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Tahiti 80

Puzzle

Willie's comments: This is an astounding musical debut. If someone put Air, Fountains of Wayne, Belle & Sebastian, Sean Lennon, Weezer, Stereolab, and Travis into a very large blender and hit "Liquefy," they might get something like the first album from France's Tahiti 80. The songs are relentlessly catchy, poppy, and upbeat, with loungey guitars and electronic effects never distracting from the life-affirming beauty of Xavier Boyer's melodies. It's been a long time since I've heard a song as unself-consciously sappy as "Heartbeat," in which Boyer croons in his charming accent, "Can you feel my heartbeat when it's close to you?" The best song, however, is the infectious "Swimming Suit," which utilizes the Cher vocal machine (which I'm always a sucker for) and applies it to a song that is superlative in the first place, catapulting it to the upper echelon of new indie rock classics. For all the playful sweetness on display here, Tahiti 80 is too savvy to ever let it become cloying- "Revolutions 80" hints at their rougher edge, and the songs are never so bludgeoningly perky as to evoke the Presidents of the USA. Puzzle is a feel-good proclamation of intent for one of the most promising indie rock acts in recent memory. Grade: A+

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE

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Talking Heads

Talking Heads 77

Willie's comments: My mom tells me that, when this album came out, it was seen as bizarre and a little creepy, which I cannot fathom. How could anyone have any reaction to the Heads’ gorgeous, happy-faced new wave except complete adoration? Listen to the elated energy in David Byrne’s voice! Listen to the feel-good rhythms and steel drums of “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town”! Listen to lyrics like “I wish I could meet everyone/ Meet them all over again/ Bring them up to my room/ Meet them all over again/ Everyone’s up in my room!” Even “Psycho Killer” isn’t so much ominous as it is interesting. The twin-guitar attack of Byrne and Jerry Harrison wraps its arms around you and gives you a big hug through the whole album- It’s pure musical bliss. Grade: A

More Songs About Buildings and Food

Willie's comments: The Talking Heads paired up with Brian Eno for three albums starting here, and this was around the time that Eno was still a big fan of DEVO and XTC’s more mechanical work, so he evidently tried to strip the Heads’ music of any emotion whatsoever. Byrne’s vocal yelps during songs like “The Big Country” and “Take Me to the River” carry enough emotion to make up for the deadened music, and his lyrics are top-notch (particularly on the aesthete-mocking “Artists Only”), but comparatively tuneless numbers like “Found a Job” and “The Girls Want to Be With the Girls” are more the rule than the exception. It’s not as irritatingly cold as, say, XTC’s Go2, but I can’t imagine More Songs getting much airplay in anyone’s stereo. Grade: B-

Fear of Music

Willie's comments: Eno was still sucking most of the warmth out of the music on this album, which doesn’t help potentially catchy numbers like “Paper” and “Electric Guitar,” but Byrne evidently decided to go along with Eno’s studio trickery by writing foreboding-sounding numbers that would benefit from the airless production. “Memories Can’t Wait” is probably the band’s spookiest moment, while “Animals” has Byrne chanting hilariously deranged lines like “They think they know what’s best/ They like to laugh at people,” and “Drugs” is exactly the bad trip Byrne intended it to be. At the other end of the spectrum, though, no producer could take the gorgeous, plaintive humanity out of songs like “Heaven” and “Air.” Fear of Music has more than a few great moments, but I wish Eno would’ve made it prettier. Grade: B

Remain in Light

Willie's comments: This is one of the best albums ever recorded. Eno finally figured out how to handle the Heads, stuffing their songs with polyrhythmic textures and brilliantly confusing arrangements. The entire band wrote the music here, instead of just Byrne, and everyone plays their part perfectly: Harrison and Byrne’s guitars appear and vanish in strange patterns, while Chris Frantz drums in previously unknown meters, and Tina Weymouth brings everything together with her infectiously funky bass playing. “Born Under Punches” and the classic “Once in a Lifetime” give Byrne a chance to do his manical evangelist ranting which is always stunning, while he actually raps on “Crosseyed and Painless,” and “The Overload” is a stirring drone that sounds like a split-second of calm before the apocalypse. It’s pure genius. It makes up for More Songs About Buildings and Food and Fear of Music and then some! Grade: A+

The Name of This Band is Talking Heads

Willie's comments: This is a cassette- and vinyl-only double album of live performances spanning the band’s entire career up through the Remain in Light tour, and it’s totally worth picking up, if you can find it. The versions of songs from the Heads’ second and third albums contain all the feeling and energy that was missing from the studio versions (most notably “Stay Hungry” and “Artists Only”), while songs like “The Great Curve” and “Psycho Killer” are superb. It’s not quite Stop Making Sense-caliber, but it’s still great listening. Grade: A-

Speaking In Tongues

Willie's comments: The Talking Heads retained the expanded lineup of Remain in Light for this album, while returning to more recognizably catchy melodies. This results in a lot of great, twisted pop like “Burning Down the House” and the transcendently beautiful “This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)” (which was subsequently butchered by Shawn Colvin). “Moon Rocks” and “I Get Wild/Wild Gravity” are similarly neat, though “Girlfriend is Better” and “Slippery People” sound a tad wan when you stand them up against the Stop Making Sense versions. No matter- Speaking in Tongues is still a gem. Grade: A-

Stop Making Sense

Willie's comments: If at all possible, you should just go ahead and buy the home video of Johnathan Demme’s terrific Heads concert film, because the performances are as inspired visually as they are aurally. However, this soundtrack album should suffice for the casual fan. It was recently rereleased at about double its original length (making me feel stupid for purchasing the nine-song one six years ago), and it contains the definitive versions of “Girlfriend is Better,” “Life During Wartime,” and “Take Me to the River,” among others, along with a totally reworked version of “Psycho Killer” that is arguably better than the original. For those of us who never got to see the Heads live, this is the next best thing. Well, seeing David Byrne live is a kick, too, but... Well, Stop Making Sense is still a masterpiece. Grade: A+

Little Creatures

Willie's comments: Returning to a four-piece-band format, Little Creatures is full of catchy little ditties that are even simpler than Speaking in Tongues’ straightforward pop. “And She Was,” “The Lady Don’t Mind,” and “Give Me Back My Name” are lighthearted and they massage your addled brain, rather than fighting it like Remain in Light did. Byrne’s lyrics sometimes veer too far to the goofy end of things (particularly on the new baby tale of “Stay Up Late”), but he makes up for any missteps with the affecting, unassuming “Road to Nowhere,” which is a disarmingly optimistic look at the end of the world that benefits from a full choir and an accordion. This was also Byrne’s last true work of genius until his self-titled solo album came out ten years later. Grade: A-

True Stories

Willie's comments: This is an album of the Talking Heads performing songs that they wrote for Byrne’s feature-film directorial debut, True Stories (which is definitely worth a rental), but it’s not the soundtrack album, sadly. The true soundtrack album has most of these songs performed by the actors who sang them in the movie, and the Heads’ versions seem relatively stiff behind Byrne’s voice. The countrified “People Like Us” sounded much more powerful and convincing being bellowed by John Goodman, for example, and, pretty as the Heads’ version of “Dream Operator” is, it’s not nearly as affecting as the movie’s version. Worse still, the songwriting is just weak on songs like “Radio Head” (which someone named a band after) and “Hey Now.” The songs that the Heads themselves performed in the movie are great, though: “Love for Sale” is a scathing critique of the advertising industry, “City of Dreams” is an elegy for the Native Americans, and “Wild Wild Life” is a peerlessly catchy boogie. If you can find the movie’s soundtrack, though, splurge for that. (Bear in mind, however, that I’ve never been able to confirm the actual soundtrack’s existence.) Grade: C+

Naked

Willie's comments: When the Talking Heads experimented with ethnic rhythms and textures on Remain in Light, it came across as fascinating, and a natural progression for them. When they once again decided to delve into African and Latin rhythms on Naked, it comes across as forced and pretentious. Whether this was because the band was fragmenting or simply a lack of good ideas is debatable, but this album is a big mess. “Totally Nude” and “Mommy Daddy You and I” are unbearably cutesy, while other songs are just boring. “(Nothing But) Flowers” is the one truly great song, with its ebullient guitar hooks and Byrne singing happily about nature overtaking civilization, but you can get this song- along with the other two good songs here, “Blind” and “Mr. Jones”- on Sand in the Vaseline, so don’t bother with Naked. Grade: C-

Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites

Willie's comments: Since the Talking Heads had already created the best live album and concert film of all time (not to mention the best album of the '80s with Remain in Light), it seems natural that they would also come up with the best “greatest hits” album, which they did with this 2-CD set. Generously packaged with liner notes from all four band members as well as six songs that don’t appear on any Heads album, Sand in the Vaseline is not just useful for Heads neophytes, but for the die-hard fan as well. The band has unfailingly selected their best songs from all their albums (save for the exclusion of “The Lady Don’t Mind” in favor of “Stay Up Late”), and it’s nice to hear the evolution of their sound from the stripped-down new-wave of “No Compassion” to the baroque orchestration of songs like “Blind.” Of the new songs, “Lifetime Piling Up” is easily the best- it should’ve been a single in its own right- but they’re all amusing in their own way. This is the perfect end to a nearly perfect career. Grade: A+

SEE ALSO: DAVID BYRNE

SEE ALSO: TOM TOM CLUB

THIS ARTIST ALSO APPEARS ON: UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD SOUNDTRACK

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: BRIAN ENO

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Television Personalities

They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles

Willie's comments: Regarding the title of this album, it says in the liner notes: "People laugh at the title. What a wacky bunch! I don’t think Daniel [Treacy, TVP frontman]’s joking. He more than realizes the potential of his songs." I agree. Like a more tuneful version of The Fall, the Television Personalities fashion beautifully catchy songs that fall somewhere between glam rock and Renaissance festival music. Lo-fi Brit-pop singalongs like "14th Floor" and "The Boy in the Paisley Shirt" are utterly charming, and in yearning songs like "Three Wishes" and "Flowers for Abigail," the band wrings dozens of emotions from a simple keyboard hook. They Could Have Been is a buried treasure. Grade: A-

SEE ALSO: BOO RADLEYS

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They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants

Willie's comments: TMBG’s auspicious debut is sometimes a bit heavy on stream-of-consciousness silliness (as opposed to the hilariously clever lyrics they’d produce later on), but it’s also heavy on songwriting. Every song except "The Day" has an instantly likeable hook, and the quirky arrangements of songs like "32 Footsteps" and "Boat of Car" show more creativity in three minutes than most bands exhibit in an entire career. Keyboardist John Linnell’s tunes are the most well-thought-out, but guitarist John Flansburgh’s are the most fun. The music sounds like nothing else you've ever heard: complex yet catchy, accordion-based yet loyal to the punk ethic, etc. If the CBGB crowd of the late '70s was in any way whimsical, we might have had a whole movement of music like this. Instead, you're left with one great, inimitable band, and three-minute masterpieces like "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head" and the minor hit "Don't Let's Start." Grade: A-

Lincoln

Willie's comments: The new creed of Flans and Linnell seems to be "Maturity before Whimsy," and that’s evident on Lincoln from the very second the album begins. "Ana Ng" roars off with stomping guitars and doesn’t let up, as Linnell detachedly spins an elliptical tale of unrequited love and the World’s Fair. Elsewhere, he turns in the ingratiatingly weird anthem "Pencil Rain" (absurd as it is, the line "The thunderous clatter of splintering wood and lives that are claimed" is actually quite powerful) and the impossibly catchy "Mr. Me," as well as "They’ll Need a Crane," a thoughtful breakup song. Flansburgh is still fond of flightier songs, but he counters this with the addiction song "Lie Still, Little Bottle." This album is like a nice juicy steak for your brain. Musically, it's still a grab-bag, from the slick pop of "Where Your Eyes Don't Go" to the (literally) boingy "Cage and Aquarium" to the abrasive free jazz of "You'll Miss Me." And it's all good! Grade: A+

Flood

Willie's comments: Flood is the album everyone starts with, because it contains the ever-popular "Particle Man" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" as seen on Tiny Toons. And, while die-hard TMBG fans do tend to scoff at those who know only songs from this album, Flood is just as solid as anything else they’ve ever done. At first listen, keyboard-drenched songs like "Someone Keeps Moving My Chair" and "Birdhouse in My Soul" seem like mere novelty songs, calculatedly filled with non-sequiturs, albeit catchy ones. But on subsequent listens, it becomes clear that lyrics like "Before he can talk to the Ugliness Men, there’s some horrible business left for him to attend to/ Something unpleasant has spilled on his brain" do have meaning, and they’re not only insightful, but funny too! A good starting point, but one that holds up remarkably well even as you get farther into TMBG’s oeuvre. Grade: A

Istanbul (Not Constantinople) EP

Willie's comments: This now out-of-print CD single contains two versions of the title track, the original, keyboard-driven version of "James K. Polk" that is far superior to the one that finally wound up on Factory Showroom, and two great otherwise-unreleased tracks, "Stormy Pinkness" and "Ant." 20 minutes of fun. Grade: A

Miscellaneous T

Willie's comments: A collection of B-sides from TMBG’s first two albums, Miscellaneous T’s title suits it well. It’s basically a grab bag of musical experiments- some successful (the bitter drones of "I’ll Sink Manhattan," the fascinatingly dense "Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal"), some failed ("Hello Radio," "The Biggest One"). It’s exhausting to listen to it all at once, but ditties like "The Famous Polka" and the hilariously trippy "Mr. Klaw" are must-hears. Grade: B

Apollo 18

Willie's comments: Once again, Linnell takes the challenging, intellectual road, and Flansburgh takes the zestful, weightless road, but their two writing styles interact brilliantly on this most unusual of TMBG albums. While Linnell plays word games in "I Palindrome I" and gives a beautiful science lecture in "Mammal," Flans pilfers treasures from rock history. He samples a Ramones song for "See the Constellation" (he samples Dee Dee’s four-count from the start of "Commando," if you care) and rewrites "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for the Space Age in "The Guitar." And when the two Johns work together, their creativity can be jaw-droppingly wonderful. The Japanese B-movie summary "Spider," and the K-Tel collection of song snippets on "Fingertips" are brilliant beyond words. It should go without saying by this point that the music is unique, weird, brilliant, and catchy enough to make the Beatles sound like John Cage. Grade: A+

The Guitar EP

Willie's comments: Three wan remixes of "The Guitar" won’t do much for any Giants fan, but three superb new studio tracks surely will. "Welcome to the Jungle" isn’t a cover of the Guns ‘N’ Roses tune, but rather an engagingly choppy song about love and insects. "I Blame You" is a bittersweet folk-pop tune, and Flansburgh’s "Moving to the Sun" spins the most complex bass line I’ve ever heard into musical gold. Grade: B

Why Does the Sun Shine? EP

Willie's comments: Once Linnell and Flans got a full band together (as opposed to a simple drum machine and programmed bass), they slapped together this one-off collection of three covers and a previously unreleased tune called "Spy," which later appeared on John Henry. The title track is a cover of a kids’ science tune from the early 60s which is immeasurably enlivened by Brian Doherty’s glockenspiel work, and then they zip through a truncated version of the Allman Brothers’ "Jessica" and then cool things down with a mellow, bass-and-saxophone version of the Meat Puppets’ "Whirlpool" (which probably won’t greatly impress fans of the original). Infectious. Grade: A+

Back to Skull EP

Willie's comments: A few weeks before John Henry came out, TMBG whetted their fans’ palate with this EP. It contains two versions of "Snail Shell" from the aforementioned album (including a Dust Brothers remix which is pretty much garbage), but also three amazing new songs! "She Was a Hotel Detective" is a charming, Barry White-esque stab at cocktail funk; "Ondine" is another of Flansburgh’s tales of fractured love among some unpleasant people; and "Mrs. Train" is a hysterical pop song that starts off draggingly slow, but slowly chugs to full speed (like a train). That never would’ve been possible before TMBG acquired a full band, and their enthusiasm for this new format is contagious. Grade: A-

John Henry

Willie's comments: Actually, the Johns’ enthusiasm for playing with a full band was apparently so great that they were too excited to write actual songs for awhile. There’s a disproportionate amount of filler on this album: Flansburgh’s "Out of Jail" is kind of irritating, and Linnell has unfortunately made a habit out of writing songs about inanimate objects, which is okay on the nerd-punk of "Stomp Box" (about a distortion pedal), but becomes a grueling ordeal on "Thermostat." Still, when TMBG are inspired, they can’t be beat. Flans’s "Sleeping in the Flowers" and "Meet James Ensor" are thoughtful and catchy, while Linnell’s "I Should be Allowed to Think" and "No One Knows My Plan" rank with his best. And "The End of the Tour" could actually move you to tears if you really thought about the lyrics (despite the fact that it was the closing theme for Cartoon Planet on TBS). Grade: B+

Factory Showroom

Willie's comments: Paring things down to a mere 14 songs (counting "Token Back to Brooklyn"), TMBG go off for another round of the genre-switching pop that they sort of neglected in favor of alt-rock power on John Henry. "S-E-X-X-Y" is an amusing funk workout, "Metal Detector" is one of those songs that’s so perfectly singable that I wouldn’t care if it lasted for an hour, and "Exquisite Dead Guy" is indescribably bizarre. Flansburgh’s "Pet Name" is too Squeeze-ish for its own good, but he redeems himself with a rousing cover of Cub’s "New York City," and "How Can I Sing Like a Girl?" is a great endorsement of individuality. I really like the opening lines to Linnell’s "Till My Head Falls Off," too ("There were 87 Advil in the bottle, now there’s 30 left/ I ate 47, so what happened to the other 10?"). Grade: A

S-E-X-X-Y EP

Willie's comments: If there’s one thing we didn’t need, it’s a remix of "S-E-X-X-Y" in which the title letters are repeated over and over for a good hour. Sadly, we get it on this EP, along with a hokey country-pop tune from Flans. Linnell tries valiently to save the day with "Sensurround" and "We’ve Got a World That Swings" (the latter of which is refreshingly straightforward for Linnell), but it’s not enough to justify this one’s release. Grade: C

Then: The Earlier Years

Willie's comments: For sheer economical reasons, this 2-CD set is a great deal. You get TMBG’s self-titled album, Lincoln, and Miscellaneous T, as well as 19 previously unreleased tracks, all the album art from the aforementioned 3 albums, and detailed liner notes from John and John. The unreleased tracks are unfailingly wonderful (it’s worth buying just to hear Linnell sing Flansburgh’s "Number 3" in Greek), and, well, you know how I feel about the rest of the work represented on here. Grade: A+

Severe Tire Damage

Willie's comments: TMBG aren’t too fond of touring, and that comes through on this collection of live recordings. While the band turns in top-notch versions of "She’s Actual Size," "S-E-X-X-Y," and "Meet James Ensor," they sleepwalk through "Particle Man," "Ana Ng," and many others. A pseudo-punk version of "Why Does the Sun Shine?" unfortunately winds up sounding like "Weird Al" Yankovic, and "Dr. Worm," which was immensely enjoyable as a 30-second song snippet on the band's website, is smashed by overproduction here. Lastly, while the improvised, Planet of the Apes-themed songs at the end of the CD are a lot of fun in concert, on an album, they quickly become as irritating as Jar Jar Binks. Grade: C

Long Tall Weekend

Willie's comments: Irritatingly enough, this album is (legally) available only in MP3 format, to be downloaded from emusic.com and played on your computer. I know lots of people like the MP3s, but I consider it a big pain to not be able just to plunk an album in my stereo and turn it on. By now, we know TMBG love cutting-edge technology, but I wish they would’ve issued a hard copy... Anyway, as for Long Tall Weekend’s content, it’s reasonably good for a collection of one-offs. Any die-hard TMBG fan probably already knows most of these songs, from concert favorites like “Certain People I Could Name” and “Older” to “Token Back to Brooklyn,” which is included here in the exact same version that appeared on Factory Showroom. So there aren’t many surprises. More irritating is the lack of effort which was put into some songs- Linnell’s “On Earth My Nina” is gratingly a capella (and apparently intended to be played backwards), and he mumbles his way through a slow, repetitive version of “They Got Lost.” However, there are enough essential songs to keep the listener happy (“Rat Patrol” is brilliantly catchy, Flansburgh’s “Operators are Standing By” is hilarious, and “Edison Museum” is nice and witty). If you can find it on a pirated MP3 site, why not go for it? Grade: B-

Working Undercover for the Man EP

Willie's comments: Okay, it's getting old now. The year is 2000, and it has been four years since TMBG have put out a proper album. I'm getting really tired of them mucking around with solo albums (Linnell), side projects (Flans's Mono Puff), live albums, compilations, songs for movies (the theme to Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me), soundtracks to TV shows (Malcolm in the Middle and that ABC newsmagazine), and most of all, throwaway MP3 releases! This EP, like Long Tall Weekend, is available only in MP3 form through Emusic.com, and also like its predecessor, it's woefully undeveloped. However, the Working Undercover EP is unique among TMBG's catalog in that it does not have a single worthwhile song on it. Not one. The title track seems to be building toward a spiffy arena rock chorus, but instead spurts out a wimpy "Sha-la-la" refrain. Linnell's "I am a Human Head" suffers from a similar lack of energy, while his "Rest Awhile" is simply formless. "Empty Bottle Collector" is an instrumental piss-take that Spanish Fly would disown, "On the Drag" is merely unremarkable, and "Robot Parade" is an impossibly irritating nerd-metal song. In addition, they tack on three brief commercials for their web-based "TMBG Radio." Pointless, maddening, despicable. Grade: F

READER COMMENTS:

James Petix writes: On TMBG themselves.. I only really had to say anything about John Henry. This albulm I know think could have been the leading cause for a year of depression in 10th grade. This was the first full album to be released after I joined the rank of Giant Head (shortly after Apollo 18) and I was excited. I got Back to Skull while while on vacation up north. It had just come in and the clerk let us play it in the store cause we didn't have a CD player there. I happen to love the new Hotel Detective, it has a real Carmen Sandiago film noir kind of feel. It was my favorite TMBG song for quite a while.

I didn't really like or find a point to Thermostat until I had to share a small room with an air conditioner with my roommate. Each of us are constantly changing the thermostat up and down. The song makes a good point of how people have complete control over their environment (for example the climate) and still aren't happy. They're cold so they turn the thermostat way up, then it gets to hot and they put it way way down. If they'd just set it to 72 degrees all would be great, they would have found the Middle Way, reached Nirvana and forever be at peace with the universe. But people are to interested in instant gratification that they don't see the big picture.

Dirt Bike is an interesting little number not of a dirt bike but of a religious cult that sweeps up everyone in a small town, Linnel's equivilent to The Bells are Ringing.

Destination Moon is another simple narritive, this time of someone (like a mother or friend) that keeps thinking their friend is sick when they're really not. They just make out everything to be really bad and either things really do get bad or she just sees it as getting that way.

I don't think you even mentioned Sleeping in the Flowers, which I think is a great Flans song. I love the line "I got a crush, copy shop clerk, but she won't look up at me, don't want to be known as the freak, that just comes around to catch her eye." I can just picture the poor girl at Kinko's..

Rich Bunnell writes: I only have a couple of comments, though I do think it's really great that your page actually -compliments- TMBG and acknowledges that the last three albums are every bit as good as the first three-- every other page in existence treats Lincoln and Flood like they're heavenly gifts sent from god, and "They lost it at Apollo 18 and don't even MENTION John Henry or Factory Showroom!"

My main disagreements with you lie in Severe Tire Damage-- not so much about the quality of the live album itself (I'd give it a similar grade) but in a couple of specific parts of the review. First off, the new version of Why Does The Sun Shine "unfortunately" sounds like Weird Al? Ahhhh, screw you! And "Doctor Worm" I actually felt improved in its new studio version. Yes, I loved the tmbg.com version, it was nice and homely, but this one's just as wonderful! Big, bubbly, exuberant ear candy, sort of like one of their early songs played with a horn section.

Still, excellent, detailed reviews. I've always felt that "S-E-X-X-Y" has been pretty under-rated ever since its release, however.

On 9/16/00, Rich added: I agree with you about all of this side project junk -- I'm getting sick of this crap. I mean, I got into TMBG at the time of Factory Showroom's release in the 8th grade. I am now beginning my high school senior year AND THEY STILL HAVEN'T RELEASED ANOTHER FULL ALBUM!! Still, at any rate, [the Working Undercover] EP contains two indispensible songs - "Rest Awhile" and "On The Drag" are really catchy, if simple rockers. The title track would've been better if Flans had gone with the song's original configuration - as a sunny '60s-ish pop song - instead of turning it into lifeless, hook-deprived disco. I really wish that instead of releasing this stuff as thinly-produced music through Emusic the band would just save it for THEIR REAL ALBUMS! They really need to end these side projects. I mean, the band's releasing a freaking children's album! Why??????? The music on here isn't all bad, maybe C-level, but I agree that conceptually it's an F - this has got to end. "Robot Parade" is pretty funny if you've heard the original kiddie-music-box version, though.

Phillip writes: while I dont agree with you on your comments on BNL you redeemed you self by your positive comments on TMBG I started out with flood which I had heard the songs on tiny toons but I didnt buy the album till recently and from that moment on I was hooked to their obscure style and with in 4months i had all their albums but alot of people dont understand the large amout of symbolism that is involved and I think that John Flansburgh is definately one of the greatest guitar players preforming today jsut listen to the guitar solo in End of the tour then try to play it if you play guitar you will then understand what might make them "Giant" but as for linnell he has some good catchy beats on his solo album but i think he belongs with Flans I think TMBG has inspired alot of artist that you see preforming today but I dont think any of the those groups will ever live up to there specter

SEE ALSO: JOHN LINNELL

SEE ALSO: MONO PUFF

THIS ARTIST ALSO APPEARS ON: KIDS IN THE HALL: BRAIN CANDY SOUNDTRACK; NEVERMIND THE MAINSTREAM... THE BEST OF MTV'S 120 MINUTES VOL. 1; XTC TRIBUTE ALBUM

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE; BRIAN DEWAN; AMY ALLISON AND THE MAUDLINS; PETER STAMPFEL; LAURA CANTRELL; LINCOLN; SOUL COUGHING

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Thinking Fellers Union Local 282

Mother of All Saints

Willie's comments: This is a really ugly album. No two ways about it. Songs don’t take the traditional form of Melody + Rhythm so much as they take the form of odd noises rubbing up against one another in ways that cause ridiculous amounts of friction. It’s all very poorly recorded and it gets pretty irritating after awhile (especially "Tuning Notes," but that one’s pretty funny, too), but there are a few keepers in this long list of songs. "Hornet’s Heart" is grotesquely catchy for all its odd voices and Chinese-sounding breaks, and "Tell Me" is almost straightforward. It’s interesting, but not in a way that you can listen to over and over. Grade: C

Strangers From the Universe

Willie's comments: The Thinking Fellers have, on this album, applied the anarchic songwriting instincts they let run wild on Mother of All Saints to more conventional pop songs, and that results in a Camper Van Beethoven-esque plethora of satisfyingly weird songs that are singable, too! "Hundreds of Years" is a beautiful, introspective song that integrates churning, Stravinsky-like chords at inopportune moments, as well as a trippy bridge of chattering voices. "My Pal the Tortoise" is bouncy rock that incorporates such hilarious lines as "What about the cut of his gib?/ I think it’s the finest cut you’ll ever find/ What does he file at the Hall of Records?/ A proclamation of tortoise intent." Grade: A

I Hope It Lands

Willie's comments: When I first heard this album, I thought it was merely a homely cross between Mother of All Saints and Strangers from the Universe- potentially hooky songs rendered useless by the band's penchant for chaotic noisemaking. However, now that I've listened to it a few more times, I've come to the conclusion that it's an unstable work of genius. The hooks really are there in songs like "Elgin Miller" and "Triple X," and once you locate them, the squalling guitars that sit atop them cease to be off-putting. In a way, I Hope It Lands is a distant cousin of Frank Black's Teenager of the Year in that the songs never seem to go where you'd expect them to, but they're somehow more satisfying for the journey. The album peaks early, with the hillbilly joke "The Poem" ("Roses is plants/ Flowers is too/ My cow, he went to the moon/ My pig's headed there purty soon"), two great Anne Eickelberg songs: "A Lamb's Lullaby" and "Empty Cup," and the psychotic hoedown "Lizard's Dream." But it's all strangely engrossing. Grade: A-

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This Perfect Day

Willie's comments: Remember Teenage Fanclub? This Perfect Day does. With their agreeably crispy guitars, sweet harmonies, and summery choruses, This Perfect Day begs to be described as Bandwagonesque-esque. Reasonably catchy though songs like “Teenage Monster” and “Headache” are, though, they never quite capture Teenage Fanclub’s knack for anthemic songs or their amiable hedonism. In fact, This Perfect Day’s lyrical attempts to be devil-may-care often come across as calculated, given their more religious overtones. It makes for a mighty unfocused album when it contains the lyrics “You have Jesus on your side/ I hope he makes you smile/ I hope he makes you see the light” as well as the lyrics “We can go swimming in the park/ Or f--- like angels in the dark.” It’s all worth it, though, for “Everybody Knows,” a scorchingly affecting song about a girl pressured into sex. Grade: B-

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Richard and Linda Thompson

Shoot Out the Lights

Willie's comments: Richard Thompson’s folk-based approach to rock has a strong fan base among alt-rock heroes, and with good reason: His intelligent, lovelorn lyrics tug at the heart while his songs are undeniably catchy (if occasionally corny). This album is the one must-own, because he and co-vocalist Linda Thompson were going through a messy divorce as the album was written and recorded, imbuing numbers like the title track and “Wall of Death” with a sublime bitterness. The folky songs like “A Man in Need” and “Backstreet Slide” will probably appeal more to your parents than to you, but take my word for it, you’ll adore “Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?” It’s music to seethe to. Grade: B+

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: MITCHELL FROOM; GOLDEN PALOMINOS; CROWDED HOUSE

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Beat the Retreat- Richard Thompson tribute album

Willie's comments: Roughly half of the contributions to this album are perfect, and those are all by the bands you would expect to contribute perfect covers of Thompson’s jovially spiteful tunes. R.E.M.’s “Wall of Death” is stunningly beautiful, while Bob Mould and Dinosaur Jr. tear the lids off “Turning of the Tide” and “I Misunderstood,” respectively. David Byrne funks up “Just the Motion,” and X’s “Shoot Out the Lights” is nice and punky. If only the whole album had been such high-profile acts (I, for one, would’ve liked to hear Matthew Sweet on here). Alas, obscure artists like Beausoleil and boring folkster June Tabor turn Thompson’s music into lackluster pop. And why was Syd Straw allowed to sing “For Shame of Doing Wrong” instead of including Yo La Tengo’s transcendent drone-pop version?! Grade: B-

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Tibetan Freedom Concert album (3 CDs)

Willie's comments: Let me first state that the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, organized by the Beastie Boys’ MCA, are a very good cause (though ultimately a futile one- no matter how much MCA and pals raise for their fund, it's really up to the Chinese leaders whether Tibet gets freed or not). If you believe in freeing Tibet as much as the artists represented here do, you may as well go ahead and buy this album because it’s like making a donation to the cause, only you get 3 CDs for your trouble. That said, I checked this live collection out of the library and dubbed the songs onto tapes, so I will be critiquing it based on musical quality rather than social value. And it really is a mixed bag. For every great artist (Beck, Bjork, Radiohead, etc.), there’s a crappy one (Alanis Morissette, Biz Markie, etc.). For every act that turns in an inspired, lively rendition of a song (Lee "Scratch" Perry’s transcendently weird "Heads of Government," or Sonic Youth’s awesome "Wildflower"), there’s a band that seems content to provide a limp run-through of their songs (the Beasties’ "Root Down," for example. Or Cibo Matto’s "Birthday Cake," which lacks the propulsive beats of the studio version). There are enough winners here to make it worth buying, given its philanthropic purpose, but enough dross to keep your fast-forward button in shape. Grade: C+

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Tindersticks

Tindersticks (1993 album)

Willie's comments: A wonderful little oddity. If you combined Yo La Tengo's drone-rock side with Camper Van Beethoven's darker, more avant-garde side, and had Nick Cave front the band, you might have something that sounded like the Tindersticks. Their debut album is packed with songs that are built around hypnotic repetition rather than verse/chorus formula, and boosted with scraping violins and sewer-voiced vocals, resulting in a brilliantly weird-but-listenable opus. The overriding mood of the album is a dank one, though the music doesn't always bear that out. "The Watt Blues" and "The Not Knowing" make use of a circus organ and a woodwind ensemble, respectively, while "Raindrops" is a gorgeous, piano-driven downer. "Piano Song," on the other hand, has nothing even resembling a piano on it, relying on angular, Velvets-ish guitars. Staples's lyrics are blue-collar pastiches that are evocative but forgettable; however, the pitch-black, indie-rock bliss of "Nectar," "Jism," and "City Sickness" will ooze into your pores given the slightest chance. Like Yo La Tengo, there's not much here that could be described as instantly catchy, but the songs are so well-formed and creatively thought-out that Tindersticks is wholly compelling from the first listen. It'll have you at "Hello." Grade: A+

READER COMMENTS:

HB writes: i can't believe it. a tindersticks review! these guys are one of my favorite bands.check out their second album "tindersticks" it is an aural vacation.listen to "my sister" it has to be one of the creepiest songs ever written. i enjoy your website you have turned me on to some of my coolest discs.thanks

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Toad the Wet Sprocket

Fear

Willie's comments: Toad the Wet Sprocket’s third album is crammed full of the great hooks and gorgeous melodies that their first two albums (the dreary, dull Bread & Circus and the similarly uneventful Pale) never even hinted at. It’s tempting to brand Toad as an R.E.M. wannabe, with their jangly guitars and Glenn Phillips’s plaintive vocals- the undiluted ugliness of “Hold Her Down” does owe more than a little bit to “The One I Love”- but Toad has a more jaunty sensibility than Stipe & Co. Take a listen to the adorable, accordion-propelled chanty “Something to Say” or the uplifting “Nightengale Song,” and it becomes apparent that Toad’s sincere happiness is no act, despite drearier (though equally pretty) songs like “Stories I Tell” and “Pray Your Gods.” “All I Want” was a big hit, of course, but Fear holds up better than most other albums from 1993. Grade: A-

Dulcinea

Ginny's comments: Toad sounds a lot like about 9 million other bands, so to compare them to one of them would be comparing them to all of them. The difference is that Toad is intelligent and the music reflects that. "Somethings Always Wrong" is a deservedly successful little folk-pop ditty about a crumbling relationship, and though that subject's a path well-worn, it's probably the most successful of its kind and the best track on the album. From the "Call me Al"-esque "Fly From Heaven" to the humorous "Stupid," it's an excellent, catchy, and solid album in and out. "Begin" is pretty irritating, and though it's tolerable, seems like a song most comfortable as a B-side. They aren't as unusual and fun as, say, Beck or REM, but for straightforward lonely-man-with-his-guitar, Toad is creme de la creme. Grade: A

Willie's comments: The two extremes of music on Fear- elated pop noodling and dismal dirges- are combined into one creature on the nearly perfect Dulcinea. Most of the songs are folksy little alt-rock tunes that have a tremendous current of sadness flowing beneath their placid, catchy surfaces; a trait that is personified best by “Something’s Always Wrong.” “Crowing,” “Fly from Heaven,” and “Inside” all should’ve been hits, but were probably too nakedly honest for mainstream consumption. Still, Dulcinea does have a few happy places- “Nanci” is a funny, bluegrass-inflected tune that name-drops Uri Geller, and “Stupid” lightens the mood, too. Except for the grating closer “Reincarnation Song,” Dulcinea is a mellow, tremendously satisfying listen. Grade: A

In Light Syrup

Willie's comments: This collection of B-sides and rarities is as slight as the title suggests, but it presents Toad’s more eclectic aspiratons, and they’re revealed to be as enjoyable as their mature alt-rock. The funky “Janitor” sounds like Toad brought Soul Coughing’s rhythm section on board, while “Hobbit on the Rocks” is a cute tribute to XTC, and “Are We Afraid” is ambient pop to die for. In a more traditional Toad vein, “Good Intentions” is enjoyably catchy, and “Brother” is a sweet ballad enlivened by a Hammond organ. It’s good rock fun that won’t ruffle anyone’s feathers. Grade: A-

Coil

Willie's comments: Well, about this time, Toad’s bag of hooks ran out, so they crapped out this final album and called it quits. Good thing, too, because the songs here actually earn the “uninspired R.E.M.-lite” image that had dogged the band throughout their career. “Come Down” is as trite and unlistenable as the Bush song of the same name, and most of the other songs just drift by unnoticed. The two keepers are “Whatever I Fear,” which is uncharacteristically full of beats, and “Crazy Life,” a beautiful, sorrowful tale of infidelity that originally appeared (in a slightly superior version) on the Empire Records soundtrack. Come to think of it, you might be better off to buy the Empire Records soundtrack than this album- it has a good Coyote Shivers song on it. Grade: C

THIS ARTIST ALSO APPEARS ON: SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER SOUNDTRACK

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Tommy Boy soundtrack album

Willie's comments: This soundtrack album from the only good movie Chris Farley ever did is fairly random and unenjoyable. The cheesy but catchy Replacements rip-off "My Hallucination" (by Shaw-Blades) is good fun, but similar plundering of the 'Mats style is maddening in efforts from the Goo Goo Dolls and Smoking Popes. Oh- and speaking of the Replacements, Paul Westerberg turns in a horrid, Bob Seger-esque "Silver Naked Ladies." The contributions from Soul Coughing, the Carpenters, and R.E.M. are all great, but they are also readily available on better albums by those bands, and who among us needs to hear Dexy's Midnight Runners' "Come on Eileen" again? Grade: C-

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Tom Tom Club

Dark Sneak Love Action

Willie's comments: It's a cruel twist of fate that the Tom Tom Club is probably not going to be remembered in the eyes of history as an inventive dance/funk outfit or even an ambitious Talking Heads side project, but rather as the band who recorded "Genius of Love," the song that the creatively empty Mariah Carey sampled for two horrible singles ("Butterflies" and that one recent one that sounds just like "Butterflies"). This album- which is not the one that includes "Genius of Love"- is full of strange, danceable, often sexy white funk that has the sort of exotic melodic sense that could only come from the rhythm section of the Talking Heads. Bassist Tina Weymouth reveals herself as an alluring frontwoman for a dance band on songs like "Sunshine and Ecstasy" and "Innocent Sex Kiss," with her breathy, clipped delivery that often sounds like she's trying to approximate a Japanese accent. Admittedly, some songs like "Irresistible Party Dip" are really stupid, but stupid in a fun way, and the infectious synth-reggae of "Who Wants an Ugly Girl?" should've been a hit. Scour your local cutout bins for this one. Grade: B+

SEE ALSO: TALKING HEADS

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To Rococo Rot

The Amateur View

Willie's comments: The third album from this excellent German electronica outfit is the perky ambient album that I've been in search of for years. I know that it's become nearly impossible to review an electronica album without throwing around the names Can and Eno, but To Rococo Rot actually emerges from underneath the huge shadows cast by their predecessors. The songs on The Amateur View are minimal but never meandering, hypnotic but never overbearing. The first four songs in particular are like staring at an aquarium, with slow, synthesized bass parts waving back and forth like seaweed, electronic sonar blips, and tempered drum machines moving things along like friendly bubbles emerging from the mouths of fish. From that point on, the percussion becomes a bit more pronounced, and the melodies (such as they are) a bit choppier, but never to the point of breaking your trancey mood. The penultimate track, "Die Dinge des Lebens," is probably the best ambient song I've ever heard. Grade: A

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Tortoise

Millions Now Living Will Never Die

Willie's comments: My parrot loves this album. The five-man collective of Tortoise use quite a few vibraphones on this landmark album, and whenever they appear, Bucky (my parrot) bobs her head appreciatively in time with the music. But will humans enjoy Millions Now Living Will Never Die? They should. Tortoise are interested in making rhythm-based instrumental music, but lest you should think this album is full of tribal rhythms and tuneless drum-circle excursions, they also liberally spread melodic organs, vibes, and sporadic guitars atop their songs. All the while, they channel-surf from musical style to musical style. The epic "Djed," for example, goes through no less than five permutations: It starts off as shuffling, haunted house music before morphing into an ebullient, Stereolab-esque drone. It then takes on a hummable tune which it quickly abandons in favor of a pulsating, record-skipping noise. Vibraphones join, and the effect is similar to the American Beauty theme song, but it then all collapses into a reverb-happy symphony of programmed hollow noise. The rest of the album explores similar territories, but, like the Coctails, Tortoise never sacrifice listenability to experimentation. Instead, they strike a brilliant balance between the two. Grade: A

SEE ALSO: THE SEA AND CAKE

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: YO LA TENGO; STEREOLAB

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Touch & Go

"Would You...?" EP

Willie's comments: Even if you don't know the story behind it, "'Would You...?'" is an excellent single, with its instantly danceable (and jazzy) piano-and-trumpet arrangement and the sexy sample of a girl saying, "I've noticed you around. I find you very attractive. Would you, um... Would you go to bed with me?" A good party song. However, the back story is this (I learned it from a documentary on the Learning Channel): Some psychology students at some college did a study in which they planted men and women in nightclubs and had them repeat the above line to random members of the opposite sex. Out of 100 women who were propositioned thusly, something like 12 said yes, they'd accept the offer. Out of 100 men, 95 said yes. This adds a brilliantly ironic twist to the song, don't you think? Grade: A

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Touch Me Zoo

Wonderwear Music

Willie's comments: The Dead Milkmen’s guitarist, Joe Jack Talcum, and his buddy Seven Morris collaborated for this homemade two-man curiosity. Employing an 8-track machine and a collection of acoustic guitars and keyboards, the first side of Wonderwear Music plays like Belle & Sebastian on acid. Amusing folk-based songs like "Drunk... Now I’m Okay" and "Where Are They Going?" are weirded up by sped-up vocals and hooks that go beyond simple. The wonderful "Twenty-Three Cents" sounds like a space pirate’s chanty, while "Wasted by the Pool" is a poignantly nostalgaic memory of spending summer days lazing about and smoking pot that beats the crap out of that "Summer of 69" song. The second side of the tape, however, is given over to unlistenable experimental garbage that, when it’s not transparently derivative of Ween ("Hello... Goodbye" is an unfunny ripoff of Gene & Dean’s "Pollo Asado"), is just irritating. However, the first side is near-perfect, and 45 minutes of near-perfect music is more than you get on most albums anyway. Grade: B

Moon Dog Will Die

Willie's comments: Joe & Seven have been joined by a full-time drummer and bassist for this album, which highlight’s Joe’s increasingly affecting lovesick lyrics (which nicely compliment his shy-little-kid-as-rock-star whine). "Pop Song 92" is catchy, breezy power-pop, while "Bingo Hand Job" is a fun, starstruck tribute to R.E.M. And if TMZ tends toward the sophomoric end of the lyrical pool a bit too often (on "Snot" and "Drug Sniffin’ Dog"), that’s made up for by the heart-wrenching "Call Me Back." When Joe sings, "I suppose I could write a letter, but it’d take about a week to get there/ And I need you now," it’s a moment to reduce the lovesick teenager in all of us to tears (regardless of the fact that Joe is now 36). Grade: A+

Lawn King

Willie's comments: If Moon Dog was Touch Me Zoo’s R.E.M. album, Lawn King is their Pixies album. Songs like "Pipe Bomb" and "Fuses Blown" crawl along quietly during the verses, and explode into distortion and Joe’s wailing in the choruses, just like Black Francis’s best concoctions. "Murder" is one of the five catchiest songs ever written, in my book, while "Candyland" is satisfyingly trippy and sedate. Be sure to listen to the beginning of side B, too, for an unlisted, hilarious (and probably illegal) deconstruction of Michael Jackson’s "Beat It." Grade: A

Blow Up Your Stereo

Willie's comments: Strapped for cash (yet again), Joe and company decided to produce this tape of Touch Me Zoo rarities- as if the albums themselves weren’t rare enough. Uniformly awful, Blow Up Your Stereo isn’t even worth talking about except to say these sonic experiments are either painfully noisy or boring or both. Grade: F

SEE ALSO: THE DEAD MILKMEN

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Tragically Hip

Trouble at the Henhouse

Willie's comments: While they're not as groundbreaking a band as their legions of fans might have you believe, Canada's Tragically Hip are nonetheless a nifty little band. Basically, they meld the musical sensibilities of Neil Young with those of R.E.M., and sometimes throw a little slow funk in for good measure. Trouble at the Henhouse is never particularly exciting to listen to, per se, but it's a very solid album, packed with anthemic choruses ("Ahead by a Century"), infectious guitar-rock ("Let's Stay Engaged"), and at least one masterpiece. That song, "Put It Off," is built around a slow, hypnotic, three-note bassline that is repeated ad nauseum as the song crescendos and decrescendos several times over the course of five minutes (and it gives a shout-out to Eric's Trip). "Apartment Song" and "Coconut Cream" unwisely forego the tunefulness of their other songs in favor of guitar skronk, but they're exceptions in a transcendentally moody album. Grade: B+

THIS ARTIST ALSO APPEARS ON: KIDS IN THE HALL: BRAIN CANDY SOUNDTRACK ALBUM

THIS ARTIST HAS TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO: ODDS

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Trainspotting soundtrack

Willie's comments: Every song you remember getting pumped up to in the movie is on this album, and, yes, they’re just as great even without Ewan McGregor and friends. Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” is a kick, while Underworld’s “Born Slippy (NUXX)” is a thrilling slice of drum-and-bass that launched their careers. The songs you might not recall are wonderful, too: Brian Eno’s typically becalming ambient tune “Deep Blue Day,” the funky trip-hop of Primal Scream’s “Trainspotting,” Elastica’s zippy “2:1,” and so on. All this, AND you get the best song Lou Reed ever wrote: the unguarded “Perfect Day.” One of the best soundtracks of all time, along with Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy and Velvet Goldmine. Grade: A-

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Travis

The Man Who

Willie's comments: Let's get it out of the way first: Yes, Travis has more than a passing resemblance to rock demigods Radiohead on this album. Fran Healy's slurred falsetto sounds a lot like Thom Yorke's; folksy mood pieces like "She's So Strange" and "Driftwood" sound like calmer outtakes from The Bends; and The Man Who's producer, Nigel Godrich, also produced OK Computer (though the crisp, acoustic tone of the album is more similar to the work he did on Beck's Mutations).

However, Travis's songs are both prettier and less memorable than most of Radiohead's. Healy's lyrics are moody and inconsequential (referring more than once to Oasis's "Wonderwall"), and, often times, so is the music. In fact, after the album is done playing, it's likely that the only song that sticks in your head will be the heavenly, melancholic "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" That song incorporates a string section, an indelible melody, and Healy's most piercing lyrics ("Why does it always rain on me?/ Is it because I lied when I was 17?") and comes up with yummy ear candy. But it also underscores the dearth of hooks on the rest of the album. I don't want to say that Travis is overrated to the extent of other Britpop bands like Gay Dad or the Manic Street Preachers, because The Man Who is especially effective on a rainy afternoon, if it's a mood you're after. However, after the critical applause they received for this album, the songs themselves might seem like they could do with a bit of an overhaul. Grade: B

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Trembling Blue Stars

Lips That Taste of Tears

Willie's comments: Here's the story behind Trembling Blue Stars: Robert Wratten used to be in an okay jangle-pop band called the Field Mice with his girlfriend, Annemari Davies. Then the two of them broke up, and Robert was, to judge from the evidence, totally devastated by this development. So he formed a new band, Trembling Blue Stars, and dedicated his musical career to writing songs pining for Annemari with titles like "Never Loved You More," "You've Done Nothing Wrong Really," and "Made for Each Other." If it sounds kind of pathetic, you don't know the half of it. Wratten's lyrics make him sound like the world's most polite stalker: "Go ahead and hate me/ I know I promised I would leave it/ But a troublemaker's what you've made me/ Can't you see we're worth it?" Even creepier is the song "The Rainbow," on which he actually gets Annemari to sing, "I am the girl from your dream." So Lips That Taste of Tears gets docked several million points for emotional health, but the fact is, it's utterly fascinating to listen to. Despite the somewhat unsettling nature of the lyrics on this album, there's no denying that they're memorable. Plus, Wratten is a terrific tunesmith, writing infectious indie-pop songs that seem instantly familiar when you hear them the first time. This is especially true of "Letter Never Sent," which is not a cover of the R.E.M. song, but is rather one of the catchiest songs I've ever heard. Sometimes he digresses into lo-fi techno songs like "Never Loved You More 2" which, while effectively moody, go on too long, but at the end of "Farewell to Forever," when he sings, "I don't know what my future is/ I just know who it isn't with," all is forgiven. Grade: A

Broken by Whispers

Willie's comments: The good news about Wratten's emotional state is that Broken by Whispers contains two songs which are not explicitly about his relationship with Davies: "Snow Showers" and "Sleep," which are still not exactly paragons of self-esteem, but at least signal the happy development that Annemari is not involved in every single thought that crosses Wratten's mind. Not to worry, though, Trembling Blue Stars fans; the other nine songs on this album consist of more top-notch torch-carrying. The world needs more songs like "She Just Couldn't Stay" and "Sometimes I Still Feel the Bruise," quite frankly. They're utterly perfect pop songs with lyrics that touch on beauty as much as self-pity, and melodies that straddle the line between dejection and hope. "Fragile" is particularly wrenching- Wratten replaces his glossy, Magnetic Fields-esque style of bittersweet folk-pop with a stark arrangement which is mostly built around drums and his own bummed voice ("All I want in the world is to be held"). "To Leave It Now" could do without the pretentious French chanteuse, but apart from that, Broken by Whispers further proves that Wratten's music is the best voyeuristic gaze you'll ever get into a broken heart. Grade: A-

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Turin Brakes

The Optimist

Willie's comments: I always thought it was corny when I'd be watching a video of a band practicing in the studio, and one of the band's members would shut his eyes tightly, bite his lip, and shake his head in time with the music, as though he was really feeling the groove. I thought it was corny, that is, until I found myself doing the same thing to the song "Emergency 72" on this full-length debut from the hilariously named duo Turin Brakes (so named because one of them really likes Turin, the Italian city, and the other one really likes brakes). The song is a mid-tempo, acoustic rock song with subtle bluesy overtones, and it's one of those tunes whose simplicity works its way into your brain and builds a happy little nest. Much of The Optimist proceeds in a similar fashion: overtly British melodies wedded to gorgeous, understated guitar lines and serviceable lyrics belted out in a soulful, androgynous voice. The album also features sporadic slide guitar work which gives the songs a grubby, rootsy feel (like a slicker Gomez), and "Starship" is a suitably trippy acoustic tidal wave, but mostly what you get are superb folk rockers like "Feeling Oblivion" and "The Road." Turin Brakes might not do anything particularly original within the burgeoning quiet-rock movement, but it's impressive that they manage to distinguish themselves among such well-known contemporaries as Badly Drawn Boy, Coldplay, and Travis. Grade: A-

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