Scratch Records

ST. VINCENT - Strange Mercy (4AD/52637 3123-2)

scratch — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:25:20 +0000

Some people seem to think that a recording that is filled with a dissonant voice singing (mostly) stream of consciousness lyrics over synthesizer clatter is art. Annie Clark moans, squawks… whatever, about mostly pretentious rubbish. If you like lines like the following from “Neutered Fruit”: I ate flowers in the backyard/Bought finely neutered fruit/Shot a hundred arrows at a knoll/a hundred sparrows blue - this one might be for you. If it wasn’t for one semi-tolerable item, “Champagne Year” this would be rated a lot worse. (C-)

SARA BAREILLES - Kaleidoscope Heart (Epic/ 88697 55035-2)

scratch — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:24:25 +0000

In the style of the great Canadian Sara(h)s – McLachlan, Harmer, Slean, here is another whack of female relationship songs – where the males don’t understand anything. Our Sara decides that she wants to sing them in the style of Ani di Franco – a raspy yowl backed by the clunkiest piano lines heard anywhere. If SB had the slightest sense of irony or fatalism these things could be made into something. Unfortunately, they aren’t. (D-)

RADIOHEAD - The King of Limbs (Ticker Tape/XL TICK 001 CD)

scratch — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:23:39 +0000

Not content with creating the most pretentious lyrics in modern pop, our Thommy decides to show that he is not a one trick pony. The vocals are now given the sound –effect treatment to make them even more unbearable. On top of that, the licks on this recording are minimal (i.e.) one finger on synthesizer keyboards for the bass mixed with higher octave clatter. I guess the next progression for Radiohead is to have lyrics in Esperanto over a wall of white noise. (D+)

BRAZILIAN GIRLS - Self Titled (Verve/ B 000 32290-2)

scratch — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:22:45 +0000

This is the first B.G. recording from 2005 and it is slightly better than the previously reviewed “New York”. If Guy Maddin tried to make a latino gangster movie, this would probably be a good soundtrack choice. Sabina Sciubba is a plausible substitute for Maddin fave, Isabella Rossellini – here she croaks out irrelevant lyrics masked by dopey synthesizer moves over occasionally interesting latin beats. (B-)

CITY AND COLOUR - Little Hell (Dime Store/DA 040)

scratch — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:21:34 +0000

Dallas Green has certainly followed a tortuous path – From the appalling Alexisonfire to a cretinous Ron Sexsmith clone. The singing and playing on two tracks, “We Found Each Other…” and “Silver and Gold” aren’t too bad and might be OK if you could get past the abysmal lyrics. The real meat is on the title track, “Little Hell”, which has to be one of the worst songs recorded by anyone, anywhere. The note on the lyric sheet gives this one away: “We acknowledge the financial support of the government of Canada”. (D+)

RIHANNA FENTY - Rated “R” (Def Jam/B 0013736-02)

scratch — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:20:24 +0000

It appears that the lovely Rihanna’s handlers have given her some singing lessons – she sounds a lot better here than on “a Girl Like Me”. They have also tried to sleaze her persona up with only marginal success. The songs with muffled expletives are mostly maudlin mush backed my boring percussion and schlocky orchestration. Only one song, “Photographs”, had even the slightest appeal. Could the last track, “The Last Song”, be a premonition of things to come – a black Screamin’ Celine? (D+)

LANA DEL RAY - Born to Die (Polydor/Interscope B 0016 4540-2)

scratch — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:19:11 +0000

This is hardly more than lounge music – with young rich white girl slumming as sleazoid songstress. The voice is remarkably similar to that of Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star), but the contents are quite different – excessively wordy and pandering to over-sexed bimbos. The instrumentals are far sludgier than Mazzy Star, which negate a couple of not bad songs here (“Born to Die” and “Summertime Sadness”) (B-)

PANDA BEAR - Tomboy (Paw Tracks/77517 1036-2)

scratch — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:17:31 +0000

Animal Collective main-man, Noah Lennox is primarily responsible for this whack of super over-reverbed sludge. Noah sez: Hey, all you young pseuds who are fans of Thommy Yorke – Forget about him; I can write lyrics just as moronically pretentious as TY and my instrumentals are only marginally worse. I also pen insufferable titles such as “Alsatian Darn”. And he does. (C-)

SAM ROBERTS BAND - Collider (Zoe/Rounder 01143 1144-2)

scratch — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:16:01 +0000

Sammy’s band can occasionally hit a reasonable groove: “Without a Map” and “Tractor Beam Blues” have a nice sound and (to a lesser extent) so
do “Longitude” and “Sang Froid”. On the other hand, SR attempts to mask the deficiencies of his voice with the rain-barrel technique – to no
avail. On top of that, his lyrics are mostly crap. He appeared to be listening to Canada’s worst songwriter (G. Downie) when he came up with
the song “The Band vs the World”. Where else will he find winners like “Sleep, the great divider / Creeps in with the spiders” and “The more
you know / The less you grow” (C)

RAY HICKEY, JR. - Alizarin Sky (Oasis/NHCD206)

scratch — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:02:53 +0000

Here is an obscure Canadian “New Age” recording that is more likely to give you a headache than put you to sleep. Ray plinks and plonks his acoustic guitar in slow motion and adds a big whack of reverb and new age accompaniment (violin, flute.) Most of the guitar notes sound off key and are not that ear friendly. For masochists only. (C)