Author: Jeff Giles (Page 37 of 41)

Bill Purdy: Move My Way

July 4, 2008 /

His album artwork looks like an accident and his name sounds like he should be running a Chevrolet dealership in Hogeye, Arkansas, but Bill Purdy is actually a damn fine singer/songwriter – as evidenced by his debut EP, the five-song, self-released Move My Way. He bills himself as “Jack Johnson meets Dr. John,” and that falls within spitting distance of the truth, but if these tracks are a reliable indicator, Purdy has a lot more in common with rootsy troubadours like Martin Sexton. The EP offers a seamless blend of soulful ballads and breezy up-tempo numbers, all of them anchored by Purdy’s keys – he plays piano, Wurlitzer, and B-3 here – and sandpaper-coated-in-honey vocals. The songs are catchy, a little bit funky, and as warm as a Memphis night in July. If anything, Purdy could stand to scuff up the edges of his sound a bit more – his press kit tries to lump him in with artists like Johnson and John Mayer, and it’s easy to see him heading that direction, but no matter how strong the pull of the middle of the road might be, Purdy’s career will be much more interesting if he keeps hanging out in the weeds. Get busy with that full-length follow-up, please. (Bill Purdy 2008)

Bill Purdy MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

Golden Animals: Free Your Mind and Win a Pony

June 27, 2008 /

How you feel about Golden Animals – and their debut full-length album, Free Your Mind and Win a Pony — will likely have everything to do with how you feel about Jim Morrison and the Doors. Are you a Morrison fan? Well, then Pony will hit you like a peyote button at a desert campfire. If, on the other hand, you regard the Doors as possibly the most overrated band in rock & roll history, then Golden Animals will sound a lot like the low rumble of a slowly opening hellmouth. (And if you’re Ian Astbury, you’re about to spend several months memorizing the words to these songs and waiting for singer Tommy Eisner to quit the band so you can take his place.) Either way, Pony does everything it can to live up to the label’s promises of a “sun-bleached, spare and deeply California desert sound” – and at 11 songs and barely 30 minutes in length, it’s hard to accuse the album of overstaying its welcome. There isn’t an original thought from start to finish – even the artwork strains to evoke the Laurel Canyon wonder years – but that won’t stop a rabid throng of critics from wanking all over it this summer. That these knuckleheads don’t have a scrap of mojo worth rising between them doesn’t matter in the least. (Happy Parts 2008)

Golden Animals MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

Jason Falkner: Bedtime with the Beatles Part Two

June 27, 2008 /

Long before there were albums offering lullaby versions of songs by Nine Inch Nails and Metallica, there was Jason Falkner’s Bedtime with the Beatles, a wonderful little collection of gently delivered instrumental takes on Fab Four classics such as “Blackbird,” “In My Life,” and “The Long and Winding Road.” Sony somehow managed to avoid turning the album into a hit, but it’s continued to enjoy strong sales on the used market since going out of print – and now Falkner brings us a second volume, adding “Norwegian Wood,” “I Will,” and “Hey Jude,” among others, to the list of bedtime-y Beatles tunes in his catalog. If you’ve heard the first volume, you know exactly what to expect; if you haven’t, get yourself to your nearest online music outlet and order up both of these ASAP. Kids’ albums that advertise themselves as “fun for the whole family” are as common as the rain, but Falkner’s actually delivers – and it boasts an endorsement from none other than Sir Paul McCartney, who offers the strongest possible recommendation: “It puts me to sleep.” (Record Collection 2008)

Jason Falkner MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Calvin Richardson: When Love Comes

June 27, 2008 /

A C-list neo-soul singer whose greatest claim is either childhood friendships with K-Ci and JoJo or a duet with Angie Stone – take your pick – Calvin Richardson has stumbled his way through two lost record deals in the space of a decade, so the release of When Love Comes (holy crap, Shanachie Entertainment is still around?) should be a source of great expectations for no one outside Richardson’s immediate family. The hokey cover artwork, and the back cover’s ridiculous promise that the album is “the true story of an urban romance…from The Soul Prince!” may very well have you rolling on the floor before you hear a note, but wonders never cease: When Love Comes does not suck. It’s slick modern R&B, with all the silly boasting (“Holla at You”), baby mama drama (“Daddy to My Kids”), and machine-driven arrangements that go with the territory – but for what it is, this is a surprisingly solid collection, smartly produced and topped off with generous helpings of Richardson’s elastic vocals. Nothing new here, certainly – but still probably one of the best downmarket R&B releases you’re likely to hear this year. (Shanachie 2008)

Calvin Richardson MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, Pop

The Watson Twins: Fire Songs

June 20, 2008 /

They may have shared top billing with Jenny Lewis on her Rabbit Fur Coat album two years ago, but to a not-inconsiderable number of people, Leigh and Chandra Watson came across as a sort of backwoods version of Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls. What could be hipper, after all, than vaguely creepy-looking twins in evening gowns? The Watson Twins did more than just add a “Shining” vibe to Lewis’ album artwork, though; the Kentucky natives had been bumming around Silverlake since the late ’90s, and their roots and background helped Lewis anchor her solo debut in authentic Southern harmony. That being said, a word of warning is in order: Fans looking for Rabbit redux – or even a record with more than the occasional slightly up-tempo track – will be disappointed here, because the sisters’ full-length debut recalls nothing so much as a Natalie Merchant solo album. The harmonies are lovely, and the songs occasionally strike melodic paydirt (opener “How Am I to Be” and “Map to Where You Are” come to mind), but the above-average moments are too few and far between to recommend the album to anyone who doesn’t have a closet full of billowing floral-print skirts. (Vanguard 2008)

Watson Twins MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, Pop

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