reviews on tues

zero 7 - The Garden: This reminds me of that scene from Garden State where one of their songs is playing in the background and all the kids jump in the pool, except that if it were me I would stay under and drown myself rather than be subjected to any more of this band's doldrums.

mcclusky - McCluskyism: I kept hearing this on the radio and thinking that it was a new Les Savy Fav disc. They sound very similar, except these guys are welsh, and have recently called it quits. To that end this is a 3-disc career spanning retrospective of A, B, and C-sides, and the discs are indeed labeled as such. Having never really listened to much of their stuff before, this is a lot to swallow all at once, but it's still good for inducing sporadic bursts of energy.

sonic youth - Rather Ripped: The youth are like a bottle of wine these days, getting more and more savory as they age. We have Jim O'Rourke to applaud for thankfully getting them out of their "all-of-our-instruments-got-stolen-and-we're-going-to-make-beat-poetry" stage of NYC Ghosts & Flowers, and got them to explore some more languid and expansive type choons that graced Murray Street and Sonic Nurse. Although jim's out this time around, the rest of the gang manage to keep up the good work even though the song structures tend to be a little more on the succinct side.

rainer maria - Catastrophe Keeps Us Together: Nothing more than a re-incarnated Mary's Danish, or an edgier version of Rilo Kiley. Choose whichever you identify with more I suppose. Mind you, neither comparison is designed to be terribly flattering.