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THE SLIP
Nine Inch Nails
2008
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| Trent Reznor continues his march toward Internet-music-distribution domination with The Slip, the second Nine Inch Nails release in the calendar year of 2008, following the mostly instrumental Ghosts I-IV. Offered as a free download through the band's website, The Slip is, if not the most accessible, the most single-minded NIN record in 15 years. Unlike the overhyped Year Zero, nothing here is overthought; instead, Reznor and company let all the loose ends and wordless noise-jams do the work. It's hard-headed and groove-oriented (save for the seven-minute ambient excursion "Corona Radiate"), and chock full of hooks. I don't know what's in Trent's Kool Aid these days, but if this is the product, pass me a cup. Bottoms up!
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| Review by John Brodeur ~ 02|Jul|2008 |
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IVEY-DIVEY
Don Byron
2004
Winning album of the year awards, Ivey-Divey has already become heavily critically acclaimed, and rightfully so. This Don Byron record, dedicated to Lester Young, captures a very contemporary trio of Jason Moran and Jack DeJonette, performing standards that were popular in the 1930's and 40's. Byron performs mostly on clarinet, his main instrument, but also doubles on the tenor sax on "The Goon Drag", which also features bassist Lonnie Plaxico and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. Jason's left hand really makes up for the lack of a bassist on most of the tracks, leaving nothing empty or bottomless. Melodic and always original are the drums of Jack DeJonette, who has been making classic records with countless musicians since around 1970, such as Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett and Steve Coleman. This band sets the standard for modern versions of classic repertoire, reminding everyone that jazz is still alive and well.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 02|Jul|2008 |
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ORACULAR SPECTACULAR
MGMT
2008
MGMT deserve their due: they have written one good song. That song is "Kids"; it’s got a good beat and it’s catchy as hell. Good for MGMT, they have potential. Unfortunately, the rest of their debut, Oracular Spectacular is complete garbage. "Time to Pretend", the album’s lead single could be as fun as "Kids" if it weren’t burdened with an incredibly annoying synth setting and idiotic "ironic" lyrics about (ironic) dreams of (ironic) rock and roll stardom. The band plods on without doing much of anything. There isn’t a memorable melody or lyric to be found. Maybe the problem is the delivery. Unlike fellow glam-disco indie poppers like Of Montreal or Scissor Sisters, MGMT are so "ironically detached" when they sing that they sound like they don’t care about their own music. This begs the question: why should we care?
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| Review by Rob Wohl ~ 30|Jun|2008 |
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CONSOLERS OF THE LONELY
The Raconteurs
2008
In terms of production time, The Raconteurs' Consolers of the Lonely is the antithesis of Guns and Roses' Chinese Democracy. Recorded and mastered in the first week of March, the album was sitting on record store shelves world wide less than three weeks later. With such a quick turnaround and a sparse (read: non-existent) advertising campaign, Consolers of the Lonely served as a reminder to the music industry that it doesn't take a media circus to gain critical attention. This is a good old fashioned classic rock album, hearkening back to the days of Led Zeppelin, the MC5 and well... Led Zeppelin. A special guest appearance by the legendary Memphis Horns on a number of tracks gives the record a touch of heavy musical history, but with songs as powerful as the spiteful "Many Shades of Black" and the spine-tingling murder ballad "Carolina Drama", it seems the Raconteurs themselves are already well on their way to becoming one of rock and roll’s all-time greats.
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| Review by Alex Wernquest ~ 26|Jun|2008 |
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SONGS IN A&E
Spiritualized
2008
Spiritualized's sixth studio album is named for the Accident and Emergency ward, the British emergency room. The title refers to bandleader Jason Pierce's near fatal bout of pneumonia in 2005. It’s also an apt description: the songs sound like they're on life support. Pierce moans more than he sings. Drums and bass lurch forward unevenly. The guitars are a distorted wail, like scars and blisters on the beautiful melodies. Choirs, strings, and horns frequently appear, sounding like angels beckoning us toward the light. "I Gotta Fire" sounds like it has chunks knocked out of it and "Death Take Your Fiddle" is accompanied by the sounds of a respirator. Songs in A & E is certainly death-obsessed, but Pierce won’t go gently into that good night. In "Soul on Fire", he is clear that he wants to keep burning forever. The power of Spiritualized’s music is a pretty convincing reason to endure.
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| Review by Rob Wohl ~ 25|Jun|2008 |
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FEED THE ANIMALS
Girl Talk
2008
As Girl Talk, Pittsburgh's Greg Gillis has elevated the mashup from novelty to art form. Building on the success of 2006's Night Ripper, Feed The Animals follows a similar template, while improving upon its predecessor in virtually every respect. Seamlessly splicing together samples ranging from Aaliyah to The Zombies, Feed The Animals is a chaotic, endlessly fun trip through pop music history. The genius of Girl Talk lies in the juxtaposition of radically different artists (Flo Rida rapping over the Velvet Underground?!), demonstrating pop music’s incredible heterogeneity over the last 50 years, while simultaneously situating these disparate threads in the same tradition. Unlike Night Ripper, Feed The Animals manages to maintain momentum for its entire 53-minute runtime. Girl Talk is offering the album using the In Rainbows model (name your own price and download). But no matter what you pay, you’ll know you got your money’s worth after one listen.
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| Review by Matt Milner ~ 25|Jun|2008 |
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CHANNEL THREE
Greg Osby
2005
Greg Osby's alto saxophone has been very influential on younger generations of improvisors, yet his skill at band leading may be most admirable of all. Osby likes to feature young talents in his bands, which become breading grounds for new waves of inspired musicians. On Channel Three, he showcases compositions written for the trio of Matt Brewer on the bass and Jeff Tain Watts on the drums. Matt Brewer is capable of playing things on the bass that horn players could only dream of. Watts' tasteful drumming comes from years of experience with many great musicians like Wynton Marsalis and Chris Potter. This record truly displays each individual's strong points with wonderful improvisation and brilliant performances of the written material.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 25|Jun|2008 |
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SEEING THINGS
Jakob Dylan
2008
With some help from producer Rick Rubin, Jakob Dylan gets down to the heart of the song with little else than a guitar when he combines a love for American music with some country blues. Dylan becomes the farmer on the rootsy "Will it Grow" proclaiming, "My forefathers they worked this land/ And I was schooled in the tyranny of nature's plan." He harkens Elvis Costello on "Valley of the Low Sun" and again on "On Up The Mountain". On "War is Kind" he looks sympathetically at the different sides of war, from those fighting in it to those waiting back at home. He, along with some sublte backing female vocals, looks closely at the cost of living on the heartbreaking "Everybody Pays as They Go". With Seeing Things Dylan shows he can be both folky and a rocker - sort of like another Dylan we know.
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| Review by Shannon Carlin ~ 25|Jun|2008 |
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DO IT!
Clinic
2008
Clinic’s fifth full length studio album, Do It!, is full of the jangly guitars, half-mumbled vocals and smorgasbord of styles that have always defined the band. At their best, on songs like "Corpus Christi" and "High Coin", they fuse almost spookily enigmatic vocals with an effective instrumental drone. For the most part, the album manages to maintain the rough-edged garage feel while creating atmospheric music. This makes the interruptions to the formula stick out, as in "Free Not Free". The moody ambiance of the slow-dance verse is punctuated by a fuzzy guitar riff which seems like it has no business being there. However, the following song, "Shopping Bag", unleashes all of the potential energy anticipated by the riff, with its straight-ahead drive and high-pitched squeals. It takes a band with confidence in its identity to write a song like "Free Not Free", and Clinic is certainly sure of itself.
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| Review by Ben Murphy ~ 24|Jun|2008 |
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BRIAN CHASE & SETH MISTERKA DUO
Brian Chase & Seth Misterka
2007
Many people may be apprehensive about listening to an album that features only a saxophonist and a drummer, but in reality, this is one of the most personal types of settings a musician can approach. The music of Seth Misterka and Brian Chase clearly sounds like a conversation, each member adding a comment at the appropriate time to complement what the other was saying. The melodic drums of Chase present clear intentions, and have a deep rooted personality that is obvious to any listener. Misterka combines the ideas of sound-based free improvisation with a repetitive, yet melodic, John Tchicai based approach. Having a history with the complex music of Anthony Braxton, he has had a huge influence on the Brooklyn-based saxophonist, adding subtle layers of sound to the overall texture of the music, like his mentor. More genuine recordings such as this one should be conceived featuring an intimate duo setting.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 24|Jun|2008 |
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LIVE AT BARBES
The Four Bags
2006
Live at Barbes captures an original concept group live at a wonderful venue to see creative music. The Four Bags have a very unique instrumentation featuring accordion, trombone, clarinet, and guitar. This configuration generates a style of an amalgamation of circus music and avant garde chamber music. In what I believe is an attempt to add humor to free jazz, this group achieves this sensation more genuinely than most, keeping atonal grooves with catchy rhythmic phrases. The members include Jacob Garchik on accordion, Michael McGinnis on Clarinet, Brian Drye on trombone and Sean Moran on guitar. This music represents a corner of the improvising world that needs to be explored further as they are able to achieve a full group sound while lacking the bass and drums.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 24|Jun|2008 |
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SATURDAYS=YOUTH
M83
2008
Saturdays=Youth, the third album from French shoegaze/electronic outfit is incredible background music. The aching romanticism "Kim & Jessie" or "Graveyard Girl" imbue any situation with a thick sense of grandeur. This album is the perfect soundtrack for late night driving. Several tracks, most notably "We Own the Sky" and the instrumental "Coleurs", are beautifully melodramatic dance music. But the record loses its power with too much scrutiny. Each track uses the same approach: the liberal application of shimmering studio effects and soaring synthetic harmonies to fairly simple melodies. At first the effect is dazzling. If you just sit down and listen to the album, it gets a bit boring. So don’t listen to all of it alone in your room. Saturdays=Youth will enhance any euphoric moment, so when you’re driving, dancing, or making out, it's perfect.
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| Review by Rob Wohl ~ 23|Jun|2008 |
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ESTEEM: LIVE IN PARIS, 1975
Steve Lacy Quintet
2006
Released long after the recording date, available for the first time is Esteem by Steve Lacy's Quintet. Lacy has a reputation as the best soprano saxophonist, exclusively adopting the instrument for his fifty year jazz career. Technically speaking, nobody had better control, and when combined with Lacy's unique melodicism, the result is an influence felt around the world. The band here features two long time partners of Lacy's, Steve Potts on alto saxophone and Irene Aebi on cello and violin. Kent Carter plays bass (and appears on many other Lacy albums) and the percussionist is Kenneth Tyler. Lacy's compositions possess a unique structure: repeating a section, followed by a through-composed melody, back to the repeated section, and then into thematic improvisation. Anyone who is obsessed with Lacy, needs to own this recording, but his earlier works may be a better introduction to his music.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 23|Jun|2008 |
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SMILE
Boris
2008
Boris makes rock and roll that’s heavy on the rock and light on the roll. Their trademark maelstrom of guitars is still a dominant presence on Smile, but they also expand their sound, incorporating cheesy pop-metal riffs ("Laser Beam" and "Statement") and dreamy psychedelic numbers ("My Neighbour Satan" and "You Were Holding an Umbrella"). The album’s highlight is the epic opener "Flower, Sun, Rain"; opening with an ominous wall of fuzz and feedback, it suddenly gives way to a beautiful vocal melody over a quiet, droning surf guitar. The production on the vocals is stunningly clean, belying the gloriously noisy guitar freak-out that dominates the end of the song. The whole album (the Southern Lord version at least) sees Boris flexing their pop sensibilities. Often times the results are fun, but they fail to fulfill the promise of the opener, alternating between melodic and experimental sections without synthesizing them.
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| Review by Matt Milner ~ 23|Jun|2008 |
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THE MIDDLE PICTURE
Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet
2006
Multi-instrumentalist Taylor Ho Bynum, has been featured on brass instruments since the 90's with genius musician Anthony Braxton, and has for almost ten years been producing original works. The Middle Picture features ensembles consisting of Matt Bauder, Mary Halvorson, Evan O'Reilly, Jessica Pavone and Tomas Fujiwara. The instrumentation is contemporary, featuring sonorities from jazz and classical music, which produces a warm, full sound on seven Bynum originals. They also perform "In a Silent Way" by Joe Zawinal/Miles Davis and "Bluebird of Delhi" by Billy Strayhorn/Duke Ellington. Especially memorable is Bynum's ability to transform the sound of the cornet - ranging from a full tone with vibrato to a splitting multiphonic timbre. Halvorson performs wonderfully with a very fluid, yet spurratic conception of harmony, which I enjoy very much. This album is recommended to anyone who enjoys creative jazz or very impressive trumpet and guitar playing.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 19|Jun|2008 |
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KONK
The Kooks
2008
"See the Sun", the album's opening track, starts off simple with just singer Luke Pritchard's voice, but then Hugh Harris’ electric guitar comes in and takes hold, which happens often throughout Konk, making the band a lot more rockin’ this time around. Pritchard has grown into his rockstar shoes on songs like "Down in the Marketplace", but can also slow things down and really take full advantage of his falsetto on the slower "One Last Time". The fast paced "Always Where I Need To Be" and its refrain may be their catchiest song, but with a little slide guitar and a hooky chorus, "Love It All" is also a perfect pop gem. After hearing the band play in the background of an episode of our beloved American Idol, you can’t help but believe that The Kooks are finally going to catch on with mainstream America.
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| Review by Shannon Carlin ~ 18|Jun|2008 |
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VISITER
The Dodos
2008
Like their avian namesake, The Dodos’ music seems both benign and otherworldly. They’ve worn out their copy of Animal Collective’s freak-folk masterpiece Sung Tongs, but they transform its primitive rhythms and structural playfulness into a more accessible, tuneful collection of songs. On tracks such as "Fools" and "Jody" they approach transcendent heights. Considering that most tracks are stripped down to an acoustic guitar and drums, they’re remarkably dynamic. Fortunately, the sparce arrangements allow the vocals to take center stage. Lead singer Meric Long’s voice occasionally recalls a less-grating Zach Condon (Beirut), but unlike Condon, Long has the lyrical chops to match. If only the album were about 15 minutes shorter, it would be real gem, but unfortunately it hits a few lulls. Nevertheless, The Dodos have a masterpiece of their own lurking on the horizon if they continue to build on this album's considerable strengths.
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| Review by Matt Milner ~ 18|Jun|2008 |
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FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS
Flight of the Conchords
2008
Although on their self titled LP the Flight of the Conchords stray little from the songs featured on their HBO show, nothing seems old. The boys get political on "Think About It", asking why shoes made by slave kids aren’t cheaper. The slinky "Ladies of the World" somehow becomes an anti-war song. Their rap alter egos come out on "Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros", explaining, "There ain’t no party like my grandma’s tea party." They play tough on the censored rap song "Mutha’uckas", but get demure on "A Kiss is Not a Contract". The boys play second fiddle to Rhys Darby (AKA Murray Hewitt) as he sings his admiration for his IT person. The only thing better is their dead-on Bowie impression.
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| Review by Shannon Carlin ~ 18|Jun|2008 |
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WEEZER (RED ALBUM)
Weezer
2008
On the third self-titled album of their 15-year career, Weezer attempts to experiment with their tried-and-true formula: "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" is a six-minute magnum opus that dabbles in about a dozen different musical styles, and for the first time the other three band members each contribute a song - but overall it's still the same old Weezer. Rivers Cuomo can still knock out an unshakably catchy, Cars-influenced hook, but he still relies too much on lyrics that read like bad high-school poetry (though lead single "Pork and Beans" combines those two elements for the best Weezer single in a dozen years). This Weezer is easily a better effort than the band's 2005 abortion Make Believe, but that's not saying much.
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| Review by John Brodeur ~ 18|Jun|2008 |
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MANIFOLD
Steve Lehman Quartet
2007
From the first notes an experienced listener can tell this is an energetic live recording, quite captivating in nature. The quartet format really gives much responsibility to bassist John Hebert, who is perfectly qualified for the task. His constantly melodic, perfectly in tune bass lines, covering the entire range of the instrument hold down the harmonic rhythm of Lehman's compositions, which are largely based on serial improvisation. Drummer Nasheet Waits is given much freedom, sometimes hinting at a form or meter, but always phrasing over the bar lines, knowing just where to place beat one. Jonathan Finlayson's articulations sound precise like a classical musician, and he is also able to keep up with the improvisations of Lehman, which is very admirable on such a difficult instrument as the trumpet. This band further defines new conceptual directions in jazz, and succeeds in bringing this language to the forefront, performing live frequently.
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| Review by Alan Bjorklund ~ 18|Jun|2008 |
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