Review: Dead Leaf Echo - Pale Fire

Label: self-released

Released: 2008

Dead Leaf Echo offers up layers of heavy reverb, subtle, fluid rhythms and ambling, mopey vocals in the true shoegazing tradition. At times, they find interesting ways to get the vocals to work in concert with the rhythms and it's strikingly good. They don't get there consistently, but when they do, they really shine.

The fuzzy punch at the end of "Thought Talk" explodes out of the song's quiet, changing the energy without changing the song. Pale Fire's title track is reminiscent of U2's "Out of Control," only pushed to the extreme. "Reflex Motion" taps into the carefully constructed moods of late Joy Division.

Dead Leaf Echo ambles through echoy, fluid and darkly trippy songs that give a strong nod to 80s guitar and noise pop and occasionally find some of the same ambient ground that Radiohead did in their mid-90s prime (albeit by a somewhat different route). Pale Fire is an album focused on flow, not hooks, and its charms take time to sink through the density of the sound. Be patient though, because the mood that comes with the album is quite vivid in its best moments.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 6/10
Aretha: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

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If you're curious about my rating categories, read the description.

Review: Thrushes - Sun Come Undone

Label: Birdnote Records (distributed by Morphius Records (US) / Cargo Records (Europe)

Released: March 13, 2007

Thrushes claim to venerate Phil Spector and to some extent that's clear, but their wall of sound is quite a bit different than his. While Spector focused on straightforward pop perfection, Thrushes takes an alternate route to the same destination.

From the opening track of Sun Come Undone, Thrushes unleash a sonic power that alternates from quiet and subtle to loud and abrasive, though always oddly beautiful. While they do have a certain Spector pop quality hidden deep, almost imperceptibly, under the covers, rearing it's head at times in girl-group drum beats or guitar melodies, their real influence is the noise pop of the early 90s from My Bloody Valentine to Lush. Many bands have tried their hand at this game, but what makes Thrushes special is the way they build their wall of sound. They don't just keep adding layers. Instead, they build three or four layers and then the first layer moves back on top and the cycle continues from soft sweetness to manic cacophony. This wall is at times easy to miss and at others impossible to ignore. Even their pace at which they work varies. They build up slow and patiently at times with unmistakable care in their writing. Other times, they just let loose, unleashing a wild beauty that won't be held back. What's particularly interesting is that no part, not guitar, bass, drums or vocals, seems to lead another. They operate independently as if they are pieces in a complex machine where it isn't clear how they operate in tandem, yet clearly they do. They wrap up the crazy beauty that is Sun Come Undone by pulling an influence that runs beneath the surface throughout a little more to the front. "The Hardest Part" would find as happy a home on the Velvet Underground and Nico as it does here.

It's a dissonant and vaguely unsettling beauty that Thrushes creates. Their formula seems simple: everybody does their own thing and somehow it works out. They have the almost unheard of perfect sense of themselves as a band and it has led to a record that will wash over you with waves of their own sonic ocean.

Rating: 8/10

They're playing their last show with drummer Matt Davis on Friday, September 7 at the Lo-Fi Social Club in Baltimore. Check 'em out if you can.

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Review: Ride - Nowhere

Label: Sire

Released: October 15, 1990

Ride's Nowhere is an album you can learn a lot about from the cover. Like the wave depicted, it may seem like a small ripple, but there is an underlying force behind it that can't be measured on the surface. This is an album of contrasts between walls of jangley guitar, droning vocals and animated, but sometimes subdued rhythms. Taken seperately, no part seems particularly special, yet they form a cohesive whole that is perhaps the shoegazers' finest hour.

Nowhere jumps right in with "Seagull," as fine an example of what the album has in store as any track on there. All the elements are there: a wall of noisey, phased jangle, flat, yet evocative vocals and vibrant rhythms. The song's hook is actually in the bassline which is catchy, but understated. The song has an increasing chaos that nearly takes it over as it draws to a close. "Kaleidoscope" scales back the noise without abandoning Ride's basic musical direction, taking a distinct British Invasion flavor. The intro to "In a Different Place" is very close to ripping off the Bealtes' "Baby, You're a Rich Man," but the song doesn't continue in that vein as almost all of the layered noise is stipped away but for the chorus. Unlike the first two, this track is more Britpop ballad than manic dance rock. The big sweeping guitar sound returns on "Polar Bear" which finds a happy medium among the tracks preceding it. As the drums kick in for "Dreams Burn Down," there is the expectation of something more along the lines of "Seagull," but this is another low-key piece. There is , however, a fair amount of downplayed guitar noise that comes and goes throughout to make this better than the average British pop ballad. "Decay" starts out with a decidedly different approach, having a smaller staccato sound rather than big, ringing chords, but slowly gives way to the album's established direction. "Paralysed" is a standard rock ballad on the surface with ambient keyboards filling out the background. The guitar solo ties it into the rest of the album as it teeters on the edge between structure and cacaphony. The album returns to jangley guitar riding on interesting upbeat rhythms on "Vapour Trail," a song that is easy to imagine as a single. "Taste" is difficult to separate from it's 60's pop influences as it could just as easily be the Byrds or the Hollies. The controled chaos returns on "Here and Now," which even manages to fit a bit of harmonica into its layers. The album closes with the title track, a trippy affair with an electronic drone around which they contruct psychedelic soundscapes. As the sounds fades into water, it is clearly a worthy conclusion to the body of the album that was largely descibed in the album's first track.

Nowhere is an album defined more by its noise than its hooks. What makes it so exceptional is Ride's ability to use that noise to create cohesion rather than dischord. The shoegazers produced a fair amoun t of really great rock n roll and Nowhere may just be the most perfect example.

Rating: 9/10

Check out the review of the cover over at Whole Lotta Album Covers.