indie rock

Record #229: Built To Spill – Keep It Like A Secret (1998)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

As a snot nosed fourteen year old, I had a discman with the Ataris’ End is Forever album set to “repeat all.”

On this album was the song “Mixtape,” which featured the lyric, “there was Jawbreaker and Armchair Martian / Built to Spill and the Descendants.” Amazing as it may seem, through my years of trolling through CDs thank you notes to find new bands, this litany somehow escaped me until recently.

Hipster music junkie that I am, I somehow didn’t listen to Built to Spill until just this summer (and I still haven’t spent much time with Jawbreaker).

And the loss was all mine.

Years I have wasted, unaware of some of the most blissful guitar rock ever churned out by three human beings with recording equipment. Decades spent deaf to the sweet melodies of “Carry the Zero,” the max-capacity riffs of “The Plan,” the gentle softness of “Else,” the classic rock homage that is “You Were Right.” Years of my life spent depriving myself of the biggest guitars and sing alongiest pop songs 90s indie rock had to offer.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to send a note saying “BUILT TO SPILL” back in time to 9th grade me.

Record #227: Foals – Holy Fires (2013)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

You would be forgiven for dismissing Foals if your only exposure to this album is the single My Number. It’s fun, catchy, and not too terribly distinct from any of the other dancy post-punk revival tracks to be released in the past ten years from Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, Phoenix and the rest of their ilk. Palm muted guitar lines play against ragged start-stop chord hits over a tight snare beat and background “woo-oo-oo”s. Although there are some nice atsmopherics on the lead guitar in certain sections.

Nice single, but the rest of the album probably isn’t much to write home about.

“Not so!” says Bad Habit, the second single, which trades club-calling and dance beats for spiritual introspection and pleas for forgiveness. Continue reading →

Record #193: The Appleseed Cast – Low Level Owl: Vols 1& 2 (2001)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

The Appleseed Cast can be a strange beast to pin down. When I first heard them on various Deep Elm Records samplers, they were obviously an emo band. Then in college, when a friend sent me “Fight Song” off of Two Conversations, I put it on my indie rock playlist in iTunes.

Then most recently, the drummer in my band referred to them as one of his favorite post rock bands. And now, as I’ve rediscovered their magnus opus, a sprawling two volume opus on three discs, I’ve found that none of those are that far off.

Continue reading →

Record #190: Deerhunter – Monomania (2013)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

As I have mentioned before, Cryptograms is my favorite Deerhunter record. Its more ambient passages are absolutely transcendent in a way that so many shoegaze/dreampop bands fail to emulate better.

But, as I have mourned, as Bradford Cox & Co. continue making music, they slip further and further away from the glistening haze they crafted so masterfully and more towards direct pop rock.

Continue reading →

Record #183: Caveman – Caveman (2013)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

It’s easy to dismiss Caveman as derivative, trendy, or safe. After all, even I, when asked what they sound like the other day, responded with, “they’re sort of like a mellower Local Natives.”

But criticizing this record for those reasons misses the point that (whispers) those are what makes the record kind of great. It may not stand up under strict strutiny, it’s the kind of record that, when I played it with a couple hip-hop loving 8th graders in my classroom, they perked up and said, “mister, I like this. This is relaxing.” And whenever I want to put something on to ease my mind instead of work it, I take peace in knowing that Caveman is there for me.