wednesday choon round up

electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls: I've had this for a while back and remember listening to it in clear creek canyon on the way back from breck one weekend, but I was exhausted and this wasn't doing the trick. I've since had it spinning away in my car all week, and I've grown rather fond of it. Essentially we have 4 british ladies plugging away at some linear kraut/prog type rock while channeling stereolab. That being said, it's a far better thing than the last couple of stereolab albums.



berg sans nipple - Along the Quai: Mellow mostly instrumental post-rock that never gets overly self-indulgent. Makes for a pleasant listen when you need a more organic sounding chill out soundtrack to your leisurely activity.



beastie boys - The Mix Up: The boys 2 men have opted for the all instrumental approach on this one, not unlike the In Sound from Way Out compilation of previous instrumental work from the Check Your Head and Ill Communication era. Laid back and groovy.



they might be giants - The Else: After 2005's kid's album, TMBG return with another disk of their usual kooky college pop rock. These songs sound great interspersed amongst other college radio fodder over the airwaves, but fall short as a compelling full-length that can be listened to in one fail swoop. Mesopotamia not Istanbul or Constantinople.



dizzee rascal - Maths & English: I never really got into his first album & EP as they were a little too angry sounding, but I figure I'd give this grime guy another shot since I saw a photo of him wearing a red sox cap. At least he's not following the lemming-like trend oh so prevalent in popular hip-hop culture to always wear stupid yankees hats, so he's got that going for him at least. From the onset of this disc he seems to have chilled out a bit channeling some quasi de la soul daisy age type musings but still with his gruffy voice and unmistakably thick accent. I tried running to this, but wound up changing it to Minus the Bear which was a bad move (see below).



minus the bear - Planet of Ice: I first heard of these guys via a remix cd that came out which was pretty cool. Their actual sound tries a little too hard and only succeeds as reminding me of how boring Jawbox was.



antelope - Reflector: Minimal, repetitive, and catchy punk rock released on Dischord so at least it has the air of being credible if nothing else. I wound up finishing off my run with this and it was my favorite of the three.