These modern socks

A scenario reminiscent of when Andrew Broder released his first Fog record, electro-pop act These Modern Socks has transformed from singer-songwriter Corey Palmer's one-man bedroom project to a full-fledged five-piece band.

- By Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune

When Corey Palmer’s indie-rock group Daykit temporarily imploded a few years back, he took the opportunity to pursue a more introspective, personal muse with his one-man studio project These Modern Socks. The resulting self-titled album, recorded in a home-built studio with Palmer playing nearly all of the instruments himself, is a compelling collision of styles. Layering his songs with electronic glitches and post-production manipulations, Palmer tilts his own penchant for heart-on-sleeve balladry to good effect, making music that's both intriguingly cryptic and intimately confessional, and ought to appeal to fans of The Flaming Lops or Cloud Cult. Originally self-released in 2005, These Modern Socks is being reissued this month on Princess Records with two new songs, including a splendidly earnest cover of Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels." The band has also grown in the meantime, and now includes Palmer's Daykit bandmates Al Bergstrom and Nick Tveitbakk as well as drummer Adrian Suarez and guitarist Park Evans. Palmer talked with The A.V. Club at the St. Clair Broiler about the band's changing sound, ambiguity, and Brian Wilson. - The Onion

At its peak, the overachieving, eponymous debut of These Modern Socks endearingly balances heart and healthy experimentation, a la the Flaming Lips. This bundle of squelchy, fuzz-dipped pop boasts winsome appeal in spades, mainly through leadman Corey Palmer’s coy vocals. Like James Mercer with a twist of Beck, his melodies are crisp, buoyant, and playful. Album standouts “Monitor Progress” and “Parade Around” both delight with their pitch-perfect choruses (the former, mindful and caring; the latter, sweetly tuneful). But Palmer is not merely a mouth-piece. His industrious work on the sonics—the free-form progression and the strange, though pop-savvy, textures—supply the cerebral attraction. “That Will Never Change” is the most bewitching, especially with its mid-song inclusion of computerized, near Gregorian chanting effects. Misfires, like the cautious “Buster” and a straight cover of “Head Over Heels”, are present, but Socks’ winningly intimate and adventurous spirit remains magnetic.


- by Barry Lenser Aiding and Abetting