Monday's Leaky Faucet

Who: Múm
Title: Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know
Release Date: August 24th
Label: Morr Music
Thoughts: This is a very laid back, gentle, and sleepy little record. There are few words that describe it better then sleepy as it feels like music that would score paint drying or grass growing. It literally has me shutting my eyes so that writing even this brief snippet is becoming a test of my will power. I know that people out there care about the pop stylings of this band and the inherit beauty of the album is immediately apparent, but damn they could have added a little pep to a song or two to give it a little bit of a wake me up. No instead múm just casually drift through an album of lovely, simple pop sounds while I sleepwalk through listening to it. I may be missing something here, but I may never find it.
Listen: Múm - "Sing Along"
Múm - "Show Me"

Who: Drug Rug
Title: Paint the Fence Invisible
Release Date: July 28th
Label: Black + Greene
Thoughts: Couples that make their own music together make me feel inadequate in my own relationship. Drug Rug are one of those too cute pairs of people that do everything together, or at least I assume they do by virtue of being in a relationship and being in a band together. But as much as I resent them and their ability to turn their relationship into something artistically rewarding I have to say that their brand of lo-fi dreampop is a beautiful thing. This is the type of bedroom recording more couples with a Mac should be making. Personally I've always been a PC so maybe that's a problem, and listening to Drug Rug's latest which was recorded in the rural confines of the Catskills makes me think they have something totally different going on. Either way you slice it though this music is pretty solid and will definitely stick in your craw for a few days. It's like a slightly more Americana, dreamier version of what The Moldy Peaches once were without all the profanity and sexual content. Well, there's some sexual content.
Listen: Drug Rug - "Never Tell"

Who: Yacht
Title: See Mystery Lights
Release Date: July 28th
Label: DFA
Thoughts: Before now I have totally glanced right over the existence of Yacht, which is odd considering how much I normally like the rest of the DFA stable. For whatever reason they were never on my radar, but I knew you guys wouldn't settle for just two leaks albums on a Monday. After listening to this I get why so many people were all about them, they make some pretty awesome, catchy, and danceable music, which (duh!) we've all come to expect from DFA bands. Yacht then goes on to merge styles and and electronic sounds onto everything from the first second of the record to its last note but in the process does little to distance themselves from the rest of the DFA roster of bands. That's not saying the music is bad, I can totally groove with this record, it just means they don't really surprise you at any point during the record.
Listen: Yacht - "Ring the Bell"
Yacht - "Psychic City"