|
|
New Releases For The Week Of March 30, 2008
Edited by Jonathan Cohen
|
Pedal To The Metal
After two consecutive albums dominated by mid-tempo fare, R.E.M. gets back to its stripped-down, fast-paced rock roots on "Accelerate," due this week via Warner Bros. The 11-track set, which gets in and out in a lightning-quick 34 minutes and change, is led by the single "Supernatural Superserious."
Opener "Living Well's the Best Revenge" sets the tone, with a prominent lead guitar figure from Peter Buck, thumping, melodic bass lines and backing vocals from Mike Mills and a rapid stream of lyrics from frontman Michael Stipe. The track almost seems like a musical cousin to "Just a Touch" from 1986's "Life's Rich Pageant."
Elsewhere, "Hollow Man" begins as a piano ballad but quickly morphs into a revved-up chorus, while "Horse To Water" is a noisy, angular rocker with the unmistakable stamp of R.E.M.'s pre-major label days.
"We wanted to do a record really fast so there was no way for us to overthink it," frontman Michael Stipe says. "In terms of the material, we kind of went to the most obvious place. We wrote really fast songs and we tried to keep them really raw and in-your-face and that's what we wound up with."
He continues, "It was kind of like there was an agreement between the three of us that we were all going to try to work really hard to try to upset the things that we had gotten bogged down in in the past." R.E.M. launches a summer tour May 23 in Vancouver with support from Modest Mouse and the National.
|
|
Plan Of 'Attack'
The Black Keys have been a model of consistency throughout their first four albums, relying on little more than Dan Auerbach's deep, bluesy vocals and searing guitar licks atop Patrick Carney's thunderous drumming to build an enthusiastic fan base. No bass, no horn section, and up until now, no producer.
That's all changed on "Attack & Release," due this week via Nonesuch. Danger Mouse (whose real name is Brian Burton) first approached the Keys last year to assist him with an album he was producing for the late Ike Turner. Auerbach and Carney sent several backing tracks Burton loved, but ultimately only a few songs were completed with Turner before the project was shelved.
Throughout, Burton realized he had something else in mind -- a new Black Keys album that he would help steer. Suitably convinced of their common tastes, Auerbach, Carney and Burton hunkered down at Suma Studios outside Cleveland last fall and tracked "Attack & Release" in just 11 days. Throughout, Auerbach and Carney let go of any hesitation to incorporate additional instrumentation or experiment with new and unusual song structures.
"We learned a lot from him, especially detaching yourself from whatever preconceived ideas you had about what you were doing," Carney says over coffee in an Akron cafe. "Once Brian got onboard, there were absolutely no rules," Auerbach adds. The creative partnership is best realized on tracks like the banjo- and organ-flecked opener "All You Ever Wanted"; rave-up/first single "Strange Times," which features piano and ghostly backing vocals; and the bare-bones "Same Old Thing," which sports bongo drums and flute.
"I know I wasn't prepared for how well we'd get along," Burton says. "We were instant friends. We figured, 'We'll be doing this for a long time, and the music will just be the fun thing we do when we hang out together.' It never bogged down, and there was never a question of what to do. It was a really fun working environment."
|
|
'Night' Fever
It makes sense for Moby to be the one to introduce the era of licensing repentance. Nearly 10 years ago, he was the poster boy for the industry's newest revenue stream. In addition to selling 2.7 million copies of his 1999 album "Play" (V2), according to Nielsen SoundScan, all 18 tracks landed in movies, TV shows and advertising spots for everything from American Express to Bailey's Irish Cream.
The follow-up, "18," continued in a similar vein, musically and otherwise; and 2005's "Hotel" was so guitar-driven that Moby seemed like a different animal altogether. But new album "Last Night," out April 1, is neither too safe nor off-brand. His first effort for new label Mute is a shock of electronic energy, a combination of the pre-"Play" Moby's warehouse party beats and the polish of a multiplatinum artist. He's not trying to sell you a Toyota -- he's trying to make you dance.
Meant to condense an entire night out in New York -- and the whole arc of New York dance music, starting with disco and including hip-hop -- "Last Night" bops and grooves without apologies, herding today's dance-rock indie kids on the same dancefloor as their finicky "we lived through it" elders.
"My big inspiration was going out and hearing DJs in their 20s playing records I grew up with," Moby says. "There are two ongoing trends in dance: being avant-garde and cutting edge and being gently nostalgic and fun. I wanted to worry less about the first."
|
|
'April,' Come She Will
Mark Kozelek's unique interpretive bent (AC/DC, John Denver, Modest Mouse) has been an integral part of his work with Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon and as a solo artist. But his original compositions have always packed more of an emotional punch, and their impact is stronger than ever on Sun Kil Moon's "April," the proper follow-up to 2003's "Ghosts of the Great Highway," the second-best-selling album of Kozelek's career.
The trademark sprawling rockers ("Tonight in Bilbao," "The Light") are present on "April," due this week via Kozelek's own Caldo Verde label, as are devastating snapshots of crumbled relationships ("Moorestown," the solo acoustic "Blue Orchids"). Elsewhere, cult favorite indie singer/songwriter Will Oldham guests on "Unlit Hallway" and "Like the River."
"I heard his voice in there, so I mailed him the songs," Kozelek says of Oldham, who he met in the late '90s during an in-store at San Francisco's Amoeba Records. "In very Will Oldham style, he turned them around almost overnight. He added so much color. I think my favorite part of the whole album is his back-ups on 'Unlit Hallway.'"
"Many of the songs on this record do deal with a certain relationship, which does give it a certain theme," Kozelek adds, "but I wasn't thinking about it, or constructing it that way. I don't really think about stuff like that when putting a record together, which is probably why many of my records are scattered musically, and subject-wise."
|
|
'Baddest' Of The Bad
Trina is notorious for her provocative, sex-filled lyrics, but it seems her mainstream fan base likes her best when she's engaging in less dirty talk and more personal chit chat. Like 2005's relationship-driven, Kelly Rowland-assisted "Here We Go," which peaked at a career-best No. 8 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, her latest single about a troubled breakup is proving an early fan favorite.
"Single Again," from the Miami rapstress' Slip-N-Slide album "Still Da Baddest" (due this week), was the top debut at No. 24 during the first week of January on Hot Rap Songs. "This album is uptempo, but it's also a little melodic, emotional and personal," Trina says. "I didn't want to be drowned out or sad, I just wanted to be happy and up-spirited, so I can show my fans Trina has really grown up."
"The songs selected for the album were tracks ladies needed to hear -- about maturing and keeping focus," Slip-N-Slide president Ted Lucas adds.
Continuing with the female empowerment theme, the second single will likely be "I Got a Thang for You," featuring Keyshia Cole, about a woman secure enough to declare her feelings to a love interest. Other guests on the set include Missy Elliott, Plies, Trick Daddy, Mya and Rick Ross.
|
|
 |
Additional titles hitting stores this week include:
The latest album from country veteran George Strait, "Troubadour" (MCA Nashville).
The soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese-directed Rolling Stones documentary "Shine a Light" (Interscope).
The American release of Kylie Minogue's international hit album "X" (Capitol).
A new album from vocalist Van Morrison, "Keep It Simple" (Lost Highway).
A retrospective CD/DVD from George Michael, "Twenty Five" (Epic).
A live CD/DVD set from Fall Out Boy, "**** Live in Phoenix" (Island Def Jam).
Irish singer/songwriter Paddy Casey's "Addicted to Company Pt. 1" (Victor).
Guitar whiz Joe Satriani's "Professor Satchafunkilus & The Musterion of Rock" (Epic).
|
Given the radical changes that Panic at the Disco has made to its image during the course of the last year, it's hard not to read the lyrics to its new album's opening song as a pre-emptive strike against critics.
More...
|
|
After flying high for a decade, Counting Crows reached a crossroads in late 2006, when singer Adam Duritz found himself in a downward spiral of rock star excess and overwhelming depression.
More...
|
|
Fred Schneider blames the 16-year gap between B-52's albums on a lack of proximity.
More...
|
|
Contact Us 
