Aqualung
Memory Man
ITUNES MYSPACE
This time Thom Yorke wins
out over Chris Martin
Matt Hales, the English
art-pop guy who records as
Aqualung, digs Coldplay and
Radiohead as much as the
next chap. But his way with
a tune has taken him further
than many of his B-list Brit-
pop peers: “Brighter Than
Sunshine,” from 2005’s Strange
and Beautiful, cropped up
in countless movies and TV
shows. Hales took advantage
of the windfall from that suc-
cess to hole up in a studio and
lovingly craft this follow-up,
which trades Parachutes-era
wistfulness for Kid A–style
gloom. MIKAEL WOOD

Matter” in a haunted croon (shades of David Byrne) that’s seriously neurotic and strangely joyous at the same time. The sprawling seven-minute suite “Armchairs” could cause dizzy spells. JON YOUNG

 

The Besnard Lakes
The Besnard Lakes Are
the Dark Horse ⁵
ITUNES MYSPACE
Another entrancing band from
the Great White North
Given how many indie-rock
ensembles are crossing the
border from Canada these
days, you’d be forgiven for
thinking that all the musicians
in the country live within three
blocks of one another.
Montreal’s Besnard Lakes
recall groups like Stars and the
Dears, but their orchestral
sound is both more grandiose
(the Beach Boys–meets–
The Lost Boys stunner “For
Agent 13”) and more incendi-
ary (the appropriately titled
slow-burner “Devastation”).
The lyrics are obtuse and
haunted—“On Bedford and
Grand” is either about chemical
warfare or a hipster Brooklyn
street corner—but rarely has
dispiritedness sounded so
uplifting. BRIAN RAF TER Y

Apostle of Hustle
National Anthem of
Nowhere ⁵
ITUNES MYSPACE
An indie-rock fusion that
exults in its influences
As Gloria Estefan (and proba-
bly Nostradamus) predicted,
the rhythm is gonna get us
all. It’s certainly got a grip on
this Latin-soaked side project
of Broken Social Scene
guitarist Andrew Whiteman.
National Anthem of Nowhere
is a vivacious sampling of
cultures and a swinging leap
from his somber, lo-fi 2004
debut, Folkloric Feel. White-
man recombines mambo,
Americana, and mesmerizing
BSS-style rock with infectiously
rambling results—check the
flamenco strings of “¡Rafaga!”
and the primal polyrhythms
of “My Sword Hand’s Anger.”
It’s the sound of indie rock
ready to embrace the world.
STACE Y ANDERSON

Swedes do everything with stickier melodies. On their third album and U. S. debut, this Stockholm trio evoke shoe-gazing Brits (“Objects of My Affection”), New Zealand cult rockers (“The Chills”), and folky Beatles (“Let’s Call It Off”). But their international calling card is “Young Folks,” an indie-pop version of ESG’s early-’80s punk funk that sandwiches a love-struck duet by the band’s Peter Morén and ex-Concretes singer Victoria Bergsman between lovably twee whistling bits and bongo-driven disco breaks. Elsewhere, PB&J casually swap instruments and styles while carefully nurturing their ever-delicate tunes. BARRY WALTERS

 

The Bluetones
The Bluetones
ITUNES MYSPACE
Beware: Bad thoughts lurk
within dull men
Trying to create a disturbing
contrast, charisma-free singer/
songwriter Mark Morris tackles
all sorts of deviant behavior,
including kinky sex (“Baby,
Back Up”) and self-destruc-
tion (“Head on a Spike”), in
a colorless voice suitable for
the baby’s quiet time. This
British quartet’s fifth album
was clearly influenced by the
Go-Betweens’ quietly intense
guitar pop, but the Bluetones
missed the point, turning
subtlety into blandness. Still,
any livelier bands looking for
catchy, twisted songs to
steal should give a listen.
JON YOUNG

James Murphy:
As mug shots go,
it could be worse.
On the Edge
NYC groove merchant’s stunning statement

LCD
Soundsystem
Sound of Silver
⁵
ITUNES MYSPACE

E. Smith–influenced over-enunciation that graced early LCD singles like “Losing My Edge” for a no-less-showy glam croon (check the Bowie-esque harmony vocals of “Get Innocuous”), he’s by no means stopped rocking.

“All My Friends” builds a ridiculously repetitive riff out of one overextended chord until what’s initially annoying becomes anthemic. The scene-steal-

These songs reveal
how a record geek
can achieve rapture.

Andrew Bird
Armchair
Apocrypha

RUVAN WIJESOORI YA/COURTES Y CAPITOL

ITUNES MYSPACE
Chicago oddball makes
disorientation feel good

Like a beautiful and eerie dream, this stream-of-consciousness head trip blends tricky, delicious melodies and slippery lyrics, yet never lapses into annoyingly smug artiness. Having abandoned the violin-fueled, old-timey jazz of his ’90s work, Bird now plays the wild-eyed eccentric, delivering “Fiery Crash” and “Dark

Audionom
Retrospektiv ⁵
ITUNES MYSPACE
Droning Scandinavians keep
it very, very simple
Countrymates Silverbullit beat
them into stores by years, and
like-minded Norwegians 120
Days hit the shelves months
ago, but Swedish repetitive-
motion rockers Audionom
claim their own market share
with this career overview that’s
just as indebted to early kraut
rock as it is to the European
post-punk that eclipsed it.
Audionom believe that if a riff’s
good enough to fill one bar, it’s
good enough for an entire
song; and after the two-note
instrumental opener, “Ljusets
Krigare,” they shift into a Joy
Division–esque antipop mono-
tone that, even at its harshest,
is more soothing than stirring.
AARON BURGESS

The Colour
Between Earth &
Sky ⁵
ITUNES
Swaggering out of the garage
with polished heartbreak
These five Los Angeles art
schoolers certainly flipped
through the blues-rock bins
before crafting their full-
length debut, which features
plenty of levee-breaking (okay,
broaching) romps and Wyatt
Hull’s wails about loneliness,
helplessness, and the Devil.
But before Hull grows tire-
some, he convinces us that he
believes in a thing called puppy
love, channeling the Darkness’
Justin Hawkins to deliver the
impassioned, if cutesy, come-
on: “You’re a treasure / I’ll keep
you in my pocket forever and
ever.” JULIA SIMON

Of all the current dance-rock acts, LCD Soundsystem generates grooves that are the most simultaneously disco and punk. On the nine-track sequel to ²⁰⁰⁵’s double-disc debut, one-man band James Murphy (of production/ remixing duo DFA) relies not on sequencers or samples, but on his own propulsive drums, walking bass lines, scratchy guitar figures, and clattering percussion, all of which lurch and accelerate with the momentum of an often hardened but always human heart.

Peter Bjorn
and John
Writer’s Block
ITUNES MYSPACE
Yes, they are the indie-blog
equivalent of ABBA

There’s nothing on Sound of Silver as overtly soulful as the Paradise Garage– wor-shipping opening segment of ⁴⁵:³³, Murphy’s Nike-commissioned i Tunes workout opus. He’s genuinely singing here, and although he’s traded most of the Mark

ing “North American Scum” creates tension with Murphy’s observant verses, then releases it through wiggy choruses, while closing cut “New York I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down” starts out as a piano-led cabaret tune and ends up as a Ziggy Stardust power ballad decrying his hometown’s cops and tidy makeover. Over and over, these songs reveal how a wisecracking record geek can still achieve rapture. BARRY WALTERS

W WW. SPIN. COM MARCH^{2007 17}