Today's Hotness: Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, Goodbye Childhood, R.M. Hendrix

>> For those of you who didn't see us trumpet its existence over on the Fakebooks yesterday, the video above is for the lead track from a tremendous new EP from Birmingham, England-based noise-pop luminaries Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam. We introduced you to the then-trio last fall, when it self-released a cracking self-titled full-length debut. Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam is comprised by former Calories and Distophia guy Peter Dixon, and chaps named Andrew Bullock, Ralph Morton and, more recently, David Bentall. The new EP, which as far as we can tell carries no title and no hard release date, touts five characteristically concise, desperate and tuneful rockers and picks up right where Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam left off. That's not the most insightful analysis, but when a band -- or really, a cohort of men that configures itself in ever-increasing combinations (more on that below) -- does so many things right so consistently, the work needn't always be labored over. "Auto," the song featured in the video above, is briskly paced, urgent and repetitive ("auto" is short for "automation," after all), bludgeoning the refrain "in auto" repeatedly at the end of the second minute just prior to a tearing lead guitar line. The tune presents an electrifying amalgamation of punk bombast confronting Teutonic minimalism and efficiency, and there is perhaps a larger point to be made about its mechanistic rhythm, the themes of alienation and boredom in the video, and how that relates to Marx's ideas about how industrial machinery alienates the worker (see, for example, something like "As a result of machinery, displaced workers are not so quickly compensated by employment in other industries but are forced into an expanding labor-market at a disadvantage and available for greater capitalist exploitation without the ability to procure the means of subsistence for survival.") But it also just rocks, as does the blazing, 106-second follow-up "Castles And Kings." Indeed, there is nary a loose thread or dropped stitch in any of the EP's five songs. The EP is available for pre-order here in two bundles. The first is limited to 50 orders, and includes 7" vinyl, CD, A3 poster, t-shirt and instant download for £10; the second offers only the 7" and CD for £6. We suspect the former iteration is already sold out, but try your luck, what the hell, right? Like sound but hate pictures? You can stream "Auto" via the Soundcloud embed below.



>> If you clicked the second hyperlink above and revisited our initial coverage of Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, you are familiar with our being overwhelmed by the many projects that have descended from the late, great Distophia and its most successful offspring, Calories. Fortunately, and not surprisingly, all of these related acts make excellent music. Yet one more new project was revealed last month, when Burning Alms/Calories doods Andrew Bullock and Thomas Mark Whitfield unveiled Goodbye Childhood. The duo bowed the project with a self-titled, downloadable EP in late April. The music is reserved and spare, lacing together canned beats, acoustic guitars, murmured vocals and atmospheric synths,into a curious yet enticing product that at least superficially calls to mind Elliot Smith and The Notwist. The delicate and waltz-timed meditation "Lock Up Your Son" may be the most affecting of the short set, with gentle lyrics and pretty acoustic guitar meandering first into a stiffening drone, then a crackling rhythm track. A new band and EP were not what we had been expecting from Mssrs. Bullock and Whitfield. The pair's Burning Alms has had a full-length titled In Sequence waiting in the wings to be unveiled for about six months, we reported here and here in February and December respectively. Is that LP still in the offing, or has it been subsumed within the catalogue/repertoire of Goodbye Childhood? We really have no idea. But confusion is certainly nothing new when it comes to the supernumerous spawn of Distophia. We can only wait and see, and while you do so, take a listen to the entire Goodbye Childhood EP via the embed below.



>> Wade in deep with us, indie rock fans, deep into the new collection from Boston-based graphic designer and music DIY-er R.M. Hendrix. Mr. Hendrix's new full-length Urban Turks Country Jerks carries 11 tunes and captures in its broad embrace classic shoegaze and Britpop sounds. Heretofore, the cuts "Wasted Summer" and "In This Daydream" from the collection have been designated as singles from same, and there are very nice video clips for them here and here respectively. But it is at the far end of the collection where we find two tunes that, in our humble opinion, cry out for single treatment; hear us out. Were we to don our A&R cap -- which we do enjoy doing now and again -- we'd advise releasing a vinyl 7" with the terrific, buoyant strummer "Those Were Dark Days" on the A-side, and the instrospective coldwave dreamer "Frost Heaves" on the flip. The former song is a very pleasant reminder of the late-career classic "Stormy Weather" from Echo And The Bunnymen, and succeeds on the strength of Hendrix's even vocal, big guitars in the chorus and a bouncing beat. The latter tune is a perfect foil, desolate and icy, the cool side of our proposed aural McDLT. Fortunately all of Urban Turks Country Jerks is available to stream on Soundcloud, and so you can weigh the merits of our imaginary single via the embeds below, or click this link to hear the whole shooting match. Urban Turks Country Jerks was released April 28 by Dallas-based Moon Sounds Records on CD or as a digital download. We previously wrote about Hendrix's Pink Skin EP here in 2012. Hendrix, formerly of indie rockers Flannery, has been producing music for almost two decades at this point -- at least one song at his web site dates back to 1996. Peruse his entire catalog right here.

Review: The Notwist | Close To The Glass

If the devil is in the details, as the saying goes, then The Notwist are rife with demons. Not only has the band navigated a quarter-century career via perfectly synthesized and processed sounds within every second of its music, but the attention to detail, the craftsmanship, would seem to now extend even to their release schedule. Since 2002, the German electropop concern have delivered a finely wrought album like clockwork, every six years. That may not seem like a lot, and it is certainly a long time for a band of a certain caliber to go between releases, but we've never heard anyone complain once the product is out there. And once again, today with Close To The Glass, the cycle continues.

Building upon the tremendous 2008 long-player The Devil, You + Me, the new collection -- which is released in the U.S. on Sub Pop -- both fuses together and samples from among the group's disparate styles. Indeed, this reviewer likely would now recommend Close To The Glass to a new listener first, as it offers a little something for everyone, diverse textures packaged in economically sized songs. "Signals" commences the album with electronic bleepery, forthright choppy bass, brief verses and an atmospheric outro draped with the band's trademark dusty and avant garde aural effects. With just this first song, The Notwist make plain their mastery of EQ and production, at least for those fans who have not seen the incredible making-of film "On | Off The Record," which captures among other things the painstaking creation of the band's watershed 2002 release Neon Golden. On Close To The Glass, even the most incidental-sounding pop of static feels remarkably full.

Make no mistake, this is a headphones record. Using the clipped, sampled source sounds in the bass, the title track establishes an urgent, robotic rhythm, reflecting The Notwist's affinity for IDM. The result is as tantalizing to the mind as it is a commanding, alien dance song. The bright strummer "Kong" follows, injecting a bolus of hope and humanity into the proceedings that is as disorienting as it is welcome (the tune, incidentally, sounds as if it could have featured on erstwhile Philly act Mazarin's brilliant 2000 set Watch It Happen). And here, too, The Notwist showcases yet another talent: the first-rate production on their guitars and strings. "Kong" capitalizes on the three-dimensional quality of this aspect of the group via an opening riff that is at the same time overdriven and clean: while loud, every delicate pick of the strings is seemingly in the ear of the listener as well. As the bass and drums align to form a Teutonic groove, fronter Marcus Acher's gentle vocals communicate weighty pathos and perspective -- always nestled on top of the rush of guitars, phasers and string melodies.

The balance of Close To The Glass follows the forms of the first third of the record while presenting additional sonic left turns. "Casino" is an acoustic slow-burner that is melodically pure and deeply sad. "From One Wrong Place To The Next" samples fingers sliding across acoustic guitar strings and prints other found sounds over a moody dance track. Album highlight "7-Hour Drive" is a surprising twist for The Notwist, offering the band's take on a classic shoegaze style. There's woozy string bending, curious clipped notes and a cycling chord progression that nods at the My Bloody Valentine titanic "When You Sleep."

In sum, Close To The Glass presents a compact primer on the legendary German act, one that not only expands upon the band's legacy, but also offers the most immediate gateway to their beautiful, moving and detailed universe. The collection is proof that The Notwist have both conquered their sound, and reached a state where they can still push boundaries while satisfying even its adventurous fanbase. It's a wonderful place to be. Buy Close To The Glass from Sub Pop as a double LP or CD right here. The band will play a short strand of shows in June, but unfortunately no Boston date; full dates are below, as are embeds of "Close To The Glass" and "Kong" for your enjoyment. Clicky Clicky is of the opinion that The Notwist is one of the most accomplished and powerful live acts of the day, and this thrilling video from January is strong support for our assertion. -- Edward Charlton

06.09 -- New York, NY -- Webster Hall
06.10 -- Philadelphia, PA -- Theatre of Living Arts
06.11 -- Montreal, Quebec -- Société Des Arts Technologiques
06.12 -- Toronto, Ontario -- Lee's Palace
06.13 -- Chicago, IL -- House of Blues
06.14 -- San Francisco, CA -- The Regency Ballroom
06.15 -- Los Angeles, CA -- The Fonda Theatre
07.04 -- George, WA -- Sasquatch Festival





Prior Notwist Coverage:
That Was The Show That Was: The Notwist with Dosh At The Roxy
Reader Rewards: Win The New Notwist Single, Boston Tickets
Today's Hotness: The Notwist
Review: Tied + Tickled Trio | Aelita
Review: The Notwist | "On | Off The Record" DVD

Today's Hotness: Men Called Him Mister, Young Adults, Four Eyes

>> Long-time readers will be aware of our great love for the wildly under-appreciated indie rock act Haywood. Our boundless affinity for the defunct Brooklyn-via-Philly-via-St. David's/Villanova/South Devon/Wherever Ariel Lived quartet is perhaps rivaled only by that we have for Johnny Foreigner. And so it was an unexpected collision of worlds when we saw that the one-show-only supergroup Kannberg 1664, which features at least one member of Birmingham, England-based indie titans Johnny Foreigner, will share the bill at an upcoming Pavement tribute show in London with a Madrid-based band called Men Call Him Mister. The latter act's name, you see, is taken from the title of Haywood's superlative sophomore full-length released in 1999 on Self Starter Foundation [buy!buy!buy!]. And so we were compelled to contact Men Called Him Mister to get the scoop on why a band in Madrid is named for what is, let's face it, a sort of obscure American act.

It turns out that indeed the three-year-old band takes its name from the Haywood record; that a British fellow named Ian who is one-fourth of Men Called Him Mister saw Haywood play while he was in New York in 1999 or so; and that Ian counts the record among his favorites. So, really, the story is quite straightforward. We checked out the Men Called Him Mister MySpace yert and were pleased to find that we dug its music, which sounds a little bit like old Notwist crossed with Crayon. Ian was kind enough to send along some music for us to share, so catch the streams below. Make sure to listen through to the end of "Thousand Eyes," which is like three songs jammed into one composition. The Pavement tribute show transpires Saturday 8 May in Brixton, it is called Pavement Ist Rad! and there are full details right here.

Men Called Him Mister's "Make It Loud" and "Thousand Eyes"

>> If you weren't glued to your radios March 14, or even if you were, you may have missed upstart Boston-based noise-pop luminaries Young Adults delivering a fizzy, reverbed-out performance on WERS, the Emerson College radio station. As we reported last month, Young Adults have only been together about six months but have already recorded an impressive demo that we first wrote about here. And now there's this entertaining, expletive-laden radio session. The trio opens with "Let Us Out," and also plays "Bummer Summer" and "Impression." There is some fairly informative interviewing as part of the in-studio visit, although our fair radio host sticks with the basics like how the band formed, its influences, et cetera. According to its MySpace dojo, Young Adults next appearance will be at something called the Boston Underground Summit April 24 in Jamaica Plain, Mass.

>> And if you did listen to the Young Adults radio session, you likely heard the band mention its indie punk and apparently Dinosaur Jr.-influenced scene contemporaries Four Eyes. The terms "indie punk" and "Dinosaur Jr." never fail to draw our attention, and after a bit of googling we found ourselves at a Four Eyes Muxtape page. After hearing the fine rock posted there we got in touch with the band forthwith. We learned that Four Eyes has only been around since November, but it has already recorded tracks for a debut 7" that should be available very soon. Nick and Will Foureyes sent along the song "Anchor Home" (posted below) to share, which based on the metadata will be on the aforementioned 7". The track is an uptempo, scritchy rocker with a bouncy snare beat and tons of fuzzy guitar, guitar everywhere like a cotton candy machine gone haywire. To kind of short-hand it for you, Four Eyes' "Anchor Home" sounds a bit like Voxtrot's "Wrecking Force" if Voxtrot had a jazzy lead player and played with a lot of balls. Four Eyes wanted us to point out that if you want to order the 7" -- and we think you do -- then you should hit them up at foureyestheband@gmail.com; tell them Clicky Clicky sent you. Four Eyes has a few upcoming Boston-area gigs that we are posting below as well.

04.16 -- Steven Tyler Memorial Pool -- Somerville, MA
04.24 -- O'Brien's -- Allston, MA
05.17 -- Charlie's Kitchen -- Cambridge, MA

Four Eyes' "Anchor Home"

Review: Lali Puna | Our Inventions [MP3]

According to its label, Lali Puna's fourth full length Our Inventions addresses modernity and "the driving forces of progress and technological obsession" -- themes that the Munich-based electropop quartet has plumbed since at least its 2001 sophomore set Scary World Theory. If there is an unexpected change manifested in Our Inventions it is the return of a softer tone and predominantly electronic palette. The change is perhaps too easy to associate with fronter Valerie Trebeljahr having become a mother for the first time since the release of the band's last record, but it also offers a ready raison d'etre for Lali Puna's retrenching its music nearer the minimalist style of its debut full-length, 1999's startlingly excellent Tridecoder. There is something to be cherished in the quiet and peaceful that new parents likely appreciate more than most.

The subdued tone contrasts sharply with the quartet's prior full-length, 2004's almost boisterous (and certainly Notwist-like) Faking The Books. That thrilling collection was replete with big guitar chords that complemented surprisingly well Ms. Trebeljahr's trademark electronics and wispy vocals. It targeted unpopular regimes and Orwellian corporations; we consider the set a strong rebuke of the U.S.-led "war on terror," and it is impossible not to recognize as criticism the coopting of a then-current Microsoft ad tagline for the chorus of the excellent (pardon this) rocker "Metronomic." There are hints of that outward-facing, critical voice on Our Inventions, such as the ominous, dense mid-album standout "Safe Tomorrow" (in which Trebeljahr repeatedly warns "never going anywhere" over pulsing laptop beats and droning synths). But for the most part the new set is the most insular and intimate since Tridecoder. Opener "Rest Your Head" and closer/album highlight "Out There" could prove serviceable as lullabyes.

Fans unfamiliar with Lali Puna's catalog prior to Faking The Books may find the limited dynamics on Our Inventions puzzling. But despite a mesmerizing (and perhaps hyperbole-deflecting) consistency across its 10 tracks, there is a degree of sophistication in the compositions that emphasizes that, in its 11th year of releasing records, Lali Puna continues evolving. Trebeljahr's quiet, breathy delivery is as arresting as ever (particularly on "That Day," which touts a Depeche Mode-mode rhythm track), and the intelligent electronic textures that underpin her pensive, quietly anxious tunes continue to present a captivating focal point. The wonderful unspoken truth of the music on Our Inventions is that, in fact, it is not minimalist at all: every synth tone or electro beat hides beneath still more layers of sound, be they understated guitars, chopped up vocals or more synths and beats.

Our Inventions will be officially issued by Morr Music in Europe April 9; it will be available in the U.S. on April 27, according to Newbury Comics' web site. The record was "pre-released" to ITunes last Thursday along with an ITunes-only bonus track "See The Wood For Trees," which was previously only available on the "Remember" 7". Fans who purchase the CD or vinyl version of Our Inventions directly from Morr receive a copy of the "Remember" 7" for free, which makes the ITunes exclusivity of "See The Wood For The Trees" seem less and less, well, exclusive. Lali Puna plan a European tour for May and early June, and you can inspect all the dates below.

Lali Puna -- "Remember" -- Our Inventions
[right click and save as]
[buy Lali Puna records from Newbury Comics right here]

Lali Puna: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

05.13 -- Conne Island -- Leipzig
05.14 -- Lido -- Berlin
05.15 -- Lagerhaus -- Bremen
05.16 -- Gebäude 9 -- Köln
05.17 -- Übel und Gefährlich -- Hamburg
05.18 -- Ekko -- Utrecht
05.19 -- Cactus -- Brugge
05.20 -- Pavillon Theatre -- Brighton
05.21 -- Le Grand Mix -- Lille
05.22 -- Mousonturm -- Frankfurt
05.28 -- Ampere -- München
05.29 -- Immergut Festival -- Neustrelitz
05.30 -- SC -- Zagreb
05.31 -- Gala Hala -- Ljubliana
06.01 -- Lokomotiv -- Bologna
06.02 -- Spazio 211 -- Turin
06.03 -- Exil -- Zürich
06.04 -- Exit 07 -- Luxembourg
06.05 -- Furia Festival -- Cergy

Be Prepared: Lali Puna | Our Inventions | 1st April

It's been more than five years (or just about five, if you count the comp I Thought I Was Over That: Rare, Remixed and B-Sides, which we reviewed for Junkmedia here), but Munich, Germany-based electropop luminaries Lali Puna are finally back with a new collection of music: Our Inventions will be released April 1 by Morr Music. We can tell you the collection is wonderful. A bit less guitar-oriented than the incredible prior release Faking The Books, but not as minimal as the stunning 1999 debut Tridecoder. Given the deliberate pace at which spouse, collaborator and Notwist fronter Markus Acher works, and the fact that the couple had a child in the last couple years, the lag between Faking The Books and Our Inventions is completely reasonable. But that doesn't diminish our excitement.

Clicky Clicky Music Blog's Top Albums 2000-2009

The span of years roughly book-ended by the launches of Napster and Spotify -- a decade during which many perpetually proclaimed the album format dead -- was crammed with crates and crates and crates and crates of compelling music. And why wouldn't it be? Ones and zeroes do not obviate humanity's innate need to rock. But that is a subject for another day. Today, as part of Deckfight's ongoing Albums Of The Decade Blog Tour, we force ourselves to choose the 10 best of the last 10 years. For weeks we've debated how to weigh the best versus the most representative versus the most influential and so on. It's difficult stuff to parse, but we think ultimately what it came down to was giving respect where respect was due for songcraft, innovation and gusto. While we offer our picks for 10 best records below, we are not ranking them, as simply making the cut is the honor here. What is below is listed alphabetically.

In case you are just catching up, yesterday's Albums Of The Decade Blog Tourist was Eric from Can You See The Sunset From The Southside, and you can read his list right here; Monday you can check out Brendan from Count Me Out's list right here. And for those of you who want more in depth discussion of our favorite songs and records of the last 10 years should listen to our four-part appearance on Jay Kumar's Completely Conspicuous podcast [part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4].

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1. The Books -- Lost And Safe -- Tomlab (2005)
The Books: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

No matter whether you are gauging by songcraft or innovation, The Books deserve recognition for writing some of the most amusing, compelling and beautiful compositions of the decade. In particular we find Lost And Safe's closer "Twelve Fold Chain" incredibly moving. Here's a digested version of what we said in our review May 10, 2005:

Even on this, their third album, The Books sound like they've got secrets to tell. But the most solid clues they offer on Lost And Safe are fragments of dreams, stream-of-consciousness queries and allusions to spiritual questing. An intricate mix of serene vocals, spoken word samples, understated clattering percussion, guitar and cello, the duo's music is enchanting and hypnotic. "A Little Longing Goes Away" opens the record with soft vocals swathed in reverse reverb, making lines like "our minds are empty / like we're too young to know to smile" sound like prayer.

All musical elements are expertly but gently balanced like a series of birds on a wire. Although not overtly apparent, the band's lyrics, in addition to being spiritually inquisitive, can be quite funny. This is most apparent during the act's current live show, during which video accompaniment emphasizes the graduate school-level word play that characterizes songs like "Smells Like Content" and "An Animated Description of Mr. Maps." No matter the context or what you call it, The Books are in relatively uncharted territory with bountiful potential in every direction. Although Lost And Safe would be a crowning achievement for any band, The Books show no sign of running out of beautiful musical ideas to convey.

Twelve Fold Chain - The Books

2. Destroyer -- Destroyer's Rubies -- Merge (2006)
Destroyer: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

We didn't review this record upon its release (or ever). As with songwriter Dan Bejar's finest efforts, the record is self-referential, inscrutable, beautiful and biting. Destroyer's Rubies in particular seems like a record ripe for academic examination. But no matter how layered or diffracted the narratives, the songs themselves are hook-filled, generously melodic and wholly rewarding. Bejar's smarter-than-you lyrics, singular vocal delivery, and attention to production detail make all of his records great -- Destroyer's Rubies is exceptional. What else is there to say? We recently saw Bejar perform solo in Boston, and for much of the performance we were thinking how we wished he was performing with a full band. But even performing solo with a weather red acoustic under spare spotlights the songs were completely arresting.

Rubies - Destroyer

3. The Hold Steady -- Separation Sunday -- French Kiss (2005)
The Hold Steady: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

This list is not really about success stories, but The Hold Steady's sophomore set certainly qualifies as one, and -- of course -- one of the biggest of the decade. The burgeoning blogosphere was alight with praise when this was issued, and although our first inclination was to ignore the band because of the bountiful praise from seemingly every corner (we're contrarian like that), we were an embarrasingly ready convert when we finally stopped to listen to Separation Sunday. And what's not to like? As Mr. Kumar states, The Hold Steady is like Jim Carroll fronting Thin Lizzy playing Bruce Springsteen songs. Like the aforementioned Mr. Bejar, Hold Steady fronter Craig Finn is an amazing lyricist and he crafts on this record an amazing, conceptual collection that follows the rise and fall and rise again of certain gutter-frequenting, drug-gobbling drifters. Mr. Finn and his cohort take these losers and wring from them incredible tales of spine-tingling desperation and redemption. Also, there's a whole hell of a lot of rock music on this record, including the highlights "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" and "Stevie Nix." Ground-breaking? No. Awesome? Yes.

Stevie Nix - The Hold Steady

4. Johnny Foreigner -- Grace And The Bigger Picture (2009)
Johnny Foreigner: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

Did you think a guy who co-operates the Johnny Foreigner fan site Keeping Some Dark Secrets wasn't going to pick a Johnny Foreigner record for his list? There are so many reasons why this record is awesome, front to back, but here is just one: on the rare mornings where we walk to the subway, ride the subway, and then walk to our office, it takes exactly one run through the entire record to get us from door to desk. Wonderful. Here's a digested version of our review from Sept. 28, 2009:

Grace And The Bigger Picture is pointedly heartfelt, jubilantly aggressive, road-weary and resigned all at once. The record is populated with wistful ideals of home ("we'll throw parties in the yard") and amazing letdowns ("all we have is miles and wires and all I am is calls tomorrow"), but there are also wonderfully carefree moments, as in the almost blindingly brief "Kingston Called, They Want Their Lost Youth Back." [The record] is painstakingly crafted, deeply layered, and hangs together as a collection more firmly than even its ambitious predecessor. The narratives sparkle like dizzying mosaics comprised of thousands of digital snapshots. Themes appear and re-appear, e.g. the clarion call "some summers!" in "Feels Like Summer" resurfaces in "The Coast Was Always Clear;" "More Heart, Less Tongue" is transmogrified into "More Tongue, Less Heart;" the breakdown to "Custom Scenes And The Parties That Make Them" even repurposes the breakdown from the band's break-out single "Eyes Wide Terrified;" and keen ears seem to hear the familiar cry of "Amateur! Historian! shouted in the closing moments of the squalling anthem "Dark Harbourzz." But even more impressive than the whole are the parts, as there is a remarkable compositional cleverness in certain of the songs that points to an ever sharpening songcraft among Berrow and company. This is no more apparent than within the almost linear, structure-flouting gem "Custom Scenes And The Parties That Make Them." Best Before Records releases the record 26 Oct. in the U.K.

Criminals - Johnny Foreigner

5. The Mendoza Line -- We're All In This Alone -- Bar/None (2000)
The Mendoza Line: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

After it had exhausted a Superchunk fixation, a record label and Athens, Georgia, and before its late embrace of a rootsier sound enamored a major rock critic or two, this always-at-the-brink-of-destruction collective created this wondrous, sweet full-length. A slapdash concoction of literate, lo-fi balladry and everyman indie rock channeled through three songwriters is remarkable perhaps mostly because, like the band itself, We're All In This Alone somehow manages to hang together. All at the same time the proceedings sound like the end of the '90s, point toward the ascendency of the band's adopted hometown of Brooklyn and presage a decade that once more embraced folk rock. It's a weird record, but it's a fantastic record, held aloft by great songs including the devastating "I Hope That You Remember To Forget." Of course, The Mendoza Line did not survive this decade, but part of the magic of We're All In This Alone is that the record sounds like a band with a world of possibilities in front of it, which was fairly accurate in the year 2000.

6. Meneguar -- I Was Born At Night -- Troubleman Unlimited (2006)
Meneguar: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

With the ascendancy of the related, more psych-leaning project Woods, and with silence from the band going on uninterrupted, we are starting to believe we may have seen the last of our beloved Meneguar. Which is a shame because the Brooklyn-based quartet's brand of desperate, shouty, smart and guitar-driven indie rock pushes all the right buttons for us, and we see no American successor really taking up the banner for the style. I Was Born At Night, so good it was issued twice, is seven anthems brimming with brawling attitude, splendid guitar interplay and heavy dynamics pounding home hooks galore. And it all comes down to the "The Temp," a fist-banging shouter about dead-end employment (or something -- who knows?) with a killer chorus that out-Slack Motherfuckers Superchunk's renowned "Slack Motherfucker." We recall that at one point Troubleman Unlimited had posted the MP3 for "The Temp" as a promo track, so here it is in all of its glory. Actually, this is the mix from the original Magic Bullet release -- retro!

Meneguar -- "The Temp" - I Was Born At Night
[right click and save as]

7. The Notwist -- Neon Golden -- City Slang (2003)
The Notwist: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

When we mentioned innovation supra, The Books weren't even the first band to come to mind. Instead we thought of The Notwist, and how in the wake of this landmark release that melded laptop electropop and indie guitar music suddenly, for at least a year, every one tried to replicate the Weilheim, Germany-based quartet's sound. Only by watching the amazing "On | Off The Record" DVD does one develop an appreciation for just how difficult an undertaking such replication would be (the opening seconds of the album were incredibly difficult, actually impossible, to perform), which is why -- despite seemingly providing the formula for an aesthetic perpetuated by labels like Morr Music for years afterwards -- so few acts came close to The Notwist. Even more amazing? The band's astonishing, dub-injected, Wii-dazzled live show, which we caught for the second time a year ago, makes Neon Golden and it's excellent successor The Devil, You & Me seem pale in comparison. But at the warm, digitally-pulsing heart of Neon Golden are 10 incredible, catchy songs delivered in Markus Acher's emotive deadpan murmur.

One With The Freaks - The Notw...

8. Spoon -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga -- Merge (2007)
Spoon: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

Flawless, every song, from a songwriting and a production standpoint. Endlessly listenable. As we said here in our Best Records of 2007 wrap-up:

We listened to this record over and over and over: in the car; in the office; in the kitchen. It's exceptional. Taut, glistening pop-rock, touches of spacey, warts-and-all production, and hooks galore. The songs all flow with an ease, an internal logic that is so finite that each tune seems representative of what indie rock is, at its core. If (when?) space aliens come to the United States asking about indie rock, perhaps the most obvious example to hand them is Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

Finer Feelings - Spoon

9. A Weather -- Cove -- Team Love (2008)
A Weather: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

Digested from our review posted Feb. 10, 2008 right here:

Portland, Ore.-based A Weather's beautiful full-length debut has a persistent but slippery allure. Populated almost entirely with murmured bedroom ballads driven by brushed drums, guitar and electric piano, the set somehow succeeds in not repeating the same tricks over and over again.

Is there a voyeuristic attraction inherent in pretty songs delivered in hushed tones simultaneously by male and female singers? Or is there something universal -- an inverse of voyeurism, in a way -- conveyed by these intimate, poignant tracks that make them so arresting. What we are certain of is that sping-tingling moments are frequent on Cove: when the ride cymbal pulses louder and louder during "Shirley Road Shirley" as fronter Aaron Gerber and drummer Sarah Winchester desperately assure "I swear, you won't even know I'm there;" when the duo stingingly confesses during "Oh My Stars" that "sometimes it's hard thinking about how the plans we make won't happen;" when the pair utters during "Spiders, Snakes" the unfathomably sweet sentiment (for those of us of a certain age, anyway) "I want to have you again, listening to Bedhead."

Shirley Road Shirley - A Weath...

10. Yo La Tengo -- And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out -- Matador (2000)
Yo La Tengo: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy

When your band puts out what is arguably the best record of 1997, what is the likelihood that only three years later it will release one of the best, if not THE best, records of 2000? This doubt is why we were quite ready for Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out to be a disappointment. But it was nothing of the sort. Opening with the Mogwai-toned spook droner "Everyday" and closing with the 17-minute spectral masterpiece "Night Falls On Hoboken," the record provides easy exuses for lapsing into over-the-top praise. This is simply a perfect record, and we'd argue it is downright better than the admittedly fine records that the trio has released since. In addition to the droners we already named, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out also carried the sugary, caffeinated rocker "Cherry Chapstick," the marvelously affecting ballad "Tears Are In Your Eyes" and some bossa-tinted toe-tappers "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" and "You Can Have It All." For the rest of the decade Yo La Tengo delved into murky sounds, garage rock and shiny pop, but when we think of the band, we think of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.

Tears Are In Your Eyes - Yo La...

Review: Point Juncture, WA | Heart To Elk [MP3]

It's no surprise to anybody minding indie rock in recent years that things are happening in Portland, Ore. What's notable is that for the second year running our first big surprise of the year has sprung from that city. In 2008 it was slow-core dreamers A Weather, and in 2009 it is A Weather scene peers and sometime tourmates Point Juncture, WA. The five-year-old, self-described quartet (which curiously boasts five players in the splash photo at its web site) self-released its third record, Heart To Elk, last fall, but Seattle-based indie label Mt. Fuji will give the set wider release next month.

Point Juncture, WA's music uses many of the same tools as A Weather's, but generally these are more forcefully and energetically applied. The sum total calls to mind Stereolab or My Brightest Diamond -- or, more accurately, a hybrid of same. "Melon Bird" boasts the former act's motorik beat, while the chamber pop opener "Rocks And Sand" channels the latter with appointments of horn, some droning, woodwind-ish low-end, synth and tasteful, coctail set drumming. "The Easy Winners" proffers something like a quiet bossa nova re-imagining of Joy Division's "Transmission" (which we suppose makes it more like Low's stirring rendering of the track). Co-fronter Victor Nash's vocals on "New Machine" are as detached and serene as those of The Notwist's Micha Acher, and the song's noisy, feedback-filled dénouement suggests certain older work by that Bavarian foursome. The Amanda Spring-sung "Biathalon" is an almost-fierce rocker, but it is the uplifting, uptempo head-nodder "Sick On Sugar" -- also sung by Ms. Spring, posted for download below, great video here -- that may be the biggest song on the record. Heart To Elk will be released on CD and vinyl Feb. 19; Point Juncture, WA previously issued the Juxtapony EP in 2004 and the full-length Mama Auto Boss in 2005.

Point Juncture, WA -- "Sick On Sugar" -- Return To Elk
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[pre-order Return To Elk from Mt. Fuji right here]

Point Juncture, WA: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

02/13 2009 -- Aladdin Theater -- Portland, Oregon

Clicky Clicky's Top Albums Of 2008

It was a lot more work than we anticipated getting this list together, but fortunately we've been hammering away at it for about a month. Even so we didn't finalize our picks until Friday, which led to some extra writing, but so it goes. Along the way we deepened our relationship with and appreciation for these 10 records, which in our humble opinion represent the best that 2008 had to offer. We hope you'll find some things here that had escaped your attention heretofore, and that you derive as much enjoyment from listening to them as we do. For those who are curious, here are links to some of our prior annual lists [2007, 2006, 2005, 2002]. Thanks for reading Clicky Clicky in 2008.

1. Johnny Foreigner -- Waited Up Til It Was Light -- Best Before/Nettwerk

If you thought we were going to rave about Waited Up Til It Was Light all year and then not name it our favorite album, well, you were wrong. But if it makes you feel better, we were wrong, too. A year ago we declared that Johnny Foreigner's Arcs Across The City EP was the new gold standard in indie rock, and that choice now smacks of being obviously premature, as the band's monstrous full-length debut eclipses it on every level. It shudders with adolescent confusion and crackles with stumbling euphoria, one bottle of gin too many and guitars potted way, way up. There's feedback and in-jokes and sweat and disappointment. As we quipped in June, Waited Up Til It Was Light "is thronged with careening guitar anthems, its 13 tracks shot through with typewriter ribbon-lengths of lyrics that collectively present a contemporary mythology of the band's beloved city." The set will have spawned four singles by the time the double a-sided "DJs Get Doubts" b/w "Lea Room" streets Jan. 12 in the UK. Johnny Foreigner reportedly begin recording a follow-up, and we hope that at this time next year Alexei, Kelly and Junior Foreigner have us once again amending our assessment of what the gold standard is in indie rock. [review] [listen]

2. A Weather -- Cove -- Team Love

In a perfect world, A Weather's understated yet confident debut would launch a thousand indie rock vessels, each one charting a course to illuminate new, obscure and quiet frontiers of a slowcore revival. But as this record seems to have been the most slept-on of all our 2008 picks, this is quite unlikely. One of the revelations of Cove -- which we named the first big surprise of 2008 back in February -- is that the set is filled with love songs, but not necessarily heartache. Yet there is still remarkable tension and mystery that courses through the nine tracks. Quoting again from our review, "[t]he band's beautiful full-length debut has a persistent but slippery allure. Populated almost entirely with murmured bedroom ballads driven by brushed drums, guitar and electric piano, the set somehow succeeds in not repeating the same tricks over and over again." [review] [listen]

3. Frightened Rabbit -- The Midnight Organ Fight -- Fat Cat

Last spring we spoke briefly -- albeit loudly, above the rock club din -- with Frightened Rabbit fronter Scott Hutchison about the growing distance between the songs on this collection and the events they reflect. Certain of the songs on The Midnight Organ Fight were about five years old at the time and reflected events growing increasingly smaller in Frightened Rabbit's rearview. Which makes the tunes' emotional impact -- particularly when performed during one of the quartet's usually incendiary live sets -- all the more impressive. But the live spectacle aside, The Midnight Organ Fight is still a remarkable collection of songs, as lush and atmospheric as Sing The Greys was stark and in-your-face. We pegged the band's "Extrasupervery" as indicative of the potential for Disintegration-esque genius, so we are eager to hear what comes next from the lads. [review] [listen]

4. The Notwist -- The Devil, You + Me -- Domino

Germany's The Notwist had been absent so long prior to the release of The Devil, You + Me -- as we remarked here in our review of the wonderful DVD "The Notwist On|Off The Record" two years ago -- that we were afraid the indie rock world might not take them back, and even more afraid that the band might not want to come back. Finally The Notwist broke its (near) silence with the promo track "Good Lies." The song raised hopes for a stellar album and the band delivered with a set as subtle and beautifully orchestrated as Neon Golden. And while the material is exceptional, it is hard to ignore that The Notwist also gave a wholly stunning performance when it appeared at The Roxy in Boston in October. "The band was alternately mesmerizing and astonishing, depending on whether it was locking into a heavy, digitally augmented groove or blasting through a crescendo of guitars," to quote our review. Compared to Neon Golden, The Devil, You + Me is a more reserved affair, reflecting perhaps the changes of life (fatherhood and the like) that the members of The Notwist have experienced in recent years. Even so, their songwriting chops and imaginations have not subsided in the least, and we're hopeful that it won't be another five years before its next record. [live review] [listen]

5. Destroyer -- Trouble In Dreams -- Merge

We recall reading comments from Destroyer mastermind Dan Bejar sometime during the year in which he states that Trouble In Dreams was a difficult, meaning we think inscrutable, record for fans, particularly compared to the prior set, Destroyer's Rubies. For the record, we think both collections are stellar, and we question just how "difficult" the music is. Musically, things are fairly straightforward on every Destroyer record we've heard (which is damn near all of them -- Damon Che Mr. Bejar is not), so we have to presume Bejar is referring to his lyrics. These are often impressionistic, deeply layered, and, of course, when coming out of Bejar's mouth are often the true highlight of Destroyer's recordings. Trouble In Dreams is no exception, and with some of the year's most winning melodies, the record easily made our list. [listen]

6. Julie Ocean -- Long Gone And Nearly There -- Transit Of Venus

Long Gone And Nearly There now seems a prescient album title for this upbeat collection of irresistable indie pop confections from an already broken-up quartet fronted by the cable newser best known for having himself tasered on television. How could it not be among our favorite records of the year? The collection captures 10 tunes touting broad, bright melodies delivered with an irresistible guitar-jangle and fizz. From a historical standpoint, Long Gone And Nearly There is a distillation of several strands of the D.C. underground, the apparent mean value of Velocity Girl, Glo-Worm and Swiz. And while the band's demise seems to neatly underscore the ephemeral nature of perfect pop, the band's borrowing from '60s AM sounds limns Long Gone And Nearly There with a classic pop sense that makes it stand out among contemporary indie releases. [review] [listen]

Julie Ocean -- "Here Comes Danny" -- Long Gone And Nearly There
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[buy Long Gone And Nearly There from Transit Of Venus here]

7. The War On Drugs -- Wagonwheel Blues -- Secretly Canadian

A beguiling set that offers jaunty singles candidates ("Arms Like Boulders," "Taking The Farm"), lo-fi balladry ("Barrel Of Batteries") and kaleidoscopic drone ("Show Me The Coast") is a special record indeed. The more we listen to it, the more we are convinced that band fronter Adam Granduciel is at the cusp of the sort of acclaim that follows Destroyer's Dan Bejar. There is a frank poeticism in his nasal proclamations buried within stoned repetitions that accumulate like sediment into enticing songs that succeed wonderfully at going nowhere. Wagonwheel Blues will make converts of us all; this video of a live set drives home the greatness of the band. [listen]

8. Love Is All -- A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night -- What's Your Rupture?

This was a late-year surprise. Our old housemate Tony B championed the Gothenburg, Sweden-based quintet and its boxy recordings early on, which got us turned on to the single for "Make Out Fall Out Make Up." And while we've listened to the band's 2005 set 9 Times That Same Song maybe a dozen times, we were taken by surprise by how much more A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night resonated with us. The set -- shrouded like its precursor in almost obfuscating amounts of slap-back reverb -- contains a perfect, grooving blend of dancey rock that sounds like a bizarre marriage of The Cramps and Haircut 100 fronted by a roughly rendered facsimile of Cyndi Lauper. "Give It Back" is a relentless torrent of hooks and energy, and the rest of the set follows suit. [listen]

9. Superman Revenge Squad -- This Is My Own Personal Way Of Dealing With It All -- My Best Unbeaten Brother

Ben Parker, sole proprietor of the acoustic enterprise Superman Revenge Squad, was the subject of the only feature interview we did in 2008, a reflection of the esteem in which we hold this very gifted songwriter based in Croydon, England. From a lyrical standpoint no one can touch him, not only in terms of sheer volume (the man is loquacious in song) but also in his ability to express discontent in colorful ways (we love the line "the sun's too hot and there's nothing on the telly" from the digital single "Idiot Food"). His music -- whether it is harrowingly urgent, morose and emotional or tongue-in-cheek and geeky -- transmits as deeply personal, despite the fact that often when Parker sounds like he is baring his soul he is actually making an obscure pop culture reference. This Is My Own Way Of Dealing With It All is filled with escape fantasies, dark resignation and still darker humor. And it is brilliant. We're posting the lead track below. [interview] [listen]

Superman Revenge Squad -- "Idiot Food" -- This Is My Own Personal Way Of Dealing With It All
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[buy the record from Superman Revenge Squad right here]

10. The Swimmers -- Fighting Trees -- Mad Dragon

We suppose it is a toss-up as to whether this was more slept-on than the A Weather record, although the label Team Love has more brand recognition than the Drexel University-backed Mad Dragon imprint. Philadelphia's Swimmers had been treading water for quite a while as we waited for its debut to finally see release, but it finally delivered in a big way. Echoing first-wave Wilco and scene precursors The Bigger Lovers, Fighting Trees' rootsy, upbeat attack and hooks aplenty made this a constant go-to record for us this year. While "Pocket Full Of Gold" made our list of top songs of the year last week, the entire record is filled with eager winners, not the least of which is the piano-driven homage to Lancaster, PA "Heaven." Daytrotter recently posted a session featuring a few tracks from Fighting Trees from which we are posting a fantastic take on "St. Cecilia" below. [review] [listen]

The Swimmers -- "St. Cecilia" -- Daytrotter Session
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[download the whole session right here]
[buy Fighting Trees from Amazon here]

Clicky Clicky's Top Songs Of 2008

We humbly submit our list of 10 favorite tracks of the year. The typical caveats apply, mainly that an individual band could only chart once, no matter how awesome it may be. Meaning, for example, that despite three Johnny Foreigner songs being among our 10 most-listened-to tracks of 2008, only one is able to make the cut below. Of course, the tracks in question had to be released this year. And there's really not much else to it. We think these songs are the bee's knees, and we look forward to hearing much more from the bands who recorded them in the future. Our list of top albums of the year largely echoes this list of songs, but there are some notable differences, so be certain check in next Monday to read that one. Thanks for the rock.

1. Johnny Foreigner -- "Absolute Balance" -- Waited Up Til It Was Light
Stream it at Last.FM right here.

Bifurcated from the demo "Balance Comma Girl," expanded, stuffed with skyrocketing dynamics and draped with vapor trails of guitar feedback and delay, "Absolute Balance" puts the final (well, almost) exclamation point on Johnny Foreigner's stunning debut Waited Up 'Til It Was Light. The tail end reintroduces a familiar canned beat (it also drives the single "Salt, Peppa and Spinderella") and makes a miraculous ascent into a crescendo in which fronter Alexei Berrow unhinges his soul and lets fly a spine-tingling, entirely inscrutable 20-second rant. Watch the band perform "Absolute Balance" at the tail end of "Yr All Just Jealous Of My Von Dutch Hat" from T In The Park this past July right here at the YouTubes. The band will begin recording its second full length later this month, and intends to tour North America in 2009. We reviewed Waited Up Til It Was Light here in June.

2. A Weather -- "Shirley Road Shirley" -- Cove
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The most intimate record of the year was released by the somewhat shadowy -- or at least reserved, perhaps press-shy -- group A Weather out of Portland, who somehow took the narcotic and stoney vibe of slowcore and imbued it with hopeful romance and mystery. Spurred by careful, boxy (and apparently no-footed) drumming and spare guitar, "Shirley Road Shirley" soars into its almost-chorus, the questionable vow "I won't try anything, I swear you won't even know I'm there." We reviewed A Weather's Cove right here in February. Thanks to the band for the permission to post this track.

3. Los Campesinos! -- "Death To Los Campesinos!" -- Hold On Now, Youngster...
Stream it at Last.FM right here.

Pepped up and ragged, shouted and layered, the lead track from the Cardiff, Wales septet's first release of 2008 is rife with sly lyrics and enthusiasm to spare. We actually think this song's mix flattens the dynamics a little too much, perhaps in order to make all the instruments audible. The following track, "Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats," is much more explosive -- although it hurts our head to figure out why. But it is the dueling vocals and gang cheers that make "Death To Los Campesinos!" the gang's best track of the year. The fact that its video features a homicidal unicorn is just so much delicious icing on the technicolor cake.

4. The Notwist -- "Gloomy Planets" -- The Devil, You + Me
Watch the amazing video with Andromeda Express Orchestra at YouTube right here.

Fuzzier vocals and acoustic guitar would seem to herald a new, ever more reserved direction for the laconic German quartet The Notwist, best known for its 2002 electropop milestone Neon Golden. But halfway through "Gloomy Planets," as the song scales its sole chorus, looping tones overtake the mix, overlay the piano and guitars and build a crescendo that waxes on for almost two full, thrilling minutes. And suddenly, it is like the band's recent history has caught up with it. The Notwist's Oct. show at Boston's Roxy nightclub was among our favorites of the year. Hopefully it will not be another six years before The Notwist releases a new record.

5. Frightened Rabbit -- "Floating In The Forth" -- The Midnight Organ Fight
Stream it at Last.FM right here.

We had already considered Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison a master of crafting the devastating lyric prior to the release of The Midnight Organ Fight, but when we reached the tail-end of the record and heard this track buzz up into its bottomlessly sorrowful first line our estimation was affirmed all over again. "So you just stepped out of the front of my house and I'll never see you again." A lot of bloggers have expended a lot of keystrokes talking about the emotional rawness of Frightened Rabbit's overdriven folk-rock, but this track is the only one for us that is almost unlistenable. While The Midnight Organ Fight's relatively glossy production is somewhat at odds with Frightened Rabbit's music -- particularly its high-octane live sets -- every song on the set is dynamite. "Floating In The Forth," with its lush sonic palette, harmonies and dreadful sense of finality, was the biggest surprise of the collection. The band returns to Boston's Great Scott next month. We reviewed The Midnight Organ Fight here in March.

6. The Raveonettes -- "Dead Sound" -- Lust, Lust, Lust
Stream it at Last.FM right here.

A wonderfully realized track that amalgamates spectral (and obviously Spector-al) harmonies, simple urgent programmed rhythm tracks, aggressive white-out guitar fuzz and reverby leads into an aural candy treat.

7. Destroyer -- "Foam Hands" -- Trouble In Dreams
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When you stop to think about it, the chorus to this track is ridiculous. But elsewhere band leader Dan Bejar's relatively simple yet typically impressionist lyrics are as evocative as ever. Mr. Bejar's singing is perhaps the most singular of this decade, as it is as convincing when coyly elongating and wearily over-enunciating syllables as it is when the narrator turns against his narrative, and occasionally the listener. Miraculously, "Foam Hands" does a whole lot with fairly little, including boring itself hopelessly deep into your brain, all the while providing Bejar ample opportunity to bend expectations just slightly into a gothic tale of estrangement.

8. The War On Drugs -- "Show Me The Coast" -- Wagonwheel Blues
This track isn't available to hear on the Internet for free.
Stream a short sample at EMusic here.

Ten minutes of kaleidoscopic, blissful drone could have easily felt like five minutes too many, but something about the arpeggiated swells and Petty-esque declamations spiraling out over an F# seemingly into forever is entrancing. It also inspires the cartoonish feeling that somehow, somewhere this song is always being performed, like the black-and-white footage of an oncoming steam train hidden behind the door in a Bugs Bunny short. The War On Drugs were the best of the many great things that broke out of Philadelphia this year.

9. The Hold Steady -- "Constructive Summer" -- Stay Positive
Stream it at Last.FM right here.

The most rocking track from the Brooklyn quintet's 2008 release, which was the only CD we kept in the car in late July. Big guitars. Harmonics. So much possibility. Nothing can go wrong. We have to believe that the lyric concerning water towers references the same found in the alternate versions of The Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait" packaged with the reissues of Tim and Pleased To Meet Me this year.

10. The Swimmers -- "Pocket Full Of Gold" -- Fighting Trees
Download "Pocket Full Of Gold"
Recorded live at Chicago's Hideout, March 22, 2008
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While "Heaven" continues to be the "hit" of the long-awaited debut from this Philadelphia act, at least in terms of the attention bestowed by the Internets (the band recently released this video for the track, as well), "Pocket Full Of Gold" is the most irresistable of the ten tunes on the band's Fighting Trees. Tweedy-esque vocal, the track would have been a good fit on the first Wilco record, before the Chicago act entered its baroque period. We reviewed Fighting Trees here in March.

That Was The Show That Was: The Notwist with Dosh At The Roxy

As we've stated previously, we were fortunate to see The Notwist on the small stage at T.T. The Bear's in Cambridge, Mass. when the revered German indie rock act was supporting the U.S. release of its highly influential set Neon Golden five years ago. And while that show was special, that was due mostly to the quality of the material rather than the (almost comically) mild-mannered band's performance, which was faithful to the record but understated. Last night -- at Boston's substantially larger Roxy nightclub -- the show was special not only because of the exceptional music, drawn primarily from Neon Golden and The Notwist's recent quiet triumph The Devil, You + Me, but also because the spectacle of the band's live show has dramatically intensified. Our expectations were blown away, despite fronter Markus Acher's characteristically humble greeting "we are The Notwist, and this is our first song."

Besides some polite bowing and quiet thanks, stage banter was minimal, although Mr. Acher had a laugh at his own expense when he missed a cue beginning one of the new tracks. But last night the band was alternately mesmerizing and astonishing, depending on whether it was locking into a heavy, digitally augmented groove or blasting through a crescendo of guitars. The current touring incarnation of The Notwist includes the core trio of Acher, his brother Micha on bass and Wii-remote-wielding programming genius Martin Gretschmann augmented by a second guitarist and phenomenal drummer whose identities we could not suss out. The quintet opened with the relatively upbeat current single "Boneless" and didn't wait long to flex musical muscle by diving into a powerful, dub-inflected take on "This Room." "Pilot" and the title track to Neon Golden were given an electrifying reading, as were many of the tracks from the recently issued collection. The band obliged fan appreciation with a single encore that included "One With The Freaks" and the title track to The Devil, You And Me. Few fan favorites were left unplayed, although the ballad "Consequence" seemed noticably absent from the set.

Again, the performance last night vastly exceeded our expectations, and we strongly suggest readers scroll down to our earlier item and inspect the remaining tour dates. This is something you do not want to miss. Domino USA released The Devil, You And Me June 17. We're posting the lead promo track "Good Lies" below in the event you are just getting up to speed. We were completely unaware that Anticon loopmeister Michael Dosh would open last night's show, and even when he took the stage with a collaborator we weren't sure who we were seeing until we began to recognize the songs. Dosh's 2008 set Wolves And Wishes is kaleidoscopic and exceptional and well worth tracking down. As usual we took a lot of mediocre pictures of the performances last night, and you can inspect all of them right here.

The Notwist -- "Good Lies" -- The Devil, You + Me
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[buy Notwist records from Domino USA right here]

The Notwist: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Reader Rewards: Win The New Notwist Single, Boston Tickets

[UPDATED: Congratulations to reader Chris for winning] Weilheim, Germany-based electropop superheroes The Notwist return to Boston for the first time in five-and-a-half years this weekend to promote the quartet's beautiful and sublime recent release The Devil, You And Me. And Domino Records wants you and a friend to go to the show for free (the show is 18+, sorry young'ns). And so do we. So we're having a little contest. To sweeten the deal, Domino is throwing in the brand new single for The Notwist's addictive strummer "Boneless," which was released Tuesday and features a remix by Animal Collective principle Panda Bear on the flip. So here's the deal: the first person to email us (our email address is linked in the righthand sidebar) with the phrase "Gloomy Planets" in the subject line wins the tickets AND the single. For realsies. It's that simple. Finding us at the show and buying us a beer is completely optional.

We saw The Notwist's 2003 set at T.T. The Bear's and found it remarkable how true the live set was to the recordings on the band's highly influential Neon Golden. Several tracks on The Devil, You And Me feature performances by the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, a 21-piece modern Classical ensemble also based in Germany, and we have to wonder how The Notwist will recreate their contributions Sunday at the Roxy. Although the live performance of "Consequence" we saw in 2003 could provide a clue: the band recreated the sound of the track rapidly slowing down like a stopped LP by actually playing an LP through the PA and stopping it. The Notwist's current North American tour begins Friday in Canada; we've posted the complete itinerary at the bottom of this item. The band will be two decades old sometime next year, which is sort of amazing. In our estimation The Devil, You And Me exudes -- to the extent such an understated band exudes anything -- the sound of maturity, and we feel like the recent fatherhood for Markus Acher colors the record a great deal: even the relatively rocking "Good Lies" sounds a bit like a lullabye. Anticon. founder Odd Nosdam remixed "Sleep" from The Devil, You And Me and we're posting it below to get you in the mood for the show Sunday.

The Notwist -- "Sleep (Odd Nosdam Remix)"
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[buy Notwist records from Domino USA right here]

The Notwist: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

10/10 -- Lee's Palace -- Toronto, ON
10/11 -- Le National -- Montreal, PQ
10/12 -- Roxy Theater -- Boston, MA
10/13 -- Webster Hall -- New York, NY
10/14 -- First Unitarian Church -- Philadelphia, PA
10/15 -- 9:30 Club -- Washington, D.C.
10/16 -- Beachland Ballroom -- Cleveland, OH
10/17 -- Logan Square Auditorium -- Chicago, IL
10/18 -- Turner Hall --Milwaukee, WI
10/20 -- Bluebird -- Denver, CO
10/21 -- In The Venue -- Salt Lake City, UT
10/22 -- Neumo's -- Seattle, WA
10/24 -- Commodore Ballroom -- Vancouver, BC
10/25 -- Berbati's Pan -- Portland, OR
10/27 -- Bimbo's -- San Francisco, CA
10/29 -- Henry Fonda Theater -- Los Angeles, CA

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