Audio By Carbonatix
Artist: LocksleyTitle: Be In LoveRelease date: March 16Label: SKH Music
Readers of my daily column, Nothing Not New, might find this essay from The Onion A.V. Club to be interesting. Basically, it asks the question: Are the indie bands of the world releasing too much product? The essay opens by stating that during their eight-year existence, The Beatles released just under 10 hours of music. That’s the same amount of music indie act Animal Collective has released already.
So what, you ask? Well, for starters, 75 percent of The Beatles songs originally released were instant classics, music our grandkids will be listening to. Animal Collective? If anyone is still listening to their music five months from now, I’d be amazed.
Anyway, the point isn’t to bash on Animal Collective (or Joanna Newsom, who just released a two-hour record, or Drive By Truckers, who simply cannot release a record shorter than 50 minutes), and, as the essay points out, the state of the rock-music industry is obviously vastly different in countless ways than it was in 1967 (or even 1997, for that matter). The bigger point is that being so profilic may wind up hurting a lot of current artists in the long run. Take a look at the essay and see what you think.
In the meantime, if you like concise, well-edited, relatively fat-free pop-rock, you can do no worse than the Wisconsin band Locksley. They combine the big hooks of The Fratellis and the sculpted rock ‘n’ roll muscle of The Strokes. Locksley’s new record, Be In Love, is an engaging and easy listen if you’re into power pop. It may be too radio-ready for those of you who staunchly adhere to the indie aesthetic. At the same time, it’s probably too timelessly power-pop (crunchy and quirky) to break into the mainstream.
In the end, despite the solid songwriting and slick-but-with-an-edge production, Locksley is a band (like so many of them out there) that probably will never break through the clutter, and will wind up with a shelf life even shorter than Animal Collective’s. Sigh.
Best song: “21st Century.”Fun Fact: Locksley was the backing band for The Kinks’ Ray Davies on his 2009 American tour.Rotation: MediumDeja Vu: That one ubiquitous Fratellis hit that you’d heard a bazillion times before you even who knew sang it. I still don’t the title. Sorry.I’d rather listen to: Any of the best music (and there’s a lot of it) by Alex Chilton, may he rest in peace.Grade: B
“Nothing Not New” is a yearlong project in which New Times editorial operations manager Jay Bennett, a 40-year-old music fan and musician, will listen only to music released in 2010. Each Monday through Friday, he will listen to one new record (no best ofs, reissues, or concert recordings) and write about it. Why? Because in the words of his editor, Martin Cizmar, he suffers from “aesthetic atrophy,” a wasting away of one’s ability to embrace new and different music as one ages. Read more about this all-too-common ailment here.
The “Nothing Not New” Archives
March 18 — jj: jj no. 3 (C-)March 17 — Xiu Xiu: Dear God, I Hate Myself (D+)March 16 — Drive By Truckers: The Big To-Do (B-)March 15 — April Smith and the Great Picture Show: Songs for a Sinking Ship (C)
March 12 — The Morning Benders: Big Echo (C+)March 11 — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Beat the Devil’s Tattoos (B)March 10 — Acrassicauda: Only the Dead See the End of War (C-)March 9 — Titus Andronicus: The Monitor (B+)March 8 — Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: The Brutalist Bricks (A)
March 5 — Liars: Sisterworld (A-)March 4 — Gorillaz: Plastic Beach (A-)March 3 — Johnny Cash: American VI: Ain’t No Grave (B+)March 2 — High on Fire: Snakes for the Divine (C)March 1 — Joanna Newsom: Have One on Me (C)
Feb. 26 — Freeway & Jake One: The Stimulus Package (D)Feb. 25 — Past Lives: Tapestry of Webs (B-)Feb. 24 — Shout Out Louds: Work (B)Feb. 23 — Brian Jonestown Massacre: Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? (B+)Feb. 22 — Shearwater: The Golden Archipelago (D+)
Feb. 19 — The Strange Boys: Be Brave (B+)Feb. 18 — Tindersticks: Falling Down a Mountain (A)Feb. 17 — Lightspeed Champion: Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You (C-)Feb. 16 — Adam Green: Minor Love (B-)Feb. 15 — Juliana Hatfield: Peace & Love (B+)
Feb. 12 — Massive Attack: Heligoland (C-)Feb. 11 — The Watson Twins: Talking to You, Talking to Me (C-)Feb. 10 — Hot Chip: One Life Stand (B+)Feb. 9 — You Say Party! We Say Die!: XXXX (B+)Feb. 8 — Allison Moorer: Crows (B)
Feb. 5 — Joe Pug: Messenger (C)Feb. 4 — The Soft Pack: The Soft Pack (A)Feb. 3 — Polysics: Absolute Polysics (B-)Feb. 2 — Pierced Arrows: Descending Shadows (A-)Feb. 1 — The Brunettes: Paper Doll (B-)
Jan. 29 — Basia Bulat: Heart of My Own (C)Jan. 28 — Priestess: Prior to the Fire (B)Jan. 27 — The Magnetic Fields: Realism (B)Jan. 26 — Four Tet: There Is Love in You (D)Jan. 25 — Delphic: Acolyte (C+)
Jan. 22 — The Hot Rats: Turn Ons (B+)Jan. 21 — Los Campesinos!: Romance Is Boring (A-)Jan. 20 — Midlake: The Courage of Others (D-)Jan. 19 — Laura Veirs: July Flame (B+)Jan. 18 — Beach House: Teen Dream (C)
Jan. 15 — Charlotte Gainsbourg: IRM (B)Jan. 14 — OK Go: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (D)Jan. 13 — Eels: End Times (A-)Jan. 12 — Spoon: Transference (B)Jan. 11 — Editors: In This Light and On This Evening (D+)
Jan. 8 — Surfer Blood: Astro Coast (B+)Jan. 7 — Yeasayer: Odd Blood (C-)Jan. 6 — Cold War Kids: Behave Yourself EP (B+)Jan. 5 — Vampire Weekend: Contra (D+)Jan. 4 — Texas Tornados: Está Bueno! (B)
Jan. 1 — Scanners: Submarine (B-)
