Review: A Sunny Day in Glasgow: Autumn Again [B]

Artist: A Sunny Day in Glasgow
Album: Autumn, Again
Released: Oct, 2010
Label: self-published
Genre: dream pop / indie rock

Purchase Date: 29 Nov 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: Amazon

I had never heard of this band from Philadelphia, but their album showed up as a free download from Amazon, so I thought I'd give it a try. The music is somewhere between alt rock and ambient dream pop, and is very nice. This is yet another band with a male and a female vocalist who trade off the lead and harmonize, which is a format I tend to fall for. The songs are catchy, with a hint of the currently-in-vogue '60s girl-group vibe, and the lyrics are clever. On the down side, this album includes many of the tropes of the current hipster sound. When a track from this album pops up on my iTunes party mix, I can immediately tell it's from the past two or three years, but can't put my finger on the artist.

While it didn't knock my socks off, I liked this, and I'm glad I took a chance on them.

Rating: B

Listen to "How Does Somebody Say When They Like You?"

Album listing at Amazon

Album listing at eMusic

Review: Beach House: Teen Dream [B+]

Artist: Beach House
Album: Teen Dream
Released: January 2010
Label: Sub Pop
Genre: Dream Pop

Purchase date: 02 November 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: eMusic

This album had been out for almost a year before it caught my attention. One of the great things about other critics' annual "Best Of" lists is that you find out about so many artists and albums that you had missed the first time around. One critic (I think it was Robin Hilton of NPR) called November and December the absolute best months for music discovery for that reason.

Anyway, the previous album from this duo from Baltimore (2008's Devotion) just didn't do a lot for me at the time. I had bought it based solely on the good reviews from other critics I trust, but I didn't understand the hype. So, I passed on Teen Dream when it came out.

In early summer, Beach House played live for Sound Opinions, and then NPR streamed a live concert, and then a bunch of critics put Teen Dream on their "Best of 2010" lists, so I thought I would give them another shot. I bought it as my last album ever under eMusic's older (and better) download policy. (More on my opinion of eMusic.)

Much to my surprise, I really liked this album. It's moody dream pop with some catchy hooks and lovely vocals, and is much more upbeat than their previous release. Honestly, I tend to listen to this album as an album and individual tracks don't really stand out, but the whole thing is has a quiet dreamy beauty that's hard not to like

Rating: B+

Listen to "Zebra"

Album listing on Amazon

Album listing on eMusic

Review: Blonde Redhead: Penny Sparkle [B-]

Artist: Blonde Redhead

Album: Penny Sparkle

Released: September 2010

Label: 4AD

Genre: Dream Pop / Shoegaze

Purchase date: 01 November 2010

Format: mp3 files

Source: eMusic

The eighth full-length album from these veteran international New York-based indie rockers, Penny Sparkle sees the band take fewer chances and move toward an antiseptic electronic chill-out vibe. While it mostly works, Penny Sparkle lacks the balance between zoning and rocking that their brilliant 2007 album 23 seemed to get perfectly. It's also a move away from their driving, layered, bendy-guitar shoegaze roots (à la My Bloody Valentine) and more toward quieter trippy electronic dream pop (more akin to Beach House). While I appreciate that the band is playing with its sound a bit, it seem to me that Penny Sparkle is an entire album that sounds very much like what I had considered the slower, weaker tracks of 23. It's worth a listen, but if you are expecting the power and resonance of 23, you'll probably be a bit disappointed.

Rating: B-

Listen to "Everything Is Wrong"

Album listing on Amazon

Album no longer available at eMusic

Vintage Review: Galaxie 500: Today [B+]

Artist: Galaxie 500

Album: Today

Released: 1988

Label: Domino Records

Genre: dream pop

Purchase date: 7 June 2010

Format: mp3 files

Source: eMusic

I was very excited when I heard that Domino Records was re-releasing the three studio albums of the late-'80s dream pop act Galaxie 500. I had been a bit of a fan back in the day, and I still have a very worn-out cassette copy of this album that actually managed not to get eaten by my '83 Dodge Omni's terrible cassette player.

Named for the lead singer's car (a 1971 Ford Galaxie 500), the band was a Boston-based trio that formed in 1987 and released three albums before breaking up in 1991. Their sound owes a great deal to The Velvet Underground, including laid-back rhythms, droning guitars, and half-spoken, half-sung vocals. They were one of the bands of the era that set the stage for the slowcore music movement of the '90s.

Today was the band's 1988 debut album. Standout tracks are "Flowers," "Tugboat," and "King of Spain." I really like this music both as something mellow to play in the background, and as a headphones album. Hearing this album again was a great blast from the past, and it did hold up for me after all those years.

Rating: B+

Live version of "Tugboat" from 1989.

Album listing on Amazon

Album listing on eMusic

Review: Wye Oak: The Knot [B+]

Artist: Wye Oak
Album: The Knot
Released: July 2009
Label: Merge Records
Genre: indie folk/dream pop

Purchase date: 07 Jan 2010
Source: emusic.com

Wye Oak is a Baltimore-based duo, with Andy Stack on drums, keyboards, and harmony vocals; and Jenn Wasner on guitar and lead vocal. On their sophomore album The Knot, the band spins an exquisitely gorgeous, dense, dreamy sound around somewhat simple melodies and melancholy lyrics. This album is all about experiencing the sound-- a mesmerizing, droning, beautiful sound that I found extremely arresting. I sometimes put music on in the background while I'm doing something else, and while this music doesn't demand your attention, you will suddenly find yourself lost in its lushness. On the downside, the band doesn't try all that hard to distinguish one track from another, and there is no sense of motion. However, in the moment, the music is wonderful.

Listen to "Take It In"

Listing on eMusic

Listing on Amazon

Rating: B+