. Tender Forever : The Soft and The Hardcore (K Records).
The Soft and the Hardcore is a 12 track I listen to when I eat candy : soft, sweet and slightly acid. Don't get carried away by the first wave of sweetness. Listen to it. Then hide the pack because you won't be able to stop. I have another bite of the album. It never gets sickening.
Tender Forever is a talented composer, you cannot deny it. Her melodies are simply perfect: simple, genuine and so obvious that one wonders why they didn't exist before. This felling you get of having always been familiar with this music. Not that it's any particular tracks you're reminded of, but more like something obvious. Each track is tightly balanced, between sincere vocals, shy lyrics and right on arrangements: discreet then suddenly dary.. That's when I think of Pets Sound.... Some days, I'd like to be "lost in Texas".
The partisan.

 

. Elle Bandita : Love Juice (Torpedo-records).
Picture Peaches, but angry, very angry, L7 but faster, very much punker, harder, rawer, ruder...with drops of supersonic new wave here and there.… and then maybe you can understand what this ”Cigarette Burn” is all about… not only the first track on this amazing 6 tracks cd Elle bandita just released, but also the first one to stick to your head like a big red chewing gum. Drops of heavy rock, sparkles of magic, electro beats, smart samples...yes, you got it, Elle Bandita is the best riot råwker of the sexy galaxy, so get out of her milky way.

.Anna Oxygen : Meet Jennifer b/w Syncopen (Kill Rock Stars).
The physical side of the view: the pretty in pink 7" comes with an animatron animation to find out about Jennifer's (and Anna's) adventure. As far as the crew is concerned: the songs are by Anna Oxygen, recorded by Radio Sloan and for the whole design, Anna got some assistance from McCloud Zicmus. If you think I am just name dropping here, just check this people out and you will understand why I mention them....which probably also will make you go to KillRockStar's website and purchase the piece of vinyl art right away. The musical aspect: "Meet Jennifer" introduces the animatron action... and there it goes: the most perfect 80s mix you've ever heard, as if Anne Clark's little sister was making out with mania D and Malaria on a rhythm king and her friends soundtrack... dropping acid "Syncopen" is ... pretty much what it is called, adding a psychosophrenic (no need to look that up in the dictionary...) keys riff flying in and out, some more simple (not simplistic) 80s dance keys building over some occasional vocals towards the final melody. This is a pluridimensionnel minimal ecstasy.

 

. SHOOToutthe Lights : SHOOTouttheLights (Self-released).
From the ashes of Radio Vago, rose Adrienne Pearson. Does that sound goth to you? Well, it should. SHOOToutheLIGHTS are the darkest band I have heard in years. When I was expecting some Californian rock -whatever that means, besides the fact that I am prejudiced- I found myself pinned to the wall by some razor-sharp goth-dark-wave blades. Inside-out and tensed and romantic -so good it has to hurt- youth of the Bauhaus-Siouxsie-Cure days. It's all there: the spinning guitars, the pain, despair and anger in the voice. yes, it's definitely all there: the slower, suicidal break and the throat-cutting screams on "My Warm December," the male/female vocals overlapping each other and dark, rocking waves on "Parasite", the Christian Death-like "Electric-Surge of Blood" and the tortured "Letter to M. It's all there except that it's 20 years later, that the new wave kids have been going through some great dark indie tracks, lugubrious metal-rock ones stained with blood, that Adrienne P. has elaborated a pure, angry voice, that the bass (C. Rock), the guitar (R Horwitz) and drums (R Moe) have learn from their foremothers and fathers the art of melodic order through forests of chaos. So yes, you might lose yourself sliding down the memory lane.... the ghosts are too familiar there, fear not.

 

.ADULT : Gimme Trouble ( Thrill Jockey).
After the Edgar Allan Electro-Poe of D.U.M.E. (that did leave us wet and begging for more ), ADULT. are back with a full length and quite a few changes: first Samuel Consiglio is no longer a member of ADULT. After a full year, the trio equally decided that the future of ADULT. was a duo.... again. No reason was given, what really happen is for them to know and us to probably never do ... and second, this Gimme Trouble was not released on Ersatz Audio, ØNicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller's own label. Like the previous e.p., Thrill Kockey was responsible for the release. No reason was given either, so at least it's something you can talk about when you meet them (they are soon performing live near you, so be aware, stay awake). If you're uncertain about the album -mainly because you've read, like I did, rather bad reviews of the whole work and although you really don't want to believe it, they are somehow right... Start with "In My Nerves," where you can fully and freely enjoy the ADULT. punk antiaesthetic and Nicola Kuperus s detached, ripping tone around a cold angular bass going 2 mad circles. You feel awkward in a hangover before you started drinking type of way. Once you opened the "In the Nerves" door, the album's spontaneity and electro dirty simplicity starts invading your veins. No goose bumps, no exceptional ADULT. trip, but still, have some respect for punk irreverence... and Gimme Trouble is a good warm-up for the gigs!