REVIEWS: WFHB ADDS JULY 31
DATE: 7.31.06ARTIST:Ollabelle
TITLE: Riverside Battle Songs (Verve Forecast)
GENRE: Americana
GRADE: B+
REVIEW: Ollabelle: Fiona McBain (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Byron Isaacs (vocals, dobro, bass guitar); Amy Helm (vocals, mandola); Glenn Patscha (vocals, accordion, keyboards); Tony Leone (vocals, drums, percussion); Larry Campbell (guitar, acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, cittern, fiddle). The follow-up to Ollabelle's 2004 debut steps up the New York City-based sextet's distinctive brand of Americana. With a respectable musical pedigree (all members are accomplished musicians and singer Amy Helm is the daughter of the Band's Levon Helm), Ollabelle mixes folk, country, bluegrass, blues, and gospel to fresh, appealing effect.
As well-executed as its predecessor, RIVERSIDE BATTLE SONGS is, if anything, more assured. The band mixes traditional songs with original compositions, and it is especially notable how the two blend seamlessly. Lush male-female harmonies are the focus of RIVERSIDE, but all the instrumentation and arrangements are chosen with care, resulting in an album that feels deliberately old-world yet decidedly contemporary.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 12
REVIEWER: amazon.com
DATE: 7.31.06
ARTIST: Idgy Vaughn
TITLE: Origin Story (idgyvaughn.com)
GENRE: COUNTRY
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Debut albums this good are few and far between, and in Idgy Vaughn we may well have one of the household names of the future. She has a clear unadorned voice, with just a hint of a tremor in it, and sounds rather like a poppier Iris Dement. It’s a classic sound and producer and drummer Paul Pearcy has deployed an equally classic Austin country sound behind it. High, light and semi-acoustic with grace notes from steel and slide, it swings like a demon when it has to (“Mister Wrong”) and backs off and fills in the gaps with delicacy and grace when it doesn’t, as with the desperate “Good Enough”. A tale of a daughter losing a mother’s love and recognising that she will never regain it, “Good Enough” is almost too much to listen to, but the power and strength in the narrator pull the listener through. It’s followed by “Pearl of Georgia”, a near-hymn to Vaughn’s daughter that avoids all the dreadful clichés that abound in such songs, and is redemptive and uplifting. These two songs are the album standouts, but “Origin Story” is one of those rare beasts that doesn’t have a weak track. Although Vaughn owns that the album is unashamedly autobiographical pretty much throughout (bar murder ballad “Dragging The River”), often extremely overtly as with “Midwestern Biography”, there’s no sense of that dreadful “look at me me me!” that you get from lesser performers. Instead, as the story of her life unfolds the listener warms to her and her life, her struggle to succeed (and sometimes just to survive), and is captured by her charm and honesty.“Origin Story” is an album that could, and should, sell in truckloads. It has a radio-friendly sound, great songs and great music and is a joy throughout.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10
REVIEWER: americanaUK
DATE: 7.31.06
ARTIST: Leonard Cohen
TITLE: I'm Your Man (Verve Forecast)
GENRE: FOLK/SS
GRADE: A-
REVIEW: Remove this CD from its case and you'll see behind it the grizzled, world-weary face of a tortured artist and poet.
And standing next to Bono, you'll see Leonard Cohen, a man who has for over 40 years been this continent's Yves Montand. You'll hear four other Montreal-bred voices (all members of the McGarrigle clan) on this live recording. Yet, the two settings for Hal Willner's tribute to the poet and artist are in England and Australia, lands whose devotion to our own soft-spoken poet speak of his remarkable influence. Those influenced include Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker and The Handsome Family, all of whom turn in credible bass-heavy renditions of Cohen's material. Beth Orton, meanwhile, reveals that she turned into Marianne Faithfull so gradually we didn't even notice. But the album's highlight comes from the precious Antony (he of the Johnsons), whose lilting alto instantly transforms Cohen's moody If it be Your Will into an other-worldly delight.U2, meanwhile, takes the opposite approach, encouraging Lenny to actually sing in a lower register for a brooding rendition of Tower of Song.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11
REVIEWER: jam.canoe.ca
DATE: 7.31.06
ARTIST: Jim Noir
TITLE: Tower of Love (Barsuk)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A-
REVIEW: If you watched any of the World Cup this summer, you probably heard Jim Noir’s “Eanie Meany” about a hundred times in the Adidas ads that were run into the ground throughout the competition. “If you don’t give my football back, I’m gonna get my dad on you,” Noir tells his bully over a shimmering beat. It’s a catchy little son of a bitch, that song, as are all the songs on Noir’s compilation/debut, a merging of a few EPs and few new tracks. Though any record that mimics ’60s pop is going to have a lot in common with the Beatles and the Beach Boys, it’s the Zombies that Noir is really channeling here as he fills his quirky little numbers with unusual arrangements and beautiful harmonies. Most of the songs are about minor things, so “Computer Song” is actually about computers and “The Key of C” sings the praises of that famous note. But Noir keeps it simple only in appearance. His uncluttered productions and shimmering presentations are only the surface of his music, which builds in complexity with each listen. “How to Be So Real” sways in the summer breeze, and before you know it, the background harmonies carry more weight than the lyrics. Noir is still young, so his pop has yet to seriously take in the melancholy nature of the greatest music of the genre, but there is darkness here, even if it is somewhat playful (see closer “The Only Way”). And that may be the best thing to respond to in his music. Though he would have undoubtedly benefited from collaboration (people like this very rarely join bands anymore), what was lost is nearly made up in solitary quirkiness. It’s a distinct type of pop that could become truly memorable when he actually sits down to compose a full album.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13
REVIEWER: prefixmag.com
DATE: 7.31.06
ARTIST: Ray Wylie Hubbard
TITLE: Snake Farm (Sustain)
GENRE: COUNTRY/ALT
GRADE: A
REVIEW: If Lightnin' Hopkins met ZZ Top at Gurf Morlix's house and cut a record, it would sound like Ray Wylie Hubbard's Snake Farm. Since 2001's Eternal and Lowdown, Hubbard has worked with Morlix as his producer, and together they've made some of the finest music of RWH's career, imbuing his words with a blues vibe that brims with grit and spirit. This time they've gone extra-heavy on the rattlesnake shake, creating a document that revels in the shivering dark. Few songwriters anywhere could include an ode to a dancing reptile house worker, a reference to Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, and tunes influenced by Dante's Inferno and the mythology of Joseph Campbell on one album without reaching for pretentiousness. Yet Hubbard's Western wordplay is, as always, unmatched, even if he seems a little quicker with a witty throwaway or two this time around. After evoking the devil in its various forms throughout Snake Farm, Hubbard's "Resurrection" at the close is all the more redeeming. Snake Farm, like so much of Hubbard's masterful oeuvre, might be best appreciated by those with a permanent Lone Star state of mind – especially those not apprehensive of things that slither in the basement – but for those who have positively reveled in Ray Wylie Hubbard's recent string of recorded triumphs, this is another step closer to the truth.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11
REVIEWER: austinchronicle.com
DATE: 7.31.06
ARTIST: Golden Smog
TITLE: Another Fine Day (Lost Highway)
GENRE: COUNTRY/ALT (but not too country)
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Golden Smog is probably the closest thing alt-country has to a supergroup. Originally formed as a side project in 1992, the band — which now includes Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, the Jayhawks' Gary Louris and Marc Perlman, Run Westy Run's Kraig Johnson and Soul Asylum's Dan Murphy — has a songwriting track record as impressive (and often as inconsistent) as that of Ryan Adams. But the new Another Fine Day is Golden Smog's first truly transcendent album since its debut full-length, 1996's Down by the Old Mainstream. While Day is all over the map stylistically, each song flows seamlessly. Driven by a waltzing piano, "You Make It Easy" is a perfect pop gem, while the acoustic ballad "Long Time Ago" shows that despite Wilco's avant tendencies, Tweedy still knows how to write a simple folk song. However, Day's highlight is Tweedy and Louris' duet of Dave Davies' "Strangers," which lends new emotional impact to the Kinks co-founder's classic track.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, 15
REVIEWER: reverfronttimes.com
DATE: 7.31.06
ARTIST: M. Ward
TITLE: Post-War (Merge)
GENRE: ROCK/ALT
GRADE: A+
REVIEW:The hushed and weathered tones of M. Ward are easily one of the most intoxicating sounds on earth. Whether he's creating his own songs, writing and producing for others, or playing with his superbly ramshackle backing band, Matt breathes irresistible life into everything he does. His renowned guitar playing is immediately striking but it's also his songwriting for which he is universally loved and lauded. If it's possible to be both eloquent and vague in the same sentence then Matt Ward knows how. If it's possible to be both diffident and bold in delivery, then he knows that too. It's the kind of writing which begs repeated listens, all delivered in a voice oozing with warmth and gravelly charm. Post War is the fourth M. Ward album and his most absorbing to date. Its songs unravel their world wearied tales of life, love and human kindness with an innate and special grace, helped in part by the very talented friends who join him on this record, including Neko Case and Mike Mogis as well as old “Monsters Of Folk” touring buddy Jim James (of My Morning Jacket).
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2, 5, 6, 8, 10
REVIEWER: betterpropoganda.com
DATE: 7.31.06
ARTIST: Ali Farke Toure
TITLE: Savane (World Circuit)
GENRE: INTERNATIONAL/AFRICA
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: The great African bluesman was dying of cancer when he finished this album, which stands as the most fitting tribute imaginable to a remarkable musician. The first many westerners knew of the Malian singer and guitarist was when he collaborated with Ry Cooder in 1994 on the landmark album, Talking Timbuktu. Anyone who loves that work will recognise Ali's clear and ringing playing, in which seemingly simple patterns are spun out into a musical enchantment.The opening Ewly features rolling guitar and a plaintive single-string violin, suggesting a desert air. The following song, Yer Bouda Fara, sees Ali playing acoustic guitar and singing, in answer to a chorus of male singers, while Beto invites Pee Wee Ellis into the conversations for saxophone asides. Thirteen beguiling tracks in all, and not once does this farewell leave off its heightened musical state.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 , 12
(all are very good though)
REVIEWER: thisislocallondon
DATE: 7.31.06
ARTIST: Carrie Rodriguez
TITLE: Seven Angels on a Bicycle (Back Porch)
GENRE: country/alt
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Here’s a surprise. Austin’s CARRIE RODRIGUEZ, who never set out to be a singer, has crafted a charming, almost meditative solo debut. Rodriguez initially studied classical violin at Oberlin and Berklee and on occasion sat in with her songwriter dad (David Rodriguez). Then New Yorker Chip Taylor (best known for penning the impossibly disparate hits “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning”) invited Rodriguez to back him, soon coaxing her to sing and even collaborate. Their early work suffered from Taylor’s lackluster tunes, but their most recent album, 2005’s Red Dog Tracks, featuring string luminary Bill Frisell, was a quantum leap up. Frisell is back for SEVEN ANGELS ON A BICYCLE (Back Porch), but instead of the aw-shucks demeanor of her previous work with Taylor, Rodriguez opts for a more soulful approach. The songs, all originals, show unexpected depth and are smartly and simply told. Rodriguez puts on the up-tempos (“50’s French Movie,” “I Don’t Wanna Play House Anymore”) with sass and a smirk, while on the slower numbers (the title track, “Waterbound,” “Big Kiss”), she channels a Texas version of Sandy Denny that draws you in deep.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12
REVIEWER: texasmonthly.com
DATE: 7.31.06
ARTIST: Michael Brook
TITLE: Rock Paper Scissors (Canadian Rational)
GENRE: ROCK/MAINSTREAM
GRADE: A
REVIEW: It's been 14 years since Michael Brook did a proper solo album, Cobalt Blue, but that doesn't mean the guitarist has been absent from music. He's produced and performed on pop recordings by Julia Fordham and Jorane and made numerous albums for the Real World label, including signature releases by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Djivan Gasparyan, and Hukwe Zawose. He's also composed and performed on film scores and was part of Hans Zimmer's soundtrack posse, contributing notably to Black Hawk Down, among others. He throws all of that into his new album, RockPaperScissors, which could've been called RockPaperScissors and Whatever, as Brook slices up a career's worth of influences and drops them in one load--albeit an elegant one. Lebanese violinist Claude Chalhoub turns in a mournful duet with Brook on "Tangerine," singer Paul Buchanan shows up on the title track, and a Bulgarian choir turns up incongruously on a dreamy, '60s style guitar instrumental, "LightStar." There are King Crimson-like guitar grooves on "3 Doges," and on "Darker Room," a spoken-word sample of Richard Burton performing Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood," quoting the "Starless and bible-black" line that Crimson connoisseurs will note as the title to a one of their albums. Given Brooks's extensive work as a film composer and session artist, it makes sense that much of the disc has a cinematic quality, with many tracks featuring a full orchestra. Excepting Lisa Germano's haunting turn on "Want", the other two vocal tunes drag.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
REVIEWER: amazon.com
posted by WFHB Music @ 4:45:00 PM
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