PUR Recap from 19 May 2009

1) Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light out today. Listen to "Shadows" and/or buy it.
Mark your calendar to check them out at the Velvet Jones in SB on June 12. Tickets are $13 here.

2) The Cool Kids played last Saturday during Xtravaganza at UCSB's Harder Stadium. While my attempt to get in to the free concert failed, there is another free opportunity to check them out in the form of their demo Gone Fishing.

3) Song of the week: White Rabbits - Rudie Fails
The new album, It's Frightening, is out today. Read a review, listen, and/or buy it.

4) Wolfmother has released a new track "Back Round" for free download (provided you give them your email address).

5) Jens Lekman at the Velvet Jones in SB on May 29. Tickets are $13.50 here.

6) Review last night's play list here.

Album Review: White Rabbits - It's Frightening

Sophomore syndrome for White Rabbits' second album, It's Frightening? Refreshingly, no. After being burned so many times in the last couple of years (Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah!; the Mystery Jets), its incredibly refreshing to hear a new band follow up their debut with something not only interesting, but well constructed. I do prefer the (happier/more poppy) debut Fort Nightly, but I can't complain. The White Rabbits have only changed the mood of the music, now quite a bit darker, but haven't lost any quality of song writing. They rely more on vocals, drums, and keyboards than Fort Nightly did which had numerous guitar focused tracks.

If there are stand out tracks, they are "Precision Gun" and "Rudie Fails." The former is the album opener and has a great beat and some pretty vocal harmonies. It builds musical tension that, rather than culminating in the song, propels the listeners attention toward the rest of the album. "Rudie Fails" (track 2; a response to the Clash?) continues this momentum and is the most poppy song on the album (I'll probably play it on the radio tonight). My favorite song, however, is "The Salesman (Tramp Life)" which starts out pretty, but with a dissonant twist after only a few seconds. It is in this song that the energy building throughout the album really comes to a head.

One last item: It's Frightening is on TBD Records, which is a subsidiary of ATO Records (Dave Matthews vanity label), which is a subsidiary of RCA Records...so this is a major label release? Very interesting, even moreso considering TBD is responsible for the U.S. release of Radiohead's famously "independent" In Rainbows. Hmm... In any case, label affiliation explains why I can't send you to the record label to buy the album, because their website links to Amazon. Grudgingly, so do I.