Softlightes - "Say No! To Being Cool. Say Yes! To Being Happy." (2007)

73%

Say No! To Being Cool. Say Yes! To Being Happy. is the debut album of Southern California-based quartet Softlightes. Barely 34 minutes long, Say No!... is soft, cute, and doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, a nice counter to the seriousness of some indie musicians nowadays. The album primarily features a folky indie-pop sound woven with electronic elements and lovely, sweet vocals (Ron Fountenberry). The sound on the album remains fairly consistent throughout, which, depending on your tastes may or may not appeal to you. (Personally, I liked it). All in all, it's a pleasant listen, though the sugary sound might not be for everyone.

tl;dr: Solid indie folk-pop, with electronic influences.
Best tracks: Heart Made of Sound, Town Named Blue, The Robots In My Bedroom Were Playing Arena Rock, The Ballad Of Theo & June

#1. The Ballad of Theo & June
#2. Heart Made of Sound
#3. Girlkillsbear
#4. The Robots in My Bedroom were Playing Arena Rock
#5. A Town Named Blue
#6. Leanor & Me
#7. Untitled Duet #3
#8. The Microwave Song
#9. Heart Made of Sound (Reprise)
#10. If the World had Cookies
#11. Black Skinheads in White Pants
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Fair to Midland - "Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True" (2007)

90%

Fair to Midland's major-label debut is a masterpiece. This epic progressive rock quintet from Texas utilize soaring vocals and clever lyrics to wonderful effect, as is evident in their third studio album, Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True. The roaring opener "Dance of the Manatee" provides a strong canvas for the rest of the album to explore, and songs like "A Wolf Descends Upon the Spanish Sahara" and "Walls of Jericho" do so with screaming glee. These musicians have clearly been doing this for a while, and while their earlier albums seemed a bit stylistically uncertain, this album asserts itself very confidently as an epic. While the titles of the tracks and the artwork of this album may at first make it seem a bit hard to take in, its coldly organic soundscapes and catchy (but not corny) choruses soon and envelop you and convert you to the Cult of Midland.

This album is flawlessly produced and mixed, leaving plenty of room for the subtleties of the music and unique song structure to shine. The lyrics are also quite interesting, with the most striking of the bunch being the words to the chorus of the album's closing piece, "Say When," which defiantly proclaim, "The way they left us all in the dark: The buried the sun, so I carried the torch." This album is truly a "you'd have to listen to it to understand" sort of album, and I urge you to do so.

However, I did not give this album over a 90% for a reason, a reason that can only become apparent after three or four spins of the album. When someone asks me to name the track I'm humming or drumming, and it's a track off this album, I hesitate. And then I ponder. Looking back on this album in retrospect, the tracks blend together in a large lump of chunky, flowing guitars and cheesy keyboards and the names of the songs dissolve into murky cesspools of doubt in my mind. Why is this? In my opinion, it's similarity between tracks. The tendency of this band to repeat their formula just a smidge too much on a single album is apparent now, but personally, I don't think it damages the album to too great a degree.

tl;dr: A memorable (but singular-minded) progressive rock classic. Fair to Midland at their best.
NOTE: The tracks after the backslashes are interludes.

Best tracks: All of them. Like I said, very similar-sounding stuff.

-Zhaboka

01. Dance of the Manatee
02. Kyla Cries Cologne / Pre-Versa
03. Vice/Versa
04. The Wife, the Kids, and the White Picket Fence
05. April Fools and Eggmen / Ciperion
06. A Seafarer's Knot
07. A Wolf Descends Upon the Spanish Sahara
08. Walls of Jericho
09. Tall Tales Taste Like Sour Grapes
10. Upgrade^Brigade / When the Bough Breaks
11. Say When / Ozymandius
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Via Coma - "Bridges" EP (2009)

87%

The Bridges EP by Via Coma is a delightfully quick little foray into the field of experimental rock and the studio debut of Lafayette, California-based Via Coma (meaning “by way of sleep” or “to travel through sleep”). The group delivers a textural, sensual sonic experience while still managing to avoid sounding too soft or unaggressive over the course of the EP’S five tracks. The solid opener “Turn” offers the most textural sounds on the album, while “Aquanota” is a slower, more contemplative follower that provides a perfect canvas for the chilling strains of “I, The Sovereign”. “Charlotte Parker” goes through several strange rhythmic permutations that may seem a bit distracting to the song, but ends on a more tired note, allowing for the calm intro to the brilliant “Architects”, arguably the album’s strongest song. “Architects” makes good use of falsetto and repetition, features powerful lyrics, and truly makes the EP complete.

While the songs of Bridges may seem to sound similar to each other at many points, each has its own enjoyable details and its own distinctive mood, separating this album from many of the single-dimensional albums that smother the industry at present day. One could also argue that the lyrical themes and the way in which they are presented are inexcusably pretentious, and I would have to agree, but to enjoy this album, you must embrace the pretension and simply listen.

tl;dr: A short but thoroughly passionate EP from a little-known experimental rock band that deserves to get signed.

Best Tracks: “Turn”, “I, The Sovereign”, and “Architects"

-Zhaboka

1. Turn

2. Aquanota

3. I, The Sovereign

4. Charlotte Parker

5. Architects

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