Varsity Drag, Tartufi, Soccermom | 9 April | PA's Lounge, Somerville

Review: Bettie Serveert | Pharmacy Of Love [MP3]

Bettie Serveert takes just long enough between albums that every one feels like a comeback. This one especially, because it is so fantastic. Let’s just establish this right off the bat: Pharmacy of Love (Second Motion) is easily the best front-to-back Bettie Serveert album since their 1992 debut, Palomine.

It is true that they can never re-create the soundtrack-of-my-life nostalgia that I have for that album (and 1992 generally, since it was such a major formative music year for me, it being the year of Let Me Come Over, Tossing Seeds and Slanted And Enchanted, among many others), and it wouldn’t be fair to ask or expect it. Even still, Pharmacy gives it a run for its money: it’s sharper, more focused, and more driven.

I’ve always thought of these Dutchpersons as a great guitar band. Palomine’s warm strummy jangle just felt and sounded real, like you were there in the basement with them. Dust Bunnies’ “Geek” amped it up and still takes my breath away. I guess that’s why I got impatient with some of some of the band’s more meandering mid-period, especially when they brought in more electronics (like on some of 2005's Attagirl, say) . The songwriting was a bit less consistent – though there were certainly plenty of gems throughout. It feels like they’ve been searching for something, and Pharmacy of Love seems to bring it all into focus.

Driven, yes, by those beloved, though sharper, guitars, but especially by explosive new drummer Joppe Molenaar – the Betties sound more like a hungry young band with something to prove and less like a band 20 years and 8 albums in (the rest of the band, singer Carol van Dyke, guitarist Peter Visser and bassist Herman Bunskoeke, have all been on board since the beginning).

I could highlight each track from this album of energy and spark, but I’ll settle on three: If there were any justice (but I know there really isn’t), the album’s single and leadoff track, “Deny All,” would be the giant hit of the summer. The propulsive rhythm (with the aforementioned explosive drumming), the catchy chorus – isn’t rock and roll due to come back again? “The Pharmacy” feels epic, though more by its drama than by its length. Driven (yes, again) by an insistent drum pattern, the track starts otherwise sparse, adding tension by synth before finally resolving into a driving beat topped by guitar freak-out. And “Change4Me,” with van Dyke’s sweet vocals and its laid-back, strum could have been on Palomine.

I friggin’ love this record.

Also: don’t miss the iTunes-only “Deny All” EP – there’s a non-LP track and a couple of alternate versions that are worth the extry couple bucks.

They seem to be doing lots of touring, but no word on a US trek just yet. In looking at their schedule, I wouldn’t count on it until the fall. And, say, that's when Teenage Fanclub are supposed to hit the US in support of their finally-announced new album, Shadows. Just sayin'. -- Michael Piantigini

Bettie Serveert - "Deny All" - Pharmacy of Love
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Bettie Serveert: Intertubes | MySpace | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Reader Rewards: Beach House, Ted Leo, Los Campesinos!, Shout Out Louds

We haven't forgotten about you, you who love the indie rock as much as life itself. Time was we were giving away a lot of tickets for Boston area fans. Good times, right? Well the good times are back, beginning later this week, when we will be giving away the first of several hot pairs of tickets to soak in the now sounds at Paradise Rock Club. The first pair on offer will be to see Baltimore dream pop duo Beach House's sold-out show this coming Sunday (March 28). We also have a pair of tickets for each of Ted Leo with Obits (April 10), Los Campesinos! (April 24) and Shout Out Louds (May 6). So much good rock that it somewhat boggles the mind. So how do you get a chance at these? You need to follow us on the Twitterz, where our handle is @clickyclicky, and where we will a couple days before each show 1) give fair warning that we are about to give the tickets away to one lucky winner, 2) give the tickets away to the first person who replies or DMs us and 3) announce the winner. It's fun, it happens fast, and it is efficient. So start following us, already! Look for the Beach House tickets to get given and gotten sometime Thursday.

Rock Over Boston | The Clientele, Field Music | Great Scott | 3.22.10

The Clientele with Field Music at Great Scott, Allston, MA 3/22/2010. Photos by Michael Piantigini

Today's Hotness: Captain Polaroid, The Answering Machine

>> [IMAGE CREDIT: VictorianWeb.org] Birmingham, England-based lo-fi stalwart Captain Polaroid Sunday put the finishing touches on his tribute to Mark Linkous, in the form of a cover of Sparklehorse's wonderful, poignant "Ghost Of His Smile." As this is our favorite Sparklehorse song, we jumped at the chance to offer the track, and were pleased when Mr. Polaroid gave his assent. And so we offer below Captain Polaroid's spot-on take on this wonderful track. Mr. Linkous took his own life March 6; he was 47. Read Ben Sisario's memoriam in the New York Times here. Captain Polaroid also recently covered Pavement's "Here" as part of Filthy Little Angels' Pavement tribute compilation we wrote about previously, errr... here.



>> We tweeted this last week but it is worth reiterating: Manchester, England-based guitar pop foursome The Answering Machine have built their own studio, in which the act intends to record a planned sophomore set. Band fronter Martin Colclough will produce. This all according to a blog post from the band you can read here. The Answering Machine has been writing new material, and we hope that -- as in the past -- demos make it online for public consumption. After demoing many tracks with Tony Hoffer a couple years back, a handful were posted to the band's MySpace. Glancing through our ITunes, we see that some demos (both Hoffer and pre-Hoffer) never made it on to the The Answering Machine's superlative first full-length Another City, Another Sorry, including the wonderful "Romantic And Square," "Time" and "The Photographer." We'd really like to see at least the first of those pop up somewhere down the line. The band's debut was one of our favorite albums of 2009, and we reviewed it a year ago right here.

Review: A Weather | Everyday Balloons [MP3s]

Perhaps the greatest challenge for thoughtful songwriters is to write compelling songs about relationships that don't bluntly reiterate the trite tropes of unrequited love, failed love or the teen ideal of infinite love. Yes, we know your baby done you wrong, up and left you, and/or won't text you back. But what about songs that address living in love, what people in relationships do to fill their days, ward off the doubt? Some songwriters can do it well, once in a while. Only the best songwriters can do it consistently and make those efforts sound effortless. Slow-core upstarts A Weather, led by singer and guitarist Aaron Gerber, did it across its entire 2008 debut record Cove. The set, which we named one of the best of the last decade here, is a quiet, beautiful and intense recitation of sweetly whispered secrets.

The Portland, Ore.-based quintet return this month with the charming Everyday Balloons. In contrast to its debut, the music on the new collection is relatively (relatively) cacaphonous. Gerber and his cohort -- while still nodding in the sonically disciplined direction of one-time tourmates The New Year and, on "Seven Blankets," to the long-gone Codeine -- have filled out the compositions on Everyday Balloons and expanded their dynamic range by deploying piano, more electric guitars and more assertive drumming. There is even (thrilling) guitar feedback in certain places. While the new collection is louder -- the album shudders to a close with the stirring climax of "Lay Me Down" -- it remains characteristically mesmerizing, paralleling the fevered state Gerber references in the exhilarating album opener "Third Of Life" ("and I thought I was hot stuff/but it's just that I was burning up...").

That said, the changes do alter the tone we had grown accustomed to from A Weather. The broader instrumentation and increased volume more fully illuminate on Everyday Balloons what was obscured in the dark corners of Cove. Beyond tone, the new set addresses broader themes with a sort of natural realism we associate with writers like Sherwood Anderson. Everyday Balloons focuses tightly on elevating the mundane and holding it up as a thing of beauty. Its songs limn in crisp detail quiet, unremarkable domestic moments and diurnal ephemera that in aggregate comprise a wide-eyed, brighter -- but still troubled and questioning -- outlook. The aforementioned "Third Of Life," in the midst of its observations about the fleeting nature of time, describes positioning a bed pillow, brushing teeth. The piano-led ballad "Midday Moon" sung by percussionist Sarah Winchester (whose enchanting vocals, we should note, provide counterpoint to Gerber's on nearly every A Weather track) begins with a rumination about cleaning a bathroom. The brilliant album closer "Lay Me Down" rides a melodic spiral of picked guitar and chimes, but makes time to analyze the act of "tucking back your hair/right behind your ear."

A Weather embarks on a North American tour to support the release of Everyday Balloons April 10. The band plays Somerville, Mass.'s P.A.'s Lounge April 19 with Drew O'Doherty supporting.

A Weather -- "Giant Stairs" -- Everyday Balloons
A Weather -- "Third Of Life" -- Everyday Balloons
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04.10 -- The Woods -- Portland, OR
04.12 -- Kilby Court -- Salt Lake City, UT
04.13 -- Hi Dive -- Denver, CO
04.15 -- Vaudeville Mews -- Des Moines, IA
04.16 -- 400 Bar -- Minneapolis, MN
04.19 -- P.A.'s Lounge -- Somerville, MA
04.20 -- Apohadion -- Portland, ME
04.21 -- The Lamb Abbey -- Montpelier, VT
04.22 -- AS220 -- Providence, RI
04.23 -- Union Hall -- Brooklyn, NY
04.25 -- Galaxy Hut -- Washington DC
04.26 -- Joe Squared -- Baltimore, MD
04.28 -- Off Broadway -- St. Louis, MO
04.29 -- The Czar Bar -- Kansas City, MO
04.30 -- Jackpot -- Lawrence, KS

A Weather: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Previous A Weather Coverage:
Today's Hotness: Calories, William, Lali Puna, A Weather
Be Prepared: A Weather | Everyday Balloons | 2 March
Clicky Clicky Music Blog's Top Albums 2000-2009
Clicky Clicky's Top Albums Of 2008
Review: A Weather | Cove [MP3]

The One Thing At SXSW Worth Seeing: Original Lemonheads Ben Deily And Evan Dando To Reunite After Two Decades

[PHOTO: Joshua Pickering, used with permission] After two long decades apart original Lemonheads principals Ben Deily and Evan Dando will reunite in Austin Thursday at the annual South By Southwest music confab. Beyond solid confirmation floating amongst our social networks, we have no further details (no venue, no time). But we suspect that if you monitor something like the Varsity Drag Twitter feed, you'll find details spring up -- hopefully before show time. Boston-area fans had been expecting to see Varsity Drag perform an acoustic set Thursday at the Somerville Armory, but obviously that gig has been scotched in favor of the hastily planned, history-making event.

Deily left Lemonheads in the late '80s just prior to the band's superlative major label debut Lovey, for which Dando assumed the helm of the group, which group would ascend into the wider public consciousness on the strength of the excellent It's A Shame About Ray (Ms. Juliana Hatfield's vocals on "Rudderless" still give us chills) in 1992. As clicky clicky readers know because of our microscopic coverage of the act, Deily launched his most recent band Varsity Drag earlier this decade and has two wonderful full-lengths and assorted live sets to show for it. The Drag still breaks out Deily's Lemonheads classics, and we're posting one below to celebrate the occasion we sadly will not witness.

Varsity Drag -- "Uhhh (Live WMFO)" -- Live Owls: Varsity Drag Live on WMFO
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