Page 29 - the NOISE July 2013

this album, it means lots of heavy Nashville- sounding production. Bonnie Whitmore starts her album all energy with “There I Go Again.” It kind of has the feel of a heartwarming family drama theme song. On “Heartbreaker,” she lets it known she has great pipes. It’s about as for- gettable as the title, unfortunately. “Reckless and Young” is better, though it’s just a bunch of clichés in a row: “One more day, one less dollar, don’t worry, baby, we still got tomorrow. You can pick yourself up, etc.”
The album proceeds with as many surprises. All very able, wonderful arrangements and pro- duction, glorious voice, but if to deliver cheesy clichés, over and over, this reviewer is going to not really hold back in this particular case. American music is boring as hell.
Trails and Ways
Trilingual
Self released
jjj
Dance, you mothers! Dance! I didn’t know I missed Miami Sound Machine.
lemuria; Richard Catwrangleur
Andrew Cedermark
Home Life
Underwater Peoples
jjjj
Rides this beautiful line between straight- ahead americana rock and noise, not too un- like a Wilco or some other band you really like, or really liked five years ago, when times were simpler and you were keeping up with all these rock n roll bands and not just listening to books on tape all the time, like when you’re cleaning up your house, which is just as filled with beer cans and tequila bottles as it ever was. Riffs reach a nostalgic pitch somewhere in the mid- dle of the album. The lack of hipness sounds as refreshing as revisiting your Pavement records after a hefty absence. Are these guys actually jamming? Naw, but it’ll get that feel, like any- thing might happen—the train might just go off the rails, but at the core are some really honed songs, that just happen to also be a bit weird which makes for a glorious Sunday afternoon, or whenever the canned beers are being popped open and we sit a moment and celebrate our home lifes in our towns with our chill friends who probably have nice record col- lections we envy.
Richard Catwrangleur
Raise Ravens
Self-Released
jjjj
Seven lost nuggets from this ex-Arizonan. The first two tracks are heavy on the vocal ef- fects. Reminds me of “Hurdy Gurdy Man.” Meets the Troggs. “Chevy Citation” is hard not to love on first listen. It is a love song and a traveling song. “Don’t Wanna Be You” is very Velvety, like Lou Reed and Sterling and ol’ Mo Tucker. “He Gets By” combines everything that’s work- ing on the album and combines them- vocal effects, sing along chorus, and garage rawk stomp. The vocal effects are pretty much an- other instrument. “All Night Long” is the longest song at three and a quarter. (This one has a gui- tar solo.) The formula is set at this point, and af- ter the great instrumental ender, “Ukrainski” all there is left to do is repeat. And dance.
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Lemuria
The Distance is So Big
Bridge Nine
jjjj
F*ck yes. Dynamic and fun as hell. Does the world need more pop punk bands? No, not even a little, but if they’re good, who gives a sh*t?
This album features the second song called “Survivors’ Guilt” that I’ve reviewed this month.
I’m not sure what that means.
Sonny and the Sunsets
Antenna to the Afterworld
Polyvinyl
jjj
At some point, one has to wonder if Frank Chipotel is just making up all these records. Sonny and the Sunsets? Antenna to the After- world? Well, Sonny likes synthesizers. The Sun- sets would be a great chill houseparty band. Or they are, rather. Nice vibes. Not made up, even a little.
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