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From local to world, here are some records that deserve extra play
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer
Published on Thursday, Dec 25, 2008
Happy nondenominational seasonal holiday to everyone.
Coming back from vacation is also nice (seriously, I'm just glad to have a job, boss) particularly in the current economic climate when many folks will spend ''HOLIDAY'' with their families quietly fretting about how they're going to pay January rent/mortgage/car payment/tuition, etc.
Nevertheless, here's hoping that you can put aside your worries today and enjoy the season and the togetherness and good cheer it is supposed to engender.
OK, so here we are at the end of what has been a trying and historic year. Per the bylaws of the International Rock Critic Consortium, I am required to offer up a few year-end lists of ''best of'' or ''worst of'' or something.
''Best of'' seems so absolute, considering the never-ending avalanche of new releases in new formats. Plus listening to music is part of the job, so there's constant turnover on the old Digital Victrola where hard-drive space is at a premium.
So here goes a bunch of 2008 music that enjoyed extended stays on my iPod.
Several Records I Listened to Repeatedly:
• TV on the Radio — Dear Science.
This record has made many year-end lists. Although it retains the Brooklyn band's love of post-punk, noise, electro and other genres that often don't make it to radio, it doesn't obfuscate the inherent catchiness in the melodies and songs such as Golden Age and Red Dress are just plain funky.
• Davey — The Beauty in Distortion/The Land of the Lost.
About 85.76 percent of contemporary R&B bores me to tears, so I was happy to find this L.A. duo of Jack Davey (girl singer) and Brook D'Leau (guy producer) who have been independently making a name for themselves the new- fashioned way . . . on the Web. This release is a 23-track compilation of their two indie EPs. It is a fine distillation of their ''electro-soul'' sound which encompasses 1980s Prince-inspired electro-funk, new-wave pop and hip-hop with D'Leau's slightly off-kilter, mechanized, synthesized beats the perfect foil for the mohawked Davey's girlish voice and sexy, sassy attitude.
• Gutter Twins — Saturnalia.
Former Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli and former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan team up for a heady, swirling trip through the dark recesses of human emotion. Dulli's anguished rough-hewn tenor dovetails well with Lanegan's world-weary, cigarettes-and whisky basso profundo. It's not a fun record, but it's a powerful one.
• Ben Allison — Little Things Run the World.
I've been a fan of this 30-something jazz bassist/composer since his 2001 fourth album Ride the Nuclear Tiger. Allison plays contemporary jazz but not the slick instrumental pop stuff of the Rippingtons or Najee. Coming from a largely acoustic place (he's got an electric guitarist in his current quartet), Allison's melodies and music are rooted firmly in jazz but acknowledge the changes in pop music in the past 30 years, incorporating rock and R&B grooves (and a cover of John Lennon's Jealous Guy ) without sounding like a dilution of either genre. It's cool, laid-back music that's too good for Starbucks.
• The Roots — Rising Down.
Most fans of this long-running hip-hop band cite its Grammy-winning 1999 album Things Fall Apart as a favorite, but I prefer its slightly controversial and experimental follow-up Phrenology. This album finds the band leaving its familiar easy, head-nodding electric piano-laced sound behind and branching out musically with a ton of synthesizers and a mixture of beats that touch hip-hop, DC go-go and new wave as well as verses that touch on the over-medication of a generation, messing with underage girls, various societal ills and, of course, rapper Black Thought's own lyrical badness.
A Few Other Records I Thought Were Really Groovy:
• William Parker, Petit Oiseau; Dr. Dog, Fate; Nikka Costa, Pebble to a Pearl; Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping; Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
Some Local Records I Listened to Repeatedly:
• Baloo — Giraffula.
A Kent State student and former member of local beat collective Low in the Sky and more recently the Legendary Seagulls, Baloo offered up this free 16-track ode to bedroom producers and the electronic toys that keep them inside hunched over their laptops back in the spring. Though it's mostly electronic beats and a bit of vocals, this ain't dance music. Mastermind Corey Farrow alternately offers catchy electronic grooves with fractured, broken sounding sounds capes. Farrow has already released another free collection under the Baloo name called Our Animal, which is a bit more user friendly. An interesting beginning from a talented guy.
• Mifune — Time Is Watching Us.
This Cleveland collective calls its music (and its debut album) ''Afro-Electronique'' which is pretty corny but doesn't reflect badly on the music it makes. Time Is Watching Us mixes solid dance-inducing Afrobeat, fusion and funk grooves with punchy horn charts, good solos and singer Chris Fader's malleable vocals spouting lyrics that take on social and personal concerns. The group has a gig on Sunday at the House of Blues with Carlos Jones, which should be a really good way to wind down the year.
• Jessica Lea Mayfield — With Blasphemy, So Heartfelt.
I don't usually go in for the lonely, perpetual heartbroken troubadour with a guitar thing, but Kent product Mayfield got to me with the simple directness of her lyrics, the sparse but supportive production from Dan Auerbach and her melodies, which tend to camp out in my head for days at a time.
• Houseguest — Welcome All That's Difficult.
I've already written too much about this album but I like smart indie pop with intertwining guitars and good, taut tunes. This band knows how to put together a good tune. I believe it could find an audience if more folks could hear it. Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill complains about ONLY being able to sell out arenas in England while having to settle for large theaters in the United States. Meanwhile, a good band like Houseguest can't get its record heard. But that's a rant for a different day.
A Few Other Local Records I Thought Were Really Groovy:
• Gabe Schray, Softest Service; Black Keys, Attack & Release; First Light Groove Telepathy (reissue).
So again, let me wish you all a happy ''HOLIDAY.''
After you've opened all your presents and stuffed your face with Christmas er . . . holiday goose and downed a few pints of wassail and/or eggnog, if you find yourself looking for a place to go and extend your cheer, Musica is playing host to local holiday-themed rock group Missile Toe's annual Christmas Day show. The foursome has been mixing punk and rocked-up versions of holiday classics along with rock and punk rock classics from Ohioans and dead rockers for nigh on a decade and it's always a good time.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
Happy nondenominational seasonal holiday to everyone.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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WADSWORTH, OH
Posted 05:25 AM, 12/26/2008
A PERMANENT VACATION should take place in your knowledge skills soon-just as you missed a classic concert at Blossum-'TOM PETTY' due to Vacation or vacating the real music scene,I'd write for the freekin beacon for FREE if I had your concert passes,and I bet Id get a lot more Kudos than you ! and now for 2009...WILD BILLS REAL CONCERT REVIEWS FROM THE ROCK AND ROLL CAPIIOL OF THE WORLD-you can still jump the same train as Romeo and Braylon to Detroit ya know,3-tickets to paradise-wont you pack your bags and leave tonight !
WADSWORTH, OH
Posted 05:28 AM, 12/26/2008
CAPITOL not CAPIIOL...ALMOST as bad as you trying to spell i cup outloud-spell it outloud for us please=====' i cup '
