Now It's On

New Allan James & The Cold Wave Releases

Finally, some releases from Allan James & The Cold Wave. All download so far, but you take what you can get. If you're a fan of melodic pop/rock, this is for you. Few in the Detroit music scene are doing it much better. And this EP is actually co-produced and performed with Daniel Zott, another of my local favorites from the wonderful band The Great Fiction. Also available is the seven track "There's Always Someone Better Looking With More Money" recorded solo by Allan James in 2006 and "Young Allan", a six track collection of older songs. Here are download links to all three releases, as well as a stream of the "Allan James EP". A full band EP will follow this year as well.

Download "The Allan James EP"

Download "There's Always Someone Better Looking With More Money"

Download "Young Allan"

Album Review: The American Dollar "Atlas"

I hate labeling music, but it's a necessary evil to give the reader some idea of whether they might like a new release or not. It's even tougher when it is instrumental music like the kind The American Dollar makes. The New York duo's output is often described as post-rock, cinematic and even a bit ambient at times. And it has elements of all of those styles. But for the purpose of this review, how about we just label it astounding, as that is what John Emanuele and Rich Cupolo have produced, an astounding album.

Although there are electronics added to the mix, the basis of The American Dollar's music is live instrumentation. Live drums, piano, bass and soaring guitar solos weave each song into a 55 minute journey that must be experienced through a good set of headphones to get the full effect. It's a perfectly placed mix of electronic beats and sounds with solid rock musicianship. 

Opening strong with "A Few Words", carried on the wings of its prevalent piano line, "Atlas" never disappoints or meanders. Every song has it's own distinct personality, there is never the feeling of "sameness" you get on some lesser release in this genre of music. "Age Of Wonder" starts with stuttering electronic beats while electric guitar carries the melody before live drums and keys kick in to build a wall of sound before fading out. The shimmering keyboard effects on "Shadows" lie on a bed of shuffling live drums and string effects. "Red Letter" is a dark, driving atmospheric electronic track with piano added to the electro beats and keyboard swirls. The variation is the key to the success of "Atlas".

Even a release as strong as this still has tracks that stand out from the rest. There are almost too many to mention here. "Circuits" is as beautiful as it gets. Opening with piano over swooning keyboards, the drum beats join in before the song explodes into a guitar solo with all the other instruments swimming in your head behind it. "Equinox" boasts the prettiest melody on the album, delicately played on piano against booming electronic beats before the guitar joins in and eventually takes the song off into a full blown rock track. "Flood" opens with ambient sounds, lush keys and a tinkling piano before bursting into life with drums, bass, keys and guitar over an ethereal sound scape.  

With "Atlas", The American Dollar have crafted a sure bet for my Top Ten of 2010. This is a gorgeous work, and an emotional listening experience, from start to finish. All hail the power of great music.

"Atlas" was released January 1, 2010 in the U.S. on Yesh Records.  

Official Website of The American Dollar

The American Dollar on MySpace Music

The American Dollar on Facebook

Purchase "Atlas" from The American Dollar Merchstore

 

Other Music Releases from 1/12/10

Jason Boesel "Hustler's Son" (Team Love Records) - Rilo Kiley drummer Boesel makes his solo debut with the help of friends like Nik Freitas, Blake Mills of Band of Horses and Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers amongst others. Boesel, who has also played with the likes of Bright Eyes and Conor Oberst's most recent project, The Mystic Valley Band, delivers a solid alt-country record. The darker sounds of tracks like "Black Waves" combine with sunnier melodies like "French Kissing" and "Getting Healthy (Good Luck)" to produce a nice mix for fans of this type of music.

Purchase "Hustler's Son" from Amazon.com

Omarion "Ollusion" (Starworld Entertainment) - Ugh. Typical auto-tune, weak-assed beat modern R&B mixed with hip-hop. There is good R&B being made these days (see Maxwell and Alicia Keys for examples) and then there is lowest common denominator garbage like this.

Purchase "Ollusion" from Amazon.com

Final Fantasy "Heartland" (Domino Recording Company) - Essentially amounts to orchestral video game music with vocals. Canadian Polaris Music Prize winner of 2006 or not, I can not get into this at all.

Purchase "Heartland" from Amazon.com

Freedy Johnston "Rain On The City" (BarNone Records) - Respected singer/songwriter Johnston releases his first proper studio album of all original material since 2001's "Right Between The Promises". Recorded in Nashville, the influence of the city is all over this CD with plenty of twang mixed in with Johnston's power pop leanings. Melodic tracks abound with highlights including "Don't Fall In Love With A Lonely Girl" and the delicate beauty of the title track.  

Purchase "Rain On The City" from Amazon.com

Vampire Weekend "Contra" (XL Recordings) - I can't help but think if this exact same album were recorded by any other band, it would quietly appear and disappear with little fanfare. But because it says Vampire Weekend on it, it'll get hailed as the savior of music in 2010. "Horchata" and "Holiday" are mildly amusing and "Giving Up The Gun" is actually a good song. Then you get the auto-tuned awfulness of "California English" and numerous other imitations of "Graceland" and "Rhythm Of the Saints" era Paul Simon. BFD. Highly over-rated.  

Purchase "Contra" from Amazon.com

Laura Veirs "July Flame" (Raven Marching Band Records) - It's a stripped down affair for Laura Veirs' seventh album. The Portland based singer/songwriter may take some getting used to, especially vocally, but let the simple beauty of the music on this one guide you. This folk infused release also finds Veirs getting help from My Morning Jacket's Jim James who lends his falsetto vocal harmonies on several tracks. Instant favorites include "I Can See Your Tracks", "Little Deschutes", "Sleeper In The Valley" and the album closer, "Make Something Good".  

Purchase "July Flame" from Amazon.com

Album Review: OK Go "Of The Blue Colour Of the Sky"

OK Go return with their third album and make quite the radical change in their sound. This album is best described as the Flaming Lips meets Prince and that's no surprise as singer Damian Kulash has admitted Prince was a major influence on the record and Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann was recruited to produce this.

Kulash invokes a Princely falsetto on the majority of the tracks here, a number of which sport funky chicken scratch guitar licks and "End Love" has a driving synth line so reminiscent of the Purple One's "I Would Die 4 U", it wouldn't surprise me if the litigious Minneapolis rocker sued for plagiarism if he hears it. It's Fridmann's work that is most prominent here however. If you didn't know better, at times you'd think you were listening to a more conventional pop/rock Flaming Lips record. There are echo effects galore on the vocals, reverbed guitars, booming drums and heavy bass lines so Flip-like, you'd swear this was an outtakes disc from "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" or "At War With The Mystics".

It doesn't mean it's all bad. "WTF?" is a nice slice of electronic funk, the 'when the morning comes' chorus of "This Too Shall Pass" is infectious, "I Want You So Bad I Can't Breathe" reminds me of a cross between a disco era Blondie track and early Duran Duran and "Before The Earth Was Round" is the most interesting thing here, with vocoder effects on Kulash's vocals adding to an oddly beautiful atmospheric track.      

It's a decent album overall, and credit to the band for trying something different, even if it has resulted in a number of fans whining about their new direction. The problem is, if I want to hear a Prince or Flaming Lips album, I'll pull one out and pop it in the CD player. There is not enough here to entice me to return to the new OK Go too often.

"Of The Blue Colour Of the Sky" was released in the U.S. January 12, 2010 on Capitol Records.

Official Website of OK Go

OK Go on MySpace

Purchase "Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky" from Amazon.com

Album Review: Ringo Starr "Y Not" (Hip-O Records)

Obviously Ringo Starr is a legend. Obviously The Beatles are one of the greatest bands of all time, if not the greatest. Obviously a Ringo Starr solo album released in 2010 is not going to be a piece of groundbreaking work.

Although Ringo produced this album himself, there are a lot of famous guests here including Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart, Don Was, Joss Stone, Ben Harper and Richard Marx. But fellow former Beatle Paul McCartney steals the show from the others on the wonderful "Walk With You", an old fashioned ode to friendship that features Macca backing up Ringo during the chorus. It's a lovely performance and the highlight of the album. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the other track McCartney contributes to, the ultra-cheesy "Peace Dream". There's nothing wrong with a plea for peace and love, but the simplistic lyrics are pretty tough to get past.

The rest of the album is pretty much standard classic rock. Much of it sounds dated, like it could have been recorded in the late 80's, and maybe that's what he was going for here. Fans of Ringo's solo stuff will probably be happy, but "Walk With You" is the only track that I'll go back to off this.  

"Y Not" was released in the U.S. January 12, 2010 on Hip-O Records.

Ringo Starr's Official Website

Purchase "Y Not" from Amazon.com

Album Review: The Gilded Palace Of Sin "You Break Our Hearts, We'll Tear Yours Out" (Central Control International)

This already holds a spot as one of my favorite album titles of the year. But what about the music contained within such a great title? Well, it's dark, moody and a bit angry as this trio from Manchester, England kicks up a fuss throughout the ten tracks on the album. The opening track, the mellow "For When We Forget", gives no indication of what is to follow with it's swelling strings and lovely piano line. It's by far the most melodic track on here. What follows are nine tracks with banging percussion, distorted guitars, electronic noises and even a banjo or acoustic guitar thrown in on occasion. "Rubbing Up" is among the highlights. With its fierce beats, the song just sounds pissed off.  "Bones Of the Saints" and "Wedding Rice" slow things down with sparse, quieter arrangements but there is no relenting with lyrics like 'Let's strap on a bomb and blow ourselves to heaven' from the former. This is not an easy listen and may take a few to "get it", but it's worth the investment. A very impressive debut release.

"You Break Our Hearts, We'll Tear Yours Out" was released January 12,2010 in the U.S. on the Central Control International label. 

The Gilded Palace Of Sin on MySpace

Purchase "You Break Our Hearts, We'll Tear Yours Out" from Amazon.com

Other Music Releases from 1/5/10

Ke$ha "Animal" (RCA Records) - Typical major label bullshit. The kind of crap that gets tons of radio play and ITunes downloads and represents everything that is wrong with radio and what is left of the mainstream music business. Auto-tuned, female cookie cutter crap that is so disposable you'll have forgotten who sang the song "Tik Tok" by the spring. I hope she enjoys her 15 seconds of fame. No need to provide links on where to buy this because anyone who would buy this shit would have no interest in this blog anyways.

Katharine McPhee "Unbroken" (Verve Forecast Records) - 2006 American Idol runner up. Non-threatening, forgettable, by the numbers pop with a country flair at times. In other words, exactly what you'd expect from an American Idol runner up.  

Purchase "Unbroken" at Amazon.com

Badly Drawn Boy "Is There Nothing We Could Do?" (BDB Records - IMPORT) - The subtitle of this album is Music Inspired by the Motion Picture 'The Fattest Man In Britain" and that is exactly what this is. A movie soundtrack with mostly melancholy original songs and a few short incidental instrumental pieces mixed in as well. The sameness of the material (piano based ballads with strings and acoustic guitar) causes a lot of the tracks to blend into each other but there is some decent stuff here. The title track and "Welcome Me To Your World" particularly stand out. Definitely the best of the leftover releases from this week, but not an essential release. "Is There Nothing We Could Do?" is currently only available in the U.S. as an import, so it is truly for die-hard Badly Drawn Boy fans only.  

Purchase "Is There Nothing We Could Do?" at Amazon.com

Sugaree "The American Dream" (Leon Russell Records) - Sugaree is the daughter of music legend Leon Russell, which helps explain why the record label this is released on is Leon Russell Records. This is a collection of 2-3 minute pop songs that also draw on some R&B influences. Sugaree played percussion in her fathers band for a number of years and her talents are on display on many of these percussion-heavy tracks, but the songs themselves are pretty generic and bland.    

Purchase "The American Dream" at Amazon.com

The Silent Years to Release "Spider Season" April 20, 2010

Announced via their Twitter account today, Detroit's great The Silent Years will release their third full length album, "Spider Season", April 20th. Coming off last year's brilliant EP "Let Go", this is one of my most anticipated 2010 releases from a band that continues to grow and challenge itself and its fans with every release. If the track "Teeth Like Trophies" that they debuted in December at the Magic Stick is any indication, it's another exciting new direction for TSY with this release.

A full review will of course be posted here as soon as I'm lucky enough to get my hands on a copy.

 

Album Review: Findlay Brown "Love Will Find You" (Verve Forecast Records)

The story behind British singer/songwriter Findlay Brown's second album, and U.S. debut, is intriguing enough. In late 2007, a taxi going in reverse ran over Brown's foot, breaking his ankle in two places amongst other damage. While recuperating from the injury, Brown found himself rediscovering the classics of the 50's and 60's, from doo-wop to rockers like Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley.

Those influences are all over "Love Will Find You", an unabashed, unashamed tribute to the music of those eras. Brown's affinity for Orbison is obvious, some of the tracks on here sound frighteningly like lost Orbison tracks. It's a surprising move coming off his debut which leaned heavily toward folk influences, but I'll be damned if he doesn't pull the whole thing off. Granted he has help as producer, and former Suede guitarist, Bernard Butler creates his own Spector-esque Wall of Sound throughout. Lush strings, gorgeous melodies, reverb heavy guitars, they're all here. Even Brown's vocals are recorded to sound as if they're coming from a time long ago.     

At ten tracks and a concise 35 minutes, there's not much room for filler either. The title track that kicks the whole thing off grabs you instantly with swelling strings and a soaring melody. It's the first track I heard of Brown's and it did its job in making me want to check out more. The lovely ballads "Everybody Needs Love" and "Teardrops Lost In The Rain" both add a soulful Motown influence to the mix. The driving "Holding Back The Night" is another definite highlight with a shuffling drumbeat motoring the infectious song along.

In the wrong hands, a project like this could have been a pretentious mess. No, this is not groundbreaking music. It is simply a throwback and tribute to classic sounds of the past done the right way, from a new voice worthy of your attention.

"Love Will Find You" is released in the U.S. January 5, 2010 on Verve Forecast Records.

Findlay Brown on MySpace 

Findlay Brown on Facebook

Order "Love Will Find You" from Amazon.com

Album Review: Beach House "Teen Dream" (Sub Pop Records)

Baltimore's Beach House return with their third release, and first for Sub Pop, with "Teen Dream". I have to admit, I was not that enamored with Beach House's earlier material. But they've gotten me with this one and now maybe I need to re-visit the earlier stuff. "Teen Dream" is the first 2010 release I've listened to and it surely stands a solid chance to make my top ten of the year list. 

Although the album is not due for release until January 26, it first leaked on the Internet on November 19, 2009 and has been garnering raves ever since on blogs and message boards. "Teen Dream" marks a continuation of the dream-pop the duo of Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand is known for, but they expand on it with a much fuller sound on this album. Certainly the talents of producer/engineer Chris Coady (Blonde Redhead, The Silent Years, TV On The Radio and many others) play a major role in the expansion of the Beach House sound on this one.  

Opening with the lovely, and my personal favorite, "Zebra" which features a near lullaby-like melody played by Scally on guitar underneath Legrand's warm vocal, "Teen Dream" delivers one solid track after another. If this album was indeed the "all-consuming obsession" to the duo their record company press release claims, they can both rest easy. There's not a dud to be found amongst the ten tracks that make up "Teen Dream".    

Every song is carried by Legrand's smoky vocals over a bed of ethereal keys, guitar and subtle beats, but it never gets dull as there is enough variation from track to track to keep it interesting throughout. Memorable choruses, oohs and ahhs in the background and pristine melodies all add to the dream-scape created here. If you're looking for a place to start, the 2008 single "Used To Be" is thankfully included. It's a perfect example of the melodic sense this band has and should give you a good indication of what's in store on the rest of the album.

Other highlights include the thumping, haunting "10 Mile Stereo" and the piano driven "Used To Be", but as mentioned above, "Teen Dream" needs to be listened to as a whole. In this day and age of disposable music, albums that are stellar from start to finish are to be championed. "Teen Dream" is just such an album.   

Beach House Official Website

Beach House on MySpace

Beach House on Facebook

Purchase "Teen Dream" from Sub Pop Records

Purchase "Teen Dream" from Amazon.com