VITAL REVERB: OCTOBER 30, 2009 Sounding Off On The Sounds You Need
Goons Of Doom
I Hate My Hair And I Want To Die
Volcom 2009
ESM Rating: 8/10
One of surfing’s most popular sayings goes as
follows: “the best surfer is the one having the most fun.” I think it can apply
to musicians, too: get past indie rock’s inherent snobbery, and the artists who
exude the most joy are the ones we return to again and again. But marrying
surfing and music together has rarely gone well — think Kelly Slater’s
ill-fated band The Surfers — until, that is, merry Australian pranksters Goons Of Doom haphazardly picked up
their instruments a half-decade ago.
Comprised of wildly eccentric pro surfer Ozzie Wright
and his Narrabeen mates Cutthroat Cowboy, Killer Whale, and Vaughan Dead, Goons Of Doom recently released their
third album of mashed-up surf punk/garage pop, gleefully entitled I Hate My Hair And I Want To Die. Like
previous Goons efforts, hilarious
tales of botched romance and drunken shenanigans ensue. Opener “Billy Lee,
Maggie May, Peggy Sue,” is a whirlwind blend of doo-wop and early garage rock,
while “For A Girl” boasts surprisingly knotty back-and-forth verses from Ozzie
and co-vocalist Vaughan Dead. “City Cow” has a soulful tenderness absent from
early Goons material, but then “Beer
Money” springs to life with its cheeky punk refrain: “It’s true/I stole your
money/I spent it on beer and friends.”
“Clean For Jesus” digs deeper, examining the
hallucinatory side of domestic bliss, before “The Curse Of The Yellowy Moon”
rears its creepy sea-shanty head. That track reflects the Goons’ early propensity for theatrics, while also giving the album
much-needed depth. From there, Goons Of
Doom hopscotch across acoustic comedy (“The Tale Of The Great Shark Of
Durian Bay”), downbeat psych rock (“Mannequin”), otherworldly ragtime (“The
Slapper”), straight minor-key punk (“Earth Go Back”), and calypso-flavored maritime
folk (“Ghost Upon The Sea”). The only stumble is a whiny cover of Bob Dylan’s
legendary “Mr. Tambourine Man” — but I have a feeling the Goons were setting themselves up for
self-induced failure on that one.
You know what, though? I Hate My Hair And I Want To Die is a recklessly enjoyable album
that could serve as the volatile soundtrack to a wild night out or the unhinged
antidote to a rough morning recovery. Turn your nose up at Goons Of Doom’s mostly juvenile brand of garage rock at your own
risk — the rowdy pop-punk party will rage on with or without you. By Nick
McGregor
The Clean
Mister
Pop
Merge
ESM Rating: 7/10
The Clean’s 1978 formation led each member through magic little tromps in the New Zealand
forest, coming together and recording whenever a whimsical folly converged in a singular entity of quirky dust fresh from the hooves of
frolicking reindeer. Ever since, karma has sporadically married their genius
— when this occurs, they take off shoes, plug in, finish their daily poem,
and sing some songs about rubber, trickling brooks, lunar climates, and
such.
This being said, Mister Pop, only The
Clean’s fifth proper full-length released in 30+ years, weaves a
trusty occult anthem theme among its 10 bits. Early Brit-punk roots conjoin
with simple balladry on “Asleep In The Tunnel,” which is a crisp, formal event that
keeps its distance from the odyssey-jam emphasis on “Moonjumper” and “In the
Dreamlife You Need A Rubber Soul.” Mister Pop is the musical equivalent
of a nice little tea party with The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne and The Jam respectively
exploring the extent of simplified electric guitar and how best to fit oneself
inside of a bubble onstage.
But The Clean will make your workday a bit
easier to stomach, because while you’re doing something you don’t want to do,
David Kilgour and his compatriots will be lounging around on soft white sheets
in a dusky hotel room, eating expensive Thai food and discussing whether or not
they should listen to Brian Jonestown Massacre or go for a walk after the six
hits of acid they just took kick in. This is fair, because if The Clean weren’t taking the limits of
non-responsibility to new heights like any good band, we wouldn’t have anything
to look forward to. I mean it — start looking forward to not having any
responsibility, because you’re going to get Mister
Pop, man! I promise. By Will Tunstall
WHY?
Eskimo
Snow
Anticon
ESM Rating: 6/10
Cincinnati-based trio WHY? formed out of unique beginnings. When frontman Yoni Wolf found
a four-track in his father’s synagogue, he quickly started recording “bad poems
and sloppy beats,” in addition to exploring the fluttering heights of any young
artist‘s mind. Eventually Yoni worked his way above the poetry major cliché,
dropped out of art school, and moved to the Bay Area. A few years later, after
working with members of Fog, Atmosphere’s Slug, and others, Yoni found himself
living the dream in Oakland, working with any and every instrument or object he
could use to make noise.
Yoni soon found himself joined by his younger brother
Josiah and Doug McDiarmid, and WHY?’s first
two albums, Oaklandazulasylum and Elephant
Eyelash, both found
embracing ears from critics and fans alike. The group’s pop-inflected
psychedelic folk-hop talents allowed them to grab tour dates with Silver Jews,
Yo La Tengo, and Islands, and organized collaborative beginnings with Andrew
Broder and Mark Erickson of Fog. In 2007, the five-piece found themselves in
the most literate of cities, Minneapolis, where they simultaneously recorded 2008’s Alopecia and 2009’s Eskimo Snow.
Both albums have defining characteristics, but Eskimo
Snow functions as a set of lyrical puzzle pieces that divert almost
entirely from WHY?’s early
left-field hip-hop roots. The poetics are by no means narrative or cohesive,
but witty and interesting, while quirky instrumentals spread across the
tabletop. Eskimo Snow warrants a
listen, especially for those listeners lyrically inclined — just don’t
try to make too much sense out of the subject matter. By Will Tunstall
HEALTH
Get
Color
Lovepump United
ESM Rating: 8/10
Sometimes I think Los Angeles doesn’t actually exist.
Fortunately, the film kingdom now has a bit more truth to its physical being, thanks
to noise-rock outfit HEALTH and their sophomore album Get Color awarding a long-awaited legitimacy
to the area. HEALTH’s scuzzy
beginnings foretell lifestyles and living expenses that might be acceptable in
2080, but this group has insatiable love for their fans, generating an early following
by playing free shows to boost their credit and consistently pumping a defining
blend of dance and grime into every divot they find.
Get Color is an audio herbivore munching on hardcore roots and droning molten blooms, and
D.I.Y. allegiance finds its way into every portion of HEALTH’s lineup
and audio onslaught. Vague lyrics — creative non-narrative, if you will
— allow the immaculate orchestration of noise and master percussion to
take the wheel and navigate a winding mountain road at 200 mph. Impressive in
approach, HEALTH decided to record
the entirety of Get Color in their home court venue, legendary LA club
The Smell. Nine months later, the group has given us a fascinating cluster of
graceful, energetic, hair-raising chapters.
Hard work paid off for HEALTH, landing them
opening slots for Nine Inch Nails and Of Montreal following the
debut of single “Die Slow.” That song’s blistering explosiveness is
representative of the variable sound established throughout the album, but best
of all, Get Color doesn’t falter at any moment. And perhaps the most
powerful tracks — the pulsing “We Are Water” and the skittering “In
Violet” — conclude HEALTH’s solid
sophomore effort. Expect “next big thing” comparisons as this LA band’s profile
continues to rise. By Will Tunstall
Taken By
Trees
East Of Eden
Rough Trade
ESM Rating: 7/10
Sweden has delivered a mixed bag of musical products,
ranging from the embarrassingly successful (ABBA and Ace Of Base) to the hard rocking
(Millencollin and The Hives) to the hip (Peter, Bjorn, & John and Lykke
Li). Yet few Swedish artists have varied as wildly as Victoria Bergsman, who
served as the frontwoman of pop collective The Concretes for 10 years and
currently operates under the confusing moniker Taken By Trees. After a debut album of downcast twee pop, Bergsman
got the bright idea to journey to Pakistan with recording engineer Andreas
Soderstrom for her sophomore release East
Of Eden.
As off-putting as Swedish pop played amid traditional
Pakistani qawwali settings may seem, Taken By Trees somehow pull the
unlikely combination off. “To Lose Someone” features evocative classical guitar
and the exotic pitter-patter of Sufi hand percussion, while “Anna” has a joyous
choral quality surely influenced by the religious fervor Bergsman and
Soderstrom encountered in the Muslim world — although on the flip side of
that, Bergsman was mistakenly carried off one day by a crowd of Pakistani men
who thought since she was unmarried she was public property.
Then there are the quirky xylophones of “Watch The
Waves,” the translucent flutes of “Greyest Love Of All,” and the hauntingly
medieval “Tidens Gang” — all of these offbeat tracks prove that Taken By Trees were in search of
something deeper than just international flavor on East Of Eden. But just in case you think Bergsman has sucked all
the fun out of Sweden’s long lineage of silly pop, she offers up a playful
cover of Animal Collective’s 2009 hit “My Girls,” here repackaged as “My Boys.”
Who would have thought mixing Scandinavian joie
de vivre with Middle Eastern exotica would ever work? –NM
