Tanya Morgan
The Bridge EP
Interdependent Media

Tanya Morgan is not a southern soul singer. She is in fact a trio of three emcees, together comprising a hip-hop group based partly in Cincinnati and Brooklyn. You probably have heard their impressive first album Monlighting, which received critical acclaim from The Source and XXL magazines, or their mixtape Sunlighting, available as a free download from Tanyamorgan.com. The Bridge EP, out June 17th joins two other 2008 releases for the group including Tanya Morgan is a Rap Group, a mixtape featuring DJ soul, and Brooklynati, their next LP. A metaphorical bridge towards their next release, The Bridge contains a diverse mixture of old school beats, unusual rhymes, and a taste of a laid back life. My favorite track is the last track “How Low”. Its fast paced beat is like an eighties break beat, and the three emcees flow quickly over the top. The third verse is the best: “Mom totally likes my band/and I’m trying hard to give a damn/but, uggh, I can’t”. It’s that swagger and talent that makes the EP great and has earned them a spot on the 45-date Freshly Dipped Tour with underground legends Heiroglyphics and Blue Scholars this summer. – Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine

Son Ambulance
Someone Else’s Déjà Vu
Saddle Creek Records

Son Ambulance is basically folk musician Joseph Knapp’s solo project. However, Someone Else’s Déjà Vu also includes long time band member Jeffrey Koster, some members of the Faint, and other various Omaha musicians signed to Saddle Creek Records. You may associate Joe Knapp’s name with label mates and highly successful band Bright Eyes, of which he was one a member. The first track “A Girl in New York City” starts the album off on a good note with a quick-paced samba beat. A breakdown in the middle of the song leaves us with a cacophony of percussion and samba whistles, my favorite moment in the song. On most of the rest of the album, a lone guitar or piano accompanies the folk and psychedelic-rock-inspired singing. During another one of my favorite tracks, Jeffrey and Joe hit some brilliant harmonies on “Yesterday Morning” a-la Simon and Garfunkel. The album blends sleepy lyrics with mellow guitars, double bass, vibraphone, keyboard, and sax, making it a great album to read a book to. Recently released on July 8, this album will make a good addition to your collection if you like Bright Eyes, folk music from the sixties, or dreamy Romantic poetry. –Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine

Meho Plaza
Self-titled
Better Looking Records

Meho Plaza’s recent self-titled album mixes a pop aesthetic with electronic punk noise. The trio, which consists of keyboardist Jennifer Hwang, drummer James Connely, and vocalist/guitarist Mike Thrasher, has garnered significant press by such reputable organizations as the Los Angeles Times and Pitchfork Media. Tracks like “I Sold My Organs”, “Lets Play Police”, “The Beach”, and “George Washington” all contain manic catchy guitar riffs, and a danceable backbeat. Interspersed at random are four or five songs out of the eleven that make me want to scratch out my eyes out. Perhaps the poppy half appeals to the people who have never heard Meho Plaza, and the five tracks of experimental synth-driven madness appeal to hardcore fans and live show attendees. Whoever the audience is, the juxtaposition of pop and noise makes for a good head scratcher. A good friend pointed out to me earlier that Radiohead is also a band that forces you listen to their albums many times, because the first time you question the experimental stuff. After thinking it over I will probably look forward to listening to this album more over time, and let it grow on me, like a weird fungus. – Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine

The Cool Kids
The Bake Sale EP
Chocolate Industries

The Cool Kids, Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks, have released a block rocking EP. The Chicago based duo, the self proclaimed “Black Beastie Boys”, mix old school beats with a relaxed organic flow. Establishing their own label and rocking house parties in Chicago, Mikey and Chuck recently signed to Chocolate Industries to release their EP. After finding out domestic and international demand for their music was higher than they could handle, they needed help to press records. And with such a unique sound, this comes as no surprise. The Cool Kids’ best track on The Bake Sale is “What It Is”. It uses a call and response technique reminiscent of the earliest MC’s. Anyone who has seen them will tell you that they rock the party by engaging the audience and energizing the crowd. “What It Is” captures this feel, while dropping a fast paced ride cymbal, bass drum, and snare backbeat that would induce swaggering heads and break dancing in even the squarest of audiences. The Cool Kids have recently played shows overseas in Australia and Europe, and are currently on tour in the States. Catch them at Lollapalooza and Outside Lands or else you’re a loser. – Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine

K’naan
Dusty Foot Philosopher
Interdependent Media

The first thing I noticed on this album was the production quality. The opening track “Wash It Down”, utilizes the back splashing of water to form a very head-noddable beat sequence. K’naan who draws upon his childhood in terror and war torn Africa continues to infuse tribal tones and beats into some very catchy and unforgettable tales of toughing it out. “I Was Stabbed By Satan” hits the hardest with the chorus of, “I was stabbed by Satan on the day that I was born,  I was promised lovin, but instead I was torn”. K’naan also has a keen grasp on the current style of “rap dissing” as he compares thug life in New York to the madness of children with AK-47s in his hometown. This is not an album that will go unnoticed. K’naan really has something going here. “Dusty Foot Philosopher” is one of those albums that as you say to yourself, “Wow, this is soooo good, that thought instantly reforms into, “but dang, listen to these words, it’s actually really jacked up.” What breaks my heart is how beautiful his work is as it bubbles out of one the most messed up scenes in the world. – Ryan Stephens, Mannerist Zine

Putios
The Problem Is Not A Problem Anymore
99 Hours of Secrets (BMI) / Cerebral Cliff

Putios’ The Problem Is Not A Problem Anymore is the second full-length album Bob Mason has recorded under a pen name. This album’s folksy, bluesy do-it-yourself combination is a unique and successful formula. Mason’s vocals are sad, straightforward, and simple, but they paint a hopeful picture. The lyrics are an effective and simple amalgam of repetition, rhyme, and vivid imagery, resembling more poetry than music. And the music itself – also of a high caliber, uses subtle diminished chords, weepy picking and dynamic strumming.  “Our Stand” is perhaps the best song, echoes surrounding the lyrics, “He led the women and men/ he led all of us too/ and we made our stand/ and we raised our hands/ and all was not lost”. It reminds us of a heroic person, solving a problem too great for ordinary people – timeless lyrics. However, the album cannot rely on only one song. And a particularly weak one is the last track, an instrumental keyboard song. The music is well written, but the keyboard work is off-putting, because it lacks dynamics. In spite of its weakness, the album leaves you wanting more. – Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine

Extra Life
Secular Works
Planaria Records

Extra Life’s newest release Secular Works sounds like a whale humping a dead manatee in an underwater church – it’s that specific sound that makes the record fail. It lacks any resemblance to rhythm. It lacks melody, generally not staying in any specific key. It lacks harmony – just one singer chanting his butt off. And it lacks dynamics – all the songs are about the same volume – annoying. Vocalist Charlie Looker sounds like a possessed Gothic church cantor. With his haunting chant-like singing and the rhythm-less rhythm-section, this album resembles being subjected to church as a kid. You are lost in the mass of weird possessed people, wondering what they could be talking about, wanting to be somewhere else, but unable. It doesn’t help that the average song length of the seven tracks is more than five minutes. After listening to the band, which has guitar, drums, bass, violin, keyboard, saxophone, and vocals, I wanted to listen to something more grounded. I didn’t understand what the album was trying to do – perhaps a combination of me not being in the mood, and them being completely shit. On the bright side, it’s their debut on Planaria, so there’s room to improve. – Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine

Blue Velvet
Four Songs
Phratry/ BC Records

Blue Velvet’s latest EP release Four Songs showcases the band’s new lineup. After a recent addition, the band is now comprised of two guitarists, two percussionists, a celloist, and a keyboardist. The New-York-City-based band has kept the same musical formula since their self –titled 2004 LP– no lyricist. The album begins with a drone of amplified, but not distorted guitar and a couple of drums. Cello comes in, giving a haunting sound, and keyboards add another thick wall. Each song starts out simple, layers are added, a mish-mashing of music making ensues. All live, with no editing equipment, loops or samples, the album has an edgy live quality. Since it’s only four tracks, let me walk you through each one. “Docile” is a simple start to the album, and sounds too much like the second track of the same name. “Blue Cannon”, the third track, and also my favorite, is the peak of the album. The track has a jazzy feel, with the climactic feel of a chase scene in an old 40’s gangster movie. “Untitled (Two)” is a track with dissident and uneasy keyboard smashing, an exciting way to end an album of rerecorded, previously released work. – Jonathan Mendick, Manenrist Zine

Crystal Castles
Self-titled
Last Gang Records

You may know Crystal Castles by their packed live shows, which blend rave, old school videogame sound effects, and a disco backbeat. Crystal Castles’ self titled 2008 release, the duo’s first on Last Gang Records, captures the essence of He-Man and Donkey Kong Jr. throwing fireballs at each other in Bowser Castle. Mixing Mario-esque musical samples and a microphone, Crystal Castles displays the talent of Toronto team Ethan Fawn and Alice Glass. Glass’ vocals draw from a diverse number of styles including punk, hip-hop, and noise, while Fawn’s keyboard sounds like it has an arcade machine chip inside it. Named after the fortress in the sky in which She-Ra, The Princess of Power dwells, Crystal Castles conjures a world of 8-bit videogames, eighties synth-pop, and sword-wielding cartoon characters with muscular figures wearing only their underwear. The only problem I have with the lyrics is that they are largely unintelligible, and the only resemblance to a theme is hinted in each song’s title. Still, the vocals remain beautiful, and the album packs an abstract intensity only matched by the combo of He-Man and She-Ra themselves in a tag team battle against the Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong. – Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine

Ghost of the Russian Empire
The Mammoth
Thirty Ghosts Records

Ghost of the Russian Empire is a quartet based in Austin Texas, and their album is the first Apocalyptic Surf Rock album ever. In other words, their debut full-length album The Mammoth sounds experimental, complex, haunting, doom inducing, and yet somehow remains hopeful and energetic. More ambient than rocking, most of the tracks evoke something natural, like the sea, and paint a primordial vastness with reverberated, barely audible and at times completely unintelligible lyrics. From beginning to end, the infamous grey sky over St. Petersburg Square slowly drifts its way across the earth toward the end of the world. It envelops everything in its wake, looms amid cities, along beaches, and over rainforests. A follow up to last year’s With Fiercest Demolition EP, The Mammoth sometimes becomes so ambient you forget it’s on, then it haunts you with drone-ish drumming and again gets your attention. Each track holds natural layers of darkness as exemplified in “The White Sea”, my favorite track. “We rose from the dirt/got off of all fours” and now we’re “just chasing at nothing” lead singer Brandon Whitten explains. Only a hollow echo remains from the animal life that was once abundant on earth – like the mammoth. – Jonathan Mendick, Mannerist Zine.