back and to the left: Obsolete
The idea of passing up the simple but commercially effective strategy of retrofitting 80s New Wave for mass consumption by the pierced-face audiences of today may be a tough thing for goal-oriented techno bands to consider, but Backandtotheleft appears content to keep the musical company of such EBM purists as Cesium 137 and Angels+Agony.
My Morning Jacket: Z
As the opening minutes of Z pass by with nary a crashing cymbal or a ringing chord, impossible doubts seep in through the membrane of denial: Has My Morning Jacket become a keyboard band? Did the departed Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash rip the backbeating heart from My Morning Jacket
Otis Taylor: Below the Fold
Otis Taylor pays his mortgage by dealing antiques in Boulder, Colorado. It
Les Paul : Les Paul & Friends
Les Paul, famous for his jazz guitar stylings, his invention of the solid body Les Paul electric guitar, and his technological advancements in multi-track recording (a technique that today dominates the recording industry), sits down on Les Paul & Friends with a long list of rock n’ roll kings like Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Sting, Sam Cooke, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Joe Perry, SteveMiller and more. The possibilities here should be promising.
Richard Thompson: Front Parlour Ballads
Richard Thompson has released several albums over the years, so it’s puzzling that this record is a first. However, this enjoyable, folksy, laidback effort is Thompson
Lake Trout: Not Them, You
After years of mere subsistence on the scraps of electronic, jazz and rock influences, Baltimore
Herbie Hancock: Possibilities
“The possibilities are endless,” writes Herbie Hancock in his latest liner notes to Possibilites. The album features ten inspired Hancock collaborations including: John Mayer, Santana and Angelique Kidjo, Christina Aguilera, Paul Simon, AnnieLennox, Sting, Jonny Lang and Joss Stone, Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan, Raul Midon, andTrey Anastasio.
North Mississippi Allstars: Electric Blue Watermelon
A funny thing happened to the North Mississippi Allstars on their way to international acclaim: they became a nuanced, multifaceted and wholly experimental blues rocker unit
Death Cab for Cutie: Plans
Plans fails to pick things up a notch in the rock department where Transatlanticism teased us in believing DCFC would be the next great experimental guitar band. There is a load of keyboard sap and wish washy ballads to deal that makes Plans a rather soft affair.
Maybe next time instead of recording in New England in the dead of winter, these west-coasters should stay in overcast Seattle and stick with a familiar formula. The true Death Cab sound is still here at times, but at the end Plans leaves you asking, “what is all the fuss about?”
The Brakes: The Brakes – Vol. II (EP)
An upstart five-some rustling up a serious fuss in their native Philadelphia, the Brakes draw you in with a deceptively laid-back funk-rock thing, probably reminiscent of Sublime, the easy name-check, but also less remembered and way more musical groups of kind like e:verything and the Getaway People.
Corrosion of Conformity: In the Arms of God
For all you closet headbangers who thought classic thrash and punk died with Cobain, grab this album, as it will bring you back to those long-ago days.
Feist: Let It Die
Having sung with Canadian indie-popsters Broken Social Scene to female rapper Peaches to the Kings, Leslie Feist has paid her dues. But it
Boom Bip: Blue Eyed in the Red Room
Try as it might, Blue Eyed in the Red Room ends up as a collection of near-miss electro instrumentals which could have advanced past golf-cart-cruise-music status with just a little improvement on the arrangements. It