Staff Picks for September 2015
September 30, 2015
Various Artists
This is a watermark for Fania reissues. This slipcase box houses four thematic individual compilations. Together, they provide an indispensable overview of New York's Latin Scene during the 1960s, '70s, and '80s with artist ranging from Tito Puente and Ray Bataan to Willie Colon, Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, and dozens more. This set is a party soundtrack and a Latin music history lesson.
September 29, 2015
The debut studio long player from the Robyn Hitchcock-led psych-pop unit, A Can of Bees is also the hardest hitting album of the Soft Boys career, offering up surrealism-heavy blast of post-punk goodness that's as savage and nervy as it is melodically-charged and blisteringly funny. Go for the seventeen track 1992 reissue for maximum food and sex-fueled debauchery.
September 28, 2015
Deerhunter excel at making fleeting moments of nostalgia seem tangible, and never more so than on Halcyon Digest. Bradford Cox and company blend the eternally teenage jangle of the Everly Brothers with memories of smoking joints wrapped in notebook paper, channeling feelings of rebellion and yearning that are as fresh as they are timeless.
September 27, 2015
Produced by Tony Visconti, Ralph McTell's excellent 1972 LP is another low-key, enchantingly subtle collection that is often overshadowed by his folk-rock masterwork of the previous year, You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here.
September 26, 2015
The Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey may have been one of the Dead's regular haunts but the 1976 show captured on this fourth volume of Grateful Dead's Download Series is pretty sleepy apart from a "Big River." Turn instead to the set from the Tower Theatre in Philadelphia, kicking off with a great "Scarlet Begonias" and containing a bravura "Playing in the Band."
September 25, 2015
Easily the most diverse album in their catalogue, Axe to Fall demonstrated that the hardcore veterans could still be as visceral as ever with pummeling anthems like "Dark Horse," but the real weight came from the melancholic closing duo of "Cruel Bloom," a dirge starring Steve Von Till of Neurosis, and the shattering, heart-rending "Wretched World," featuring Genghis Tron.
September 24, 2015
With a voice like a silk scarf dipped in honey, Robbie Dupree found himself riding the crest of beards, pastel sweaters and mellow harmonies that made up the soft-rock tidal wave of the late '70s/early '80s. Propelled by the success of his cologne-soaked hit single, "Steal Away," Dupree's 1980 self-titled debut was perhaps one the beardiest and most pastel of the bunch, featuring several more catchy, musk-scented singles, including the '50s-inspired teen romance anthem, "Hot Rod Hearts," and the sax-heavy "Nobody Else."
![The Return of the Living Dead [Original Soundtrack]](https://fastly-s3.allmusic.com/release/mr0001139046/front/400/UbXSCg7zjzOwbMstQvDcdypQg_7iAU1wjqLgK_xGXts=.jpg)
September 23, 2015
Various Artists
The unofficial sequel to George Romero's classic 1968 film, 1985's Return of the Living Dead jacked up the horror/comedy aspects of the Zombie genre and introduced brain eating into the mythology. The soundtrack was also spilling over with viscera, offering up a solid set of horror-punk gems from the Damned, The Cramps, T.S.O.L., 45 Grave, and Roky Erickson, the latter of whom's "Burn the Flames" is pure schlock gold.
September 22, 2015
Some of the meanest, mightiest funk has been laid down vocalist/trombonist Joseph Bowie and his still-kicking group of NYC heavyweights. This anthology combines the ensemble's first two albums, originally released in 1980 and 1982, and adds the essential stopgap A-side "The Razor's Edge," featuring extra firepower from Joseph's brothers Byron and Lester, as well as production from Joe Boyd.
September 21, 2015
Even before he dedicated a significant portion of his creativity to writing film scores—including his award-winning music for The Theory of Everything—Jóhann Jóhannsson crafted albums that might as well have been soundtracks. Fordlandia, which traces the rise and fall of Henry Ford and several other 20th century visionaries, might have more pathos and grandeur than most movie music. Throughout the album, Jóhannsson captures the intimate, personal moments as brilliantly as the epic ones—a talent he explored even further as a film composer.
September 20, 2015
This has been earning a lot of repeated listens with me lately thanks to its massive, chunky sound, honed by producer Terry Date. When heavy music was about to turn a muddy corner, White Zombie kept their sound crisp and punchy on what would become their final album. The guitar tone and impossibly bouncy staccato riffing on "Electric Head, Pt. 1" embody the album's simultaneously upbeat and crushing ethos.
September 19, 2015
Arguably Tom Verlaine's best solo work, 1981's Dreamtime has a hard-edged clarity and lively, propulsive production that sets it apart from most of his post-Television albums—it sounds decisively like a rock album, albeit one with lots of artful guitar overdubs hovering over the frontman and his tight rhythm section (which includes former Television bassist Fred Smith and drummers Jay Dee Daugherty and Rich Teeter). The interplay between Verlaine and his band feels genuine and spontaneous, and "Always," "Mr. Blur," and "Fragile" are as exciting as anything Verlaine has ever committed to tape.
September 18, 2015
In a case of an album turning out as delectable in reality as the idea sounds on paper, this mid-'90s experimental production sets the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud to French songwriter/composer/producer Hector Zazou's musical creations with collaborators including John Cale, Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Sylvian, Khaled, and Dead Can Dance. A reading by actor Gerard Dépardieu opens the album ("...et je danse"), a meditative, electro-acoustic, very even, arty exploration.
September 17, 2015
Pairing Gonzalez' slick bebop tales of late '50s Manhattan life as a hipster (in the true sense of the word) with some cool backing from a top notch combo featuring Roy Haynes and the groundbreaking, and sadly unknown, arranger Melba Liston , this album is a fun slice of nostalgia for a time that was probably only imaginary even as it was happening.
September 16, 2015
This Boston-area Casio-punk duo existed during the second half of the '90s, and reunited in 2007 and are still playing shows. They released a handful of vinyl EPs (all collected on this CD) as well as an album on Load Records. Think Atom & His Package but noisier, weirder, and nearly incomprehensible. Headache-inducing to almost anyone, but creative and fun nonetheless.
September 15, 2015
Dismissed by the Dead themselves (for a band that goes with the flow, they sure loved to hold onto the myth that they sucked in the studio), the Grateful Dead's eponymous 1967 debut is appealingly misshapen, split between Jerry Garcia's predilection for folk and Pigpen's insistence on the blues. Usually, the band found a place somewhere between to meet—usually on Jerry's originals, "The Golden Road" and "Cream Puff War"—and the fun of the album lies in hearing the band in a tentative, embryonic stage punctuated by hard-swinging blues where they have no reservation.
September 14, 2015
While Lee Ritenour's uber slick jazz-rock guitar lines were ostensibly the focus of his 1981's Rit, Vol.1, it was vocalist and moustache-aficionado Eric Tagg who stole the spotlight on this yacht-rock masterpiece. Tagg's soulful, resonant croon and knack for penning hooky cuts like the Steely Dan-esque "Mr. Briefcase" and the hip-sway inducing "Is It You?" helped bridge Ritenour from his existing, jazzy fanbase into the burgeoning adult-contemporary radio format.
September 13, 2015
The Trinidad James of his time, Petey Pablo dominated 2004 with his single "Freek-A-Leek" then disappeared. That's a shame because this sophomore LP surrounds its big hit with top notch material while filling the CD all the way to the 70 minute mark. Now where's that third diary entry?
September 12, 2015
Among the very best albums in Lou Reed's solo catalog, The Blue Mask also set the template for one of the most satisfying periods of his career. Encouraged by guitarist Robert Quine to put more emphasis on his guitar work, Reed stripped his music to the essentials—two guitars, bass, and drums—and wrote some of the most personal material he had recorded since the Velvet Underground. The straightforward sound would inform Reed's work well into the 21st Century, but rarely with the same power and fearlessness that he brought to The Blue Mask.
September 11, 2015
Ulrich Schnauss' 2005 debut introduced the Berlin electronic artist's compelling mix of pop melodicism and hypnotic, engaging EDM.
September 10, 2015
Several years removed from Talk Talk's Laughing Stock, Hollis and engineer Phill Brown aimed to make an album that sounds quiet at any volume. After an extremely costly false start, they nearly succeeded with this austere, fragile, and entirely acoustic set that, for all its empty spaces and unintelligible vocals, cuts through the soul.
September 9, 2015
Pitchshifter's blend of industrial music and metal reached full power of Desensitized, their third LP overall and second for the mighty Earache label. Everything before had rough edges, and everything after was too clean, and yet here they're the right mix of Napalm Death and Nine Inch Nails, with paranoid and political lyrics ripping the status quo.
September 8, 2015
Reviewing the new Advance Base album made me revisit Owen Ashworth's previous project, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and his work under that name remains as affecting as it was a decade ago. Etiquette was the album where he moved up from being a Casio-only solo project, becoming much more of an ambitious Stephin Merritt-type songwriter. As charming as his heartbroken Casio laments were, this album was where he blossomed as an artist, and it contains some of the best songs he's ever written.
September 7, 2015
While it's worth it just for the instrumental versions of "Maria Elena" and Dan Penn's and Chips Moman's "Dark End Of The Street," the artist's third album is a wonder of standards, folk songs and blues. They are all rendered timeless by a stellar cast that includes Penn, Sleepy John Estes, Jim Dickinson, Jim Keltner, and Randy Newman.
September 6, 2015
Split between Tommy Ridgley and his disciple Bobby Mitchell, this Ace reissues has everything the two New Orleans singers recorded for Ric & Ron in the '60s. Ace has been dipping into Joe Ruffino's vaults a lot over the past year but this is one of the best releases: sweet, supple, swinging R&B that ain't nothing but a party.
September 5, 2015
Under-the-radar Belgian electric guitarist Pierre Vervloesem has chops to burn but his avant rock and jazz projects have had a strongly collaborative bent rather than serving as mere axe-strutting vehicles. He doesn't even play guitar in this hot-wired instrumental outfit, instead pumping out solid bass joined by his bandmates on sax, keys, and drums. The music files for this ironically titled, adventurous yet tuneful 2014 set were mysteriously deleted, necessitating a re-recording; thankfully, the quartet's high energy and spirits were sustained the second time around.
September 4, 2015
Sort of a musician's musician is his adopted NYC, expect to be surprised and engaged by any latest output from music wizard Luke Temple (Here We Go Magic). His fourth and most recent solo album traded arty indie folk for smooth yet outré blue-eyed soul, a bold move that turned out so, so fine with his slinky falsetto. Simply put, it's weird and wonderful.
September 3, 2015
Chill, creepy, and oddly comforting, the mercurial Scottish post-rock outfit's score for the French zombie/afterlife television series Les Revenents is as compelling as the show itself, and while it may not be as immediate as some of the band's more lyrical offerings, it offers up a masterclass in instrumentally-fueled existential dread.
September 2, 2015
On their second album, Widowspeak took their dark, dreamy rock in a more traditional direction, channeling Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac on a set of songs that drift like black chiffon and incense smoke. Far from feeling stuffy, the band's wholehearted embrace of '70s rock—from its elaborate cover artwork to its arena-sized choruses—makes Almanac some of Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas' freshest and most engaging music yet.
September 1, 2015
Years before anyone had even imagined mashup culture or sample based pop music, Dickie Goodman was making America's teenagers howl with what became known as "break in records," in which an announcer would pose a question and a clip from a popular song would provide the answer. Goodman's novelty singles parodied everything from UFOs and James Bond to the Cold War and several presidential elections, and Long Live The King is a suitably manic collection of 27 break-in classics released between 1956 and 1984, with a final detour into the 2012 presidential race.