KWCW

Now that the Hold Steady has released its third album, “Boys and Girls in America,” it doesn’t seem necessary to reference lead singer Craig Finn’s and guitarist Tad Kubler’s previous work in Minneapolis’ Lifter Puller: the Hold Steady has proven itself as a powerful and dynamic force of its own. The core of the band’s sound is created by the sometimes tension, sometimes harmony between Finn’s harsh, atonal rasp of a voice and the surging, classic-rock sound of the instruments. Fans of last year’s “Separation Sunday” and its album-spanning story of religion, confusion, sex, drugs, discovery, and rebirth will be pleased to catch glances of the characters of that epic, finding references to Gideon, Holly, and Charlemagne throughout the album. But mostly, Finn steps a bit farther away from his characters and lets listeners fill in the blanks, while his insightful, poetic lyrics make even his generalizations seem personal. Calling out witty one-liners (“I’ve had kisses that make Judas seem sincere”), he tackles his usual themes, telling stories of ennui and hedonistic escape, of ship-in-the-night lovers and rueful reminiscences as behind him the band unleashes furious guitar licks atop a twinkling piano and sharp drums. The combined force creates something that will move you, physically and mentally, until your hands hurt from air guitar and your head hurts from considering how “Boys and Girls in America have such a sad time together.”

4.5/5

Recommended if you like: E Street Band, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Elvis Costello

- Graham Trail

“Lush” is not an adjective usually associated with Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s music—his body of work is characteristically bleak and sincerely emotional. On his last studio album, “Master and Everyone”, his sparse musical arrangements served to highlight his weary, passionate voice and poetic lyrics, but on his latest effort, “The Letting Go”, he takes a different approach. The album was recorded in Iceland, with the help of former Bjork collaborator Nico Muhly and Drag City label mate Dawn McCarthy. The influence of both is immense—Muhly’s rich, sweeping string arrangements and McCarthy’s vocal harmonies permeate the album, revealing lavishness not usually present in Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s music. Despite its beauty, the musical arrangement on “The Letting Go” is not necessarily an improvement on previous albums, namely “I See a Darkness” and his work under the moniker of “Palace Music”. The strings and harmonies distract the listener from what has always been the best part of Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s music—the raw humanity of his voice and lyrics. The substance is still present on the new album, but it is certainly not as immediately evident as it has been. Despite this shortcoming, “The Letting Go” is a fine addition to an already phenomenal body of work and it certainly warrants repeated listenings.

4/5

For Fans of: Cat Power, The Silver Jews, Neil Young, Lambchop

- Bryan Sonderman

On the nine hazy melodies that comprise Baltimore duo Beach House’s debut album, the group manages to fuse a Warhol Factory aesthetic and a substantial shoegazer influence. The comparisons to artists like Nico and Galaxie 500 made by blogs and other music press reflect this. “Beach House” is certainly an album indebted to the past—its influences are incredibly evident, but it doesn’t necessarily suffer as a result. Its atmospheric drones and sweet melodies envelop the listener, resulting in a warm sense of detachment. Due to its thirty-five minute length and adherence to a fairly simple, consistent musical aesthetic, the album never delves into indulgence. The flip side to this is a lack of depth. The album never feels like an exploration of new ideas, but it’s worthwhile nonetheless, if not just for its sheer beauty. “Beach House” reveals the potential of a band capable of crafting beautiful pop songs, but also leaves the listener hoping their next effort will be a little more ambitious.

4/5

Recommended for Fans of: Galaxie 500, Nico, Mazzy Star, recent Broadcast

- Bryan Sonderman

The Kooks have become the latest British hit band hoping to carry their success across the pond with the US release of their new album Inside In / Inside Out. This comes after having risen to UK stardom, receiving widespread radio airplay and critical praise from an enthusiastic British press.
Songs like “Eddie’s Gun” and “You Don’t Love Me” immediately make one think of the banging, abrasive electric guitar riffs characteristic of bands like the Libertines. However, if you are looking for witty songs about gritty subjects, this album doesn’t have them. For the most part, the Kooks restrict themselves to writing simple, earnest, sometimes reflective lyrics about teenage life. To their credit, they borrow from a great deal of influences, including a touch of reggae. Sometimes this results in drawn-out songs like “Got No Love” or “I Want You Back” that one would rather skip. However, songs like “Match Box” or “Time Awaits” keep the listener interested by changing rhythms at unpredictable times. “Naive” and “She Moves in Her Own Way” provide Inside In / Inside Out with pop hits to bob your head to.
Does rock music absolutely need the Kooks? Not really. Is it better off with them around? Certainly. Who doesn’t like a damn good summer sing-a-long song? What a shame America is only getting this album just now.

Grade: 3.5/5 lit-up cell phones.

Recommended if you like: The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes

- Jose Ramirez

It may sound like a cheap gimmick, but French collective Nouvelle Vague have hit upon a surprising musical revelation by turning 80s New Wave songs into languid bossa nova songs. In their first album they covered such classics as Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and “I Melt With You” by Modern English.
Bande A Part, the group’s second album, further explores the possibilities of the whole ‘bossa nova covers of 80s songs’ idea. It runs from Blondie to Bauhaus, and ranges stylistically from a tropical version of “Ever Fallen In Love” to an ominous “Human Fly”. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” and “Fade to Grey” are dominated by electronic instrumentation, while airy songs like “Don’t Go” and “Let Me Go” sound something like an Astrud Gilberto record.
A great deal of Nouvelle Vague’s success lies in choosing the right songs to cover. “Dancing With Myself” and “Blue Monday” are the exceptions which prove the rule; they fall flat by failing to significantly alter the original structure of the song.
The most memorable track, “Dance With Me” showcases vocalist Melanie Pain (several vocalists participate in this album), whose wispy voice is at once innocent and seductive. She is accompanied by a steady classical guitar rhythm and some accordion and flute flourishes. The result is a dreamy, yet lively pop song. Listen to it once and believe me, you will need to listen to it again and again and again.

Grade: 4.5/5 lit-up cell phones

Recommended if you like: Air, Portishead, or any New Wave, post-punk, or mellow, tropical Latin music.

- Jose Ramirez

When you go to your local record store, amazon.com, what have you and buy an album do you listen to three songs on repeat and skip the rest or do you listen to the album in its entirety? The beauty of this record is that is satisfies the needs of both groups of listeners: it contains some catchy songs, yet as a whole is a concretely conceptualized masterpiece.

The Impossible shapes make lo-fi folk music that combines elements of rock and psychedelia. Nothing new you say….well yes many groups have done this before, however the shapes hardly rehash old ideas. Dense guitars interplay with intricate lead guitar lines, while dense organ and solid drumming and lots of amp fuzz back it all up. Add the occasional cello arrangement and the amazing vocals of Barth, who’s also known for his solo work under the name NormanOak, and you’ve got an aurally tantalizing album.

Originally 300 copies of this album were released on limited edition vinyl. However, Secretly Canadian records have reissued it on unlimited CD form. Containing 31.2 minutes, 17 tracks, of musical genius this record contains actual songs and musical interludes. Songs like “Florida Silver Springs” and “Pixie Pride” stand out as addictively catchy while the shorter cuts add to the overall cohesiveness of the record. While recorded in one session, tape looping was used to piece the album together and mastering was done to perfect the album that is being released in Compact Disc form.

Knowing that this album was recorded right before the band came to the realization of “man as freedom as seed”, I highly recommend you indulge in whatever you need to grasp that realization and enjoy this obscure gem.

Keith

From the rumbling of train wheels that opens this inventive and fresh new album from Seattle’s Common Market to the final track, the songs are full of raw energy and amazingly orchestrated beats and rhymes. Producer Sabzi (Saba Mohajerjasbi) and emcee RA Scion (Ryan Abeo) met each other only recently through Seattle’s Baha’i community, but their synergy and integrating styles speak to a longer partnership. Their songs are full of joy, exultation and frustration, with Scion’s intricate tangles of words and thought processes layering into Sabzi’s forward-moving beats.

Sabzi, who also produces for the Seattle group Blue Scholars, seems to feel more free with Scion to experiment and improvise with a wider array of drum beats and samples on the Common Market album. While his work with Blue Scholars emphasizes a more introspective, calculated quality, his Common Market tracks blossom into unabashed wide open sound.

For his part, RA Scion serves up interesting and creative rhymes, unhesitant to pose questions or probe issues in religion, politics, or world events. His rhymes and rambles, set to Sabzi’s beats, often feel like intimate conversations, snatches of words continuing to echo after the song has ended. Without an ego to represent or an image to promote, Common Market’s debut album feels endearingly like a raw first step showcasing an enormous amount of potential for the further development of West Coast and Seattle area rap.

- Ariel

“I’m so tight that god bless everything I write” rhymes Aceyalone at the beginning of his new album, “Magnificent City.” Unfortunately, his pretensions of emcee glory are rarely fulfilled by the new album. From the front cover shot of Aceyalone decked out in aviator shades to the presumptuous stream of lyrical flows that leave his mouth, his new collaboration with Rjd2 follows the track of so many so-so hip hop albums: the beats are sweet but the rhymes are lackluster.

As a founder of Los Angeles’ Freestyle Fellowship and Project Blowed, not to mention the man who helped create a definitive sound for West Coast rap, the expectations for Aceyalone’s new album-long collaboration with producer Rjd2 were probably set too high. Rjd2, a producer whose dense beats and introspective production skills have been highlighted in his collaborations with Blueprint and his independent releases, weaves together excellent sounds from diverse samples. But Aceyalone, with several key exceptions, backs up these tracks with rhymes that are slow, plodding, and formulaic.

While some songs are incredibly catchy, including “Fire” and “Disconnected,” others are particularly painful to listen to. On “Caged Bird,” Aceyalone revisits an overused and obsolete metaphor to the jingling of obnoxious Chistmas bells. “Some birds don’t deserve to be caged/” he rhymes, “They gotta fly away and search for the ways/Bein’ locked up is worse than the grave/I live by the words of the page.” On the disappointing “Heaven,” Acey offers us this insight: “Heaven ain’t got no stairway/Heaven ain’t got no ghetto/Heaven ain’t got nothin’ to do with you/Cause you a devil.” Some songs show Aceyalone back in form, offering tight and innovative rhymes that speak to the intellectually rigorous side of hip-hop. In particular, Acey shines during his story-format pieces, including “Solomon Jones” and “Junior.” Still, besides its seamless production by Rjd2, the distance between “Magnificent City” and Aceyalone’s previous releases is tangible.

-Ariel

Most tribute albums are hit or miss affairs, usually filled in mostly equal parts with interesting takes on old standards and boring or even embarrassing filler material. Come Together – A Jazz/Soul Tribute to the Beatles is no different.

In terms of contributing artists, this compilation is miles ahead of most tribute albums, with many of the greatest artists in the history of jazz and soul music present, including Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, and Herbie Mann. But even some of these great artists make missteps in their experimentation (or lack thereof) with the Beatles’ catalogue. In general, the experimental takes work better than the straight covers. Herbie Mann & Tamiko Jones’ version of “Day Tripper” is overly similar to the original, and Jones’ vocals seem flat in the context of the song. Aretha Franklin’s first track on the album, “Let It Be” is also a bit dull in its similarity to the Beatles’ version. The exception to this rule is Little Richard performing “I Saw Her Standing There”, which is great fun, simply as a result of the original being right up Richard’s alley to begin with. Clarence Wheeler & the Enforcers suffer the opposite problem with their jazz exploration of “Hey Jude”: their version doesn’t have enough to do with the original song, seemingly bleating out the “Na-na-na” part every few minutes only out of obligation before diving back into a jazz workout which, while good, feels like a non sequitur.

The songs that do work are superb, however. The Meters and Black Heat transform “Come Together” and “Drive My Car”, respectively, into funk songs, and the results are tremendous. And the instrumental jazz rendition of “Something” by Wade Marcus is simply gorgeous. Aretha Franklin even manages to nearly trump the original “The Long and Winding Road” with her soulful version.

Ultimately, most of the weak tracks on Come Together are in the first half of the album (such as Charles Wright’s truly awful cover of “Here Comes the Sun”) but listeners who make it through the first few rough spots will find a lot of great material on the second half.

-Ben

Banishing the scoffers and nay-sayers who reject the organ trio as a valid traditional jazz format, the musicians of 3ósity (organist Pat Bianchi, guitarist Dave Corbus and drummer Todd Reid) plow through their latest eponymous release and lay that misconception satisfyingly to rest. The opening track is the fiery, “Inception,” written by piano master McCoy Tyner. Tackled with all the gusto an opening track should offer, it gives ample space for Corbus to showcase his flashy guitar technique and Bianchi to demonstrate his finger-flying chops across the organ. The Jimi Hendrix tune, “Wind Cries Mary” is treated with the slow, cool reverence it deserves, with Corbus and Bianchi demonstrating tasteful solos and Reid laying down a solid groove via brushes and easy-does-it cymbal work. Another stand-out track, the Latin-flavored, “Una Mas” shows off the trio in all their upbeat glory and emphasizes their cohesiveness and close communication—the hits are tight and the entrances exact. Organ-trio Latin jazz, you ask? Believe me, it’s good.

But if the other tracks don’t get your foot tapping, then skip right to track nine, “Second String”. If the funkified drumbeat and bass introduction don’t get you, then the shuffling rhythm (thanks to Reid) and syncopated comping will.

-Devin