CD Reviews

Micachu & the Shapes | Jewellery

Rough Trade (2009)

By ZETH LUNDY | March 23, 2009

3.0 Stars

The brief and ebullient debut by 21-year old Mica Levy et al. is so tic-ridden and childlike, and so packed with dissonant non-chords and chirping calls of hand-clapped rhythm, you'd think a pack of kids had picked out the instruments and written the arrangements. In fact, Jewellery's regressive auditory freakout is part of its greater complexity.

Listen closely and you'll hear pastoral English twee, Carl Stalling cartoon music, bull-headed hardcore, early rock and roll, and nicks of contemporaries like Animal Collective and Hot Chip. And that's just the first track. The rest of the songs, produced by microhouse man Matthew Herbert, eagerly follow suit, like Pop Rocks in a stomach full of Coca-Cola, or caroming candy-coated pinballs.

Levy's unorthodox and, in some cases, homemade instruments strum and stutter with calculated abandon; her heavy British accent slumps itself across this glitchy bubblegum arcade and blunts it, as she sings of everything from premature scavengers and math problems to matters of the heart that need not be so intelligible.

Topics: CD Reviews , Animal Collective, Hot Chip, Matthew Herbert, More

Comments

Add a Comment

THE BEST 2009

Today's Event Picks

[MUSIC] Brian Jonestown Massacre

Plus 4 more >>

--> -->

ARTICLES BY ZETH LUNDY

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS | DARK DAYS / LIGHT YEARS | March 30, 2009
Rough Trade (2009)

MICACHU & THE SHAPES | JEWELLERY | March 23, 2009
Rough Trade (2009)

SOLO CONTENDER | March 10, 2009
A.C. Newman adjusts to the limelight on Get Guilty

ELVIS PERKINS | ELVIS PERKINS IN DEARLAND | March 03, 2009
XL (2009)

NEKO CASE | MIDDLE CYCLONE | March 02, 2009
Anti (2009)

See all articles by: ZETH LUNDY

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

THE KIDS ARE OK!
There has been much debate — public, behind closed doors, and on message boards — as to whether Boston punk does in fact rule.

SLIDESHOW: MORRISSEY AT HOUSE OF BLUES
Morrissey live at House of Blues, March 29, 2009

PHOTOS: LADY GAGA AT HOUSE OF BLUES
Lady GaGa live at the House of Blues with Chester French, March 30, 2009

DIANA KRALL | QUIET NIGHTS
Jazz as the language of love is the theme of this hitmaker's 12th album, an achingly pretty tribute to the spirit, pace, and sound of the bossa nova.

THE BIG HURT: HOOTIE GOES COUNTRY, ROSES STAY IN DENIAL, SPECTOR GETS 'DEMONIC'
I’m still not used to the idea that Darius Rucker (“Hootie” to you and me) is a chart-topping country superstar now.

CATHOLIC TILT
If, sometime in the next few decades, humanity kicks the religion habit once and for all, the current crop of atheist agitators will deserve plenty of credit.

FIRING BACK
"Yogurt is the official food of women." Or so enthuses TV writer Sarah Haskins in her sarcastic three-minute video "Target Women: Yogurt Edition."

THE KIDS ARE OK!
There has been much debate — public, behind closed doors, and on message boards — as to whether Boston punk does in fact rule.

PINK RIDES PROVIDENCE, PEDDLING A PLAN FOR A BIKE-SHARING PROGRAM
Pink Rides Providence , a bike-sharing program born out of two RISD juniors' desire to share the joys of cycling with their fellow students, is scaling up.