VA - The T.A.M.I. Show: Collector's Edition DVD

Legal issues or superstar egos have kept some holy grails of the classic rock era in endless limbo over the years (see Let It Be, or Cocksucker Blues). The release of The T.A.M.I. Show (an acronym for Teenage Awards Music International) after decades of only being available on bootleg is a monumental event, and, guaranteed, after watching it, you will believe in the power of music once again.

Here’s the context: it’s October 1964, only eight months after the Beatles’ first trip to America. Three months before, the U.S. signed the Civil Rights Act. It was in this period of cultural and historical upheaval that thousands of high school teens rammed the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for two days of screaming at a line-up that crossed key lines of race, sex, America/England, past/present. Twelve acts, including James Brown (in what he himself believed to be his greatest performance), The Rolling Stones (who foolishly followed Brown to close the set), Chuck Berry (who opened in a strange match-up with Gerry and the Pacemakers), Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Supremes, The Beach Boys (whose performance was removed after the initial run, leading to much of the legal headache over the years), and surprisingly smashing sets by The Barbarians and Lesley Gore all add up to one of the greatest package concerts there ever was. 

Anyone who has ever even liked one of these artists owes it to him/herself to check this one out, if only for the mind-boggling James Brown set. Or the quick glimpses of Jack Nitzsche leading the orchestra, or Teri Garr and Toni Basil as some of the irrepressible go-go dancers—seriously, the whiplash-inducing moves of the dancers is reason enough to grab this one. Combined with the exciting commentary and  collector’s edition package, this is truly foundational and mandatory viewing. Can I be any more clear about this?

FIELD MUSIC - Field Music (Measure)

"It takes nothing at all/to be complicated." Or so sings Peter Brewis, one half of the brotherly duo behind Sunderland's Field Music. Take a listen to Field Music (Measure) and it would certainly appear that the man is being honest. Between them, the pair shrug off 20 tracks of coolly meandering, unpredictable tunes—all this, and barely a year since each recording their own excellent projects (Peter's stellar ensemble The Week That Was, and brother David's excellent School Of Language).

But while the sheer quantity is impressible enough, it's the steadfast quality of this set that seals the deal. Ranging from barroom piano vignettes that would make Harry Nilsson blush to slices of meditative string-laden melancholy, and from found sound sketches to ecstatic bursts of left-turn pop that steal Andy Partridge's mojo right from his hands, (Measure) is one hell of a ride. And it's not one that is at all a chore, either. Instead, it's one of the most expertly sequenced albums you'll hear. Most double albums are famous for indulgent wanderings that often alienate the listener—not so this one. Whether slow and careful or delivered with dizzy twists, the songs express themselves with a quick clarity and purpose.

Seamlessly presented, yes, (Measure) does require 70 minutes of your time, but it is to the album's everlasting credit that you'll not only not want one of them back, but you'll happily offer up seventy more right away to hear it all again. Probably the best thing I've heard this year, and a shoo-in for the cream of 2010.

JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD - Heavy Days

Well, here's an album that came out of nowhere. After a customer (who happens to play in a really great band) asked if we were carrying JEFF The Brotherhood's latest album Heavy Days, we said, "Yes, we are," although no one on staff had any clue who they were or what they sounded like. Luckily, we gave it a listen and were pleased with what we heard. Made up of Nashville natives Jake and Jamin Orrall on guitar and drums, Heavy Days possesses a certain playful charm that few hard-rocking duos have. They're a band that doesn't take themselves too seriously, but that doesn't mean they haven't got the chops. In many ways they recall another band very near and dear to our hearts, the recently reunited Thrush Hermit, with whom they share many '70s rock and punk influences. While we're just discovering them now, they've actually been around for for at least five years and have almost 20 releases to their name already, and after catching them live recently, we can attest that this band is the real deal. Dig it, bro.

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BRUCE PENINSULA with MUSKOX and THE GERTRUDES with PS I LOVE YOU - 7" / PS I LOVE YOU - Starfield 7"

We are pleased to be carrying two new 7" singles featuring some of our favourite independent Canadian musicians. The orange one on the left there has an A-side with "Shanty Song" by Bruce Peninsula, which you may have heard on their debut album A Mountain is a Mouth. This time around, the track gets a beautiful new arrangement recorded by the mighty Muskox, while the singers have played a game of musical chairs, leading to some new voices sharing the spotlight. Side B continues the nautical theme with a contribution from The Gertrudes, another large band, based out of Kingston, ON. Their song's a tale of two lovers lost at sea, and is a nice buoy after Bruce Peninsula's more sombre side. PS I Love You make an appearance on the song too, which is most felt during the last two minutes, when the squealing guitar and feedback begins, giving the song a nice edge that really makes it stand out from the pack. Speaking of PS, they've got their own 7" with two brand new songs, "Starfield" and "Butterflies and Boners," a song about liking someone so much that you throw up. Both records are extremely limited-edition and come in cool silkscreened sleeves, so don't miss out!

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JUNIOR MURVIN - Police and Thieves (Deluxe Edition)

This record is a bonafide reggae classic. Junior Murvin has a beautiful and bizarre falsetto singing voice, and it is backed here by some of Lee Perry's darkest and deepest production. Recorded towards the end of Perry's highly productive stint at the Black Ark, this album (alongside The Congos' Heart Of The Congos and Max Romeo's War Inna Babylon) stands as one of the high-water marks for vocal roots reggae. This Deluxe Edition is supplemented by several dubs and disco mixes, some of which are available on CD for the first time. Truly essential listening.

THE BESNARD LAKES - Are The Roaring Night

The arrival of The Besnard Lakes with their 2007 leftfield hit ...Are The Dark Horse was one of that year's more pleasant surprises. Brimming with a heady cocktail of Beach Boys harmonies, Pink Floyd cinematics and stoner rock wallop, it was an album so aptly named, you'd be forgiven for believing that husband-and-wife bandleaders Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas had a crystal ball stashed away somewhere. And while there's no evidence of that, they do own a studio (Break Glass in Montreal), an asset that no doubt gave them ample time to perfectly craft Dark Horse's mollases-rich layers of voice and guitar. But following a coming-out party like that, what does one do for an encore?

If another shocking card is hiding up the sleeves of either of these two, it's one that they're clearly saving for another record. That's not to say that ...Are The Roaring Night is a poor effort—it ain't. But as the similarly-voiced title would suggest, this is a Part Deux—a follow-up to its predecessor, only with a little more oomph. The Lakes spent the tour for Horse evolving into a devastatingly powerful live presence, and it shows on Night. The album still retains much of the tranquility and patience of their sound, but—in the slightest of ways—the band is not as much on its back heels this time out. It's not heavier so much as it's more forward-minded, more pop.

Certainly, people skeptical of the group before will see little reason to change their tune, but that's okay—The Besnard Lakes are more than confident enough to realize that a winning combination of influences and execution such as this is in no need of changing either. One of the better and more personal takes of this era's updating of the shoegazer approach, this band appears here to stay. Bring on the night.

VA - Black Man's Cry: The Inspiration Of Fela Kuti

By now, Fela Kuti has taken his deserved place in the international canon of musicians whose impact can be felt far beyond borders of time and geography.  Compiled by Stones Throw GM Egon, this batch shows not only the impact his instantly-identifiable sound has had on the world but also documents the sounds of his contemporaries who, in turn, had their influence on him. Thus, tracks by compatriot Segun Bucknor and Ghana’s Jerry Hansen show that others in West Africa were headed in similar directions.

The popularity of Fela With Ginger Baker Live! in the Caribbean led to aggressive interpretations of “Black Man’s Cry” and “Egbe Mo O” included here. From there, we head to Colombia for a pair of takes on “Shakara”, retitled “Shacalao” for an Afro-Colombian percussion workout by Cumbia Moderna de Soledad, and a surprising turn for Lisandro Mesa as he tries it on himself.

Three modern cuts finish things off: one by deep funk revivalists The Daktaris, who tackle the classic “Upside Down", along with originals from the great Jan Weissenfeldt, who takes a swing as The Whitefield Brothers, as well as Karl Hector and The Malcouns, each showing the breadth and depth of fecundity that Fela’s blueprint has given the musical world.

GORILLAZ - Plastic Beach

Damon Albarn's Gorillaz project always seemed like the sort of tossed-off idea that was destined to succumb to the laws of diminishing returns. Conceived as a 'cartoon band' with artist Jamie Hewlett, their debut was a well-done slice of bubblegum-noir hip-hop/pop, but no one was confusing songs like "Clint Eastwood" for more than a bit of fun. That follow-up Demon Days was actually better was a bit of a surprise, but Albarn's prowess as a songwriter and growing success as a collaborator has helped to rationalize this lark's unexpected longevity. There's no natural law to explain away the incredible Plastic Beach, though. Were we wrong about Gorillaz all along?

From a personality whose peak time in Blur revolved around a giant public ego and spotlight-chewing confidence, Albarn has evolved into a secret composer and aural stage director of the highest order. If his Chinese opera Monkey (another terrific collaboration with Hewlett) suggested this metamorphosis was underway, Plastic Beach announces its completion with the best album he has made under any name since Blur's penultimate masterpiece, 13.

It's a record that bears the fruit of a decade spent schooling himself mostly in hiding—behind the cartoons of Gorillaz; within the "nameless" supergroup that made the album The Good, the Bad, and the Queen; buried under a world of archival music with his Honest Jon's label. For what are still very accessible tunes, Plastic Beach is stunningly multilingual and complex. Part of the fun is a guest list that manages to include Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith of The Fall, Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, De La Soul, Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys, Bobby Womack, the Lebanese Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music, and Swedish pop group Little Dragon (amongst still more), and the project makes perfect use of all of them. Whether mining Chinese scales, soul, krautrock, electro, psychedelia or hip hop for inspiration, Albarn shifts gears effortlessly. His choices—ones that in the past would betray themselves more obviously as detours—are now never for the sheer shock of something, but are instead always for the enriched interest of the song.

In a recent decade that has seen the indie elite embracing whole chunks of previously unacceptable genres and artists—Timberlake, Lady Gaga, neo-soul, Gwen Stefani, and so on—this record represents an important salvo from the other side to keep the dialogue balanced. A thoroughly uncompromising and esoteric adventure that can still worm its way on to the iPods of a generation for whom even Blur's ubiquitous arena anthem "Song 2" is an unknown quantity, Plastic Beach is one Trojan horse of a pop album.

SARAH WEBSTER FABIO - Boss Soul / Jujus: Alchemy Of The Blues, NIKKI GIOVANNI - The Reason I Like Chocolate, VA - Poets Read Their Contemporary Poetry

 This Smithsonian Folkways Archival series reissues (mostly black) American spoken word artists in pre- and proto-hip hop forms. These readings show the roots of hip hop in Black Nationalist and Afrocentric 1970s poetry, before Jamaican ex-pats in New York added the dub DJ element not to soon afterwards. With a strong recent return to form for MC forefather Gil Scott-Heron, this is as good a time as any to check out some other key influences on rap music.

Both Nikki Giovanni and Sarah Webster Fabio appeared on last year’s Fly Girls! B-Boys Beware: Revenge of the Super Female Rappers set on Soul Jazz, which chronicled the rise and fall of women’s place in hip-hop. Boss Soul: 12 Poems By Sarah Webster Fabio Set To Drum Talk, Rhythms & Images (1972), summing up the key ingredients of hip hop in its title alone, is, along with Fabio’s Jujus: Alchemy Of The Blues (1976), a model prototype of righteous rap.

Nikki Giovanni’s The Reason I Like Chocolate (1976) features the funky peacock (peahen?) strut “Ego Tripping”, one of the revelations of Fly Girls!, while the rest is a set of short unaccompanied pieces that are begging to be sampled. Any takers?

Poets Read Their Contemporary Poetry is a live recording sponsored by the multi-ethnic Before Columbus Foundation. The performances are charged with a political/didactic edge, climaxing in a jaw-dropping reading by Amiri Baraka (see also our writeup of his '60s writings on jazz, Black Music, here) of his unflinching diatribe “Dope”, in which he conflates drug addiction (in this case, heroin) and the religious belief (and subservience) of Black America through the wild ravings and twisted rationality of a madman. You really must hear it.

VA - Nigeria Special Volume 2: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6

This is a follow-up to 2007’s two-disc collection that helped expand perceptions of Nigerian music beyond the familiar Fela-inspired Afrobeat revolution (for Fela fiends, seek out Soundway’s Nigeria Afrobeat Special, also out now, as well as Now Again's Black Man’s Cry: The Inspiration of Fela Kuti).

For those who understand that the seeming Nigerian overload of late should really be seen as the unveiling of the tip of the proverbial iceberg, this volume provides another chance to celebrate (and be sure to turn up the volume when you do!).

The always-fabulous Bola Johnson grabs the spotlight with a circular four-bar groove on “Jeka Dubu” that would make Gilberto Gil wilt. Meanwhile, throw on Fidel Sax Bateke’s polyrhythmic “Motako” for one of the trickiest intro drum breaks ever, or let Twins Seven bust out the metallophones and congas for a strangely dreamy call-and-response workout on “Totobiroko”. Note to Soundway, though: we wouldn’t say no to a Volume 3, nor would we refuse a feature compilation devoted to Bola Johnson.

CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO - Boca Negra

The Chicago Underground collective has been a fairly long-standing out-jazz combo from the Windy City. Since the late '90s, its revolving door lineup has produced releases by the CU Orchestra, Quartet and Trio, but it's the Duo lineup—made up of the only constants, cornet player Rob Mazurek and drummer Chad Taylor—that has made the most albums. This ever-expanding and contracting format has created some fascinatingly divergent records, but throughout it all, Mazurek and Taylor have retained instantly recognizable traits and always kept the quality level high. However, when Mazurek moved to Brazil shortly after 2006's In Praise Of Shadows, one wondered if this excellent pair was calling it quits. Taylor relocated to New York, playing with, among others, Marc Ribot and ex-Ayler bassist Henry Grimes in Spiritual Unity, as well as Iron And Wine's touring band. But the CU albums are a special part of what makes Taylor such an engaging percussionist, so it is with excitedly open arms that we welcome Boca Negra.

Since their second duo record Synesthesia in 2000, the group has utilized more and more electronics, in the form of science-fair synth washes, pitch-shifting effects on Mazurek's Don Cherry-inspired cornet trills and spy-movie chase-scene bass loops. Boca Negra has plenty of these touches, but as always they augment and adjust rather than dominate the band's voice. The real show is this pair's chemistry, and it is a beautiful one to behold. Whether cagily delivering oblique jabs of random sound at each other; riding a tight, specific groove with deft touch; floating in a sea of Doctor Who-era ambience; or blaring with full audio force, the Duo are relaxed, in touch, and broad and beautiful in their range. The "Chicago" in their name may now be more decorative than descriptive, but it's clear from Boca Negra that no amount of physical distance could drive a wedge between the cerebral connection these two share.

VA - Fabric Presents Elevator Music: Vol. 1

An overview of the back-to-the-future sorts of sounds making waves these past few years in the dance/electronic bass scenes of London and elsewhere in the UK (spreading out in increasingly larger, instantly adapting/adopting pockets of activity worldwide, including right here in Toronto), Fabric's Elevator Music: Vol. 1 does an honourable job of bringing to light the degree to which 2-step/garage/house sounds are reinvigorating dubstep, grime and UK funky, with the latter's soca-derived snare emphases and tropical percussion touches likewise inf(l)ecting all of its neighbours in the club.

For a more in-depth nuts-and-bolts/by-the-BPM dissection of related microtrends in DJing and production, I'd suggest checking out this roundtable discussion with a number of those featured here, but if you're to sample just one track from this all-exclusives compilation that gets all the above-made points across in a particularly exciting way, let it be Mosca's "Gold Bricks, I See You", which combines Todd Edwards-style diva cut-ups with badman ruffage, halfway-mark synth-horn hurrah and a keen sense of builds, drops and extended song structure for the most exciting listen here—that he's one of the newest artists included (with only one EP to his name so far) says much about how fast things are being pushed forward in these circles.

VA - Next Stop...Soweto

The release of The Indestructible Beat of Soweto in 1987 was a watershed moment in the developing interest in so-called “world music”, feeding on the craze for South African music that followed Paul Simon’s epochal Graceland from the previous year. Listening to The Indestructible Beat more than 20 years later, what stands out is how much tastes for slick '80s production values combined with a target audience of baby boomers created a snapshot of an era while only hinting at the beauty of that country’s rich musical legacy.

Fast forward to the present time: the influence of African music is stronger than ever, this time nurtured by the international end of rare-groove hounds; DJs like Madlib and his brother Oh No; hippies, of course; and, perhaps most interestingly, the indie set. This time around, interest has been driven by nearly 10 years of a new approach to tracking global sounds that favours rawer vintage recordings over the sheen of the previous lens which has fallen out of favour with current tastes.

Most of the crate digging lately has been centred around Nigeria, Ghana, and Ethiopia, so Next Stop…Soweto (the first of three volumes!) is a highly welcome return to Johannesburg. Tracks are drawn from the late '60s to the mid-'70s, and relentlessly show off the joyful exuberance so easily recognizable from South African musicians: the rich timbres of their choral singing, rhythm guitars that take giant leaps up the neck (with the distinctively trebly tone favoured by Les Paul), occasional 8/8 beats that will make you bounce uncontrollably, and some of the most infectious horn lines you’re likely to hear all year. With any luck, Volume 3 will feature jazz from the late '50s, but for now you simply cannot go wrong with this opening statement. A must-have!

THE SOFT PACK - S/T

In the space of thirty-two minutes, The Soft Pack's debut album never lets up with its ten turbo-charged tracks. This San Diego-based quartet was formerly known as The Muslims, a name that failed to catch on in the current American political climate. Following the release of a few singles, The Soft Pack continues to offer up a stripped-down, souped-up take on '60s garage and '70s punk/new wave. Along the way, they throw in some surf-guitar licks, and their songs also betray the influence of '80s college rock bands like The Feelies.

The Soft Pack are more than just the sum of their parts, though, for their material is replete with insanely catchy riffs, with lead singer Mark Lamkin's deadpan yet heartfelt vocals expressing cynical disaffection. Once you listen to tracks such as the brazen and anguished "Answer To Yourself", the jangly and melodic "More Or Less", and the relentless "Pull Out", it's a sure thing you'll be hooked to The Soft Pack's hard-driving snot-punk anthems.

JOANNA NEWSOM - Have One On Me

When Ms. Newsom's last long-player became one of the most unwieldy buzz albums in recent memory, it was a release that was a whole lot easier to admire than it was to enjoy. That's not a dis of the rather remarkable Ys, more a necessary acknowledgment of just how high—and awkwardly so—that she placed the bar for her listeners. A dense album where most songs hovered around ten minutes and were often devoid of recognizable verses and chorus, all delivered in a challengingly idiosyncratic, squeaky baby-voiced mewl—it's a commitment for sure. So how is it that her brand-new follow-up, Have One On Me, is three times the length, crammed with more chorus-less tunes of similarly unmanageable lengths, and yet is by far the more accessible record? It's a head-scratcher at first. But immediately upon throwing on this seemingly endless album, the difference is palpable: it's her voice. It still sounds like her to a point, only it is now more well-rounded and mature. Most importantly, that signature coyly child-like curl to her phrasing—so off-putting for many—is dramatically reduced here. The result changes Newsom's persona from that of a sideshow curiosity to one of experience and sagely insight. Instead of a record that one feels like they need to crack like some aural Rubik's Cube, Have One On Me becomes an absolutely fascinating and absorbing session. Like an interview with an old theatre actor whose eloquent recalling of myriad tales you could let wind on forever (I'm thinking Christopher Plummer myself), this record just goes and goes and goes...and you're quite happy to let it do so. Perhaps the highest compliment you could pay Have One On Me is how much it recalls the more eccentric moments of Joni Mitchell's career. Joanna sounds a lot like Joni right now, for starters. But she has the wit, courage, and individuality to match, too. You kind of always got the impression that Joanna Newsom was wise beyond her years, but the real thrill in following her career will be hearing the years in her voice catch up to that wisdom.

LEROI JONES (AMIRI BARAKA) - Black Music

I’ve been waiting for a proper reprint of this book ever since I discovered it at the big York U. library over 15 years ago. Rereading it now, it’s amazing how much of an influence the former Leroi Jones' (now Amiri Baraka) attitudes toward black jazz music had on my musical outlook. Better known now as an incendiary poet/playwright, he was also a publicist for Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Billie Holiday, and an influential jazz critic for Downbeat, Metronome, and Jazz Review in the '60s, the period from which this collection is derived.

Jones/Baraka took an uncompromising stance in support of the jazz avant-garde, lamenting its lack of commercial viability vis-à-vis the more successful hard bop (which he disdained) and third-stream. His writing would become increasingly militant during the loft jazz period of the 70’s, when left-field jazz became further marginalized.

Time has vindicated his canonization of such figures as John Coltrane (who had widely alienated the jazz mainstream by the time of these writings), Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, and many others whose work continues to grow in stature for music fans who favour intensity and raw emotion over mindless technique.

SHEARWATER - The Golden Archipelago

Shearwater make epic music, but not in the sense that so many contemporaries do. These aren't the heart-swelling crescendoes of an Explosions In The Sky or the wide-screen cinema of a Sigur Ros—it is epic not so much in sound, but in concept and gravity. Ever since leaving Will Sheff's Okkervil River to focus full-time on Shearwater, Jonathan Meiburg has made it clear that this music requires one hell of a stern emotional commitment. Whether through a fragile croon or thunderous bellow, Meiburg sings with the confident, beguiling strength of a preacher. He declares and testifies. It is a stance that, when combined with the always tastefully and patiently presented arrangements of his band, threatens to bog things down in a samey soup of midtempo sombreness. But, Meiburg has a style about him that lets Shearwater carry the day, and quite successfully, too. He is a man out of time, both in his chronological placement (he is definitely a classy old soul), and also in his perpetual sense of desperation. It is this desperation that provides the necessary bite to elevate The Golden Archipelago from navel-gazing dramatics to truly affecting human music.

Complementing the occasionally uncomfortable nakedness of their singer's delivery is a band whose direct approach never lets a song overstay its welcome. For all of their emotional weight, they wisely sidestep grossly overdone climaxes or loud-quiet-loud post-rock pitfalls. Sophisticated and eloquent, Shearwater understand inherently that our most personal moments are often the most difficult and embarrassing to share with others. With its meticulous delicacy and unflappable seriousness—not to mention a 72-page "dossier" in some versions—The Golden Archipelago is that friend that tells you its darkest secrets first, so that you'll feel more comfortable doing the same yourself in return.

ZEUS - Say Us

It’s about 12:30 on a Wednesday in December 2008, usually a dead night anywhere, but Toronto’s Dakota Tavern is an exception to the rule. A band is quickly setting up after a parade of short sets by different acts as part of Jason Collett’s Basement Revue. Their name is Zeus. A friend and I discuss maybe going somewhere else to get a drink, but as the band launches into its first song, my friend and I stop talking to each other and gravitate to the stage like classic-rock-starved zombies. I hadn’t been that impressed with a band sight-unseen/sound-unheard in a long time.

Cut to February 2010: Zeus' debut album is out, and the tunes they played that night sound as fresh and catchy as I had remembered them. They might seem like an odd fit on such an indie-centric label as Arts & Crafts, but it’s that type of lateral thinking that has gained the label such notoriety. It’s easy to compare them to the Beatles or the Kinks, but what’s so bad about that? It‘s not easy to take such well-trod influences and make them your own. They also touch on some great hard rock riffs, occasionally married to southern rock comfort, along with the sort of group harmonies that you just don’t hear anymore. The fact that this group has three different singer-songwriters speaks volumes of their ability to work as one well-oiled cohesive unit. As their name implies, these aspiring gods of rock are getting their mythmaking off to a solid start.

(Zeus will be playing a free live in-store performance here at Soundscapes on Sat. Mar 6 @ 6pm.)

FOUR TET - There Is Love In You

Kieran Hebden hasn't made any original Four Tet tunes for a little while now, instead filling his time with his excellent experimental collab with percussionist Steve Reid and, as always, throwing down a bunch of remixes here and there. These remixes have been a real key to understanding his M.O.—it's what sets him apart from so many of his electro-peers. Where many remixers see such projects as an opportunity to completely gut and strip a tune, Hebden often turns in a revision that is less about his own ego and more about the track's original intent slightly tweaked.

In short, the man's got an ear for melody and a respect for the structure of a song. There Is Love In You holds true to this, in Four Tet's own unique way. Unlike close friend Dan Snaith, a.k.a. Caribou, he has not made a full switch over to embracing what would be typically termed 'songs' with distinct verses and choruses, but this album still maintains a close relationship with melody via disembodied, cut-and-paste voices and swirling, levitating synth arpeggios. His attention to layered detail is acute without strangling the life out of the music—in fact, quite the opposite is true. The buoyant, evolving groove of "Love Cry" wastes not a second of its nine minutes, twisting itself in and out of fascinating, yet ever danceable, musical knots. Even the most straightforward pieces—the stately "This Unfolds" or the barely-there "Reversing"—have plenty of meaty strata through which to dig.

Four Tet doesn't mine any new territory here, but a voice already as strong as his doesn't need to. This is heartfelt computer music, where the hand of an 'unfeeling' machine is used to communicate some beautifully oblique emotions.

YEASAYER - Odd Blood

The fact that pop music is cyclical is no shock. But there's a big difference hearing bands like Wolfmother and Jet ape establishment acts like Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, and hearing Yeasayer unearth the seemingly dead-and-buried jams of Tears For Fears and Level 42. OK, to be fair, throw Odd Blood on quickly, and the TV On The Radio meets early Flaming Lips of opener "The Children" doesn't apply. And on a whole, the record does display the same skittish, polyrhythmic adventurousness of contemporaries like Animal Collective. Let the record play, though, and not everything sounds so modern. But there's something about Yeasayer that keeps calling me back to the big emotion, open-armed pop of the 1980s, especially via Chris Keating's clear-toned and warmly-expressed vocals.

For someone who's still very eager to pull out The Hurting whenever the urge arises, this isn't really a bad thing. For all of its embracing of 'cold' technology, the '80s were often about dramatic, populist emotional gestures. Yeasayer hit this notion up for all it's worth, with choruses proclaiming "Stick up for yourself, son/Never mind what anybody else done". Is it uplifting? Corny? The group simply plays their hand and lets you figure that out.

The same goes for highlights like "O.N.E." and "Love Me Girl". Sonically, these songs are natural results of a recent decade that saw an entire pack of NYC bands—from The Rapture and Yeah Yeah Yeahs to LCD Soundsystem and Liars—offer their own theses on the lasting musical impact of the '80s. But as the source of these influences shifts further from groups that were always pretty cool to those that have been treated like lepers for ages, it's little like seeing a friend you thought was dead dancing in front for your face.

Which is really just a way of saying that the method by which these songs are delivered is so loaded taste-wise, it can be a little distracting. One wonders whether a slightly less obvious tact on the part of some of the music would've yielded a more timeless, individual album. But there's a lot more to Odd Blood than kitschy neon geometric patterns and acid-washed jeans—if you can sidestep those elements, the joyous, inventive Odd Blood is yours to enjoy freely.