Fresh Turd: Wilco (The Everything)

Sorry Wilco, I wanted to like your album so badly, but my ability to not fall asleep is not stronger than this tryptophan bullshit you keep putting out. In other words, if you own 'Sky Blue Sky,' 'Wilco (the Album)' is very inessential. Actually, this album is not essential for any reason. This album sucks for lack of better wording. It truly reeks of old man and Volkswagen commercials.

I really did want to like this album. Wilco had a run of great albums from 'Summerteeth' to 'A Ghost is Born,' which were all high in experimentation, ideas, and songs that do the opposite of make me want to snooze. The album starts so promising with the upbeat 'Wilco (the Song),' but 'Deeper Down' actually sounds like a lullaby. 'One Wing' and 'Bull Black Nova' are decent songs, but will not wake anyone in a light slumber. 'You and I' has Feist in it, but isn't great. The rest isn't worth mentioning. Sorry Wilco, but you're done.

'You and I (featuring Feist)'

Doggie Treat: Micachu and the Shapes - Jewellery

I've got to give it to her, Micachu completely caught me off guard with her first album, 'Jewellery.' The primary reason is: I didn't know this type of music existed. She has an interesting name, Micachu, which turns out to be a combination of her first name, Mica, and an instrument she built herself, the chu. The chu happens to be a modified guitar played with a hammer action, while she also built a bowed instrument out of a CD rack.

So this review so far has not talked at all about her music, as it takes a lot of introduction to describe her scattershot genius. Her brand of music is self described as pop, but may be better described as electro-bipolar-noise pop. I spent some time over the roughly eight times I have already listened to this album trying to find other acts to which could serve for comparison. The best I have come up with is to describe at least her first song 'Vulture' as a mix between Deerhoof time signatures, the off-tuned guitar style of Xiu Xiu, the voice of Lily Allen, mixed with the sound of dropping a piano twelve stories onto a dumpster filled with kittens. Her songs really pack that much into three minute pop gems.

Overall the album flows nicely, with relatively short songs and a runtime of only 31 minutes. My favorite part of the album is probably the first four songs, which start with the great 'Vulture,' followed by shorter, punk styled songs and freaky folk 'Eat Your Heart.' This song is a good example of Mica's lyrical stylings, because she repeats the title about twenty times. I would say that if you are looking for an emotional connection with an album, this is not the place to look. She does have somewhat of a moody ballad with 'Turn Me Well,' and my favorite line "When you get to me, you turn me well. I'm a tired soul.'

Micachu and the Shapes have put together a manic, noisy, 'pop' album with 'Jewellery.' This is the type of album, though, that most people will not get instantly. The song 'Calculator' is an example, because it took me at least five listens before I really like it because I had to disassociate it with the song it samples, 'Tequila.' Basically, this is not an album for everyone, but for those who like a challenging listen, eat dog eat.

'Vulture'

'Calculator'

Fresh Turd: Crocodiles - Summer of Hate

During a recent trip to New York before my run-in with the NYC cops (long story), I went to an Asobi Seksu show with two openers. The first opener consisted of two skinny 19 year old looking hipster types, one appearing to be Bob Dylan. The first song this band The Crocodiles played, 'Neon Jesus,' thoroughly rocked my ass and had me jumping like a small wind up kangaroo madman. I was stoked for what else was to come from these guys. Lets just say each song after that sounded the same as the first one or felt like a strobe light flashing way too bright in your face to the point where you want to gouge out either your eyes or your ear drums, I forget where this analogy was going.

To make a long story short, the first song, Neon Jesus isn't even on the Crocodiles album 'Summer of Hate'. Thats right, all you get are the rehashes and the strobe light. The first single 'I Wanna Kill' is good on the first listen, but is about two minutes too long. Other fast songs such as 'Refuse Angels' are three minutes of your life you will never get back. A few slower types, such as 'Here Comes the Sky,' are mildly redeeming though not worth the price of whatever musical format is in style.

Enjoy The Crocodiles 'Neon Jesus,' but don't buy the album.