Boston Calling This Weekend: Five Key Sets To Catch By Bands That Are Not The Replacements

[PHOTO: The Hold Steady, Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 2006, from the Clicky Clicky Archives]

Earlier this week, as you will recall, we waxed poetically in these electronic pages about how unbelievably stoked we are for The Replacements' triumphant return to Boston Sunday, when the storied band hits the Boston Calling stage (ahead of NYC rap legend Nas and The Roots, no less). Today we're taking the opportunity to flag for readers the rest of the acts the Clicky Clicky brain trust deems most likely to turn in festival-highlighting performances framed against the brutalist architecture of Boston's City Hall Plaza. If you remember nothing else from this piece, remember this: stick close to the blue stage sponsored by the apparently consistently satisfying air carrier (as opposed to the red stage sponsored by the credit card company fined $140 million in 2012 for deceptive marketing). Indeed, the weekend's best acts, in our opinion, are stacked up at said blue stage. And so this is where you'll catch us clapping, cheering, and outwardly displaying all manner of merriment during this weekend's festival, and particularly during the five sets highlighted below. Dig with us now below the who, the when and the why. -- Dillon Riley

___//Friday, Sept. 5th//

Neutral Milk Hotel (8PM, Blue Stage)

The indie rock institution recently emerged from self-imposed exile to a large run of reunion dates surrounding a deluxe box set release from Merge, including two nights at the Orpheum Theatre downtown that certain members of the Clicky Clicky editorial staff -- but not all of them -- regrettably missed. There's really no need to spill too much digital ink on the importance of the collective's two epoch-defining records, but suffice it to say they mean a great amount to a good many, and the track "Holland, 1945" in particular is etched in full upon the hearts of many more. Know this, though, dear readers: the current iteration of Neutral Milk Hotel is the lineup that recorded and toured behind their swansong/magnum opus In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, so it's a good bet we'll hear plenty of tunes from it. Considering how long this reunion tour has bee going on, it wouldn't be outrageous to perhaps even expect something new from Jeff Mangum and Co. We mean, it wouldn't, right? A blog can dream.

The National (9:30PM, Blue Stage)

Elder statesmen in the indie rock game who came across like self-assured pros from the get-go, The National has built up an impressive catalogue in their decade-plus as a recording entity. Theirs is one filled with a strong identity and a strong handle on a sound that borrows heavily from the darkness of British post-punk but filters it through a prism of strong Midwestern sentimentality. Much like fellow indie legends R.E.M., their records can be exercises in slow, deliberate progression. Sure, successive releases regularly mine similar territory as those prior, but one should not mistake consistency for complacency. To wit, The National's latest, 2013's Trouble Will Find Me, boasts one of their strongest collections of songs since the act's 2005 breakthrough Alligator. Also of note, guitar player Aaron Dessner has been a co-curator of Boston Calling since its inception. This year's performance will be the band's second appearance as a headliner.

___//Saturday, Sept. 6//

The Hold Steady (5PM, Blue Stage)

The Hold Steady and our beloved 'Mats are cut from the same cloth, generally speaking. The younger act's ultra-relateable songs -- featuring the painstakingly detailed lyrics of Boston College-graduated fronter Craig Finn -- are filled with loveable losers whose judgment and choices are often clouded and/or fueled by intoxicants; The Hold Steady's early shows weren't exactly sober occasions, either. Certain of the editorial contingent here at Clicky Clicky are comfortable advancing an argument that, as a recording entity, The Hold Steady were far less erratic than the 'Mats. Not unlike The National, The Hold Steady spent the '00s putting together a stream of critically acclaimed and universally -- at least within the indiesphere -- beloved records that positioned the act tantalizingly close to a break through into the overground. That never quite happened (that part like sounds familiar to 'Mats fans, too), but the band soldiers on making great records and putting on remarkable and cathartic shows. Saturday is the act's first appearance at Boston Calling.

___//Sunday, Sept. 7//

The War On Drugs (3PM, Blue Stage)

2014 has proven to be the year Adam Granduciel finally achieved the notoriety on par with that of certain of his famous Philly friends. Not that it is a contest or anything, but The War On Drugs -- a recording project overseen almost entirely by Mr. Granduciel -- is regularly addressed in the same breath as Kurt Vile, Philly's favorite über chill son and an early Drugs collaborator. However, with the release of The War On Drugs' gargantuan new record Lost In The Dream, Granduciel has stepped out of Vile's friendly but long shadow. Boasting a billowing and bold batch of songs that takes the Americana-in-space aesthetic of predecessor Slave Ambient and blows it up to widescreen HD, The War On Drugs' latest even reminds us of Spiritualized with its massive, philosophical scope, enveloping swells and sonic trickery. We've heretofore only seen the band once, at a show in Central Park in NYC a few years back, and it will be fulfilling to finally see the band post the well-earned breakthrough.

Spoon (7PM, Blue Stage)

Got a bit of a running theme here, as Spoon represent another ultra-consistent indie rock group whose work defines the aughts. While certainly taking a more calculated, minimalist approach to rock 'n' roll than the aforementioned Clicky Clicky Fest Picks, Spoon is arguably the most notable of the three in the greater scheme of things. Their transition from Pixies-indebted garage riffers/major label aspirants to whatever weird micro-genre can classify them post-Girls Can Tell can be seen as one of the most vital evolutions in the past three decades. Their latest record, They Want My Soul, their first not on indie flagship Merge since being fatefully dropped from Elektra all those years ago, documents yet another creative rejuvenation. Turning to Flaming Lips producer David Fridmann for support, They Want My Soul situates the band among new sounds and finds them blending new techniques into their established mix with winning results, and recent reports of the acts always-dependable live show are quite promising.

Related Coverage:
Rock Over Boston: Jeff Mangum | 9.9 - 9.10.2011
Review: The War On Drugs | Slave Ambient
Footage: The War On Drugs' "Baby Missiles"
Today's Hotness: The War On Drugs
Clicky Clicky Music Blog's Top Albums 2000-2009
Today's Hotness: The War On Drugs
Today's Hotness: The Hold Steady
Today's Hotness: The Hold Steady
Today's Hotness: The War On Drugs
That Was The Show That Was: Spoon | The Roxy
Today's Hotness: Spoon
Today's Hotness: Spoon
Today's Hotness: The Hold Steady
That Was The Show That Was: The Hold Steady

Review: The War On Drugs | Slave Ambient

Philadelphia-based The War On Drugs' towering second full-length, Slave Ambient, is an agreeably loose (but emotionally prodigious) consortium of oasis and mirage. The so-called psych-Americana act's more formalized compositions are oasis, mappable destinations; soundscapes (like the roaring greyscale inferno "Original Slave") that form the firmament between are the mirage, beautiful, impossible to reach out and touch. All of it sits together as a series of supraliminal dreams you can't quite remember, just images that will spring to mind with surprising sharpness but questionable clarity. Which is to say that Slave Ambient doesn't communicate as a sequence of discrete riffs and lyrics, but as a holistic collage of awesome.

This fuzzy presence is more pronounced on Slave Ambient than on on its terrific predecessor Wagonwheel Blues, as Drugs songwriter and fronter (and Dover, Mass. native) Adam Granduciel said in a recent interview that in writing and recording Slave Ambient he didn't really re-work lyrics, and in some instances recorded them in just a few takes long on improvisation. Adding to the slippery now that is this new collection is that a reel of music -- the eponymous slave ambient tracks -- was left to run in the background of the songs as they were mixed. Aurally there is a tension between the dense (and in places strong -- "Brothers" is loud, the rhythm tracks boom) wall of sound, and the fact that Slave Ambient's fever-dreamed construction can be quite delicate, a house of playing cards. Importantly, the record is best played very loud, as increased volume illuminates innumerable soft layers, renders the transparent diaphanous, and the diaphanous opaque, everything shifting in the 10-song set's deftly realized and fluid mix. Indeed, Granduciel said in still another recent interview that Slave Ambient was realized as much in the mix as it was in the writing and recording.

Droning but buoyed by mechanistic rhythm tracks that mirror Mr. Granduciel's regimented but drawling streams of Beat-echoing free verse, "Your Love Is Calling My Name" serves as an able proxy for the 2011 sound of the Drugs. The aural motifs (tremeloed guitar, spectral "Walk Of Life" synth, apparitions of feedback in the final thrilling moments) pile up, not in a pejorative way, but in the same way that elements in certain David Lynch films iterate: the more they are presented, the less certain things become, the more pronounced the aesthetics and sheer beauty. Still, the music's ebb and flow produces recognizable touchstones. "Brothers" has something of Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back" in either the lyrical weft or warp, perhaps it is Granduciel's declaration "looking out the window of my room / I'm looking out where something once ran wild." "Come To The City" at times approximates U2's "Bad," right down to Granduciel's "woo hoo" mid-way through the song (as an aside, it makes one wonder whether Granduciel was a Philadelphian as far back as 1985, and also suggests The Edge's signature guitar playing as a significant precursor to The War On Drugs' repetitive layering). The preview track that's been out in the wilds of the Internet for some time, "Baby Missiles," is just classic Drugs: cold mecha-shuffle, streaming vocals stamped with slap-back, Dire Straits-styled synth. The affecting "Blackwater" beautifully closes the album: the acoustic guitars are laid bare, the leads shimmer. The song's biggest victory may be making the waltz time almost inapparent, but it is the line "Remember me when you dissolve in the rain" that sticks with you.

Secretly Canadian released Slave Ambient Tuesday; the entire record can be streamed at SoundCloud right here. The War On Drugs' full-length debut Wagonwheel Blues was one of Clicky Clicky's top albums of 2008.

The War On Drugs: Internerds | Facebook | Twittah | YouTube

Today's Hotness: Gold-Bears, The War On Drugs, Yuck

>> Oh man we love this new Gold-Bears tune "Record Store," and we have high hopes for the rising, Atlanta-based quartet's full-length debut Are You Falling In Love? The album was released earlier this month by the obviously dominating and awesome Slumberland Records (although a note at the web site indicates the vinyl version is delayed until June 7). "Record Store" radiates a classic Slumberland sound saturated in fuzzy guitars, espousing big melodies, and rocking most steadfastly. Gold-Bears, who play PA's Lounge in Somerville, Massachusetts Wednesday, formed in 2010 and the band centers around songwriter Jeremy Underwood, formerly of the act Plastic Mastery (555 Recordings/Magic Marker Records). If the rest of the record sounds anything like the song embedded below, we imagine we'll listen to Are You Falling In Love? until people are sick of being around us. Buy the record from Slumberland right here.

"Record Store" by Gold-Bears

>> While we've been looking the other way, Philadelphia's The War On Drugs has been up to a lot. The remarkable folk-rock droners recently announced they would issue a sophomore full-length Slave Ambient Aug. 16 on Secretly Canadian. The collection -- which will be issued as a 45RPM double LP, as well as in those new formats the kids like -- was recorded in a number of places including Jeff Ziegler's Uniform Recording studio. Secretly Canadian is offering the tune "Baby Missiles" as a teaser for the new collection; fans will recognize the rhythmic foundation as very similar to the uptempo shuffle of "Taking The Farm," a stand-out track from The War On Drugs' superlative debut full-length Wagonwheel Blues, which was one of our favorite records of 2008. "Baby Missiles" updates the prior track with some "Walk Of Life"-style synth lines, some Springsteen-esque harmonica wail and a touch more frenetic energy. Taken in sum, the tune succeeds in making us want to hear the rest of Slave Ambient post-haste. In other news, The War On Drugs issued last fall a second EP Future Weather, which completely passed us by, and you can buy that thing right here.

The War On Drugs -- "Baby Missiles" -- Slave Ambient
[right click and save as]
[pre-order Slave Ambient sometime soon from Secretly Canadian right here]

>> We've been remiss in noting that London-based indie rock upstarts Yuck will self-release a double A-sided vinyl single June 27. The young outfit's release touts a non-album track "Milkshake" etched into one face; the grooves on the other face will recreate the sounds of the song "Shook Down" -- from the band's excellent self-titled debut issued by Fat Possum Feb. 15 -- when it is correctly scratched by a "stylus" or "needle" affixed to the tone arm of a record player. Not sure why Fat Possum did not issue this single, but perhaps Yuck's was a one-album dealy, or maybe Fat Possum just didn't want to participate in the vinyl release. The quartet returns to the U.S. in mid-July for two weeks of dates beginning at the Pantsfork festival in Chicago and ending with a date at The Troubador in Los Angeles July 30. "Milkshake" is a pretty strong guitar jam, and if you want to do the proverbial try before you buy, hit the Soundcloud stream below. We think you'll dig it. The inimitable Ric Dube -- host of the delightful More Lost Time podcast -- reviewed Yuck's recent Boston show right here in late April.

"Milkshake" by Yuck

Today's Hotness: The Swimmers, The War On Drugs, Meneguar

>> [PHOTO CREDIT: Dawn Walsh] Philadelphia indie rock upstarts The Swimmers recently completed a small strand of tour dates, but the quartet is continuing the good vibes by sharing a cracking live recording of their March 22 show at The Hideout in Chicago. The audio is clear and punchy and the performances are sharp. The live set is largely comprised of tracks from the band's long-awaited and recently released full length Fighting Trees, which we reviewed here in early March. The Swimmers harness the rootsiness of Wilco and the economic pep of Spoon, and as such it is unclear to us why the foursome doesn't enjoy a higher profile outside of Philadelphia. Check out the live version of "Pocket Full Of Gold" posted below, and if you're jazzed also hit the link for a .zip file of the whole show, which closes out with a pleasantly ragged version of the Hall & Oates chestnut "Rich Girl." If you can't get enough of that live stuff and you are in Philadelphia Friday you can catch the band at Johnny Brenda's with BC Camplight and The Capitol Years.

The Swimmers -- "Pocket Full Of Gold (Live)" -- Live at The Hideout, Chicago, March 22, 2008
[right click and save as]
[to get a .zip file of the whole show right click on this link]
[buy Fighting Trees from Newbury Comics right here]

>> Thanks to the Internet, we are more able now to consume Philly-reared musical victuals than we were when we lived there in the late '90s. It also helps that we have money now, we suppose. We're tempted to turn Today's Hotness into an all-Philly edition so we can talk about the new Windsor For The Derby tracks and the review of the Yah Mos Def record at PantsFork, but we see some other things we need to get to, so a little bit about the recently reissued -- and free -- 2006 EP from Philly quintet The War On Drugs will have to suffice. Incidentally, The War On Drugs likely hit our radar via coverage in the inimitable Philebrity.com. But it was when we saw this item at BrooklynVegan saying the act -- which recently signed with Secretly Canadian -- was giving away a free EP that we finally checked out the band. And you know what? The Barrel Of Batteries EP is dynamite. Mixing laid-back Byrds-ish strummery and vocals with some rich production flourishes and the occasional odd interstitial, the small stack of tunes is a promising harbinger of what a planned full-length Wagonwheel Blues will bring. To whet your whistle, we've posted below an MP3 of "Arms Like Boulders," a different version of which will appear on the full length, which is slated for release in June. If you dig that you can snatch a .zip file of the entire EP at the other link below.

The War On Drugs -- "Arms Like Boulders" -- Barrel Of Batteries EP
[right click and save as]
[download the entire EP as a .zip file from Secretly Canadian here]

>> Brooklyn-based indie rockers Meneguar were responsible for our favorite record of 2007, and we've known for some time that more recordings are in the offing. And although we've stumbled across some things on the Internets over the last couple months -- and memorialized said things here and here -- we've been in the dark about what the band would be releasing when. Well, our RSS percolated up two items from the band yesterday. First, Meneguar has released via its own Rear House label the vinyl-only full-length The In Hour, which is available for mail order directly from the band [details here]. The record purportedly showcases the foursome switching up instruments and creating a spontaneous, self-recorded set. Meneguar itself characterizes The In Hour as "a serious departure," but contends the recordings "hold true to the band's undeniable pop sensibility." Needless to say we mail-ordered it straightaway. In other news, the band has uploaded to YouTube a video [linky linky] for the new track "Some Other Life." Frankly, we don't think the video is much to shout about, although once certain of the actors don full-body cat costumes things improve dramatically, in a creepy, "The Shining" sort of sense. If anything, the video is important because it is the only chance you have to hear the track without hunting down the band or ordering the vinyl or hanging out at its MySpace wigwam.

Replacements Deliver Blazing Set, Spoon and The War On Drugs Also Highlight Final Day Of Boston Calling

[PHOTO: Dillon Riley] Here it was, Sunday, the day we waited for with bated breath, the final day of this fall's Boston Calling music festival. The day we saw one of the greatest rock acts ever, The Replacements, return to our fair city for its first area show in more than two decades, along with noteworthy bands who channel in one form or another the legendary act's influences. A friend we encountered Sunday on Boston's City Hall Plaza noted the presence of a much older crowd than previous days, and we laughed nervously in agreement, wondering what that said about us, our mindset, and our own inherent age/mortality. Such concerns were assuaged -- at least temporarily -- by the incredibly vital sets of rock 'n' roll we saw; here are the highlights. -- Dillon Riley

The War On Drugs (3PM, Blue Stage)

We noted in our preview last week The War On Drugs' recent breakthrough with the release of its latest record Lost In The Dream. So it's somewhat sad to report that the general excitement surrounding the band out among the broader indiedom wasn't reflected in the Boston crowd's reaction to the Philadelphia act's midday set. Indeed, festival-goers seemed a little less than enthused, which is a shame, because Adam Granduciel and his cohort laid on the grooves nice and thick. There was a propulsive chug to some of the new record's sleepier numbers, including the title track. For his part, Mr. Granduciel employed some nimble fretwork on punchier tunes such as the album's early single "Red Eyes." A reference to the dearly departed rock radio broadcaster 104.1 WBCN fell on deaf ears to boot, prompting Granduciel to deadpan something to the effect of "Y'all should get out more." We wholeheartedly concur.

Spoon (7PM, Blue Stage)

In case you need reminding, Spoon has a lot of good songs. A lot of them. And they played quite a few of them in a challenging time slot early Sunday evening (when many minds were likely drifting ahead to the next hour's highly touted Replacements appearance). But Austin's favorite sons acquitted themselves with aplomb, however, and it was nice to see the act retains a youthful energy whilst still being able to showcase the major progression it has undertaken over the last two decades. The band's bold opening salvo was a nervy take on "Small Stakes" off 2002's critically adored Kill The Moonlight before slipping into a few hot tracks back-to-back off their latest offering They Want My Soul. No complaints here, as the new record bursts with massive hooky rock-and-roll without abandoning the experimental nature of certain of Spoon's work. A heartfelt mid-set shout-out to the beloved 'Mats, who were figuratively on deck, was well-received, too, and provided a candid and true moment of real meets real.

The Replacements (8:15PM, Red Stage)

"Yes, we are this close for the goddamn Replacements," is what we kept saying to ourselves as we hung over the barrier by the right side of the stage Sunday night. And the Minneapolis-spawned act's fiery set was everything we thought it would be, and possibly more. No, Billie Joe didn't show, and couches be damned, the recently hobbled fronter Paul Westerberg made it through the whole hit-spangled, 20ish-song set without any back issues... though he did pour salt and pepper on his guitar. The set came off like all those legendary 'Mats sets we've only read about in Our Band Could Be Your Life, all manic energy and hilariously flubbed choruses. Sure, Westerberg forgot an entire verse of "Androgynous," big deal -- the crowd knew all the words and was happy to fill in the blanks. The band snuck offstage for all of about 30 seconds before returning to run through a brilliant take on Pleased To Meet Me's "Alex Chilton," a towering love letter to the legendary and iconoclastic former Big Star co-fronter (the song was explosively delivered again Tuesday night on late night television). Turns out Nas and The Roots had sent Paul, Tommy, Dave and Josh back out for the quick encore (likely sacrificing some of their own stage time in doing so, it should be pointed out). So thanks to the festival closers for letting the boys play, and thank you boys for taking the piss out of the final chorus on "I Will Dare." The laughs helped chase away the tears of joy.

And that about wraps it up for Boston Calling 2014. On a personal note: what an amazing, scary, tiring and emotionally trying weekend. We believe Saturday's final run of Spoon into The Replacements into Nas + The Roots' headlining set may have been the best show-going experience of our year thus far, and you better believe we've seen some shit. Until next time...

Previous Coverage:
Rain Delay Dampens Boston Calling Day Two, But The Hold Steady, Sky Ferreira And Lorde Still Shine Brightly
Classic Neutral Milk Hotel Lineup Electrifies Night One Of Boston Calling Festival
Boston Calling This Weekend: Five Key Sets To Catch By Bands That Are Not The Replacements
Boston Calling This Weekend: The Replacements Return To Boston For First Show In 23 Years

Today's Hotness: Seb Roberts, Primitive Painters, War On Drugs

>> Welsh twee-core wunderkinds Los Campesinos! are not the only act to issue two records in 2008. The increasingly curious Seb Roberts has returned with a second release on SVC Records for the year, the EP Yeah, Well, Coué's Dead. Mr. Roberts, a Canadian-born and one-time Baltimore-based ex-pat who has spent many of his recent years in Germany and Japan, released his SVC debut Exit Strategy in March (he had previously previously issued another nine records elsewhere under various names). While the full-lengthed Exit Strategy seemed to draw from mid-period Ministry and Stewart Copeland's Klark Kent project, the new collection is a more composed amalgamation of hypnotic, Fripp-esque guitar textures and the bending chimpgaze swirl of the finer Swirlies recordings. Some of the mechanistic tone of Exit Strategy persists in the new collection (which features a remixed version of Exit Strategy's "US Out Of NY"), as the repeated guitar figure that draws "Roll Deep" to a close is somewhat robotic (in contrast to Robert Fripp's more flowing loops). "Roll Deep" is more intricately constructed than a first listen will reveal: lazery synths streak low in the mix, as do spectral vocal tracks. And where's the chorus? Roberts has cobbled together this fairly gripping video for the track that provocatively pairs footage of baggy scene legends, fireworks and riot police. More overt in its Fripp referencing is Roberts' gorgeous odd-metered instrumental "False Positive." Yeah, Well, Coué's Dead was issued digitally Dec. 2, and you can purchase it directly from SVC Records here. The EP will also be available through the usual digital storefronts imminently, if it is not already.

Seb Roberts -- "Roll Deep" -- Yeah, Well, Coué's Dead
[right click and save as]
[buy the EP from SVC Records right here]

>> Attentive readers will recall we noted last month the release of reconstituted California quintet Primitive Painters' new full-length Say It 'Til You Mean It. In doing so we reported that the album references the more guitar-centric work of alt. luminaries New Order. No song more pointedly refers to the legacy of the now apparently defunct-for-good Mancunians than Primitive Painters' album closer "Throw Your Heart To The Wind," which quotes the chorus of New Order's chillingly good "All The Way," the second track from the surprise 1989 triumph Technique (here's a live clip of New Order performing the track at Reading in '89). On the heels of the band's well-received record release show in California over the weekend the band has given us the OK to post "Throw Your Heart To The Wind" below. There's a lot to like: great drumming, crystalline layers of guitar and Dennis Crupi's lyrical exhortations to greater things.

Primitive Painters -- "Throw Your Heart To The Wind" -- Say It 'Til You Mean It
[right click and save as]
[buy the record from the band right here]

>> It is worth mentioning for the record that, although the septet will not be coming to New England, The War On Drugs neverthless launch a tour this evening in Pontiac, MI. Only yesterday we named the Philly-based act's gloriously droning "Show Me The Coast" one of the ten best songs of the year. We expect our bestowing such an honor will result in mob scenes at these upcoming dates, but even so you should brave the crowds to see The War On Drugs, whose Wagonwheel Blues is one of the more under-appreciated gems of 2008 (it will appear on our top albums list next week).

12/09 -- Pontiac, MI -- The Pike Room at The Crofoot
12/10 -- Rock Island, IL -- Huckleberry's Pizza Parlor
12/11 -- Chicago, IL -- Schuba's
12/12 -- Bloomington, IN -- Bear's Place
12/13 -- Pittsburgh, PA -- Brillobox
12/14 -- Brooklyn, NY -- Union Hall
12/15 -- New York, NY -- Mercury Lounge
12/18 -- Philadelphia, PA -- Johnny Brenda's

Footage: The War On Drugs' "Baby Missiles"

Philadelphia's The War On Drugs issue its sophomore set Slave Ambient Aug. 16 via Secretly Canadian, which is cause for some celebration given how much we like the band's preceding work (the full-length debut Wagonwheel Blues was one of our favorite records of 2008). What we have above is a video for the promo song "Baby Missiles," which we first wrote about here in May. There's not a lot of what you'd term narrative in the video clip, which is apparently culled from fronter Adam Granduciel's personal cache of Super 8 reels, but the images are soft and soothing and swiftly paced, making the visuals a fine complement to the song. True to the press verbiage, "Baby Missiles" pairs a motorik rhythm with the sort of organ sound that jumped out of '80s FM classics "Glory Days" or "Walk Of Life." It's a surprisingly winning pairing of elements, made all the more delectable by Mr. Granduciel's characteristically rapid-fire, slap-backed vocals. All told, it really sounds like summer. Not long after the release of Slave Ambient (which, in addition to all the typical formats, will also be released as a 45RPM double 12"), The War On Drugs pay a visit to Boston's Brighton Music Hall on Aug. 21. If you can't get enough of the jam above, you can also grab the Soundcloud stream below.

"Baby Missiles" by The War On Drugs by DOJAGSC

Clicky Clicky's Top Albums Of 2011: Jay Edition

And here we are at the end of 2011. If you had told us a year ago that the things which transpired this year were coming, we would not have believed you. While for much of the year, and much to our frustration, music had to take a back seat to real life, that only increased its importance to this writer. Cross-country flights soundtracked by Broken Shoulder. Getting up to speed mornings listening to Rival Schools. Quiet weekends with J Mascis, summer vacation with Algernon Cadwallader and The War On Drugs, doing dishes with the The Henry Clay People. And when we could, we saw shows that kept us smiling long after they were over, not the least of which was the seismic bill we co-presented in late October featuring The Hush Now, Soccermom and Chandeliers. We even found time to draft major pieces on favorite acts Haywood (here) and Johnny Foreigner (here). But largely constraints on our time and tons of stress often meant quality over quantity when it came to the blogging life; fortunately in 2011 there was no shortage of exceptional music to keep us sane. Below are our favorite 10 records of the year. We are very excited for what 2012 will bring, even if it only brings a little more time to catch up on everything we didn't have time for in 2011. Thanks for reading. Stick with us, there's a lot more Clicky Clicky where this came from.

1. Johnny Foreigner -- Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything -- Alcopop!
Now that it's here, it's hard not to feel like everything was leading up to it, from the band's very first single in 2007 onward. Johnny Foreigner vs. Everything is a fully DIY proposition that is remarkable in its vivid realization -- especially considering the small amount of money involved in creating it. It's also a defiant statement from a band that has fought for everything it has got, including its continued existence. As fronter Alexei Berrow told us here in October, "It feels like there are a lot of people waiting to be like 'O Johnny Foreigner fucked up, inevitable, how predictable.' Vs. Everything is us making these possibly imaginary folks eat their stupid words." And, man, the record delivers the fire and hope, the desperate melodies and sublime sentiments. If you haven't already, make sure you hear the best record of 2011.
[review / buy / Spotify]

2. Benjamin Shaw -- There's Always Hope, There's Always Cabernet -- Audio Antihero
While this list of favorite records for the most part illustrates which albums we listened to most in the last 360 or so days, it also speaks loudly about what we value in the music we spend our time with. Benjamin Shaw's There's Always Hope, There's Always Cabernet is perhaps the best example of what we value most: an artist with a singular personality, a unique vision or world view that is ably and creatively captured in the stereo field. Mr. Shaw's chamber pop showcases a charming dourness and humor, cloaked within deftly arranged guitar, piano, strings and ambient curiosities. His vocal delivery is remarkably personal, and the resulting collection here is as cozy as it is ghostly. Each song presents soft and sharp elements, like a bag full of knitting, while making sure that there are as many melodic hooks as there are noisy cul-de-sacs. It's enchanting, and it is easily one of the best of the year.
[preview / buy / Spotify]

3. Age Rings -- Black Honey -- Midriff Records
The one that almost got away, Black Honey was shelved for more than a year during its difficult gestation. Somehow band fronter Ted Billings was able to gather up inspiration that had sifted through his fingers and complete the collection, some four years on from its inception. It's a marvelous, rootsy rock record with a vast arsenal of hooks supporting Mr. Billings' raw, heart-on-sleeve sentiments and wry sense of humor. Black Honey is a thrilling collection, from the bombastic openers "Rock and Roll Is Dead" and "Black Hole" to the haunting closer "Caught Up In The Sound." It was a real feather in local dynamo Midriff Records' cap to be able to put it out, and it feels like a gift every time we listen to it.
[review / buy / Spotify]

4. Destroyer -- Kaputt -- Merge Records
Oh, how we loved this one from the very first time we put it on, perhaps the most obvious sign that even before we climbed all the way up the umbilical noose of '80s MTV, we were immersed irretrievably in early '80s commercial radio. It bothers us that Kaputt is viewed by many as tongue-in-cheek (the video for the album's title track didn't help matters), as we genuinely love the recycled soft-rock sounds and "Miami Vice"-cool found on the record just about as much as all the "critically compliant" Brotherhood vibes. Of course, embossing Destroyer auteur Dan Bejar's characteristic witover top of Kaputt's confections makes it that much more irresistable. Every song on the record is a hit, and it is at the top of mind every time we sit down to put on a record. Another Bejar coup.
[buy / Spotify]

5. The War On Drugs -- Slave Ambient -- Secretly Canadian
We listened to this for hours and hours in the middle of a hot summer, and it reminded us of the boiling South Philadelphia summers of our mid-20s. The city's unbroken mesh of hot brick rowhouses, each one its own oven, windows thrown open to the constant street noise, noise that buzzes like the constant aural din that underpins Slave Ambient. A din, we'd argue, that is like a dialect unique to Philadelphians. We long for our days in that city often, and in a way Drugs fronter Adam Granduciel has given us the gift of hearing a piece of our history again amid his hypnotic, mesmerizing creation. Slave Ambient's icy coctail of Philly FM radio and motorik reverie gets better every time we indulge it. Each time we put the collection on we nudge the volume knob northward to sit back and bathe in a Bartowski-esque Intersect of musical data points, freejacking decades of Petty, U2, the Dead and on and on and on and on...
[review / buy / Spotify]

6. Algernon Cadwallader -- Parrot Flies -- Hot Green/BSM
More Philly, people. This time it's fist-banging anthems, lightning in a bottle, youthful vigor. Few things make us wish we were young again, but Parrot Flies is one of them. Somewhere in all the caterwauling and rocking out, there is a well-spring of positive vibes so potent that it not only has the ability to brighten our days now, but also to inspire in us the strange belief that we could go back and enjoy by-gone days more if only we had had Parrot Flies on one side of a C-90 stuffed in the dashboard tape player. Emo the way it was meant to be written and performed by dudes who do it themselves, from recording to touring to releasing their record. To steal a line from Stars, "when there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire." Algernon Cadwallader live it, and Parrot Flies is so much delicious proof.
[review / buy / Spotify]

7. The Hush Now -- Memos -- Self-Released
They did it. The Hush Now's third record is a triumph of melody, of songwriting, of will. For years the band has been slugging it out in Boston, turning in increasingly dominating live sets, and finally, with Memos, the band released a recording that matched in execution the passion and energy characteristic of their visceralperformances. And beyond Memos just sounding good and feeling good, it touts the best set of songs the quintet has turned out yet, from the jaw-dropping ballad "Sitting On A Slow Clock" (which featured on our year-end songs list here) to the scorching guitar pop anthems that the band has made its stock-in-trade, Memos delivers, and we can't imagine the overground won't come calling for these guys soon enough.
[review / buy / Spotify]

8. Ringo Deathstarr -- Colour Trip -- Sonic Unyon
It took four years to get it, but we can't say it wasn't worth the wait. On the tail of an increasingly convoluted string of singles and EPs (different collections in the USA, UK and Japan with different configurations of songs, something of a collector's nightmare), Austin-based noise pop behemoths Ringo Deathstarr finally issued a debut full-length. It's an arresting amalgamation of shoegaze, punk and even dance-pop, and it's awesome. The trio is having better luck in other markets (it just toured supporting Smashing Pumpkins abroad and had a few dates in Japan with Johnny Foreigner), but Colour Trip gained some significant traction for The Deathstarr here. And we ask you, what's not to like? The record is a perfect calling card for the band's power, style and attitude, and listeners that write the band off as a My Bloody Valentine clone are both missing the point and just not listening.
[review / buy / Spotify]

9. Soccer Mom -- You Are Not Going To Heaven -- 100m
...the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen. You Are Not Going To Heaven is an exhilarating collection, from the Sonic Youth-styled buzzsaw of "(A) Natural History" to the blackout bludgeoning of the final 30 seconds of "Southern Bells." All six songs here are dynamite. Perhaps the only thing more exhilarating is experiencing the quartet's firestorm live. We honestly feel bad for any band that has to follow these guys on a bill, because after The 'Mom levels the crowd with its blissful and desperate noise (via Dan Parlin's mad-dog death-grip head shake, the steady cool of guitarist Bill Scales and bassist Danielle Deveau, and drummer Justin Kehoe's octopus arms), that show's over, man. It's just over ("...grab your stuff and go and nobody goes to jail..."). This EP is huge, and we can't wait for the next batch of recordings. Boston's next big thing keeping getting better, if not nextier.
[preview / buy / Spotify]

10. Los Campesinos! -- Hello Sadness -- Arts & Crafts
In some way it is difficult to believe that the band that issued the scruffy Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP in 2007 is the same act that crafted Hello Sadness. But there are a lot easy retorts to that sentiment, too, namely, well, it's just not the same band. The amount of living Tom, Gareth and the rest of Los Campesinos! have crammed into the last five years -- even if measured only by the 75 songs in our ITunes, you know, "band living" -- is quite astonishing. Hello Sadness is so emotionally broad and deep it is like the world's oceans, once you're in the water, it's just water going on forever, amazing songs like "To Tundra" and "Hate For The Island" so breath-taking there's no swimming across. There is a theoretic line between pop and art and this record is perhaps most remarkable for making that theoretic line so wide as one can not be pulled apart from the other at all. Amazing songs, amazing lyrics, so purposefully rendered.
[preview / buy / Spotify]

Muxtape No. 14: Get Back Devil, Messy Devil

And so here we have the August Muxtape. We pondered a couple days ago doing a blog post called "Where We're From" or something to that effect, and discussing therein some of the bands that really fired our imaginations and relationship with music when we were a high schooler, and even young college student. As you'll see below we name a number of acts from Philadelphia and its suburbs that inspired us to play and generally cultivate a fathomless interest in indie rock as a younger man. Some of these bands were our peers, some friends of friends... of friends. You'll even hear some of our inebriated hollering in the first track. Of course, there are a couple tunes we've thrown in from later years and even contemporary releases just because they are great. Happy August.

1. Kam Fong -- "Get Behind Me (Satan)" -- Unreleased
(Is there anything more satisfying than an open E major chord that just hangs there and sustains? Well, yeah, there's the rest of this song, the first verse of which describes salvaging major appliances from the trash. We can say from firsthand experience that the vocals were tracked on a very hot day around an open mic in a small stuffy living room while pulling off a milk jug of moonshine; hence the last verse. We're always happy to have an excuse to proselytize The Fong, so here's a download of the track above || Kam Fong -- "Get Behind Me (Satan)"; right click and save as || and here is an early, raw and extremely red-lined mixdown of the basic tracks in case you want to, we dunno, cut your own vocal || Kam Fong -- "Satan (Instrumental)"; right click and save as||.)

2. Lost -- "After The War" -- Do You Have A Problem?
(Opening track from a cassette release from the first iteration of this band. This tape and Haywood's first 7" affected us a great deal, not only because each is great, but because prior to their release it didn't seem within the realm of possibility that people like us could write their own material and release it. We recall being shocked to see the cassette on the shelf with the rest of the merchandise at our beloved and much-missed first location of Repo Records in North Wayne, and we purchased it immediately (much to the amusement of the guys, some of whom we later befriended). We love the lo-fi production on the Lost cassette, because it packs each track with the sense that they are under some volatile pressure and could burst at any second.)

3. Latimer -- "Start With Me" -- Live From Sour City
(Another heart-felt tip of the hat to the late Geoff Doring. We thought this song stuck out a little bit from the rest of the tracks on this set because of the acoustic guitars. And we swear there's whistling in there around the three-minute mark. So it took us a long time to come to terms with "Start With Me." But it is easily among the best tracks on this ridiculously under-rated record, released on Dave Allen's World Domination label in 1997 or so. It's near impossible to follow what Doring is singing, but the song is an incredibly affecting strand of hooks. What the hell, how about an MP3? || Latimer -- "Start With Me"; right click and save as.)

4. Halogen -- "Graph" -- This Is Harrisburg, Not Topeka
(Had the pleasure of seeing these guys live, and they were really impressive. "Graph" has a little bit of everything and channels Slint in a very effective manner. We love the little hi-hat fill in the first section. But the most gripping thing is the coda, where the singer repeats "summers brown, winters green" like a protective spell.)

5. The Differences -- "The Door To Your Heart" -- Cassette
(So another track like the Lost cut above that made an impression on us because it was another local -- that is, suburban Philadelphia -- band writing and recording their own material during a time when we equated the ability to write music with the ability to saw women in half and pull rabbits from hats. This is not the band's best cut, but it is the only one that remains in our cassette collection. Our memories are almost always of questionable veracity at this point, but compared to the other Differences tracks we recall ("11th Grade English," "Stay") this track is particularly dark. We seem to recall it came from a later set of recordings that would seem to indicate the band had dug back into The Cure's back catalog.)

6. Barnabys -- "Nunas" -- Augustus Loop
(A nice mid-tempo track from a pretty overblown record released on Spin-Art. Superfluous hockey rink organ. Certainly not the first track we think of when we consider the band, but for some reason the opening line was in our head this morning as we ground coffee beans.)

7. Johnny Foreigner -- "I Heard, He Ties Up Cats" -- Eyes Wide Terrified single
(We like this band so much it is embarrassing. We even told them as much when we met them in New York last fall. Right now they are flying to Japan for a string of dates. When we were scouring Ebay recently we found that some of the band's singles had been issued to radio as CDs, so of course we had to have those. The result of which is we can offer you this b-side. We're very hopeful that the physical release of the band's debut Waited Up Til It Was Light, which will occur on an unspecified Tuesday in October, will contain all the various b-sides and maybe even some radio sessions as bonus tracks. But since we can't bank on that, we continue to fuel the British economy by buying all the imports we can get our hands on.)

8. Haywood -- "You Talk Twice" -- Men Called Him Mister
(Wonderful album opener from defunct band's second CD. Would have made much more sense to post a Garden Party track, as that is this band's precursor and it fits better within the theme of the mix. But we love this one, and it's the one we're feeling this morning. We think this would make an awesome cover for Frightened Rabbit to do (get on that boys). Men Called Him Mister has more than its share of amazing lines, but one of the best may be when Mr. Pauly here confides "so sure that we lost it, while I've got my hands in your pockets.")

9. The Grifters -- "Just Passing Out" -- One Sock Missing
(As an adult we're conflicted now about songs that deal with drug abuse and addiction with any sort of favorable stance. Sorry (at least we didn't complain that music is too loud, right?). But even so this track is a beautiful tangle of bass and guitar melodies. And we're very fond of its linear composition, which we blatantly stole for a song many, many years ago. The final seconds where the mix goes kaleidoscopic is so awesome.)

10. The War On Drugs -- "Show Me The Coast" -- Wagonwheel Blues
(Our recent writing doesn't come close to reflecting just how much we like this new record from Philly's The War On Drugs. There's some magical alchemy that occurs when the atmospheric production of the music is paired with singer Adam Granduciel's mix-slicing Petty-doing-Dylan vocals. This track is particularly dense and droning. If we knew more about music theory we might be able to make some assertion about how drone in particular keys works for us. Layered guitar leads create most of the action here, and the overall effect is dreamy. Mr. Granduciel was recently featured in Stereogum's Quit Your Day Job right here, and we recommend reading it.)

11. Ric Dube -- "The Cavanaugh Tree" -- MySpace track
(Friend and mentor Ric Dube is the kind of guy who is into a lot of things, including parenting and Yo La Tengo, but during the last few years he has found time to lay down some tracks, and we are constantly surprised when this comes up in the shuffle to see that the song that just made us think "damn!" is by our pal. We particularly like the cello at the end, it's very George Martin-ish. This fits very nicely alongside the track above, no?)

12. Christopher O'Riley -- "Motion Picture Soundtrack" -- True Love Waits: O'Riley Plays Radiohead
(This song is so sad we often can't bear to listen to it, and O'Riley's version is somehow even sadder.)

Review: White Laces | Trance

Where do you go? When you've pursued for years a minimalist agenda within the fairly limited framework of a guitar band, when you've refined your sound down to a tight aesthetic kernel that still manages to sound sleek, full and fluid -- where do you go? Well, apparently you go to Philadelphia, which is where thoughtful Richmond space-pop quartet White Laces found itself last winter, recording its sophomore set Trance with studio savant Jeff Zeigler. The resulting record is ambitious and remarkably elegant, filled with shimmer and vim, softly encased in precise delays and reverbs that conjure a steadily breathing aura around White Laces' economical compositions. The music has taken White Laces out of Richmond and Philly and across the U.S. (supporting a peaking The War On Drugs), and where it takes the band next increasingly appears to be within White Laces' own control.

Fans of the band who haven't checked in since its relatively noisy and somewhat less agile self-titled 2010 EP, which was led by the reeling highlight "Motorik Twilight," might not even recognize White Laces' music, so far has it progressed. Those who are just turning on to the act, to whom White Laces is a new, up-and-coming band, are encountering it at perhaps the most opportune time: Trance evidences a foursome cresting, its songwriting inspired, its performances hot, its sounds printed to tape by one of the most creative guys working right now. And while the aforementioned Mr. Zeigler is one of the best getter-of-sounds in the game right now -- from the psychedelic soup of ambient tracks hiding in plain sight on The War On Drugs' 2011 set Slave Ambient to the bright and crisp guitars that led upstart indie-punk trio Break It Up's brilliant "New Penzance" -- the simultaneously more focused and expansive sound he elicited from the White Laces in the studio isn't the only story here on Trance. The fact is that Trance, while a game-changer, does not wholly reinvent the wheel for the band, which established a fertile if spare creative framework with its 2012 debut LP Moves. It's just that Trance consistently -- thrillingly -- presents White Laces' smartest, best musical face.

Lead preview track "Skate Or Die" shudders with passion, from the chiming guitars to fronter and guitarist Landis Wine's unusually rugged and immediate vocal. From incantatory opener "Teenage Brain" -- a sort-of tribal "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" for the disaffected -- through the sedate, thrumming final tune "Strangulation Blues," every measure of the album is more inherently tuneful. With each release White Laces has gone further to divorce itself from genre, but Trance's bracing economy, bright melodicism and the rhythm section's firmly applied timekeeping perhaps counter-intuitively reveals within the band's measured post-punk cool DNA strands twirling back to notable touchstones such as The House Of Love's "Shine On" or even A Flock Of Seagulls' "Space Age Love Song." These referents don't suggest White Laces' sound is dated, but rather that its musical appeal is crossing over from something niche and approaching something out of time, even classic.

Trance is being released by Happenin Records, EggHunt Records and Arrowhawk Records, with each label handling different formats. Alabama-based Happenin releases Trance on CD Tuesday, and is co-releasing the set on vinyl 12" with EggHunt. Richmond-based EggHunt, which just launched this past April, is already offering through its web site 180-gram vinyl pressed to either pink or blue right here. The vinyl edition is limited to 1,000 pieces, with the colors limited to 100 units a piece, topped off by 800 foot-wides pressed to the traditional black media. EggHunt's web site lists the vinyl release date as Oct. 24. Athens, Georgia-based Arrowhawk will release Trance on cassette tapes, but there is as yet no information about when that might be available. For those who missed White Laces' Moves, which we reviewed here in XXX, there is some good news. EggHunt has licensed the collection for a expanded CD release that will be available imminently and is limited to 250 units. The EggHunt CD version of Moves will include two tunes previously available as a cassingle from Treetop Sorbet, "Ascend" b/w "Deep Moves." A third bonus track is included as a hidden track, and to preserve the surprise we won't tell you anything more about that except that a certain very handsome blogger strongly lobbied for its inclusion. Three preview tunes from Trance, "Cruisin'," "Skate Or Die" and "Nothing Clicks," are available to stream via the Soundcloud embeds below. White Laces are expected to announced additional live dates soon, but it will still be pretty busy this month with handful of dates around its home Commonwealth, which are listed below.

White Laces: Bandcamp | Facebook | Internerds | Soundcloud

10.09 -- Strange Matter/Bad Grrrl Anniversary Party -- Richmond, VA
10.17 -- Gillie's -- Blacksburg,VA
10.18 -- Speakertree -- Lynchburg, VA
10.24 -- Broadberry (LP Release Show) -- Richmond, VA
10.25 -- Artistree Festival -- Norfolk, VA
11.14 -- Everybody Hits w/Myrriahs -- Philadelphia, PA

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
Download "Shirley Road Shirley"
[right click and save as]
[buy]

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
Download "Foam Hands"
[right click and save as]
[buy]

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
[right click and save as]

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.

Today's Hotness: Paul De Jong, Hop Along

>> The name Paul De Jong is perhaps lost on many, especially as the heyday of the stunning project with which he made his name becomes increasingly remote. Even saying "Mr. De Jong is one of the main two dudes from The Books" will likely need to be followed up with "no, no, the other dude." But indeed he is the amazing cellist and curator of found sounds whose work remarkably colored The Books' brilliant compositions. Notably, De Jong will next month release his first solo effort, the 12-song set If, which presents the first new music we've heard from De Jong in five years. If's proverbial apple does not fall far from the tree, as two preview tracks indicate there is plenty of smart music and solid wonder yet present in De Jong's musical world. Lead preview track "Auction Block" opens as a pastoral instrumental, complete with samples of crickets chirping, while gentle piano figures waft under fiddle playing that transforms from tentative trills to a full-on hoe-down groove. Sturdy percussion tracks and De Jong's characteristically absurd audio samples take hold of the composition and steer it toward an indeterminate conclusion, reminding us that The Books never provided answers so much as they offered incredibly beautiful questions. A video for "Auction Block" was premiered today by NPR and you can watch it right here. A second preview track, "This Is What I Am," is significantly more dense, and perhaps to an extent that will surprise fans, as there is little open space for DeJong to interject into the composition the awe and whimsy people associate with his work. By no stretch is it an unsatisfying song, however, and repeated listens reveal stacked depths of intrigue tucked among the cycling drum fills and swelling voices. Interestingly, the tune's title is perhaps a sidelong declaration in response to the startlingly dark cut "I Am Who I Am", a highlight of The Books' final record. Temporary Residence Ltd. will release If April 28 on vinyl, CD and (presumably) as a digital download. A 200-piece limited-edition vinyl pressing comes on black media, the "standard edition" is pressed to amber media, and you can pre-order your copy right here (note: pre-orders ship out April 14). We reviewed The Books' final record The Way Out here in 2010.





>> Hop Along burst onto the scene a few years ago on the strength of its swaying belter "Tibetan Pop Stars," one highlight from the then-trio's electrifying debut LP Get Disowned. The set was a perfect showcase for the ragged, desperate singing of Philadelphian Frances Quinlan, and this blog was particularly taken with a deeper cut on Get Disowned, the more subdued and melodic "Laments," which we named one of our favorite songs of 2012. The song's progressive structure, delicate pianos and percolating melody proved Hop Along packed as much grace as it did power. Both of these are on full display in the fantastic new song "Waitress," a preview track from Hop Along's forthcoming sophomore set Painted Shut. Between the release of the two records, Hop Along added ex-Algernon Cadwallader guitarist Joe Reinhart to the lineup fronted by Ms. Quinlan on guitar, which includes brother Mark Quinlan on drums and Tyler Long on bass. Mr. Reinhart's sparkling guitar-playing shines brightly in the right channel of "Waitress," but there is still plenty of room for Frances' voice to soar. Stream the utterly exhilarating rocker "Waitress" via the Soundcloud embed below. Another change for the band is it signed with midwestern indie giant Saddle Creek to release Painted Shut; the band's debut was released on the Algernon dudes' own Hot Green imprint. The 10-song Painted Shut is slated for release May 5, but pre-orders will ship April 21. To say the record is hotly anticipated is an understatement: a deluxe edition of the LP pressed to white-with-pink-haze media sold out in hours. Fortunately, Painted Shut can still be pre-ordered here on vinyl, CD and as a digital download. In case you missed it (or didn't check the CC Facebook page that day), Ms. Quinlan recently partnered with Philly emo heroes The Weaks to record a rocking cover of Songs:Ohia's "Peoria Lunchbox Blues" for a Jason Molina tribute comp; you can stream that jam right here. Hop Along heads out on tour at the end of March supporting run of a dozen dates toplined by Philly scenemates The War On Drugs; the band embarks on its own three-week headline tour the day Painted Shut is released. Look for your town on the band's own list of dates right here.

Today's Hotness: White Laces, Fennesz, Hymnals

>> It's a bit of an understatement to say things have timed out pretty nicely for White Laces of late. Hot on the heels of finishing the recording of a sophomore LP with renowned Philadelphia producer Jeff Zeigler in December, the hotly tipped, Richmond-based futurepop four was selected to support The War On Drugs' current U.S. tour, which has its penultimate stop at Boston's Paradise Rock Club tomorrow. Reviews of the Laces' supporting slots have been solid, and we've heard reports that the guys have stayed healthy and sane (and, importantly, literally on the road, when that sort of thing counted). But for those not lucky enough to be on the tour rout, the most exciting thing of late coming out of the White Laces camp is the first taste of the forthcoming LP, Trance, a bombastic, kinetic and fluid groover called "Skate Or Die." The sounds are bigger, fronter Landis Wine's vocals more desperate, and one can literally hear the band expanding on its sonic proposition, becoming bigger and bolder, on the new tune. There are as yet no public plans for the release of Trance, but the looks and listens White Laces have been garnering on the current tour -- the band's first circumnavigation of the U.S. -- will likely prove invaluable when it comes to finding a home for the collection. So get to the Paradise early on Thursday, Boston -- you will be glad you did (at least for now, tickets remain available). Last we saw the act live, it was playing a third-floor living room in J.P. in 2011, so needless to say the band has already come very far; we expect the next year will bring more of the bigger and better. Press play on "Skate Or Die" via the embed below and get ready to rawk. We reviewed White Laces debut long-player Moves right here in August 2012.



>> A reader tipped us off to the presence on YouTube of a new Fennesz song titled "Liminality," which is a slowly spiraling delight of fuzzy electric guitar and icy electronic tones. The 10-minute meditation is the third to surface from the forthcoming, seven-song collection Bécs, which will be released by Editions Mego on LP, compact disc and as a digital download April 28; Pantsfork premiered the substantially more ominous "The Liar" here in February, and the escapist fantasy "Static Kings" here in March (although the author of the latter piece seemed unaware of the former). Bécs is Vienna-based Fennesz' first solo long-player in six years (although the song "Sav" is co-written by Cédric Stevens), and it is apparently intended as a follow-up to Fennesz' ground-breaking 2001 collection Endless Summer. "Liminality" certainly seems akin to the music from that tremendous earlier LP, in terms of tone and texture. Loosely gathered electric guitar notes cluster together into jangling, fuzzy chords, and then billow loosely in the composition's quieter moments, in much the same way Bill Frisell's guitar is at its most beautiful when it just serenely sustains. Those quieter moments eventually recede as Fennesz constructs a wall of melodic distortion that undulates and ripples like the surface of a warm pool of water. It's a mesmerizing piece, one that is distinctly Fennesz. Pre-order Bécs right here, and stream the stunner "Liminality" via the embed below, while it lasts.



>> So you're one half of rad indie rock duo Kindling, and your partner in crime is out of town for a week: what do you do? Make monolithic, fuzz-blasted rock music, that's what. Seven days to himself was enough of an opportunity for Stephen, the surnameless male component of the Western Mass.-based act Kindling, to dream up "When You're Away," which he has released here under the moniker Hymnals. It's unclear how active this project will actually be, dependent as it would seem to be on Gretchen Kindling's travel schedule. The duo certainly has kept busy since we first wrote about the band right here last month. Although progress on the pair's ever-expanding demos set Spare Room would seem to have stalled, in fact the apparent inactivity is the result of the fact that Kindling has a four-song 7" in the offing, according to this Facebook status. They are still finishing up vocals, so there's no telling when we might hear this 7", so it's nice to have a new little sumpin' sumpin' from Hymnals to tide us over. Stream the blunt, concise swirl "When You're Away" via the embed below.