this record is exactly what you’d expect from lockett pundt (1/4 of deerhunter), and that’s not to say that it’s boring or predictable. take away the poppy yet insightful lyrics of bradford cox, the irresistible pulsating bass of josh fauver and the razor-sharp drum lines of moses archuleta and what you have left is a lot of atmosphere, and a set of songs that really don’t obey form or feel that they need to in order to keep you interested. some songs on the floodlight collective are poppier than others, but it really doesn’t matter; this record is the result of pundt being left to his own devices, and it’s wonderful to hear him on his own. the floodlight collective is consistent with what you’ve heard from pundt’s other related projects before, and his consistency as a songwriter is really what makes this record a worthwhile stop on your ipod. songs like “red oak way” will just drip from your headphones, they’re full of such hazy aural warmth that they’ll make you forget that this is probably the 100th album that you’ve heard this year with reverberated everything. at this point lotus plaza aren’t essential listening, but they’re a solid investment if you’re keen on deerhunter or ambient dream pop.

octahedron is the recorded equivalent of the mars volta saying ‘if you didn’t get it the first time, we’ll say it again, but slower.’ yet, even if they’re dumbing things down a bit, this is the most interesting they’ve sounded since frances the mute. they’ve withdrawn towards a kind of accessibility here with much slower songs and by employing more conventional song structures. the album even follows a structure, complete with rise, climax and falling action; however, the mars volta’s inaccessibility never really stemmed from their complex structures, or lightning-speed riffs, rather, it was their abandonment of the dub-laden grooves from their first record that made them sound rigid and boring. while they might not be back to their rhythmically-challenging, groovy selves, octahedron proves at the very least that the mars volta are capable of being interesting when they’ve been forced to change and rethink  things.

watching jarvis cocker’s commanding performance of “cunts are still running the world” to a thrilled audience at the 2008 pitchfork festival, one thing becomes clear: he has emerged post-pulp as a formidable live act. enter, further complications, an album recorded with producer (or whatever he does), steve albini, shortly after cocker’s appearance at the festival in chicago.

while his first solo disc, jarvis, might’ve been more stylized (perhaps the result of cocker co-writing a lot of the music with richard hawley), further complications is much more in-your-face rock ‘n’ roll— surely an impulse to encapsulate that kind of vitriolic energy his recent performances have been known for by employing a more live-off-the-floor approach to recording (ala albini). in a sense, cocker has pulled a grinderman; he’s offering a dirty, sweaty, bearded album, but unlike nick cave, his song-writing isn’t up to snuff, making further complications sound unfinished as much as it sounds raw and relentless. cocker’s boisterous persona can make up for the lack of good songs here, but it unfortunately can’t carry the album on its own.

once again big business have made an album that turns metal on its head. the band has pushed themselves further into unfamiliar territory by bringing a third member, guitarist toshi kasai into the fold. kasai helps disturb the back and forth between bassist jarred warren and drummer coady willis, and his wailing leads accentuate the already driving and thunderous music. while warren and willis remain the principal songwriters, kasai’s influence is easily heard: the band is no longer just a simple sludge-metal outfit, they’re drawing from a much wider range of musical influences that bring the theatricality of prog together with the blistering urgency of punk, all under a mighty heavy hailstorm of some excellent sludge riffs. uber-fans may be put off by willis’ clean vocals, but the fact that they sound like an odd choice make them all the more necessary for such an idiosyncratic act to remain true to themselves.

in what sounds to be a project forged in the murkiest of bongwaters, omar rodriguez-lopez has released another noodly solo album, but this time he has enlisted the help of some fellow voltas as well as hella’s zach hill and jon hischke; however, like most of the mars volta’s (and mars volta spin-offs) output since 2005, there are only a few songs on this release that are really worth investing time in.

the main problem here is that this group doesn’t do much to unseat the listener’s expectations of how a meeting between rodriguez-lopez and hill might sound. often chaotic, complex and overwhelming, there are only a select number of times where the band sounds like they’re playing together. hill is an incredible drummer, but does not make an excellent foil to rodriguez-lopez for the simple fact that they sound like they’re playing over top of one another. blaming hill for the lack of synchronicity on the record would be unfair though, after all, he’s more than proven his ability to compliment other performers’ styles as a frequent collaborator with the likes of marnie stern, and more recently, no age. even though cryptomnesia is a rodriguez-lopez solo effort, he rarely seems to be at the helm of things, nor are his contributions the most interesting. in fact, hill and hischke provide the most pivotal moments on cryptomnesia when they are left to their own hellish devices. the standout songs are few and far between here, but when they’re good, they’re very good, which makes it all the more upsetting to hear how terrible the rest of the album is.

i first heard angel deradoorian’s gilded vocals in dirty projectors, where she provided much of the supporting vocal gymnastics to dave longstreth during this performance of their songs from rise above, an album that reimagines black flag’s damaged through varying disparate genres. having not been quite acclimatized to longstreth’s unique vocal style, i clamoured for the moments when deradoorian and her accomplice amber coffman joined in accompaniment. now, long after having grown accustomed to longstreth’s delivery, as well as having devoured the brilliant rise above, i’m ready for anything related to dirty projectors. mind raft is the first ever solo offering from deradoorian, and a promising glimpse at what is to come from this talented singer. on her own, deradoorian’s music is much more laid-back and folksy, but what’s consistent here with her work in dirty projectors is her unyielding voice and r&b-inspired vocal style, which are most apparent on the song “you carry the deed.” i like EPs because they’re more informal as introductions to an artist than full albums, and deradoorian takes advantage of that by releasing a work that sounds unpretentious in its simplicity yet one that is wholly realized in it’s potential to whet one’s appetite.

(this audio for this video is very quiet, but it’s well worth turning up)

proving to be their most cohesive and enthralling album to-date, isis’ wavering radiant finds the band in a much leaner head-space, building on the atmosphere from in the absence of truth and shedding much of their slugdy impulses without sacrificing their characteristic heaviness.

by the end of their last record, in the absence of truth, isis had entered the “garden of light”— a song that makes for a logical bridge between that album and this one in that it has a much more patient, deliberate, ethereal feel. yet while the sound of wavering radiant was anticipated by “garden of light,”  the album stands apart from the rest of the isis catalogue with ease. here, they’ve focused their energy on their pummelling rhythms (the breakdown on “20 minutes/40 years” is unbelievably good), which keeps their songs economical, but all the more driving and purposeful. as the groove on “stone to wake a serpent” can attest to, there’s much more going on here than a simple soft/loud dynamic; isis’ penchant for rhythmically complex songs allows them a great amount of freedom in terms of songwriting. the band have made radical improvements in other areas as well: aaron turner’s voice might be buried in the mix once again, but his vocal performance on this record is perhaps most grating i’ve heard from him in a very long time.

the improvements made on wavering radiant might be the result of isis working with producer “evil” joe baresi, but nevertheless, these changes sound natural, and more importantly, they contribute to one of the strongest statements isis have ever made.

i try my best not to fall into the trap of making “artist equations” when i review an album, but sometimes it’s too tempting to resist. i find them interesting as a form of “journalese,” because in my mind they’re a lot more effective at approximating a sound than say, a genre might. yet, as an approximation, these equations are never absolutes; there’s room for the artist in question to be themselves. sometimes, artists pick up on these equations, and reify/exploit them to hilarious results.

not the case for the silversun pickups, a band who do very little to upset the artistic equations invoked in any number of their record reviews. it’s as though the band decided that they wanted to sound like the smashing pumpkins on a strict diet of sunny day real estate— silversun pickups write heavy, guitar-driven psychedelic rock that teases at an emo, or post-hardcore influence. this mix of styles works quite well for the band, and was somewhat refreshing to hear on their debut, but they’re so devoted to it that their unwavering consistency comes off more as a lack of ideas, rather than an assured sense of self. the majority of the songs on swoon are dull, occasionally peppered with compelling riffs that help distract from how unremarkable everything else sounds. rather than crafting themselves a new, unique texture, the bland qualities of their music are sustained by the tired use of strings to evoke a sense of sentiment and atmosphere.

the way the silversun pickups have picked up on emo is comparable to how a band like annuals have, both aim at “big” sounds, and yet annuals aren’t bound to the sound of their inspirations like the pickups are. emo is merely one facet of annuals’ bold eclecticism, and one that allows them to tap into that heart-on-their-sleeve intensity that so many of washington’s finest emo band’s were capable of. you will never confuse annuals with any of their predecessors because they’ve created a world for themselves that exists beyond their influences; it’s one thing to be indebted to a sound, and it’s something completely different to make that sound your own.

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i had written bat for lashes off initially, as all of the hype surrounding her first record seemed to be just that. as it turns out though, i was wrong to dismiss her so quickly because her second album, two suns, has completely levelled any preconceptions i had of her music, or any expectations i had that this would be her “sophomore slump.”

khan’s work has garnered many-a-comparison to the likes of kate bush and tori amos, and perhaps it was those comparisons (in part) that drove me away from listening to her debut album. while she certainly is indebted to the work of those respective artists, khan’s style is much more akin to that of someone like patrick wolf, who genre-hops as he pleases and who can be brooding or wistful at the drop of a hat without it sounding forced or contrived. it’s that kind of natural unpredictability that makes two suns so enjoyable to listen to, as khan crafts artful pop songs that seem to twist and turn and never sit still. “peace of mind” begins with a slight synth line, disappearing only to make room for a droning guitar pattern, and as the song pushes forward, the distant beat of timpani (or an equally large percussive instrument) builds the tension in the song at a staggering pace, until khan, joined by a choir, sings the titular refrain, transforming the piece into a cathartic gospel. while the latter half of the record delves into more ethereal territory, the record never loses momentum. each song has a revelatory moment like that in “peace of mind” as they all pulse with an energy and life that is excitingly refreshing to hear.

i was lucky enough to see metric play a show at my university for “frosh week” while they were promoting the heck out of live it out. some of the most memorable moments during a live show come from a band’s interaction with the crowd,so it was interesting to see them struggle to really get people moving. at one point, emily haines announced the next song, something from old world underground, where are you now?, and following a minimal response, she backpedaled and opted for something a little newer and rousing. while that was probably the right decision for her to make, what struck me about that moment was the clear dichotomy being made between the crowd-pleaser and the older metric song, and it’s a dichotomy that the band only reinforces, rather than reconciles, on their latest effort: fantasies.

why wasn’t the older metric song something worth playing? why would it have only been appropriate to play if the audience had been familiar with it? on their new record, metric chose to vie for the listener’s attention in much more overt and obvious ways, making the issue of familiarity no longer a concern, but also sacrificing many of their better, defining qualities in the process. the most noticeable change the band has made is in haines’ lyrics, which were far from opaque on previous albums, but which also dealt with meatier and more varying topics. while simplicity is never a bad thing, over-simplicity is always a risk, and haines revamped lyrical style finds her constantly over-stepping that fine line. the rest of the band respond to her delivery with bouncy, “fun,” dance rock that just screams “generic.” i’m almost certain that joules scott-key only has a high hat and snare, because he really doesn’t make full use of his drum kit and doesn’t employ any skillful qualities that might be chalked up to having a personality. while haines & co. might have lightened up a bit on this record, toning down haines’ lyrical edge means that much more attention is being drawn to the rest of the band, who really aren’t ready to be that much more present in the music.