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A.C. Newman Album: "The Slow Wonder" Label: Matador Records 4 out of 5 stars
It's great to see that not all of the Beach Boys/Beatles-influenced power pop of the mid-'90s went down with the sinking of the SS Elephant 6. A quick listen to "The Slow Wonder" might suggest, in fact, that it has never been better. A.C. Newman, aka Carl Newman, steps out of the shadow of his New Pornographers bandmates Neko Case and Dan Bejar, and the obscurity of his former group Zumpano, to craft an enduring 34 minutes of summer-soaked sunshine pop from beginning to end.
The opener, "Miracle Drug," is the first of 11 possible chart-topping singles, strung together by Newman's flair for unforgettable choruses, addictive hooks and layered instrumentals that at times recall, but is in every way superior to, the Shins' "Chutes Too Narrow." The song encapsulates an exuberant melange of orchestral arrangements, rock 'n' roll riffs and Newman's unmistakable vocals, which relay a level of maturity and sincerity echoed throughout "Slow Wonder." Both "On the Table" and "35 in the Shade" punctuate Sarah Wheeler's contribution to the record as more than just a Neko Case stand-in with her vocals perfectly complimenting Newman's syrupy staccato. Both songs, as well as the rest of the album, lyrically convey a more personal, intimate statement than anything found on either New Pornographers albums.
In the end, "The Slow Wonder" is as summer as ice cream, swimming and heat strokes. The best pop album of the year.
-Andrew Ward
Gerling Album: "Bad Blood" Label: Bad Blood 4 out of 5 stars
The airwaves were flooded with bands that had "the" in their name. The last band of this revival was The Strokes. The foreign music press, namely the British rag New Music Express, stroked their egos. It seems that a group calling themselves Gerling down in Australia took some notice to all this press about the "Saviors of Rock."
Gerling takes the tried-and-true formula of rock 'n' roll and adds a twist to it - granted, this is nothing new. Bands since the dawn of the electronic age have experimented with adding new machines to their rock arsenal. Modest Mouse now has drum loops on their new album. At The Drive-In used a drum machine when recording "Vaya." Some bands that are rock as rock can get, like Big Black and the Jesus Lizard on their first two albums, opted to not even have a drummer and went with a Roland drum machine instead. What Gerling does different though is they take the drum machine and electronic aesthetic and work it to a new sound, mixing drum beats you would find in a discothèque with rock 'n' roll.
They even pose and answer their own question on the second-to-last track, "We Got Venom." There is a sampled vocal track that asks, "Is it possible to mix house with rock?" Gerling shows that is entirely possible. Never does this album suffer the pitfalls of going too rock or too dance. It keeps a nice and healthy medium between the two. Some tracks, if simply void of the electronic elements and had the typical instruments in place, would sound very much like songs constructed by The Strokes.
What is most surprising is the list of people this band has worked with. On their first album, the following people are credited as assisting with the album in some form or fashion: Kylie Minogue, Kool Keith, Solex and Inga Lijestrom.
It is a shame that they were unable to garner such a cast for guest vocals on this album as well. It would make it that much better.
- Peter Telck
My Chemical Romance Album: "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" Label: Reprise Records 1.5 out of 5 stars
Sadly, despite the early praise and high expectations, "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" has all the qualities of a bad screamo record, replacing the what-will-happen-next unexpectedness of "Bullets" with pop predictability. File this one with the slew of major label debuts over the past two years that left hardcore/emo/punk fans saddened (Poison the Well, The Juliana Theory, Cave In, and on and on).
For starters, My Chemical Romance's attempts at writing a murderous concept album with "Three Cheers" fall short. "The story of a man, a woman and the corpses of a thousand evil men" sounds more like an emo-ish love story to me. Boo-hoo, guys, boo-hoo.
There are brief moments of greatness on "Three Cheers" - moments when we remember why My Chemical Romance got all this hype in the first place. Opening track "Helena" gives the false impression that "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" is going to be a great record. And closing tracks "Cemetery Drive," with its almost funky verse and sing-your-heart-out chorus, and "I Never Told You What I Do for a Living," likewise feel special. What sits in between these three punk-pop ditties, however, is 10 boring attempts at marketability.
My Chemical Romance will appeal greatly to fans of The Used, Story of the Year, Taking Back Sunday and other screamo-lite acts. Lead singer Gerard Way claims his band plays "violent, unsafe pop music." Though Way's twisted murder escapade storyline may be littered with playfully violent imagery, "Three Cheers" is most definitely not unsafe - it's an easy, predictable and safe major-label debut.
- James Taylor
Bohren und der Club of Gore Album: "Black Earth" Label: Ipecac/Wonder 4 out of 5 stars
Germany's Bohren Und Der Club of Gore have succeeded in creating a genre unto themselves - the band plays smoky, late-night jazz set to the codeine-slow pace of a death metal dirge. Believe it or not, it's awesome: Bohren's music sounds like a crushingly heavy version of Angelo Badalamenti's soundtracks to David Lynch's "Twin Peaks," or an apocalyptic cousin of Australia's reigning jazz-endurance deities, The Necks.
"Black Earth," Bohren's fourth album, though the first one widely available in the United States thanks to distribution by Mike Patton's Ipecac imprint, is thoroughly suffused with doom. From the packaging, which features a glossy black skull embossed on a matte black background, to the track titles ("Destroying Angels," "Maximum Black," "The Art of Coffins"), to the music itself, there's definitely something absurdly funny about all this gloomy hyperbole. The band is said to perform wearing all black in a completely darkened room, presumably only at midnight, during a power outage, in the middle of an eclipse.
But Bohren is definitely not laughing. They're as serious as the end of the world. The album's opening cut, "Midnight Black Earth," sets the overall tone. After three minutes of unaccompanied, minor-key choral refrains, an unbelievably deep, thudding double bass drum hauls itself forth from the ooze to begin the slow, utter annihilation of all human hope and goodness. Then the sax and Rhodes organ kick in.
And that's just the first 10 minutes. "Black Earth" is a strange and wonderful record, drenched with despair and misery, yet totally compelling, even weirdly fun, in a way. Especially great are the tracks that really bring the band's jazz leanings to the fore, as some of the album's less engaging moments can be a little too monochromatic to really inspire total misanthropy. But when Bohren are on, they're as bleak as Beckett and "Bad Lieutenant" put together.
Fans who find themselves wanting more should seek out the band's last album, "Sunset Mission," which was more overtly jazz-inflected and remains the best Bohren album to date. But "Sunset Mission" is, naturally, out of print, because that's how life in a cruel and godless universe works. So put on "Black Earth," turn off the lights and drape blankets over the windows, and spend an hour reflecting on how unjust, how pointless and how irrational it all really is.
- Kevin Greenberg
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