catch up: last week's adds!
DATE: 4.11.06ARTIST: Built to Spill
TITLE: You in Reverse (Warner Bros.)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A-
REVIEW: You in Reverse finds idaho's Built to Spill in a familiar groove: Recorded after the band spent months woodshedding in leader/guitar guy Doug Martsch's garage, the album is a dog-eared collection of front-porch melodies and buzzy guitar jams, with Neil Young and Frank Black as spiritual godfathers. Seven of the ten songs on You in Reverse crack the five-minute mark, which is a boon for Built to Spill's action-packed jams and expansive tune sense. The opening "Goin' Against Your Mind" is an eight-minute barnburner full of slashing riffs and jittery drums; the brighter "Conventional Wisdom" starts with a sparkling arpeggiated riff, passes through Martsch's breezy melody and spins off into some shimmery soloing. The Tex-Mex coda on "Mess With Time" packs more full-bodied crunch than the average Bonnaroo set. On the gorgeous closer, "The Wait," Martsch murmurs about the changing seasons in a sleepy drawl.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,6,8,9
REVIEWER: www.rollingstone.com
DATE: 4.11.06
ARTIST: Calexico
TITLE: Garden Ruin (Quarterstick)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A
REVIEW: For the better part of ten years, Calexico has sounded like no other experimental rock outfit. Where else can you hear mariachi singers, marimbas and happy trumpets with shades of highway Americana? Now with the release of their fifth album, Garden Ruin, they switch it up again. Band leaders John Convertinon and Joey Burns have always played on their interest in southwest culture in their prior releases, but with Garden Ruin, Calexico steers towards the dark indie rock of artists like Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy) Vic Chesnutt and Sam Beam. “Bisbee Blue” sounds like an In The Reins outtake, with it’s dead on Americana melody, and lyricist Burns addresses a more urgent and concentrated message in the lo-fi simple rocker “Letter to Bowie Knife.” Fans of the tequila friendly sound shouldn’t panic all together, as “Roka (Danza de la muerte) featuring Ampara Sanchez on vocals, gives the album a sexy flair and “Nom de Plume” is equally compelling with its spoken Spanish poetry. Garden Ruin works for its diversity, but is the best Calexico has ever heard? Probably not, although Garden Ruin is certainly a damn good growth pattern.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2,3,5,6,8,10
REVIEWER: www.glidemagazine.com
DATE: 4.11.06
ARTIST: Marty Stuart
TITLE: Live at the Ryman (Superlatone)
GENRE: BLUEGRASS
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: After the country gospel of Soul's Chapel and the Native influenced rock of Badlands, Marty and the boys settle in on the Ryman stage with a set that would/will go over like gangbusters at Bean Blossom. Yep, bluegrass rules this disc through and through. Can't wait until this band hits the Bean Blossom stage in June!
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2,3,4,5,9,10,12,15
(fade up and down due to audience applause)
REVIEWER: Jim Manion
DATE: 4.11.06
ARTIST: Chris Whitley
TITLE: Reiter In (Red Parlor)
GENRE: ROCK/MAINSTREAM
GRADE: A-
REVIEW: Chris died of cancer last year and this is his post-death release. A mixed bag of stuff, all carry his trademark grit and tense poise. Pretty raw, with some unusual picks for covers by The Passions, Flaming Lips, Gary Numan, Iggy Pop and The Shramms.
Overall very engaging. And sad when you think about his passing....
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: rock: 4,6,7,11 (instrumental) mellow: 3 blues: 2
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
DATE: 4.11.06
ARTIST: The Flaming Lips
TITLE: At War with the Mystics (Warner Bros.)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A
REVIEW: At 45, Lips frontman Wayne Coyne has seen as much ugliness as anybody of his generation. So you’d expect that, at this moment in history, he’d have plenty of fuel. He does, and while At War With the Mystics is billed as a political record, it’s more concerned with what happens in the head than in the streets. The money shot is the ecstatically strange "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" -- a handclapping, munchkin-chanting, Peter Frampton talk-box-rocking Roman candle that wonders how absolutely corrupt anyone with absolute power would be, even you. At War is gnarlier and a bit less tuneful than the group’s previous two CDs. But the arrangements, and Dave Fridmann’s signature blend of clarity and overmodulation, remain intricately weird, from the fluty instrumental prog rock of "The Wizard Turns On…" to the Marvin Gaye–meets–Eddie Rabbitt soul of "Mr. Ambulance Driver." The latter, a ballad about waiting for help after an accident, has a touching video, in which a shirtless kid pop-locks happily while displaying his crippled left hand, which was mutilated in a car crash. It sort of sums up what the Lips have grown into: a power-of-positive-thinking cult for post-punk realists. Tony Robbins, watch your back.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,4,6,8 (BEWARE OF TRACK 10 FCC F-WORD!)
REVIEWER: spin.com
DATE: 4.11.06
ARTIST: Herb Alpert
TITLE: Re-Whipped (Shout Factory)
GENRE: Electronic
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Not as cheesy as you might expect from looking at the cover, the remixers on board take Alpert's classic Mex-jazz recordings from '63 and cut, paste, process and revise them into modernity for the new century. Deep in the tracks the fun and quality vibe of the original sounds hang in there. Fun!
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,2,5,7,9
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
DATE: 4.11.06
ARTIST: Catherine Russel
TITLE: Cat (World Village)
GENRE: JAZZ
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: If you have the time check out the short liner notes on
Catherine's background. I had a chance to see her sing backup with Toshi Reagon in 1999 and she nearly stole the show from Toshi. An unusual jazz release this is because it also contains a hefty dose of country/roots, which she manages to effortlessly blend with her swinging singing. Stylistic shifts from song to song work well, too, creating a fine album of timeless American music. She even covers The Dead's “Nwe Speedway Boogie”.
+RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,3,6,8,9,12,15
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
DATE: 4.11.06
ARTIST: Cassandra Wilson
TITLE: Thunderbird (Blue Note)
GENRE: Jazz
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: A T-Bone Burnett-produced project with a classy cast of players contributing to an adventurous take on blues/jazz/American roots. Sultry-voiced as ever, stirring deeply with soul, Wilson makes these songs her own.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,3,5,8,9
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
DATE: 4.11.06
ARTIST: I See Hawks In L.A.
TITLE: California Country (Western Seeds)
GENRE: Country/Alt
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Country-rock with the emphasis on the rock. ISHILA sound more like an early 70s country-rock outfit than the faux-twang alt-country bands of today. Great songs, great playing. A recording that hangs in with quality throughout.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1,2,4,5,6,7,11
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
Wilderness Vessel States Jagjaguwar
posted by WFHB Music @ 4:18:00 PM
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