Trombone Shorty - Fire and Brimstone - from the album Say That to Say This

This post is because there was no official music video from Trombone Shorty's album the last time  posted or simply I was too slack to type the correct search-term, either way, here is a video for the track 'Fire and Brimstone' from the excellent album Say That to Say This. Enjoy. 

 

Trombone Shorty - Say That to Say This - released September 2013 on Verve records

Genres: Rhythm and Blues, Funk, Soul

The more I listen to album, the more I like it. It is one of the best of the year. These tightly packed ten songs fly-bye very quickly (just over 35 minutes) but each one forms a part of a whole that is satisfying. The band has the attitude of a live band, the rhythm section always pushes something to move-to but there are sure signs of production work with soaring echo on the vocals and the instruments all sounding separate. A cover of The Meters 'Be My Lady' is in the middle of the set and it fits perfectly as an updated version of the late seventies African-American music scene. It is no surprise that Raphael Saadiq, who has been reviving that sound with his solo records for years, is co-producer of the record and steps in on backing vocals for some it. The instrumentals are all precise and leave you hungry while the original songs are tight modern versions of an era of organic pop-music that has passed. Troy Andrews, who is Trombone Shorty, has surrounded himself with very skilled musicians and has drawn from them immense focus. So much focus that some of the songs, the ones with more prominent guitar work, border on hard-rock.

I didn't think this was much when I first listened to it but repeated listens reveal this one to be a joy.

RATING: 4.5/5 STARS 

Here's a 'video' of the track 'Get the Picture'  by Trombone Shorty of the album Say That to Say This

nine inch nails - Hesitation Marks - released September 2013

Genres: Alt-Rock, Electronic

Considerably brighter than the other work by nine inch nails and noticeably less indulgent, this is a very solid set of songs. Back when I was a teenager, nine inch nails, or more correctly Trent Reznor who is the man behind the music, appealed to the emotional extremes that age group has to endure. This is how I have seen his musical output  under the nine inch nails name since 1999's The Fragile, relegated to appealing only to a time and place in someone's life but not to be held onto and easily overcome with a bit of maturity. Reznor seems as if he left behind the nhilism seen on his most notable works Pretty Hate Machine from 1989 and The Downward Spiral from 1994, personally he has gone through addiction problems and record label woes, so it is refreshing to hear brighter moments like the song 'Everything' in the middle of this set with a bright pop-hook that signals a departure from the tortured subject matter. The excellent work with Attricus Ross on The Social Network score from 2010 and the soundtrack for The Girl with Dragon Tattoo from 2011 has carried over to his nine inch nails work. There is professional restraint shown on this album and the artist seems less afraid of major keys and more hopeful lyrics than in the past. This is still definitely in the 'alternative' music mindset with lingering angst but this time out the lyrics suggest acceptance rather than loathing. Songs like 'Copy of A', 'Disappointed', 'Came Back Haunted' and 'Satellite' have beats that are designed for the dance-floor  and they are much more enduring because of it. Guitars are really pushed to the back in this production and lessening their presence and taking away that compressed guitar noise that alternative and metal acts loved in the 1990's and early 2000's forms a good way to show off that Trent Reznor is in the business of making good music and not just indulging his extremes to music.

RATING: 4/5

Here is the epileptic seizure inducing video for the song 'Came Back Haunted' by nine inch nails

Hiatus Kaiyote - Tawk Tomahawk - released July 2013 on the Flying Buddah label

Genres: Soul, Rhythm and Blues

At best, this is a promising debut from an Australian act that should produce greater stuff in future and at worst it is kind of frustrating in that it doesn't play to its strengths. This Australian  soul outfit who formed in 2012 try very hard, possibly too hard, as the production choices on this disc saps energy from their talent and the lead singer fights the music to be heard. The ever present bass has an enveloping hazy sound that seems lifted from dub but it doesn't quite fit the most prominent singing style chosen here which is indebted to soul acts like Nina Simone or a slightly freakier equivalent.There is also keyboards that are way to far to the front of the mix and guitars that are buried too far in it. The vocals sound at time behind the bass and keyboard which makes the music sound like it should be center stage leading to the feeling that the songs were an afterthought.  This may have been the case, I don't know. It's just a strange fit. It would probably make more sense in a live setting and if I see this band playing near me I would definitely check them out.

I knew very little about this group past what I read in the linear notes, where I gleamed that the lead singer goes by the silly moniker of Nai Palm, but I had very high hopes on my first listen through the tracks. I was pleasantly surprised that it had the uber-cool sound of a producer like Flying Lotus, who apparently has been promoting this band, but he doesn't deal in songs much and is more in the realm of stay-at-home with headphones dance music.What is here is songs and occasionally aimless instrumentals. Overall the lyrics are stream of consciousness rants but that isn't a problem, even when the lyrics get really strange, it's that the singer seems to want to desperately stand-out  but hasn't got much to say. She caterwauls and then croons, she tries everything to fights the monstrous bass sound and the result is a knotted up album that would work better in snippets in a mix-tape or DJ set. This isn't too harsh a criticism as there is good stuff here, the track 'Nakamarra' is the least complicated by intentional weirdness and it sounds competent. The singer does, for the most part, go up and down her register and all across a wide range of vocal styles effectively but like any young act it lacks refinement.

A very promising new act but the album is mixed. If you're a DJ you'll get more out of this disc than a casual listener who will find it something worth admiring but not something to love.

RATING: 2.5/5 STARS 

Below is the song 'Nakamarra' by Hiatus Kaiyote.

Edgeland - Karl Hyde (Universal Music) - released April 2013

Genres: Electronic, Ambient, Alt-pop

Former vocalist for the electronic act Underworld, Karl Hyde's first venture into a solo recording starts with an absolute stunner in the song 'The Night Slips Us Smiling Underneath Its Dress' that has the same transcendent post-modern feel that typified his previous act's best work but with a greater focus on his lyrics. This track is filled with drugged excitement, a cold echoed piano eventually turns the corner into a warm guitar solo. The lyrics seeming to detail in a pastiche fashion a night out in Lewisham at 2am involving laughter, African Queens, a car crash, drugs and some lonely time travelling through it as a passenger in a black Mercedes with a very tired driver. It is a great start but nothing else gets to this song's high but some do come close. The following song 'Your Perfume Was the Best Thing'  is almost a standard pop song save for a few abstract lyrics and has the pronounced chorus to prove it, it is memorable. 'Shoulda Been A Painter' is a bright sounding song filled with wonder. 'Boy with the Jigsaw Puzzle Fingers' has a kind of unfurling wonderment in the face of the chaos of modern city living.

The feeling of wonderment seems to be the main feeling of all the characters on this album and it seems that these characters are all travelling somewhere in a city somewhere watching life around them. It has the perfect ambient backdrop of keyboards with electronic clicks and beeps to underscore Hyde's lyrics with copious amounts of filters over those. If I had a distinct criticism of this music it is that it drifts a bit like ambient music can, it becomes mood-music that only appeals to people in that mood, the lyrics can occasionally become meanderings. There seems to be only a few tracks that take hold of the listener but overall the album hits its mark without exceeding it.

RATING: 3.5/5

Here's the video for Karl Hyde's single 'The Boy with the Jigsaw Puzzle Fingers'

Major Lazer - Free The Universe - released February 2013 (Mad Decent)

Genre: Dance, Electronic, Dancehall

Regularly loud as hell but equally adept with quieter moments, the producer named Major Lazer who is alternatively named Diplo but also known as Thomas Wesley Pentz crafts some really enjoyable and striking fusions of Jamaican dancehall and extroverted American dance music. 

Sounding like something related at times to the loud and nasty music Skrillex, Major Lazer is far more textured and studied compared to to that producer's aggressive style and the dancehall fusion gives it a gonzo edge that works for the high-energy party music this is.

Major Lazer uses a lot of guest vocals to give the tracks some individuality and some are a little startling. He does the Jamaican dancehall/left-field dance thing best on banging tracks 'Jet, Blue, Jet' with Leftside+GTA+Razz & Biggy, 'Jah No Partial' with Flux Pavilion, 'Watch for This (Bumaye)' with Busy Signal+The Flexican+FS Green and the opener 'You're No Good' with Santigold+VYBZ Kartel+Danielle Haim+Yasmin where the Jamaican accent drives the proceedings. The track 'Jah No Partial' has a mean breakdown section that is very reminecient of Skrillex. Amber Kaufman of Dirty Projectors singing a quiet but excellent track called 'Get Free' is a definate standout. Timberlee and Peaches have a slightly nasty workout called 'Scare Me' which has a groove that is only slightly spoiled when Peaches starts her contribution with some purposefully dumb metaphors. On the topic of Peaches' lyrics, the line 'I can feel your Wiki leak' is actually just weird rather than sexual, it's a slight complaint to a fun track. Shaggy and Wynter Gordon do each side of relationship quiet well. Pop man Bruno Mars with help from Tyga and Mystic do a stupid and frothy track called 'Bubble Butt' that only missteps when Bruno gets a little too explicit. Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend does a ballad called 'Jessica' that didn't hit as well as it should but it lends to the variety. Overall the vocalists are a good mix and seem to bend themselves to the spirit of the extroverted music rather than divert from it. For any producer the art is to find a way to get the best from each artist inside the guise of his/her music and Major Lazer has carried that off well.

RATING : 4/5 STARS

Lil Wayne - I am Not A Human Being Volume 2 (deluxe edition) - released March 2013 - Cash Money/Universal Republic

Genres: Rap, Pop-Rap

Redundant, irritating, muddled and embarrassing but picks up towards the end, is how I would describe this album. A lot of rap music is dismissed as violent misogynist thuggery and this is the basic mold for this release, I believe that is simply all entertainment and being outrageous is simply a marketing tool. This isn't to say I don't know when something is bad, this album is bad, but I don't get surprised by the adolescent nonsense. If you really like hearing about Lil Wayne's penis then this album will be the best thing you've ever heard but for me it was boring.

The pop side of his sound comes out in 'Curtains' and towards the middle it stops being outright disposable hedonism in 'God Bless Amerika', rap-rock or metal comes out in 'Hello' which is carried off with intensity but for the most part the album can be avoided. These highlights don't redeem the meandering of the first half and the obnoxious lyrics.

RATING: 2/5

Here is a video for 'God Bless Amerika' by Lil Wayne 

Disclosure - Settle - released June 2013 (PMR/Universal)

Genres: Electronic, Dance, House

Disclosure are somewhere between a the madcap music of producer Luke Vibert that is aimed at private listening on headphones and more commercial music like Basement Jaxx, they are British and quite good at striking a chord between the experimental and the commonplace. Somehow the album is neither experimental noodling or easily dismissed dance-floor fodder. The tracks seem simple on the surface but there is great precision used. The bedrock of each track is similar, incessant beats behind repeatitive sampled vocals with what sound like analog synth forming the melodies/everything else. The complexities is in the range and the how packed with ideas everything is while keeping the palette of sounds limited.

There are obvious singles on this set and they should be tearing up charts even if they aren't. The guest vocalists, which there are a lot of, are all on-point. Never do the tracks seem boring.

Rating: Strangely satisfying 

Watch below for the single track 'Latch' by Disclosure. 

Ludovico Einaudi - In A Time Lapse - released January 2013 (Decca Records)

Genre: Classical, Electronic, Ambient

Like much of the output of neo-classical composer Max Richter, who is German while Ludovico is Italian but recorded this album in Germany, this music seems like it was written for a movie that hasn't been made. It has an unobtrusiveness that sounds as if to let pictures evolve in front of it without taking away its focus. There is no movie or television show attached to this music as far as I know so this feeling of the music being background is intended. The job then is to make this understated music demand some attention if listened to closely as it sounds perfect as background ambiance. Einaudi is mostly successful with this task but his clear unhurried piano can get tiresome at points, he isn't as repetitive or hypnotic as Phillip Glass nor as complex as slightly jazz influenced like Steve Reich and he isn't as experimental as Max Richter. He's kind of in the middle, which is to say he is pleasant without really pushing anything. He attempts a few moods but there is not as much variation as this type of music can promise. He relies on a chamber orchestra with slight electronic touches which means muffled flourishes to introduce and end some pieces. The electronic parts are smartly used but it would have been better to use them as more of a full instrument rather than a bookend.

In the end, this music is neither as experimental or strictly acoustic, it's middling. The music is soothing and pastoral while occasionally suggests something a bit darker but it's neither here nor there.

RATING: 3.5/5

Below is a youtube link to a live 75 minute recording of the set 'In A Time Lapse'

The Cat Empire - Steal the Light - released May 2013 (Two Shoes)

 Genres: Ska, R&B, Afro-Cuban Jazz

Mixing a whole bunch of styles into a cohesive sound must take a lot of effort but this Melbourne band pull it off with splendidly. The percussion is right up-front in the mix and it keeps the music bopping along nicely. There are no tracks that have big standout instrument solos but the Cuban jazz influence is very present, especially from the type of Afro-Cuban music from the late seventies and early eighties.There are times when the music dips into dance music of the House variety (see the opener 'Brighter Than Gold') and other times were it is straight-up Rhythm and Blues (see 'Am I Wrong' and 'Don't Throw Your Hands Up') but the whole album retains the same good-natured extroverted vibe.  'Prophets in the Sky' has a Afro-Cuban jazz and slightly kitsch Mexican vibe mixed into a Ska groove. 'Steal the Light' is more in a Ska vibe but has a big horn-led chorus that shuffles in a way that suggests dancing and lots of it, accompanied by a wordless chant. 'The Wild Animals' is the closest to a manifesto for the album with lyrics about escaping the office and getting in touch with your wild-side, with a lot of turntable work and a percussive hip-hop feel. 'Still Young' is a bouncy ska song with a simple message 'while you're still young, find your heart and find your song'. The song 'Like A Drum' is more in line with Brazilian or Afro-Cuban music and the lyrics are mostly sung in language. 'Go' is probably the most driving song on the album, detailing how you've got to let go of your 'omnipresent phone' as staring at it is letting the real world's beauty pass you bye, to Mexican horns and a Ska beat. 'All Night Loud' is a great end coming down from a good time.

Happily mixing styles from everywhere, this was a thrilling and fun release. I don't particularly like the cover-art but the music inside is quite winsome. The message is clear, be as weird and as mixed-up as you really are and don't let it stop you.

4.5/5 STARS 

  Below is video link to 'Brighter than Gold' by the Cat Empire

Paul Kelly - Spring and Fall - released November 2012 (Gawdaggie)

Genres: Folk, Singer/songwriter

Paul Kelly knows exactly which buttons to push on this superb batch of very short understated songs. Kelly spends equal time writing about love's joy and the coldness when it ends, literally spring and fall. All the songs are driven by his voice accompanied by guitar but there is a large amount of instrumentation behind him packed into what seem at first to be quiet folk songs. The album feels like it was written for intimate rooms rather than large pop audiences as the arrangements are bare-bones and mostly acoustic. The set is over in a little over a half-hour totaling 12 songs (one is a hidden track at the end of the 11th) which detail new love, continued devotion, new hope, despair, infidelity, broken relationships and change. Kelly crafts intricate detail into all the characters in his lyrics on this disc but there are no longer story songs, here he is focused intently.

All the songs on this album find their marks. Brilliant.

Rating: 4.5/5

Here is a video link to 'New Found Year' that kicks off the album Spring and Fall. 

Melbourne Ska Orchestra - self titled - released 8th March 2013 (Four|Four/ABC Music)

Genres: Ska, R&B

This record is a hoot! You can really hear on all the songs that the band has been practicing these for some time because the arrangements are just right and although there are like 26 (possibly more) members of the band the sound never sounds crowded. Every song is extroverted and joyous.

The linear notes of the record have a little context to what 'ska' is for all the kids who weren't around when it was last popular which would probably be the eighties. There were plenty of 'ska-punk' or 'trumpet-punk' bands through the nineties that played a version of 'ska' but the genre has fallen away a little since it was last heard from bands like Madness and The Specials. Ska has influenced much of popular music today as it was a logical step from melding Rhythm and Blues with Jamaican Mento to give the music the distinctive synchopated rhythm.

The first hearing of this band was on the Freeview Advertisment that plays on free-to-air television on most channels here in Australia, which is accompanied with the song 'The Best Things in Life Are Free". This song  comes towards the end of the set and it a great way to see out the show. There are plenty of gems that crop up before this with 'Lygon Street Meltdown', 'Time to Wake Up', 'The Diplomat','Learn to Love Again',  'He's A Tripper' and 'Papa's Got a Brand New Ska'. The opener is a version of the theme from the T.V. show Get Smart and it gets everything cooking.

The band can be charged with being a little too reverent and not pushing boundaries of ska music but they show how flexible Ska music is, journeying from times that step closer to Rock-Steady and other closer to Latin music. You could also say that the approach is a bit shallow but that isn't the point, the point is to lose yourself in the music and enjoy it on its own level. 

RATING: 4/5

Here is the video to 'Lygon Street Meltdown' 

(Italian food is delicious after all!)

Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork - released June 2013 (Matador)

 

Genres: Alternative Rock, Hard-Rock, Heavy Metal

Queens of the Stone Age seem to be moving away from louder music and into more restrained hard-rock with an edge and they seem all the better for it.QOTSA have always been a band that was too skilled to be confined to underground status but to studied to sell-out. I have listen to this album for a bit over two weeks and this some of their best work. The sound and feel is more like the music heard on their album Rated R from 2000 and I found this welcoming as the last time I heard from these guys was 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze which was fine but not very exciting. I didn't hear much from 2007's Era Vulgaris which may have been a mistake I will attept to change on my next trip to the music store. 

There is no wasted space on this album with gimmick tracks like 'Feel Good Hit of the Summer' from 2000's Rated R or pointless interludes such that were heard on 2002's Songs For The Deaf . Every song here is worth hearing and is packed with versatility with amazing restraint. There is less focus on guitar workouts on this album and it reveals that the band can actually write songs. 'Heavy Metal' is the lesser part of the band's sound but within their sound is still the evidence of that loud and wild music.

I found that the tracks 'If I had a Tail', 'My God is the Sun' and 'I Appear Missing' were the best distillations of the music on this album but that isn't to take anything away from the other music which is all high quality. 

RATING 4.5/5

Below is a youtube link to the video for the song 'I Appear Missing' (th animation in this one was used for some of the cover art)

 

Poppa Chubby - Universal Breakdown Blues - released May 28th 2013 (Mascot/Provogue)

Genre: Blues

The real selling point for Popa Chubby is his ability to play the guitar which he is quite amazing at.  The way I heard about Popa Chubby is not through his skills with the guitar or to gawk at his silly stage name but through his association with Sim Cain who used to drum for the Rollins Band until the 2000's rolled around. Cain had always been workman like behind the drum-set in that band but quietly had pushed the intense but insular vibe of the leader of that band, Henry Rollins, outwards into wholly more interesting music incorporating blues and jazz  on their albums The End of Silence (1992), Weight (1994) and Come in and Burn(1997). It was no surprise that the free-jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle turned up on some of their sessions for Weight that were later released on the companion album Weighting (2004). That sense of versatility and under-stated adventurous playing is present here while maintaining the driving intensity of a hard-rock band.

The album sort of stumbles early on, the opener 'I Don't Want Nobody' is good but there are moments on track number two "I Ain't Giving Up' and three 'Universal Breakdown Blues' that weren't up to the opener. Thankfully by the end of track three I was hooked as it was all pulled together later in that track with excellent guitar work. '69 Dollars' has the stock-in-trade variety of blues but it is carried off with passion that the track is memorable. Both of the cover tunes are well done. Firstly there is an intense workout through the blues staple 'Rock Me Baby' that is very close to the Jimi Hendrix version and secondly there is 'Over the Rainbow'  which is a eight minute instrumental and is the best showcase of the phenomenal guitar work this man can do. The second half of the record is devoted to outlaw type songs where the attitude is the draw.'Danger Man', 'Go'in Back to Amsterdam (Reefer Smoking Song)' and the hilariously crude 'Finger Banging Boogie' are the best of these cuts.The second half of the album was the strongest material here.

This album wasn't consistent all the way through but in patches it was brilliant!

RATING: 3.5/5

track listing 
1/ I Don't Want Nobody
2/ I Ain't Giving Up
3/ Universal Breakdown Blues
4/ The People's Blues
5/ Rock Me Baby
6/ 69 Dollars
7/ Over the Rainbow
8/ I Need a Lil' Mojo
9/ Danger Man
10/ Go'in Back to Amsterdam (Reefer Smoking Song) 
11/ Finger Banging Boogie
12/ Mind Bender

Here is the video for 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' by Popa Chubby

Tuka - Feedback Loop - released October 2012 (Big Village records)

Genres: Alternative Rap

This is an extremely well put together album from an artist I had no idea existed in a genre I don't usually think of Australian's fitting too often. Australian hip-hop artists have always perplexed me as our accents are a little goofy for this kind of music. The artist Tuka (pronouced tuck-a) flows very well with the music and can , on occasion, sing, although with not much range. The music behind him is tight and concise with a bounce that feels more of the world that Kool Keith and Aesop Rock inhabit.Tuka doesn't overstep himself or try to force his writing so as to come off as 'edgy', the focus is on the rhyme to accentuate the beat. Lyrically he's a little juvenile at times but it's in a charming fashion.

Tuka is part of a trio known as Thundamentals (their site is linked here)  and this is his second solo effort. How he punctuates his own identity away from the group is lost on me as I only know of this album. I will say that Tuka's presence is the most noticeable on the entirety of the album and the occasional guests don't move the spotlight away from him. Tuka's timing an tone are all of a high-calibre

Usually Tuka quick-fires his rhymes and this can make the verses blend together until they've been listened to a few times. The first half of the record has the strongest ideas and major choruses with 'Time & Space' ,'Die a Happy Man' and the title track but the second half has a few memorable moments in 'Dodo Bird', 'Next Door' and 'Mr. Inside'. .

If I could level a few criticisms at the record it would be to point out that there is not too much range to the presentation, the tempos are mostly similar and this can make the final parts of the album seem longer than they are.

All in all, this was well worth more than one listen through and I might be listening for a while longer.

RATING: 4/5 

Below is a video for the track 'Die a Happy Man' 

Noah and the Whale - Heart of Nowhere - released May 6th 2013 (EMI/Virgin)

Genres: Folk-pop, soft-rock

This album is apparently paired with a short-film of the same title which may be able to provide some context but that is all lost on me as all I get is the music and this music is so out of place in 2013 it is just weird. I had never heard of this band before purchasing this and looking at the cover of seven people all in the same white jump-suit with corporate logos I thought it was some kind of arty-rock or possibly something that had a dark focus. What I got was a horrible folk-pop album which sounds like the mid-1980's in a really bad way. I am not exaggerating, the sound of the 1980's is on this disc, in all its plastic glory. All the drums sound inorganic which brings the 'folk' part of the genre I put these guys into above into question. The singing is of the 'whinge & whine' variety. The melodies are tempos are from soft-rock or possibly roots-rock genres. The lyrics are the folk genre standards of regret and melancholy and the for the most part are generic 'you went with the other guy but you were wrong' nonsense. This album is far too precious about everything and feels calculated to fault. 

FIRST IMPRESSION: What the f**k is this s**t? It sounds like the Travelling Wilburys without any personality. 

FINAL IMPRESSION: It's really boring and is someone else's nostalgia. It's just weird. Avoid this unless you like moping around in cold/wet weather and wondering why your one-true-love doesn't feel the same about you as you do about them. 

RATING: 2/5

Here is the song 'There will come a Time' from the album Heart of Nowhere by Noah and the Whale. 

Soundtracks that were better than the movie - He Got Game 1998

He Got Game was directed by Spike Lee and released in 1998 and was not an entirely bad film but it was a very unfocused one. 

The plot is Denzel Washington plays a guy named Jake Shuttlesworth, who has an incredibly talented athlete for a son (played by real life basketball star Ray Allen) who is said to be the best prospect for college basketball as he is just exiting high-school. Jake no longer talks to his son or has any kind of working relationship with him because of his violence against and murder of his spouse and mother of his child that landed him in a long-term prison sentence. Jake is given a deal that if he can convince his son to pursue his college basketball career through the state governor's favorite team he can have a shorter sentence. He is given one week of parole to convince his son to do this. 

The plot of this movie is not the problem, the problem is the extreme amount of layers of ideas and talking points that are shoehorned into this sports-drama. Issues such as African American youth being exploited for their bodies instead of their minds by rich white people, the lust for money, the changing relationships as you grow-up, learning to deal with the past, poverty, structural racism, etc. Spike Lee loaded this film with details and it weighs down the entire mid-section. The mid-section of this overly long film tries to convey the confusion felt by Ray Allen's character on who he should trust and what does he actually want but it is laborous to sit through. Denzel Washington's character should have been the focus as he is facing the prospect of trying to reestablish a relationship with his son only because he wants to use him to get out of prison and this is explored and it is far more interesting to watch. The movie just meanders through its mid-section where you know the inevitable show-down between father and son on the basketball court is going to happen and it just takes too long for it to transpire. 

The main problem with the movie is that professional sports using young disadvantaged kids as prospects for rich white men to profit from is a very real topic but a drama involving the father possibly manipulating his son just muddies the water. This topic has been dealt with better in other places, it was dealt with head-on in the excellent 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams directed by Steve James and more lightheartedly in the 1996 romantic-comedy Jerry McGuire directed by Cameron Crowe where the issues underscored the reality of the situations involved so people could comprehend why Tom Cruise's sports-agent character was so conflicted.  

Click this link to watch the entire movie on youtube

The soundtrack was anything but unfocused. 

This soundtrack showed that Public Enemy in 1998 were just as talented as when they were the hot-topic in the late 1980's and early 1990's. It also showed that they hadn't mellowed out their political raps or become decadent by rhyming about hedonistic lifestyles that had become cliche in the rap genre even at this time. All the issues in the film are dealt with better and more entertainingly in this album, the movie should have stuck to the drama felt by its characters, it should not have dwelt on showing the drama the world that surrounded them created.

The issues in the film are here - sports agents profiting on black misery is in 'Politics of the Sneaker Pimps' and the excitement but ultimate dispossibility of those who are young, gifted and black is in 'What You Need is Jesus' and 'Go Cat Go'. PE also tackle how they and many other rappers became obsolete when rich executives felt they weren't profitable enough in the song 'Is Your God a Dog' which also touches on rappers killing each other to add to the conflict. PE address themselves as they hadn't been visible since around 1991 in 'Resurrection', 'Unstoppable' and 'Game Face' where they declare their intentions of not compromising and not backing away from the self-awareness they always preached.

On this album PE showed that they were senior heads at the business of making rap music as the music here does not hold-back but is always tasteful.The beats and music are clear, they have none of the noise and controlled-chaos that characterised their earlier work. They also show that they are seasoned pros at marketing by tactfully modernising their sound without destroying it. PE one-up Puff Daddy (later called P. Diddy then just Diddy but always Sean Combs) by doing the pop-rap staple of taking a well known musical hook and building a rap song over it better than the others with the track 'He Got Game' which uses the tune from Buffalo Springfield's song 'For What it's Worth'. This song was the obvious single and I remember it back in 1998 as getting decent airtime in Australia.

All in all, the soundtrack was focused and hard-hitting. The movie was muddled. 

Here's the song 'Is Your God a Dog'. It doesn't have a real video as the only music video made from this soundtrack, the song 'He Got Game' isn't available in my country. 'Is Your God a Dog' is bit less accessible for the uninitiated but is the stronger song, 

Harry Connick, Jr. - Smokey Mary - released February 2013 (Columbia)

Genres: Jazz-Funk, Vocal Jazz

This album is about celebrating New Orleans and its music. There is a lot of traditional standards type material on this album which has been tuned towards uplifting funk songs that sound like a street party in The Big Easy. Pre-Bop era jazz is mixed with the jazz-funk of the 1970's to give the music a nostalgic and lighthearted bent. The sound of the horns is very bright, clear and ever-present. 

This is the first album Harry Connick Jr. released in 2013 with the second coming out a few weeks back called Every Man Should Know which I'm told isn't as loose or funky as this one but is a bit deeper. This is very light music all the way through. Even the love-lorn songs on this album are dance numbers. In the linear notes Connick tells the tale of starting a 'krewe' or 'parades members' to party with each year called The Orpheus Krewe and enjoying the cultural melting pot of his hometown during celebration time. On this album, he uses lively jazz to sing little clever songs that sound very easy for everyone involved. The centre of attention is Connick's voice and he carries the show along quite well. The music is probably a bit safe but that isn't the point, the point is to carry a party along. 

The train on the front cover is float at Mardi Gras, the album is named after it. The first song is the title track at it signals the start of  reveling. 'S'pposed to Be' is a big happy gospel love song, as in "I'll be with you when I'm s'pposed to be". 'Cuddina Done It', 'The Preacher' and 'Mind on the Matter' are faster funk workouts. 'If I Were Him' is charming and has the line "I'm scared of crying so I sing". 'Dang You Pretty' is corny but at least Connick knows this and has some fun with it. 'Angola (At the Farm)' has a memorable shuffle. 'Nola Girl' makes good use of  flute to have choppy funk line and has some ragtime piano at the end with plenty of low lap-guitar. 'City Beneath the Sea' is a great way to toast New Orleans. 

It ain't nothing but a party. 

RATING: Worth the price of admission. 

There doesn't look like there were any released singles off this album but here's a video of 'City Beneath the Sea' which is an excellent song and can get tears flowing. 

EDIT: I found out that 'City Beneath the Sea' was actually recorded for Connick's 1995 album Star Turtle (so was the song 'Mind on the Matter'). I thought I might add a track from the Smokey Mary album. Below is the title track 'Smokey Mary (Boogie Woogie Choo-Choo Train)' with a stopgap video that isn't official. 

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories - released May 20th 2013 (Columbia)

Genres: House, Electronic, Dance

Daft Punk, the French duo of producers/musicians, return to add some nostalgia for your ears. In this outing Daft Punk have looked to recreate many of the sounds of the 1970's, 80's & 90's for today and on the whole their synthesis works. This is light and sweet music meant for times of extroversion. 

Daft Punk so supply a lot of the vocals on the record with the help of a vocoder to make them sound like robots but they rely heavily on guest vocalists to lift the songs away from sounding cold and inhuman. These guest vocalists provide a lot of the best moments. Pharrell Williams gets the best straight dance numbers with two songs 'Lose Yourself to Dance' and 'Get Lucky' where the idea must have been to recapture the vibe of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album because the mix of nostalgia and excitement is the same. Paul Williams comes in to do a kind of singer/songwriter mini-rock-opera that lasts for over eight minutes and sounds like something off a Jim Henson production. It does have the telltale gurgle of Daft Punk's synthesisers and then vocoder vocals leading the close to the song but they are in the background for the first four minutes. Panda Bear lends some chant-like vocals to accentuate the song 'Do'in It Right'. Julian Casablanca of The Strokes for some reason has his vocals through a vocoder but his song 'Instant Crush' is enjoyable, it sounds like Daft Punk's work from their 2001 album Discovery. I think the only misstep is 'Fragments of Time' with Todd Edwards as it just sounds too much like Jamiroquai to sound distinctive. 

The best moment on the album is the mostly instrumental track 'Giorgio by Moroder' which  has Giogio Moroder talking about getting started in music and his approach with electronic music. Moroder says that he wanted to do an album with sounds from the 50's, 60's, 70's and the sound of the future and this is what led him to the synthesiser. The music behind this little snippet of dialogue sounds exactly like Moroder's work on the Midnight Express soundtrack and other things. This idea of synthesis of different sounds from different decades is the basic idea of the album. 

RATING: 4/5

Here is the song 'Get Lucky' 

Bring Me the Horizon - Sempiternal - released April 1st 2013 (RCA)

Genres: Alternative Metal

The life-problems of teenagers get a workout on this metal album. For this band's credit, they try to make ugly death-metal inspired music sound melodic with toning down the aggression and turning up the electronics to underscore the choruses and adding actual singing. What acts against the band is that this is very much directed at teenagers and young adults. This limits its appeal but this market will probably be lucrative enough to sustain many bands like this. The opening track 'Can You Feel My Heart' sounds like it was made to be put on a Resident Evil movie soundtrack. This song is very much like the kind of stuff put out by bands such as Evenessence and Linkin Park a few years back but with a more shout-a-long chorus. This formula is reused in other tracks such as 'Sleepwalking',  'Empire (Let the Sing)' and 'Go to Hell For Heaven's Sake'. In the song 'Antivist' the singer calls-out people who conform as "c**ts" and on 'Crooked Young' he screams "f**k your faith". This is all tailor made for young people to annoy their parents with. Unfortunately for the band I don't live with my parents anymore and I don't really want to annoy my partner.  

RATING 2/5

Here is the video for the song 'Shadow Moses' 

Alkaline Trio - My Shame is True - released April 2013 (Epitaph)

Genres: Punk-pop, Alternative Rock

This album sounds a lot like the Ramones if they went all sappy and only sung about love - which is not to say this sucks - it's quite good and will probably get you shamelessly singing along much like the Ramones can but the sentiments are all gooey. I had heard a lot of words being said about this band before I picked this album up but none of them convinced my to buy one of their albums until I started this blog.I'm glad with this purchase as the melodies are simple and the performances are energetic and concise. Some of the lyrics have a charming 'heart-on-sleeve' quality that is a little naive but endearing. I heard that this band is of the 'emo' genre (as in 'emotional')  which to me is ill-defined and really vague as all punk-rock and most pop/rock are always about emotional outbursts but I digress. 

The opener 'She Lied to the FBI' is wonderful. It's a ridiculous and simple story of taking the fall for a woman. The following song 'I wanna be a Warhol' blends humour with sincerity and ends with the words "still hung-up on you". The song 'Only Here to Disappoint' never stops being catchy and fun even though its lyrics are a bit of the sad-sack variety.'Kiss You to Death' is a big sappy love song that describes a stock-standard motorcycle-riding-dude and his flame having a big moment. This song probably has the biggest radio friendly chorus on the album followed by 'Only Love' and  'The Temptation of St. Anthony'. There are plenty more highlights in 'I, Pessimist' and 'Torture Doctor' but there is nothing on the album that is terrible. 

This album is brief and gets-in and gets-out in 40 minutes. The music is not anything revolutionary but very enjoyable. Never does the occasionally sappy emotional focus of the lyrics ever take away from this. 

RATING : 4/5

Here is the video for 'I Wanna Be a Warhol' (with Milla Jovavich in it!)

Jose James - No Beginning No End - released Jan 2013 (Bluenote)

Genres: Soul-Jazz, Vocal Jazz, Rhythm & Blues

Jose James sounds a lot like D'Angelo but with more jazz influence, I picked this one out cause it looked interesting and was released by Bluenote who have been behind some of my favorites. There is wide appeal in this album but nothing that could be called selling-out to an R&B radio crowd, this is high quality soul-jazz with a slightly funky R&B feel. James doesn't do anything too crazy on the record, there are no long spoken word tracks or needless soloing by the band behind him, this is tightly composed music for James vocals to shine. With that said, there is a varied approach taken on the album which is quietly adventurous.

Every track on this album is great. The opening track 'It's All Over Your Body' is sexy and smooth without being explicit. 'Sword + Gun' has a slight latin-feel to the horns and is more tense, the vocals wordlessly drone to great affect. 'Trouble' seems like adventurous pop music in that it is almost an R&B song from the 1970's but there is definite jazz leans and modern production. 'Vangaurd' sounds like something A Tribe Called Quest would sample as it is smooth as butter, James's voice drives the thing and he shines brightly. 'Come to My Door' seems like another R&B style single with a big chorus and pop-arrangement. There is a second arrangement of this song at the end that is quieter and is more striking. 'Make it Right' is a funk workout.'Tomorrow' builds it's intensity with spoken word and Jame's singing carries the whole thing gracefully.

I really enjoyed this and I'm glad I picked it up.

RATING: 4.5/5

Here is the song 'Trouble' sung at the Allsaints Basement

David Bowie - Where Are We Now?

Here is another fine video and song by David Bowie's new album I reviewed a few posts back. He quotes German words that make the whole thing seem like a walking dream.

Alice in Chains ' The Devil put Dinosaurs Here' released May 28th 2013 (Capital/Virgin)

Genres: Alternative Metal, Post-grunge

Doom-mongers Alice in Chains return to follow-up their 2009 reunion album with a no-surprises minor-key stare into the darkness. Nothing on this album is truly bad it's just that there is nothing on it that is startling either. The last album these guys made was exactly what was needed from a band that agreed to carry on after their initial vocalist died of an overdose, it was pointing the way to new and fresher music without losing the feel of their best albums from when grunge was the hot-topic. I always felt that the mostly acoustic 1994 EP Jar of Flies was the best thing that this band ever produced and sadly the quieter approach of that album only appears on a few songs here in 'Voices', 'Scalpel' and 'Choke'. These songs have the strongest melodies on the record. Elsewhere the album churns with oppressive guitars that plod along in a morose way. The best doom and gloom songs come from tracks 'Hollow', 'Stone' and 'The Devil put Dinosaurs Here' which you can head-bang really slowly to if you are so inclined. 

There really isn't anything else to be said about this album. Either you're a fan and you'll like it or you're not and will tire pretty quickly of it.  

RATING: 3/5

Here is the video for 'Hollow'

Depeche Mode - Delta Machine - released March 2013 (Columbia Records)

Genre: Alternative Rock, Synth-pop

Filled with emotional extremism, Depeche Mode have crafted a very tense and sexy record. First up, this isn't the most manly record as the lyrical themes are all about self-destruction, trust and obsession but all the songs are filled with tension that suggests various bondage related activities. I really enjoyed it as a guilty pleasure. Thankfully, you don't have to be into leather to enjoy it but it might help, I don't know.

The songs are all slow and tightly wound. There is a lot of silence used and the noise is sparse. The mood suggests harshness but never journeys far into it, which is to say the production value is very high. David Gahan's singing is in line with the synth-pop music from the 1980's which Depeche Mode have mutated from (they have been making music since early 80's) and he sings in the smooth and cold tone that typified that type of music. The single 'Slow' is a real standout that has a kind of smirking sadism and swagger that is enjoyable. Other good moments are up front on the album 'Welcome to My World', 'Angel' and 'Heaven'. All the other tracks are worthy of a listen or two. Only once do the lyrics cross the line into plainly creepy territory which is on the song 'Child Inside' which isn't catchy and seems to be detailing someones abused psyche or something like it. This song seems less 'on a troubled path but down for it' mood that the rest of the album has.

RATING: 4/5 

Here is one of the singles 'Soothe My Soul'. Remember, always practice safe sex. 

Billy Bragg - Tooth and Nail - released March 2013 (Cooking Vinyl)

Genre: Folk

Billy Bragg delivers a uneven bunch of songs that occasionally sound like a bored version of country music but at other times find the sweet middle ground where folk, country, and blues connect. The joke I remember about Billy Bragg is that he had nothing to write about in his political songs after Margaret Thatcher left office because his demon and muse was finally gone. The songs here don't try to mess with politics too much, the political messages that get mentioned are used to colour the character's world but not to rabble-rouse all too much. Bragg has taken a specific approach here, he uses country music as a background to his folk songs and it works for the most part but it is a very laid back version of country music to go with the soul-searching and contemplative mood of the album.

The albums highlights do outnumber the wrong or less engaging moments. 'January Song' is a great lead track. 'No one Knows Nothing Anymore' continues the good work. Then 'Handyman Blues' comes on with its jokey lyrics and really boring arrangement and the flow stops immediately. 'I Ain't Got No Home' picks back up the quality with the world weary and mature approach allowing the slow song to unfold with appropriate gravitas. 'Swallow my Pride' is another good spot much in the same mold. Then there are four songs that aren't especially memorable, 'There Will Be a Reckoning' tries to have the drama of a brash political song but sounds too laid back to work. The reaming three songs are intimate and lovely.

Overall, I think Bragg had a good idea but didn't execute fully. The best moments on this disc were worth the price of admission but this album is for a specific mood and may not appeal to everyone.

RATING: 3/5

Here is the video for Billy Bragg's 'Nobody Knows Nothing Anymore' 

The Flaming Lips - Look The Sun Is Rising (Live)

The Flaming Lips - The Terror - Released April 2013 (Lovely Sorts of Death/Warner Bros.)

Genres: Alternative Rock, Psychedelic-rock, Dream Pop

This is not a 'fun' record but it is a good one. The themes of the album are loneliness, desolation and futility.The band finds ways to push what are essentially pop-songs outward into a kind of lonely hypnotic ambiance. There is a lot of silence used with sudden punctuated melodies. The music only gets noisy in a few places with some scratchy guitar work. Dark and off-kilter, I treasured the little trip this album took me on. It  was not fun but it was thrilling. 

I have never heard the Flaming Lips be anything but weird and exuberantly happy on a record which makes this album a bit of a shock. The music takes a while to get under your skin but it rewards repeated listens. The opener 'Look...the Sun is Rising' sets the stage, sounding free but very lost and alone. 'Be Free, A Way' sound further down the spiral or further out in the desert. The sighing vocals push this song along as a tape pulse wavers too far in the background to give any rhythm, it more sounds like a constant wobble. The wobbling is present in the next song 'Try to Explain' and serves much of the same purpose but the chorus is bigger and twinkles a bit. This song too ends in sighing loneliness. 'You Lust' sounds kind of late-night and is quite creepy. 'Butterfly, How Long it Takes to Die' has a lingering weirdness that makes it another stand-out.

Overall, the album is cohesive in its mood. The vocals sore out of the hypnotic music but always seem to sigh back into them just as quickly. This was a very rewarding listen. 

RATING: 4/5 STARS