Sharon Van Etten “Kevin’s”

“Kevin’s” conveys a lot of warmth and empathy, but there’s a touch of tough love to it, particularly as Van Etten sings the line “buried in masculine pain all the time.” When she puts it that way, his experience seems alien – something that she wants to understand, probably, but also something that obviously frightens her. It sounds like she’s trying to help someone out of their own traps, but doesn’t quite understand how the traps got there. The music sounds like a lifeline, but her vocal performance indicates that she’s pulling him up, but isn’t quite on solid ground herself.

Buy it from Amazon.

Himanshu “Womyn”

Heems is very good at sneaking clever, complicated ideas into essentially dumb music. In this song he makes a lot of silly jokes – mostly at his expense – about how much he likes ladies, and while it basically sounds like any number of goofy hip-hop songs about chicks, the real message slowly sinks in: This is a song about genuinely appreciating women and recognizing them as people who have lives, thoughts and opinions. Which is very “no duh,” but in the context of rap, it’s a weirdly radical thought. So one hand, the song is pleasant, light-hearted and sweet, and on the other, it’s a bit confrontational, forcing the listener to wonder why it’s generally rare to find positive, healthy, respectful attitudes toward women in hip-hop. It’s very impressive that Heems can get that across without seeming even a little bit heavy or sanctimonious.

Download the mixtape for free from Seva NY.

The Kills @ Terminal 5 2/11/2012

No Wow / Future Starts Slow / Heart Is A Beating Drum / Kissy Kissy / URA Fever / DNA / Satellite / Last Day of Magic / Crazy [Patsy Cline cover] / At the Back of the Shell / Black Balloon / Baby Says / You Don’t Own the Road / Tape Song / Cheap and Cheerful / Pots and Pans // The Last Goodbye / Nail in My Coffin / Sour Cherry / Fuck the People / Monkey 23

I reviewed this show for Rolling Stone and you can read about it there.

The Kills “Pots and Pans”

“Pots and Pans” is a sleeper song; it certainly took a while to reveal itself as one of the Kills’ finest compositions. The first half of the piece plays on a feeling of suspense – musically and emotionally, you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. Alison Mosshart’s lyrics and vocals convey affection but some degree of ill-defined discomfort – with herself, with the object of her affection, something. Then that other shoe does drop, and the perspective of the song pulls back dramatically in scope. The coda is something else – romance and nostalgia on a grand scale. The failings of the present eventually fall away in hindsight, and these moments that are so fraught with tension because the days that we will never forget.

Buy it from Amazon.

Tennis “Petition”

Tennis’ previous album was wistful and slight – pleasant but not especially memorable. Their second record, Young and Old, is far more substantial, with deeper bass and louder, more present percussion serving as a steady foundation for better, more assertive songs. “Petition” is the best one, and the one that pushes Alaina Moore’s voice furthest into blue eye soul. This sound works well for them – they’ve made a lot of their life of leisure (sailing, sailing, sailing), and these buttery harmonies are a much better expression of their “comfort pop” aesthetic.

Buy it from Amazon.

Mr. Dream “Fatherland”

Mr. Dream’s second release is a slight curve ball, retaining the elemental appeal of their debut Trash Hit, while pushing the band beyond its early 90s reference points. “Fatherland,” the title track of the EP, is the most impressive in this respect, with its hefty bass lines giving structural support to guitar and percussion parts that shift, swing and pivot in often unexpected ways. It’s incredibly physical and dynamic music, and that feeling is amped up by Nick Sylvester’s production, which splits the difference between a dry, matter-of-fact bluntness and the subtle reverb of an accurate room sound. His drumming sounds especially good and powerful with this approach, which, along with other records co-produced by Spoon’s Jim Eno, suggests that more drummers should take charge in recording their own performances.

Buy it from Amazon.

Wilco “Born Alone”

I’m always a bit confused by the fear of “dying alone,” at least in a literal sense. Being afraid of being lonely at the end of one’s life – I get that anxiety, and share it. But in terms of actual death, isn’t it ultimately something we can only really experience on our own? I think Jeff Tweedy is brushing up against this idea in this song, in which he concludes that he was “born to die alone,” drawing a loop from the beginning to the end of life, both of which are at least partly mysterious in how we actually experience them.

“Born Alone” is one of the best songs on Wilco’s eighth album, The Whole Love, a record that I’ve largely ignored up until recently despite being a fan of the band for over a decade. I’m still not fully sold on some of the tracks, which strike me as a bit flimsy and dull when compared to the highlights of Tweedy’s catalog. The best cuts call back to their Summer Teeth period, in which the group was just coming out of its alt-country Americana phase and heading into its artier peak period. The melody of “Born Alone” slightly echoes “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” – think of the “Bible-black predawn” line, and you’ll know what I mean – but it’s not deliberate, it’s mostly just that thing of musicians gravitating to certain types of cadence and progressions. A cool loud guitar break notwithstanding, it’s not one of Tweedy’s more ambitious songs, but it’s comfortable and comforting, with him easing the listener into lyrics that are both deep and self-deprecating.

Buy it from Amazon.

of Montreal “Spiteful Intervention”

There was a time – a mostly quite bad time – in my life when I related quite strongly to Kevin Barnes’ music, but thankfully, I’m not there anymore. This puts me in a strange position in terms of my relationship with his music: While I maintain that he has made some of the best records of the past decade, it can emotionally scalding to hear some of my favorite songs in his catalog lately, and I come into the latest of Montreal album, Paralytic Stalks, with a bit of distance and trepidation. Even in the context of Barnes’ often hysterically emotional work, Paralytic Stalks goes to some of the darkest places of his career to date as he struggles to hold together a difficult relationship and comprehend why he can feel compelled to be cruel to the one he loves. “Spiteful Intervention” cuts straight to the heart of this, with Barnes admitting that he can get off on being emotionally sadistic with his lover. Like a lot of the best of Montreal songs, it’s simultaneously raw and direct in its sentiment, and extremely cerebral, with lyrics that pick apart each nuance of the situation with the focus of a very depressed person who can’t stop obsessing and replaying conflicts in his head. I really love this song, but want to keep it at arm’s length – when that chorus gets stuck in my head, I worry about its words getting too deep into my psyche. I never want to be the guy singing this song.

Buy it from Amazon.

This month marks the 10th anniversary of Fluxblog. I will be doing a few things to celebrate the occasion over the course of the year, but the main thing is that I will be putting together survey mixes for each year the site has existed. The mixes will be released on the first weekday of each month this year, culminating in revised/expanded versions of the 2010 and 2011 mixes and this year’s survey at the start of December.

2002 was an interesting year, with a lot of major stuff bubbling up as the identity of the decade was starting to take hold. Things really came into bloom in the following year – check back on March 1st for what will almost certainly be the most mind-blowing survey in the series – but the year is big on bold creative statements and high quality dance, hip-hop and rock music. It’s very much the year of the mash-up, both in terms of actual mash-up remixes and artists across the board building new tunes out of old tracks and gleefully bending and blending genres. There’s a little bit of post-9/11 angst in the mix, but for the most part, the music of 2002 was optimistic, adventurous and focused on delivering escapist pleasure.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Missy Elliot “Work It” / Sugababes “Freak Like Me” / Ce’Cile “Rude Bwoy Thug Life” / Kylie Minogue “Love At First Sight” / United State of Electronica “Emerald City” / Max Tundra “Lysine” / Cam’Ron “Hey Ma” / Scarface “On My Block” / Beck “Paper Tiger” / Interpol “Obstacle 1” / Wire “I Don’t Understand” / Clinic “Walking With Thee” / McLusky “To Hell With Good Intentions” / Sonic Youth “Karenology” / The Kills “Wait” / The Walkmen “We’ve Been Had” / Yo La Tengo “How Some Jellyfish Are Born”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

Wilco “I’m the Man Who Loves You” / Dressy Bessy “I Saw Cinnamon” / Spoon “The Way We Get By” / 2 Many DJs “No Fun/Push It” / Eminem “Without Me” / Nelly “Hot In Herre” / Christina Aguilera featuring Redman “Dirrty” / Liars “Mr. You’re On Fire Mr.” / The Libertines “Up the Bracket” / Moby “We Are All Made of Stars” / Alcazar “Crying at the Discotheque” / The Roots “Thought @ Work” / Dntel featuring Ben Gibbard “(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (Superpitcher Mix)” / Gus Gus “David” / The Breeders “London Song” / Ugly Cassanova “Things I Don’t Remember” / …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead “Source Tags and Codes”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

LCD Soundsystem “Losing My Edge” / The Rapture “House of Jealous Lovers” / The Streets “Let’s Push Things Forward” / Ms. Dynamite “Dy-Na-Mi-Tee” / Q Tip vs Michael Jackson “Don’t Stop to Breathe” / Eve “Satisfaction” / Quarks “I Walk” / RJD2 “Ghostwriter” / Angie Stone “Wish I Didn’t Miss You” / Devin the Dude “I-Hi” / Cee-Lo Green “Closet Freak” / Go Home Productions “Christmas on the Block” / MC Paul Barman “Old Paul” / Tweet featuring Missy Elliot “Oops (Oh My)” / Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” / Phantom Planet “California” / David Bowie “Cactus” / Belle and Sebastian “I Don’t Want to Play Football”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

Coldplay “Clocks” / Freelance Hellraiser “A Stroke of Genius” / Ashanti “Foolish” / Justin Timberlake “Cry Me A River” / Truth Hurts featuring Rakim “Addictive” / Ludacris featuring Sleepy Brown “Saturday (Oooh! Ooooh!)” / R. Kelly and Jay-Z featuring Lil Kim “Shake Ya Body” / N.O.R.E. “Nothin'” / Jimmy Eat World “The Middle” / Conway “Lisa’s Got Hives” / S Club Juniors “Automatic High” / St. Etienne “Action” / Chemical Brothers “Star Guitar” / Underworld “Two Months Off” / Luomo “The Present Lover” / Shakedown “At Night”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

Gold Chains “Rock the Parti” / Monster Island Czars “MIC Line” / Clipse “Grindin'” / Nas “Made You Look” / Scissor Sisters “Electrobix” / Golden Boy with Miss Kittin “Rippin Kittin” / Robyn “Don’t Stop the Music” / Tatu “All the Things She Said” / Boards of Canada “Julie and Candy” / Azure Ray “Trees Keep Growing” / Bright Eyes “Lover I Don’t Have to Love” / The Decemberists “July, July!” / Neko Case “Stinging Velvet” / Nickel Creek “Spit On A Stranger” / Shimmer Kids Underpop Association “Tones In Orbit” / Banjo V “Experimental Fashion” / Liam Lynch “United States of Whatever” / Iron and Wine “Bird Stealing Bread” / Doves “There Goes the Fear”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Andrew W.K. “She Is Beautiful” / Cornershop “Lessons Learned From Rocky I to Rocky III” / Guided By Voices “Back to the Lake” / Weezer “Keep Fishin'” / Ladytron “Seventeen” / Rilo Kiley “With Arms Outstretched” / Mekons “This Way Through the Fire” / Dixie Chicks “Long Time Gone” / Norah Jones “Don’t Know Why” / The Mountain Goats “No Children” / Avril Lavigne “Complicated” / Imperial Teen “Our Time” / Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Our Time” / Kurtis Rush “George Gets His Freak On” / X-Press 2 featuring David Byrne “Lazy” / Sascha Funke “When Will I Be Famous” / Chicks on Speed “Fashion Rules!” / Elvis Costello “Tear Off Your Own Head (It’s A Doll Revolution)” / The Polyphonic Spree “Light & Day/Reach For the Sun”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

Foo Fighters “All My Life” / Queens of the Stone Age “No One Knows” / Crossover “Extensive Care” / Trina “Hustling” / Khia “My Neck, My Back” / N.E.R.D. “Brain” / Space Cowboy “I Would Die 4 U” / Out Hud “Dad, There’s A Little Phrase Called ‘Too Much Information'” / The Juan Maclean “By the Time I Get to Venus” / Elephant Man “Bad Man A Bad Man” / Busta Rhymes “It Ain’t Safe No More” / Styles P “Good Times” / Tanya Stephens “Need You Tonight” / Jay-Z and Beyoncé “’03 Bonnie and Clyde” / Lambchop “I Can Hardly Spell My Name” / Sigur Ros “Sigur 4 (Untitled)” / Songs: Ohia “Blue Chicago Moon”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

Osymyso “Intro-Inspection” / The Flaming Lips “Do You Realize??” / Enon “Natural Disasters” / Destroyer “Hey, Snow White” / Sleater-Kinney “Sympathy” / Pearl Jam “Can’t Keep” / Pastor Troy “Are We Cuttin'” / Sticky featuring Lady Stush “Dollar Sign” / Girls Aloud “Sound of the Underground” / Röyksopp “Remind Me (Someone Else’s Radio Remix)” / El-P “Stepfather Factory” / DJ Shadow “Fixed Income” / Trick Daddy featuring Big Boi and Cee-Lo “In Da Wind” / The Secret Machines “What Used to Be French” / Aimee Mann “High on Sunday 51” / Bruce Springsteen “Lonesome Day” / Solomon Burke “Don’t Give Up On Me”

The 2 Bears “Warm and Easy”

“Warm and Easy” is almost overbearingly optimistic, with its two vocalists threatening to smother every bad vibe with grooves and mellow hooks. But it’s really charming, mainly because these guys get that you can always get away with utopian hippie stuff if you don’t seem as though you’re taking it too seriously and you’ve got a solid tune. The chorus bits by Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard are what make the song, especially in how he balances out the goofiness of the lyrics with just enough earnestness to make it clear that they’re not kidding about all the positivity.

Pre-order it from Amazon.

Porcelain Raft “Put Me To Sleep”

There’s a moment just after the first chorus of this song when the sound of the track sort of wobbles, as if the entire track has been momentarily thrown off register. I really like this – there’s a lot of good sonic details here, but I enjoy the way this deliberate interruption makes it so that the song’s otherwise static rhythm isn’t quite as lulling as it could be. After that point, you’re just sorta waiting for other curveballs, with subverts the hazy, insomniac tone of the piece. Hearing a guy plead for sleep is a lot more poignant when the music accurately conveys the sound of being exhausted but too alert to slip into a dream state.

Buy it from Amazon.

Lana Del Rey “Without You”

The funny thing about Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die is that after a while, it begins to sound like 15 rough drafts for a statement song in which she lays out all of her themes and tells you who she is. It’s rare to come across an artist so eager to explain herself, but given the way the world has responded to her thus far, there probably isn’t an artist alive who actually requires this much self-defense. But it gets very boring, and there are diminishing returns: I think that she is successful in setting up ideas and themes with genuine emotional resonance in “Born to Die,” “Video Games” and “Without You,” but for the most part, it’s a plodding, overlong and repetitive record that, on a lyrical level, tells rather than shows.

“Without You” sketches out the Lana Del Rey persona as well as the public’s reaction to it. The lyrics sound like a parody of sad glamour: “Everything I want I have / Money, notoriety, rivieras / I even think I found God In the flash bulbs of your pretty camera / Pretty cameras, pretty cameras / Am I glamourous? / Tell me, am I glamourous?” She complicates this by bringing a messy love affair into the equation, which is sort of conflated with the public’s desire to destroy its pretty celebrities. This is well-mined lyrical territory – Lady Gaga’s first two albums were mostly about this, but were way more fun and humorous – but beyond Del Rey’s own designs on attaining fame, there’s something to this fantasy that resonates with normal folks. “Lana Del Rey” is a familiar archetype, but this tension of striving to please others and construct a pleasing identity for others – to “have it all” – is familiar to many people, most especially women. And our culture loves to tear down women, whether they are famous or not.

Part of what makes Born to Die interesting – or problematic – is that the singer so fully inhabits the vapidity and passivity of the character that it’s hard to tell if the artist is also vapid and passive. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that this is indeed a character, and that she is attempting to write a critique of a certain lifestyle and point of view. It seems obvious to me that this is the case, even if there is quite a lot that Lizzie Grant and “Lana Del Rey” have in common, especially as she grows more famous and spends all her time living out that role. I do think a lot of the intensely negative response to LDR is the result of her often simplistic and sloppy way of creating this character – it’s so easy to pick apart, so easy to assume the worst of it. As campy as this music can be, she doesn’t give the listeners many “yes, I am definitely being ironic” cues, so it’s easy to take it at face value and hear it as a deeply un-feminist record.

More than that, I think the thing that really rubs people the wrong way is in how the songs, the videos, the project overall, convey a terrible desperation. This is where it is most difficult to tell the difference between Lizzie Grant and Lana Del Rey: Just as much as these songs are about people who are truly desperate for affection, attention and validation, the singer herself comes across as someone very awkwardly attempting to ingratiate herself with her audience. The best moments on Born to Die are squirm-inducing because of this – her faux-naif inflection on “I heard you like the bad girls / honey, is that true?” is the record’s clear high water mark – but not everyone wants to squirm to their pop music. This is an uncomfortable record, but also one that is not entirely successful. It’s hard to know exactly how to judge it, but I think I’m more favorable toward its best songs because I’m willing to feel a bit of empathy for both the singer and the character. I don’t think this was an easy record to make, and I’m glad to see someone go this far out on a limb, even if it’s sorta cravenly commercial in some ways. There are just far too many records that get applauded for taking zero risks, you know?

Buy it from Amazon.

Perfume Genius “Hood”

“Hood” is an expression of a deep, consuming fear that one’s partner will leave them if they ever truly knew them. It’s a bit painful to hear because Mike Hadreas’ lyrics and performance are so raw and direct, but it’s beautiful mainly because you can hear him resisting this anxiety, and struggling to have faith in the notion of unconditional love. Or, maybe, trying to come to terms with the possibility that his lover might not think there is anything wrong with him at all.

Pre-order it from Amazon.

Wire “Clay” (Black Session Version)

The original studio recording of “Clay” from last year’s Red Barked Tree was fine, but a bit pinched and stiff, with production that seemed a bit dated – too late 90s, maybe? I can’t exactly place it, but it’s the sound of bad computers. This live recording from the band’s Black Session LP is drastically superior. The tone of the song is just the same, but the performance benefits from a slightly more slack physicality. One could never describe Wire as a loose band, but unlike the studio recording, all the parts in this version sound like they come from the movements of human arms and legs. And yes, pretty much all music is the result of the human body in motion, but the best of it in some way communicates that to the listener. The attack of a chord, the hit of a drum, the seconds it takes to move from one chord to another. We’re listening to that abstraction of physicality to rhythm and melody; it’s part of how we connect to it. We’re always trying to find people on the other end of songs.

Not all of the live versions on Black Sessions are improvements upon the originals – Colin Newman has some trouble hitting his notes in the classic “Map Ref. 41ºN 93ºW,” and generally sounds less engaged when singing the older numbers – but it’s still an impressive document of a remarkably consistent band that has long since settled into a clearly defined aesthetic.

Buy it from Wire.

Chairlift @ Bowery Ballroom 1/23/2012

Sidewalk Safari / Le Flying Saucer Hat / Take It Out On Me / Wrong Opinion / Ghost Tonight / Cool As A Fire / Planet Health / Met Before / Frigid Spring / Guilty As Charged / I Belong In Your Arms // Evident Utensil / Amanaemonesia

I reviewed Chairlift’s wonderful new album Something for Pitchfork. Here are some thoughts on this performance.

Chairlift “I Belong In Your Arms”

1. Chairlift are clearly confident and bold enough to skip their most famous song in concert. I don’t think anyone was too upset about this. While I tend to think that artists should be generous in playing their best-known songs, they weren’t wrong to place the emphasis on their very, very strong new songs and to make a case that they don’t really need “Bruises” to play a good, engaging set. Audience response to songs like “Amanaemonesia,” “Met Before” and “I Belong In Your Arms” suggest those songs are going to end up being “hits” with their fans anyway.

2. The band’s sound is just as clean and precise in concert as it is on record. I’m a sucker for this sort of hyper-professionalism, particularly when a group projects a good, positive energy rather than rote recital. Olga Bell from Bell joined the band on keyboards and backing vocals – she nailed her parts, and served as a fine foil to Caroline Polachek, who was freed up to focus on her vocals and dancing. Polachek’s vocal performance was outstanding and she was charismatic enough that her talent for nuanced phrasing and vocal restraint was not lost in the less forgiving dynamics of a stage performance.

3. A strange young woman jumped on to the stage during “I Belong In Your Arms” and tried to dance up on Caroline. A female security guard tried to pull her away, but the girl resisted, and accidentally hit the singer in the face as she tried to perform. A second guard showed up, but the girl was still flailing around, refusing to get off stage. Caroline made it through the song, but was visibly startled and laughing at the absurdity of the situation. It was a really strange thing to see, and pretty unexpected at this sort of pop show.

Buy it from Amazon.

Imperial Teen “No Matter What You Say”

Imperial Teen come and go, turning up every six years or so to deliver a new set of lovely indie pop tunes that don’t quite fit in with anything else out at the time. Their identity is very consistent, but the character of each record is a bit different — in the case of Feel the Sound, their latest, they are mostly favoring keyboards over guitars. As a result, the sound is lighter and brighter, which serves some songs better than others. I like the way the simple keyboard part in “No Matter What You Say” is gently insistent, so even before the harmonies and rhythm whoosh up a bit in the chorus, you have a sense that the music is starting to pick up a light breeze. It’s a great sentiment to pair with the feeling of the music too — defiant, but politely so.

Buy it from Amazon.

Sleigh Bells “Comeback Kid”

Sleigh Bells make such overwhelmingly physical music that the lyrics would seem to be besides the point of the overall sensation of texture, rhythm and melody, but it seems notable that so many of their songs are fixated on winning and losing. Notable, but not surprising: The music itself typically sounds like an expression of triumph. “Comeback Kid” is especially direct, with Alexis Krauss giving the listener a pep talk set to her most appealing melody yet. (It comes off as very Aaliyah to my ears.) Krauss’ voice was more of a texture on Treats here, but in this track, she’s on equal footing with Derek Miller’s wonderfully blunt guitar riff. The whole song sounds as if they’re willing the entire world into being a better, more exciting place. I can get behind that.

Pre-order it from Amazon.

The Shins “Simple Song”

James Mercer hasn’t changed his approach to melody much over the years – he mostly focuses on long phrases that curl into very pleasing shapes – but his approach to accompaniment has become more bold and brawny recently, as if he finally realized that adding a bit of weight and punch to his rhythms would not immediately shatter the delicacy of his tunes. “Simple Song” isn’t even particularly heavy, but the added force sells the conviction of the lyrics, which reflect on life-changing epiphanies. I’m especially fond of his parting lines, which would be thoughtful in any context, but come out sounding like hard-earned wisdom in this context: “Love’s such a delicate thing that we do / we’ve nothing to prove / which I never knew.”

Buy it from Amazon.

Lee Ranaldo “Off the Wall”

It’s sorta funny that the two guitarists in Sonic Youth spent years pushing at the limits of stylized noise in rock music, but both ended up embracing folk pop when left to their own devices. “Off the Wall,” the first track released from Lee Ranaldo’s first-ever solo songwriter album – something I have been waiting for since 1995 or so! – is gorgeous, jangly and unambiguously pop, and has a more striking resemblance to the music of, say, the Gin Blossoms, than pretty much anything in the Sonic Youth canon. Well, not quite: While the style and form of “Off the Wall” is more conventional than most SY music, Ranaldo’s guitar flourishes are very familiar, highlighting a tunefulness he’s been bringing to his main band’s music for three decades.

Pre-order it from Matador Records.

Field Music “A New Town”

The Brewis brothers of Field Music are masters of stoic, tightly composed formalist rock. Their melodic sensibility is clearly derived from Paul McCartney (and his various musical progeny), but they replace McCartney’s loose ease with OCD rigidity. This could be a recipe for musical disaster, but they own it – it always sounds like a very honest expression of a particular sensibility. “A New Town,” from their forthcoming album Plumb, breaks little ground for the band – well, unless you want to focus on the inclusion of odd bubble sound effects – but it’s an example of the band at their best, when their precise, meticulous execution of layered rhythms and melodies serves to illustrate the mindset of the lyrics, which approach the dissolution of a relationship with an almost ridiculous degree of forced rationality in a highly emotional situation.

Pre-order it from Amazon.

Sleeper Agent “Proper Taste”

Sleeper Agent aren’t exactly ground-breakers, but they’re exceptionally good with dynamics, so their straightforward rockers have a charm and charge that’s lacking in a shocking number of their peers. This is especially true with regards to the chemistry and interplay between co-vocalists Alex Kandel and Tony Smith, who key into different but complementary styles of being a rock badass. While Smith navigates the aesthetic ground between Jack White and Neil Hagerty, Kandel is more Joan Jett – a bit cool, aloof and biting, but outgoing and aggressive enough to avoid receding into the track. “Proper Taste” is one of their most thrilling numbers, with the two spitting lines at each other over breakneck pre-chorus before joining for a big sing-along that opens with “call me pumpkin, carve me out,” a line that I find incredibly appealing though I’m not really sure why.

Buy it from Amazon.