Restiform Bodies

TV Loves You Back

Engineered and mixed by Eli Crews at New, Improved Recording in Oakland, CA | Recorded by Restiform Bodies and Nathan Fritz at home and at Ex’pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, CA | Mastered by Mike Wells at Mike Wells Mastering | Produced by Restiform Bodies

The first minute-and-a-half of Restiform Bodies’ most recent LP, TV Loves You Back, sounds on par with the last decade of hip-hop albums; slow bass thumps, background crowd cheers and ominous keyboard strokes bring to mind a brooding lyricist entering a boxing ring, raring for a verbal sparring match. A steady groove and vocals eerily similar to rap pioneer Q-Tip suggest an oft-traveled path ahead.

Cue to 1:27 on “Black Friday” and all familiarity comes to a screeching halt with a whiplash of rewinding, vinyl-scratching fury. Synth and effect wrangler Telephone Jim Jesus amps up the tempo tenfold, throwing the audience into a whirlpool of fanfare horn blowing and multi-textured beats.

It’s no mistake, either. In an age when the iPhone and Facebook can Twitter-sync each and every movement of the techno-savvy, the Oakland-based trio takes note with a refreshing sense of self-awareness and a keen eye for detail. The electro-stomping “A Pimp-like God” drops cellular bleeps and bloops in between air-raid siren synths, a fusion of contemporary technologic trend and funky dance floor fervor that bucks harder than a 12 gauge.

The group’s cultural commentary is smart, offering much more than the tired agenda of rap’s usual ego-bolstering rhymes – though the obligatory self-aggrandizing lyrics are still present, clever metaphors and allusions make the three MCs “more absorbent than the leading brand” – taking aim at easily targeted culture icons (Joan and Melissa Rivers), high-fashion designer handbags (Fendi and Prada) and spin-off semi-celebs in songs like “Bobby Trendy Addendum.”

It’s a welcome kick in the face to the 21st century’s consumer generation – a joke the listener is in on from the start. As much as today’s youths love their HDTV simulcast, musicians like Restiform Bodies are needed to remind us that the feeling isn’t mutual. (Anticon Records)

www.myspace.com/restiform

-Mike Isaac

Musee Mecanique

Hold That Ghost

Produced by Micah Rabwin and Sean Ogilvie | Mixed by Tucker Martine

If someone had only used the current spate of bands making a splash in Portland, Ore. as a guide, the Northwest city would be right up there with the Appalachian Mountains and the deep South in the Americana landscape. Of late, there have been at least a dozen incredible PDX bands – among them, Loch Lomond, Horse Feathers and Wooden Indian Burial Ground – dipping into the deep wells of folk, blues and other varied strains of musical Americana. None of them, however, as poignant and stunning as Musee Mecanique.

As evidenced on its debut disc, Hold That Ghost, the ever-evolving band is full of master musical craftspeople, evoking wistful romances and small moments of anguish with wise instrumentation (the album is positively dripping with strings, woodwinds and glockenspiel) and a sharp restraint; it gives the songs a haunting quality.

Much of the credit for the album’s indelible tone should be given to frontman Micah Rabwin who has a dreamy singing voice – a tone that lies dead-center between Sufjan Stevens and Lou Barlow at his most wistful. He doesn’t stretch or strain his singing in uncomfortable directions, instead letting it seep into a melody like water into soil.

Like the aforementioned bands, Musee Mecanique are not mere revivalists, preferring instead to use the modes of folk music to their own ends, mixing it with indie pop and slowcore (many songs bear the imprint of influences like Ida and Red House Painters). Free of those genre restraints, the band is able to craft songs that can pull in listeners who align themselves with all manner of musical camps. It’s universal music that anyone with a heart or a soul that aches can find meaning in. (Frog Stand Records)

www.museemecanique.us

-Bob Ham

Michael Mearns and the Monday Mornings

Swallow Down the Days

Engineered, mixed and mastered by Pierre Ferguson at Foundry Studios in Seattle, WA

Anyone in his or her right mind would expect the side project of Fall of Troy frontman Thomas Erak to sound something like, well, the progressive hardcore outfit. However, those awaiting pounding, dirty guitars, relentless rhythm and shrieking vocals should look elsewhere. Seattle-based singer Michael Mearns and his band The Monday Mornings (which includes Erak behind the drum kit) offer their own progressive vision. Their sound lands somewhere in the realm of a Sunny Day Real Estate release with its stark moodiness, clear, vibrant harmonies and meandering, sunny melodies. At the helm, Mearns never plows his vocals; he entices listeners with unpretentious parables, dropping words from his lips like lines of poetry.

Mearns undeniably has one of the best new voices in indie rock, hearkening back to Frank Black’s early years. His tone is edgy and viciously flat, but catchy as hell. Wearing his heart on his gutted metallic strings, his sun-baked voice murmurs, “I am not an anchor / Though I wish that I were / I would stop the sighing ocean from waving us in motion,” on the album’s title track. He handles his vocals and acoustic guitar with southern rock swagger.

Erak still manages to share the spotlight, as drums are placed at an equal level as vocals. His percussion is as consistent as it is intrusive and barring, sporting throbbing hits and technical ability on par with a jazz drummer on an abusive night. Bass, electric guitar, violin, cello, occasional harmonica and slide guitar are added to the mix, the strings a welcome surprise that prowl and swing like bluegrass fiddles. The mixing of this record is in fact unremittingly democratic, giving everyone just about the same level – which isn’t normal, but well achieved here.

Swallow Down the Days is infectious and impossible to turn off; it’s a fantastic debut for a set of musicians who show complete unity and competence, brilliantly embodying a series of contradictions: sunny and gloomy, artistic and listenable. (Self-released)

www.myspace.com/themondaymornings

-Christopher Petro

Last of the Blacksmiths

Young Family Song

Recorded by Desmond Shea | Mixed by Desmond Shea and Last of the Blacksmiths | Mastered by Mike Wells

“Pick a song that’s soft and mellow,” croon the vocalists of Last of the Blacksmiths, their close harmonies gliding over stripped-down folk-rock accompaniment. The two adjectives in that lyric aptly describe every track on Young Family Song, the second full-length release from the San Francisco-based band. If anything, “soft” and “mellow” are severe understatements to characterize these nine beautiful arrangements. The majority of the songs are glacial in tempo – so much so that they make Iron and Wine sound like Iron Maiden – so the fact that Last of the Blacksmiths keep things interesting virtually throughout is astonishing.

“Autumn Vacation” begins with Nathan Wanta delivering his lines in a voice somewhere between Thom Yorke and Eddie Vedder, with the accompaniment of some minimalist piano. The layers of sound begin to build and the drum keeps the beat alive with surprising syncopation until the band transitions to a quasi-space rock sequence complete with jazz chords and electric piano. The result is a display of musicianship that rewards the patient listener.

“The Records” is another song that crawls like the ship in 2001: A Space Odyssey. But this tune showcases not only Wanta and Nigel Pavao’s ability to capture the “high ‘n’ lonesome” sound of bluegrass, but also their capacity for lyrical imagery. Lines like “Walking around at work, my body it hurts / Two vultures perched on each shoulder / I don’t mind the talons and their scratching / It’s the weight that I can’t bear” are poetic without overreaching for originality. The phrases can be as oblique as Jeff Tweedy’s material (what exactly does the reference to “Bearded Tongue” plants signify?); but even the weirdest lines have their place in the context of Song, and they help make the album a challenging yet rewarding listen. (Vanguard Squad)

www.lastoftheblacksmiths.com

-Ryan Faughnder

Team Gina

Product of the Eighties

Recorded by Radio Sloan at the Haunted Mansion in Portland, OR | Mastered by Mike Lastra at Smegma

Words can’t fail Seattle’s Team Gina when they rock the mic. This set of seasoned performers – Gina Bling and Gina Genius – has crafted an impressive full-length follow-up to 2007’s Gina Gina Revolution EP, this time with guest appearances by Leslie and the Ly’s, DJ European DJ and Kids on TV, and engineering help from Radio Sloan, the guitar mastermind behind The Need and The Herms. Product of the Eighties showcases the snarky duo’s flair for clever rhymes focusing on snippets from queer culture, grrl power (sic), sarcasm-steeped sociopolitical commentary and nostalgia for items of the not-so-distant past.

The namesake track, “Product of the Eighties,” is a “tubular” electro-rap blast back into the world of shoulder pads, ring pops, Reaganomics and Oregon Trail with a momentary pause to consider weightier issues like love before the internet and reality TV as the death of art. “Rock the Like” demonstrates the Team’s talent for rhymes delivered old-school style – endless quips in the playful fashion of Kurtis Blow and his breaks. Impressively, the girls even manage to slip in a complete reference to Felicity Huffman in Transamerica without missing a single beat. In “Emergency,” one of the catchiest tracks, the girls artfully skip through an irresistible electro backdrop that concludes with video game accents. The sensual multilingual vocals juxtaposed against the buzzy synths of “The Language of Love” remind of Ladytron’s grittier offerings.

Perhaps the most amusing track, “Wife-Swapping” is a humorous look into the challenges of lesbian dating when it seems like there are only “12 lesbians in the world.” Meanwhile, “Mixtape” and “Who I Am Now” showcase the group’s sweeter side through simple harmonies. With an amazing ability to tell elaborate stories without ever falling out of rhyme, these decidedly foul-mouthed lyricists are telling it like it is, in style. (Don’t Stop Believin’ Records)

www.myspace.com/teamgina

-Lulu McAllister

Darker My Love

2

Engineered by Steven Rhodes | Recorded at Sunset Sound, Safe & Sound, The Boat, Sonora and West Beach in Los Angeles | Mixed by Tony Hoffer | Mastered by Alan Yoshida, Produced by Dave Cooley.

Darker My Love, Dangerbird Records’ latest shining star, is back on the scene with their aptly titled sophomore album, 2. While the L.A. five-piece’s 2006 self-titled debut featured an uninhibited rawness, 2 offers more clarity in musical thought and a greater variety of sounds. Darker My Love encompasses myriad genres, from psychedelic 1960s rock to early grunge, and excels in using these influences to create a highly accessible and energetically emotive experience.

The album opens with the dark “Northern Soul” exuding elements of a Sub Pop-era Soundgarden with a healthy dose of My Bloody Valentine. Vocals, a key component of the band’s overall sound, are perfectly drenched by saturated instrumentation and smooth harmonies. A steady bass drum drives while vocals slip in on offbeats, creating a nice push and pull between the two. “Two Ways Out” marks the most distinguished departure from this opening impression; vocals are placed at the forefront of a track produced with a greater pop sensibility. “White Composition” effectively utilizes empty space with a feathery-light, Beatles-esque vibe and crisp, jazzy seventh chords. It offers a calm pop, a sort of groove/lounge duality. Near the end of the LP is “All the Hurry & Wait.” The heart of this track showcases a zither-like warbling that’s anxiously free, and psychedelic swirls and crashes culminate into one great masterpiece of a song that builds into a huge orchestral finish with an outro made to fill stadiums. It’s a glorious pinnacle that’s epic and big.

Darker My Love’s 2 points to a number of influences without attaching itself too long to any one of them, each track arriving fresh to the ears and providing its own unique sound. It’s an impressive exhibition of quality songwriting, clever instrumentation and thoughtful production. But most importantly, it just sounds really good. (Dangerbird Records)

www.darkermylovemusic.com

-Keane Li

Hawnay Troof

Islands of Ayle

Recorded by Vice Cooler, with assistance from Jamie Stewart and Bretzel Goring, in Berlin, Berkeley, Oakland, Beijing, Birmingham (U.K.), Los Angeles and the Swiss Alps | Engineered by Vice Cooler | Mixed by Vice Cooler and Greg Saunier at Prince and King | Mastered by Thomas Dimuzio and Vice Cooler at Gench Studios

Produced by Vice Cooler

Oakland’s own Vice Cooler (XBXRX, Double Rainbow, KIT) slips back into the guise of mic-rocking sweat technician Hawnay Troof and inflicts yet another exciting round of mashing, broken pop hooks with damaged electronic squirms and squiggles on his latest from the Retard Disco label. A few years beyond Dollar and Deed’s neurotic spree and Cooler’s alias no longer feels like one: he packs Islands of Ayle’s half-hour of spotlight-owning sonic excellence with such charisma and poise, it’s as if the alter-ego has become more of a lifestyle than musical pursuit. A little attitude never hurts either, and The Vice has got plenty of it, inviting a host of featured players and friends in Erase Errata, High Places, No Age and Stereo Total along for the ride. Yet Cooler remains the gifted prodigy behind the album’s style-bending breadth.

He approaches the tracks with an open mind, sequencing ideas and noise into one mighty electronic free-for-all, altogether creating new music genres during the process. He goes to great lengths to shape his concepts and bring them clearly into focus, matching a heap of nervous energy with slick production work and lyrical wit. The beats and rhythms never feel played out and the overall ambiance is rife with ingenuity. Tracks such as “Oblivions” and “Feelings” boom with ghetto-blasting oomph, mixing bass-heavy percussion with scrambling synth blips and bleeps. “Underneath the Ocean” pulsates and throbs with a skittering breakbeat and trance rhythm while Cooler barks, “Way below the sea, way below the sea / This can’t be me, this can’t be me / There’s got to be more during the verse.” It sounds like The Streets remixing a Jock Jam from the ‘90s and mingles quite nicely with Hawnay Troof’s fly-as-a-white-guy vision in 2008. (Retard Disco)

www.hawnaytroof.com

-Chris Sabbath

A.M. Interstate

Kimono Dragon

Recorded, produced, mixed, mastered and engineered by A.M. Interstate

It’s easy to like a band that starts its album with the line “Pardon my French, but I’m fucking pissed.” With this nugget from their third full-length release, Kimono Dragon, Cy and Seth Erickson of the Redmond, Ore.-based duo A.M. Interstate say volumes about their attitude. They suggest a mixture of rock ‘n’ roll angst and down-home folksiness that reflects their sonic blend of country, indie and psychedelia.

Tonally, A.M. Interstate is musical comfort food. On slow and mellow tunes like the title track, the nostalgic feel and layers of instrumental components weave into a well-worn blanket of sound. As the vocalist sings his reverb-drenched lines, the piano ostinato anchors the tune and makes the listener want to curl up on the couch with a latte and good headphones.

Even when the band picks up on rockers like “Halo,” the driving shuffle and distorted guitars performing unison bends only bring the necessary level of tension to contrast the general easy-going mood. After all, they need some tension to support lyrics like, “You’re my girl, the one with the drugs / The one with the love that makes me feel like I’m undone / ‘Cause you’re my girl, the one with the gun / Pointed straight at my heart in the hands that hold my love.”

A.M. Interstate uses its psychedelic influences to freshen their sound as the album progresses. During the instrumental breaks (rare treats in the world of indie rock), the guitar solos are skillfully performed and filtered through effect pedals, though the synthesizer sometimes seems forced. It’s often the quirks that make these tracks memorable, such as the keyboard’s octave figures on “Roscoe’s in the Revolution,” which jump around like a riff lost from a Postal Service song. These hooks help separate A.M. Interstate from a galaxy of folk-rock bands that grasp for “authenticity.” (Poison Tree Records)

www.myspace.com/aminterstate

-Ryan Faughnder

Portland Cello Project

Portland Cello Project

Engineered by Douglas Jenkins, except for track 10 engineered by Sean Ogilvie and Micah Rabwin | Mixed by Larry Crane at Jackpot! Studios | Mastered by Carl Saff

While the cello has snuck into a lot of pop and rock tunes in recent years, cellists have never quite taken center stage in mainstream music as the Portland Cello Project does. The group has been impressing Portland area concertgoers for over a year with its eight to 16 cello ensemble and mix of traditional tunes with racy covers, but this is the first full length fans have been able to take home. Although nothing is quite like the sensation of witnessing 16 interweaving cellos boom throughout a room, the 12-track debut does a great job of inciting raised hairs as well.

Featuring an eclectic array of songs, Portland Cello Project exhibits a handful of Portland’s finest indie bands and musicians, including Horse Feathers’ Heather Broderick, Nick Jaina, Weinland, Musee Mecanique, Laura Gibson and Loch Lomond. Gibson’s “Hands In Pockets” puts a warm feeling in your gut as sugary vox ring over flowery cellos, and Loch Lomond’s “Nelson” has an epic Scottish feel while keeping true to the band’s folk/indie sound. Britney Spears’ “Toxic” is one of the weaker tracks, but the PCP, as Portlanders like to call them, gets extra points for guts and originality on that one. Besides, even if there is one weakling, the band makes up for it with a surprise secret ending (although slightly less secret now).

Providing independent musicians a chance to perform and record their songs with the beauty of cello orchestration, the PCP have opened up a new door for musicians. And with an album that is as fun as it is moving and as quirky as it is polished, they have opened a new world for listeners as well. (Self-released)

www.portlandcelloproject.com

-Kali Giaritta

Antioquia

Gringolandia

Recorded and produced by Ben Yonas and Matt Brown

Bay Area experimental group Antioquia has made an album worth noticing. While bands normally throw CD release parties for their forthcoming albums, Antioquia continues to distance itself from the status quo by throwing a full-blown festival for its debut LP, Gringolandia. Though a festival may sound a bit too excessive for a mere album release, this 70-minute Latin-infused progressive rock record kicks off with a fervor that doesn’t abate and is undeniably worthy of its extravagant arrival.

Antioquia is all over the place with this debut, creating its unique sound by drawing tropical funk grooves and pulsing tribal rhythms from Cuba, Brazil, West Africa and Colombia. Self-proclaimed “music for the revolution,” Antioquia pulls international influences to unite the people of the world, singing dreamily of utopia: “un mundo sin frontera (a world without borders).”

Gringolandia opens with playful flutes and the smooth shakes of maracas over a mesmerizing djembe beat, quickly diving into airy, upbeat guitar before surprising listeners with a dip into a dark funk groove and crass male/female vocal switch-offs. The rest of the album continues in this manner, catching listeners off-guard with unexpected structural shifts, abrupt tempo changes, interludes of frantic guitar twang, noisy spastic drums and jazzy tangents of maddening horns. Beneath it all are the driving traditional Afro-Colombian rhythms, sprinkled over with mystical chimes, primal percussion, heavy slap bass and screeching guitar strings, coated with a layer of sweet and soulful Spanish song and finally seasoned with dashes of yelping and hollering chants and refreshing outbreaks of crisp slams of rhyme.

Burning with the raw, ardent energy of Primus while simultaneously washing over listeners with Fugees-like earthy coolness, Gringolandia is a wild ride through the center of the earth and into the depths of the soul. (Yonas Media)

www.myspace.com/antioquiaband

-Brian Echon

Opio

Vulture’s Wisdom, Volume One

Produced by Architect

Fifteen years since his induction into hip-hop history with Souls of Mischief’s ’93 Til Infinity, Opio feels he has come full circle with his latest solo release, Vulture’s Wisdom, Volume One. Clocking in at a mean 2,362 seconds (that’s just over 39 minutes), the album illustrates Opio’s conscious decision to focus his attention on emceeing, leaving the board work to Oakland’s Architect (whose production credits include Coolio, Planet Asia and Encore).

Aside from Architect, there are no other cameo appearances, a trait that immediately differentiates Vulture’s Wisdom from Opio’s 2005 liner note-laden release, Triangulation Station. Adhering to the classic formula of one producer and one emcee holding down an entire project, Opio turns out track after track of veritable hip-hop haikus. Save for the foreboding “Stop the Press” and the bombastic “Vice Versa,” none of the songs attempt to breach the limitations of attention deficient listeners, often fading out before surpassing the three-minute mark.

Hooks are of minimalist design and used sparingly, serving only to set up the premise and tone of a song. There is only one true “love song” on the album, “About Love,” a tale about a player in love for the first time. The rest of the content is typified by the time-honored formula of braggadocio and reminiscing.

Opio has two other volumes of Vulture’s Wisdom recorded and wrapped for release over the course of the year. However, only diehard fans of The Architect’s vintage production style and Opio’s picture-painting word wizardry may find paying 14 hard-earned bucks for each volume reasonable, especially considering that when compiled they only equal one whole. The bonus DVD doesn’t hurt though, adding seven music videos, animated shorts inspired by the album, and artwork compliments of renowned pop artist David Flores. (Hiero Imperium)

www.hieroglyphics.com

-Franklin Grimes

Geographer

Innocent Ghosts

Recorded, engineered and mixed by Scott McDowell at Hyde Street Studio C | Mastered by John Greenham at The Annex | Produced by Scott McDowell

The debut full-length from the Bay Area’s Geographer burgeons with a fingerprinted sound, featuring wholesome, explorative musicians aiming for that new voice. Self-released and self-produced, the album avoids the self-indulgent route, poising the band in the greater indie rock pantheon with self-assured character.

Boy/girl harmonies and rollicking, elegant vocals are staples of Innocent Ghosts. It’s surprising at first, but the colorful vocal eloquence demonstrates lyrical competence unfound in many of today’s artists (think of the wavelike, undulating vocabulary from the lips of Morrissey). Traditional framing is interlaced with sometimes punchy, sometimes sweet indie rock swagger as singer Mike Deni and contributing vocalist Kacey Johansing share affecting tones. Deni’s deeper, traditional masculine tenor is supported by Johansing’s vibrant and soulful breathiness (startlingly similar to Leslie Feist). Lyrics pine and reflect, indulge in ambient dreams, congested lives and congenial love as Johansing sings hauntingly, “I woke this morning with a lonely thought / You weren’t the one I was dreaming of” on “Leave.” In those two relatively simple lines, she manipulates her cadence, vibrato and tonal depth so much that each word is subtly augmented and the repeated lines feel fresh and exclusive.

The instrumentation on the album is burning with charm as well. Compared to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and sharing a likeness to the band’s edgy, swirling guitar and gravity-free vocals, Geographer blends indie rock conventionality with chamber pop sensibilities (strings, keys and simple drum beats) accented and lifted by electronic pulses and stargazing synths. With a little production guidance to push the rhythm section into the same territory as the keys and strings, Geographer could add even more depth to this first rate debut. (Self-released)

www.geographermusic.com

-Christopher Petro

Toromiro

EP 1

Produced by William Johnson

The toromiro (Sophora toromiro) is a rare species of tree once prevalent in Easter Island forests in the early 17th century. Folklore of the area had it that the famed rongorongo tablets – archeological wooden treasures found on Easter Island into which were carved a system of still-indecipherable glyphs – were composed of the rare tree.

So goes the story of San Francisco’s Toromiro, a one-man outfit composed of part-time recluse, full-time folk phenom, William Johnson. Much like the legend of the eponymous tree, Toromiro’s roots are spotty and mysterious at best. Johnson is a Bay Area transplant by way of Columbus and Philly who has recorded under various undisclosed names over the past decade and enjoys “combining things – be it people, sounds, cookie ingredients or alcoholic beverages – in order to create new things.”

An ambiguous enough bio but oddly effective when considering this 18-minute-long EP, rife with warm, jangled guitar plucks and cryptic, softly sung lyrics. “Intervals” follows a simple two-note parry up and down the neck of Johnson’s acoustic guitar, chronicling the ever-changing whims of a sometimes clean, sometimes drug-addled protagonist whose only constant is change. “I Am Important” hums along a similar structure with increased pace, added synthesizer, catchy background tambourine and a plugged-in Gibson Flying V. “Ode to Pancake” could have been written as a joke, but feels more like a song crafted after waking from a long night in a stranger’s bed – upbeat bongo pattering and hymnal-like organs rouse listeners to cheerful beginnings and, presumably, a hearty pancake breakfast.

Doing his fair share of touring around the Bay Area, Johnson came out of his normally gun-shy shell after injuries from a 2006 bike crash motivated him to start playing more and sitting at home less. It’s unknowable what the next accident will bring – maybe a bit more clarity to his enigmatic artistry. (Sweet Acronym Publications)

www.myspace.com/toromiro

-Mike Isaac

Sean Wagner

Long Lost Photograph EP

Produced by Sean Wagner | Engineered, mixed and co-produced by Brad Wager | Mastered by Ryan Foster at FREQ Mastering in Portland, OR

Once the frontman of the Boston-based pop-rock/alt-country band Fallback Crush and now a Portland, Ore. singer/songwriter, Sean Wagner offers a heartfelt collection with his latest EP, Long Lost Photograph, that beautifully showcases his songwriting skills. Wagner succeeds at something most songwriters won’t experience until much later in their careers: finding a quality band. Supported by Brad Wager on bass, Josh Baruch on drums, Bryan Daste on pedal steel and Jeff Simpson on keyboards, Wagner’s soft yet meaningful voice is well complimented as the group accurately captures the mood of each song.

Daste’s pedal steel adds a relaxed flavor, without taking the songs too far into the country, and Wagner captures the beauty and simplicity of acoustic rock with a light and happy vibe – just the songs for a sunny day at the beach. Wagner’s melodic writing is easy to follow, and although his lyrics sometimes tend to bunch together, their content is affective. Lines like “No one can love you more than I / This side of the moon” reminds listeners of the simplicity that makes this genre successful.

Relying on the time-tested techniques of catchy choruses and catchy melodies, Wagner plays it safe with five first-rate love songs on Long Lost Photograph. But with two of them about specific girls – “Virginia” and “Christina” – on the same album, maybe this artist is taking more risks than we know. (Self-released)

www.seanwagner.net

-Dave Boodakian

Mostly Bears

The Ed Mitchell Clinic

Engineered, recorded and mixed by Nick Luca at Upstairs Studios in Tucson, AZ | Mastered by Sally Browder and Tony Rambo at The Dogbone in Burbank, CA | Produced by Fred Huang and Nick Luca

The Ed Mitchell Clinic opens with a toned drone, like the whir of analog rewinding, and is soon punctured with a thumping and catchy dance beat. Within the framework of 10 songs, Tucson’s Mostly Bears present an album that moves fluidly between epic ballads of melancholy and clever construction. The music immediately draws comparisons to Montreal’s Arcade Fire in its use of instrumentation, backup harmonies, and strained and vulnerable vocals, dressed with various effects and the slightly distorted clarity of the perfect megaphone.

While this comparison is not a negative one – Mostly Bears pull off a superbly assembled album – it’s perhaps detrimental for an indie band to possess so many similarities to another more-established contemporary one. Fitting to this stylistic mold may disconnect listeners to the gems hidden within Mostly Bears’ songs. These treasures appear as sparklingly refreshing lyrics, adorned with unconventional word choices and clever rhymes. Aside from its lyrical mastery, the most exciting moment on the album occurs five minutes into the fourth track, “Pharmacist,” with its backbone of punchy bass lines and call and response of screeching guitar and short, frantic screams. It’s surprises like this that hold the most promise for Mostly Bears and suggest their potential for innovation.

With The Ed Mitchell Clinic, Mostly Bears have constructed an album that is worthy of much praise. It thumps and soars and glides and cuts, and this assortment of dynamic counterparts function to create a collection of beauty. (Funzalo Records)

www.myspace.com/mostlybears

-Evan “The Bug” Williamson

Timmy Curran

Word Of Mouth

Produced by Ian Nickus | Mixed by David Larring | Mastered by John Golden at Golden Mastering

What comes to mind when one hears the descriptor “surfing music?” Is it Jack Johnson? Surely he has helped define a culture of the easygoing beach lifestyle. When told that Timmy Curran was once a professional surfer and his music has been used for several surfing movies, the natural assumption is happy, upbeat rhythms that make you want to lay on the beach or surf. Well, Timmy Curran’s songs are worlds away from this – and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Curran’s new album, Word of Mouth, is surprisingly dark and full of ambient tones and emotional lyrics that are more muttered than sang. Just browse the track listing: “Comatose,” “Selfish Ways,” “Slow” and “Lonely” are all in there. A line from the former – “If we don’t wake up soon, this burden will be long / If we don’t wake up soon, all we ever knew will be gone” – provides a glimpse into Curran’s songwriting mood.

The lyrics are the strength of this album, though, and Word of Mouth succeeds because it mixes laidback rhythms with the strength of earnest – if not always buoyant – songwriting. Curran writes about loss, despair and love and isn’t afraid to focus on the sadder side of the coin. He does manage to rebound the mood a bit with a love song, “Blue Eyes,” though it is about a romantic dependence with his blue-eyed love.

Rich with feeling and colored with hope, Word of Mouth has successfully found its place with Curran’s peers, as well as anyone looking for some comfort in an emotional world. (Adeline Records)

www.timmycurran.com

-Dave Boodakian

Mya Elaine

Before I Get Gone

Recorded, mixed and produced by Mya Elaine | Mastered at FREQ Mastering in Portland, OR

Today’s technology is truly amazing. With just a personal computer, artists can create entire albums and not have to set foot in a recording studio. With her latest release, Before I Get Gone, Mya Elaine explores the possibilities of recording with only her Mac and GarageBand.

Unfortunately, one of the downsides to recording yourself is you may not always be able to capture the full potential of your voice – and that is sadly a problem Elaine faced with Before I Get Gone. Despite the vocal shortcomings, she does succeed in capturing her spirit on this album. It’s full of self-expression that is as humble as it is true. “You’re a car without gasoline and I always threw it into fifth,” Elaine sings on the album’s second track, “I Think I Thought Something.” Describing her journey across the country, moving from the East Coast to Portland, Ore., she manages to effectively pull at some deep feelings (“I’m going home, where nobody knows me anymore”).

There is no doubt that Elaine is a talented songwriter – her title track, “Before I Get Gone,” is not easily forgotten thanks to catchy melodies and memorable lyrics. Yet, as a whole, the album ultimately falls short because of the equipment used to record it; though it hints at Elaine’s warm, caring voice, it just doesn’t do her songs justice. (Self-released)

www.myaelaine.com

-Dave Boodakian