So Let's Just Stay Here...

The spectacular weather us Chicagoans currently have going for ourselves until at least next Tuesday, as well as the fact that I’ve been on my annual late-Spring, early-Summer Flying Nun Records kick, seemed like nice motivation to break out this one from Andrew Brough’s post-Straitjacket Fits outfit, Bike. Their debut full-length, Take In The Sun, was all this unassuming band left behind which is a huge shame as nowhere could it be suggested that Brough was finished making quality, swirling guitar-styled pop music not unlike what the Velvet Crush did.

One of the only complaints regarding the record is that, unlike the gorgeous compositions that he penned for Straitjacket Fits (e.g., “Down In Splendour,” “Sparkle That Shines”) which only seemed to benefit from Shayne Carter’s more bitingly aggressive material, is that the overall feel of what’s found on Take In The Sun comes off as a little "same-y" from one song to the next. That being said, if this type of late 60s sunshine-flavored rock that stops just short of becoming overbearing glossy pop is your thing, then one would be well-advised to immediately head straight towards this album.

RECOMMENDED!!!

Bike – “Take In The Sun” (mp3)

(from the March Records/IODA CD, Take In The Sun, 1999)

I'm On A Blood Buzz...Yes I am...

At the expense of running with the majority, you can chalk me up as yet another who really, really enjoys the National’s new album, High Violet. It’s like this epic, solid record that comes off like what records used to be; the kind where you sit in-front of the stereo pouring over the sleeve and its linear notes while the vinyl itself spins on the turn-table. The National’s music as a whole has a very classic rock feel to it; music that reminds one of Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, the Stones’ Let It Bleed and Van Morrisson’s Astral Weeks. Music that’s void of any trends or clichés and thus not dooming it as a byproduct of its time for future generations.

That being said, many critics (and there are many) are bemoaning the fact that High Violet doesn’t display any type of great artistic leap forward and that the band are almost in fear of treading water. And while I can agree with the opinions that the distance from Alligator to Boxer to High Violet isn’t necessarily far and strenuous, in the case of the National and their music, I’m not really too terribly bothered with such concerns as there are just some bands whom you prefer to remain consistent at the expense of any album-to-album diversity. I’m ok with the path the National are choosing to tread.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

This is a review only as there are already plenty of mp3s floating around that place we know as the world-wide-web.

The Joke's On You

An album that’s sure to get lost amongst the excitement of yesterday’s highly anticipated release of Broken Social Scene’s Forgiveness Rock Record and the New Pornographers’ Together is the just as anticipated for ourselves release of the second full-length album, Aquatic, from Lancaster, PA’s Highspire. You’re probably not gonna read about this one on Pitchfork, no.

The band’s previous album, Your Everything, was not only one hell of a hot record that faithfully mined the swirling atmospheric rock of such dreampop/shoegaze bands like Ride and Swervedriver, but it also was one of our surprise favorites of 2003 that came out of nowhere. And while the new album shares the same qualities as its predecessor, many of the compositions contained within come off as being, dare I say, more lush and prettier in sound.

Highspire are still just as influenced by groups such as The Pale Saints and Chapterhouse as the previously blogged about The Sleepover Disaster. However, the latter tends to acknowledge their love of some of the more hard-hitting acts from the early 90s shoegazer scene while Highspire walks the more precarious line paved by groups such as My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive as does other current groups like Airiel and Pia Fraus; bands who didn’t, and don’t, make the distinction between melody and feedback quite so obvious.

That being said, Highspire still has a little bit of early Swervedriver in them but their rock is a lot more subtle than that Oxford, England powerhouse. That being said, I can’t see anyone who’s a fan of any of those aforementioned bands not liking this; one of the best dreampop/shoegaze influenced bands currently going.

RECOMMENDED!

Highspire – “Dusted” (mp3)

(from the Reverse Reverb CD, Aquatic, 2010)