October 30 Releases, 2012

By: Colin Roose, News Editor

Christmas and folk. This is the music we get the day before Halloween. No Rob Zombie, no Alice Cooper, but chestnuts roasting on an open fire and a man with a violin.

Alright, well, Neil Young can make some pretty good sweater music. But Christmas albums? Seriously? Who decided that October 30 was a good time to start singing about marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow and scary ghost stories…oh.

Anyway, let's start with the man still searching for a heart of gold. Neil Young's newest album Psychedelic Pill is the first album of new material with his backing band Crazy Horse since 2003's Greendale, and accordingly is a rougher, more jam-centric album than the other six solo albums he's done since then. And if that seems like a lot of work for a 66-year-old man in eight years, consider that this is his 35th record overall. That's not even counting his various collaborations with Crosby, Stills and Nash or Buffalo Springfield. The man has been a slave to you, people. If nothing else, he deserves the opportunity to reminisce about the first time he heard "Like a Rolling Stone."

The other workhorse this year is Andrew Bird, for whom it did not suffice to release just the hour-long Break It Yourself earlier this year. The companion EP Hands of Glory adds an additional 35 minutes of re-recordings and strum-strummy covers of old singer-songwriter music. If the whole laid-back group-chorus old-time sleepy violin sound appeals to you, you've probably already known what Andrew Bird is up to and I'm talking to myself now. Actually, I must confess that I am not familiar with Mr. Bird's considerable output, despite his appearance at the Nelsonville Music Festival this year. Maybe I'd better not admit I listened to Mumford & Sons for the first time this past weekend before the folk community beats me with mandolins.

And so, the Christmas albums. I'd like to direct your attention to the left to take a look at the miracle of Photoshop that is Cee-Lo's Magic Moment. The Gnarls Barkley singer has now apparently taken the place of Santa Claus, flying through the night with his sports car pulled by a majestic array of steeds. Or maybe this is his way of telling us he's a brony? But anyway, he duets with such varied talent as Christina Aguilera, B.o.B. and The Muppets.

If flamboyant Vegas style rap does not immediately spring to mind when you think of the holidays, there is also Rod Stewart, who has taken a break from his copious renditions of the Great American Songbook to make an even more friendly album for Mom and Dad called Merry Christmas, Baby. On the other hand, there is an innovative Yuletide-indie crossover by Everything But the Girl vocalist Tracey Thorn. It may be called Tinsel and Lights and have song titles like "Maybe This Christmas" and "Snow," but it's actually mostly original songs and has a paranoid post-punk sound. Really. Well, I think it's about damn time someone tried to unseat "Same Old Lang Syne" as the newest Christmas song to be played on every FM station.

There's also Flyleaf this week, who are releasing their last album with singer Lacey Mosley, and Lulu Gainsbourg, the son of French popmeister Serge Gainsbourg. Other than that, well…if you like Toby Keith…

Ok, I'm going to end this before the folkies start shouting "Judas!" at me.

October 11 Album Releases, 2011

By: Scott Smith, Album Reviews Editor

A Radiohead release could be considered the biggest release of the year, let alone a given week. But TKOL Remixes 1234567, a series of reinterpretations of the band’s latest release, The King of Limbs. Ironically, the album that I personally criticized for being too short is packed with material from some of the electronic music worlds brightest rising stars including Caribou, and Jamie xx (of The XX.)

A similar endeavor was embarked upon for Caribou’s most recent album, Swim, and garnered fantastic results. Radiohead themselves seem to be overseeing, or at least, embracing the project as they always have in the past like their “Nude” remix contest from a few years back. This time their throwing a party featuring many of the DJ’s on the album and Thom Yorke himself will be spinning for the enjoyment of the lucky attendees.

The album is up and streaming right here and after listening to a few tracks, I can definitively say it’s a fun mix. Caribou made a boring song in “Little By Little” a raucous and bombastic track, but my favorite track was the remix of the new age Brazilian samba “Feral” by Lone, someone I’ve never heard of before this moment.

That’s the best part about these kind of releases: Discovering new artists--there are usually so many up and comers.

Strangely again, the second biggest release of the week might not even be a full-length album, but an EP. That may sound peculiar, especially if you aren’t familiar with the kind of work James Blake can produce on an extended play.

Blake, one of the biggest critical darlings of 2011, assaulted the web late last year with a three EPs, that revealed his large scope of abilities in recording techniques. Each EP was Blake in a specific mindset--a showcase of how well he could work within different genres to create something entirely his own. He’s now already being coined as the father of post-dubstep, a movement away from the grimy bass-rattling that has flooded our speakers over the past two years or so.

Blake’s newest EP, Enough Thunder, was met with the loftiest of expectations. Among the six tracks is a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You.” Arguably Blake’s most quintessentially James Blake tune is his heartbreaking, drowning cover of Feist’s “Limit to Your Love,” so this only made the hype more unbearable. Luckily the beautiful piano ballad is a highlight.

To only up expectations and ‘indie cred’ of the work, Enough Thunder also includes “Fall Creek Boys Choir” featuring the only person critics are drooling over this year more than Blake: Bon Iver. Maybe I’m crazy, but Blake’s uninspired production on the track does nothing to aid Bon Iver’s layered, effectually smooth growling. Listen for yourself here, but I can only surmise this EP as a dud that got swallowed by its own hype.

Those are the biggies, but there are still some other releases that may tickle your fancy. The first release from Future Islands drops this week. They’ve received some buzz on the web recently, most likely because their name is Future Islands. Peter Gabriel still refuses to act like a normal human being, and that’s fine with me. The former Genesis front-man is releasing his own, orchestral, remix album of his own solo material.

Lastly though is a welcoming release from everyone’s favorite whistler, Andrew Bird. No it’s a not gorgeous homogeneous mixture of classical violin with contemporary music sensibilities (and of course, some whistling), it’s a soundtrack for the upcoming low budget black comedy/ drama Norman.

The film centers around Norman, a high school student who lost his mother and now must live with the reality of life's being just him and his stomach-cancer-ravaged father. Sounds like it’ll contain some of the great black, morbid humor I love (Louis C.K. is my hero) before switching to a heartfelt drama about growing up and living with what life deals you.

This sort of premise sounds tailor-made for Andrew Bird, a musician who can switch from the light and whimsical to dark and emotional as quick as a whistle (sorry for the pun, I’ve been trolling Reddit a lot lately.)

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next week’s post, which should be spectacular with all the great albums coming out.