Fall Singles/EPs Spectacular

by Jeff Terich

10.20.2008





The longer we go without examining the short-players that come in the mail each week, the bigger the pile gets. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's just a reminder of how much work we have to do, but either way it presents a sort of `crisitunity.' Though it may be intimidating to dive headfirst into the single and EP stacks, it also presents the opportunity to find something new and exciting, and most certainly unexpected. And then again, sometimes we're less than impressed, but you can't expect magic every time. In any case, this season's installment reveals much more good than bad, and some of that good is downright spectacular.

Rafter - Sweaty Magic EP (Asthmatic Kitty)

In addition to being prolific and extremely imaginative with his work, Rafter Roberts is astoundingly eclectic. The San Diego native is not just a pop music wizard, but one who does pop music through hundreds of filters, sometimes fuzzy and crunchy with a garage style, sometimes experimental and noisy, even injecting some tropical flair from time to time. On his latest EP, Sweaty Magic, Rafter places a heavy emphasis on the `sweaty' part, as this seven-track wonder is a hard grooving electro-R&B jam session, heavily indebted to Prince. "Noise" and "Magic" explode with funky magnetism, while "Juicy" takes a low-key approach, combining an acoustic guitar sample and some vocoder. "Sassy" offers even more fuzzy, funky explosiveness, much to its title's accuracy, though "Sweat" is surprisingly bizarre, kicking off with an aural assault of an intro that pulses into an equally sensory-overloading verse. Rafter almost always keeps his compositions short and sweet, but on this extra abbreviated release, he compacts his sweaty magic in an amazingly potent package, doing in seven songs what some artists aren't capable of over the course of 20.

Pivot - In the Blood EP (Warp)

I'm starting to get curious—just who, exactly, has been selling all of these analog synthesizers in Australia? The Presets, Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts and now Pivot have all made their impact as fine purveyors of synth-heavy pop music with rock undertones. Yet Pivot may, nay, is the most bizarre of this group, abandoning straightforward pop numbers for a twisted instrumental kind of electro, somewhat closer to Black Moth Super Rainbow, via Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" and Neu! Debut EP In the Blood is a rather exciting foray into the band's stylistic realm, with the title track offering a beat-happy dynamo with melancholy synths and schizophrenic skronk guitar. It's a symphony of disparate elements, all playing together nicely, while "Didn't I Furious" is something more like a game of Centipede mating with a dial-up modem and some more furious beats. Clark's remix of "Sweet Memory" is also pretty fun as well, spiraling into a cosmic spatter that sounds a bit like the cover image looks.

Bell - EP (self-released)

It makes perfect sense that laptop pop diva Olga Bell made an appearance on the Stereogum-curated Björk cover album, Enjoyed..., given that the young chanteuse bears a strong resemblance to the Icelandic pixie, if more in mannerisms than in style. The Moscow-born, Alasaka-bred (but could she see her birthplace from her house?) Bell presents herself as a fitting heir to the electro-diva throne on her new EP, a thrilling whirlwind of electronic sample-layering and elaborate instrumentation, all stirring beneath her expressive and impressive voice, which is, more accurately, like a cross between Björk and Robert Smith (maybe I'm the only one who hears it...). "Echinacea" builds to a thrilling climax of sonic expansion, while "Housefire" is propulsive and dramatic. "Brown Bear" is a bit more dreamy and nebulous, though "The Miner" erupts with a heavy drums and sparse, gorgeous piano. Given that I actually wasn't all that impressed with Bell's cover of "It's Oh So Quiet" (it's hard to compete with No Age's noisy, abstract version), this more than exceeded my expectations going into it. This is really great stuff.

Born Ruffians - Little Garçon (Warp)

Even if Born Ruffians' full-length discography is limited to just one album thus far, they've built up a steady arsenal of EPs in just a few years. The latest, "Little Garçon," is actually available as two seven-inch singles (in one package), featuring the radio edit of the strummy, folky title track, and three B-sides. It is a bit odd that the song is a single, given how unassuming and low-key it is in comparison to some of the band's other tracks, but it's a decent tune nonetheless, and packaged with the rest, is made even better. "Ready For Bed" is a lazy, plodding rock tune, yet melodic and with fun backup vocals, while "Coldness Hot" is a big, fuzzy, Pixies-like rocker, almost more fit for A-side status than the actual headliner here. Yet the band saves the best for last with the waltzing glee of "Wedding Rings and Midnight Strollers." Here the band builds to their most exuberant and celebratory peak, closing the EP on its highest note yet. Born Ruffians may be young, but they're clearly on to something good.

Johnny Flynn - Hong Kong Cemetery EP (Lost Highway)

The rear side of Johnny Flynn's Hong Kong Cemetery EP reads "Support the British Folk Reclamation," which seems a bit peculiar, given that Lost Highway's roster is, for the most part, heavily steeped in Americana. Nonetheless, the 25-year-old Brit singer-songwriter seems perfectly at home alongside Lucinda Williams and Ryan Adams, if for no other reason than Flynn's UK folk-rock style has a similarly earnest and earthy quality to it. This EP, which features two tracks from debut A Larum, one from that album's vinyl release, and another that does not appear on either, is a compelling and lovely introduction to the young talent, showcasing Flynn as a student of Nick Drake and Fairport Convention, but with the playful arrangements of Ed Harcourt or Badly Drawn Boy's earlier singles. The title track is a bit dark and mournful, as its title might have one believe, complete with a funereal trumpet solo, though its choral shouts have an extra fun barroom quality to them, lending a bit more joy to the almost cheekily dark track. "Cold Bread" is a particularly wonderful track, with mandolin hooks to spare. And non-album track "The Box" has a bluesy stomp, closing off the EP with an upbeat celebration. This Flynn fellow may very well be on to something special.

Plushgun - Plushgun (Tommy Boy)

In mere seconds, I'm instantly skeptical of Plushgun. The synth hooks that bubble up in "Just Impolite," from the band's debut EP, sound just a bit too close to The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights," though soon enough the song goes Hot Topic emo, and that skepticism turns to cynicism. One song in and the band is already facing the challenge of having to redeem themselves. The following track, "14 Candles," doesn't veer far from where the first track left off, just more strictly confined to synth, and with more dramatic, breathier vocals. "How We Roll" gets off the ground with an energetic synth hook, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm listening to Something Corporate or Angels and Airwaves through a 303 filter. At least the Nintendo playing bird on the cover is pretty cool.

Clawjob - Manifest Destiny (self-released)

My copy of Clawjob's debut EP came packaged with a personalized letter, upon which a little goblin guy was drawn in ball-point pen. While I admit the personal touch was enough to make me like these guys, their schizophrenic, yet highly melodic electro-rock certainly sealed the deal. "The Era of Good Feelings" starts off the EP with a low-key kind of dirge, somewhat toned down melodically, but with broadly convulsing analog synth pulses. From there, the band launches headfirst into manic synthpunk a la Braniac, with "Slice Me Up," a choppy, lo-fi excursion into dissonant chords and vocals that vaguely recall those of Pere Ubu's David Thomas (for the record the band is from Massachusetts, not Ohio, though I certainly did note the coincidence). "Ether Frolic" phases in and out, before crawling into a super cool noir rock melody. And the erratic punk rock barrage of "This Glorious System" recalls yet another Ohio institution—Devo. Clawjob rocks pretty hard, while displaying a broad range of styles and influences on Manifest Destiny, and hey, the goblin drawing just makes me like them that much more.

Fences - Ultimate Puke EP (self-released)

When reading the title of Fences' Ultimate Puke EP, I can't help but think of Barney Gumbel's entry into the Springfield Film Festival, the "unfortunately titled" Puke-ahontas. Though his film had a horrible title, it ultimately won the competition (against heavy hitter "Man Getting Hit With Football"), and much like that piece of animated hilarity, this musical collection similarly represents a personal and beautiful intimate portrait beneath a poorly worded marquee. No disrespect to Chris Mansfield, the man behind Fences, as his eight tracks here represent some truly lovely folk-pop with elements of jazz (which Mansfield studied at the Berklee College of Music). "My Girl the Horse" has a breezy, ambient quality similar to the hazy pop of Benoit Pioulard, while "The Same Tattoos" is bit more upbeat if still melancholy in nature. "Fires" is fuzzy and eerie, though Mansfield here sounds more like Elliott Smith than anything else, which perhaps even lends itself more to a certain sense of eeriness. And for being a bedroom recording, "Your Bones" turns out to be one of the best songs here. This is the kind of record that requires deep attention, a minimum of interruptions and as little sunlight as possible. That said, I'm quite impressed.