The Shivers

More

Silence breaks Records

If Rufus Wainwright had been influenced by indie and garage rock, rather than opera and his parents’ folk music, he would have been the Shivers, the duo Keith Zarritllo (vocals and guitar) and Jo Schornikow (keyboards) from Queens NYC.

They have released four albums, More being their latest, since they formed in 2001. Using their savings to record in an analog studio in Manchester, England, they serve up ten tasty songs steeped in garage and indie rock, with a bit of Leonard Cohen-style writing for extra lyrical content. A really good album, with a lot of charm, smarts, and musical action. Solid all the way around, and a lot of fun to listen to. [www.silencebreaks.com]

Andrea Weiss

Pantha Du Prince

XL Versions of Black Noise

Rough Trade Records

This album reworks 2010's Black Noise into straightforward amibient techno, ready for the dance floor. It's a relief from the original's clattering rhythms and clunky melodies.

The best remakes on this collection are Four Tet’s version of “Stick to My Side,” and Animal Collective’s version of “Welt Am Draht .” They are the best ones for dancing and "Welt Am Draht" is also good meditation music. It's the best composition here.[http://promo.roughtraderecords.com/panthaduprince/ANomadsRetreat_TheSightBelowversion.mp3]

Andrea Weiss

Micachu and The Shapes

Chopped and Screwed

Rough Trade Records

The band's off-kilter melodies are the saving grace of this collaboration between Micachu and The Shapes and the London Sinfonietta. These are melodies that keep the music from going off the rails. There is more dissonance than usual for modern classical music, and it brings the music to a screeching halt.

These melodies are a tribute to the woozy, codeine-infused music of a Houston DJ named Screw, who died of a codeine overdose 11 years ago. They are also the curse here. Classical music, even modern music, hip-hop, and the art pop of the Shapes don’t mesh. They are apples and oranges. Since this is a recording of a concert, perhaps seeing the performance live would have helped. The recording as it stands works best as a great way to end an annoying party. This music will clear a room in one minute flat. For that matter, the most important lyric here is: “Even if I turn my back/twist my head until I snap.”

[http://promo.roughtraderecords.com/micachu/everything.mp3]

Andrea Weiss

The Unthanks

Last

Rough Trade

On their new album, Rachel and Becky Unthank (their real name) add a bit of prog to their musical mixture of contemporary and indie folk. Prog not in the sense of Jethro Tull, but more early Strawbs, the quieter side of Elbow, and a dash of “Carpet of the Sun” era Renaissance, of that band wrote gloomy, not happy, songs. . It is very gentle, but with much sadness, like walking on a cloudy day, but with no rain forecast. It is also magical, and even oddly pretty.

Their lyrics have the same gentle sadness, whether they are talking about star-crossed lovers, or lords and ladies. For all of that , there is a sense of hope. Wait until things get better, move on to a better place, and never give up. And the magic that is in the music, is also in the lyrics, making this album breathtaking,, and a very worthy follow up to their last album Here’s the Tender Coming. [www.the-unthanks.com/music]

Andrea Weiss

Tune Yards

Whokill

4AD Records

Merrill Garbus is Tune Yards, and her great debut, combined found sounds like the foghorn on the Martha’s Vineyard ferry, with the ukulele and her voice, using a cheap vocal recorder and shareware recording software. On her new album, the found sounds and the ukulele are still there, but she recorded in a studio with a producer, who polished up the basic sound. Together they, and people she brought into the recording process, fashioned an album that is just as good as the debut.

While the core of the sound is still folk/rock you can dance to, this album is even better. The beats zing all over the place, but also you can sit and contemplate the lyrics just as on the debut.

While the debut was mostly love songs, the left-wing political undercurrent was muted. Not so on this album. Garbus’ feminist, warm, kind, smart, common sensible, tough left wing politics are reminiscent of Ani DiFranco’s 90’s work, before it curdled into a smug, obnoxious, cynical, self-righteous act. Garbus is a breath of fresh air. Here are politics and music that are fun, cool, witty, and just right for dancing, or thinking. A great album. [www.tune-yards.com]

Andrea Weiss

Cold Cave

Cherish the Light Years

Matador Records

This is a brilliant fusion of Siouxie and the Cure, with a bit of New Order and Joy Division mixed in for detail, coloring and shading. Bandleader Wesley Elsold even sounds a bit like a deeper voiced Robert Smith. Cold Cave has the same musical drive, flow, and fullness as the best Siouxie/Cure tracks, but not as goth lyrically. It is also very poetic, since Elsold has published his poetry with Heartworm Press.

Lyrically the album looks back on where Elsold has been, and where he’s going, it is inspired by his move to New York, and the nighttime walks he took soon after moving to the city. The urban feel of these songs shines in “Underworld USA,” “Icons of Summer,” and the album’s best track “Catacombs.”

The album isn’t perfect. The last three tracks’ energy level flags, and there is a whiff of cheese on “Confetti,” which sounds as if it could have come from the first Till Tuesday album. Nevertheless, this is very good album, one that looks both fondly back on the 80s musically, and forward lyrically, which is a great combination. [http://coldcave.net]

Andrea Weiss

Alela Diane and Wild Divine

s/t

Rough Trade

Musically, this is a wonderful fusion of Neko Case’s more recent work, and what Katrina and Nerissa Nields were doing on their album Sister Holler. It’s rich, and full bodied, quiet, and understated, that can be a bit surreal at times, and in the end, succeeds nicely.

Lyrically Diane combines poetic imagery that is a bit off kilter, very moving, full of love and life, death and dreams. But her writing is never dark, never mournful, just a message that life goes on, maybe not as expected. Live it as best as you can.

This album is a big improvement over Diane’s debut, To Be Still, where she sketched the rough outlines of what was to come, and not much beyond that. On her new one she comes into her own. It’s wonderful, it’s thrilling, and all great. [www.aleladiane.com]

Andrea Weiss

Dinosaur Bones

My Divider

Dine Alone

Sounding some what like the Walkmen and Chavez, but not enough to be called a clone, this Canadian band’s debut album is alive with finely wrought guitar playing, smart lyrics about relationships, and an overall sound rendered cleanly enough to make the band shine. A very good debut. [www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21774254304]

Andrea Weiss

Kurt Vile

Smoke Ring For My Halo

Matador Records

Vile’s second album is quieter than his debut Childish Prodigy. He’s still tough, still snarling, and still laid back. But now this all sounds different. He’s older, confident, and happy. The brilliant “In My Time” says as much. There is kindness now, a gentleness, and love, for his sister, his girlfriend and for the world. And he has seen more of the world. “Peeping Tomboy” makes that clear. When he finds a scene where he admires the tomboy, but knows he’s not wanted, he splits.

Vile’s guitar playing could be compared to Leo Kottke. He has the same sense of fun and adventure as Kottke, but Vile’s playing is more thoughtful, solemn and, in spots, wiser. Most of this album is Vile solo acoustic. When his band the Violators show up, the rock they produce is muted, and that is perfect here. Taking all three together, this album is wonderful. It’s a big step forward for Vile, and a thrill to listen to. [www.myspace.com/kurtvileofphilly]

Andrea Weiss

Dum Dum Girls

He Gets Me High

Sub Pop

Dum Dum Girls follow up their promising debut with a four- song EP (three originals, one cover) that is delightful. Putting a little more polish on the songs makes them smooth in a way the debut wasn’t, and brings the songs into better focus. The best song of the originals is the title song, an unabashed declaration of love, with giddy music to go alongside the lyrics.

The Smiths’ “There’s a Light that Never Goes Out” gets treated wonderfully as well. The music equals The Smiths’ version, but there is a nice twist lyrically. Morrissey sang this to a man, but he didn’t specify gender. When a woman sings it, it can be sung to a man or a woman. It’s a fantastic ending to a great EP that carries the band further than they’ve ever been before.[www.subpop.com/releases/dum_dum_girls/eps/he_gets_me_high]

Andrea Weiss

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX

We’re New Here

XL Recordings

This album works best as an electronica singer/songwriter album. Jamie XX’s music here, enhances Scott-Heron’s poetry and singing with swoops, swirls, samples, and good rhythms. Jamie should do this with his own band, the XX. As a remix of Scott-Heron’s critically acclaimed 2010 album, I’m New Here, breathes life into an album that originally was about death.

The best lyrics of the original album fit wonderfully into the remix, making them even more powerful. There is no faux feminism at all, as there was on the original, which was I’m New Here’s one big flaw. As one song says, there is no such place as away, so you can’t run there, nor can you run for cover. It sounds even wiser than on the original album. On a new piece, a very short one Gil scolds young people for not listening to their parents. Listen to his words, bop around the room if need be, but in the main, chill-out to an album that will make you think. [www.werenewhere.com]

Andrea Weiss

Esben and the Witch

Violet Cries

Matador Records

Musically this debut album from this UK band, is delightful. If early Cocteau Twins had been harder and harsher, that would be one element to Esben’s sound, combined with the drive, power and mysticism of early Siouxsie and the Banshees. Rachel Davies, Esben’s lead singer and bassist, even sounds a bit like Siouxsie. And very few of these songs include drums, which makes their sonics even more arresting.

But it’s also their optimism, their determined, steely angrily optimistic lyrics, that make this band fresh and different. They want to be happy so badly, and will stop at nothing to be happy. There is also a strange sort of kindness here, too, the kind that will kill. By the end of the album, they are violently blissful, if one can be that, and that state of mind is very refreshing. Let this album be a confidence booster to anyone trying to overcome a bad situation. [http://esbenandthewitch.co.uk/notebook]

Andrea Weiss