rx bandits' "mandala" is the best of the latest

I’m waiting for Rhino Records to call me with my copy of Portugal. The Man’s “The Satanic Satinist,” the new one everyone is talking about. I couldn’t find it at Target, Best Buy or Rhino last week! I’m a little in the dark, waiting for my own copy to give it a listen. Sure it’s good, though – “Church Mouth” is one of my favorite albums. And “Censored Colors” was good, but overlooked.

I just downloaded Grizzly Bear‘s new one, Veckatimest. I have to say, I’m not a fan. I’ve gotten about halfway through the album and I’m not sure what the fuss over this band is. They’ve got some good qualities, but overall I get very bored listening.

This SoCal beach-based band has been around for 14 years, and evolved from a second wave ska act to something with far too many labels to full encompass them (progressive, reggae, ska, rock, funk to name a few). I interviewed the guys when they came to Cal Poly last fall, and just caught them on their headlining tour with Dredg at the House of Blues in Anaheim. Killer, to say the least. Their sound gets more off the wall with each record, and for me, that tends to be a good thing. “Mandala” is no different. Gets better with each listen. UPDATE: check box widget on the sidebar to download a track from “Mandala”!

Now, something a bit disappointing was The Mars Volta’s new one, “Octahedron.” I expect a lot from this band, who is now on its fifth album and has a very strong cult-like following of prog rockers, scenesters and hipsters. “Octahedron” is so-so. It’s got a few cool tracks, like “Cotopaxi,” but is nothing new. It’s easy to forget. I still have got to claim “Frances The Mute” as my favorite. Closely followed by “De Loused” and a few tracks from “Amputechture,” like the 11-minute “Meccamputechture” Now that’s the Volta I know. “Octahedron” is sort of just there. Doesn’t do anything significant for me. Just a bit too mellow for this outlandish band, who I still can’t wait to see at Outside Lands in San Francisco in about a month.

Lastly, I just saw mega mashup DJ Girl Talk @ The Fox Theater in Pomona Friday night. Great, great venue. Three bars, space for 2,000, multiple rooftop lounges. Rad. I was unsure of going to see a DJ headline a show at a venue much larger than your typical LA club. While the free show only brought out maybe 1,000, Girl Talk got 40+ people dancing on stage with him his whole show, and got me and the rest of the crowd dancing. Mixing tracks from “Feed The Animals” (download it there…you pay what you want) and “Night Ripper” with an eclectic variety of other mainstream and classic hits and beats, Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk impressed. Not to mention, the guy plastic wraps his laptop so his sweat doesn’t get all over it.

Hit me up if you need some tracks. I’ve got the tuneage.

“How Gong I’m Gonna Be Lawn” is a confusing ass name.

But the forresty sound effects and breathing noises in full stereo effect through my Bose computer speakers is phenomenal. A trumpet starts to melt in as the noises continue to build and speed up parallel to the simple keyboard notes and bass line keeping the rhythm moving.

It’s not until about a minute and half into the song, it really starts going…which is nothing even close to out of the ordinary for any prog-rock band. With Floyd influences abound, The Oakland-based trio give the full experience with a pretty regular-sized collection of regular-length songs.

But whether its 3 minutes or just under 6 – like track number 9 – they pack the punch into songs that take on the form of anything but regular.

Each one is a new journey, a perfect soundtrack to the mysterious adventures of a stoner exploring himself and the world on the Internet on an otherwise quiet Saturday night.

There’s a sweet blend of slow to fast, and quiet to loud in almost all of the 11 tracks with only a few moments to lag that get passed up when the songs build to full-on experimental jazz rock.

I’ve blogged about this band and this CD twice in four blogs, but I promise I’ll get into the other stuff.

As the journey of a man nears its end, he comes to a slow realization of what he needs to do: be more himself.

Eric Frederic leaves you off with a line perfect for the old enough to have hair on his face kind of scruffster: “Self-medicating through anonymous sex with the occasional hungover insight.”