a couple of mildly disappointing albums for a mildly disappointing monday

Dis­ap­point­ment. It’s some­thing we all have to deal with, usu­ally on a daily basis–Niina didn’t get that white uni­corn pony she wanted for her birthday yes­terday, for example–but we keep on truckin’. Today I went to buy gummi dinos from the gro­cery store and guess what? They were all out! Did I fall on the floor, curl up into a fetal ball and sob? Did I despair? Did I demand to see the man­ager? No. No! I picked myself up and bought gummi worms instead, because even if they’re not as deli­cious or as delight­fully shaped, they’re still gum­mies, dammit, and that’s good enough. (This really has nothing to do with music, but I felt like ranting about it anyway. This is my tsunami, amirite?) Anyway, on to the tunes:

It’s always tough for a band who have the unen­vi­able chore of fol­lowing up their career high, so my expec­ta­tions for Calexico’s Garden Ruin (buy) were some­what muted. A Feast of Wire was a per­fect album. I’m not going to com­pro­mise my opinion on that one, so don’t bother. Unsur­pris­ingly, Garden Ruin is not. It’s by far the most rock-oriented album the band has released to date, and the least mariachi/Leone-influenced. Where Wire rep­re­sented a bril­liant fusion of those tra­di­tional south­western influ­ences and classic pop song struc­ture, Ruin takes them toward MOR indie realms. That’s not to say there aren’t some good or even great songs, though. Check out the sweet, lilting twang of “Bisbee Blue,” which somehow man­ages to encap­su­late the wide open land­scape and end­less blue skies of New Mexico in less than three min­utes. Or the slow build of “All Sys­tems Red,” prob­ably the single most elec­tri­fying track they’ve ever recorded–a true mini-epic. [web­site] [myspace] [label]

I had even lower expec­ta­tions for the new Built to Spill album, since Ancient Melodies of the Future was such a wash and Martsch’s solo album was, well… I hon­estly don’t remember a thing about it. Still, they’re a band that it’s hard not to get excited about at times. Keep It Like a Secret and Per­fect From Now On are amazing records, and There’s Nothing Wrong With Love might be even better. Their new one, You In Reverse (buy), starts off well but by mid-record I’ve basi­cally for­gotten what I’m lis­tening to. I’m gonna keep plug­ging away it it because I love this band, but I’m afraid there’s not that much to dig out. Album-opener “Goin’ Against Your Mind” is a nice hefty slab of guitar rawk, though, and it almost makes me think they’re still capable of pulling out all the stops KILaS/PFNO-style. [web­site] [myspace] [label]

Both of these albums are released tomorrow, so if you dig these tracks fuck what I say and go check ‘em out. I may be dis­ap­pointed, but that doesn’t mean you will be. And anyway, not every­thing is dis­ap­pointing around GPHQ. I have it from a reli­able source that the Girl­pants March Mix will get posted within the next couple days, and it’s guar­an­teed to be the anti-disappointment pill we’ve all been jonesin’ for. Suck it up!