Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
(Parlophone)
4
Music for parties is often a tricky beast. Do you queue up something that’ll engage the crowd and make them sing along? Maybe you want to take on something a little bit more low-key. I know no one actively swaps out discs at parties, but if you start spinning the third effort from Gorillaz, released just last month, you’ll be doing the second.
If there’s a definitive, chart-ready single on the album in the same vein as “Clint Eastwood” or “Feel Good Inc.,” I haven’t really found it on my first few listens. That’s a good thing, though. It means, in my opinion, it’s not going to be chopped up and sold piecemeal. To get the real effect, you’ve got to listen to the whole thing. There’s no other way to really enjoy it. I’m not trying to indulge in hyperbole; I’m just trying to make a point. Digital distribution makes it easy to just buy the tracks you want. I’m telling you right now, if you enjoy the hybrid hip-hop efforts of Damien Alburn’s animated band, then you must purchase this entire album now.
-- Doug Messel
Fear Factory – Mechanize
(Candlelight Records)
5
The heralded reunion of vocalist/conceptualist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares shows the band with a renewed sense of urgency and power, and sounds every bit as incendiary as their early industrial-metal works from the 90s. With producer and keyboardist Rhys Fulber (of Front Line Assembly) also returning, the title track is an extremely tight screamer that brilliantly showcases all of Fear Factory's trademarks -- Bell's gutteral-to-melodic singing voice, downtuned surgical-steel guitars, inhuman drumming (thanks to Dethklok/Strapping Young Lad drum-deity Gene Hoglan), and deeply cinematic electronic effects for mood. The tempo is unrelenting on "Industrial Discipline," which could be an out-take from the band's classic 1995 album "Demanufacture." It's a maelstrom of entangled metal wires and diodes punctuating the eerie yet hard-hitting instrumental "Metallic Division," too. And "Final Exit" is an epic eight-minute closer, with regal melodic breakdowns that give way to blindingly potent thrash around the edges. Killer stuff. My theory as to Fear Factory's staying power is that so many metal bands are afraid to stray too far from the genre, whereas these guys have taken bits of everything from indie noise/rock to electronica and techno, gene-spliced it to raging industrial death metal, and in effect, helped to create a new sound. It's nice to have them back. This is a grand return to form.
-- Todd Zachritz
Gary Allan - Get Off on the Pain
(MCA Nashville)
4
Gary Allan’s gravel voice has been a constant presence in the country music scene since 1996 with several hit-radio singles. Get Off on the Pain is a string of songs with a hard-rock twist that has a love-hate relationship with country music fans.
The album starts off with a bang with the up-tempo title track “Get Off on the Pain,” but it immediately takes a slow turn with the songs that follow; one of these songs being Allan’s first single off this album, “Today,” a heart-wrenching song about a man watching the girl he has loved and lost be happy with someone else.
The album picks up the tempo with “That Ain’t Gonna Fly,” which sounds like nothing but hook after hook. Allan also puts too much effort in giving this track a hard-rock feel that contradicts the country twang in his voice.
The first half of the album is about heartbreak, after heartbreak, after…you get the picture…and it is all literally about, well, getting off on the pain. Of course the album starts off with “Getting Off on the Pain,” with lyrics like “I’m never really happy until the sky starts driving rain/…Cause I love the long shots/And the left out lost causes.” And the pain in Allan’s lyrics only gets worse with “Come on over/Drink my wine/Waste my candles/Waste my time/Tell me lies I won’t believe” in “Kiss Me When I’m Down.” Anyone who has loved someone who did not love them back can easily identify with the songs, but it does get to be a bit much.
Allan’s first transition away from heartache and lost love is “We Fly By Night” in which Allan tries to cram too many words into not enough beats, and ends up with a song that is not easy to sing along with.
The album’s weakest track is “Along the Way,” which goes right back to that hard-rock feel and uses that electric guitar that should have been left alone from the beginning. From here, the album moves away from the broken hearted to those cheesy, my-life-is-perfect-with-you-in-it songs with “We Fly By Night” that brings on an unexpected smile. But the album ends right back with heartache with the song “No Regrets,’’ which would seem more fitting on the first half of the album.
The albums seems to all start each song off sounding slightly different than the one before, but towards the middle of each track, you begin to forget which song you are listening to. They all seem to be played with the same chords just sometimes the tempo is picked up or slowed down, and with the lack of dynamic in Allan’s voice, the songs really start to blend together.
All in all, the album is one everyone should listen to at least once, and Allan deserves credit for co-writing the songs, but it sounds like the songs were written more to be commercialized for a large-radio audience, than to be enjoyed by a small group of fans.
--Kristina Kercher
Various artists – Ceremony - A New Order Tribute
(24 Hour Service Station)
4
Featuring a host of artists who, for the most part, I'm unfamiliar with, this extended-length double-album is a tribute to one of the most influential electronic/pop acts ever, and is dedicated to famous Factory Records founder/New Order manager Tony Wilson. A portion of the proceeds from sales go to the Salford Foundation Trust's Tony Wilson Awards, which benefit the education and nurturing of school-age artists. So you get a good cause, and a good set of tunes! That aside, the moody dance-pop of New Order's classics emerge fresh and re-imagined here, with a selection that balances comfortably between indie rock and club techno (both of which New Order pioneered back in the early 80s). Standouts include Yes But No (consisting of 10-and-13-year old sisters Brianna and Skylar Ward) and their splendid and faithful version of the resonant "Ceremony," The Dark Romantics' U2-like "Crystal," Christian Webb & Adam Knowles' lovely "Run" (what an amazing song), The Sheaks' dusky Western-shoegaze take on "Ceremony" (Can you tell this is one of my favorite New Order songs?). Other notables include Light Yourself on Fire, who shockingly convert "Chosen Time" into a growly metal monster, Xoxo's solemn "Every Little Counts," and Win Win Winter's plaintive piano-driven "Regret." And that's not to mention a spoken intro from Peter Hook (of New Order) himself. So, you have some radical reinterpretations, plenty of (true?) faithful covers, and plenty of reverential and respectful tributes. A superb set for any New Order fan, and plenty of solid material for novices just as well.
-- Todd Zachritz
David Olney – Dutchman’s Curve
(Deadbeet Records)
4
When Dutchman’s Curve arrived at News 4U command control, I was reminded – upon reading the liner notes – of another album right away: Southern Illinois-based singer-songwriter Stace England’s Salt Sex Slaves, an album based upon the events at what was known as “The Old Slave House,” located near the insanely ironically-named town of Equality.
The reason? Both albums’ songs are strung around a framework of real historic events, and both reveal their creators’ passion for their subject; in the case of Dutchman’s Curve, Olney draws upon the events of July 9, 1918. On that day in Nashville, the worst train wreck in American history took place. It killed over a hundred people and injured nearly 200. Dutchman’s Curve was the name of the spot where it happened.
Olney’s effort here is strong but subtle; each of the 13 tracks show a restraint you hear from really great musicians who realize that often it’s not what you play but what you do not play that makes a song work.
And what of the songs? Fans of roots and Americana-folk, with a tinge of blues here and there will enjoy the album, which is at times somber but ultimately hopeful. Olney’s composition makes the songs somehow seem both airy and dreamlike, while at the same time having a front-forwardness to them that makes it sound as if he (and his collaborators) is in your own living room.
-- Dylan Gibbs
Muse – Under Review DVD
(Sexy Intellectual)
2.5
Muse are a band I've enjoyed, but their predilection for sounding like other bands has been their ultimate downfall, in my eyes. Their earliest records (never released here in the states) echoed Radiohead far too closely, and in more recent times, Muse have done the unthinkable, and referred painfully to Freddie Mercury and Queen - blustery, pompous, and even operatic at times. This unauthorized documentary DVD, billed as "An independent critical analysis", does refer to these gripes, but generally goes off the deep end, citing Muse as great innovators, and one of the world's greatest groups. Hooey, I say. Former managers, UK music writers, and past producers are interviewed, and they all speak adoringly (perhaps too much so) about Muse's successes and glories. Taken with a grain of salt (or three), "Under Review" can be an entertaining look at the history of this epic stadium rock outfit, especially if you can get past the sycophantic spirit.
-- Todd Zachritz
Mark Growden – Saint Judas
(Porto Franco Records)
3.5
From San Francisco comes this veteran songwriter whose gritty take on dark, bluesy Americana makes him a shoe-in for fans of artists like Tom Waits, Nine Simone, or the Low Anthem. His opener here, "Undertaker," is a raw and soulful lament that recalls the great old bluesmen, though with stronger production. And his group, The Mark Growden Sextet, accents his world-weary voice with old-time arrangements and stylish textures. "Been in the Storm So Long" is another tortured dirty blues number, with a cool swamp-jazz vibe. He re-interprets the classic Leonard Cohen gem, "I'm Your Man", and convincingly makes it his own. Other standouts include the haunting "Coyote", and the melancholy "Inside Every Bird". Certainly, "Saint Judas" is a strong, deep, and mature album for fans of blues that bleed realism, loss, sorrow, and redemption. Worthy.
--Todd Zachritz
Brian Bromberg – It Is What It Is
(Artistry)
5
It Is What It Is: Bromberg’s 15th release and another addition in a long, thematic collection that began in 1986 with New Day; Bromberg proves that the bass can produce the most solid grooves and the coolest jazz. With every one of his projects, Bromberg has smashed all barriers of how the instrument is supposed to be played. From his diligent beginning as a passionate teenager to his current cult status, he has proved himself a virtuoso and the envy of bass players worldwide.
Bromberg has released the funk with this latest recording. Just when his fans think they have him pegged, he lets loose that unpredictable magic and brings the jazz world just what it has been craving. It Is What It Is not only features a killer horn section but also has a host of the who’s-who in smooth jazz. George Duke, Patrice Rushen, Jeff Lorber, Eric Marienthal, Gerald Albright, Richard Elliott and Rick Braun are peppered though this album and it spices up the recipe like that favorite gumbo at Mardi Gras. This not only allows for a stellar production but is a credit to Brian Bromberg’s legacy in the music community.
Bromberg’s current release is an unapologetic, N-Ur-Face production that preserves the integrity of a classic jazz record. The title cut, “It Is What It Is,” has the big band groove that makes the listener want to coast to the coast. As with the rest of the album, it mixes that piccolo-bass sound with a great rhythm section. The trumpet work of Willie Murrilo is stellar on this tune. The rest of the effort is a collision of straight ahead jazz and an urban validation that is fitting anywhere it is played. The song, “Mr. Miller,” dresses the funk up from the hip combo of Eric Marienthal and Gary Meek, adding a bed of Jeff Lorber’s keys the will cause all to salivate. In fact, Lorber is featured on six cuts on this album.
After listening to this already much requested release, I found the treatment of the two cover tunes to be quite enjoyable. The theme from the 70s sitcom, Sanford and Son, composed by that perennial master, Quincy Jones, has a horn section that would make Tower of Power blush. Fans of the show, now in syndication all over cable, will come to wish that this version would have been the show’s moniker. And what really impressed me was Bromberg’s treatment of the B-52s’ “Love Shack.” This is well done version, even as jazz treatments go. It recreates the feeling that you had when you watched Fred Schneider and the girls acting all a-go-go.
Bromberg is a master at so many bass techniques that it sometimes catches the listener off guard. This is exemplified on the mid tempo tune, “Anticipation,” where it sounds as if the riffs are played on the guitar. In fact, it is just another great example of Bromberg’s patented piccolo bass technique. The piccolo bass is a bass instrument that is tuned an octave higher and is played like an electric guitar. On the tune “The Mirror,” Bromberg gives a class on how a great tenor bass should sound. On “Elephants on Ice Skates,” a WUEV request-line favorite, the sound is as large and audacious as the animal itself. Throughout the entire album, Bromberg not only displays his arrangement prowess but also his unmistakable virtuosity. “Martinis at the Velvet Lounge” is this reviewer’s favorite cut on the album. With that infectious Latin beat, it has me dancing all around Studio A every time I play it.
The only drawback with It Is What It Is is that, even with the all-star cast of back-up musicians, it is all Brian Bromberg, all the time. But, so what! There is nothing wrong with that. After all, it is what it is.
-- Paul Mattingly
