new music i'm listening to

[Dominic]

Here's a few quick reviews of some new CDs:

Asobi Seksu - Citrus - This Brooklyn shoegaze outfit is awesome. Lots of swirling noise and high-pitched melodies and soft beats. I'm really digging this right now...one of my favorite CDs of the year so far.

Be Your Own Pet - Be Your Own Pet - Kinda of a cross between the The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Iggy. Pop-punk, I'd call it. Young, invigorating, thrashingly fun. Plus, you got admire the balls of a group that names a song "Stairway to Heaven."

Hot Chip - The Warning - This is about as genre-busting as anything I've heard in years. Not sure if it's rock or indie or electronica or folk! Definitely a combination of everything. Intersting beats, blips and beeps combined with Spoon-like song structure, a chilled attitude and gorgeous harmonies. This one's really growing on me.

Serena Maneesh - Serena Maneesh - Wow. Just wow. Another supossed Shoegaze group, but instead of My Bloody Valentine I hear a combination of Tool at their most inaccessible and something like Celtic mysticism (!) from this band from Oslo. Lots of driving guitars and feedback that sound less like music and more like noise at first...until you give it a second listen and begin to hear the wonderful chords and melodies underneath the noise. This one's completely unique and the one CD that I'm always playing right now.

The Charalambides - A Vintage Burden - Beautiful, simple songs from this Texas based husband and wife duo. A guitar/electonica hybrid that washes over you like a slow-motion wave of hot water.

Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll - Best punk band around, IMO. But that's from someone who's not a punk expert like Gorie. Clever, funy and hooks that you can't get out of your head. Definitely worth a listen.

Built To Spill - You in Reverse - guitar driven rock but of a kind not really being heard mych these days. Great album, espeically the first three songs. There's a weird cross between Neil Young and Foo Fighters going on here, but it comes out as something pretty original.

[private joker]

I'm a big fan of the last two records you mentioned, but I wasn't impressed with Joy Shapes, the last Charalambides album. However, the Hot Chip and Asobi Seksu albums sound fantastic -- hadn't heard of them and am now excited to check them out. Thanks for the heads up, Dom.