Local Releases

Muscle Hawk

The Speed of Dark EP

Self-released

Street: 01.28

Muscle Hawk= Justice + Ratatat +
Chromeo

This band is fucking hot to trot.
Two guys on synths/computers
plus one lady on the drums formulates
the perfect combination for a
dance party. There is a reason one
of their songs is called "Cocaine,"
because MH is audio base. A
little baking soda, some shiny foil,
irresistible beats and some live
bass guitar (for taste) makes this
some of the purest dance rock
around. Sorry to mix crack and
freebase metaphors, but you get it.
These motherfuckers are cooking
up at 100 percent pure. I can’t
say enough positives, so I will let
your ears do the listening and your
head the bopping. Pick this up if
you like to get out of your gourd
and shake it epileptic.

Trouble on the Prairie

Virgins Pastors and Other
Disasters

Self-Released

Street: 02.30.09

Trouble on the Prairie= Shelley
Short + Band of Annuals + Mirah

Minimalist percussion and plaintively
delivered vocals make this
release one of the most haunting
local pieces I’ve heard in a while.
Band members Big Red and Little
Fran create a lot of atmosphere
with only some sparse acoustic
guitar, a shaker, a tambourine on
some songs and a small drum kit
on others. I inherently respect the
desire to have just two instruments
on a song if the songwriting can
fill in the gaps, but I also think that
there is something to be said for a
bass in this case, even if it’s just on
studio tracking. If there is one on
most of these tracks, I didn’t hear
it. In addition to bass, I say include
a pillow with this EP because,
barring the last track and "secret"
song, it’s yawn inducing.

National Releases

I.U.D.
The Proper Sex
The Social Registry
Street: 03.24

I.U.D. = Growing + Gang Gang Dance
The
dream combination of Sadie Laska of Growing and Gang Gang Dance’s Liz
Bougatsos reads as a no-brainer collabo. But it’s a tad different than
you might expect from the pedigree of this group. I.U.D. is dark and
brooding. Some of this shit is really sonically bizarre but entrancing
at the same time. "Please let me in," a sampled line from some
frightful movie, is replayed under Liz’s iconic reverberating vocals
and some industrial beats on "Monk Hummer," creating an altogether
disturbing vibe. But it’s good. Not party music but something for the
more depressed side of your manic depression or something to play at a
wine-tasting in Brooklyn for you hip fucks. I say more Gang Gang, less
Growing next time, please.

Reigns
The House on the Causeway
Monotreme Records

Street: 03.17

Reigns = Ready Aim Fire + Forest for the Trees + Tosca
This
album is good enough to not be easily defined. It has touches of
modernity in its instrumentation (very electronic) but harks back to a
simpler time in music with additional suspenseful piano-tinkering and
very efficient finger-plucked guitar. The majority of tracks eschew the
use of vocals but they aren’t missed - the structure and craftsmanship
are that engaging. The lyrics are also very interesting: "I am your
father/Please don’t go out there/Everything beyond these walls has been
razed," (cut 4) portrays a post-apocalyptic world where corpses are
picked clean and poison "will take hold if you cross the threshold."
This isn’t for everyone, but I immediately gravitated toward its
neo-new-wave stylings and dire lyricism. The melancholy overall tone
suits the mood for the middle of winter. This is shit to succumb to;
don’t fight it, you will only suffocate all the faster.

––by JP