Sunday, October 29th, 2006

Sunday Cleaning – Volume 54

Just a note – Sunday Cleaning will henceforth possibly/probably become an irregular feature on this site. Instead, I will be trying to add reviews and whatnot throughout the week rather than putting them aside for Sundays.

White Whale / WWI (Merge)

Behind White Whale’s lean rock exterior beats a heart of pure prog rock gold. The Lawrence, Kansas quintet’s debut record (though all the members are long-time music veterans) is a taut yet expansive record with a solid nautical theme running throughout. With a voice reminiscent of labelmate Britt Daneil’s, Matt Suggs leads his band through an ambitious set that draws on prog, pop and folk influences and ideas that come straight from the 70s but dress them up all modern-like and damn, it looks good on them. Interestingly, each time I listen to this album it somehow sounds completely different to me – and better. A good sign. White Whale play Sneaky Dee’s on Tuesday night.

MP3: White Whale – “The Admiral”
MySpace: White Whale

The May Bees / Blame It On The Other Ones (independent)

This Dutch duo likes their indie rock 1990s-style. Owing a debt to everyone they no doubt read about in their dog-eared copies of CMJ, but drawing especially heavily from the heyday of Guided By Voices and Sebadoh, their sophomore mini-album is a tasty melange of fuzzily anthemic guitar pop, bendy song structures and sonic collagery. Compact and scrappy, The May Bees are currently on a North American tour and are worth checking out when they stop in at The Rivoli in Toronto on Thursday night.

MP3: The May Bees – “The Enemy Scientist”
Stream: The May Bees / Blame It On The Other Ones
MySpace: The May Bees

np – XTC / Nonesuch

By : Frank Yang at 11:35 am
Category: Uncategorized
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