I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with instrumental music. As a compulsive reader, songs have often been an extension of that compulsion, and I’ve always been drawn to verbose, dense songs that have something to say aside from the music itself. And if I can relate to what is being said, then all the better. But every once in a while songs sans words manage to tickle some small place in our brains and can speak to us directly without having to say anything. I don’t know if this is that for you, but without getting into it, DetektivbyrÃ¥n is from Goteborg (Sweden’s second city) and with their simplicity, chimes, accordians and ethereal Amelie-esque charm, they have managed to thrust me straight back to the time I was in their city and I’ll be damned if this isn’t the wordless soundtrack to my time there, only discovered after the fact. And so, they must be added to the short list of musicians who work in the instrumental form who just plain old move me
E18 [MP3, 5.2MB, 206kbps]
Nattopet [MP3, 5.2MB, 128kbps]
Dansbanan [MP3, 5.6MB, 200kbps]
Sounds like Terence Bernardo can’t make up his mind. “Do I do a gritty, urban groove thing, or a slow piano jam?” Lucky for us he’s undecided. He’s given us both and sure enough there’s plenty more on Taxi Taxi’s debut, Maps and Legends. The variegated styles of Taxi Taxi are a sort of tribute to Bernardo’s kaleidoscopic, adopted hometown of New York City and his friends there who define the city and helped record the album. But music-heads from East to Left Coast will find something to love on Maps and Legends. From the Liquid Liquid-inspired party track “Shoot the Dog…” to the introspective “X Marks the Spot” Taxi Taxi holds all the songs together with inventive production, solid songwriting, and universal themes like love and loss.
My friend Neal just bought a satellite radio receiver on eBay, and my guess is he’s listening to as much Canadian radio as he can. That’s really his thing, along with snowboarding, long-distance bicycling, vacuum tube stereos, new albums on vinyl and the benzodiazepine-induced superoxide signalling of B cell apoptosis. (I’m not kidding! PhD scientists! My wife is the same way…) Anyway, he sent an e-mail suggesting Oh Bijou, and let me tell you there’s no apoptosis (that is, cell death) here, just nice, quiet, hazy pop songs with a 70s flavor. I mean, really, “Misty Eyes” is just about perfect. Oh Bijou! Oh Canada! Keep it up!
Really, it’s not that I’m lazy. It’s that Phil can talk about Bill Coleman much more effectively than I can, so let’s let him: “Essentially, Bill Coleman is a finger-picking-guitar-style singer-songwriter from Cork, Ireland. He released his debut album I’ll Tear My Own Walls Down in February, and has some free downloads on his website. I go to his live show every chance I get. The guy knows how to put on a show, especially when he has his full band (at times, reviewers try to compare his live shows to The Flaming Lips, for the sheer zanyness, and positive, uplifting vibes to come from the music and the persona of Bill himself. Some songs may dredge you through the darkest areas of the mind at times, but somehow, Bill always manages to find some light at the end. His quiet/sad songs are simply sublime and majestic. His upbeat songs leave you with a smile on your face, and the feeling everything will be alright.” See?
When CoCo B’s dropped their new tracks into our mailbox I experienced a spell of flashbacks: me and Matt from The Bronx hauling out to Anaheim every Sunday night, Alberto’s burritos in hand, along with crates full of CDs from Orange County bands. This was back in 2002, before Indie 103.1 was around, and a small staff of music-heads were running a great alternative station with a stupid name: Cool 94.3. Matt and I produced and hosted a (four hour!) local show called Go Loco and CoCo B’s track “Big Okie Dokie” was practically our theme song. I haven’t heard anything from them until now.
Joe is reigning king of the mix tape. While most of us have grown lazy (just look at our sporadic podcast output), Joe still makes mixes — most often on CD-R these days — with little more impetus than capturing a theme or mood: spring songs, road songs, grading papers songs, cooking songs, songs featuring a particular girl’s name… The latter prove to be the most difficult (unless your name happens to be Baby), which is why Utah Carol’s latest album, Rodeo Queen, reminded me of Joe. Among the 13 rich country pop songs we have “Kimberly Smiles,” “I’m Sorry Maria,” “Sam’s Ranch,” and, featured here, “Ruby” and “Come Back Baby” (see, they even have Baby covered). Utah Carol, named after a traditional song about a cowboy who dies trying to save his friend from a stampede, are in fact the Chicago-based JinJa Davis and Grant Birkenbeuel. They take country and pop influences with equal weight, producing precious harmonies, delicate instrumentation, loping rhythms, and memorable lyrics. Hit record, Joe.
I haven’t listened to this album much because I CANNOT STOP listening to track number four, “Lightbulb.” Seriously, it’s a problem. You know how some songs reel you in when you first hear them and you develop a temporary addiction to them? I fall for all the hooks: the layers of guitars thicken, leading up to the vocals, then drop out only to build up again until they pull all out all the stops at the chorus…”Can’t you see it sucks the life out of me…” I wish I could figure out the next line! It’s a good thing Alisa’s out of town with the girls, because she’d have pulled out her hair by now. She doesn’t have much patience for my obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to my latest pet sounds. This song also makes me wanna pull out some Ocean Blue (anyone remember them?) and revisit that band. There’s a lot more meat to the Mezzanine Owls though. Sometimes I don’t repeat “Lightbulb” soon enough the beginning of track five, “Graceless,” leaks into my head. The play between the fuzzy guitars and the tambourine recalls The Jesus and Mary Chain. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to snap out of my funk here, but the rest of the album sounds promising.
The Metasciences = super-duper lo-fi, boy-girl, brainiac geek-themed pop. There are folks out there who love this already, without even downloading a track, and you know it. The entire Pencils Down album is available for free download (of course) and a fine interview with the band (Ruth Barabe and Daniel Kibbelsmith) is up at 
Now I understand NYC is all cleaned up these days. I personally have walked in Central Park more than once over the past few years without getting mugged, despite the best efforts of television dramas like “Law & Order” to keep me paranoid of being mugged upon setting foot within any of the boroughs. So perhaps it was destiny that three friends from Norman, Oklahoma, with a band named the Muggabears would move to NYC. The band’s website describes them as a “structurally-mutilated brand of noise-pop featuring blissful interplay, sonic experimentation and song destruction,” going on to refer to influences from early 90’s indie rock like Pavement and Sonic Youth. I’ll add Superchunk, Some Velvet Sidewalk, and even Polvo while we’re listing early 90’s indie rock influences. “The Goth Tarts” is from their new EP Night Choreography out on April 24th, and the other two are from their 2006 EP Teenage Cop. Wasn’t there a Law & Order franchise called Law & Order Teenage Cops?
Given the season, it’s appropriate that “Simple Plan,” one of my favorite songs of late, could be described as triumphant. Don’t get me wrong, ain’t nothing preachy about Hooray for Earth. Though you could say they’re on a bit of a mission. They appear determined to make every one of their songs sound freakin’ epic. They start with the big-guitars-meet-big-synths sound—then proceed to send it skyward and never look back. “Simple Plan” is a classic example. For the first 20 seconds it rumbles through low-gear grunge, then bursts into a glorious, spiraling new wave anthem that would make Icicle Works blush. “So Happy” picks up the pace, like