Green Pajamas
Poison in the Russian Room
(Hidden Agenda)
release: April 28, 2009
style: sikey delik indie rock
[rating: ***1/2] The Pajamas have had so many releases just within the last seven years, it's been a non-existent trip to hold steady on the Seattle band's silky post-hippy psychness. Finally, i found i owed it to the band that i listen to a whole damn record of theirs and well before the release date to boot. Poison, a concept album divided into two parts, is a work that can rise above any notion that the band has only been re-issuing old recordings. Yes, Green Pajamas is a very silly name for a band. Even so, describing the band as a flowerchild birthday by early Pink Floyd and the Warlocks is a high compliment. "Any Way the Wind Blows" is especially delightful. -Kenyon


www.parasol.com/labels/hiddenagenda/aha093.asp
www.myspace.com/greenpajamas

Jeniferever: Spring Tides
(Monotreme)
release: April 14, 2009
style: chill indie rock, post rock
similar: Appleseed Cast, Death Cab
[rating: ****] Spring Tides feels real. This Swedish band, who's been under the radar for a decade, delivers emotion-splitting orchestral-like works with a purpose. The atmospheric guitaring (hey, Jeniferever, i can make up words too) melt with lilting vocals that get carried away by whichever space-filling keyboard tone they're using. Something deep is going on. "Sparrow Hills," with its fragile bells/chimes, is the pinnacle of an already consuming album. Can i get a heart? Cool, here's a heart...[heart]. --Kenyon

www.myspace.com/jeniferever

Mazes: s/t (Parasol)
release: March 3, 2009
style: indie pop
similar: Great Lakes, Camera Obscura, Ivy League
[rating: ****] Up till now, Mazes--who owe a great deal to Scottish indie pop bands--was a secret band from a couple of the members of 1900s. Joined by a friend, the trio is only a few shades of green away from 1900s in the indie pop psychedelia spectrum. This project is more fragile musical and lyrically ("you give your love up/give it all up/when i lay in the darkness I doubt"). The self-titled debut is actually not so dark. The bright harmonies are fluent as they decorate the emotions of "Manual Systems" and "Things I Threw in the Well." -Kenyon

www.myspace.com/chicagomazes
http://www.parasol.com/

Frantic Clam: Anatomica EP (Exemplary)
release: February 2009
style: off the road rock
[rating: **1/2] For a band called Frantic Clam, i was expecting a lot worse. While the shrill vocals aren't gonna appeal to everyone, the Austin band does have a modest charm. The band itself actually says "we sound like tinnitus," but i wouldn't go that far, even for "Indiana," which has a melody very similar to the verses of Bowie's "Heroes." Give two of the members credit for serving time in Iraq and half a credit for this EP. -Kenyon

www.myspace.com/franticclam

Weird Owl
Ever the Silver Cord Be Loosed
(Tee Pee)
release: February 17, 2009
style: slowride psychedelia
similar: Dead Meadow, Black Mountain
[rating: ***] Tee Pee has been cranking out the mystical psychedelia, and Weird Owl is no exception. The particular style of this Brooklyn group has more of a 1970s deep classic rock influence than some of the other bands on the roster, though they do get spooky with their turtle-paced sorcery. Ever the Silver Cord is ripe with lyrical charms involving mythology and new age-type things. Whoa, i think he just said "fire breathing lions in skies." -Kenyon