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Various Artists: Music from the Motion Picture The Love Guru

June 20, 2008 / David Medsker

Mike Myers’ latest “comedy” about an American-born, India-raised self-help guru will surely go down as one of the year’s worst movies (read BE movie critic Jason Zingale’s one-and-a-half-star review here), and for the sake of consistency, Lakeshore Records issued an equally bad soundtrack to go with it. This is instrument-of-torture bad, combining Myers’ Hindu-accented versions of pop songs “9 to 5,” “More Than Words” and “The Joker” (seriously, who asked for those?) with – sequenced in order, no less – Big Boi, Robbie Nevil, and Celine Dion. There are three dialog tracks peppered throughout; they’re not funny. The only song that rises above the dreck is George Clinton’s “Guru Vindaloo,” with Danny Saber’s “Mathar” not far behind. The rest of the album is an unholy combination of the offensive and the boring. There is no reason for anyone to own this album, and you get the sense that even the distributors of the soundtrack knew it – they misspelled Mike Myers’ name in the artwork for the promotional copies. (Lakeshore Records)

Love Guru soundtrack MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock, Songs

The Ting Tings: We Started Nothing

June 20, 2008 / David Medsker

As the late Ted Knight once said, the world needs ditch diggers too, meaning that not everyone is meant to change the world. The Ting Tings, the Salford duo of drummer Jules De Martino and guitarist/singer Katie White, are ditch diggers of sorts, specializing in club pop that is by and large disposable, but every once in a while, they elevate disposable pop to an art form. Even with a running time just under 38 minutes, there is a fair share of chaff on We Started Nothing, the band’s debut, but the wheat is some of the sweetest wheat you’ll find all year, starting with the instant classic, “Rapture”-esque “Shut Up and Let Me Go.” “Great DJ” is armed with one of those unforgettable – but ultimately annoying – hooks in its chorus, “That’s Not My Name” gets by on sass alone, and “We Walk” works a tad of widescreen pop into the mix. The rest of the album will seem cute enough while it’s playing, but will be forgotten the second it’s over. (Columbia)

The Ting Tings MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica, Pop, Rock Babes

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