TGIF Hodge Podge – Busted Brackets + Lotus Plaza + So Many Dynamos + Badly Drawn Boy
Well, I think I can officially tear up my 2009 NCAA Tournament bracket. After last night’s games I have officially lost four of my Elite Eight teams, half of my Final Four, and my eventual national champion Memphis Tigers. Another year, another $20 down the drain that would have otherwise been spent on a few day’s worth of coffee and cigarettes. Luckily for all of us, what I lack in college basketball knowledge I more than make up for with my impeccable taste in music. It has been a blistering week of new music so far here at Citizen Dick headquarters, and today’s weekly TGIF entry is sure to keep the pace. We have a new Deerhunter side project, a freshly leaked track from a much-anticipated upcoming release, and a trip down memory lane with an indie rock legend, so sit back, read, listen, and enjoy. If your bracket is in as bad a shape as mine, hopefully these tunes will help you take your mind off of it, at least for a while.
For fans of Deerhunter who didn’t get their fill from the three projects they put forth last year, the announcement of the recently released Lotus Plaza album likely came as very pleasant news indeed. Entitled The Floodlight Collective, the debut solo effort from Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt was released this past Tuesday from the purveyors of all things Deerhunter-related, Kranky Records. With Lotus Plaza, Pundt does not stray far from the formula that has been so successful for his primary band and singer Bradford Cox’s Atlas Sound project, yet at the same time manages to etch out a collection of ten tracks that are uniquely his own.
Drawing more heavily from Microcastle than from Cryptograms, The Floodlight Collective almost plays out as the warm and hazy yin to Atlas Sound’s stark and frigid yang. The album is dominated throughout with muddled vocals, quietly buzzing guitars, and minimalist percussion. The culmination is a true masterpiece of ambient atmospheric pop. Tracks like “Red Oak Way” and “Different Mirrors” are standout lo-fi classics, while others like “Quicksand” and “What Grows” flirt with surf rock and jazz influence, respectively. Balancing out these more straight forward tunes are more eclectic numbers like the slow-burning “Whiteout” and more experimental title track, while closer “A Threaded Needle” almost brings to mind an 80’s new wave influence. Overall this album is an absolute must-have for Deerhunter fans, and will also appeal to a lot of folks who are on the fence about Pundt’s primary band as well. With tracks that are complex enough to stand on their own yet effortless enough to serve as background music, The Floodlight Collective is destined to be a soundtrack for intimate house parties, lazy afternoon barbecues, and days spent lounging at the beach all summer long.
An album that all of us here at Citizen Dick have been eagerly awaiting is the third release from the St. Louis quartet So Many Dynamos, titled The Loud Wars. Originally slated for an April 7th release date on Vagrant Records, the band’s touring schedule has pushed that date back all the way until June 9th. No need to fret though, because earlier this week the band and their label threw us a bone by releasing the lead single, “New Bones”, to tide us over for a bit while we wait it out. The rollicking 5-minute dance punk anthem offers more than a glimpse of the album to come, showing hints of influence from pioneers of the genre such as Q and not U, The Faint, and The Rapture while breathing their own brand of fresh air into the formula. Guitars shimmying and synthesizers squealing, “New Bones” is destined to be a dance floor anthem in hipster bars across the country and should have you salivating for the rest of this gem of an album. Not to make you too jealous or anything, but I have had the pleasure of listening to the whole thing and can tell you first hand that it does not disappoint. We promise to bring you the type of full-on review that you have come to expect from us a bit closer to the release date, so prepare yourselves.
Pre-order or buy So Many Dynamos at Insound!
It’s hard to take an artist seriously when he performs the entire soundtrack to a Hugh Grant movie, unless that artist happens to be Damon Gough, better known as Badly Drawn Boy. Though at times Gough’s work can be polarizing, it is hard to deny the beauty of his 2000 debut album, The Hour of Bewilderbeast. Spanning genres from jazz to funk and everything in between, the album is ripe with catchy hooks and brilliant songwriting. The crowning jewel of the album in my mind is track number two, “Everybody’s Stalking”. I still remember the first time I heard this song as a senior in college, and after rediscovering it earlier this week it holds up as well today as it did nine years ago. Dark and expansive, it is undeniably catchy, well written, and touching: the kind of song that sticks with you for days after hearing it. Lyrics like “don’t wanna rain on your procession, only seeking your obsession” are equal parts haunting and beautiful and sum up the feelings the track evokes. With lo-fi keyboards, guitars, and vocals coming together seamlessly as a single melody, “Everybody’s Stalking” is a near perfect example of what a songwriter’s song should be.
Badly Drawn Boy – “Everybody’s Stalking”
Buy Badly Drawn Bot at Insound!
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