| | Speck Mountain Some Sweet Relief CD Speck Mountain Discography of CDs
Speck Mountain's debut album owed much of its lush ambiance to Mazzy Star, the seminal dream pop band that blazed a similarly trippy trail during the 1990s. Released three years later, however, Some Sweet Relief finds the group paying homage to its soulful side, particularly the Staple Singers, while maintaining the dreamy foundation that upheld 2006's Summer Above. A bluesy undercurrent runs beneath the album's puddles of organ and chiming guitar, and some of the album's best moments occur whenever that undercurrent bubbles up into the mainstream: the soul-singing coda of "Backsliding," the urban trip-hop swagger of "Angela," the neo-spiritual title track, and the flashes of Stax-styled saxophone in "I Feel Eternal." Marie-Claire Balabanian is a versatile singer throughout, capable of dissolving her alto into a sea of gauzy, harmonized coos or locating the blue note in an otherwise summery melody. This may be consciously uncomplicated music, a style that relies as much on atmospherics and emotional nuance as the chord progressions themselves, but Balabanian adds a bit of weight to the mixture, allowing reverb to surround her voice without shrouding its distinctive, husky tones. For those raised on dream pop bands and space rock songs, Some Sweet Relief sounds somewhat timeless, a 40-minute offering of neo-psych gospel that's more polished, more promising, and altogether stronger than most of the band's contemporaries. ~ Andrew Leahey
Personnel: Marie-Claire Balabanian, Marie-Claire Balabanian (vocals, guitar); Karl Briedrick (guitar, bass instrument); Karl Briedrick (guitar); Kate Walsh (saxophone, electric piano, organ, background vocals); Kate Walsh (organ, background vocals); Tim Daisy (percussion).
Recording information: SOMA Electronic Music Studios, Chicago, IL.
Q (Magazine) (p.131) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Curtain-raiser 'Shame On The Soul''s lightly-fingered tambourine, churchy organ swells and shards of acid-etched guitar instantly set the dreamy mood."
Pitchfork (Website) - "Agreeable melodies, swaying tempos, and reverberating chords float by, sprinkling sonic dust on your eyelids." Speck Mountain Some Sweet Relief Songs Some Sweet Relief Review
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Purchase Some Sweet Relief CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Guapo Blank Oni CD (2005)
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| | Xiu Xiu Air Force CD (2006)
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After the expansive darkness of La Foręt, Xiu Xiu return with The Air Force, a set of songs that manages to be just as challenging as La Foręt, but sparer and somehow more eclectic-sounding at the same time. This time around, Jamie Stewart and company's explorations of vulnerability and ugliness-beauty are even more vivid; as usual, Stewart's breathtakingly concise, poetic lyrics are front and center. He captures longing and self-loathing on "Buzz Saw," singing "Your acne is like ...
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| | Buck Owens Together Again/My Heart Skips A Beat CD (1964)
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If you wanted to give someone the quintessential Bakersfield honky-tonk country album (that wasn't a Merle Haggard album), THIS would be it. The beat, strong yet possessed of a near-shuffle-type groove, the chilling harmonies, the weeping pedal steel, the terse twang of the guitars and Owens' expressive singing combine with memorable originals and classic covers ("Close Up the Honky Tonks," "Truck Drivin' Man," "A-11") and a countrified take on the Drifters' "Save the Last Dance for Me" comprise a country music album classic.
Named after his double-sided number one hit single of early 1964, Together Again/My Heart Skips a Beat is one of Buck Owens' strongest albums of the '60s, as well as one of his few records to stick firmly in the honky tonk camp. Despite the rolling drums of "My Heart Skips a Beat," the jumpy "Truck Drivin' Man," the jokey "Ain't It Amazin' Gracie," and a Bakersfield overhaul of "Save the Last ...
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German art-hippie communards Amon Duul II were among the Krautrock genre's most unusual propositions. Less doggedly motorik in their approach than contemporaries Neu! and Harmonia, less self-consciously arty than groups like Faust and Can, their acid-drenched brand of psych-rock combined a wildly primitive streak with sophisticated prog-like arrangements. ...
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| | Best Of Milltown Brothers CD (1998) (Import)
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-Best known for the shimmering piece of early-`90s modern pop "Which Way Should I Jump?" (the 1991 single was a top 40 hit in Britain and 120 Minutes/college radio mainstay stateside), the Milltown Brothers earned a healthy dose of critical applause in their early days. NME tabbed the Lancashire five-piece a band to watch in 1990, while Q gave their debut, SLINKY, the much sought-after five-star seal of approval the following year. Unfortunately (and almost criminally), like so many other picked-to-click bands of the era, the Milltown Brothers were swiftly forgotten by the notoriously fickle British music cognoscenti. The BEST OF takes an interesting tack, acknowledging the one-album wonder of the band by including its entire debut along with assorted later singles, making the record something of an expanded version of 1991's SLINKY.
Best known for the shimmering piece of early-'90s modern pop "Which Way Should I Jump?" (the 1991 single was a Top 40 hit in Britain and a 120 Minutes/alternative radio mainstay stateside), the Milltown Brothers earned a healthy dose of critical applause in their early days. NME tabbed the Lancashire five-piece a band to watch in 1990, while Q gave their debut Slinky the much sought-after five-star seal of approval the following year. Unfortunately (and almost criminally), like so many other picked-to-click bands of the era, the Milltown Brothers were swiftly forgotten by the notoriously fickle British music cognoscenti (and, well, their second album lacked the punch of the first). The Best of takes an interesting tack, acknowledging the one-album wonder of the band by including its entire debut along with assorted later singles, making the record something of an expanded version of 1991's Slinky. While that might seem cheesy to some, or a skirting of some sort of "greatest-hits" rules to others, The Best of the Milltown Brothers is simply a sweet collection of swirling indie pop/rock from one of its best practitioners of the early-'90s. The Milltown Brothers' lead singer Matt Nelson boasts a memorable high-register vocal style which bleeds passion, whether caught up in reverie, defiance, or pain, as his guitar jangles in harmony with sibling Simon's at a level rivaling Inspiral Carpets. "Which Way Should I Jump?" is up there with other pitch-perfect early-'90s singles like Teenage Fanclub's "Star Sign" and the La's "There She Goes" with its perfect blend of power pop and indie rock, an unusually patterned song whose mile-wide hook builds into a nervous breakdown of a bridge. The collection opens (as did their debut) with the two follow-up singles, the more abstract and shoegazing "Apple Green," and ...
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