Author: Scott Malchus (Page 2 of 6)

Laura Cortese: Acoustic Project

November 17, 2010 /


RIYL: Uncle Earl, Pete Seeger

Laura Cortese is a well known side musician whose skill on the fiddle, vocals and bass have made her a favorite with artists as diverse as Uncle Earl and Band of Horses. She’s released two solo LPs and two EPs before the release of Acoustic Project, a seven-song set of music featuring just fiddles and cello, with Coreste handling vocal duties on five of the songs (the other two are instrumentals).

Acoustic Project is short and sweet. All of the songs have their own unique sound and feel as if they were drawn from some time long ago when folk songs were passed down from the mountains to Greenwich Village. However, most of these compositions were recent compositions, so their timeless quality is a tribute to the songwriting talent of Cortese and the few collaborators who helped her out.

“Perfect Tuesdays” is a rollicking, Cajun-influenced song, while “5 Tune” has the charm and spirit of an old pioneer jig.  The highlight of the Acoustic Project is “Women of the Ages,” a haunting, beautiful song that features plucking violins, a cello and Cortese’s gorgeous voice. It has the stature of an old Irish folk song and will stay with you for weeks. That song alone you should give you reason seek out Acoustic Project. However there is enough great music on this EP to make it well worth your while the next time you’re looking for something unique and adventurous. (Laura Cortese 2010)

Laura Cortese website
Purchase Acoustic Project through Amazon

Americana, CD Reviews, Instrumental

Kings of Leon: Come Around Sundown

October 28, 2010 /


RIYL: U2, Lynryd Skynrd, The Allman Brothers

Kings of Leon must be happy that they’re no longer being called the next big thing. Their breakthrough album, Only by the Night, which featured the hits “Sex on Fire” and the Grammy nominated “Use Somebody,” put them front and center on the radio and made them stars. Now, with the release of Come Around Sundown, there are some news outlets calling this record their U2 moment. The thinking is that like The Joshua Tree did for the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famers from Ireland, Come Around Sundown will propel the Kings into another stratosphere.  It’s certainly possible, but I’m not a hundred percent sold on that idea.

The new album will most definitely please anyone who just discovered the band with Only by the Night.  The songs throughout Come Around Sundown have the same power and aching moan that made its predecessor so successful. There’s no doubt that the guys in this band know how to write a great rock hook, as the new single “Radioactive” proves tenfold. Moreover, there are several songs on this album that will make fine additions to radio playlists and will translate just fine on stage, blending seamlessly with the Kings older material. I can certainly hear “The End,” “Mary” and “Pony Up” as hit songs.

However, there are points in the album in which singer Caleb Followill’s voice really starts to wear thin and the chiming guitars start to grow tiresome, primarily in the middle section of songs. However, things return to form as the record winds down, in particular with the lovely song, “Birthday.” Anyone strictly familiar with the bands radio hits will love this song. There is real depth and power on Come Around Sundown that makes it a remarkable record, despite its few flaws.

I’m not sure Kings of Leon will ever become one of the most important rock bands in the world; U2 is still around to hold that title. Until Bono and the Edge decide to hang it up, Kings of Leon will just have to remain one of the best American bands of the 21st Century. (RCA 2010)

Kings of Leon MySpace page

Alternative, Americana, CD Reviews, Rock

The Red River: Little Songs about the Big Picture

October 28, 2010 /


RIYL: meandering music for the mumblecore crowd

The Red River is a band that hails from Long Beach, CA with eight members and counting. Their album, Little Songs about the Big Picture, was recorded over the course of three years in their hometown and consists of simple, introspective songs that examine the everyday occurrences in life. With a band so large, you’d expect there to be a big sound coming from this record. Instead, the Red River take a minimalist approach to their music, leaving you feeling like a solo record put together by one guy and a bunch of his friends.

Little Songs about the Big Picture is upbeat and has some really beautiful moments, such as the life-affirming, “I Will Give Thanks” and the reflective “Last Night We Made Tacos,” an acoustic number that sounds like it could have been made up on the spot. Overall, this album reminded me of watching a mumblecore movie. Like those microbudgeted features full of improv and incidental moments, on the surface Little Songs about the Big Picture seems to be just a sloppy, thrown-together collection of songs. But if you stick around until the end, and dig a little deeper into the record, you’ll find that there’s something quite moving about the music of the Red River.

Silly, poignant and communal, Little Songs About the Big Picture may not be perfect, but it does make the Red River a band to keep an eye on. (2010, Brave Records)

The Red River MySpace page

Alternative, CD Reviews, Emo, Folk

The Chapin Sisters: Two

October 19, 2010 /


RIYL: Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, reaaaaaaally depressing music

The Chapin Sisters are Abigail and Lily Chapin, a singing and songwriting duo who come from a long line of musicians. Their father is Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter, Tom Chapin, their uncle is singer/songwriter Harry Chapin, and their grandfather is a jazz drummer. Growing up, the sisters attended a Waldorf school whose art-based education included training in orchestral music, complicated harmonies and old English folk ballads. The wealth of influences that have shaped the Chapin Sisters all come out on their second full length album, Two.

Recorded in rural New Jersey, where Abigail and Lily put together a studio, Two has the feel of a down-home night of singing around the campfire, with the warm hard cider running through your veins and your head kind of fuzzy from the drink and the glow of the flames. The record is lush, full of pristine harmonies and haunting melodies; its low-fi production gives you the feel that you’re in the room with the sisters. With minimal instrumentation, the focus is placed squarely on Abigail and Lily and there is no denying that these women are incredibly gifted singers.

There is also no denying that this is one hell of a depressing album. Everything about Two is so downtrodden and morose that it makes Springsteen’s Nebraska seem like a party album. That’s not meant as an insult, it’s just making this point: you have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to this album.  And if you’re not in that frame of mind, if you’re not feeling down and ready to take a deep hard look at your soul and all that’s wrong with the world, well, a couple songs into Two, and you most certainly will be. (2010 Lake Bottom Records)

The Chapin Sisters webpage

Purchase Two through Amazon

CD Reviews, Folk

Phil Collins: Going Back

October 19, 2010 /


RIYL: Rod Stewart and other recent English artists who have put out cover albums

Those of us old enough to recall when Phil Collins was relevant can tell you that back in the ’80s he dominated the music industry with his musicality (he wrote, sang, produced and drummed the shit out of any record he played on), his cheeky humor, and his ability to transform even the slightest melody into a big hit. Before No Jacket Required, one of his most popular solo recordings was a cover of the Supremes, “You Can’t Hurry Love.”  It closes out Side 1 of Collins’ otherwise dark second album, Hello, I Must Be Going, and it’s a reminder, amongst those songs of bitterness and heartbreak, that Collins liked to have fun.

It’s 2010 now, the music industry has changed and Collins’ effectiveness as an artist has waned. Although he won an Academy Award in 1999 for a song in Disney’s animated “Tarzan,” the charm and musicality of the artist who was so influential in the ’80s is long gone. What’s an aging artist to do when they want to regain the public’s attention after so much time has passed? Why, record an album of covers, of course. Better yet, why not go back to the same Motown sound that gave him his first Top Ten hit?

On his new album, Collins painstakingly reproduced the sound of ’60s-era Detroit, even flying in some of the Funk Brothers over to England for sessions. Collins succeeds on this level, as the music on Going Back has the same tight arrangements and the appropriate amount of reverb to make you think these tunes were recorded over 40 years ago. Yes, the music is splendid, but how could it not be? It’s Motown. The problem with this album occurs the moment Collins opens his mouth to sing.

Through the years, Collins’ voice has become more whiny and bitter; he just doesn’t sing with the same joy or soulfulness to pull off an album of some of the greatest songs ever written. Because of this, no matter how great the music or production value, the tracks on Going Back are not fun to listen to at all. What should have been a loose, lively party record has had all of the soul squeezed out of it. Motown without soul is elevator music, and I’d dread being stuck in any elevator playing this album in the background.

Motown was the sound of young America; the music jumped off of turntables and into hearts. Collins’ renditions strain to get through the stereo speakers, like dried Play-Doh being squeezed through a colander. If you really want to hear a contemporary artist performing music that has the soul and sound of ’60s Motown, go out and buy the latest by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. You’ll hear soul music done right, and it’ll cleanse your palate of this dreck. (2010, Atlantic)

Click to buy Going Back from Amazon

'60s, Adult Contemporary, CD Reviews, Comedy, Pop, Soul

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