The Rubber Room column is a weekly look at recent and notable releases that don’t fall into the rubric of traditional reviews or reviewed material—namely 7”’s, 12”’s, 3” CDs, EPs, cassette-only, DVDs and MP3-only releases.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Cursed Sleep (forthcoming single from Then the Letting Go)
[Domino, 2006]

I can only presume Bonnie “Prince” Billy played this at the show I caught on his recent UK tour. Strange, then, that I don’t recall anything with such wasted magnificence from the night in question. Tight strong string parts (Finnish, not that you can tell), soft acoustic guitar, and a whiskey-soured female backing vocal lift this into the pantheon of great Oldham songs. It seems like he’s left behind the need to draw from country or folk to color his songs. The album can’t come quick enough.
[Scott McKeating]

V/VM 365
“Whiskey on the Easyjet” (030606)
[V/VM, 2006]

This is a sickly jazzy interlude that takes the soggy biscuit as one of the queasiest things V/Vm has ever done. Titled after the low cost airline that he recently toured Europe on, “Whiskey…” sounds more like the morning after than a mile-high frolic. A metronomic SPK beat scaffolds up some gut-knotted strings that sound more like sluggish vomiting than cello work. At just over a minute, it doesn’t really do much else, but that’s enough. Insistent at both ends (like gastroenteritis), it never lets up with the smearing till it’s over.
[Scott McKeating]

Audible
Weekend EP
[Plot Twist, 2006]

Early in 2005, Audible released one of the best albums of the year that no one paid much attention to. This year they've one-upped themselves by releasing the best packaged EP that not many people have. The band, biographically a distillation of Philly indie, continues to split the difference between rock and pop. They won't let you brainlessly bop around, and they won't let you brainlessly slam around either. Even so, don't get the idea that they're insistent braniacs or something—they feel their hooks as much as they compose them. They just do really strong indie and then they put it inside a really cool container.
[Justin Cober-Lake]

Danko Jones
First Date EP
[Razor and Tie, 2006]

It shouldn't be an insult if I say that Danko Jones amuses me. He doesn't seem to have anything in mind except having fun, and that counts for something. So when his single "First Date" contains the lines "Do you kiss on the first date? / 'Cause I do," I go back to high school rocking I didn't do, AC/DC and such (but maybe poppier). The feeling continues with the rather faithful cover of Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up." EC fans might be appalled, just so you know. The last song is called "Sex" and goes like this: "Sex! Who wants some? I know you do." Of course it does.
[Justin Cober-Lake]