The Strokes were one of the bands that made me fall in love with music, so whenever they release a new album, it’s a big deal. Are people talking about this back in North America? Hasn’t been the stuff of much discussion in the IDF, believe it or not. Maybe it’s because it’s coming so soon after the underwhelming Angles. In any case, let’s get into this.

So, it looks like we’re gonna have to get used to The Strokes 2.0. Comedown Machine is clearly the new The Strokes that we got on Angles – less NYC cool, more simple, old-school pop-rock band with great guitar-arrangements and a frontman that keep things interesting. But they’re more confident and comfortable in their new skin this time, and they sound good…most of the time. The songs are by and large better and more consistent than those on Angles, and the band feels more engaged in them. The first half of the album particularly impresses – as with Angles, that’s where they stuff most of the straight-on killer tracks, saving the more experimental but less-actually-good for the bottom half.

At this point I feel like I can live with and even enjoy these middle-period Strokes – I even half to give them credit for still sounding relevant while their old-school peers The Hives and even Jack White sound out of place in 2013′s bandiverse. Most of the credit, however, goes to Julian Casablancas, who sounds rejuvenated here – he continues to stretch he vocal abilities and expand his signiture singing territory with a lot more falsetto than we’re used to from the famously baritone-voiced frontman. The production – though similar in feel to Angles – is also a bit better, credit owed to producer Gus Oberg.

Like everyone who remembers 2001, I miss the Strokes of Is This It and Room On Fire and would prefer them – even solo Julian at his best – to the new Strokes. But I can still enjoy the band for their numerous strengths that remain on Comedown Machine.

Well, well…Mr. Shields…took your sweet fucking time, didn’t you?

In any case, it’s good to have My Bloody Valentine back with a new album. And not just any new album, but a new album that’s actually great. The extent to which it is a masterpiece may remain to be determined, but the fact is that this is a solid and often stunning album that somehow manages not to disappoint, and even improve melodically on the band’s past work.

The most amazing thing about the album, however, is that it actually sounds like the My Bloody Valentine album that I think we all wanted to hear as the follow-up to Loveless: all the churning, wall-of-noise guitars, the melodies, the sensuality – everything that made us love My Bloody Valentine in the first place is still there. I would’ve thought that after all this time and with Kevin Shields being as crazy as he’s gotta be they would’ve sprung something totally weird and unexpected on us all, but no, this is the exact My Bloody Valentine we know and love with a couple tweaks maybe in the rhythm department. Whereas Loveless‘ drums were all (or almost all) programmed on account of Colm Ó Cíosóig being extremely ill at the time and unable to play – and pushed far back in the mix – here the man is back in action and all percussion is given considerably more volume and attention. There’s been some writing about Kevin Shields having gotten into jungle music and drum n’ bass or whatever after Loveless, but the influence of such genres is, if not always exactly subtle, at least restrained.

Honestly, if that’s all Shields has in him and we never get another My Bloody Valentine album – something I doubt anyone holding their breath for at this point – it’s cool. The man and the band didn’t have to do anything after Loveless, and the fact that they did and it’s this good is just like…you’re good. You passed. You made a solid amount of great art; you pass at life. That’s not to say it wouldn’t be amazing to hear Shields and MBV putting shit out on some conception of a regular basis – it would – but the pressure is off now. You made your masterpiece and you followed it up. Good stuff, bro.

I just heard this and nearly shit my pants or somethign. Funny, was just thinking the other day, “Hey, the Besnards are due for a new album sometime soon, eh?” and bam! Got hit by this mofo: “People Of The Sticks”, off an album called “Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO” that drops April 2nd.

First thing I noticed is that this bitch sounds like a motherfucker; the Besnards’ lead man (and co-fronter) Jace Lasek is a producer of no little repute, but it sounds like he’s been taking Phil Spectre steroids or something here – everything sounds huge and gorgeous. And the sounds! The sounds of the song are so gorgeous, what with the synths and the vocals and guitars and apocalypse drums…

As a song, I think it’s pretty good, I feel like it’s got hooks, but I kind of can’t get over the actual sounds of this guy, they’re just a whole new level of awesome – and anyways, the Besnards’ songs always were kind of dense and took a while to get used to, so it’s all good.

As for the album to come: I’m feeling good about it. They sound energized and inspired, and if they can stretch what I’m hearing here to full length, it’s gonna be a killer.

Well, well, if it isn’t David Bowie, back from a long hiatus with a new song and a new album on the horizon, produced by old chum Tony Visconti no less. Alright then, let’s get into it…

“Where Are We Now?” is the first song off The Next Day, which drops March 12th. The song isn’t a smash success, but let’s say it’s decent, and perhaps a sign of good things to come from the full album. Essentially, the song feels like an exercise in songwriting rather than something really genuinely inspired. The chords are kind of basic, not too interesting – the lyrics don’t really say anything much, but rather wrap some vague phrases and streets names around an easy anchor phrase – there’s nothing about the song that really stuns or impresses much. But that being said, as an exercise, it’s not a particularly bad one: the chords are decent, Bowie’s singing is affecting, and the lyrics aren’t downright bad. So let’s call it ‘interesting’, and leave it at that.

As for the album, I can’t imagine that in the course of so many years Bowie hasn’t amassed at least a decent amount of interesting songs out of the fourteen album tracks (plus three bonus). Maybe the record company felt this was a good starter for the moronic masses, who knows. In any case, I’m looking forward to hearing it. Also, Bowie seems to keep up with shit – digging Arcade Fire and TV On The Radio and all – he’s not like Elton John or Bruce Springsteen or other bygone artists who seem these days to just peddle their new shit because they’ve got nothing better to do.

When shit’s tough in the army here, I dream of how afterwards I’m going to move to Beach Fossils‘ home turph of Brooklyn for a couple years. Oh Brooklyn, Brooklyn…where the women are indie, the music is beautiful, people read books, and the menu is vegan-friendly. Oh to be in Brooklyn…

In any case, the aforementioned band – Beach Fossils, that is – have a new album dropping Feb 19th via their excellent label, Captured Tracks. First track “Careless” shows the band trading in its traditional stock of gorgeous, simplistic dream-pop, but the whole package has been tightened up and the compositional and arrangement of the song is a bit more complex than what’s come before, but I really mean just a little bit, they haven’t suddenly become And The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway-era Genesis or anything. As for what we can expect from the album, I’d say more of the same, it would seem these guys are pretty dependable; not expecting much departure from what’s come before, but that’s cool, this is a good bit of growth.

I know I’m seriously late on this one, but I really wanted to write about it because Shut Down The Streets, the latest album by New Pornographers frontman A.C. Newman, is pretttty fucking awesome, and I know that Pitchfork gave it a 6.8 and I want to debate that and try and get as many peeps to hear it as possible.

Ok – let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way.

-The album continues Newman’s move towards more mature songwriting and it is indeed his most ‘mature-sounding’ album yet.

- It may be mature, but it’s still pretty hooky – more so than (the very underrated) New Pornos album Challengers, perhaps Newman’s second most ‘mature-sounding’ album now.

Beyond that, the album is consistent in terms of sound, themes, and quality. Yes – sometimes the tempo is a little slower than power-pop usually is, but that doesn’t mean that when the song is slow it’s not good. It’s just a bit slower, that’s all (though admittedly, the slower tracks are not the highlights).

I think the main thing about the album that Steven Hyden had a problem with in his Pitchfork review was Newman’s inability to tackles mature subjects in his lyrics well enough – they’re too abstract and really, seriously, don’t seem to say much about the subjects that you can tell he’s dealing with moreso musically. This complaint is perfectly legitimate – but the problem with it is that the album is still incredibly enjoyable, and Newman’s lyrics always work well, even if they maybe aren’t Dylanesquely Earth-shattering or anything. Newman’s lyrics have always been pretty abstract (usually meaningless and chosen for sound alone) but they’ve worked beautifully and the man’s mastery of hooks – in my opinion – should really absolve him of all minor lyrical faults.

Ladyhawk – No Can Do

Finally! I’m back on my blog and can talk about how awesome the new Ladyhawk album is.

Firstly - Ladyhawk is an awesome band. I remember when their first, self-titled album came out in 2006, cuz that shit was da bomb. In terms of how many other people thought so, maybe not so so much, but for me, it was a great album, and listening to it again recently, it still is. So I’m glad that after taking a couple years off following sophomore album, Shots, the Vancouver grunge-y, psych-y, and all around rock-y crew are back at it again with No Can Do.

Now, Pitchfork, in their review – and indeed, all indie rock album reviews must be compared to the Pitchfork review, these days – writer Sam Hockley-Smith wrote that this album veered more towards straight power-pop than their earlier efforts, which were perhaps more jammy, rustic, etc. There’s definitely sense to that statement – No Can Do is a collection of sharper, more hook oriented songs than previous outings by the band. But that being said, aesthetically, the album is still pretty grizzled – I’m pretty sure if you listen closely, you can hear the lead singer’s beard bleeding into the mic. And the hooks aren’t exactly prepping these guys to be Vancouver’s next New Pornographers, they’re still grimey, heavy, and noisy. So yeah, nobody worry that the band has totally changed. They haven’t.

But they have written a great collection of songs. At a sharp ten tracks and no bullshit, No Can Do is indeed, all killa no filla, and for those who loved “The Dugout” on round one, there’s a couple great big howling pop songs to be found on No Can Do, notably the title track and “You Read My Mind”, which are both fast and furiously catchy. And lead singer Duffy Driediger has such a great voice for this kind of stuff also.

So yeah, this is my pick for best album of the last week or two or whatever. Glad these stoners remembered that they’re a killer band. Hope they don’t forget again and keep us waiting another four years for the next album.

This is my new favourite album. I was into Jens Lekman‘s older stuff too, but felt his albums were always a bit long and inconsistent, though when good – very good. But now he’s really put together a solid, concise, and purposeful album of solid, sugary, romantic Swedish pop.

In terms of how the actual songs relate to his previous work, they’re not much different – wonderful arrangements, clever, detailed lyrics, hooks galore, etc. Lekman’s always been a truly delightful songwriter, and, without a doubt, this new batch of songs continues to display his knack for storytelling and (often very funny) observation. The last couple songs on the album are the best and “I Know What Love Isn’t” in particular has some phenomenal lines like, “Hey do you wanna go see a band?/No, I hate bands/It’s always packed with men spooning their girlfriends and clutching their hands/As if they’d let go, their feet would lift from the ground and ascend.” So true.

But as I said before, this album stands apart because of its consistency and construction – its even got a little instrumental prelude foreshadowing the melody of the closer, the blatantly Simon & Garfunkle-esque “Every Hair Knows Your Name”. The theme is love or lost love or something but that’s kind of the deal with all of Lekman’s stuff, so I don’t really know if he gets any points for that. But considering the ten great tracks we get, I don’t think Lekman needs to earn any more points.

Ok, so my internet sitch isn’t so great yet – working on it! Then there’s gonna be more posts. Posts galore, I say! In the meantime, some quick thoughts on the new Animal Collective album, Centipede Hz.

Centipede Hz is a really cool album. As has been the case for the last couple albums, they don’t repeat themselves but fuse the samplegaze of the last album and the energy of their mid-period albums (Sung Tongs, Feels) into something more aggressive, swampy, and, in some case, exciting. There aren’t any songs that are as mindblowing or accessible as “My Girls”, but they’re all pretty deece, some more than others. “Rosie Oh” is definitely my fav.

Maybe right now we’re not gonna think it’s so revolutionary because Merriweather really was a revolutionary album, but once the rest of music catches up and we can judge these albums on the basis of their content alone, Centipede Hz is gonna be up there with the best of their stuff. It’s classic AC – innovative, exciting, fun, etc.

So Dan Boeckner and Britt Daniel and another dude have teamed up for Divine Fits. They’ve got an album dropping on Merge on the 28th, and two songs out there for all the interwebs to hear (you can hear them above). Here are my thoughts on them.

So, “Would That Not Be Nice” just totally sounds like Spoon. Like, it’s pretty much a Spoon song. If you told me it was a new Spoon song I’d say, “Oh, not bad.” I don’t really have much to say about it – it’s just like classic Spoon stuff, if you ask me.

Boeckner’s contribution, “My Love Is Real”, finds him writing in Handsome Furs mode but it does sound a bit different than that band’s stuff – the arrangement is similar to their shtick – synths, drum machine, some guitar, minimalist – but as a whole the vibe is a bit more open, a bit less sure of itself. In some ways it’s kind of similar to his writing on the first and second Handsome Furs albums. Listen to a song like “Evangeline” (which has the same rhythm) and you’ll see – similar vibe, though more synth-dependent, like the later Furs stuff.

In any case, it’s also coming from a more mature and generally more confident Boeckner, and is still as interesting as his writing usually is. So I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of the album, but more so for Boeckner’s songs than Daniel’s.