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A weekly review of local and national releases
Canada’s Martha and the Muffins came to prominence back in 1980 with their hit single ‘Echo Beach’. It was their only hit over here but one of the group’s albums Danseparc is being re-released. Unique sounding, their Talking Heads style off-beat new wave and punk funk is quite experimental in places, and works well throughout the album. A lost treasure being resurrected, from an unlikely source.
James Lavelle and Pablo Clements aka UNKLE are known for their marriage of audio and visuals, this time spilling over into End Titles… Stories for Film, a collection of recordings made with various collaborators including Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Chris Goss, James Patralli of White Denim, Abel Ferrera, Black Mountain and Gavin Clarke. Moody, filmic stuff throughout. Too long though, at over 80 minutes.
Signed to the same indie label as the magnificent Yeasayer, Baltimore’s Ponytail encapsulate a far more raucous sound on their record Ice Cream Spiritual than the polished soundscapes of their label-mates. Crashing, grungy guitars smash into each other as yelping, squawking vocals balance delicately on top of this teetering mass of noise. Beneath it all, though, insanely catchy moments of guitar pogo-pop lurk with childish exuberance, suggesting where the band’s name came from. At first, dense and willfully abstract, repeated listens reveal a pounding, brilliant heart at Ponytail’s core.
A collection of out-of-print singles (cleverly entitled Singles 06-07) by former frontman of The Reatards and Lost Sounds, Jay Reatard, has just been released. Borrowing more than a little from The Ramones, this second solo release by the charismatic vocalist is an incredibly infectious collection of hard-edge pop-punk. Every track’s solid gold as one of the best unsung musical heroes around keeps churning out quality tunes.
Revered singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith has been releasing heartfelt and melodic albums since his major label debut in 1995. You always get some quality songs with Ron, and Exit Strategy of the Soul contains a number of gems, once again employing his melancholic Van Morrison-esque voice to generally unfussy songs, that float along pleasantly enough.
Old school electro hip hop is back in the form of The Cool Kids. The ghost of Mantronix, Run DMC, Tone Loc et al, has been resurrected via the very minimal tinny beats and throbbing synth basslines of Chuck English and Mikey Rocks. While The Bake Sale is another retro retread that seems to indicate a lack of original ideas, there can be no denying this is a fantastically conceived project, and which contains, in true old school style, very few naughty words.
Finally Rosa Rex and Katy Klaw get around to releasing their Spare Parts EP under the name Peggy Sue and the Pictures (instead of The Pirates), four tracks that demonstrate their inner teen angst, brought out even more by the oh-oh-oh style singing á la Kate Nash and Regina Spektor. Lo-fi, folkpunk flavourings.
