Radical Face
Ghost
Released: March 22, 2007

By Tom Carbone

One half of the indietronica (lame, I know) group Electric President, Ben Cooper creates more of an experimental folk album with this release under his solo moniker Radical Face. Written, layered, recorded, and produced in his Jacksonville Beach, Florida tool shed, Cooper decided to depart a little from his previous efforts and try something new with Ghost. Most of the tracks have delicate, ambient aspects to them, and every instrument on the album was recorded by Cooper himself. Pretty awesome. I can still hear faint call backs to his previous efforts with some glitchy drum beats, but this album is great for a night alone on the road or a cup of coffee at sunrise. It’s just fantastic music to have on while reminiscing with somebody you love, and that’s something I’ve never said about an album.

Ravens & Chimes
Reichenbach Falls
Released October 22, 2007

By Tom Carbone

Created under the roof of NYU during the notoriously cold winter of ’05, Ravens & Chimes have a sound very reminiscent of Arcade Fire with this debut release. Not afraid to use a plethora of instruments, the six (4 boys 2 girls) create lush sounds that remind me of the fall and winter time with instruments like glockenspiels and mandolins. But don’t fear, they also use conventional instruments, but the sounds they make are hardly conventional. Produced by Howard Bilerman who worked with Arcade Fire, the album touches on multiple musical genres and no two songs sound the same at all. As cliché as it is to say about Ravens & Chimes, I really feel like these guys (and girls) are the next Arcade Fire. Let’s just say I’ll be all over their next record, hoping for a great follow-up, a la Neon Bible.

Explosions in the Sky @ Club Firestone
11/10/2007

By Tom Carbone

As I walked down a bustling street at around 9 PM on the 10th of November, 2007, it finally hit me full force that tonight was the night I had been anticipating for about a year. Tonight was the night I was seeing Explosions in the Sky, and what better way to see them than seeing them headline Orlando’s yearly Anti-Pop Festival. Like a typical fan boy, I scheduled to get there right as the doors opened, but as it turns out, this was too late to get a good view of the show. As I piled into the smoke filled club, plenty of conversation was ensuing about Explosions’ soon to be epic show.

However, before Explosions played, a shoegaze-y, psycadelic post-rock band played a set. Summerbirds in the Cellar, a three-some from Athens, played a very interesting set to say the least. Providing a stark contrast to Explosions’ more emotionally driven climaxes, Summerbirds played more pop music than anything.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Explosions took the stage at 11 PM and didn’t stop to say a word until they were finished. The seven songs spanned over about an hour and a half. Starting with Memorial, a dawdling tune, the crowd did the typical post-rock swaying and head nods. But with Welcome Ghosts, climaxes got the folks in the club moving and everyone was having an awesome time it seemed like. Instead of cutting the song down to a quick 4 minutes like the band did for Conan O’Brien, the extended the song to over ten minutes of thrashing post rocky goodness. After plowing through a few more songs, some old, some new, the band finally played my favorite song, The Birth and Death of Day. I was actually leaving the club when this started because I started to get really crowded and I needed some air. I’m so glad that they played this song, and it made the night for me. They ended the set with The Moon is Down, and just like in real life, the moon really was down by the time they finished. Having done my research, I knew they weren’t going to play an encore, but I stuck around anyways to see the crowds’ reaction to a encore-less set. People were pissed, but how pissed could you be after seeing Explosions in the Sky?

1.Memorial
2.Welcome Ghosts
3.Greet Death
4.Your Hand In Mine
5.Catastrophe and the Cure
6.The Birth and Death Of Day
7.The Moon Is Down

By Tom Carbone

After Arthur Russell, legendary composer, singer, and disco-artist passed away from AIDS in the middle of 1992, over 100 tapes of unreleased tunes were uncovered, including one song mixed 40 different ways. In September of this year, Russell’s former label, Rough Trade, released an EP entitled Four Songs By Arthur Russell, with contributions by Jens Leckman, Joel Gibb, Victoria Bergsman (formerly of The Concretes), and Verity Sussman.

Starting off the EP, Susman takes the relatively obscure Our Last Night Together and turns it into a delicate piano-filled masterpiece that Leckman even admits he “almost cried to.” Her adaptation of the song really does Russell’s original version justice.

Speaking of Leckman – his contribution to the EP is an incredible rendition of the Russell classic, A Little Lost. Since he had been touring and playing the cover at all of his shows for a few years, it was only natural for him to pop into the studio to record the song. The song is even complete with a water-droplet kalimba that replaces Russell’s cello.

Performing under her solo moniker, Taken By Trees, Victorai Bergsman, formerly of The Concretes, takes Russell’s previously disco-laden track and turns it into a ghost-like acoustic guitar and clarinet piece. Recording a couple tracks of vocals, this song is a drastic change from its original form, but Bergsman does a great job with the cover.

The fourth and final track leaves the listener with a pleasant feeling as Joel Gibb strums the Russell original That’s Us/Wild Combination. Joel Gibb also produces for the Hidden Cameras, and the production is definitely just as good as anything else he’s done. A hidden surprise in this cover is the backing vocal track done by El Perro Del Mar.

While the EP is short, it’s sweet for sure. If you’ve never heard anything by Arthur Russell, this is an unconventional, but definitely interesting way to approach his work. These covers are very accessible and done by folks well known in the indie-rock community.

Tom Brosseau
Cavalier
Fat Cat Recordings
Street: 10.23

Tom Brosseau = Sufjan Stevens + Woody Guthrie + folky goodness

Cavalier, Tom Brosseau’s 6th release in just 3 short years combines much of the same vibrato infused vocals seen in previous efforts. But what’s different about Cavalier is the remarkably heavy emphasis placed on these vocals, almost completely drowning out the acoustic guitar in parts. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially for fans of Brosseau’s older work. For those unfamiliar with Brosseau, think of him as Bob Dylan singing into a voice modifier placed on the “feminine” setting. Singing about tales of lost love, Brosseau seems to draw a lot of inspiriation from 30’s and 40’s novels from the likes of Fante, and Steinbeck, which is another plus for readers like me. Particularily blunt with his love-y song titles such as “Kiss My Lips,” and “I Want This Moment to Last,” Brosseau is certainly putting his heart on his sleeve, and if you’re looking for a unique folk singer in the 21st century, look no further. —Tom Carbone Jr.

Awake and Alert
Devil in a Lambskin Suit
Five One, Inc.
Street: 09.11

Awake and Alert = The Cranberries – happiness + shoegaze

While I was immediately drawn in by the unique, sexy, cute, and overall engaging voice of lead vocalist Maya Peart, my initial excitement soon ended, and I realized that the album I was listening to was sort of repetitive. Sure, all of the reviewers are praising Peart’s unique voice – which they undoubtedly should be – but this album lacks any lyrical or sonic depth. I see this happening to many artists with their first album, and a few years later they create an album much more appealing and accessible. Among this album lay a few gems worth listening to, including “Ready or Not,” and my personal favorite “Starry-Eyed Visions.” What this album lacks in originality and lyrical value, it makes up for with its production. Bob Hoag (The Format, and Limebeck) lent his producing hand to the project, and did a great job creating songs that sounded clean and precise on first listen. Kudos to him. Bottom line: download the album, and if you find it a bit more interesting than I did, pick it up for sure. I’m excited to hear what these guys (and girl) have to offer up next time around. —Tom Carbone Jr.

Mathias Delplanque
Le Pavillon Témoin
Low Impedance
Street: 06.20

Mathias Delplanque = Four Tet + CoH

Mathias Deplanque is a French artist who splits his time evenly between many musical projects. One of his other projects, Lena, is music primarily influenced by Jamaican Dub, but his second solo record released as Mathias Deplanque explores musical boundaries defined by abstract sound and layered acoustics, some songs even containing hushed whispers and ghost-like sound quips. Few songs let my mind wander like most of the songs on this album do. While most of the songs are instrumental, “It’s Spring on the Moon” is filled with haunting voice bits that perfectly match the distressed tone of the piece. Mathias Deplanque truly shows his talent as a multiple style composer with this release, and I can’t wait to hear his next solo project. —Tom Carbone Jr.

X27
Antilove
Narnack Records
Street: 06.12

X27 = Yeah Yeah Yeahs + Sonic Youth + The Kills

A combination of Kim Gordon-esque vocals with an early 90’s garage rock sound is basically what X27 is. Carmen X (vocals, bass, drums) and Rikkeh Suhtn (guitar, vocals) create teeth clenching, riot grrrrrl, dance punk that will inevitibabley increase your heart-rate with it’s fast-paced anthems like “Chemical Romance,” and the simple album opener “Da-Na-Do.” One aspect of this album that sets it apart from all of the other garage punk out there is the production value of Antilove. Steve Albini, producer of such albums as In Utero and Surfer Rosa, lends his helping hand and Chicago studio to the duo for Antilove—Tom Carbone Jr.

Matt Pond PA
Last Light
Altitude Records
Street: 09.25

Matt Pond PA = Rouge Wave + Stars + Mates of State

With 6 critically acclaimed albums under his belt in just 9 short years of existence, Matt Pond, along with his backing back Dan Crowell, Steven Jewtt, and Matthew Siskin, have created a new album that on first listen instantly stands out as his most vibrant and well-written album yet. The production of the album is immensely different, as Pond himself took over production duties. Sharing the duty with such big names as Neko Case, Rob Schnapf, and Mike Stroud of Ratatat, Last Light is a dramatic improvement production-wise from Pond’s last albums. Songs ranging from love, to longing fill this album, thematically similar to Ponds previous efforts. Acoustic based “Locate the Pieces,” sounds very similar to the earlier work of matt pond PA, while the fast-paced drug-anthem “Basement Parties,” sounds much cleaner in quality. While some artists start to struggle with creating fresh albums for so long, Matt Pond, along with his band, created an album that is arguably their best to date. —Tom Carbone Jr.

Mogwai
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait Original Soundtrack
Wall of Sound
Street: 05.07

Mogwai = Godspeed You! Black Emperor + Explosions in the Sky + Sigur Rós

In a soundtrack thematically and emotionally similar to Explosion in the Sky’s work for the film Friday Night Lights, Mogwai create an original score that perfectly captures raw emotions and feelings of a soccer match from the perspective of Zidane, the French soccer player most famous for his head-butting incident in the 2006 World Cup. The lush, instrumental soundscapes, and cinematic build-ups and climaxes that define contemporary post-rock today fit perfectly into the dramatic soccer sequences that the film is filled with. Returning to their style most seen on their album Come on Die Young, Mogwai depart from the more rock-based Mr. Beast with Zidane, and the songs feature more gentle piano melodies (“Half-Time”), and ambient noise arrangements (“It Would Have Happened Anyway.”) Scottish film maker Douglas Gordon asked Mogwai in late 2005 to score his upcoming film, and it appears that he picked a band worthy to do the job right. —Tom Carbone Jr.