Audioholic Media

»Album Reviews For Release Date: 04.28.09
by Joshua Krage

OK firstly, this Manchester Orchestra album is kickin’ my @$$. It’s great. But on to more recent musicks, this week has a small but powerful punch of great sounds, in many flavors and colors. Singer/songwriters of the barely-born and the long-legendary varieties, sample-happy tune assemblers, dream-pop and downtempo masters of ambient aesthetics, and even Canadian rock all get some choice new albums added to their cadres. Read on and get augmented:

A Camp, Colonia – long-simmering side-project of Cardigans frontwoman Nina Persson, with collaborators Niclas Frisk and Nathan Larson (Nina’s hubby and former Shudder to Think axeman, now bass-man). Persson’s gossamer vocal lilt carries this collection of minimalist pop and classic city-soul with some great horn arrangements and wide-eyed emotional expression. Great songwriting from a group of veteran songsmiths, pretty consistent all the way through and worth checking out.

The Audition

Autumn Sky, All Which Isn’t Singing – this is a local Sacramento area singer-songwriter with whom I had the privilege of jamming with in my friend’s living room last year, and whose given name, amazingly, really is “Autumn Sky.” Still young in her performing lifespan, this feisty redhead has an incredible joy and uplifting sense of melody, and a fragile but deceptively agile voice which grabs you at street-level and then dazzlingly soars for the clouds with songbird vibrato and soulfully solid high notes. Lots of clever wordplay as well. Kate Nash and Feist influences are definite comparisons in all the right ways. Check out her song “Bad Blood” and tell me it’s not a radio-ready single– it’s stuck in my head even as I type. Lots of promise, this one…

Black Crowes – Warpaint live
Clutch – rare & unreleased

Bob Dylan, Together Through Life – I was lucky enough to hear some pre-release tracks from this new LP from an artist to which you, the reader, should really need no introduction. Suffice to say, the peerless songwriting icon has come to love his modern blues sound and stuck with it strong, leading his well-seasoned road band through a heavy fog of boss tuneage with wry, self-effacing penmanship and a knowing half-smile. A strong example of quality that comes with age, like a well-made guitar or well-maintained roadster, he just works better the more he’s put to use, and puts us all to shame with even the most tossed-off effort.

Edguy

Ben Folds, University A Capella! – higher learning was never this melodic. Instead of going the traditional “best-of” route, Folds farms out his latest and greatest tunes to a bevy of a capella groups at different colleges across the country. Genius, and it saves on studio costs!

Melody Gardot, My One and Only Thrill – self-described “modern-day dame,” she’s got the classic jazz torch-song smoldering voice that could melt a snowbank with a whisper. Infinitely romantic, endearingly demure, and slyly alluring, she’s a modern-day chanteuse with old-world charm, a singer with modern-day moxy and timeless style.

Great Northern, Remind Me Where the Light Is – hazy, dreampop-laden post-wave which has been haunting the Los Angeles area wonderfully for a few years now. Deft male-female vocal interplay and a serious command of atmospheric textures make each song a colorful collage of sounds and styles, and a few decent hooks help keep the songs sticking. Lots more drums on this LP, and the guitars are huge– decent steps forward all around.

Halestorm
Heaven and Hell

I Monster, A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars – long-present on the intelligent dance-music scene in Sheffield, UK in various shapes and forms, this sample-happy production duo comes out of semi-retirement with a new army of sonic frankenstein monsters, mostly originals (though still heavy-laden with vintage and various samples) this time around, and employing a rather varied cast of soulful vocalists to express the wordy-type sentiments. Mining a deep-soul sound and a deft DJ-mixing power, this duo is fabulously formidable, and the new album is like Senor Coconut on the Scottish moors, a classically subdued, vintage groove.

Immaculate Machine, High on Jackson Hill – their last album had some fiercely immediate muscle to it which, while invigorating, was a bit abrupt for their overall style, so the return to some more home-made textures on this LP is a welcome change. Still fully utilizing the strange electronic adventurism and ace male and female lead vocals, there’s a more down-to-earth mood about the album, with some classic pop group arrangements and some much-needed folk flavors weaved throughout, giving the heavier songs a space to breathe. And there are some great heavy songs to be sure, with primary songwriter and guitarist Brooke Gallupe cranking it up and making it jump 50′s, 60′s, and 70′s style on some choice cuts.

Jars of Clay, The Long Fall Back to Earth - (actually from last week, sorry!) when did this poster-band for contemporary Christian music turn into one of the best working indie rock bands currently touring? Jars have been sharpening and sharpening their songwriting skills over the last decade, and their last album was an incredible collection, both live and from the studio. This one builds on that success, upping the ante in arrangement and instrumentation. Reinvention is really working in their favor, and this new LP is standing strong on all four legs, completely accessible to a public that is most likely unaware how far they’ve come.

Mike Jones – Maakk Jowwwnnnzz!
The Last Vegas
Ben Lee
NOFX

Paper Route, Absence – solid indie-aesthetic songwriting augmented with solid-air ambient mastery and electronic sound assembly. Dreamy tidal waves of reverb’d-out keyboards play with the stereo sound, chopped up and down by digital-edge beats and frosted with genius curtains of backing vocal soundscapes, these guys are serious modern-age indie rockers, very versatile with the laptop sound but using it as ammunition rather than substitution.

Pilot Speed, Wooden Bones – formerly Pilate, this is Canada’s most consistent and nod-worthy rock band, employing Radiohead-level textures and turning in incredible songcraft with every track. Frontman Todd Clark pleads his heart out in a soaring tenor over slow-building modern rock majesty, ace arrangements to spare and a level of musicianship on behalf of the band that started out great and has become bulletproof. Their last LP was and is one of my favorite overall rock albums of this decade, and here I can honestly say they’ve improved on all aspects of their sound. A great, exhilirating album all around.

Tosca, No Hassle – return of the Dorfmeister! Long-running European downtempo champions Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber bring a new, updated bag of mellow for your late night chill sessions.

VA – Playing For Change
Young Love

For any of you who have never heard of Pilot Speed, or their previous incarnation as Pilate, their albums have been consistently bulletproof, they won’t let you down. Beyond that, I’m really impressed with Paper Route, and Autumn Sky’s voice is a real treat, all wide-eyed and innocent but not in a sugary-sweet way. If there’s anything I missed, feel free to shed some light, eh?

P.S. You can check out a sampling of some of this week’s new songs on my MySpace page. Just let the playlist play! It’s updated pretty much weekly now, so enjoy.

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