California Condors are a blast of west coast flavor.  The four-piece tout infectious melodies and memorable lyrical quips containing a bevy of nostalgia, making it hard to stop listening after one song. Their album Calm Carnivore hovers between contemporary indie rock and classic rock influences. The soaring, reverb-filled guitar solos often conjure the feeling of a show at the Matrix Club in San Francisco in the late ‘60s, where bands like Jefferson Airplane and The Doors played. While the California Condors focus on cultivating a full rock sound, they also portray elements of a softer nature – like glimpses of folk and orchestral music. Their foray into alt-rock is very reminiscent of R.E.M., masters of both somber ballads and hard-rocking anthems in the style. The unsigned California Condors have variety in their music while maintaining an overall rock base, assuring probable future success.

The introduction and title track, “Calm Carnivore”, is an interesting infusion of rock with a slight reggae-inspired rhythmic progression. After the chorus, the lead slowly dips into a relaxed subsidiary rhythm guitar reminiscent of recent reggae-inspire rock trips, like Jens Lekman’s “So This Guy at My Office”. The reggae influence turns swiftly into a chorus that relies heavily on guitar. Here, the chords are played with tighter ferocity, more rigid than the reggae style, but with enough flexibility in the song structure to maintain the potential for spontaneity. The pungent rock style of the verses highlights the vocals. The song slowly collapses onto its reggae beats at the ends and transitions.

“Calm Carnivore” progresses quickly but cohesively into “What We Both Know”, which starts out with a fluid harmony livelier than its antecedent. This contains shades of both Teenage Fanclub-oriented power-pop and an R.E.M. jangle. Tension in the chord progressions is built up slowly before each chorus and released seamlessly before each verse. The guitar solo at the end reminds the listener that California Condors have a heavy classic rock influence. The blaring microphone sound at the end reinforces the concert feel of the album, bringing just the right amount of lo-fi into the picture without sacrificing the quartet’s lofty emulation of ‘60s rock.

“Leave No Mark,” infuses rock with pop and follows the style of Beatles. The bouncy lyrics jive well with the clean drums and simple guitar progressions. The song is by no means plain, but pleasant and easy flowing. It is a gentle break in an album that places an emphasis on prominent drums and guitar.

Calm Carnivore is a cohesive album that offers a substantial amount of quality material for fans of folk, contemporary, and classic rock. The album is cheerful without being overly agreeable, both in regard to its compositions and lyrical disposition. The slightly familiar melodies are paired with slight variations in style. This approach allows California Condors to take risks with new music styles while ensuring that their listeners will enjoy the experience.

Calm Carnivore can be downloaded for free on the group’s Bandcamp.

RIYL: R.E.M., Cass McCombs, Girls, Supertramp, The Beatles, Teenage Fanclub, Eric Clapton, Bright Eyes, Bob Marley, Death Cab for Cutie, Malajube, O.A.R

California Condors – Calm Carnivore

California Condors – What We Both Know

California Condors – Fly in a Web

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by Max Fishkin

Tokyo Police Club are a four-piece that hail from Canada, home to many indie artists such as Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade. These guys don’t have the same stigma attached as the previously mentioned bands. Instead, Tokyo Police Club are the indie garage heroes you hear about on the local nightly news, saving the world one show at a time. Joking aside, they really have grown comfortable in their own sound. Our interview with the band’s keyboardist, Graham Wright, could suggest as much in regard to their recording ideology alone. As you can see by that conversation, the reason why they are “heroes” is because they enforce a very straightforward garage-rock sound with very little pretension, contrary to the intricate electro-rock fusion of Wolf Parade or the epic anthem-like demeanor of Arcade Fire.

Such artists seem a bit inaccessible to certain listeners, who see that vein of songwriting conflicting with an innocent yearning for straightforward garage-rock. The songs on Tokyo Police Club’s previous releases, A Lesson in Crime and Elephant Shell, were relatively short and more vigorous in this garage-rock vein, while their new album Champ clocks in at 35 minutes and hosts a more mature but still energized band. When the promo copy for Champ came in the mail, I furiously ripped open the packaging and fed it into my CD player and it hasn’t moved since. For the past three weeks, I spent more time enjoying and listening to Champ than even thinking about writing this review.

The opening track, “Favourite Colour”, is a great summation of the band’s sound on this record: personal, melodic and lively. The glitchy synth intro unfolds into a spotlight on acoustic guitar and vocals. With lyrics like, “You were looking back on your days/how you spend them all in a blur/when they asked if you were for sure/let sugar melt down your throat/cuz you know its sweet getting old”, these guys are aware of taking the title of champ as they age, which is aptly depicted throughout the album. What could be better than playing in a kick-ass band and living life as you please during your ‘greatest years’, as most nostalgic parents remind us?

The single on Champ is “Breakneck Speed” and will serve as a great setlist staple while Tokyo Police Club tour with Passion Pit this summer. After catching a tight performance at All Points West last summer, I eagerly wait seeing their set at Bonnaroo this Friday. My next favorite track, “Bambi”, features a glitch-echo guitar effect that settles into a flurry of notes. Vocalist and bassist Dave Monks really understands his range and role as singer, which really lets all of the songs shimmer throughout Champ. But the track “Hands Reversed” shows a different side of Tokyo Police Club without completely making an about-face. This video, filmed about six months ago, strips the song to its core of guitar and vocals. The band’s contribution to the song on the album cut is subtle but very effective. The sluggish drums and bold synths develop the dynamics of the song, gradually building and releasing tension in rewarding fashion. The greatest part about Champ is that, in an age where most albums are half-filler and no-killer, this CD is a promise that rock ‘n’ roll will never die.

RIYL: We Are Scientists, Born Ruffians, Ra Ra Riot, Foals, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, The Maccabees, Metric, Minus the Bear, Wolf Parade, Harlem Shakes, Land of Talk, Death Cab for Cutie, Cold War Kids, Matt & Kim, Hot Hot Heat, The Futureheads

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Tokyo Police Club – Favourite Food

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Tokyo Police Club – Breakneck Speed

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Tokyo Police Club – Hands Reversed

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Official Web Site

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by Jon Chapple

Every time I go to listen to Band of Horses’ third and latest long-player in iTunes, I type ‘B-A-N’ (and possibly a ‘D’ if I’m feeling adventurous) and am always instantly rewarded not with Infinite Arms, but Music from Big Pink. “Isn’t that apt?”, I think. “The daddies of country rock and and their young heirs, side by side. Two generations of rootsy Americana, neatly rubbing shoulders in the sterile confines of the ‘Column Browser.’” And each time I smile a knowing little smile to myself.

But the problem is that Infinite Arms is hardly any more of a country or roots rock album than it is a jazz record, and I’m struggling to think about how this got into my head in the first place. It could be the fact that most live performances I’ve seen of the group tends to see them kitted out in some kind of curious cowboy-lumberjack hybrid attire (think flannel shirts with stetsons) could have something to do with it. The name, also, surely plays a part in it: ‘Band of Horses’; they’ve got to live on a ranch, right?. But no, despite my initial first impressions, Infinite Arms is none of the above; it’s a polished, restrained and relatively straight-forward pop-rock album, albeit one with the occasional ‘roots’ flourish or effect.

However, as much as I admittedly do have a soft spot for The Band, that’s by no means a criticism. The record kicks off with two of the strongest openers I’ve heard on a new album in a good few years; “Factory” floats along prettily on waves of ethereal strings, its closely-harmonized dual lead vocals and slow-building orchestral pomp swelling beneath them working to create a serene, lullaby-like atmosphere, whilst “Compliments”, a yearning, irresistibly catchy mid-tempo pop-rocker straight out of 1972, provides a welcome change of pace which compliments its predecessor perfectly.

The rest of Infinite Arms fails to live up to the potential of its incredible starting momentum, but song-wise, there are still a few other highlights. The unremarkable “Laredo”, another rocker in the vein of “Compliments” (but with far less melodic appeal) certainly isn’t one, but “Dilly”, with its sing-a-long chorus and some impressive interweaving vocal acrobatics from vocalists Ben Bridwell and Tyler Ramsey is pure pop gold. “Older” is a country-styled ballad (I know, but it’s the only one!) overlaid with some attractive, tasteful pedal steel guitar lines, whilst “Blue Beard”, a sparse, evocative number about love lost under a “grey and cold” Midwestern sky sees the group trying their hand at ornate, Brian Wilson-patented multi-part harmonies, which works relatively well but is spoiled by its sterile production, which is irritating and can make the voices involved sound unnatural and digital.

Unfortunately, that is a key problem with the album as a whole. Whilst, as already mentioned, it would be a stretch to call Infinite Arms an Americana release, lyrically it is a completely different story, and I would prefer if the production reflected this. “Blue Beard” isn’t the only song where far-flung American geography features prominently; “NW Apt.”, a middling, power-chord driven indie rocker without anything resembling a hook to speak of takes place in Oakridge, Oregon (“I’m driving over in Oakridge, baby, with the whole neighborhood in tow”), the six-and-a-half-minute closing epic “Neighbor”, which combines an achingly gorgeous melody with a lengthy build-up and cymbal-crashing climax that Explosions in the Sky would be proud of, makes frequent use of rural North American imagery (chipmunks, border towns and lights on porches) and the previously-mentioned “Compliments” contains the lines: “Deep in the heart of the country was a house I built from logs / a raven and a lady hawk” and “Quiet and calm through the day, see the sun burn through the fog / approaching was a yellow dog.” John Fogerty would be proud, I’m sure you’ll agree. And yet there’s no warmth or natural air to the recording to compliment such rustic sentiments; instead, for the most part, the album sounds shiny, brittle and thin. A deliberate artistic decision or simply pandering to the iPod generation? I’ll let you decide.

Out of the twelve tracks on offer here, only the aforementioned “rockers” (“Compliments”, “Laredo”, “NW Apt.”, and possibly “Neighbor” and “Dilly” if we feel like being liberal with the term) really provide any diversity to the album’s overall sound, mood or tempo (slow). I’ll draw the line at labeling the record as a concept album for fear of tarring the poor boys with a brush they may not appreciate, but I don’t think it is any coincidence that “Compliments” and “Laredo” were selected to be the first two singles drawn from the album, and – if I were a betting man (which I’m not) – I’d wager that the next will similarly be a component of my expertly-picked Rocker List featured above, simply because the more upbeat numbers feel a bit out of place in the sea of deliberate, precious mood pieces that bookend them. Think three (or five) “Sloop John B”s and you kind of get the picture.

Incidentally, I think Pet Sounds might be a good analogy here. Like that most hallowed and revered of musical creations, Infinite Arms is clearly designed to work as a whole; it is a neat little musical package that should to be listened to and digested in one fell swoop. But unfortunately, whereas Mad Mr. Wilson’s symphonic masterpiece is certainly comprised of a collection of similar-sounding tracks, it still has enough diversity, energy and – most importantly – melodies to keep to the listener hooked, something Band of Horses just achieved here. I wouldn’t say it’s a chore to persevere to the end, but it’s just not interesting enough on Infinite Arms to make the effort.

And that is the real killer blow to any lasting appeal Infinite Arms may possess. With a few obvious exceptions (notably, of course, the two killer openers) the album just fails to make much of a lasting impact, with around half of its songs meandering around with little confidence, seemingly filling the time for the sake of it. I can see what they were trying to do; there’s an almost Sigur Rós-y pseudo-‘epic’ vibe apparent on most tracks, but here it feels more like a necessity because of a lack of memorable material, and the concept of marrying said atmosphere with lyrics lifted straight from the golden age of roots rock is – dare I say it – an almost pioneering one, but it just doesn’t work. There’s also a distinct lack of hummable melodies or obvious hooks present, with the band seemingly more concerned with creating a ‘mood’ first and a decent song second. I haven’t found myself humming these songs when I’m walking to the shops or involuntarily hearing them in my head before I go to sleep at night, and on an album of four-minute pop songs, that’s simply unforgivable.

It’s a real shame and a wasted opportunity, because the non-filler material (“Factory”, “Compliments”, “Blue Beard”, “Dilly”, “Older”, “Neighbor”) is music really worth getting excited over, but the album just has too much sub-par material for me to be able to truly recommend it as a whole. But get a hold of the tracks listed above, and you’ve got easily the best EP of 2010 so far.

5.0/10.0

RIYL: My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Rogue Wave, Death Cab for Cutie, Frightened Rabbit, Arcade Fire, Midlake, Manchester Orchestra, Bright Eyes, M. Ward, Blitzen Trapper, The Band, Okkervil River, Built to Spill, Iron & Wine, Minus the Bear, Wilco

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Band of Horses – Factory

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Videos for “Compliments” and “NW Apt.”

Official Site

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