Kylie Minogue - X

Astralworks/Capitol

Daft Punk's influence has finally become pop's par, or at least a component of it. The 4th track is about 80% "Technologic", and almost as danceable, though the lyrics can get in the way when they become intelligible.
Though I can't say I always agree with their use, I must say I share the tastes of the production team (who's previous work with acts like Robbie Williams and Madonna finds an echo here, as well) on more than a few counts; the catalogue of French Pop is the closet being raided here, with Serge Gainsbourg among the sampled.
There are a few genuine dance-floor numbers, most notably "Heart Beat Rock", which gets ape points for something it doesn't do; instead of throwing extraneous instrumentation (processed guitar is the most egregious offender) it holds steady, with the better elements of the disco influence showing up in full form on "Wow".
The disc closes up with a distillation of Ms. Minogue's new sound, which I'd sum up as late 20th century personality pop colliding with a fan remix of a Daft Punk song.

Ike Reilly - Poison the Hit Parade

Rock Ridge

Ike Reilly has opinions; he's got things to say, and he intends to get a rise out of you. His peculiar references to activities like sabotaging college football games, getting with college chicks and making all kinds of mischief work quite well with the rocky guitar (with the amp's built-in distortion setting probably up to 8), lazy handclaps and suitably simple drumwork that back him up.
Though I can't quite figure out the lion's share of Mr. Rilley's lyrics ("are you a girl or a rim-shot"?) for the life of me, his goofy, white boy delivery is sufficiently charming and the processing is weird enough to set him apart from whomever else is in this genre.
Multi-tracked, echoed and distorted vocals, flourishes of what sounds like a mellotron, and slide guitar that has no place in the songs where it shows up keep you from really getting a hold on what this boy is after, but it's consistently interesting, almost conclusively proving that being baffled is a lot more fun than being bored.

Carly Simon - This Kind of Love

Hear Music/Starbucks

The Hear Music label has metamorphosed into a genre unto itself; though not unique in the resulting sound: the label seems to consume somewhat disparate musicians and expunge them into a uniform product. It sells, apparently, and not without reason. That's not to say Ms. Simon doesn't demonstrate a stylistic range; she spends time in the territory of a well-heeled gabacha, with the albums most remarkable moments coming through with the keyed strings and backing vocals on "Hola Soleil".
The latin mood cools to a more manageable form via the guitar found on "They Just Want You To Be There"; the sound takes a nominally bluer tone (almost comically, on the closing track) on the following cuts, but overall the album is as consistent as it's label.

Henry Butler - PiaNOLA Live

MRI/Basin Street

The fact that Henry Butler now lives in Colorado is irrelevant. The New Orleans he derives his music from ceased to be long ago; Storyville gave way to the Iberville projects, and you're more likely to hear Marvin Sease or Tyrone Davis echoing from their windows than James Booker. Mr. Butler is one of, if not the last, in a line reaching back to Jelly Roll Morton and the red light pianists of antebellum crescent city, and he keeps the flame up high.
The man is more than just a genre pianist, though. A specific, ephemeral quality that emerges (most notably on the track "Somethin' You Got") throughout album is what excites me here; in these moments, technique overtakes the nostalgia for the big N.O. of memory most pianists of this tradition would rely on. This is what Henry Butler should be known for, rather than simply a component of the antiquated New Orleans of our collective imagination. To render such a talent a sort of ornamentation is a shame, if not an outright crime.

Tristan Prettyman - Hello

Virgin/Capitol

There are two points that sell me, here; the moments where Ms. Prettyman's voice almost takes on a lethargic, almost bored affect (sadly, it never actually does) and the subtle lick of Hammond organ that accents more than a few of the tracks on this album. I can't help but wish that she'd just get a little sadder and strip things down to the organ and maybe the slide guitar.
Even with the added instrumentation, this girl knows what her voice sounds like; rather than let it's melancholy take hold, she's fashioned a sunnier, breezier aesthetic that supports the qualities of her voice rather organically, rather than force it into something more manageable. And it works.

Richard Julian - Sunday Morning in Saturday's Shoes

Manhattan/Blue Note

The theme of casual nightlife is everywhere here; from the album title on down to the liner notes, which include a list of cocktails based around it's tracklisting. Easy songs about flirtation, weekday mornings and mornings after abound, with just right hint of wit, every few seconds. The wittiest of the bunch is "God III", with ghostly, sampled bells and reverbed organ accompanying talk of Christ's son scoring marijuana; I'm not sure where it all ends up but it's a pleasure it listen to.
"God III" and the song that follows it, "Man in the Hole", make up the most engaging portion of an otherwise breezy album, though that isn't to say it's a bore. The work of producer Mitchell Froom becomes especially evident on the latter track; it's easy to imagine the instrumental portion as a fine work of music on it's own, with the vocals occasionally getting in the way of some lovely guitar work.

Various Artists - Vans Warped Tour 2004 Tour Compilation

SideOneDummy

Anyone who would pick this up knows what to expect. Pop punk and pop rock acts from Alkaline Trio to Yellowcard (no bands starting with the letter "Z" this time), with a brief incursion from cousin genre of pop rap in the form of Atmosphere. The acts run the gamut chronological, in addition to alphabetical; with Bad Religion at the most ancient end and (at the time) younger acts like Jersey and Melee making up the large swath of the tracklisting.
I've never attended the Warped Tour, though I'm sure if you attended the year's festival represented here, and were still just immersing yourself in this sort of music, it most certainly holds great sentimental value. As this isn't quite my cup of tea, I haven't heard of, needless to say heard the majority of the artists represented here.
This wasn't an incredibly memorable year for the Warped Tour, I'm told, but if you need a somewhat specific cultural milestone, this album should do the trick!
************LATE BUT GREAT***********

Various Artists - African Party

Putumayo

There seems to be a certain line drawn through the world of African music; the majority of it is produced with a few drum machines, maybe a sampler or guitar, and speak-sung, politically or romantically charged lyrics.
The remainder of what's published tends to be lighter in tone, though richer in it's instrumentation, and it's this latter section is what usually informs the foreigner's idea of what African music is.
The content of Putumayo's latest compilation is firmly rooted in that richer, easier sound, and what it may lack in a certain definition of authenticity, it makes up for in it's sheer danceability. The sort of guitarwork we here in the global north have been fawning over for decades is well represented here, all in good form; this is "feel-good" music as only a continent as troubled as Africa can manifest it. That's the whole point of this style of music: the crafting of music that makes it's listener feel good, from the township to the townhouse.

Glenna Bell - The Road Less Traveled

Sonic Bids

Country is at it's best when it's simple, melancholy; something that stares you right in the eye without beating you down with force. It's not just that Ms. Bell's voice has that quality grafted to it; she knows how to dress it down without turning it all into one big gimmick. Just the right amount of echo, on her guitar as well as her voice, with lyrics that never overreach in their scope. The thematic territory is familiar, with heartbreak at the center of it all, but it is with honesty.
Aside from a few slightly more lavish moments, this is sparse music with a void as it's backbone, a void which pulls us in close to Ms. Bell and imbues her words with an equal gravity. This is a quality that cannot be faked or honed, it is intimate and honest without being simplistic or dumb; this is a sort of music that I'd feared dead.

Roger Cline & The Peacemakers - Turbo Ocho

Emmajava

Mr. Cline hails from Arizona, and while he attempts to craft an image of a laid back Sonoran, comfortable on either side of the border, his music places him squarely in the realm of southwestern suburbanite.
Mexico is, for him, the land of Mariachi, cerveza and magaritas; anyone expecting the work of a border straddling vaquero is going to be disappointed. The horn swells and slide guitar that show up midway through the album just distract from what the album really is; a continuation of the southwestern scene that birthed this man's career (and supported that of fellow Arizonans, the Gin Blossoms).
The album is well timed, as we seem to be undergoing a phase of 90's musical nostalgia, and I'm sure there's a strong swath of rapidly aging Gen-Xers who will eat this material up in place of a Dead Hot Workshop reunion tour.

Asylum St. Spankers - Hot Lunch

Yellow Dog

Sure, this album is self-consciously archaic in it's lyricism, but the musicianship is as authentic as you're going to find, these days. Even with glaringly dumb lyrical turns about psychedelic mushrooms and UFOs, you can loose yourself in some of the finest clarinet and fiddle work put out on record, in it's day (this is a re-issue from 1999). Among the plethora of 1990s mock AM-era novelty acts, this one certainly seems to have had the finest skill behind it.
The best vocalist (six different members take shots behind the microphone, throughout the album) who really does justice to music itself is Christina Marrs; she doesn't give in to the kitsch value, and at times actually sounds like she could've made it in the era the band seems to be paying equal parts tribute and lampoon.

A Fine Frenzy - One Cell in the Sea

Virgin/Capitol/EMI

Alison Sudol's voice is polished, and it's that voice that carries this album, the backing instrumentation pretty par for this genre. Almost. There's a background loop on the fifth track, "Rangers", tracked low; if producers 'Hal Y Burton' had left out the piano, guitar and drums that vie for space with the vocals, and let Ms. Sudol's voice blend with what sound like horns in a reverberation chamber, they'd have a standout track.
Even so, this is a well assembled product that's been getting a good amount of attention from the right people since before it's release. The remarkable thing here is the amount of potential behind the voice that's at the center of it; I'd very much like to see her hone the finer moments of this album into something beyond musical wallpaper for primetime teen dramas.

Big Bill Broonzy - The 1955 London Sessions

Collectables/ADA

It is on this music that Big Bill Broonzy's legend rests; country folk through the lens of the kind of blues that comes into being when a country boy is forcibly introduced to the way of the town. The hallmarks of the era; the odd small orchestral swell or slow, distant piano work, everything slow and steady, are all present. Without this era of this man, we probably wouldn't have what's come to be called the Chicago sound; without that we probably wouldn't have Willie Dixon, or Ray Davies for that matter.
The big moment for me is when everything loosens up with "Southern Saga/Joe Turner Blues"; the guitar gets a bit messier, there's an odd atmospheric rumble, even a glimpse of feedback in there. We're brought in close, but not in a manner that could be called violating. Represented here is a body of work I haven't hesitated to deem classic.

James Otto - Sunset Man

Warner Bros.

The most contemporary incarnation of the "Nashville" brand of country music production has long since established itself as the mainstream from CMT on down, and Mr. Otto's apparently most recent record is no exception to that trend. This is music to shop by, or stand on hold with, or overhear in the lobby of a Jiffy Lube.
When we work with standards attuned to reaching the status of something that provides a sort of cultural carbon dated reference, we get a pretty dang fine product. Even some of the less obvious trends, such as the intrusion of sound effects at the outset of "Drink and Dial", make an appearance. Even though it probably won't be a great success commercially, as far as living up to par goes, I can't think of a better example than this.

Black Tide - Light from Above

Interscope

These are kids! The lead guitarist and vocalist is 15! What's more, this sounds like it could've been put out in the heady days of Sunset Strip's heavy metal heyday; though it's not entirely a retread of a well played era. If Guitar Wolf got young and white, and cleaned up their sound, this is probably what would have resulted.
But who cares about such comparisons; the oldest member of this band is 19 and they sound like they've been honing their "hard rock" chops since the mid 1980s. This isn't an act that rests on the potential gimmick of being Gun N' Roses N' Diapers; there's genuine talent and discipline here, and that's got to be appreciated.

Whitesnake - Good to Be Bad

SPV/Eagle Rock

Sometimes I wonder if there's some subset of the American Federation of Musicians consisting solely of the swath of artists who make up the backing bands of personalities like Whitesnake's David Coverdale. The line-up claims veterans of such venerable acts as Winger, Don Henley, Edgar Winter, and Dio; 80's rock is no longer just a chronological distinction, it's become a genre in itself, and these men are well versed in this specific craft, if one wishes to call it that.
That said, this record certainly lives up to the precedent established by the bands that the current Whitesnake lineup is culled from; do not let this lead you to think, however, that this album could have been released 20-odd years ago. The songwriting is right where it should be (the mid to late 1980s); all big "rockers", save two ballads, differentiated from their tracklist peers only by the absence of dinosaur guitar solos.

The Joe Moss Band - Maricela's Smile

212/Burnside

Not to put down his band, but it's Mr. Moss who's front and center, here. There's something delicately comic about his lighthearted blues, and that charm is what carries a lot of the weight on this album. This isn't to say that this is a weak bit of work, or that it relies entirely on personality; "Can You Feel My Heart" and the title track (particularly the fist minute or so) is a wonderful showcase of how disciplined this band is and, though it veers into jam band territory at a few points, is an excellent distillation of what this sort of music is at it's best.
Maybe I'd say the same for the whole album. Humor is inherent in this line of music making ("we go together like hogs and slop", on the track wonderfully titled 'big leg woman'), and Moss works it as it should be worked. It's this, and not his guitar work, that put him at the center of this release, as his backing players get more than adequate solo time throughout the album.

Don Immel - Long Way Home

Elemental

This is jazz so smooth it sounds like it was entirely produced on the world's greatest graintable synthesizer. If that's your choice aesthetic, you're in for quite the treat! It's all delicate, ornate, with a bit of goofy charm in the form of a re-configuring of the Led Zeppelin rendition of "Whole Lotta Love", the title whittled down to "Whole Lotta", here.
Even the tracks which feature vocals, provided by the enchanting Chandry Moore and thoroughly weighted Jake Bergevin, appear to be under the tight creative grip of Mr. Immel. The track titling seems to be given time and thought equal to what went into the music; "Lemonade Alchemy" and the oh-so appropriate "Charm Offensive" being top of the list.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Cocoa Tea - The Sweet Sound of Coca Tea

17 North Parade

Cocoa Tea is more than just a legend of dancehall; he's arguably the genre's most well dressed man. Nothing on this compilation comes from the darker corners of his vast catalogue, but I'll be danged if this isn't a fine introduction to a man at the center of Jamaica's dominant sound. There's a wonderful survey of the genre's focal points on display here, most notably producer Gussie Clarke, who's work is most prominent in Cocoa's collaborations with Home T., Shabba Ranks and Cutty Ranks toward the end of the first disc.
The big highlight of the album is an appearance by Buju Banton on the second track of the second disc. The vocal chemistry between Mr. Tea and Mr. Banton can be described only as divine, with the stage persona of each MC being driven to extremes; Buju's borderline psychotic dance-hype yell vs. Cocoa's marijuana drenched peacemaking drawl. Though most of the record isn't so singular, it's the clearest image of mainstream dancehall scene with one artist at it's center you're likely to find.

The Rave Tesar Trio - You Decide

Self Released

This is mood jazz of the Brubeckian order. This jazz as craft; the product of skill, rather than something that could be termed the work of genius. And it's done right by Mr. Tesar and his crew. It all brings to mind people who sail (yacht, even!) or go out only occasionally and, if you're in the right mood, it's a nice place to be. It's all swinging ballads, with a burst of Advanced Latin Flavor on the second to last track, all well rehearsed; I can't tell if the improvisational moments are genuine, at times.
This is talent over creativity, and sometimes that works.

Stanton Moore Trio - Emphasis (on parenthesis)

Telarc/Concord

This is part of a genre frequently heard but seldom paid attention: polite funk. All the hallmarks of instrumental funk are there; organ solos, heavy handed drums, fuzzed out guitar, etc. But it's all a bit... quieter, tighter, more disciplined. Even his improvisations sound well rehearsed, and while it shows that this is a well honed, communicative group of musicians, sometimes it can be more than a little unexciting.
Still, you can appreciate the time these folks must have spent together to get to this point, and on tracks where they let things get a little heavier, turn down the solos and turn up the solid foundation, most notably on "(I Have) Super Strength", things sound pretty dang remarkable. The fact that every song title incorporates parenthesis is also appreciated. center>

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

And now we got a revolution
Cause i see the face of things to come
Yeah, your Constitution
Well, my friend, it's gonna have to bend
Im here to tell you about destruction
Of all the evil that will have to end.

Some folks are gonna get the notion
I know they'll say im preachin hate
But if i have to swim the ocean
Well i would just to communicate
Its not as simple as talkin jive
The daily struggle just to stay alive

Singin about a revolution
Because were talkin about a change
Its more than just evolution
Well you know you got to clean your brain
The only way that we can stand in fact
Is when you get your foot off our back

Political Article: Developing the New "Capitalists' Man By:Dean Baker Back To Top In the wake of revolutions in Russia, China, Cuba, and elsewhere, there was talk of creating a new type of person with a socialist mindset. The idea was that people in the prerevolutionary capitalist societies had been educated to be individualistic and greedy. The post-revolutionary societies would instead educate people to be socially minded and to consider the collective good in their actions. I'll leave it to others to debate the merits of these efforts. The reason that they are suddenly relevant is that our political leaders now seem concerned that people have not been adequately educated for their vision of a capitalist society. This came to light recently when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson insisted that people who are underwater in their mortgages still had an obligation to pay off their loans. Mr. Paulson is concerned that, because of the collapse of the housing bubble, many people now find themselves owing more than the value of their house and are simply walking away from their debts. For example, in some of the rapidly deflating bubble markets, many homeowners are in situations where they owe $400,000 or $500,000 on a home that today is worth $100,000 less than the amount of their mortgage. In this situation, homeowners can effectively save $100,000 if they stop paying the mortgage and let the bank foreclose on the house. Tens of thousands of homeowners are opting do exactly this. They calculate that it makes more sense for them to let the bank take the house than to repay the mortgage. Businesses have even opened that show people exactly how to "walk away" from their mortgage and explain the potential consequences. As a committed capitalist, we might expect Mr. Paulson to applaud people taking initiative and acting to improve their plight. Instead, he is insisting that these homeowners should ignore their self-interest and act in the interest of the banks. In other words, he wants homeowners to keep making payments on their mortgages even if it is a bad deal for them. Apparently, individualistic behavior can go too far when it affects bank profits. Mr. Paulson isn't the only capitalist who wants people to put aside self-interest. The entertainment industry is also struggling with the fact that people acting in their self-interest are unlikely to pay copyright protected prices for music, movies and video games when they can get the material for free over the web. To try to discourage people from acting in their self-interest, the Recording Industry Association of America (the trade association for the music industry) has developed curriculum for grade school, high school and university level courses that are supposed to instill in children the proper respect for copyright. Instead of debating the most efficient mechanism for financing creative work in the Internet Age, we are getting propaganda courses on copyright protection. Of course, no industry has a more urgent need for people to act selflessly in support of their profits than the pharmaceutical industry. Their profits depend on being able to sell drugs at prices that can be hundreds or even thousands of times the actual production cost. With few exceptions, drugs are cheap to produce, but the industry can charge very high prices because it has a government-granted patent monopoly. The absolute highest prices are associated with drugs for diseases like cancer that can literally mean life or death for patients. The cost for a year's prescription of these drugs can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If people act in their own self-interest, they will seek out unauthorized copies of high-priced drugs, either from foreign countries or from gray market producers in the United States who will step in the fill the need. (There are more efficient ways to pay for pharmaceutical research than the patent system.) Unless the government becomes ever more repressive in enforcing patent protection, the pharmaceutical companies will not be able to sustain its current business model, since people will not pay tens of thousands of dollars for drugs that cost a few dollars to produce. But the problems of the pharmaceutical industry, the entertainment industry and the mortgage industry can all be solved if we can just perfect the new capitalists' man - a person who willingly subordinates his own needs to the greater need for corporate profit. There is an obvious name for this new man: "sucker."

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