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Underworld: Barking

September 8, 2010 /


RIYL: The Chemical Brothers, The Future Sound Of London, everyone on Hospital Records

Barking is the third Underworld album since Darren Emerson left the the duo of Karl Hyde and Mark Smith in 2002, and the first since then that is worth a damn.

A Hundred Days Off was a forgettable mess and the nicest thing that can be said about Oblivion With Bells was that its album title was an apt descriptor of the music. It’s probably no coincidence that this, the first good Underworld album since 1999’s Beaucoup Fish, is a collaborative effort between the group and a series of high-profile and up-and-coming producers.

Drum and bass producer High Contrast contributes the two highlights of the album, the very High Contrast-like sounding “Scribble” and the oddly sedate “Moon in Water,” which features some truly inventive vocal manipulations over a simplistic, but effective beat.

Other tracks are less surprising, but still good. D. Ramirez and Paul Van Dyk both specialize in dance-ready house and trance music, so it’s no surprise that their tracks, especially Ramirez’s “Always Loved a Film,” make Underworld sound like classic Underworld again, with frantic beats and epic synths serving as a perfect backdrop to Hyde’s distorted and manic vocal delivery. Van Dyk’s “Diamond Jigsaw” is so damned uplifting it should be played in rehab centers, and its peaks of Everest proportions pretty much ensures you’ll hear it on every mix by the DJ for the next few years. Minimal techno producer Dubfire is a little off with the slightly-too-slow “Grace” but makes up with it by delivering “Bird 1,” the opener to the album that builds in a way reminiscent of Beacoup Fish‘s “Shudder/King Of Snake.”

The only contributors to seemingly miss the point of the exercise are Appleblim and Al Tourettes, who never rise out of the dubstep doldrums they’re so comfortable in, with “Hamburg Hotel,” a barely-there collection of looping beats and boring bass lines. But hey, it’s dubstep, so you get what you ask for.

Maybe Hyde and Smith need someone else to bounce ideas off of in order to truly be great? Whatever the reason, here’s hoping their collaborative streak doesn’t stop with Barking. They just need to avoid any additional “dubstep” artists. (Om Records 2010)

Underworld MySpace Page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Dub, Electronica

The Who: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970

September 2, 2010 /


RIYL: Cream, Led Zeppelin, the Jimi Hendrix Experience

“On August 29, 1970, The Who stepped onto the stage before an audience estimated at 600,000 at the Isle of Wight Festival at a time that, arguably, they were at the top of their game,” writes Mike Brown (a school mate of the band) in the liner notes for this two-disc release of the band’s killer show of 40 years ago. It’s hard to imagine how anyone could listen to this stellar show and argue the point about the Who being at the top of their game.

The band certainly went on to deliver some more classic albums and big tours in the ’70s, but here, touring behind guitarist Pete Townshend’s brilliant rock opera Tommy, the band is en fuego. The brilliant talent of drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle is evident in a vital way that doesn’t come across the same on the band’s studio recordings. And Townshend, long hailed as a brilliant songwriter and arranger but rarely if ever mentioned as a great lead guitarist, shows chops to burn on one wailing solo after another.

The band comes out blazing on “Heaven and Hell” and never lets up, with Townshend serving early notice that he came to play, ripping off a hot bluesy solo while Entwistle and Moon rock out. “Young Man Blues” is another early highlight, with the rhythm section just killing it and Townshend delivering another searing lead. Entwistle’s inventive bass playing is particularly impressive throughout the show, easily placing him on par with peers like Jack Casady, Jack Bruce and Phil Lesh.

From there the band moves into a complete and epic rendition of Tommy that takes up the rest of disc one and most of disc two. The rock opera really picks up steam down the stretch with the classic chords of “Go to the Mirror” and singer Roger Daltrey starring on a revelatory version of “I’m Free.” The epic conclusion of “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” the band’s timeless anthem of rebellion, is pure money, clocking in at almost 10 minutes. Then the band rocks out on charged versions of “Summertime Blues,” a cover medley that includes a grungy version of “Twist and Shout,” “Substitute” and a killer jam on “My Generation” that sounds almost like the Jimi Hendrix Experience (who shared the bill.) The heavy bluesy jamming continues on “Naked Eye” before the show wraps with “Magic Bus.” This show is classic rock history 101 at its finest. (Eagle Records 2009)

CD Reviews, Concert CDs, Rock

Rabbit!: Connect the Dots

September 1, 2010 /


RIYL: The Bird and the Bee, She & Him, Mates of State

510iijhhKWL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1] Connect the Dots is a fine title for an album, but Rabbit! could just as easily have chosen Too Adorable for Words for this breezy 17-track collection. Song titles like “Ladybug,” “Jellybean,” and “1-4-3” don’t necessarily tell the whole Rabbit! story, but you get the idea – these are cute, catchy pop songs about things like staring at clouds, being in love, and feeling great. Cynics need not apply.

Even if you aren’t particularly cynical, Connect the Dots might test your twee endurance; the vocals conjure visions of girls in vintage clothes, strumming pawn shop guitars and smiling shyly next to dudes with rumpled button-down shirts and Abercrombie hair, while the music is chock full of Casios set to “xylophone” and “harpsichord.” It’s all so very Zooey Deschanel.

But here’s the thing: Close as it might come to sending you into a diabetic coma, Connect the Dots is brimming with clever, catchy songs. It sounds like a series of mash notes passed between people so wrapped up in their fuzzy love cocoon that they don’t even know anyone else is in the room – but where that kind of thing can be unnerving and annoying in person, these songs just kinda make you smile. Case in point: “Pea,” which opens with the following call-and-response lines:

It’s time to wake up / But you don’t need no makeup / ‘Cause you look stinkin’ foxy / With nothin’ but my old Led Zeppelin t-shirt on
I’ll be / Ready in a hurry / So we can hit the snooze bar / And spoon together in five nine-minute increments

And you just know the song closes out with a round of la la las, right?

You’ve got to walk a fine line with this kind of Hello Kitty pop, and it isn’t as easy as it looks – but damn if Rabbit! doesn’t pull it off. Part of Connect the Dots‘ appeal is its brevity – even at 17 tracks, the whole thing tops out at just under 48 minutes, and one of the songs isn’t even two minutes long, which makes it hard for anything to outstay its welcome. If you’ve ever been head over heels in love, woken up on the right side of the bed, or smiled on a sunny day, Connect the Dots might be the album for you. In fact, you may have a hard time prying it from your CD player. (Rock Salt Songwriters 2010)

Rabbit! MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Jenny and Johnny: I’m Having Fun Now

September 1, 2010 /


RIYL: Rilo Kiley, Sleigh Bells, Buckingham/Nicks

41lA4aYzsHL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1] Part blog rock summit, part Laurel Canyon throwback, I’m Having Fun Now offers further proof that 2010 is the year of the guy/girl duo. We’ve already had the second She & Him record, Bird and the Bee released their album of Hall & Oates covers, and Sleigh Bells set the Web on fire over the summer – heck, even Nu Shooz has a new album out. Now comes the debut offering from Jenny and Johnny, better known as Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis and her beau, Scottish singer/songwriter Johnathan Rice.

It reads like a Pitchfork editor’s wet dream, but I’m Having Fun Now is more like a Buckingham/Nicks for the Aughts, with a dash of paisley-patterned ’80s jangle thrown in for good measure. This isn’t exactly surprising, given Lewis’ penchant for paying homage to her L.A. musical roots with Rilo Kiley, but these songs serve as a pleasant reminder that Lewis understands the music on a level that few of today’s ’70s California Gold fetishists ever approach – as well as harmony-drenched proof that, whatever the future might hold for their day gigs, Lewis and Rice were meant to sing together.

There aren’t any bad songs here, and neither are there any brain-drilling, grab-you-by-the-collar pop masterpieces – which is as it should be. At its core, I’m Having Fun Now feels like an album rooted in the late mornings and lazy afternoons of domestic bliss, and who wants to bother swinging for the songwriting fences when your loved one is near at hand? “I don’t believe in sucking your way to the top,” declares Lewis in the tres Fleetwood Mac-ish “My Pet Snakes,” and that’s just as well – with records this effortlessly alluring, the top will come to her. (Warner Bros. 2010)

Jenny and Johnny MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop

Disturbed: Asylum

September 1, 2010 /


RIYL: Godsmack, Staind, Nonpoint

Of all the nu-metallers of a decade ago, Disturbed would have been towards the bottom of most lists of those who would survive the short era. 2000’s The Sickness was perfect for that time: heavy and loaded down with chugging guitars and vocalist David Draiman’s choppy, pseudo-rap styling. Over the years the band has become a rock behemoth, consistently delivering the kind of radio-friendly heaviness that doesn’t send mom to the guidance counselor looking for answers. While hardly the musical takeoff that 2008’s Indestructible was, Asylum delivers some of the band’s best songs yet and confirms that these guys are still angry and motivated.

Disturbed_09

Asylum shows the band settling into the groove established by Indestructible. Disturbed took its biggest leap forward from a technical and production standpoint with that record, and Asylum proves to be a compulsively listenable experience. Guitarist Dan Donegan has transformed before our eyes from a down-tuned shredder to the driving force of the band. He’s simply a one-man wrecking crew. The title track is Donegan Exhibit A, offering a haunting, wah-driven lead with a fist-pumping chorus. He, along with bassist John Moyer and drummer Mike Wengren, may be one of the tightest rhythm sections in the genre today. Lyrically, it’s nothing groundbreaking. Draiman continues his ongoing assault on backstabbing politicians, bad relationships, ecological destruction (“Another Way to Die”) and Holocaust deniers (“Never Again”).

Metal fans are always looking for a band’s progression. While Disturbed have progressed plenty over the past decade, Asylum is not much more than a companion piece to Indestructible – and that’s not a bad thing. Like its predecessor, it’s a solid record, top to bottom. If you liked Disturbed before, you’re not about to stop with this release. The Limited Edition release features live versions of “Down With the Sickness” and “Stricken,” “Decade of Disturbed” documentary, and nine instructional videos for learning Disturbed songs. (Reprise 2010)

Disturbed MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Metal, Rock

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