Music Reviews: December 2007

Anton Cobijn's movie biopic has triggered the largest revival of interest in Joy Division in nearly a decade.

If you have to own just one Luther collection (and it’s my firm belief that everyone should have at least one Luther album), you can’t go wrong with this set.

Hi. My name is Tony and I'm a 'Nessaholic.

In effect, Pigface has changed continents and absorbed a few dozen new members.

The music ended up sounding like Jamaica, and not.

Not so much of the ascetic minimalism, more of the booty-shaking and party-popping. Lo and behold, Modeselektor appeared and all was good.

The picture we see in 2007 is of a band in complete control of their faculties, to the point where even the seemingly chaotic force of violently exploding sheet metal has been domesticated.

The Depeche Mode reissue program wraps with this pair of better-than-expected, post-Alan Wilder albums. If your collection ends with Violator, give these a look.

Because we needed a dance remix of Radiohead.

O Canada! An outstanding collection of varied new jazz recorded in Vancouver by one of New York's best tenor saxophonists.

Minipop's debut album is all very pretty, but the dreamy feel of A New Hope is so all-encompassing as to render it frustratingly distant and cold where it could radiate poppy warmth.

The new and improved Queen of Hip Hop Soul concedes the battle for true happiness is an ongoing one.

The one-time King of New York still wears his thorny crown.

The latest rarities and B-sides compilation from the beloved Australian indie band is as charming as the last.

Don't let the subtitle fool you. Heaven & Dirt bears little resemblance to the film that supposedly inspired it.

The once-hot pianist returns with his first solo piano date.

Broad mood music for a southern joint, to be danced or swooned to, over the talk and drink.

Alone shows Rivers Cuomo disarmed and open, doing what he loves. Sometimes it succeeds marvelously. Sometimes it fails.

Twelve rounds, but no knockout punch.

Concocted of meandering instrumentation and intertwining melodies, Outsides is an unprecedentedly successful musical enigma.

Resistance is futile as one reggae classic follows closely after another, from uplifting rasta-roots numbers to reverb-drenched dance hits.

A modern kind of emo-fusion from a young trumpeter -- and not at all a bad thing.

An inspired gig by the late celebrated genius of New Orleans piano.

Combining the inspirational lyrics of traditional gospel with the rhythms of the Delta blues, Swing Low Sweet Chariot features the Staple Singers at their sanctified best.

Taking a new, more politically aware direction and adopting a more pared-down sound, L.A. gothic-industrialists come up with mixed results.

It's as if World Music Network wanted to release a follow-up to their Rough Guide to Paris Café Music but for some reason decided that it wasn't complete without a bit of Putumayo tucked in front of it.

There are no surprises to be had on this Victory Records outfit's sophomore release, but there's a lot to be said for a band with all the right influences who dish them out with their own gusto.

Twenty-some years and a dozen albums on, Pittsburgh's Cynics make a weathered, fuzzed and definitively, gloriously American rock and roll record. They just had to go to Spain to do it.

The outstanding young reed player writes for an unconventional tentet of strings, winds, and rhythm -- and it works!

Does anybody remember laughter?

Tuxedomoon's swirling, layered post-rock sound still has something to offer, 30 years on.

The music sounds fine here, but there's isn't a more intentionally anti-fan live disc out there.

Gangsta rap stumbled somewhere between Biggie and Jeezy. This collection is a lumbering reminder of that dry spell.

Atlanta's Tiger! Tiger! smoulders, swaggers and strides, riding Stax-ish grooves and saxophone wailing roadhouse romps. Like the Detroit Cobras with more nuance and not so many tattoos.

A fired-up quartet of architectural jazz-funk fills the legendary jazz basement with sonic silver.

The idea isn’t to approach Untrue as a dubstep record, but as a record, period. This should be true for all music, but Untrue isn’t like all other music.

This collection of live recordings from Oberst's 2005 tour provides the link between his previously unhinged emotion and his new, more relaxed country persona.

With some more apparitions, weirder songwriting, and maybe a wholesale embrace of cacophony and insanity, Meredith DiMenna could become a menace, a Karen O. for Fairfield County.

For those who dig modern Americana and alt.country, but have not yet put their teeth into Gene Clark’s catalogue, this 26-song live collection is a real fine place to start.

Alter Ego sacrifices subtlety for silliness, sublimity for splat.

Regardless of the state of baile funk in the North American blogosphere, Bonde do Role is soldiering on and they deserve a fair shake.

More Songs About Groupies and The Lord of the Rings.

Freeway shows that the Roc may still have some blood left in its veins on his sophomore record.

Shackleton and Appleblim compile the first batch of 12-inches from their groundbreaking Skull Disco label.

Second full-length from indie producer/MC revels in the progressive lilt of infectious hip-hop and regularly concedes its jurisdiction to powers of influence greater than itself.

This Brooklyn quartet offers a confident and straightforward take on indie rock on its sophomore album.

Here's an astutely arranged fusing of acoustic instruments, electronic textures and captivating melodies.

Can we stop talking about the Wu-Tang Clan’s “decline” now? 8 Diagrams is as exciting as they’ve ever been.

Every track here showcases Strait’s smooth style and the ability to make the life of a Texas cowboy into something sexy.

New Zealand's Shocking Pinks use lo-fi fuzz and a shoegaze influence for music that is surprisingly emotive for a DFA artist.

An American jazz singer ventures to Mali and achieves an African/jazz meld of the first order.

Leigh Nash may never again reach the creative zenith she realized when paired with Sixpence guitarist Matt Slocum.

Konono No.1's newest album Live at Couleur Café, proves that literally standing in the presence of greatness is the only real way to appreciate it.

The Big Doe Rehab should come out now, as a year of solid hip-hop winds down and Ghostface asks where the culture is at.

Deborah Harry's first solo album in 14 years is mostly awful, a depressing example of an artist failing at the very things she used to better at than anybody else.

Cavalier is full of the deeply human songs we've come to expect from Brosseau, here mining memory to stave off the lonesome.

Depeche Mode had a conscious knowledge of how outlandish their songs were, and they played it out with full conviction. When it comes to She Wants Revenge, however, they are without a sense of irony.

Coming after the 1980s Paisley Underground movement and before the '00s garage rock revival, this New Jersey band's 1994 home-recorded debut never found the niche it deserved.

Norwegian vistas sculpted by accordion, trumpet, viola, electronics, and voice.

Straight Outta Compton is one of the single most important albums of the last 25 years and its influence cannot readily be overstated.

Fitting tribute or bloated rip-off? Rattling early model Floyd or thrilling blueprint? Listen to mono or stereo? It's make your mind up time....

Melodically fantastic at times and thankfully relatively unpretentious, The Sentinel is an enjoyable if fairly unremarkable post-rock album.

The latest decrees of Sweden's "Lo-Fi King" offer little for the masses to get excited about.

Anyone who has been looking for a loving reissue of some serious Jewish singing need seek no further.

Another scruffy-cool groove workout from the prolific guitarist. How many have there been now?

Not as good as Mezmerize but better than Hypnotize, the solo debut by the System of a Down frontman will surprise many by just how strong it is.

Fusing funk, rock, soul, gospel, and jazz, Wines and Spirits showcases Patterson’s broad musical palette and his uncanny ability to deliver universal messages of uplift based on the chaos and joys of his own experiences.

Norway's Ungdomskulen has an instinct for genre bending, breaking, and making. Leave your inhibitions at the door and jump into the breathing guitar lines and unstoppable drums.

The new kid on Tiësto's block, Preach's club trance album debut plays out like a double-digit sequel. Read: c'est merde!

If Sumpner is a mystery in some circles, Gyllyng Street may just add to the tale; it is a work of beauty and depth, deserving of consideration and concentration.

Live and underrated in the '70s. Listening to this expanded reissue with its ten added tracks of soulful rock 'n' roll just makes you wonder why this concert remained on the shelf for the last 34 years.

The world was hardly holding its breath for a Mick Jones/Tony James reunion. Maybe it should have been.

Although it doesn't match the band's debut, Hard-Fi's sophomore album is just enough good to rise above average.

Those of you who need a little extra spice for any upcoming romantic interludes would be hard-pressed to find better accompaniment among recent releases.

This may be the most accessible of all Loren Connors' guitar records. As Roses Bow is an excellent balance of the gorgeous and the austere.

The high water mark of goofy progressive rock returns as a reissue.

This disc is a nice mix of music, all African, some blues, maybe just a little "African Blues", but not a lot.

Rare is the band that can craft a live album good enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder alongside its studio releases. Rarer still is the band whose live albums can cross the divide between being merely good and damn near essential.

While the hard rocking British daddy and innocent sounding waif may seem an unlikely pair, they fit together well to create a distinctively satisfying album of rootsy American music.

The brash instrumental trio's fourth full-length is bigger than any of its predecessors, but still delivers the band's raw, politically-charged energy in spades.

The simplest way to sum up this album would be to call it art metal.

Synth pop-punkers stay true to the formula that got them to where they are on third album.

Multiphonics on trumpet sound, well, different. There's also a ballad to show Matt Shulman can do the standard thing as well as...anyone.

One of the more unnecessary participants in the festive 'best of' procession, Time for Heroes is to here to at last condense the Libertines' vast array of two albums onto just the one.

Long mainstays of Boston's improv scene, guitar-crazed Major Stars bust out brutal riffage, behemoth 1960s grooves and blues-y female-centric vocals.

Jacob Fairley's sophomore album as Fairmont secures Border Community as home to the living beat of modern techno. James Holden cannot be stopped.

Popular music comes to an interesting crossroads on this British band's adventurous debut.

The vintage, never-before-released outing from the a high point of Monk's career

Solid second effort from Minneapolis Americana combo with a respected folk lineage.