Friday, February 05, 2010

Miles Kurosky - The Desert Of Shallow Effects (2010)

Posted by awmercy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

In a year with an abundance of albums by bands I like, this probably would've been my most anticipated album if I believed it ever would come out. Likely, it was my most anticipated album of 2005, the year after Beulah broke up.

Any Beulah fan should love this album and probably some people who hear this will be prompted to go back and discover Beulah for the first time. I'm just stoked to hear Miles Kurosky share his bummed out perspective over upbeat indie pop. The songs playfully shift gears multiple times, packing in plenty of hooks, tempo changes, and layers of orchestration. However, it never seems overstuffed. I like every song on the album, but my favorite sub-songs are embedded in "An Apple For An Apple", when the drums crank it up and then later when the keyboard takes over as the driving force, and in "I Can't Swim", when a squiggling guitar backs a soaring chorus.

With so many instruments playing all at once I'm curious to see how he pulls if off live when he plays Doug Fir on April 9th.

3 comments:

Mona said...

Jeez, I missed out on a lot of QuickCrit these past few weeks... thanks for this post and the heads-up. Is Beulah your favorite from the Elephant 6 collective? Rather, how do they rank for you amongst maybe some of the others... just curious!

February 17, 2010 6:47 PM  
awmercy said...

Beulah is right up there with Neutral Milk Hotel at the top of my list.

The Minders, The Gerbils, The Essex Greeen, and The Apples In Stereo are in some order after that.

February 20, 2010 6:44 AM  
Mona said...

What about of Montreal!? I really do not understand their popularity (they irritate me). Then again, it may just be another "Case of the Spoons" for me? Who knows.

March 12, 2010 1:14 PM  

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