Category: CD QuickTakes (Page 137 of 149)

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

Moreland & Arbuckle: 1861

June 20, 2008 / Michael Fortes

There’s contemporary blues, and then there’s just blues. Maybe in the late 1960s, Moreland & Arbuckle would have been considered “contemporary blues,” contending with Savoy Brown and Johnny Winter for their share of a young electric blues audience. But in 2008, they’re “just blues.” And that’s definitely a good thing. No synthesizers, no importing of exotic beats, not even one single attempt to cater to an audience outside of the blues. This is the real deal – raw, unadulterated, electric blues – guitar, harmonica, and some drums to add some backbeat. Or in some cases, as on the obligatory woman-done-me-wrong song “Tell Me Why,” just an acoustic parlor guitar and some vocals for an intimate, stripped down Delta feel. Guitarist Aaron Moreland and vocalist/harmonicat Dustin Arbuckle stick to the basics here, and they do it so well, with such confidence and power, that one has to consider this record a blessing to the soul of modern music. 1861 reminds us once again that less sometimes truly is more. (LABEL: NorthernBlues 2008)

Moreland & Arbuckle MySpace page

Blues, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews

iiO – Rapture Reconstruction Platinum Edition

June 13, 2008 / Captain Capm

For all the iiO fans who can’t get enough of the classic dance tune “Rapture,” here’s a two-disc set featuring 18 remixes of the tune. Like any collection of remixes, Rapture Reconstruction is a hit and miss experience, and of course it really all comes down to personal opinion of just which remixes are the best here. The opening “Starkillers Dirty Girl Made Single Edit” is better than “Starkillers Undone Made Single Edit” just two tracks later, for example. Part of the problem is sitting through the whole thing and not going slightly nuts from it trying to pick out the wheat from the chaff. Even the dub versions are split right down the middle of good and irritating (the spacey “Hardware & Orue Electric Dub” is light years better than the “Friscia & Lamboy Dub,” which grates pretty fast). The second disc – the “Classic Enhanced Disk”- fares no differently. The “Armin Van Buuren remix” is a good example of classic hard trance done right, while the “Deep Dish Space Remix” sounds lazy and uninspired, like any generic remix you’d care to name. If you want to get as close to the real thing, though, the “Original Extended Mix” is the very last cut here and it shines through so much of the other versions here. Sometimes sticking to the real thing is the best decision. (Made 2008)

iiO MySpace page.

Artists, CD QuickTakes, Electronica, Songs

Too $hort – Get Off the Stage

June 13, 2008 / Captain Capm

Holy Christ. Who even knew this dude was still making CDs? Look, plain and simple this is as bad as rap gets nowadays. Too $hort is still stuck in a bubble waxing about how great he is, what he has, and how he likes “big titties.” Yeah…go figure. Of course, what else to expect with tracks such as the stunning “Shittin’ On ‘Em” (“You a soldier, nigga I’m a vet, what?“) or how $hort embraces the English lexicon with the remarkable “F.U.C.K.Y.O.U.” (“Fuck you / Nigga, fuck you, too! / Nigga, F.U.C.K.Y.O.U.!“)? Yes, it’s all in a lazy, easy day’s work shitting out inconsequential track after inconsequential track and reaping the benefits of having absolutely no real talents and letting the record label pump money into your pockets. Must be real nice. But hey, who am I to complain when I can groove effortlessly to the sexy heat of “Pull Them Panties Down”? “Tryin’ to see you get naked,” exclaims Too at the beginning. Then the full-on erotica ensues: “Gotta see the pink now / G’wan pull them panties down” and “You need to let them panties leave ya ankles / Show ’em you a bad bitch, fuck these stank hos.” Ready to pull out your wallet and let your money do the voting yet? No? Really? Why not? Doesn’t hearing $hort repeat “Gotta get a bitch and get my dick sucked” over and over on “Gangstas & Strippers” not get you horny, baby? Dayum! But really, who knew this dude was still making CDs? Yeesh. (Jive 2007)

Too $hort MySpace page.

Artists, CD QuickTakes, Rap