Melody and Velocity

AUL 36X

2008-02-18T15:58:00.005-06:00

Band: Boyracer
Album: AUL 36X ep 7"
Label: Slumberland (1993)

Boyracer is the definition to the T of hit or miss. When they're off, they usually just play boring, hookless, lo-fi punk with almost no melody. But when they're on, hey pla lo-fi noise pop masterpieces. On this single, both sides of the band are on display. The first three songs are almost completely tuneless punk rock (with Sex running at about 40 seconds in length), but song four, Sunshine and Violence is where the band's strength begins to show. This instrumental track is simple, short, and catchy, but with a little more development and some vocals, it could have been turned into another classic for the band, like side two's Stabbed. It follows the quiet loud formula of most alterna-rock, but instead of having boring metalish guitars during the "loud" part, it's full of indistinguishable guitar noise to match the anguished longing nature of the song's lyrics and vocals. It's a pity that they follow up that song with inconsequentially brief guitar and drum noise. With a bit of editing, this single could have been great, but it's mostly filler.

Track list:
Side A:
1. Short Changed
2. Sex
3. Spiteful Punk Rock Song No. 2
4. Sunshine + Violence

Side B:
1. Stabbed
2. Short Changed Revisited

Joe's Record

2008-02-18T15:42:00.004-06:00

Band: Sarandon
Album: Joe's Record 7"
Label: Slumberland (2007)

Sarandon is essentially a revivalist band, and this 7" continues their general trend of combining absolutely catchy post-punk with brief, slightly sarcastic lyrics. But oh god - the songs! They're catchier than any Franz Ferdinand song, and they get their influences right by actually including not just the dancy beats - they've got the scrappy guitar, and the essential basslines (played by Alan of post-punk legends bIG fLAME). Best of all, this band is prolific, with over 30 released songs in just a few years of existence (they fit 7 on their first 7"). While this 7" is brief, it is extremely worthwhile. This is one of the few times when there is not a single weak song, or moment - period. So while Sarandon might be late in the post-punk revival, they are probably the greatest of the new wave.

Track listing:
Side A:
1. Joe's Record
2. The Linguist
Side B:
3. Through with Humor

Changes

2008-02-06T22:52:00.000-06:00

From now only, I'm going to post a maximum of three tracks from reviewed items, unless the item is out of print, then I might post all the tracks. But I'm not changing the two reviews I did today.

Sweet Tooth Abortion

2008-02-06T21:58:00.001-06:00

Band: The Peppermints
Album: Sweet Tooth Abortion
Label: Pandacide (can't find release date)

Sometimes, you get angry. Someone makes coffee with used grinds, someone steps on your new kicks, someone trips you, and you get furious. And in this age of access to music at any time, you damned well need something aggressive to listen to during those trying moments. While The Peppermints may not be the most skilled band in the world, their sheer velocity makes up for their shortcomings. Of course, that's not to say this is some '77 punx rip off. Au contraire, Sweet Tooth Abortion, their first album, has more in relation to older noise-pop bands, such as black tambourine and henry's dress, with a splash of the musical defiance of no wave.

I could say all these fancy words to try to describe their sound, but frankly, it's probably giving them the upper hand. On the track Snail Bait, it sounds like the band recorded themselves with a cassette player they buried under some mud and then distorted. The vocals are almost indistinguishable, and most of what can be heard is drums. Other tracks have better sound quality, but the results end up being for the worse because of their audibility. For example, the song Never Matter is two chords with a very basic, yet still somehow completely out of key melody on top - making the track almost boring. When the band attempts to stretch out a bit and test their skills with a more complex melody, such as on I. P. Freely On Black Velvet, it's even more horrendous. The band works better when they try not to exceed their limited skills with their instruments - most of the songs are at least enjoyable.

I'm not one to say that music is bad because the musicians are unskilled - I frequently listen to Jandek and the Shaggs. But the truth is, both of those artists at least brought some creativity to the table. The Peppermints rarely attempt anything creative - the only exceptions being the last two tracks and the song Octopus, which all somehow manages to conjure up James Chance and Lydia Lunch. The rest come off as straight forward, occassionally fast, punk.

While I have not purchased their latest album, Paw Track's Jesüs Chryst, I can only hope that The Peppermints decided to ditch their attempts at melodicism and replace them with even noisier, scratchier tracks. For now though, the extremely short Sweet Tooth Abortion is worth listening to maybe once. But only after getting physically burned.

Highlights:
Octopus
Nancy
It Was Four

Weak Tracks:
Never Matter
I. P. Freely on Black Velvet

Tracklisting:
1. Rodeo
2. Octopus
3. Nancy
4. Down + Down
5. Snailbait
6. Babies
7. Never Matter
8. Jay Says
9. I. P. Freely on Black Velvet
10. Walk/Walkin'
11. It Was Four
12. I'll Ignore a Whore

Holiday

2008-02-06T15:35:00.000-06:00

Band: The Magnetic Fields
Album: Holiday
Label: Feel Good All Over, 1994 (reissued by Merge Records)

Before the Magnetic Fields was the "new thing" on NPR records, before 69 Love Songs, before a lucrative record deal on Nonesuch Records, before the soundtrack work for A Series of Unfortunate Events, Stephin Merritt's solo project was a synth-pop band of the highest calibre, and with the recent release of Distortion on Nonesuch, I thought it would be only appropriate to review my favorite of Merritt's albums: Holiday.

Listeners of later Magnetic Fields albums, such as the aforementioned 69 Love Songs or i might be disoriented by the lack of any acoustic instruments on most of the tracks, but I implore that anyone interested in those albums should try to at least get to the third track: Deep Sea Diving Suit. Merritt's densely packed keyboards and drum machines almost emphasizes the constraints of his character. The melody, strangely upbeat, is almost as intensely catchy and driving as the character's desire to reach the one he loves. This synthesis, making the melody reflective/reference the lyrics, was what drove me to continue listening to this album. And although it's not always apparent or present in all songs, when it's noticeable, it's definitely striking.

If you don't enjoy an analysis of the songwriting, then you can at least appreciate that this album is the most fun the usual depressing Merritt has written - almost all songs are danceable, upbeat, and almost all are at least fun. This album takes its title literally, as the subject matters are all either exotic or common in the vacationing world, and the music reflects the carefree mood of the theme.

Holiday is also Merritt's strongest - there's no filler, and no horrendously awkward songs (thank god). The highlights of the album (Take Ecstasy With Me, Deep Sea Diving Suit, Strange Powers, Sad Little Moon) are among the greatest songs he has ever written, and are definitely some of the finest work of the 1990's. The only real limitation towards appreciation of the album is that some of the sounds Merritt uses are either irritating or pointless. For example, in the verse of Torn Green Velvet Eyes, there is a noise that kind of sways back and forth that is almost completely distracting and definitely irritating, but the rest of the instrumentation and the melody of the chorus definitely make up for those moments. But, if you can withstand the occasional odd noises, this album might become your new favorite.

Highlights (sadly not mp3):
Deep Sea Diving Suit
Strange Powers
Sad Little Moon
Take Ecstasy with Me

Weak Songs:
Torn Green Velvet Eyes
Sugar World
In My Car

Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. Desert Island
3. Deep Sea Diving Suit
4. Strange Powers
5. Torn Green Velvet Eyes
6. The Flowers She Sent and the Flowers She Said She Sent
7. Swinging London
8. In My Secret Place
9. Sad Little Moon
10. The Trouble I've Been Looking For
11. Sugar World
12. All You Ever Do Is Walk Away
13. Take Ecstasy With Me

Welcome!

2008-02-05T13:06:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!
Welcome to Melody and Velocity, a new music blog bent on enlightening all those people who have stared at me awkwardly and said "you're listening to who?"

"What? There's millions of music blogs out there!"
Well, I feel as though I am in a unique position as a DJ of one of the best college radio stations to present and critique new music - and not just your typical Broken Arcade River Hands Radio Tapes bands either - music as varied as jazz, folk, country, ambient, dance, metal, and more.

Unlike most music blogs, this one will contain mp3's of both good tracks AND bad tracks from each album, so that the viewer has the ability to judge the true strengths and weaknesses of the album. Also unlike most music blogs, I will (eventually) review every single piece of music that I own, whether out of print, cd-r, 7", cassette, or any other form.

If you would like to get in touch to send me a demo, send me an email at bamvolstone at gmail dot com.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of the internet at my house, updates will be irregular, although I will try to post at least one review per week.

-Bradley Ellison