Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues 9.0/10 A three year span between their debut record and this one provided us a stronger more confident group who’s soaring harmonies and lush sound have come to define them. Instead of filling every vocal line with a harmony, they seem more calculated and better utilized. The songs themselves still sound distinctly Fleet Foxes, a retro folk, finger picking vibe with upbeat choruses and lush instrumental overdubs. This record sounds like a growing band that is the best at what they do, but who are not quite satisfied with doing the same old records. What is great is that you feel like you are listening to a track that could have been on Led Zeppelin IV (see “Sim Sala Bim) yet it comes across as an homage not a rip off. “Montezuma”, “Helplessnes Blues” and “Grown Ocean” are great entry points for this record and show you the kind of greatness that you will be diving in to.
Toad The Wet Sprocket – All You Want – 9.0/10 Toad The Wet Sprocket decided that they would re-record 11 of their greatest hits and that notion didn’t exactly bring out excitement from me. The thought of hearing a band 15 years removed from their hay day essentially putting out a cover record of their own tunes had me very wary because of how much I valued the original versions of the tunes. All You Want caught me completely by surprise because they didn’t sound like a tired old band, they sounded like a confident cleaned up band who wrote some amazing tunes. 90’s pop rock never sounded so good as the new versions of “Crazy Life”, “Windmills” and “All I Want” far surpass the original recordings…….Yes you read that right. Glen Phillips voice is strong as ever and the songs are a lot more balanced with new harmonies and overdubs. This is a great entry point for any potential “new” Toad fans.
Girls Names – Dead To Me 5.5/10 I would be the last person in the world to tell you that we need another throwback garage band playing four chord songs all in a surf style. Guitars with reverb drenched high end and methodical/predictable drums and very monotonous vocals, yep it is like i have heard this same formula over and over again. None of the songs are bad by any means and they are much more tolerable in their sub four minute length, I just find myself mostly checked out of listening by track number three because it all sounds like one big wash. How do you differentiate this band from the 100’s of other bands doing the exact same thing?
Antlers – Burst Apart 7.5/10 The Antlers latest is “pretty good” at just about everything that it attempts. The biggest problem is the semi-lumbering pace that it goes about doing it. Splattered with falsetto vocals and an occasional “rock” moment (Parentheses, Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out), Burst Apart is like an airplane that never takes off from the run way. Instead choosing to get up to lift off speed and remaining on the ground rather than taking flight. You get a “wow this is almost exciting” feeling for most of the record, but never feel too thrilled. I can say that they did a great job crafting some interesting tunes, I just don’t find myself coming back to them very often.
In Place Of Real Insight 