Here are a few recent purchases that I've been digging lately.
AC NEWMAN - Get Guilty (2009)
Very
solid 2nd solo album from the New Pornographers/Zumpano front man.
Newman writes great pop songs that are incredibly catchy without being
obvious. As with his last solo record, it's the unique arrangements and
odd instrumental flourishes that really put these songs over the top. As
much as I like the New Porno records, I think his solo records, while
not as immediate, are more consistent and get more play on my stereo.
PPP (fka Platinum Pied Pipers) - Abundance (2009)
Funk/Soul/R&B
from Detroit with a big sound (horns, strings, lots of synths, rich
female vocals, and a full band) and super production. I know nothing
about these guys (the core is producer Waajeed and multi-instrumentalist
Saadiq) other than that this record apparently sounds nothing like
their past work, which was more Hip-Hop based. There's no rapping here -
it's straight ahead R&B singing with some nice ballads and few
strong mid tempo numbers. But what really hooked me are the half album's
worth of danceable funk/pop songs that sound like a hybrid of Prince
and Outkast (and occasionally Funkadelic). It's been a while since I've
loved an R&B record all the way through as much as this one. If
this doesn’t make my year end best of list in 12 months then it's been
one of a year.
IAIN MATTHEWS - Tigers Will Survive (1971), If You Saw Thro' My Eyes (1971), and Journeys from Gospel Oak (1972)
I
just recently discovered these early solo albums from former Fairport
Convention singer Iain Matthews, but they've very quickly become
favorites. His sweet voice works perfect with the material, which falls
into the American country rock genre with a few hints at his British
folk past, and at times straight ahead pop rock. There are traces of
CSN&Y and some of these songs like they could have been the
blueprint for the first few Eagles records. I also hear a little bit of
the first few Band records, Flying Burrito Brothers, and even some
Loudon Wainwright III on the few straight folk songs. In the mid 80's I
bought his record of Jules Shear covers, which came out on Widham Hill
and was produced with the same blandness of the Windham Hill's new age
records. That's probably what kept me away from his other records for so
long, but these albums are so damn strong I'm amazed that it took so
long for me to finally connect with them.
EXPLORER's CLUB - Freedom Wind (2008)
I
have a problem with reviews that compare albums to the Beach Boys,
since most of the time the comparison is trivial or doesn't hold up at
all. But in this instance, it's pretty damn obvious that late 60's Beach
Boys is main reference point for this South Carolina band. The
harmonies, the production, the instrumentation, the song style all point
to Pet Sounds (in particular, but they touch on parts of the Beach Boys
albums through Holland). On one hand, they could be a tribute band, but
they manage to come up a collection of very strong songs and take the
references into a very fresh sounding album. If you wished the Beach
Boys made one more solid album in 1968 this could fill that void for
you.
ANDREW BIRD - Noble Beast (2009)
I'm
hit-and-miss with Andrew Bird's chamber pop, but since his last album
had a few things I really dug I decided to roll the dice on this new
one. Like everything he does - it SOUNDS great - mostly subtle, gorgeous
pop songs with some eccentric instrumentation and delicate melodies.
But at times he can be a bit precious for me and I wish a few songs were
a bit more upbeat. Maybe I've just been too hyper lately to give in to
his gentle delivery.
FIRES OF ROME - You Kingdom You (2009)
To
be honest, the only reason I picked this up is because it was one of
the first appealing releases of 2009 and after spending a month
relistening to 2008 releases for my year end list I was itching for
something brand new. I was pleasantly surprised to end up liking the
whole damn thing. Musically they pull from a hodge-podge of genres
including mid 70's glam, dance punk, early 80's new wave, and post punk -
making for a very eclectic collection of songs. At one point it sounds
like a glammy Shudder to Think and then suddenly it sounds like a more
pop Les Savy Fav. I don't really know how to describe them since they’re
all over the board, and I'm not sure I'll dig this as much in six
months, but for now it's been a fun listen.
