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Best New Music
Marnie Stern: This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That
The laborious title to Marnie Stern's new album weirdly suits her-- like her and her music, it's obsessive, playful, and choppy, and it captures the single-mindedness of this self-taught guitar virtuoso. On her second album, she also displays a new sense of self-assuredness, channeling her energy and learning to relax and record in a real studio without sacrificing the full-bodied qualities of her music.
After a brief hiatus Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen has revived the Department of Eagles project, enlisted some of his bandmates, and created a sprawling pop record (complete with guitars, piano, horns, banjo, and more) that evokes Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Sung Tongs, Van Dyke Parks, and Gene Clark. Ambitious and complex, it's stuffed with cocooning harmonies and shimmering, sunlight-smacking-the-Pacific melodies.
Reviews
Most of Oasis' post-Be Here Now output can be measured in two ways-- the ballads got more overbearing, and the rockers more sluggish; thankfully, each are at least somewhat redressed on the Mancunian band's latest could-be comeback.
[Stuart Berman]Recorded by Chad VanGaalen in his basement, this Calgary band's pleasantly varied and concise debut, versed in the use of tape hiss as both a stylistic aid and compositional element, is soaked in the stocky blasts of melody of Deerhunter or Times New Viking. [Recommended]
[Andrew Gaerig]Gular Flutter, Blectum's first album in four years, is indebted to her studies of veterinary science: animal metaphors abound, and the classically trained violinist carefully examines each sound as if it were a bird in a glass cage.
[Jessica Suarez]Improving on their debut EP Our Way Is Revenge, the first full-length from this Brooklyn band with goth inclinations cuts back on the gimmicks and showcases a formidable range of songwriting styles and moods.
[Adam Moerder]Bedroom metal auteur Wrnlrd-- who for years has crafted an intriguing mix of distorted black metal, overloaded riffs, harsh noise, and haunting hints of backwoods acoustics-- makes his debut on Flingco Sound, the new vinyl-and-digital label helmed by ex-Kranky partner Bruce Adams.
[Marc Masters]Fri: 10-10-08
Thu: 10-09-08
Wed: 10-08-08
Tue: 10-07-08
Forkcast
- New Music: Pallers: "Humdrum" [MP3/Stream]
- Pitchfork.tv: Apollo Sunshine: "Singing To The Earth (To Thank Her For You)" [Video Premiere]
- New Music: Pit Er Pat: "Evacuation Day" [MP3/Stream]
- Video: Britney Spears: "Womanizer"
- New Music: Beyoncé: "If I Were a Boy" [Video] / "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" [Stream]
- New Music: Roots Manuva: "Let the Spirit (Hot Chip Remix)" [Stream]
- Video: Elephant 6 Collective, with members of Olivia Tremor Control, the Music Tapes, and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel: "The Opera House" / "I Have Been Floated" / "The Arrow Flies Close" (live in New York)
Features
Interview: Sigur Rós
We sat down with Sigur Rós bassist Georg Holm, who answers our questions about encores, "CSI", what "Gobbledigook" really means, and whether or not Sigur Rós are funny.
[Amanda Petrusich]The Month In: Grime / Dubstep
Taking cues from the Neptunes and NES, Zomby [above] is exploring the badland territories beyond grime, dubstep, garage, rave, dubstep, bassline, or kuduro. Also, Kano continues to be a focal point of London grime.
[Martin Clark]Guest List: Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls tell us about getting stranded from their tourmates in Canada, give us a glimpse of their bizarrely diffuse influences, and try not to get lost on the highway while passing the phone around their tour van. [Interview: Tyler Grisham]
[Vivian Girls]Live Review: Pop Montreal
Thanks to a music scene that's both deeply integrated with its youth-culture landscape and devoted to the city's flair for the eccentric, Pop Montreal-- which this year featured everyone from Burt Bacharach to Nick Cave to the Bug [ft. Warrior Queen] to Wire-- may be the most local of the big North American music festivals.
[Douglas Wolk]Interview: Lambchop
We talk to Kurt Wagner about Lambchop's 10th full-length, OH (Ohio), how his background in visual art has informed his music writing, and the unintentional competition he launched between the new album's two Nashville-based producers.
[Stephen M. Deusner]Interview: Girl Talk
We talk to Greg Gillis of Girl Talk about the ethics of sampling, being an album-based artist in a predominantly mp3-based medium, and the death of the guilty pleasure.
[Mark Richardson]