Dayton City Paper » strange waves

Farewell to waves

Benjamin Smith — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:30:50 +0000

Good pipes, distorted bliss and the end of an era

By Benjamin Smith

Photo: The Irrepressibles deliver songs of “magical ship” and “glistening mermen”

2013 is already proving to be the busiest of years for your writer. So much so, in fact, that – after copious vodka consumption and consultations with the “I Ching” – I have decided this installment of “Strange Waves” should be my last. For my one true fan in Dayton (by all accounts a magical dwarf who inhabits a cupboard at Troni’s Pizza), I thank you for your patience and casual interest in reviews of slightly odd foreign records. But have no fear, my magical dwarf! I will still submit the occasional article to this fine publication. In the meantime, let’s break out the champagne and set sail.

Album: Lust Guns & Dust
Artist: Lilian Hak

Label: Siren Music

Release Date: February 2013

Country: The Netherlands

Website: lilianhak.com

Perfect for: The good, the bad and the gun-obsessed girl

Hak makes dramatic pop music. She’s the first to confess, via her Twitter account, that her output is, “inspired by classics, film noir and western movies.” (She also “loves hairdo.”) However, this 11-song album confirms that drama can merely serve as a colorful cloak in which to wrap less-than-stellar material. Lust Guns & Dust sounds as if it were produced by the unlikely dynamic duo of Ennio Morricone and Damon Albarn, but there’s the nagging sense that Hak showed up in the studio armed only with hastily-contrived chord progressions, “jazz hands” and her alarming firearm fixation. (Hak’s body of work includes an LP entitled Old Powder New Guns.) An artistic vacuum might explain why some Belgian guy named Ozark Henry randomly shows up to sing on a couple of tunes – and why the album’s worst track, a goddamn awful R&B monstrosity called “Happy Land,” appears twice. Good pipes, shame about the songs.

Album: Out Of View
Artist: The History of Apple Pie

Label: Marshall Teller Records

Release Date: January 2013

Country: United Kingdom

Website: thehistoryofapplepie.com

Perfect for: Wallflowers with face-obscuring hair

I would love to bankroll a tour of the Kentucky backwoods for this fresh-faced five-piece, just to see the bloated heads of a thousand rednecks explode upon trying to compute the band’s name. “What’s that, Billy Ray? The History of Apple Pie? HUHHHHHHHH?” And if that didn’t kill the tobacco-chewing goblins, then hopefully the music itself – simple, melodic shoegaze – would at least set their Sloth-ish ears aflame. All fantasy aside, The History of Apple Pie’s debut is fairly catchy and set to satisfy most adorers of, say, early Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine, Silversun Pickups, Lush and Ride. The band’s main attraction is the blended vocal interplay between lead singer/guitarist Stephanie Min and backing singer/bassist Kelly Owens, which gives the songs a dreamy, sexy sort of sheen. For a tease, check out the videos for “Do It Wrong” and “Mallory” on Youtube. Blurry, distorted bliss.

Album: Nude
Artist: The Irrepressibles

Label: Naked Design

Release Date: October 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: theirrepressibles.com/ir/nude.html

Lyric that sums it up: “If I asked you now, will you be my prince?”

Jamie McDermott looks like a Renaissance Faire fanatic, sometimes sounds like a woman or that bloke from Antony and the Johnsons when he sings and is prone to composing tunes with titles such as “Tears (Prelude)” and “Two Men In Love.” If you are still reading this review with genuine interest, then you will genuinely like the second record by McDermott’s orchestral caravan. Imagine a more theatrical version of Arcade Fire with completely transparent relationship lyrics: “Take off your clothes, I want to see you naked,” McDermott pleads on “Pale Sweet Healing.” The vocalist and his motley crew occasionally go overboard – I recommend bypassing the obnoxious climax of “Arrow” – but you cannot help being impressed by McDermott’s range and bravery. Indeed, one needs both courage and skill to present a song about a “magical ship” and “glistening mermen” while not coming across as ridiculous, pompous or pandering.

Album: News From Nowhere
Artist: Darkstar

Label: Warp Records

Release Date: February 2013

Country: United Kingdom

Website: darkstar.ws/news-from-nowhere

Best enjoyed while reading: “Bleep Bloop: The Decline of U.K. Music”

For the final album review of the final Strange Waves article, please allow me to say a few words about my view of post-Smiths British rock. As readers may know, I love stuff from the mid-1990s Britpop bubble. Yet I also think that 2000 was a brief, and somewhat overlooked, burst of great songs from across the pond. Among other things, that year saw excellent debut albums by Doves, Badly Drawn Boy and Coldplay, an essential “Best Of” by Blur, a surreal but scorching live record by Oasis and, of course, a certain magnum opus called Kid A. Since 2000, I have felt let down (or even betrayed) by many British bands, mostly for trying to recreate said magnum opus. Kid A has cast a massive shadow of electronica. As evidence, take the new LP by Darkstar – 10 tracks of bleeps and bloops. Man, this is boring shit. Perhaps there is a reason I have been listening to more American bands of late. Consider this a public statement to all up-and-coming rock musicians beyond the Atlantic: wake the fuck up. Don’t make me scratch my beard in bafflement. Don’t lull me to sleep. Inspire. Haunt me. Move me. Make me feel like myself again.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at BenjaminSmith@DaytonCityPaper.com

Dark summer, absurd sex, heart infatuation and definitive veto

Benjamin Smith — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:51:46 +0000

The sounds of a questionable future

By Benjamin Smith

New Year’s resolutions are lies, people. Lies! Are you really going to lose weight, quit smoking and become brilliant? No. You are going to stay fat and gross and stupid. Yet you can start 2013 on a slightly improved foot simply by trying something new this January. It could be anything: a new hobby, such as scrotum collecting, or a new experience, such as dying. Whatever honks your horn! For those of you who feel the need to take baby steps, I recommend spending time with one of these new (or fairly new) albums. More pleasant than scrotums, less dangerous than death. Enjoy!

Artist: Tone Bardo Therapy

Album: Mirrors Placed In Front Of Me

Label: HENK

Release Date: December 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: www.henkrecordings.com

Perfect For: Hot-ass yoga moms

What is the sound of one hand clapping? I have no idea. I also have no idea what Mirrors Placed In Front Of Me sounds like. At times it smacks of “world music” produced by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, while at other moments it suggests ancient alien funk. (Is there a difference?) Regardless, Tone Bardo Therapy – aka producer Ion Ludwig – takes listeners along a lulling river ride featuring minimalistic guitar licks, gentle electronica and mild hip-hop. Beneath the easy-listening surface shines substance of a spiritual nature, clearly alluded to in some of the song titles: “Paramita Sutra Chant,” “Music For The Dying,” “Breath Limitation.” Not every track is a revelation, but a few stick in the mind, especially “In The Year,” which is both embarrassingly absurd and surprisingly sexy. Should George Harrison be reborn as a porn star, this tune will surely resound from the heavens. (You’ve been warned.) Reflective, progressive, cosmic.

Artist: VETO

Album: Sinus

Label: RCA/Sony Music

Release Date: September 2012

Country: Denmark

Website: vetonet.dk

Perfect For: Shy Vikings

There are certain things musicians must never do. Topping the list: never name your band VETO; never name an EP Sinus; never employ a singer named “Troels” and whatever you do, for the love of god, never employ a drummer named “Mads.” Christ, you’d think this five-piece hailed from Dayton, the way they piss on common sense. (I kid. Kind of.) Surprisingly, VETO’s new six-song collection of Euro-pop and alternative rock is pretty decent – at least in an early Coldplay/Killers way. “Four To The Floor” may seem destined to play over the closing credits of a documentary about a bearded bartender, but the synth-based “Upwards” wakes one up like a strong cup of Danish kaffe and the dramatic, slow burning “Filter” is freaking fantastic. Most of Sinus is far better than anything else on American radio right now. Still, I would advise skipping the closer, “Show Me Where You Go.” It might be about a toilet.

Artist: GOLD

Album: Interbellum

Label: Ván Records

Release Date: December 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: www.thebandGOLD.com

Perfect For: Big biker chicks

To paraphrase “The Great Gatsby” narrator, Nick Carraway: In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like criticizing a band,” he told me, “just remember that they probably deserve it.” Excellent advice, indeed. GOLD is horrible. I should have known I would hate them; I usually flee from songs titled “Love, The Magician” and “Medicine Man.” The Heart infatuation surprised me, though, as did the detail that singer Milena Eva can’t actually sing; at best, she tries to sound “tough” or “rockish.” And I’ll let GOLD’s lyrical genius speak for itself: “What goes around comes around/That’s what I believe.” Well, I believe this is shit. Interbellum’s only saving grace is the unintentional entertainment that fifth track “Dreams” provides; its by-the-book glam guitar solo will make one laugh out loud. Butt rock bewilderment.

Artist: M-JO

Album: Feeling Changes

Label: Eign Beheer

Release Date: December 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: m-jo.bandcamp.com

Perfect For: Hellishly obnoxious hipsters

An air of obscurity is rare and refreshing in modern music. The artist known as M-JO, who sometimes plays with backing band the Jesus Herb, does not seem to strive for mass appeal. Rather, he records obliquely lo-fi memories. Stumbling on one of his songs by accident, you might think it a lost gem from the 1960s – a bluesy pop-rock sing-along. Feeling Changes’s opener, “Peter,” boasts a groovy flute solo, whereas the Syd Barrett-ish “Lazy Sunday” includes a line that could sum up the Summer of Love’s darker side: “I feel like a child lost inside myself.” M-JO is no great shakes as a vocalist, yet a singer doesn’t have to be John Lennon when his stuff glows with such basement charm. The Gem City would embrace this enigma with open arms if he were to perform at South Park Tavern. However, part of me relishes the realization that I won’t ever see him live. We need more – not less – mystery in our oversaturated age.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at BenjaminSmith@DaytonCityPaper.com

Radiohead, singing children and synthesizers

Benjamin Smith — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:00:55 +0000

OK KID: Worst of all albums, end of all culture

By Benjamin Smith

As the proud father of a precocious 10-year-old, I feel I have the experience and wisdom to proclaim, with impunity, that children are terrible. Seriously, they ruin everything. Children piss on your shoes, eat all the cupcakes, vomit at operas. Children ruin sex. Now, adding insult to injury, children have helped destroy one of Britain’s best bands.

The OK KID tragedy apparently started this spring, after Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (father of two) woke from a nightmare. “Had me a vision,” Yorke told the Financial Times. “Dreamt I lived in a future where people ate dirt and no one knew me music anymore – because they had all been wee when me albums were made. I woke up screaming. Then it hit me: kids need exposure to artistic genius just as much as they need milk and biscuits. So I called the lads and said: We’re doing OK KID. By the children, for the children.” Thus inspired, Radiohead and their longtime producer Nigel Godrich headed to the studio this August with London’s Little Chums children’s choir to re-record selections from the band’s canon. Giving a supposed thrill to the sessions, the Little Chums were backed by the band members themselves on keyboards, “strange sounds,” percussion and French horn. (“I love me horn,” said Yorke.) Three weeks later, OK KID – eleven covers and two originals – was complete.

Yorke: “It’s brilliant. Bloody brilliant. Better than biscuits.”

Alas, OK KID is the antithesis of brilliant, and far worse than the very worst of biscuits. Oxford’s finest have launched a Kidz Bop Hindenburg possibly fueled by greed, piloted by madness and filled with kids singing songs about, well, greed and madness. Behold the opening track, a cover of “We Suck Young Blood” from 2003’s Hail To The Thief. Over blasts of out-of-tune French horn, the Little Chums weakly warble: “Are you sweet? Are you fresh? Are you strung up by the wrists? We want the young blood.” This shit should be illegal. Next is “Myxomatosis,” a song that references a rabbit disease. “The mongrel cat came home,” some Elmo sound-alike screeches, “holding half a head.” In the background a circus organ suffers a mid-life crisis.

Let me be clear here: I believe it’s fantastic, even necessary, to expose children to great music. Countless other people do, too; in 2006, Rockabye Baby! released lullaby renditions of Radiohead, a soothing (if occasionally eerie or sad) collection of instrumental covers. Obviously, that album did not soothe Yorke’s own fears about future legacy and acclaim – and the unbelievable truth is that the Kidz Bop approach does sell product. But Christ, at what price?

Perhaps that is a moot point, because I predict that no one will buy OK KID. First of all, as I mentioned before, children ruin everything. I bet the Little Chums are adorable, yet even a good children’s choir can be dreadful. Who, for example, is that munchkin with marbles in his mouth on “Paranoid Android”? I don’t think he sings in English. (Only the words “The panic, the vomit” stand out. Cheers, mate.) And it’s fairly uncomfortable to hear a five-year-old British girl croon, “But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo.” What sane parent would actually play OK KID for kids? I wouldn’t subject terrorists to it. More importantly, what kids would enjoy it? Secondly, the selections are abysmal. Why Radiohead decided to re-record three songs from Hail To The Thief is beyond logic. Have you secretly suspected that Hail was a bomb? Rest assured, OK KID evaporates all doubt. There is also the striking detail that the re-recorded music itself seems chaotic without reason or purpose. (Jabbing a Moog does not equal mystery.) The Rolling Stones showed greater vitality when they made 1986’s Dirty Work, an album so bad that it has caused death. Is it impossible for Yorke, the band’s leader and seer, to act like a real musician, let alone like a real human? Has he, in fact, completely disappeared up his own ass? Why, yes. Yes he has. Check out the chorus from new track “Yoko Go Loko”: “Czar czar of commodity/Dead worm, head turn/Do the shoe/I will slice you up, you.” Hideous.

However, the truly hideous aspect of this record is the damage done to Radiohead’s sterling reputation. Years spent leading the charge toward the future has led to “strange sounds” and 13 songs sung poorly by the goddamn Little Chums. OK KID encapsulates what is vile about this decaying world. Beauty becomes shit for sale. Surely Yorke and Co. are self-aware? Surely they understand this is rubbish? The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if OK KID was created not to gain younger fans, but to nuke unrealistic expectations; to nuke the Radiohead myth. Above all else, OK KID parts the curtain of hype to expose what Radiohead really is: five fucking miserable bastards. With clay feet. Standing for nothing. With nothing new to say. Gone is an age of idols and heroes, artists and visionaries. Everything we knew was wrong. OK KID is the tolling of culture’s death bell, and I say, “let it ring.” We deserve it. We deserve it for being fooled by false genius. We deserve it for valuing pompous artifice. We deserve it for being children ourselves. We deserve it.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at BenjaminSmith@DaytonCityPaper.com

Impish robots, dark stars, flying horsemen and wonderful toys

Benjamin Smith — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:00:08 +0000

Four albums you have to buy or die

By Benjamin Smith

Hell is holiday shopping. Oh, how I loathe the upcoming exercises in self-induced anxiety and advertising-induced excess. Purchase or perish! For me, it’s bad enough that I don’t know what to buy people anymore; worse still is the fact that I don’t know if people are even human anymore. (Only my lovely wife and maybe Rachel Maddow are exempt from this doubt.) And forget that whole “Christmas spirit” sham: the Universe is a cold slab of matter. However, before your writer gets too nihilistic, he can at least recommend four gift ideas for the musically-minded automatons in your automatic lives. Happy consuming.

Album: Automaton

Artist: Fairmont

Label: My Favorite Robot Records

Release Date: November 2012

Country: Canada

Website: jakefairley.com

Perfect Gift For: Friends who lost their virginity listening to Depeche Mode’s Violator

Jake Fairley, a.k.a. Fairmont, is apparently a bit impish. What else could explain why new album Automaton – overall very catchy, slightly discordant indie-electronica – was bookended by atrocity? Opener “Creatures Of Night” conjures visions of a vampiric Tim Curry disco dancing (just trust me on this one), while closer “Slowing Down” presents a boring open letter to some bum who habitually drinks Fairley’s wine and flirts with his wife. Fucked if I know. Yet, the rest excels. “Alkaline,” based on repetitive synthesizer stabs plus drum machine, stands out as the coolest New Romantic track I’ve heard in years, the beautiful “Sara” is covered in Washed Out’s Chillwave fingerprints and “Tiny Diamonds” sparkles with ‘80s darkness and drama. Time to break out the eyeliner and awkwardly dance, all ye merry gentlemen. Impressive, mischievous, poignant.

Album: Navigate
Artist: Flying Horseman

Label: N.E.W.S./Unday

Release Date: November 12

Country: Belgium

Website: www.bestov.be

Perfect With: Relatives who always wear black

Sometimes a mediocre band can make memorable, even haunting, music. Such is the case with Flying Horseman and their new four-song EP. Navigate is skeletal modern folk that succeeds in evoking emotion in spite of itself. Singer Bert Dockx is a boring vocalist and childish lyricist (“America is dead, America is dead, don’t be sad … it’s a good thing some might have said,” he reports on – surprise – “America Is Dead”); nevertheless, the melancholic guitar notes will remain in your mind like sepia-stained memories. Adding texture, “We Navigate” arrives with screeching electric terror. The main reason to buy the EP, though, is for the excellent cover of Joy Division’s “Shadowplay,” here interpreted as a somber country ballad as performed by the blokes from Doves or Nick Drake’s ghost. Hopefully, recording this classic has inspired Mr. Dockx to step up his game.

Album: TOY
Artist: TOY

Label: Heavenly Recordings

Release Date: September 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: toy-band.com

Perfect With: Avant-garde anglophiles

Last year, The Horrors wowed Britain with Skying, a brilliant fireworks display of post-punk psychedelia. This year, their mates in TOY have launched a similar spectacle with their debut. To their credit, the spooky-looking five-piece have high praise for their normal-looking producer Dan Carey (Bat For Lashes, Hot Chip), who – among other things – utilized smoke and lasers in the studio. As Carey explained to England’s The Quietus, “I think if you fill the eyes with something intense and visual, it leaves you with the space to focus on the music. Your body reacts to the environment … There’s a logic behind that.” Clearly the logic works. TOY is a joy, from its space-rock beginning (“Colours Running Out”) to its epic whirling dervish ending (“Kopter”). Bizarrely, the best bit is a lush pop song called “Heart Skips A Beat.” State-of-the-art in British style.

Album: AXIS
Artist: Mugstar

Label: Agitated Records

Release Date: October 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.mugstar.com

Perfect With: Post-rock potheads

I’ll forgo commenting on the outfit’s god-awful name and will begin instead with an unlikely confession: I never completely appreciated the Doors until I listened to AXIS. Turns out I actually dig a little Morrison mojo if mixed with early Pink Floyd atmospherics and Mogwai muscle. This brew creates both the majesty of “Hollow Ox” – hippies laying siege to massive castles built by the gods – and the menace of “Axis Modulator,” which boasts faux-Lizard King yelps. (AXIS also radiates other influences, including Hawkwind and Dig Out Your Soul-era Oasis.) These seven songs prove the Mugstar chaps have chops, but there is an important lesson to be learned: when playing keyboards in a rock group, you better understand that brevity is the soul of showmanship. Tragically, third track “Tangerina” is marred by pointless Richard Wright/Ray Manzarek noodling. A strange instrumental storm.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at BenjaminSmith@DaytonCityPaper.com

New tunes for end times

Benjamin Smith — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:00:31 +0000

Questionable health, haunted people, wintry pop and electric sex

By Benjamin Smith

As I write this article, a colossal storm is slamming the East Coast, a toxic presidential election is reaching fever pitch, many are hoping for some sort of apocalypse on Dec. 21 – and I think I have the plague. ‘Tis a bleak season, my friends. Ergo, the following reviews of four albums that, obviously or subtly, complement a dark atmosphere. Music must match the mood, no? But chin up: at least our winter of discontent will have a fashionable soundtrack.

Album: The Haunted Man

Artist: Bat for Lashes

Label: Parlophone/EMI

Release Date: October 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.batforlashes.com

Perfect With: Red wine & old photographs

I love brunettes. Perhaps it’s no surprise then that I (superficially) dig Natasha Khan, aka Bat for Lashes. Yet I also (seriously) dig her voice and music. The Haunted Man’s second song and second single, “All Your Gold,” is brilliant: a little funky, a little sexy and utterly intriguing. A lyrically awkward chorus betrays a bruised underbelly: “There was someone that I knew before/A heart from the past that I cannot forget/I let him take all my gold, and hurt me so bad/But now for you, I have nothing left of all my gold.” It soon becomes apparent that The Haunted Man – sonically a crisp, glittering LP – was wrought by a haunted woman. Following in the footsteps of other top composers, Khan uses personal darkness to light a spark of hope. This spark shines brightest on the starkly beautiful “Laura,” which should impress even Kate Bush. An album of ghosts and lovers, villains and heroines.

Album: Hylas 002

Artist: Thomas Azier

Label: Hylas Records/BMG

Release Date: October 2012

Country: Germany

Website: thomasazier.com

Perfect With: Getting assassinated, getting ass

With the imminent release of the doom-and-gloomish “Skyfall,” James Bond seems to be everywhere. This is fortuitous for Dutch-born and Berlin-based Thomas Azier, whose second EP Hylas 002 replicates the wintery Euro-pop that dominated 007 soundtracks during the Soviet-obsessed 1980s. Indeed, “Fire Arrow” could be a golden relic from 1985’s “A View to a Kill,” whereas “Angelene” may have been ejected from 1987’s “The Living Daylights.” Short on substance (and on actual tunes), Hylas 002 is long on style that, mirroring one Roger Moore, shifts dangerously between cool and candid, kitsch and kick-ass. Azier pulls it off, though; each song ultimately goes down like a shot of Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and A-ha. If it doesn’t entirely satisfy, check out September’s Hylas 001 or Hylas 003, scheduled to drop next summer. Nicely odd and oddly nostalgic.

Album: The National Health

Artist: Maximo Park

Label: V2

Release Date: June 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: maximopark.com

Perfect For: People who wear “funny” hats

For years I refused to listen to Maximo Park. First of all, their name is rubbish. Also, lead singer Paul Smith looks like Jason Schwartzman, one of the terrible bastards sabotaging this century. Then this paper’s editor, Lord Emperor Kyle Melton, forced me to review the Park’s fourth record under threat of “Gangnam torture.” The hasty diagnosis: The National Health is fairly fit. Sure, the indie five-piece comes disturbingly close to replicating Rush at times, but there are moments that reflect the artfulness of more –ahem – “refined” groups, such as Elbow (“Hips And Lips”) and Editors (“The Undercurrents”). Most impressive is Smith’s vocal delivery and the band’s collective energy. My advice? Work harder on the lyrics, lads. “What a world this is, but we don’t know what to do with it,” Smith states on “Waves of Fear.” Christ, even Jason Schwartzman can write a better line.

Album: Stubborn Heart

Artist: Stubborn Heart

Label: One Little Indian

Release Date: November 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.stubbornheart.com

Perfect For: Cyborgs Who Like It “Hard,” Baby

There is a new dynamic duo in London these days – Luca Santucci and Ben Fitzgerald, otherwise known as Stubborn Heart. Think of these seedy purveyors of “electro soul,” whose debut lets it all hang out from the start with first track “Penetrate,” as a post-dubstep R&B act obsessed with Hall & Oates and smooth jazz circa 1986. This shit should sound terrible. Strange thing is, Stubborn Heart is excellent. Second song “Better Than This” – on which Santucci admits, “I can do better than you, you can do better than me” – is pure slow jam genius. And while “Two Times a Maybe” may be beyond absurd, the Radiohead gents would totally get down and dirty to it. (Behold: The King of Naughty Limbs!) Now, a 40-minute record of synths, drum machines, handclaps and falsettos is certainly not for everyone. But for the brave or stubborn, it will no doubt stimulate some midnight fun.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at BenjaminSmith@DaytonCityPaper.com

Salt, sketches, caves and cosy cushions

Benjamin Smith — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:30:18 +0000

Four foreign records for the fall

By Benjamin Smith

So the serpent has been slain – the venomous, endless summer of 2012. Somehow we survived the toil and trouble. Zounds! Let us now bask in the crisp calm of autumn. There’s a turbulent election coming of course, but hush: we need a break from chaos. Early fall is the time of swirling leaves, acoustic chords, birds taking flight and shimmering synths at night. Drink the soothing tonic of these four foreign records, and you shall see visions of gentle mystery, minor genius. The bewitching begins…

Album: Sketches From New Brighton

Artist: Loscil

Label: Kranky

Release Date: September 2012

Country: Canada

Website: www.loscil.ca

Perfect with: Meditation, Marijuana

New Brighton, for all you geography junkies, is a park in Vancouver. According to ambient artist Loscil (Scott Morgan), this space “borders industry and the Vancouver port authority and lays claim to being the birthplace of the city … These are my impressions, a kind of sketch of New Brighton and the surrounding area in an abstract form.” Based on these nine electronic instrumentals, we can deduce the park is a pretty and peaceful place, a source of solace for mild-mannered robots and single moms sustained by green tea. Opener “Khanamoot,” named after the First Nations designation for the area, flows seamlessly into “Hastings Sunrise,” which itself flows further through New Brighton’s conceptual history and space. Every once in a while we spy a ripple of smooth jazz or subdued Kraftwek, yet overall Sketches drifts along in a pleasant formless blur. It’s the best of current chilled tranquility.

Album: Haunt Me Sweetly

Artist: House of Cosy Cushions

Label: Outcast Cats

Release Date: September 2012

Country: Holland/Ireland

Website: www.houseofcosycushions.com

Perfect with: Black Coffee, Black Thoughts

Alas, House of Cosy Cushions is not an obscure geriatric porno. Instead, it is a sonic collective led by one Richard Bolhuis, a Dutch artist who writes melancholy tunes and sings a little like a sad – though ultimately a much more normal – Marilyn Manson. The new LP Haunt Me Sweetly succeeds in being ideal listening for a season of reaping, lurching from Elliot Smith/Evan Dando-esque strums (“May”) to funeral dirges (title track “Haunt Me Sweetly”) to hashish holes (“Cut a Rug”). Even a song entitled “In the Morning Sun” feels sepulchral. Life has not always been roses and wine for Mr. Bolhuis, apparently. Still, the record is certainly worthy of repeat playing, if only to savor the clipped “Wings,” on which our poor chap sings about blackberries and black cats before confessing, “She can make me laugh, she can make me be careless and happy.” Hopefully, she’s alive and not buried in some Dutch basement.

Album: A Lighter Weight, A Stronger Back

Artist: Salt Supply

Label: Esc Rec

Release Date: Sept. 12, 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: www.escrec.com

Perfect with: Road Trips, Reflections

To be completely candid, I know almost nothing about Salt Supply. I stumbled upon A Lighter Weight, A Stronger Back by sheer accident while spelunking through some odd grottos on the Internet. This collection of 14 songs released last month – but recorded way back in 2004, before the Great Recession swallowed all optimism – is a poignantly soft post-rock relic that can remind the listener of vanished trends and times. “A Day To Order” could be mistaken for a Mogwai B-side, whereas “Tomorrow’s Final Cut” steals from Radiohead’s Hail To The Thief. Even more dated are the acoustic wisps of Andrew Bird and Sufjan Stevens found in a few of the tracks. Music can’t physically transport us back to the past; however, it can provide a soundtrack for traveling in the present, and here is where A Lighter Weight reveals real value. Burn or download, hop in a car, press play and head straight for Ohio’s deserted country roads. You’re already lost, anyway.

Album: Votive Life

Artist: Cave Painting

Label: Third Rock

Release Date: September 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.cavepaintingmusic.com

Perfect with: Flirting, Firelight

Before, paleolithic artists created vivid images using incredibly basic of tools, such as charcoal. The aptly named Cave Painting have followed suit on their debut album. Neither ground-breaking nor nostalgic, Votive Life nevertheless summons an ageless sense of beauty, yearning and wonder using bits and pieces of fairly standard fare: Doves, Sigur Rós, early Coldplay, Bombay Bicycle Club, Foals and – on the its finest track, “Pair Up” – even classic Cyndi Lauper. Yet what makes the album truly shine in the dark sky of modern music is its feel: drummer Jonathan McCawley sets a semi-tribal texture, guitarist Harry Smallwood and bassist Richard Snabel bring natural, epic grandeur, keyboardist Sam Simon colors with flickers and singer Adam Kane evokes ghosts of long-forgotten hope and passion. Primitive but exceptionally produced, Votive Life stands as one of the most moving, haunting records of the millennium.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at BenjaminSmith@DaytonCityPaper.com

Strange Waves

Benjamin Smith — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:50:19 +0000

New sounds from across the pond

By Benjamin Smith

Your writer is getting married to a wonderful woman on Sept. 7. One of the countless wedding details we’ve obsessed over this summer together concerns the reception setlist. I’m pretty pleased with the final selection: Beatles, Motown, James Brown, disco-era Rolling Stones, early Madonna and even Falco’s “Der Kommissar” (a monumental victory for the groom-to-be). Of course, in choosing songs for a wedding reception, you need to choose songs that most of your guests will actually know. (So no Interpol.) Alas, in an ideal world I would sprinkle a few tracks from each of these four albums just to jazz shit up. I can see it now – standing in the middle of the dance floor, as deluded as Caligula, I glare at the DJ, raise my fist, and command: Unleash the Hot Cakes!

Album: Hot Cakes

Artist: The Darkness

Label: Play It Again Sam

Release Date: August 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.theactualdarkness.com

Perfect For: Spontaneous Air Guitar Showdown

Late one night in the autumn of 2003, while sitting on my couch guzzling Guinness and watching MTV2, I caught footage of The Darkness performing their first single, “Get Your Hands Off My Woman.” Instantly I found the four-piece disturbing and intriguing: a gang of flouncing Visigoths eager to tear down the civilized achievements of my precious Britpop. Although the U.K. press labeled them silly saviors of rock n’ roll, The Darkness fell during the mid-2000s in a streak of drug addiction, sibling rivalry and bald bassists. Third album Hot Cakes showcases the reunited band’s resurrected strengths: slick riffs, gonzo vocals, a sense of humor and no surprises. Opener “Every Inch Of You” may bore, but the catchy “Keep Me Hangin’ On” is pure radio gold; fans of stadium stegosaurus Boston will surely piss themselves in pleasure. The rest of Hot Cakes sounds exactly as it should.

Album: @reverend_makers

Artist: Reverend and The Makers

Label: Wall of Sound

Release Date: June 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.iamreverend.com

Perfect For: Mom’s Oblivious Boogie

Most of us look completely ridiculous when dancing. Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that the latest dance-rock offering from John McClure (“The Reverend”) and his Makers is the very definition of ridiculousness. Behold these lyrics: “I’m coming out of the shadows, I’m coming into the light/I’m stepping out in the sunshine, ‘cause it’s the end of the night.” Christ, these chaps make Steve Miller look Shakespearean. (And don’t get me started on the record’s doltish title.) I’m convinced only Brits could embrace this – the U.K.’s love of dodgy clubish music is infamous – yet Americans should at least appreciate its unashamed energy and refreshing absence of Important Messages. Maybe McClure and Co. banded together in the wrong decade; “Shine The Light” and “Bassline” might’ve been hits back in the heyday of the Stereo MCs (1992−1993) and the Lo Fidelity Allstars (1998−1999), respectively. Dumb fun.

Album: The Glorious Dead

Artist: The Heavy

Label: Ninja Tune

Release Date: August 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: goodman.theheavy.co.uk

Perfect For: Soul Train Line By The Bar

Every wedding reception must feature some soul music, and The Heavy supply this joyful noise with a gilded rock-funk slant. (Think “Big Trouble in Detroit City: The Musical”). Whereas the songwriting on their third album is strong and dramatic – indeed, over the top at times – the real power and heart of The Glorious Dead lies in the voice of singer Kelvin Swaby. He is The Man. Dig his Blaxploitation rage on “Same Ol,’” his Aerosmith magic on “Just My Luck,” or his kick-ass preacher stance on “What Makes A Good Man.” Props also go out to guitarist Dan Taylor for bringing, of all things, a Kasabian-esque craziness to the party. While not at all novel – “Be Mine,” for example, seems a subtle copy of The Eagles’ “One Of These Nights” – The Glorious Dead is a welcomed work of 1970s nostalgia. Barry White, James Brown and many other departed artists would’ve been proud. Get down!

Album: 099

Artist: Comtron

Label: Magnetron Music

Release Date: August 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: comtronmusic.com

Perfect For: Champagne Sipping & Shagging

Formed 10 years ago by electronic music producer Bas Bron and percussionist/drummer Rimer Veeman, Comtron claim to love “the corporate world, fraud, greed and finance.” As a result, they create vacuous dance music for imaginary empty suits. The follow-up to 2007’s Follow The Money, 099 presents the sounds of limitless ambition and acquisition merged with cheap synths and beats from the Yuppie Era. Close your eyes to “Fraud,” and your writer wages you’ll see visions of sordid acts on private jets. This is not necessarily a flaw, my friends. Then there’s “Ok1k$,” on which the spirit of Bootsy Collins showers down funk over ringing cash registers and possible prostitute dialogue. The enterprise is utterly louche and ironic, but that’s 99 percent of its charm. (Also ironic is the fact that this odd ode to excess clocks in under 25 minutes.) A random yet bold elopement between Falco and Mitt Romney.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at Benjami

Strange Waves

Benjamin Smith — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:37:54 +0000

New sounds from across the pond

By Benjamin Smith

I’m no Nostradamus. Yet I do predict that one night, while sipping absinthe on the Trolley Stop patio, a local musician will question me about this column’s value (or lack thereof). The inquisitor appears hazy in my vision, but I see…yes…I see that he can pass for a Welcome Back, Kotter cast member. “Your stupid column doesn’t belong in the Dayton City Paper,” he’ll finally proclaim, “because your stupid column doesn’t feature Dayton bands and music.”  Sacrebleu! Perhaps this Sweathog has a point, I reflect when the vision subsides. However, I quickly remember that almost every newspaper—from New York’s Village Voice to the News-Tribune in Hicksville, Ohio—offers at least some national and foreign coverage. Dayton’s arts and entertainment are notable and need to be featured here, for sure: but shouldn’t we also highlight arts and entertainment from beyond our city’s limits, for the possible benefit of people within our city’s limits? Isn’t this exposure part of the Dayton City Paper’s greater purpose? Put that in your pipe and smoke it, kids. And as you do, soak in a couple of the following albums; close your eyes; concentrate; transcend. Listen globally, dance locally. Amen.

Artist: Elitechnique

Album: Intrusion

Label: Clone Records

Release Date: July 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: www.myspace.com/elitechnique

Possible Soundtrack To: Blade Runner 2: Electric Boogaloo

A lighthearted spirit is a rare and noble thing these days. Elitechnique—the Dutch duo of Remco De Jong and Florentijn Boddendijk—showcases brave silliness in spades on Intrusion, which plays like an instrumental score composed by Ladytron and Vangelis for softcore sci-fi porn. Behold the song titles: “Rooftop,” “Hotel Cosmos,” “Private Beach,” “Girls Girls Girls.” Add synthesizers and bass lines from the Reagan era, and voilà! A singular summer classic. The cheesiness can be as vividly yellow as the record’s cover, though let’s be honest—we expect this from European disco by now. All part of the continental charm. At its best, Intrusion represents intelligent, ironic escapism: a chance to fantasize about futuristic foreign bikinis rather than focus on looming American political debates. Doom and gloom ain’t got nothing on repurposed Duran Duran, son. A postmodern passport.

Artist: The Crookes

Album: Hold Fast

Label: Fierce Panda

Release Date: July 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.thecrookes.co.uk

Lyric That Sums It Up: “Faded memories, they’re all we’ll have, they’re all we’ll need/ I’ll remember you just as you always want me to.”

I’ll be the first to admit that, on paper, The Crookes seem less than novel: an indie-pop four-piece fond of guitars and the 1980s. But by Jove, their stuff has a certain je ne sais quoi. Perchance this appeal stems from geography, for The Crookes hail from Sheffield, home of Pulp; like the latter, the former bring a subtly urbane touch to tunes of love and lust, plus a flair for melody and melancholy. The best of these 10 tracks — the bittersweet “Stars,” the yearning “American Girls”— should inspire dances in the dark and dreams in black-and-white. Hold Fast may also provide solace to worshippers of Morrissey and Johnny Marr, those delicate souls waiting – in vain – for illusions of a Smiths reunion. Too lean and derivative to be a masterpiece, The Crookes’s second album nevertheless remains a rarity: an instantly catchy and romantic collection of songs from a modern British band. Spin and swoon.

Artist: Drvg Cvltvre

Album: Everything Oblivion 

Label: Snug Life Records

Release Date: July 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: snugliferecords.bandcamp.com

Best Enjoyed While Reading: The Lair of the White Worm

Everything Oblivion has been dubbed “Zombie Disco Music,” and I can’t argue with this. If you have ever owned a Marilyn Manson album (for shame!), consider your mojo resurrected. Before the rest of you rush to judgment or run away screaming like children, understand that within this monotonous throbbing hell of keyboards and percussion blooms beauty . . . beauty that smells of, um, Thom Yorke. They’ll have to dig through mud and murk, yet fans of Yorke’s solo work and The King Of Limbs may actually appreciate random bits of “Babycakes” or “I Am The Lion, Hear Me Roar.” Furthermore, Drvg Cvltvre—a.k.a. DJ and Snug Life founder Vincent Koreman—strikes the occasional semi-human dance groove (“The Party’s Over”). Still, any record featuring a track entitled “Hold My Sweaty Hairy Hands” is aiming for limited, creepy appeal. Insert haunted “house” joke here.

Artist: Micachu and the Shapes

Album: Never

Label: Rough Trade

Release Date: July 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: http://micachu.biz 

Perfect Gift For: Enfants Terribles

Mica Levi, otherwise known as Micachu, is British pop’s newest mad scientist. Backed by keyboardist Raisa Khan and drummer Marc Pell, she has now unveiled a second puzzle of contrasting rhythms and sounds that somehow gel. The result is near genius. One constant holding the chaos together is Micachu’s vocal approach: detached and obviously suggestive of Siouxsie Sioux, but also, more bizarrely, Syd Barrett. Indeed, the spirit of Pink Floyd’s deceased madcap lives on in the carnival craziness of “Holiday” and the Nintendo bursts of “You Know,” while “Fall” could have been the soundtrack to Barrett’s own fall from grace and sanity. Crazy shit to many, though the status quo for a classically trained renegade who “plays” a vacuum cleaner and builds her own instruments, Never will never be embraced by the present music-buying public; regardless, it stands a flickering sign pointing towards the future.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at BenjaminSmith@DaytonCityPaper.com

Strange Waves

Benjamin Smith — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 19:23:57 +0000

Sounds from Fixers, Marty Graveyard, Benjamin Herman and Hot Chip

By Benjamin Smith

Forsooth, an awful funk permeates our city, radiating the attitudinal stench of some decaying river-beast. Dayton lies stagnant in the summer doldrums. You can spy it in our scowls, perceive it in our pissant Facebook posts: ennui, apathy, listlessness. Methinks we need a little mindless fun, a little stimulation. They might not completely stem the torpid tide, but these four records from foreign shores will provide at least momentary distraction. Consider them imported fireworks, all weird color and brief sparkle.

Album: We’ll Be The Moon

Artist: Fixers

Label: Vertigo

Release Date: May 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.fixerstheband.com

Perfect Gift For: That One U.D. Girl. (You Know Which One.)

I would love to accost this Oxford band and say: “Fixers? Really? That’s what you’re going with? Fixers. Really. Good luck with that, lads.” Alas, the scruffy-looking geniuses would probably tell me to piss off. Marketing suicide aside, their debut We’ll Be The Moon is a miniature universe of synthesizers and dance beats. Although points of reference include The Killers’ Hot Fuss, Fixers at first appear more concerned with creating shimmery, dreamy atmospheres than hit singles. (My ten-year-old son thinks they “sound Japanese,” whatever that means.) Additional listens reveal real strong hooks: “Floating Up,” “Pink Light,” and “Crystals” stick in the subconscious, whereas “Alexandra” should be a top 10 hit. By the time you reach “Uriel,” you realize that—had Chris Martin stretched himself as a vocalist and stopped taking his career so seriously—Fixers is the ensemble Coldplay could have become in 2005. Depending on your stance towards Martin & Co., this insight will make you cry in shame or shake your head at a lost opportunity.

Album: Summer Holiday

Artist: Marty Graveyard

Label: V2 Records

Release Date: June 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: www.martygraveyard.com

Lyric That Sums It Up: “Hey, hey, do you wanna go with me away? To the beach, we got to have a holiday.”

Marty Graveyard, the former singer/drummer for some band called The Madd, recently released a solo collection of what his website dubs “feelgood guitar pop” influenced by “the Californian pop sound.” In case you’re a meathead and still don’t understand, this is pop music—jangly chords, catchy choruses and obvious imprints (the Beatles, the Beach Boys). Graveyard’s songwriting may make Noel Gallagher look like a composer of unrivaled originality, but the Dutchman’s banality isn’t the end of the world. What is catastrophic at times is his voice: I had no idea Graveyard was a prepubescent girl. Furthermore, the lyrics are all Hallmark and Paul McCartney, and “My Heart Is Set On You” brings to mind the “Friends” theme song. Unforgivable. Luckily, other tunes such as “Rigid Man” and “Call Of The Ocean” cancel out the crap. Bad news: Summer Holiday is 100% plagiaristic. Good news: Summer Holiday is 100% carefree. Pour a Heineken and take the day off.

Album: Deal

Artist: Benjamin Herman

Label: Dox Records

Release Date: June 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: www.benjaminherman.nl

Best Enjoyed While Reading: From Russia, With Love

It’s high time to resurrect “swanky” in Dayton. Dig Benjamin Herman: cat plays sax, composes cool jazz and was crowned 2008’s “Best dressed Dutchman” by Esquire. New release, Deal, finds our hero backed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and spiky guitar licks, all of which gives this enterprise a retro “Iron Curtain” mojo. (Can one be nostalgic for KBG sex kittens? Yes.) Even the songs titles convey a sense of international intrigue: “Give Me A Figure,” “A Man With A Plan,” “Room 1618,” “Her Boyfriends Are Usually Quite Different.” Gentlemen! Deal is horribly outdated seduction music of the highest caliber. Learn how to mix a wicked martini or Old Fashioned, invite that special someone over, dim the lights and press play. Follow these directions accurately and you have a 30 percent chance of carnal conquest. Worse comes to worst, you can shuffle like a drunken Peter Sellers to bonus track “Cat.” Not a shabby way of killing an evening, actually.

Album: In Our Heads

Artist: Hot Chip

Label: Domino

Release Date: June 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: http://hotchip.co.uk

Possible Soundtrack To: Big Dorkus Dance Party

London’s Hot Chip have now released five consecutive albums of questionable R&B elevated by New Order nonsense. Like their previous efforts, In Our Heads reiterates that “cool” is either an alien concept or a four-letter word to this seven piece—witness the Whitney Houston/Jabba the Hutt collage of “Don’t Deny Your Heart,” or the Bill Gates/Justin Timberlake take on “Night And Day.” The approach remains refreshing and impressive. Creating absurd art that emotionally moves the beholder is hard, and thus Hot Chip deserve to be showered with champagne and confetti. None of this is to say that In Our Heads is entirely silly. Opener “Motion Sickness” is a clarion call of confidence, “These Chains” betrays a bittersweet sexiness and “Flutes” could be a club sensation waiting in the wings, polishing its pocket protector before entering the limelight. DJs searching for a novel knockout should exploit the Chip. Everyone else should make merry and marvel at a band hitting its stride.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at BenjaminSmith@DaytonCityPaper.com

Strange Waves

Benjamin Smith — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 20:48:28 +0000

New Sounds from Across the Pond

By Benjamin Smith

Your writer turns 36 on June 15. Now, I don’t expect anything at all from Dayton on this occasion—except a massive music festival. Alas, other than certain local favorites, who would perform? Oasis is done, the Interpol chaps don’t return my phone calls, and I’m pretty sure Miles Davis is dead. What a bummer. Still, there is hope. I present for you four recent albums by four decent groups that would actually (maybe) play on my birthday. Your final homework assignment of the year: dig these records, pool your resources, and fly these guys here. I’ll supply party hats and sangria.

Album: About Girls

Artist: Hatcham Social

Label: Fierce Panda

Release Date: April 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: http://www.hatchamsocialofficial.co.uk

Lyric That Sums It Up: “Escape from London, down to the seafront, in the backseat of your car we tell each other lies.”

Festivals, parties, and summer road trips are often improved by the inclusion of at least some no-frills indie-rock. Behold Hatcham Social’s second album—About Girls—which is, surprise, about girls. Take a gander at the first three song titles: “NY Girl,” “Nicola Tells Me,” “Lois Lane.” You’ll find no references to protests in Syria or Wall Street weirdness here. Fans of the band include The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess and Alan McGee, the madman who gave us Oasis. This should speak volumes. Although Burgess has thrown great praise on drummer Finnigan Kidd (paging Charles Dickens!), the real stars are the two guitarists, Tobias Josef Kidd and David Claxton, who get that less is always more; a distracted child could play the semi-sinister solos on “NY Girl” and “Escape from London,” but the approach totally works. Unfortunately, the best guitarists in the world wouldn’t have been able to salvage “I Look Like A God When You Dance With Me,” a wholly unoriginal streak of meh. Thank God most of the other tracks inspire less yawning and more dancing.

Album: Springlevend

Artist: The Kik

Label: Excelsior Recordings

Release Date: May 2012

Country: The Netherlands

Website: http://thekik.nl/nl/home

Best Enjoyed While Reading: The Man in the High Castle

I don’t understand a single word The Kik sing. They’re from the Netherlands. Nevertheless, their clean and chipper Beatlepop makes me happy. Consider “Cleopatra,” which bounces like a random Rubber Soul song with added Animals organ, or the intro of “Verliefd Op Een Plaatje,” sounding suspiciously similar to the intro of “I Saw Her Standing There.” Last track “Zevenhuizer Zondag” even attempts to summon the cool transcendent spirit of “If I Needed Someone.” Boasting additional Monkee bits and “Secret Agent Man” moxy, Springlevend is shamelessly derivative and a lot of fun. It also gives us a glimpse into a parallel universe—one in which the Fab Four originated on the continent, then played residencies in Liverpool—and evokes nostalgia for a past that didn’t exactly happen. (Philip K. Dick would have loved The Kik.) A swinging trip through a concocted era.

Album: The Shallows

Artist: I Like Trains

Label: ILR/Bertus

Release Date: April 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: www.iliketrains.co.uk

Perfect Gift For: Me, Maybe You

I’m a simple, shallow and happy-go-lucky man-child who happens to relish complex, textured and introspective music. If this description suits you too—or if you’re just a completely miserable bastard—the latest release by four-piece I Like Trains will rejuvenate like a solitary sip of whiskey. Colored by David Martin’s baritone and guitar interplay with Guy Bannister, The Shallows is reminiscent of the first Editors album and the fourth Interpol record. Opener “Beacons” sets a dramatic tone, and little changes over the course of the LP. In many ways the music is a black monolith: striking and memorable, devoid of subtlety and contrast. Another criticism concerns the lyrics. “If I drown I will go knowing . . . I will go knowing I was heading for shore . . . You told me that I should hold it together, you won’t let the blind lead the blind forever,” Martin mutters on “We Used To Talk.” Perhaps there’s a reason they don’t talk anymore—the lad needs to lighten up, get laid. Regardless, a worthy purchase or gift for masochists.

Album: An Awesome Wave

Artist: alt-j

Label: Infectious/PIAS

Release Date: May 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Website: http://altjband.com

Possible Soundtrack To: Muppets In Rainbows

I have dim memories of causing a scandal on my 31^stbirthday by playing with a duck puppet at the Wine Loft. Incidentally, alt-j’s Joe Newman occasionally sings like Kermit the Frog. This is one of several odd aspects about the Cambridge band. To wit: if you key in alt-j on your Mac, you make a triangle (∆); a strange symbol for a four-piece. Then there’s the music itself, much of it suggesting a coked-out nerd version of Radiohead. In related news, sections of “Something Good” seem lifted straight from “The Clock” on Thom Yorke’s The Eraser. The members themselves describe their debut as “folk-step.” I have no freaking clue what that means, but overall I love the results. Newman turns the Jim Henson dial up to 11 on “Fitzpleasure” and “Breezeblocks,” yet the songs surge and melt genre classifications despite the vocal sabotage. The more subdued tunes, like “Bloodflood,” are beautiful, almost tribal. One can only marvel—and admire the balls of those who signed the triangle boys. Dayton should beckon.

Reach DCP freelance writer Benjamin Smith at BenjaminSmith@DaytonCityPaper.com