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Gogol Bordello – Trans-Continental Hustle

Sam — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:53:18 +0000

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Trans-Continental Hustle combines the band’s radical invocations of positive primal energy and planetary consciousness with music infused with Ska, Metal, Punk, Rap, Dub and intimations of indigenous Brazilian sounds to produce a party maelstrom of electrifying proportions. Led by revolutionary change agent and provocateur Eugene Hutz, Gogol Bordello, a nine-piece juggernaut of gypsy rebel soul, has become an international force to be reckoned with.
The politically charged Eastern European folk-punk rock outfit’s fifth full-length offering was produced by fellow facial hair connoisseur Rick Rubin. Influenced by frontman Eugene Hutz’s recent relocation to Brazil, Trans-Continental Hustle adds the colors of Carnival to the Gypsy caravan.

Tracklisting
1. Pala Tute
2. My Companjera
3. Sun is on My Side
4. Rebellious Love
5. We Comin’ Rougher (Immigraniada)
6. When Universes Collide
7. Uma Menina Uma Cigana
8. Raise The Knowledge
9. Last One Goes The Hope
10. To Rise Above
11. In The Meantime In Pernambuco
12. Break The Spell
13. Trans-continental Hustle

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.70) – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “Everyone is on point: Accordion and fiddle rock as hard as guitars and drums; rhythms from Brazil blend with breakneck Eastern European dances and D.C.-style hardcore.”

Spin – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “Hutz’s minor-key odes to erotic revolution and cosmic evolution still pack a heady, sweaty punch.”

Alternative Press (p.105) – 3 stars out of 5 — “‘Break The Spell’ and ‘We Comin’ Rougher (Immigraniada)’ show Gogol Bordello haven’t completely forsaken four-on-the-floor folk-punk.”

CMJ – “HUSTLE relies on acoustic instrumentation and Hutz’s strengthened songwriting. ‘Sun Is On My Side’ shows Gogol Bordello’s metamorphosis into a modern-day, urban bard…”

Billboard (p.37) – “Wild, passionate opener ‘Pala Tute’ — a gypsy folk tune translated into English — features galloping acoustic guitars among fiery accordion and fiddle runs…”

Uncut (magazine) (p.108) – 3 stars out of 5 — “[I]f Gogol Bordello still sound like an Eastern European answer to The Pogues, it still means they’re doing something nobody else is.”

John Mayer - Room for Squares

Sam — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:58:07 +0000

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Somewhere around the turn of the 21st century, guys like David Gray (who’d already been laboring in obscurity for quite a while) and Five For Fighting made it hip (and profitable) to be a sensitive singer-songwriter for the first time since the ’70s. Along those lines, John Mayer appeals to the kind of youngsters who are embarrassed by their parents’ Dan Fogelberg collection but equally turned off by vociferous gangstas and misanthropic heavy rockers. ROOM FOR SQUARES (whose very title, not to mention Mayer’s studied regular-guy cover pose, bespeaks the revenge of the nerds) accordingly trades in acoustic guitar-based folk-rock tempered with just enough 21st-century freshness to keep its practitioner in the Billboard charts (and his listeners’ hearts). That’s not to say Mayer’s music is calculated; he’s got a real feel for melody and a distinctive lyrical style. He also managed to be in the right place at the right time, and that’s the key to any pop success.

Tracklisting
1. No Such Thing
2. Kid Koala – Emporer’s Main Course
3. My Stupid Mouth
4. Your Body Is a Wonderland
5. Neon
6. City Love
7. 83
8. 3X5
9. Love Song for No One
10. Back to You
11. Great Indoors
12. Not Myself
13. St. Patricks Day
14. (Untitled) – (Hidden Track)

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (12/13/01, p.152) – 4 stars out of 5 – “…Instantly likable and accessible….an irresistible album…”

Radiohead – Amnesiac

Sam — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:10:43 +0000

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Radiohead’s fifth album is possibly the album that OK Computer fans were hoping for instead of the experimental tunes showcased on Kid A. The 11 tracks reveal the band still embracing their new found interest in experimentalism, yet with more of an eye on the sort of tunefulness that brought the massive response to both The Bends and OK Computer.The much vaunted Knives Out will be the one that brings back those fans which were lost on Kid A, as will the disturbing Morning Bell/ Amnesiac and the first single, the unnerving Pyramid Song.
The great work on Kid A has not been banished however, with Like Spinning Plates and Hunting Bears being standout tracks. The album also reveals a new side to Radiohead with Life In A Glasshouse showing their keenness to embrace a brass section led by the multi-talented Humphrey Lyttelton.
A fascinating album with a rich selection. Not as immediately user friendly as earlier albums, but with just as much depth and passion.

Tracklisting
Disk 1
1. Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box
2. Pyramid Songs
3. Pulk/pull Revolving Door
4. You and Whose Army?
5. I Might Be Wrong
6. Knives Out
7. Moring Bell/anmesiac
8. Dollars + Cents
9. Hunting Bears
10. Like Spinning Plates
11. Life in a Glasshouse
Disk 2
12. Amazing Sounds of Orgy
13. Trans-atlantic Drawl
14. Fast-track
15. Kinetic
16. Worrywort
17. Fog
18. Cuttooth
19. Life in a Glasshouse [Full Length Version]
20. You and Whose Army? [Live]
21. Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box [Live]
22. Dollars + Cents [Live]
23. I Might Be Wrong [Live]
24. Knives Out [Live]
25. Pyramid Song [Live]
26. Like Spinning Plates

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (1/03/02, p.119) – Ranked #10 in Rolling Stone’s “Top 10 2001″.

Rolling Stone (6/21/01, pp.74-5) – 3.5 stars out of 5 – “…Clear proof that the progressive-rock impulse survived the 20th century….full of computerized clicks and hums…and of instruments and voices so heavily filtered they sound alienated even from themselves….It’s like ZZ Top kidnapped by Autechre…”

Spin (1/02, p.76) – Ranked #2 in Spin’s “Albums of the Year 2001″.

Spin (7/01, pp.123-4) – 7 out of 10 – “…Lullabies for the compressed present…abandoning verse-chorus-verse motion to let the tracks just roll out, like bolts of cloth…”

Q (7/01, p.118) – 4 stars out of 5 – “…Similarly shy, textural and embroidered by electronica, but where it differs vitally from KID A is in being 1) better balanced, 2) more emotionally intelligible and 3) even more grimly beautiful…”

Alternative Press (2/02, p.64) – Ranked #1 in AP’s “25 Best Albums of 2001″.

Alternative Press (7/01, p.79) – 9 out of 10 – “…Quintessentially Radiohead, full of existential rock songs powered by Yorke’s delicate, aching, soaring vocals…”

Magnet (12-1/02, p.57) – Included in Magnet’s “20 Best Albums of 2001″.

The Wire (1/02, p.40) – Ranked #18 in Wire’s “50 Records of the Year 2001″.

The Wire (6/01, p.52) – “…It works for as long as you can keep other – weighted, braver, graver – examples or exemplars out of your mind, The moment you summon Jeff Buckley or John Cale, PiL or Can, Talk Talk or David Sylvian, the spell is broken…”

CMJ (6/4/01, p.5) – “…Another adventuresome, aloof, non-rock joint that’s more an album of concepts than a concept album…”

Vibe (8/01, p.160) – 4 discs out of 5 – “…Populated with skittish techno beats, water-damaged samples and the kind of vocal mastery you would hear from a wounded donkey….If genuises are slightly mad, then Radiohead is stark, raving bonkers…”

Mojo (Publisher) (1/02, p.69) – Ranked #10 in Mojo’s “Best [40] Albums of 2001″.

Mojo (Publisher) (7/01, p.104) – “…Deliriously provocative….as splendidly other and awkward as its sister album [KID A]…”

NME (Magazine) (12/29/01, p.59) – Ranked #25 in NME’s 50 “Albums Of the Year 2001″.

NME (Magazine) (6/2/01, p.37) – 8 out of 10 – “…It complements KID A beautifully….the jazz spasms and electronic pulsings, the chill blood, and most of all, the chronic hypersensitivity to the world outside…”

Pitchfork (Website) – “[I]t’s an emotionally resonant and often very warm record.”

U2 – The Unforgettable Fire

Sam — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:13:53 +0000

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THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE confirmed U2 as one of a handful of bands able to tackle such vast and emotive subjects with dignity and musical integrity. There are few artists capable of writing about religion, war, race, politics, and life with such ferocity and global commercial success. ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’, an elegy for Martin Luther King, was a breakout hit, and every track–wrapped in the Edge’s impressionistic guitar splashes–reveals a quartet hungry for the world stage. The production by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois was a taste of things to come.

Tracklisting
1. A Sort of Homecoming
2. Pride
3. Wire
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Promenade
6. 4th July
7. Bad
8. Indian Summer Sky
9. Elvis Presley and America
10. Mlk

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.75) – 4.5 stars out of 5 — “The transcendent ‘Bad’ is the triumph…”

Q (10/96, p.189) – 5 Stars – Indispensable – “…the making of THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE witnessed the first signs of a remarkable chemistry between an artfully analytical producer and a peak-of-powers group….simply sounds timeless…”

Q (Magazine) (p.130) – 4 stars out of 5 — “As the transitional work that propelled U2 into the elite stratospheres of global stadium rock, THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE is aptly named.”

Record Collector (magazine) (p.93) – 3 stars out of 5 — “Brian Eno produces for the first time, helping the quartet make the leap from traditional rock group to something more ambient and adventurous.”

Uncut (magazine) – 3 stars out of 5 — “The Edge’s delay unit ceased to be a mere effect and became an instrument in itself, defining the entire rhythm and texture of songs…”

Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mining

Sam — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:58:17 +0000

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BLUE SKY MINING continues in the revered Australian band’s tradition of politically charged rock, while expanding on the fuller, accessible sound of the earlier outing. The record features three international hits–the urgent “Blue Sky Mine” (one of many numbers that stays true to Midnight Oil’s working-class empathy), the pensive “Forgotten Years,” and the upbeat “King of the Mountain”–with the latter two songs proving to be some of the most melodic material of the group’s career. Other highlights of the album include “Mountains of Burma,” a track that exemplifies frontman Peter Garrett’s brooding charisma, and “River Runs Red,” which showcases Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey’s distinctive and underrated guitar playing. Although BLUE SKY proved to be the ceiling of the ensemble’s popularity, Midnight Oil soldiered on until its dissolution in 2002, leaving this record to stand as one of its finest moments.

Tracklisting
1. Blue Sky Mine
2. Stars of Warburton
3. Bedlam Bridge
4. Forgotten Years
5. Mountains of Burma
6. King of the Mountain
7. River Runs Red
8. Shakers and Movers
9. One Country
10. Antarctica

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (2/22/90) – 4 Stars – Excellent – “..the album is a stunning issue-driven document of fear, anger and commitment delivered with artful musical restraint and tempered vocal fury..”

Entertainment Weekly – “..Deep, rewarding, sometimes obscure.” – Rating: B-

Q – 4 Stars – Excellent – Included in Q’s list of the Fifty Best Albums of 1990.

Reflex – “..thoroughly enjoyable, socially-awakening entertainment”

Feist – Let It Die

Sam — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:43:40 +0000

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LET IT DIE with an almost voyeuristic atmosphere, akin to hearing someone singing herself to sleep. On the bluesy spiritual “Lonely Lonely,” rhythmic handclaps and sparsely picked guitar accompany Feist’s haunting lilt, invoking the ghosts of Appalachia, while the Bee Gees’ “Love You Inside Out” (here titled “Inside and Out”) is set to an up-tempo disco beat. Feist’s vocal agility enables her to sing straight French cabaret on “Tout Doucement” and smooth, soulful jazz on “Gatekeeper.” The song that will make the tears fall, though, is the 1930s-esque, cinematic piano ballad “Now at Last,” in which Feist dreamily sings “What makes winters lonely?/Now at last I know.”

Tracklisting
1. Gatekeeper
2. Mushaboom
3. Let It Die
4. One Evening
5. Leisure Suite
6. Lonely Lonely
7. When I Was a Young Girl
8. Secret Heart
9. Inside and Out
10. Tout Doucement
11. Now at Last
12. Amourissima
13. Amour Ne Dure Pas Toujours

Professional Reviews
Entertainment Weekly (No. 819, p.88) – “Sly folkie, slow-jazz seductress, sparkling pop pixie–[Feist's] kaleidoscopic talents shift almost as constantly as her attention…” – Grade: A-

Magnet (p.92) – “LET IT DIE brims with sweet melodies, gentle bossa-nova/folk tendencies and polite electronics.”

CMJ (No. 910, p.4) – “[Feist] makes lovely music stripped of trends and obvious cues, channeling dashes of Billie Holiday and all that old-school jazz…”

Jack Johnson – Brushfire Fairytales

Sam — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:36:44 +0000

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Johnson’s songs are simultaneously well crafted and executed in an almost throwaway manner. “Fortunate Fool” is airy yet acidic–this surfer dude is no airhead–while “F-Stop Blues,” on the surface a paean to the surfer lifestyle, is really a lament for wasted time that features Johnson’s pleasant, lazy vocals to excellent effect. BRUSHFIRE FAIRYTALES displays the kind of insouciance born of innocence, almost as if no-one involved cared if the album sold ten copies or ten million–and of course that’s the attraction.

Tracklisting
1. Inaudible Melodies
2. Black Magic Woman
3. Posters
4. Sexy Plexi
5. Flake
6. Bubble Toes
7. Fortunate Fool
8. The News
9. Drink the Water
10. Mudfootball (For Moe Lerner)
11. F-stop Blues
12. Losing Hope
13. It’s All Understood

Professional Reviews
Q (11/02, p.103) – 3 stars out of 5 – “…It’s laidback stuff, subtly melodious and really rather charming…”

Uncut (12/02, p.134) – 3 stars out of 5 – “…Johnson’s sensitivity is authentic, and there’s a chilled freshness and a hip hop lite inflection to his vocals…”

Mojo (Publisher) (3/03, p.114) – 3 stars out of 5 – “…Johnson’s songs are wordy and subtly funky, his voice sinewy….Cool…”

Snow Patrol – Final Straw

Sam — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:26:31 +0000

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FINAL STRAW, the group’s major-label debut, finds Snow Patrol expanding its indie-rock guitar-based sound with greater focus on keyboards, strings, and fuller production values (courtesy of Garret Lee). Lightbody’s charming vocals and lyrics provide the band’s emotional center, as best evidenced on the wistful opener “How to Be Dead” and the slowly building “Run.” Although Snow Patrol knows its way around quiet melancholy, the ensemble is also capable of rocking out (”Spitting Games,” “Chocolate”), revealing an aesthetic that places the group squarely in the ranks of Coldplay, Travis, and other Britpop luminaries.

Tracklisting
1. How to Be Dead
2. Wow
3. Gleaming Auction
4. Whatever’s Left
5. Spitting Games
6. Chocolate
7. Run
8. Grazed Knees
9. Ways & Means
10. Tiny Little Fractures
11. Somewhere a Clock Is Ticking
12. Same

Professional Reviews
Spin (p.65) – Ranked #23 in Spin’s “40 Best Albums of the Year” – “Feel-good Britpop for nonbelievers.”

Spin (p.100) – “[A]rena-ready songs about long good-byes with right-angled guitar fuzz.”

Entertainment Weekly (4/2/04, p.66) – “[FINAL STRAW] proves the Irish quartet keeps getting better….The band has added pulsing strings and staticky textures to its luscious mix.” – Rating: A

Magnet (p.108) – “[A] soaring, super-polished album replete with dreamy anthems, superior pop moments….All in all, pretty crafty. And pretty smart.”

Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications

Sam — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:01:56 +0000

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With 2009’s FURTHER COMPLICATIONS, former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker follows up his well-received solo debut with a considerably randier and more rocked-out set. Aiding the Britpop icon on this edgier outing is none other than noise-loving American producer Steve Albini, best known for his work with the Pixies and Nirvana, who succeeds in creating a more rough-and-tumble aesthetic for Cocker, as most readily heard on the spiky title track and the stomping “Caucasian Blues.” Always one for a glam-tinged tune, Cocker lets loose on the bawdy “Angela” and the raucous “Homewrecker,” which fittingly features the signature sax stylings of Stooges associate Steve Mackay. Like Nick Cave’s Grinderman project, COMPLICATIONS is the sound of Cocker letting his hair down (and, apparently, his beard out), and, though it may perplex some some Pulp diehards, it’s undeniably vital and entertaining.

Tracklisting
1. Further Complications
2. Angela
3. Pilchard
4. Leftovers
5. I Never Said I Was Deep
6. Homewrecker
7. Hold Still
8. Fuckingsong
9. Caucasian Blues
10. Slush
11. You’re in My Eyes (Discosong)

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.70) – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “Cocker’s excellent second solo disc sets hilariously over-the-top come-ons to bruising garage rock and woozy soul…”

Spin (p.97) – “[T]his collection of surging and reeling tunes is the former Pulp frontman’s strongest since DIFFERENT CLASS.”

Spin – Ranked #27 in Spin’s “40 Best Albums Of 2009″ — “Thankfully, acting middle-aged doesn’t mean he’s grown up.”

Entertainment Weekly (p.57) – “[T]he raucousness of ‘Homewrecker!’ or the title track will come as a definite surprise to longtime Cocker watchers…” — Grade: B+

CMJ – “The outcome is an entertaining bluesy, dirty kind of rock and roll that seems all too often forgotten amidst a new generation of shiny subgenres.”

Billboard (p.29) – “Cocker plays with different styles on each track, from the back-alley blues rock of ‘Homewrecker’ to the garage pop of the first single ‘Angela’….There’s still reason to hang on his every word…”

Q (Magazine) (p.118) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[T]here’s an imaginative sympathy that keeps you listening and engaged….His idiosyncratic approach marks him out from the usual run of career singers, and it shows no sign of weakening.”

Pitchfork (Website) – “It’s a jutting, joking, hard-riffing jolt filled with raw self-deprecation.”

Record Collector (magazine) (p.91) – 4 stars out of 5 — “Jarvis himself comes up with some of is wittiest lyrics since Pulp’s heyday….All the more engaging for its honesty…”

Uncut (magazine) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[I]t’s a wonderful surprise that FURTHER COMPLICATIONS turns out to be such a reinvigorated piece of work. Much of this freshness must be down to the working methods of Steve Albini…

Ben Folds – Way To Normal

Sam — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:27:08 +0000

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While the delightfully silly opener, “Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head),” is a particularly obvious nod to Elton John, one of the many dynamic pop keyboardists Ben Folds has frequently been compared to (also see: Billy Joel, Todd Rundgren), WAY TO NORMAL brings to mind another pianist who rose to power in the 1970s. With its quirky, witty wonderings about the neuroses of love and God and country, Folds’s third record recalls Randy Newman post-LITTLE CRIMINALS–bright, bouncy, and buoyant, yet subtly twisted.
On “You Don’t Know Me,” Folds softly trades a cooing call-and-response with Regina Spektor, as perfect rapport and playful rhapsody disguise lyrics of human isolation in destructive love. The ultra-hooky “Brainwascht” fools around in the “You’re So Vain” vein as Folds continues a beef with an unnamed busybody songwriter friend, all while a deceptively perky Bacharach-esque plays behind him. While he’s still able to romp in the just plain goofy style that originally brought him attention in the Ben Folds Five days, particularly on the pun-happy Midwest walkabout “Effington,” Folds is at his mature best when confronting exhausted honesty as on closing track, “Kylie From Connecticut.”

Tracklisting
1. Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)
2. Dr. Yang
3. The Frown Song
4. You Don’t Know Me (Featuring Regina Spektor)
5. Before Cologne
6. Cologne
7. Errant Dog
8. Free Coffee
9. Bitch Went Nuts
10. Brainwashed
11. Effington
12. Kylie from Connecticut

Professional Reviews
Entertainment Weekly (p.76) – “[T]he piano man pounds the ivories with undiminished fervor — and lyrical venom….Folds shows off his gentler side on the confessional tune ‘You Don’t Know Me’…” — Grade: B+

Mojo (Publisher) (p.102) – 3 stars out of 5 — “Folds crashes about on piano and throws in string arrangements that lurch from melancholy to chaotic discord…”

Paste (magazine) (p.56) – “These 12 songs are more of an anthropological study of aberrant human behavior, idiosyncratic news stories and bizrre chapers of the musician’s own autobiography, all observed with the same unstinting absurdist eye as J.D. Salinger when he penned NINE STORIES more than 50 years ago.”