[This review originally appeared in The Scene.]

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nocturama

Nick Cave has made a pretty good living out of feeling bad. His and the Bad Seeds latest, Nocturama is released this month on Anti Records. Cave’s music has always stared into the abyss but beginning with 1997’s The Boatman’s Call, he drew a bead on his own demons. Where that record may have suffered from an errant self-indulgence (and sparse participation from Cave’s band, The Bad Seeds), Nocturama finds a balance between the soul-searching piano dirges and the dark, violence-threatening rave-ups of classic Cave tracks. (more…)

[This piece appeared in The Rage.]

The heaps of fuzz on Rainer Maria’s guitars are a sort of recent anachronism — rather than spinning one back 30 years or so to the birth of fuzzy guitars, they head back about 9 years to Tsunami, Sebadoh and Pavement. That is to say Rainer Maria’s guitars avoid the sounds their peers are coated in — the icy cold clean sounds, the crunch of the stomp box, and the warm tube sounds of garage rock. This is essential to note because a lot of Rainer Maria’s songs are sentimental, to say the least, yet they avoid the trap of having “emotional” added to any quick description of their sound by making sure their sound is not the starts-and-stops, fits-and-wails fragile temperament of many modern indie bands. The fuzz gives Rainer Maria’s songs a dreamy, heady quality. (more…)

[This piece appeared in The Rage.]

Oh dear, what are the talented lads and lass of T(I)NC up to here? Their latest EP is a collection of some tracks recorded for their last record, a cover and some new tracks. The James Brown fixation which these young Swedes explored on their second full length record is in full view on the opener, “Bigger Cages, Longer Chains.” Its lurching groove is nonetheless compelling and miles beyond any “rock” band you’ll hear on the radio. (more…)

Valet’s sleek pop is tinged with slight sadness and delivered with a knowing voice. Clean guitars drive the simple, airy melodies. Spacey keyboards add dimension to the songs. The songs are sometimes slow to hook but easy to listen to and absorb. All Valet’s lines are straight more like power pop’s conventions than indie rock’s uneven jerks. The laid-back mood of the record makes the songs seep in unnoticed. Before you know it, you’re halfway through the album. Recommended for putting on while you’re reading. 1 and 6 are so swell.

From the school of big rock hooks whose alumni include Fountains of Wayne and Superdrag, Ultimate Fakebook come. The result is a thick guitar sound and pleasant, catchy vocals. Like their peers in power pop, UF don’t usually rock out ahead of or on the beat, instead they stay right in the rhythmic pocket (as it were). It’s a device which only lets them rock so hard. Basically, they just turn up the guitars. There’s quite of bit of power pop that I can go for, but often, I find myself wishing they’d just let ‘er rip. Either that or turn down and concentrate on the pop melodies. UF are stuck somewhere in the middle. Often the songs are hooky, but just as often, they end and you can’t remember what you just heard.

–TA