CD Reviews

Like "Ambling Alp", Odd Blood itself should appeal to a lot of people: Yeasayer have made a potentially vanguard record using the full range of possibilities of software-based music to create what once would have been radio-friendly rock. The elastic "O.N.E." and the Tears for Fears-ish "I Remember" are successful mid-80s throwbacks, achieving the full potential hinted at on All Hour Cymbals and rivaling that album's best material. Opener "The Children" also works by tailoring their offbeat tendencies into a tightly packaged song. In much of the first half of the album, Yeasayer demonstrate a rare craftsmanship and consideration that's too often shoved under the rug in modern indie music. Their lyrics may not say much of anything, but their agile arrangements, sense of dynamics and pacing, and singer Chris Keating's expressive vocals communicate plenty- Pitchfork.com

he songs on Pierced Arrows' first album, Descending Shadows, sound so loose and intuitive that you might assume they were recorded as the band was just learning how to play them. But what you're hearing is the effortless ability of at least 75 years of collective garage-punk experience, courtesy of the husband-and-wife team of Fred and Toody Cole. The former leaders of Dead Moon, the Coles likely make up this music while mowing the lawn in some backwoods town where no one's even heard of blogs, because these tunes are timeless, and unsullied by modern taste. Even as garage rock in the vein of Crazy Horse, the dodgy tempo shifts of "Paranoia," crusty call-out choruses of "On Our Way" and "This Is the Day" and paleolithic riffage of "Let It Rain" are unlike anything even the most obscurantist record store clerk could name-drop. Sure, Toody's singing makes Kim Gordon sound like Karen Carpenter, and drummer Kelly Halliburton holds it all together, but this is as real as rock 'n' roll gets.  - Eye Weekly

Basia Bulat is a singer-songwriter who hails from London, Ontario. Her debut album Oh, My Darling was produced by Howard Bilerman (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Arcade Fire), and released on Rough Trade in 2007. The song "Little Waltz" from the album was used in a 2007 Australian Volkswagen Eos advertisement and drew some attention to her work. The new album Hear Of My Own sees Howard Bilerman again at the desk. The instrumentation on the album is a lot more varied than Oh, My Darling. Basia claims "I think it is at times extremely sparse and spacious, with big choirs singing, and then it gets really dense with really spirited and rolling drums, and I think I even managed to pull off a Johnny Cash-inspired country song." She plays autoharp, guitar, piano, organ, pianoette, banjo, ukulele, bass and of course, sings.

Limited deluxe CD/DVD edition including a bonus DVD containing a video for every song on the album, each by a different director.. 2010 album from the Baltimore duo. Recorded in upstate New York, in a converted church called Dreamland with producer/engineer Chris Coady (who has worked with TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Blonde Redhead), Teen Dream is their third album and their Sub Pop debut. Teen Dream gives voice to a full universe of unbridled imagination, and the manifestation of the album has been a welcomed and all-consuming obsession for Beach House the past nine to 12 months.

At 27 minutes, Fall Be Kind is short enough to invite another play once "I Think I Can" fades out, which means a return to that striking second half of "Graze". When a band tries something that shouldn't work and brings it off, it's a sign of confidence. Animal Collective's focus and general disinterest in looking over their shoulders obviously makes what they're doing that much more appealing. But the most interesting thing about them at this point may be that, despite all the great music they've been making the past few years, it's not hard to imagine them failing. They've honed their craft and become very good at what they do, but there still seems to be a desire to go to unfamiliar realms, and it's possible that wherever they head next will turn out to be place they don't inhabit as easily. There's still a sense of gamble with Animal Collective, nothing is fixed-- and that's exactly what makes them an especially exciting band. for full review go www.pitchforkmedia.com

Before putting the idea of a 3xCD set aside, Drummer Kid Millions told an interviewer the project was "the stone tablets of Onieda." Given how hard it is to nail the band down to one sound, figuring out what those tablets could be remained a mystery. The good news: Between beat-heavy studio workouts, some of their loosest instrumental jams, and their most liberal use of "O"-related puns in song titles, Oneida were considerate enough to build it all around lean, no-frills rock on par with the best of their earlier work. Rated O contains the band's wildest experiments while still covering most of their previous sonic tentpoles. Oneida are the only band running that I could tell a listener with a straight face, yes, it's worth three discs, and it's worth your time. - Jason Crock (Pitchfork) For the full review visit http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13215-rated-o/

Of their three post-reunion albums so far, The Sound the Speed the Light sounds the most industrious, the most like another day at the office. There's nothing surprising here, and some songs are so signature-styled you might wonder if you've heard them before. But when it comes to office work, Burma's day beats most bands' years. So the lack of surprise also means a lack of flaws, and a lot of energy and power. When these guys punch the clock, they take the phrase literally. Pitchfork

On the unexpectedly terrific There Is No Enemy, it becomes immediately clear what had been missing, and sure enough, it was invisible: While Enemy technically sounds just like every Built to Spill record since Keep It Like a Secret-- the pinwheeling guitar fantasias, the ambling tempos, and the wayward vocal lines are all here-- it is buoyed by a fresh sense of emotional stakes, an urgency that puts wind back in the band's sails. For the first time in almost 10 years, it seems that Martsch might actually have something he wants to say.Pitchforkmedia

Toronto's favourite gay church-folk collective is in usual form on Origin:Orphan, their first on Arts&Crafts (in Canada) and their fifth studio record overall. Shying away from their indie-pop mechanics to revel in world-music experimentation, Joel Gibb's tenorous harmonization soars above the fray on "Ratify The New" and "Walk On," featuring a guitar part that sounds ripped off from U2. While their sex talk has faded (there are no golden showers here), the standout track remains the slow burning "Do I Belong?," in which the band channel Max Webster synth sleaze while experiencing an existential crisis. Though the breezy "In The NA" remains the "Doot Doot Plot" of Origin:Orphan, music is no longer Gibb's sole boyfriend -- he's doing lyricism on the side. Eye Weekly

The garage-rock bandgasm that is The Almighty Defenders finds the King Khan And The BBQ Show and the Black Lips in a gospel-inspired collaboration resulting from the Lips fleeing India and ending up at Khan's Berlin flat. Their self-titled debut is pretty much just what you'd expect: distortedly ecstatic call-and-response vocals, 1950s song structures and the lowest in lo-fi recording. While the music isn't nearly as memorable as what King Khan, Mark Sultan or the Black Lips are capable of on their own, there's an infectious vibe of wasted camaraderie that makes you want to down a bunch of tequila shots and praise the gods of garage in the best way possible: starting a band of your own. The Almighty Defenders should go over well with the bands' current congregations. but I doubt we'll see many new converts -Eye Weekly