CD Reviews

Paley & Francis | Paley and Francis

Sonic Unyon (2011)

By NICK A. ZAINO III | September 7, 2011

3.0 Stars

It's tempting to listen to this Reid Paley and Black Francis collaboration and think: "If this is what they can do with just a few days of writing and recording, what could they do with more time and more production?" But that might actually miss the point. The fact that Paley and Francis wrote this album together over the course of three afternoons and then recorded it in two is part of its charm. There are no big guitars and not much percussion. What you get is two compelling performers and their songs, backed by a couple of Muscle Shoals aces, bass player David Hood (yes, Patterson's dad) and Spooner Oldham. In fact, it's Hood who makes his presence felt first, with his taut bassline on "Curse," the opening track. Francis and Paley have distinct but complementary voices. When Francis snarls, "I'll take a drink from your jugular vein," Paley's grumbling backup makes it sound downright demonic. Each sings the songs he brought to the table, a mix of blues and Americana that suits Paley's Tin Pan Alley, Tom Waits cool. Paley also has the stand-out track, "Ugly Life," a Lou Reed-like encouragement to enjoy your ugly life. As writers, Paley and Francis both understand they aren't so much celebrating their human faults as the fact that they've survived them.

Sebadoh | Bakesale [Reissue]
Generally, Lou Barlow's sad-sack lyrics and confused-young-man shtick are most potent to the young and overemotional. But compared to 1996's Harmacy , Barlow's maudlin tendencies are relatively reined in throughout Bakesale's 15 straightforward rockers.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra | Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Fat Possum is having perhaps its best year . . . well, ever. Not only will the Mississippi label turn over a new leaf by releasing the debut album from Odd Future duo MellowHype later this month, their 2011 batting average for jangly little lo-fi gems has been, to say the least, reliable.
Cymbals Eat Guitars | Lenses Alien
It's the most indie-rock-sounding thing you'll hear all year — which means, briefly, Cymbals Eat Guitars sound kinda-sorta conventional.
Dry The River | Shallow Bed
Just what the world needed: Mumford & Sons put into a blender with Fleet Foxes, served with an Arcade Fire garnish— it's like a late-aughts hipstercocktail.
Trans Am | What Day Is It Tonight? Trans Am Live, 1993 - 2008
Trans Am are distillers of guilty pleasures, mixing fat AOR riffs with sleazy electronic accents and a propulsive attitude typically reserved for arcade soundtracks. What Day Is It Tonight? covers the DC-area band’s 20-year history with high-quality, high-energy live cuts taken from their many tours.
Various Artists | Where the Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965 - 1968
More than three years in the making, the most recent installment of Rhino's legendary archival garage-rock series offers an amazingly comprehensive excavation of an absurdly fertile scene.
Various Artists | Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova 1966–1970
Girl-group records are great and everything, yet the countless compilations out there were becoming a little hit-or-miss until 2005, when the great Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found box set finally gave this diverse genre a proper taxonomy.
Various Artists | Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2010
The notion that regional musical flavors exist independently in American cities is quickly becoming an archaic truism, seeing as how the world really is a stage these days, at least in the digital sense.
Bearstronaut | Broken Handclaps
There's a distinct absence of wildlife or astronauts on Lowell electronica quartet Bearstronaut's latest release.
Local Natives | Gorilla Manor
Afropoppy, orchestral and baroque, driven by catchy three-part harmonies, Fleet Foxes/Andrew Bird–inspired, yadda-yadda-yadda.
The Big Hurt: Lightfoot lives!
Last week, the world was gripped in the terror of a GORDON LIGHTFOOT death scare when a realistic-looking Twitter obit was picked up by several Canadian papers.
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Topics: CD Reviews , Music, Reid Paley, Indie Rock, More

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PALEY & FRANCIS | PALEY AND FRANCIS | September 07, 2011
The fact that Paley and Francis wrote this album together over the course of three afternoons and then recorded it in two is part of its charm.