Albums: Foreign Born, the Aggrolites

Kevin Bronson on June 23rd, 2009

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[A couple of noteworthy L.A. releases … with more on the way:]

Foreign Born, “Person to Person” (Secretly Canadian) – About the 10th time through the L.A. quartet’s sophomore album – a grower if there ever was one – I had a vision that Foreign Born’s were the fingers plugging the dike that holds back the flood of melancholy. Small rivulets of wistfulness seep through, and singer Matt Popieluch, guitarist Lewis Pesacov, bassist Ariel Rechtshaid and drummer Garrett Ray turn them into something beautiful and revelatory. That might seem a bit opaque, but here in the wee hours of the morning it makes sense: 39 minutes of music against the world. “Person to Person” is an album that doesn’t try too hard – in fact, absent the big chorus of “Union Hall” or the urgent clamor of “It Wasn’t Said to Ask” and “Into Your Dream” off the band’s 2006 debut, this follow-up might not try hard enough. But when does anybody err on the side of restraint these days? FB’s intricately layered folk-rock, featuring arrangements by Pesacov, subtly reflects the polyrhythms of Fool’s Gold, the other ascendant project that includes Popieluch, Pesacov and Ray. Mostly, though, the tone is set by Popieluch, whose yearning vocals and lyrics (many penned during a solitary summer job doing manual labor) are as inviting as a California sunset. “Person to Person,” it’s easy to warm up to. Recommended.

||| Download: “Vacationing People” and “Early Warnings”

||| Live: Foreign Born performs at 6 tonight at Vacation Vinvyl.

The Aggrolites, “IV” (Hellcat) – Talk about finding your groove – the latest from the southern California headquarters of “dirty reggae” clocks in at 1 hour 15 minutes over 21 rump-shaking tracks. Yet as the L.A. quartet shimmies from funk to soul to old-school reggae, it never gets tiring. This is bumper music for a hard day’s work, and in the spirit of the Specials, Prince Buster and Lee “Scratch” Perry, it goes down like a frosty cold one. Frontman Jesse Wagner’s ferocious vocals lend a punk edge to the grooves, but over the course of “IV,” the star of the show might be organist Roger Rivas, whose vintage keys get you out of your seat faster than a hotfoot. Not just an album for genre fans, “IV” is a good time for tough times. Recommended.