CD of the Day, 12/16/08: The Eisenhowers-Film Your Own Atrocities

Glasgow's The Eisenhowers are back with Film Your Own Atrocities, the follow up to their 2006 debut Almost Half-Undressed. Atrocities is a step forward from the debut, as they refine their take on the classic British pop of bands like Squeeze, XTC and The Kinks.

Frontman/songwriter Raymond Weir shares the sardonic sensibility of his influences, and "Reign of the Stupid" does them proud with its biting Elvis Costello-style lyrics and its easy-on-the-ears Squeeze-style melody. "Less Than Nothing" continues in the same vein, although with strings and more of an XTC influence. The disc's most ambitious track is "1969", in which Weir weaves the awe of the first moon landing together with an indictment of today's mass culture, all in the context of a "Hey Nineteen"-style attempted seduction. At 6+ minutes with strings, choirs and samples of the Apollo 11 astronauts, it runs the risk of overkill, but Weir & Co. manage to pull it off.

There are plenty of other highlights: the Beatlesque piano pop of "The Things That Make You Happy", the lilting, loungy "Janine", and the Ray Davies-inspired "Lighthouse". By the time things close with the epic, 6:43-length "Icaurus Succumbs", you'll realize that this isn't a run-of-the-mill release; instead it could best be described as a thinking man's power pop album. Or to be succinct, I like The "Ikes".

CD Baby | MySpace

Roundup time.

There haven't been too many new discs that have caught my fancy over the past few weeks, hence the relative lack of recent posting. So it's time to toss out a couple of discs that I've enjoyed over the last couple of months that I haven't gotten around to mentioning:

The Eisenhowers-Almost Half-Undressed. The Eisenhowers are a Scottish band who, as their bio states, are "clearly inspired by the likes of Elvis Costello, Aimee Mann, XTC and Crowded House". I can't quibble with that description, although the quirk factor is a bit high here. Interestingly, they have a track-by-track description of the album here. Four of the tracks can be downloaded at the myspace link below.
CD Baby | MySpace

The Yayhoos-Put The Hammer Down. The Yayhoos are kind of a supergroup of sorts, featuring most notably Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites frontman) and Terry Anderson (he of the Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team). While not power pop in the classic sense, this is good-time rock'n'roll in the vein of Baird and Anderson's more notable projects. The rocked-up covers of "Love Train" and the B-52's "Roam" are worth the price of admission alone.
Buy | mp3 | mp3 | eMusic

UPDATE: Thanks to reader Supernaut78 for noticing the Yayhoos on eMu.