Album review: THE PHEROMOANS - Does This Guy Stack Up?

Highlights: The Final Sugar Rush, A Freak’s Xmas, Power Watch

Does This Guy Stack Up? (it wouldn’t be easy to come up with a much hipper title than that) is certainly a bizarre listen. At worst (much of side two) – just bizarre. At best (most of side one) – it’s bizarre and brilliant. This music is hard to categorize, but I guess you could call it psychedelic pop of lo-fi, somewhat whimsical variety. Think The Band Of Holy Joy without the folk element.

Having said that, The Pheromoans manage to serve up something quite unique here. “Power Watch”, one of the album’s biggest highlights, is based on the lush organ sound and an odd, charming, addictive melody – a combination that makes the whole thing so intriguing. “A Freak’s Xmas” should be on your list of songs whose mood and sound are perfectly captured by the title. Upbeat, groovy freakout with some truly inventive instrumental arrangement. In fact, ‘inventive’ might be the right word for this album, even if by side two they get carried away with all that oddness and forget to bring any interesting melodic substance to such exciting, excited, but failed experiments as the badly erratic “Deport Little John” and the rather uneventful “Deck Waltz”.

Still, like I say, even when it fails – it fails with a bang. Mainly because on Does This Guy Stack Up? The Pheromoans manage to create some truly colourful, catchy noise. Patchy but engaging, it’s pretty much what you see on that freakish but friendly cover.

7/10

Album review: JAKE BUGG - Jake Bugg

Highlights: Lightning Bolt, Seen It All, Simple As This

Jake Bugg looks like Keith Richards (I’m mainly judging by the cover) and sounds like early Dylan (no, not again); basically, that’s all you need to know about the whole thing. If you are okay with that sort of unimaginative, but (in fact) quite inspired nostalgia – there’s no reason why you wouldn’t get some old-fashioned joy out of these 14 catchy little pieces.

The smooth garage-rock of “Lightning Bolt” starts like something off an early Stones album (however, one that is somewhat too safe and non-threatening), and when the vocals kick in – well, you hear a contemporary, friendlier, non-charismatic Dylan that is nonetheless quite charming. However maddeningly derivative, the tasteful, folk-ish singalongs like “Seen It All” and “Simple As That” are amazing, and even though you grow tired of the album somewhere around track 6 or 7, you do get to hear a couple of affecting ballads on side two, most notably “Slide” and “Someone Told Me”. Otherwise – not too exciting; one song is even entitled “Ballad of Mr. Jones”, and it is actually as bland and insipid as you would imagine.  

No, don’t even try to find personality here. He might have it, Jake Bugg, but we wouldn’t know it. Essentially it is just a cute little throwback/throwaway – but I still don’t hesitate giving it a 7. Primarily because the songwriting is so good. These days if you choose to lower ratings for derivativeness, you might as well quit writing reviews altogether…

7/10  

SONG OF THE WEEK #84: The Field Mice - "Emma's House"

When you first listen to them, The Field Mice might sound like yet another decent jangle pop/twee pop band from UK... Not true. There's real songwriting depth at work here, and in their brief existence (4 measly years: 1988-1991) these guys crafted gorgeously understated songs worthy of anything penned by B&S. However, their strongest single came first: the sad and strangely uplifting pop classic called "Emma's House" (1988). Here it is.

    

Album review: GUIDED BY VOICES - The Bears For Lunch

Highlights: King Arthur The Red, Waving At Airplanes, White Flag, She Lives In An Airport, You Can Fly Anything Right, Everywhere Is Miles From Everywhere

Considering Robert Pollard’s astonishing (and astonishingly erratic) body of work, the fact that this is the third release of Guided By Voices in 2012 just isn’t all that surprising. What remains surprising, however, is how many classic, truly timeless pop melodies Pollard (and, to a lesser extent, Tobin Sprout) has in him. It may be uneven, it may be underdeveloped, it may be too messy – but the sheer number of amazing tracks on any GBV album is still something to behold.

The Bears For Lunch fits any sort of bill. Before I got this album, I’d heard people talk about how this is Pollard’s best set of songs since Alien Lanes or even Bee Thousand… I don’t know. I just don’t see it that way. As much as I love those two albums, I’ve never considered them as particular highlights in Guided By Voices extensive catalogue. For me, Robert Pollard has always been consistently inconsistent in his sprawling, undeniable greatness. Having said all that, The Bears For Lunch is one of his very, very best.

On this one, Pollard seriously cuts down on the number of deliberate tidbits and throwaways: whether it’s garage rock outbursts (“Hangover Child”), power pop chimers (“White Flag”), heavenly pop ‘hits’ (“Waving At Airplanes” is one of Tobin’s loveliest and jangliest ever) or gentle acoustic beauties (“You Can Fly Anything Right” is so gorgeous it hurts), it all works. An album to be lost in – albeit for a short period of time.

There’s absolutely no question that The Bears For Lunch is the strongest album by Guided By Voices from 2012. If Let’s Go Eat The Factory was a low 8, Class Clown Spots A UFO was a mid-level 8, then The Bears For Lunch is a high 8. Consider it a low 9 on a good day – it’s that good.

8/10

Album review: THE MASTERSONS - Birds Fly South

Highlights: You Don’t Know, Crash Test, Would It Really Be A Sin?, One Word More

Candy rock stuff. Excellent songwriting covered in tasteful, delicious arrangements, all sung in sweet and gorgeous boy/girl vocals only a consummate cynic would pass up. The sort of catchy, feel-good indie pop release you will come back to again and again. If only for those soulful, irresistible 500 Days Of Summer-styled vibes…

Indeed, Birds Fly South is such a warm, summary experience. “Tell Me It’s Alright” opens with acoustic guitars and a brilliant violin line that will on their own bring your mood several inches up – but then it all comes with some prime melodic sugary rush. Rush that remains tasteful and subtle and never even verges on the ‘guilty pleasure’ level. Some of it is almost excessively infectious (“Would It Really Be A Sin?” should be all over the radio as well as the charts), some of it is more wistful and gentle (the folk-ish, slow-burning ballad “Time” has a terrific vocal melody and is a grower). What unites these songs is that they are all well-written, and after several listens I can no longer find a single song I’m not happy about. As for my favourite moments, those would be the verses of “One More Time” that are flat-out delightful in their sheer, juicy melodicism.

As far as debut albums go, The Mastersons obviously created a minor classic here. Packed with great tunes and lush instrumentation, Birds Fly South is just one indie-pop confection after another. Not twee pop, though. Candy rock.

8/10