KWCW

On their fourth album, Austin sextet Okkervil River move onward from the world of 2005’s Black Sheep Boy, abandoning their familiar territory of unrequited love and extended-length epics. They’ve even gone so far as to embrace traditional pop structures, now sounding more like a rock and roll band than they ever did before. Despite this, singer-songwriter Will Sheff’s words have become denser, more intriguing, and are still every bit as powerful as they were on the band’s previous releases, exploring the worlds of celebrity, pop culture, and the blur between fiction and autobiography with a remarkable attention to detail.

The album opens fittingly with the sound of a projector spinning into action, leading into the first single, “Our Life is Not a Movie Or Maybe.” Sheff moves quickly through dozens of words to make his case that everyday life really just isn’t that interesting: “It’s just a life story, so there’s no climax,” he sings as he tears through film scenes, quickly zooming out as the band erupts into shouting, feedback, and cacophony without sounding alienating. It shows that they’ve discovered how to condense the power of their epics into something brief and almost radio-friendly without losing anything in the process.

Sheff’s obsessions dominate much of the material. “Unless It’s Kicks” explores the life of the touring band and the importance of fiction, as he explains the plight of the writer (whose own life couldn’t possibly be that compelling), the band (”midlevel,” “driving too long”), and “the ghost of some rock and roll fan” (who doesn’t know her idols at all). “A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene” cleverly explores the effects of seeing their own songs in the background on television without doing any advertising. Instead, the song hits hard with its dense, fast-moving descriptions and almost anthemic chorus, complete with girl-group harmonies.

“Plus Ones” plays with the idea of adding an additional integer to about a dozen other pop songs, making it quite possibly the only one to successfully reference ? and the Mysterians, David Bowie, the Zombies, and the Crests, among others, in under four minutes. “You Can’t Hold the Hand of a Rock and Roll Man” returns to the story of a band, now washed up and not all that friendly: “And you look your age - which is thirty-seven, by the way, and not twenty-eight,” the rock and roll fan shouts back as the song ends in both pissed-off arguing and an upbeat horn outro. It’s a strange, yet powerful combination, much like the album closer, “John Allyn Smith Sails,” which narrates the suicide of poet John Berryman before becoming a warped reinterpretation of the traditional “Sloop John B,” sitting comfortably as the last twisted joke in an album full of them.

Many thought Black Sheep Boy was an unrepeatable high for Okkervil River, but The Stage Names proves that the band is still improving rapidly. It’s hard not to expect the followup to this album to be both completely different and even better.

Grade: A

-Andrew Hall

Will somebody please make Dan Snaith an honorary Whittie? This is the guy whose moniker “Caribou” was the product of an acid-induced vision quest in the wildest of Canadian backwoods. This is the same guy who earned his Ph.D. in algebraic number theory, just to belittle academics everywhere with claims of making gold records in his spare time. Snaith’s fascination with nature and foreign countries continues on the remarkably lush “Andorra”, but this time he’s thrown people into the equation; girl people, specifically. However, don’t mistake his transition from hammerhead sharks to women named Desiree as losing his edge. These are some of his fiercest songs to date.

There are some humble artists out there that never want to admit that they knew which of their songs would be the hit single. Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses thought people would really dig “Wicked Gil”, but the captivating crescendos of “The Funeral” have become their calling-card. I can’t imagine this naiveté would be possible with the lead track “Melody Day” on “Andorra”. The pulsing, infectious ditty is unmistakably a hit. It’s the aural equivalent of playing the Rainbow Road level in MarioKart64 well into the early hours of the morning. I challenge you to avoid imagining butterflies, birds, or some other cute shit when you hear the twittering flutes and jangling guitars. Snaith has really hit his stride with his vocals too; his voice gently reverberates across each sonic landscape he constructs. And he seems to be inviting the awkward concert round-of-applause-before-the-song-is-actually-over with a late-song lull only to return more ferociously than before. Suffice to say, goodness gracious.

Andorra is one of the sunniest albums you’ll hear all year. Snaith takes the best parts of every post 60’s musical era, and condenses them into roughly four and a half minute audio collages. There are elements of the Beatles (imagine ?uestlove on the drums instead of Mr. Conductor from Shining Time Station) and a heavy dose of psychedelic influences. The rampant use of heavy reverb lends an eerie, ethereal tone that can only described as a true stardust fantasy. Each meticulous arrangement is entirely his own, as Snaith notoriously maintains a death-grip on the production of each song, start to finish. Surprisingly absent are the drums on one of the album’s finest tracks “Desiree”. Barring a few clangs of a triangle, Snaith’s complex, signature drumming is replaced by strings and a hypnotic chant of the stripper-esque moniker. The percussion on “Irene” is entirely drum machine and coupled with the slightly off-kilter melody, it is enjoyably haunting.

It’s remarkable to think that the man formerly known as Manitoba has been able to produce such a consistently excellent level of music on each of his albums. It seems as if he uses any instrument he can get his hands on and seamlessly incorporates it into a distinctly Caribou song. As an album, “Andorra” does not disappoint. Each song seems to exist naturally and cohesively with the rest. My only advice is to play this record before summer’s end for maximum effect.

Grade: A

-Kyle Gilkeson

Throughout his decade-plus career, Aesop Rock has always seemed to be a man who followed his own muse. Even when he essentially became the Def Jux label’s flagship MC a few years back, he still retained a very distinct identity, never really feeling like a mere appendage of the label, unlike, say, El-P or Cannibal Ox. Most telling of his iconoclasm, perhaps, was his 2003 release, “Bazooka Tooth.” After the very positive response to 2001’s “Labor Days,” Aesop decided to produce most of his next album himself, ending his two-album run with producer Blockhead, and ended up with one of the least accessible (though quite interesting) rap albums this side of cLOUDDEAD. If “Labor Days” had attracted a following, “Bazooka Tooth” almost seemed like an attempt to shed those new fans.

In light of this history, “None Shall Pass” is quite a surprise in its immediacy. Blockhead returns to the production seat in a big way, helming half of the album’s 14 tracks (five of the

Even if nothing has changed in his words, “None Shall Pass” contains some of the best songs Aesop has ever made. The title track, “Bring Back Pluto,” and “No City,” all of which were produced by Blockhead, are fantastic and stand with some of Aesop’s all-time greatest songs. El-P shows up for two songs, “39 Thieves” and “Gun for the Whole Family,” the latter of which he produced, and their collaborations are as satisfying as they always are. The album’s best song, though, is “The Harbor is Yours,” a pirate tale (who doesn’t love pirates?) featuring Aesop Rock’s clearest storytelling lyrics since “Labor Days’” “No Regrets,” a great stuttering vocal line and a deliciously funky beat from Blockhead. Also of note is the final track, “Coffee,” which features, oddly enough, John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats. Best of all, unlike many hip-hop albums, the momentum is kept up throughout the album and the last half doesn’t drag much.

Despite the strong track list, somehow “None Shall Pass” feels like it lacks cohesion. While “Labor Days” (perhaps because it was a concept album) and his pre-Def Jux albums all felt like unified wholes, “None Shall Pass” feels more like a slightly unfocused collection of tracks, albeit very good ones. This, admittedly, is something of a minor gripe and is only really apparent if you’re familiar with Aesop’s earlier work. Even if you are, though, it’s hard to argue with the quality of the songs here, especially after the relative disappointments of “Bazooka Tooth” and the “Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives” EP, released in 2005. All in all, “None Shall Pass” feels like both a return to form and a consolidation of Aesop Rock’s (and Blockhead’s) strengths. And if it feels a little thrown together, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s one of the best albums of Aesop’s career and certainly one of the best hip-hop albums to come out this year.

Grade: A-

-Ben Stevens

There is a particular tremor of feeling that all music fans search for, the shudder that begins in the ears and trickles on through the rest of the body. It is the joy of discovering a new sound, of hearing a band take familiar elements and make them new again. In their modest way, that is the accomplishment of alt-folk group Bowerbirds on their debut album “Hymns for a Dark Horse.” Using guitar, accordion, drums, violin and pleasing vocals, the band creates a kind of jazzy folk that is dark, compact, and glittering. A hunk of obsidian in a forest clearing. Everything is driven forward with powerful melodies and a confident beat, quiet moments of musical doodling nicely balanced with loud, exuberant choruses. The lyrics revolve around environmental issues, calling humankind out for its disrespect and destruction. That may sound impossibly heavy-handed on paper, but set to their delicate, propulsive, and beautiful tunes it is the most natural thing in the world.

Grade: B

-Graham Trail

Hey Venus!, Super Furry Animals’ eighth album, is their shortest and quite possibly their most straightforward. Unlike the expansive, sometimes challenging, and significantly slowed-down Love Kraft, this album shows its hand quickly and works through a series of brief and relatively successful pop songs, summarizing everything that makes the Welsh band so great.

The first single, “Show Your Hand,” opens with a Beatlesque harpsichord line and expands into a fine piece of psych-pop, complete with strings and fuzzed-out guitars, followed up by “The Gift That Keeps Giving,” which sounds like it would’ve fit on any of the band’s nineties releases. “Suckers” and “Let The Wolves Howl At The Moon” are pretty typical slow Furries songs and the latter does a fine job closing the album.

What makes the album so frustrating, however, is the fact that it doesn’t show any progress or innovation from the band’s previous outings. It doesn’t make a cohesive statement and it lacks the sudden surprises and relentless experimentation of the rest of the band’s back catalog. It’s a good starting point, and consistent throughout, but from a band as creative as Super Furry Animals it’s hard not to want more.

C+

-Andrew Hall

Maya Arulpragasam has released one of the year’s most accomplished pop albums and proved that, even with allegations of terrorist sympathies, you can get major label distribution in America. Standout tracks like “Jimmy”, three and a half minutes of loopy, saccharine disco, showcase M.I.A’s sonically ambitious style and remarkable talent for incorporating an eclectic array of influences within the framework of a cohesive album. Arulpragasam traveled extensively during the recording of the album, and as a result, it resembles a sort of musical travelogue—including Bollywood samples, a collaboration with Australian child-rappers Wilcannia Mob, production credits from Baltimore’s Blaqstarr, and the recurring lyrical motif of Africa. All of these factors render a final product that is conceptually fascinating, but more importantly, a lot of fun.

Grade: A

-Bryan Sonderman

It’s official: Minus the Bear are stuck in a serious holding pattern. 2005’s “Menos el Oso” failed to break any new ground on the catchy, pseudo-math rock they had developed so well on their first album and two EPs, but usually such water treading is limited to one album for most bands worth hearing. Sadly, “Planet of Ice” continues along exactly as the previous albums did. The band almost feels afraid to try anything new, as little glimpses of experimentation periodically surface throughout the album, but are never allowed to develop. Granted, this isn’t a bad album, some of the songs are actually quite nice, it’s just stagnant and a letdown considering how good “Highly Refined Pirates” and their two EPs were.

Grade: C+

-Ben Stevens

The best way to describe Le Loup, a septuplet from Washington D.C., is with this mathematical equation that is just about as complex and
long winded as their debut album title: Arcade Fire + Sufjan Stevens+ rhythmic experimentations + Animal Collective= Le Loup. The album is titled after artist James Hampton’s life long work, which I encourage you to check out. “Le Loup (Fear Not)” is the centerpiece and easily one of the best songs on the album; a song that begins with the twanging of the banjo followed by the swelling of layered vocals, guitars, samples, handclaps, and other instruments. And this seems to be the formula for every song on the album. “The Throne” is short and the banjo and the prentiousness of it all becomes tiring. After listening to Le Loup, I just want to listen to more Animal Collective.

Grade: C-

-Matt Coleman

Call it “mature,” if you want. I call it boring. “Challengers,” the newest album from Canada’s sweethearts the New Pornographers, has made a change for the demure that is ill at ease when played for fans of their older, more fun-loving sound. A personification of this change: old songs = walking to class in the sun and dancing. New songs = background fodder for conversations in long car rides. Neko Case, one of the two lady singers for the pop outfit, takes a backseat for this album, which only hurts the effort. The lack of her intense vocals makes too much A.C. Newman just sound whiny, and even the well-honed harmonizing this band excels at can’t take away the annoyance factor in the many overly-repetitive hooks throughout “Challengers.” Where before the Pornos were young at heart and playful, fewer instruments and less creative production make their new sound simply sophomoric. Only a few of the songs here are really actually bad, but even the best doesn’t match up to the worst song on 2003’s “Mass Romantic.”

Grade: C+

-Katie Presley