Add Pool CDs for this week
DATE: 8/18/05ARTIST:Bliss
TITLE: Quiet Letters (Quango)
GENRE: ELECTRONIC/DOWNTEMPO/CHILLOUT/WORLD FUSION
GRADE: A
REVIEW: If you liked the WorldBeat sounds of Massive Attack, this is going to be an album you are going to enjoy – a haunting chillout album by Scandinavian quartet, Bliss. The album has a lot of eastern flavors garnishing an ethereal electronica sound. Its the kind of music you love on a cold foggy summer afternoon in San Francisco. So many goodies - like the haunting, sensual and seductive vocals by guest vocalist, Sophie Barker. North African and flamenco influences do spice-up this album. But the song of the album is Duniya. Ambient Music Guide calls it “an exceptionally polished blend of pop phrasing, ethereal electronics, Eastern flavours and neo-classical strings was bound to get noticed thanks to its surface.”
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2,5,7,9,10
REVIEWER: Om Malik tablatronic.com
NOTE: Sophie Barker is the singer in Zero 7
DATE: 8/18/05
ARTIST:Alvin Youngblood Hart
TITLE: Motivational Speaker (Tone Cool)
GENRE: BLUES (and more)
GRADE: A+
REVIEW:While he’s a master of old-time country blues, Alvin Youngblood Hart is no hard-core purist—the versatile guitarist plays everything from hillbilly laments to ’70s soul to cerebral jams. On the irresistible Motivational Speaker, he embraces heavy rock, drenching the songs with big riffs and joyously flashy solos that never seem excessive. Hart uncorks a soaring instrumental reminiscent of Hendrix at his jazziest on “Shootout on I-55,” launches a blazing electric boogie on “Big Mama’s Door (Might Return),” and detours to Nashville for a twangy cover of country outlaw Johnny Paycheck’s “Meanest Jukebox in Town.” And the eerie “When Can I Change My Clothes” is a masterpiece, with Hart imitating a graveyard spirit, his gritty voice a mixture of anguish and determination.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2, 3, 5 (Doug Sahm cover), 8,
11 (Johnny Paycheck cover), 12, 13
REVIEWER: Jon Young motherjones.com
DATE:8/18/05
ARTIST:Jimmie Dale Gilmore
TITLE: Come On Back (Rounder)
GENRE: COUNTRY
GRADE: A
REVIEW:
Jimmie Dale Gilmore has crafted a gorgeous memorial for his father with "Come on Back." The album is an absolute gem that finds the Texan covering songs written by and/or made popular by such classic country titans as Johnny Cash, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow and Ray Price. Gilmore's flexible singing voice, which always seemed somewhat out of step with this generation of country and folk stars, is a natural fit for this old-timey material. These songs, all of which were passed on to Gilmore from his Fender-playing father, are obviously very important to the artist. He treats such numbers as "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" and "I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive" with much respect. But he doesn't treat them as museum pieces, thankfully. Instead, he inhabits them, has fun with them and, in the end, makes them feel like the songs he was born to sing. Given that this is an album filled with classics, it's really hard to gauge the best song on "Come on Back." My favorite changes every time I listen to the record. "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes," however, is hard to beat.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: all of them – 3,4,7,8,12 are standouts
REVIEWER: Jim Harrington livedaily.com
DATE: 8/18/05
ARTIST:The New Pornographers
TITLE: Twin Cinema (Merge)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A
REVIEW: If there’s any justice in the world Twin Cinema should be the album that breaks the Canadian rockers to a larger audience. It’s everything that’s given The New Pornographers a revered spot in the coolest record collections. Drenched in everything from ’60s classic pop to the ’80s American underground to modern indie pop, you won’t find a more well schooled pop act out there. Literary references intertwine with irresistible layered male/female harmonies, while the band mines a well of exuberant hooks with a nearly timeless elegance. Best of all, it’s actually immediate, accessible and, dare we say it, fun? Front man Carl Newman leads his troupe through a forest of power-pop references: You’ll hear vague allusions to everyone from The Raspberries and Big Star to The Knack and The Posies in the Pornographers, but Twin Cinema is all original. The title track crackles as distorted guitars work the power-bubblegum angle and the band’s secret weapon, its harmonies, makes sense of the crunchy chaos. In “The Bleeding Heart Show,” Newman shares lead vocals with his niece Kathryn Calder, for a stunning dose of vocal perfection, while the piano-led number “These Are the Fables” puts Neko Case in the spotlight for a tune that almost literally melts with soul. Songwriter Dan Bejar steps in with a bit of bombast in “Jackie, Dressed in Cobras” and “Broken Beads” that’s the perfect (and perfectly restrained) foil to Newman’s sugary essence.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: all tracks rock, Neko Case on 7
4, 5 & 10 are highlights in the above review FCC TRACK 3: "shitfaced"
REVIEWER: excerpts from Matt Schild aversion.com
DATE: 8/18/05
ARTIST:Hackensaw Boys
TITLE: Love What You Do (Nettwerk)
GENRE: COUNTRY/BLUEGRASS/ACOUSTIC
GRADE: A
REVIEW: This band from Charlottesville, VA serves up a timeless and fairly mellow mix of American roots music – mixing elements of country, bluegrass, old-time and folk. Sweet harmonies and a relaxed vibe make this an album that's fine for listening to straight though at home or as a mix element on the radio. They will be coming to town (Second Story) on September 20, 2005.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,2,4,6,8,10,12
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
DATE: 8/18/05
ARTIST:Shemekia Copeland
TITLE: The Soul Truth (Alligator)
GENRE: BLUES
GRADE: A+
REVIEW:Free of smothering veneers and stifling pop formulas, The Soul Truth probably won't be wafting across airwaves, and that's a shame, considering radio could use a blast of Copeland's vocal voltage. On her fourth album, the Harlem-born daughter of late blues guitarist Johnny Copeland delivers another gutsy collection of bluesy tunes, this time steeped in Memphis soul and Muscle Shoals. Produced by storied Stax guitarist Steve Cropper, the horn-punctuated album showcases Copeland's powerful chops and range, particularly in the rocking Givin' Up You, feisty
Breakin' Out, steamy ballad Strong Enough and gospelized Used, revealing a singer with fervor and funk, grit and grace, sass and sizzle.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,2,5,7,8,11
REVIEWER: Edna Gundersen USA Today
DATE: 8/18/05
ARTIST: Bob Mould
TITLE: Body of Song (Yep Roc)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A
REVIEW:With Body of Song, his first new release since 2002, Mould shows that he can’t totally give up that guitar-driven power-pop sound. There are some of his new style of electro-rock hybrid songs, as he featured on Modulate, but also some of the purely driving rock that will be a part of his new world tour with a full band. It’s those songs that the old fans will surely long for. Guests Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and David Barbe (Sugar) help with that full-band sound, and I’m instantly sold on Mould all over again. The album-opener “Circles” is classic Mould. The guitars are thick and crunchy, the vocals rich and sprinkled with reverb, the beats powerful. And “Paralyzed” is just classic: it’s catchy and jangly at all the right moments, and it’s no doubt rocking, even with the heavy synth lines during the instrumental parts. There are other rockers here that are strong deep-album tracks, such as “Underneath Days” and “Best Thing.” There’s even some mellower, more dramatic moments, like “High Fidelity,” which features bells and organ, of all things, and the acoustic-led “Gauze of Friendship” that harks back to Mould’s classic days.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 3, 4, 10, 8, 12
REVIEWER: excerpted from delusionsofadequecy.com
DATE: 8/18/05
ARTIST:The Greenhornes
TITLE: East Grand Blues (V2)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT/GARAGE
GRADE: A
REVIEW: The Greenhornes are from Cincinnati and they play a kind of garage-rock style that draws heavily from British Invasion bands, most obviously The Kinks and early Beatles. This EP is their major label debut after three full-lengths and a handful of singles. Slightly less rocked-out than their previous stuff, but still pretty raw.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:1,2,4,5
REVIEWER: Jason Nickey/WFHB
DATE: 8.18.05
ARTIST: Minotaur Shock
TITLE: Maritime (4AD)
GENRE: Electronic
GRADE: A
REVIEW:At first you think he might be folktronica, then he chucks some Prefab Sprout-era 80s pop at you. Then you think he might be a fan of IDM, and he throws a bunch of jagged Philip Glass-style clarinets your way. OK, you've still got a chance. Perhaps, when he starts to play guitar in the style of The Wedding Present's David Gedge... In fact, the delicate, filigree music that David Edwards makes as Minotaur Shock is as uncategorizable as it is surprising. Although partly inspired by pirate stories, Maritime conjures up an ocean of sound where the horizon is constantly shifting. A real treasure.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 3, 4, 5, 8, 9
REVIEWER: Susan Glazer bbc.co.uk Collective
DATE:8/18/05
ARTIST:John Wilkes Booze
TITLE:Telescopic Eyes... (Kill Rock Stars)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT/GARAGE
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Recorded from Election Day 2004 through year’s end by Mahan Kalpa (neé Paul Mahern, vocalist of the legendary Zero Boys) at his White Ark Studio in Bloomington, JWB divided the session between splintered rock and their love of classic song structure and improvisation, which has been the foundation of recent tours. Starting the sessions with part-hope, the group quickly grasped the sick future and focused on recent and past societal and cosmic ills. The album opens with an impromptu keening then segues into a side of JWB-sired R&B. The Booze’s warbling rock fusion has been heralded from hi-to-low-brow from The Wire to Maximum Rock N Roll and all points in between. The previous Five Pillars of Soul album was a explicitly honed concept album, where as Telescopic Eyes hovers on an transcendent plane lyrically and aurally. It is not a political charged slap at today’s administration, more so an overview of feverish attempts and decisions made by many, stretching back to the 1800s through today in the realms of freedom fighting, occult groupings, direct action, and seeing signs in the snakes. “Barker Ranch Blues” and “Always Is Always Forever” is a circular meditation on the possibilities of believing what no one else will. John Wilkes Booze is Seth Mahern (vocals), Eric Weddle (guitar, electronics, alto saxophone), Chris Barth (bass), John Dawson (lead guitar), Grant Pershing (percussion).
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2, 5, 7, 12 NO FCC PROBLEMS
REVIEWER: fanatic reviews
posted by WFHB Music @ 12:15:00 PM
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