Malkmus’s first single from his upcoming solo record is a touch benign. It leaves me with little opinion on the song whatsoever. “Discretion Grove” begins with chugging guitar and easy pace and immediately reminds listeners why Weezer was compared to Pavement early on. Unfortunately, the song neither develops a hook nor deconstructs itself. It just chugs to the end. Malkmus’s associative lyrics are omnipresent but Pavement’s more interesting instrumentation is gone. (more…)

This is certainly surprising.

The Januaries playfully mix 60s pop, exotica and future pop. Singer Debbie Diamond’s (could it be?…nah) voice is part Laetitia Sadler and part Justine Frischman. It difficult to discern whether her pronunciation is truly foreign or just well-mimicked. One gets the impression that, sometimes, the Januaries are too clever for their own good. Which would, of course, point to them actually being foreigners or just being studio gearheads with a sultry-voiced singer. Throughout the album, the Januaries have their kitschy pop deconstructed by faultless production. A little bit of buzz and squeaks would help authenticate the sound. Especially since so many of their melodies remind the listener of something he has heard before. (more…)

For the first 20 seconds of the new Donnas record, The Donnas Turn 21, you’d swear you were hearing AC/DC. Then Donna A’s voice enters with its deadpan delivery and reminds you it’s 20 years later and ladies got balls now. After their heavily Ramones-influenced first record American Teenage Rock N Roll Machine, The Donnas moved to embrace the leather-clad, Hollywood glam rock of a generation before them. 1999’s Get Skintight included a dead-on cover of the Crue’s “Too Fast For Love.” The girls covered Kiss’s “Strutter” for the Detroit Rock City soundtrack. But it’s their own tunes that affirm their dedication to the street-tough metal of the early 1980s.
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