Staff Picks for July 2011
July 30, 2011
Marissa Nadler's self-titled album is issued on her Box of Cedar imprint; and produced with great care by Brian McTear. Ironically, despite being self-released, it is her lushest, most sophisticated offering yet; its lyric and melodic concerns are honed to a stiletto's edge.
July 29, 2011
This month has seen the passing of Alphonso "Fonce" Mizell, who had a hand in the writing and production of numerous Jackson 5 hits, as well as dozens of crucial jazz-funk recordings with brother Larry. The latter is the focus of this excellent anthology, issued by Blue Note in 2005.
July 27, 2011
Portugal. The Man’s first release on a major label finds the band taking inspiration from T. Rex and reworking their chamber pop into digital glam rock.
July 26, 2011
The sophomore effort from breezy, English folk/chamber-pop collective The Leisure Society blends the spacious, Laurel Canyon-esque vocal prowess of Fleet Foxes with the dark witticisms and serpentine melodies of Village Green-era Kinks.
July 25, 2011
Skysaw feature former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain and create sweeping pop epics that bring to mind the '70s rock of ELO and Todd Rundgren.
July 24, 2011
On March 25, 1947, Sam Hinton recorded 54 American folk songs, all in one take, for the Library of Congress. This session was then filed away until this release of 46 of the songs. The result is an unhurried, sometimes playful, and often elegant survey of American folk music.
July 23, 2011
One of the more reflective moments in Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci’s wild and woolly career, Euros Childs and company fully embrace the British folk influence that hovered around their earlier albums. More importantly, songs like “Faraway Eyes” embody the sweet, friendly charm that made the band’s cult following so well-deserved.
July 22, 2011
Now that he's working with Jack White, maybe Detroit's Black Milk will get the recognition he's deserved for so long. He's been cranking out really good albums for years, 2010's thrillingly powerful Album of the Year is his best.
July 20, 2011
The ambitious musical partnership that spawned noise rockers Jaks and Love Life continued with the self-titled debut by Celebration, layering Katrina Ford's alternating seductive and menacing vocals with Sean Antanaitis' haunting keyboard playing to create a perfect soundtrack for exploring an abandoned carnival (or just moody late-night listening).
July 19, 2011
In the hall of appropriately titled albums, UGK’s second effort reigns supreme. This “no filler” effort features “Pocket Full of Stones, Pt. 2" from the Menace II Society soundtrack, the Dirty South anthem “Underground”, and plenty of summertime funk. Don’t be a fool, "It's Dom Perignon/It's supposed to bubble".
July 18, 2011
While we wait for Ryan Adams to release his first new album in years, we've always got this country-rock tour de force -- arguably the best of his three records from 2005 -- to tide us over.
July 17, 2011
Gillian Welch breaks an eight year silence with a brief, unadorned collection of stark, dark, nearly Gothic Americana. Produced by partner David Rawlings, this is a return to the instrumental simplicity earlier albums; it includes some of her finest songs to date.
July 16, 2011
My guilty pleasure of the month: sweet soft rock that's a perfect soundtrack to summer mornings.
July 15, 2011
Haunting and beautiful, Singer Songwriter Richard Buckner's growling baritone lulls the listener into his short stories of love and loss. This is an ideal album to listen to while driving on a dusty road with fireflies coming in and out of your open car windows.
July 14, 2011
The avant-garde collective completes their "By Sea, By Land, By Air" trilogy with this space-age requiem, with guests including Mike Patton joining them in their rusty graveyard of ambition and folly.
July 13, 2011
Despite the dodgy title, this set of love jams, easy rolling ballads, and bedroom anthems will keep you feeling good through a long summer night. Worth getting just for the classic tunes "Ignition" and "Step in the Name of Love."
July 11, 2011
Mitchell's mid-'70s landmark isn't her most popular, or her most praised, but by a wide margin it's my favorite -- a distinctive balance of smooth, languorous jazz-pop and occasional jarring textures, like the Burundi drumming and harsh synthesizers underneath "The Jungle Line."
July 10, 2011
Action Now is best remembered as an early vehicle for future Pandoras' leader Paula Pierce, but as this compilation demonstrates, as a whole, the band recorded great power pop songs. The 27 tracks on All Your Dreams...And More 1981-1984, contains the previously released French only album All Your Dreams, thought to be long gone, plus a live show from 1981 recorded at Madame Wong's West in Los Angeles.