Fans of the late 90’s instrumental compilation The In Sounds From The Way Out will dig these new funky instrumentals material. Who would have thought The Beastie Boys would be selling albums based on their drums, bass and guitar chops?
You’re staring at a record that has enough spit and polish to be mainstream; enough off-kilter punk blues for diehards; enough sonic experimentation to cover up the groups’ normal shortcomings (Meg’s elementary drumming); lyrics that come from the wise and fun loving ventricle of Jacks heart (“And lots of other situations where I don’t know what to do/at which time God screams to me/“There’s nothing left for me to tell you”)…and you’re staring at the album of the year.
Where most bands seem to hit a creative dead end after five albums, Era Vulgaris marks a creative high-point for Homme. Era Vulgaris isn’t thinking man’s rock ala Wilco or Radiohead, but it’s a ton of bad-ass riffs and melodies that makes for the perfect summer soundtrack.
Dark imagery and golden melodies form the foundation of Lazarus Beach, the full-length debut from Birmingham, Alabama’s Through the Sparks. Brimming with indie zeal and uncanny illustrations, the 13 tracks resonate with guitar-and-piano pop that is meticulously crafted and peppered with imagery that reflects the loneliness of life at any age.
The two-disc release has 20 “best of” offerings, including “The Cutter,” “The Killing Moon,” “Seven Seas,” “Rescue,” “A Promise,” “Lips Like Sugar,” “Bring on the Dancing Horses,” and the newer “Stormy Weather.”
At a breezy 28 minutes, the self-titled demo from Generals and Majors is a lo-fi high-time.
fter striking out with his past two studio albums (2002’s Big Swing Face and 2004’s Halycon Days), it was time for Bruce Hornsby to try something new. Dating back to a 2000 collaboration on a Bill Monroe bluegrass tribute album, Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs had continually discussed collaborating together. Backed by Skagg’s band Kentucky Thunder, the two Grammy winners have released Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, an unlikely mingling of jazzy piano and bluegrass.
After a nearly 30-year hiatus (his last album of new works was released in 1978), the man now known first as Steven Georgiou, then as Cat Stevens, and now as simply Yusuf Islam, has put out a new album. And the new album, while clearly inspired and influenced by Yusuf’s spiritual journey of the last three decades, sounds remarkably like, well, Cat Stevens.
Perhaps passively, but probably not even remotely inspired by Lou Reed’s New York, Sonny Smith shares his experiences living in an especially underprivileged neighborhood in Oakland on Fruitvale, and it’s safe to say the local chamber of commerce and tourism bureau will not be any busier because of it.
Where the Billie Holiday and Kate Bush comparisons are easy, there are contemporary touches from those of Imogen Heap and Cat Power that make The Reminder a very “present” recording. The one failing of The Reminder is that it doesn’t live up to Let It Die, but in Feist’s terms, she’d rather be intimate than play “can you top this.”
