FOO FIGHTERS
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
(BMG)
At first glance, it appears that Foo Fighter-in-chief Dave Grohl is taking the piss with the title of his decade-old band’s sixth album. Only on the twelfth track, “Home,” do we learn that “echoes, silence, patience and grace” is not meant to mock high poetry, but are the things missing from Grohl’s rock star lifestyle. Along the path to “Home,” we get treated to the full spectrum of Foo: “The Pretender” is a classic fist-pumping anthem; “Let it Die” is angry as ever; “Erase/Replace” melds three-part harmonies with a string section. At least two of the songs on Echoes are ripe for the modern rock charts. DG
MINX
Bloodshot
(Minx Music)
In the running for Japan’s longest-lived expat band with over a decade under their belts, Minx return with their third collection. It’s been five years since Marvellous Minx, but frontman Brian Smith’s rueful observations from the edge of the indie rock universe remain unhampered by commercial success. “Safe to say I’m not going nowhere” he sings on “How to Get on in Life,” a poppy outing spiced as always by Shawn Larson’s piquant trumpet lines. There are also stories of “lives lived between the pavement and the cars,”
a song inspired by strip club music, and a love letter to The Ramones. Minx next illuminate the gaijin rock scene Oct 27 at Warrior Celt in Ueno. See www.minxmusic.com for info. DG
KEN YOKOYAMA
Third Time’s A Charm
(Pizza of Death)
It’s odd to hear a Japanese person—and a veteran of the country’s punk scene, no less—waxing euphoric over fatherhood in English, as Ken Yokoyama does on the acoustic number “Father’s Arms.” But Yokoyama has a way with the language, and a knack for slinging a guitar that’s taken him from the ’90s melocore underground to a well-rounded Budokan headliner capable of anything from a Beatles cover to emo to doo-wop. Against a background of solid punk, these are just a few of the flavors the former Hi Standard frontman teases the listener with on his worthy third solo album. The head of premiere indie imprint Pizza of Death, Yokoyama also happens to be one of the only alternative acts to break Japan’s charts. What’s not to like? DG
MELEE
Devils & Angels
(Warner)
Every so often there emerges a well-informed, well-crafted pop album destined to spawn numerous hits for what really should be a rock or punk band. And Melee is this year’s Semisonic, delivering their second effort overflowing with hooks (“Imitation”), nostalgia for ’80s production (“Frequently Baby”) and songs that sound ingeniously simple yet are clearly the labored and multilayered work of an adept post-punk quartet (“You Got”). With Mika and the Scissor Sisters mastering frivolous nostalgia in the pop arena, Melee delivers an intelligent rock band’s retread of an age-old sound—one the contemplative Coldplay audience will find very inviting indeed. Robert Poole
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