4Play

Oct. 17, 2007

Enon - Grass Geysers...Carbon Clouds - Touch and Go
Eclectic and messy is a big part of Enon’s sound, and that’s the way they like it, thank you very much. Opening with the furiously busy “Mirror Mirror,” the band moves on through a whole album’s worth of new-wave influenced tracks with plenty of extra noise and a careening sensibility that would get ‘em pulled over by any police officer worth his badge. Luckily, melody is also in play here, making the majority of that noisiness make sense; “Pigeneration” features spacey vocals and guitar work that shears right through the arrangement; “Mr. Ratatatatat” is a racket-fest all on its own; and “Those Who Don’t Blink” is a short but worthy testament to this band’s noise-pop sensibilities.


Iron and Wine - The Shepherd’s Dog - Sub Pop
Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam serves up a nice balance here of his specialty - lo-fi, folky tracks - and some more upbeat, rock-influenced songs that add a welcome pep to the lineup. Recorded with his longtime producer Brian Deck, Beam layers and layers and layers until he finds the just-right point of cohesion, an approach that serves him well. Handclaps underscore the low, dense melody of “Boy with a Coin,” the blues make a political appearance on “Carousel,” organ washes combine with skilled slide guitar runs on “Lovesong of the Buzzard,” and both “White Tooth Man” and “House by the Sea” add in a little more rock than is usually expected from Iron and Wine.


Uberzone - Ideology - Nitrus
Six years after his last release, Timothy Wiles - aka Uberzone - resurfaces with a robotic effort, and we don’t mean that in the stagnant sense. Chock-full of metallic, electronic sounds and evocative compositions, Wiles’ breakbeat skills combine amazingly well with his technological know-how to make for a set that is both immediately catchy and unusually different. The tempo bounces along peppily on “Vibrate,” and squishy drum sounds catapult around on “Funny Noise” - once you’ve gotten a few songs in, you’ll get the impression that a whole pack o’ robots has arrived to set up a disco in your living room - and, hey, that wouldn’t be a bad thing at all, now, would it?


Band of Horses - Cease to Begin - Sub Pop
Iron and Wine labelmates Band of Horses - who have often toured with Beam and crew - have seen quite a lot of restructuring in their group as of late. However, after the departure of a key member or two, BOH’s Ben Bridwell took the - ahem - reins of the band, and hasn’t looked back since. Working with producer Phil Ek, they have put together a very intriguing twang-pop album, woven throughout with carefully-executed instrumentation and vocals that recall the more evocative moments of Brian Wilson. Standout tracks here include the pensive “Window Blues,” the quirky “Detlef Schrempf,” “The General Specific,” and the beckoning opener “Is There a Ghost.”