Category: CD Reviews (Page 164 of 399)

Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown” meets the critics

May 15, 2009 /

Green Day - 21st Century BreakdownFive years after releasing 2004’s career-defining American Idiot, Green Day is back with their follow-up, 21st Century Breakdown, hitting stores today. Does it live up to the considerable hype?

According to Bullz-Eye’s David Medsker, Breakdown is a solid 3.5-star affair — perhaps not the towering achievement that Idiot was, but as he says, you have to “give the band credit … for not shying away from the impossible expectations that have been thrust upon them, and trying their damndest to make an album every bit as massive” as their last outing, even if their reach exceeds their grasp a bit:

The problem is that this time around, that whole reach-exceeds-their-grasp thing comes back to haunt them. The band simply bit off more than they could chew, and had they been willing to pare down the track listing to a more reasonable length (18 songs! 69 minutes!), we could be talking about Breakdown and Idiot the same way that people compare and contrast The Bends and OK Computer.

These sentiments are more or less in line with the qualified praise doled out in reviews from a number of outlets, including the UK’s Guardian (“a little less bold, a little less surprising than its predecessor”), Entertainment Weekly (“The band seem oddly immune to the fact that success … has rendered Berkeley’s gutter-boys-done-good accidental targets of their own ire”), and Popdose (“bucks the current trend of churning out singles in favor of creating deep tracks that beg for repeated listens — and may the gods bless ‘em for it!”)

And what does the band say? Well, watch this Total Assault interview clip to hear directly from the boys themselves:

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CD Reviews, News

Operation Aloha: Operation Aloha

May 15, 2009 /

They’re being called a supergroup, but Operation Aloha doesn’t carry the odor of a manager-brainstormed corporate rock merger, like, say, Damn Yankees; instead, it sounds like a bunch of guys dicking around between trips to the beach – which is appropriate, because that’s exactly how Operation Aloha came together. Sprung from a month-long vacation to a “treehouse compound” in Maui, Aloha loosely strings together contributions from a staggering 14-member crew whose members count Maroon 5, Phantom Planet, and Gomez among their respective day gigs, and the music is relaxed to a fault – though hooks occasionally poke through the mellow haze, for the most part, the album consists of perfectly pleasant sketches that sound like they might be on their way to becoming songs at some point. Not the type of record that’s going to grab you right away, in other words (or maybe not at all) – but given enough spins, it starts to feel awfully comfortable, like an old, patchouli-drenched poncho at a beachside campfire. It’s ultimately a little bit like a 21st-century version of the Traveling Wilburys – without the songs, mind you, but with more than enough charm to get by. (Operation Aloha 2009)

Operation Aloha MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

IAMX: Kingdom of Welcome Addiction

May 15, 2009 /

Chris Corner is a member of the Sneaker Pimps, and seemingly not content be associated with the worst-named genre of all time (trip-hop) (Ed. Note: two words: riot grrrl), he’s branched out with his solo project IAMX into Electronic Body Music (EBM), the second-worst-named genre of all-time. Twitch-era Ministry and the work of Cabaret Voltaire and Front 242 are good examples of the genre, which is a dance-friendly hodgepodge of electro, industrial and synth-pop. It’s generally a pretty stupid but fun little subgenre, filled with over-the-top lyrics about sex and drugs and even more over-the-top synthesizers. IAMX embraced the sound with his first album, 2004’s Kiss + Swallow, but on Kingdom of Welcome Addiction he tones it down a bit, with most of the songs being slow, introspective ballads and mid-tempo pop songs that take the minimalist approach of trip-hop and transport them to a synth-pop environment with generally positive results. He seems to be going for an Imogen Heap vibe, a presumption made all the more accurate by Imogen Heap’s guest appearance on the haunting “My Secret Friend.” Even without the synth-pop diva to back him up, Corner usually keeps things going nicely, with “I Am Terrified” and “Think of England” especially standing out. Parts are uneven, and Corner’s vocals aren’t always up to task, such as on “An I for an I” where he weakly bellows in vain to match his throbbing industrial beats. Still, this is a surprisingly good and complex record that actually might make you yearn for a new Sneaker Pimps album. (Metropolis 2009)

IAMX MySpace Page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica

Buckwheat Zydeco: Lay Your Burden Down

May 15, 2009 /

It really says something about the enduring appeal of an artist’s sound when his 30th anniversary announcement is surprising not only because of how far he’s come, but because it seems like he’s been around much, much longer. Such is the case with Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, Jr., leader of the venerable Louisiana combo Buckwheat Zydeco; his music is tied in so tightly with its rich traditional roots – but constantly brimming with infectious, life-affirming energy – that it’s never sounded anything but timeless. To celebrate his three decades in the trenches, Dural has enlisted a drool-worthy array of special guests for Lay Your Burden Down, including Warren Haynes, Sonny Landreth, JJ Grey, and Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews – not to mention Steve Berlin behind the boards (and sitting in with the horn section). With all that talent in the studio, it’d be a shame if Burden was weighed down with pedestrian material; thankfully, the album shines on that front, too – it kicks off with a cracking cover of “When the Levee Breaks” and keeps on strutting through a combination of solid originals and equally inspired covers (including Bruce Springsteen’s “Back in Your Arms” and Captain Beefheart’s “Too Much Time”). Typically stellar stuff from Buckwheat Zydeco, in other words. May Buckwheat’s accordion ring for another three decades. (Alligator 2009)

Buckwheat Zydeco MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Zydeco

Oleta Adams: Let’s Stay Here

May 15, 2009 /

If you’ve ever listened to an Oleta Adams record, you know what to expect from Let’s Stay Here – namely, a whole bunch of smooth, tasteful tracks that run the slight gamut between gently grooving mid-tempo numbers and velvety ballads, all topped off with her warm, soulful vocals. Adams’ voice is a singular instrument – we’re talking, after all, about a performer who earned her shot at the big time with a performance at a Kansas City bar that just happened to be overheard by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith of Tears for Fears – and its strength has never been up for debate. What she uses that voice for is another question entirely; aside from a handful of pop and R&B hits (most notably “Get Here” in 1991), Adams’ solo career has mostly flown under the radar because her records, by and large, are one quiet storm after another: competently written, tightly performed, and extremely dull. Let’s Stay Here marks her return from a long break from secular recording, but she picks up right where she left off, for better or worse – aside from the moderately funky closer “Act of Forgiveness,” this is one long episode of “For Lovers Only.” It’s perfectly fine for draining a bottle of white wine, in other words, but don’t expect to remember much of it when you’re done – and like the wine, excessive consumption may leave you feeling headachy and nauseous. (Koch/E1 2009)

Oleta Adams MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, R&B

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