Les Claypool: Of Fungi and Foe

Les Claypool doesn’t seem to realize how difficult his singing is to listen to. His creativity usually triumphs, though. Not this time. Of Fungi and Foe is the sound of a fly-by-night carnival coming to town, bustling with bearded ladies and cigar-smoking chimps. The rides look dangerous and are manned by shifty carnies with unibrows and meth-mouth. The weird and wild take center stage, and squishy fart-like noises are at a premium. For all the oddballs, only a few of the songs are strange enough to be cool. I appreciate Mr. Claypool’s intentions, but I can’t listen to this again.

Rating: *

Sonic Youth: The Eternal

Sonic Youth is hard to like. Their greatest contribution might be that they’re included on so many good bands’ list of influences. That makes sense, considering how innovation, creativity, art, and experimentation are their bread and butter. While all these things may be wonderful, they are hard to fall in love with. The Eternal is Sonic Youth’s 16th studio album. Sixteen albums while continually seeking to reinvent—this is an impressive feat. A few decades in, and Sonic Youth is still relevant. The Eternal won’t necessarily be something that I’m dying to listen to repeatedly, but it’s cool and intriguing.

Rating: * * *

St. Vincent: Actor

Annie Clark is St. Vincent. Actor, her second album, showcases pleasant string arrangements, Ms. Clark’s lovely vocals, ghostly synthesizers, and, just to keep you on your toes, a heavy techno drum kit. The melodies are generally sweet but are tinged with dark edges—haunting, distorted, or off-key touches that keep the music from sliding into the grocery store doldrums. The lyrics avoid, for the most part, retreading standard pop ground (the song “Bed,” for example, is about threatening to shoot an intruder). The song craft and orchestration mixed with distorted, stomping rhythms lands Actor somewhere between Rufus Wainwright and Portishead.

Rating: * * * * *

David Garrett: David Garrett

David Garrett’s self-titled album may be classified as classical, but I would put the violinist in the rarely used “fiddle rock” genre. Despite the album’s name, the songs have nothing to do with Mr. Garrett. They are covers (Metallica, AC/DC) or classical pieces (Bizet, Bach). However, they bear more than the fingerprints of their performer. He plays Vivaldi’s “Summer” like a rock anthem. He plows through Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” like he owns the thing. In fact, Mr. Garrett seems bent on proving that violin music doesn’t have to be dull and plodding. He breathes life into everything he touches.

Rating: * * * * *

Black Moth Super Rainbow: Eating Us

Suddenly I feel like dancing with these really soothing robots. It can only mean one thing: I’m listening to Black Moth Super Rainbow. On Eating Us, nothing of the natural world remains. Instead, the noises sound like electronic imitations of streams, birdsong, and the susurration of leaves. The singing is the surreal, feminine voice of the wind, digitized and blowing in bits. The band members all employ mysterious monikers (Tobacco, d.kyler, The Seven Fields of Aphelion, Father Hummingbird, etc.), perhaps to suggest, “Yes, this is weird, experimental stuff,” or perhaps to distance themselves as humans from the music they produce.

Rating: * * * *

Sunset Rubdown: Dragonslayer

Jagjaguwar has a knack for picking up great indie bands, and Sunset Rubdown enhances the reputation. This Quebec quintet captures some of the frenetic energy of fellow Montréal residents The Arcade Fire and the swirling, white noise mayhem of The Twilight Sad. The top layer of their textured instrumentation is singer Spencer Krug who falls somewhere between David Bowie and that guy from Interpol. Or maybe a medicated David Byrne. The band eschews straight chorus/verse/chorus songs and can get by fine without a 4/4 time signature if need be. Dragonslayer isn’t a thing of beauty, but it is undeniably captivating.

Rating: * * * * *