ELECTRO
“Inside/Absent”
Broken Spindles
Saddle Creek
What Omaha’s Joel Peterson has done with Broken Spindles – a side project from his other band, The Faint – is impressive. He has taken the fiery blood and punk rock ethos of The Faint and transplanted them into a new, thinner, lesstortured body.
The Faint’s music often revolves around cynical conflict, but Broken Spindles brings it back into subtler areas. Peterson
pleads, “Please don’t remember this,” but the track is more introspective – philosophically and musically – than anything The Faint is doing these days.
While his other group is more blazing synth-rock, let’s not forget this group’s name. The music, as in the minute-30 piano sonata “Desaturated,” is broken and imperfect. A lot of the bottom here isn’t all that unlike the sharpness of The Faint’s “Danse Macabre,” but Peterson’s voice isn’t anything like The Faint’s Todd Baechle. Sometimes shades of early industrial detachment dominate his effects-laden Midwestern baritone, and it makes for the ideal front for the dense sonic
achievement that brings up the rest of the production.
– Ricardo Baca
ROCK
“Back Home”
Eric Clapton
Reprise
“Back Home” is one of those records that’s better in concept than execution. Imagine Clapton recording with John Mayer, Robert Randolph, Steve Winwood, Stephen Marley, Pino Palladino, Vince Gill and of course the usuals – including Billy Preston – playing originals alongside covers of Stevie Wonder, The Spinners and George Harrison. It’s a coming-
home record with a heart and sense of place.
While it’s a decent Sunday afternoon listen, its heart is almost too content, and its sense of place – presumably the living
room couch in front of the TV – is a tad complacent for Clapton’s music, which is often more at home on the back porch. Not that we wish Clapton unrest, but he produces best under pressure, especially since the music he draws from the most is the blues. The experience of listening to these sunny blues compositions – which also stray into reggae, pop and R&B – is wrapped up by Clapton’s bright cover of Harrison’s “Love Comes to Everyone.”
Exploring the impossibility of the perfect life, even with Clapton’s impossibly near-perfect guitar skills, is a fruitless effort.
– Ricardo Baca
INDIE ROCK
“Quit +/or Fight”
Holopaw
Sub Pop
On first listen, it’s hard not to like Holopaw. The music tenderly winds through loose, artful mosaics in slow motion. It’s
thoughtfully melodic without the pretension of other whispery art-rockers. On second listen, it’s easier to hear the music’s
surprising depth. The sound is quite dense, with multiple guitars mirroring John Orth’s waiflike voice.
Yes, I like Holopaw. And so does Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse’s plaidy frontman, who introduced his buddy/bandmate
Orth (from side project Ugly Casanova) to Sub Pop Records, who also likes him quite a bit.
– Ricardo Baca
