THIS WEEK'S FINDS
week of Apr. 25-May 1

"Fall or Stumble" - Lying in States
Simultaneously thumpy and smooth, discordant and musical, "Fall or Stumble" is a shot of intense 21st-century rock'n'roll--complicated, smart, edgy, and well-produced. I knew I was in good hands from the start, when the big-beated groove established by the drums was joined first by a gentle, subtly off-kilter bit of keyboard vamping and then by a couple of buzzy, offbeat blurts from the electric guitar. Pay attention to the guitar all the way through here--the band has two guitarists, in fact, and they work together to inform the song with a searing buzz underneath and a razor-like brassiness above. Singer/guitarist Ben Clarke's voice sounds electronically compressed--a la Julian Casablancas in the Strokes--but the effect isn't in your face as much because of the gratifying musical texture that exists around him. And while Clarke sings in the same range as Casablancas, I find his ability to sing powerfully both with and without restraint to be more reminiscent of Radiohead's Thom Yorke than anyone else I can think of. Lying in States is a Chicago-based band that has been playing live to much acclaim since 1999; "Fall or Stumble" comes from their first full-length CD, Most Every Night, released earlier this year on Flameshovel Records.

"One More Time" - the French Kicks
Notwithstanding the itchy dance beat and drummer/singer Nick Stumpf's vocal resemblance to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's Andy McCluskey, "One More Time" emerges with repeated listens as far more than an '80s retread. The synthesizer that cascades down as if from heaven in the first verse is actually more of a hip-retro sound (trip-hoppy, perhaps) than something from, say, Depeche Mode; the shining electric guitar brought in to mirror the synthesizer line in the second verse is also not an '80s sound. Then there's the strange, momentum-shifting chorus, which consists more or less of one repeated note, in what sounds like three-part harmony. This brings 10cc to mind, oddly enough, the second time in particular, when the voices are accompanied by the pounding of an insistent keyboard beneath the surface. So we've got a lot of generations of rock'n'roll at work here, to shimmering effect. The French Kicks are based in NYC; "One More Time" will be found on Trial of the Century, due out in May on Startime International.

"On Parade" - Electrelane
After releasing an all-instrumental debut, the British band Electrelane has opened itself up to a bit of vocalizing on its second CD, The Power Out. Keyboardist/guitarist Verity Susman's singing is idiosyncratic to say the least, alternating between gruffly spat, largely inaudible phrases and wordless whoops, but the chugging energy--part ska, part surf, part punk--of the two-chord riff keeps me engaged throughout this short song. The shortness itself is interesting, as the band's first CD, Rock It to the Moon, was notable for a number of extended, noodly instrumentals (including one that clocked in at 22 minutes). The Power Out was released in February on the fiercely arty British label, Too Pure Records.


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THIS WEEK'S FINDS
week of Apr. 18-24

"2nd Gun" - Volcano, I'm Still Excited!!
The excessively punctutated, impenetrably silly name may not even be the strangest thing about this group--I vote instead for the fact that the band is a trio featuring guitar, drum, and a $10 Casio keyboard. Now that's strange. What emerges from the combination is a little strange too, but urgent and oddly compelling nonetheless. For a short song, "2nd Gun" covers a lot of ground, its twitchy intro and nervous chord progressions giving way to a cathartically catchy chorus. For me, this music recalls the effect Talking Heads:77 had, the way the songs were both over-the-top quirky and yet somehow, underneath it all, comforting and familiar. Time will tell if VISE has Talking Heads-like substance and innovation to offer us, but today's diffuse and insular rock scene could sure use a strange-pure blast like that. The song comes from the band's eponymous debut CD, released in January on Polyvinyl Records. There are 16 songs on the record, most between two and three minutes in length; the one I'm most curious about is the last one, which is called "Two Exclamation Points." Perhaps the name is explained? At least a hint or two?

"Alone Again Or" - Calexico
This is all but irresistible--on the one hand because of the power of the original song but on the other hand for how giddily well this '60s nugget works when run through Calexico's Southwestern blender. "Alone Again Or" opened Forever Changes, the 1967 masterpiece from the West Coast band Love; here it is brilliantly re-conceived as a Mexican-style rave-up, from the precision of the acoustic rhythm and lead guitars to the hand-clap accompaniment and, best of all, the poignant, incisive trumpet solo. This is one of those songs that brings an involuntary smile to my face as I listen; music (as opposed to lyrics) that prompts smiling or laughing is often some of the best there is. The song comes from Convict Pool, a six-song EP--featuring three covers--released this month on Quarterstick Records.

"When I Laugh" - the Glands
The Athens, Georgia-based Glands mix a lot of influences in their sonic stew, but it's the Kinks in particular who haunt this chugging little number. Fading in on a distorted guitar riff, the song hits the ground running when singer/songwriter/guitarist Ross Shapiro gives us his best Ray Davies-ish drawl (listen in particular to his delivery of the words "laugh" or "everybody") over a deceptively tight beat; the background "doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo"s drive home the Kinks homage, along with a Dave Davies-like guitar break two-thirds of the way through. Me, I like to champion the overlooked Kinks whenever I can, and particularly enjoy discovering younger musicians who have studied the monumental Davies songbook. "When I Laugh" can be found on the band's second CD, simply called The Glands, released on Velocette Records in 2000; the MP3 comes courtesy of Epitonic.

THIS WEEK'S FINDS
week of Apr. 11-17

"Underdog Victorious" - Jill Sobule
Jill Sobule has an uncanny gift for putting big, memorable melodies into her offbeat songs, where I kind of least expect them. From the piano-driven opening stomp to the beautiful modulation in the second half of the verse (that is, the mysteriously gratifying chords she shifts into with the words "Four o'clock when he got home...") to the seriously anthemic chorus, "Underdog Victorious" blazes with confidence from beginning to end. With sonic heft and lyrical grit, Sobule consistently undermines my expectations of what a singer/songwriter can sound like; her large and polished sound likewise runs counter to what one typically hears from musicians who record independently. Warren Zevon once called her "a cross between Tolstoy and the tomahawk thrower at the Cheyenne rodeo." Not sure what that means, but what the heck, it's a good quote, and indicative if nothing else of Sobule's depth, talent, and wacky artistic courage. This song is new, not yet released on an album, but available on her web site.

"Lie in the Sound" - Trespassers William
With a big, melancholic tip of the hat towards bands like Mazzy Star and the Cowboy Junkies, the California band Trespassers William serves up a fetching and affecting version of that sort of sad, deep, and distant dream pop. The key to this song's success, to my ears, is the strength of the melody in the chorus. Too often bands on this path bog down in their own dreaminess; Mazzy Star's well-known "Fade Into You," offered little more than four- or five-note melodic phrases, repeated. "Lie in the Sound" gives us both the dreamy vibe and the extra lift of an honest, beautiful melody anchoring the song at its center. "Lie in the Sound" can be found on Different Stars, released in 2002 on Bella Union Records.

"Perfect Weapon" - Communique
A big, brash homage to the so-called "New Romantic" movement of the early '80s, "Perfect Weapon" comes at us like an ABC reunion, complete with a re-use of the phrase "poison arrows" (the British band ABC had a hit song called "Poison Arrow") and a lead singer who sounds vaguely British, even as the band hails from Oakland. The dance beat is pure '80s; the minor-key urgency of the synthesizer riff will have you glancing over your shoulder for Midge Ure (the emotive singer who fronted Ultravox at the height of their hit single career phase). And yet for all the echoes from a bygone era, the song has a here-and-now chutzpah to it. Communique's debut CD, Poison Arrows, will be released in June on Lookout Records.

THIS WEEK'S FINDS
week of Apr. 4-10

"Cloud Room" - Laura Veirs
Hang in there through the up-front, wavering, slightly out of tune vocals at the outset of this one--the pay-off is deep and moving. Laura Veirs may well be one of the most accomplished of America's unknown singer/songwriters; "Cloud Room" hits a groove quickly, snaking into my consciousness with its assured beat, astute instrumentation, and some wonderful chords. For a performer with a somewhat geeky presentation (according to one British critic, she resembles a young Woody Allen, of all people), Veirs has an unexpectedly commanding presence. The music floats in a dream-like place straddling the familiar and the entirely fresh; a few listens to "Cloud Room" has me realizing once and for all that the 21st century has fully arrived. Indicative of her tendency to perform frequently in Europe, her new CD, Carbon Glacier, where this song comes from, has been released overseas but not in the U.S. at this point.

"The Dream is Over" - MK Ultra
Time to dip back into the rich John Vanderslice MP3 trove, this time to point you in the direction of his unheralded work with the band MK Ultra. "The Dream Is Over" opens with an itchy, insistent acoustic guitar, on top of which arrive some lush but unresolved harmonies (they sound like suspended fourths; so okay this must be great chord week here), and now he's got you set up, the subtle musical tension extending through a repetition of the words "It's unbelievably sad"; on the second "sad," the music glides into unabashed gorgeousness, with melodies and harmonies straight from the Simon & Garfunkel songbook. And yet there's still a keen skewedness about the song, both lyrically--"I was relieved/As a broken sweat"--and instrumentally (listen for a great duet between distorted fuzz guitars about halfway through). MK Ultra recorded between 1993 and 2000; Vanderslice has been on his own since then, and is really worth looking into. In case you're curious, the band's name came from a secret (and rather terrible) series of mind control experiments apparently performed by the CIA in the 1950s. Now you know.

"Believe" - Earl Slick (with Robert Smith)
How almost foolishly tickled I sometimes feel to hear an old familiar voice, after a long time, singing something new. This can happen even when I don't remember being a particular fan of the voice in the first place. So here's yet another '80s icon (watch out, they're popping up all over the place these days), the Cure's Robert Smith, lending his distinctive style of fragile solidity to a dreamy piece of space-guitar pop from Earl Slick. It's fun to hear Smith slowed down, a bit more vocally naked than I recall him from those Cure hits he spun out back in the day. Slick is himself a reappearing icon, although a background variety; he was David Bowie's guitarist in the mid-'70s, on both Young Americans and the great Station to Station. This song doesn't strike me as any sort of classic, but putting Smith's voice against that arching, swelling guitar creates a pleasant few minutes that rewards some repeat listens. "Believe" can be found on Slick's CD Zig Zag, released at the end of 2003 on Sanctuary Records.