album reviews

April 19, 2011

Of Montreal

thecontrollersphere Polyvinyl

Click to listen to Of Montreal's thecontrollersphere Few would argue that Of Montreal leader Kevin Barnes lost his freakiness in the feverish pursuit of soul-rock nirvana, but this five-track EP of outtakes from last year's False Priest nevertheless hedges his bets. Beginning and ending with extreme noise, it further explores that album's themes of sexuality, religion, and the manmade gap between. Chaotic opening track "Black Lion Massacre" offers a nightmarish fantasy of ritu... | More »

April 14, 2011

Tune-Yards

WhoKill 4ad

There are 10 songs on the second album by Oakland's Merrill Garbus, the 32-year-old singer who records as Tune-Yards. But it seems like there are 200: whokill overflows with hip-hop, reggae, Afrobeat and funky noise freakouts — plus ukulele riffs, fluttering doo-wop vocals and what sounds like a percussion orchestra composed of pots and pans. It all hangs together thanks to Garbus' voice, which slides seamlessly from Joplin-esque howls to delicate coos. She shapes her left-bra... | More »

April 13, 2011

Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis

Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles Blue Note

Willie Nelson paying tribute to Ray Charles? Makes sense: Both men are American icons whose songbooks are full of barroom country, blues and classic pop. But Here We Go Again — recorded live in New York in 2009 with Wynton Marsalis' band and guest Norah Jones — feels like a missed opportunity. Nelson's nylon-stabbing guitar is too scarce here, giving way to Marsalis' jazz band, a slick cast that rotates solos exhaustively. The best moments? Nelson and Jones' du... | More »

Plan B

The Defamation of Strickland Banks Atlantic

A Number One hit in England, the second album from this U.K. rapper-turned-crooner is a concept record that tells the story of a fictional soul singer who is falsely imprisoned. There is courtroom drama, there are harrowing scenes in prison showers and late-night bouts of conscience in jail cells. All of it is silly in the extreme. You're advised to ignore the ridiculous plot particulars and concentrate on the album's modest pleasures: chiefly, Plan B's lovely, Smokey Robinson-... | More »

Pusha-T

Fear of God

As one half of the Clipse, Pusha-T helped raise crack rap to new artistic heights, mainly through a kind of mono-mania: Every rhyme offered a kitchen-counter vision of the drug trade. This solo mixtape debut offers little evidence that Pusha — now signed to Kanye West's GOOD Music label — has changed his worldview. "Searching for the fish scale like I'm tryna find Nemo/I still wanna sell kilos," he crows. He pours freestyles over tracks made famous by Lil Wayne and Bun B... | More »

Edwyn Collins

Losing Sleep Heavenly Recordings/Cooperative Music USA/Downtown

This is the sound of a midlife panic attack when it's informed by a near-death experience and a bone-deep love of old R&B 45s. Ex-leader of the influential Scottish band Orange Juice Edwyn Collins suffered two brain hemorrhages in 2005. This collection details the ups and downs of his post-stroke life, without ever sounding depressive or dirgey. On the Motown-style title track, he spits insecurity over snappy drumming from ex-Sex Pistol Paul Cook. On "Over the Hill," Collins lauds "c... | More »

Bill Callahan

Apocalypse Drag City

Bill Callahan — who, as Smog, spent nearly 20 years massaging his low-fi sound — brandishes a deadpan baritone and a trickster sense of humor. The centerpiece of his third disc under his own name is "America!" — on which he makes "Native American" rhyme with Afghanistan, Vietnam and Iran, and fires off guitar volleys that recall Jimi Hendrix's "Star-Spangled Banner." But the man clearly relishes supersize American grandeur: The album's gentle bookends, "Drover" and... | More »

Los Lonely Boys

Rockpango Playing in Traffic

The Texacan lite rock of Los Lonely Boys' 2004 hit "Heaven" seemed built to last. But then hard times followed: Drummer Ringo Garza and his bassist brother, JoJo, ran into trouble with the law; and two follow-up albums performed poorly. How far is heaven? Pretty far. Their latest is a rudderless band's reach for roots and realism -“ fluid Corona-hoisting blues grind, somber paeans to community in recession-plagued America, tributes to Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix. It's... | More »

April 12, 2011

TV On The Radio

Nine Types of Light Interscope

On 2008's Dear Science, these Brooklyn artistes brought twitchy dance rock with an apocalyptic edge. Well, the end of all things must've been pretty bitchin', because the follow-up is pure heaven. "I'm optimistic, on overload," they sing. TVOTR's most accessible disc rolls out grand alt-rock and thwumping future funk that's warm and grabby — from the arena-Pixies "Caffeinated Consciousness" to the Prince-ly "New Cannonball Blues." Vocalists Tunde Adebimpe a... | More »

Panda Bear

Tomboy Paw Tracks

Noah Lennox makes music swathed in so much synth noise, ambient voices and ricocheting stereophonic WTFs, it can feel like you're swept into a tidal wave of bong water. But life can feel that way too. The rapturous beauty on the Animal Collective singer's fourth solo disc is built on basic stuff: Lennox's choirboy tenor – multiplied into billowing harmonies – and sweet melodies. If it's a bit less stunning than 2007's Person Pitch, it's also more focu... | More »