Hello. This is a music blog. If you like what you read here, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com.

Yo La Tengo
Popular Songs
Matador Records

The overall mood of this album is contemplative: living a good, full life, loving all it has to offer, as part of a couple in a long time marriage. Ira Kaplan and Georgia Huxley, are the performers, he being the singer and guitarist for Tengo, Georgia is the other singer, and the drummer. They seem to be taking stock of their lives and their relationship, with grace, gentle wit, and a bit of wonder that they've lasted as long as they have, a bit of worry over how to make what they have keep going, and a sense of bliss that they are so happy and in love.

The music is just as meditative. Even as most of these songs are short, they fit the moods of the lyrics. They pull off all this very well. There is no irony here, musically and lyrically. This is straight emotion, and honest as well.

The two jams that close the album, "The Fireside" and "And the Glitter is Gone" run counterpoint to one another. "The Fireside" is all whispering accoustic guitars, with just a few mumbled words for lyrics. It is eleven minutes long, and a beautiful piece of music.

"And the Glitter is Gone" is fifteen minutes long, and mostly Ira's famous fuzz, feedback and melodies taking the place of lyrics. Georgia's deft, fluid, and flowing drumming alongside a galloping bass makes for sonic regret, some sadness, but also a fierce determination to bring the glitter back someday. It is a smashing way to close out a great album, and a worthy addition to their canon. [www.yolatengo.com]
Andrea Weiss

Taken By trees
East of Eden
Rough Trade

Victoria(no last name given) and her guitarist Andres Soderstorm traveled to Pakistan to make this album with musicians from Pakistan. They were male musicians, Victoria wanted women, but was told that it was too dangerous for them to travel from north to south Pakistan. None of the musicians spoke English, except the Trees host. Victoria used other means, too, like singing what she wanted the musicians to play. Teaching the musicians to play wearing headphones, and playing at times out side the studio, which was harder than when they were in the studio.

So what did they come up with? Ambient, atmospheric slow music, Victoria’s whispered singing, and quietly powerful guitar playing. These are relationship songs, mostly romantic, except for a re-working of Animal Collective’s “My Girl” re-titled “My Boys.” That remake is the loudest song on the album, and fits into the other songs very well.

The concept is interesting, the music is great, and Victoria’s singing fits the mysterious mood of the songs. It’s different, a nice album for quiet times. [www.myspace.com/takenbytreesmusic]

Andrea Weiss

Hello, this is a music blog. If you like what you read, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com.

Golden Silvers’
True Romance
XL Recordings

This band is at its best when they keep things light, bouncy and for the dance floor. When they try to make pronouncements about love and life, they preach, and the music falls flat. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good here, and even though in the end this isn’t a bad album, it’s also not good enough to recommend. [http://www.myspace.com/thegoldensilvers]
Andrea Weiss

New Reviews

Hello,

This is a music blog. If you like what you read, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com

The Cave Singers
Welcome Joy
Matador Records

Imagine the Sadies as a folk band, quieter musically, but like the Sadies, their lyrics deal with hard times and hard living. That’s The Cave Singers, a trio from Seattle, and this album is their debut. It is a very good album, with hushed vocals, gently strummed guitars, and drums that whisper, all meant for quiet times, and for a great late night nightcap. [www.myspace.com/thecavesingers]
Andrea Weiss

Jack Pinate
Everything is New
XL Recordings

The laid back groove Pinate has on his new album is only marginally better than the jittery new wave singer/songwriter sound he had on his debut Matinee. At least with a smooth shimmy the fact that he has nothing to say or play goes down easy. When he wants to make a meaningful statement it's embarrassingly lightweight: the refrain of “out of the womb, and into the tomb, let’s all die.” Skip it and live.
[www.myspace.com/jackpenate]
AndreaWeiss

Jay Reatard
Watch Me Fall
Matador Records

Reatard follows up his acclamed 2006 singles compilation Blood Visions with his first proper full-length album Watch Me Fall. The sound of the album is the speedy punk of the Buzzcocks combined with the melodic roar of Husker Du in their prime.

Lyrically, the words are a blur, as they race along with the music. In general, they seem to be about panic, paranoia, and bad times. He also throws in a couple of songs about succeeding against the odds no matter what.

This album is a lot of fun to listen to. The energy of these songs is infectious. Reatard doesn’t take himself too seriously, and that’s good, otherwise this album could have been one long whine. It’s recommended for these reasons. Speed doesn’t kill here, it’s uplifting. [www.myspace.com/jayreatard]
Andrea Weiss

Hello. This is a music blog. If you like what you read, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com

Julian Plenti
Julian Plenti is…Skyscraper
Matador Records

Plenti, AKA Paul Banks, lead singer for Interpol, wrote and performed under this name starting in 1996 to 2001. Banks then put Plenti on the back burner until 2006, when he learned how to make music with the software Logic Pro. That program freed him up to compose songs more than any other program he had tried. In 2008 he entered the Seaside Lounge recording studio to finish the songs with engineer Charles Burst, and Skyscraper was the final result.

The music and lyrics sound Interpol like in terms of the melodies and song structure, and Plenti is still trying to make sense of confusing situations lyrically, much like he does in Interpol. There are some big differences though. The music is lighter, less sharp edged, and while there are electric guitars used throughout the album, the overall sound leans towards indie folk, in the sense that these songs were acoustic songs to begin with, then electrified for Skyscraper. Banks sings without a snarl and softer than with Interpol, and the lyrics, while not exactly cheery, have none of the doom and gloom or sardonic humor that are in Interpol’s songs. In the end, this is a really good album, an album to think to, and a good companion piece to any Interpol album. [www.myspace.com/julianplentinyc]
Andrea Weiss

Welcome to All Around Records, a music blog. If you like what you read, I have more reviews at www.toneandgroove.com.

Blue Roses
Blue Roses
XL Recordings

Laura Groves has fashioned a sound that recalls Stevie Nicks, the softer, quieter side of Nicks. Think “Landslide”, with a little bit of early Kate Bush thrown in for lyrical and musical color. It is a good sound, light, airy, mysterious, yet grounded in earthiness. Groves’ singing has a trace of wide-eyed wonder to it, as if she can barely believe what she’s hearing, feeling, and seeing, and is also delighted by it. This delight is reflected in her lyrics, which are filled with fascination for what the world has to offer. In short, a very good, and sweet debut, by a very likeable folksinger. [www.myspace.com/musicofblueroses]
Andrea Weiss

Jarvis Cocker

New, and good remix of You're In My Eyes (Discosong) from his curent album Further Complcations

http://jarviscocker.net/audio/discosong_pilooskimix.zip


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Welcome. This is a music blog. If you want to read more of my reviews, go to www.toneandgroove.com.





Broken Records
Until the Earth Begins to part
4AD Records


Broken Records formed in Edinburgh in 2006. They put out a debut EP in 2006, and three singles in the UK in 2008 that caught fire with the British press.

On the best tracks on the album, the band fulfills their intent to be an indie rock orchestra. The band wants instruments like a trumpet or glockenspiel to be as loud as an electric guitar, and that does happen on tracks like “Nearly Home” and “Ghosts.” The overall sound is smoothly symphonic, but with the grit of a rock band. Lyrically these songs are relationship songs, except for “If the News Makes You Sad, Don’t Watch it,” which is political and social commentary.

The concept goes awry on songs like “Wolves” where the orchestra sounds out of tune and out of step, Jamie Sutherland over emotes with his singing. Nevertheless, the good tracks make up for the bad ones, and the concept as a whole is interesting. This is an album to try, to hear thoughtful words set to thoughtful music and to hear a different take on a rock orchestra. [www.myspace.com/brokenrecordsedinburgh]
Andrea Weiss

Discovery
LP
XL Recordings

Discovery is a super duo. Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot, and Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend have created an album of shimmering, summery, light toned, danceable synth pop. There are no snare drums. Handclaps processed to sound like snare drums take their place. Rostam sings one half of the songs, Wes the other. Both are good singers, modest and likeable. Ezra Noening of Vampire Weekend, and Angel Deradoorian from the Dirty Projectors do some guest vocals,

Lyrically, their concept was to embrace and commentary of the past decade, but the concept comes across much too subtly, making all the songs sound like troubled love songs. That’s not a bad thing. Their take on troubled love is smart, especially on the one cover on the album, the Jackson 5’s “I want You back.” This song was recorded before Michael Jackson died, making the song something of a tribute. However, the song is played for irony, so it’s hard to know how much the band takes the song seriously, and whether it was meant as a comment on Jackson, or a compliment. The processed vocals do add a good wrinkle, as the singing is almost inseparable from the music. It’s one more fun song, on a fun album of very good, intelligent synth pop. [www.myspace.com/discoverdiscovery]
Andrea Weiss