Staff Picks for May 2014
May 31, 2014
By 1990, thrash and death metal had taken over, and Judas Priest's classic sound was out of vogue. Plus, their last two albums had been kind of stinkers. There must have been a band meeting where they said, "Let's show these whippersnappers a thing or two," and Painkiller was born. Easily the fastest and heaviest album of the band's catalog, it would also be their last with Rob Halford until his return in 2005. Had it been their final release, it would have been an amazing way to go out. The title track is an established classic, but don't miss "Hell Patrol," "Night Crawler" and "All Guns Blazing."
![Donnie Darko [Original Motion Picture Score]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0001065082/front/400/41bSLUPCeNTXeZh8Psjhix_TZlp6n_cq-Emr2zx15tU=.jpg)
May 30, 2014
The first feature film score for Freaks and Geeks composer Michael Andrews, Donnie Darko was the very definition of atmospheric, both visually and sonically. Andrews' funereal and sparsely arranged, largely piano based waltzes settled in like a wet, dense fog, and spawned numerous copycats (Daniel Licht's incidental music for Showtime's Dexter being the most apparent), and he and Gary Jules' austere re-imagining of Tears for Fears' "Mad World" nearly eclipsed the original.
May 29, 2014
He may have led one of the most popular rock groups of the '70s but Dennis DeYoung never quite seemed like a rocker. He was a song-and-dance man meant for the Great White Way, something that's quite evident on his solo 1984 debut. Even at its hardest rocking--the first side, where he covers Hendrix and offers the inspirational "Don't Wait For Heroes," which sounds like a forefather to Billy Joel's "You're Only Human (Second Wind)"-- he feels like he's angling for a curtain call, but that theatricality is part of what's interesting about the LP. What's also interesting is "Desert Moon" itself, one of the great power ballads of the mid-'80s, capturing all the power of an arena while dressed in all the synth trappings of MTV.
May 28, 2014
The third album from this krautrock collective came in the form of a brain-boggling double album. Over the four side-long suites, Dance of the Lemmings would break new ground and set the parameters for acid folk and all psychedelia that followed it.
May 27, 2014
While it won't get as much 20th anniversary love as Dookie or The Downward Spiral, this is still one of 1994's cult classics. Brainiac's combustive, new wave-damaged noise-rock sounds even more flexible and dynamic than it did on Smack Bunny Baby, with herky-jerky riffs and rhythms and Timmy Taylor's outlandish vocals coalescing into something suspiciously, and surprisingly, like hooks. Two decades later, these songs are as brash and weird as ever.
May 26, 2014
Get lucky and you might find Percee P selling his mixtapes outside of NYC's Fat Beats record store, but the bad news about the man's quaint distro model is that he only has one official album in his discography. Still, it's a monster as 2007's Perseverance was exclusively produced by Madlib, plus the guest list (Vinnie Paz to Charlie 2na) is as diverse as the sample sources (Donald Byrd to Van der Graaf Generator).
May 25, 2014
One of the best songwriters of the 1960s and early '70s, Jesse Winchester would have been as well known and regarded as any of these had history not swept him from Louisiana, where he was born, to Montreal, Canada, where he took up residence in exile to avoid the Vietnam War. Winchester began writing songs that were sparse, elegant, personal, and somehow also fascinatingly allusive and elusive, all filled with a kind of exhausted yearning for home, place, and identity. This set combines his first two albums in one package, and taken together, they show a compelling and unique songwriter, graceful and intelligent, with a sharp eye for detail and melody.
May 24, 2014
Pissed off at the state of W's America in the mid-2000s, New York drummer, composer, and bandleader Bobby Previte assembled an all-star outfit to rock out on some highlights among his earlier downtown jazz compositions, firing up the music to reflect his activist mood. The effectiveness of instrumental music in fomenting political change might be an open question, but there's little doubt that the result in this case was some of Previte's most powerful music ever.
May 23, 2014
While Mark McGrath flexes his cinematic "chops" in Sharknado 2, let's not forget he fronted a loveably bad band before he became a bad actor. Sugar Ray were a terrible grunge/metal band, had weak hip hop beats, were hit/miss as a pop band, and never met a cover version they couldn't completely botch. Floored is their highlight because it has "Fly" and that's an all time jam that even these lunkheads couldn't ruin. The rest of the album is a fun time capsule for fellow haters of the 90s and contains a really awful take on Adam & the Ants "Stand and Deliver" that's totally worth hearing.
May 22, 2014
This was when Hatebreed started to blur the line between classic hardcore and a more overtly metal approach. The lyrical self-affirmations of hardcore were still there, but the Slayer guitar tones and galloping rhythms were much more in line with the metal world. There's a certain flawless simplicity to all 32 minutes, but the master stroke comes in the thunderous breakdown on "Doomsayer," which invariably results in maximum violence at live shows.
May 21, 2014
Not many artists get around to making their best album when they're 68 years old, but this superlative exercise in supper-club blues, released in 1990, showed R&B legend Charles Brown hadn't lost a bit of his edge since "Driftin' Blues" hit the charts in 1945. Brown's piano work is outstanding (as is the backing from his road band), the guest spots from Dr. John and Ruth Brown add welcome texture, and Brown's voice, weathered but still supple, is the perfect vehicle for this set of late night blues. All My Life defines the phrase "late career triumph."
May 20, 2014
Hailed by many upon its release as the band's first disappointment, the Pogues' fourth album is a colorful effort that deserves another look. Though nearing his alcohol and drug-addled peak, singer Shane MacGowan still turns in some sterling songs while his bandmates ably fill in the gaps with some strong material of their own all set against Steve Lillywhite's lushly-layered production.
May 19, 2014
A discussion among friends and colleagues about what is the most listless album by a major pop artist brought up this 1986 contender from Elton John. Released at the tail end of his contract with Geffen, it is that rarest of things: an Elton album without a hit single. It had no hits because Geffen wasn't interested in promoting the LP but also because John couldn't be bothered to write a melody. To compensate, producer Gus Dudgeon indulges in every bad production idea of the mid-'80s--keyboards create almost every sound, so it's crisp, bright and brittle--and while that would theoretically make for an interesting time capsule but all involved are just going through the motions. It's easy to think of worse records by a major star but hard to think of one as boring as this.
May 18, 2014
Like the sleazy, sunset strip metal that oozed out of it, the cover of Ratt's 1984 debut album couldn't have been more transparent (a scantily clad woman gazes lustily into a hole in the ground), but Out of the Cellar was as hook-filled as it was bereft of nuance, and songs like "Round and Round," "Wanted Man," and "Lack of Communication" still hold up, especially when played at top volume via the Dolby-blasted, reversible AM/FM stereo/cassette deck of of a lipstick red Pontiac Fiero.
May 17, 2014
One of only a few bands signed exclusively to Def Jam Japan, Teriyaki Boyz gained cred from Nigo, Bathing Ape streetwear founder, being a member of the crew. The record was only released in Japan, but features an impressive variety of producers including Ad-Rock, Daft Punk, Mark Ronson, DJ Shadow, and Dan the Automator.
May 16, 2014
Nurse with Wound albums can be frantic drone epics or eccentric shards from the edge of the avant garde, but this one is a whole bunch of fractured fun. Sampled bits of '50s kitsch are arranged into two strange collages (titled "You Walrus Hurt the One You Love" and "Great Balls of Fur") for an album that could be filed under "uneasy listening" or "LSD exotica".
May 15, 2014
Released at the climax of the boyband furvor of the late '90s/early '00s, Soul Decision's debut is a funky, utterly infectious concoction of '70s-influenced funk and blue-eyed soul, with a thick layer of contemporary dance-club sheen. Hey girl, it might sound kinda crazy, but I love this record.
May 14, 2014
In 1998, Mike Ireland and Holler made one of the best country albums of the decade, but had the poor fortune of being signed to Sub Pop Records, a fine label that had sadly no idea how to market Ireland's simple, eloquent songs of heartbreak and survival. Written in the aftermath of the breakup of Ireland's marriage and previous band, Learning How To Live is beautiful, heart-broken country music, part honky-tonk and part countrypolitan, that's both literate and down to earth. Ireland never found his audience, but if any album deserves a second chance, it's this one.
May 13, 2014
If the third wave ska punk revival core (or whatever you want to call it) of the 90s has a pinnacle, surely this brilliant album is it. Fifteen tracks of hooky, happy fun and frolic punctuated by giddy horn blasts, a rollicking rhythm section that won't quit, and two amazingly strong vocalists (Elise Rogers and Karina Denike) who could sing circles around Gwen Stefani.
May 12, 2014
When dealing with a group like Autechre, accessible is a relative term, but on 2003's Draft 7.30, the experimental duo delivered one of their most approachable albums to date. Pairing big beats with skittering, glitched out rhythms, the album is a convergence of order and chaos that always feels like it's about to completely fall apart, but miraculously never does.
May 11, 2014
Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato is clearly drawn to chaos, as indicated on this five-song 2004 EP. The lineup for this jagged, electronic-meets-hardcore shotgun blast is rounded out by Brett Gurewitz from Bad Religion and NIN helper Atticus Ross. The shattered glass effects that kick off opener "Nothing's Working" are a succinct synopsis of the piercing attack that follows.
May 10, 2014
The Coathangers' debut is a snotty introduction to the all-girl Atlanta combo. The album dives into such elegant topics as the comfort of being embrced by a woman ("Nestle in My Boobies"), the boundries you should keep with people ("Don't Touch My Shit"), and one of the most imporatant sports rivalries of our time ("Tonya Harding").
May 9, 2014
Every so often, I'm blindsided by the genius of Elmore James. Recently, it was the ferocious sides for Flair that grabbed me - his vocals are as explosive as his slide guitar - but this 1993 Rhino compilation remains the best overall overview of his work.
May 8, 2014
Although it was released in 2010, Ironbound, Overkill's stellar sixteenth album, feels like it could've been a genre-defining album in the '80s. Where thash metal's big four have largely faded away or collapsed under their own success, Overkill defied the odds and got better with age, creating an album that doesn't just blow away anything their contemporaries are doing now, but could stand up to some of the best work the genre's elite had to offer when they were at the height of their power.
May 7, 2014
Following an explosively lo-fi four song demo, this Syracuse punk band followed up with a similarly raw debut full length, pushing both volume and emotional tumult into the red with melodic guitar lines meshing with singer Meredith Graves' vitriolic lyrics, delivered in a voice somewhere between an exuberant scream and a spoken poem.
May 6, 2014
Combining the soulful, Hammond organ approach of Jimmy Smith with the second-line traditions and tuba-driven sound of New Orleans jazz, saxophonist Craig Handy's 2nd Line Smith is a raucous, yet sophisticated album with a melodic, bluesy edge. It's also one of the most inspired and infectious albums of his career.
May 5, 2014
Guitarist and conceptualist Dan Kaufman's band evokes the history of the Roman Jews here - the city's longest continuing residents, dating back more than 2,000 years. These pieces are on liturgical melodies, shot through with rock, vanguard classical music, structured improvisation, and modern chamber jazz.
May 4, 2014
Not repetitive enough to qualify as post-rock and not sparse enough to be truly minimalist, the second and final album from Australia's Clann Zu is built on unadorned instrumentation punctuated by bursts of sound and first take-sounding vocals. With the nakedly emotional "One Bedroom Apartment" serving as the album's centerpiece, the band was just on the cusp of a major creative breakthrough but broke up shortly after the album's release.
May 3, 2014
The New Yorkers' third album is a beguiling pastiche of found sounds, warped samples, live playing, and wickedly clever song arrangements. Their oddball deconstructions of sampled self-help recordings, obscure children's stories, and Ghandi quotes are as funny as they are hopeful. The Books succeeded in building an inviting and distinctly original alternate universe.
![Sing Your Song [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0003438544/front/400/Uy1sThboW6XCGfoPFwxS54Af7E_1E-2MlBBPmPAXRBU=.jpg)
May 2, 2014
Harry Belafonte's silky-smooth mixture of jazz, folk, pop, and art song, often with impossibly infectious West Indies-styled accompaniment, coupled with his charismatic good looks and easy, hip coolness and sharp racial and political sense, meant he was never reduced to being a mere commodity, even though he spent his whole career on major labels. This concise set, the soundtrack to a documentary on his life, contains his most essential tracks thoughtfully arranged, and shows a committed, consistent artist with an elegant and hopeful vision who always brought intelligence, passion, and grace to the table.
May 1, 2014
Don't forgo any of his early masterworks in place of this one, but I Am the West is an overlooked, late album stunner from Ice Cube. This slept on favorite is also a great blueprint for gansta rappers reaching middle age as it combines wisdom with old school wickedness while offering a gutter alternative to the man's squeaky clean movies like Are We There Yet?