Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted

This weekend, with my schedule cleared, and time on my hands to indulge my whims, I decided to carry out an experiment. That is, I chose to listen to nothing but Pavement. No real reason, really, it's just that though I've always liked Pavement, I don't feel like I 've listened to them enough to fully appreciate them.

I suppose there was a danger that forcing myself to listen to one band solidly for two days would make me sick of them, and that might be the case with a duller band, but not Pavement.

One thing I love about Pavement is the quality of their deluxe reissues. 3 (soon to be 4) of their 5 studio albums have been re-released with a ridiculous load of extra b-sides / session tracks and live recordings. Each release has 40+ songs on.

After this weekend, I think Slanted and Enchanted is my favourite Pavement album. It's the perfect distillation of their scuzzy slacker pop. Though they kept the quality high throughout their run as a band, I don't think they ever managed to top this. The 'Luxe and Reduxe' package has some amazing extra off-cuts too, including a fantastic alternate version of 'Here' and a great live recording from Brixton.

Limiting myself to one band this weekend turned out pretty great, so I'm going to have a go at it again at some point. Suggestions are welcome as to who. They'll need to have enough material to sustain me for a whole weekend, mind...!

Download:

Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted (Luxe and Reduxe) Disc 1

Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted (Luxe and Reduxe) Disc 2

Deerhunter - Cryptograms

At the minute, you can't move in the music press for people raving about Deerhunter, largely as a result of their mind-bogglingly good newie Microcastle.

However, what first brought Bradford Cox and his mates to my attention was their second record, Cryptograms. This is a two-headed beast of an album, equal parts dreamy ambience and murky guitar pop. In a nutshell, it's a fantastic piece of work, the classic example of a real grower.

Bradford is the hardest working musician I'm aware of. He knocks out Deerhunter albums for fun (Microcastle came with a free surprise bonus album), releasing solo material under his solo moniker Atlas Sound, as well as giving away all manner of free songs on his blog. More amazingly, the quality rarely dips.

If you haven't yet discovered this man's work, you have a rich seam to mine. And I'm a bit jealous to be honest. So why not start at the same place I did, by downloading Cryptograms?

Download: Deerhunter - Cryptograms

The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow

When we talk about American bands, indie seems to represent a different thing than it does in the UK. American indie bands tend to consist of geeky blokes with bad clothes and a sharp sense of a pop hook. Over here, indie has become something of a dirty word. It seems to be more about painfully fashionable kids in too-tight jeans with absolutely dreadful hair chugging out bland, lazy and forgettable dirges. I think the Americans have got it right on this one.

Look no further than The Shins for an example. I would suggest that they are the archetypal American Indie band. Their second album, Chutes Too Narrow is, in my opinion, their defining record. (Others would disagree, and say their debut O, Inverted World is their best. This is a good sign - No one album wonders, this lot).

At the risk of peddling an over-used phrase, this record really is PERFECT POP. James Mercer and co drift their way through half an hour of quirky melodic songs whose sunniness masks some occasionally dark lyrics ('And secretly I want to bury in the yard, the grey remains of a friendship scarred')

There are odd whispers (and occasional full-throated screams) of the Beach Boys in the harmonies, and Turn a Square is not far short of a full-scale hoe-down. Quite frankly, if you only ever download one album from me, then this must be it. Do it now!

Download: The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow

Parenthetical Girls - Safe as Houses

Parenthetical Girls are a screwy bunch of popsters from Portland, Oregon. They first came to my attention when I saw Gareth from Los Campesinos! (Currently my favourite band in the world), mention them as being one of his favourites. Singer Zac Pennington also contributed a piece to the fanzine Los Camps gave away with their recent album, We are Beautiful, We are Doomed.

Safe as Houses is their second album. On first listen, it's an interesting piece of xylophone-laden experimental pop, distinguished by Zac's none-less-masculine vocals. Delve further into the record, and the songs embed themselves into your consciousness. It's not long before it becomes apparent that the record has a number of central themes at its core throughout; Sex, gender and reproduction.

From here, what sounds on the face of it to be a pretty piece of work has a slightly grubbier feel to it. And it's all the better for it. This gives it more depth, and means I will be far likelier to continue to come back to it in the future. Download it and let me know what you think.

Download: Parenthetical Girls - Safe as Houses

Mew - ...and the Glass-Handed Kites

Mentioning Mew in the Kissaway Trail post last week got me all nostalgic for them. It feels like a long time since they released their last album, Mew and the Glass-Handed Kites, the second to be released over here (after Frengers, which was a kind of mini best-of, pulling together the highlights from their first two albums).

The album is, quite simply, nuts. It's the sort of record that not many people try to pull off any more, segueing seamlessly from track to track so it's almost like one long piece of music right through. I love the ambition of it, in that respect it's like one of my favourite records, Mansun's Six.

In spite of it's proggy leanings, it's extremely listenable. There are even some fairly poppy sections on the album (Special for example). It's peppered with gorgeous, spine tingling moments as well, where Jonas Bjerre's voice, which has to be heard to be believed can soar to incredible heights.

To fully appreciate how special Mew are, you need to see them live. They always make the show a feast for eyes as well as ears with their film projections. Hopefully when they get their next album out, they'll make it back over to Blighty, but in the meantime download this album and let the gorgeous insanity wash over you.

Download: Mew - Mew and the Glass-Handed Kites

The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart

When I was on my Uni placement year in France, I was pretty starved of new music, so I started a habit that would go on to serve me well over the years to come, buying an album by a band I had heard of but never actually heard.

The first of what now amounts to dozens of this type of purchase was Logic Will Break Your Heart by The Stills. On first listen, it seemed like a pretty bleak piece of work (pretty ideal for someone who was hundreds of miles from home, actually!)

After a while though, something else starts to come through in the album. It's not exactly humour per se, but there's a sense that the dark mood around the record (largely wrought by a combination of Tim's brooding vocals and the Interpol-esque basslines) is masking a band who don't take themselves too seriously, in spite of all their talk of 'Massive suicide dreams'. Don't get me wrong, they're not We Are Scientists or anything like that, but I get the impression they aren't quite the miserabilists they might appear.

That The Stills' subsequent releases haven't yet quite managed to re-attain the heights of this record isn't really a surprise, because they set themselves a pretty high watermark here. In fact, they set a lot of people a high watermark, because Logic Will Break Your Heart is the benchmark for jangly guitar bands with menacing undertones.

Download: The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart

Brakes - Give Blood

Brakes were originally a knockabout side project for various Brighton musicians (most notably Tom and Alex White of The Electric Soft Parade and Eamon Hamilton of British Sea Power, though technically the band formed before Eamon joined BSP).

However, on the back of their first singles and the album Give Blood, the momentum of the band gathered fairly swiftly, eventually forcing Eamon to leave his day job, and Tom and Alex to put ESP a little to one side for a while.

The record is a short sharp blast of quirky pop. Some songs don't even make it past the 10 second mark. It is often silly, sometimes even nonsensical, but always a lot of fun. The pivotal track is All Nite Disco Party which fits all the above criteria and lobs in a hypnotic bass riff for good measure.

Brakes' slight country leanings are hinted at with their cover of Jackson (most famously recorded by Johnny Cash and June Carter). This is an avenue which would be explored further on If I Should Die Tonight on their second long-player The Beatific Visions.

Give Blood is such an enjoyable album, and remains so on repeat listens because they keep it nice and short. Brakes slap you round the head with their daftness and make their escape before you have time to get sick of them.

Download: Brakes - Give Blood

The Kissaway Trail - The Kissaway Trail

The Kissaway Trail appeared in my world about a year back when someone put Smother + Evil = Hurt on a mix CD for me. I snapped up their debut album pretty much straight after, and I've had a mega soft spot for it ever since.

It would be unfair to really compare them with their countrymen Mew because they aren't really doing the same things, but what the two Danish bands do have in common is a wide-eyed, dream-like quality to their music.

There's a sense of Arcade Fire at times on their album (particularly on the more upbeat songs like La La Song) - all handclaps and group choruses. There are some pretty lovely moments on the record, made all the more tender by the vocals.

The Kissaway Trail is an album to warm you up on these cold winter mornings.

Download: The Kissaway Trail - The Kissaway Trail

The Besnard Lakes - ...Are the Dark Horse

Today's post is one of my favourite albums of last year. The Besnard Lakes are another fantastic band from Canada, and The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse is their second record.

It's an incredible piece of work. Like so many bands, they are often cited as being influenced by the Beach Boys. This is mainly because they make use of the harmonies and falsetto vocals Brian Wilson employed. Let's make it clear, sun-drenched pop this ain't. One look at the song titles tells you that (Disaster, Devastation etc).

The album is at it's best when the layers of sound pile up, particularly on the aforementioned Devastation. It's probably not an album you're likely to listen to every single day, but it's a rewarding listen which should definitely be in any serious music fan's collection.

Download: The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse

The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site

Okay then, I've decided to go for a different approach on here. From here on in, I intend to update more often, and rather than being such a tease by posting one song or so, I'm going to upload a full album at a time. However, the principle remains the same: These albums will be here to provide you with a taster of an artist. I'm sure you realise that buying a CD is so much more satisfying than just having some cold MP3s on your hard drive. You can't hug a download. If any artists / labels take exception to an upload, drop me a line at easyworldpaul at hotmail dot com and I'll happily take it down.

So I don't really have a grand plan for what to upload, I'm just going to be sticking up whatever takes my fancy. I'll more than likely be uploading something that's new to me, be it a lost classic or a hot newie. And in that spirit, my first offering is Reconstruction Site by The Weakerthans.

Coming onto the scene at the arse-end of slacker-pop, they're more Death Cab than Pavement. This is a record of smart, sunny American (well, Canadian to be accurate) Indie. Songs

like Benediction show warmth and bring to mind Colin Meloy in his less bombastic moments, while at other times they recall Weezer in their better days.

You can't escape the fact that The Weakerthans' marketplace is an overcrowded one, but there's more than enough playfulness and experimentation here to keep your interest and ensure you'll keep coming back to the record long after you're bored with Plans.

Download: The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site