May 8, 2005
One sentence reviews of new and upcoming records
Spoon: Gimme Fiction (Merge Records)
This is T. Rex set loose in the American heartland: taut, slightly funky songs with ultra-simple two- and three-note melodies (“I Turn My Camera On,” “Was It You”) contrast with ramblers replete with slide guitar and anchored by percussive piano (“The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine,” “Sister Jack”).
Animal Collective: Prospect Hummer EP (Fat Cat Records)
More like cascading tides than songs, this is the collective’s Campfire Songs alter ego brought to bear on their own work, as gossamer, harp-like clouds of guitar surround ‘70s icon Vashti Bunyan’s delicate tremolo.
Jesu: Jesu (Hydra Head) (Link to band site)
Add heavy, crisply recorded drums to the epic guitar feedback, keyboard washes, and the—surprise!—melodies of Slowdive and you get seventy-four minutes of Justin K. Broadrick’s most recent project, the name of which might as well translate to “emotional and aural oblivion.”
Sufjan Stevens: Illinois (Ashmatic Kitty/Sounds Familyre) (Link to band site)
From "John Wayne Gacy, Jr.," to "Casimir Pulaski Day," album two of Stevens’s fifty-release portrait of our union is too long by a third—even the peppy, beautifully orchestrated pop gems interspersed among filler tracks rarely clock in at less than six minutes—but a little fast-forward editing makes this one of the strongest pop releases so far this year.