Madonna - Hard Candy

Warner Bros

The best thing about Madonna is that she is constantly reinventing herself, and doesn't half ass anything. Hard Candy, like the past 5 or so records of hers, uses the hottest producers, a new style, and her signature sex appeal mixed with incredible vocal hooks/lines.
This time, she is plunging headfirst into a genre which I can't really put my finger on. Nu-soul, perhaps. The best way to show this is through the producers: Justin Timerblake, Timbaland, and The Neptunes. By a large margin three of the best producers out there right now. And thats basically what it sounds like: give the three producers full reign to make beats and progressions, and this is what came out.
Lots of hip-hop esq beats, but far too poppy "soul" to really fit cleanly into that genre. Not to mention the fact that she is still singing as she always has, and grooving as she always will. It's always interesting to see what Madonna will do next, and that she never does it poorly.

Phil Vassar - Prayer of a Common Man

Universal South

I really can't tell how I feel about this. Part of me hates it: it's over the top, over-produced, semi-soulless, and, I swear, he actually raps at points. Not many, but there are a few. And the lyrics seem painfully contrived.
But the over-production is endearing at times, similar to how really bad Hollywood movies are awesome sometimes, because of how over the top they are. Tons of instruments, tons of dynamics, and the piano and guitar playing Vassar does are both surprisingly good. He manages to make his bordering-on-ridiculous lyrics work, and make the genre of "arena-country" make sense somehow, despite the fact that I rarely can stand the stuff. While Vassar isn't actually doing anything different than the millions of up and comings, he manages to make it sound better than the rest. That is, if you can tolerate it.

The Roots - Rising Down

Def Jam

I've been waiting for so long to get a Roots album through here, since they deserve it. The Roots were my introduction to underground hip-hop, and even then was a step up from the rest. Their ability to not only push the boundaries of what hip hop is, but also to push what is acceptable to be said on mainstream records.
They consistently talk about racism and other forms of oppression, taking very serious tones along with moments of fun and upbeat notes. They include organic instruments (at least, before Rising Down), and have never seemed to fit cleanly with the rest of the mainstream hip hop scene out there. They are miles above almost everyone else. My opinion is only stretched in accordance with their casting in Bamboozled, playing the part in Spike Lee's satirical look at black television as the "Porch Monkeys", which is one of my favorite films.
Rising Down is a bit of a different direction from their past works. Much heavier on the electronics, and intensely more serious (the title is said to be based off of William T. Vollmann's book Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom, and Urgent Means). The album is possibly my favorite to date. Collaborations on here include Mos Def, COMMON, P.O.R.N., and Saigon. In many ways, it's much darker, which only intrigues me more. Too much of hip hop, I feel, is focused on unobtainable situations and realistically abstract ideas. Luckily, we have The Roots to bring it all back to Earth.

The Ocean - Precambrian Double CD

Metal Blade

The Ocean, one of Germany's newest feats for Metal Blade Records, is, if all goes to plan, the new wave of metal. Or at least metalcore. With so much bad out there, it borders on painful to hear something this good. Good in the way that they not only take notes from the greats, don't try to reinvent the wheel, and don't try to fit in a box.
The album begins as a drone track of guitar, horn, and light singing. It then erupts into doom-ridden Metal Blade style metal, meticulously clean and intensely heavy, striving for the epic and tribal sounds that were paved by their forefathers Neurosis and Isis. A good majority of this record is actually incredibly reminiscent of Red Sea era Isis, with a much cleaner feel, a bit heavier on the electronics, and a bit more technical rather than minimalistic.
With beautiful minimalistic artwork (comprised almost entirely by black background, dark grays, and metal-laced abstract quotes ridden throughout the entire jacket) and two CD's, this is hopefully going to be just a beginning of the newest wave of popular metal.

Ahmad Jamal - It's Magic

NOW Forward/Birdology/Dreyfus RELEASE DATE: JUNE 10TH

Coming up on his 78th birthday, Ahmad Jamal is a living legend in the truest form of the word. He was a big influence on Miles Davis, and has played everywhere, with everyone, and continues to do it as well now as he ever has.
Phenomenal piano playing, coupled with genius use to time signatures and progressions make Jamal's personal style one that will invariably be timeless. The album follows the typical form of piano, double bass and percussion that Jamal usually thrives in. As with most contemporary jazz musicians, you aren't really going to get anything surprising on here. It's Jamal, being Jamal.

Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things

Starbucks/Columbia/Sony BMG

Simply, everyone just assumed this was going to sound like his father. And in a lot of ways, it does. His skills at songwriting are similar, and his voice certainly have inflections that sound like an over-annunciated (or possibly just annunciated) elder Dylan. But this is not the same.
Younger Dylan has a slightly different approach, and a slightly different style. Similarly to other records in this bunch, I really appreciate the minimal instrumentation. There are so few artists who let their work stand on it's own without extensive production and tons of instruments burying everything. The Wallflowers comparisons are inescapable, but, as always, Jakob Dylan manages to shine outside the reach of his (and his fathers) shadow.

The Kinks - Greatest Hits 1970 - 1986 DOUBLE CD PLUS DVD

Konk/Velvel/Koch

Like a good majority of the bands in this issue, there isn't much to say that hasn't already been said about this band. The Kinks revolutionized rock and roll, leading way for so many bands today. The world would be an entirely different place without the legends creating the way we listen to music.
Part of the rise of bands such as The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones, The Kinks were the odd-men out; really not the commercially successful group that the rest were, and not quite as serious and straightforward as the other three. The Beatles were cute, The Who were artistic, The Rolling Stones were raw...and The Kinks were The Kinks.
This album, as the title suggests, is their greatest hit collection, with 36 tracks on two CDs, and a live DVD. The mix of tracks is really good, including my favorite track "Destroyer".
************LATE BUT GREAT***********
***Shelton's Many Singles Of The Week: "Lola", "Come Dancing", "Low Budget", "A Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy", "Celluloid Heroes,", and "Everybody's A Star"***

Goldfinger - Hello Destiny

SideOneDummy

Goldfinger, one of the few left from defunct label Mojo Records, are somehow still putting out recordings. I don't understand how it's possible, but it is. Back in the late '90s, I was all about this band. Their self-titled release is still in full rotation on my CD player, and I even throw Hang Ups on every once and a while.
Personally, the band went down hill the moment front man John Feldmann found veganism and became the PETA2 poster child, never letting the pseudo-animal rights activism drop (this coming from a self-identified animal rights activist and fellow vegan).
Either way, this is much better than the last few things they have put out. While they still aren't fast, sloppy, or all that catchy, they have gained back a few of their punk senses and turned the distortion back up a few notches. A good majority of the record still feels like mediocre alternative rock, but hell, at least it's not the new Green Day.

The Naked Brothers Band - I Don't Want To Go To School

Nickelodeon/Columbia/Sony BMG/Viacom

Here's what I see when I look at this album: corporate sham created by white men in business suits, striving to include the tokenized person of color, the geek, the grungy "sterile but dirty" kid, the drama kid, the cute hipster frontman, and the woman. That's what this is to me. I've never heard about this show before this, and don't really think I want to see it.
While this is really stupid, I can't help but enjoy the songs. I want to hate it, but it somehow is something I can't really get away from. The model of corporate contrived white rock/soul is something that I really want to passionately hate, but not able to do anything but tap my foot to and hope no one notices. It's soulless, but so catchy.
I don't know if any of the members actually play their instruments, but I doubt it. It musically feels like what you could expect: painfully heavy on hooks, so much production you can't tell what is music and what is studio deception, and, most importantly, a really good (and heavily auto tuned) 9 year old voice which is "soulful", and (I can't believe I'm actually saying this...) adorable. While I want to really hate this, I kind of can't stop listening to it.

Mass - Planet String

Skyhouse

The cast of Captain Neo now have a band, as it seems from the cover of Mass's third album Planet String. Dressed like space-fashion victims and nu-wave party goers, Mass are closer to an art piece than a band. The group is extensively based around their bizarre instruments, including an aquaguitar (a guitar-based instrument with a neck for guitar, bass, and sitar), drumorb (a circular drum contraption), and, the most bizarre, the one and only earth harp (the tallest known stringed instrument, reaching over 1,000 feet high, that has an incredibly low drone sound that resonates through the entire recording).
The music feels sort of like a jam session, with very atmospheric tones from beginning to end, and never really breaking the build up that feels like should shatter at any moment. While a little boring at portions, the artistic expression this band gives off, while a bit over the top, is interesting enough to make up for any shortcoming.

Fayssoux - Early

Red Beet

Fayssoux uses a brand of simplistic country that really may be one of my favorites within the umbrella of the genre. Definitely elements of folk thrown in, along with extensive harmonized vocals (she is consistently referred to as the "best harmony vocalist in country") and a general great use of her voice throughout: knowing when to go falsetto, when to keep it simple, and when to spice it up.
She has her head on straight, and knows how to make great music. Incredibly minimalistic instrumentation (for the most part, everything that isn't her guitar is turned super low in the mix, and really used as a highlight mechanism) brings her voice even stronger, and while most of the songs were not written by her, she makes them all her own, inflecting her own emotion into everything she does.

Tom Dempsey & Tim Ferguson - What's Going On?

City Tone

I don't hear too many non-folk duo's nowadays, and it's nice to see it being used appropriately again. What's Going On? isn't anything new by any means. Dempsey and Ferguson's style of groove jazz, with very little time signature/tempo changes within songs give a very monotonous feel, but this instance is the way that I like: minimalistic instrumentation (double bass and guitar) and just a general appeal of being incredibly straight forward, not trying to reinvent the wheel, and not being shameless about their musical talent. A majority of this record is just masturbation, but it comes across in ways that are not only tolerable, but completely accessible and easy to listen to.

Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano - Amor, Dolor y Lagrimas: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano

Smithsonian Folkways/RYKO

As we always find, it's incredibly difficult in white United States culture to be exposed to music and musical ideas that are not part of popular culture. Mariachi Los Camperos are an example of perfection fallen through the proverbial cracks. Legends throughout Centeral America, we barely hear about them here, aside from things such as this album: a treat from label Smithsonian Folkways, fully intent on bringing musical forms that are either impossible to find or so covered that they are barely visible to the forelight.
Amor, Dolor y Lagrimas is Mariachi, as the group's name suggests. Coming from southern California, I got a very biased view of the genre, relying on bands in Tijuana who play for white foreigners to hear the music. Obviously it was not a great representation, and not very encompassing of the genre as a whole. This shatters all of the preconceptions.
All the instruments are acoustic, consisting extensively of acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, fiddle, horns, and lots of vocal harmonies. That's one of the biggest things that separates Mariachi from most of white western culture music: voice is based mostly as an instrument, with the subtle work of lyrics as added art. It's truly beautiful music.

Dark Meat - Universal Indians

VICE

As usual, VICE brings us yet another bizarrely intriguing record, this time from up and coming cult-classic Dark Meat. I say "up and coming" only because this is their first release: they have been playing for a few years now, and certainly have their name out there.
Universal Indians is exactly what everyone up until this point has described Dark Meat to me as: a psychedelic freak out session with absurd amount of instruments and extensive amount of free jazz moments. The 17-piece group from "the south" are really just an insane conglomeration of massive rock beats, stoner lead lines, and group vocals. Very little of this record is not group vocals. 1I can't imagine what this band would be like live, aside from a giant spectacle and dance party, at the same time. And, with a dedication to "the Holy Ghost of Albert Ayler", one of the most under-talked about jazz musicians of all time, how could you go wrong with something like this.

Mark Lemhouse - Big Lonesome Radio

Yellow Dog

Lemhouse plays solid blues. Nothing incredibly new or original, but straightforward blues. He uses a lot of bottleneck slide guitar, which I have a big soft spot for. The recording is fairly lofi, which is also an added bonus for me. Basically, on my checklist of "What Makes Good Blues" for me, this album grabs a grand slam. The only thing that could make this better for me is if they were all Woody Guthrie covers.

Frank Carillo and the Bandoleros - Someday

Jezebel

I realize here at JSITop21 we compare just about everything to a few greats: Dylan, Guthrie, Springstreen, etc. I realize that we continually use these names as tokenized icons for given genres, and possible even over use the comparisons. I know this. But I can't help but think that Someday is the second coming of Bruce Springsteen. Not in the way that The Hives stole The Rolling Stones shtick, or how Bright Eyes is just a Dylan worship act.
No, Frank Carillo and the Bandoleros takes a step past Springsteen, coming fully into his own construction of a beautiful rock album. Carillo's voice and melodies are tributes to the godfather of modern rock, and uses interesting musical progressions that are not the norm these days. With a legacy such as Carillo's (work with just about every stellar rock band/producer that has ever walked the earth), it's no wonder that this album, while nowhere near as good as Born To Run, is still one of the best rock albums to come out in years.

Ted Nugent - Sweden Rocks

McGhee/Eagle Rock

The shittiest human being alive brings us one of the best recent hard-rock albums, surprisingly in the form of a live album. While live albums are a general big thumbs down, this one almost compares to the studio recorded previous releases, primarily because of Nugent's hysterical screaming during every second of down time and the raw energy brought across through the recording. He is heavy on the palm muted AC/DC style guitar playing, but is certainly not anything like the legends. The two backing members, Mick Brown and Barry Sparks, have very little to do on this recording besides provide a shadow to further illuminate Nugent's obnoxiousness and showmanship.
Most of the track list on here are slightly older songs (almost nothing from Love Grenade), which was a little surprising. The nice thing about it, though, is that the tracks don't seem to be jumbled or weird for the mesh. They could certainly all come from the same album without putting a kink in the flow. As for Nugent himself, all you need to do is look at the cover of the album: camo cowboy hat, camo vest, and a really bad gotee. The man is a monster, but his music is terrific.
***Shelton's Second Single Of The Week: "Cat Scratch Fever"***
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ted may not know this, but we go back a long way together, back to the Grooves days. Even then, he was a right wing scumbag. A killer of animals, a lover of guns, a hater of women, and now, unfortunately, he has added a new capitalist twist: he is an imperialist madman willing to kill and murder and torture other innocent human lives.

Lyfe Jennings - Lyfe Change

Columbia/Sony BMG

With the rise of R&B such as R. Kelly and Sean Williams, most people have forgot that the genre is usually supposed to have soul. I know it sounds weird, but it totally does. People don't realize that soulless music is not how music is supposed to be.
Lyfe Jennings is putting the heart back into R&B. Taking elements of previous stated musicians, or perhaps more so the roots of where they came from, Jennings has taken pieces from the past and makes them better, and applicable to today.
With producers today like Timbaland and West, who are revolutionizing a sound, Jennings has only adapted slightly to the new sounds, and still relies in the same niche that he has occupied for years. This is hopefully a new direction for R&B. Nice thought, but I doubt it.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***
***Shelton's Thirty-Third Single Of The Week: "Old School ft. Snoop Dogg,"***

Jinnrail - Million Lifetimes

Girlfight

There was a time that mainstream rock wasn't completely soulless. Or at least I keep telling myself that. If I can deceive myself into this notion, it would only make sense to say that Jinnrail would be much better suited to that time period. Being compared to everyone from The Doors to Nirvana to The Who and back to The Cult, this band is somehow all of these and none at the same time. They take notes from all of the above, but reinvent rock, meticulously making a new sound to try out on for the charts. Unfortunately, it falls short of the mark.
The conglomeration of traditional rock and roll with contemporary energy and styles just makes it come out a little awkward. I respect this because it isn't a boring heap of rehashed nonsense, but it just doesn't work for me. Lots of Jim Morrison influence in the vocals, but it just sort of clashes with most of what everyone else is doing. As I said earlier, this is for a time when mainstream rock wasn't a corporate sham, and falls on deaf ears today.

Irvin Mayfield and Ellis Marsalis - Love Songs, Ballads and Standards

Basin Street/RED

Most of the legends are dead, leaving Mayfield and Marsalis behind to carry the torch. Both are incredible musicians, using their instruments that sound as if they are just a simple game to the operators, but nothing most people could come up with without a lifetime of practice.
As trumpet's usually go, Mayfield mostly takes the forefront, with Marsalis's piano playing taking a more rhythmic appeal. The choice of tracks are all over the place, but generally pretty spot on. Two tracks of The Beatles "Yesterday", and Nora Jones "Don't Know Why" take place next to Thelonious Monk, Stevie Wonder and Duke Ellington on here, along with a slew of other classics and contemporaries.

Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks

Fiction/Geffen/Universal

Wow. I am all about this. Female singer/songwriter definitely does not do justice to Kate Nash. Nash's cockney accent is really a giant piece of why Made Of Bricks is so endearing, but it is certainly not the whole. Her style of writing music is pop, but not in the way that we usually think of "pop artists".
She follows in the footsteps of musicians like Regina Specter and artists of that group, but really surpassing most of them. Her guitar is certainly where she starts, but the album is filled with full instrumentation, including heavily incorporated drums and piano. Her riffs and vocal lines are incredibly catchy, to the point where I have found myself singing her songs when I'm not listening to her. One of my favorites of the year. center>

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

Living in the wasteland of the free...

We got preachers dealing in politics and diamond mines
and their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples
but they don't look like Jesus to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians running races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old-fashioned
but that don't fit my picture of a true democracy
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got CEO's making two hundred times the workers' pay
but they'll fight like hell against raising the minimum wage
and If you don't like it, mister, they'll ship your job
to some third-world country 'cross the sea
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

We got little kids with guns fighting inner city wars
So what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
and we call ourselves the advanced civilization
that sounds like crap to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got high-school kids running 'round in Calvin Klein and Guess
who cannot pass a sixth-grade reading test
but if you ask them, they can tell you
the name of every crotch on mTV
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We kill for oil, then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight, and we call that the sin
but he's standing up for what he believes in
and that seems pretty damned American to me
and it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

While we sit gloating in our greatness
justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free

Political Article: Is Who Becomes The Next President All That Matters By:Danny Schechter Back To Top I know. I know. How this is the most important election in history, and why the next occupant of the White House will not only be answering the red phone at 3 AM but possibly be saving these not always United States from the decline that even TIME Magazine has announced the country is facing. Yet, as I travel outside the country, I can't help but feel, or is it fear, that this logic leaves out some rather important considerations. Like the fact that the US cannot unilaterally impose its will on the world anymore as our dollar falls and our credibility falls with it. Even a strategy of negotiation as opposed to confrontation is not a recipe for success because in a multi-polar world, other countries and power blocs like the Russians, the Chinese, the EU, The Persian Gulf and OPEC have their own interests. They will listen to our proposals but may reject them if they are at variance with their own needs. We just don't have the power to impose our will even as we still suffer from "the USA is number one" syndrome and think that we can kick ass and take names if anyone stands in our way. Whoever becomes President may not have the power he or she assumes goes with the office. (In fact, after the fact, in their memoirs, most presidents complain they often felt powerless, besieged by lobbyists, party factions and reticent bureaucrats at every turn. They see themselves constrained by institutional obstacles at every turn.) In many ways, Mao was right, the occupant of the oval office is a paper tiger. In this new world, if we want others to do our bidding, we can't threaten to obliterate them or strut around like Mighty Mouse when so many in the world see us as the Mouse that Roared. So many of our problems today are global and shared by others. Globalization has assured that. We are all impacted by global threats like climate change, escalating food prices, world hunger, endemic poverty, and pandemic disease that the White House can't wave a magic wand to cure. Sadly, most Americans are not educated about these issues and the press downplays them. Even when we cause problems, like the mortgage collapse, markets worldwide feel the pain in an internationally entangled financial system where we are dependent on monies from China. Meanwhile, others invest in the US to keep their own profits up and compete with our companies on our home ground. Sure, we are militarily powerful but apparently not powerful or smart enough to subdue Iraq or Afghanistan after five years. Our warriors on terror have yet to capture Bin Laden or even neutralize the Taliban. The truth is the Democratic candidates don't think they can tell the military what to do and so have withdrawal plans that will take years. That's the reality. The military industrial complex often has a mind of its own. And so does Wall Street, which won't take marching orders from any president. Both Clinton and Bush turned to Goldman Sachs to run the Treasury, and it's not clear if their former execs were ambassadors to The Street or from The Street. Financial power trumps political power in a country dominated by a corporate system. Who can impose an excess profits tax on Big Oil? Who will dare? In fact, look at the credit crisis. It started with the mortgage meltdown of August 2007. At least one million families have lost their homes. Another two and half million are threatened. The New York Times reports that even their storage spaces are now being auctioned off because many folks can't afford the monthly charges. The ONION jokes that a family burned their stimulus check because they can't afford heat. Sometimes fiction like this gets to the heart of faction. Times' business columnist Gretchen Morgenson notes that in all these months of obvious economic calamity, NOTHING meaningful has been done by our government to help people in need, writing, "as the great American credit crash continues to reverberate, we still have nothing that resembles an intelligent and comprehensive plan for dealing with mass foreclosures and the economic consequences associated with the debacle." Why? There is a ideological clash of course. That's obvious. An administration that has foreclosed on the American Dream cares as much about our homeowners as it did about the victims of Katrina. But beyond that, they don't know what to do; they have no "fix." There may not be one. We are dealing not with a political debate but a structural crisis of American capitalism in an era of waning Empire. We can throw money at these problems as we probably should, but they are all intricate and subject to pressure politics. When the Senate run by Democrats tried to bring relief to distressed homeowners, their final bill was shameful with more giveaways to home builders and lenders than mortgagees. So, let's temper our expectations about what the candidate of our choice can actually get doneo a system of many checks but very little balance. The Presidency is a bully pulpit. The President can lead but Congress need not follow. Sure, change is needed, and badly, but the changes being proposed - like a summertime tax break at the pump won't do much about the deeper energy crisis. Many of the proposals being debated are tinkering with deeply flawed policies. They aim to bail the water out of the Titanic while it is sinking Unfortunately, our scandal obsessed "Gotcha" media is useless in explaining or investigating these deeper problems. Its focus is only on the horse race. Cable news is increasingly a pundit-heavy distraction machine, where opinionizing has replaced reporting, and, yes, still a Weapon of Mass Deception as one film I made years ago argued. Please think about this, and what's not being covered. Sorry to rain on the parade as the primaries roll on and the excitement builds like in a sports event. Who is the next President matters, matters deeply, but is that all that matters?

Back To Top