Favourites 8/3

No rankings, no Best New, Just what we're digging.

Grizzly Bear - Yet Again

Good Lord does September have some amazing releases on its way. Animal Collective, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Cat Power, The XX, Grizzly Bear - it's gonna be a great month to go back to school. Yet Again, the second track released from the forthcoming Shields, finds the Brooklyn quartet in a slightly more psychedelic mood than we heard on Veckatimist, although the basics of their Jay-Z approved approach haven't changed: simple, spine-chilling melodies layered over beautiful guitar tones and traditional rock rhythms.

Bad Breaks - Chapter and Verse

The penultimate cut from Bad Break's new self-titled release, Chapter and Verse features a simple electric-keys riff that the San Anto outfit uses as a vehicle to shred. There's brutal, honest emotion latent in the lyrics (I don't want to hear the words you carefully rehearsed/ Still you give them to me chapter and verse) that the band reflects in their visceral approach towards the song's ending, when all lets loose into one of the heaviest highlights of the album.

Crystal Castles - Plague

 Alice Glass's vocals are mixed down even further than usual on Crystal Castles most recent, slightly less abrasive single. All I can make out is her mid-chorus declaration: I am the Plague.
 And correct me if I'm wrong, but the intro and fadeout sound eerily similar to the Alien trailer.


Ormonde - Cherry Blossom

Written and recorded in Marfa, Ormonde's new release Machine reflects the feel of one of the wildest, weirdest towns in West Texas. Sitting out on the porch, clothes soaked in sweat, listening to a tinny radio with a tall glass of water in hand - I've never been, but the slow-paced, lo-fi of Cherry Blossom is the closest thing I've got.


Serge Gainsbourg - Cargo Culte


On Machine, Ormonde slip in a cover of Lemon Incest, which is much easier to listen to than the original, knowing it's not sung by Serge and his daughter Charlotte, who was thirteen at the time. Despite the hall-of-fame creepin' displayed by the French master of pop, 1971's Cargo Culte has one of the sexiest basses ever laid down - almost like they threw a French accent on it. Good thing I have a middle school understanding of French, because Serge is still omitting some Humbert vibes on Histoire de Melody Nelson. And Ormonde's name is a nod to Lolita in itself. So there you go.