Staff Picks for September 2014
September 30, 2014
Though their self-titled debut came out in 2012, these LA psych revivalists sounded more like 1966, perfectly chanelling the garage grit of classic bands like the Seeds or ? and the Mysterians as well as the dreamy jangle of lesser-known folk-rock acts of the 60's.
September 29, 2014
Despite the less than brilliant title, this long overdue solo album from the former Orange Juice guitarist has all the jittery soul, heart on sleeve songcraft, and glittering pop hooks his band had way back when, plus years of built in experience to go along. You can't beat Edwyn Collins at his own game, but his former mate comes damn close here. Now where's that follow-up, Mr, Kirk?
September 28, 2014
Various Artists
This jukebox sampler of tracks that influenced Nick Drake in one way or another seems obvious in retrospect—each of these 24 selections has a certain melancholy aura and a feel of quiet, controlled desperation that is central to Drake's musical landscape. But even aside from the Drake connection, this is a wonderfully poignant and cohesive playlist, with artists from Louis Armstrong to Bob Dylan and Robert Johnson included. Stick this disc in the player with any Drake disc and hit shuffle—Drake's delicately haunted world becomes both clearer and more mysterious at once.
September 27, 2014
A long avowed acolyte of the late Woody Shaw, the Russian-born Sipiagin finally dove headlong into Shaw's deep harmonic terrain with this stellar tribute. Aptly titled, the album simply showcases one of the best trumpeter's of his generation playing homage to one of the best trumpeters of the previous generation. This is post-bop jazz at its finest.
September 26, 2014
Mariam Wallentin and Andreas Werliin's music sounds especially primal and sophisticated on their sophomore album The Snake. Both halves of Wildbirds and Peacedrums are forces of nature—particularly on raw tracks like "There Is No Light"—but also capable of remarkable delicacy and even lighthearted pop, all of which they imbue with passion and creativity.
September 25, 2014
Despite the band's later advances, the first two Iron Maiden albums hold a very special place in the band's catalog, showcasing a raunchier attitude and grittier sound, courtesy of rough around the edges frontman Paul Di'Anno. Several of the band's concert classics ("Phantom of the Opera," "Iron Maiden," "Running Free") debuted here, and although new singer Bruce Dickinson would go on to handle them more than capably, Di'Anno's snarling rasp is missed. Also, instrumental "Transylvania" is pure adrenaline.
September 24, 2014
It sounds like the premise to a bad movie: mild-mannered ad man Steve Stein discovers hip hop, produces a remix with a buddy on a whim, and creates an overnight classic. But Steinski turned out to be a stone prodigy who learned how to spin the Cuisinart of popular culture and set it to a righteous groove. Ambitious, audacious, and wildly entertaining, this two-disc anthology of of Steinski's best work (including the simply astounding mix album Nothing To Fear) is a brilliant musical juggling act, and Steinski never lets a sample fall into the wrong place.
September 23, 2014
Love's Secret Domain—or LSD for short—is UK duo Coil's last hurrah with pop, as almost everything after would be utterly unique, shamanistic cabaret music with a gnostic world view. Here, simple old acid house is the jump-off, but tracks like "The Snow" and "Windowpane" are still half-dance, half-DMT. "Things Happen" is like a wobbly Kurt Weil record and Marianne Faithfull wrestling towards the speakers, and then, things get weird. Tune in, turn on, etc.
September 22, 2014
Sloan has always packed a tight pop punch, but Action Pact busts out of the gate with both guitars blazing and barely lets up for the next 38 minutes. Vocal harmonies abound and the bright production leaves their clean sound alone, making it a perfect sing-along highway driving album.
September 21, 2014
Soft Machine was always in transition, from the group's 1968 psychedelic pop debut to a fusiony fadeout a decade later (with no original members present). In the case of 1972's Fifth, however, the transition occurred halfway through the album, as Robert Wyatt replacement drummer Phil Howard's free jazz inclinations saw him replaced in turn by the more crisply compatible John Marshall. Fifth gave Softs fans a fascinating glimpse of a mutable band caught mid-stride in charting a future course.
September 20, 2014
Recorded in 1971 and released after the original lineup had broken up, The Modern Lovers self-titled debut is one of the great albums that more or less never was. Brash, earnest, sweet, and angsty, the album is a proto-punk gem from a band whose members would go on to shape the face of punk (and post-punk) for years to come with bands like The Cars, The Talking Heads, while also launching the solo career of a young Jonathan Richman.
September 19, 2014
By almost every measure, Down In The Groove is not a "good" album. It feels patched together from several sources, because it is, it feels as Dylan couldn't do much more than sing, because that's true. Nevertheless, this mess has ample charms, whether it's the humor of two collaborations with Robert Hunter or the country, R&B and folk covers, all of which point toward his Never Ending Tour and his work of the new millennium.
September 18, 2014
Though genre-mashing DJ extraordinaire Towa Tei left Deee-Lite by the time of 1994's Dewdrops in the Garden, Lady Kier and DJ Dimitry embraced rave, trance and other mid-'90s dance, pop and hip-hop trends with their trademark wit and finesse. Working with DJ On-E, the pair's stylish quirks -- and Kier's charismatic vocals -- take on a sleekness that makes the album a fun time capsule that has aged surprisingly well.
September 17, 2014
Now that we've past the 20 year mark for most post and neo-bop albums of the '80s, its interesting to look back at some of the more overlooked gems. Saxophonist Jim Snidero's sophomore release as leader on Criss Cross is a high-energy, bluesy date featuring former Jazz Messenger and future titan, trumpeter Brian Lynch. As jazz gets even more esoteric moving into the 21st Century, gutsy swinging sessions like this sound even rarer.
September 16, 2014
Liberally stocked with songs about anthropology, obscure wrestling moves, pornography, and questionable snacks, the thick, feral, swampy, and surprisingly focused second long player from the Cramps is a drug-fueled orgy of expertly-crafted rockabilly sickness that will give your speakers the meat sweats.
September 15, 2014
This set pairs dates from 1965 and 1971. The '65 session offers him as a guest soloist with excellent Danish Radio Jazz Group that included bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and trumpeter Palle Mikklelborg, while the '71 offering features Kenny Drew on piano—and Hamond B3—Pedersen and drummer Jimmy Hopps. These two sessions offer a fantastic showcase for the diversity of Shihab's stylistic command (on alto, tenor, baritone and soprano saxophones and flute) and the quiet power of his expression, whether it be hard bop, modal or swinging soul jazz.
September 14, 2014
41 years on, after punk and glam metal finally created a context for it, the New York Dolls' debut album still sounds like a glorious anomaly—fierce, swaggering, clever, just sloppy enough to rock, but with enough force to connect like a fist. The snarl of Johnny Thunders' guitar may dominate, but the "What's it to you?" attitude of David Johansen's vocals lingers just as strongly, and if Todd Rundgren's production isn't as focused as it could be, he unwittingly captured the Dolls' invigorating chaos better than a tighter sound would have. A wild, funny, street-smart masterpiece.
September 13, 2014
On their third try, Twisted Sister finally broke through, going multi-platinum with a mix of pop-metal melodicism and humor, but beyond the funny videos and hooky singles, Stay Hungry still has a dark metal edge and features some of Dee Snider's greatest vocal performances.
September 12, 2014
Think of him as a musician's musician or an anonymous journeyman, but chances are you don't think enough about Paul Carrack. Cheekily-titled in the spirit of his comeback album (I Know That Name) Twenty-One Good Reasons offers evidence that he's the guy who sang the yacht rock favorite "How Long" by Ace, the alt-rock ballad "Tempted" by Squeeze, some quality Carlene Carter country-rockers, and a couple Mike & the Mechanics mega-hits. Who knew? Now you.
September 11, 2014
Lola, aka the first Kinks album I ever owned (which means it's also the first Kinks album I've ever loved), has just received a deluxe edition reissue. The second disc is devoted to the soundtrack to Percy—which I just discovered was based on a novel written by Robyn Hitchcock's father, thanks to the singer/songwriter's appearance on Marc Maron's WTF—so it's no great shakes but the album itself remains invigorating in its cynicism and the unearthed "The Good Life" is so good it should've been on the album.
September 10, 2014
The slippery, popping, harmonics-rich style of bassist Percy Jones contributed greatly to Brian Eno's mid-'70s ambient miniatures and helped to elevate Brand X above run-of-the-mill fusion. After moving from Britain to N.Y.C., Jones gave his five-string fretless a showcase on this 1990 solo effort, playing live accompaniment over tracks he laid down using synth, sequencer, drum machine, and digital delay. The resultant mutant electro-fusion-funk-jazz is spacy, strange, crazily rhythmic—and utterly unique.
September 9, 2014
One of the most revered acts of early 90's shoegaze royalty, Ride were already on their way to a dramatic shift from fuzzy guitar genius to second rate britpop by their 1992 sophomore album. Still every bit as brilliant as their beginnings, a janglier, more 60's-leaning sound was creeping in on some tunes, but this would be the band's last amazing record, still merging adventurous noisy guitars with pop songwriting chops.
September 8, 2014
Easy listening needn't be difficult to procure, and this fine collection of largely trumpet-led confections from the great Bert Kaempfert are as sweet as they are schmaltzy. Spend what's left of life's cruelest season on your deck, porch, or dangerous curb sipping the beverage of your choice while enjoying the soft, muted brass of "Afrikaan Beat" and "Red Roses for A Blue Lady".
September 7, 2014
Ragged, jagged and unwelcoming, this slab of post-hardcore is one of the least accessible major label releases of the 2000s. The band divided its time between Sound City and Sweden and enlisted some of the production team behind Refused's classic The Shape of Punk to Come to put together an album that revealed its many charms only after repeated listens.
September 6, 2014
Their first album recorded with a live drummer, Hymns offered some of the earliest hints at the sounds that front man Justin Broadrick would eventually explore with his post-metal project Jesu. With it's sprawling structure and blend of light and dark, songs like "Anthem" feel like a blueprint for the gloomy post-metal that would arise after the band had called it quits in 2002.
September 5, 2014
The Brazilian guitarist is well known for his fine playing and composing on Black Orpheus, but this 1973 date is one of the most undercelebrated jazz-funk recordings ever. Recorded in LA and and NY, the enormous cast of players includes Stanley Clarke, Idris Muhammad, Ray Barretto, Airto, and Deodato (who arranged the session). This iconic exercise in fusion exotica sounds as visionary today as it did in the 20th century.
![Cold Mountain [Original Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0001851766/front/400/Qr8olwYkInXPlEwPTrnw_RyhM-OFI8zG4l-qVpXXB1I=.jpg)
September 4, 2014
Original Soundtrack
Featuring some nice work from Jack White, Alison Krauss, Tim Eriksen, and composer Gabriel Yared, the T-Bone Burnett-curated soundtrack for director Anthony Minghella's big screen adaptation of Charles Frazier's National Book Award-winning Civil War novel is as stoic as it is soulful, even though it has Sting on it.
September 3, 2014
These guys from Detroit didn't exactly tear up the Power Pop rule book when they recorded this, their only album. They played it pretty straight and didn't add much that you wouldn't have heard on a Dwight Twilley album in 1977. What they did do, however, was write a batch of near-genius songs and then play the hell out of them. Sounds easy enough, but precious few bands have been able to peanut butter cup together pop melodies and powerful sounds as brilliantly as this. If you think you're a power pop maven and you haven't heard Fletcher Pratt, you're just kidding yourself.
September 2, 2014
Flanked by an extended cast that included much support from Tragedy Khadafi (fka Intelligent Hoodlum), C-N-N surprisingly just missed the Top 20—during a year dominated by Puffy, Ma$e, Missy, and assorted crossover rap hits—with this, an uncompromising, lean, and stern hardcore rap classic.
September 1, 2014
This great expatriate saxophonist is primarily known for his role as a baritonist and flutist with the Clarke-Boland Big Band and sextet groups. That' said, he issued a number of fine sides under his own name including Dawn, Seeds and Companionship. This cooking live date from 1963 may just take the cake though. Playing alto and soprano as well as his other two instruments, he is featured in a kicking quintet setting that included a teenage Niels Henning Orsted Pederson on bass. Through originals and covers—including the three part-title cut suite, Shihab offers an a killer grasp of Jazz's emerging New Thing without ever forsaking an engagement with bop or hard bop. This is a cooker!