Maximo Park--Our Earthly Pleasures

Brace yourself for this one. Fusing a delicious union between the crashing post-punk of The Futureheads the pop-friendly dance-driven rhythms of Bloc Party, Maximo Park rocket into 2007 with Our Earthly Pleasures. Vocalist Paul Smith’s style in tracks like "Girls Who Play Guitars" and "Our Velocity" possess a smack of Futureheads’ vocalist Barry Hyde, and explosive guitar instrumentals follow a vein of The Futureheads (see "A Fortnight’s Time")—but toned down, giving the overall impression of a pop-indie sound delicately toeing the post-punk waters. Drum-beat led tracks ("The Unshockable") elude to A Weekend in the City or even Franz Ferdinand, but fall short of being as eruptively monumental. Other tracks such as "Russian Literature" are more modest (think a more interesting Razorlight, or modern Smiths) and have horrendously catchy melodies that will haunt your long after listening. Smith’s vocals are always easy on the ear, and quieter pieces such as "Your Urge" work beautifully where Barry Hyde or Kele Okereke may falter.

Maximo Park pepper-spray Our Earthly Pleasures with a healthy mix of contrasting songs to keep things interesting, and by the closing riffs of "Parisian Skies" your only thought will be of starting the whole thing over again. A release that will surely attract more than its share of comparisons to The Futureheads, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, and Withdrawal, Maximo Park’s sophomore full-length is strong where previously mentioned heavy-hitters are weak. Our Earthly Pleasures may not rocket up the charts as fast as A Weekend in the City or News & Tributes, but it is a delightful treat for anyone who loves what’s been coming out of England lately—and will surely generate some Maximo Park buzz.

(Published at ComfortComes.com)

The Nyquist Frequency--Elephant Art

Not to be confused with the Nyquist rate, the Nyquist frequency is half a sampling frequency from a signal processing system. No wait...it has something to do with bandwidth? Fortunately, a degree in physics is not needed to understand Elephant Art, the debut release from a collective led by Keith Nyquist. Originally from DeKalb, Illinois, Nyquist takes a few Ubique Records friends along for the ride (Mark Mattson from Captains and Craig Swafford on drums). Modestly subdued, The Nyquist Frequency keep most of their 13 tracks bland—but a few shining gems break the tricky "same-old, same-old" layer of overused indie sediment. Taking root in some ‘70s influences (the band offers up comparisons to early Byrds, although I think that’s stretched and it would be better to jump into Elephant Art with neutral expectations), Elephant Art is generally a warm glowing mass of indie-pop, made ever sweeter by the delicious musk of DIY found all over the album. "Sand" sets up some vintage melodies complete with a tastefully distorted guitar solo. In a contrasting set-up, "Dark Skies" is one of the brightest tunes in Elephant Art, with a wonderfully pop melody (complete with applause) that still keeps a foot both in warm ‘70s memories and low-fi indie influences. Indeed, The Nyquist Frequency do a respectful job of blending many influences, and in a way come out sounding very original—albeit rough in spots. "Sunset" closes the album with bittersweet guitars and a forget-me-not lyrical track provided by Mark Mattson and Molly McNett. While the majority of Elephant Art may be forgetful (though better with each listen), the few catchy hits speak volumes at just where further development might take this young band—and specifically Keith Nyquist himself. A very respectful debut, I would not be surprised to hear from (and of) The Nyquist Frequency more in the future. Until then though, they’re your DIY indie treasure.

(Published at MusicEmissions.com)

Youth Group--Casino Twilight Dogs

Australian rockers Youth Group have a warm shimmery halo wrung about their heads and engraved in their music. Its almost indescribable – and quite magical really – how easily they snap up your ears and have you totally captivated by their brand of summeresque dream-indie found in Casino Twilight Dogs. The quick doses of orchestral blends add a professional resonance to their music—and even in such allegedly sarcastic songs as "Sorry," Youth Group compels a warmhearted emotional undercurrent.

Yet they always linger on the edge of indifference. The lecturing vocals on "Catching & Killing" force my finger to linger over the skip button, but soon enough the group is safely back within the caring arms of their sunny instrumentals and warmly melodic choruses. "Dead Zoo" continues the summer melodies with some bittersweet lyrics, which evolves into the very vividly picturesque "Under the Underpass." Toby Martin’s tender vocal talents are a key part of Youth Group’s warm sound, and "Sicily" shows Martin off as the instrumentals take a back seat ("They'd need a surgeon / Because in this version / We'd become one person"). If the opening tracks of Casino Twilight Dogs didn’t convince you of Youth Group’s wrenching summer-melodies, I give you "Forever Young." The infamous cover that got picked up by The O.C., "Forever Young" seems to culminate the general feeling experienced throughout Casino Twilight Dogs: the desire for an unending summer, the death-like grasp of the feelings and experiences under the burning sun, and thoughts on what the hell it all means.

In my opinion though, "Forever Young" is beat out by "TJ," a song inspired by the death of TJ Hickey after being chased by the police. A slower and mellow tune, "TJ" features a blisteringly strong and haunting melody: "Do what we like / Go about our lives / Happy to see it says nothing about us / Read in the news / Just shake our heads / Happy to see it says nothing about us." This is indie, at its very purest form: innovation after innovation that never prescribes to what I, the listener, want to hear, but to what I may like. They may hit or miss, but Youth Group offers up flowery summer images, deep introspective and deliberating thoughts, a slew of different influences and techniques in a glorious attempt to connect with listeners—there’s so much here for everyone. Youth Group win a strong victory, gain a mass of fans, and rocket into 2007 with one of the best albums of the year.

(Published at MusicEmissions.com)

Claudio Parodi--Horizontal Mover

One track. One hour. One hell of a story. One crappy piece of music.

This is Horizontal Mover, the first track of a seven part series from Italian pianist and electronic avant-garde musician Claudio Parodi. Each feature will use one of seven tracks of Tiziano Milani’s Suoni 2005 as a starting point—and is dedicated to the work of Alvin Lucier. The use of reonsators and humming amplifiers was styled after Lucier, directly mimicking his work "I am sitting in a room," which involved playing that speech line until the loss of speech. After much cutting, stretching, distorting (what Parodi describes as "uncovering a new detail in Milani’s accumulative work"), the song was so incredibly long that Parodi’s computers failed and he had to revert to "pioneers’ age of electro-acoustic music." Just what was he recording? A room. The reverberations of a room.

Naturally, the story behind this odd piece of art is more interesting than the art itself. I spent an hour of my life listening to the chopped up and faded reverberations of an empty room, and I want that back Parodi. For those who appreciate avant-garde art, you need no review to hype this record, and forgive me for saying this is boring tripe. Yes, I may have missed the deeper artistic message behind it all, but I have my own rooms to listen to for an hour. For those who like music, stay clear.

(Published at MusicEmissions.com)