Author: Jeff Giles (Page 38 of 41)

The New Frontiers: Mending

June 20, 2008 / Jeff Giles

It’s tough to make genuinely beautiful music in the post-ironic world – most bands that try it seem to either fall victim to the temptation to mess it up with inscrutable lyrics and needlessly tricky chord changes (Wilco) or drown in a sea of slick production and Hallmark platitudes (the Fray). Texas’s New Frontiers have drawn comparisons to both bands, but in a strange way, Mending is actually closer to an old Dan Fogelberg or Crosby, Stills and Nash record – the melodies are gorgeous, the harmonies are ethereal, the production is perfectly down to Earth, and on every song, hearts are worn proudly on sleeves. Music this wonderfully open and sincere comes along so rarely that it’s easy to write off the New Frontiers as a bunch of sad-sack posers – easy, that is, until you’re about halfway into the album, at which point you’ll have to check your suspicions at the door and just give in to the music’s beauty. Perfect for rainy days, bruised hearts, and anyone with a weakness for an honest-to-goodness pretty song. Can’t wait to hear what these guys come up with next. (The Militia Group 2008)

The New Frontiers MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

Pomegranates: Everything Is Alive

June 20, 2008 / Jeff Giles

Their intermittently chirpy vocals and occasionally prickly arrangements have drawn comparisons to Modest Mouse and the Shins – and you can hear shades of both bands on Everything Is Alive — but really, the first full-length effort from Cincinnati-based quartet Pomegranates beats with the jangly lo-fi heart of an early ‘90s alt-pop record. Recorded and mixed in just over a week – without, praise the Lord, the use of pitch correction – these 11 tracks give off the faintly dusty aroma of music that’s been sweated over in garages and rehearsal spaces, performed the old-fashioned way, and allowed to stand on its own merits, warts and all. Ultimately, these songs act as more of a serviceable business card for the band’s live shows than a truly unforgettable album, but the chiming guitars and sunny melodies create such a wonderfully warm vibe, you may find yourself putting the whole thing on repeat even if any of the tracks fail to leave a deep impression on their own. A trifle, perhaps, but one well worth owning. (Lujo Records 2008)

Pomegranates MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, Pop

The Futureheads: This Is Not the World

June 6, 2008 / Jeff Giles

Two albums and one left-field Kate Bush cover into their career, the Futureheads found themselves without a label after 2006’s News and Tributes tanked hard enough for the band’s UK and American labels to pull their respective plugs. In another era, this might have sounded the death knell for such a young band, but this is the wild and crazy digital ‘00s, where global distribution is available to anyone with enough money (and a dangerous surplus of optimism) to start a label. The Futureheads, as it turns out, have both – which is a good thing for anyone with a jones for driving eighth notes, crashing drumbeats, and stridently gulpy New Wave vocals, because This Is Not the World delivers all of them in spades. The quirky personality the band displayed on earlier recordings is kept mostly in check here, in favor of a more traditional verse-chorus-verse pop aesthetic, but the change suits the band – and they get in and out too quickly to overstay their welcome, bashing out the album’s 12 tracks in just under 40 minutes. Longtime fans lamenting the lack of experimentation would do well to switch off their brains, turn this up, and jump around for awhile – and if you’re looking for your first perfect summer record of 2008, look no further. (Nul 2008)

Futureheads MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

KaiserCartel: March Forth

June 6, 2008 / Jeff Giles

Fans of sensitive male/female duos such as the Weepies and Eastmountainsouth have a new friend in KaiserCartel, the Brooklyn-based indie-folk outfit made up of Courtney Kaiser and Benjamin Cartel. (Get it?) Their first full-length release, March Forth, offers up a dozen sweetly mournful, acoustic-based duets; though Kaiser’s vocals take up the lion’s share of the spotlight (and rightly so), Cartel is always there to provide a coolly shaded yin to her angelic yang. (It’s nowhere near as pornographic as it sounds.) While leaving a bit of room for the sort of adorably innocent silliness that you’d expect from a band that starts its concerts surrounded by stuffed animals – “Season Song” is, well, a song about the seasons, complete with the line ”It’s time to cheer / The seasons of the year” — most of the album is pleasantly pensive, if a bit on the bland side. Though too many of the songs run together in a tasteful blur, KaiserCartel occasionally busts out with a number like the beautiful “Good Ones,” whose gently plangent melody is worth the price of purchase alone. More like that one, please. (bluhammock 2008)

KaiserCartel MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, Pop

Joshua James: The Sun Is Always Brighter

May 30, 2008 / Jeff Giles

Like the album’s artwork, Joshua James’ The Sun Is Always Brighter is composed of beautifully muted colors – from “The New Love Song” clear on down to “Commodore,” each track floats along on a quietly melancholy cloud, strung up with plaintively plucked acoustic guitars, tasteful pianos, and – courtesy of ace utility infielder Phil Parlapiano – the occasional organ, accordion, and mandolin. At the forefront is James’ high, husky voice, a deceptively fragile instrument that recalls nothing so much as Ray LaMontagne without the constant threat of suicide. Brighter offers 11 slow pitches down the middle of the plate for fans of hushed backwoods soul with a slight dash of rock – think of the more bucolic moments on early Van Morrison albums like Moondance, and you’re on the right track. Of course, Joshua James isn’t the songwriter Morrison is – hell, he might not even be the songwriter Ray LaMontagne is – but that doesn’t keep Brighter from being a wonderfully easy listen. You may be hard-pressed to remember most of these tracks after they’re done – and if you pay enough attention to the lyrics, you might worry for James’ long-term well-being – but while the record is on, you’ll wish you had a mint julep, a back porch, and a nice breeze blowing through the birches. (Intelligent Noise/Northplatte 2008)

Joshua James MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, Rock