Los Lonely Boys - Forgiven

Epic/Sony BMG

If you had to split the musical universe of Texas (Austin excepted) down the middle, you'd end up with the Hip Hop scene DJ Screw built on the east and on the west, you'd probably have something that could be best represented by Los Lonely Boys.
While retaining a measure of the aesthetics of the Tejano scene (though not much of it's sound), these are boys reared on suburban interpreters of purely American blues. And they're the better for it; this is a rare example of integration helping a Chicano band stand out against it's peers.

Computer vs Banjo - S/T

Diagram

Despite claims to the contrary, "folktronica" has been around long enough to be a tired term; this doesn't stop this record from being completely listenable.
There's nothing in the way of harsh contrast, here. Just some easy-listening for those who like variety in their instrumentation, whilst keeping it lean.

John Mellencamp - Life Death Love and Freedom

Hear/Concord

Mr. Mellencamp finds himself in the darker shades of heartland rock, which should not come as a surprise to anyone following his career.
Though part of me yearns for an attempt at reviving his initial, glittery persona (from the Johnny Cougar years), his earnestness sits alright by me all the same. His attempts at political content (on the song "Jena") falter but, in the context of the album, this is something we can overlook.

Alabama 3 - Hits & Exit Wounds

One Little Indian

There's no escaping the fact that these are English boys trying to ape the feel of a certain aspect of the landscape of low rent America. This fact is most pervasive on the first three tracks (most notably the second, which served as the theme to "The Sopranos"); what saves this from being boring is the fact that they impose this absurdly "ghetto/country" posturing on a canvas of what tends to be called "Euro-dance". Yes, it's goofy, but goofy can also mean fun.

Tickle Me Pink - Madeline

CD/DVD Wind-Up

Only Colorado could birth a band like this; a land famous for it's Evangelical mega churches and school shootings, TMP are all about coughing out their angst in the biggest ways they can figure.
By "big", I don't mean alienating. Pop music is designed to entertain as many people as possible. And by that measure, this works.

Mark Chesnutt - Rollin With the Flow

Lofton Creek/Big 7

Nashville beat Bakersfield in the great country sound wars, and we're left with the most polished scene in the genre's history. At least Mr. Chesnutt doesn't allow himself to fall into the gorge of self-parody that so many others find themselves wedged into, immovably.
Sure, it's clean, but it's also honest. Honesty can be the makings of good music and, in this case, it is.

Various Artists - Hard + Heavy: Lay It Down

Time Life/Rhino/Warner Bros.

Oh, for the days when brontosaurus-sized rock behemoths strode the Earth in the heaviest of manner; anyone in need of a reminder that "heavy" once referred to a specific attitude rather than crushing bass or delayed distortion need look no further than this smattering of songs.
Truly, the heaviness of this record rests on the shoulders of the few tracks that haven't been overplayed, "Holy Diver" by Dio, the all but forgotten Brownsville Station romp and a half "Smokin' the Boy's Room" and Alice Cooper's "Eighteen".
************LATE BUT GREAT***********

Hungrytown - S/T

Listen Here

Charm! And so much of it! Listening to this record, I not only want to hear more of them, but I'd also love to be their friend. I'm filled visions of trudging through the harsh Vermont winter, jug of maple syrup under arm, smile on my face; they've invited me to one of their patented pancake jamborees. And I can hardly wait. Folksy folk who seem like a genuine good time, give 'em a listen!

Various Artists - Music From the Motion Picture 'American Teen'

Columbia/Sony BMG

Though I haven't seen this movie, I do know more than a few real life teenagers, and they would for sure like the songs on this record. That makes it a success in my book.
There seems to be a remarkable overlap in "teenage" music, and music suitable for Volkswagen commercials, but this isn't a bad thing. Both VW's PR team and teenagers have notoriously hip tastes, and this record does nothing to refute that.

Inland Knights and Olivier Desmet - San Francisco Sessions

(2CD) Amentimusic/Om

Electronica, as we knew it when it first achieved mainstream popularity some decade ago, lives on. And let us be thankful for that!
Generation rave may be aging, but their music is still as danceable; at moments bordering on timeless. Appropriate for night driving, dance parties and all sorts of fun.

Al Foster Quartet - Love, Peace and Jazz!

Jazz Eyes/+1

Keep the flame alight, boys! If I hadn't heard them before, I would've considered the standards (courtesy Miles, Shorter, etc) original compositions along with the three tracks actually penned by Mr. Foster.
It's nice, almost reassuring to see that pre-progressive jazz hasn't been absorbed by the category of "smooth" or relegated to the archives.

M83 - Saturdays = Youth

Mute

As if we needed another reminder that being a teenager is awesome, here comes Anthony Gonzales' M83; bringing us back to the days when skipping class actually meant something. And in order to really drive the point home, he brings it back to the last time being a teenager meant anything: the late 1980s.
With soaring (but never too high) synths and gratuitous drum-pad work, this is a wonderful collision between the sensibilities of the earlier wave of goth and the Greek god of synthwork Vangelis that is sure to please all.

Various Artists - Ayombe! The Heart of Colombia's Musica Vallenata

Smithsonian Folkways

Cumbia is currently sweeping the world of Latin American music, and Vallenata (the genre represented here) is something of a close cousin; this should alone should pique the interest of anyone with an ear to the south of our border.
Several sub genres are touched upon here; the firey merengue, the lamentful paseo and the speedy little puya, just to name a few. This is vital music that should be heard by everyone.

Duke Robillard - A Swinging Session with Duke Robillard

Stony Plain

"Swinging" is definitely the right word for this release; there's as much Benny Goodman as there is Buddy Guy throughout. That isn't to say that it's all up-tempo swingers.
What really marks this album is Mr. Robillard's ability to swiftly "swing" between genres, moods and even various roles his guitar plays in each section of each song.

Wild Sweet Orange - We Have Cause to be Uneasy

Canvasback/Earfood

d Sweet Orange - "We Have Cause to be Uneasy" Canvasback/Earfood Weary, politely worn rock music from the musically underrepresented U.S. State of Alabama. It starts off with a series of not-so-stately rockers, before giving way to something a little more interesting; the track "Sour Milk" draws you in close, pairs down the instrumentation to an accordion and banjo. Plus a female backup singer.
Even when the drums come back into play, on the next track, the intimate mood remains and stays around till the album's close.

John Mayall - Live At the Marquee/The Masters

Eagle Rock

A solid primer for anyone unfamiliar with this exemplar of English blue-eyed-blues. One of the reasons why Mr. Mayall has survived so well is that he never attempted to copy black American soul or blues musicians. Although few would admit it, he owes as much to 20th century busking traditions as he does to the Delta; and this set brings that quality to the front. Muddled vocal/harp freakouts captured in the large music hall setting is the basis for the first, stronger disc; the second is mostly supplemental material. A well rounded package, all the same.

Mick Overman - Mister Double Happiness

Max

This is a record that refuses to sit in one place. It's all easy going Americana, but then that cover of "Secret Agent Man" comes out of left field. Part of me hopes this is an espionage concept album, with "Catch More Bees" a reference to cold war 'honeypot' techniques. It probably isn't, but it's still a good record!

Mike Farris - Salvation in Lights

INO/Mean It!/Columbia

This record is proof positive that New Orleans is still bursting at the seems with soul-power; so much so that even a scrawny white boy like Mr. Farris can belt out the sweet mournful sounds for which the Crescent City is so known.
This is the sort of Christian record rooted in a faith a world apart from the sort of "modern worship" garbage we've come to associate with "Christian Music".
That isn't to say the music itself doesn't veer into that territory, especially toward the end; stripped of his funeral brass he puts a foot in the generic, though never falls all the way in. A re-affirming record, for those who swing that way.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Jay Clifford - Driving Blind

33 1/3

Who is this fellow? Where is he from? My curiosity comes not from anything in the music, but what's absent; I can't detect any kind of defining element to his voice, production or manner of performance.
This can be a strength, however; in the absence of identifying marks, his music becomes a space for the listener to project him or her self. In this void, may Mr. Clifford teach us something.

Goldfinger - Hello Destiny

SIDEONEDUMMY

A definitive 1990's band that refuses to leave that decade; from their cover art to their veganism, Goldfinger has become a "retro" act. Still, this music wouldn't exist if there were not a market for it, and that market exits for a reason.
The forays into third wave ska-ness further date this album, but that's all part of the charm; if you're up for this type of nostalgia trip, you've probably already heard this album.

John Mayer - Where The Light Is: Live in Los Angeles

(CD/DVD) Columbia/Sony BMG

Mr. Mayer, golden boy of so much of the guitar-driven music press, delivers once more! It's nice to be reminded that there's some genuine guitar talent in the pop world; the opening track "Neon" is probably the best evidence of this fact.
The acoustic portion of the album is the strongest, easily; with only that handsome little guit-box between you and Johnny's sweet mouth, how could anyone not swoon at first listen? center>

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

Slow rolling freight from the South Ogden yard
Easing along down the line
The Pig Hollow jungle camp pulls into view
You roll off and here's what you find
The ruins and ashes lie scattered around
The jungle is empty and bare
The shanties and tents are all burned to the ground
Not a fire or a friend anywhere

A rich man he lives in a house made of stone
High on a hill looking down
A poor man he lives in a tarpaper shack
Way out on the backside of town
But a rich man don't worry about his fine house
It's protected like you never saw
While a poor man gets railroaded out by the cops
And his house gets burned down by the law

A poor man is fighting for all that he has
He stands with his back to the wall
A rich man he spends nearly half of this life
Just chasing a little white ball
But a rich man he says that Pig Hollow must go
It's a place where the crooks rendezvous
But don't you suppose if you burned down the bank
You might flush a scoundrel or two?

And don't you suppose if a bum with a torch
Set fire to some big fancy hall
The cops'd come down like a blood-thirsty hound
And flat nail his hide to the wall?
It seems like the laws are all made for the rich
They've got you, boys, win lose or draw
Try as you may to keep out of their way
You just get burned by the law.

Political Article: Vicious Ideologue Renews Attack on Social Security By:Dean Baker Back To Top Billionaire investment banker Peter Peterson is back on the warpath. He just established a new foundation with a $1 billion endowment, the main purpose of which is to cut back spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These programs, which provide an essential safety net to virtually the entire country, are hugely popular and will be politically difficult to cut. Nonetheless, $1 billion is a lot of money. Therefore, Peterson's campaign deserves to be taken seriously. Peterson has long been an ardent foe of these programs. He first rose to national prominence as commerce secretary in the Nixon administration. He then returned to the private sector and became a partner in the Blackstone Group, a very successful private equity fund. Mr. Peterson is fond of telling his audiences that he doesn't need his Social Security. Of course, as a manager in a private equity fund, Mr. Peterson was allowed to take advantage of the fund manager tax subsidy - a provision of the tax code that allows some of the richest people in the country to pay much lower tax rates than ordinary workers. With his enormous wealth, Mr. Peterson was probably given more than 1,000 times as much money through this tax subsidy as the typical worker can expect to see on her Social Security. Needless to say, if the rest of us had been beneficiaries of the government's largesse to the same extent as Mr. Peterson, we would not need our Social Security either. Mr. Peterson's public crusading against Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid began in 1992 when he formed the Concord Coalition. This organization crusades for cuts in these programs under the pretext of fiscal responsibility. Mr. Peterson has also written several books calling for cuts in these programs with ominous titles like "Gray Dawn: How the Coming Age Wave Will Transform America," which warns that the country will be bankrupted by the retirement of the baby boomers. He uses his power and wealth to publicize these diatribes and get them reviewed in top outlets, such as the New York Times Book Review. While Peterson's efforts appeal largely to Republicans, he generally pulls enough Democrats on board that he can pass off his attacks on the country's key social programs as bipartisan. In fact, the media often treat Peterson's assault on the social safety net as being above the political fray, allowing him to spout his views unanswered on major national talk shows. Peterson has not been shy about using slippery logic to advance his agenda. For example, back in the 90's he argued for cutting the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security, which is tied to the consumer price index (CPI), based on the claim that the CPI substantially overstates the true rate of inflation. If Peterson's claim about a CPI overstatement were true, then it would imply that incomes are rising far more rapidly than our projections show. Peterson's CPI adjustment would mean that our children and grandchildren will be far richer than we could possibly imagine, because incomes are rising so rapidly. Similarly, the retirees for whom he wanted to cut benefits actually spent much of their lives in poverty. If incomes have been rising more rapidly than the official data show, then we must have been far poorer in the past than the data show. In the same vein, Peterson supported the partial privatization of Social Security, based on assumptions on stock returns that were inconsistent with the profit growth projections of the Social Security trustees, and the price-to-earnings ratios that existed in the stock market at the time. In the push to cut Social Security and Medicare, Peterson does not feel the need to be bound by the truths of logic and arithmetic. There is a fundamental point on which Peterson is correct. The long-term budget projections do show a horror story of enormous deficits. But these projections are not driven by aging and overly generous retirement programs. They are driven by projections that our private health care system, which already costs twice as much per person as the average for other rich countries, will get ever more inefficient through time. If we never fix our health care system, then we will face an economic disaster, which will include serious budget problems, since half of our health care is paid for through government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. This reality would suggest the importance of reforming the health care system. Health care reform would mean confronting the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, as well as the doctors' lobbies. These groups have serious power. That's why Mr. Peterson prefers to stick with granny bashing.

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