New This Week: The Strokes, Wavves, Wax Idols & More

There are a handful of titles — Depeche Mode among them — that are slightly delayed due to technical issues. We hope to have them on the site tomorrow. In the meantime, we’ve got plenty of other options to keep you occupied…

The Strokes, Comedown Machine – The former avatars of NYC-rock cool dig deeper into their synth gew-gaws and endearingly geeky starched-stiff Cars imitations. Who would have thought these guys would hang around long enough to feel like America’s answer to Sloan? Not me, that is for damn sure. Barry Walters had this to say:

The world — the indie rock one, at least — divides into two camps; those who believe the Strokes should stick to infinitesimal variations on Is This It, and those who’d rather have them do anything other than that. Comedown Machine has the goods to satisfy — and piss off — both camps, and that’s exactly as it should be. As suggested by the album’s pre-release tracks “All the Time” and “One Way Trigger,” the quintet’s fifth album is both classic Strokes and the furthest thing from it yet. “50/50″ offers a heavier variant on the distorted vocals and nervous guitars that drove the kids crazy on “Last Night,” while “Partners in Crime” borrows that song’s caffeinated Motown beat even if it sneaks in a crazed, nearly Van Halen-esque guitar solo at the end.

Wax Idols, Discipline and Desire – Dramatic, menacing post-punk exploring the darker side of devotion. Hether Fortune, the leading force behind the group Wax Idols, has one of the world’s most berserker-entertaining Twitter feeds, and in general seems to be a kind of impossibly charismatic person; on this record, some of that primal intellectual and physical heat translates directly into her music.

Wavves, Afraid of Heights – Nathan starts to gesture winsomely at entertaining the possibility of starting to consider the possible ramifications of maybe thinking about growing up. Eventually. Andrew Parks has the review:

The self-proclaimed “king of the beach” doesn’t relinquish his crown on Afraid of Heights, but he does seem in serious danger of losing his mind. Not that you’d notice immediately, what with the way Nathan Williams masks his melancholy with sunstroked hooks and hummable melodies. It’s when you listen to what he’s saying that dude’s dark side emerges. We’re not talking simple woe-is-me love songs, either. More like an unhealthy obsession with death and demons — personal and otherwise — coupled with bummertown references to just how hopeless the Wavves generation is

Kleenex Girl Wonder, Migration Scripts: If Kleenex Girl Wonder had put out Ponyoak like 5 years ago, they would have been adored, Best New Music-receiving indiepop darlings. It’s the perfect realization of a very particular aesthetic, nestling sugary hooks inside no-fi production. Unfortunately, KGW was way ahead of the curve, and released the album in 1999 instead. Let It Buffer should be their move to reclaim the grubby crown that’s theirs, but on this one they’ve cleaned up and are playing nice, writing polite power-pop that blows the dust from the corners but still focuses on catchy refrains.

Milk Carton Kids, The Ash & Clay – Softly quavering and sweet indie-folk. Jim Farber reviewed it for us, saying this:

You can’t get far into writing a review of The Milk Carton Kids without mentioning Simon & Garfunkel. (I managed to make it just 14 words). Like S&G, they’re an acoustic duo that sings pristine ballads in tightly entwined voices of velvet and lace. But so facile a comparison sells these “Kids” short: Kenneth Pettengale and Joey Ryan have delicate, distinctive timbres, and the lyrics on this California duo’s second studio CD aren’t nearly as effete as they first seem.

Georgiana Starlington, Paper Moon: Hip-Hip-Hooray for HoZac Records! Georgiana Starlington are Jack and Julie Hines from the K-Holes, but this doesn’t sound anything like the snarling, menacing music they cook up in that group. This is spooky and dusty and sinister — kinda maybe like the HoZac version of Neko Case? Some twang, some sway, some Mazzy Star-ish crooning and, like everything HoZac does, it’s Recommended.

Black Bug, Reflecting the Light: What’s that you say? You want more HoZac? FEAR NOT. This is another new one — it’s nastier that Georgiana, with a sort of primitive-industrial grind. Lots of synths and static, doomy, droney vocals and danse macabre rhythms for you to twitch and shake to.

Julian Lynch, Lines: Umpteenth new one from Julian Lynch, which sounds like a dis, but the music here is so lovely and engaging that it’s, in fact, a blessing. This is more rickety soundtracky type stuff; to call it art rock played on children’s instruments doesn’t really get at it. There’s some lovely, layered, helium-filled vocals, plinking nylon-stringed guitars, wheezing mellotrons… This is the kind of music you get lost inside.

Steve Coleman & Five Elements, Functional Arrhythmias – Jazz that draws funk and friction from the competing pulses in our bodies. Peter Margasak writes:

On his latest effort with his ever-shifting, adaptable Five Elements, veteran innovator and alto saxophonist Steve Coleman draws inspiration from overlapping rhythmic patterns found in the human body: nervous, respiratory, and circulatory systems. In the liner notes he credits the drummer Milford Graves, who’s devoted himself to studying those internal human rhythms, and Coleman’s latest batch of compositions were created by superimposing these various pulses on top of one another. Still, for most listeners digging all of the conceptual underpinnings isn’t necessary to enjoy the propulsive, funky sounds.

Kvelertak, Meir: Kvelertak are a Norweigian band who pull off a pretty unlikely hybrid, counteracting throat-shredding vocals with sweet-as-candy choruses for a final product that’s visceral and irresistible. It doesn’t seem like it should work, but man, does it ever. It’s like if Skeletonwitch had Andrew WK’s choruses or something. Kinda motorcycle rocky, but way more hardcore than that. Recommended

Dido, Girl Who Got Away – The former superstar gracefully retreats. Barry Walters writes:
As suggested by its title, Dido’s fourth album is almost entirely about escape — from bad relationships, the pressure of fame, back-stabbing business associates, even quotidian responsibilities. Like Madonna at her world-weariest, it’s the kind of album that only someone who experienced unexpected monumental popularity could make.

Papoose, The Nacirema Dream: This album was supposed to come out forever ago! When I first moved back to NYC 9 years ago, they were talking about it then. That’s when Papoose was supposed to save NY hip-hop. That didn’t really happen! So here’s The Nacirema Dream. Papoose has a tough flow vaguely reminiscent of Golden Age hip-hop, and the production mostly aims to replicate the same. I have a theory that I cannot prove and is based on no fact that says that this has been held up for so long that they lost the rights to the actual original production tracks so they had to replace them with facsimiles. Again, I have no facts to support that assertion. It’s just one of my weird theories.

CHVRCHES, Recover: First EP from one of the buzziest bands at SXSW. This is spooky electropop, with pouty, dramatic vocals and billowing sheets of electronics. Imagine a poppier version of The Knife, maybe, or a spookier Robyn and you’re on the right track. For those of you keeping track: this band is probably going to be a thing.

The Black Lillies, Runaway Freeway Blues: Splitting the difference between the old-timey music that’s been en vogue (for better and for worse) lately and contemporary country, Black Lillies kick up a rollicking ruckus, delivering stomping country built to move boots.

Little Green Cars, Absolute Zero: This is really lovely, sunny, guitar-based indie pop with a few moments of epic grandeur thrown in for good measure. Slightly timid vocals counteract any bravado that generally accompanies that.