Audioholic Media

»Album Reviews For Release Date: 02.23.10
by Joshua Krage

Don’t know if you’ve been watching the winter Olympics, but Canada’s got a lot more going on than just hockey and combined Super-G. In addition to a stellar Great White Northern rapper, there’s a list of genres among this week’s releases which is as diverse as any Olympic roster. Get your curling game on, and enjoy:

Alkaline Trio, This Addiction – sounds like this ace veteran punk band is rocking it out acoustic for this LP. More surprising is that, with their songwriting chops, their songs actually hold their own without loud drums and distorted power chords. Impressive.

Andrew W.K.
Blind Man’s Colour – EP
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Sarah Buxton
David Byrne / Fatboy Slim
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Clem Snide

Deadstring Brothers, São Paulo – it’s like hearing the Rolling Stones during their country phase. These guys have that street-level grit melded deep down into the guitar, and frontman Kurt Marschke’s gravelly yowl is a dead ringer for Jagger, old or new. That’s interesting enough, but the songwriting here is strong as some of the Stones’ best work and will satisfy your classic rock jones better than any other old bones.

Dragonforce – early works/reissues
Efterklang
Eluvium
Fan Death
Flogging Molly – live
Michael Franti – live
High on Fire
Holy Miranda
Irish Tenors

Jaga Jazzist, One-Armed Bandit – good to know somebody’s still making good IDM. This particular LP of intelligent dance music might be higher on the “intelligence” side than the “dance” side with all its hairpin tempo shifts and ambient dynamics but it’s an exhilarating run all the same.

k-os, Yes! – probably Canada’s best rapper (yes, they have some, and some good ones), this underground word magician and Broken Social Scene contemporary out of Ontario put this LP out last year up north, and it’s finally getting domestic (i.e. affordable) release this week. His rhymes are on time, his rappin’ is happenin’, and his backing tracks are bustin’ caps, and if that were all he did, this album would be bulletproof; unfortunately he wants to sing, too, so there are some patchy spots. Singing voice lands somewhere between Mos Def and Kanye sans AutoTune, which might be good or bad depending on how you feel about those artists’ attempts at holding a tune instead of a rhyme.

Lonely Lady

Madlib, Miles Away: The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz and Percussion Ensemble – for you hip-hop fans with a jazz appreciation, this is another stellar entry into the classic-celebrating jazz catalog of this bionically versatile MC/producer/instrumentalist who is responsible (partly) for nearly half of what most underground hip-hop fans enjoy today. Not sure if Madlib himself plays all instruments on this go-round (as he has in the past) but it’s ten tracks, each paying tribute to different past masters in the genre (Woody Shaw, Roy Ayers, Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, etc.) with original compositions utilizing their different sounds and styles.

Master P
Daniel Merriweather
Mutiny Within
Carrie Newcomer

Joanna Newsom, Have One On Me – couldn’t find anywhere to preview tracks from this elven-voiced, harp-plucking mythical chanteuse’s new album. Can’t even find a proper internet presence anywhere for her, actually, but you can preview some new songs here from a show last month at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

Newworldson
Morgan Page
Past Lives
The Plimsouls
Quasi
The Rocket Summer

Shearwater, Golden Archipelago – another stunning and refined album from Johnathan Meiburg’s expertly restrained outfit of tasteful indie songsmiths. Masterful use of space and tone make each track a fully-realized sonic painting, shifting from shining sunsets to breakneck chases to chilly nightscapes with ease and precision, with Meiburg’s versatile lilt delivering the literate subject matter with crystalline beauty and underlying urgency. These are folks who know their craft, serving up a colorful rapture of an LP here.

Shout Out Louds
Rob Swift
Ali Farka Toure

Various Artists, Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox – benefit album for New Zealand punk visionary and recent stroke victim Chris Knox, pulling in a double-disc’s worth of big-name indie artists from across the globe (at a glance: Yo La Tengo, Jeff Mangum, Stephen Merritt, A.C. Neuman, Will Oldham, the list goes on), offering originals and covering tracks from Knox’s lengthy catalog in order to help this hardcore hooligan get back on his feet and on the stage.

Rocky Votolato

Butch Walker & the Black Widows, I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart – from hair metal to power-pop alternative to hit producer and singer/songwriter, Butch Walker has never lost his wit and his grit. Album number five of his solo career finds the veteran rocker melding his dirrrty guitars and catchy hooks with surprisingly strong melodies and a sort of ’50s/’60s classic pop sound, complete with string arrangements and fuzzy guitar solos that would fit right into a Brill Building recording. It’s a sheer pleasure to hear a shoo-bee-doo-wop style song with the candy-coated lyrics replaced by hair-metal fans and drug-damaged soccer moms, and that’s the kind of style this marvelous man brings to all his compositions — even the quiet, sensitive ones. Hipster cred is intact as ever, and he’s still making the best music of his long, storied career.

White Hills
Wolf People
Xasthur
Xiu Xiu
Zeus

This is still just the dawn of a magnificent music year, I can feel it. Upcoming weeks hold immense promise, and the best is yet to come, as always. See you then, see you there.

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