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USE THIS BLOG TO POST: Music Reviews |
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ARTIST: Randy Newman SONG/ALBUM: Little Criminals GENRE: Alternative RATING: 8
The thing about Randy Newman’s straight-faced satire is you don’t always know when he’s joking. Upon the release of his fourth album in 1977, the world beyond his cult following finally came face to face with this brilliantly acerbic composer, courtesy of a bouncy Top 5 hit called “Short People.” The newly initiated bobbed their heads, they sang along, but when they hit the line, “Short people got no reason to live,” their eyebrows shot up. “Wait a minute. Is this guy serious?”
As they got deeper into the album, they were probably further perplexed by material that bore no resemblance to songs they’d ever heard before. Newman was singing about a loan shark (“You Can’t Fool The Fat Man”), a grieving daughter (“Texas Girl At The Funeral of Her Father”), a boy who wants to be a policeman (“Jolly Coppers On Parade”) and a dying city (“Baltimore”). Admittedly, with his unsentimental bent and nasally voice, Newman takes some getting used to. But once you tune your ears to his frequency, you’ll be moved to both tears and laughter. He’s quite simply one of the most interesting, original songwriters of the last fifty years, and this is one of his quintessential albums.
The range of styles and moods here is remarkable. From the mysterious short fiction-like tale of “In Germany Before The War” to the Laurel Canyon country parody “Rider In The Rain,” Newman draws you into his three-minute worlds, gives you a quick tour, then moves on to the next exhibit.
For the uninitiated, this record is a fine place to start, followed by Sail Away and Good Old Boys. Posted November 29, 2006 1:22 PM | | |
ARTIST: Howard Jones SONG/ALBUM: The Best of Howard Jones GENRE: Alternative RATING: 8
Howard Jones is to music what Bill Paxton is to the movies. A perpetual underdog. An interesting character who consistently turns out good but underappreciated work. Not a household name, but one of those types that make you say, “Oh yeah, I like that guy.”
Since his debut in 1983 with “New Song,” this Brit has been quietly infiltrating the charts with his elegant keyboard-based pop. “What Is Love,” “Things Can Only Get Better,” “Life In One Day,” “No One To Blame,” “Like To Get To Know You Well” - Jones has landed in the Top 40 a whopping nine times.
Aside from songs that sport more hooks than the walls at the Guggenheim, what makes Jones so easy to like is his consistently upbeat, altruistic viewpoint. His lyrics explore themes of individuality (“New Song”), self-determination (“Pearl In A Shell”), aging (“Life In One Day”) and truth-seeking (“Always Asking Questions”) without ever sounding heavy-handed or trite. When you listen to a song like “Hide And Seek,” with its hope that we can all recognize humanity in each other, you can’t help but feel like a better person.
One of the nicest surprises here is a cover of Donald Fagen’s “I.G.Y.” With it chorus refrain of “What a beautiful world it will be” it’s a perfect fit for Jones’ own philosophy.
In all, this album contains eighteen good reasons to say, “Oh yeah, I like that guy.” Posted November 29, 2006 1:21 PM | | |
USER: jules USER TYPE: Reviewer ARTIST: Peter Case SONG/ALBUM: Flying Saucer Blues GENRE: Alternative RATING: 6
In an age thick with singer-songwriters, it’s still rare to come across a serious tunesmith who doesn’t take himself too seriously. Someone, perhaps, with sufficient brains, wit and charm to pique a listener’s interest as quickly as Peter Case manages to do with the opening verse of Flying Saucer Blues. To wit: “The road that I’ve been on since I was two / Well, I just found out that it don’t go through / payday passed / my ship came and went / the apocalypse is over and I still owe rent.”
Given Case’s past flirtations with punk and pop success, most notably as a member of the Plimsouls, it’s tempting to read these lines as personal biography. But like virtually everything Case composes, the lyrics aren’t freighted with a sense of hidden meaning or deep significance. They’re merely the wry observations of a man who finds plenty of irony, humor and poignancy in the world -- enough, as it turns out, to make one impressive album after another. In some respects, Flying Saucer Blues doesn’t differ much from its entertaining predecessor, 1998’s Full Service No Waiting. Producer Andrew Williams returns to the studio again, along with a now familiar lineup of musicians. But, according to Case, “the last record was sparser. This one has deeper grooves.” He points to the Beatles’ Rubber Soul as a source of inspiration. “When they did Rubber Soul, the Beatles were still this little guitar band, but they were starting to write these great songs. They’d use these weird chords for dramatic effect.” If the Beatles connection isn’t always apparent on Flying Saucer Blues, there’s no shortage of great songs, or at least several songs that swiftly rise to the level of Case’s best work, which is no small accomplishment. In fact, what ultimately distinguishes this album from Case’s previous recordings are the songs themselves. Whether it’s the shamelessly catchy "Coulda, Shoulda Woulda," the heart aching lament "Cold Trail Blues" or the after-hours Memphis ode "Walking Home Late," the music conjures a variety of moods and places with refreshing honesty and understated ease.
Posted November 9, 2006 4:25 PM | | |
ARTIST: Wilco SONG/ALBUM: Being There GENRE: Alternative RATING: 7
Sometimes an unfortunate turn of events can lead to something good. For alternative-country fans, the demise of the much-heralded Uncle Tupelo was a painful blow. But the disappointment was soon offset by the formation of Wilco, its equally acclaimed successor. On Being There, the band’s sophomore release, chief songwriter Jeff Tweedy crafted a sprawling double album that could serve as the White Album of the Americana movement -- a 19-track epic that spans a broad landscape of pop, country, folk and rock. Armed with a grab bag of instruments, including lap steel, harmonica, accordion, dobro, fiddle, mandolin, banjo and the usual guitar, bass and drums, Wilco’s five members allowed themselves the luxury to slow down and experiment in the studio while making this record. That creative breathing room is evident in the album's leisurely pace.
On Being There, the band’s music ambles from the laid-back bluesy feel of "(Was I) In Your Dreams," to the Beatlesque charm of "Hotel Arizona," to the unaffected vulnerability of "The Lonely 1." A swirling tapestry of encyclopedic influences, this is a project that, despite its scope, still comes across as an intensely personal document. Also recommended: Velvet Crush - Teenage Symphonies To God ; The Jayhawks - Tomorrow The Green Grass; The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Posted November 9, 2006 3:43 PM | | |
ARTIST: The Nerk Twins SONG/ALBUM: Either Way GENRE: Alternative RATING: 5
It was John Lennon and Paul McCartney who first used the name, playing as a duo in 1960. The new Nerk Twins are Jeff Murphy, long a member of the Chicago pop-rock cult band Shoes, and musician Herb Eimerman. Both play guitars and many other instruments, including piano, violin, and clarinet. In fact, they sing or play virtually everything on this album except for drums and a few harmonies provided by Murphy's fellow Shoes, John Murphy and Gary Klebe. Most of the Murphy and Eimerman originals on Either Way evoke the sound of 1964-66, when bands like the Beatles and the Byrds combined rock-and-roll drive, Motown melodicism, and folk harmonies into an invigorating whole. Since the Nerk Twins were born in 1966, Eimerman explains, this style is their birthright. "We were conceived from the pop music of the British invasion, breast-fed on psychedelia, and weaned on power pop'' he says. The pseudonymous Twins' official history, which claims that "they spent years busking on the streets,'' is fiction (as is their image, which has never included a photograph of the band). But the appeal of their music is real. "Stay Away" recalls the youthful ebullience of the Hollies, "Dream for Love" evokes the aching, country-tinged melancholy of the Byrds, and "On & On & On" recaptures the hillbilly ethereality of the Everly Brothers. Either Way also features a few welcome changes of pace: "I'm Broke" growls rhythm and blues, "2 Women" and "Ugly" have an old-fashioned Appalachian twang, and "I Love Jamaica" combines doo-wop vocals with Caribbean syncopation in a way that suggests Paul Simon's The Rhythm of the Saints.
Most of these songs, however, jangle their way into a ecstatic tradition that includes not only the Beatles and their contemporaries but also the Raspberries, Big Star, Tom Petty, and the Travelin’ Wilburys. While their roots and influences may not be cutting-edge, the music offered up on Either Way provides an excellent reminder of the musical vitality of an earlier era.
Posted November 8, 2006 3:47 PM | | |
ARTIST: Meat Puppets SONG/ALBUM: Up On The Sun GENRE: Alternative RATING: 6
During the creation of indie rock -- the direct evolution of post-punk and post-hardcore styles that were popping up left and right in the mid-1980s -- one of the most unexpected sub-genres to appear was psychedelic "country punk." In fact, hindsight indicates it may not have been a sub-genre at all, just a name for the musical territory pursued by Arizona’s Meat Puppets. With their first two punk-country records, the Puppets began a transformation that reached its apex with 1985’s Up On The Sun, where their full-blown desert hallucinations meshed seamlessly with their natural punk-rock iconoclasm. The original plan formulated by guitarist Curt Kirkwood, his brother and bassist Cris Kirkwood, and drummer Derrick Bostrom was to rent an 8-track tape recorder to create a straightforward, homemade masterpiece. That scheme fell apart when the recordings became more complicated (and the music store wanted its tape machine back). Fortunately, thanks to this excellent reissue, the early conceptions of the album are now available. The band eventually tightened the arrangements and re-recorded them in a proper studio, and the results might be their finest work -- a kind of common ground between Moby Grape, The Minutemen and Willie Nelson.
The title track, along with "Swimming Ground," "Away," "Hot Pink," "Buckethead," "Two Rivers" and "Creator," are all MP classics. Curt Kirkwood's lyrics reach a crescendo on this album, with lines like "coal camper’s candles all lost in the snow" from "Up On The Sun," to "hot pink volcano in the heart of the tornado" from "Hot Pink." It would be hard to mistake these songs for anyone else's. Among the five newly released tracks, there is a beautiful, pin wheeling take on the title song, two versions of "Hot Pink" and "Maiden’s Milk," and a kind of re-christened "Mother American Marshmallow." A nice bonus is also a live performance video of "Swimming Ground." Posted October 28, 2006 2:41 PM | | |
ARTIST: Bjork SONG/ALBUM: Selmasongs GENRE: Alternative RATING: 7
Of course, Bob Dylan deserves a shelf’s worth of accolades. He is, after all, one of the supreme songwriters of our age. But at the 2000 Oscar ceremonies, Dylan didn’t deserve the Academy Award for best movie song. Instead, members of the Academy should have honored Bjork for her brilliant, breathtaking work on Dancer In The Dark. The Icelandic pop star had already picked up the Best Actress award at Cannes for her acting debut as an impoverished immigrant factory worker who gradually loses her sight, and whose son has inherited the same degenerative condition. Bjork’s Selma turns to the escapism of musicals to brighten her workaday world. And it’s there -- in her song-and-dance filled daydreams -- where her dreary existence suddenly springs to life.
Selmasongs, the movie’s soundtrack, is short -- a seven-song EP that’s over in about half an hour. But during that brief span, Bjork creates a musical suite of glorious, gutsy genius. From the instrumental "Overture" -- whose hushed opening strains build into an explosion of timpani and brass -- through the quiet fadeout of its closing track, "New World," Bjork layers texture over unexpected sonic texture. In "Cvalda," in which she duets with co-star Catherine Deneuve, she welds the clang and clatter of industrial machinery to a cheery Broadway backdrop. And in the lullaby-like "Scatterheart," symphonic strings swirl and dive over trippy techno beats. But the album's real tour de force is "I’ve Seen It All," which she performs with Radiohead’s Thom York. An innocent, Zen-like optimism pours forth as she sings about accepting the limitations her blindness imposes ("What about China? Have you seen the Great Wall? / All walls are great if the roof doesn’t fall."). With Selmasongs, Bjork accomplished a rare feat: she produced a musical score that stands on its own, and maintains its ability to move us, beyond its film context. Selmasongs harks back to grand-scale, classic soundtracks, when composers focused more on art and less on commerce. When Paul McCartney writes a classical piece, we can admire his willingness to stretch himself and to tackle a difficult new genre. Still, there’s always an understanding that pop music is where his musical genius resides. With Selmasongs, Bjork seems to have found her true voice as a post-modern avant-garde composer. Years from now, it’s not hard to imagine these compositions being performed by serious symphonies -- liberated, over time, from the trappings of Bjork’s quirky pop diva persona.
Posted October 28, 2006 1:09 PM | | |
ARTIST: Adrian Belew SONG/ALBUM: Op Zop Too Wah GENRE: Alternative RATING: 6
Adrian Belew’s Op Zop Too Wah is a dichotomy, a glimpse into the schizophrenic musical soul of one of modern rock’s most significant artists. On the one hand, it’s a pop record, full of Beatles-inspired chord progressions and solid song constructions. On the other, it’s an avant-garde record, full of disturbing, twisted, and quirky experiments in eclecticism. The result, as a whole, is clearly disconcerting. Belew’s impressive track record as a solo artist and collaborator is common knowledge to any fan of cutting edge rock. He's a master of otherworldly guitar sounds, and has developed one of the most singular styles in music. His radical approach to the role of the electric guitar in the rock ensemble first caught the attention of Frank Zappa and David Bowie and, ultimately, the Buddha of King Crimson, Robert Fripp. Belew contributed heavily towards establishing King Crimson as one of the most cutting edge bands of the '90s, lending his beautiful voice, impeccable sense of melody, and psychotically profound guitar licks to Crimson's Beat, Discipline, Three Of A Perfect Pair, and Thrak.
His concurrent solo career culminated with Here, which showcased Belew’s talents as a songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist, and became immediately notable for its compositional soundness. There isn't a single wasted moment on Here, as Belew reveals his mastery of both guitar and pen, and subverts his natural radicalism for his dual penchant for pop melodicism and fully realized chord progressions. Op Zop Too Wah, conversely, explores Belew’s more experimental side. The pop gems are fewer, and often obscured by the musical shards of glass surrounding them. There's a sense of incompleteness to the album, as if brilliant ideas were pursued only halfway to their completion. Nonetheless, tracks like "Six String," "All Her Love Is Mine," and "Time Waits" are clearly among Belew’s best songs. More experimental tracks like "Word Play Drum Beat" and "Modern Man Hurricane Blues" add to the diverse emotional resonance of the album. It’s hard to deny the quirky sense of fun that pervades this collection, and its creator's obvious dedication to his muse. Also recommended: David Bowie - Scary Monsters; Talking Heads - Remain In Light; Tom Waits - Swordfish Trombones; King Crimson – Thrak; Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask. Posted October 24, 2006 9:44 AM | | |
ARTIST: The Black Crowes SONG/ALBUM: By Your Side GENRE: Alternative RATING: 8
In an unlikely turn of events, The Black Crowes became, at the height of their commercial success, spokesmen for a style of music for which they were once mere pretenders to the throne. Simply by virtue of sticking around for as long as they have, the Crowes have earned true legitimacy. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the Brothers Robinson and Co. play their brand of Stones/Faces/Aerosmith rock with enough Southern-fried swank and sleazy conviction to sway all but the most jaded listeners. They emerged from Georgia at the dawn of the grunge movement, offering testimony to the power of the music that so moved them -- late 60’s British rock, Stax and Motown soul, the relentless shuffle of Exile-era Stones, and a touch of the Blues through the conduit of the Allman Brothers Band.
Certain factions wasted no time slinging mud the band’s way, slamming them for their retro tendencies and rock posturings. But the Crowes stuck around, filling an increasingly vacant spot in the rock landscape. To their critics, Chris and Rich Robinson responded like perfect Southern gentlemen: “We play the music we grew up loving, and we have just as much right to it as anyone else does.” Eventually, their persistence payed off, especially on By Your Side, the band’s fifth and probably finest release. To say that the album comes screaming out of the speakers like a shrill rebuke to its nay-sayers may be a touch over the top. But not by much. Picture Sam & Dave guesting on Aerosmith’s Rocks, and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what’s going on here. Vocalist Chris Robinson sounds so much like Faces-era Rod Stewart at times that it’s downright uncanny, but his soulfulness sounds more earned than manufactured throughout the album’s eleven tracks. Sibling Rich Robinson handles all of the guitar duties here in the wake of Marc Ford’s departure, with rich, vibrant layerings providing the majority of the album’s sonic information. The album kicks off with Chris Robinson’s "Otis Redding after too many bong hits" intro rap, blazes into the brutally endearing "Go Faster," and doesn’t let up until the last notes of the sultry "Virtue and Vice." Along the way, there's vintage Crowes ("Kickin’ My Heart Around"), old school R&B ("By Your Side," "Only A Fool"), groove-heavy rock ("Horsehead"), gospel-edged soul ("Go Tell The Congregation"), and even a pinch of psychedelia ("Welcome To The Goodtimes"). Also recommended: The Faces - A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse; Aerosmith – Rocks; The Allman Brothers - Idlewild South. Posted October 24, 2006 9:17 AM | | |
ARTIST: David Byrne SONG/ALBUM: Feelings GENRE: Alternative RATING: 7
Former Talking Head David Byrne brings the strongest elements of his three previous solo works together with a touch of the modern on Feelings, his first release since 1994’s David Byrne. Blending his penchant for Latin, Brazilian and African stylings with his sure-fire sensibility for pop hooks and clever, insightful lyrics, Byrne has created a lasting masterpiece. Recorded at various locations around the world, Feelings runs the gamut from witty world-beat ("Miss America," "Daddy Go Down"), to acerbic pop ("Dance On Vaseline," "The Gates Of Paradise"), to just plain beautiful ("A Soft Seduction," "Fininte=Alright"). The addition of British trip-hoppers Morcheeba adds a distinctly modern flair to several of the tracks, and should open a wider audience to the charm of this eccentric genius. Also recommended: Talking Heads – Naked; Ivan Lins - Awa y Io; Morcheeba - Who Can You Trust? Posted October 24, 2006 9:03 AM | | |
USER: Jim2nd USER TYPE: Reviewer ARTIST: The Promise Ring SONG/ALBUM: Very Emergency GENRE: Alternative RATING: 6
Sometimes the best way to capture the power and magic of rock 'n' roll is to strip it down to bare basics. That's exactly what The Promise Ring, a quartet from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, did on their third album, Very Emergency. By mixing disarmingly catchy melodies and punk guitars with a pile of old love letters, they produced a musical gem -- dynamic, intelligent, and heartfelt. The band's previous recordings used the same formula, but were burdened by overly fussy arrangements and cryptic lyrics. Here, they still wax enigmatic ("I know the coffee leaves by car / because it goes fast really far / Then that's where you are"); but using romantic infatuation as his subject matter, and pairing it with bare bones rock, singer Davey VonBohlen's words actually add punch.
The music is standard verse-chorus-verse, but skillfully played, capturing more subtle shades than can often be expected from standard guitar-driven rock . "Things Just Getting Good" is a sock-hop slow dance, while "Happy Hour" is all speedy guitars and handclaps, and "New Jersey Shore" sounds like a forgotten summertime classic. Jonathan Richman, in his Modern Lover days, might be the only other vocalist who could have pulled off a line like, "I was born in 1968 / born to replace Bobby Kennedy," but in "Arms And Danger," the band's buoyant, aggressive attack makes the line soar. Recorded at a punk landmark, Arlington, Virginia's Inner Ear Studio (home of Fugazi), J. Robbins' production packs a punch that is perhaps most reminiscent of early Green Day. This band's style, though, is derived from believable roots. All Very Emergency really requires you to believe in is that rock ‘n’ roll can still be great. Posted October 22, 2006 2:51 PM | | |
USER: Jim2nd USER TYPE: Reviewer ARTIST: Firehose SONG/ALBUM: Ragin' Full On GENRE: Alternative RATING: 6
The story of this album is intertwined with the story of the Minutemen, a San Pedro, CA trio (guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley) who from 1980-85 cracked punk rock on its sometimes hard head with equal doses of political and social outrage, humor, and truth. The band came to a devastating end in 1985, when Boon was killed in an automobile accident. Watt, the guitarist’s musical and spiritual "other-half," was devastated, and had no plans to continue with music. But things changed in 1986 when a young guitarist refused to let Watt rest until he was given an audience. Watt finally relented, the guitarist showed up and played The Who’s "I’m One" from Quadrophenia (something of a Boon/Watt sacred text), and Watt found himself convinced the kid had been sent from beyond by Boon. With Hurley back on board, Firehose was born.
The new guitarist turned out to be Ed Crawford, and their debut, Ragin’ Full On, appeared in late 1986 as salvation to legions of Minutemen fans. Few imagined that the band would be able to reinvent the Minutmen’s uncanny sense of outrage, much less expand its melodic songwriting. But the new release lived up to its name. The trio strummed and burned as Watt’s bass assumed a bigger, harder leading role on tunes like "Brave Captain" and "Chemical Wire." Crawford -- who approached vocals armed with some of Watt’s most insightful lyrics -- brought a warmer, more vulnerable emotional edge to the band, as evidenced in "The Candle and the Flame," "Locked-In," and "Perfect Pairs" (where Watt’s pain and recovery was indelibly laid bare). Ragin’ Full On pondered some tough philosophical questions, but ultimately allowed that while life is often harsh, it's indisputably worth living. Posted October 22, 2006 2:33 PM | | |
USER: Jim2nd USER TYPE: Reviewer ARTIST: Gomez SONG/ALBUM: Liquid Skin GENRE: Alternative RATING: 6
In the music business, expectations often are unfair. Take Gomez. When their debut, Bring It On, won 1998's esteemed Mercury Prize -- annually awarded to the most promising UK newcomer -- many people, including the notoriously overzealous British music press, expected big things. But when the band's follow-up, Liquid Skin, turned out to be full of long songs, somber moods, woozy singing, and detached lyrics, the sighs of collective disappointment were audible. Some were ready to write the quintet off completely. But there was one thing wrong with that approach: Liquid Skin is good.
As on their eventual commercial breakthrough, How We Operate, Gomez utilizes blues structures like later-day Led Zeppelin, which is to say, very loosely. Take a riff or a slacker blues shuffle, then pile on harmony, strings, electronic drums, rippling keyboards, seemingly whatever's handy. With three accomplished singer/guitarists -- Tom Gray, Ben Ottewell, and Ian Ball -- the band mixes and matches vocal styles to diverse, lush effects. From the careening opening track "Hangover," to the closing "Devil Will Ride," Gomez here creates a sound that slowly sinks in, with melodies that don't often register until you find yourself humming them days later. The songs on Liquid Skin don't complement as much as diffuse into one another. "I could never see myself in anybody else's eyes," growls Ottewell at one point, and he's right. This pulsing set of recordings, created amidst the Britpop, DJ and boy band atmosphere of the time, defies clear categorization. Like Dire Straits, who also defied trends by blending seemingly dissimilar styles, Gomez ignores fashion. And that is what ultimately led them to this lazily graceful collection -- think of it as music for the morning after headache. Posted October 22, 2006 1:49 PM | | |
ARTIST: Beth Orton SONG/ALBUM: Central Reservation GENRE: Alternative RATING: 7
Beth Orton is a rainy day woman. No matter what she's singing about -- whether it’s a stolen car or a visit to a foreign country -- her plaintive voice renders the song slightly gray and drizzly. On Central Reservation, she has jettisoned some of the trip-hop beats and ambient washes of her acclaimed debut, Trailer Park, in favor of a more organic sound. In fact, the record echoes nothing so much as the gentle melancholia of England's original rainy day man, Nick Drake. A huge Drake fan, Orton even went as far as bringing in the lost boy's producer, John Wood, to record her vocals and the string parts. "He's totally from an old-school folk mentality, the real deal," Orton told Hits Magazine. "No effects on the voice, one-ear-on-the-headphones-one-ear-off kind of vibe. It was totally cool. He would've had me using no headphones, just singing to the speaker. That was beautiful and it became more and more magical as it went along." Also adding to the magic are a bevy of guest stars: Dr. John shows a dappled side to his piano playing on the four-chord weeper "Sweetest Decline". Ben Harper's fuzzy slide guitar glowers behind "Stolen Car," while unsung folk maverick Terry Callier adds a rich vocal background on "Pass In Time" and Everything But The Girl's Ben Watt lends his cool-blooded electronica production to the title track and the languid "Stars All Seem To Weep."
The two strongest songs, "Blood Red River" and "Feel To Believe" are also the leanest, setting the flawed jewel of Orton's voice against a simple setting of acoustic guitar and string quartet. Orton's low-key emotionalism is a welcome break from the octave-spanning Olympiads and angst-a-thons of so much modern female-based pop. Says Orton: "This album was about capturing moments. That to me is the thing -- not stealing the soul of the moment, but giving the moment soul."
If you like Central Reservation, check out: Everything But The Girl - Walking Wounded; Nick Drake - Way To Blue; Clive Gregson - Happy Hour; Boo Hewerdine - Thanksgiving. Posted October 22, 2006 11:00 AM | | |
ARTIST: Teitur SONG/ALBUM: Stay Under The Stars GENRE: Alternative RATING: 7
“You wouldn’t notice me, I have a tendency to blend with the music,” Teitur sings on his second album, the follow-up to 2003’s acclaimed Poetry & Aeroplanes. It’s a revealing line. With his wool sweaters and bedhead hair, this 24-year old looks more like an unassuming graduate student than a pop musician. And he doesn’t rely on attitude or affectations to get his message across.
His message is one that belongs to rainy days and acoustic guitars. Cups of tea and quiet conversations. And of course, matters of the heart. That Teitur (pronounced Tie-Tor) is a romantic is apparent from the opening track, “Don’t Want You To Wake Up,” when he coos, “Stay under the stars / where no one can make us change what we are.” But he also knows how difficult it is to keep the stars shining in a relationship, as he details on “You Get Me” and the lilting waltz, “All My Mistakes.”
Other notable cuts: “Louis Louis” twists a classic song title into a tribute to Satchmo, while the one cover on the album is a live performance of a moody, string-drenched take on “Great Balls Of Fire.” It’s like Jerry Lee Lewis meets Erik Satie.
Teitur may be a bit of wallflower, but his music makes for a fine traveling companion for late night drives and rainy Sunday afternoons. Posted October 19, 2006 9:06 AM | | |
ARTIST: Phoenix SONG/ALBUM: It's Never Been Like That GENRE: Alternative RATING: 6
For their third album, Phoenix must’ve posted a “No more blue-eyed soul” sign in the studio. The cool, minty twist on R & B that this French quartet brought to brilliant singles like “Everything Is Everything” and “If I Ever Feel Better” has been bartered for the slouching, sloppier style of the Strokes. I don’t know much French, but my one word response to this change is: “Pourquoi?”
I’m all for bands stretching and pushing against their own musical frontiers, but aping rumpled garage rock poseurs seems like a misstep for Phoenix. That said, the good news is that they don’t fully succeed in their quest to become Les Strokes.
Try as they might to suppress their funky ebullience, it bubbles up through the grimy guitars and lo-fi production. It’s there in the joie de vivre that blows through “Consolation Prizes” and the stuttering hook on “Rally.” And when the chorus of “Long Distance Call” bursts forth, the real Technicolor soul of Phoenix is revealed. They are an AM radio loving pop group with a knack for sweet melodies, smooth Philly-style chord changes and quirky robotic grooves. Not a garage punk band.
Here’s hoping that for their next record, Phoenix rise from the ashes of this failed experiment and embrace their inner Daryl Hall again. Posted October 16, 2006 4:52 PM | | |
ARTIST: Persephone's Bees SONG/ALBUM: Notes from the Underworld GENRE: Alternative RATING: 6
First, class, let us have a brief lesson in Greek mythology. Persephone, you will recall, has the dubious but rather hip honor of being the goddess of the underworld. She rose (or descended, if you prefer) to this position because the Bronze Age devil himself, Hades, took a fancy to her, kidnapping the poor daughter of Zeus while she was picking posies on the plain of Enna. This did not sit well with Persephone’s mom, Demeter, goddess of the harvest, who threatened to turn the Earth into her own Depression Dust Bowl unless Hades let her daughter go. Knowing that hell hath no fury like a mistress scorned, Zeus pulled rank and forced Hades to release Persephone. Things might have ended happily there, but silly Persephone got the munchies on the long trip back to Earth and ate a pomegranate given to her by Hades. For some great Greek mythical reason, this meant she was bound to the underworld forever and had to spend three months a year in hell. During her daughter’s yearly absences, Demeter pouted, refusing to let anything grow. Viola! Winter was born! Now, that we’ve got that little bit of history out of the way, we can address the question of Persephone’s Bees, a new Bay Area alternative-rock quartet fronted by go-go-goth lead vocalist Angelina Moysov. The Russian ex-pat fancies herself a post-modern pop Persephone, walking the ironic line between light and the dark and melody and dissonance in the band’s debut album, Notes from the Underworld. Of course, this is nothing new in pop music. Bands from the Rolling Stones to Nirvana to Green Day have been working the territory between the mainstream and the underground. But Moysov does a good job of putting her own gypsy spin on the formula, with guitarist Tom Ayres, bassist Bart Davenport and drummer Paul Bertolino adding heavy-rock-meets-punk sting to the arrangements. There is a surrealistic, rockin’ Kurt Weill vibe in many of the tunes, including the oddball love song, “Way to Your Heart,” and the sarcastic ode to materialism, “Climbing.” The pop-meets-punk fusion reaches critical mass on “Paper Plane,” and the surf-meets-Red Square ditty, “Muzika Dlya Fil’ma,” while “Walk on the Moon” puts Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic Russian novel, “Master and Marguarita,” in which the Devil pays a visit to the godless Soviet Union, into an engaging, anthemic, pop-music context. We know. It all sounds a bit much for a pop group. But it works somehow, never veering into eye-rolling pseudo-pop poetry or faux intellectualism. Hum along Hades. Posted October 14, 2006 11:01 AM | | |
ARTIST: Nouvelle Vague SONG/ALBUM: Bande A Part GENRE: Alternative RATING: 7
Imagine a cruise ship that’s wending its way down the coast of South America. The house band has a curious set list, one that willfully neglects all musical decades except the 1980s, and even more specifically, the darker bands of that era. They draw deep from the angst-ridden songs of Echo & The Bunnymen (“The Killing Moon”), the Buzzcocks (“Ever Fallen In Love?”), the Cramps (“Human Fly”) and Bauhaus (“Bela Lugosi’s Dead”), and reinvent them as svelte, bossa nova-flavored chansons. It’s retro futurism at its most seductive.
Unlikely as it may seem, that house band exists. The brainchild of French duo Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, Nouvelle Vague have taken what might seem a contrived and kitschy concept and made it into something fresh. Collin and Libaux’s loungey arrangements provide a vibrant springboard for the bewitching vocals of Melanie Pain and Phoebe Killdeer, both who sound very breathy and very French. If ABBA had come from Paris, they might’ve been like this.
It’s not only obscure 80s bands they cover. U2’s “Pride In The Name Of Love” and Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” get reassembled into fizzy concoctions that allow you to appreciate them anew.
Nouvelle Vague means, appropriately, new wave. And lest you forget, it was the French who invented the term. It seems only right that they’ve come to reclaim it. Posted October 13, 2006 10:07 AM | | |
ARTIST: Morphine SONG/ALBUM: Cure For Pain GENRE: Alternative RATING: 7
“Implied grunge” and “low rock” are two of the more imaginative ways that two-string slide bassist Mark Sandman has attempted to describe the unique sound of his Boston-based trio, Morphine. And Cure For Pain, Morphine’s second album, was the first of the band’s two Rykodisc CDs that had a lot of people asking him for such descriptions. Released in 1993, when big woolly Seattle-style guitar rock was at the peak of its powers, Cure For Pain is the work of a guitar-less, almost jazz-style trio featuring baritone saxist Dana Colley, drummer Billy Conway, and Sandman singing a deep, smoky croon while playing his two-string bass with a slide — definitely not your average rock ensemble. And yet, the songs on Cure For Pain are clearly rock songs, with verses, choruses, hooks and melodies that draw on the blues and even jazz without even coming close to the line that separates pop from fusion.
"Less is best" became one of Sandman’s mottoes in the wake of Morphine’s critical success, and Cure For Pain makes it clear why. The absence of instrumental clutter leaves plenty of room for drummer Jerome Deupree (who was replaced by Conway after recording began) to lay down a streamlined backbeat that would make Charlie Watts proud, for Colley to demonstrate his virtuoso command of the baritone sax, and for Sandman’s dry sense of humor to emerge from the noirish backdrops of "Thursday" (a hard-boiled tale of illicit romance), "A Head With Wings" (a whimsical song about a head with wings) and "Buena" (a Faustian rock fable).
Sandman, who’d previously played low-end guitar in the skewed blues band Treat Her Right, also has a serious side, which is revealed on the bittersweet, mandolin-laced "In Spite of Me." But Cure For Pain is primarily a low-key, low-frequency, groove-driven party album with it’s late-night vibe, R&B roots, and a unique sound that eventually earned Morphine, who couldn’t even find a label to release their debut album, a deal with DreamWorks. Posted October 6, 2006 5:10 PM | | |
ARTIST: Smashing Pumpkins SONG/ALBUM: Siamese Dream GENRE: Alternative RATING: 7
The release of Smashing Pumpkins’ second CD — the one that ”head Pumpkin” Billy Corgan often referred to as the band’s first fully realized album — precipitated much spirited debate over the question of what constitutes alternative rock in the early ‘90’s. Corgan had been guilty of projecting for himself the image of the underdog underground rocker (see Siamese Dream’s "Geek U.S.A.") while artfully masterminding what, even on its debut album Gish, sounds like one of the more sophisticated arena rock bands the world had seen. Not since art-rockers Yes and Rush had a band emitted such a rich, gigantic guitar-based wall of sound. Comparatively, they made Boston’s "More Than A Feeling" seem a little underdeveloped.
Of course, rock 'n roll has always been about mythmaking — John Fogerty wasn’t born on the bayou, Bob Dylan’s real name is Zimmerman, and the Stones weren’t really street fighting men. Besides, Siamese Dream catapulted Smashing Pumpkins into orbit alongside stars of major rock stature so quickly that arguing about the underground credibility became more or less a moot point. Symphonic alienation would be one way to describe the results of Corgan’s first big-budget studio project. The 13 tracks on Siamese Dream draw heavily on Corgan’s disaffection and dysfunction for lyrics and mood, but rather than mirroring his depression with depressive music he subverts it with sweeping crescendos, bracing power chords, and sharply etched melodic hooks. The effect is majestic on the hit single "Today," where layers of melody continuously overlap against an undulating sea of humming bass and guitar. With his next project, the two-CD set Melon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, Corgan’s ambition would begin to outstrip his facility as a singer, and his fascination with ’80s new wave would provide the high points. But on Siamese Dream, he found the perfect balance between monolithic guitars and monochromatic emotions. Posted October 6, 2006 4:58 PM | | |
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