A Flat Tent by WIRE

It should be of absolutely no surprise that the pick of the week for me is Wire's Red Barked Tree. As an ardent fan of this British group that has been around since the mid-Seventies, any time they put out an album, it's a cause for celebration. They have always been ahead of their time; their first three albums predicted the gradual turning of punk into synth pop, their second “electro-rock” phase predated dream-pop, and the third generation of their sound in the 2000's set the stage for the post-punk sound we are hearing being revitalized. It is also interesting to see that their peers, Gang of Four and Public Image Limited, have also come out of hiding with albums in 2011.

If a second Wire reunion was inevitable, its outcome has been refreshingly less predictable: Not only has the band avoided the easy nostalgia trend of playing its classic albums live in their entirety, Wire Mk III have proven to be more prolific and long-lasting than the band's two storied previous phases put together. Sure, founding guitarist Bruce Gilbert checked out of the current campaign back in 2004, but the band's momentum has continued apace. And there's no reason to suggest this won't continue: The new Red Barked Tree shows the band's vigor, melodic prowess, and capacity to surprise remain undiminished.

That album title is the first brow-raiser: Amid a discography filled with cryptic names (154, A Bell Is a Cup... Until It Is Struck, Object 47), Red Barked Tree presents a disarmingly simple image that's reflected in the album's surprisingly relaxed, pastoral turns (acoustic guitars on three songs) and a lyrical framework addressing the emotional and environmental costs of modernity run amok. Red Barked Tree is a shrewdly sequenced album, and it has to be, given that its impulsive stylistic shifts-- from mechanized thrash to psychedelic folk to nervy power-pop-- mirror the "age of fragmentation" that Colin Newman is railing against. But its 11 songs are more or less positioned along a logical arc, where a sense of ominous unease gives way to violent release before simmering into a peaceful comedown.

Take a listen to "A Flat Tent", one of the less obvious singles that people are writing about here. It exemplifies the current Wire sound!


Get your own copy of Red Barked Tree here.

Age Class by Weekend

While a lot of Bay Area bands tend to embrace the sunny, psychedelic side of their city's sound, San Francisco’s Weekend have seemingly chosen to embrace their hometown’s foggier side. Formed in 2009 by Shawn Durkan (bass/vocals), Kevin Johnson (guitar), and Abe Pedroza (drums), Weekend quickly made a name for themselves with their post-punk shoved through a shoegaze filter sound. The trio’s pounding bass'n'drum rhythms lay the groundwork for Johnson’s wall of reverb-drenched guitar noise, giving the songs a dark, subterranean feeling. The whole package is tied together by Durkan’s murky vocals, which feel both distant and warm, like hearing a My Bloody Valentine song on a fading radio station, or hanging out with at the Hacienda with Factory Records' bands. Sports is their debut album. Take a walk on the wild side, with the track "Age Class."

Listen here.

Get your own copy of Weekend Sports here.

Heaven's on Fire

The Radio Dept. were one of the more successful shoegaze-influenced indie rock bands to come out of Sweden in the early 2000s, making waves among indie aficionados on the strength of their critically acclaimed first release, Lesser Matters. Their latest, Clinging to a Scheme, continues the shoegazing and dream-pop tendencies of the group. They have been described as a combination of Saint Etienne and Jesus and Mary Chain. Their short song structure gets right to the point and sucks you in. Take a listen to Heaven's on Fire here.


Get your own copy of Radio Dept's Clinging to a Scheme here.