The Chain Gang Of 1974 – Wayward Fire (Modern Art)
With their programmed drumbeats, pop melodies, and wiry postpunk guitars, the Chain Gang Of 1974 bring back strong memories of the Rapture. In 2003, when the “House Of Jealous Lovers” single marked a huge stylistic shift for that New York group, I had high hopes for them. However, their followup LP, Echoes, made it seem like they’d quickly run out of ideas for their new sound, and I wrote off the Rapture as a one-trick pony. By contrast, The Chain Gang Of 1974 appear to be the real deal. There aren’t any tracks on Wayward Fire that dramatically seize the listener’s attention the way “House Of Jealous Lovers” did a decade ago, but that’s less of a criticism of the individual tracks here than a point in favor of Wayward Fire‘s cohesiveness. In almost every song, The Chain Gang Of 1974 move through several different sounds; dark, postpunk disco beats meet New Order-style early 80s gothed-out synthpop, and then crash headlong into soaring blissout choruses reminiscent of psychedelic/trance/synthpop revivalists M83. Every song has at least one unforgettable hook that will stay in your head all day, and the way the rumbling yet melodic basslines mix with the pounding beats is enough to keep you dancing all night. Far from getting old, this album invites repeated listenings, reminding you the second it ends that there’s nothing else in your record collection that will be able to match the feeling it evokes. So start it over again, and let’s keep dancing.
Solvents – Forgive Yr Blood (Bee Resin)
In these ProTools-dominated post-Y2K days, I’m always happy to hear a less-than-pristine recording, so the somewhat primitive sound of Solvents’ latest LP definitely works for me. This prolific indie band adds a dose of foreboding to their orchestral pop sound by using the natural reverb of a big room to give their songs the sort of space usually achieved through compression and other studio techniques. There’s a bit of analog distortion on the louder tracks, and the vocals sometimes sound overdriven, but Solvents more than compensate for the loss of a perfect sound with passionate performances that feel immediate and real. Their songwriting is Beatlesque in nature at times, while the frequent use of a violin to play lead melody lines evokes 70s country-rock songwriters like Gram Parsons or Harvest-era Neil Young. And yet, in spite of all that, this band knows how to rock, and prove it on uptempo tunes like “We Were Guests Here.” The slightly distorted lo-fi sound might come in handiest here, as it lends a bite to tunes like this that would not be present were they recorded in more pristine fashion. People who need production to be flawless in order to enjoy music will not get much out of this album–but then, they’d probably hate the work of Robert Johnson and Hank Williams Sr, so what do those people know? On the other hand, if you can see the beauty in mixing some good old rumble and hiss into the fabric of a fine pop album, you can’t go wrong here.
The Chain Gang Of 1974 – Wayward Fire (Modern Art)
With their programmed drumbeats, pop melodies, and wiry postpunk guitars, the Chain Gang Of 1974 bring back strong memories of the Rapture. In 2003, when the “House Of Jealous Lovers” single marked a huge stylistic shift for that New York group, I had high hopes for them. However, their followup LP, Echoes, made it seem like they’d quickly run out of ideas for their new sound, and I wrote off the Rapture as a one-trick pony. By contrast, The Chain Gang Of 1974 appear to be the real deal. There aren’t any tracks on Wayward Fire that dramatically seize the listener’s attention the way “House Of Jealous Lovers” did a decade ago, but that’s less of a criticism of the individual tracks here than a point in favor of Wayward Fire‘s cohesiveness. In almost every song, The Chain Gang Of 1974 move through several different sounds; dark, postpunk disco beats meet New Order-style early 80s gothed-out synthpop, and then crash headlong into soaring blissout choruses reminiscent of psychedelic/trance/synthpop revivalists M83. Every song has at least one unforgettable hook that will stay in your head all day, and the way the rumbling yet melodic basslines mix with the pounding beats is enough to keep you dancing all night. Far from getting old, this album invites repeated listenings, reminding you the second it ends that there’s nothing else in your record collection that will be able to match the feeling it evokes. So start it over again, and let’s keep dancing.
Solvents – Forgive Yr Blood (Bee Resin)
In these ProTools-dominated post-Y2K days, I’m always happy to hear a less-than-pristine recording, so the somewhat primitive sound of Solvents’ latest LP definitely works for me. This prolific indie band adds a dose of foreboding to their orchestral pop sound by using the natural reverb of a big room to give their songs the sort of space usually achieved through compression and other studio techniques. There’s a bit of analog distortion on the louder tracks, and the vocals sometimes sound overdriven, but Solvents more than compensate for the loss of a perfect sound with passionate performances that feel immediate and real. Their songwriting is Beatlesque in nature at times, while the frequent use of a violin to play lead melody lines evokes 70s country-rock songwriters like Gram Parsons or Harvest-era Neil Young. And yet, in spite of all that, this band knows how to rock, and prove it on uptempo tunes like “We Were Guests Here.” The slightly distorted lo-fi sound might come in handiest here, as it lends a bite to tunes like this that would not be present were they recorded in more pristine fashion. People who need production to be flawless in order to enjoy music will not get much out of this album–but then, they’d probably hate the work of Robert Johnson and Hank Williams Sr, so what do those people know? On the other hand, if you can see the beauty in mixing some good old rumble and hiss into the fabric of a fine pop album, you can’t go wrong here.
