Weezer - Death to False Metal [Geffen Records]

The Smashing Pumpkins Teargarden by Kaleidyscope: Vol. 2 - The Solstice Bare [Martha's Music/Rocket Science] :

Marking the second of 11 limited edition EPs that physically consolidate the free, downloadable 44-song concept album of Teargarden by Kaleidyscope for diehard fans, The Solstice Bare sees The Smashing Pumpkins showcasing their famed gothic/psychedelic trademarks in a different way. The Fellowship spits and crackles Who-esque synth arpeggios as frontman Billy Corgan delivers the chorus, “Are you with us/Or against us tonight?”, an anthemic call to arms for Pumpkins fans of the future. Freak packs a punch with its fuzz-laden blunt force trauma guitar riff as Corgan socio-politicises about the state of America in a stream of consciousness-influenced lyrical tirade, including this beauty, “they let our children starve in the name of peace/they march to the beat of a killing machine”. Spangled is beautiful but too short, clocking in at under two and a half minutes, punctuated by harpsichord stabs and a free-flowing rhythm section as Tom Tom, the strongest Teargarden... release to date shines through with a punchy as clockwork beat, reverb laden guitars and beautiful vocal delivery. Despite the first eight tracks of Teargarden... being recorded largely by Corgan and drummer Mike Byrne, the band (including second guitarist Jeff Schroeder and newest recruit, bassist Nicole Fiorentino) have recently headed back into the studio to record songs for Teargarden... Vol. 3. Looking to the past but heading into the future with a renewed energy and a lust for sonic experimentation, The Solstice Bare cements The Pumpkins again as a force with which to be reckoned.

The Phantom Band - The Wants [Other Tongues/Chemikal Underground] :

Just when almost everybody had settled on their Top Ten list for the year, along comes Phantom Band to screw up the schematics and make a late bid for Album of the Year. You see the Phantom Band are tricky, pulling you in with savvy pop sharps only to pile on layer after layer of every imaginable genre (Krautrock, power-pop, Berlin-era moody Bowie, surf-rock…you name it) until you’re left reeling, confused and bewildered. The greatest trick of course, is making it work.

The Wants represents the difference between a band throwing all the sounds of all their favourite albums into 45 minutes like impatient teenagers and a group of assured, deliberate and relaxed musicians writing dense, complex and unpredictable mini-masterpieces. Take The None of One for example; an elegant, gentle banjo-flecked ballad that stumbles into a thumping, rave-up before settling into an elliptical electronic fadeout. Now that shouldn’t work and I’m sure it reads ghastly but as each layer intersects and cross fades, The Phantom Band make it seem necessary and designed – not clamour for clamour’s sake, a notion that bogs down similar bands from, say, Brooklyn for example. Then there’s A Glamour where shadowy guitar riffs float over Miles Davis style hard-funk circa On The Corner. Ultimately this is a bastard, gnarled pop record and unlike most potential ‘Albums of the Year’, The Wants has longevity and puts some other bands trawling the same ditch to shame. And they’re Scottish. Huh. 

Girl Talk - All Day [Illegal Art]:

Girl Talk really does make his music a work of art; taking smatterings of every song you’ve ever known and making it into something completely original. All Day is no different to the others; a confusing, ADHD acid trip of mash-ups ranging from Bush to Billy Idol to Jay-Z.

The problem with Greg Gillis’ fifth release is that it starts to feel a bit samey. In fact, at times it goes way beyond that and becomes slightly disappointing, because for the majority of the album no moments even come close to creating the atmosphere that blew everyone away on Night Ripper and Feed The Wolves. There’s the usual selection of uncovered B-sides and songs you haven’t heard since ’93, but the further he digs to find tracks, the more obscure it seems to become. The great thing about Night Ripper was the unashamed moments of pop or r’n’b, but on All Day the delving becomes deeper and it loses translatability because of it. Down for the Count manages to squeeze 28 samples into six minutes; it remains as actioned packed as Girl Talk has always been, but even with all that’s going on, sadly it doesn’t feel or sound new.

In an age where anyone can DJ or make a five-minutes-of-fame inducing mash on their laptop, Girl Talk stands out and shows true brilliance in the field; you can guarantee if it the song has been recorded, Girl Talk will sample it, but this is not the crowning moment. 

Kid Cudi Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager [GOOD Music] :

In the firmest cynical sense, being the only man on the moon would blow (or woman. Or ‘womyn’, if you’re into that kinda thang). It becomes frightening when one considers that you would be the only ‘man’ on the moon. And, without aid, you would die within literally less than milliseconds. Initially it would truly be awesome; mocking gravity would be a first step for most (damn gravity and shit). But then the loneliness - or such - would set in. The Legend of Mr. Rager would definitely be in my Twenty Ten pick to take to infinity and beyond. Kid Cudi’s second studio batch is one of the more left-field mainstream releases this year, as well as being among the profoundly darkest.

Scott Mescudi vs. the World is the perfect set-up before the execution, which comes near the end. More on that later. REVOREV, or Revolution of Evolution, evokes echoes of Day n Nite era Cudi, but is decidedly set on the melancholic: a stoner’s take on sweeping grandiosity. The rest of the album passes in a blur – if the ‘blur’ was the Millennium Falcon (The freakin’ Falcon).

It’s utterly fearless yet tragically lonely, exploring the fringes of alternative hip-hop dead space. It moves between genuinely affecting, brilliantly experimental soul-plumbing and schizophrenic scene changes with ease. It also ventures into power-pop.

Seriously, listen to it and wonder. Or laugh your arse off, as I did mine.

MV & EE Liberty Rose [Arbitrary Signs] :

People get sucked into appreciating all sorts of things in popular culture that probably don’t matter too much, whereas great stuff worthy of attention often exists under the radar. The latter aspect fits superb psychedelic group MV & EE, having released a voluminous amount of full length albums, CD-R live performances and experimental jams since getting together in Vermont in the early part of the last decade. My favourite recording remains the Ecstatic Peace album Drone Trailer from 2009 which found the perfect balance between cosmic strangeness and earthy acoustic blues in a way that has not been experienced since The Grateful Dead. But it so happens that the core two-piece has a wealth of lysergic improvised blues up its astral sleeve, and committed listeners are duly rewarded. 

This is the case on Liberty Rose originally released in an edition of 99 copies. I guess when a band releases up to ten albums in any given year, small first editions are understandable. But discerning listeners should also make an effort to seek out unique music of the mind-expansive kind when the opportunity exists, and each of the six tracks comprising Liberty Rose make the grade. With this in mind, I really like second track Flow My Ray which might have fit comfortably on that classic 1975 Neil Young album Tonight’s The Night with little fuss, but other acid excursions on offer pleasantly haze up the night sky.