Patterson Hood puts his entire being into his performances and the crowd is always assured of getting its money’s worth.
It’s hard to be critical of a young singer-songwriter full of promise and fanfare. However, the world already has plenty of artists who can deftly balance the sad sack act with other, more tuneful spins on the folk tradition. If LeBlanc wants to have staying power, he’d be wise to dial down the weepiness and give himself a more aggressive kick in the up-tempo direction.
It seems as though “supergroups” have become the latest trend in rock music. Each year, scores of musicians are setting aside their traditional outputs and collaborating on releases with contemporaries or like-minded thinkers. The autumn of 2012 brings forth Divine Fits. In the accompanying press notes for their debut album, A Thing Called Divine Fits, the wise Gerard Cosley warns listeners to not judge the band’s music by its’ members prior output.
Yeasayer’s music typically demands patience and repeated listens, elements that lack a bit from this release as the songs don’t reveal many hidden layers. With Fragrant World, they miss the mark a little bit, but it’s still a noble enough attempt to keep people interested in following their career arc. It will be fun to watch which direction they embark upon next and decipher what chapter of their evolvement this release falls under.
Any write-up of Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth, inevitably makes the Bob Dylan comparison. The parallels are there, what with the loose, acoustic fingerpicking, the scraggly voice, and the Greenwich Village vibe all present as hallmarks of Matsson’s sound. However, Dylan appraisals are pointless and derivative unless the songs are there and can stand on their own.
Alejandro Escovedo has always been one of the hardest working men in the business, but lately he’s set the bar high even for his own lofty standards. About midway through Monday night’s set at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, Escovedo sheepishly admitted that the band was still going strong at this late weeknight hour, despite the fact that they had been up and at it for nearly 24 hours.
The Polyphonic Spree are back out on the road, bringing their good-time cheer and revelry to adoring audiences in much the same vein as they have been doing for the past ten years. If you haven’t seen them since their early 2000’s heyday, here’s what you missed: Nothing.
The Walkmen have been on an incredible winning streak, composing stellar albums and putting on electric shows for well over a decade now. Their star has risen to the point where they have attracted a strong enough fan base that allows them to follow their life changes in song as well as in real time. They’ve moved from chronicling the unpredictability of twenty-something life to meditating on a new set of challenges that accompanies a new chapter of life. Here, they march right along without skipping a beat.
Over the course of ten tracks, Mancini leads his band-mates through an infectious bounty of sharp rhythmic, reggae-inflected tunes that pulse through with sharp energy and positive vibes. There’s no deep rooted catharsis taking place on this album, nor are there veiled metaphors or exercises in haughty self-aggrandizing. It’s not an album that demands your attention or begs for close introspection. What is it, then? It’s a fun listen filled with crafty grooves and sharp musicianship; listen to the twinkling keys that interlock with the horn section on “Trouble”, the rat-a-tat snare fills that anchor the Buddy Holly-esque “Little Things”, or the sneaky guitar work of “Blue Bag”.
Lower Dens hails from Baltimore, an important fact to consider when listening to their music. It’s a trippy, synth-fueled and mystifying sound that alternates between pulsing, metronomic beats and more languidly buzzing slow burners.
