Audioholic Media

»Album Reviews For Release Date: 05.05.09
by Joshua Krage

Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Compras mas musica nueva! If you have to buy tejano or norteño just to stay authentic in your celebration, then so be it, but if you want something different (i.e. non-banda), you’ve found it here!

One of the most long-awaited albums on my list drops (digitally) this week, so I’m pumped. There are also some other big-time surprises, especially from some well-established artists who evidently got tired of resting on their laurels (whatever that actually means). Read on, o music fanatic:

Akron/Family, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free – not from Ohio (different Akron!) and not a rap-star affiliate collective (different Akon!), this is one of the small family of bands that both fuel and benefit from legions of web-savvy, concert-going hipsters and their rapid-fire live-blogs, and with good reason. They’re like Animal Collective planted on a mountain, with full-on vintage rock freak-outs nestled snugly amidst down home folk missives, and live show interplay that dwarfs even the mightiest of mental-synergy bands. Check this band out, they’re like almost nothing you could imagine.

Arctic Monkeys – live CD/DVD
British Sea Power
Nick Cave – 1st 4 albums remastered
Toni Childs
Ciara
Cracker
Deradoorian
Rick Derringer
The Devil Wears Prada

Elizabeth and the Catapult, Taller Children – I’ve been waiting for this album (out digitally 5/5, physically on 6/9) for over two years, ever since their self-produced 6-song EP arrived in my mailbox and completely dominated my stereo. Amazing, simply amazing songcraft, musicianship, arrangements… everything this band does is a well-nurtured product of three kindred souls who celebrate a broad palette of musical enjoyment, and Elizabeth Ziman’s voice is the most style-elastic croon I’ve heard. No other vocalist I know can glide from the tell-off tone of “Momma’s Boy,” to the playful romp of “Race You,” to the warm intimacy of “Right Next to You,” and straight into the weary-eyed herald of Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows,” effortlessly inhabiting each song’s emotional center and fully conveying its feel and message. These are 11 dynamite compositions (plus one cover) in a wide, meaty variety of shapes and colors, styles and genres, and with inventive, masterful arrangements at every turn– I mean EVERY turn. I just can’t say enough about these guys, so I guess I’ll stop typing, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better all-around band than this.
[Read our interview with Elizabeth and the Catapult here.]

Fischerspooner, Entertainment – it’s difficult to describe this duo. Start with techno beat, add high-art sophistication, augment with intentional lyrical exploration and mysticism, bring just to a boil in a Parisian dance-club, and you’re headed in the right direction. Experimental electro on many levels, adventurous in a cavernous and haute couture fashion.

Future of Forestry, Travels EP – hits me like David Crowder fronting The Cure. Eric Owyoung’s breathy, inspiring tenor soars above sprawling highways of dynamic guitar interplay, ethereal keyboard beds, firecracker drumming, and introspective string arrangements. High standard of quality = maintained.

Gallows, Grey Britain – decent modern UK punk band out of London, heavy in all the right ways without devolving into hardcore gibberish.

Gucci Mane

Ben Harper and Relentless7, White Lies for Dark Times – anyone familiar with the homegrown funk/soul/rock of Ben Harper generally knows what to expect from anything he does, but he ups the ante on this LP by sidelining his longtime Innocent Criminals sidemen in favor of three Texangelenos called Relentless7, resulting in a sound somewhat like Ben Harper backed by the North Mississippi Allstars. Solid, delta- and tex-tinged rock and roll with less jam-fueled wandering and, well, more balls than bongs, which is just what Harper’s meandering groove needed to really kick some relevant ass. Some really jaw-dropping work here…

Jon Hopkins, Insides – British electronic innovator and longtime Coldplay concert cohort (and recent producer) finally takes advantage of some of his press, releasing his first album people might actually get to hear, since most of his work falls into the ambient/new age category. You might recognize one of these tracks as the bread in that luscious Coldplay sandwich that was “Viva La Vida.”

The Horrors
Iglu / Hartly
Isis
Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
Elton John – Red Piano DVD
Madina Lake
Ziggy Marley
Ralphie May
Chrisette Michele
New York Dolls
Newsboys
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

Peaches, I Feel Cream – I’ve never really been into this German provocateur’s riotous brand of oversexed electro dance floor pump, but the web journos seem to like her well enough, and at least she’s interesting.

Rusted Root, Stereo Rodeo – a welcome return from the most organic of all the world-inflected jam bands. My buddy Darren just witnessed their resurrected brand of virtual reality live in Vegas and got to hang with the band afterward, says they’re “really down-to-earth,” which fits with their earth-rooted ethos.

RZA – instrumentals
Frank Sinatra – live at Meadowlands
Rick Springfield

St. Vincent, Actor – winning pretty much unanimous love from the hipsternet blog community with her kitschy blend of pristine, classical-tinged alt.pop arrangements and distortion freak-outs, Annie Clark has conjured a sound wholly unmatched by her peers. Picture a quaint, wholesome department store holiday display with blankets of white and glittering tinsel; now imagine a bespectacled, bloodied mutant limping across the linoleum with a severed head in one hand and a Dickens novel in the other, and you’re halfway there. She’s witty, she’s wicked, she’s wry and world-weary with just the right perky sheen to make a civilized crowd unsure over how off-the-rails she truly is, but stay alert – she’s fully in control and has a vision with laser-point clarity. There is no adjective to sum up the creativity on this record; it’s exceedingly worth notice and will be tough to match.

The Toxic Avenger Musical
VA – Causes 2
The Vaselines – 2-disc retrospective
Elliott Yamin

Yoshida Brothers, Prism – one of my longtime favorites. Taking a traditional Japanese instrument and reshaping its uses for contemporary modern majesty, the virtuosity of these two brothers extends far beyond their mastery of the 3-stringed tsugaru-shamisen, with muscular arrangements of original compositions and mind-expanding takes on other artists’ works, like Radiohead’s “The National Anthem” on this LP (brilliant, BTW). Counts towards your cultural cred as well as your hipster cred.

Zao

So if I didn’t make it clear enough, Elizabeth and the Catapult should be first on your list to hear this week, and I’ll probably tell you the same thing in 5 weeks when the physical copy drops (you’ve been warned, approaching superfan freak-out!). Beyond that, for anyone waiting for Ben Harper to be relevant again and return to his original fire, this is the week you’ve been expecting– that album NAILS it, really incendiary stuff.

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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