We live in a curious era of music-making when artists tend to celebrate the past by trying as hard as possible to emulate it. What a relief, then, that Australia's finest working band continue to acknowledge it, absorb it and then drag it ahead with them. Both of the Aussie trio's prior albums, the perfect debut Sound As Ever and the glorious mess that was Hi-Fi Way, have been winners, but Hourly, Daily trumps them both, expanding on previous ideas (their own and others') while stretching out in all directions musically. The title track fulfills the acoustic balladry requirement and gets it out of the way right from the start, so the band, who've never sounded tighter, can concentrate on making full-blast rock like "Trike," a nifty little post-mod love song that could've been written in 1968 were it not for the blaring guitar and lyrics about killing your parents and running away in a hormone-laced fever dream.
Actually, there was one guy in 1968 making a pretty good living writing songs about these kind of freaks, and don't think that guitarist/singer/bandleader Tim Rogers, with his twisted teenscapes and musical curiosity, doesn't know it. And that's just what's celebrated here, Rogers finally becoming his dream of dreams: a postmodern Pete Townshend. Rogers knows, however, the value not in imitating his hero but in capturing his intentions: to fuck with and subvert the status of music, alternative or otherwise, as it is now. In fact, even though there's only one song to back it up specifically (the swingin' radio promo "Good Mornin'"), this may well be as close to The Who Sell Out as the world may ever again see. (MH)
(Ra/Warner Bros. Records)

First of all, space rock (not to be confused with Space City Rock) should be put to death. It was interesting when it was resurrected five years ago but now anyone who cared has at least a dozen albums of the stuff, most of which are 80 minute opuses they wouldn't recognize if you started the CD halfway through. And it's doubly pernicious because it's even easier than punk rock -- you don't need to play fast, or even play in front of people. Just hide in your bedroom or basement with some effects units, and maybe a drummer (but they have machines for that, so why bother?), and there you go!
Second of all, there are too many CDs being self-released. At some point a couple years ago, CDs became the demo tape of the 90's. And today, self-released CDs have about the same status that demo tapes did -- too many of them to listen to, so people are apt to just ignore all of them. Why bother?
Whenever I get theories like this, something generally comes along to prove that I'm full of it. And so, I stumbled upon Yume Bitsu in southeast Portland.
A horrible name, an even more pretentious album title, and the back cover has song lengths instead of titles (which is actually a blessing, given the titles -- "where fog blurs and covers, emptiness prevails", my ass). I surely never would have bought it, or even paid attention to it, but I happened to see them open for some other band at the first show where they had their CDs and they gave them away for free to anyone who asked. So here I am, with the best space rock record of the year.
Why? First of all, they've got this Dreamweapon-esque (c.f. Spacemen 3) pulsing repetition throughout all of their songs. So where other bands drone on (and on), they move forward. Second of all, they throw guitar melodies over that that actually stick in your head. Third of all, the vocals, while kept to a minimum, actually complement the songs (when they exist), and are more memorable than the work of some singer-songwriters. Fourth, the analog keyboards also complement the music, instead of being some tacked-on silliness as is prevalent today. And finally, the drumming is simple but powerful, with no silly drum'n'trip'n'funk'n'breakhop beats (or drum machines) getting in the way.
Of course, Yume Bitsu isn't down to earth enough to actually include any contact information on their CD, and I doubt they'll be leaving Portland anytime soon. But if you're curious, I bet either Ozone Records (www.ozonerecords.com) or Locals Only (www.localsonline.com) can get you a copy. (DD)
(self-released)