CD Reviews

Let's Wrestle | Nursing Home

Merge (2011)

By GARRETT MARTIN | June 22, 2011

3.0 Stars

Let's Wrestle are another pack of young British guitar owners, and although they haven't crafted much of an identity outside of being amiable wiseasses, that's all you need if your songs are catchy enough. This kind of noisy, overdriven, guitar-heavy pop music is hardly confined to any era, but if Nursing Home came out in '92 or '93 — during that brief window when major labels let their guards down and signed legitimately good bands in a desperate search for the next Nirvana — they would've gotten at least as much radio play as Eugenius or Teenage Fanclub. Lyrically, Nursing Home combines the intelligent snark of Art Brut and the teenage fixation of "Blue Album"–era Weezer with songs about playing computer games in the suburbs and hanging out with friends. The production from Steve Albini ensures that it's not too slick or processed. These short, humble pop songs amble along like the Wedding Present if David Gedge had a wrist injury that cut his inhuman strumming speed in half.

The Sounds | Something To Die For
The recent news that British electronic act Faithless have called it a day no doubt left dejected ravers reaching for extra MDMA to stave off the tears.
Crystal Stilts | In Love With Oblivion
Slumberland (2011)
Atari Teenage Riot | Is This Hyperreal?
Returning after 11 years of officially not existing, what's left of ATR could've focused their energies on kicking lots of ass. Instead, they indulge spoken-wordy, freshman-year non-profundities...
The Coathangers | Larceny & Old Lace
The Coathangers' abrasiveness goes beyond their band name's graphic, backroom abortion reference: riot-grrrl shrieks, slap-in-the-face lyrics, and badass post-punk energy are all up front on their records.
Elbow | Build A Rocket Boys!
With the Mercury Music Prize for 2008's The Seldom Seen Kid , Elbow took their rightful place among post-Britpop stars.
Pharoahe Monch | W.A.R.
If rap fans were willing to worship shit from this century, then W.A.R. would already be considered one of the greatest discs of all time.
Yelle | Safari Disco Club
In the four years since French electro queen Yelle released her debut, Pop Up, a gaggle of comparable female dance-pop characters — from Gaga to La Roux to Robyn — have made their way into the spotlight.
2562 | Fever
Dave Huismans must get easily bored with making music.
Foo Fighters | Wasting Light
After Nirvana, Dave Grohl could easily have spent the rest of his career hiding behind a drum kit somewhere, but instead he risked undeserved scrutiny by jumping to the mic in front of his own creation.
Panda Bear | Tomboy
Tomboy , Noah Lennox a/k/a Panda Bear's third studio album, kicks off with "You Can Count on Me," a slab of intoxicating psychedelia that's quintessentially Panda Bear, from the gorgeous choir-boy vocal harmonies (enunciated to crisp perfection) to the plentiful reverb to the uplifting, major-key message of family commitment.
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit | Here We Rest
Jason Isbell's stint as the Drive-By Truckers' third axman/singer-songwriter was brief but revelatory: dude was a veritable outta-nowhere sensation who sounded as if he'd been road-tripping in bands of that caliber for decades.
Less

Topics: CD Reviews , Music, Steve Albini, CD reviews, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
Talking Politics | March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM

[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download | March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM

See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame | March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM

See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM

ARTICLES BY GARRETT MARTIN

YO LA TENGO | FADE | January 17, 2013
Fade starts with James McNew and Ira Kaplan harmonizing on the line "sometimes the good things fade."

ALLO DARLIN' | EUROPE | April 10, 2012
It's good to hear a band grow. Like Allo Darlin's first effort, Europe is full of catchy pop songs, and Elizabeth Morris's vocals are still heart-tuggingly direct and intimate.

CEREMONY | ZOO | March 13, 2012
Ceremony aren't as intellectual or dryly hilarious as Wire and don't attempt a comparable stylistic variety, but the raucous Zoo is a fine tribute to Wire's heavier side, alternating between powerful, lumbering riffs and manic splatters of guitar noise.

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS | LOVE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA | February 28, 2012
The Magnetic Fields' last three albums all eschewed the synthesizers that typified their sound in the '90s, but Fields main man Stephin Merritt makes up for it on Love at the Bottom of the Sea, where he deploys at least 10 albums' worth of synths in a brisk 35 minutes.

GUIDED BY VOICES | LET'S GO EAT THE FACTORY | January 11, 2012
The GBV name on Let's Go Eat the Factory' s label indicates two things to those fans: this is the first record to feature the "classic" Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes line-up since 1996, and this is the first Pollard album to deserve the GBV moniker since the break-up.