Category: Pop (Page 27 of 216)

Lucy Schwartz: Life in Letters

September 22, 2010 /


RIYL:Brandi Carlile, Aimee Mann, Jon Brion

Lucy Schwartz’s Life in Letters contains the kind of songs that must make the producers of “Grey’s Anatomy” orgasm. Her music is spirited, melodic, and yet mellow enough to be the perfect accompaniment for the navel-gazing doctors on ABC’s drama. With beautiful harmonies, intricate guitars, subtle keyboards and muted drums, Schwarz’s music is pleasant to listen to, yet it feels like there’s something missing.

Let’s be clear, this is an album full of rich, excellent material. Schwartz’s voice is reminiscent of Brandi Carlisle in its fullness and the way she wraps it around the words. “My Darling” is a haunting opening number that rests in the back of your mind like caramel stuck in your teeth.  “Graveyard” has some wonderful, fun harmonies, “Shadow Man” chugs along like a well-tuned Chevy and “Morning” is a lovely ballad that closes the record.  Everything is pretty and neatly in its place.

Acclaimed producer Mitchell Froom oversaw Life in Letters, and he brings to it the same precision he’s brought to every artist he’s worked with, from Crowded House to Los Lobos to Sheryl Crow. Yet, it feels as if Schwartz’s passion has been tamped down, the reins pulled in, making the record too pretty and too mellow. You keep waiting, hoping, for the moment in which the singer loses her shit and lets out a guttural howl or some throat-shredding scream. Anything to indicate that she’s actually feeling all of the emotions she’s singing about. Life in Letters needs that on a couple of tracks, at least.

Without this type of feeling, Schwartz’s album is like a cup of decaf in the middle of the afternoon: It perks you up, but doesn’t give you a jolt. While Life in Letters has some finely crafted musicianship (especially when listening through headphones), nothing grabs you by the throat, or the heart, and pulls you back for repeated listens. (Fortunate Fool Records 2010)

Lucy Schwartz MySpace Page

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

Maroon 5: Hands All Over

September 21, 2010 /


RIYL: Stevie Wonder, Jamiroquai, Train

Maroon-5-Hands-All-Over-album-cover-art[1] Just when you thought there wasn’t an errant molecule left to be polished off Maroon 5’s squeaky-clean pop-funk sound, along comes legendary producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange to add his layers of platinum gloss. Lange’s antiseptic stacks o’ tracks approach helped Def Leppard own the late ’80s (and made it acceptable for a snare drum to sound like a wet sack of potatoes being hit with a two-by-four in reverse), so when word got out that he was producing Hands All Over, eyebrows were raised in anticipation. What do you get when you cross Maroon 5 with the guy who produced world-beating hits for AC/DC, Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, and Nickelback?

The answer, as it turns out, isn’t appreciably different from previous Maroon 5 records – not in terms of sound, anyway. Hands All Over is a little more arid than the band’s earlier material, and the nipping and tucking applied to lead singer Adam Levine’s voice is more obvious than usual, but they’ve never been anyone’s idea of a gritty band; Lange’s production style is unmistakably slick, but he’s also smart enough to know there are only so many layers of gloss you can add before the underlying material disappears.

And it’s on that underlying material that Lange seems to have had the biggest influence. Though the band’s songwriting has never really been an issue, Hands All Over presents Maroon 5 at their most radio-ready; even the filler tracks, of which there are a few, sound as sleek and lean as obvious singles fodder like “Misery” and “Never Gonna Leave This Bed.” Much as he’s been guilty of fattening up the sounds of the bands he’s worked with, Lange is a remarkably savvy songwriter with a sharp ear for a song’s inessential bits, and it sounds like he took a judicious scalpel to each of Hands All Over‘s dozen cuts. The end result is as slick as it is hummable.

Of course, it’s also sheer product, but unapologetically so, and at least the product in question is one worth selling. If you’re the type of listener who looks for raw power in your music, Hands All Over is absolutely not for you, but if you’re just looking for a fresh batch of safe, hip-shaking pop to get you through your day – or if you have any kind of appreciation for that elusive sweet spot where airtight pop songcraft and unabashed commerce meet – this is one guilty pleasure you may not need to feel guilty about. (A&M/Octone 2010)

Maroon 5 MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Chatelaine: Take a Line for a Walk

September 21, 2010 /


RIYL: Annie Lennox, Goldfrapp, Ghost vs Sanne

We’re not sure how this one slipped past us – actually, we do know how it slipped past us; it’s because there are over 30,000 albums released each year, so it’s easy to miss one when you’re not expecting it – but better late than never when it comes to former Curve singer Toni Halliday. Her new band Chatelaine is decidedly different than her former one, opting for string-kissed, mid-tempo meditations augmented with the occasional synth. “Oh Daddy” bears strong resemblance to Annie Lennox’s cover of “No More I Love You’s,” but the rest of the album is less passive, with Halliday singing softer than she did in Curve while maintaining a pointedness in her delivery. “Stripped Out” would have fit in perfectly on last year’s grossly overlooked album by Swedish blue-eyed soulsters Ghost vs. Sanne, and “Shifting Sands” injects a dark synth line as proof that Halliday hasn’t forgotten her roots. Hard-edged techno is a young man’s game, so it makes sense that Halliday would leave those days behind her. With Take a Line for a Walk, Halliday acts her age without caving to soft-focus melodrama, which is as win-win as it gets. (Chatelaine 2010)

Download Chatelaine’s “Stripped Out” here

Chatelaine MySpace page
Click to buy Take a Line for a Walk from Amazon

Adult Contemporary, Artists, CD Reviews, Electronica, Pop, Rock Babes

Mackintosh Braun: Where We Are

September 20, 2010 /


RIYL: Dissociatives, Air, E.L.O.

It’s good to see that there is someone at the major league level who remembers the importance of having a label with a personality, and that someone is Chop Shop Records’ Alexandra Patsavas. If Patsavas has your back, odds are you are a contemporary pop act with an offbeat approach and throwback sensibilities, i.e. you write songs like they were written before Rob Thomas fucked everything up, and this describes Patsavas’ latest signing, Mackintosh Braun, to a ‘T.’ The Portland duo’s debut album Where We Are is blissful synth pop song after blissful synth pop song, filled with breathy, manipulated vocals and washes of sound that envelop the listener like a wave from the oceans of Xanadu. The band could definitely use a second operating speed, but when they’re on, like the fab opening track “Could It Be” and the ringing “Line in the Sand,” it’s damn near irresistible. Most of the album, though, falls into the pleasant-but-slight category, and the robotic vocals leave the proceedings a little cold, but you can tell from the chord sequences that Mackintosh Braun have the right idea. With any luck, they’ll come up with more of those right ideas next time around. (Chop Shop/Atlantic 2010)

Download Mackintosh Braun’s “Could It Be” here

Mackintosh Braun MySpace page
Click to buy Where We Are from Amazon

Artists, CD Reviews, Electronica, Pop

Michael Franti & Spearhead: The Sound of Sunshine

September 20, 2010 /


RIYL: String Cheese Incident, Keller Williams, Ziggy Marley

This is an aptly titled album, as practically every track beams out a catchy upbeat vibe to the listener. Franti has long specialized in feel-good grooves with a message, while also dabbling in bluesier and hard rocking flavors. But his bread and butter has always been the melodic, uplifting stuff. This album maybe overdoes it a bit, and lacks in the diversity that made for such strong albums with 2001’s Stay Human and 2008’s All Rebel Rockers. The latter yielded the band’s first Top 20 hit with the catchy “Say Hey (I Love You)” though, so it’s not a shock to see Franti and company looking to mine that vein further. Franti has been speaking truth to power for years with little financial reward, so you can’t begrudge him a thing.

There’s no call-to-arms, revolution-oriented track like “Rock the Nation,” “Yell Fire” or or “A Little Bit of Riddim,” which may disappoint some listeners. But Franti is still wheeling and dealing with the cathartic rhymes and beats as an antidote to dark times, including his own death-defying bout with a ruptured appendix last year. There’s more of an emphasis on the acoustic guitars, as well as a continuation of the reggae vibe that was a strong flavor on the last album.

The title track kicks off the album and sets the catchy, uplifting tone for the album with lyrics like “they can take away my job but not my friends.” “Shake It” pumps up the energy with an upbeat romantic number that receives vocal assistance from the dynamic Cherine Anderson, a previous collaborator. “Hey Hey Hey” remains upbeat but also features some of the cathartic, reflective vibe that Franti is so good at. “Anytime You Need Me” emphasizes a cheery reggae vibe.

One of the best tracks is “I’ll Be Waiting,” which bites the guitar parts from U2’s “Bad” with great effect on a tune about loyalty. The most rocking track on the album is “The Thing That Helps Me Get Through,” a high-energy tune with a steady beat and lyrics about getting down with that special someone as a remedy to a crazy, mixed up world. “Headphones” dabbles in some sonic ambiance to create a laid-back atmospheric effect.

The album doesn’t have the musical diversity of Franti’s past work, but it’s got plenty of the feel-good grooves that are his trademark, and this chaotic world can certainly use more of that. (Capitol Records 2010)

Michael Franti & Spearhead MySpace page

CD Reviews, Funk, Hip Hop, Pop, Reggae, Rock, Soul

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