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February 10, 2009
On Three Records, In Brief
Lotus Plaza - The Floodlight Collective
out on Kranky Records, 3/24/09
It seems inevitable that Deerhunter's guitarist Lockett Pundt will have trouble fully branding himself as a solo artist with this record. I mean, the bleached out childhood cover, the dreamy ennui, the chilly autumn day guitars, it's all steeped in an aesthetic that's familiar by now to fans of DH's MIcrocastle, as well as singer Bradford Cox's Atlas Sound LP. Pundt was in those band meetings, determining that style, playing that guitar, and even helping Brad record his own material, but he's not the bizarrely compelling frontman, and for fair or not, he's not the figure primarily associated with these things. So, in the sense that Lockett's musical identity doesn't stray far from the tree, it's tough to get a read on Lotus Plaza as a autonomous entity, rather than a Deerhunter franchise. It doesn't help that Pundt buries his vocals and lyrics more than Cox does. It's almost too humble to be a discernable statement of intent. That said, this is probably a more solid record than AS' Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel. There are fewer songs that sound like unsuccessful experiments (but fewer unqualified artisitic successes, conversely). Lovely little vintage 4AD rockers abound, though.
Wavves - Wavvves
out on Fat Possum Records, 3/17/09
I'm extremely sympathetic to aims and pursuits of the current lo-fi revival, but it's a major understatement to say that the result vary with user. California's Wavves, for example, is pretty much a fraud. While that may seem too dismissive, or even slightly unfair, I don't know how else to describe a record of 13 songs clocking in at barely over a half hour, released only a few months after another LP of similar length and merit, that spends half its time on plodding instrumental experiments that no one interested in songcraft could deem "done." If you don't have enough material for an LP, release an EP pal! The standards here are just irredeemably low. When it's fun, it's pretty fun, even as you sense that the layer of fuzz it's given is really just sleight of hand, misdirecting you from bland vagueness. Dumb/choppy chords, washed out harmonies, brain cells just bleeding away. Fine. But it's just not enough. Also, I've always been suspicious of music that has skateboard culture as a grounding influence. Maybe that's the cultural Rosetta Stone I'm missing here.
the Juan MacLean - The Future Will Come
out on DFA Records, 4/14/09
The Juan MacLean's 2005 LP, More Than Human turned out to be less than relatable away from the dance floor. As the stellar live show I saw late in 08 foreshadowed, the band is coming back to a more mortal place. I don't know how often MS' readers are let loose on the world's dancefloors, but compact song structure and a bread crumb trail of vocals ups really help replay value on a day to day basis. Their are times when Juan (or John, really) gets sardonic over his grooves; songs like the title track that can't help but resemble a less-taut LCD Soundsystem. Ironically though, it's the involvement of LCD's Nancy Whang that differentiates the disc from its label mates. With her plain, forthright vocals in the mix, dueling with Juan's smart aleck, the record achieves its press release's promise of Human League-circa-Dare glory. DFA = Label of the decade? Who's competing, really?
Posted by Jeff Klingman at February 10, 2009 06:56 PM
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