Staff Picks for July 2013
July 31, 2013
Somewhat buried due to its method of release (in the US, it's popping up only in certain big box outlets and digital services), LeAnn Rimes' Spitfire is one of the best country albums released this year: tough and adventurous, funny and soulful, and featuring an A-list roster of collaborators including Jeff Beck, Rob Thomas, Alison Krauss, David Baerwald and Dan Wilson.
July 30, 2013
Pigface, Ministry and Revolting Cocks affiliate Chris Connelly's second solo outing is dark, beautiful, and more often than not bad ass, especially when he's pounding out caustic anti-anthems like "July" and Bowie-esque cerebrum ticklers like the surging, numbed out "Come Down Here".
July 28, 2013
This was the first of Sergio Mendes' legendary run of '60s recordings to hit hard in the USA. Jorge Ben's bossa nova "Mas Que Nada," was delivered with a tight, hard-grooving, arrangement—it was a smash in America despite having Portuguese lyrics. The set also contains a discotheque-ready treatment of the Beatles "Day Tripper," a sensual read of Burt Bacharach's Goin' Out Of My Head," and the killer Brazilian jam "Tim Dom Dom," João Mello.
July 27, 2013
Rock over London, rock on, Chicago! Does it really matter which album you listen to? Not really, but this 1996 offering from the late budget keyboard playing, schizophrenic street singer with a headbutt callus and a flair for advertising was also his first to receive any label support, which did little in the way of style and substance, but resulted in a much cleaner sound.
July 26, 2013
The big news concerning the new ZZ Top box The Complete Studio Albums (1970-1990) is that it restores the original mixes to the band's first three albums. Of these, Tres Hombres is the undisputed classic, but 1972's Rio Grande Mud is the one I've been playing the most. Here, the trio were working out the kinks in their sound and if they occasionally stumble, the record nevertheless sounds like a monster, particularly in its thick original mix. Plus, it has "Francine," which sometimes sounds like the best song they ever wrote.
July 25, 2013
It's hard to imagine a more pop-perfect supergroup in 2009 than Tinted Windows. One Pumpkin, one Fountain, one Trick and one Hanson, each sharpening their pop hooks and singing guitar-group songs about love, girls and heartache all with a crisp sugary coating.
July 24, 2013
William Haislip Squier's second studio outing had some real gems ("In the Dark," "Lonely is the Night," "My Kinda Lover"), but he knocked it out of the park with the classic Trans Am jam "The Stroke," which was purportedly about the slimier bits of the music business, and not the national anthem for puberty.
July 23, 2013
Given his subsequent rise to jazz trumpeter fame, it might be tempting to see this 1992 album through the prism of Dave Douglas, but New and Used were a truly collaborative band featuring five top artists of the ‘90s New York downtown scene, and the group’s debut album presented them at their best.
July 22, 2013
Even if it has an odds'n'sods feel to it, a collection of Morrissey B-sides from the '90s is hard to pass up for any fan, especially when it includes prime material like the oh-so-Smiths-like "Sister I'm a Poet" and a live cover of T-Rex's "Cosmic Dancer."
July 21, 2013
The first album from Mutsumi Kanamori and her husband, house vet Maurice Fulton, was released a decade ago this month. It remains a thrilling, confrontational listen -- a lunatic jumble of electro-punk, left-field house, and flat-out noise.
July 20, 2013
Post-rock may have been dominated by the more intellectual experiments of acts like Tortoise, but Movietone -- and this album in particular -- proved that the style could have heart, too. Each song here is infused with a delicate warmth, whether it comes from Kate Wright's meditative singing or the evocative sounds around her.
July 19, 2013
Some of the cleverest, most irony-drenched lyrics ever put to record. A personal favorite is "I don't want to blend in and be indistinguishable. I want to be part of the different crowd and assert my individuality along with others who are different like me." And who could forget the brilliant alt-rock radio single, "Detachable Penis?"
July 18, 2013
It's totally cool if you forgot about Bettie S. Makes sense really, since they sort of disappeared after a couple really good indie rock albums in the '90s. Funny thing, though, they never stopped making really strong records like this one. Live wire guitars, hooky songs and Carol van Dijk's amazing vocals combine to time travel you back (happily) to the old old days of post-grunge indie.
July 17, 2013
Before metalcore was a fixture of the mall set, it was a furious underground movement raging out in basements all across America, and no one delivered hostility, frustration, and agitation quite like Coalesce, whose Give Them Rope still stands as one of the most aggressive albums the genre (or any other, really) has ever seen.
July 16, 2013
Blaster Phil Alvin continues his exploration of Americana on County Fair 2000 with references to Ellingtonia, Delta blues, New Orleans brass bands, rockabilly/country, and Jimmy Reed. For his second solo release, Alvin assembled an impressive list of like minded musicians including the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Billy Boy Arnold, Cesar Rosas and members of the Blasters.
July 15, 2013
He's reggae royalty and still releases beautiful music, but I miss the days when Luciano was known as "musically adventurous". Messenger is one of his most ambitious efforts, including the grand "Guess What's Happening", a bittersweet song full of hope and, believe it or not, reggae whistling.
July 14, 2013
Maria McKee's second solo album brought together all of the former Lone Justice vocalist’s rootsy influences from '70s rock, to old school country to contemporary R&B. The record’s lead single, "I'm Gonna Soothe You, Baby," is an overlooked '90s gem that, as with all of McKee's work, deserves a second look.
July 12, 2013
Wilder than virtually ANY rockabilly act in music history, this 28 track compilation is chock full of raw, salacious swagger, burning guitar licks, savage screams and frenetic energy. It belongs on the shelf next to Elvis Presley's Sun Sessions, Chuck Berry's Great 28 and Little Richard's Specialty Sessions.
July 11, 2013
Following the flawless pop production of 2010's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye's sixth record took a colder, more minimal turn. Brief by hip hop standards, the album's 40 minutes are filled with abrasive electronic beats, caustic production and some of the more bile-soaked rhymes from an already notoriously acidic personality.
July 10, 2013
A true classic of the tropicália movement, and one of the most darkest and most overtly political, Francisco Buarque de Hollanda's fifth long player offers up ten ornate slabs of heavily orchestrated, bossa nova-kissed bliss that are as breathtakingly gorgeous as they are emotionally charged.
July 9, 2013
After a five-year break, these Canterbury and Zappa-informed Belgian avant jazzers returned in 2013 with a retooled lineup and a stylistically diverse blend of creative jazz and avant-prog on arguably their strongest album to date.
July 8, 2013
No need to be sniffy about Chevelle just because they won some Dove Awards early in their career and lit up Ozzfest later on -- they had loads of hipster cred way back when, plus some pretty good music, including their debut (produced by Steve Albini and featuring Fred Armisen in the accompanying electronic press kit).
July 7, 2013
The jazz/R&B vocalist with crossover soft-rock appeal followed What You Won't Do for Love, his biggest album, with one that is even better. Nothing here fared as well as the previous album's title song, but it deserved as much commercial success as contemporary releases from fellow genre crossers Boz Scaggs and Gino Vannelli.
July 6, 2013
With their second album, the Simon Johns-led band drifted further away from musical orbit of Johns' other group, Stereolab. Yes, there are plenty of bubbly keyboards and demure vocals here, but also chiming folk-pop and doomy rock -- plus the album opens with a trio of pop songs that were among 2006's finest.
July 5, 2013
Okay, so it doesn't live up to masterpiece status of Paid in Full, but Eric B. & Rakim's 1992 album has some great moments as well. "What's on Your Mind?" is a stone cold rap jam that showed the typically screwfaced MC could be smooth, the title track is a classic, and "Juice (Know the Ledge)" is arguably the best song on the soundtrack from Juice.
July 4, 2013
The title track is one of the all-time great reggae jams. Sung by two teenage girls and backed by the super tight Revolutionaries, led by Tommy McCook, it's pretty much perfect. The rest of the album, despite what some may say, is full of naive charm and some nice tunes too. Plus, it's probably the sweetest sounding album about Jah ever.
July 3, 2013
While it's a known quantity that wine can get better with time, a lesser know fact is that Overkill is capable of the same feat. Despite being their fifteenth album, Ironbound is an album of vital and punishing thrash that more than crushes any of the contemporary work by the genre's "Big Four."
July 2, 2013
On this DIW release, multi-reedist and composer David Murray produces exciting flashes of furious free jazz, but reins in his avant garde leanings, opting for an overall melodic yet bluesy style.
July 1, 2013
I didn't even know Michelle Chamuel was a contestant on The Voice till the last minute. but a couple years ago I fell in love with "It Could Be" from her former group, Ella Riot. Check out that sharp bit of slick pop-disco on their self-titled, 2011 EP.