Customer Reviews

Terrible Things Happen

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I haven't listened to the radio at all in about a week because I refuse to take my Aislers set CD out of my CD player. I never even heard of this band before last Sunday when they opened for Bratmobile at this puny little club in Olympia, WA. The live set was wonderful and I had to buy one of their CDs. Now I can't stop listening. They have the smoothness of Stereolab or Belle and Sebastian mixed with the innocence of Beat Happening (Read: they're cute, they're catchy, moderately low fidelity but with some keyboard effects.)They're mostly mellow with a happy sing-along moments like "Long Division" or "My Boyfriend Could Be a Spanish Man" The bottom line is that this is a truly great album and a must-have for the indie enthusiast.

This album is INCREDIBLE! It is a CD for any day. I've owned it for nearly a year now and I still listen to it frequently. From the opening beats of "Friends of the Heroes" you know something is going down. Many songs on this album are so dense, with so many subtle things going on around you - a tambourine on the left, handclaps, two different, oppositely-panned drum parts, it requires several listens to be fully dissected. It's insane! Amy Linton, the pop genius responsible for this piece of brilliance, also knows how to work magic on songs with little more than just her voice and a guitar. More importantly, the songwriting is brilliant! "Mary's Song" flows continuously without specific song parts (but without the tunelessness and lack of direction found in many of the songs by others attempting to abandon "structure"), carrying you along as if you were in a dream, until you find yourself awake in an ocean of 'hey hey hey's. And get this - she recorded this album by herself at home on an eight-track! Talk about skill! With this album and her previous work in Henry's Dress (who you should also check out if you like this), Amy Linton has proven herself to be an incredible and important songwriter in today's indie-pop scene, and worthy of more recoginition. Check this album out...it's marvelous!

Whoa! A new release from Slumberland (for some reason I was under the impression that this great label was no longer in existence...that's what I get for being such an assumer). Shall I get to the review of this awesome album??? Imagine Amy from Henry's Dress starting a new band with members from Poundsign, scenic vermont and trackstar. Now imagine that they conjure up one of the greatest albums ever. OK... well sorry to disappoint you, but this album is a big let down....JUST KIDDING!!! I love "terrible things happen" and think it IS one of the best releases to be put out in a long time (album of the year?)! This album definitely lives up to the hype. The tone of the songs range from dreamy and mellow to up-tempo and poppy...all with a tinge of 60's mod and surf sounds (which is expected and welcomed with open arms) that will knock your socks off. Amy seems to be the front person of the band, but other members take their turn at vocals which is most apparent on the song "why baby" (the only song with male vocals). My favorite song at this time is the hit "I've been mistreated" (only because it's the song I play for first time aislers set listeners) but I really like "California" which is different than Holiday Flyer's "California". Well all I can really say is that you would have to be crazy not to love this album. Totally rad! - L

Not bad at all, although my "it's still their first album" disclaimer follows. I'm late to this SF quartet, having heard only a couple of years ago their third CD, "How I Learned to Write Backwards" (great title) playing at Ameoba Records in Hollywood and asking the clerk about this chipper songstress with an Ian Curtis jones who meets a band with a Ronettes + DIY postpunk blend. I found TTH the other day, and wondered about it being rawer and not as fully formed as HILTWB. TTH is thinner sounding, but this being indie label music, recorded mostly 'in Amy's garage,' it beats any neighborhood teens you might hear rehearsing in the carport down the block. Certainly this band has hit on a distinctive and oddly poignant coupling of carefree insouciance with existentialist dread.

Some tunes are whispered, others chanted. Male vocals pair with female only once: I wish there had been more variety in singing arrangements. Arguably, this is an element that may wear on you or entice you, as the consistency of the singing is The Aislers Set's strength and weakness. Why? Individual songs allow the combination of girlish delivery (but not sappy--see the Ronettes reference) and tougher indie-rock to reach their punchy, yet haunting blend of wistfulness and tension. But a dozen or so songs largely falling into this same pattern, the album does lag if only since the template is so fascinating to the band and they wish to trace it again and again-- an understandable trait.

I do recommend it, with these provisos. Lyrics that strive to make a point deftly but not dully are a bonus. Rather sketchy and understated arrangements that a limited budget and facilities undoubtably limited predominate, but the potential for richer production rests with you, the listener, to fill in these spaces with your own imagination. I reckon few listeners among the misguided millions will long for this studied sound, but if you are among the curious and are intrigued by reading about this CD, it's worth it. Best heard with headphones, late at night. Probably best heard alone, without a mate, on a balmy but gloomy evening.

This album is brilliant. A friend told me about The Aisler's Set and I was interstead and bought a 7" which a tottaly loved. Then after some delay, I bought this album. They really remind me of The Velvet Underground. I can just see Lou Reed with a whip and sunglasses on singing "California". Buy this album for something new. Check out their 7" records too.