Poor Joe Lally. Between Minor Threat, Embrace, and Fugazi (not to mention his production stamp on countless classic albums) Ian Mackaye seems to have stolen the spotlight more than enough times from the other DC musicians surrounding him throughout the years. Not that the attention given to Mr. Mackaye isn't warranted, it's just unfortunate that Fugazi's bassist Joe Lally's second solo album, Nothing is Underrated, goes overlooked, while Mackaye's new band, The Evens, is praised for delivering an almost identical aesthetic to Lally's. That all said, Nothing Is Underrated is a damn fine album. Deep basslines, shushed vocals and an overall sense of quiet urgency propel the album, not unlike Lally's contributions to the flagship Fugazi. No, this is not the album for you if you're looking for a complete 180 from the DC post-punk sound, but this album deserves more attention than just-another-side-project.
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I am too exhausted to write a decent review of this album, but this album is too fuckin' good to not post A.S.A.P. 
Tobacco, in case anyone was wondering, is the leader of the infamously reclusive group Black Moth Super Rainbow, an odd psych synth hippie freakfest of a band whose last album, Dandelion Gum, was praised by many but listened to by few. The album brought a combination of dreamy pop songs with a sort of analong synth crunch so pure only Boards of Canada could top the band's Moog tweaking. With the new solo album, Tobacco clearly shows who was behind those very Moogs in the recording studio. Fucked Up Friends is nothing new for fans of Black Moth, or at least at first. Tobacco lets his synths shine from track one, with only the occasional guitar or sampled flute show up, if only to accent (you guessed it) those thick thick synth lines. However, a vast majority of the album is instrumental, a key distintion between Black Moth and the solo Tobacco. With the lack of vocoded vocals, Tobacco is free to not only let the synths do the talking, but show off something that I felt was sorely overlooked in many reviews of Dandelion Gum: the Beats. Fucked Up Friends is a dynamo of a beats record, with Tobacco showing off his percussive skills as well his keyboard mastery. This record wouldn't seem out of place next to Flying Lotus or some of his other Warp counterparts, the only difference being Tobacco would rather see you in the forest rather than the record store.
That brings me to Mahjongg's 2008 release Kontpab. Lets get this straight: this is not a perfect record. It's got lowpoints, not enough to tarnish Mahjongg as a whole, but enough that they can't be brushed off. "Those Birds Are Bats" is a weird half-baked pop-punk number that comes out of left field with its awfulness, and "Problems" drags like none other. As well, a few other songs can tend to feel a little too rigid (ex. "Kottbusser Torr"), like Mahjongg forgot to take their groove pills that day in the studio or something; again, not enough to kill the mood, but just enough to not get you to latch onto this album front to back. Those moments aside though, this record has some amazing tracks. Opener "Pontiac" is a polyrhythmic number based off a Mbira (Worlds of Music what whaaaat) loop that immediately grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go until you've chugged through all glorious six minutes. "Tell The Police The Truth" is perhaps Mahjongg's best song of their career, a sarcastic send up to pigs everywhere all sung over a complex but surprisingly organic beat. Finally, the epic (I guess epic, it's easy to call any song over 8 minutes epic, but seriously, this song is so good) finale "Rise Rice" crunches and crushes, making you want to immediately start the whole album from the beginning again. After listening to this album on repeat I can't help but feel angry that Mahjongg didn't work just a little harder on Kontpab before releasing it into the world. Mahjongg deserves to be a more recognized band with tracks like these, they just need to deliver it next time without the duds. 
This is an incredible album, and it's a real shame they put some of this on a CD mainly sold only on their 2007 tour. Track one, to begin with, is a 30 minute DJ mix by Dan Snaith (the main force behind the "band" Caribou) that covers everything from 60's pop to krautrock to modern electronica. I can't seem to find the tracklist for the mix anywhere, which is a real shame, because every song is amazing. Tracks 2-7 are all Caribou originals and exclusive to the tour CD. After being slightly disappointed by the straightforward pop of their 2007 release "Andorra", I can only hope these tracks set the tone for all future Caribou releases. "Seven Oaks" and "Yo-Yo" show a return to form for Snaith, sounding like B-sides from his 2003 CD "Up In Flames", shoegazey pop electronica at it's finest. "Stones", "Woodcarver Steiner" and "Shim Shimmer" seem like studies in beat-making, being more like sketched outlines of future songs than complete works themselves. Still, the songs hold their own, particularly "Woodcarver Steiner" with its looped acoustic guitar and occasional vocal flourishes. The most curious song on the album is the closer "Hummingbird". Sounding more like LCD Soundsystem than Caribou, the song is a bleep-bloop foray into electronic drums, something Snaith has (until now?) bitterly despised. All in all for a $10 exclusive tour CD, the album is fantastic and worth every penny, which of course is why i'm giving it to you for free:
First, the bad news: Ungdomskulen's 2007 release "Cry-Baby" will not save dance-punk as we know it. I wanted it to, and after listening to this track, you'll want it to, but the album simply isn't that great as a whole.
HELLO WE ARE HEALTH WE ENJOY NOISE AND FLOOR TOMS STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP
hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?jzg2jztgqmh
Along with The Secret Machine's "Now Here Is Nowhere", I wonder why this album isn't one of those Space Jamz ex-Pink Floyd addicts in high school immediately latch onto like they do OK Computer. Psychedelica filtered through the late 90's, this album is an epic materpiece of dreamy fuzz.
