Top 5 Indie/Rock/Pop Releases: May

by Nicole Villeneuve

May 31, 2012

0

0

0

0

0

Email this article to a friend

Each month, tons of new music from many taste-spanning genres is released into a fast-consuming, unforgiving market; it can be tough to get a handle on what’s new before it’s on to the next. In an attempt to highlight the standout releases, at the end of each month, AUX staff re-cap the month in Punk, Metal, Indie/Rock/Pop, Hip Hop, Electronic, and Pop with the top five releases in each. Consider it your cheat sheet for year-end lists.

Top 5 Indie/Rock/Pop Releases: May Edition

 

PS I Love You – Death Dreams

PS I Love You singer/guitarist/songwriter Paul Saulnier had dreams of his own death while touring debut album Meet Me At The Muster Station, and while the follow up doesn’t overtly sound as though it was musically influenced by that darkness, there is a little more vulnerability overall. Lyrics take a perpetual backseat to this band’s noise, though, and it’s a gleeful, huge, satisfying noise. Rock music for people more satisfied by pop music. (Paper Bag)

Cookie Duster – When Flying Was Easy

Cookie Duster began back in 1997 as a side project for Broken Social Scene (though then hHead)’s Brendan Canning and Change of Heart’s Bernard Maiezza, and it sounds every bit that collaboration. It’s guitar-y and synthy and spacey, and with the addition of vocalist Jeen O’Brien for much of the vocals, it sounds, frankly, very Broken Social Scene-y. Sir Ian Blurton, the Superfriendz’ Matt Murphy, the Hylozoists’ Paul Aucoin, and Change of Heart’s Rob Higgins all contribute to this sophomore release too, giving it an even broader BSS lean. Maybe it’s the familiarity of the music that makes it sit so easily, but the power pop euphoria of songs like “Two Feet Stand Up” give it an appeal all its own. (Maple)

Cold Specks – I Predict A Graceful Expulsion

Through a series of circumstantial events, Toronto’s Al Spx garnered a healthy amount of buzz in the British music press as Cold Specks before Canada took notice. The British music press is not typically to be trusted, but they were right on this one; the young singer/songwriter has released a debut that doesn’t sound like much else coming out of Canada at the moment. She’s jokingly referred to herself as “doom soul,” the former addressing the dark and sometimes fatalistic nature of the songs she wrote during harder, younger times, and the latter aptly describing her rich, resonant voice. It’s sparse and stormy and hits a lot of right spots. (Arts&Crafts)

Beach House – Bloom

Beach House have surprisingly endured to transform from a dreamy indie pop band into a dreamy indie pop band with serious chops. Everything they’ve done since their 2006 debut has been loved more deeply than the last, and while there hasn’t been any radical reinvention from the band, they’ve gradually refined—all of that applies to the aptly titled Bloom, an album that is immediate, and on which there’s much more going on than you can pick out in the first couple of listens. (Sub Pop)

Apollo Ghosts – Landmark

The follow up to Apollo Ghosts’ Polaris Music Prize long-listed concept album Mount Benson opens with a track named “What Are Your Influences?”, a song surely named for all the questions their eclectic, off-kilter guitar pop elicited throughout its run. Landmark covers a lot of the same adventurous ground, sounding rougher around the edges and seemingly taking some influence from labelmate Shotgun Jimmie (this is Apollo Ghosts’ first release on You’ve Changed Records), both wrapped up in nostalgia and neither taking themselves seriously. Goldmine. (You’ve Changed)

Surprises, disappointments and albums to watch for next month

Surprise of the month: That Cold Specks’ British Music Press Hype was legit. That like never happens. But more so, that Holly McNarland self-made and self-released a lovely new gem of a disc, Run Body Run. Just digging into this one. AUX did a feature interview with her on End Hits this week—have a listen!

Disappointment of the month: Best Coast’s The Only Place. It’s not even that I was a fan of the first one so much as the Jon Brion production was wooing me. It’s yet to make an impact. Also disappointed that Japandroids’ sophomore jam Celebration Rock got the punk stamp. I WANTED IT FOR MY LIST. (Honourary inclusion.)

Out in June: Tis a typically dry album release season, but the Beach Boys and Patti Smith and Metric have new stuff. Also FIONA APPLE.

 

Tags: Music, Featured, Lists, News, apollo ghosts, Beach House, Best Coast, Cold Specks, Japandroids

0

0

0

0

0

Email this article to a friend