Aye, Carly
May 16, 2010 Boys With Guitars, CD Reviews
We Are The Fallen
Tear The World Down
Universal Republic. 11 Tracks.
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Remember Carly Smithson’s wild ride on season seven of American Idol? The Irish expat, who finished sixth in a strong pack that included eventual winner David Cook, always came off as a natural-born belter– Ann Wilson with a brogue, if you will. Yet sometimes it proved difficult to shoehorn her prodigious vocal talents into the show’s narrow musical themes. (Dolly Parton week was not her best moment.) It’s a treat, then, to hear her tackle a genre for which she’s extremely well-suited, namely the sleek goth-pop-metal forged by her new band, We Are The Fallen.
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A Child’s Garden of Verse, Adults Allowed
Apr 20, 2010 Boys With Guitars, CD Reviews, Reviews
Natalie Merchant
Leave Your Sleep
Nonesuch. 26 Tracks.
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Seven long years have passed since Natalie Merchant last put out a solo record. Hold those cries of “slacker” though, if you please. In concept, execution and, well, sheer volume, her new release, Leave Your Sleep, leaves little doubt as to what the former 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman has been up to all that time. Read the rest of this entry »
Perky Dance Duo Goes Dark. Aw, Who Needs a Hug?
Mar 18, 2010 Boys With Guitars, CD Reviews
Groove Armada
Black Light
Om Records. 11 Tracks.
Rating: 3½ stars (out of 5)
Why can’t musical artists just stick to what they do best?
It’s a reactionary, fogey-ish question—I picture one of the old coots in the Muppet Show balcony griping to the other. And sure, theoretically you want your favorite acts to take risks and stretch themselves. Without musical leaps of faith we wouldn’t have The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s, The Clash’s London Calling or Radiohead’s Kid A. But sometimes– like, say, when you’re suffering through Chris Cornell’s ill-fated collaboration with Timbaland or Lil Wayne’s awful rock Rebirth– you can’t help but ask yourself, what’s wrong with the way you usually sound?
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Speak Softly, Carry Retro Shtick
Mar 3, 2010 CD Reviews
Shout Out Louds
Work
Merge Records. 10 Tracks.
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Musically speaking at least, the 1980s was a benevolent decade. Many of today’s hit-makers owe their very existence to pioneers from the golden age of new wave and synth pop. Madonna bequeathed her style-over-substance act unto Lady Gaga. Duran Duran gave us the Killers. And Chris Martin borrowed A-ha’s falsetto warbles while the Norwegian trio was off fjord-hopping and poof! Coldplay was born. Read the rest of this entry »
Rebelling against the second-album slide
Jan 19, 2010 Boys With Guitars, CD Reviews
Vampire Weekend
Contra
XL Recordings. 10 Tracks.
Rating: 4½ stars (out of 5)
Of all the bands in indie-pop’s recent freshman class, Vampire Weekend seemed destined to be voted most likely to suffer a sophomore slump. As energetic, amusing and catchy as the 2008 debut by this Big Apple foursome was, it was also perilously gimmicky. Read the rest of this entry »
Woomble’s slightly belated (and, as ever, unsolicited) top 10 albums of 2009
Jan 5, 2010 CD Reviews
10. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
The third album by these Brooklyn-based indie darlings loses the plot a little in the middle, but the high points are exhilarating. Mixing pop classicism (dig those Beach Boys harmonies) with the avant-garde ‘tude that defines the music scene in their home borough, the Bears have concocted a sound that’s as hummable as it is intricate. Top tracks: “Southern Point,” “Two Weeks.”
9. Franz Ferdinand – Tonight Read the rest of this entry »
Libidinous, literate dance rock from Scotland’s cheekiest combo. Released in January of ’09, Tonight still sounds like the sexiest party on the planet a year later. Why the irresistible singles “Ulysses” and “No You Girls” didn’t storm the Top 40 with the force of their biggest hit, “Take Me Out,” is an exasperating mystery. Get these songs a Timbaland or David Guetta remix, stat!
Woomble’s Top 10 Albums of the Decade
Dec 16, 2009 CD Reviews
Hey, everyone else is doing it. Why can’t I?
10. Pocket Symphony – Air
Released in the midst of a full-on Air backlash, this 2007 album was unfairly dismissed by critics. It’s the lone “serious” work by the cheeky French chill-out duo, and I think it’s gorgeous from beginning to end. Bonus points for deadpan guest vocals by Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon.
9. Let It Die – Feist Read the rest of this entry »
My Canadian Content pick. (Sorry, Arcade Fire.) Nimble song writing, seductive vocals and a Bee Gees cover? I’m in.
Rickie Lee Jones – At 55, No Limits
Nov 30, 2009 Boys With Guitars, CD Reviews
Rickie Lee Jones
Balm in Gilead
Fantasy. 10 Tracks.
Rating: 3½ stars (out of 5)
2009 marks the 30th anniversary of Rickie Lee Jones’ self-titled debut album. It’s a weighty milestone when you think about it. That debut, stocked with boss tracks such as “Coolsville,” “Danny’s All-Star Joint” and her lone Top 10 hit, “Chuck E’s in Love,” clearly defined Jones’ unique jazz-pop vision and hinted at momentous things to come. Indeed, that vision has filtered down to a new generation of hipster warblers, including Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux and Corrine Bailey Rae, whose “Put Your Records On” in particular sounds like it was plucked straight from the R.L.J. catalogue.
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The Swell Season – Once Over Darkly
Nov 5, 2009 CD Reviews
The Swell Season
Strict Joy
Anti-. 12 Tracks.
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
For Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, the swellest season of all must be a drizzly late autumn. You know, the time of year when the leaves lay in sodden clumps on the ground and one turns one’s pea coat collar up against winter’s encroaching chill whilst wandering rain-slicked streets and brooding about so many lost loves, so many regrets. They’re misery mongers, is what I’m saying.
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In Like With Love 2
Oct 9, 2009 CD Reviews
Air
Love 2
Virgin/EMI. 12 Tracks.
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
It’s been a rough season for European electronic duos. First, London-based dance mavens Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx threw a slew of guest vocalists (including Yoko Ono) along with the kitchen sink at their would-be comeback album, Scars, and ended up with more cacophony than melody. Then fellow Brits Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker, better known as Zero 7, abandoned their tried-and-true downtempo style on their fourth release, Yeah Ghost. Turns out they had nothing to replace what they’d tossed out. Now, it’s Air’s turn, and the chilled-out French twosome is not taking any chances. Love 2 is absolutely Air-like. If its safeness is a little disappointing, well, at least they’re not attempting polkas.
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