Staff Picks for January 2012
January 31, 2012
Smith's Mbira is named for the African thumb piano, though the instrument doesn't appear on Dark Lady of the Sonnets. With drummer/percussionist Pheeroan ak Laff and Chinese pipa player Min Xiao-Fen, the trumpeter uses his theory of systemic improvisation to create intricate melodies in a moody, spacious, lovely work.
January 30, 2012
This was jazz and session guitarist Howard Roberts on a psychedelic highway, merging everything into a Firesign Theatre-like montage of street noise, acoustic improvisations, stoner jokes, intermittent vocals, and electric guitar workouts that simply defies categorization. These are easily two of the strangest and most enigmatic albums Impulse ever released.
January 29, 2012
An authentic disco group is a rarity in the 2010s, and rarer still is one that sounds authentic and modern. On their self-titled debut, Escort does all this and more, spanning Euro-disco, purist disco and tropical strains as singer Adeline Michele and the rest of the 17-strong crew get dance floors moving.
January 28, 2012
Omni's reissue of Dick Curless's 1968 album The Long Lonesome Road is expanded by 19 tracks, improving an LP that was already a truck driving country classic.
January 27, 2012
Before singer-songwriter A.A. Bondy made waves with his Southern gothic indie folk stylings, he fronted alt-rock outfit Verbena. On their full-length debut, the Birmingham-based outfit's snarling, cocksure tales of vice, excess and rock 'n' roll itself land somewhere between Rolling Stones and Royal Trux.
January 26, 2012
Even with Drake, Lil Wayne, and Timberlake on the guest list of this Bad Boy release, the person who feels most at home here is Grace Jones. This fashion-obsessed, house-meets-rap album comes from the House of Diddy's 2010 Winter Collection, but it still wears well. Fabulously, actually.
January 25, 2012
The Wire frontman's fourth solo album, released in 1986, predated chamber pop by several years. It layered gorgeous vocal melodies with brass, woodwinds, and strings; unlike those who came later, like High Llamas and Eric Matthews, Newman owed seemingly little to Burt Bacharach and the Beach Boys.
January 24, 2012
Cold winter evenings were invented for this Julie London compilatiion. Julie...At Home is a warm and relaxed evening, while Around Midnight gets cooler and darker. Pour a highball and settle in for the night!
January 23, 2012
Great band name! Great album cover! Slicked up Love Rock jams with cute female vocals! "Mt. Pleasant" is the jam, but the rest is super fun too!
January 22, 2012
This picture perfect, summer pop record from a pre-Broadway bound Stew and his merry band of "not as controversial as their name would suggest" provocateurs found the scantily clad sweet spot between the Kinks, Otis Redding and Frank Zappa.
January 21, 2012
While Marc Bolan's glam-rock superhero status is more attributed to classic albums like Electric Warrior or The Slider, this hodge-podged 1974 album was a frenzied, deep-fried collection of over-the-top melodies and glitter-dusted rock and roll doggy-paddling through the disco age.
January 20, 2012
Diego Garcia's 2011 debut Laura is a gorgeously crafted, ceaselessly melodic mix of soft-focus '60s-influenced pop reminiscent of Harry Nilsson, Nick Garrie and others. Tracks like the slow-burn caravan "All Eyes On You," and the dreamy "You Were Never There" are as immediately catchy as they are passionately evocative.
January 19, 2012
Various Artists
The best shots from Bad Boy Records don't add up to much more than the sum of their parts, although one of those parts is the remix of "Flava in Ya Ear," the best posse track, bar none, in hip-hop history.
January 18, 2012
L.A. Confidential contains a treasure trove of unreleased Stiv Bators outtakes from sessions recorded in 1979 and 1980 by Bomp mastermind Greg Shaw. The 18 tracks are remastered from the original tapes including a rehearsal of the Damned's "Neat, Neat, Neat," and "Morrison Rant" recorded live at the Ritz in 1980.
January 16, 2012
It's official. At the Drive In is back together and scheduled to play the 2012 Coachella fest! Time to dust off those old CDs, starting with where they last left off, Relationship of Command. Can you believe that was nearly a dozen years ago? Man, time flies.
January 15, 2012
This mid-period curiosity from sax legend Eddie Harris starts out by the numbers, but soon takes a turn for spectral spiritual jazz territory. A widely varied affair, "Silver Cycles" nods towards a heavy Coltrane influence, especially in it's most free moments.
January 14, 2012
Eclectic big band Either/Orchestra's exuberant performance at the 2004 Ethiopian Music Festival is captured here, weaving the Boston-based ensemble's versatility and virtuosity with the alternately lush and earthy melodies of Ethiopian jazz and pop, further elevated by guest appearances from legendary Ethiopian musicians Mulatu Astatke and Getatchew Mekurya.
January 13, 2012
If the idea of pairing clunky hip hop beats and post riot grrl swagger with bumbling Blues Explosion clatter (with Jon Spencer's little sis on vocals!) sounds good to you, you'll want to check this album out. It's kind of like LEN with no hooks, but it's still fun. Sorta.
January 12, 2012
Johnny Winter’s first new studio album in over seven years features Winter with guests like Sonny Landreth, Jimmy Vivino, Warren Haynes, Frank Latorre, John Popper, Vince Gill, Susan Tedeschi, brother Edgar Winter, Derek Trucks, Paul Nelson, John Medeski, and more brilliantly covering 11 classic blues numbers.
![Until the End of the World [Original Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0001458020/front/400/0kk-lVdDUjf1Prm7O5xV-D6KsMttLlyBmmVTZ6_CLs0=.jpg)
January 11, 2012
Various Artists
Bummer that the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar runs out this year, but if Wim Wenders was right, the Apocalypse will come with a great soundtrack. Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Can, and Lou Reed are all here, and all I ask is that the Earth explodes before the Jane Siberry cut comes on.
January 10, 2012
Nearly 17 years after its release, Kristin Hersh's solo debut remains stunningly personal and textured, combining and isolating the fury, beauty and insights that made her Throwing Muses work so powerful. "Me and My Charms" is still one of the loveliest and most vulnerable cris de coeur of the last two decades.
January 4, 2012
The super-glitchy, super-80s synth pop of F&L could be super-cheesy if not for the amount of super-hooky melodies and surprisingly emotional songs.
January 3, 2012
Haunting, difficult, and unforgiving, Ireland's Altar of Plagues continue to experiment with the black metal form on their second album, the icy and contemplative Mammal.
January 2, 2012
Mr. Gasser & the Weirdos were not an actual band, but a pseudonym for a surf/hot rod studio group that revolved around the artwork and persona of custom car painter Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, i.e. Mr. Gasser. Song titles such as "There's a Dog-Gone Ding in My Ding-Dong Board," "Finksville, U.S.A.," and “Little Fink Surfs Again” give you a good idea of what to expect from this fun reissue from Sundazed.
January 1, 2012
My favorite reissue of 2011: a collection of Charlie Rich's soulful, swinging sides for Smash