That Game Theory’s entire catalog is seemingly terminally out of print is a great travesty. Certainly they were one of the most important purveyors of ’80s pop music in America. Over the course of three incredibly ambitious and almost flawless records, they had as good a track record as almost anyone besides XTC for consistency. Songwriter Scott Miller is one of the 1980s’ most under-appreciated lyricists.

While predecessor Real Nighttime has some of the best songs Game Theory ever recorded, and a more cohesive concept overall (the pseudo-adolescent angst of post-college life), and their third album Lolita Nation has all the ridiculous Todd Rundgren conceits, song fragments, and opened possibilities of a record not content with being a record, Big Shot Chronicles is Game Theory’s greatest achievement. It strikes a balance between the two impulses that defined the band: the craft element and the anarchistic element.

The impeccable craftsmanship and production skills of Big Star loom over the album as they do on most of the albums Mitch Easter produced over the course of the 1980s (Murmur notwithstanding), both for his own band Let’s Active and others. The guitar stabs that open “I’ve Tried Subtlety” serve as just one nod in an album considered one of the more prosperous suburbs of Radio City. “Come Home With Me” is a clear audition for side two of #1 Record… an audition, I should add, that could very well have resulted in a call back.

Unlike Alex Chilton, however, Miller is not a man of vaguely sarcastic swagger, and things like math jokes* litter an album otherwise devoted to failed or precarious romance. Unlike Elvis Costello (another touch-point), Miller is not so much vicious as reflective and prone to pick at doubts like scabs. When the tempo rises on “Big Shot”, this isn’t an intimation of anger as much as anxiety or especially rousing regret.

Though the uptempo numbers are generally very good, it’s when the band slows down and relies on a haze of harmonies and jangle that Easter and Miller really show the exceptional qualities of the band. The lovely “Regenisraen”, whatever the word means, is so invitingly soft one’s mind flips it around like one looking for the cold side of a pillow. Two songs later, “Book of Millionaires” shows the cold side of said pillow. “Animal gentry too sure of your stride” is wonderful. “Like a Girl Jesus” is where Miller’s nasal qualities seem most vulnerable and least strained. Unorthodox production choices also pay off on that track, and it’s the most clear signpost to the band’s “Lolita Nation” sound.

As the rockers go, “Erica’s Word”, the album’s single, is the best of the bunch (and also had a pretty awesome video full of cubist montage here). This song hosts the album’s best math and science jokes, opening with a double-header to that effect:

“Erica’s gone shy
Some unknown X behind the why
All is some less today
Mass not conserving in the old way”

The riff that propels the song is first a rallying one, but is diminished by a minor chord, taking the listener clear, and then leaving them blurred. As does the whole album.

*I’m genuinely surprised that, nowhere in their run, did they ever record a song called “Prisoner’s Dilemma”.

RIYL: Elvis Costello, Manic Street Preachers, Let’s Active, Don Dixon, Big Star, The Posies, Divine Horsemen, The dB’s

Game Theory – Erica’s Word

Game Theory – Like a Girl Jesus

Game Theory – Regenisraen

Fan Club Page

The post Game Theory – Big Shot Chronicles (1986) appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Hailing from the small university town of Ann Arbor, Jonathan Visger’s solo project Absofacto produces a delightful sound that reconstitutes the ghosts of indie rock’s past into something vaguely infectious. If one were a lazy music critic and decided to use that “if (blank), (blank), and (blank) were put in a blender/sat next to each other on an airplane/put in the oven with lightly salted asparagus” cliché, the Sinking Islands page of Absofacto’s cookbook might look like this:

-2/3 cups Spoon’s guitar crunch, preferably Series of Sneaks brand, though anything before Kill the Moonlight should work. This is for texture.

-2 teaspoons repeating early ‘00s indie-rock, with its insistent bass line underscoring the melody.

-1 tablespoon random violin interjections that are vaguely reminiscent of the string breakdown at the end of The Beatles’ “The End” – and by proxy – Big Star, Chris Bell’s solo work, Field Music, and every other band that has made a lot of their career exploring variations on that riff.

-A pinch of Elliott Smith’s waltz-like tendencies, only for track “Punch Drunk on Black Mold”.

-A light frosting of Beach House’s reverb guitar tone to open your album.

Take ingredients; throw them into Pro Tools for 45 minutes, rotating everything at the 22-minute mark. Sinking Islands should be crunchy on the outside, but soft and flavorful inside, a delicious hors d’oeuvre for the young man’s iPod, or the tastefully buzzed/stoned house guest.

However, we aren’t lazy critics, and refuse to resort to such clichés. Suffice it to say, Sinking Islands is a well-wrought record; reverb is employed to give dynamism to hard rhythmic guitar, all of which carry out the machinations of fresh and compelling melodies, with only a few missteps.

Absofacto’s greatest trick is in dynamics; they use lush washes of harmony comparable to the Polyphonic Spree, with the melodic explosion assured by laid-back and quiet verses. Loud-quiet-loud, but not quite; it’s quite the same way rock junkies may have been hitherto trained to expect.

Some of these tracks seem ripe for soundtrack inclusion and radio airplay, in particular “Whose Side Are You On?”, which I could hear over a montage of some teenager looking ruefully in some other teenager’s window at night, contritely while the other plot lines resolve themselves in an equally lazy visual, shorthand on some ongoing television serial drama. This may seem like an insult, but unfortunately many great songs seem to only gain exposure through this avenue.

And you, yes you, the reader. What did you really want out of this post besides some catchy tunes to help the workday go by? This may not be any huge artistic achievement, but it’s crafted well enough to maintain the trance while never being uncomfortable enough to break through it. Isn’t that what we’re looking for in pop most of the time, when we get brutally honest with ourselves?

RIYL: Pixies, Beach House, Spoon, The Beatles, Chris Bell, Big Star, The Shins, Broken Social Scene, Coconut Records

Absofacto – Whose Side Are You On Anyway?

Absofacto – No Power

Absofacto – Synthesocietal

Official Site / Bandcamp / BUY

The post Jonathan Visger’s Absofacto appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

The crisp, jangly guitar-pop that The Wandas produce recalls the playful power-pop of Teenage Fanclub and Big Star. It is touched with a dose of modern accessibility, with the familiar song structures and sweet harmonious vocal backings bringing to mind ‘90s alt-rock acts like The Verve Pipe, Collective Soul, and – during The Wandas’ more ambitious moments – Wilco. The Boston-based four-piece boast the sort of chugging rock that alternates freely between expansive southern-rock like the twangy “Everyday (Is as Bad as Monday)” and lush string-drenched country-pop flair of “Please Come Home”. “So I pick up my phone and try to talk to you,” Keith McEachern sings on the latter. “Instead I talk to your answering machine, ‘cause you’re not home I’m alone.” The lyrical musings are very simple and straightforward, much like the power-pop work of Matthew Sweet. Endearing and romanticized, for sure, but not without the proper instrumentation to back it – whether it be invigorating jangle of polished guitars or the melancholic cry of acoustics and strings.

The Wandas often sit at the fringe of immediate radio accessibility. “Bending Over Backwards”, with its quick guitar skiffle and high-pitched Teenage Fanclub-like chorus of exuberance, is the closest to that realm. It truly is a wonderfully infectious song, predictable structurally but enjoyably so – the chorus is one of those hooks that you await with anticipatory enjoyment. Perhaps or guitar solo or two could have been thrown in for variation’s sake, but no need to stretch this one past the four-minute mark anyways. This is a short and sweet song that is placed properly at the beginning of the album. It is able to convince listeners to continue listening to New Wave Blues, the band’s 2009 debut, so its methodic intelligence is also commendable. It’s just a good pop song.

It is an apt time for New Wave Blues to be re-released, as the band’s new album theWANDAS will drop later this year. Their excellent debut is now available at a whopping 60% discount on GroopEase, at a mere $4 for the entire album. This is a steal for an enjoyably paced, sweetly harmonized album like this. Other highlights include “Trepidation”, a raucously crunchy alt-rock ode to nonchalance, and “Fighting a War”, a melodic break-up ballad that fuses both acoustic and electric elements. “Should I abandon you, leave you?” McEachern asks on the latter. “Tell me what to do.” The indecisiveness on his part in understood and expressed wonderfully, over somber stretches of twangy guitars and abrupt acoustical transitions. What he should not have to convince you, however, is to pick up their debut. Especially with the 60% discount, it is highly recommended for all fans of alt-rock and twangy power-pop.

RIYL: Teenage Fanclub, Big Star, Wilco, The Verve Pipe, Collective Soul, Matthew Sweet, The Elected, Rilo Kiley, HAL

The Wandas – Bending Over Backwards

The Wandas – Please Come Home

Facebook / MySpace / BUY (use this link for a 60% discount)

The post The Wandas appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

HAL were featured on Obscure Sound over five years ago. They were under-exposed then, and remain so now. That HAL have not released anything in seven years certainly didn’t help. Nonetheless, I listened to their eponymous debut very often for several years without tiring of it. Its swirling mixture of Beach Boys-inspired west-coast pop and twangy country-rock projected a crisp form of pop with a bevy of infectious hooks, both in the vein of Brian Wilson-inspired interwoven vocal harmonies and dizzying instrumental theatrics. Maybe it was their west-coast pop hitting my sweet spot, or how the Allen brothers’ vocals mirror the ardent falsetto on The Beach Boys’ “ Be Here in the Mornin’”. That song was on The Beach Boys’ fourteenth album, Friends, and any fan of that album or The Beach Boys in general will fall immediately in love with HAL. I’m in that niche, obviously.

On Friends, the exuberantly majestic self-titled song, the cool-headed psychedelia of “Passing By”, and the suavely soulful “Little Bird” established it among The Beach Boys’ more relaxed releases, even if it also marked one of their most stylistically ambitious. Its enduring appeal can be attributed to cohesive stylistic adjustment; R&B, bossa nova, country-pop, and – thanks to Dennis Wilson – some great alternate take on psych-rock were driving forces, and all were incorporated with a smooth precision that only a producer like Brian Wilson could handle. The Beach Boys already proved such diversity before with Smiley Smile and Wild Honey (the latter being another accurate comparison to HAL’s sound), but it was still an enjoyable development. Although Friends, is not regarded with as much reverence as Wild Honey by some, it made its mark in most clearly exemplifying The Beach Boys’ underrated grasp of many styles that extended beyond the traditional west-coast pop that commercial audiences are familiar with.

Although HAL remain indebted to early rock much like The Beach Boys (and obviously the west-coast pop they engineered), they achieved something similar with HAL that Wilson did with Friends. HAL masterfully took elements of power-pop, country, and classic-rock and embedded it within a style they could call their own (for the most part). Beach Boys tributes tend to be derivative and dull, but when you put such a powerful influence in the hands of talented pop songwriters like the Allen brothers, they do not repeat ideas. If that were the case, Beach Boys fans would regard their songs as poor cover versions. Instead, HAL are more focused on Brian Wilson’s production methods than his songs. The multi-tracked harmonizing, orchestral tendencies, and glistening melodies are entirely their own. HAL sounds like a bunch of excellent original songs produced by Brian Wilson, not written by him. Did I mention that this was HAL’s debut? I apologize if the Beach Boys comparisons are tiring by now, but (like The Explorers Club) HAL are a very rare breed. They fully capture a nostalgically successful genre without replicating it, which for west-coast pop this is a very admirable feat.

Over the past year or so I somewhat neglected HAL. Regardless of how great an album is, if the band goes a long time without material of any sort then listeners initiate a defense mechanism of sorts. They shun away from the album, simply to prevent over-exposure to it. Whether it is a relationship or form of art, no one wants the initial luster to fade. This is what I did, somewhat unintentionally, but like all great albums I came back to it. Upon revisiting HAL, it established itself like any great album; re-discovery prompted new discoveries. Songs I somewhat dismissed previously – the Smile-inspired “My Eyes are Sore” and the catchy southern-rock ballad “Coming Right Over” – now started clicking. Old favorites like “I Sat Down” and “Worry About the Wind” sounded even better. And thus it was established: HAL is not the usual album that one forgets about, forever in their music vocabulary but rarely repeated for enjoyment. It is more important than that.

Coincidentally, just as I was re-discovering their excellent debut, HAL announced for the first time in nearly one half-dozen years that they are releasing new material. Their new single “Be With You” will be available May 13th, and their long-awaited sophomore album The Time, The Hour will follow shortly thereafter. The band was generous enough to post most of their newly released songs on Soundcloud, so check them out below. Posting even one track from their debut album is unfortunately forbidden. I have no permission to post them, but I’m sure you can figure out how to obtain key tracks “Worry About the Wind”, “My Eyes are Sore”, and “I Sat Down”. Either way, HAL’s new tracks sound good and their upcoming album, The Time, The Hour, is certainly a dark horse for being one of the best pop albums of 2011. HAL was up there with the best in 2005, and considering that their new tracks are nearly as good I doubt their second album will falter.

RIYL: The Beach Boys, Dr. Dog, Brian Wilson, The Thrills, Explorers Club, The Stands, Harry Nilsson, Mull Historical Society, Move, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, The Byrds, The Zombies, The Ronettes, The Kinks, The Left Banke, The Beatles, Big Star

HAL – Be With You

HAL – Down in the Valley

HAL – Close To Her

And a couple tracks from HAL’s biggest influence, from the album most reminiscent of their sound:

The Beach Boys – Be Here in the Mornin’

The Beach Boys – Passing By

Official Site / MySpace / BUY

The post HAL Return… Finally appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

The ‘Omaha Sound’ is a term used, now somewhat loosely, for bands based in or around Nebraska’s largest city. The term first came to my attention when I featured Old Canes a few years back. Omaha’s most prominent label, Saddle Creek, was undergoing an interesting period at the time, going somewhat against the label’s stylistic conventions when Conor Oberst formed it in 1993. The stylistic diversity was nothing new to the label’s longtime fans, who remembered acts as diverse as The Faint (aka Norman Bailer) joining the folk-heavy Saddle Creek in the mid-‘90s. But toward the end of the ‘00s, commercially successful acts in the indie-rock vein like Tokyo Police Club and Land of Talk began to make the label’s diversity more noticeable to the mainstream. For once in the label’s history, artists without the signature ‘Omaha Sound’ (indie-folk, sometimes with a country twang) were more prominent than those with it. Bright Eyes and Cursive were relatively quiet, and the newly signed artists more reflective of the label’s neo-folk origins – like Old Canes, Two Gallants, and Orenda Fink – were all sufficiently good, but lacked the commercial appeal of the more trend-leaning Tokyo Police Club and Land of Talk.

Old-fashioned diehards would probably look upon this recent trend as a blemish on an excellently niche-geared foundation, but many fans and industry analysts look at it differently; they tend to see it as an example of Saddle Creek’s business savvy, not their self-sacrificial desperation. Saddle Creek have maintained the elements of folk that gave them a cult following in the first place, all while letting in “outsiders” (in a sense) who are pursuing different styles. Just because one band plays electro-tinged indie-rock and another specializes in traditional folk does not mean it is impossible for the artists and their fans to overlap in some capacity. While it is true that many of Saddle Creek’s folk-leaning acts are Nebraskans and most of their indie-rock output comes from Canada, Saddle Creek’s enduring success continues because their audience remains unchanged; they remain the sort of avid music-seekers who would wait outside record stores in the pouring rain for the latest release, if need be. So even if they prefer one style to another, they trust enough in Saddle Creek’s notorious word-of-mouth appeal to at least give an artist a shot. Their biggest successes lately have went against the label’s norms and past, giving even more reason to shed the stylistic elitism when dealing with a label one associates with familiarity and trust. Nostalgia also helps.

Saddle Creek have expanded in the above aspects, and have done so without sacrificing the precious locality and small-knit feel that makes everything on their label – from Bright Eyes’ idiosyncratic folk to Tokyo Police Club’s modernized garage-rock – appeal to a similar cluster of fans. No recent act on their label represents this more than Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship. Friends Andrew Gustafson, John Svatos, and Ricky Black formed the project in 2004, finally settling on a drummer (Rob Webster) in 2007. Judging by their age and sound, it is easy to tell what music these guys grew up on. Bands like Pavement, Sebadoh, and Sonic Youth are likely to be mentioned in a bulk of their reviews, mainly because Noah’s Ark resemble wholesome authenticity and nostalgia without sounding the slightest outdated. That sounds somewhat trite, but it’s true. The most distinctively modern aspect of their sound is the flourishes of art-rock that cohesively align with the traditional alt-rock formula they build their music around. Sure, their allegiances lie most with the best of late ‘80s and early ‘90s alt-rock, but such an astute grasp on power-pop and punk also makes names like Teenage Fanclub, The Replacements, and Big Star relevant.

NAWAS’ debut LP, Hanga-Fang, is one of the most exciting of the year thus far. The ferocious chorus of “Opener” emerges with just about a minute remaining, recalling both the crunchy guitar tones of Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins and the angular work of Slint. It sits somewhere between alt-rock amateur goodness and the borders of ambitious prog-rock, the latter indebted to NAWAS’ extreme use of variation. The lovably weird “I Need a Nap” is reminiscent of Slint’s murkiest work. Screeching guitars and a placidly shifting fuzz-bass concoct feelings of ominous intent, especially as the percussion drags along and abruptly shifts from nonchalant half-hits to unbridled angst. Preceding it, “Sweet and Sour Day” is a perfect example of the group’s ingenious structural tendencies. Its grungy beginnings stretch for several minutes, slowly enveloping into a more laid-back approach where feedback and bass tremolo join forces to complement a more psychedelic vocal delivery. The track almost resembles a frenzied drug trip, where moments of chaos slowly develop into scenes of spaced-out bliss before descending again into the hectically disordered come-down.

More conventional efforts like “Big Mouth”, “Wrecking Ball Girl”, and “I’m Not a Father” will be adored by fetishists of late ‘80s and early ‘90s college radio. The latter is perhaps the most accessible track on Hanga-Fang, where the vocals admit “I know I’m not well” over crisply sonorous guitar chords. The lack of distortion and heavy emphasis on rhythm bring to mind more melodic alt-rock acts like The Pixies, who are noted for having played with both ends of the alt-rock spectrum. From blistering anthems of distortion to harmonically sugar-coated gems, they are one of few bands from NAWAS’ favorite era whose durability is unquestioned. Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship have a collage of influences that enable them to pursue a similar goal. They capture the essence of a recognizable period in music without diluting its nostalgia and influence.

Bands like The Pixies and Smashing Pumpkins encouraged artistic growth while proudly wearing influences on their sleeves, and it is an ideology like this that makes Hanga-Fang so strong. There are always flashes of a certain band’s influence, but by the end of a track listeners of Hanga-Fang will have no difficulty respecting the originality of the band’s songwriting. As a track like “Wrecking Ball Girl” evolves from creakily acoustic minimalism to ardent displays of distorted awe, fans of bands like Pavement and Sebadoh in their heydays are embraced with the best form of nostalgia: one that borrows the best aspects from the past without incorporating the staleness of methods beaten tirelessly to death by over-use. Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship sound remarkably like a breath of fresh air considering their tributary influences, and because of that Hanga-Fang is a consistently strong release with just the right dose of modern experimentation and past recollection.

RIYL: Pavement, Sebadoh, The Pixies, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Big Star, The Replacements, The Lemonheads, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub

Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship – I’m Not a Father

Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship – Big Mouth

Noah’s Ark was a Spaceship – Warm Eyes

Saddle Creek / Slumber Party Records / MySpace / BUY

The post Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

“Early Bird” quickly transitions between haunting organ sounds and quick swipes of guitar, the former more in the vein of neo-psychedelia and the latter more like garage-rock. A lovely meshing of vintage sounds, to be sure, much like contemporaries in the vein of Ariel Pink. Lotus Feet show comfort in their influences only to a certain extent though, as their musicianship is apparent in itself. They draw upon Pink Floyd influences later in the track with clashing frequencies and samples, all retained over the original melody that is fixed in organs, guitars, and a very pronounced bass. The beginning will probably draw comparisons to The Doors first, since Jim Morrison’s voice is naturally comparable all throughout Animals in the Attic. Think if ever Morrison was attached to a Pink Floyd project. Lotus Feet is the closest you can get to that, so it helps that the musicians involved are all impeccably collected.

The icy keys in “Child’s Play” sounds like it would be more at home in a Björk track, and it certainly sounds odd considering the two preceding tracks, ” Early Bird” and “Evidence”, is brisk neo-psychedelia with a vast assortment of instrumentation. But by the time the chorus arrives in “Child’s Play”, with its caressing bass and reflective guitar tones, the serene feeling of psychedelia re-emerges. “The apple I see fell far from the tree,” the mysterious voice sings, constantly evoking natural images as he treads through the gentle arrangement. The production is strongly reminiscent of The Velvet Underground, with monotonous vocal deliveries emerging as champions over laid-back musical accompaniments that, underneath their placidity, are remarkably brilliant and complex. “Nothing to stress about while we’re still young,” he sings, capricious like Jens Lekman but complexly ambitious like Lou Reed. Like most of Lotus Feet’s tracks, influences are strong, but the band’s original songwriting is even stronger.

Lotus Feet could sound at home in any darkly mysterious film, particularly if David Lynch ever created some homage to the ’70s psychedelic scene. That might be a mistake though, as Lotus Feet’s music is the type that demands your attention. It will not reach conventional radio due to its broad scope, as the songs could delightfully stretch to 10+ minutes if need be and still sound adventurous and captivating. All eight songs on Animals in the Attic have their moment, per say, and most have several ones that recall nostalgically inventive songwriting at its finest. “Cold Days” almost gets caught up in its post-rock construction from time to time, while the subsequent “Hibernation” follows up on that desire and is a blissed-out space instrumental until the two-minute mark, when high-pitched strings and choir-like vocals serve as introductory measures to a folky interlude. The sound of an acoustic guitar here is particularly welcome, along with a lighthearted vocal accompaniment that for the first time on Animals in the Attic recalls perky ’60s pop more than brooding psychedelia and post-rock.

Speaking of David Lynch, “Sunshine” sounds like it could have been lifted straight out of Twin Peaks. A video of The Man From Another Place dancing along to this and snapping has fingers has to be out there somewhere. It serves as a nice lead-in to the similarly retro “Take Time (Cabaret)”, which sounds like early Dr. Dog material. This is probably as far back as the album spans, with this being an ode to music of ’40s and ’50s both lyrically and music. “As long as the song’s in four-four time, oh the youngsters they won’t mind,” he sings aptly. The closer “Under the Blankets” fronts a haunting croon, a delicate acoustic guitar, and the sound of crickets and wildlife. An occasional flicker of keys give the track a translucent and nightly feel, establishing a fantastic mood to wind down after an extremely ambitious album. It solidifies the point that every song on Animals in the Attic is worthwhile, even if the sheer amount of ideas can be daunting to tackle. Give it a chance though. It is one of the most successfully ambitious albums of the year.

RIYL: Pink Floyd, The Doors, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, The Velvet Underground, Dr. Dog, Abernethy, David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Zombies, King Crimson, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Kinks, Jethro Tull, Camel, Porcupine Tree, Cream, Teenage Fanclub, Big Star, Iron Butterfly, Wishbone Ash

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Lotus Feet – Early Bird

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Lotus Feet – Child’s Play

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Lotus Feet – Evidence

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MySpace

The post Lotus Feet appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

80°F weather, baseball’s home opener, swatting bugs… the past few days have shown spring in full bloom. These aspects, from baseball to bug spray, are often heavily romanticized because anything is better than winter. A lot of people are high-fiving one another simply because they got through the winter. Record-setting blizzards in NYC can do that to you. As a result, the appropriate somberness of winter is usually replaced with a feeling of exhilaration and anticipation for summer, a trend that is also echoed in the latest musical features. Many of these artists – specifically in the vein of Gorillaz, Weller, and MGMT – will be a few of this summer’s hottest artists, their bustling and infectious sounds coinciding nicely with spring’s universalized feeling of “rebirth”. Unfortunately last month was not all well with the passing of Alex Chilton, but optimistically a death like this could bring light to an artist who really deserves it.

We can hope the weather keeps up with the abundance of great new music.

01. Gorillaz – Rhinestone Eyes (post)
02. Caribou – Jamelia (post)
03. Sam Amidon – You Better Mind (post)
04. Kammerflimmer Kollektief – Move Right In (post)
05. Paul Weller – Aim High (post)
06. MGMT – Flash Delirium (post)
07. Big Star – Life Is White (post)
08. Phantom Power – Tunnel Vision (post)
09. MSTRKRFT – Bounce (feat. N.O.R.E. & Isis) (post)
10. Acoustic Family Creeps – Rain On (post)
11. Sleigh Bells – Crown on the Ground (post)
12. Animal Collective – ODDSAC (Sample of Panda Bear’s Canoe Song) (post)

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE COMPILATION>>> (50.1 MB, .RAR)

The post Obscure Sound: Best of March 2010 appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Alex Chilton, best known for fronting seminal power-pop band Big Star, died Wednesday of a heart attack. Those familiar with Chilton’s work are certainly the minority when compared to those that have unknowingly experienced his influence. It is the sign of a rare talent, truly indicative of one being years ahead of the curve. Big Star was one of those groups restrained by non-exposure, with the ceaseless critical acclaim upon their 1972 debut, #1 Record, having little influence on album sales. Power-pop had seen the likes of Todd Rundgren and Badfinger establish themselves prior to this release, but the power-pop presented on Big Star’s first two albums, #1 Record and Radio City, was unlike anything else at the time. Its sound is familiar and immediate today, but that is largely in part to influences that followed. The Replacements, R.E.M., and Teenage Fanclub are a few bands that are indebted to Big Star for their stylistic breakthroughs and Chilton’s ingeniously melodic songwriting. That their influence was immediate just a decade later with The Replacements and R.E.M. shows just how well their material has aged.

I refer so much to those that Chilton has influenced for a reason. Whenever an unfortunate death like this occurs in the music industry, it at least opens the opportunity for younger audiences to discover something great. The near future should be filled with tributes to Big Star when considering all those that adored Chilton. If that can finally result in widespread exposure for Big Star and its talented lead songwriter, it comes four decades too late. There are plenty of biographies of Chilton that tell his story, from his beginnings with teenage blue-eyed soul group The Box Tops in the late ’60s to his accomplishments in a solo career that provided fascination and effort in spite of mediocrity. These accounts are recommended, but not as much as Chilton’s actual music. I urge everyone who appreciates genius pop music to check out #1 Record and Radio City at the very least. If you dig these, then Chilton has plenty of worthwhile material to check out that dates back to 1967. As for his essential work with Big Star, “Thirteen” is a classic that most people and their parents have heard at some point in their lives, and “In the Street” had its fame as the theme song to “That ’70s Show”. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg for getting acquainted with Chilton’s songwriting though. They serve as popular reference points for those being introduced.

Chilton’s breadth of work is so astonishing that most obituaries will have understandable difficulty in describing his influence. Even if the work of Big Star never reached the commercial success of those they influenced, the role of Chilton as their frontman and lead songwriter is one that endures even in the work of others. Finding a presence like that in contemporary music is rare, if not impossible. From Grammy-winning musicians to your parents, the praise for Chilton among those familiar with his craft is generally unanimous. He has penned some of the greatest American pop songs of the 20th century and influenced some of the greatest rock artists of the past three decades as a result.

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Big Star – Thirteen

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Big Star – Life Is White

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Big Star – Give Me Another Chance

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Big Star – September Gurls

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Alex Chilton – Jailbait

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The Box Tops – The Letter

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Last Call Records

Interview w/ Rolling Stone

BUY: The Box Tops, Big Star, Alex Chilton

Click here for a combo of #1 Record and Radio City for under $10. A great value for sure.

The post RIP: Alex Chilton (1950-2010) appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.