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Jana Mashonee: New Moon Born

May 14, 2009 /

NAMMY Award winning and Grammy-nominated artist Jana Mashonee will surely be hitting some new career peaks with her latest release New Moon Born. The Native American artist has taken a new direction with this disc, aiming for a more contemporary pop style. A gifted singer, Mashonee hits her mark numerous times on this excellent disc. The opening “Osiris’ Star” is equally hypnotic, tribal, and dance-worthy. But then there’s something like “Faded Love” which strikes a deeply soulful and smooth groove that’s every bit as tantalizing. “Solid Ground” is near-angelic, and “Take Me Back” showcases what makes Mashonee so attractive: a silky voice, nary a note misplaced with a full range and a delivery that is kept in check where if these songs were given to other artists you can easily imagine them getting bombastic. Jana Mashonee is definitely a gifted artist and this new album should find her a whole new set of fans. If you enjoy well-crafted pop music with spectacular vocals, than this one’s for you. (Miss Molly Records)

Jana Mashonee MySpace page

CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

Sway: Let It Roll

May 13, 2009 /

When it comes to a band like Sway, one knows immediately to expect: comfortably safe country pop that countless other lesser and well-known acts have explored to the nth degree time and again. Lead singer and guitarist Gina Quartaro kicks off the album with the clichéd “Cowgirl Scene” that trots out all the old standards such as do-si-dos, common folk, and hitting the local bars. In the meantime, lead guitarist Perry Martin throws down a lead riff that sounds like it’s been played out in a million songs before this one. Comfy like an old pair of shoes but hardly original. If that’s not enough, the worn-out subject matter continues on the father to son life lessons explored in the title track, and other rote lyrical ideas such as thunderstorms, cold winds blowing, and crying in one’s sleep are spilt like milk on “I’m Over You.” Sway don’t have much of anything “new” to offer, from their unimaginative name to their musical and lyrical ideas. It’s safe to say you’ve heard at least ten other artists of varying quality do this exact same thing. If you need to hear another one do it all again, this may be your meal ticket. (self-released)

Sway home page

CD Reviews, Country, Pop

The Hours: See the Light

May 8, 2009 /

They would surely bristle at the idea that their songs are of the throwback variety, but the simple fact is that there aren’t many, if any, bands writing the kind of music that propels See the Light, the magnificent new album by UK duo (or is it septet?) the Hours. Singer Antony Genn’s phrasing recalls Wonder Stuff frontman Miles Hunt (though Genn is a much better singer), and the songs are flat-out skyscrapers, gorgeous piano-driven epics that put the ‘wide’ in widescreen. “Come On” uses seven words to create one of the catchiest choruses you’ll hear this year, while the seven-minute title track is a brilliant, two-chord slow burner, like a mid-tempo version of Pulp’s “Common People” (which is fitting, since Genn is a Pulp alumnus). There is a lyrical gaffe here and there – “The Girl Who Had the World at Her Feet” opens with the line “The cash cow is heading for the slaughterhouse,” ugh – but such bits come with the territory, and their damage is minimal. Don’t be surprised if these guys become a very big deal in a very short amount of time. (IsGoodLtd 2009)

The Hours MySpace page
Click to buy See the Light

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

Ed Harcourt: Russian Roulette

May 8, 2009 /

After effectively hopscotching from label to label – four in approximately the past ten years – Ed Harcourt seems to have found a comfortable home with Dovecote, a company that presumably grants him the ability to follow his creative whims without regard to commercial consequences. Still, Russian Roulette doesn’t divert all that much from his usual template, a reliable mix of stirring, angst-ridden ballads and soaring anthemic outpours that capture the heart while seizing on more cerebral possibilities. Being more of a modest affair – six songs recorded rather quickly as in deference to the original demos – it also serves as a stopgap prior to the unveiling of his next full-length opus, due sometime next year. Regardless, its certain to satiate fans unable to wait that long, courtesy of such enticing offerings as the title track – an opening volley of over-arched emotion – and “Sour Milk, Motheaten Silk,” a song which, despite its curious title, proves both elusive and alluring. However, the EP’s true highlight emerges in the form of “Caterpillar,” a purposeful and effusive number written about his newborn daughter that also ranks among the most stirring songs he’s ever written. Dovecote

Ed Harcourt MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Emo, Melodramatic, Rock

M Shanghai String Band: The Mapmaker’s Daughter

May 8, 2009 /

Fiddles and banjos in Brooklyn? Well, yes, apparently – as that’s the M Shanghai String Band’s home turf, no matter how much they sound like they hail from some backwoods holler south of the Mason-Dixon line. The freewheeling collective, which takes its name from the Chinese restaurant where they first performed together, returns here with its third disc of rootsy tunes, dominated – as you might imagine – by the various stringed things its 11 members play. The titles are often cooler than the songs themselves (particularly “Angel Full of Bourbon,” which, let’s face it, is a title most songs could never live up to), but even if the band’s material isn’t outstanding, it’s good enough to do set a suitably back-porch mood – and Mapmaker’s best moments, like the sawdust-covered stomp “Gallows Bird,” sound like they were distilled in a greasy mason jar just a couple shelves down from Americana standard-bearers like Ollabelle and the Felice Brothers. If it isn’t quite as high-proofed a vintage as either of those other bands, it still packs enough of a punch that it should be able to take the edge off for discerning fans of the genre – and prove a sufficiently intriguing invitation to one of the M Shanghai String Band’s tremendously entertaining live shows. (Red Parlor 2009)

M Shanghai String Band MySpace page

Adult Contemporary, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Folk

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