Blitzen Trapper The Fratellis

Blitzen Trapper
Furr 2008 Sub Pop
The Fratellis
Here We Stand 2008 Interscope

The Beatles can be an incredibly vital influence to draw upon. They built blueprints for both pop songs and rock songs of which the reverberations are felt deeply even outside of those particular genres. However, they also happen to be one of those rare bands that is hard to emulate without lifting from them directly. As a result, bands attempting to do so will more often than not end up in one of two extremes. Either they fall short in a pitiful mess of things they truly did not comprehend, or they end up becoming a pale imitation, playing note for note certain sections but lacking any sort voice they can their own. Very rarely do they hit that perfect balance and actually build upon the great foundations laid before them.
Portland's Blitzen Trapper and Glasgow's The Fratellis have both released albums this year that bear many marks of The Beatles throughout them. Only one, however, has accomplished something admirable.
Two years ago I heard the Fratelli's disc Costello Music and was quite pleased. It seemed to be a much better version of the modern New Wave/Brit Pop peddled by bands like Franz Ferdinand, but without relying on repetition like so many others of the genre. There was brilliant tempo changes and clever production throughout. They laid groundwork in rock and roll but they laid Spanish folk, Irish drinking music and Punk rock within the layers drawing upon both the Beatles and the Clash equally. And it was raw. Raw and eclectic. I was very excited to see what they had in store next with their 2008 release, Here We Stand. Unfortunately what I found was that they had all but abandoned the eccentricities that had made them so intriguing and opted for a more homogenized and safe route. It is as if they had heard people praise their clever use of The Beatles' influence and decided to run with it. Gone are the brilliant, genre-jumping pop compositions which are replaced with tunes that can be jaw-droppingly similar to the legendary group. The biggest offender occurs near the end of the disc. "Lupe Brown" lifts note for note sections of "She Loves You" with vocals that sound to the letter like the harmonies of numerous other Beatles' tunes. I've shown many people this song and they listen in disbelief as it plays out. Normally the consensus is that they are not even trying to sound different. At such words, I lament the excitement I had to hear this record.
I had not heard Blitzen Trapper prior to hearing Furr and on initial listens I was inclined to write it off. However, unlike the Fratellis this band has actually pulled off what few have managed. They do manage, at times, to successfully weave something of their very own out of the blueprints left behind. Certain songs are very well crafted, weaving very well their own voice within the Fab Four's influence. And maybe it is because that is but a small piece on a much larger plate. Blitzen Trapper is without a doubt well versed in classic rock and Steely Dan, Tom Petty, the Eagles and Elton John leave their occasional mark upon the grander outcome. But even they fall victim to the pitfalls of such attempts. The outstanding offense is "Black River Killer" which is essentially a reworking of Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane." But even the weak songs on Furr are much more diverse than anything on Here We Stand and the album is indeed enjoyable on certain occasions. I'll keep a watchful eye.
It is my hope that The Fratellis can recover from their slip up here in 2008 and return with something as vibrant and lively as its predecessor. Yes, I can respect and even like to see growth but maturing does not mean diluting what was great.

The Happening 2008

No matter how many times I am disappointed by M. Night Shyamalan, I will always go see his movies. He is, after all, the master of the intriguing premise. After watching the trailers for The Happening I was interested yet wary. The debacles that were The Village and Lady In The Water were still fresh in my mind and I was not ready to trust the man just yet. But things I heard piqued my interest, namely the lack of a twist and giving an explanation for the phenomena, however vague it might be, fairly quickly into the story. Long story short, I eventually caved and saw the film and then instantly remembered that Shyamalan is also the master at destroying his brilliant premise with unnecessary bloat.
As is always the case with his films, it starts out strong and interesting, in this case a mass suicide epidemic at first thought to be a terrorist attack. But unfortunately, as the excitement of that passes, we are introduced to each of the main characters. And they are all highly reliable performers, Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo, but anytime they open their mouths in this film they spit forth the some of the most contrived, forced and downright mind-boggling dialogue I have ever witnessed.
Like I said, I loved the premise of this film, probably more than anything he has ever done. The idea of an entire planet rebellion, violently so, against it's parasitic inhabitants is something I adore and love the exploration of. And I get it, I get the message and I get the warning and I love it. The death sequences are appropriately creepy and unsettling, the use of the wind and the clouds was top notch but the sense of dread that should have been ever present was absent. And as confused as the characters were, it felt as if it was for the wrong reasons, like it was the performers themselves who were confused, reading through the script for the first time.
The personal back stories did nothing to add depth to the narrative and the most unbelievable aspect of the film for me was Wahlberg and Deschanel as husband and wife. Between them lay absolutely no chemistry and even a couple in turmoil like they supposedly were would have some semblance of a bond between them. The performers did not so much emote as they would merely say how they were feeling with awkward dialogue that seemed to be stuck in their mouths. In particular, it was quite hilarious how John Leguizamo was constantly throwing percentages around as if to remind us that he was a math teacher.
Ultimately, The Happening suffers from the same ailment as most disaster movies do, in that it starts out strong, but as soon as the human aspect of the film comes in to play, things just fall flat. In fact, the only film i can think of off the top of my head to play upon the disaster formula well was Deep Impact. There was a real sense of inevitability and desperation that the filmmakers really locked onto in a way that no one else has been able to do effectively. The people seemed real and worn down and there was a sense of urgency. Now I do realize that this film is taking a radically different approach than most of its kind and like I said, I love the idea. This would have been a great episode of The Twilight Zone or an even better novel where the inner dealing of each character could fully blossom. Here we have performers who are forced into doing the ailing will of an increasingly megalomaniac director who I have no doubt will continue to let me down over and over. But damn him, I'll still watch his movies.

Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz
It Is Time For A Love Revolution 2008 Virgin Records

I actually liked this album upon initial listens. Even now, I find that there are some strong, standout tracks to be heard, particularly "Good Morning," a melodious and booming ballad that draws heavily upon the Beatles, but in a good way. But upon further spins, it became more than apparent that aside from a few infectious and catchy parts scattered throughout, there were great amounts of blandness. And if I've learned anything from doing "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" at Karaoke, the man is not a very strong lyricist.
It all actually starts off very strong until we get a few songs in, it is quite the rocking album. However, I would much love to start a crusade against overly long albums, in particular ones that are brimming with filler. Love Revolution boasts a whopping 16 songs and that is simply too much Kravitz to take. Trim this down six or seven songs and you're golden.
As I said before, some of the tunes suffer from great choruses surrounded by a tremendous lack of thrill. It is something to be expected in pop songs and in some strange way, it can be forgiven. In rock music though, it is an insurmountable peeve of mine that drives the compositions down among the lowest common denominators of music.
If Kravitz has one strength it is his incredible knowledge of the various forms of rock and funk that when used wisely, create memorably great songs. Songs that can stand of to the best of the genres. Take "Will You Marry Me?" for example. He draws upon the best of James Brown, Grand Funk Railroad and Stevie Wonder to weave a perfect funk rock masterpiece. Real funk rock. Not the trash you hear at bars but the stuff you'd find Roy Ayers or the Ohio players creating. One the other hand you have "Uncharted Territory" and "Confused," the two songs that unfortunately close out the album. The former is a horrendous and typically American attempt at reggae that employs tactics that I absolutely deplore. It is a very easy genre to screw up and Kravitz does so with gusto. The other is a lazy and cheap attempt at the blues which does no respect to the form, not even to that played by the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Perhaps this is a case of the artist being a little too in control and that being said, if you want to keep this album good, limit it the number of tracks to about nine, forgoing most of the latter half.

Tilly and the Wall

Tilly and the Wall
O 2008 Team Love Records
This is without a doubt in the running for my favorite album of the year. It is at the same time lo-fi, edgy indie rock and sing along hippie folk. That may sound like the wort description ever bestowed upon a band but trust me on this one, it works. And really, how can you go wrong with a band who utilizes a tap-dancer as a form of percussion?
Each song is an entirely different section of the same magnificent animal. They start soft, with the heart-felt acoustic ballad "Tall, Tall Grass" that introduces us to the massive group melodies that will dominate the core of the vocals throughout the album and from there they split off in all directions the branches of a tree. We find traces all around of 80's pop and new wave, both contemporary and alternative folk, cabaret and show tunes, new york punk and even gypsy. 'Wall of sound' does not even begin to describe the production as every inch of space is occupied by various voices, instruments and other miscellaneous sounds. And what is even more genius about the whole affair is that it never, not once, feels too busy.
This album is one that conjures images. Even listening to it in a strictly aural fashion, the songs are quite visual. I swear that every time I listen to "Chandelier Lake," I imagine a group of festive people singing around a bonfire and swaying with the music. It is a rare thing that a band can ignite something like that within me and I cannot help but stand in awe of it. Tilly and the Wall really do trigger emotions and rather than simply compose songs, they paint pictures and scenarios through word and sound. O is an album that is worth every precious second you give to it.

Akimbo

Akimbo
Jersey Shores 2008 Neurot Recordings

Concept albums are dangerous things. They require a perfect balance of song and story, something composers of the Renaissance era called "Word Painting," and stray but a little in either direction and you could find yourself mired a sloppy mess. There have been many acts as of late who have attempted this formula, announcing brilliant concepts such as Leviathan by Mastodon which was based upon the novel Moby Dick only to have it crushed under its own weight. Concept albums have always been a chance for a band to expand and experiment with things they may not normally try, many times creating songs that meld the band's particular style with something far more operatic.
It has always been interesting to me that to most bands, the idea of the concept album means long drawn out sections of color and ambiance. I have no strong objection to this in most cases, but I do not think it has ever been written down as a requirement of the form.
With Jersey Shores, Akimbo gives us a concept we can sink our teeth into, namely a string of shark attacks that occurred in the year 1916 off the coast of New Jersey, the sames ones that inspired Peter Benchley's novel Jaws. In my own research into said attacks, I became even more entranced by the album for its historical accuracy, with songs titles sharing names with the key locations and victims of the events.
The songs are all over the place and for the most part that is a great things. There are beautiful stretches of quiet, melodic sections that are quite out of character for Akimbo but are executed perfectly and are precisely placed so as to erupt into the brilliant cacophony that they do so well. It sets up calm that helps you envision a pleasant beach day that can descend into complete terror at a moment's notice. The vocals are appropriate for each section, not simply the earth moving bellow that normally adorned past Akimbo efforts. They move like a tide, from melodious shouting to high pitched, blood-curdling screams as if becoming the shark, the victims and the witnesses all at once.
However, this cannot be called the most memorable of concept albums and I dare say that there are moments, however rare they may be, that descend into something bit lackluster. Case in point being the opening track "Matwan": Until the last two minutes or so, it stampedes perfectly along, luring us in quietly with impending doom and shouted warnings of power and ferocity. But we find it disintegrating into an uninspired mess at the climax that even carries over into the opening moments of the next track before being saved by brilliance once again in crisp waves of swaying melody.
But those are the trappings in attempting to create a worthy concept album and it takes something special to be willing to take such chances and move away from your musical comfort zone. I would say that Akimbo has achieved something highly remarkable for over 90% of this album, proving themselves to be a metallic force to be respected. Perfect, however, it is not and I would not recommend it to the casual Akimbo fan nor to the hardcore metal fan, who both may simply find it too odd. But even so, make no mistake that there is a place for this album in the hallowed halls of heavy music.

Dance of the Dead 2008

There is not much to this movie. There is no deep meaning that I can discern and the storyline is paper thin. However, it is full of laughs and full of gore and there is something very close to my heart about members of the sci-fi club saving their high school from a zombie-like invasion.
Basically the premise is simple: the dead, or something similar, rise up and attack a high school prom and the only people who can stop are the losers who couldn't get dates. Though the details are charming and clever I won't bore you with them here, but along the way they team up with cheerleaders, violent rednecks, a rock band whose music can soothe the blood lust of the creatures, and a belligerent and a well-prepared Gym teacher reminiscent of R. Lee Ermey. Its like Monster Squad for a new generation.
And notice that I say zombie-like and not zombies proper. They are fast and their resurrection is explained by the town being next to a nuclear power plant. These are Zombies in name only and if this were a movie to be taken seriously, it would be a major blemish but as it is, they could be fighting werewolves or vampires and it wouldn't really matter. The point is the fun of it all.
I'm fairly interested in watching the career of star Justin Kusnitz, who also starred this year in Otis as the smart ass stoner brother. This role is almost identical but he does play it well and hopefully he can get some chances to branch out in the near future.
For the most this isn't breaking any new ground, but there are enough good touches and witty satire to keep it interesting. So laugh it up and enjoy the gore.

Otis 2008

It is Last House on the Left for the Juno set and though I usually despise such descriptions, in this case it is appropriately applicable. It is all at once disturbing, funny and hip, but unlike Juno, the dialogue does not grate on your nerves (not that I disliked Juno, but the teen slang seemed desperate and contrived). How does one make an inherently anti-violence movie? By putting it all out in front with every gorey detail present. Last House on the Left implemented this ethos with disturbingly real results and brought the true price of violence and revenge to levels never before seen.
In Otis we do get that to be sure, but this time it is tongue-in-cheek and guiltily hilarious. Dennis Paoli, the screenwriter for Re-Animator, once said that there is a fine line between violence and comedy, pointing specifically to slapstick which is at it's very core incredibly violent. And so here we have a movie about a fat, anti-social man, abducting young women and forcing them to enact the strange, perverted high school fantasy that exists in his head. His desire is that it will all culminate in them going to the "prom" but things never quite go well and the girls end up being killed. There is nothing that should be funny about that. But director Tony Krantz does that and much more. As the title character lives out said fantasy with his next victim, Riley, a violent, funny and at times touching series of events occurs that is far more compelling than what seems to be at the surface.
One scene in particular has the bulbous Otis decked out in full football gear asking Riley, done up as a cheerleader, if she saw the great plays he was making in practice. It is awkwardly touching, implying he is more than just a monster and there is a deep seeded need within him to simply fit in. Scenes such as this and the pathetically funny prom scene propose that is is as if his evil and heinous deeds stem from a dream scenario he has elaborately constructed in his head. He merely wants it to go according to plan and no one has yet to simply follow along leading the all to their necessary end in his eyes. In no way dies that justify his actions, but it does give the character layers that most films do not dare to supply. So much so that you begin to feel for Otis, almost as much a you want Riley to escape his subterranean dungeon.

While the tale of horror is happening, on the other end we have the comical desperation of her family trying to track her down only to have an insufferable and somewhat inept FBI agent in charge of the case. Illeana Douglas and Daniel Stern are downright perfect as the parents and their frustration at the pompous imbecile who is supposed to be saving their daughter fills some of the funniest scenes of the film. You can truly feel the desperate hilarity of the situation: that they cannot believe the things this man is saying. Things like telling them not to worry as he has an 80% recovery rate only to be corrected by his colleague that in the case of one particular girl, they only recovered 60%. It is only a matter of time before they realize that they will have to take matters into their own hands and when Riley, through one part luck and one part ingenuity, escapes, they make certain that revenge will be theirs and theirs alone. But things do not go as planned.
To spoil is would be a crime but I will say that the transformation from pushing themselves to commit the most heinous of acts, to reveling in it completely and utterly, and then to understanding the gravity of what they have just done was executed with the perfect amount of wit, horror and humor.
Some have said complained of the pacing of the film, stating that it did not blend its parts together into a viable sum. While it is true that some scenes can fall into the realm of straightforward comedy, the moments when it does meld perfectly far out weigh the ones that may fall short. And more importantly, this really is more than anything else a sad story about a realistic social outcast. And not only does it warn of the high price the price of violence but also of the casting aside of those we deems unworthy, where they can brood hate and rage and destructive fantasy within them. If anything, you are compelled to believe while watching Otis subjected to verbal abuse by his brother, played by Kevin Pollack, that he had never really known love and that there was no where for him to go but to descend into the violent path that he did. You are compelled to believe that love could have steered him another way. Wes Craven, when asked about the legacy of Last House on the Left on said "The story, about the painful side effects of revenge, is an evergreen. The headlines are full of people and nations taking revenge and getting caught up in endless cycles of violence." That holds true in this film. A film that is both hilarious and shocking. A film that shows that sometimes the best way to protect yourself is with a laugh.

AC/DC Metallica Guns N Roses

This year has seen three titans of rock and roll return with fans for the most part highly anticipating the new alums but also highly skeptical the results. How could a band with some members in their sixties riding on the longest wait between albums deliver anything stellar? Or one who's courtroom antics and previous album all but alienated their fan-base to the point of revolt against them? And how could a band who's only remaining member was a prima donna lead singer who had been working on a somewhat mythical album for the past 14 or so years ever give us something worthy of listening to? I thought about all of these albums long and hard and I've listened extensively to all as well. i will admit that AC/DC was the only group I really had any confidence in as I felt their last effort, Stiff Upper Lip, had been a glorious return to roots and was eager to hear what they could come up with next. The others instilled in me more of a morbid curiosity, like watching a car wreck, though I was pleasantly surprised by one. And I also considered reviewing these albums separately but in starting said reviews I found they often referenced each other so here it is in a giant super review.
I have never been a fan of the Brian Johnson era of AC/DC. Back in Black had some songs I enjoy, as did Razor's Edge and Ballbreaker but most of their output with him at the helm had been underwhelming and it was not until 2000's stellar Stiff Upper Lip that it felt like the AC/DC I loved. However, they had always struck me as a band that was not ever trying to outdo themselves or to attain that next level. They were simply there to rock and they would write the music accordingly. As a result, it felt like their transition to Stiff Upper Lip and in turn their newest, Black Ice, felt so much more natural than most bands. They are first and foremost and rock and roll band and while they may have dabbled in heavy metal and the like through the years, their roots have always been in hard rock and so the blueprint was always there. Metallica on the other hand, gave something completely different on the Rick Rubin produced Death Magnetic in that it feels so much like a band actively trying to prove themselves to those who had lost interest and to regain the roots they had in some ways abandoned for one way or another. As the album progresses you can almost feel the time and effort that went into studying highs and lows of previous efforts to make something truly vicious and heavy and say "we know who we are." That is not to say that bands cannot stretch their legs and reach for new heights, but their is something to be said for taking a blueprint and adding on to the building, rather than erecting an entirely different structure after the previous one is built. There are bands who have accomplished the latter, to be sure, and with such accomplishment comes great respect and opens massive creative avenues. When a band fails in that regard, however, it is usually a failure so complete and massive that the very integrity of the band, however important that may be, is forever tarnished. Some would say that Guns N Roses tarnished themselves deeply with 1993's "The Spaghetti Incident?" a vile collection of punk and glam rock covers that served, until now, as the last and horrific vestige of a once great band, though it is quite clear now that the long-awaited Chinese Democracy is not the messianic return of the band as Axle Rose had often heralded it. In fact, if Metallica's Death Magnetic can be seen as some glorious atonement, than this album is it's polar opposite. Perhaps if we had tasted other albums from GnR I would have been more forgiving. But the bad taste of "The Spaghetti Incident?" and most of the Use You Illusion albums was simply too much and an album nothing short of life-changing would be acceptable.
In Black Ice, AC/DC has delivered to us their longest running album to date, clocking in at just over 55 minutes and at times, it does drag. With 15 songs, I would certainly have been okay with five or six being cut from the final product as the album, as strong as it is, unfortunately closes on a bore. Stop the songs at track ten and you have a classic and solid album but while the length does stain the product ever so slightly and keeps it from being the perfect album, it also does not drag it down enough to completely ruin the experience. For the most part it is a tribute to the dictum that less is more, something that AC/DC lost track of at some point and for the first time ever in Brian Johnson's tenure, I can almost imagine Bon Scott singing most of these songs, with Johnson not merely screaming at all times, rather there is a swagger that I rarely feel from the frontman. It took them almost thirty years, but I feel like they have finally picked up where they left off when Bon died.
In turn, one could almost say that Death Magnetic serves as almost an alternative-reality Metallica. To put it more suffice: Imagine Cliff Burton had not died. I still regard ... And Justice For All and The Black Album, (as it has come to be called) as flawed classics. I love them and would not want to give them up though they had not always felt like true Metallica albums, or maybe they were simply natural reactions to the loss they had sustained. We'll never know for sure. However, listening to Death Magnetic at times is much like looking into the past. I imagine a nexus point in realities where time and space split apart and this is the Metallica unbroken and whole. It clocks in at almost twenty minutes longer than the AC/DC effort but it almost never feels like it drags. With the exception of only a few moments, the songs are fast, brutally so even. And while Lars Ulrich has certainly been a better drummer, it is great to hear him giving it his all in ways he has not done in years, quite possibly since Master of Puppets in 1986. But like I said, sometimes this album feels like it is trying to appease its listener and sometimes I imagine Russel Crow in Gladiator yelling to a Colosseum of confused watchers asking "are you not entertained?" But maybe it is just me and my initial lack of faith that after my image of Metallica as more than human gods was more or less destroyed by watching Some Kind Of Monster.
Chinese Democracy feels way too long. And at a torturous 71 minutes, it certainly is. The stories of Axl Rose's eccentricities and how reclusive he has been since the collapse of the original band are now famous and he has even been dubbed the "Howard Hughes of Rock and Roll." Guns N Roses as a collective was young and loud and their songs got to the point. They were not Pink Floyd and they were not Led Zeppelin. They were not supposed to be. They were Guns N Roses. And you know, I got Use Your Illusion. I didn't always like it per se, but I understood what they were going for and I'll stand behind those records even though I wish that it had just been one records with most of the fat trimmed off but that is beside the point. Chinese Democracy doesn't even feel like an extension of that and it is not Guns N Roses. It is Axl's new solo project and it was clearly not just him that made GnR so great. It was Slash and Duff and Izzy and Steven as well that made them so great and Axl is not greater than the sum of those parts. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this but I will say that it draws far to heavily upon new rock. Almost like it is a cheap knock off of those bands that were cheap knock offs of Guns N Roses itself. Only on top of that there is odd electronic ambiance and a digital precision present that makes it feel like anything but a raw and dirty rock and roll band. It is Guns N Roses for the Creed set, for the Nickleback set.
These albums are all interesting in their own ways but only two can be called anything close to good. And considering the sources of the material, perhaps two out of three is not all that bad. There have certainly been more than a few let downs in the history of rock and roll comebacks and it is nice to see that they are not all hopeless.

The Stangers 2008

With so much horror in these days descending into mere Torture Porn i.e. Saw, Hostel, it was so refreshing to see The Strangers use simplicity to such a savage effect. There is no copious amounts of blood, there is no gore by any stretch and it is nice to see a film going back to the roots of the genre and not confusing gory with scary. It is not the most original of set-ups but it doesn't matter because it is done so perfectly. Inspired by numerous events, including the Manson murders and the director's own childhood experiences involving a stranger coming to his home and asking for someone who was not there, the film is so quiet and slow and builds up tension like a tightrope. Every time the strangers appear it is so brilliant, just standing quietly in the background, barely visible except for those expressionless masks.
Some have complained about the back story, but I must disagree as I think it adds to the desperation and situation of the protagonists. At the beginning of the film we see them arrive at a secluded cabin but something is definitely wrong between them. The cabin is decorated beautifully with rose petals and candles, and we soon learn that while attending a wedding the man proposes to the woman only to be rejected and that is where we join them.
The attacks come slowly and subtly at first, knocks on the door, the moving of objects and the first contact with the strangers was so great: Doll Face, without her mask, has unscrewed the front porch light to keep her face shrouded and knocks on the door and ask for Tamara. It is so creepy and effective and sets such a surreal tone for the rest of the film as it descends into complete madness.
There is no reason for the attacks, when asked why they are doing these things they simply reply with "because you were home," which is so much more terrifying because it puts forth to you that these people do not care who you are and they do not care what you say, they are merely out to have fun. And that fun is psychological torture and your eventual death and because of that knowledge, that dread, the collapse into desperation and hysteria is palpable; there is no escape for they have thought of everything. And just before we get the Carrie-esque ending, that last frightening gasp, we are treated to a setting calm and serene and dialogue so vulnerable and self-aware.
"are you a sinner?"
"sometimes."

Foals

Foals
Antidotes 2008 Sub Pop

Think of it as math-rock you can dance to; with guitars that owe much to the great post-punk acts of old and a rhythm section rooted deeply in disco and funk, the mind is presented with a beautiful paradox. And as the indie rock blazes from its core, the songs unleash upon us the Afrobeat sounds of brass and kettle drums. But in all of its cacophony, all of it's innovations, it rarely sounds alien or full of dischord, rather it is able to flow in quite a naturalistic fashion. The vocals are for the most part shouted instead of sang, tinged with their Oxford accents and marked with sass without being typical copies of such singers who might attempt similar things.
The album is full of stops and starts, tempo changes, genre changes, mood changes; it is both ethereal and pulsating, dance-inducing and thought-provoking. However, it is not at all times the most memorable of albums, the melodies sometimes falling short and the innovation itself taking center stage. It is something I admire and can understand the temptation, though it is my hope that this album is used as a building block and that true potential is unleashed. It is their debut album, after all and for that we are truly lucky.

Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza Spalding
Esperanza 2008 Heads Up International

Much like Rock and Blues, Jazz has become highly saturated and bland, filled to the brim with lackluster compositions and shameless imitators. But as time goes on, and the genre itself begins to bloat, shining diamonds can rise to the top. Esperanza Spalding has risen indeed and all, Jazz aficionados of not, would do well to listen.
At 24 years old, her ability on the bass already matches and overcomes most seasoned players but that alone is not enough. Her voice is strong and commanding but also youthful and optimistic and it cuts through her mobile bass lines with melodies that are both memorably jovial and uniquely innovative.
Each song delivers a divergent style starting with the super-cool of "I Know You Know," the sultry swagger of "Fall In," and the samba flavors of "I Adore You," which features a brilliant scat and bass solo that shames most of what is attempted by even masters of the genre. The one weakness that is readily apparent to me is the beginning of the final third of the album which at times descends into uninspired jazz jamming which in of no interest to me but it is but only a small part of a greater whole and rather than rely on Jazz alone, she draws upon flamenco and Latin influences to bring the songs to a glorious new level. It has been done before to be sure, but in her hopeful exuberance becomes something entirely new. Her backing band is superb, all playing their parts with the same joy as she, abandoning all jaded pretenses and drawing perfectly upon that which radiates from her. She is magnetic is song and personality and it would seem that the Jazz world could look to her a a focal point, a rallying cry to rejuvenate the spirit of innovation that once permeated it.

China Forbes

China Forbes
78 2008 Heinz Records

It is a very sad thing when such talent and originality falls short and gives in to something utterly bland. As the primary vocalist for the Portland-Based Pink Martini, she helps blend seamlessly lounge, world and Latin music with soft and sultry, yet completely commanding vocals. She can dance effortlessly between languages, delivering Spanish Portuguese, Russian, Italian and many others as though she were native and last year's Hey Eugene! was the pinnacle of Pink Martini's achievements thus far.
And so we come to 78, the much anticipated solo album from China Forbes and to label it as unremarkable would be an understatement. Gone is the confident and wonderfully layered voice, replaced sadly by flat and almost lethargic melodies that would be better fit to be found on a flavor of the week album rushed into production without care. Perhaps that was the point; to abandon the bombastic camp and furor that was Pink Martini and embark on a simpler road. Perhaps that was the intention, but what we get is a mere bore and even a rendition of the Pink Martini track "Hey Eugene," a previously quirky dance groove becomes something wholly lifeless.
The production is halfhearted, the songs are indistinguishable and lifeless with the same pace and same mood over and over and one begins to realize as the album progresses that Pink Martini as a collective is the true majesty and that the individual pieces, while vastly important, rely on each other to lift themselves up.

Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris
All I Intended To Be 2008 Nonesuch


Oh, Emmylou Harris, how I love you. Oh, how I think Blue Kentucky Girl is one of the finest albums country and bluegrass have ever known and oh, how I look to your voice as one of the most defining of the genres. And oh, what a joyous treat your 2006 pairing with Mark Knopfler was. And some are saying that your newest album, All I Intended To Be, is the pinnacle of your career. I almost agree.
This album is very good. And I love the way you sing sorrow. But I also love the way you sing joy, and there is very little of that to be found here. To say I don't miss that, would be a lie. However, it is beautifully maudlin, it moves slowly to be sure, but it also quite care-free and the more I listen to it the more I admire it. 'Gold' is one of the high points, featuring amazing backing vocals by Dolly Parton, it feels the most timeless, truly among the greatest in your deep canon. As is 'How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower,' a fittingly melodic and harmonious tribute to June Carter that seems to float off of your fingers and your lips.
The interspersion of cover songs was an interesting idea and it truly does work. They mesh with the originals so well, in fact, that even if you are familiar with the song, like Merle Haggard's 'Kern River,' its easy to forget that it is not one of your own.
To call this album the most personal of your career, however, would be an understatement. The assembly of so many longtime friends, of such powerful caliber is impressive and the care put into this album is nearly tangible. It sounds as though many old friends and lost loves simply got together and worked through their emotions for each other one song at a time. And though I miss songs like 'Sisters Coming Home,' this is by far the most peaceful you have ever sounded.

Duffy

Duffy
Rockferry 2008 Mercury

Welsh vocalist Duffy is one of the latest in the line of young ladies leading the charge of New Soul, and while I do not think that Amy Winehouse comparisons are inappropriate, I would have to say that Duffy has the more compelling and stronger voice while also exploring a different facet of Soul Music than Winehouse. And unlike her British counterpart, it is far more likely that we will get more albums by which to better judge her legacy.
The songs on Rockferry tend to be more atmospheric and sultry but also far more wistful and lacking any form of self-consciousness. They rely heavily on techniques utilized by the great Motown producers and even Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound. With thumping bass throughout, brilliantly subdued guitar, drums played with the perfect mix of funk and soul and downright amazing backing vocals, the album is an absolutely underplayed and welcome assault. The slow-building title track opens the album, giving way into something ethereally epic with each second that passes. And even armed with pulsating and commanding songs like 'Mercy' and 'Delayed Devotion' the album is far less hip than any of the new soul divas, but that is by far its strength and in many ways, it feels far more genuine than most.
And most striking about Duffy herself is the modesty with which she carries herself. When responding to praise about her album, she quietly replies that she "can't take it in, because I didn't do it on my own," before citing the plethora of help she had in producing the album. Some have criticized her and others within the movement of misrepresenting true soul, something she partially agrees with, saying that she is not trying to define it, but she also disputes the claim that a 24 year-old white woman from Wales cannot have soul, saying that race should not be an issue and she has the perfect album to back that argument up.

Devotchka

Devotchka
A Mad And Faithful Telling 2008 Anti

I absolutely adore when artists dabble in cross-genres and Devotchka is a group after my own heart. Originally a backing band for burlesque shows, this Denver-based quartet somehow manages to blend the best of Eastern Bloc folk music with Latin sounds such as Mariachi into something wholly organic and whose individual parts do not clash but rather compliment. They are one of those maverick acts who could be said are more punk rock than most punk bands themselves in that they dare to forgo conventions and so it is only fitting that A Mad And Faithful Telling was released on Anti-,who has an excellent reputation of releasing great albums by groundbreaking and off the cuff artists, new and old. And while they are not as bombastic musically as some of their contemporaries within the so-called Folk-Punk and Gypsy Punk genres, their live show is said to be something to behold complete with trapeze artists and various musicians appearing from within the crowd.
Each member boasts an impressive repertoire of instruments to their credit, with accordion, melodica, theramin, trumpet, violin and countless others piercing throughout one another and making their glorious presence known.
Each song moves in its own way, from the stirring, melodic epic 'Transliterator' whose string section swirls about over the haunting verses before giving way to the oddly catchy chorus to the instrumental 'Comrade Z' whose jarring Slavic rhythm section bounces joyfully and the rapid movements of Mariachi trumpets and violins dance rapidly around it to the closing track 'New World', which I swear to god could have been a Pixies song in the right era with its atmospheric female vocals in the background that painted for me a picture of Kim Deal.
Devotchka is a band to be awed by, and A Mad And Faithful Telling is the memo on that.

Black Kids

Black Kids
Partie Traumatic 2008 Red Int/Red Ink

The Cure's Robert Smith had such a unique and noticeable voice, one that for me, defined the 80's gothic new wave like no other, and within in it, all cracking and desperate, you could feel the emotion pouring from with in him and you could in some ways empathize with whatever he was putting forth. Many vocalists have tried to mimic this voice and failed, and to me it has always seemed half-hearted and it has always been a gigantic turn-off for me. And so now there is this new up and coming band from Florida called Black Kids who's singer Reggie Youngblood at times, unleashes a full-on Robert Smith assault. And here's my conundrum: for the most part I really like the music. It draws upon the greatest of the morose new wave acts like the Psychedelic Furs while in the same turn making it infectiously dancey. And the female vocals only help. Add on top of that, the great, satirical lyrics and the fantastic use of of call and response. My favorite lines have to be (the female vocals are in italics) Abracadabra/Every summer you disappear/Because its so sticky in the dirty south/Oh yeah its hot as balls!/Hey watch your mouth!.And then add to that the fact that Youngblood's low register vocals are brilliantly beautiful and remind me a lot of Jim Kerr of Simple Minds fame. Its almost enough to make me forgive that one thing. But its a glaring thing. Though the more I listen the less apparent it becomes.
So there you go, do with that what you will. For the most part i really like this album. For the most part.

The Breeders

The Breeders
Mountain Battles 2008 4ad Records

This album bores me. And that is a painful statement to make because as a teenager in the early 90's, the Breeders' albums defined much of my music listening. They were able to combine quirky and poppy, experimental and rock like few others could. And on this album, some of those qualities remain, but for the most part the songs are just bland. In some ways I attribute this to the fact that the Deal sisters seem so tired in the harmonies, almost as if they are phoning their performances in. But its more than that, the songs themselves, even the uptempo ones, move along at paces that suggest a collective apathy towards the project, even if that is not indeed the case. All in all, their are some gems, most noticeably "German Studies," a pleasant reminder of the Breeders of old featuring actual German lyrics that seem to be sung with more conviction than any of the other tracks. So rather than a "Pod" or a "Last Splash," chalk this one up as more of a "Title Tk": not bad, just sort of ho hum.

The B-52s

The B-52s
Funplex 2008 Astralwerks

It has been 16 years since The B-52s released a proper studio album, a fact that should be worrisome, for time is not always forgiving to musicians and their last effort, Good Stuff was mediocre at best. But this band are party animals of the purest pedigree and their bombastic attitudes have not aged on bit. This album is sexy. It's dripping with it, in fact and every thing you'd expect from a classic B-52s album is there: Fred Schneider's unapologetic pop shout, Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson's enthralling and sassy harmonies, Keith Strickland's catchy riffs and the lyrics that beckon you to forsake your self-conscious ego and dance for god's sake. It's like the early 80's again only with better production (though sometimes it seems a tad overproduced). Standout tracks include "Juliet of the Spirits," a insanely catchy and spacey dance ballad and "Too Much To Think About," an innuendo-laden swaggering anthem using celestial imagery to describe what I'm pretty sure is sex, culminating in the line "Tonight! When Bodies Collide!" The party has not stopped for this Athens, Georgia party band and it most likely never will, as evidenced by the defiant shouts of the final track "Keep This Party Going." Will Do.

Be Your Own Pet

Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward 2008 Ecstatic Peace

This band rules. Total lo-fi garagey punk reminiscent of legendary California pioneers the Avengers.
The songs are for the most part fast and simple but by the same token, never bland, featuring deceptive tempo shifts and drawing upon doo-wop and rock and roll to round things out and make them interesting. And the vocals rule. With songs about food fights, Robocop (with the best song title ever, 'Bitches Leave'), druggie hipsters, zombies and Valley of the Dolls, they are a band after my own heart. One of my most fav lines from the album has got to be from the freak-out groove 'Becky' in which vocalist Jemina Pearl shrieks "That doesn't matter anyway/Cuz I've gotta brand new friend, okay?/Me and her, we'll kick your ass/We'll wait with knives after class."
The only bummer about this record is that Be Your Own Pet have recently announced that they are breaking up which is a shame because I really would have enjoyed seeing them live. Oh well. Check it out, Yo!