Dianne Reeves - When You Know

Blue Note/EMI

Four time Grammy winning artist Dianne Reeves releases her first album since the soundtrack of Good Night, and Good Luck, the mediocre George Clooney movie from 2005 that was known more for the music than the actual content of the film. Reeves is the only artist to win the vocal category for three consecutive recordings in any singing style at the Grammys. If this isn't impressive, you just need to hear When You Know.
Where many female jazz singers exist in a much quieter realm of reality, Reeves has no reservations about dynamics: she knows how to use them perfectly, and equally impressive in both full voice and quieter crooning. Her voice is most certainly the forefront of the parade, but at the same time, the melody behind it all is still worth noting: while none of the musicians on here portray anything to write home about, they all work together. Well. Both guitar players know when take it softly, and when to make their parts stand out. Reeves dedicates "Today Will Be A Good Day", an original, to her mother, a survivor of breast cancer and emphysema.

Ryan Bingham - Mescalito

Lost Highway/Universal Nashville

I am openly not an avid country listener. I certainly like a lot, and wouldn't say that I dislike most of it, but for the most part it just isn't my thing. I don't go home and listen to a country CD or make a playlist involving more than a few songs here and there.
The exception to this rule is Mescalito, a tale of psychological anguish through the voice of Ryan Bingham. I truly think depression makes better music, and this is a perfect example. A good majority of the tracks are about one hardship or another, and all eloquently portrayed with raw emotion.
He sings straight-forward, which equates to an incredibly gruff voice that carries all of his turmoil from song to song. There's a strong western influence here, and maybe even a stronger folk flair lingering in there with him. The music all has a driving feel to it, and he accents his singing with a sort of swinging guitar rhythm. Original and interesting, as well as heartfelt? This may be the first!

Anti-Flag - The Bright Lights of America

RCA/Sony BMG

Raised fists only do so much. Theory without action is pointless, action without theory is aimless. Anti-Flag have always tried to find a balance in this, and for the most part, continue doing this to present day. Working heavily with countless anti-oppression groups around the world, their approach is to not only sing about what they see as flaws of modern western culture, but also to support the specific individuals doing this work. Where Against Me! Lost their political bearing the moment the first paycheck came, Anti-Flag continue in the same direction as they did on their debut 1996 album Die For Your Government, conforming only for more intelligent paths rather than easier ones.
The Bright Lights of America is a completely new approach for the Pittsburgh punks. They have thrown off much of the shackles that confine modern punk, dabbling perhaps outside the fence more often than they think. A majority of this record would be a strain to actually be called "a punk album", but at the end of the day: who cares? The music is flawless, well orchestrated, and even better, still meaning something. The production is almost painfully tight, relying on every piece of studio magic imaginable. Many have dissenting opinions of this approach, but if you are trying to make a good record, why not try to make a great one, sounding as good as humanly imaginable? They further branch out on this recording with the inclusion of a-typical punk instruments (extensive orchestral percussion, horns, and even an awkward children's chorus).
But, with all this said, I need to at least touch on two topics relating to this band that needs to be addressed. First, their reascending of the "anti-patriotic approach" is just embarrassing: despite whatever they say, they started out as a band against the American system, and in nowhere in there can the term "Anti-Flag" be claimed as a patriotic approach to politics. Secondly, as individuals who pride themselves on anti-capitalism, having a record covered in copywrite signs, excessive precautions to avoid music piracy and the free exchange of art, it isn't an easy task to accept this all as simply "the work of the record industry", because, when it comes down to it, this band are the producers of their music, and can make the final demands. Demands that all artists should make, no matter what the cost.

Joe Ely & Joel Guzman - Live Cactus

Rack 'Em

Joe Ely and Joel Guzman make a great team. Living in the strange tide between folk and western-country, singer and guitar player Joe Ely's solemn voice incorporates hints of Springsteen (a more laid back "Born To Run" era) at times, but mostly paves his own path of musical direction. He manages his vocal inflections appropriately for the most possible impact, and plays off his guitar playing and song construction really well.
The other part of this duo, Joel Guzman, is what really sets this apart: using the accordion in country might seem a little odd, but it works better than you would expect. Taking the place of not only harmonica and piano, but occasionally the fiddle; this uncommon practice really should be explored more. The combination of tones makes such a rich and interesting texture, which creates Live Cactus! as that much more impact-full.
****Shelton's First Single Of The Week: "All Just to Get to You"****

Spice Girls - Greatest Hits

Virgin/Capitol/EMI

I'm going to loose all respect with this review. I know it. Because, for some weird reason, I can't bring myself to dislike this. Yes, it's cheesy, and yes it's soul-less. But still, this is great pop music. No one, despite their best efforts, will ever really forget "Wannabe," the song that, at least partially, defined the late 90's music industry.
The glitter and glam of girl super-groups seemed to be a staple for a while, rightfully so. The slight R&B edge that Spice Girls had gave them a bit of an advantage, but they were still very much a pop band. This is painfully cheesy, but it would hurt more to not dance to this. With all the scandals and rumors that flew across the relatively new invention of the Internet at the time, this band will live in infamy in all of the record books. Their Greatest Hits are, for the most part, the hits from the first album, but some of the later singles appear as well. But really, why listen to anything but "Wannabe"?

Louie Bellson & Clark Terry - Louie & Clark Expedition 2

Percussion Power

I love big bands! It takes massive amounts of skill to make them not sound good, and, lucky for me, Louie Bellson & Clark Terry are two of the best alive right now. Most of the numbers are heavily swing and upbeat, with enough soul backing all of it to not let a smile leave my face the entire length of the record.
Louie Bellson, drummer and composer, is truly the key to the entire ensemble: leading with drums, but not over doing it. He knows where to flaunt it, and where to let Terry's incredible horn playing shine. But no matter, both are geniuses in their own right. Even slower tunes, such as "Piacere" can keep your attention hooked. The 17 piece band are all perfectly orchestrated. Benny Goodman is smiling in his grave right now.

Various Artists - Vans Warped Tour 2001 Tour Compilation

SideOneDummy

For our next installment of Warped Tour comps, we have the 2001 edition, complete with everyone you would expect. Opening is Rancid. I believe I'm the only person on Earth who actually doesn't like this band, despite Operation Ivy being what got me through middle school. A lot of names that blew up shortly after this appear (such as AFI and The Ataris), and some others that didn't go anywhere (Agent 51, my hometown heroes, and Lost City Angles, who were just embarrassing).
Now that we are talking about this, can we talk about how much I love Bigwig? While they never amounted to much, and never really got the full recognition they deserved, they still had a flair that almost all of these bands never came close to possessing. Combining elements of speed metal to pop punk wasn't just a gimmick: it really was a genius approach. More crusty kids need to play pop-punk.
************LATE BUT GREAT***********

Jessy J - Tequila Moon

Peak/Concord

While the hyper-sexualized aspect of Jessy J is a little irking (detracting heavily from the music and emphasizing her more so as a sex symbol instead of a phenomenal musician), her music is stellar. As a classically trained musician and heavily involved in her Latina heritage, Jessy J strives to bring the two together, which she does surprisingly well.
The latin-jazz style is one that is becoming more and more popular, and she has it together. Classically trained starting at a young age and continuing beyond her graduation from USC, Jessy J's song writing is pure: flowing incredibly well, not overdoing either her saxophone playing or reclusive (but equally impressive) singing. A bit smoother than I usually like, this album really does have that little extra something you don't usually find in soft jazz these days.

Moreland & Arbuckle - 1861

NorthernBlues

Where blues can take many different forms, Moreland & Arbuckle decided to take all of them. Heavy distortion stolen from Delta blues, vocal inflections from country-blue influences, and structure from the rural blues origins. While combining genres is tricky, Moreland & Arbuckle make it work in a way that not only makes sense, but also seems far too logical to not have been readily exploited before now.
The pieces fit together like your family 300 piece jig-saw puzzle, and sounds much better than most of the pictures usually look. Singer Dustin Arbuckle's voice is certainly a little country, maybe even some hints of pop melody thrown in, and works well in the context. Moreland, in charge of the guitar playing, is superb at solid song structure, and doesn't really lack in any discernible field. This is certain to catch the attention of any avid blues listener.

Snoop Dogg - Ego Trippin'

Doggy Style/Geffen/Universal

Has Snoop lost his edge? Has the intoxicant extraordinaire, the king of 'izzle', the dogfather really taken a turn for the worst? He's always been the weakest of the Death Row family for me, in no way Knight, Dre, or most certainly Pac. His legendary status as singing almost exclusively about drugs and women, partying, and a little about killing people/being a pimp hasn't really stopped. "Neva Have 2 Worry" uses his typical topics of "...a bitch is still a bitch, a hoe is still a hoe". Interesting, considering he is now a family man. "Sexual Eruption," probably the most interesting track on the album, incorporates the newest trend of hip hop: the vocoder. Changing one's voice into digital form, and allowing one to be able to sing even when their monotone voice can't reach past the 3rd note in the scale actually works well in Snoop Dogg's case. It's a little cheesy, but when wasn't he?
The production has a little lighter edge than usual, incorporating the more R&B feel of modern producers like Kanye West, but he doesn't full conform. Even though it's hip, he subtley keeps it Gangster Rap with an almost inaudible underlying lead line in every song. It's strange, but every single track has it: a single, upper register bass line that could have been on Doggy Style, but is somehow thrown into the mix of a more R&B release.
So has Snoop lost it? Has he finally became a family man, leaving behind his gangster flair that attracted so many to The Dogfather so long ago? My conclusion: no, he hasn't lost anything. His pointless rap rhetoric and embarrassing portrayal of himself hasn't changed over the years, just adapted to the chart sales. This is as good as Snoop Dogg ever is.

Ashton Shepard - Sounds So Good

MCA Nashville/Universal

Ashton Shepard cuts apart from the rest. Country was created for catchy hooks and true emotion. Shepard has more than both going for her. She wrote almost every track on the album, mostly before her 21st birthday. Her voice is strong and sincere, making the package certainly wrap up nicely. Her guitar playing is incredibly catchy, and uses the best elements of country and pop, musically similar to early Shania Twain.
Too much of the time alternative country feels contrived and impersonal. Shepard breaks this stereotype in two, making Sound So Good nothing but the beginning of something important!

Gerald Veasley - Your Move

Heads Up/Telarc/EMI

Yes, chess and music definitely serve many parallels. To be a great chess player, one must have a keen eye, a sharper mind, and a much more expansive idea of whats happening than just individual pieces with individual moves.
Music, similarly, requires a lot of the same skills: the ability to take individual moments of music and serve them up with enough appropriate accompaniment that it works within the context, leading to a finishing punch that fills out the entire record and you come away from it with a view of the record as a whole, rather than an individual instrumental line or even a full song.
Unfortunately, Veasley takes another aspect of the game an appropriates it to music: it's much safer to stick to already discovered strategies than create new ones. In chess this might look good, but not in the music world. Our Move plays us nothing we haven't heard before: quiet jazz with no notion of edge-dom or real creativity.
While I wouldn't call this hard to listen to, it isn't something that will stick around when the CD is done. Solemn saxophone playing usually takes the lead, with minimalist vocals rarely in the forefront; even less of the record carries anything to fully grasp on. It certainly flows but, much like chess, rather play it safe than get creative: possibly scoring a hit move, or hitting the fan with a dire mistake. Safe doesn't always equal good, folks.

Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost Of Tom Joad

Columbia/Sony BMG

Springsteen has reinvented himself fairly often, but rarely falling short of perfect. Ghost of Tom Jones is no exception. Taking on the aesthetics of Depression-era folk singers (which he has done from time to time), he makes a point of actually taking on the full feel of the movement: content on here is a personal approach to the social and political environment of the mid '90s, but also followed this album with a solo acoustic tour across the country, in the vein of Joe Hill or Woodie Guthrie.
The strongest track on the album, "The Ghost Of Tom Joad," is a reflection and expression of the seemingly parallel spirit of present day (at the time) and Steinbeck's Grapes Of Wrath. Most of the album is stripped down, with an occasional accompanying musician thrown into the mix.

Jamshied Sharifi - One

Ceres

It isn't easy for one who grew up surrounded by western music (and not readily exposed to everything else) to have a full versed opinion on music that falls outside this category. To me, personally, non-western music ends up all sounding good; the use of uncommon musical themes, instrumentation, and form makes most everything sound interesting, unique, and beautiful (as a result of the perceived creativity).
Jamishied Sharifi, an American born "world music" composer, combines principals of jazz, Middle Eastern, and African music, to make a strange blend that most Americans would not know what to do with. My first response is that this is really pretty. The interesting choice of chords are really apparent in the context, with the mix heavy on the atmospheric female vocals (preformed on One by Abdoulaye Diabate).
The music is still incredibly accessible to westernized ears, due to the heavy jazz influence on the music, but still stands in a league of its own. Intensive, though not readily apparent, use of drums seem to be the real backbone of the entire work: using traditional instruments to really give flavor to this blend. While I don't have the vocabulary to accurately critique this, I know this: this is incredibly beautiful music.

Umalali - The Garifuna Women's Project

Cumbancha/Stone Tree

This, as "world music" is for western ears, hard to describe. It takes the traditional music of the Garifuna people: descendent's of shipwrecked African slaves who intermarried with the Carib and Arawak Indians of the Caribbean.
Women, the proverbial backbones of functioning life, rarely get any recognition regardless of culture. Many of the women on this record were recorded in their most comfortable settings: in kitchens, living rooms, on the beach or in the Garifuna temples, recorded in lo-fi quality that was eventually worked with to get the best possible tone to it. The music is fairly Caribbean in nature, but incorporates the melodies and style of traditional African music. Lots of latin-jazz styled acoustic guitar flows on here, with very few moments of lull on the entire recording.

Will Hoge - Draw The Curtain

Rykodisc

What I admire most about Will Hoge is his unabashed love of the idea of rock and roll. He, for all intents and purposes, lives for rock and roll, breathing only in the few days between tours. I respect that, and more so envy it. I wish I had the lifestyle that could be supported solely by rest-stop food and uncomfortable sleepless nights in tour buses.
Knowing his approach certainly sheds a little light onto Hoge's music. Emphasized emotion is truly the focal point, rather than dynamic or creative music, which is daring. Musical progressions aren't all that original: acoustic guitar ballads soaked in the man's heartfelt crooning, or perhaps a bit more upbeat progression with a much more driving rock feel ala Warren Zevon. All in all, this comes out fairly descent: his emotion seems sincere enough to carry what recycling doesn't.

DGAF - Self-Titled

Suburban Noize

The 90's had its good and its bad. Grunge was probably the best outcome of the time period, and with a dead last spot on the hierarchical scale is rap-metal. Limp Bizkit, Korn, and any other group with misspelled names and bad fashion sense were, and still are, an embarrassment to the term "music".
Kottenmouth Kings, who get points for both coming long before the rest and siding more on the realm of hip hop, were marginally more interesting than the earlier named groups, which is good news for DGAF, which is for all intents and purposes the second coming of the stoner legends.
Appropriating the attitude of early punk rock and the aesthetics of mid 90's gangster rap, DGAF are a total blast from the past. Heavily layered hip hop beats with mild influence of metal thrown in to fill it all out, they use the formula used by their predecessors. The formula worked then, and seems to work now. Much of the beats take the gangster route of upper-register bass lines and pissed screaming of choruses, leaving very little intermission between songs for a break from the "heavy hitting".
DGAF stands for "Don't Give A Fuck", which works well with their "smoke weed and kill people" theme going through, especially appropriate since one of the singers entire delivery is a clone of Eminem, further giving DGAF an advantage over others in the genre.

Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands - The Golden West

Hightone

Where Prairie Home Companion and O Brother, Where Art Thou? relaunched the love of old-time and, with that, bluegrass in this country, we have the rise of so many mediocre acts of this nature. Laurie Lewis, and her backing band The Right Hands, are not this.
Lewis's voice is mesmerizing, capturing all of her soul in her very obvious love of the music, neither dominating the accompanying music nor just part of it. The mandolin playing sticks out to me, which is always a good sign. Great mandolin players are few and far between, and having one that knows when to show off and when not too is key. I strongly recommend this to any fan of this genre.
****Shelton's Second Single Of The Week: "Live Forever,"****
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Auktyon - Girls Sing

Geometriya

I just want to say, once and for all, avant-garde is not a genre: it is a description. Like weird, or heavy, or bad. So while I'm going to say Auktyon are an avante-garde band, I need another word for the actual genre they participate in. So: Auktyon are an avant-garde fucked-up jazz band.
Girls Sing is a much more comfortable approach to what cult-followed saxophonist John Zorn was trying to do with Naked City, with brief intermissions of acoustic ballads, which settles down the high-energy vibes which resonate through everything else. The music is much easier on the ears of traditional music listeners compared to Naked City, but still are probably a bit too edgy for most. I personally love this: the use of odd time-signatures and nonsensical guitar parts are what I am all about.

Caroline Herring - Lantana

Signature Sounds

Caroline Herring's style of folk is a perfect medium: not too heavily drenched in production or instrumentation that would make the final outcome a step up than her actual ability, but just enough to accent her songwriting. Most of the recording is a clear representation of herself with her guitar, focusing heavily on her, her voice, and her guitar more than anything else.
A few songs have accompaniment (a fiddle here and there, a banjo or second guitar part, etc.) but use it sparingly so that her art really remains true. Her voice carries a sort of bluegrass fluctuation to it, producing a darker tone than typical folk vocal styles. She covers personal topics, such as motherhood and dealing with our own mortality, but also dabbles in others stories (such as a Korean War veteran and his experience). Really beautiful, mostly because of Herring's self-production, which really shows that she knows what she's doing.

Kelley Stoltz - Circular Sounds

Sub Pop

ey Stoltz "Circular Sounds," Sub Pop Why 60's rock is making a comeback I don't know, Circular Sounds marks a strong approach to the nearer and nearer rivivalism of funk and soul, which I have been waiting for my entire life. His sound has evolved a bit over time: switching from lo-fi with much stronger psychedelic elements, to the more current "mid-fi" recording style that currently encompasses the solo artist.
Self-producing has given him quite a large amount of freedom on these recordings, embracing a "whatever I feel like" approach that is really the highlight of 60's rock. Beatles-esq stylism is popular in the underground these days, which accounts for Stoltz's take on the theme. Moments sound like a much more controlled Of Montreal with very little of the flamboyancy and more on the melodramatic side of things. More than this, he makes all of these similar forces flow in a homogenized drive; his own style which is simultaneously original and completely reminiscent of things I have listened to a thousand times. center>

***If You Like Music, You're Gonna' Love This!***

They called him Skeet, his name was Bill
Corporal William Howard Campbell,
they never knew and never will
He did his time with the 101
They took a simple country boy
and taught him how to use a gun
After four long years in service,
two tours in Vietnam
The country that he served so well
doesn't seem to give a damn
That he's a homeless man

He has a son, lives in L.A.
He hasn't spoke to him in twenty years,
he just don't know what to say

He had a loving wife, she was his right hand
Till the nightmares and the memories
became more that she could stand
Now he has everything he owns
in a worn-out shopping cart
He's never begged for anything
he just doesn't have the heart
He's just a homeless man

Now in this land of plenty
where so many have it all,
He sleeps in an alley half a block from city hall

They found him there one cold November night
Though he'd won so many battles,
this time he'd lost the fight
No one seemed to care that he was gone
They laid him in a pauper's grave
with a tiny little stone
As a young man and his mother
sat alone and cried,
Holding the SIlver Star medallion
someone found there by his side
He was a homeless man

He was just a homeless man

Political Article: Who's the War Boss? By:Sean Gonsalves Back To Top "Conservative or liberal, we are all constitutionalists" - Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope It's like a perfect storm. A "unitary executive" jet stream swirls over the nation's capitol. There's hailstorm 24/7 news coverage of presidential politics. Add to the mix the 5th anniversary of the fog of war in Iraq and we're talking near-zero visibility. For us fair-weather fans, we can take some solace in the irony that the present fog happens to coincide with Sunshine Week - a time the Fourth Estate devotes to shining a light on the Constitution. Let there be light - even if it's just a sliver of sunshine to chase away the shadows cast over the Constitution - the explicit source of authority to "declare war, ...raise and support Armies," as well as the implicit power of overseeing military matters. These are powers that America's constitutional authors saw fit to invest in Congress; not the President (see Article I, Section 8). And that's why the first ever U.S. Congressional investigative committee was established to probe the 1792 military engagement against this continent's indigenous people in the "Northwest Territory." U.S. forces were under the command of General Arthur St. Clair and Congress wanted to know how the hell a bunch of "backward" Indians managed to wipe out half the General's army. Charles Stevenson, a former longtime professor at the National War College and now with the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University, tells us that for the next century or so about half of all Congressional investigations were related to military activities. But in the second half of the 20th century, only about 10 percent of all congressional hearings involved defense or foreign policy issues. As a former longtime professor at the National War College, Stevenson's scholarship provides useful reference material, noting that "despite widespread views that the standard - and preferred - practice is for Congress to go on vacation once a war starts, leaving all key decisions to the President and his commanders, there are ample precedents showing vigorous congressional involvement in the management and oversight of major military operations. Sometimes that involvement has been disruptive or even harmful, but often it has been constructive." The origins of this Constitutional debate can be traced to August 17, 1787 when the Committee on Detail took up the power to "make war." The point was made that Congress would act too slowly, but James Madison's argument won the day when he suggested changing "make war" to "declare war," which would give the President "the power to repel sudden attacks" without violating the spirit of checks and balances. And so the argument goes: supporters of broad Congressional war powers cite Madison, while unitary-executive-types call on Alexander "Strong President" Hamilton., though putting war power in the hands of Congress wasn't the real flashpoint of the early debate. Standing armies was the issue; so much so that prominent patriots like Patrick Henry and James Monroe refused to sign the new Constitution because of their opposition to standing armies. In fact, the standing army beef is what gave birth to the Third Amendment, prohibiting soldiers from being "quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner." Interesting to note: Congress has only declared war in five conflicts but has authorized military action on 15 occasions, using a variety of language with varying degrees of specificity (not including the various military engagements that occurred without formal Congressional approval). Even more interesting: since World War II, not a single military action has been authorized by Congress using the "declare war" phrase. Wars after World War II have been pursued through other use-of-force authorizations. That includes authorizations for military force in both Iraq wars - the difference being that the 1991 war had UN Security Council backing before hostilities began. The other big difference is that Poppy Bush's Iraq War was 80 percent funded by other nations. Iraq War II has been financed with borrowed money because of W's stubborn commitment to tax cuts for the wealthy. Congressional power to end military engagements? There's Nicaragua 1932. Somalia 1994. Haiti 1995. Oh wait, I skipped Algeria 1815, when Congress refused to give the President an I-declare-war card. The most far-reaching Congressional war power on the books is the 1973 War Powers Resolution, enacted with an override of President Nixon's veto. That law, among other provisions, requires the President to consult with Congress before committing troops to hostile action. "The bottom line," to go back to Stevenson, "is that Congress need not sit on the sidelines as wars approach or are fought. The precedents...provide an ample menu of options, if lawmakers are willing to make the judgments and take the risks and opportunities available." After five years of war in Iraq, the fog has clouded the Constitution. Of course, even in the sunlight, there are those who will cling to the foggy notion that the President is the be-all and end-all when it comes to military matters. But, in the sunlight, such reasoning can be seen on the wrong side of the Constitution and without historical precedent.

Back To Top