Let It Sway by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Released by Polyvinyl Records

Finally, the wait for a new Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin album is over! And the wait was well worth it. SSLYBY cranks out another rock pop golden album full of hooks, pops and kicks. Don’t be afraid to shake and clap and sing along  because anything less and you just aren’t really listening.

Follow up to their polished (and yet lovable) sophomore effort, Pershing, SSLYBY is giving fans what they need and want. They have brought Broom and Pershing together and created an album worthy enough to put in a category with the likes of Sloan’s Twice Removed and Material Issue’s International Pop Overthrow. Sure, these albums are from the 90′s but that’s not to say that Let It Sway sounds like yet another band trying to exist in another era. It just means that Let It Sway is one of the best rock pop albums recorded. You think I’m overstating? Take a listen for yourself. Try to remain motionless, try not to snap your fingers and clap your hands. Try not to smile. It’s impossible.

Don’t get me wrong, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin isn’t changing the world with Let It Sway and they’re not breaking any musical boundaries. They aren’t trying to be the darlings of anyone’s world. They’re just doing what they do best and one of the reasons I turned into such insane fan of music – they make you feel something -  incite some sort of emotion – and for once, it’s not tears or sadness. Because sometimes you just have to say “Fuck it” and just dance. You know?

Check out Someone Still Loves Your Boris Yeltsin here

Pick up Let It Sway and check out Polyvinyl Records here

]]> http://www.onekindradio.com/home/?feed=rss2&p=1729 0 http://www.onekindradio.com/home/?p=1674 http://www.onekindradio.com/home/?p=1674#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:36:18 +0000 Xtine http://www.onekindradio.com/home/?p=1674

Serotonin by Mystery Jets
Released by Rough Trade Records

Normally when I review an album of a band I’m not familiar I don’t research the band or what other people have to say. I try to keep all bad and good influences out and just base my opinion on what I hear.
And the first impulse was that this band was English – English and grabbing influences from all the great brit-pop bands, yet adding in their own tone of epic-pop-rock. The album starts with “Alice Springs” a song that reminds you of many bands from the past and then leads into “Too Late to Talk” a lovely number that will get stuck in the back of your mind. And like most bands of today they have added in that synth sound you can’t seem to get away from, yet in their title track “Serotonin” the synth seems to have found it’s place in today’s music. In fact just about the entire album will have you humming in the oddest of moments and places.
Serotonin is just one of those great pop albums that yes, has it’s downs as well (towards the end of the album it seems to fall a little), but is worth the purchase as a whole. It’s all things that great pop should be: Well produced, catchy, clappable and makes you want to sing-a-long.

Check out Mystery Jets here

Avi Buffalo self-titled
Released from Subpop Records 4/27/2010

You’ll hear a lot about Avi Buffalo and it seems that a lot of reviews mention their ages – fuck their ages. The quality of Avi Buffalo’s self-titled album has nothing to do with how old or young they are. It’s simply a great album.

Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg leads this band (along with Sheridan Riley on drums, Rebecca Coleman on keys and piano and Arin Fazio on bass) with lovely lyrics and beautiful music to match. I love how as each song begins and ends I’m reminded of different genres, eras and feelings. At times I want to say Avi Buffalo is similar to E6 bands with their 60′s nostalgia and other times it’s similar to modern indie pop with vocals like arcade fire and The Shins. And most of the time it’s nothing but simply Avi Buffalo, which is pretty grand in itself.

Avi Buffalo’s self-titled album is the perfect spring/summer album. Not the one you put on when BBQing on a Sunday afternoon drinking too much whiskey – no, this album is perfect for going to the park, putting on your headphones and laying down in the grass and wasting the day away doing absolutely nothing. Though the album can get pretty dark, it’s light and poppy enough to put on a summer dress and drown out the voices and car horns and walk the streets of your neighborhood with a cup of coffee and a cigarette letting the sun shine on you hoping winter never comes back.

CHECK OUT THE NEW SINGLE “What’s In It For?” DOWN BELOW FOR FREE!(it’s a pretty sweet song and well worth it!)

Check out Avi Buffalo here

Check out Subpop Records here and pick up the album

It’s almost summertime and perfect for a new Love is All album. Two Thousand and Ten Injuries will rise to the top of my spring/summer soundtrack with it’s upbeat spunky female leads and punky tweepop giddiness. This album is pure fun. It’s perfect for any outdoor event and perfect for any sunny mixtape. Just listening to it, makes my heart jump in anticipation for the world to wake up from such a dreary winter.

Two Thousand and Ten Injuries is a bit tighter than Love is All’s previous albums, but doesn’t stray from it’s garage punk roots. Josephine Olauss’s lyrics are perfectly crafted in romanticism and yet at the same time realism. This contradiction normally gives a band a failing grade, but Love is All has always worked this angle with ease allowing the music to fill in the blanks. It’s not wonder that I adore Love is All as much as I do as they tend to walk next to the path that The Slits and Raincoats has paved, but mind you, I say walk next to the path they paved – Love is All is not your cookie-cutter copy band that so many new garage bands tend to be. Love is All may have the organs, the sax and jangly guitars, but it’s how they put it all together that puts them on a pedestal above the rest .

I absolutely love this album and hope you do too.

Pick up Two Thousand and Ten Injuries by Love Is All  here. (We recommend picking up the vinyl with the mp3 download)

Check out Love is All here

Polyvinyl Records

For the first time Robert Carlos Lange’s albums are available outside of Japan. Thanks to Asthmatic Kitty Records we’ll have access to his entire collection as well as two new albums, the first being When Man Is Full He Falls Asleep under the moniker Epstein y El Conjunto.

If you read our reviews you’ll know I’m not a huge fan of instrumental albums. I find that most instrumental albums I’ve heard tend to fade so far into the background that the entire album will play and I’ve forgotten it was on. I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I have ADHD like most of the country, or maybe it’s because I’m too close minded to be annoyed with music sans words. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few instrumentals I absolutely adore and will play religiously, like The Ventures. In fact, any surf rock I’ll get behind. But beyond that, I’ll chuck.

But everyone now and then I’ll run across an instrumental album that not only catches my attention the entire play-through, but actually makes me forget that it lacks lyrics. That’s When Man Is Full He Falls Asleep for me. The album is like Sunday morning coffee sitting in a city park watching all the bustle of kids playing on the swing sets, softball games in the distance and old men playing chess. It’s a vast array of sounds, notions and ideas with an underlying darkness that seems to seep out here and there. Loops and drum beats keep your senses heightened and you rarely want to skip tracks like most of Americas are famous for.

I can’t tell you the typical “recommended if you like” because as an instrumental hater, I don’t have the knowledge of what this album is reminiscent of. I can tell you that what most critics view as the best song of the album, the only song to have lyrics, “A Lost Animal” feat. School of Bells, is actually not my favorite track. It’s a great track, like all of them, but favorite track is “I Can Memorize (Can You?)”

I highly recommend checking out When Man Is Full He Falls Asleep by Epstein y El Conjunto only because if I can let go of my hating for instrumental albums and really dig this album, then I figure there’s got to be something great going on here and hope you hear it too .

Check out Epstein here

Pick up When Man Is Full He Falls Asleep here

Asthmatic Kitty Records

(p.s. I know I’m ending sentences with prepositions all over the place. I at first thought to go back and correct them, then I decided to “naw fuck it” – I’m a Chicagoan. Deal with it.)

Minding my own business and my phone lights up. It’s a facebook message from a friend of mine who says “R.I.P. Alex Chilton” – Dear Google, please prove him wrong. But no…

Alex Chilton of The Box Tops and Big Star passed away tonight…

Per Memphis Commerical Appeal his bandmate Jody Stephens confirmed rumors around 7PM. The exact cause of death is yet to be known, but it’s rumored to be a heart attack.

Any audiophile knows and loves the sound of his name, voice and music. If you think haven’t heard of him, you’re probably wrong. You’ve most likely heard is deep raspy 16 year old voice on the hit “The Letter” by The Box Tops, or maybe you love the theme song from That 70′s Show – it’s originally a Big Star song called “In The Street”. The music world seems to have pieces of it falling with each passing of it’s greats and now with Alex Chilton passed away, there’s a gapping hole where he once stood.

After a long hiatus The Blacks are finally back! Needless to say I was impatiently awaiting In Sickness and Health. The new EP starts off with a little slow number, “Ten Years” that I fell for the moment I heard it. There’s a catchiness to this ballad (yes, I know catchiness isn’t a word, move along)  that I can’t seem to get past. The rest of the EP follows suit and takes us back to the days before Wilco became a jam band and Neko Case sang with her boyfriends. What really shines in this EP, and what makes The Blacks such an amazing band is the perfect chemistry of it’s players: Nora O’Connor’s vocals are spot on as per usual and Gina Black’s bass lines seem to carry songs at a time. The girls coupled with drummer James Emmenegger and Danny Black’s sarcastic writing and sun-drenched vocals are the reason why after even a decade The Blacks’ fans remain by the side and loyal as ever.

What you’ll hear from this EP is some old school alt-country when that genre of music actually meant something. You’ll get some songs stuck in your head and you’ll find yourself wanting to get the hell out of the house and out into the world.

I just hope a full album and full tour is in the near future…

It’s a digital release only and you can check out a track on the Bloodshot website here: In Sickness and Health / Bloodshot Records (this is one of my favorite tracks aside from “Young and Beautiful”)

Check out The Blacks here!

“In The Sun” by She & Him’s forthcoming album Volume 2. You can preorder Volume 2 at Merge Records. I’ve been addicted to this song since the single was released. Can’t wait to hear the rest!

Also, they’ve set up some dates of the summer, so hit Merge Records for the dates!

This Friday we’ll see not only people giving back to the world, Haiti to be exact, but the way a community can come together in time of crisis and need. When the organizers of Rock for Relief, Chris and Jolene Leather, put the word out about their upcoming charity event they didn’t have to search far and wide for the number of volunteers that raised their hands. Bands agreed to give up their Friday night without hesitation and crafters and artists immediately started new projects to sell at the even. (All proceeds from the craft sale go straight to the relief fund, by the by.)

On February 26 everyone will head out of the city and over to the suburbs to J.J. Kelly’s to check out Rock for Relief (for a mere ten bucks.) Master of Ceremonies will be the extremely talented and show stealer, Stephen Munoz. He’s such a great pick for this important role in a show, he’s not only one of the most amazing musicians I know, but he can capture an audience with ease. Also, I’m pretty excited to check a band I’ve been hearing about for a long time, Lynxwail. Female fronted, which all of you that read OKR, know I am a sucker for, the couple songs I’ve heard on their myspace page remind me of an early 90′s band when girls didn’t sound so sickly sweet it made you vomit, with a little modern riffs thrown in. I dig it.
Also playing will be local faves Nomad Planets then followed by one of my favorite bands, Holas. I have yet to hear their new sound, which drummer Chris Leather described it some of the best work he and bandmate, Michael Lukich have worked on. Head over to the website to check out some live videos from their New Year’s Eve show.
Rock for Relief will also be featuring Josh McCormack & The Sin Divine – of which I’ve yet to hear, but am looking forward to seeing what crooner, McCormack has devised for the audiences of late.
Lastly, and of course, not least, is one of Chicago’s children: Midstates & The Choir of Ghosts. Midstates is an uptempo shoegazer kind of band with tons of reverb and tons of dramatics. You’ll kick yourself if you don’t stick around to check these guys out!

Also, there will be plenty of arts and crafts to buy for yourself or as a gift someone else.

Here are the deets:

February 26, 2010
@ J.J. Kelly’s: 2455 Bernice Road, Lansing, IL
Doors Open at 6PM
10 bucks

Line Up:
7:00 PM Lynxwail

8:30 PM Hölas

10:00 PM Nomad Planets

11:30 PM Joshua McCormack & the Sin Divine

1:00 AM Midstates & the Choir of Ghosts

Additional performances all night by Master of Ceremonies Steve Munoz