ADDS 2/27
DATE: 2/27/06ARTIST: Jon Langford
TITLE: Gold Brick (ROIR)
GENRE: COUNTRY/ALT
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: The Mekons. The Waco Brothers. Pine Valley Cosmonauts. Three Johns. Ship & Pilot Band. The common denominator is, of course, Jon Langford, a one-man roots-music phenomenon who can be in three bands before breakfast and still have a few hours for painting before his radio show. Yet though he is a busy guy, his third solo album shows all the marks of careful consideration and time well spent. Gold Brick is relaxed and excellent, the kind of record that buries its skill deep within the fabric of the music, so that hardly any of the effort shows. This is a very consistent album, with every song bringing its own specific pleasures, but still, three stand out. "Workingman's Palace" draws you in immediately with its luminous guitar line, catches you with a chorus that sticks immediately and lodges permanently, and breaks your heart with its gently melancholy lyrics...UNFORTUNATELY THIS SONG IS FCC-UNFRIENDLY! "Gorilla and the Maiden" is an entirely different beast, reminding you perhaps of Strummer's "Coma Girl" with its choked guitar line. It's held back, restrained, about to explode, and it finally does, leading into the longed-for release and abandon. And finally, "Lost in America," the song that Langford wrote for NPR's This American Life and which, most likely, was the seed from which Gold Brick eventually grew, ends the album in triumphant style. Skill counts. Experience matters. It takes an old pro to make the hard things seem easy... and Langford does just this in Gold Brick.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,4,8,9,11,12
REVIEWER: excerpts from www.neumu.net
FCC: TRACK 2, “FUCKING”
DATE: 2/27/06
ARTIST: Jenny Lewis w/The Watson Twins
TITLE: Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love)
GENRE: rock/alt
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The story line on Rabbit Fur Coat is this: for her first venture outside of celebrated indie sensations Rilo Kiley, singer/songwriter Jenny Lewis has made a "white soul" album, along the lines of Dusty Springfield or Laura Nyro. Which is why, of course, she brought in Kentucky duo the Watson Twins to provide bluegrass harmonies for the entire record. Which is to say that Rabbit Fur Coat doesn't quite live up to its billing -- especially when compared to The Greatest, Cat Power's genuine white-soul album that hit the stores the week after Lewis' solo affair. What Rabbit Fur Coat brings to mind is not Laura Nyro but, perhaps inevitably, Neko Case and the stark, arty Americana intimacy of her breakthrough, Furnace Room Lullaby. Not that Lewis has Case's throaty voice or commanding presence -- she can growl and slide into notes, but at her core she has a small, fragile voice, one that lends this muted set of songs intimacy, even if it also brings them to the verge of cutsiness. And that's not a word that should be associated with Rabbit Fur Coat, an album that's designed to be a comforting late-night confessional, from rousing stompers like "The Big Guns" through the bluesy crawl of "Rise Up With Fists" to bittersweet ruminations like the seemingly autobiographical title track and the cheerful, gangs-all-here singalong to the Traveling Wilburys "Handle With Care." Musically, this hits the mark -- not only does it return Lewis to the country leanings of Rilo Kiley's first album, it feels suspended in time and space, the perfect soundtrack to 2 A.M.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2,3,47,8,10
REVIEWER: excerpts from www.allmusic.com
DATE: 2/27/06
ARTIST: Josh Rouse
TITLE: Subtitulo (Bedroom Classics)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Josh Rouse has been slowly creating his own sound over the course of many recordings. While all his discs have been catchy with a handful of songs that really jump out of the radio, his work has always been more than a little derivative of his melodic pop-rock influences like The Cure and Brian Wilson. Rouse's life was shaken up in the last few years with a divorce that compelled him to exit his home of Nashville. Settling in Spain, his new perspective seems to have given him the ability to generate songs that sound like Josh Rouse and no one else. With an easy melodic flow, these songs have a natural, effortless quality to them that is deceptive because I am sure it took some hard work to hit the great vibe heard on Subtitulo.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,2,5,7,8,9
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
DATE: 2/27/06
ARTIST: Rhythm & Groove Club
TITLE: Groove Approved (Asend)
GENRE: BLUES/SOUL
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Singer Jeff Cook's day job is doing radio promo for New West Records. He has always hinted at his musical past with Tommy Bolin and others, but I had no idea he was such a great “blue-eyed soul” singer. He really wails on these classic (mostly New Orleans) songs, and his musical comrades are strong – especially Allen Toussaint on piano, Tinsley Ellis on guitar and Nicolas Peyton on trumpet. Sure sounds like they had a blast in the studio...
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,3,4,5,8
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
also added at WFHB this week:
Simon Joyner Beautiful Losers Jagjaguwar
Centro-Matic Fort Recovery Misra
Various Blues Guitar Women Ruf
Sergio Mendes Timeless Concord
Various Artists Texas Unplugged Palo Duro
Imaginary Johnny Painting Over The Dirt Unfinished Side
posted by WFHB Music @ 1:52:00 PM
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