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Brice Woodall and the Positrons: Sine Wave Sea

August 22, 2008 / Jeff Giles

They’ve been compared to Radiohead and Wilco, but the only thing Brice Woodall and the Positrons really have in common with either of those bands is that you never really know what they’re going to do next – chords, melodies, and beats are all relative down here in the Sine Wave Sea, and trying to piece together a cogent narrative out of the lyrics is not for the faint of heart. But if they’re guilty of occasionally being too cute for their own good, they’re at least original, and how many times can you say that in pop music? Although it’s hard not to wish they’d stop trying so hard once in a while, or at least come up with something resembling a hook, it’s equally difficult not to respect all the hard work and/or large amounts of interplanetary travel that must have gone into these 11 songs. You can’t dance to it, and it’s only pop music in the loosest sense of the term – in fact, it’s hard to determine just what kind of music it is – but if you’re in the mood to drop in and get way out, you could certainly do worse than Sine Wave Sea. (AEMMP 2008)

Brice Woodall MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

Davina Robinson: The Blazing Heart

August 22, 2008 / Captain Capm

Let’s get one thing straight: “Never Good Enugh” might just go down as the best rock tune of 2008. That said, whether or not the world at large catapults Davina Robinson to stardom is anyone’s guess. On this four-track EP, Robinson is billed as “The Rock n’ Soul Chick,” and that’s a pretty good description of her talents. On “Conversations in My Head” she sounds like the female equivalent of both Lenny Kravitz and Terrence Trent D’Arby. The big electric guitars in the mix are definitely what sets Robinson’s music apart from that of others in the “Soul” category. Sometimes, things get a little cliched, as on “Making Love to Your Girlfriend,” whose ‘thinking of another person while getting it on’ sentiments have been done too many times to count before. But overall, this a really solid disc that fans of rockin’ tunes and good singing should easily enjoy. (Plum Wine)

Davina Robinson MySpace page

Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

Timmy Curran: Word of Mouth

August 22, 2008 / Jeff Giles

Around the turn of the century, the Onion ran a classic article about dolphins growing opposable thumbs and wreaking havoc on the human race – and although no one could have known it at the time, but there really was a plague preparing to descend upon us from the oceans, in the form of surfers turned guitar-strumming pop stars. Okay, so if you want to get technical about it, the plague hasn’t really arrived yet – so far, we’ve really only had to deal with Jack Johnson (and Matt Costa, but he’s a skateboarder, so he doesn’t really count) – but mark our words, it’s on its way. As proof, here’s another one: Timmy Curran, whose strum-diddly-umptious debut, Word of Mouth, is out now. On the granola-pop spectrum, Curran lands closer to Xavier Rudd than Jack Johnson – with a dash of Paul Simon and maybe just a pinch of Astrid Williamson thrown in – which is a very good thing, because it keeps the album from sliding into dullsville. But don’t worry, hacky sack fans – Curran doesn’t get too crazy; these songs still carry enough of a bongo-playing Matthew McConaughey vibe to keep your mellow from harshing. The end result isn’t anything especially memorable, but Curran is a decent enough songwriter and vocalist to quit his day job one of these days. Getting people to accept a grown man named Timmy, on the other hand… (Citsuca 2008)

Timmy Curran MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Folk, Pop

Steal This Song: Jem, “On Top of the World”

August 17, 2008 / David Medsker

Ooooh, her music is so dreamy. And she’s not hard on the eyes, either.

The press release for Jem’s upcoming album Down to Earth threatens that it will be a disturbingly eclectic affair, using choirs, banjos, Latin beats and even Cut Chemist doing his thing. Her blog-approved song “On Top of the World,” however, is all about the blissed-out pop. Not that there is anything wrong with that. St. Etienne’s best-of receives near-daily play at Chez Medsker, so this sounds just fine to me. I will reserve judgment on the “funky banjo” track until I hear it, though.

Jem – On Top of the World

Artists, Downloads, External Music, Pop, Songs, Soul

Mugison: Mugiboogie

August 15, 2008 / James B. Eldred

Mugison is a weird dude. Of course he is, he’s an Icelandic musician. This is the country that brought us Sigur Ros, Mum and the queen of all things WTF, Bjork. But Mugison is a little different from his decidedly very different musical countrymen. While his compatriots prefer to dabble in the realms of experimental noise, electronica and whatever the hell Bjork is doing right now, Mugison seems determined to keep his decidedly off-center music firmly planted in American-influenced blues rock, making him slightly more accessible than the throngs of batshit crazy artists from the land of puffin. Slightly being the key word, because while Mugison’s latest release, Mugiboogie, is pretty bluesy, it’s still pretty damn weird. The title track, for instance, buries the blues riffs behind a sea of wacky keyboard sounds while the insanely freaky “I’m Alright” pairs up a soundscape of near-random noise with a shocking example of Cookie Monster death metal vocalizing by Mugison, who otherwise maintains a cool, slightly throaty, blues singing style through most of the album. When it all comes together, though, it works beautifully, the best example being the brilliantly abrasive “Jesus Is a Good Name to Moan,” in which Mugison angrily demands his girlfriend tell him who this Jesus guy is and why she’s yelling his name while they do it. Yeah, that may sound funny, but there is no humor in the surprisingly dark and powerful tune. Other highlights include the anti-government “The Animal” and almost-metal “Two Thumb Sucking Son of a Boyo.” This is one wacky album. Fans of Beck and Soulwax should definitely take note of this Icelandic kook. (Ipecac Recordings)

Mugison MySpace page

Alternative, Blues, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock