Author Archive for China Bialos
MANNEQUIN MEN s/t LP
Whereas the first Mannequin Men albums reminded, particularly within Kevin Richard’s sneering vocals, of the Old Haunts (and, specifically, their vocalist, Craig Extine), this third record from the Chicago group is a more comfortable record; it’s got a rough, mildly bluesy sort of pace, no real attitude to show. There’s a strange sense of hopelessness [...]
PUJOL Nasty, Brutish and Short CD/LP
PUJOL’s Daniel Pujol releases teaser records the way Ariel Pink, the Mae Shi, and the Beatles used to release LPs—his EPs and singles have been in constant supply over the last couple of years, and he’s gotten quite lucky, as an early-20-something to get picked up by Jack White’s Third Man label while still in [...]
THEE OH SEES Carrion Crawler/The Dream CD/LP
One of the band’s biggest assets is their ability to sound human. This isn’t an odd choice of word—when plenty of artists record digitally and the details are flawless in every which way, or those on low budgets record to tape but sound like they’re three rooms away, Thee Oh Sees manage to make every [...]
THE BOMBAY SWEETS s/t 12″ EP
Singer-guitarist and former Selby Tiger Nathan Grumdahl, alongside drummer Jeff Brown, has put together an EP that serves as the Bombay Sweets’ big debut, “big” being a relative term, as this six-song set clocks in at fifteen minutes. The pair offers a style of rockabilly that’s got very little of the attitude that typically comes [...]
JACUZZI BOYS Glazin’ CD/LP
There’s no getting around the fact that Glazin’ is rehashed, mildly fuzzy, 70s style power pop of the Strange Boys/Nice Boys/Smith Westerns/Cheap Time variety. And it earns them somewhere in the ballpark of negative five points for originality—the world is not in need of any more of this stuff, and there are only so many [...]
WILD FLAG CD/LP
For anyone who loved the phase of female-dominant rock that sort of took over the 90s, Wild Flag should seem an ideal supergroup of sorts, bringing together former members of Sleater Kinney, Helium and the Minders. This full-length debut would be an experiment, were it not for Carrie Brownstein’s previous ties to Mary Timony (with [...]
BOSTON SPACESHIPS Let It Beard CD/LP
While the majority of aging musicians are compared to their earlier selves, and their later attempts contrasted for the worse against the accomplished albums that once were, Bob Pollard and Boston Spaceships altogether are in a special category with groups like Pierced Arrows and Mission of Burma, who are in the middle of a very [...]
POLVO “Heavy Detour” 7″
There’s an analogy floating about the internet that goes, and I paraphrase: “Pizza is like sex – when it’s good, it’s great, and when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.” Surely the same could be said of Polvo, a group formed in 1990 that split eight years later and then made an unexpected but welcome [...]
13 & GOD Own Your Ghost CD/LP
Little has changed since the 2005 debut of 13 & God, a supergroup of sorts comprised of Germany’s the Notwist and Oakland-based Adam “Doseone” Drucker, Jeffrey “Jel” Logan and Dax Pierson, who otherwise parade around as Themselves and a large chunk of innovative hip hop band Subtle. Much like the latter half’s work with Subtle, [...]
MI AMI Dolphins 12″ EP
2010’s Steal Your Face had some great dub-style bass, and with the departure of bass player Jacob Long, this year’s Dolphins became a prime opportunity for Mi Ami to experiment with electronic—hell, what else are you going to do when you lose the focal point of your band? So Damon Palermo and Daniel Martin-McCormick picked [...]