Weekly Roundup For The Week Of 2/4/19

Album Of The Week:(TIE):

Panda Bear-Buoys(Domino)

Genre: Neo Psychedelia, Folktronica, Psychedelic Pop

Sounds Like: Panda Bear, The Beach Boys, Animal Collective

There is a recent trend of the past few years that is very annoying and seemingly came out of nowhere. The trend is Animal Collective hate. Their music and surrounding solo albums have not changed very much at all in their sound or execution, yet critics and fans alike are dropping like flies. Maybe, in terms of the critics, the members of Animal Collective are late on their secret back alley annual payment to the PR monsters that control the industry. I'm not really sure where it's coming from but there seems to be a lot of backlash to the wonderful music these 4 guys made and currently make. So in that vein, I have to mention that this album above has been getting some pretty(in my book) unfair critical backlash. This has to be one of the freshest most interesting directions any member of the Animal Collective crew has taken. By pairing down his songs to very few elements you are really able to see Noah Lennox's songcraft shine. His melodies and voice(my favorite part) are pushed to the front of the mix. The instrumentation is heavy on the subwoofer bass and heavy on Sung Tongs era acoustic guitar(he played the same guitar in the same key for this album as that one). This is a great chilled out album and I feel sad for the ears of the old fans who just don't seem to get it anymore. More for me I guess!

Xiu Xiu-Girl With Basket Of Fruit(Polyvinyl)

Genre: Post Industrial, Experimental, Death Industrial, Ritual Ambient, Experimental Rock, Electroacoustic

Sounds Like: Black Dice, Throbbing Gristle, Liars, The Pop Group, EXTREME Xiu Xiu, Shit & Shine

Xiu Xiu was getting somewhat stale in my book for years up until this point. I was getting a little tired of the high art nonsense going on and the over dramatic songwriting. This is such a nice surprise. This is such an amazing departure from what came before while still retaining my favorite parts that made me fall in love with Xiu Xiu in the first place many years ago. They have embraced insane electronics. The mixing of samples, analog instruments and voice is completely off the rails this time around. This is industrial music made very fun and serious at the same time. The lyrics are completely insane. I heard mention of frog buttholes and someone using their floppy boob to waft away someone else's B.O. Super weird shit. Their music this time around is all the better for it. Let's hope they continue this insane new trajectory they are on for many years to come.

Calva Louise-Rhinoceros(Modern Sky UK)

Genre: Power Pop, Noise Pop, Indie Rock, Neo Psychedelia

Michael Chapman-True North(Paradise Of Bachelors)

Genre: Contemporary Folk, Psychedelic Folk

Flat Worms-Into The Iris EP(God?)

Genre: Post Punk, Garage Punk

Cass McCombs-Tip Of The Sphere(Anti-)

Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Folk Rock, Psychedelic Folk, Psychedelic Rock

Mercury Rev-Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited(Partisan)

Genre: Alt Country, Dream Pop, Chamber Pop

Jessica Pratt-Quiet Signs(Mexican Summer)

Genre: Contemporary Folk, Singer/Songwriter, Psychedelic Folk, Chamber Folk

Tullycraft-The Railway Prince Hotel(Happy Happy Birthday To Me)

Genre: Indie Pop, Twee Pop, Indie Rock