Short Takes

by Pop Tarts Suck Toasted Post to Twitter

In a little less then the month you are going to be bombarded by an album called Dissolver from a band called Iran. People will try and tell you that this band is a side project of TV On the Radio’s because it includes Kyp Malone in the band and because Dave Sitek twiddled the knobs. All of this sort of makes sense, but if you delve a little deeper you will learn that Iran pre-dates TV On the Radio and that the band have already released two excellent albums that sound nothing like Dissolver. This is not to say Dissolver is a bad record, it’s just different from what they did on Iran and The Moon Boys. This record hits like a ton of bricks, with loads of reverb and noise clouding your headphones and warping your brain waves. It’s far more lyrical then the self-titled debut, but so much dirtier then what the band is about to release. I’ll speak more of Dissolver soon but for now I’d like you folks to back track and listen to some of these messy, rocking songs.
Iran - "Locked Up Tight"
Iran - "Fading Out"

Fast, driven punk has never needed to be long or dragged out and it seems that some of the new punk bands in the world are starting to remember that little nugget of truth. The new generation of punks are crafting some fantastic, muddied up 2-minute tunes that I just can’t get enough right now. Last September Lovvers released this record - Think - and I totally missed out on it! I’m making up for that now as I have been catching up on some newish bands the last few weeks and I have really come to love this! At 7-songs and just over 13-minutes long this really is the perfect length for a record like this. Dirty, lo-fi punk anthems blare out in segments never longer then 2-minutes and hit with intensity and flare. I really dig the tunes "No Romantics" and "No Fun" which are posted below for you to start enjoying.
Lovvers - "No Romantics"
Lovvers - "No Fun"

A couple of months ago Up the Empire were all over the music blogs when their drummer, Ben Lord, was arrested during the Obama victory celebrations. This of course worked out excellently for the band (though maybe not so great for Lord) because the band were releasing an EP only a month after that. I’m sure this parlayed into some added exposure and extra listens, yet somehow when I received the press release for this I didn’t pick up on it at all because I was on my little blog holiday. Shit did I miss out on an epic 4-song EP but I’m making up for it in a fast way. Loose End is a huge sounding EP that mixes the best of mainstream alternative rock (think U2 and Foo Fighters) and mixes it with some heavy indie feelings. The three original songs and one cover are all fantastic musically and showcase a band that is definitely ready to emerge as one of the best in the New York scene.
Up the Empire - "It’s Alright (For Now)"
Up the Empire - "Feel the Pain" (Dinosaur Jr. cover)