na: of montreal, brett dennen

Photo by allisonallison

So many records.

Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping: “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal,” the epic and awesome 11-minute song on Hissing Fauna is as far as I will go with Of Montreal. (And even that track took a serious sell job for me to come around.) The reaction to the new one seems fairly mixed, but I remember the reaction to Hissing being the same, so who knows. Certainly not me.

Frightened Rabbit, Liver! Lung! FR!: We have loved Frightened Rabbit longer than anyone. One of our former coworkers, the lovely Kendel, who we all still miss dearly, and her boyfriend Chris brought Frightened Rabbit over for their first US shows, began managing them, helped them get signed and all the rest. And we happily leeched off of their good taste, seeing them over and over, loving every second of it. So yeah, if you want to talk about the origins of FR as a band you know, thank those two. The Lord’s Work, they’ve done.

And so it should also be said that Frightened Rabbit the album band is this tiny, puny little thing in comparison to seeing them live. The difference is that big, and I don’t even think they would deny it. They are fierce and intense in person. The sorta show where you wonder how they do it every night (which they do). All of which is to say, you might be asking, “Why would I need a live record from these guys?” And while there’s no such thing as a stupid question, for that one we make an exception.

Brett Dennen, Hope for the Hopeless: This kid! Brett was the first musician to ever perform in eMusic’s conference room (we have shows there from time to time) all of three years ago or so. And while I could not possibly care less about the kind of music he makes, he is clearly very, very good at it. Like, will likely someday be famous for it. It’s singer-songwriter stuff, with some of that laconic Jack Johnson grandeur.

The Raveonettes, Beauty Dies: So I think I like this band now. Whip It On was playful in this dark, gloomy way that I really loved, but everything else felt so serious and sullen and full of itself. But they got their groove back this year, and this EP (they are doing a series of four — I think? — digital EPs over the next month or two; this is the second) continues that.

On a side note, the Raveonettes used to hang out in the eMusic offices. The head of one of our old sister companies produced their records and co-wrote some songs with them (the great Richard Gottehrer), and so there would be days when I would literally go to the watercooler only to run into Sharin Foo (the zaftig blonde). Or Sune Wagner (the dude) would stop at the desk next to mine to check his email. Surreal. And these days it’s even more pronounced: did you know that Alex Naidus of budding superstars the Pains of Being Pure at Heart sits but ten feet away from me? Ladies, if you want to buy a lock of hair or anything, just shoot me a note.

Sing Leaf, Wandering: Alex spotted this one yesterday, and it’s pretty great. Very Animal Collective, very pretty.

Fishbone, Still Stuck in Your Throat: The new Fishbone. You are guessing I’m going to trash this right? Say something about how they shoulda just choked on it years ago? Well, before I actually heard this album this morning, that would’ve been a great guess. But honestly, after a quick listen, this sounds really damn good! It feels a lot like those great System of a Down records from 2002-2004, just aggressively all over the place, and super tight. There is a decent chance that I will renounce this snap opinion in a matter of hours, but right now I’m totally pro nu-Fishbone.

Fan Death, Veronica’s Veil: The A-side to this one sounds exactly like some great new Glass Candy tune. Highly recommended.

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Festival Thyme: I’m nervous about this one. I won’t lie. That’s not an album title that inspires confidence.

Madlib, Beat Konducta Vol. 5 and Beat Konducta Vol. 6: Two new Madlib beat collections, both available exclusively at eMusic. Hollaback.

Beach House, Used to Be: A great new single. If you have an extra track laying around, grab the A-side. So good.

Shawn Lee & Clutchy Hopkins, Clutch of the Tiger: Someday we’re all going to wake up to find that every album released is made by Shawn Lee. It’s a matter of days, not weeks.

Shannon Worrell, The Honey Guide: In terms of folky singer-songwriter stuff, Dualtone has never really done me wrong, and this pleasant Shannon Worrell album keeps the streak alive.

Nelson, The (Over) Song: The first track here is pretty great haircut rock stuff. Think Answering Machine and the like.

Telepathe, Chrome’s On It: I never tire of expressing my disdain for Telepathe, but “Chrome’s On It” is their one good song. And it’s a very good one.

Dominique Leone, Dominique Leone: Long one of my favorite Pitchfork writers, this is Dom’s first full-length album. As a listener, he digs beardo disco (who doesn’t?), Krautrock (ditto) and really aggressively proggy prog (…). Listening to this for the first time yesterday, I was COMPLETELY in love with the first three or four tracks, and then it suddenly veered into Gentle Giant territory, which really lost me in a big way. I’m going to return to this today, but right now it’s a cautious thumbs up.

Holy Hail, Independent Pleasure Club: I’ve always been dubious about Holy Hail’s singles — too much dance, too little pop — but I have to say that this record is much better than I expected. I haven’t given it the deepest listen yet, but I’m pleasantly surprised. Nice job!