PeeP on PoP- Belong

Belong- Common Era (kranky- 2011)

~by Gabe Mcbride

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Belong’s 2006 album, October Language, is a cult classic of sorts. It combines distorted, ambient guitar noise and some slight hints at electronic manipulation. It’s glacial, beautiful, serene, and pretty boring. I may be at a disadvantage, in that this is Pop on Purpose, not Vibrate  on Purpose. I get that there’s an audience for ambient noise, I just ain’t it. 

With Common Era, the band has taken their drone tendencies and compressed them into post-punk pop tunes, to great effect. And compressed is the operative word on Common Era. The drum machine, guitars, vocals,  and synths are smashed together into a singular, methodical purpose on each song, which drives each tune down a rhythmic, purposeful, path. Where October Language was expansive and non-linear, Common Era is laser-beam focused and beautiful, without all the open space. Which is not to say the record is insular or uninviting, just less about mystery and more about emotion.  Common era is full of drowned pop songs. And it’s one of the best albums so far this year.

For Fans of: Loveliescrushing, Joy Division, The Legends’ Over and Over

PeeP on PoP- Tahiti 80

Tahiti 80- The Past, the Present, & the Possible (Human Sounds/IDOL-2011)

~by Gabe McBride 

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Given that they’ve been around for almost two decades (the band formed in 1993), Tahiti 80 get no respect. Like fellow Frenchies, Phoenix, singer/guitarist Xavier Boyer and the rest of Tahiti 80 deal in  disco-centric, easy-listening indiepop . Unlike Phoenix, they’ve been plying their trade in relative obscurity, at least here in the United States (Their debut album, Puzzle went gold in Japan!). To be fair, Phoenix took the sound T80 had a hand in creating and ran with it, taking the look, and ethos, and making it cooler and well, better than their contemporaries, making Tahiti 80 the less talented, although not unlikable older brother. Think “Everybody Loves Thomas Mars”. 

So where does that leave The Past, the Present, & the Possible? Not doing too badly, thank you very much. Tahiti 80 have not exactly evolved a great deal over the years. They have some good albums (Wallpaper for the Soul) and some less good ones (Fosbury, which still wasn’t a flop- get it?), but have soldiered ahead, and tPtP&tP keeps the same upbeat, Saint-Tropez beachside disco atmosphere as their previous efforts. It’s not hard to listen to, and is hard not to like. It might not be the deepest pool at the resort, but the drinks are good, the girls are beautiful, if kinda dumb, and everything is, just fine. 

For Fans of: Phoenix, ELO, Steely Dan

Peep on Pop- Toro y Moi

Toro y Moi- Underneath the Pine (Carpark- 2011)

~by Gabe McBride

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Chaz Bundick, the mind behind Toro y Moi, was initially lumped in with other chillwave luminaries. However, on last year’s Causers of This, Bundick appeared to be more informed by hip-hop and R&B, while other bands who were being crammed together in the “movement” were more influenced by new wave (Washed Out), indie (Small Black), and well, drugs (Neon Indian). Where Causers fell in line with the other bands, was in its nostalgic, smoothed out, lethargic vibe and use of in-studio manipulation of sound to create an other-worldy, or, maybe better put, other-timely sheen over the top of the vaguely danceable beats and blips. 

On Under the Pines, Bundick still metes out an R&B sound, but with a decidedly 70’s feel, and a lot less masking and filtering than his previous efforts. The tunes bounce back and forth between the Nixon/Ford/Carter and Reagan eras, at times referencing Sly as well as Hall and Oates at others. The bass is the driving force throughout the record, most obviously on first single, ‘Still Sound’ a jazzy, Central American influenced dance jam. Probably the weakest part of Toro y Moi, is Bundick’s voice, which is frequently too soft and not particularly dynamic, but thankfully, he plays to his strengths, and allows the songs to frequently bend a curve around extended instrumental codas, which soothe and invigorate simultaneously. 

For Fans of: Memory Tapes, Chromeo

Peep on Pop- The Babies

The Babies- The Babies (Shrimper- 2011)

~by Gabe McBride

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The Babies is a Brooklyn “supergroup” of sorts, featuring Cassie Ramone of Vivian Girls and Kevin Morby of Woods. It’s not hard to hear the mash up of two bands on The Babies, as Ramone’s distinctive, off-kilter vocals and Morby’s chugging but gauzy garage guitar riffage blend to create what could just as easily been called Vivianwoods, or Woodgirls, or… well, you get the point. 

Unfortunately, not all songs on the album are created equal. The Babies' best songs (‘Meet me in the City’, ‘Breakin’ the Law’) feel fresh, loose, and vital. When the band is really hitting their spots, with Ramone and Morby’s vocals interweaving, they sound not just a little like Black Francis and Kim Deal (think ‘Hey’ off of Doolittle) and the Stones. The album is solid, but not exactly spectacular at all times, and when it fails, it doesn’t exactly do so miserably, just kinda meh-ly. The ninth track on the album, Wild 1, sums this problem up succinctly, for better or worse. The song begins with fuzzy, hazy guitars backing up Ramone’s singing, to great effect, until the guitar reaches an unnecessarily noisy, out of tune crescendo, only to slip back into the ultimately more successful opening. It turns out, The Babies is only 2/3 a good (not great) album that hints that it could have been more. 

For Fans of: Tiger Trap, Velocity Girl, Pixies

Sickk....

....and it's slowing things down here for a few days. Got a ton of reviews on tap in the next few days, if I'm gonna be spending this weekend in bed, I might as well be typing. Here's an awesome Matthew Sweet song off his at-one-point Japan-only release, Kimi Ga Suki Raifu...