ADDPOOL CDS 10/24
DATE: 10/24/05ARTIST: The Clientele
TITLE: Strange Geometry (Merge)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: The template stays roughly the same – to wit: hazy guitars, a melody anchored by a sturdy bass line, and Alasdair MacLean’s careful vocals. They even, from time to time, bolster their work’s general impression of ethereality by adding field recordings of a religious variety.MacLean’s lyrics serve to refresh the template. He’s like most pop songwriters in that he’s preoccupied with being lonely and miserable, but his strength is that he explores those emotions in miniature. A typical MacLean song isn’t specifically a my-woman-done-me-wrong number, and he might instead write about an awkward post-breakup period where one party has moved on and the other hasn’t. Strange Geometry is The Clientele’s first album with an outside producer, Brian O’Shaughnessy, in a fully equipped studio, and the added technical skill shows. If The Violet Hour and their 2001 collection of singles, Suburban Light, had a failing, it was that in attempting to mimic the hazy sound of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and other ’60s icons, their arrangements sounded nonexistent. The guitar lines floated well above the rest of the mix, and MacLean’s voice was reduced to a dull echo. On Strange Geometry, however, MacLean’s alto is fully audible, the French chamber pop artist Louis Philippe contributes some tasteful string arrangements, and the band even jams on a few songs, albeit very cautiously.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10
REVIEWER: excerpts from Tom Zimpleman's review at dustedmagazine.com
DATE: 10/24/05
ARTIST: Fiona Apple
TITLE: Extraordinary Machine (Epic)
GENRE: SINGER/SONGWRITER
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: The album launches with "Extraordinary Machine," one of the two Jon Brion-produced tracks that remain on the album following Apple's decision to discard much of their work together, and offers a sort of "I Will Survive" for the chamber-pop circuit; string arrangements pirouette around Apple's deft lyricism, offering an uplifting backdrop for her triumphant assertion "I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine." The tune achieves its no doubt desired effect - to bridge the interminable gap between the album's sullen, spectacular predecessor When the Pawn and her newfound optimism - and sets a tone that the album, thankfully enough, sustains for almost all of its fifty minute running time. The remainder of the tracks feature production by Mike Elizondo, a prodigy of Dr. Dre, whose unlikely collaboration proves unexpectedly fruitful: rather than sharply contrasting with Apple's idiosyncratic lyricism, it opens the tracks to more fluid interpretations by the listener. With its percussive gurgles, tack piano flourishes and hand-clap drumbeat, "Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)" sounds like a future Dre banger in development, but beneath Apple's transcendent confession "I just really used to love him" the song achieves that rarest of combinations - poignancy with pop savvy; "Parting Gift," meanwhile, is a solo piano number that at first seems cloying in its melodramatic simplicity, but appreciates in emotional value with subsequent listenings. The remainder of the songs dance delicately between hope and despair, obscurity and candor, and most effectively, commerce and creativity; "Window," "Oh Well" and "Red Red Red" are all old-school Apple classics-in-the making, while "Get Him Back" and "Waltz (Better Than Fine)" presage a new development in the Fiona canon - that is, a glimmer of sincere, unfettered hope - that suggests a future full of happiness not just for her fans, but for the artist as well. Extraordinary Machine isn't merely a new declaration of independence for Fiona Apple; she's already free. Rather, it's her call to arms, her manifest destiny, and her battle cry all at once.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12
REVIEWER: excepted from Todd Gilchrist's review at ign.com
DATE: 10/24/05
ARTIST:Chocolate Genius
TITLE: Black Yankee Rock (Commotion)
GENRE: SOUL/FUNK/ALT-ROCK
GRADE: A
REVIEW:Chocolate Genius is Marc Anthony Thompson, a vocalist and visionary who released two records under his own name in the eighties before delving into the downtown music scene and developing an expansive take on neo-soul. His latest release is an ambitious collection of down-tempo numbers (with an occasional guitar-driven song) that includes contributions from Meshell Ndegéocello, Marc Ribot, Toshi Reagon, and others. The album is one of those deep ones that takes a few listens to totally sink in, with new details and treats revealed with each listen.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10
REVIEWER: Jim Manion WFHB
DATE: 10/24/05
ARTIST: Tom Verlaine
TITLE: Warm and Cool (Thrill Jockey)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: Every week as I open the mail a few CDs jump out the package like the Xmas present you really wanted but couldn't imagine really getting. This is one: an all-instrumental album from Tom Verlaine, founder and genius guitarist with the legendary NYC band Television. The music on Warm and Cool harkens back to 50s & 60s guitar instrumentals (with very little 'surf' influence), as well as noirish film soundttracks. It sounds black and white – as in film, not race.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS:1,2,3,4,5...what the hell, they are all good 1-14
15-22 tend to be rougher sketches that don't work so well on radio
REVIEWER: Jim Manion WFHB
DATE: 10/24/05
ARTIST: My Morning Jacket
TITLE: Z (ATO)
GENRE: ROCK/MAINSTREAM
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Jim James knows what he's doing. As the driving force behind My Morning Jacket, James has been crafting expansive pop songs since the band's 1999 debut, The Tennessee Fire. While similar songsmiths change their sound with each new release (see: Spoon's Britt Daniels), James has refined his sensibilities with every album. The result is Z -- the first My Morning Jacket whose songs reach the heights to which James's voice aspires. Following a few post-It Still Moves lineup changes -- most notably the replacement of James's cousin Johnny Quaid with Carl Broemel on guitar -- My Morning Jacket rocks and grooves with renewed passion. From the rocksteady "Off The Record" and the quirky pop track "Into The Woods" to the classic guitar freakout that closes "Lay Low", the band not only complements James's voice but extends it, offering a broader context for his often ethereal vocal adventures. Similarly, "It Beats For You"'s laid-back arrangement and closer "Dondante"'s sparse instrumentation are testaments to the band's restraint and ultimate respect for James's singing. In a pop landscape littered with singers who can't muster decent original material and songwriters unable to fully flesh out their ideas, Z is a breath of fresh air.My Morning Jacket aren't the most experimental or accomplished group around, but they've carved out a niche among listeners who appreciate an ambitious pop record with a healthy respect for classic rock.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10
REVIEWER: excerpted from splendidzine.com
DATE: 10/24/05
ARTIST: Dirty Three
TITLE: Cinder (Touch and Go)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A+
REVIEW:Cinder, their latest for Touch & Go, contains hypnotic mini-suites that sway in delicate rapture. Despite their avant-inclinations, Dirty Three are not a group hell-bent on re-invention. The band seems content to craft emotionally suggestive instrumentals that allow violinist Warren Ellis plenty of room to maneuver. He uses this space to draw brooding, sinuous lines across the compositions like red ink on brown parchment. Massive, room mic’ed drums are joined by guitars, bouzouki, mandolin and sundry instrumentation, forming a discreet lullaby coalition. The majority of Cinder feels like a wistful daydream or a half-formed memory; a pleasant, if not entirely distinguishable experience. The album’s 19 tracks seem magically threaded together, with occasional sonic exclamation points such as the distorto-strut of “Doris” and Chan Marshall’s stunning vocal on “Great Waves.” The latter sounds so spiritually pure it begs for a full-length collaboration between the artists. “It Happens,” has, believe it or not, the feel of a Stones ballad, replete with a melody lifted from some parched portion of Beggar’s Banquet. The Celtic-influenced intro on “Too Soon, too Late,” subsequently gives way to a noir-esque waltz that could be the soundtrack to a spaghetti western filmed in coastal Ireland. The oddball gem “Rain On” ambles along in a slow motion stupor. “Ember” is similarly tempered, with light brush work and a turbulent, if workmanly chord progression. Largely, it’s difficult to separate one track from another, but this is probably the intent. With a solid emotional through-line and a few sonic surprises, Cinder is a musical novella, whose narrative compels you to its last luxurious line.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17
REVIEWER: excerpted from casey rea's review at dustedmagazine.com
DATE: 10/24/05
ARTIST: Paula Frazier
TITLE: Leave the Sad Things Behind (Birdman)
GENRE: COUNTRY/ALT
GRADE: A-
REVIEW:Paula Frazier's first record was sparse and extremely special. Now, with one quality-riddled album under her belt, Frazier is branching out slightly, but at the core of each song is her ability to conjure up images of singers like Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris and Connie Francis with an ease and grace that comes so naturally to so few.
"Always On My Mind" (no, not the cover of the Willie Nelson tune) is a mid-tempo track that sounds like Neko Case if she was the understudy for Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies. The soft, subtle pedal steel of Tom Heyman gives way to a nice arrangement that isn't quite world weary and jaded. Frazier's haunting voice kicks off the Mexican feeling of "Watercolor Lines", with its quasi-flamenco guitar touches that bring to mind the theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It's earthy and quite ethereal at the same time, making for an eclectic yet inviting ditty. "It's Not Ordinary" seems to have the best of both worlds: the roots country flavor blended with a pinch of radio-friendly pop complete with nice harmonies. If there's one fault however, it might be how Frazier goes to the well one too many times with the chorus. On "Long Ago", you get the impression she has set her mind on creating music that is perhaps a generation old. The strings and piano used on this number resembles something that might have been on an early James Bond soundtrack. The album's highlight is the folksy amble that is "Leave the Sad Things Behind" that works on all fronts, as the vocals and music complement each other on a song that someone like Rosanne Cash or Emmylou Harris might consider covering. Frazier might not dazzle as many with this album as she did her first, but there are several quality tracks, especially the bouncy retro feeling all over "Funny Things" with its cheesy organ and sing-along harmonies. Concluding with the dusty, precious "Where Did Time Go", Frazier has made a strong album that could be a hint at a slightly different direction.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10
REVIEWER: Jason MacNeil popmatters.com
OTHER ADDS THIS WEEK:
Tab Benoit Voice of the Wetlands Rykodisc
Ryan Adams Jacksonville City Nights Lost Highway
Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate
In The Heart Of The Moon World Circuit
posted by WFHB Music @ 5:53:00 PM
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