Posts tagged with "DEC 2010"

KAT MASLICH-BODE

KAT MASLICH-BODE The Road Of 6 [Mishara Music] A decade ago, Kat Maslich-Bode (then just Maslich) was half of the buzzed-about Los Angeles-based acoustic duo eastmountainsouth with Peter Bradley Adams. They released an album and toured with folks like Lucinda Williams and Nelly Furtado before breaking up in 2004. The alluring EP The Road of 6 is the at-long-last solo debut for the now Nashville-based singer-songwriter. The opening track, “March,”... 

VIOLENS

VIOLENS Amoral [Friendly Fire/Static Recital] Producer and multi-instrumentalist Jorge Elbrecht digs everything from black metal and hardcore punk to ’90s dance music, but he has the ’80s on the brain with Amoral, the debut album from his Brooklyn trio Violens. Elbrecht’s is a different sort of nostalgia. Rather than referencing indie-rock faves like New Order or Gary Numan, he aims for the high-gloss Top 40 pop of the decade’s latter half;... 

THE STRING CHEESE INCIDENT

THE STRING CHEESE INCIDENT Rhythm of the Road, Vol. One: Incident in Atlanta [SCI Fidelity] This 2000 show in Atlanta has achieved legendary status among String Cheese Incident fans, capturing a moment at which the veteran jam band reached a new plateau as a performing unit. And what a treat it is for Cheeseheads: over three hours of the group’s trademark stew of bluegrass, funk and jazz with oodles of interplay among the members. The group quickly... 

THE VOLEBEATS

THE VOLEBEATS The Volebeats [Rainbow Quartz] The Volebeats have been putting records out sporadically and without much fanfare since 1989 without attracting a great deal of attention. The band has displayed an unwavering adherence to a ’60s British Invasion sound, particularly in its R&B permutations (the Stones’ Out of Our Heads would be an appropriate touchstone), strained through a country sensibility and throwing in various dollops of... 

SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS

SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS The Kudzu Ranch [Kudzu] Southern Culture on the Skids has been providing its own particular perspective on the lowbrow side of the South for more than two decades now, from dirt-track dates to banana pudding, all set to a raucous, party-ready amalgam of rockabilly, blues, surf music and whatever else crosses its members’ minds. The band’s 13th album is a brisk race through hick-rock character sketch (“My Neighbor... 

THE PIPETTES

THE PIPETTES Earth vs. the Pipettes [Polka Dot Sounds/Fortuna Pop] After delving into the sound of classic early-’60s girls groups on 2006’s We Are the Pipettes, the Brit indie act’s follow-up takes the next logical step by diving into disco. Maybe they should have stuck with the girl-group thing. Now a duo after near-constant lineup changes over the past four years, the Pipettes approach disco head-on with glossy songs packed full of candy-colored... 

ERIC JOHNSON

ERIC JOHNSON Up Close [Vortexan Music] While it’s been 20 years since Eric Johnson had his closest brush with fame with the landmark Ah Via Musicom, the joyful noise that is his signature remains completely intact. At times, his entire multi-decade discography feels like it could have been cut in one long session in any given year. For its part, Up Close lacks anything quite as breakneck as “Zap” or as hummable as “Cliffs of Dover,” but... 

EDIE BRICKELL

EDIE BRICKELL Edie Brickell [Redeye] Before adult-contemporary audiences could get the wah-wah guitar of her debut hit “What I Am” out of their heads, media-shy Edie Brickell had already grown disaffected with show business. Because her career since the ’80s has been modest by choice, it’s a feel-good shock to hear her sounding so comfortable on just her sixth album in 23 years. “Give It Another Day” starts out sounding like Laura Nyro... 

STEREOLAB

STEREOLAB Not Music [Drag City] Sadly, this new release does not signal an end to Stereolab’s recently begun hiatus. The 13 songs on Not Music were recorded in 2007 alongside the 17 that made it onto the following year’s Chemical Chords. This new batch shares much in common with the first, while building on ideas the London collective has been cooking up since the early ’90s. As always, Stereolab makes music for situationist cocktail parties—soirees... 

DEADMAU5

DEADMAU5 4×4=12 [Ultra] Canadian electro producer Deadmau5 (pronounced “deadmouse”) has appeared at the 2010 Winter Olympics, won a slew of electronic music awards and spun on national TV during the MTV Video Music Awards, but he demonstrates on his new album that building laptop beats and wearing a surreal costume on stage does not make one Daft Punk. His third album is a wide-ranging collection of dance tracks, with pumping rhythm on “Some... 

CHARLIE WILSON

CHARLIE WILSON Just Charlie [Jive] As long as there has been popular music, its focus has remained on love and all it entails—from yearning and desire to courtship, contentment and/or heartbreak. Former Gap Band singer Charlie Wilson doesn’t nudge those parameters on the aptly titled Just Charlie, but his smooth croon and penchant for bedroom ballads make them seem less constrictive. Capping a productive decade-long solo career, this offering... 

CRYSTAL BOWERSOX

CRYSTAL BOWERSOX Farmer’s Daughter [19 Recordings/Jive] American Idol contestants are often accused of oversinging, pseudo-dramatics and the like—and on her high-spirited debut, former Idol runner-up Crystal Bowersox sometimes stands guilty of these musical crimes. Still, she explores her own path often enough on Farmer’s Daughter to stake a claim to a promising recording career. After a feisty opener, the top-down roadhouse rocker “Ridin’... 

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN Relentless [Rising Force] If guitarists were paid by the note, Yngwie Malmsteen would be a gazillionaire. For 30 years the Swedish six-stringer has shredded with a scorched-earth vengeance, delivering flying-fingered arpeggios and whammy bar acrobatics that at times defy credulity. By that measure, his latest album ranks among his best. Framed by pile-driving percussion, medieval choral flourishes and portentous lyrical themes, Malmsteen... 

BEYONCÉ

BEYONCÉ I Am … World Tour [Columbia] I Am … World Tour gathers two dozen of Beyoncé’s best-loved songs from various stops on a 78-city world tour. All her biggest hits are here: “Crazy in Love,” “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and a sleek version of Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” just for starters. The live setting strips away some of the hyperactive sheen of the studio versions and lets you hear Beyoncé put her ringing... 

SOCIAL DISTORTION

SOCIAL DISTORTION Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes [Epitaph] The nihilistic Mike Ness of Mommy’s Little Monster, Social Distortion’s 1983 debut, has long since disappeared. The singer and guitarist is still a tough guy, but ever since embracing country and rockabilly influences in the mid-1980s he’s played a more sympathetic sort of antihero: the ruffian with the heart of gold. On Social Distortion’s first album since 2004, Ness remains very... 

DUFFY

DUFFY Endlessly [Mercury] Twenty-six-year-old Welsh singer Duffy created a stir with her 2008 debut Rockferry, eliciting a wave of comparisons to Amy Winehouse. This fine follow-up won’t rid her of that tag entirely, but it does edge Duffy closer to a stylistic identity of her own. Half the disc embraces the retro R&B style that shaped Duffy’s debut, while the other boasts a Euro-chic pop sound more akin to Kylie Minogue. Standout moments... 

THE DECEMBERISTS

THE DECEMBERISTS The King Is Dead [Capitol] Decemberists leader Colin Meloy has a flair for fanciful storytelling—but because America is too young to have produced its own ancient folklore, he and his cohorts tend to look elsewhere for inspiration. On its last two albums the band drew on Japanese and European traditions, creating elaborate fairy-tale song cycles. On first listen, The King Is Dead seems the opposite: a collection of scaled-back Americana... 
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