Numbers Are Meaning, And I Want To Know

Shapes & Sizes “Alone/Alive” – There’s no nice way to say this, so I’ll just be blunt: The dude in Shapes & Sizes needs to let this woman sing every one of their songs. The difference between their tracks on their new album isn’t as drastic as on the first, and his voice isn’t as painful to hear either, but if you’ve got this compelling, assertive, supremely expressive vocalist in the band, why clog up the record with songs sung by a guy who sounds like yet another limp, nondescript indie rocker? Why drag down the average when every song could be an A+?

Caila Thompson-Hannant’s songs tend to condense epic adventures into compositions that rarely crack the five minute mark, implying moments of excitement, danger, despair, aimlessness, and romance along every twist and turn without seeming disjointed or cumbersome. Her words drop hints, but the sound of her voice is far more articulate, slipping from high pitched squeals to brassy shouts, gradually fleshing out a rich character that is alternately authoritative and deeply confused. (Click here to pre-order it from Asthmatic Kitty.)

Elsewhere: I’m not 100% sure how I feel about this essay that I wrote for Artistdirect. I like it for the most part, but I definitely think I’m biting off more than I can chew at the beginning and the end, and I worry that the general tone is overly peevish.

Also: Glenn Coolfer has some very good ideas about SXSW, Dan Kois is totally OTM about the “inarticulate narrator,” Mark Pytlik somehow made me like Sound of Silver more than I already did, and Pageblank quietly defends North American Scum hipsters, or at least the ones that he knows in Canada.