10 CD Thurdsay: A Little Bit Country edition
Our favorite semi-regular feature is back on this week. My desk is over flowing with unlistened-to CDs, and I'd like to spin as many as possible before the great New Year's purge next week.
Heloise & The Savoir Faire "Trash, Rats and Microphones"
Heloise takes Peaches' tough-girl brashness and sets it all to a indie dance rock beat. Both tropes I enjoy, but as a combination I'm finding it incredibly annoying.
Glorytellers s/t
This album explodes immediately into the vocals with no preamble, and it has me hooked from the get go. Acoustic strumming accompanies the singer's frank delivery of sad truths with lyrics that are bluntly poetic. It's simple and sad, and I love it so much that it kind of hurts my heart. Check 'em out here.
A bit of cursory research shows that these guys are no newbies to the scene. Every member has been in at least one other band, and frontman Geoff Farina was the main force behind Karate and Secret Stars.
A Place to Bury Strangers s/t
I just can't get into this one. It sounds well done for what it is — post-apocalyptic shoegaze — but its not keeping my attention.
City and Colour "Bring Me Your Love"
Not readable by my computer. But they're from Canada.
VA "Souvenirs"
The cover promises "Modern covers of the classics: Frank Sinatra, Bill Withers, Jane's Addiction..." The who in the what now?! Too bizarre-sounding to pass up.
The verdict: Bands I never heard of covering songs I know as well as my own name? I don't know if this is something I'd ever need to listen to again, but it was interesting to hear. The cover versions tended toward ultraslick Euro-pop or wildly inappropriate smooth jazz, but they might (I said might) make an interesting addition to a party mix — particularly Chris Glover's beat-heavy version of the oft-covered "The Way You Look Tonight." Really, in all, the whole thing is kind of crap. Listen here!
more after the jump...
Bon Iver "For Emma, Forever Ago"
This really didn't grab me until about halfway through the third song, "Skinny Love." Then I got really into it. They kind of sound like an acoustic Bloc Party in their intensity, with a little bit of a vocal similarity of TV on the Radio. (One of my new projects is to learn more about vocal techniques and technicalities, so I can be more articulate about voice parts.) Actually, the more I listen to it, the more it reminds me of TVoTR. Lead singer Justin Vernon does Tunde Adebimpe's falsetto pitch-perfect.
Jim Lauderdale & The Dream Players "Honey Songs"
Rollicking country. Not my thing. But apparently Lauderdale is a big name on the scene, and his Dream Players are actually a dream team of Nashville session musicians.
Punch Brothers "Punch"
A new project by Nickel Creek's Chris Thile. Bluegrassy folk with an experimental undercurrent. The album includes Thile’s four-movement composition, "The Blind Leaving the Blind," a 42-minute pastoral romance adventure. Why is this kind of country acceptable and the former not so much? I have no answer for you. I like what I like.
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis "Music from the Motion Picture: 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'"
A dark bluegrass score for a dark cowboy movie. I haven't seen the film, but the soundtrack sounds appropriately moody. It's another one, though, that I'll probably never listen to again. Sorry Nick.
Super Furry Animals "Hey Venus!"
Melodic, peppy rock with a sense of humor. You know, your basic Super Furry Animals album.
Four out of 10.
Bonus: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
eh.www.amNY.com
