Caveman

Vampirer /Old Friend

directed by Phil Di Fiore

The video for this terrific NYC band is a wonderful a Twilight Zone like mini movie, , starring Peter Sarsgaard. The plot is left open to interpretation, but it involves murder, ghosts, and phone calls, all set to one song that is a good, creepy instrumental, and the other bittersweet, and one of the best songs on the band’s great debut, CoCo Beware. A must for horror fans, and those who like Sarsgaard’s and Di Flore’s previous work. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pip2ap5pUr0] [http://www.cavemantheband.com]

Andrea Weiss

Micachu & the Shapes

Never

Rough Trade

Where rap, modern classical music, noise pop, and punk intersect, there is Micacu and the Shapes. What provides the frame work and structure for these delightful, off kilter, bubbly and exuberant songs are melodies that prevent the songs from getting out of control or formless.

Lyrically, these songs examine life from every angle: its strangeness, its pain, its pleasures, and its happiness. They fit into the overall structure of the music well, never becoming more important than the music. The band has a lot to say, and many ways to say it.

This is the follow up to an orchestrated live album where the parts were better than the whole, and was a very good debut, Jewelry. That Never meshes very well, and builds on the debut is a reason to cheer. It’s an album to be treasured.

[http://www.myspace.com/micayomusic]

Andrea Weiss

Purity Ring

Shrines

4 AD

They are a Montréal /Halifax based electronica duo, musically more lightweight than light, but with a lot of charm. Megan James has a very pretty voice, even as some of the lyrics she sings are rather goofy, like “touch not my bosom,” and others about her little belly, her little legs, and trembling thighs. This is not a bad album by any means though. On a debut, which this one is, mistakes are understandable. They have a lot of promise, and with and time, will get ever better than they are now. [http://www.purityringsongs.com/]

Andrea Weiss

Twin Shadow

Confess

4AD Records

The follow up to a terrific debut, Forget, is almost insanely catchy. It’s a great update on 80s synth pop, not slick, with polish but not enough to smooth out the rough edges. Even when the beat is mostly a stomp, it flows fluidly enough to keep everything moving very nicely.

Lyrically, a few questions are answered. What if Robert Smith had a more positive outlook on life, while remaining lovelorn? There is also hope and promise. You know what you need and want to do, but how do you do it in a way that doesn’t hurt you too much? There is a lot of Cure-like lyrical style written by George Lewis Jr. who is Twin Shadow, but never quite falls into goth. How he figures out how to answer both these questions makes for very uplifting lyrics, which if not uniformly positive, are more pensive. And at Lewis’s best, with lyrics that cut a lot deeper than Smith’s, but never taking his eye off the ball.. This is a keeper, romantic with a capital R, A winner on that alone, and a really fine album. [http://twinshadow.net/]

Andrea Weiss