Category: Artists (Page 86 of 262)

Wax Tailor: In the Mood for Life

October 2, 2009 /


RIYL: Avalanches, DJ Spooky, Portishead

Anyone jonesing for another Avalanches album – and really, who isn’t? – would do well to pick up the latest effort by Wax Tailor, the nom de guerre of French turntablist Jean-Christophe Le Saoût. In the Mood for Life careens between cut & paste pastiche (unofficial “Frontier Psychiatrist” sequel “Sit and Listen,” the rhyme-stealing “B-Boy on Wax”) and downbeat trip-hop (“Dragon Chasers,” “Dry Your Eyes”), with a few straight-up hip-hop tracks like “Until Heaven Stops the Rain” and “This Train” and the ’60s girl pop splendor of “Leave It” sprinkled in for good measure. The old-school rhyme flow is welcome – though the rhymes in “Say Yes” are painful – and while he’s strolling down Memory Lane, Le Saoût makes the mistake of peppering the album with the dreaded ‘skit’ tracks, tiny bridge bits from one track to another that, for the most part, would be just fine tacked on to the beginning of the following track. But we’re splitting hairs: In the Mood for Life, for all its styles, has a singular vision that ties everything together, making this much more than a ‘DJ desperately trying to be all things to all people’ affair. Thank heaven for small miracles. (Le Plan 2009)

Wax Tailor MySpace page
Click to buy In the Mood for Life from Amazon

Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Hip Hop, Pop, R&B, Rap

Richard Hawley: Truelove’s Gutter

October 1, 2009 /


RIYL: Roy Orbison, Scott Walker, Nick Cave

Death, taxes…Richard Hawley. The onetime Longpig is not only good for an album of new material every two years, but he’s good for a good album of new material every two years. Hawley went widescreen on 2007’s Lady’s Bridge, but opts for a more stripped-down approach on Truelove’s Gutter, his latest. The songs, as per usual, are the kind of ghostly ballads that would haunt an abandoned ’50s dancehall, which Hawley spices up with the use of a singing saw and a waterphone. (Yes, we had to look up the latter instrument, too.) He’s not in a hurry this time, either – the shortest songs clock in at four and a half minutes, and two of them hit both sides of the ten-minute mark. Amazingly, the epic tracks, “Remorse Code” and “Don’t You Cry,” are two of the album’s finest, breezing by in seemingly half the time. “Soldier On,” meanwhile, could serve as the new textbook definition of “quiet storm.”

Hawley himself surely knows that his success in the UK is a blessing and not a right – his music is blissfully out of time with its surroundings. Don’t be surprised, though, if Truelove’s Gutter ends up burying us all. (Mute 2009)

Richard Hawley MySpace page
Click to buy Truelove’s Gutter from Amazon

Adult Contemporary, Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Sunny Day Real Estate: Diary/LP2 (Reissues)

October 1, 2009 /

Diary

LP2

RIYL: Smashing Pumpkins, Polvo, Mineral

Even if you haven’t actually heard the music of Sunny Day Real Estate, chances are you at least have seen them name-checked in countless record reviews and interviews. We’ll spare you all of the “they helped spark the emo movement” hoopla and just dig into what’s really important here. The folks at Sub Pop have just re-released the first two albums by this almost mythical Washington state outfit. Both collections are filled to the gills with angular guitars, prog-rock styled rhythmic arrangements, and unorthodox yet infectious vocal melodies.

Originally released in 1994, Diary sounded like nothing else when it first crept its way onto college rock playlists. For starters, Jeremy Enigk’s vocals seem to come from another planet completely. His ethereal singing style had his notes often floating through the guitars and drums much like a keyboard or orchestra would. Imagine the Cocteau Twins’s Elizabeth Fraser fronting Smashing Pumpkins during the Gish era, and you would be close to what SDRE sounded like at the time. As layered and dissonant as the material on Diary was, the band’s hardcore punk roots definitely sprout up in moments. “Seven” and the bombastic chorus in “In Circles” were straight-forward and crunchy enough to hook in Sick of it All fans, while the introspective parts of the music appealed to the indie kids. This album changed a lot of people’s lives, and a million bands were born out of its influence.

In 1995 SDRE released LP2, which their cultish following quickly dubbed “The Pink Album.” The record came out posthumously as the combo had broken up earlier that year. It seemed like the adulation and mounting pressure that came along with the left-field success of Diary had done the guys in. Luckily SDRE managed to finish the sessions for LP2 despite the personal struggles they were going through at the time. The album’s nine songs span everything from King Crimson-esque guitar spaz-outs to gentler ballad-like moments. It’s a tougher listen than their debut album, but once you dig deeper into its heart, it’s an even more rewarding experience than anything else they’ve ever recorded. (Sub Pop 2009)

Click to buy Diary from Amazon
Click to buy LP2 from Amazon

Artists

AFI: Crash Love

October 1, 2009 /


RIYL: Alkaline Trio, The Misfits, Naked Raygun

In punk years, AFI have been around for a lifetime. While many of their mid-’90s counterparts have bitten the dust or become completely irrelevant, the Northern California quartet have kept their career fresh through a series of albums where they’ve opened up their material to all sorts of sonic experimentation. The band started out as a dime-a-dozen melodic punk band in the vein of Bad Religion, but their more recent output has revealed everything from synthpop to Goth-rock leanings woven into their assault. For the last decade or so, Davey Havok (vocals) and Jade Puget (guitars) have been the primary driving forces behind AFI’s open-ended songwriting style.

On their newly released album, Crash Love, AFI tone down the electronic flourishes of their last full-length effort (2006’s decemberunderground) which, looking back, did come off heavy-handed at times. Puget’s guitars are pushed to the front of the mix while Havok’s candy-coated vocal melodies take center stage. There are still some of those electro touches included, like the drum loops in “End Transmission,” but they are harder to find. Listeners who fell in love with the band from hits like “Girls Not Grey” and “Silver and Cold” don’t have much to complain about this time out.

“OK, I Feel Better Now” and “I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here” are the kind of modern rock nuggets that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on their breakthrough Sing the Sorrow album while the pulsating rhythms in “Too Shy to Scream” are sprinkled with Marc Bolan and Suzi Quatro glam dust. Havok and company even prove they can spool together a bonafide pop gem in the irresistible “Veronica Sawyer Smokes.”

Producer Garret “Jacknife” Lee (Bloc Party, Kasabian) does a splendid job of blending the textural nuances with AFI’s anthemic qualities. All of the act’s strengths are at full display on Crash Love and Lee highlights all of the right instrumental spots in all of the right moments. He does especially impressive work with the lead and background vocals and if you know AFI’s discography already, you’ll know how impactful that aspect of their attack is. There isn’t that one song to truly push the album into the four-star range, but you would be hard-pressed to find a better alt-rock record hitting shelves for the rest of the year. (Interscope 2009)

AFI MySpace page

Alternative, Artists, CD Reviews, Rock

The Clientele: Bonfires on the Heath

October 1, 2009 /

In an era where slacker sensibilities and low-gazing attitudes seem to dominate the musical mainstream, the Clientele’s preoccupation with lush, radiant textures and elaborate, ethereal arrangements consistently go against the norm. Vocalist/guitarist/musical mastermind Alasdair MacLean’s aversion to bombastic singers and self-serving guitar solos finds thoughts morphed into action via the collision of horns, harmonies and soft-swaying melodies that adorn Bonfires on the Heath, the latest extravaganza from this Hampshire band. The group conjures up a number of obvious influences – Love, the Zombies, Galaxie 500 and the Felt – but given their seamless delivery and breezy, shimmering style, it would sell them short to merely attribute their sound to appropriating that of their predecessors. “I Wonder Who We Are,” “Bonfires on the Heath” and “Jennifer & Julia” purvey a genteel charm and a soothing, sensual ambiance that seizes attention even on first encounter. And while the scattershot shuffle of “Sketch” almost seems disruptive in the midst of these mellow soundscapes, a song such as “Never Anyone but You” shows their ability to make a seamless transition from meditative reflection to gently compelling refrains. Varying the tempos between a samba and a sway, this rich mélange provides an allure all its own. (Merge 2009)

The Clientele MySpace page

Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Melodramatic, Pop, Rock, Widescreen

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