| September 28th, 2004 02:48 AM |
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| MarthaMyDear |
Posted on Mon, Sep. 27, 2004
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/music/9772984.htm?1c
Good music where you least expect it
MOSTLY INDIE LABELS OFFER PROMISING RELEASES AHEAD OF THE CHRISTMAS DELUGE
BY BRAD KAVA
San Jose Mercury News
With the holidays around the corner, record companies are about to bombard you with big albums by the likes of U2 and Eminem; box sets by Nirvana and the Grateful Dead; live albums and DVDs by Mary J. Blige and the Rolling Stones; and greatest-hits albums by everyone else (someone tell me how Macy Gray has a greatest hits already).
So before the hype starts, you many want to check out these great, mostly indie label, releases. And you may want to start buying now, because they can be hard to find.
Maktub
"Khronos" (Velour)
Listen to "So Tired"
Listen to "You Can Hide"
If Macy Gray can put out a greatest hits after three albums, then this Seattle true-to-the-soul-of-soul band should have one after only two. Although recorded in 2002, the material has been cleaned up some for mass release. The music is as fresh and funky as the giant Afro on the cover, as true as Sly, Shuggie Otis and early Prince. The group is recording its next work now, which if this is an indication, will explode. (www.maktub.com)
Ozomatli
"Street Signs" (Concord)
Listen to "Believe"
Listen to "Love and Hope"
These Los Angelinos with a Latin flair take a surprising hard left adding a bold Middle Eastern flavor to an already eclectic mix of hip-hop, salsa, rock and jazz. For six years, critics have touted this multiracial, multicultural group which has toured with Santana as the big band of the future. The future just arrived.
Medeski, Martin & Wood
"End of the World Party (Just in Case) [EMI]
Listen to "Anonymous Skulls"
Listen to "End of the World Party"
This New York City jamming jazz trio has been kept alive by an unfailing sense of adventure that comes here in what sounds like a dark, trance soundtrack for the last rave. This is experimental jazz you can dance to. No, that you have to dance to. I thought 1998's return to the primitive on "Combustication" was a career high. This may be better.
Layne Redmond
"Invoking the Muse" (Sounds True)
Listen to "Moons Lament"
Listen to "Radiant Pleasure"
The new-age category can be slow death for an artist anywhere but Santa Cruz, but don't let it stop you from finding ambitious and talented drummer Layne Redmond. Her study of ancient Greek music led to this profoundly beautiful tribute to a collection of muses, heavy on the soft and dreamy vocals with classical and jazz influences. (www.soundstrue.com)
Ollabelle
"Ollabelle" (DMZ/Columbia)
Listen to "Before This Time"
Listen to "Soul of a Man"
Good thing there's no ban on nepotism in the record business. This six-piece gospel troupe, born from Sunday night jam sessions at a cafe near Manhattan's ground zero, soars on aching vocals by Amy Helm, daughter of the Band's Levon Helm. "O Brother Where Art Thou?" producer T-Bone Burnett heard about her family ties and immediately signed the group, which combines a rootsy mountain feel with Greenwich Village B-3 and electric slide guitar.
Mary McLaughlin
"Crystal Shoe" (RRCD)
Listen to "Song to Bridget"
Listen to "The Weaver"
Hauntingly beautiful dreamy songscapes, sung in a mix of English and Irish. If you like mega-platinum Enya, you can't miss with this. McLaughlin's voice not only rings true, but side musicians Radim Zenkl and Barry Phillips lend a dense weave to this lush Celtic tapestry. I'll never understand why Enya is on a major label, but you have to buy this from a Web site, www.marymclaughlin.com.
Donovan
"Beat Cafe" (Appleseed)
Listen to "Love Floats"
Listen to "Poor Man Sunshine"
When friends said the recent San Francisco show by this 1960s sunshine superman was one of the best of the year, I thought they'd been smoking some of that old mellow yellow. Holy mystical connections, Batman -- they were right! "Britain's Bob Dylan," who was once backed by future members of Led Zeppelin and lambasted by Dylan in the documentary "Don't Look Back," captures a heap of magic on this trancy look at beat poetry and music. I wish I'd gone to that show. (www.appleseedrec.com)
Another Blue Door
"Haulers" (Stinky)
Listen to "Christmas '98"
Listen to "Nova Scotia"
If you nod when I say Archers of Loaf, I don't need to say much more. Like the Velvet Underground, this could be one of those bands that no one will buy but someday everyone will say they love. These Canadians, who must have spent winters sequestered with American indie rock, play deep, dark and low-fi.
My Morning Jacket
"It Still Moves" (RCA)
Listen to "Dance Floors"
Listen to "Mah See Tah"
It's impossible not to compare these Kentuckians, whose singer favors falsetto, to Neil Young. And this is closer to a never-know-what's-going-to-come-next collection like 1977's "American Stars `N Bars" than anything Young has done since then.
Rachael Yamagata
"Happenstance" (RCA)
Listen to "Be Be Your Love"
Listen to "Letter Read"
While record companies were beating the bushes for the next Norah Jones, along comes this Chicagoan, who, on this solid debut, sings lush ballads but also rocks as hard as early Melissa Etheridge and cuts almost as deep as the first Alanis.
Vassar Clements
"Livin' With the Blues" (Acoustic Disc)
Don't be surprised if the best blues album of the year is by this fiddle player known for bluegrass. Every tune on this Bay Area guest star-filled disc, produced by David Grisman, is a pleasant surprise, thanks to Clements' tasty licks and his interplay with the likes of Norton Buffalo, Maria Muldaur, Bob Brozman, Elvin Bishop and Stanford student turned folkie David Jacobs-Strain.
The Faint
"Wet From Birth" (Saddle Creek)
Listen to "Desperate Guys"
Listen to "How Could I Forget"
This is the Omaha quintet that major record labels were so hot to sign they offered to buy the whole indie label that had already signed them. This is what it was like to hear early Green Day: punky, witty, charming, without all the gobs of spit and with the occasional string or synthesizer.
Rich Robinson
"Paper" (Keyhole Records)
Listen to "Enemy"
Listen to "Yesterday I saw you"
His brother and former Black Crowes bandmate, Chris, got the girl (Kate Hudson), but Rich made the solo album that rocks. The same '60s guitars that used to make you think of the Faces here bring back the Who and brooding Lennon. Sweet.
Melvins
"Pigs of the Roman Empire" (Ipecac)
Listen to "The Bloated Pope"
Here's the opposite of new age -- new pig. Anytime a metal band sings about pigs, you know it's going to be heavy (NIN's "Piggy," anything by Pigface). This once-punk band teams up with ambient artist Lustmord for a heavy, experiment that brings to mind those other swine soirees. Ozzy may have become a cartoon of himself, but these dark metallers still make uncompromisingly dark music that makes you love to hate.
Contact Brad Kava at [email protected] (408) 920-5040. Fax (408) 271-3786.
[Edited by MarthaMyDear] |
| September 28th, 2004 07:07 AM |
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| F505 |
Very sad thread |
| September 28th, 2004 12:55 PM |
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| MarthaMyDear |
HELLO AND GOOD MORNING!!! HE!!! HE!!! HE!!! :P   
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEACE!!!
ROCK ON!!!
*** Martha *** |
| September 28th, 2004 07:22 PM |
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| Soldatti |
Nothing interesting... |
| September 28th, 2004 07:38 PM |
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| Dan |
Melvins rule, but its hard to keep track of all a bands releases when they put out 3 new albums a year. I might go see them in a few weeks, used to go see them all the time but its been an unbelievable 5 years now. |
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