For an evening teeming with humor, reflection and aesthetic exploration, Neko Case and her band kept the audience rapt with their superlative set. It’s further evidence that Case is unequivocally a significant voice in music today, deserving of her success, yet still looking to the future to investigate increasingly the depths of the human heart and mind.
Deep inside an electronic jungle there lies a creature with a personality that is characterized by the unique sounds that it spews into the atmosphere. It’s those individualities that make up the sound of Swedish electro-jazz-pop quartet Little Dragon and the subtleties that keep their sound ever evolving within itself. The band, whose identity was discovered through creative frustration, returns with their third album on Peacefrog Records titled Ritual Union, an album that works within the structure of diverse beats, yet explores beyond those boundaries extensively.
The same year Tapestry appeared Carole King recorded a concert at Carnegie Hall, but it wasn’t released until 1996, when it came out on CD. Mobile Fidelity has now put out a remastered 2-LP version of the concert on 180-gram vinyl. As audiophile releases go, this is the flip side of such sonic spectaculars as Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt. Pepper’s or Close to the Edge.
And for a finale Folds played his role of Glee conductor and divided the audience into three part harmonies to sing “Not the Same,” his retrospective to an acquaintance’s acid trip turned born again. 28 songs in two hours is nothing to complain about, especially for a guy on less than six hours sleep, with plenty of dust storm related improv. It might be too early in the game too coin Folds as an "American Original," but there's no argument that his hows certainly fall into the unique category.
On a tour celebrating thirsty years of sexed-up rock & roll, the Crue are cruising from town to town and giving their loyal fans exactly what they want. “You voted who we were going to tour with and you voted what songs we were going to play,” bassist Nikki Sixx announced to the crowd. “This tour is actually all about you guys”. And so it was. Putting all their past differences and discrepancies aside for a couple of hours, Mars and Sixx, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil stepped onto the lighted stage and threw down almost two hours of rock solid riffs and traumatic drumming to please you, the fan.
When’s the last time you heard an album that was both familiar and refreshingly new? Buzz hip hop act Shabazz Palaces have just created exactly that.
This collection should please fans of revivalist music from bands like The Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Avett Brothers, and the Squirrel Nut Zippers and hopefully serve as a light on the performers who originated the style on hundred years ago.
The Errant Charm, Vetiver’s fifth full-length album (and second with Sub Pop) continues a process that began with Tight Knit, moving the band away from this unorthodox folk into more traditionally structured California pop. Overall, most of the album has a subdued and gossamer mood, but to its credit, there is also an eclectic mix of breezy, sanguine arrangements combined with robust moments like “Ride, Ride, Ride that recalls an A.M.–era Wilco.
The Village Voice has annually crafted one of New York City’s premier summer concerts with their Siren Festival. Last year marked the 10th and final installment of that gathering though as the downtown free paper turned over a new leaf and started advertising their new 4 Knots Festival this summer. The obvious change was that no longer would the show take place out in Coney Island but downtown in the South Street Seaport.
The first in a series of EP releases, Pro*Whoa! finds Nikka Costa cooing and screeching over six freaky funk tracks reminiscent of Prince and Stevie Wonder.
