Last night, three of the most talented bands affiliated with Sargent House Records came together for a show at the Troubadour. Adebisi Shank, Tera Melos and Le Butcherettes played to a mostly-packed house of SH fans, many of which were clad in various shades of flannel and/or beards.

Sargent House is a label that prides itself on its eclecticism, and that was no more evident than at this show.  Wexford, Ireland’s own Adebisi Shank hit the stage promptly at 8:30 and set the place on fire. Vincent McCreith, Larry Kaye and Michael Roe may have only played a thirty-minute set, but the amount of noise they made in that span more than made up for its abruptness. Strictly an instrumental band, Kaye and McCreith did have microphones with which they talked and cracked jokes between songs (“This is Los Angeles…this is the town Rockabye is about, isn’t it?” McCreith said, referencing the forgotten late 1990s alt/radio hit by Shawn Mullins).

Adebisi Shank

Musically, they were something to see. McCreith wore a thick-looking red wool mask over his face the entire set, which must have been rather uncomfortable, considering how swelteringly hot it was in the Troubadour already. Adebisi Shank bring a certain organized chaos to their live performances; while the music skips around often and its abrasive guitar tones can catch you off guard sometimes, there’s a degree of precision and slickness to the way they play their instruments that makes it impressive. If you think you like experimental rock but haven’t heard or seen Adebisi Shank, you’re missing out. Judging by the big crowd they had as a show opener, it was apparent that a lot of people in the crowd knew about them already, which is a testament to Sargent House’s devoted fan base.

Tera Melos were next in line on the bill, and thanks to a smart stage set up there was only a ten-minute or so break between bands. The noisy Sacramento experimental/math rock band had a longer set than Adebisi Shank, playing for nearly forty-five minutes. While personally, Tera Melos’ brand of challenging experimental math rock music isn’t normally my cup of musical tea, I have to hand it to them. Their songs switch tempos and sounds and tones every fifteen seconds or so, it seems, and yet somehow they’re all on the same page musically. That part is just astounding; I can’t imagine writing music like this, let alone practicing and playing it in concert.

Tera Melos

What may sound like chaotic guitar screeches and drum smashing is actually pretty damn intense and impressive. Nick Reinhart, Nathan Latona and John Clardy alternate between slick guitar-tapping, stop-start rhythms, and vocal improvisation in a way that you don’t see often. Their latest full-length album, Patagonian Rats, released last September, is well worth your time; between the challenging time signature changes and spastic guitar licks is an innovative album that demands to be heard. Check them out if you haven’t already.

Last on the bill for the night were Le Butcherettes, a Mexican band whose debut full-length album, Sin Sin Sin, was produced by Omar Rodriguez Lopez of The Mars Volta (and who himself is a member of the Sargent House roster). The album, it should be noted, is one of the better releases of 2011 thus far; its combination of fuzzy garage rock and feisty punk spirit is flat-out irresistible. The band just completed a tour opening for Deftones and Dillinger Escape Plan, a trek that opened a lot of eyes and helped give them a considerable amount of buzz. That buzz brought me to the Troubadour to witness the live show, which was exactly as advertised: completely amazing.

Le Butcherettes

Teri Gender Bender, as she likes to be known, is an absolute dynamite performer. She pranced around the cramped stage with ease; while they were the “headlining” act last night, the drums were pulled over to the middle of the stage, giving the set up a close-knit, intimate feel. Teri slithered onto the stage wearing a blood-covered apron and sparkly red shoes not unlike those worn by Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.

The band, rounded out by drummer Gabe Serbian and bassist Jonathan Hischke, smashed the shit out of their instruments all night long; Teri in particular was a beast on her guitar and keyboard, seamlessly transitioning between melodic passages while assailing the crowd with intense, icy stares and support-beam crawling. After mostly staying put for the first two songs or so, she abandoned her shoes and climbed up the support beam to the right of the stage, wedging her feet inside the structure and basically treating it like the monkey bars in a school playground. Onstage, it almost seems as if Teri is having an exorcism during each song; she twitches, scowls, mumbles and screams things in English and Spanish, kicking her feet at the drums. Performers like her are few and far between; she’s a big part of why Le Butcherettes are on their way to carving quite a niche for themselves.

But she’s more than just a flashy spectacle: she can REALLY play. She squeals and screams and sings each song with such fury it’s amazing she can keep up the energy for the entire set. Whereas some female indie rock vocalists such as Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs can be a bit grating over the course of a set because of her cat-like screeching and prancing about, Teri doesn’t fall into that category; she dominates the stage with incredibly emotive performing and a total disregard of boundaries that isn’t at any point irritating or over-the-top. She hugs people in the front row, climbs up into the rafters, dances around, kicks cymbals with her feet, and gives everything she possibly has into the performance. It slaps you in the face and demands your prompt attention.

Teri climbing things...

After playing most of Sin Sin Sin and presumably some of the Kiss & Kill EP, the set came to an end around 11. Rather than just wave and retreat to the upstairs loft at the Troubadour, Teri saw fit to end the show in a way that sums up her penchant for the zany and memorable: by jumping into the crowd, getting onto her hands and knees and CRAWLING through the sweat and booze-soaked floor all the way out through the lobby to the street. At this point I was fortunate to have watched the set from above in the balcony area, as I had a great view of her antics. The stunned faces in the crowd, shocked that she was crawling about like an animal out onto the street were priceless. It was an amazing way to end a fantastic set. After going outside and seeing fans showering her with attention and applause, it was funny to see her be so humble and react with an “aw shucks, me??” attitude, as if she DIDN’T know that she just won over an entire nightclub with her blazingly intense performance. That was when I realized that Teri is for real; too many times, “super intense” lead singers are moody and brooding, but the earnestness she exuded outside after the show demonstrated that she’s the whole package. If you haven’t yet heard of Le Butcherettes or listened to Sin Sin Sin, you now have no excuse for your ignorance. Get on it.

This was a great night, and an even better showcase for Sargent House Records. They’re home to one of my favorite bands, Rx Bandits, but the talent that comprises the rest of their roster of artists is unrivaled. The three bands that played this show demonstrated that perfectly, and anybody who wasn’t there missed out on quite a night. Stay tuned for big things from Le Butcherettes in 2011, as they’re only going to get more and more popular very quickly.

Enjoy a photo gallery below, even though my camera is ancient. One day I’ll take decent concert photos, I promise you…

Greetings readers. This month we make up lost ground with a combined sampler. Usually we give 3 artists, but we give you 6 this month for good measure. We go across the pond and back with this release! Join me?

First, here is the link for the sampler download, although for Delooze, you’ll have to check out the links provide (with video goodness!)

Delooze from East London, UK is working on their debut, and here’s an amazing live performance!

The Ragged Jubilee from Arroyo Grande, CA (tracks: Just a Little Blood, Going Down to Texas)

Roch from San Jose, CA (tracks: Lightweight Bi-Polar Mania and A Beautiful Curse)

The Mast from Brooklyn, NY (tracks: Trump and My All)

The Story Changes from Dayton, OH ( tracks: Tidal Wave, Breed)

Sister City from Worcester, MA ( tracks: 20, Cartoon Movies)

That’s right, take it all in my children!

See you in July!

~Flak

Foster the People‘s debut album, Torches, dropped this week, and it will be hard to find a more danceable album this summer.

Torches‘ heavily-played and buzzed about lead single Pumped Up Kicks is a misleading intro to the album, as it’s decidedly more “indie-rock” than the rest of the songs. Listening to only that one song, you might have expected an album of similar, acoustic-guitar driven soft indie pop rock tunes…but that’s not really what’s going on here.

Album opener Helena Beat will probably take up permanent residence in many peoples’ ears immediately after hearing it, as its absurdly infectious overall sound and main vocalist Mark Foster‘s REALLY high-pitched vocals make the song pretty damn irresistible. Think MGMT combined with RATATAT and you’ll have a good idea how this one sounds.

Call It What You Want keeps the party going, throwing in a Jamiroquai-esque rhythmic crunch at the beginning that stays throughout the song. There’s just no way to listen to this song and not bob your head at some point, even if you find the song annoyingly sticky sweet and poppy.

At this point it’s pretty apparent that Foster the People have created an album that could be played on FM rock radio stations AND night clubs, which is quite a feat. Every song on the record could easily have a “dance remix” that would set many dance floor ablaze. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see a Remix EP come out within the next few months.

Fence party

Color On The Walls (Don’t Stop) is more akin to what a lot of people probably expected after Pumped Up Kicks. Acoustic strumming leads the song into a whistling refrain, pumping up the indie quirk level. Good luck getting this song out of your head, too.

There’s really no point in singling out specific tracks on this album, as they’re all equally catchy. While the production sometimes seems a bit flashy and over-the-top, it only adds to the overall danceability of the album.

I Would Do Anything For You is a bouncy, synth-heavy jam boasting one of the album’s most memorable choruses that is tailor-made for a “Fun Night On the Town” montage in a romantic comedy.

Houdini sounds like a menagerie of about five other groups, the names of which I cannot recall as I type this, but the end result is a piano and synth-soaked exercise in dance-pop bliss.

Hustling (Life on the Street) and Miss You are decent tracks, but they don’t have the immediate pull of the first seven. Album closer Warrant bursts with percussive flourishes and atmospheric production that helps it serve as the perfect cap to the album.

With Torches, Foster the People definitely deliver quite an impressive debut album. Pumped Up Kicks was all the world really had to hear from them for a few months, creating expectations of just another cookie-cutter indie-rock band with quirky acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies. Instead, the band’s first album is a joyful combination of foot-stomping beats, infectiously bouncy rhythms and top-notch percussion and production.

While I personally was expecting “just another indie-rock band”, Foster the People surprised me with the direction Torches takes. The album may not really hold up well over time, considering this sort of indie-pop tends to have a short shelf life, but it will be interesting to see where the band goes from here.

Greetings BTH family. April’s Indie Sampler is upon you at last! This month, put your hands together for these lovely Los Angeles musicians.

Here’s the Mediafire link for the sampler. Download for free and enjoy!

Everyday Animals from Los Angeles, CA

Danger Friends USA! from Los Angeles , California

Photograph Stereo from Los Angeles, California

Support indie music, and check these groups out. See you in May!

Until next time my friends,

~Flak

The lineup for this year’s installment of the Outside Lands Festival was released this morning.

There are A LOT of music festivals in the US: Coachella (which happens this weekend for those of you lucky enough to have a ticket/pass/friends/luck), Bonnaroo, Sasquatch, South by Southwest, and so on. Many of the bands overlap on multiple festivals, which makes it pretty hard for one to stand out over the others sometimes.

Yes, Coachella has arguably the most eclectic lineup out there year in and year out, but this year’s Outside Lands isn’t any slouch itself.

Headlining the affair, which will go down at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, CA on August 12-14, are Muse, Phish (playing two sets) and The Arcade Fire.

Also on the lengthy bill are the Black Keys, The Decemberists, the Roots, Deadmau5, MGMT, Arctic Monkeys, Big Audio Dynamite, and John Fogerty.

Just look at the poster atop this article to view the entire lineup.

As you should be well aware if you’ve been paying any attention to what I write here, I love The Stone Foxes. The San Francisco band will grace the side stage at Outside Lands this year, having caused a stir for a couple years now in the Bay Area, at Noise Pop and SXSW. As a fan and friend of the band, I’m beyond stoked for them, as this is a tremendous opportunity for them to get massive exposure.

Congrats, dudes.

Tickets for the weekend go onsale this Thursday 4/14 at a discounted price, so act fast if you want in on the festivities. It should be fun, and I’m trying my hardest to make sure I finally get to my first Outside Lands.

Read all the fine print and other details about the festival and all the other fun stuff going on at the festival’s official site.

I love the 1990s. As a “child of the Nineties”, I have attached a great deal of nostalgia to the music of that era, the same kind of nostalgia that is embedded in nearly every scene of The Wonder Years.

If you’re as in love with bands who have the “90s sound” as I am, then you’ll probably dig the band Yuck. Yes, that name rocks, but Yuck is much more than just a cool band name. They’re basically the musical equivalent of The Wonder Years, due to the nostalgic bliss that soaks every song.

With the release of their self-titled debut album last month on Fat Possum Records, Yuck have proved that it is possible to sound “fresh” and “throwback” simultaneously.

Let’s get the obvious comparisons out of the way: Yuck’s buzzy, reverbed guitar and lazy vocals give them a style not unlike Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth, to name a couple hugely influential late 1980s/early 1990s indie bands, but there’s also a fresh, youthful vigor that make the songs seem both effortless and meticulously planned out.

This is best exemplified in album opener Get Away, a song driven by a loopy guitar riff and a summery, happy rhythm that reminded me of Smashing Pumpkins’ album Siamese Dream. The tambourine that bangs around during the repeated chorus only adds to the good vibe.

Lead vocalist Daniel Blumberg’s voice is usually layered beneath guitar fuzz and echo effects, but is high enough in the mix to accentuate the noise more than adequately. The Wall continues the buzzy reverb fun from Get Away, and that trend continues throughout the record.

Shook Down, with its strummed intro and slower pace could have fit perfectly over an important prom scene in My So-Called Life or some other such 90s TV drama. If it’s been a week/ then it’s been too long/There are several things/ that I’ve been doing wrong lament Blumberg and backup vocalist Illana Blumberg over an easygoing beat. It’s on songs like this that the female Blumberg’s voice is a welcomed addition. Her voice provides a great harmony to Daniel’s vocals, and it’s at its best on Shook Down.

Holing Out is a more upbeat tune with an aggressive (by Yuck standards) lead guitar riff and some chunky bass work by Mariko Doi.

Suicide Policeman slows things down a bit, before Georgia brings back the “driving down the freeway with the windows open” feeling. Illana’s vocals are matched up with Daniel’s for this one, and they again provide a great duality.

Make sure NOBODY looks at the camera!

A more deliberate, slowed-down guitar strum leads the way on Suck, and calls to mind the kind of guitar play that James Iha used in so many early Smashing Pumpkins songs. After dinner I was burning with desire/ You can never burn out/ My love for you sings Daniel Blumberg on this one, a slow burner that slowly builds and climbs back down delicately. The lyrics fit the gentle atmospherics of the song, and make it one of the brightest moments on the album, placed perfectly right in the middle of things.

I’ll continue calling out specific songs, but it’s important to realize that this is truly an album: the songs flow seamlessly into each other, each with its own sound and catchiness.

Jonny Rogoff’s drums are simple and subdued, and fit well with the whimsical melancholy that is prevalent on every track.

Guitarist Max Bloom sings lead vocals on Operation, which is reminiscent of Silversun Pickups, themselves a band that bursting with 90s inspiration. Operation’s lead guitar riff is as memorable as the one in Get Away, providing a driving melody that seems both familiar and fresh, which are qualities of the album as a whole.

Sunday, which sounds like a hybrid between the Pixies and the Vaselines, is another notable track. At times I would call Sunday my favorite song on the record, but this is an album that doesn’t need “favorite songs” to be great.

Rose Gives A Lilly and Rubber close out the album, the former a jammy, ethereal dreamscape and Rubber a heavily-distorted seven-minute dirge that allows the band to really explore their inner My Bloody Valentine. Walls of guitars and feedback merge into a cacophony of mid-tempo sludge toward the end, fading out slowly in rousing fashion.

Reading about this album and its “1990s-ness” attracted me to it, but I was cautious. I had already read glowing reviews on various hipster websites, and wary that this would be another Surfer Blood/Best Coast fiasco of trite, overhyped blandness, I didn’t get my hopes up.

Thankfully, Yuck obliterated any chance of eliciting a negative reaction from me. Instead, their delicate blend of the best aspects of early to mid-1990s alternative/indie rock and their own unique musical idiosyncrasies impressed me greatly.

I know we’re only a few months in, but it’d be hard for this album to not end up on my Best of 2011 list at the end of the year.

At the very least, Yuck are the frontrunners for Best New 1990s Throwback Indie Band.

Attention Hollywood hipsters, trendsetters, and those of you not fortunate enough to get into any of the various Oscar pre-parties probably going on tonight in Hollywood.

Cast aside the crushing disappointment of not being on “the list” and get yourself to Hotel Cafe on Cahuenga.

Goldenboy, the musical project of singer/songwriter Shon Sullivan, is playing its album release show, in celebration of his band’s new full-length, Sleepwalker.

Sullivan used to be in Elliot Smith‘s backup band, and has toured the world with Smith, Eels, Neil Finn and The Rentals, among others.

Goldenboy’s label, Eenie Meenie Records, has this to say about the gig tonight:

Goldenboy plays at 11:30pm, but get there early as we’ll have signed sleepwalker CD’s on hand to giveaway to the first 10 people who come up to Goldenboy’s merch table and tell us the password, “sleepwalker”.

As the flier at the top of this post details, also playing tonight are The Coronas, The 88, and Keaton Simons.

Read more about the show on the official Facebook page event, and Hotel Cafe’s site.

Check out Goldenboy’s website for pictures, videos, and all that good stuff.

So stop by Big Wang’s or Stout, grab some burgers/wings/beer/nachos, and then duck out of the rain into Hotel Cafe and let Shon Sullivan and Goldenboy caress you with sweet tunes tonight.

Nirvana, the Pixies, Mudhoney, and buzzy anti-corporate indie-punk.

Did you think those words would be mentioned in a review of Cage the Elephant’s new album Thank You, Happy Birthday?

Yeah, didn’t think so.

When Kentucky lads Cage the Elephant lit a fire under the indie rock scene’s ass with 2009’s self-titled debut album, they quickly rose in notoriety. Songs like Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked and Back Against the Wall, hit singles from the disc, are still being played on FM rock radio stations. The band’s alluring blend of soulful bluesy rock and understated punk aggression turned many heads and allowed the band to support that album for the next year, playing tons of festival gigs.

After some downtime, they have returned with their follow-up to their smash debut record, and it sounds like something Kurt Cobain would dig.

The album starts off strongly, Always Something slinking along creepily with an Arctic Monkeys-ish feel to it. The song leads into Aberdeen, presumably named after the tiny rainy town in Washington that spawned the “grunge” movement, Kurt Cobain, Mudhoney, and many other prominent bands and individuals of that movement. Aberdeen is one of the “catchiest” songs on the album, and the most suited for radio play, with lead singer Matthew Schultz alternating between his usual lazy drawl and a bit more energetic vocals for the chorus. The guitars in the bridge are very grungy and dissonant, too.

As Aberdeen closes out, Schultz repeating “way back!” as the music drops out to some eerie backup vocals, the best part of the album starts up. Indy Kidz, a violently spastic song beginning with Schultz sarcastically saying “I wanna be just like you” before erupting into a frenetic, In Utero-esque freakout, is astounding. The song viciously lampoons the “cool kids” of the indie music scene, peppering in some off-key buzzy yelling (again coming off like Kurt Cobain’s ghost). The music is all over the place, riffing and chugging and slowing down and picking the pace back up and stopping and letting Schultz yell and scream some more, with or without a beat behind him. It honestly sounds like Nirvana, in the best possible way for a song released in 2011.

Perhaps ironically, the next track, Shake Me Down, is the album’s first single. Following up the fiercely aggressive punch of Indy Kidz with a more ear-friendly tune like this creates a pretty jarring transition, but it works since Shake Me Down is solid. Crunchy rhythm and drums, melodic vocals, an accessible overall quality, it’s all there.

Cage the Elephant holed up in the backwoods of Kentucky and listened to the Pixies, Mudhoney, and 1950s surf rock for inspiration for this record, and you can hear it in tracks like 2024 and Sabertooth Tiger.

A prevalent theme on this disc is the band’s refusal to adhere to a “catchy” sound. This is one of those instances when a band has a smash debut record, gets a lot of attention and exposure, and then grows bitter with the whole situation. Sell Yourself is an example of that, disjointed, off-kilter riffs churning while Schultz yells “sell yourself, don’t be a fool”, itself a criticism of the band’s rise in success. The song is abrasive, just as the band wants it to be.

Photo shoot? What photo shoot? We're just standing here

Whereas similar tactics have been attempted by other bands like MGMT (whose sophomore album Congratulations seems to have made everybody mad, fans and critics alike), Cage the Elephant instead did it right, creating something very unique and challenging.

Just look at the transition from Sell Yourself to Rubber Ball – the first track a clustercuss of noise and pissed-off energy, leading into a slow interlude that sounds like a lullaby. They’re exploring all types of sounds and energies on this album, and it works.

Right Before My Eyes has more old-school vibes, a straightforward song that boasts one of the album’s best choruses, right before my eyes the whole world lost control. It would also work on the radio, perhaps maybe appealing to fans of the band’s radio songs.

Around My Head sounds like Brit Pop and the Pixies combined, and if it wasn’t for the weird ooh ooh ooh ooh ah ah ah ah monkey chirps before the chorus it’d be one of the album’s strongest songs.

Japanese Buffalo is another WTF? moment on the album, starting out like the Beach Boys before going down the “frantic sped-up garage rock” route, which a friend of mine referred to as “Iggy Pop doing Pinkerton”. All Schultz really says in the song is “alright? Okay. Uh huh.” over and over, and then some more yelling, before it slows down for some melody and, of course, more screaming. And buzzy guitars.

Album closer Flow starts out a bit in Kings of Leon territory, with jangly acoustic guitars and some mostly reserved vocals by Schultz. Surprisingly, it doesn’t explode into more screaming and aggression, instead keeping its hushed tone throughout. It’s a nice calm down after all the musical rollercoasting that goes on for the first eleven tracks. After some silence, a slowed-down acoustic reprise of Right Before My Eyes finishes the album off.

With Thank You, Happy Birthday, Cage the Elephant has really done something I hadn’t thought possible. They’ve created music that is both an homage to their heroes and something confrontationally original. They could have gone down the “indie buzz band” route and released crowd-pleasing recreations of their debut, but they didn’t.

Instead, they crafted songs bursting with the same kind of aggression and anti-corporate energy that Nirvana did with In Utero. These guys have made it pretty far, but now that they’re there they aren’t afraid to do what they want, all the time criticizing the scene and themselves.

It’s just a great (and somewhat unexpected) record, and while it may be one of the first releases of 2011, it may find itself on many “Best Of 2011″ lists come next December.

Junip, the pretty amazing group from Gothenburg, Sweden, is set to play the Music Box in Hollywood this Sunday.

The band, comprised of Jose Gonzalez (vocals/guitar), Elias Araya (drums) Tobias Winterkorn (keyboards) and touring musicians Joel Wastburg and Johan Grettve, recently released their stunning full-length debut Fields.

The album is a breathtakingly beautiful group of songs, at time calling to mind indie-faves like Fleet Foxes and the quirky music of The Shins. The combination is haunting and profound, especially because of Gonzalez’s hushed vocals.

He is a pretty established solo artist, known best for his albums Veneer (in 2003) and In Our Nature (2007).

Here’s the music video for the first single from Fields, a song called Always:

If you’re in Los Angeles this Sunday and want to check out a show that’s well worth your time, head over to the Music Box and let the lush, exquisite sounds of Junip rock your soul for an hour or so.

Here’s another track from Fields, an excellent song called In Every Direction:

You can pick up tickets here. See you there!

Birds of Tokyo just released their third full-length album, the self-titled Birds of Tokyo. Hailing from Perth, Australia, this is a band that I’m sure you have never heard of (if you’re from the USA, at least). I wouldn’t have ever have heard about them either had I not gone to see Hot Leg perform at the Viper Room in March 2009. Hot Leg featured Justin Hawkins, the lead singer/spandex wearer of the Darkness, that hokey but fun glam rock band from England from years ago…remember them?

Anyway, Birds of Tokyo opened that show, and I was blown away by their set. I guess it would be easy to call them a “rock” band, but they incorporate some interesting orchestrations and darker melodies to their songs, not unlike fellow Aussies Silverchair (another highly underrated band out of the country).

Birds of Tokyo have won several awards in Australia and routinely have big hit singles on the radio and sold-out, successful tours all over the country…yet I have NEVER heard anything about them anywhere here in the States. Ever.

That’s a shame, because they’re really a very talented, multi-faceted band worthy of your time. Their debut album, Day One, had some gems on it, such as Black Sheets (which sounded like what Incubus could have sounded like had they retained any semblance of their early edge) and Wayside. I didn’t think its follow-up Universes was quite as good as the debut, but it still had Wild Eyed Boy and Silhouettic, both solid songs that were big hits in their country.

Their new album, though, ups the ante even more. The band sounds more polished and stadium-worthy, which I’m sure they are in Australia. The album’s first single, The Saddest Thing I Know, balances some dark lyrics and an upbeat melody really well. Vocalist Ian Kenny is the band’s strongest element, in my opinion, as his voice is a bit unique but suits the music excellently. At the Viper Room gig, he also employed some great stage presence, bringing a subtle but powerful element to the live show.

Album opener Plans, currently blowing up on Aussie radio, starts out softly before Kenny starts singing and the music builds to an epic chorus. It’s a great song for the band to bust out as the album opener on their third album, already being big stars. It has that kind of feel to it.

The Dark Side of Love boasts some great melodic guitars during the verses before a radio-friendly chorus kicks in. I don’t mean “radio-friendly” in a bad way here, it just has that bouncy melodic vibe to it. Birds of Tokyo are a great indie rock radio band, I guess I can say it that way, and it works really well.

Adam Spark lays down some slick guitars all over this album, whether they’re in the forefront of the music or if they’re in the back, accentuating Kenny’s vocals (which tends to be the case).

That’s the case with In the Veins of Death Valley, big boomy guitar riffs not really driving the song so much as laying the groundwork for the melodies (think of what Brad does for Linkin Park but with more variations in the chords). This song in particular has some nice keyboard work and orchestration going along with the song, giving it a nice haunting touch. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the record.

Circles slows things down a bit, and almost veers into adult contemporary territory with its piano work and almost falsetto-vocals by Kenny, but these flourishes don’t ruin everything, thankfully.

Wild at Heart starts out in Linkin Park territory (new school LP, with all the melodies and instruments and stuff) before branching out to better territory. It changes tempo abruptly but fluidly. I find this song pops up in my head throughout the day more than any of the others on this record, so be forewarned that it might get stuck in yours as well.

There's no more room on that couch =/

The Gap finds Kenny channeling his inner Matt Bellamy, and the song has crunchier guitars than most of the other tunes thrown into the mix. This song is definite “stadium anthem” material, with majestic crowning riffs and soaring vocals. I’d be surprised if it isn’t another huge hit single for the band.

On The Unspeakable Scene, the band finds itself channeling its inner Silverchair (post-Diorama) with great efficiency. Kenny really sounds like Daniel Johns here, with some eccentric multi-octave vocals and choppy, quirky guitars and melodies all over the place. It’s one of the better tracks on the album, too, really demonstrating the band’s versatility.

Album closer If This Ship Sinks (I Give In) closes things out in grand fashion, starting out quietly and erupting into a wall of guitars and urgency, before wrapping up with a somber outro accompanied by more elaborate strings and piano. It’s quite majestic.

The only problem I can find with this album is that there’s no American distributor. This album, just like the previous two, hasn’t been released here, and that’s too bad. I had to track this album down on iTunes, where it’s mislabeled as having been released in 2005. A band like this deserves more attention than it has…sure, they’re huge in their home country, but they should be big here too. They’re apparently taking Silversun Pickups out on tour in Australia in the next couple months, so hopefully the Silverlake golden boys (and girl) put in a good word or two and Birds of Tokyo find themselves more active stateside. I can dream.

I was fortunate enough to randomly notice them at a tiny gig in Los Angeles a year ago. I hope that wasn’t the only time I’ll see them.

Pick up Birds of Tokyo if you want to check out an accomplished, under-the-radar indie band that is well worth your time.