Lady, the Band

The Apples in Stereo, “IV. From Outside, in Floats a Music Box”

Were it not for the presence of “floats”, this would be the kind of title you might find on a really pretentious prog album. I guess “twee” and “pretentious” are just two sides of the same coin.

The Men, “Ridin’ On”

After a couple albums of mellowing out some, The Men kicked it back into aggressive garage rock mode with Devil Music. It’s my favorite mode from them, so I was very happy to hear them bring it back. The more mature sounding stuff was fine, but I generally am happier with mayhem in my rock.

Obits, “I Want Results”

There’s an interesting comparison to make between Obits and Rocket from the Crypt. We know what John Reis and Rick Froberg sound like when they’re writing songs and performing together (great!). But their bands apart give a window into what they sound like on their own, and what they bring to the combined work. Outside of his distinctive yelp, it turns out that Froberg sounds like a more traditional blues and psych influenced rock band than anything else. It’s very well-done, of course, but it’s interesting to observe that the punk energy seems to be coming more from Reis.

Queens of the Stone Age have released a trailer for their next record. I’m excited! Mark Ronson produced it, which might be really interesting. Here’s today’s tunes.

Helms Alee, “Revel!”

Could have sworn we had Helms Alee in here earlier, but the index says no, and I trust it. Helms Alee are a Seattle noise rock band, playing a sludgy and yet still poppy kind of heavy music with fun vocal harmonies. I’d recommend everything they’ve done, with Stillicide being my favorite of the lot. This comes from Weatherhead, put out by the gone and lamented Hydra Head Records.