Staff Picks for May 2018
May 31, 2018
The follow-up to Mike Paradinas' landmark 1997 release Lunatic Harness is often regarded as a disappointment, simply because it isn't as weird or groundbreaking as its predecessor. This is grossly unfair, however, as Royal Astronomy is wonderful and unique in its own right. One of the producer's most eclectic albums, it leans heavily on "baroque"-sounding synths, but also explores hip-hop, drum'n'bass, and heartfelt balladry, courtesy of guest vocalist Kazumi.
May 30, 2018
Like the region it depicts, John Southworth's ambitious double album is divided into an American and Canadian side, each one glowing with mercurial jazz-tinged smart-pop and populated by richly detailed characters. An instant cult classic by a master songwriter.
May 29, 2018
Following 2008's The Latin Side of Wayne Shorter, this collection of eight Herbie Hancock tunes gets the now signature Afro-Cuban treatment from the trombonist and arranger and his all-star lineup, which includes drummer Robby Ameen, saxophonist/flutist Craig Handy, trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, pianist Bill O'Connell, bassist Ruben Rodriguez, and percussionist Pedro Martinez. Augmenting the band are second pianist Eddie Palmieri and trumpeter Randy Brecker -- both of whom turn the opener, "Oliloqui Valley," into a burner.
May 28, 2018
No wonder Steve Turre merely used his name as the title of this tour de force, for it is a supremely ambitious, self-defining project that covers an enormous amount of ground. With his trombone and signature conch shells as a base, Turre expands his reach to embrace the Western Hemisphere -- particularly Cuba and Brazil -- arranging, composing, inviting stellar guests to chip in, and ending up with a beautiful, swinging record that can't be mistaken for anyone else's.
May 27, 2018
Bad Religion had always warned against the excesses of the future and the assimilation of individuality. But the gospel cut deeper with Against the Grain. Songs began in an instant, with the single crack of a snare drum signaling the beginning of another screed. The guitars came in, twining between fiery leads and urgent, sometimes hyper chording -- the album seemed like a signal fire to the lost tribes of hardcore.
May 26, 2018
Asked to describe his style when he first dropped by the Memphis Recording Service to cut an acetate, Elvis Presley replied, "I don't sound like nobody." He wasn't kidding. This box set which collects all of Presley's pre-RCA recordings captures him in his period of greatest discovery and exploration, as his breathless fusion of R&B, country, pop, gospel, and lots more cohered into a sound that would entirely reshape popular music. He had fun doing it, too.
May 25, 2018
The result of a tumultuous couple of years that saw sisters Laura and Lydia Rogers dropped from their label and sued by their manager, You Don't Own Me Anymore dispenses with some of the retro pastiche of their two previous outings in favor of a more contemporary, though no less timeless-sounding approach.
May 24, 2018
After a lengthy break and a drastic lineup shuffle, Spain's impossibly effervescent indie pop combo come back strong on their third album that finds them experimenting with new sounds, but still delivering the same warm feels that previous works did.
May 23, 2018
For fans of hardcore, many would agree that the holy grail of the genre is Bad Brains' self-titled album, originally released back in 1982 as a cassette-only release on ROIR. The ensuing years after its initial release haven't dulled the album's fury and rage in the least, and it's still impressive how the band can switch gears from red-hot hardcore to cool reggae dubs in the blink of an eye.
May 22, 2018
Recent given a deluxe vinyl reissue by Third Man Records, the debut long player from Detroit's the Laughing Hyenas, 1989's You Can't Pray a Lie, documented their strengths as one of the most ferocious band in underground rock. The lunatic roar of John Brannon's vocals and the elemental snarl of Larissa Strickland's guitar were matched by the brute force of drummer Jim Kimball and bassist Kevin Strickland, and the result was brilliantly disorienting in its physical impact.
May 21, 2018
No one could have been adequately prepared for the sort of seismic jolt set off by Sin Disease upon its release. Merciless, brutal, neurotic, Tourettic, and consistently stunning, Scaterd Few's debut didn't push the boundaries of rock -- it annihilated them. Scaterd Few summoned a mad-scientist hybrid of dub, reggae, post-punk, and heavy metal that outshone even visionary avatars like the Pop Group.
May 20, 2018
Industrial goth punks Alien Sex Fiend are as innovative as they are campy. They've never let go of their undead, bats-in-the-belfry schtick, and have never taken themselves too seriously, so they might seem gimmicky at first, but dive into their catalog and you'll be amazed at how inventive they've always been. Their '80s singles were filled with bizarre dub effects and crazy edits, and they embraced acid house, techno, and trance early on. This double-CD focuses on their 12" singles, so it's an ideal place to start, but any of their compilations will get you up to speed.
May 19, 2018
Maybe Keane was ahead of the curve on 2007's leftfield synth-pop switcheroo. Jumping from earnest, wide-eyed Coldplay/U2 worship to something akin to the Killers fronting a Bowie/Queen cover band, this effort is bright, often fun, and about ten years too early for its fans and the indie-rock sphere. While they dialed it way back for their proper full-length follow-up, this stands as their boldest, most fully-realized pure pop statement to date.
May 18, 2018
Perhaps Taylor's best pure soul release, this contains the shattering "We're Getting Careless With Our Love" and the equally bittersweet/humorous "Cheaper To Keep Her." Taylor was in peak form as a vocalist, and was getting superb productions, arrangements, compositions, and musical backing from the Stax braintrust.
May 17, 2018
Having conquered the Russian music scene with his first four albums, billion dollar businessman-turned-pop star-turned-Presidential meeting coordinator Emin Agalarov set his sights on the rest of the world with his first internationally released effort, Wonder. Described as his homeland's answer to Enrique Iglesias, the son-in-law of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev appears to have used this comparison as the album's template. In the end, apart from the odd flourish of well-crafted pop, it's a case of being a jack of all trades but a master of none.
May 16, 2018
Various Artists
This is one of the all-time great blues series ever recorded. Aside from the classic Chess albums (Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, etc.), there is no better introduction to Chicago-style blues than this three-volume set. This is South Side Chicago blues with a trace of country at its best.
May 15, 2018
This recording features the pianist/composer with a very strong septet that includes saxophonists Ricky Ford, Carlos Ward, and Charles Davis, along with trombonist Dick Griffin. Most of the eight Ibrahim originals --including "Mandela," "Song for Sathima," "Water From an Ancient Well," and "The Wedding"--are among Ibrahim's finest compositions.
May 14, 2018
The band's final album with drummer Robert Wyatt is hyper-complex, refined, and woven into noisy, smoky structures of sound in this mix of rhythmically forward mix of free and progressive electric jazz, and Gong-like psychedelia coalesces into a skronky plateau.
May 13, 2018
The interplay of Bill Steer and Michael Amott's grinding guitars alongside Jeff Walker's raspy vocals all more than carry their weight on the fourth Carcass LP, but it's drummer Ken Owen who delivers some of the most pulverizing performances of his career on songs like "Arbeit Macht Fleisch," "Doctrinal Expletives" and the title track. Fans still debate whether this was the beginning of the end or the band's best moment, but either way it's worth fresh exhumation.
May 12, 2018
Okkervil River broke away from the crowded indie rock pack with 2005's superb Black Sheep Boy. Frontman Will Sheff has proven himself again and again to be a gifted wordsmith, and Stage Names -- less of a metaphor for the cinematic lives we wish we could have and more of a reminder that it's us who make the films -- features some of his finest parlor room romanticisms and slacker-poet observations to date.
May 11, 2018
A fascinating pastiche of deftly-manipulated found sounds and samples interpolated with sparse folk instrumentation and occasional vocals. Mixing collage and skewed composition, the Books subvert pop and folk into their own distinctive approach.
May 10, 2018
The song "Who's Making Love?" was among Johnnie Taylor's biggest chart hits, with Taylor's tough but impassioned vocal supported by a potently energetic performance by the usual Stax Records crew. The album assembled to accompany the single is for the most part dominated by more measured and blues-based material, capturing some of the high points of Taylor's career as a Southern soul man, and finds him nodding to his past and well as his future in his search for inspiration.
May 9, 2018
Though the band are a mere footnote to the footnote of a scene that was Madchester, they managed to record one brilliant song, "Box Set Go," and a fine album that blended dopey sweetness, jangling guitars, and spacey production in a way that Stone Roses fans could appreciate.
May 8, 2018
Perhaps the best studio album the Marvelettes ever recorded; the spotlight was shared between Horton and Young, and one can attest to the differences in their styles (Horton was earthier, Young the more pop-oriented). This was an artistic triumph and proof that girl groups can mature with age.
May 7, 2018
Rock critics tend to deplore and rail against albums like After the Rain, but say what you will -- "I Can Hardly Wait," "Fill You Up," the chart-topping "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection" and other melodic tunes are both catchy and likable. Granted, this type of pop/rock can easily become bloodless and mechanical, but the Nelson siblings come across as sincere. For all its slickness, After the Rain has heart.
May 6, 2018
To celebrate their 20th anniversary, the groundbreaking all-female metal band issued a retrospective doc and a career-spanning live album, Origins/Evolutions, as a reminder of their place in the modern rock story. Considering their oft-overlooked status as take-no-prisoners trailblazers, their early 2000 debut -- home to nu-metal era hits like the pummeling "Charlotte" and breakneck "Brackish" -- deserves another look.
May 5, 2018
On their most commercially successful album, the duo meticulously blended the new wave electronic elements that dominated their previous sets with the harder straight-edged rock and soul that would dominate their later ones to come up with a near-perfect pop album. It scored no less than four hit singles and kept them a mainstay on MTV's play lists during the channel's heyday.
May 4, 2018
After the Grande-scale thunder of the MC5's debut Kick Out The Jams, 1970's Back In The USA was something of a shock, a set of short, catchy tunes given trebly, AM-radio ready production and bookended by a pair of Little Richard and Chuck Berry classics. But the 5's take on life in the teenage nation certainly came from a place of rebellion, and "The Human Being Lawnmower" was some sort of masterpiece no other band could have created.
May 3, 2018
With Daily Operation, Gang Starr made its first masterpiece. From beginning to end, the duo's third full-length album cuts with the force and precision of a machete and serves as an ode to and representation of New York and hip-hop underground culture. Every song has some attribute that stamps it indelibly into the listener's head, and it marks the album as one of the finest of the decade, rap or otherwise.
May 2, 2018
An endless barrage of slick spots, surely enough to entertain and convert, and definitely a concise way to please the already informed. Most definitely the renaissance Superman of the house scene, Green Velvet is deserving of any Chemicals worshipper or Moby-phile. Don't let the yellow feather Mohawk intimidate you.
May 1, 2018
Although Harris was served well by a prior compilation from the experts at Archeophone, many of her biggest hits were released well after the period covered by that collection. This Living Era set provides a more accurate portrait of one of the most popular singers of the '20s.