WFHB Adds for week of 9/12
DATE: 9.12.05ARTIST:The Rosebuds
TITLE: Birds Make Good Neighbors (Merge)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A
REVIEW:Cute-couple alerts were raised to a reddish-orange level (which means you should buy duct tape and some early Superchunk seven-inches) when husband-and-wife team Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp issued their 2003 debut, The Rosebuds Make Out. That album is a straightforward sugar rush of ’60s-bubblegum sounds, “ba-ba-ba”s and “whoa-whoa”s. While it’s a high compliment to note the Raleigh, N.C., duo is as hook-thirsty as the New Pornographers and as carefree as the Apples In Stereo, listeners can’t live on up-tempo pop candy alone. In that respect, the altogether more relaxed and wistful Birds Make Good Neighbors is a wise follow-up with incremental improvements to the band’s blueprint. Howard, the group’s main songwriter and singer/guitarist, sounds more confident in his vocals (resulting in ballads “Wildcat” and “Blue Bird”), and drummer Lee Waters was brought in to add smarter, sharper percussion (the handclap rhythms on “Shake Our Tree,” for example, or playing gently around the snares on the slower numbers). Keyboardist Crisp—formerly relegated to background singing—trades lead vocals with Howard on “Leaves Do Fall,” a Sadies-like Western/surf-rock saga. But even in its most somber moments, Birds is all catchy, all the time. You can think of the album as warmer, more mature or slower; just don’t call it a comedown.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 3,4,6,8,10
REVIEWER: magnetmagazine.com
DATE: 9.12.05
ARTIST:Kate Campbell
TITLE: Blues and Lamentations (Large River)
GENRE: A-
GRADE: COUNTRY/ALT
REVIEW: Blues and Lamentations is the latest release from Mississippi-born and former Alabama resident Kate Campbell, a prolific singer/songwriter who now works in Nashville. She is a sensitive observer of the ordinary and extraordinary people among us and the common condition of humankind. The album is tied together by the "understory," as Campbell calls it, of the blues.
Kate Campbell is a wonder. In her soft, Southern-accented voice she conveys the range of human emotions. Her lyrics examine the human condition with sympathy, humor, and hope. Blues and Lamentations explores the blues, that aching yet redemptive music so appropriate to her talents. There's not a bad cut on the album; there's not even a so-so cut on the album. From telling true stories to portraits of emotion, both sad and hopeful, Campbell delivers the goods.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:1,2,4,6,7,10,13
REVIEW excerpts from: route66.com
DATE: 9.12.05
ARTIST:Tim O'Brien
TITLE: Fiddlers Green (Sugar Hill)
GENRE: OLD-TIME FOLK/BLUEGRASS
GRADE: A
REVIEW:Fiddler's Green: The happy land/heaven imagined by sailors where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing and dancers that never tire. Helping realize the dream are Chris Thile, Kenny Vaughan, Dennis Crouch, Edgar Meyer, Dirk Powell, Casey Driessen, Stuart Duncan, Dan Tyminski, Jerry Douglas, Mollie O'Brien, Darrell Scott and Del McCoury. "This is intimate music, good for a quiet morning or evening at home. A few solos, a duet, and some spare acoustic ensembles. There's a good dose of fiddling, and about half of the songs are traditional. Traditional music sometimes seems mysterious, but it's always familiar. It's comfortable like an old pair of shoes, and its timeless melodies and themes are the building blocks of the newer songs here... As Louis Armstrong once said, 'All music is folk music. I ain't never heard a horse sing a song.'"
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:1,3,4,6,7,10,12
REVIEWER:milesofmusic.com
DATE: 9.12.05
ARTIST:Arizona Amp and Alternator
TITLE: Arizona Amp and Alternator (Thrill Jockey)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A
REVIEW: I am not sure why this is not called a Giant Sand release, but Howe Gelb does as he pleases. It has the tumbleweed feel of Giant Sand at it's best, rough around the edges but always grounded. Great guests here and there, too, including the vocal contributions of Scout Niblett.
M Ward and members of Acrcade Fire and Grandaddy also help the music get along. Don't miss the crazy cool covers of Traffic's “Low Spark of High-Heeled” and Frank Loesser's “Baby It's Cold Outside”, along with the usual dry and dusty Gelb muse.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:2,5,7,9,10,14,15
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
DATE: 9.12.05
ARTIST:Sinead O'Connor
TITLE: Throw Down Your Arms (Chocolate and Vanilla)
GENRE: REGGAE
GRADE: A-
REVIEW: Without Sly and Robbie backing Sinead up, this may have been a slight dud of a reggae tribute from Sinead, who can't seem to make up her mind on music or religion. Maybe she's just a genre and spirit hopper, but she comes off here as quite grounded and way into the rasta vibe. Reggae classics all lined up for her to sing, rather well in places. Depending on how you feel about Sinead and reggae music, this will either get under your skin after awhile or you will lose interest quickly.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:2,5,6,10,12
REVIEWER:Jim Manion/WFHB
FCC: 9
DATE: 9.12.05
ARTIST:Charlie Sexton
TITLE: Cruel and Gentle Things (Back Porch/EMI)
GENRE: ROCK/MAINSTREAM
GRADE: A
REVIEW:I was lucky enough to catch “Little Charlie” play at Austin's Continental Club back in 1980 when he was 13. He's come along way since, including a strange flirtation with icky L.A. new wave in the mid-80s. Endless touring with Bob Dylan got him back on track, though. After years on the bus with Bob and after lending his hand in producing many great records including Lucinda Williams' “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”, Charlie Sexton takes a giant step into his own personal music. While he could have easily made a showoff guitar-slinger record, instead he has crafted a melancholic and introspective slice of roots fusion. It might take a few listens to sink in, but his musical instincts are sharp and on target. Dylan's songwriting is an obvious influence but this is not Bob-redux.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:1,2,4,6,8
REVIEWER:Jim Manion/WFHB
Windsor for the Derby
Up the Ghost (Secretly Canadian)
Tim Ries
The Rolling Stone Project (Concord)
Frigg
Oasis (NorthSide)
Balkan Beat Box
Balkan Beat Box (Jdub)
posted by WFHB Music @ 3:52:00 PM
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