Ra Ra Riot _ The Rhumb Line

Ra Ra Riot released their debut album in August this year, and doing so joined a long line of indie op/punk/rock bands vieing for airplay. Ra Ra Riot’s brand of melody soaked rock means fighting off comparisons to Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire.

The unlikely inclusion Cello and Violin in the bands line up provides not only a point of difference, but also an air of sophistication, and helps punctuate the mood. Emotive passages are often underlined, rhythms are underpinned and melodies are carried by cellist Alexandra Lawn and violinist Rebecca Zeller. 

Album opener, Ghost Under Rocks, sets the tone for the album perfectly and showcases the bands strengths. Ra Ra Riot’s popularity has definately suffered from todays pervasive 3 minute attention span. While their tracks are by no means long or meandering in a prog sense, the subtle light and shade of their melodies rewards repeated listens.

Complete with a Kate Bush cover version, The Rhumb Line is a contender to this years ’slow burner’, to use popular venacular. (I feel dirty. It’s not coming off!)

THINK: Arcade Fire without the Amish, Vampire Weekend without the African overtones.
READ: Interview with Ra Ra Riot
WATCH: Ra Ra Riot - Ukulele Session
BUY: The Rhumb Line at Amazon
 

Guns ‘n’ Roses - Chinese Democracy

After 14 years in the making, internet leaks, law suits, Walmart deals and an album name that was starting to get a little too ironic, Axl Rose finally  is ready to allow us to hear his opus here.

I’m just gonna let ya’ll listen to this biach, and then hit me back with the low down, yo.
(what, too much?)

Tilly and the Wall - O

Tilly and the Wall were the coolest indie kids on the block. Cardigan and pigtail wearing chicks, they appeared on Sesame Street ( and covered ABC, naturally) and they have a tap dancer for a drummer. I remember that was the single line intro Marcus gave me when he turned me on to Tilly’s 2006 album Bottom of Barrels. The album was filled with close harmonies about rainbows and birds singing. ‘O’ is not that album.

From opener ‘Tall tall glass’ you know that Tilly et al have grown, and are bolder, louder and angrier. First single ‘Pot Kettle Black’ shows how creative they are when it comes to making the most of Pressnall’s galloping rhythms, turning two feet into an entire rhythm section. Goodbye sunrise songs, hello Party Rock. This is as loud as we’ve every heard Tilly, and they’ve fleshed out their sound with more than just volume.

‘Cacophony’ would have sat nicely on ‘Bottoms of Barrels’with its Tap-tastic intro and three-part vocal harmonies, but it too ventures into new territory with live drums and sax, with limited success it must be said. Tilly’s arsenal of glockenspiel, tap dancing and multi-layered vocals are thankfully present on the rest of the album, but there are still many surprises for long term fans. The album closer, ‘Too excited’ could be a mission statement or a mission-complete statement - swearing like sailors sluts on shore leave, they leave us as they began, with heavy reverb guitars and a proclamation - “I don’t give a shit if I’m cool enough“, and in the process prove that they most certainly are.

THINK: Go! Teammeet The Ting Tings (in tap school)
WATCH: Pot Kettle Black vid
READ: Tilly’s homepage and myspace
BUY: ‘O’ at Moshi Moshi

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

You may remember The Hold Steady from the Top 10 of 2006, where ‘Boys and Girls of America’ came in at Number 3. So it would be fair to say that I was expecting big things from ‘Stay Positive’ and in a way, I got exactly what I expected.

 I reckon Confucius did his best work early on, when he came up with ‘Careful what you wish for…’ and The Hold Steady follow suit. ‘Stay Positive’is filled with drug and alcohol soaked rock songs about fitting in, choosing not to, and ‘townies’ who throw parties and pack bowls. Just as I’d hoped, and they do it as well as they did on ‘Boys and Girls’.

And that’s my problem with this album. You can’t help think you’ve heard it before. They try and mix it up a little with a harpsichord ( a la The Stranglers), and some heavier use of the distortion pedal, but you can’t shake the feeling that these songs would have sat just as nicely on their 2006 album. It’s a fine rock album, with all the qualities that made their earlier release the third best release in 2006, but ‘Stay Positive’ should have been named ‘We’re still the boys and girls of America’

THINK: ‘Boys and Girls’ companion disc.
READ: The Hold Steady Home Page
WATCH: Sequestered in Memphis
BUY: Stay Positive at Amazon

_triplejaysus_exclusive! - Feral Children

Feral Children, a Seattle quintet, are the latest band in the triplejaysus series of exclusive interviews. They have just released their debut long player, produced by Scott Colburn (Animal Collective) called ‘Second to last frontier’.  

The nice people at Sarathan Records have given triplejaysus readers access to their 4 tracks from the debut in an exclusive EP.

‘Jaundice Giraffe’opens with keys and an oompah beat. Layered on that come ‘Beach Boy’ backing vocals, but don’t let that mislead you. Frank Black-esque barks signal the escalation into cacophony. Brock-like vocal calisthenics continue with what must be carefully constructed abandon, because you cannot deny that it catches you with many of its hooks.

‘Zyghost’is a pounding track with crazy carnival keys and a dirty bassline, and screaming backing vocals I haven’t heard since The Dead Milkmen’s ‘Stuart’. It’s brilliant stuff, and well worth the bandwidth. Go get it!

Jeff Keenan (co-lead singer and stand up drummer) took some time out to answer my questions after the jump. (more…)