How Could We Forget?: Her Space Holiday

This CD clearly fell into the "I'll get around to it" category for me. The track "Sleepy Tigers" quickly made its way into ye olde iPod's heavy rotation, but it took me a while to listen to the entire album. I have no real excuse other than to say I was listening to a lot of stuff at the time, and there are only so many hours in the day.

My knowledge of Her Space Holiday (the stage name of Marc Bianchi) previously was limited to the song "Missed Medicine", which a buddy of mine had put onto a mix. I knew I really dug that track, but didn't have much else to go on. I have since learned that HSH predominantly does contemporary one-man music, meaning entirely in this case that it pretty much is him and a laptop. Which is surprising, since XOXO Panda, The New Kid Revival plays more like a camp sing-a-long than anything else, incorporating everything from kazoos to banjos along its ambling way.

While a few tracks here do drag a tad, overall I thought it had a more than pleasant vibe and comes across as an excellent CD to sit out under the stars with to count fireflies. The standout tracks for me would be the aforementioned "Sleepy Tigers" and "The Day in Review", though there's plenty more to keep one satisfied.

Since having really started listening to XOXO myself, I've read a fair amount of bitching about Bianchi going off in a new direction. Personally, I kind of dig the progression (descenscion?) into twee territory. It's the differences that keep us coming back for more, right?

How Could We Forget?: Crystal Stilts

I only recently realized I made an egregious error with my Top 18 of 2008 list (and the Honorable Mentions)…I somehow, someway, inexplicably left Crystal Stilts off my list. Call it a mental lapse, call it a fuck up, call it what you will. I shall now try to make amends, dear friends.

Crystal Stilts only recently (well, over the course of the past four months or so) caught my ear, but my affection for them happened pretty instantaneously. As soon as I got a little taste of their delightfully crackly surf rock-hearts-shoegaze collision I knew I wanted, nay, needed, more. As luck would have it, these New Yorkers kindly obliged, releasing the splendiferous Alight of Night LP. It’s like the Jesus & Mary Chain hanging ten on longboards, or perhaps it’s like Dick Dale in head to toe black fiddling with feedback. Either way (or neither way), it’s pretty great.

“Departure”, formerly known (on their EP) as “Converging in the Quiet”, is one of my favorites, fearlessly driven by simple, tinny drums and droll, oft-monotonous vocals. If that sounds like a backhanded compliment, it’s not. There’s an almost lackadaisical, half-handed quality to the entire album, almost like it just happened to turn out as well as it has. And hot damn, is it good. So my apologies to Crystal Stilts, for not being able to see the forest for the trees. Whoops.

How Could We Forget?: Spinnerette

You know how it goes at the end of the year. What with the holidays, the never ending parties, the fights with your family, the inevitable fist fight with your one sibling and subsequent drunken apologies, sometimes you just forget a few things you meant to do before New Year's Eve. We here at LET are no exception and will be running a new column, at least for the time being, entitled "How Could We Forget?" where we'll post on CDs that somehow escaped our notice, fell off our radar or perhaps fled our minds during a moment (of which there were many) of intoxicated weakness. Regardless, these CDs do some rawking and we'd be remiss not to give them some love. First up is Spinnerette's Ghetto Love EP.

In my defense, this did only come out mid-December, but that's not a good enough excuse for not mentioning this rocker sooner. Spinnerette is the new project from former Distillers guitarist/vocalist Brody Dalle. In case you were worried Ms. Dalle lost any of her edge, rest assured, this one was made to punch you in the gut. The eponymous lead track has an ominous bass line, incendiary guitar work and Brody's throaty growl of a voice, so it has that going for it. That leaps into the equally propulsive "Valium Knights". "Distorting A Code" slows things down considerably, but give it until just after the halfway mark, when producer Alain Johannes' technical wizardry shines through brilliantly. Is that backward looping I hear? Me likey. "Closer Bury My Heart" comes as close to a ballad as I imagine Spinnerette is willing to get, but a syrupy love song it is not, that's for sure. Assuming this EP is just a taste of things to come, I'm looking very forward to the long player.

mp3: Ghetto Love