It might be important to know about the Unicorns to fully appreciate Islands (pretty much the same band). But then again, it might not. While the Unicorns’ Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? was a masterpiece of childish lo-fi indie pop rife with cheap keyboards and drum machines, Return to the Sea is much grander in scope.
indie rock
Record #210: Interpol – Antics (2004)
Interpol made one of the truly greatest records of their era. Turn on the Bright Lights was a tour de force that brought post punk into the modern era–a breakthrough that is still going strong today (Neon Trees does nothing but put Interpol songs through a top 40 machine). Unfortunately, that sort of impact would cast a long shadow on the rest of their career.
Record #207: Hot Hot Heat – Make Up the Breakdown (2002)
If you don’t think this record is great, you’re wrong. It caught my ear upon its arrival when my family had cable and Fuse still played music. I was a tenth grader with Dashboard Confessional, Finch, and Thursday in my CD player when I first saw a crazy music video by a bunch of moptops called Hot Hot Heat playing a song called Bandages.
Record #199: Grizzly Bear – Shields (2012)
So how exactly do you follow up a record that should go down in history as one of the greatest of all time? If you’re Grizzly Bear, you double down. Shields digs deeper into the elements that made Veckatimest great, with stellar results.
Record #198: Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (2009)
If the future is kind to Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest will be remembered alongside Pet Sounds and Abbey Road as one of the most perfect records of all time.
Record #193: The Appleseed Cast – Low Level Owl: Vols 1& 2 (2001)
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.
Record #190: Deerhunter – Monomania (2013)
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.
Record #183: Caveman – Caveman (2013)
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.
Record #161: Exitmusic – Passage (2012)
I first heard of Exitmusic from an article that likened them to Beach House. I listened to a track through that lens, and I didn’t like it.
A few weeks later, I gave them another shot. This time, that lens was shattered by the opening title track, which had more in common with Explosions in the Sky’s more frantic moments than anything Beach House has ever done. Continue reading
Record #160: Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellen (2012)
Some people have called the cover photo for this album ironic. And of course it is, right? Indie artpop god David Longstreth teaching some old country dude how to play air guitar? Hilarious!
Although listening to this album, I’m not sure there’s anything ironic about it. Longstreth isn’t mocking the fellow. He’s teaching him. He wants him to get it. He wants us all to get it. And that’s what’s special about this record.