Veruca Salt’s Eight Arms to Hold You is my personal apotheosis of mainstream-leaning female-fronted alterna rock. Beyond the honey/tabasco combo of Nina Gordon and Louise Post’s voices, the magic is in how its weaknesses reinforces each other: Gordon’s and Post’s writing, trending toward sappiness and tunelessness respectively, are unexpectedly redeemed by Bob Rock’s hamfisted metalhead production.

I mention this because my judgment in this area is a little suspect. If something pushes my “Eight Arms” button (and this does — the repeated “I know” chorus lead-in of “Kiss Me” even specifically recalls the repeated “I know” leading into the refrain of Veruca Salt’s “Awesome,” although that’s probably a happy accident) I may overlook flaws that would otherwise bug me.

This has a few too many songs with carefully non-specific lyrics, but it also has “Cigarettes” with the rather surprising phrase, “I might run home and kill all my friends.” Abisha Uhl delivers that line off-handedly, not nümetal like she means it, which makes even better (in general I prefer her singing when she’s not pushing her voice hard, as on this track). If I were mixing the record I would have opted for a little more crunch versus chime in the guitars, but this also has a some slightly dark, pop-goth seasoning here and there (like scarling., say) which I don’t mind either.

Guilty pleasure? Maybe. Probably. But a pleasure, all the same.

The Ackleys (2005); Forget Forget, Derive Derive (EP, 2006)
Indie-power-pop. Splashy drums, some keyboards give it a slightly new-wave sheen.

as King Everything:

The Drought (2008)
Mostly acoustic guitar/vocal

with P.S. Eliot:

The Bike Wreck Demo (2008, read about Bike Wreck demo here), Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds (2009), Living in Squalor (EP, 2010, pay-what-you-want download), Sadie (2011)

Except for the demo, which is crazy blissed out fuzzerific, this is straight up pop-punk. If you have to play the sounds-like game, maybe try Sarge, but since you can at least sample some guilt-free, don’t bother playing sounds-like; just listen & decide for yerself.

with Bad Banana:

Crushfield (2010; artist-approved download (mediafire))

Treble and sugar overdose low-fi buzz saw pop-punk. Yum.

as Waxahatchee:

Split release with Operation Cliff Clavin (2010)

Severely-traumatized-microphone-style acoustic guitar/vocal record. If not for the Internets, I’d still be wondering if “Clumsy” was a tune on one of the KRS Elliott Smith albums that I’d somehow overlooked due to its proximity to all the other awesome songs on those records. A thing about Crutchfield’s singing and production: it hasn’t, ’specially lately, fetishized clarity or anything, so a thing that happens a lot is I’ll be digging a tune basically just because it’s catchy and a really good lyric line will just jump out and floor me. So it’s helpful that the lyrics for the Waxahatchee split are available.

(Also on the read-the-words tip: Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds)

Except for Sadie, which is not out yet and now near the top of my “most anticipated releases” list, I think I listened to everything on this list as least twice this week. So, yeah, I endorse this.

h/t I Could Die Tomorrow, without whom my week woulda been a little duller

Not entirely dissimilar recordings are sold as relaxation aids, not as music, but labeling this recording as music — and giving it the formal length of almost exactly one hour — invites the listener to look for the things we expect in music: motifs, variation, repetition: structure. The length of the piece doesn’t make it easy to determine how structured it is: there are discontinuities of volume, but do they follow long crescendos? It’s hard to say. Was that car perhaps the same car from ten minutes ago? The listener can also look for structure at the micro scale. We don’t usually think of cicadas or grasshoppers or whatever they are in terms of notes and chords, but it’s certainly possible to transcribe them as such.* And there’s also the “4:33″-ish dimension: by nature, Galaxies will interact with the sound in your listening environment, so, arguably, you can’t hear it exactly the same way twice.**

Giving the piece the title “Galaxies” further invites the listener to look for meaning in the soundscape and/or the selection/structuring of it. Is Asano making a statement about the quantity and diversity of life? Or perhaps about how closely examined things reveal complexities of structure not originally apparent? (Points of light become pinwheels of points of light & so on.)

With pieces like this I can also rarely discount the possibility that playing a joke on the audience is an aspect of the work (to a greater or lesser degree), but Galaxies has another interesting meta dimension: it’s the product of a prolific artist — Asano’s 44th album — but it follows a several year drought between releases, which might suggest that Asano finds it particularly important (or worked particularly hard and long at the creative decisions it embodies).

Galaxies is well outside my comfort zone and musical expertise. I can’t say I get it, or even that I enjoyed it. But I did find it very thought-provoking, and I’m not sorry I devoted an hour to it.

Asano makes it uncommonly easy to experience his work, if you’re so inclined: You can download his entire catalog at Koji Asano.com.

* this sort of reasoning always makes me think of a science fiction/fantasy story that made an enormous impression on youngun-me called (I think) “Rites of Spring” (or maybe “The Rite of Spring”) that started out with the unbalanced scientist protagonist decoding a message in the pattern of raindrops hitting his windshield. The Internets have not helped me track it down. Apparently it was not published in F&SF as I thought.

** True of all music taken to extremes, I suppose, but much more evident here than in a 3-minute pop song.

In Pellet Gun’s hands the song is almost-but-not-quite unrecognizable without the lyric. The slightly sneery talk-sung vocal recalls Henry Rollins (especially on “Slip It In”) or Big Black’s Albini, with just a dash of the brilliant, demented disrespect Artie Sinatra brought to Dinosaur Jr’s covers of Young’s “Lotta Love” and The Byrd’s “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better.” The sheer quantity of guitar noise reminded me of Book of Knot’s magnificent deconstruction of “The Ballad of John Henry” from Traineater, but although both tracks are amply spiky, “John Henry” lurches, but “Rock and Roll” drives.

I really want to hear more from this band and/or the people in it, but the album credits only have this to say about Pellet Gun: Eric, Guitar; Dave: Bass; Brian: Drums. Any additional info would be appreciated. The only “Pellet Gun” I can find on the Internetubes is an Arkansan blues/funk/rock act — very clearly not them.

Against Me! – White Crosses
Anika – Anika
Big Kids – Hoop Dreams
The Black Kites – Songs Written While Things Were Changing
Break the Habit – The Last Songs (EP)
Brilliant Colors/Girls Names – I Lose/You Win (single)
Dolph Chaney – Originals: Gumshoe Koalannon (single)
Cold Electrics – Y’Know, for Charity
Daughters – Daughters
Delays – Star Tiger Star Ariel
Dom – Sun Bronzed Greek Gods
Dum Dum Girls – Stiff Little Fingers (single)
Full of Fancy – Liquid Nature + The Singles
The Gifted Children – Christmas 2010
Girls Names – You Should Know By Now (EP)
Karkwa – Les Chemins de Verre
Life Partner – Cats (EP), Oil Drink
Manwomanchild – Manwomanchild
Mayflower – Second Best Sunsets
No Friends – Traditional Failures (EP)
No Joy – Ghost Blonde, No Joy (EP)
On/Fennesz – Something that has Form and Something that does Not
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – History of Modern
Parlour – Simulacrenfield
Reign of Kindo – This is What Happens
The Rum Diary – Retrospective 2000-2007
Seeland – How to Live
The Shores – Coup de Grace
Testa Rosa – II
Thousandaires – Million Dollar Movie, Two Dollar Shot
Martina Tobley-Bird – Some Place Simple
The Universal Thump – Chapter One (EP), Chapter Two (EP)
Unwelcome Guests – Don’t Go Swimming
Various Artists – The World Won’t Spin Forever
Weekend – Sports
Wildbirds & Peacedrums – Rivers
Xasthur – Portal of Sorrow

27 – Brittle Divinity
Agony Aunts – Greater Miranda
The Agony Family – Yourself United
Aloud – Exile
Andrew Jackson Jihad/The Gun Shy – split EP
The Arrivals – Volatile Molotov
Artichokes – Bees
Bad Religion – The Dissent of Man
Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh
B E L L S ≥ – There Are Crashes (EP)
Broken Water – Whet
Hannis Brown – Oh Ah Ee
Bunny’s a Swine – Literal Breakfast (EP)
Butterknife – onetworeadygo.
Coma Cinema – Stoned Alone
Cuffs – 4 track demos (EP)
Defiance, Ohio – Midwestern Minutes
Thomas Dolby – Amerikana (EP), Oceana (EP)
Max Eider – Disaffection
Erase Errata – Damaged (single)
Extra Life – Made Flesh
Family Fodder – Classical Music
Fellow Project/Go Sell Drugs – split
Frazey Ford – Obadiah
Fresh Coats – A Train Wreck Named Desire
Gang of Four – Free EP
Giant Sand – Blurry Blue Mountain
Girl Talk – All Day
House Boat – Processing Complaints
I Am Un Chien!! – Don’t Shoot My Little Baby (single)
Insect Guide – Bats (single)
Idlewild – Younger than America (single)
Johnny Foreigner – You Thought You Saw (EP)
Johnny Foreigner/Stagecoach – Big Love In (split single)
Tim Lee 3 – Raucuous Americanus
Maserati – Pyramids of the Sun
Elizabeth Mitchell – Sunny Day
My First Earthquake – Crush
Old 97’s – The Grand Theatre, Volume One
Palmdale – How to Be Mean (EP)
The Parting Gifts – Strychnine Dandelions
Mia Riddle – Ticonderoga (EP)
My Terrible Friend – Room for Ghosts (EP)
Robyn – Body Talk Pt. 1
Rumspringer – Empty Towers
Run with the Kittens – Myth in the Sky (EP)
RVIVR – Dirty Water (EP)
Shellshag – Rumors in Disguise
Shuteye Unison – Our Future Selves
Shy Mirrors – Reactors (EP)
Spottiswoode & His Enemies – Wild Goosechase Expedition
Stagecoach – Crash My Ride (EP)
Street Chant – Means
This Blue Heaven – Spinning and Shining (EP)
Tiny Fireflies – Holding Patterns (EP)
Travels – Robber on the Run
The Corin Tucker Band – 1,000 Years
Various Artists – Punknews.org presents The Fest 9: A Compilation
Billy Wallace and the Virginia Blues – Learning Things
Watch Out For Rockets – Telepathic War Machine (EP)
Weezer – Death to False Metal, Hurley
White Lung – White Lung, Atlanta (single)
Dar Williams – Many Great Companions
Young & Old – Live at Hillstock 2010
Zach Hill – Face Tat

27 – Louder than Words
The 88 – The 88
Abe Vigoda – Crush
Big Eyes – Demo 7″
Big Soda – Paper Route (EP)
Big Surr – Miss You Most (EP)
Brilliant Colors – Walk into the World (single)
British Sea Power – Zeus (EP)
The Brother Kite – Isolation
Jim Bryson & the Weakerthans – The Falcon Lake Incident
Campaign – It Likes to Party
Cast of Glee – Rocky Horror Glee Show
Cattle Drums – The Boy Kisser Sessions (EP)
Cinema Red and Blue – Cinema Red and Blue
City of Ships – Three Mile Bridge (single)
The Cold Beat – Get Safe
Daytrader – Demo (EP)
Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
Eternal Summers – Silver
The Extra Lens – Undercard
FIYA – Magic Words
Lucy Foley – Copenhagen
Forgetters – Forgetters (EP)
Glasser – Ring
Grass Widow – Past Time
Hallogallo – 2010 single
The Hoof & The Heel – Fireworks (EP)
Hussalonia – Through with Music
Klaxons – Surfing the Void
Lifeguards – Product Head
Little Lungs – Living Hell
The Measure [sa] – Notes
Meursault – All Creatures Will Make Merry
Montagna and the Mouth to Mouth – Ultrapolyamorous (single)
Nanobots – Frenetic Genetic/Nearly Human (single)
Night Birds – Killer Waves (single), Night Birds (EP)
No Age – Everything in Between
Nymph – Nymph
Of Montreal – False Priest
The Posies – Blood/Candy
Screaming Females – Castle Talk
Silian Rail _ Parhelion
Marnie Stern – Marnie Stern
Suns – The Howl and the Many (EP), Close Calls in the U.S. Space Program
Surfer Rosa – Killin the Past (EP)
Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
Sharon Van Etten – Epic
Vrgns – Manimal
Wild Nothing – Cloudbusting (single), Golden Haze (EP)
Young Livers – Of Misery and Toil
Neil Young – Le Noise

Sep

The Ambulars – Nothing to Say from Miles Away
Ólöf Arnalds – Innundir Skinni
Azure Ray – Drawing Down the Moon
The Back Pockets – Blissters N Basements
Blonde Redhead – Penny Sparkle
Boston Spaceships – Our Cubehouse Still Rocks
BXI – Boris & Ian Astbury (EP)
Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel – Eyas (EP)
Chocolate Genius Incorporated – Swansongs
Cloud Cult – Light Chasers
Dan Padilla – As the Ox Plows
Death Culture at Sea – God Loves Lola (EP)
The Drums – The Drums
Dungen – Skit I Allt
Elf Power – Elf Power
Field Mouse – You Are Here
Film School – Fission
Four Tet – There Is Love in You
Free Energy – Stuck on Nothing
Bill Frisell – Beautiful Dreamer
The Gamits – Parts
The Gifted Children – Please Freeze Me
Go Rydell – The Golden Age (EP)
Angie Heaton – Time Takes Time (EP)
Hussalonia – The Rock and Roll Rebuttal
Interpol – Interpol
Japandroids – Younger Us (single)
JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys – Fidelity!
Land of Talk – Cloak and Cipher
LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
Les Savvy Fav – Root for Ruin
Liechtenstein – Passion for Water (single)
Margot & the Nuclear So & So’s – Buzzard
Megafaun – Heretofore
Memoryhouse – The Years (EP)
Frankie Rose and the Outs – Frankie Rose and the Outs
The Saddest Landscape – You Will Not Survive
Mavis Staples – You Are Not Alone
Suckers – Wild Smile
Superchunk – Majesty Shredding
Sweethead – Sweethead
The Thermals – Personal Life
Thinking Machines – Work Tapes
Kate Tucker – White Horses
John Vanderslice – Green Grow the Rushes (EP)
Various Artists – Musical Chairs
Various Artists – Wish I’d Kept a Scrapbook
The Vaselines – Sex with an X
We Were Skeletons – We Were Skeletons
Winterpills – Tuxedo of Ashes (EP)

The Gifted Children is the latest absurdly prolific/ridiculously good independent act to catch my ear. Like previous finds The Capstan Shafts and Hussalonia, The Gifted Children have a handful of GbV-on-their-sleeve moments, but overall they’re much less off-the-cuff and more varied than the Capstan Shafts. And where Hussalonia mastermind Jesse Menk is almost willful in his eclecticism — sometimes he seems to be daring fans to like everything he’s done, from the not-completely-ironic heavy metal EP to the recent all Steely Dan covers EP — The Gifted Children’s sonic exploration seems more organic and cohesive. Anyway, after dipping my toe in with a recent EP, I plunged into the (beautifully packaged) Building Your Lo-Fi Shelter box set, and by the end of the first disc — featuring songs named after an F. Scott Fitzgerald novella and a Star Wars villain — I was already a completist. Not necessarily a reason to listen, but cool: The cover of the newest release Please Freeze Me looks really good next to the cover the new Superchunk album:

Speaking of Hussalonia, 8 of the 12 projected releases for this year are available at this writing, with the choose-your-own-tracklist, tightly knit Attention Deficit Disorder perhaps being the most impressive, but with the quality bar high throughout. And the Steely Dan thing, bewilderingly, is a winner.

Speaking of Superchunk, holy crap. I’d come to terms with the notion that Portastatic (which had after all gotten much more focused/rocking than its early days) was going to be Mac’s main gig from now on. Then I was telling myself the album wouldn’t live up to the teaser tracks. Um, wrong.

I had this tiresome riff about how almost always prefer bands on “unhappy” drugs (like sobriety or heroin) to bands on “happy” drugs (like marijuana or evangelism). But any stupid rule has to have exceptions, and Watch out for Rockets, I’m just guessing here, is one of them. Their “Shaman Shit” EP (it hurts to type it, but not listen to it) is available as a free download. I even like the song with the crazy ping-pong stereo effect (”Duuuuuuude….”) but what knocks me out is their ability to channel Black Sabbath and GbV in the same song.

I wrote about Good Luck already. I’ve been digging up through their family tree — Abe Froman, Mt. Gigantic, Matty Pop Chart, et al — and I’ve been seeking out mass quantities of vaguely similar and/or tangentially related pop punk from the likes of The Challenged, The Gamits, The Measure (SA), and Delay.

I’ve enjoyed a lot of music from donation-based net labels like If You Make It and Quote Unquote Records. But on If You Make It you can often see the donations received by some of the records, which is depressing, since most of the figures wouldn’t fill the gas tank of a touring band.

I don’t know a whole lot of people who like screamo, and even I like it in small doses, and generally prefer it when there’s some singing to counterbalance the screaming. So part of my reaction to The Saddest Landscape’s new You Will Not Survive is that I want to sit the singer down with some honey/lemon tea. But the rest of my reaction is pretty much WOARGH! What it lacks in vocal dynamics it makes up for in varied and intriguing arrangements, and the sound of recording knocks me out. “Clarity” and “presence” and “Loudasalleffinhellness.”