|
CD Reviews - August 2006
ARCHIVE:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
< back to July 2006
This page has moved. Please update your bookmarks.
[Wednesday, 6.Sep.06]
The British metal legends defy the odds yet again on their strongest album in 18 years.
Unsurprisingly, the debut from graduates of Sean 'Diddy' Combs's Making the Band reality show matches spotless production with over-processed, faceless singing. This would make the ideal soundtrack for artificial insemination.
Psalm One has the fire, the flow, and the charisma to succeed -- once she finds the production, she'll fly.
Artology is not radically different from JPP's earlier releases, but the group is, as always, reliably excellent.
The full-length by this Midwest trio comes on the heels of their phenomenal debut EP. Will lightning strike twice?
Don't look now, but there's a gang from Cairo on the loose. Well, they're really from Chicago, and they bring with them a sound that falls somewhere between Wilco and the Velvet Underground if they wore beads.
Melodic Virginian blues in the old style, broadened in repertoire, but everything personal, nothing routine.
[Tuesday, 5.Sep.06]
Modern Times is being universally acclaimed as a work of genius, but trying to differentiate between a solid album from an undeniable master and an undeniable masterpiece is getting into Clintonian semantics.
At his best, Krush is one of the foremost producers of instrumental hip-hop in the world.
Whichever way you look at it, this is a landmark release in the nearly 40-year career of Chicago’s most important home-grown avant-jazzers.
A Funnel Cloud may have touched down in Hem's world, but you'll walk away from this new work with the impression that all is well, or that it at least will be soon.
The task of mixing a quintessential journey through American house genres falls to... a Frenchman?
Volcano and Heart is a bit of a guilty pleasure. It's not going to win many awards for innovation, but the band's attractive, atmospheric compositions have their own charm.
Call me a mash-up snob, but I just don’t have time to listen to freshmen from Arizona State screwing Tapes n’ Tapes together with … with, whoever. Jim Croce. (Actually, that would be great. Bad example.)
[Friday, 1.Sep.06]
Living among ghosts of MCs past, remembering every harsh word a critic ever uttered, Method Man races to prove his relevance.
Is it preachy? Sure it is, but this collaborative effort is dope. And when I say "dope", I mean "dope".
The reggae collective responsible for Dub Side of the Moon reinterprets Radiohead's OK Computer, offering fresh perspectives on well-worn songs and creating a new vibe from an old atmosphere.
Steven Bernstein's jazz pranksters take on Martin Denny-style lounge exotica, mixing bold jazz with nostalgic bird-call texture. A mixed drink, for sure.
Under their new moniker, the Shys struggle to bring their live energy to the recording studio, resulting in an up-and-down, but not dissatisfying, straight rock record.
'Cruel Words' is an eerie treat of musical inventiveness from the dark hinterland of Americana. Exceptional!
The annual summer punk primer gives the kids what they want: more of everything, for a cheap price.
Bangers & Grime impresario Luca Venezia conjures vast echoing spaces and strobe-lit throngs in his second full-length.
[Thursday, 31.Aug.06]
Startlingly ambitious and soulful, in all its jazzy pop majesty, Through The Windowpane is a truly magnificent record quite unlike anything else you'll hear this year.
On this exceptional two-disc compilation, an all-star cast of DJs and producers pays tribute to an acid jazz giant and provides an ideal introduction to the sophisticated world of broken beat music.
Darker My Love is an excellent debut from a band delightfully willing to spurn the pop charts in favor of a consistent, interesting, absorbing musical vision.
The good and great songs easily overpower the middleweights, making for a very strong Bruce Cockburn album that even his casual fans will want to pick up.
Who would have guesed it? It turns out Leafcutter John is a genius.
I know, another Billy Joel compilation? Live, even? Yes, but standing on its own, 12 Gardens Live is actually a very good listen.
If you can't make it to the Waldschwimmbad Obertshausen in September for this year's Green & Blue festival, listening to this disc may be the next best thing.
[Wednesday, 30.Aug.06]
Lambchop have long been one of America's greatest bands, and Damaged is their greatest achievement.
A big man with a big hat, a likeably warm baritone, and a fine ear for a crowd-pleasing song, Trace Adkins is one of those country types you could end up enjoying despite yourself.
Has it really been six years?
Back in the day, doo-wop was all the rage. Meet two of the groups that kept the airwaves hoppin'. You might even blast them in your stereo.
If Count Basie had been a Zappa fan, he might have made this album. He wasn't, so Ed Palermo's done it instead.
The Slow Signal Fade taps Steve Albini for an all-or-nothing stab at the coveted next level.
If you didn't like prog house back in 2002, you probably won't like it any better in 2006.
[Tuesday, 29.Aug.06]
What in the name of Memphis Bleek were the elegant, politically fiery, underappreciated Roots, who could establish a foundation to begin donating the street cred they’d amassed over the years, doing hanging the hat on the door of the blingiest big-shot in the game, the guy re-touring with R. Friggin’ Kelly by day and spooning with Beyonce by night?
Thirty one years later, Motörhead hasn't changed at all. Not that we ever want them to.
Ocote Soul Sounds and Adrian Quesada take their place as an Afro-Cuban Gotan Project -- or perhaps a Breakestra for beach relaxation -- with an album that is exceptional and essential.
A curious puzzle of an album, you have to spend time with Anathallo's excellent, awful, and sometimes just fine Floating World in order to sort it all out.
The next wave of that wooden-legged phenomenon known as Shania? Well, good luck with that.
Ziggy Kinder produces minimal techno animated by a spirit of puckish enthusiasm that places the work at odds with the overriding perception of most modern electronic music.
The "acid jazz" outfit run by saxophonist Mars Williams sounds dated and uncommitted in its first disc in over five years.
[Monday, 28.Aug.06]
This album isn't just great, it's Album-of-the-Year HEROICALLY great.
She seems to be self-involved in a way that her predecessors were not, and that can lead to occasionally bad music. However, Back to Basics is a challenging piece of pop that manages to look backwards and forward at the same time.
What makes the Dears a cut above, a band that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as its Canadian indie compatriots the New Pornographers or Broken Social Scene, is the voice of Murray Lightburn.
"Welcome to A&W, my name is Devin. Can I take your stinkin' order!!!"
Every single track on For Waiting, for Chasing oozes with the love that Mark Nelson harbors for his young son.
Clearly a very talented pianist, but with a tendency to get into what's not in the current sense a groove. Samey.
No new continents explored by ex-Cocteau Twin Guthrie. A haunting and haunted release.
[Friday, 25.Aug.06]
The problem is that while the whole of Dilla's first true posthumous release is incredibly solid and expertly crafted, it's for the most part unremarkable.
Seeing the label break out from a more rigorously orthodox understanding of techno feels a lot more natural than skeptics might expect.
Four discs of folk songs recorded by Roger McGuinn. Nothing more need be said.
Two suites of complexly orchestrated jazz that update The Birth of the Cool -- and two takes on the whole shebang.
Drawing on sounds ranging from animal noises to construction sounds, manic producer Otto von Schirach has created an album that is definitely not for the squeamish.
If the throat-singing intervals from Old Time Relijun's 2012 left you jonesing for a whole CD of the same, your prayers are answered.
A gloomy ride into the ominous possibilites of electronic mutant jazz. Is this the kind of movie you'd like to see?
Berlin's Matthias Grübel adds his name to the growing list of sensitive indie-technoglitch guys.
[Thursday, 24.Aug.06]
Do goats get lonely? John Darnielle attempts to explain on the latest bucket drawn from his bottomless song well.
On their latest album, the members of Comets on Fire refine their psychedelic rock by showing a softer side without neglecting the groovy freakouts for which they earned their fame.
Yeah, Brown's vocals are so goddamn weird that they get the brunt of a listener's attention. The voice seems to come from somewhere deep in his stomach and get strangled by his liver, lungs, and kidneys on the way to his mouth. That's a good thing.
The Portuguese metal veterans deliver a sublime exercise in goth doom and gloom.
Hyped snotty Britpunks lose some of their 'tude by picking on easy targets.
The vibraphone is probably the uncoolest member of the percussion family.
Jazz bass wizardry so astonishing that it is mostly pointless.
[Wednesday, 23.Aug.06]
If ever the United States needed a prophet of unrestrained and articulate politicized anger, it's now.
Miami rapper channels your local multiplex.
Jazz pianist, vocalist, and writer Patricia Barber plays it too cool on the overly restrained Mythologies.
Have you had enough of '80s new wave yet? No? Well, then, Boy Kill Boy may have just the catchy hooks to tide you over until the new Killers album drops.
No more GBV? Don’t worry dear people, you still have Pollard! And you also have Clouds Forming Crowns -- a shaggy, ragged and at time joyous offshoot of what once was GBV.
Take Dylan's scratchy vocals, channel it through Springsteen's pop grandeur, and throw some of Lennon's psychedelia on for good measure... but Chemical City still manages to disappoint with those ingredients.
The classical bassist with a woodsy bent indulges his inner folkie by overdubbing mandolin, dobro, guitar, piano, and gamba in a series of pastoral tone poems.
[Tuesday, 22.Aug.06]
Omaha postpunkers get political, bring the horns, on 14 "hymns for the heathen".
The UK singer-songwriter continues to find her own voice on the follow-up to the impressive The Disconnection.
KEXP fundraising compilation delivers quality performances from some of indie rock's hottest talents...but takes very few chances.
On his annual mix, Watt features more of the chill but often chilly deep house that's made Buzzin' Fly's name -- and staves off a 'challenge', too.
Mostly sunny, while still retaining the bite of musicians playing with intensity, and well-produced without any gimmickry, Lamp Fall is at the top of the Afro-pop ranks.
This is fine, technically precise production quality from a Moscow scene that shows much promise.
Sadly, the story of how the album title came to be is more interesting than the music itself.
[Monday, 21.Aug.06]
It isn't hard to find a musician writing songs "from the heart", but how often do those songs feel genuinely heartfelt to you, and really hit you in your own heart?
The great soul queen discovers god and disco... and puts them together with surprisingly good results.
Obie goes all-the-way gangsta in an attempt to add a minute or two onto his rapidly expiring 15.
Today's best all-around guitar player keeps moving laterally in the move toward being a great songwriter…'til then it's still music for musicians and jam culture, though it transcends both labels.
On their second album, the members of Bedroom Walls hone their dreamy indie pop and deliver a bittersweet meditation on youth and heartache.
Going the indie route, Vaux is banking on letting listeners into their own rock/punk/emo world. And it's definitely anything but cookie-cutter.
Inspired by his wife and two of his friends' concurrent pregnancies, the work is Leclair's concept-album response to pregnancy, and it is suitably (though not entirely) developmental.
[Friday, 18.Aug.06]
Singer Patience Hodgson seems to spend as much time in the air as on the stage. It's a good image for the enthusiasm and energy of her band.
Acoustic guitar virtuoso breaks out with help from Tortoise's John McEntire.
In the same spirit of opportunism that springs from the best crisis management, Snaith has managed to turn unpleasant circumstances on their ear in the best way possible.
Stranger Things will not gather dust on your CD shelf or be consigned to the trash bin on your desktop.
Idiosynchratic hip-hop/rock/R&B hybrid simultaneously follows in Beck's footsteps and tries to make his own way, with mixed results.
A quartet playing jazz/new music generates fiddle-fueled propulsion.
Riding on a brilliant concept and passable musicianship, the pioneering edu-core band Blöödhag brandishes books and wields literary allusions in order to spread the glory of science fiction.
It seems that until Hoobastank finally give in to their hidden adult-contemporary desires, they will be destined to languish in a morass of unoriginality.
[Thursday, 17.Aug.06]
A collection of non-essential B-sides spoiled by a preponderance of half-realized instrumentals.
The rare tribute album that actually fulfills a legitimate need in terms of paying tribute to the artist in question.
Whether they've truly subverted the label dynamic by going online-only, or simply succumbed to the long fade of dance music, this three-piece-suite offers both the best and most dreary of Underworld's once-vital work.
Live at Fillmore West puts the exclamation point in "Queen of Soul!"
A unique guitarist from the young New York scene plays funky, angular music with a sextet grounded in tuba and reeds.
Ms. Block doesn't try to be individualist, or to imitate. She interprets Robert Johnson's songs faithfully: lets them be heard better.
Montreal foursome straddles the line between TRL-friendly emo and haunting indie rock.
[Wednesday, 16.Aug.06]
The ups and downs of life's rollercoaster -- world wars and all -- are captured brillantly here by the out-of-time, transcendent troubadour M. Ward.
CSS may proclaim they 'suxxx' and that they're tired of being sexy, but go on, admit it -- Cansei De Ser Sexy is your hot hot sex.
A hairy nine-piece romp from the '20s to the '90s -- living proof that great American music has no categories.
Relentlessly nice; the opposite of whatever the avant-garde is.
A generous spread of music, some of it still with its hints-of-the-'70s flavour intact, but much of it remixed recently by contemporary DJs who have streamlined the old sounds and made them pump and thump.
Catch 22 sticks to their strengths, and Permanent Revolution is an unchallenging but satisfying effort that bounces back nicely from their last disappointment -- and manages to educate listeners about Leon Trotsky in the process.
Montreal band distill the sound of their peers but fail to offer a unique voice of their own.
[Tuesday, 15.Aug.06]
Agalloch's third album continues to tread new ground, and the results are electrifying.
Essential for a good songwriter, Matters' tunes never become predictable.
John Peel is sadly gone, and the Delgados are sadly no more. Yet this two-disc compilation from one of Scotland's finest does both the band and the radio icon extremely proud.
A triple-dose of jazz bass monsterhood -- one slice of contemporary fusion followed by two slices of jam-o-rific guest-laden funk. Get your jazz groove on.
Dog Problems sounds like Disney on crack -- which makes for one of the best albums of the summer.
This hodge-podge by a Blood Sweat & Tears sound-alike, rushed out to capitalize on the title track's success, fails to live up to that song's campy ludicrousness.
She's got a voice that can sell anything from salad dressing to credit card debt. After years in the industry, she's releasing her debut.
[Monday, 14.Aug.06]
When this Canadian born singer and emcee puts her spirit into her work, anything goes. Let's hope Anything goes platinum.
For a brief shining moment this was the sound of stoner rock.
I can't tell you whether this album is better or worse than other recordings of northeastern Cambodian animist tribes, because, to be honest, it's the first one I've heard, and for all I know it's the only one available.
The Jayhawks' drummer steps out from behind the drum kit for a fabulous first effort. And you thought Louris and Olson made the band what it was? Think again folks.
Dirty on Purpose, firmly planted in the indie music world, try their darndest on their sophomore effort, Hallelujah Sirens, not to be pinned into any subgenres.
A variety of genres come together in Generation Nation. But I should mention one unfortunate genre addition that you, PopMatters readers, aren't likely to appreciate…
By the mid 1980s, Motorhead's definitive records were behind them, but these satisfying efforts assured that the band would be rock-and-roll elder statesmen rather than has-beens.
[Friday, 11.Aug.06]
What exactly is Grace Jones' legacy? A hedonistic disco queen? An androgynous new-wave android? A snarling feline captured in photographs by Jean-Paul Goude?
Chamber jazz of the highest order, for quartet (trumpet, bassoon, cello, piano) -- a perfect mix of composition and improvisation
It switches rapidly from one sound to another as if the listener is wandering down a street catching brief snatches of radio from different doorways.
It's the stuff legends are made of -- hot beats, tight hooks, and a truckload of cannabis references from a do-it-yourself hip-hop crew.
Checking out what songs a band decides to record and what approach gets taken can prove illuminating. This seems especially true of those on the new album by that punk bluegrass group from Texas, the Meat Purveyors.
Small Sins could be a guilty pleasure or just a fine accompaniment to your late summer state of mind.
Kid 606's schizophrenic career now provides us with, of all things, an old school techno album.
The strongest feature of Pull the Brake is its everyman appeal -- you can sing along from your Prius, your pickup, your Porsche, or the paddy wagon. And that's what country music is about, yes?
[Thursday, 10.Aug.06]
For over a decade and a half, the man born David Blake has served as MC, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, making him one of the genre's most well-rounded talents.
Chances are, a simple look at the name of the artist tells you all you need to know about what's contained on the album.
The coolest thing is that this might not even be the album of his career.
An eclectic look into the world of vampires that tells us more about humans. Not a concept album, but an album with a concept.
While the Wonder Stuff's comeback was questioned last time around, this disc makes a case for both change and longevity.
Although some artists are labeled "best" with surprising ease and frequency, others need a bit of advocacy on their behalf. Here's a well-deserved salute to Randy Newman.
The Kahoots clearly know their indie pop, but are still searching for an identity.
[Wednesday, 9.Aug.06]
Another year, another Ani album, this one finding our hero examining herself as much as she does the world around her.
New four-disc box set of Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One recordings is a cross-section of seminal ska and rocksteady, and a foundation for contemporary reggae.
French Kicks have become indie rock wallpaper, and Two Thousand, while perfectly enjoyable, is, all in all, just another sheet on the wall.
Modern mainstream jazz at its broadest and deepest, African currents, After Hours, Amen!
Angola doesn't often produce international musicians, but when it does, then they're usually worth the wait.
To put Frankenreiter's music in some perspective for you, he sounds like Ben Harper -- a lot like Ben Harper.
The title might recognize being bankrupt, but in terms of songs, O'Neil is laughing all the way to the bank with this sophomore album.
[Tuesday, 8.Aug.06]
As Public Enemy's latest set of remixes focuses on beats, their politics are still bangin'. But has Public Enemy become a group of superheroes or brothers from another planet?
These five CDs fill out the live history of one of the greatest post-punk bands to ever hit the stage.
Former Wailers frontman throws his solo hat in the ring with the debut record from Tony Kanal's Kingsbury Studios.
Amidst the pleasant yet bland newer material remains hope that the Crows can one day recapture their wet-behind-the-ears, nervous and energetic charm.
Perhaps these puppies should be taken to the pound.
Lush, adult pop recorded with a true sense of beauty and transcendence that belies its darker origins.
When they're good, they're actually okay. It's when they're not good that the problems start.
[Monday, 7.Aug.06]
Slayer's best album in 16 years is also their most thought-provoking work to date.
This kid is out to prove there's more than one Jack White-type in Detroit who can do it all.
The Wee Hours Revue is a bright album, in the connotation of both intellect and luminescence. This is the debut of an experienced band that you should have heard years ago...
Three jazz super-heavyweights breathe new life into the work of visionary drummer and composer Tony Williams. This one burns!
The 1960s garage legends went soft on their major-label debut, but the bonus tracks on this reissue help redeem it.
Other compilers might provide us with overviews of famous names, but only a fan is going to put this much love into showcasing bands that would otherwise have been nothing but footnotes to the English-speaking world.
Like every other garage band, indeed...
[Friday, 4.Aug.06]
Riot City Blues sounds like it's been made by a band on rock and roll autopilot. It's a record of pastiche pieces, without the sense of impending danger or collapse that makes truly great rock and roll so thrilling.
This album is the real deal, the shit, a modern masterpiece, and I don't use those terms lightly. It rocks from beginning to end with an arched eyebrow and a steamy sexuality.
Chicago, Illinois, emcee Shawnna strikes again. So can a sista with a couple of hit singles get some love?
As an introduction to Old 97's, Hit by a Train simply can't be beat.
The best we can say for this remix album is that the original material still sounds great.
Dominic Jacobson takes a swing at hip-hop and scores with this well-balanced, deeply enjoyable treat. So why did Kid Gloves spend 2005 as a Japan-only import?
You'd expect the descriptor cinematic to be applicable here, and the term certainly fits. The album also evokes a majestic and wide-screened collision between jazz, experimental, and ethnic folk music.
At its core, it's a run-of-the-mill Brandtson record, but it's presented with such wide-eyed techno wonder you can't help but feel it creep into your skin a little more than it should.
[Thursday, 3.Aug.06]
Western blues is brought to the fore on Savane, the excellent final recording from Ali Farka Touré.
An overwhelming drone of noise that's ceaselessly propelled chemically forward.
New Orleans's Queen of Soul shows she has as much resilience as her hometown on her first album in six years.
Graffin’s distinctive vocals from his Bad Religion days transfer remarkably well into folk and country music
At least the old Carrabba had a bit of slow crescendo in his whining.
Few of these bands have anything like the personality it takes to become a great cover band. Some of them, however, do have the sense to come in out of the rain.
Jeffrey Foucault is the kind of songwriter who works within tradition and furthers it in a simultaneous moment, a true glimpse into the future of folk music.
[Wednesday, 2.Aug.06]
The Sleepy Jackson have produced another album chock full of sparkling moments. Personality is a thing to be gradually discovered and eventually treasured.
This enjoyable disc hearkens back to when indie rock hooks were big, and the guitars sounded even bigger.
In these two discs, we get a full-on tour of the 62-year-old mind of one of the great American songwriters.
In Edip Akbayram's mouth, the dreamy, hopeful sunshine of hippie psychedelica has merged with a dramatic lament.
Destroy What You Enjoy is so obviously directed toward the maintenance of a predefined image as to be a finger in the throat of all but the Hot Topic suburban drones that still find something appealing about this silly little band.
English boy group McFly deliver an album of fun, bouncy guitar pop that's something of an unabashed guilty pleasure.
Manhattan Transfer vocalist's Latin gambit is risky and rewarding.
[Tuesday, 1.Aug.06]
Is it a concept album? Is it a rock opera? It doesn't matter because ultimately this is one of the best albums of 2006.
The bar has been raised and the gauntlet is down. I would love to hear a better collection of songs this year, but I won't be holding my breath.
Are these guys serious?! Oh, screw it. "Cry for eee-TERNITYYYY!"
Booty-centric rap side project actually worth a listen.
Canadian trio makes a glorious racket with mix of traditional country-folk and elegant vocal harmonies.
Despite strong performances and thoughtful lyrics, Mary Karlzen's unremarkable music and lackluster vocals result in an album that is only just fine.
They are five fingers of the same talented hand, and if they just happen to bring in a younger audience to the Classical Appreciation Club, more power to them.
< back to July 2006
| 
