CD Review: "19"

"19," the first outing by British songstress Adele, plays out on the current musical landscape much like a dichotomy one might have imagined in the decade that the British neo-soul emulates; Adele is the Ronnie Spector to Amy Winehouse's (slightly more cracked-out version of) Diana Ross. Adele doesn't approach the table with the slick Mark Ronson horn sections that have markedly benefitted Ms. Winehouse and others, but rather brings an album that's seems more forward looking (think Carole King) than the Motown (think Holland/Dozier) knock-offs of the recent past.

The single, "Hometown Glory," is a fantastic example of where this young woman's strengths lie and where a little sprucing up might help jump-start a promising career. When this track was released as a free download, the line "Shows that we ain't gonna stand s***, shows that we are united..." was unsurprisingly trimmed to cut out the naughty, naughty expletive. However, where censorship may limit artistic license, in this case it helped reign in a young songwriter in the way a high-powered producer might; find both a more commercial option and give the lyric more weight with universality and simplicity.

There are a couple of unfortunate misses that seem like throwaway tracks. ("Crazy For You," "First Love") They sound a little like the emo-love songs we all used to scratch out on the back of algebra homework in our bedrooms. The latter makes a bold choice with celeste accompaniment, but could have used more instrumentation. There are also a couple of moments that the indomitable Randy Jackson (har) might call "a little pitchy," but again, good production will (thankfully) always forego "authentic" sounds for pitch correction. You can be sure that you won't find a sour note on a sophomore album from Adele.

The shining moments on this album vary between the perfect tracks for a sunny day drive and heartbreaking ballads. "Cold Shoulder" has a bit of a Lily Allen spin to it with a diverse sonic pallette. The strings have a sort of jagged dialogue with riffy guitars at about 1:02 that you might find on something like a My Brightest Diamond album. With fuzzy electric piano and killer harmonies on the chorus, "Right As Rain" wouldn't be out of place on a B-sides Greatest Hits of the 60's compilation. The tastefully funky organ splashes add to the top down, sunglasses and wind in the hair feel of the track.

"Hometown Glory" really is the one of the most haunting songs I've heard in a while and is the masthead of a trifecta of ballads on this album that avoid the torch song but bring the same gut-wrenching emotion. "Chasing Pavements" is a clear choice for another single, but the Bob Dylan cover "Make You Feel My Love" really channels the gospel-tinged quasi-"power ballads" of the Sixties ("Bridge Over Troubled Water").

With a voice that far surpasses her years (she's 19 if you didn't catch that), Adele will undoubtedly have the world bowing at her feet with a few years of experience and some careful producing direction.

...And she won't need a beehive, hideous eye makeup and a crack problem to do it.

CD Review: "The Shepard's Dog"

This isn't really a new release, but I've been too busy actually listening to this album to write a review until now. I honestly can't say enough in praise of the latest record from Iron & Wine, "The Shepard's Dog." It really is the creative blossoming of an already well-established artist who's whispery voice has produced some of the finest roots-esque gems in the last decade or so ("Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" aside). However, this album is anything but easily labeled under the "Folk" section at your local Sam Goody. This is an aural treat that refuses to be pigeonholed into simple genres, and may very well leave you absolutely breathless at some points.

On "The Shepard's Dog," Sam Beam has created a vibe that is both familiar and exotic, frequently pairing his signature vocal stylings with evocative African drum beats that seem to (surprisingly) complement everything that we're used to hearing from Iron & Wine. It hearkens back to Paul Simon ("Graceland") who almost single-handedly sparked the "world music" phenomenon by introducing the west to relatively unknown artists (Ladysmith Black Mambazo). Mr. Simon's ability to blend his songcraft with new and exciting musical dichotomies is one that Mr. Beam seems to have studied.

Standout tracks on this oeuvre include "Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car," "Wolves (Song of the Shepard's Dog," "The Devil Never Sleeps" and the lyrical content on "Innocent Bones" is probably some of Iron & Wine's most original. ("Cain bought a blade from some witch at the window, Abel bought a bag of weed" "There ain't a penthouse Christian wants the pain of the scab but they all want the scar.")

Having cast aside a lot of the lo-fi-esque production that can be found on earlier EPs from Iron & Wine, the studio creativity on this album is superb with the eerie vocals on "Carousel" and the Shankar-style sitar that creates a floaty sort of drone on "White Tooth Man." Ironically, this might be the only criticism I have of this album; it does occasionally rely heavily on the almost jam-band practice of long passages of droning guitars and floaty vocals. Several songs on this record (Tracks 1, 2, 9) seem to chug along with hardly any harmonic motion leaving the attentive listener a little tired after a minute or two.

After all of the lush, layered soundscapes of the first half of the album, Iron & Wine becomes the Wizard and clicks your metaphorical heels for you and carries you back home on "Resurrection Fern." Maybe it's the stylistic familiarity of this track that reminds you of why you fell in love with this band in the first place, but this song may very well be the best thing Iron & Wine has ever written. The harmonies on the chorus are pristine (undoubtedly provided by Beam's equally talented sister, Sarah) and the lyrics are incredibly evocative, acting as a sort of capstone to the Biblical imagery spread throughout Beam's body of work.

"And we'll undress by the ashes of the fire
Our tender bellies are wound around in baling wire
All the more pair of under water pearls
Than the oak tree and its resurrection fern"

If you must pick one song on this entire LP, make it that one.

I look forward to wherever Iron & Wine will go from this point. The options are endless and the destination will undoubtedly be as surprising and sublime as "The Shepard's Dog."

CD Review: "Little Voices"

Again, I've shamelessly allowed iTunes to introduce me to another amazing artist through their evil corporate marketing strategies that I love so dearly. I was immediately grabbed by the piano sound on the catchy single, "Love Song," that's been making the rounds on "indie" radio and commercial spots for a couple months. However, Sara Bareilles is, or should be, far more than a one-hit wonder promoting satellite tv-radio.

She is an incredibly straightforward songwriter with metaphors that seem too easy from someone so young (She's only 28). Despite the title of this album, Bareilles' voice is anything but little. I have a suspicion that her quirky looks have kept her from being grabbed up by the corporate machine that would have so easily turned her into any other pop singer with a Timbaland backing track and ample cleavage. Her voice far surpasses the subtleties of just about anyone out there on the radio and when she really lets go (check out "Come Round Soon" at about 2:20), she threatens to give the Mariahs and the Whitneys out there a run for their money. Browse through the videos of her live performances and you'll find that this girl has no need for any auto-tuning that so many of these singers rely on, either.

Her piano work is definitely a product of the coffeehouse/bar circuit where she undoubtedly cut her teeth. It's beautifully layered, but simple enough to let her melodies and lyrics take center stage. The production on the album never strays too far from her piano-drums-bass-guitar equation, but just when this begins to get a little tiring, the sound takes a different color with subtle underlying synths and strings. Other than the lyrics, some of the most interesting spots on the album are the overdubbed backup vocals that Bareilles lays down as a real showcase of her ingenuity with harmony and vocal timbre. The harmonies on the chorus of "One Sweet Love" rival those of the most polished L.A. backing artists.

Standout tracks on this album include the single, "Love Song," the gospel-influenced "Many the Miles" and the exceptional pop-ballad songwriting on "Between the Lines" and "Gravity." There are several weak spots, but they are largely overshadowed by the strength of the rest of the record. While Bareilles has a keen sense of humor, her efforts at cheeky irony often come off as a more trite than insightful ("Fairytale") and while I love the funky guitar riffs on "Love on the Rocks," I wish Bareilles would feel free to let go of her singer-songwriter roots (and chord progressions) for a moment and just let the funky groove shine through on that song. I can only hope that this exceptional artist continues to move in new directions and releases a follow-up as soon as humanly possible.
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CD Review: "In Rainbows"

I know, I know... everyone and their mother reviews Radiohead. It wouldn't be far from the truth to assume that Thom Yorke could literally sling mud at a microphone and people would hail him as the new Jesus (again), but lucky for us, he has a little more pop in the depths of his soul than that. And it is this return to his pop-melody skills that are showcased on this newest cut from Radiohead.

The progressive marketing approach aside, this album is really the end of a musical journey for Radiohead. From their pseudo-grunge tinged "Pablo Honey," they moved forward into their classic pop-rock-space-prog-electro-diddy period with "The Bends," "OK Computer" and "Kid A." With the latter album, they moved forward into a new realm of spaciness which would follow through into "Amnesiac" and then into "Hail to the Thief" with a greater reliance on grating electronic sounds and daring song forms. "Hail to the Thief" has many echoes of what would become this newest iteration. There were some songs that, taken over by the right (wrong?) people, could ALMOST (but not quite) be turned into something marginally radio-friendly. But who would want that, right?...

After a long hiatus, out pops "In Rainbows," a gem of an album, possibly one of their most easily accesible outings since "OK Computer." The first two tracks seem to lure the listener into a false sense of unease with the appropriately titled "15 Step" and the raucous "Bodysnatchers." These two tracks seem to indicate to the devotee that we have again entered the hallowed halls of bizarre, paranoid and unintelligible.

However, after being beaten into submission, the band allows the listener to sink into a lilting ballad ("Nude") that instructs the listener not to "get any big ideas, they're not gonna happen." With that admonition, the band then proceeds to make the "big idea" happen. The album waltzes along with more midtempo numbers that rely more heavily on the bands superb playing than their mastery of electronics. There are still typical Radiohead quirks on each track, some that work and some that don't. (The percussion on "Videotape" seemed to distract from the simplicity of one of the most beautiful melodic lines this band has produced.)

Aside from their pioneering approach to making music, the thing this band should be remembered for is simply their knack for creating sublime soundscapes (production by Nigel Godrich). Though they create a much more organic sound on this album, this band knows their way around a synth choirs and string sections, something I personally think you can't have enough of.

There isn't a single weak track on this record, the standouts include "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," "Reckoner," the soon-to-be-released single "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and the above mentioned "Videotape." The latter is the last track on the album and deserves your special attention as the sort of emotional resurrection moment. "No matter what happens now, you shouldn't be afraid because today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen." While this song still finds itself focused on the signature brand of dreary this band has developed, it seems to be more about letting go and accepting what may come. And for a band who has severed ties with it's label and left the financial fate of this venture up to the pricing whims of listeners, this is not a sentiment they take lightly.

CD Review: "Easy Tiger"

I was introduced to Ryan Adams through the persistent amorous protestations of a certain friend of mine who insisted that I have all three of the mix tapes she'd made me of both Whiskeytown and Mr. Adams' solo work. I have to admit, that after exploring the full albums of some of the songs Molly had included on the mixes, I had really received a sort of greatest hits collection with better track ordering than anything a label would have put together.

My personal Ryan Adams history aside, I recently picked up a copy of Adams' latest outing, "Easy Tiger," a strong album that remains firmly planted in the alt-country/rock niche that made Adams famous in the first place. The album is certainly lacking in some areas, but produces some excellent tracks that probably would have found their way into the aforementioned faux-greatest hits. Anyone who knows Ryan Adams at all knows about his highly publicized (and musically announced) troubles with both the drinkables and the smokables. Apparently, having kicked the monkey off the hipster cowboy hat slung jauntily over his shoulder, Adams released this disc of familiar musical settings coupled with surprisingly forward-looking lyrics, something short of a miracle for an artist who was so recently wallowing in his own musical mucky muck, exuding countrified despair and popping out now and then for infamously hit-and-miss live shows. However, his new-found personal triumphs seem to have taken something out of Adams' lyrical skills. I always found it incredible that this man could work such complex metaphors and pseudo-cliches into a sub-genre that often had a hard time treading the thin line between it's country/western roots and it's indie attitudes. On this project, Ryan Adams seems to have chosen to err on the side of cliched lyrics and simply maintain his incredible musical integrity, occasionally floating recycled lyrics over a great foundation of varied song forms and tight backing instrumentation.

My favorite cuts so far are tracks 1, 3, 5 and 9, with the latter being a real gem of a song, old-timey (a la anything from "O Brother Where Art Thou?") yet straying from anything that might be misconstrued as trying too hard to recreate or mock the style. Ryan Adams owns this song and the style of playing music it represents. Simply produced with mandolin, banjo, guitar and superb vocal harmonies, this track breaks up the somewhat monotonous string of cookie cutter alt-country tracks Adams seems to have rolled of the production line.

Songs like "Rip Off," (how ironic...) "Two Hearts" and the low-point of the album for me, "Off Broadway," kind of beat the listener into an indie-hick stupor, waiting for something new to come along. And of course, something new does come along, but it doesn't take away from the sheer miss factor of some of the tracks. I literally had to fast forward through "Off Broadway" for fear of putting my foot through my iBook. I applaud Mr. Adams for really trying to do something with musical motifs, but there comes a point where I can't listen to one more "I don't know where that is...anymore..." without wanting to drive out, find the boy and give him a map so he can find whatever it is and shut up about it already.

Though some of the verse lyrics are a bit trite, the opening cut, "Goodnight Rose," has some really great musical pizzazz that really sets the tone for the album. Even though I have to cringe every time I hear, "who knows, maybe we'll win the whole shebang," Adams nails the repetitive title of the song that forms the chorus, I certainly found myself singing along by the end of the first listen. Track number 5, "Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.," really caught my attention with its near-explicit description of people having sex next door in a seedy hotel and really lovely guitar work. One gets the impression that, if this really was personal experience for Ryan Adams, he was struck by the sort of sadness and shame that paralled his own story. "If I could fold myself away like a card table, a concertina or a Murphy bed I would, but I wasn't made that way."

In the end, "Easy Tiger" feels like a transitional album for Ryan Adams. He doesn't seem to feel fully comfortable in his new, sober(er) life and this translates into his music. He is still Ryan Adams and still has a powerful command of the genre that he has really taken to its limits, but seems to have found himself on the edge of going into even more uncharted territory and can't quite decide who he wants to be when he takes that leap.

CD Review: "The Reminder"

As a newbie when it comes to the (apparently) wide world of Canadian indie-pop superstars, Feist would probably be at the top of my list (if I was to have one) of people to study in depth in my research of the music of the Great White North. After hearing about the release and success of Ms. Leslie's newest album more than a few times on several NPR podcasts, I decided it was time to start my Feist-ian homework.

...and I was not disappointed. This album, "The Reminder," is quite frankly, one of the best overall albums I've come across in recent history. Where it lacks in consistency, it makes up for in quality and sheer depth of sound. With the longest track on the album clocking in at around 4:30, it's hard to believe the palette of colors Feist manages to utilize in each of these cuts. Most of the numbers float along at Leslie Feist's usual lilting manner, but a couple of the tracks reach out and smack you around a bit, letting you know (if you didn't know already) that this woman is a force to be reckoned with.

The standout track is undoubtedly the pseudo-spiritual rendition of the Nina Simone classic, "Sea Lion Woman." Opening with frantic handclaps, gospel backing and noodly synth sounds, this recording truly jumps out and dances around a bit as compared to the quiet, ultra-downtempo-groove feel of the previous track, "The Water." The sonic quality of most of this album gives the impression that Ms. Feist is sitting at a piano in a big church sanctuary somewhere in snow-bound Canada, singing into an old 8-track recorder. (One does wish that the vocals would have a little variation in the tonal quality sometimes, but the sound is at least very consistent on this album and anything but unpleasant.) The distorted guitar and bombastic drums on the track give it even more of a homemade sensation that tends to make me clap along every time it pops up on ye olde iTunes randomizer.

"The Park" and "I Feel it All" also stand out, each giving something that is both completely unexpected and yet perfectly cohesive with the rest of the album. "The Park" contains some truly amazing lyrics that carry powerful weight despite the simplicity of the metaphors. Again, the song benefits from excellent track placement, sliding in sidewise, feet first, into "The Water." "I Feel it All" has a great coasting-with-the-windows-down drive that lays a nice bed for some neat melodic tidbits (check out the line "I'll be the one who'll break my heart, I'll be the one to hold the gun, I love you more..." It's been stuck in my head for weeks). Track 9, "1234," wanders into Sufjan Stevens territory with its banjos and jaunty horn sections, but still manages to pull off some characteristic Canadian word play. (Or is it number play?)

The only thing that didn't quite meet the bar this album set for itself was that some of the later tracks become a little tedious for the close listener. As chillout music, this album is great, but around track 11, ("Intuition"), I started skipping ahead a lot. The remixes featured on the iTunes download were a little disappointing as well, but most listeners will be happy just to have that little bit more from this great album.

After such a great introduction to Feist with "The Reminder," I can't wait to explore her work further and find more gems like the ones I discovered on this great album.

CD Review: "Instant Karma"

As a sucker for all things Apple, I will often nod my head in a submissive, zombified fashion whenever iTunes attempts to ram its music preferences down my slack-jawed gullet. While I'm being very obviously force-fed corporate advertising schemes, I'm usually not disappointed with the suggestions they make. One of the more recent campaigns featured the John Lennon tribute album, "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur." Did I mention I'm also a sucker when it comes to both tribute albums and Darfur?

It's always a good sign when I experience no buyer's remorse after purchasing something from iTunes (although it could have been the warm and fuzzy feeling of social responsibility clouding my usual guilt). This CD has barely left my playlist since, and definitely gets better with multiple listens. The wide range of artists featured on the disc give listeners a good surface skim of the large and varied (and occasionally bizarre) Lennon catalogue and the artists featured on the project parallel the diversity of the music they cover.

Standout tracks on the album include the obligatory U2 title track, "Instant Karma," a worthy outing by R.E.M. on "#9 Dream" and "Real Love" covered by the ever effervescent Regina Spektor. Most of the tracks are very true to the original recordings which to me might be the album's only downfall (except for a few real misses with some of the featured artists). I would have preferred a little bit more of a departure from form for a lot of these (a la Lennon....?). One tends to really lose the excitement and novelty of these bands performing these beloved songs when you listen to the original and the cover side-by-side and realize that many of these are just what they claim to be--covers.

However, there were several truly standout tracks that jump out and attack these songs from a different angle (or perhaps, slide gently in the backdoor for a couple). The Flaming Lips' cover of "[Just Like] Starting Over" is a superbly subtle reinterpretation of what was originally a rollicky sort of sock-hop-esque number. Complete with standard Lips electronic blips and grand synth choirs, this song has an after-hours sort of atmosphere that contrasts much of the band's previous work. Singer Wayne Coyne's voice sometimes leave something to be desired as far as technique and subtlety, but on this track, his imperfections give a depth, perhaps even a melancholy, that adds some very interesting facets to the classic Lennon chart.

Misses on this collection would have to include both covers of "Imagine" (awkwardly assigned to Jack Johnson and Avril Lavigne) and "Cold Turkey," covered by Lenny Kravitz who sort of growls and grunts his way through what could have been a very promising number.

Other tracks to check out include "Gimme Some Truth," simply for the novelty value of putting Dhani Harrison and Jakob Dylan in the same song, and "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," covered by Los Lonely Boys who so completely own this song that it could have appeared on any of their recent albums and been mistaken for an original by all but the most astute John Lennon fans.

Corinne Bailey Rae's rendition of "I'm Losing You" wins huge bonus points for it's groove-tastic Rhodes accompaniment and she sort of lets the engines out to full steam at a couple places on this track, giving careful listeners a glimmer of hope that she might become an honest-to-god force to reckon with in a few albums' time.

"Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur" is out now on hardcopy and on iTunes. There is an extended edition of the album that costs a few bucks more, but looks to be worth the extra dough for a few decent cuts from the likes of Duran Duran, O.A.R. and Yellowcard.