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Album Review: Daniel Merriweather "Love & War"

If you're discouraged with the state of modern R&B (and you have every reason to be with the rubbish that gets played on the radio), a little searching will lead you to the good stuff still being made these days. As with every genre of music, there is quality material out there, it just takes time to find it because chances are, commercial radio isn't giving it to you.

Case in point Daniel Merriweather. Best known as the vocalist on Mark Ronson's "Stop Me", Merriweather enlists the help of Ronson as producer on his debut solo release "Love & War". Retro-soul sensations The Dap Kings (who, of course, record with Sharon Jones as well as providing back-up to a number of other artists, including Amy Winehouse), are behind Merriweather here as well on this collection of vintage soul and R&B. 

Merriweather's voice often recalls Terence Trent D'arby, especially on tracks like "Impossible" and "Chainsaw", but he is far from just a talented vocalist. He wrote the majority of the songs on the album and it is chock full of perfect slices of 60's soul, from the horns, to the incredibly funky basslines, to the inescapable melodies and harmonies. Ballads like "For Your Money" and "Giving Everything Away For Free" are awash in lovely string arrangements, as is a duet with the equally talented Adele entitled "Water And A Flame".

There are equal amounts of funkier moments on "Love & War" as well, with "Impossible" and "Could You" the standouts. But the album's shining moment is the ballad "Red". Start with Merriweather's soaring vocal performance, build on lush strings and add a melody to die for and you have a modern soul classic.

The only major mis-step on the album is "Change", a track ruined by the unnecessary addition of the rapper Wale. His tacked on raps stick out like a sore thumb on a retro soul release, they truly serve no purpose here and drag the song down.Luckily, that is just one out of thirteen songs. "Love & War" is not a masterpiece, but it is as impressive a debut in this genre as I've heard, and one of the best soul releases of 2010. 

"Love & War" was released February 23, 2010 in the U.S. on J Records.

Official Website of Daniel Merriweather

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Purchase "Love & War" from Amazon.com

Album review: Clem Snide "The Meat Of Life"

This album takes me back to my childhood and the music I'd hear on the radio in the late 70's. Not sure that is what was intended, but music is such a personal experience and this struck me as a lost album from that era.

Eef Barzelay is the brains behind Clem Snide, and he's crafted twelve tracks that mix 70's soft rock, alt-country and pop. His twangy voice may take some getting used to, but there's no denying his witty lyrics and concepts, or the catchiness of much of this material. He extols the virtues of watching a sunrise in a Walmart parking lot after having his heart broken in the appropriately titled "Walmart Parking Lot". Then there's the story of getting high with a Sufjan Stevens fan in Normal, Illinois on "I Got High", which he of course dedicates to "all you beautiful American girls and boys."

The lyrical brilliance reaches it's peak on the ballad "Denver" as Barzelay first confesses to an affair with a woman in Denver to his lover. As if that wasn't bad enough, he slowly reveals he also got that woman in Denver pregnant and, oh yeah, "it turns out that she's a little bit younger than I ever thought to suspect", and she's going to keep the baby. "I hope that you never forgive me/forever deny me your smile" he tells his lover, dark subject matter to be sure, delivered in beautiful form with just piano and acoustic guitar accompanying him.

A lot of this material reminds me of the sound Band of Horses was reaching for on their equally impressive "Infinite Arms" from this year. As deserving of the praise as that album is, don't overlook "The Meat of Life" by Clem Snide. It's equally worthy of your attention.    

"The Meat of Life" was released February 23, 2010 in the U.S on 429 Records.

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Purchase "The Meat Of Life" on Amazon.com

Album Review: Greg Laswell "Take A Bow"

If you're a fan of melodic pop/rock, it's hard to go wrong with the music of Greg Laswell. He seems to have a never-ending supply of the stuff. Never is that more evident than on his new disc, "Take A Bow". From start to finish, this album has hooks and melodies galore, and practically every song has a chorus that is unforgettable. 

There's a good chance you may have heard some of Laswell's work even if his name doesn't ring a bell. Television has fallen in love with his music, and shows such as True Blood, The Hills, CSI: Miami and Grey's Anatomy have utilized his songs, with Grey's Anatomy using no less than six different songs during its run. One of those six songs "Off I Go", recorded specifically for the 2009 season finale, is included here in a new mix.

Laswell's music certainly draws comparisons to such artists as Coldplay ("Around The Bend" sounds like a missing track from 'Parachutes'), Mat Kearney and even Beck at times vocally. His deep, silky-smooth voice is a thing of wonder and suits the mid-tempo ballads that are his specialty perfectly. 

"Take A Bow" is a collection of twelve mid-tempo and slower ballads, but unlike past material, Laswell says he was in a happier place when it was recorded. Past works have dealt with such heavy topics as his divorce, but there are plenty of declarations of love here. The moody piano ballad "My Fight (For You)" is a vow for undying and unconditional love as he promises, "There is nothing that I won't do for you here/There is nothing that can stand up to my fight for you."

The title cut is the emotional centerpiece of the album and its prettiest moment. Based around acoustic guitar, with some piano and slide guitar added, he encourages and offers support to a friend in need, singing "Take a bow/'cuz you played your heart out/And take your time/with working the rest out/And try and stay out of your head/I have seen you invent the damndest things there." It's as lovely a song as I've heard from him. 

Other highlights include "Come Clean" with it's organ/vocal verses and electric guitar heavy choruses, the acoustic ballad "Let It Ride" with its sad, sighing harmonies and album closer "Goodbye" which opens with the ultimate kiss-off to a failed relationship, "It was really nice to meet you, goodbye".

It's frustrating that this guy is not all over the radio, especially the AAA format considering the love Mat Kearney gets on there. Laswell is simply a better songwriter, but such is life in today's music world. Don't miss out on "Take A Bow" if this type of music appeals to you. You simply can't get the songs out of your head once you've heard them. Highly recommended.You can stream the entire album below.

Greg Laswell - Take A Bow by Vanguard Records

"Take A Bow" was released in the U.S. May 4, 2010 on Vanguard Records.

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Order "Take A Bow" from Amazon.com

Album Review: The Echelon Effect "Mosaic"

The Echelon Effect is a post-rock project of David Walters, a UK-based multi-instrumentalist who joins a long list of artists who have successfully utilized the Internet to help find an audience for their work. Starting with tracks posted to his MySpace in 2009, Walters has since used Facebook and Twitter to promote his work and build both a fanbase and critical acclaim. 

With the help of Steve Tanton on drums, "Mosaic" mixes post-rock with ambient to create a lovely journey through ten tracks, at times soft and chilled, at other times loud and heavy. It makes for a perfect listening experience on a chilly fall night, with the windows cracked open and a cool breeze blowing in. 

The music on "Mosaic" is a mix of guitars and live drums with heavy atmospheric electronics, a lot of keyboards and effects that set the mood behind each track. If you're a fan of bands like The American Dollar or Explosions In The Sky, you'll likely find something here you'll love.

"Nobility Of Loneliness" chimes along with bell and string effects, slowly simmering to a big ending as drums crash in, never losing its beauty. "What Makes Us So Uncommon" rests on a bed of guitar swells, builds tension only to break down into a quiet passage before a grand conclusion, pounding drums and keyboards twinkling everywhere. "Migration" is a softer, ambient piece, sans drums, with a pretty melody played on guitar. "In The Continuum Of Time" has some of the album's hardest moments, a fierce drum pattern and echoed, reverb drenched guitars.

All of the Echelon Effect's releases can be found at their Bandcamp Page, where you can name your price to download them. Although this means they can be downloaded for free if you choose, I would hope after listening you'll realize this is worth your money and give back to a deserving artist. "Mosaic" is a blissful listen for sure.

"Mosaic" was released, as a download only, on August 9, 2010 by Glidescope Records.

The Official Website of The Echelon Effect

Listen and Download "Mosaic" from The Echelon Effect's Bandcamp page

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Album Review: Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs "God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise"

With song titles like "Are We Really Through", "This Love Is Over" and "New York City's Killing Me", it's pretty obvious Ray LaMontagne's new album is not the shiny, happy, feel-good record of the summer. But  it is still fantastic, heavy in country influences, slide guitar everywhere, banjo, harmonica and plenty of acoustics with his newly coined backing band, The Pariah Dogs.

Producing himself for the first time, LaMontagne and his band recorded this over two weeks at his Massachusetts home, and the live feel shines through. The Pariah Dogs are on full display in the fiery opener "Repo Man", with its shuffling groove and LaMontagne scalding a cheating lover asking "What makes you think I'm gonna take you back again?/I ain't your repo man". They break out the banjos for the mid-tempo "Old Before Your Time", while the album closer, "The Devil's In The Jukebox", is a honky tonk stomper, complete with harmonica and twangy electric and acoustic guitars. 

However, the heart and soul of the album is contained within its five stunning ballads. LaMontagne's voice is already a national treasure and it is front and center on these tracks. He laments missing the country and getting out of the big city on the aptly titled "New York City's Killing Me" while slide guitars cry throughout the title cut.

It is a different type of lament that dominates the remaining three ballads. The subject matter of "Are We Really Through" and "This Love Is Over" is self explanatory by their titles alone. LaMontagne delivers a heartbreaking vocal performance on the former with just acoustic guitar and bass underneath him for the majority of the track. "Are We Really Through" also boasts the album's prettiest melody. The latter is another acoustic based track, but lovely orchestration is added to the somber talk of the end of a relationship.

"Like Rock & Roll And Radio" may not sound like a sad ballad, but LaMontagne compares the disconnect and drifting apart in a relationship to radio's abandonment of a music genre by asking "Are we strangers now/like rock & roll and the radio?" Depressing subject matter? Maybe, but you've just found a number of good options for that end of summer break-up song to drown your sorrows in. An essential 2010 release.

"God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise" was released in the U.S. August 17,2010 on RCA Records.

Official Website of Ray LaMontagne

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Purchase "God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise" from Amazon.com

Album Review: The Magic Numbers "The Runaway"

Wow, what a wonderful little album this is. The English dual brother/sister combo that is The Magic Numbers have produced an album that is a bit all over the map musically, but the variety is a strong point when it is all done so well.

The Magic Numbers are made up of two sets of brothers and sisters, Romeo and Michelle Stodart and Sean and Angela Gannon. They've received plenty of critical praise since their 2004 debut, but it has been four years since their sophomore album. Although they also receive a lot of attention for their appearance (lots of shaggy hair and not a lot of concern for developing an "image" which has endeared them to their fans), that should be of no concern when the music is this good.

"The Runaway" is filled to the brim with melodies and harmonies galore. The band come strong right out of the chute with the album's first track, the gorgeous "The Pulse". It is chock full of sighing vocals and wonderful orchestration provided by the late Robert Kirby. This album marks the last project that Kirby, famous for his work with Nick Drake and Elvis Costello amongst many others, provided string arrangements for.

There are other beautiful ballads here including "Restless River", a quieter, atmospheric acoustic piece with a looped electronic drum beat, and "The Song That No One Knows", which sounds like someone took the music from a classic Al Green ballad and put the Magic Numbers on vocals. It's a swooning soul song with strings, sexy guitar lines and a deep bass groove.

The upbeat moments shine just as much, however. "Why Did You Call?" has a funky disco vibe with the female and male vocal interplay and a funky bass line. "Hurt So Good" would fit right in on a 60's Flower Power compilation. The Mamas and the Papas comparisons are made clear here, listen to those "Oh oh oh" backing harmonies.Tracks like "Throwing My Heart Away", "Once I Had" and "A Start With No Ending" are pure examples of power pop with catchy choruses you'll be instantly humming along to.

I'm sure this album will get bagged on in certain circles, as with any good pop music there is some melodramatic excess here, but when the band is as genuine as The Magic Numbers, it shouldn't be held against them. A highly recommended release.    

"The Runaway" has not been released in the U.S. as of the time of this review. It was released July 26, 2010 in the U.K. It obviously can be imported and is worth the extra price to do so.

Official Website of The Magic Numbers

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Purchase "The Runaway" from Amazon.com

Album Review: Josh Ritter "So Runs The World Away"

Heaping praise on Josh Ritter is nothing new. Since his self-released 1999 debut, he has been a veritable critical darling. But I would be remiss if I did not get in on the act as he is not only one of our finest songwriters, "So Runs The World Away" is one of the finest releases of 2010. If there is anyone doing the folk/rock, Americana thing any better, I've yet to hear it.

Ritter is often compared to such legends as Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, and he gladly admits they are influences. On this album those influences are definitely there, but he has expanded his sound in places on "So Runs The World Away", not a new direction per se, just as he calls it "larger and more detailed."

After the intro track "Curtains", the album starts with the lovely "Change Of Time", its sadly beautiful chorus carried along by acoustic guitar before heavy drums, plinking pianos and steel guitar join in. The gorgeous piano ballad "The Curse" is next and lyrically and melodically it is perfection.

Things are more diverse after the opening ballads. Ritter delivers a menacing vocal on the edgy "Rattling Locks", while "Lantern" is surely a clap and sing along favorite in concert. "Southern Pacifica" is a fine mid-tempo track that approaches pop territory and "Orbital" is heavy on electric guitar and piano, one of the harder tracks on the album.

"See How Man Was Made" is the prettiest moment of the album, a three and a half minute plea for companionship. Ritter's vocals here send shivers down your spine as he sings, "Please man ain't supposed to live alone/no that ain't what he needs/he needs to find a home/with someone else who needs a man/ a man who needs a home." He shifts effortlessley into a soaring falsetto as he cries "Man wasn't made to live alone" over very sparse orchestration and acoustic guitar. It's a stunning performance on an essential album, undoubtedly one of 2010's best.

10 See How Man Was Made

"So Runs The World Away" was released in the U.S. May 4, 2010 on Pytheas Recordings.

 

Official Website of Josh Ritter

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Purchase "So Runs The World Away" directly from Josh Ritter's Online Store

Purchase "So Runs The World Away" from Amazon.com

Album Review: Jeremy Messersmith "The Reluctant Graveyard"

Minneapolis singer/songwriter Jeremy Messersmith returns with the final album in his self proclaimed "life cycle trilogy". "The Reluctant Graveyard" is a tight and compact 32 minute exploration of bouncy, jangly pop mixed with acoustics and a heavy 60's influence.

Messersmith fits eleven songs into those 32 minutes and they're filled with stories and characters, from "Repo Man" to "Lazy Bones", sure to keep you enthralled while the wonderful melodies soak your ears. Messersmith's storytelling and lyrical style is often compared to Elliott Smith, while numerous tracks scream Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys (when they were relevant) musically.

The upbeat pop of "Lazy Bones" with its bouncing piano line and "Violet" with 'bah bah bah's'  that have "Good Vibrations" written all over them share time with more subdued numbers like the pretty acoustic guitar and voice of "A Girl, A Boy And A Graveyard" and the string laden "John The Determinist". The latter is a head turning track with just Messersmith's voice backed by a string section.

The album's emotional centerpiece comes near the end with "Death Bed Salesman", a story of a coffin salesman who at first sounds like your typical sales weasel. "I can tell you've got taste/You shouldn't have to settle/You deserve the best so why not rest in style?" he starts off before taking a turn you might not expect. "This is how it has to end/So love somebody while you can" he advises and the song is delivered so heartfelt, you can't help but want to heed the advice. Songs that deal with a tough subject that somehow are uplifting always strike a chord with me. It is a tough balancing act to pull off, but Messersmith does it beautifully here.

"The Reluctant Graveyard" was self-released May 4, 2010 in the U.S.

Official Website of Jeremy Messersmith

Purchase "The Reluctant Graveyard" from Jeremy Messersmith's Official Store

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EP Review: Pretty Lights "Spilling Over Every Side"

Is there anyone making better electronic music in 2010 than Pretty Lights? If there is, please tell me where to look. Not even five months after dropping the fantastic "Making Up A Changing Mind" EP, Derek Vincent Smith is back with the second of three EP's he plans to release this year, "Spilling Over Every Side".

Once again there are six new tracks to digest and where "Making Up A Changing Mind" was heavy on more laid back, melodic grooves, "Spilling Over Every Side" aims straight for getting your ass moving. The songs on this release are longer than the previous EP, with four clocking in at over seven minutes long each. But Smith's songs take so many twists and turns, they do not suffer from the added length.

Opener "High School Art Class" utilizes vocal samples, horn licks and tinkling piano samples before moving into an electro-funk segment all carried along by a slamming beat. "Hot Like Dimes" continues the electronic funk theme with stabs that sound like heavy rock guitar and more expertly placed vocal samples. "Look Both Ways" has a very jazzy feel as does closer "A Million Tomorrows", which also mixes in an old school soul motif.

Pretty Lights mix in elements of funk, jazz, soul, hip-hop, rock and more to make an EP that will have you moving as well as shaking your head in amazement at the wizardry on display here. A new Pretty Lights release now falls into the 'can't miss' category. And to think, there is still one more EP due before the end of 2010.

"Spilling Over Every Side" was released as a download only on July 29, 2010. The downloads are all free, but donations are accepted and highly recommended to keep this great music flowing.

Official Website of Pretty Lights

Download "Spilling Over Every Side" from the Official Pretty Lights Website

EP Review: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. "Horse Power EP"

A collaboration between two of Metro Detroit's finest songwriters and band leaders, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. has generated tremendous buzz nationally recently, with write-ups via the New York Post, Yahoo Sports and Paste amongst others, as well as support from Pitchfork and influential radio stations in Seattle and L.A.

I doubt Joshua Epstein, leader of The Silent Years, and Daniel Zott, who in addition to his solo work leads The Great Fiction, had any idea this project was going to take off as fast as it has, but there are few on the local scene more deserving. Both The Silent Years and The Great Fiction delve into pop and rock music, but challenge the listener while maintaining a strong sense of melody. The music of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. retains that melodic core, but is a complete sonic departure from Zott and Epstein's bands. 

Just four songs in length, the "Horse Power EP" is a can't miss electronic pop tease you wish didn't end so quickly. Their sound is best exemplified in the EP's first single and video "Nothing But Our Love". With a bed of electronic drum beats, the two add guitar strums and keyboards into the mix and carry the whole thing with their wonderful harmonies. Epstein and Zott's voices were made to go together, especially when they switch into falsetto. It's only going to take one listen to this chorus for it to get permanently lodged in your skull. 

The EP's other two originals are equally as infectious. "Vocal Chords" features an ebullient chorus and "Simple Girl" invokes a folksier sound complete with whistling and a toe tapping beat.

Things close with an endearing cover of The Beach Boys' best song in my opinion, the lovely "God Only Knows". This would seem a tough one to pull off, but the duo's sweet, heartfelt take on it does it justice. What starts as a duet with just guitar under their voices ends with beats, electronic effects and supreme reverbed vocal harmonies.

With their mix of electronic and hip-hop influenced beats with pop and folk melodies, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. have a winning sound, sure to keep garnering attention for Epstein and Zott. Don't miss this EP and, even better, a full length is expected to drop before the end of the year.   

The "Horse Power EP" was released in the U.S. July 13, 2010 on Quite Scientific Records.

Order the "Horse Power EP" from Quite Scientific Records

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