Roxy Music – The Story of Roxy Music: More Than This
Eagle Records / Fontana (10/20/09)
Unrated
94 minutes

As the early ’70s saw the music world still with the taste of hippies and blues on its tongue, in waltzed Roxy Music. Fresh out of art school, Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno banded together to form the group, which is one of the most influential to come out of the U.K.

The Story Of Roxy Music: More Than This, relives the creation of Roxy in 1971, their debut album Roxy Music, and all the way to the 2006 Dock Rock London reunion performance. Roxy needs a documentary of sorts, as they are as much a visual band as they are musical. Being an initiator of the avant-garde glam-rock scene, the image they portrayed told half, while the music completed the story. More Than This, gives a glimpse into what it may have been like to see or hear Roxy for the first time.

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Foreign Cinema – Non-Synchronous Sound
Parallax Sounds (2009)
Indie rock / Shoegazer / Trip-hop

The moody beats and ghostly vocals delivered from Foreign Cinema off of their debut EP, Non-Synchronous Sound, could quickly be in heavy rotation on every indie station, and in the bedrooms of gloomy hipsters, looking for their new-millennium version of Robert Smith.

Hailing from the West Coast, the band brings a melancholy shoegazer vibe mixed with a love of foreign films. They’ve been described as having a noir sound, combining light and dark musical elements, while offering a fresh perspective on the idea of music as a tool to set a mood, and tell a story via this ethereal four-song set.

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The Gossip – Music for Men
Columbia (UK release: 6/22/09; North American digital release: 6/23/09)
Indie rock / Electro rock / Garage rock

Music For Men, the first major-label album by The Gossip, has garnered some pretty positive reviews so far. The Oregon-based DIY trio, featuring the always-charismatic Beth Ditto on vocals, have seen massive success over the years (not Rolling Stones-caliber success, but pretty fucking good for an indie band), hitting it big in the U.K., with chart-topping tunes and a litany sold-out shows and festivals. While hipsters and critics on this side of the pond have been privy to the group, I’d be remiss not to point out that The Gossip still haven’t seen more than a fraction of the success here in North America.

The Gossip is a band that I have known about since they first emerged on the scene. That said, I’ve never really given them a chance up until now, and never took to try and soak in any of their previous material.

After doing so, I can safely say that I could not wait for it to end.

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Nadja – When I See the Sun Always Shines on TV
The End Records (4/28/09)
Drone metal / Metalgaze

You know those people who always seem to find a deeper meaning in everything? (“Everything is art, and nothing is in vain!”) They started in high school by taking a photo class and listening to The Cure, and from there escalated into constantly working on their “art,” saying they are just so busy because of the new installation piece they’re working on. Which is bullshit, because it is probably just a piece of sheet metal with the word “LOVE” cut into it. Get it? Metal is hard and sharp, the opposite of love… or is it?

Anyway, those are the fucks who will enjoy this album.

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Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything to Nothing
Sony Music (4/21/09)
Indie rock / Alternative

Manchester Orchestra’s second album, Mean Everything to Nothing, is an amazing journey through the minds of the Atlanta-based quintet, who have managed to bring back the heart and soul of a good rock album—that, we all know, is way past due.

That said, this is an album that is clearly divided into two halves. The first six tracks create a chaotic mass this is extremely thick and heavy sounding, as we hear the angst and confusion in singer Andy Hull’s voice, accompanied by the hefty bass presence. But the second half feels as if a weight has been lifted, as everything seems to be lighter, almost like a feeling of acceptance, after the dust has settled following the first six tracks.

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Dynasty Electric – Burning EP
Dynasty Electric Records (4/29/09)
Rock / Electro / Psychedelic

Yet another electro-rock band has emerged from the streets of Brooklyn, with their messy hair and trend-setting apparel, as Dynasty Electric has just released their EP, Burning. Inspired by the duo’s (Jennifer DeVeau and Seth Misterka) experience at the last Burning Man festival, the band’s second release contains six bass-heavy, beat-catchy tracks that will quickly slip their way into your head, the college radio scene, the hands of DJs and probably a movie soundtrack or two before the summer is over.

Burning starts out strong with one of the stand-out tracks, “Closer to Contact”, with a groovy ’70s guitar, backed by the beat-heavy bass and drums (think Meg White). This track is undeniably one of the catchier, sure-to-be-everywhere-soon tracks. The video for “Closer to Contact” is derived from late-’60s B-movie Barbarella, involves flying naked men and spandex-clad women with unicorn horns—almost a sci-fi porn. Definitely worth checking out.

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Kate Simko – Music from The Atom Smashers
Ghostly International (4/21/09)
Electronic / Ambient

Kate Simko’s Music from The Atom Smashers was created as the soundtrack for the PBS documentary which carries the same title. The film follows physicists working at Fermilab (a government laboratory in the Chicago area, from where Simko also hails), who focus on particle physics, smashing matter together; accelerating protons and anti-protons at rates comparable to the speed of light, to discover the reason why everything has mass. As the research continues, the physicists discover that their funding is being cut, and that scientists in Europe are coming close to solving the mystery of matter. So, it becomes a race against time, and politics. Unfortunately, this is where the interesting part ends…

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