fortune
(We're surprised by two things: 1) that Shannon McArdle will have a solo record out before former Mendoza Line and life-partner-in-crime Timothy Bracy and 2) that the songs at Ms. McArdle's MySpace cabin are so appealing. If we haven't come right out and said it before, we'll say it now: we always preferred Bracy's tunes to McArdle's in the Mendoza Line canon. Such as this song "Road To Insolvency." The guy can write amazing lyrics, his singing voice is rumpled to the extent of being wholly ace. But this new McArdle stuff is really very good. We saw Large-Hearted Boy hosting an MP3 from the set today, hopefully have time to do a post about it later this week. Ah, what the hell, we already wrote about the tune last week, so here it is: Shannon McArdle -- "Poison In My Cup" -- Summer Of The Whore; right click on the hyperlink and save as.)

2. The Replacements -- "Staples In Her Stomach (Outtake)" -- Stink [Expanded]
(This is the "bonus" track we were most interested in hearing from the recent Mats reissues, as it had been hyped more than once in the books we've read concerning the erstwhile Minneapolis band. And while it is slightly one-dimensional, it doesn't disappoint. It's was appended to the expanded version of Stink, but seems to be more of a piece with Sorry Ma. Another great lyric.)

3. Nosferatu D2 -- "Broken Tamagotchi" -- Nosferatu D2
(When Ben Parker yowls "the telephone is ringing!" in this track the hair on the back of our neck stands up. No one does literate and terribly exercised like Mr. Parker, whose acclaim falls far short of his immense talent. The title to this Muxtape is taken from this searing tune.)

4. Modest Mouse -- "Whenever I Breathe Out You Breathe In (Live)" -- Bootleg, May 19, Some Year
(Originally on the band's first single backed with "Broke," and while the Modest Mouse catalogue has many, many great songs, we tell anyone who will listen that they've never surpassed the excellence -- or at least the annihilating emotional impact -- of the first single. This live version is a nice take on the recording, and it was posted to some music blog a billion years ago when music blogs were shorter and lived closer to the water.)

5. The Swimmers -- "Pocket Full Of Gold (Live)" -- The Hideout, Chicago, 2008
(So we figured we'd post up another live track. We really like The Swimmers record that was finally released this year. The Philly-based quartet was giving away -- for a while anyway -- MP3s of their show last spring at The Hideout in Chicago. "Heaven" was the "big" track from the record, but we are equally as enamored with this rocker. We enjoy those plinky tones at the beginning, and the drumming on this recording sounds particularly forceful, in a good way.)

6. The Trolleyvox -- "Stomping Grounds" -- Luzerne
(And then we figured we'd keep it Philly style. This is from the T-vox's double set released last year. It's a quiet acoustic and violin-appointed thing, a ruminating vocal. This track is about a million miles away from the vitriol packaged above in the Nosferatu D2 track, and truthfully this seems more like an autumnal jam, but it's so purty we'll just leave it here.)

7. Wimp Factor 14 -- "Rebuilding Europe" -- Some 'zine comp
(We've always preferred the Eggs cover from that band's amazing Exploder! release. But even so, we were always intrigued to find and hear the original, and then it finally was posted to BCO or some such outpost of musical musicery, and we were pleased. This track features one of the best opening lines of the '90s: "I don't want to be part of your Marshall Plan...")

8. Unwound -- "Lady Elect" -- Repetition
(This record came out at the end of our college days and even now seems to sum up that period of time well. But even outside of our own context, Unwound seemed to harness the disaffected zeitgeist of the early and mid-'90s, post-grunge indie northwest. It would seem that when Mr. Cobain died, this trio, who we once saw destroy the Khyber in Philly many moons ago, stepped in to carry the mantle of the broken and disturbed. Love the subtle vibraphone -- we think that's what it is -- at the end of this track.)

9. The Sea And Cake -- "Civilise" -- The Fawn
(We referenced our strong feelings for The Sea And Cake's The Fawn Sunday, so we thought we'd throw in a track here from that excellent album. A nice gentle chorus, and wonderful pattering snare drum in the verse under spare piano and guitar. A very handsome package, and a track that could just have easily been on the more guitar-oriented set The Biz, rather than the somewhat electronically tilted The Fawn.)

10. Yo La Tengo -- "Beach Party Tonight" -- Summer Sun
(We were just at the beach. It was nice. Almost as nice as this top shelf Yo La Tengo dreamer. In a perfect world this song would lull us to sleep every night.)

11. Lifter Puller -- "Nassau Coliseum" -- Soft Rock
(We came to this pre-Hold Steady band way late, we admit. This track is amazing, as amazing as anything Mr. Finn has put his name on since. The relentless listing of cities and towns at the end leads up to a bawdy but stirring finish.)

12. The Promise Ring -- "Best Looking Boys" -- Boys And Girls
(So this sort of acts as a chaser of sorts to Mr. Finn's x-rated proclamation above, as here we have one of Davey Von Bohlen's innocent pop confections. It's no "Red And Blue Jeans," but few songs approach the greatness of that amazing track. So here we send you off with a pop song. Have a nice day.)

Today's Hotness: Modest Mouse, Johnny Foreigner, Jakobinarina

>> Little of what Modest Mouse has done in the ensuing 12 years or so has equaled to our ears their amazing first single, "Broke" b/w "Whenever I Breathe Out You Breathe In." We capital L Love the song "Broke," and probably listened to it more than anything else in 1996. Imagine our surprise to see Modest Mouse performing the tune live in a clip over at AOL Music. The original recording is perhaps the bitterest, most heartbroken three minutes Modest Mouse has ever mustered. This AOL version is a little "soft rock," but you should do what you can to acquire the original single and the version of the song from the excellent bootleg Baron Von Bullshit Rides Again. On the upside, this live performance features a lot of very interesting guitar work from Johnny Marr.

>> You didn't think we'd just stop talking about Johnny Foreigner, did you? The Birmingham, UK trio of indie rock heroes has just announced a hard release date for its debut EP Arcs Across The City. Best Before Records will issue the six-, errrr... seven-song set Nov. 26. There's no American release date, we suspect because there is no American label or distro, so you'll need to hoard away excess beer money to pay for the import. Apparently the lucky few in England have already received promos, and the early buzz is all raves, predictably. This is especially predictable because Johnny Foreigner is streaming most of the EP, or at least most of the songs from the EP (but perhaps different versions) at its MySpace wigwam here. We're most excited by talk that the quiet ballad "All Mosely Gardens" is included as a secret track, because this song is stunning, amazing, the bee's knees, et cetera and et cetera. Track listing, you ask? This is what the message board kids are saying:

1. Champagne Girls I Have Known
2. The End And Everything After
3. Suicide Pact, Yeh?
4. Yes! You Talk Too Fast
5. Sofacore
6. This Band Is Killing Us
7. All Mosely Gardens (secret track! shhhhhh!)

The package itself features pop-up art and sounds pretty amazing. Anything else? The band received an advance which it is using to spruce up their gear and to book studio time for rehearsing and writing new songs. The band already has a million songs, so we are not sure what use they have for any more, but more power to 'em. Johnny Foreigner has also apparently been chosen to promote Levis jeans? Well, if you gotta shill for something, we guess that is probably the best possible choice. At least until they can get work promoting Pac Man, which is due for a resurgence in 5, 4, 3... Anyway, here is a version of the single "Sometimes In The Bullring" for your listening pleasure.

Johnny Foreigner -- "Sometimes In The Bullring" -- 3/12/2007 Version
[right click and save as]
[stalk the Best Before Records site to wait for pre-orders to begin for Arcs Across The City here]

>> Holy cow. Jakobinarina. So great. Check them out at Another Form Of Relief here.

>> The release date of the forthcoming Bob Mould set has been announced. According to Pun Canoes, District Line will be issued by Anti on Feb. 5. More details and a track list here.

>> We love how Mr. Catbirdseat offers a much-needed piss-take now and again to keep everyone on their toes. Observe.

>> We refuse to believe that the only way to get rid of all the padded mailers in our house is to throw them away. Are you a small indie label or band about to do a big CD mailing? If so, consider reusing our padded mailers. We will send them to you for free, whereever you are, as long as it is in the United States. We will thank your band or label in this blog for taking them and refusing to let them line a landfill.

Today's Hotness: A-Sides, Kevin Drew, Armalite

>> Word on the street, or at the least at the bottom of this blog post, is that Philadelphia indie rock phenoms The A-Sides will tour extensively in October. Vagrant will issue the band's sophomore set Silver Storms Aug. 28. Well, actually, Spin.com today says here that the set will now be issued Sept. 18, as does the band's web dojo; not so much their Virb page. Things change. Incidentally, Spin.com, which named The A-Sides their band of the day today, thinks the band sounds like The Shins and Modest Mouse. Uh, what? Either way, make sure to hit that link to Spin.com supra and grab the MP3 for the newish track "Diamonds." Speaking of The A-Sides, we'd never seen this live footage of the band playing "Cinematic" last January at Philadelphia's 700 Bar. The A-Sides are in Boston at the Middle East Aug. 9. We'll be there.

>> This new video for Broken Social Scenemeister Kevin Drew's "Backed Out On The..." that features J., Murph and Lou from Dinosaur Jr. is getting a huge !!hell yeah!! from us (note the crazy exclamation points for added jazz). Pitchfork has the video posted right here. Drew releases his inelegantly titled solo set Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew, "Spirit If..." Sept. 18 on Arts & Crafts.

>> Pop-punk supergroup Armalite, which features Atom Goren of Atom And His Package and a bunch of other famous-type Jersey hardcore kids, doesn't want you to forget that they are playing a rare live show Aug. 10. at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. So don't. Armalite's self-titled debut was one of our favorite records of 2006; we had occasion to dine with Mr. Goren in May and he said there are currently no plans for a second Armalite set, as the guys are all busy with other things. So this show is as good as you're gonna get. Someone please take video. And here are some MP3s:

Armalite -- "Entitled" -- Armalite
Armalite -- "I Am A Pancreas (I Seek To Understand Me...)" -- Armalite
[right click and save as]
[buy Armalite from No Idea right here]

>> Merge Blog has just posted here two acoustic cuts from Swede pop sensations Shout Out Louds. One of the cuts is the infectious bouncer "Tonight I Have Leave It," which we wrote about here a couple weeks back. The other is called "Impossible." Both songs were part of a radio session recorded by LA-based commercial rock station Indie 103. We can't get either of the files to open, but perhaps if you check back later the Merge web gremlins will figure out what the problem is.

>> Fun fact from a recent Brian Baker interview that Pun Canoes links to here: apparently DC hardcore legends Minor Threat have sold between 800,000 records and a million records over the last quarter century or so, according to Mr. Baker's estimate. Not too shabby for guys who have never once cowtowed to The Man. We salute you, Minor Threat.

>> Believe it or not, we are actually going to get out and finally see The Beatings tonight, speaking of our favorite records of 2006. We'll have a full report over the weekend.