Cake Comfort Eagle (Columbia/Sony) Deadpan, jokey irony works best when the music is actually decent. And it can be laughable as well, as with this mish-mash of funk, '80s electro-pop and rock, with the occasional idiot burst of horns, programmed handclaps and dumb-guy backing vocals. Some of the songs are strong and dynamic enough that singer John McCrea's dried bullshit anecdotes don't even begin to annoy, but your patience is likely to run out with Cake's ideas. If Beck only had that one idea, this might be it. Hell, even the Bloodhound Gang go further into town than these guys. Whatever. 6/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Saves the Day Stay What You Are (Vagrant) Saves the Day are in some heavy company, sitting alongside the Get Up Kids and the Promise Ring as kings of emo. Although heralded as the saviours of indie rock, one listen to Stay What You Are has them sounding more like a major-label farm team. It's crafty pop with vocals that don't seem to waver throughout the eleven songs here, but many memorable moments pop up. Clever writing with a slightly depressing slant. This should be an indie blockbuster. 7.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Firewater Psychopharmacology (Jetset) Album three by New York City's Firewater is pretty gritty and dark for an alleged former wedding band. But the story really began with singer/songwriter Tod A's punk/industrial band Cop Shoot Cop, which he left to pursue "humour and beauty." It seems he half-succeeded with these tight pop hooks and melodies but most of the songs are about suicide, mental problems and plane crashes. And there's a conspicuous duet with Jennifer Charles of the depressive combo Elysian Fields. Yet somehow, it's still pop, but pop for people who take Prozac and gravel with their Corn Flakes. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
Betty Blowtorch Are You Man Enough? (Foodchain/Warner) So you think the Lunachicks and L7 can deliver estrogen-fuelled rock? Betty Blowtorch blows them both out of the water. This is unapologetic good-time rock 'n' roll done with tongue planted firmly in cheek (as well as some other areas). Even Vanilla Ice (yes, you read that right) gets in on the action on "Size Queen." On the anthem of the year, "Big Hair, Broken Heart," these rock chicks even have balls to give shout-outs to Ratt, Mötley Crüe, Whitesnake, Quiet Riot and Lita Ford--and they aren't even kidding. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins) Drowning Pool Sinner (Wind-up/Sony) Not only does Drowning Pool sound like just about everything else out there in monotonous nu-metal land, all of their songs sound the same, too. Your typical unimaginative lyrical fanfare--religious betrayal, love being squished by hate like a big fat bully sittin' on your face at recess, relationships that failed 'cuz you expected your girlfriend to act like Candy from that porno you got under your mattress--gets coupled with the same minor-chord progressions and feel-sorry-for-me choruses that are so predictable that you could probably sing the entire album note for note and lyric for lyric with a measly 10 per cent error rate by just looking at the cover. 3/10 (Lateef Martin) By Divine Right Good Morning Beautiful (Linus/Warner) Their debut was the record of the year in '98 and the follow-up was the biggest disappointment of last year, but now it seems that main man Jose Contreras is firmly back on track. This thing oozes so much good vibes, it's almost a musical Hallmark card. On "Supernatural," Contreras takes up the slack left by Prince and lays down some serious sexy shit that even Rick James couldn't compete with. Contreras also gets big points for being able to laugh at his own hippie tendencies on "Hugger of Trees," whereas "Soul Explosion" is the great unwritten Steve Miller song. If this doesn't blow up this band up then heaven help us all. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins) Marumari Supermogadon (Carpark/Fusion III)
VariousViolator the Album V2.0 (Loud/BMG)
Arling & Cameron We Are A&C (Emperor Norton/Outside) Recognizing that the ersatz Shibuya sound they'd largely relied on was damn near played out, this Dutch duo have taken a surprising turn on their new joint. Expanding on previous digressions like "We Love to Rock," A&C do just that, albeit in a clinical, contoured fashion, synthesizing a new-new-new-wave vibe comparable to the likes of label-mates Ladytron. A Moog tchotchke, an awkward Ritalin rap and one concession to J-pop ("Can You Pah-Pah?") pave the way to a cluster of tasteful traveloguers ("Ocean Drive," etc.) before bouncing back with a double dose of particularly hoary rock. Might come off as too controlled for many, but that's the price of perfectionism. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) Ivy Long Distance (Nettwerk America) What ever happened to Dubstar? You know, the late-'90s British act that embraced brassy Eurotrash more than their peers' guitar riffs, in the spirit of bands like Saint Etienne? Well, it seems this New York trio has picked up their torch, albeit with a more subtle, shimmering approach. Giving some credibility to their distinctly Brit-Euro sensibility is Parisian-born singer Dominique Durand, whose soft confidence holds the album together. Although some songs after the halfway mark seem slight and inconsequential after an exceptional start, this is a lovely collection well worth a couple of days' lunch money. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Various Outpatients 2: Future Jazz & 2-Step Soul (Hospital) The people over at Hospital seem to have a handle on diagnosing an ailing part of the dance music community and administering the proper dosage of the right prescription so that things can only get better. A precise and clear vision into the jazzy and soulful sides of two-step, broken-beat, house, downtempo and of course drum & bass is what Hospital Records are all about. Outpatients 2 is a varied journey through the label's interests, with a running vibe that sticks like glue. Jazztronik, Les Gammas, Danny Byrd, London Elektricity and Audiomontage are only some of the contributors here who will undoubtedly make your Hospital experience a memorable one. 8.5/10 (Scott C) Cyril Neville New Orleans Cookin' (Endangered Species) I dunno, maybe it's my recent trip to New Orleans, but I have this new appreciation for their special brand of Cajun/Creole funk. And who better to bring the funk home than one of the Neville Brothers? Cyril's tribute to the N'awlins sound includes covers of material from faithful standbys like Professor Longhair and Fats Domino. Some cuts have a bluesy feel, like "Fortune Teller," but tracks like "Sick and Tired" and "No Buts, No Maybes" are more likely to keep the party cookin' along Bourbon Street. 7/10 (Gerard Dee) Louis Armstrong BeBop Spoken Here (Proper Box/SRI) Louis Armstrong Pure Louis (Verve/Universal) Louis Armstrong Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography (Verve/Universal) Aug. 4 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Louis Armstrong, who died on July 6, 1971. The above items are, in order, single, double and triple CD packages. The first mixes mid-'50s looks at the music of Fats Waller with earlier material, while the second adds vocals by Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday to instrumental tracks--28 in all. The last was originally released on Decca and has Louis narrating the history of his life in jazz through January, 1957. All three releases would serve as good places to start an Armstrong collection. All 9/10 (Len Dobbin) |
After a low-profile decade and a half (one largely forgotten solo disc, some movie work), the former Clash frontman's back, revved up and good to go, lighter on the bitter snarl but as incisive as ever. The second Mescaleros release in only a year or so, Global a Go-Go not only tops the preceding Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, it could conceivably be passed off as the fourth platter from Sandinista! Joe calls it "acid punk," a contraction of the electro-dub-folk-Celt-punk-rumba-twang deal going on here (eg. the title track opens on some digital shit, bleeds in some heartwrenching violin, gets reggaefied, rocks it up and bows out on a stunning spaghetti-western chorus). Beyond the incandescent tunecraft is Strummer's familiar, heady lyricism, that mondo neo-beat bouillabaisse for the channel-changer age (try checking "Bhindi Bhagee" without tummy growls). Cheers, mate. 9.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Here, try this. Fill a mason jar with lemon juice, wombat milk, Sea Monkeys, Magic Rocks, cough syrup, Colecovision cartridge chips, Spanish Fly, a luminous deep-sea jellyfish, Linda Evans' legwarmer sweat, a Tamagochi or two and a fistful of fuzzy caterpillars. Then let it sit in a dank corner of the basement for a month, before shaking it up and popping it open. What do you get? A hideous putrescence so vile the fumes knock you down like a Taser. That was stupid! When you come to, apologize to yourself by purchasing this exceptional chunk of left-handed hermit-tronica from the lonely laptop of NYC's Josh Presseisen. Weird, beautiful, deeply idiosyncratic--and bacteria-free! 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
If you'll please excuse me for saying so, the best thing about the whole Violator concept has got to be the exaggerated caricatures of your favourite hip hop personalities found on the cover. You've got both Busta and Nore starting things off on two separate tracks with the Neptunes, the ever-clever Cee-Lo working his thing on "Sexual Chocolate" and cats like Jojo Pelegrino and Karupt Young Gotti going for the gold while surrounded by veterans. QB fans might like the Capone and Noyd track "Options," while true thugs will be checking for Prodigy, Jadakiss and Butch Cassidy on "Livin' the Life." A nice mix of young and old cats for sure, plus Rah Digga, Havoc, Missy Elliot, Ja Rule and Spliff Star. 7.5/10 (Scott C)