Halfspeed you Black Mountain soundalikes

'Twas the squarest of times... or was it?

There seems to be a wave of bands drawing their inspiration from the 70's, taking not only the best, but also the worst aspects of the Rotten Decade and fortifying them. Busy imitating the lost hippies who nurtured their minds with a hazy mixture of psychedelia, progressive and hard rock, the guys from Arbouretum have all these influences and clearly they listened the right records through with a loving ear. This album is maybe the best, most depressing piece of suburban low-rent postpsychedelia since Jade Stone's posthumous Mosaics from 1977. You can imagine a lonely aging deadhead listening to this album at 11 am, already dead stoned from honey slides, mumbling how music these days sucks, especially glam rock and disco, desperately trying to tell himself that Uriah Heep on a good night can be almost as good as Iron Butterfly on a bad night. It's a nice vignette they are pulling, but unfortunately it's also just as depressing as its true predecessors, and listening to more than couple of tracks of this otherwise ok album will make you fear that your life starts running half speed for good.

Another candidate, Julie Doiron, seems to represent the style of indie rock that... um... well... the style of indie rock that originated when a long long time ago Lou Reed convinced Mo Tucker to sing on After Hours. Later Doiron throws in some pretty well snarling guitar, á la P.J. Harvey / The Kills. Especially on Consolation Price and Spill Yer Lungs . So you know the influences and I guess you can imagine what this record sounds. Nothing too special. But well, the melodies are actually nice or even catchy and I have no problem with the idea of putting this on again from the start. The lack of originality maybe sucks here, but there is something of the same disillusion here than that of Arbouretum, with a feeling of taking its place somewhere in past decades. A tired, very nocturnal vibe that could make this a nigh time sister album for Song Of The Pearl. I think of an open window in a suburban summer night, moths flying in and getting drunk on the smoke of dope while I'm listening this.

Arbouretum: Song Of The Pearl
(Thrill Jockey 2009)
Record rating: 7.0/10

Julie Doiron: I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day
(JagJaguwar 2009)
Record rating: 7.0/10