Jesus. It’s been so long since I’ve been to a show I had to look up my own header format. Not cool.

For those of you who missed it, I experimented with Twitter at this show. Not a resounding success, because the show kept distracting me from sending updates, but I was pretty diligent through the first half of The Birthday Massacre’s set. This was my first trip to the Wiltern in a while, so there will be a new venue review over on the Venues page.

Yes, so, uh…show. This was almost the geekiest crowd I’ve ever been in, which I found a bit surprising (the geekiest was for a Jonathan Coulton show). The crowd was adorned in WoW shirts and making LOLcat jokes. The geeks were outnumbered, but only just, by the highly theatrical, costumed fans.

I have to admit, this isn’t something I’ve ever understood. I actually danced ballet for seven years as a kid, and I have to tell you - tutus and leotards are not comfortable. In fact, they could double as torture devices. Why you would wear one voluntarily, even ironically, is beyond me. Likewise platforms, stilettos, or shoes that do other odd things to your feet. You’re going to be standing for eight hours, darlings, wear flats.

As advertised, the show started with London After Midnight, and wow are these guys goth. I mean, wow. I haven’t seen that level of goth since I was in high school. Admittedly, it’s not my scene so I might have lost touch a bit, but wow. Long dyed hair, s/M gear, super-anorexic - seriously guys, eat something.

This set caught the crowd off-guard. For all their vampire-chic style London After Midnight is old-school-punk political. The sound may be high-goth, but the lyrics are anti-establishment. The set started with “Your Best Nightmare,” which was when I noticed the screen behind them. At first I thought it was running the music video, which wouldn’t have been a bad strategy, because for a seasoned band, London After Midnight is a bit dull on stage. No movement, not a lot of audience interaction, a ton of sampled music (I hate it when bands do that). The screen flashed lyrics (a bit odd - if the audience doesn’t already know the song, you’re not going to con them into singing with this trick), and your standard goth-horror music video images.

And then we moved into more political songs, and that screen became an amazing prop. The band played a song off their new album, “America’s A Fucking Disease,” and while they played the screen flashed statistics and images of American overseas interventions. For the most part, the information running served to mitigate the song’s lyrics - which were a bit over the top even for me, and they don’t make them more cynically liberal.

The statistics proved that the band had put a bit more thought into the song than taking the measure of American youth and writing a song to pander to their sense of disillusionment. They may have misjudged their audience a bit, though, because at one point the screen flashed, in quick succession, an image of Nazi soldiers goose-stepping, an image of the United States Marine Corps performing full-dress drills, and a series of images of the National Guard breaking up protests. (I have hunted in vain for a video of this - if someone has one please email me a link. You really need to see it understand.) The general reaction wasn’t at all positive, and if that didn’t play well in Los Angeles, I’d hate to see the rest of the country’s reaction. The analogy was a bit of a misstep, because I think the audience was generally with them up to that point.

Next we had The Birthday Massacre. I discovered this band when I saw they were on tour with Mindless Self Indulgence, and they quickly became a bigger favorite for me than MSI. I was a bit worried, though, that they wouldn’t be particularly effective live. Their sound is very constructed - and my favorite live acts tend toward simple music that can easily be reproduced on stage.

I shouldn’t have worried. First, The Birthday Massacre has six members, which gives them a bit of flexibility, and second, their show is so dynamic that you don’t notice the sampling quite as much. Chibi, the lead singer, is wonderfully engaged with the audience. She plays with the audience - calling for heart signs and sing-alongs, playing with the things fans throw up on stage, even putting on one of the gloves someone tossed up there. The band stuck to their faster songs and tracks off Walking With Strangers and was generally awesome.

Finally, Mindless Self Indulgence took the stage. If you haven’t seen this band live, you’re missing out. The energy they put into their albums is only a fraction of the live performances. MSI is easily the most playful band I’ve ever seen on stage. Jimmy, the lead, sings and talks and insults the audience in equal measures. The band stuck to fan favorites and songs off If, the new album.

I had thought that MSI wouldn’t be a sing-along band. The songs are fairly frantic and they frequently refer to the fact that their lyrics aren’t meant to be taken seriously, but the pit was word-perfect on even the most complex songs (even I know the lyrics to “Stupid Motherfucker”).

I could catalog Jimmy’s antics on stage, but retellings wouldn’t do the set justice. Where it’s fun and noteworthy when a lead singer steals a magic wand from a fan and runs around bashing his band members and the audience with it in any other band, that’s standard-issue MSI. It would be shocking for any other lead singer to allow the audience to strip and redress him (and that was a bit of shock even for MSI), it wasn’t really a surprise.

Even if this isn’t your favorite style of music, you need to see MSI live. For serious. I’m not even a real fan of the style, but I will definitely be back in the audience next time they’re in town. You’ll never get a better show.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• Rejects United, Boyhood Survival Kit
• Spiraling, Time Travel Made Easy

I’m kind of behind on this whole Web 2.0 social thingy, mostly because I’m bad at keeping up with the friends I have, I do not need a whole slew of internet friends to ignore. However, a friend of mine has convinced me to sign up for a Twitter account (that’s where the mini-updates in the sidebar come from) and I’m kind of enjoying it.

I will be Twittering the MSI show at The Wiltern tonight - I take notes on my phone anyway, so I might as well publish them, right? If you’re interested in seeing what’s going on as it happens, you can subscribe to the RSS feed over there in the sidebar, or if you’re on Twitter, you can follow me by searching for Aeirlys.

Every month, I go on these massive download sprees and somehow end up with a ton of EPs. I’m not quite sure how that happens, because I do my best to limit it to 2 or 3. All those EPs get dumped into a massive playlist and mostly ignored while I hunt for albums to review for this site.

But, every once in a while a song will come up on shuffle and I’ll think, “That’s it. That’s the next album I’m going to review. My work for today is done.” I’ll get all excited and flip over to the album and find out…it’s an EP. And as much as I love EPs, it’s hard to do a full feature on them. So far, only 2 have made the cut.

Today though, I’m calling out 5 EPs that I love because they’re awesome, and hate because they’re short. If you’re in one of these bands, stop reading and go make a full album. Right now.

Aces High, Aces High

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/aceshighca
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Aces High is a Southern California band (yay!) with an eponymous (boo!) EP. Their sound is solid classic rock. The music is high-energy and grounded in truly amazing guitar work. The vocals are melodic and delivered with conviction, but you get the feeling that the band’s focus is elsewhere.

Standout track is “Shattered.”

A Big Yes and a small no, Jesus That Looks Terrible On You

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/abigyesandasmallno
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

An EP with a name this tongue-in-cheek can only be from a Brooklyn band. A Big Yes And A Small No (I’m sorry, I cannot play your silly capitalization game. I was an English major and my head will explode.) credits 9 members on their website, and I believe it, because this EP has some of the most complex instrumentation I’ve ever heard. Having grown up in California in the 90s, I’m inclined to invoke some ska roots for them, but think there’s just as many big band/jazz influences in here as ska. Their sound is solid indie-ironic pop embroidered with keys and brass.

Standout track is “What A Fucking Mess This Turned Out To Be.”

House & Parish, One, One Thousand

• Artist website: houseandparish.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/houseandparish
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

House & Parish is a four-piece band out of Brooklyn that plays melodic, guitar-based indie-rock. One, One Thousand has a lush, relaxed feel to it. The lyrics are intelligent and delivered in an almost conversational style that focuses on simple sing-along melodies. My favorite track on the album is “This Curse,” but you can get “Summer Programme” for free at their website, so you might want to start there.

Mercy Mercedes, Casio Rodeo

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/mercymercedes
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

I discovered Mercy Mercedes by accident when someone handed me a flyer for them while I was in line for a show a while back. Generally, I don’t like this particular marketing technique. It’s not creative, it’s not entertaining, and it fills my car with little photocopied handbills for bands I probably won’t like. But back in February, readers will remember, I got the flu from hell and had some time on my hands so I went online and hunted down some of the bands I’d gotten flyers for. And Mercy Mercedes was too good to pass up.

Mercy Mercedes plays fluffy, dance rock that’s perfect for driving too fast on PCH. Casio Rodeo incorporates a fair amount of electronic influences without quite crossing the line into full new wave nonsense. The sound is high-energy and full of hooky, sing-along choruses.

Standout track is “Get It Darlin’.”

The Morning Light, The Sounds Of Love

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/themorninglight
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Sometimes, a girl needs to listen to something unashamedly sentimental. The Sounds Of Loveby The Morning Light is perfect for those days. The Morning Light plays piano based emo-pop that is captivating, and wonderfully undemanding, which is not to say that the EP is all slow-dance ballads. With a single exception, The Sounds Of Love is comprised of mid to high-tempo songs that stop just short of dance pop. The focus of the EP is on the lyrics instead of the beat, though, and especially the tight vocal interplay between the two vocalists.

Standout track is “The Love.”

• Artist website: wearebarcelona.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/wearebarcelona
• Available on: eMusic

Barcelona is a four-piece band out of Washington. I stumbled across Absolutes after downloading Safety Songs by Brian Fennell. After writing a solo album, Fennell put a band together for a tour, which evolved into Barcelona and built Absolutes off the foundation laid in Safety Songs.

Absolutes includes three songs originally recorded on Safety Songs, “Colors,” “Numb” and “Response,” which is a reviewer’s dream. Barcelona’s debut album sticks to the piano based indie style on Fennell’s Safety Songs, but the sound on Absolutes is much more developed. The three duplicated songs have transferred over to Absolutes without dramatic change, and while they fit nicely along side the new material, they lack the lush instrumentation of the original material on Absolutes.

Barcelona includes Brian Eichelberger, a self-taught bassist and classically trained violinist, and lord knows I love a string section. Absolutes pays off on the “classically trained violinist” tease on “Get Up, Get Up, Get Up” and “Please Don’t Go” (the latter will break your heart). Still, I have my fingers crossed for a bigger showing on the follow-up.

Standout tracks are “It’s About Time”, “First Floor People” and “Please Don’t Go.”

Side note, I don’t often recommend band blogs because they tend to come in one of two varieties - super insidery or overblown tour updates. However, while you’re checking out Barcelona’s site, make sure you read their blog, especially the obituary for Ronald.

• Artist website: www.rejectsunited.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/rejectsunited
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Rejects United are a four-piece band from Portugal (who knew?) that play punk-influenced rock of the louder-faster-harder variety. Boyhood Survival Kit is their first album and it is equal parts classic rock and old school punk. The album is ambitious, invoking 30 years of music history over 14 tracks as well as mixing in modern styles.

Considering the range of influences on Boyhood Survival Kit, it’s a surprisingly cohesive album. It has the intensity of an old-fashioned punk album, but is moderated with a strong melodic sensibility. The result is a high-energy, complex sound that doesn’t sacrifice big, sing-along melodies. The vocals take center-stage for most of the album and are delivered with deceptive precision. The melodies are simple enough to allow for fairly direct vocals that emphasize intensity over technique on most the songs, but when the band slows down a bit the vocals show remarkable range. The lyrics occasionally stray into theatricality (”Mr. Adams Love Proposal”), but the most over the top songs have an ironic tone that undercuts the overblown metaphors. The instrumental work is solid and tightly delivered, straying into remarkable on several songs (”Learning Through Mutilation”). I’m the wrong person to go to for percussion or guitar critiques, but beyond being awesome, some of this stuff sounds pretty hard to deliver.

Standout tracks are “Dead In The Head,” “Learning Through Mutilation” and “Compulsive Denier.”

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Spiraling, Time Travel Made Easy (Now with a blog. Check them out.)
• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• Forcefield ON, Llipspill

• Artist website: www.thepanicdivision.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thepanicdivision
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

The Panic Division is a four piece band out of San Antonio. Songs From The Glasshouse is their second album, and it caught my attention because at first glance I thought it might be a live album recorded at The Glass House in Pomona. Which is why you shouldn’t buy things based on their titles. Someday I’m going to learn that.

Songs From The Glasshouseis a lush, synthtastic composition that is equal parts 80s pop revival and old-fashioned guitar rock. The lyrics and electronic elements draw heavily on the most cringe-worthy parts of 80s pop, which sounds like a bad thing. But The Panic Division has somehow managed to draw out the pieces of that sound and combine them with truly stellar guitar rock to create a sound that is neither retro nor really modern. Everything about this album is big. The sound is complex, the lyrics deal in metaphors of epic scale, and the vocals are delivered with so much conviction that it’s easy to overlook just how potentially awful the lyrics are. It requires a special kind of singer to take a lyric as cheesetasic as “take these broken wings and learn to fly again, learn to live so free” (”Broken Wings”) and deliver it in such a way that you can sing along and not feel like a complete tool.

Standout tracks are “Big Day,” “The Pieces That Mattered” and “Broken Wings”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/thecasuallean
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Swears is the first album from Massachusettes five-piece band The Casual Lean, and it’s a raucous, swaggering piece of work. The album has the same ironic tone as Ghosts from The Gay Blades, but rather than TGB’s almost acoustic feel, The Casual Lean’s sound is complex and almost lush at times.

Swears opens with “The Bride,” a song that invokes every indie-rock tradition in the book and still manages to be awesomely original. The Casual Lean’s strongest asset is their storytelling ability, and even on songs where they may not be telling their own stories they deliver enough intensity that Swears feels personal. The lyrics are delivered with conviction and range, stacatto bursts on “The Bride” and a melodic croon on “The Deer.” Swears meanders a bit as the band plays with different styles and sounds, but is a remarkably cohesive piece. Lyrics and music both are delivered with enough conviction and pure ability to carry the core of the sound through the band’s experiments.

Standout tracks are “Third Degree Burns,” “The Blackout” and “The Deer.”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/tobythefugitive
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Toby The Fugitive is a four piece band out of Clarksville, Tennessee that has neither a Toby nor a fugitive, but does have a whole lot of awesome. Although the band draws heavily on pop-punk tropes, the end product is a highly stylized rock album that has been stripped of most of the overwhelming sentimentality that has defined pop-punk lately.

On first listen, it would be easy to ignore the truly outstanding musical work and focus almost entirely on Casey Carstens’ vocals. The opening track, “Lab Rat,” is delivered with so much intensity the lyrics are almost incomprehensible. On the rest of the album Carstens dials it back a bit, but even on Proxima Distort’s slowest song (”Demi Moore”) the vocals emphasize style and intensity over melodic conventions. The album is split by the title track, “Proxima Distort,” an instrumental piece a bit too long and way too aggressive to be a called an interlude. The song gives the rest of the band a chance to take over for a bit and show off. I’m the wrong person to really analyze guitar and percussion work, but the sound is definitely bigger than a band this size has any right to. Despite the album’s stripped down feel, the arrangements are quite complex.

Standout tracks are “Burning Bridges,” “Description Of Sadness” and “Demi Moore.”

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/ghostbuffalo
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Ghost Buffalo is a four-piece band out of Denver. The line-up on The Magician is their second incarnation - the band is anchored by Matt Belinger, formerly of Planes Mistaken For Stars, and vocalist Marie Litton but drummer Jed Kopp and bassist Ben Williams are new additions.

The Magician is Ghost Buffalo’s second album. It has a distinctly 90s-circa-Smashing Pumpkins retro feel to it (christ, are the late 90s already retro? I feel old.). The album hangs on the vocals, delivered in a smoky alt-country style. The pace is on the mellow side, but even on the faster songs where you can really hear the band’s punk influences (”The Latest Wonder”), Marie’s vocals keep the tone of the album relaxed. Musically, the album is very much country influenced guitar rock with bits and pieces of punk thrown in to shake things up. The Magician manages to be coherent without becoming ten versions of the same song, despite the almost constant mid-tempo pacing.

Standout tracks are “The Latest Wonder,” “Fire Walk With Me” and “Just A Thought.”

I go away, I come back, and you have a whole new set of favorites. This week’s most viewed albums are:

• HTR, Let It Die
• Forcefield ON, Llipspill
• Spiraling, Time Travel Made Easy

• Artist website: www.holytrinityriver.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/htr
• Available on: CD Baby, iTunes, previous EP on eMusic

HTR (Holy Trinity River, I’m a bit confused about whether they use the initials or the whole name) is a three-piece band out of Brooklyn, via Texas, and boy does it show. Let It Die is their second EP and it is stripped down and country-fried guitar rock. HTR channels the same alt-country influences The Honorary Title or The Meadows, but Let It Die foregoes the emphasis on pop melodies and really digs into the blues roots of rock music. The result is gritty, no-frills rock that would be just as at home in a backwoods bar fifty years ago as it is in Brooklyn today.

Standout track is “The Shaker.”

• Artist website: www.futurekingsandqueens.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/futurekingsandqueens
• Available on: Amazon MP3, CD Baby, eMusic

The Day The World Died was made by one guy named Dickie in his “home environment,” a story that I don’t doubt, but which seems ridiculously implausible given how awesome this album is. And it is freaking awesome. The sound is solidly electro-pop and comes in somewhere between She Wants Revenge moody and Blaqk Audio frenetic. The Day The World Died is definitely heavy on synth elements, which are executed beautifully and would be more than enough to make this album crazy good. Dickie has included enough moments of old-fashioned musicianship, like the retro piano elements in “I Hate You,” to give the album depth and credibility that would otherwise be lacking.

The Day The World Died has incredible range. The songs are all grounded in techno-pop, but each is shaded with enough unique influences to prevent the album from becoming the soundtrack to a 90s rave. “The End That Never Comes” soars like an 80’s theme song without the 80s cheestastic lyrics (although it comes pretty close). “The Day The World Died” is moodily atmospheric with an almost choral quality.

Dude’s also from Los Angeles. Point for the locals.

Standout tracks are “Race The Devil,” “I Hate You” and “The Day The World Died.”

Two things:

• It is awesome to be back. Thanks for sticking around through the hiatus. I promise not to do that again any time soon.
• The Gay Blades are participating in the New York AIDS Walk, a fundraiser for AIDS research and education. If you’re in New York, go participate yourself. If you’re not, you can still help out by donating at the website below. If more artists did this stuff the world would be a better place. Donations are tax deductible.
  aidswalknewyork2008.kintera.org/gayblades

Thanks.

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/girlonfiremusic
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic, Snocap via Myspace

Girl On Fire is a five piece band out of Seattle - a wonderfully dreary town where it really does rain as much as they say. The look and sound of the bands coming out of the Pacific Northwest have changed since the death of the grunge movement, but the tone hasn’t. You don’t really expect sunshine pop from a town where it rains almost every day, and you certainly don’t get it.

Girl On Fire plays wonderfully theatrical screamy rock. Their sound is similar to Chiodos or Pierce The Veil, but Girl On Fire is a little less polished and a little more accessible than either. The screaming is balanced with enough melody to make the songs catchy, and while the pace is a bit too frenetic on most numbers for true sing-along choruses, the energy gives the album enough momentum to prevent it from sliding into a caricature of the horror-rock genre. The vocals are earnest and what they lack in pure ability is more than made up for in intensity. For the most part, Nowhere and Everywhere relies on loud, relentless guitars to carry the sound and keep the album moving.

Standout tracks are “This Was All Your Fault,” “This Last Dance” and “Through The Ivy Lies A Broken Promise.”

• Artist website: www.forcefieldon.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/forcefieldon
• Available on: Amazon MP3, CD Baby, eMusic

I always like it when a band member is credited as playing “etc.” It generally means two things. First, that the band is young and probably wrote the copy themselves without the benefit/annoyance of working with a copy editor. Second, that I don’t have to pretend to understand what’s going on, because they’re not telling anyway.

Forcefield ON is a Long Beach outfit that credits six band members playing everything from the guitar to the french horn (I’m pretty sure that’s a french horn). Llipspill sounds like a bunch of ska fans decided to make a pop album. The opening number, “You’ve Been Had, Part A” has enough piano in it to give it more of a big band feel, but Llipspill’s most prominent instruments are definitely horns and guitars. The album as a relaxed feel to it, and Jesse Wilder’s vocals have a mellow tinge that allow them to slip into the background when the instruments really take over. The lyrics have an intimate, jazz lounge feel to them, and are just a bit too constructed to be truly conversational.

Standout tracks are “Adios Victrolas,” “Quality” and “Mental Notes.”

If anyone out there was still wondering, yes, this blog will come back at some point. A close relative of mine was admitted to the hospital a while back and until that situation is resolved, I’ll be on hiatus. It’s like the writer’s strike, only no one gets paid. I hope to be back in time for the Warped tour.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Colour Revolt, Plunder, Beg, and Curse. This album is now officially out at Amazon, so if you were waiting for it to be available somewhere other than eMusic, now’s your chance.
• The Gay Blades, Ghosts. Returning to this list in second place after a one week hiatus - I’m glad the buzz around them is still strong. I did actually make it to their show a few weeks ago, but since there were only about 12 of us there I’m not writing it up. If you get the chance to see them live you need to go.
• Lorene Drive, Out Alive.

Well hello there darlings. Did you miss me while I was gone? I won’t be posting album reviews this week. Instead, starting tomorrow I’ll be posting show reviews for the bands I saw play Bamboozle Left over the weekend. Today I need to figure out what went on in my boring non-music, non-bloggy life while I was away. I think I’ll also do some mini reviews of some of the EPs I’ve got kicking around.

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Colour Revolt, Plunder, Beg, and Curse. Yay for new bands on this list!
• Portman, From Here To Your Eyes And Ears. Two new bands in one week, it’s a record.
• Lorene Drive, Out Alive. Lorene Drive has topped this list for five weeks, and been on it seven. They’ve been gone on tour forever, but they’ll be back in May, at the Knitting Factory and Chain Reaction.

It’s going to be quiet around here next week. I’ll be out of town on a full-blown non-bloggy vacation. I’ll make it up to you, though. Bamboozle Left is next weekend and I imagine I’ll be writing about that one for a while. You can view the full line-up here, schedules go up on Monday.

Who should I make a point not to miss? A bazillion bands are playing this show and I’m familiar with a lot of them, but not all. Who plays a must-see set?

MCR, obviously. Play something off Bullets for me, guys. It’s been forever.

Jimmy, of course. (Jimmy’s riding on banked goodwill - the last time I saw them they played like they were on Valium. Step it up, guys. You’re not off the hook just because you defined the genre.)

But who else? Charlotte Sometimes has been on my radar for a while, but I haven’t really investigated yet. Same goes for Automatic Loveletter.

I’m a huge AFI fan, but never really got all that interested in Blaqk Audio. Anyone seen them live? Any good? If I’ve been an AFI fan since Black Sails will I be disappointed?

Breathe Carolina fans (and there are a lot of you out there), this is your chance to tell me how wrong I am about them, again. I might wander by - maybe they’re an acquired taste.

I’ve been mildly obsessed with Foxy Shazam and Zox for weeks, so expect posts about their sets, schedules willing.

Take The Crown is a name that’s been popping up around here for a while (I think they’re localish). Any good?

Did I miss someone? I tried to hunt a lot of these bands down on eMusic and Myspace, but I won’t get around to all of them. Who’s worth paying attention to? More important, who do you want to read about?

• Listen at: www.myspace.com/theloyalty
• Available on: Myspace via Snocap, eMusic

The Loyalty is a four-piece band out of Saratoga Springs, New York. The Loyalty is their debut album. This is off-topic but, for the record, I hate self-titled albums. Writing about them either turns the writer into a pompous ass or the review into a game of Who’s On First.

The Loyalty play seriously melodic guitar pop. Their eponymous album doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but does deliver a collection of catchy mid-tempo anthems and ballads that are made for audience sing-alongs. The album is driven by Travis Gray’s simple, but spot-on, vocal delivery. Lyrically, The Loyalty is personal without being intimate and while at times the lyrics skirt around the edges of cloying sap (”11:11″) they never descend far enough into cliche to quite get there.

Standout tracks are “Coming Clean, ” “Deny” and “Try to Forget.”

• Artist website: www.colourrevolt.com
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/colourrevolt
• Available on: Amazon MP3 (Avail. 4/1/200 , eMusic

Yesterday I wrote about a British group who sounds like they’re from the Midwest. Today I’ve got US band who thinks they’re from the UK. Or at least spells like it. Colour Revolt is a five-piece band out of Oxford, Mississippi. The eccentric spelling came about because the band took the name from Edwin Abbott’s Flatland, a social satire of Victorian England. This is now officially my favorite back-story for the naming of a band.

Plunder, Beg, and Curse is the first full-length album from Colour Revolt, following their decidedly excellent self-titled EP. The band writes bluesy indie-rock and Plunder, Beg, and Curse has the same laid back, low fidelity feel to it as the best Delta blues music. The sound is heavy on guitars and gravelly, crooning vocals. Colour Revolt band cranks up the intensity a bit on a few songs (”Swamp”), but the album is at its best on the slower numbers. The lyrics are intelligent (you’d expect that from a band whose name comes from a 19th century satire), relatively accessible, and focus on larger themes. Lead singer Jesse Coppenbarger’s delivery is wonderfully nuanced and equally convincing when channeling Old South blues and the band’s hard rock influences.

Standout tracks are “Elegant View,” “Moses of the South” and “Innocent and All.”

• Artist website: www.portmanband.co.uk
• Listen at: http://www.myspace.com/portmanuk
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Portman is a band of five guys who claim to be from Stamford, UK, but their sound is solid Midwest guitar rock ala The Get Up Kids, so despite the evidence I’m not quite buying it. From Here To Your Eyes And Ears is their debut album. It is comprised mostly of mid-tempo indie ballads that are brilliantly executed.

The album is bookended by instrumental tracks that sample speeches from The Great Dictator and Serenity. These set an ambitious, if somewhat bewildering, framework around the album. Both speeches deal heavily with themes of defiance of an oppressive government, but the rest of the album is intensely personal. Portman’s lyrics are almost confessional in their intimacy and seem a bit out of place when framed by such an expansive theme, although that may have been the point.

Portman’s greatest strength on From Here To Your Eyes And Ears is putting together numbers that careen from acoustic ballad to strident indie rock and back again in the same song without feeling overly experimental or disconnected. The vocal delivery is wonderfully dynamic and channels a bit of a Brand New circa Your Favorite Weapon vibe.

Standout tracks are “I Can Do Anything (I’m The Chief of Police),” “Back To Default” and “Can’t Stop The Signal.”

• Artist website: www.spiraling.net
• Listen at: www.myspace.com/spiraling
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Spiraling is a three (or maybe four, depending on your source) piece band out of New Brunswick, New Jersey. Time Travel Made Easy is, I’m pretty sure, the fifth full-length album from this band, which I find pretty unbelievable. This band should have broken out a long time ago.

Disillusionment never sounded so good. Or got stuck in your head so long. Time Travel Made Easy starts off with “The Future” as in, “this is not the future we were promised,” a refrain that sets the tone for the rest of the album (and one I’ve been humming for days). Spiraling’s sound is 80s-inspired power-pop embroidered with beautifully constructed keyboard pieces played by lead singer Tom Brislin. The lyrical tone is defiantly bitter without being at all self-pitying, a fine line to walk that the band achieves by flavoring the darkest songs with soaring musical arrangements. Time Travel Made Easy shows remarkable range, embracing electronic influences on “Victory Kiss” and “Choices,” flamenco on “Enemy,” and Brit-pop on “Time Machine.” Despite channeling a wide set of backgrounds and influences the album remains cohesive, an effect achieved largely in the lyrics and Brislin’s stunning delivery. The effect lands Spiraling somewhere in between The Fray and Jack’s Mannequin.

Standout tracks are “The Future,” “Are You Here” and “Enemy.”

This week’s most viewed albums are:

• Lorene Drive, Out Alive
• The Gay Blades, Ghosts
• Mayday Parade, A Lesson In Romantics