REVIEWS

WYLD WYZRDZ / STAG HARE – ANTELOPE ISLAND (INNER ISLANDS, 2010)

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Tome favorites Braden J. McKenna (WYLD WYZRDS/Navigator/Mario Kart/Sleepover/Weighted Pines) and Garrick Biggs (Stag Hare) have quit the fine state of deseret for the greener forests and friendlier politics of Portland. Sad to see them go but in their wake they have left a fitting tribute to the bone dry SLC valley with Antelope Island. Antelope Island is awesome, both the …

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ROMAN RUINS – RELEASING ME / YOUR HOUSE 7″

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New music from Beach House/Papercuts drummer, Graham Hill. Wonderful pulsing synths and washes of shimmering vocal melodies pushed waaay back in the mix. Plus, the electronic-funk freakout towards the end of the track that stops the song dead in its tracks is reappropriated into the backbone of the song, bolstering the already mile-deep percussion. Pretty exciting stuff. Ryan …

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ROGER, ROLL – POLAROID IN REVERSE (HOT CONGRESS, 2010)

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Maybe it is because I am sick and can only stick with a single thought for a few seconds, but I really think that Westword writer and Tome contributer Tom Murphy said it best when he wrote,  Much of Roger, Roll’s material conjures the sun streaming through the clouds after a mid-spring rainstorm and that ineffable sense of renewal. But there …

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TOTAL SLACKER – CRYSTAL NECKLACE (IMPOSE, 2010)

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Apparently, according to Crawf, Total Slacker absolutely killed it at this year’s SXSW, blowing his preconceptions of what a self-descriptive and self-limiting band with the name “Total Slacker” is capable of. While I am probably just letting Crawf steal my review, here is a description of their live show: TOTAL SLACKER. Here’s a band whose name really …

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RICH BENNETT – ON HOLIDAY (HIDDEN SHOAL, 2010)

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In 2008 Rich Bennett made music for underwater supermarkets (See: Music For Underwater Supermarkets). The idea, much like Eno’s classic Music for Airports, was to hijack the decidedly pedestrian muzak piped into supermarkets and elevators (the long polyester arm of capitalism) and filter it through the murky gauze of childhood memories centered around shopping. Bennett is no stranger …

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EVAN CAMINITI – WEST WINDS (THREE LOBED, 2010)

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Evan Caminiti, who also makes music in a band by the name of Barn Owl, has created this year’s ultimate must-have recording. Not “one of.” This is required listening/experiencing/loving/living/dying music. Not only is it stunningly beautiful, but it’s also the most viscerally visual. West Winds is violent landscapes, soaring eagles, burrowing wildlife, all represented in monstrously crunchy guitar feedback …

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SUUNS – ZEROES EP (SECRETLY CANADIAN, 2010)

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A first listen of Suun’s debut EP can be frustratingly misleading. While there may be some merit to labeling Suuns as a band desperately reaching for the minimal-terrorist throne that Clinic, Suicide, Can have been occupying nigh in the yonder heavens. There certainly is plenty of ammunition for this idea. The first  mangled synthesizer bleating on album opener “Disappearance …

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YELLOW OSTRICH – FADE CAVE EP (SELF-RELEASED, 2010)

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The great and wonderful Kennel District shared this amazing artist with me just a few short weeks ago, starting with the jaw-droppingly beautiful Fade Cave EP, and already Wayne, Maine native and recent New York transplant Alex Schaaf (a.k.a. Yellow Ostrich) has released two more EP’s in its wake for your listening enjoyment—a collection of songs inspired by Morgan Freeman’s wikipedia page (which …

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