Like Mirage recalls one of Eno’s latest works, Small Craft on a Milk Sea — a self-proclaimed soundtrack with no movie. The soundscapes are grand and cinematic, but push far beyond Earth. The soft pulses of “Brute Neighbors” are like cosmic waves, lapping against a small boat. Those waves later wash onto lunar shores on “Sunday Brunch.”

The soft taps of the drum machine drifting through the drone on “Astronomy Is a Natural Science” are expected, but the band willingly steps out from the ambient shadow. They’re not afraid to add live drums and faster tempos, such as during the second half of “Brute Neighbors.”

Moholy-Nagy probably doesn’t seem like most of today’s music, but it is actually part of the burgeoning outer sound genre, alongside groups like Collections of Colonies of Bees and Julianna Barwick. Like Mirage draws from the past, looks to the future, and fits in seamlessly with the present.

(Temporary Residence Ltd., PO Box 60097, Brooklyn, NY 11206)

I must admit that I’m not that familiar with this band, but I do love the lightning-fast psychobilly sound that’s associated with acts like Nekromantix, Tiger Army, and The Reverend Horton Heat. Immediately I was taken in by the opening track, “Four Beast Ride,” with its amazingly fast slap-bass and driving guitars, along with the somewhat out of place crooner vocals of Rene D La Muete. D La Muete’s vocals remind me a lot of Murder By Death’s vocalist Adam Turla (especially the sound of Murder By Death’s song “Brother”), but Muete’s style comes across more along the lines of a lounge singer — Michael Andrew from the swing band Swingerhead comes to mind.

While Muete’s vocals reflect that retro sound, the music does not. Some cuts like “Six Rounds” and “Drunk Not Dead” are more melodic in their sound, reminiscent of The Living End. The harder tracks on the album, such as “Oh Murder” and “High On Speed,” are heavy on guitars and group vocals.

Overall, the 13 tracks featured on Drunk Not Dead are extremely enjoyable. Full of high energy and excellent instrumentation, The Brains are a band I am glad to have discovered.

(Stomp Records, 1223 Blvd. Saint-Laurent, Suite 305, Montreal, QC H2X 2S6 Canada)

Recently, it seems like Robbins has been content staying behind the board, producing albums by bands like Braid, the Promise Ring, Against Me!, and Lemuria. But his new band, Office of Future Plans, seems to have fallen together perfectly.

Robbins asked bassist/multi-instrumentalist Brooks Harlan, drummer Darren Zentek, and cellist/guitarist Gordon Withers (who released an album of Jawbox songs played on the cello) to back him on what was initially a one-off solo show in 2009. But all four musicians clicked, and you can hear it on their debut self-titled album.

Office of Future Plans features Robbins’s angular guitar, but it’s not just a Jawbox rehash. Wither’s cello swoons around the riffs, both majestically (“Riddle Me This,” “Abandon”) and diabolically (“The Beautiful Barricades”), and the rhythm section keeps the vast, textured sounds moving forward.

Even though Office of Future Plans was sort of an accident, J. Robbins proves that he’s still got it, even out from behind the production board.

(Dischord Records, 3819 Beecher Street NW, Washington, DC 20007)

Classics of Love’s eponymous album is their first full-length, and their follow-up to the 2009 EP Walking in Shadows. The new album hits the ground running, from the first flash of feedback and rapid fire of snare drum on the opening track, “What a Shame,” to the classic ska-punk sound of “Castle in the Sky,” and the ’80s hardcore feel of “World of the Know.” As the music blasts through song after song, Michaels’ observations ring in your ear: “Life is a game where you see who can make the most money/Life is a game where you see who can get the most power” from “Stronghold,” or “Cut down from those heights/we’re here to reject you,” from “Would-Be Kings,” which envisions the rejection of those with the money and the power.

If you are looking for a high-energy album to get you through this warm winter then you are in luck. The 13 tracks clock in at 22-and-a-half minutes. Click here to listen to “Dissolve.”

(Asian Man Records, PO Box 35585, Monte Sereno, CA 95030)

Listening to the 15 tracks featured here, I can’t help but think back and reminisce about the good old ’90s where music like this was being put out on a massive scale. Along with the carefree pop-punk ska sound The Smashers are known for, bands like Buck O’ Nine and early Big D and The Kids Table come to mind when I sit and listen to the material here. The album’s opening cut, “The Hippopotamus,” is extremely catchy, and “UPS of America” presents some social commentary but remains to be humorous and non-preachy.

An unexpected twist comes in at the 12th track in the form of the song “Something Special,” as the band breaks from the punk-ska sound to favor something more traditional in the ska vein.

Descent into the Valley of The Planet Smashers is another enjoyable album from the veteran skankers from the great white north. Fans of the ’90s pop-punk ska sound will dig this.

(Stomp Records, 1223 Blvd. Saint-Laurent, Suite 305, Montreal, QC H2X 2S6 Canada)

Angel City Media
84 min., dir. by WT Morgan, with John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom, and DJ Bonebreak

After coming to the conclusion that writing a review that simply said Just go buy this was kinda pretentious (and also that despite their 30-plus years in existence as a band, there might be some folks who still have no idea who the hell X is), I opted for the standard type of review.

If you haven’t heard the band X, try to conjure up what an electrified and broke-assed Woody Guthrie would sound like if he had lived in a seedy Los Angeles apartment, drank cheap wine, ate cheap junk food, and listened to Leadbelly, ’60s garage rock, and lots of punk. And honestly, that still doesn’t do the band any descriptive justice.

Now, in case their history is unknown to you, X started out in Los Angeles back in 1979. The band was then and still is as follows: John Doe on bass and vocals, Exene Cervenka on vocals, Billy Zoom on guitar, and DJ Bonebreak on drums. Along with bands like The Alley Cats, Fear, Circle Jerks, The Bags, Black Flag, The Germs, and a mess of others, started punk rock in LA. X stood apart from most of the herd because they could play their instruments well and had a surf/punk/folk/rockabilly sound that further separated them from the others. Add the stand-still guitar work of Zoom, the mentally fading, Asian cat lady-esque harmonies of Exene, and the band’s often ironic, gritty street poems for lyrics, and you’re looking at Americana from the other side of the tracks. Simply fucking beautiful — bad teeth, ill-fitting clothes, and all.

Oh. The review.

The DVD is a re-release of the 1986 film, and as with any DVD re-release, you’ve got to check out the bonus material first, right? The extra footage for The Unheard Music is of Exene and John giving their take on the movie, their songs, Hollywood in the early ’80s, snippets of how X formed and was signed, and just life in general. There’s also interviews with Angel City Media who made the film, the theatrical trailer (eh, kind of a mandatory part of the bonus crud) and an outtake/alternative shot of the song “Some Other Time.” The dialogues are cool, the song outtake is cool, and the trailer is cool (as far as trailers for movies go).

So overall? Cool.

The off-kilter vibe of the band and the LA scene is perfectly captured right off the bat with the reading  of a letter from a slightly unstable fan. That leads into live footage of the song “Los Angeles” and the blowing up of the legendary Hollywood sign. Seriously…with that type of intro, whether you know the band or not, you sort of know where this ride’s going, and you know it’s going to be big fun.

After that, the film consists of band recollections about the early LA scene and its dirty birth followed by a history lesson on the band, montages of still pictures, and classic TV ads, all interspersed with well-shot, live footage (17 songs total).

The film itself is incredible — amazingly shot, stellar visual concepts, funny, tight editing — just a perfectly executed film. Part art film, part live concert film, part social commentary, part history lesson, part documentary, part music video, all essential.

(Music Video Distributors, PO Box 280, Oaks, PA 19456)

Opener “Burn The Worm” sets the tone for what is to follow, with its pounding drums and noisy guitar skrees. “Nature Boy,” probably not about wrestler Rick Flair, rides a sub-atomic bass riff and introduces and new narcotic fueled dance to the scene. “Beg Like A Human” is a musical and lyrical degradation, and “West World” speeds up a bit to a faster punk rock pace proving the band can kick it into another gear when they so choose.

It’s kind of heartening, albeit in a sick, twisted way, that bands like this still exist in New York City, still keeping this flame alive. This is a must have for all of nasty, noisy rock.

(Sacred Bones Records, no address provided)

(Tonequake Records, c/o McDonough Management468 Pennsfield Place, Suite 202, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360)

The charming piano notes that open the album on “Part Migration” give way to beautiful violin notes and subtle symbols on “I Hate the States.” She moves then into acoustic guitar ballads on “Housewife’s Lament,” a tale of longing for more, and a unique blend of hope and melancholia on “Sun Hangs Low.”

Rest Our Wings is an album of compassion, desire, and bathos. There is a quiet power and subtle determination to Bacior’s compositions. Yes, they are the tracks that riddle the coffeehouses of New York, but they are also much more than that. She brings together the sounds of California with those of her new New York City home and designs something familiar, yet completely new.

(Consonants & Vowels Recordings, no address provided)

Verbicide Free Download: Click here to download “Ohio” by Robin Bacior

Verbicide Free Download: Click here to download “Familiar Road” by Robin Bacior

Throughout the 12 tracks on their self-titled debut, Bobby toys with loads of different sounds: slow-building folk on “We Saw,” downbeat pop on “Sore Spores,” jangly precision on “Groggy,” and noisy ambient on “The Shed.” Tones pile on top of tones, thick percussion decants over the harmonies and the vocals stay soft, the constants in a dense world of experimentation.

It’s those vocals, dual male and female voices, which keep everything grounded. Melancholy opener “We Saw” features its title repeated again and again sang atop a rising pyramid of anxious rust and strings, as if its narrators have witnessed the unspeakable and are now left unable to saw any other words. “It’s Dead Outside” could be a sequel to Wilco’s “Radio Cure” with its electric-noise-meets-acoustic rhythm approach. “Shimmychick” squeals like a chipper pop ditty dunked underwater.

BOBBY might come off as rainy-day music, but after a few listens, it becomes sit-on-your-car-and-look-up-at-the-swirling-night-sky music. And the best part? It works whether you’re with someone you really care about or if you’re flying solo. BOBBY harnesses both of those moods into a bulky stew of sound, ready to be ingested by all.

(Partisan Records, 281 N 7th St., #2 Brooklyn, NY 11211)