British musician Richard Youngs has released over 60 albums (half of them solo) over the past 20 years.  Have you heard of him?  Probably not.  How can an artist so prolific remain so obscure?  By making difficult, experimental, music for one’s own amusement.  Apparently one of his friends “dared” him to record a “proper pop album” and Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits was the result.

That knowledge should not serve as a qualification of music contained on this album.  It is a strange collection of songs but it sounds exactly as it should: indie pop music as interpreted by a shy experimental musician.  Youngs’ warbly voice sails shakily over minimalist electronic music that captures the current indie-popscape well.  While he doesn’t succeed in creating a “proper pop album” he has managed to craft a very listenable album that gets stronger with each listen.

First of all, the name of this band is misleading.  There are no men involved and the music is the opposite of rough and savage.  Mountain Man is 3 women from Vermont singing pure folk songs in close harmony, either a cappella or accompanied by a single acoustic guitar.

The first thing I thought about when I was listening to this album was the scene in O, Brother Where Art Thou when the 3 heroes are seduced by the dulcet sounds of the 3 singing water nymphs.  ”Go to sleep little baby…”  Mountain Man make music similar to that.  (I’d love to hear them do a cover of that.)

All three have very strong voices and they blend together in a very rich and beautiful way.  What impressed me the most is that all of these songs are performed live.  No multi-track.  They recorded the album in an abandoned ice cream factory and it sounds like they just set up a microphone in the middle of the room and went for it.  This gives the album a more intimate feel (you can hear them breathing, whispering before the song begins) which complements the close, almost sacred, nature of their harmonizing voices.  (In fact, the lyrics for one track, Babylon, are taken from one of the Psalms).

It is clear that these three women have a very close relationship – they are seen all holding hands in some videos and photos.  I doubt they could achieve the level of harmonization and blend if they were not quite fond of each other.  That being said, this music is uniquely feminine as it is birthed from that close bond that can only exist between women (I guess?).  So, part of me feels like an awestruck stranger on the outside listening in while another part of me envies that connection and wishes to be a part of that beautiful sound.

Mountain Man “Honeybee” for Yours Truly [part 2 of 3] from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

I have no love for surf music and little patience for doo-wop. 1960s girl band pop makes me cranky.  I do not like cats.  So, I began listening to this album fully intending to dislike it.

From the first track, “Boyfriend”, though, I discovered that this lo-fi duo had hit upon a nearly perfect balance of sun drenched beats, reverberating guitars, and sweet, straight-ahead, and EARNEST  vocals.   Yes, there are some musical allusions to some of my aforementioned disliked musical styles but they are just that – allusions.  Best Coast isn’t attempting to be a revival act; they are working in a tried and true pop framework.  Short, simple, instantly hummable pop songs.  Verse, chorus.  Nothing over 3 minutes.

Singer Cosentino’s girly confessional lyrics are delivered with a candor that neutralizes their syrupy content – my favorite line is in the opener:  ”The other girl is not like me / She’s prettier and skinnier / She has a college degree / I dropped out when I was seventeen / If only I could get her out of the picture / Then he would know how much I want him.”  Her voice is really good, too… the opening of “Our Deal” sound like a spot-0n Neko Case (my crush).  Her vocal harmonies are pleasing.

All this being said, it is possible that the innocent teenage heartache vibe will turn some people off.  Probably people in their teens and 20s who are trying to escape from that phase of their lives.  But, being an older fart, I don’t mind it.  Below is the only video I could find — it’s not the best song on the album but the video is awfully cute.

64 minutes of near-perfect indie pop bliss.  Heartbreaking, uplifting, dreamy, sober… this is Arcade Fire’s most emotionally dynamic record yet.  Listening to The Suburbs in its entirety is akin to watching American Beauty.  You may leave the theater crying but you feel like you’ve grown, somehow.  Believe the hype: this is an amazing record and will most likely be my album of the year.

Below is a fan-made video for the title track.  It encapsulates the overall feel of the album quite well.  Be sure to view the lyrics, too.  They are absolutely dynamite on this record.

Menomena is an eccentric indie music trio who clearly have great musical skill and can come up with some very unique instrumental arrangements. Unfortunately, that combination doesn’t necessarily guarantee great songwriting ability and that is where Mines suffers the most.

Menomena’s music is good but on this album it has a tendency to be too cerebral and too clever to be engaging on a visceral level.   Nothing sticks around long enough to be catchy.  This is frustrating because, intellectually, I should really love this band.

I definitely want to keep listening to this album so I can figure it out.  Something beyond the kneejerk.  I have a feeling this album will grow on me.  There are a couple of songs that really stood out on the first listen, though:  ”Oh Pretty Boy, You’re Such a Big Boy”, “INTIL”, and the opener, “Queen Black Acid”.

Label Frenchkiss has built up quite a solid roster of quality bands and Suckers is another quality addition to the list.  Indie rock fans, rejoice.  This eclectic “art” indie rock done very well.

“Wild Smile” is a surprisingly consistent album and sounds like it could have been recorded by a band that’s been together for years.  Instead, this is a debut album from a band that’s just been together for a bit over 2 years.  That’s impressive.  This will be in many best of ’10 lists at the end of the year for sure.

5 member indie rock band from New Jersey.  Pretty straight forward indie rock masquerading as stadium rock here.  It’s hard not to hear the Springsteen via Arcade Fire influence at times but that is a nice fountain to draw from.  While there is nothing wrong with this album — no tracks stood out as being awful — I came away feeling a little underwhelmed by Steel Train’s lack of distinguishing identity.

Also, and this is crucial, the music sounds like it might be aimed for a much younger audience than me.  Two images kept popping back into my head while I listened: sugary breakfast cereal and youth group.  These guys aren’t pushing any sort of religious agenda that I can hear but, still… youth group.  And hand braided bracelets.  Put those images in your mind and look at the album art.  There you go.

With a Satanic black metal-looking logo, Anal C*nt-sounding song titles (“I Punched a Lion in the Throat”, “I’ve Got Guestlist to Rory O’Hara’s Suicide”), and what appears to be Skeletor holding up a skull on their debut album cover art… I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Pulled Apart By Horses.

What I heard was 30+ minutes of very energetic hardcore (post-hardcore?) punk designed to make the kids slam into each other.  Heavy, stoner metal riffs  with the typical yelp/screech vocal line that is common to the genre.  Their songs are short and have a fun, youthful mischievousness about them that makes them sort of charming.  Nothing groundbreaking or surprising here but PABH has a created a very solid debut that would make fine music to get drunk, get loud, and break stuff to.

We are 30-ish years removed from Suicide, Bauhaus, and all of that nascent darkwave nonsense and here we are today, still having this same breed of music heaved upon us, touted as some sort of revelation.

First, the bad.  The vocals are terrible.  Any amount of distorting you may try or however hard you try to drown the vocals in reverb it still comes across as the weakest link in an already slapdash mess.  They need to either find a different singer or, better yet, cut it with the vocals all together.  Their “songs” do not resemble songs as they have no discernible structure – so why trod upon what could be a serviceable collection of warped synth-scapes?

That being said, now the good.  When Indian Jewelry gets it right (most often when there are no vocals) they make a pretty engaging noise.  I guess this is why they call it “experimental” music – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  ”Excessive Moonlight” (see video below) is a good example of how the instrumental side of IJ works and how the sub-par vocals take away from what could be a stronger song.

Perhaps this music is more powerful if experienced live (I read that they put on quite an interesting show) but on record it is a pretty uneventful ride.

It takes a certain kind of singer-songwriter band to really win me over.  More often than not I quickly grow tired of their self-indulgent navel gazing or their cryptic melange of lyrics that sound like they should mean something but are really just Gordian knots of gibberish.  There are exceptions to this, though, and I Am Kloot is one of them.

This is their 5th studio album but the first one I’ve listened to.  Despite me jumping to a couple of easy comparisons off the bat (I heard some National but that’s because I’ve been listening to National, I heard Al Stewart’s nasally voice which I think singer John Bramwell’s voice sort of sounds like) I was quickly drawn in by the simple but perfectly constructed tunes of this Manchester 3-piece.  Bramwell’s lyrics are refreshingly honest but restrained (hanging on in quiet desperation, etc.) and he has some delicious turns of phrase.

Their music makes me want to drink whiskey.  Something about it is vaguely alcoholic.  Perhaps it is the sense of bittersweet mixed with an overall melancholy.  Not bitter, not angry, but resigned to the heartaches and missteps of life.