There seems to be a general contention these days between the single and EP. We love that the single is making a comeback, especially in 7″ form as we get from Sunset and the Black below, but we have to continue to take issue with the idea of a three song EP. We’ll let our hangups over the issue of EP vs single slide with Leatherbag and Corto Maltese, though, as both are excellent and welcome offerings that compact their distinctive sounds into great releases. Leatherbag’s Everything I Once Knew encapsulates the range of styles that he has progressed through over the years, while the Corto Maltese’ Answer, Answer proves appropriately more polished than their much acclaimed demo while still retaining their unbridled edge. Okkervil River offers up a new song, “Millionaire,” on their single to The Stand Ins’s, “Pop Lie,” along with an alternate take on the song, and the recent 7″ vinyl releases from Sunset (Loveshines II) and the Black (Little Hits) are must have local singles.
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Leatherbag – Everything I Once Knew (SR)
Leatherbag’s Randy Reynolds has shifted through a number of styles since dropping his beautifully stark Love Me Like the Devil EP back in 2006, moving into the country rock of 2007’s Nowhere Left to Run and then the power pop touches that shaded last year’s Love and Harm and came to fruition with his most recent EP, Tomorrow. What’s fantastic about Leatherbag’s second release of the year is that though there only three songs on the album, they manage to blend his various archival, music mining sensibilities into a coherent offering that seems to represent all of these various styles he has at hand. This effectiveness is certainly due in part to having congealed the band into a stellar quintet live, while bringing in additional help on the new EP from familiar comrades like Seth Gibbs on piano and Laura Bianco on violin. Opener “Amy” is a classic rocking number, full of straight ahead and ringing guitar and a powerful backbeat from Kory Cook. It’s that sound that Leatherbag has been pushing towards over the past year and has nailed it down to a rugged perfection here. “Stand Close” shifts the tempo, dropping down into a mellow, Jeff Tweedy-soaked twang and jangle that recalls some of the earlier Leatherbag material, but closer “Wagon Wheel” is the standout track, and also one of the best songs Reynolds has penned. The easy piano ballad start steeps in a mixed cocktail disillusion and determination, before jolting up into a rollicking chorus. There are touches of the Band, but this just so distinctly and simply sounds like a Leatherbag song, that it serves as proof that Reynolds has finally arrived to the level of promise he’s been showing over the past few years. Most of all, Reynolds sounds comfortable, both with his band and his songwriting, which gives his music the kind of confidence and impact it deserves.
Website:
www.leatherbagmusic.com
Myspace
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Corto Maltese – Answer, Answer (SR)
Since they first put out their demo back in 2007, Corto Maltese has turned a lot of heads in Austin, including ours, but haven’t had much of a recorded follow up. The new three song release Answer, Answer is therefore somewhat bittersweet – it’s a welcome new dose of their frenetic and frazzled indie sound, but still leaves their fans waiting to hear what the local quintet can do by sinking their teeth into a proper album, or even a proper EP. The title track opens behind Ben Maddox’s faltering and hesitantly plotted wail, leading into a burst of trembling crescendo. The hard beat running through the song strikes a Spoon-ish note, but Maddox’s catharsis still hearkens Win Bulter’s anxiety addled quakes. “The Kiss Off” stands out as the best offering of the three, moving from a subdued distortion drenched easy lilt that surprisingly recalls Casiotone for the Painfully Alone before welling up into pure Arcade Fire drama, in all the right ways. Maddox never overpowers, and weaves his unstable croon expertly through the constantly shifting arrangements, while also allowing the guitars to blare with considerable punch. Closer “The Heat Death of the Universe” settles things into a poppier vein with a shot glam. Though abbreviated, Answer, Answer is an admirable and exciting dose of the Maltese, setting the stage for an eventual breakout of a debut.
Website:
Myspace
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Okkervil River – Pop Lie (Jagjaguwar)
Okkervil River releases so much material that even just a single can come off as a Sheff overkill. The only problem with criticizing Okkervil’s prolific tendencies, however, is that even their castaways and B-sides are still better than much of the smart indie rock circulating these days. That being said, the Pop Lie single is fairly inessential. Bookended by the album version of “Pop Lie” from The Stand Ins and a “one man band version” of the song that is lo-fi and skuzzy, neither really provides anything new to what we’ve been getting from the band for the past couple of years. In the middle is the only reason to even bother seeking out the single, which is a song leftover from the sessions of the two proper albums entitled “Millionaire.” It’s easy to hear why the song didn’t fit in on the previous two albums, it’s slow loping country vibe an odd juxtaposition to the vibrant vitriol of both The Stage Names and The Stand Ins. It’s subject matter fits perfectly within the conceit of those albums, however, spinning more of the by-now over emphasized recognition that fame is a bitch, celebrity is an enticing and fragile illusion, but all our lives of just a veneer of fictional narratives to get us by anyway. One album of this was great; two was pushing it. It’s time to move on, guys.
Websites:
www.okkervilriver.com
Myspace
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Sunset – Loveshines II (Autobus)
Over the past few years, and especially since the dissolution of Sound Team, Bill Baird’s Sunset has progressed from a solo project whose eccentricity often proved counterproductive to his truly excellent songwriting, to a solidified pop band with experimental flourishes that push the songs beyond the ranks of most artists today. Last year’s double shot of Sunset with Bright Blue Dream and The Glowing City confirmed that Baird had finally risen to the promise of his considerable talent. Sunset’s new 7” Loveshines II is the latest offering from Baird and Co., and proves as exciting and poignant as any of his past work. The title track pounds out a hard pop beat, propelled by piano and reigned in by Baird’s mellow vocals. His voice is almost buried under the surge of the rhythm, but hypnotically rises from the well as if bursting forth and aching for the sunshine. If Side A is awash in sound, however, the B-Side, “I’m Not a Perfect Person (Looks Like I Fucked Up Again),” pushes Baird’s sweet voice to the front with a melancholy persistence. Light and beautiful, the song is as moving but as straightforward as it’s title and actually surpasses it’s opposing track. Loveshines II is an excellent memento of where Baird stands at this point in his career, and Sunset is well on its way to being one of Austin’s leading lights.
Websites:
www.blondebill.com
Myspace
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The Black – Little Hits (Moon Records)
If ever there was a band made for vinyl, it’s the Black, a conception confirmed with 2007’s Donna EP 12”. Little Hits revs its engine out in the garage of classic Sixties rock, twanging guitars and bouncing rhythms rollicking behind Dave Longoria’s nasally, racing vocals. The Black have always comfortably balanced a raw rockabilly sound with Dylanesque narratives, and both of these tracks follow that same formula. “Little Hits,” with its harmonica solo and chugging beat, explodes as unhinged as Longoria’s uneasy wail that pushes and pulls right up to the abrupt ending. B-Side “China” rolls a bit more easily, piano keeping pace with a honky-tonk run, and the vocals more settled in a mid-range. These two shots are over much too quickly, but it’s hard to fault the Black for capturing perfectly the classic sound of the single.
Websites:
www.theblackmusic.com
Myspace
