Smells Like Pop

Atlas Sound’s prolific Cox adds hooks to spacy beauty

With apologies to the memory of James Brown, Bradford Cox might be the hardest working man in showbiz (well, at least the indie music scene). Between his band Deerhunter, other side projects, and Atlas Sound, there’s never a shortage of his material to access. But the adage “quantity doesn’t equal equality” can frequently be applied. Though Cox can never be accused of putting out garbage, the sheer volume sometimes begs for some editing and consolidation.

So it is nice to see that Parallax, his latest Atlas Sound long player, seems to have been reigned in a bit – and has been invested with some solid melodic hooks. Where Parallax still has the bedroom-pop noodlings consistently found in Cox’s work, songs like “Shakes”, “Mona Lisa”, “Praying Man” (with a little harmonica) and “My Angel is Broken” all hint at Cox’s appreciation of 60’s girl group pop, and its inherent catchiness. There are still plenty of quieter moments, like the gorgeous (and appropriately titled) piano-meditation “Doldrums”, and the gentle guitar of “Terra Icognita”.

(ps: If you like to hear what may have influenced this, check out the recently released “The Smile Sessions” by The Beach Boys. Quite excellent)

Smells like: ★★★★★★★★★★

Lot of new music is availble for streaming at the moment, and it’s a nice way to check out some new sounds. Providing you don’t mind the typically low-rez sound quality – do yourself a favor and buy the record if you like what you hear!

First up, GLOSS DROP by BATTLES is streaming now at AOL Music. Frenetic and fun, proggish “math rock” minus the insane, but enjoyable chipmunks on acid vocals by Tyondai Braxton (who has left the band for solo projects) from the last record. And, yes that is Gary Numan on track six!

Deerhunter as a live band can be an incredible experience or maybe merely interesting, but never a waste of time. Go see them when they come to your local musicatorium. For now, you can stream a LIVE DEERHUNTER SHOW at Rhapsody. I actually like the show they recorded at the New York Apple Store, iTunes Live from Soho, a little better and for only $3.99 (x 8 tracks), it’s a great deal.

The NPR Music site is an incredible source for new streaming music. Right now you can find Modest Mouse, the Thermals and more live from Sasquatch, the new self-titled Bon Iver album, Death Cab for Cutie’s Codes and Keys and much, much more (like Badly Drawn Boy live in studio on KCRW)! Just bookmark their site already.

Want more? Sorry, I’m out of time but we’ll share more streaming music as we find it!