You’ve got a lot of choices for big-name (well cool big-name) new releases this week. Sensitive folkies and angry “this isn’t true metal” trolls have a new Mount Eerie LP to squabble over; political thrashers have the new Propagandhi ; aging punks have the new Bob Mould (I’ve definitely overheard one say “it sounds like Sugar!”); there’s a new Cat Power record and that one relative and/or friend of yours who’s really into Animal Collective probably isn’t shutting the fuck up about their newest Centipede Hz so let’s talk new releases!
Let’s start with Centipede Hz because I’m assuming the average attention span of an Animal Collective fan is no longer than a paragraph. To be honest my interest in AC has really waned over the last several years. I would have been perfectly content to ignore Centipede Hz but you know critical duties and all that — and after a few listens I’m struggling to have much to say about it positive or negative: it’s neon scattershot psych-pop for the ADHD generation. The “shock” of this band’s sound has long since worn off and if you’re not onboard the hype train already there’s nothing here that’ll bring you in. As with the release of any Animal Collective record it’ll be the surrounding results — the overblown reviews that read as if written by fawning children the “ugh hipsters” backlash AC fans in general — that will be more nauseating than the record itself which I don’t think is as distinctive as prior releases from the band but I’m sure there’ll be at least 30 kids poised to disprove me on the Internet with free-associative Tumblr posts.
In other quirky music news the new Deerhoof record Breakup Song feels rushed. It’s not bad but it feels rapid and sketchy like the long-running group wanted to capture their initial ideas with new equipment and then move on. Breakup Song is a more electronic-oriented record than anything Deerhoof has created as of late which makes it sound more distinctive than last year’s Vs. Evil but I still don’t think I’ll be returning to it that often — when you have a drummer like Greg Saunier why would you ever drown him out with electro beats? Still Breakup Song is an interesting (albeit brief) snack of an album that frames Deerhoof’s spastic talents in a new manner.
Which brings us to Ocean Roar the second of two albums from Mount Eerie this year. I think I prefer Ocean Roar ’s droning heaviness to its relatively lighter companion album from earlier this year Clear Moon . Actually Ocean Roar feels closer to an instrumental album — which isn’t true as Phil Elverum is definitely singing on here — but the music feels weighty and expressive. That two of the tracks here are just listed as “Instrumental” is telling as well as the appearance of a Popol Vuh cover. Not bad.
