Figurines: Skeleton

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Figurines
Laura Sinagra wrote in the New York Times: "The Danish rock band Figurines distinguishes itself from the current glut of indie-rock formalists by choosing a different form from most. Rather than aping post-punk angularity, the vocalist Christian Hjelm and his tight band go in for the frustrated eeriness of Northwestern bands like Modest Mouse. Wisely, they leave their most blatant rip-off of that band for the very end of 'Skeleton.' The opening track, 'Race You,' is an arresting piano ballad that foregrounds Mr. Hjelm's voice, which perfectly balances art song archness and lonely busker frailty. Songs like the first single, 'The Wonder,' evidence clever modulations that allow Mr. Hjelm to show off his range. He sometimes sounds bored with his own melodies, seeming to prefer weirder excursions like 'Ambush,' with its dark Wall of Voodoo twang, and 'Rivalry,' which masquerades as a Neil Young number but then edges closer to Pavement territory. Figurines don't have lyrics as rewarding as those of their obvious polestars, but 'Skeleton' puts an intriguingly genteel spin on indie grit" ("Critics' Choice: New CD's," 3/27/06).

Alan Jackson: Precious Memories

CML call number: CD/GOSPEL/Jackson
Contents: Blessed Assurance, Softly and Tenderly, I Love to Tell the Story, When We All Get to Heaven, 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, In the Garden, Are You Washed in the Blood?, I'll Fly Away, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Standing on the Promises, Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, The Old Rugged Cross, How Great Thou Art, I Want to Stroll over Heaven with You.
Ralph Novak wrote in People: "Jackson's sweet, true voice is ideally suited to gospel, so he's right at home on this intimate collection, originally recorded as a Christmas present for his mother. Backed only by guitar and keyboards, Jackson passionately sings familiar hymns like 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus' and 'How Great Thou Art,' but never indulges in the histrionics some pop singers succumb to when they perform gospel. The informal, homey feeling of the album is most precious on ''Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,' which includes backup vocals by Jackson's wife, Denise, and their daughters Mattie and Ali" ("Picks & Pans: Music," 4/3/06).

Prefuse 73: Security Screenings

CML call number: CD/RAP & HIP-HOP/Prefuse
Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times: "Guillermo Scott Herren, a producer, uses the name Prefuse 73 when he wants to make surreal hip-hop. 'Security Screenings' (Warp) sounds as if it was made with a series of quick and deep strokes: it's a game of dream juxtapositions, but all the parts are well connected. Guitar, twinkling synth arpeggios, background tapes of talking and laughter, jazz-record samples, James Brown beats: Mr. Herren slices them all up mercilessly, making a different background for every single beat. What comes out is reconstituted, crazily hybrid, but still manages to flow; he doesn't abandon funk" ("Playlist," 2/19/06).
I haven't heard all of this yet, but it seems like a crazy and fun record.

Mozart: String Quartets K465 & K499

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Mozart
Bernard Holland wrote in the New York Times: "The Belcea Quartet, a young group from Britain, showed its sense of high drama in a Shostakovich performance at Zankel Hall a couple of weeks back. Here the players bring a similar high-tension style to two Mozart quartets: the 'Dissonance' (K. 465) and the 'Hoffmeister' (K. 499). Think 'operatic' in the benign definition of the word. There is no excess or grandiosity. Indeed, careful preparation, matched techniques and enlightened enthusiasm give the big statement a precision not all that common on the opera stage. The Belcea offers youthful juices and a lot of talent. Characteristically, it plays the famous opening of the 'Dissonance' Quartet for as much implied modernity as it can. … The rest of this recording is played with energy and high spirits. … The 'Dissonance' belongs to the six quartets Mozart dedicated to Haydn. Mozart did most of his editing in his head, so the uncharacteristic number of emendations in these manuscripts gives witness to the value he put on the quartets. Both the 'Dissonance' and the 'Hoffmeister' belong to the mid-1780's and come from a man then at the height of his success."

Donny McCaslin: Soar

CML call number: CD/JAZZ/McCaslin
Nate Chinen wrote in the New York Times: "Donny McCaslin's athletic tenor and soprano saxophone playing have made him a welcome presence in the Maria Schneider Orchestra for the last couple of years. This album, his first since joining the orchestra, features two fellow travelers in that ensemble -- the guitarist Ben Monder and the vocalist Luciana Souza -- and intermittently suggests Ms. Schneider's harmonic approach. But Mr. McCaslin's interests are earthier than Ms. Schneider's, as evidenced by the Panamanian folk melodies that bookend 'Soar.' Those songs point, in fact, to the sway of Danilo Pérez, a pianist and composer from Panama and another of Mr. McCaslin's occasional employers. The seven originals that make up the heart of the album also suggest Mr. Pérez, in a rush of billowing melodies and undulating rhythms. That isn't always a limitation. Some pieces, like 'O Campeão' and 'Be Love,' show Mr. McCaslin's own compositional voice commingling with those of his influences and with the stirrings of his strong ensemble. The album is well worth hearing for those moments" ("Critic's Choice: New CD's," 4/3/06).

Coldcut: Sound Mirrors

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Coldcut
Scott Thill wrote in Wired: "Remix legends Matt Black and Jon More are back with a stacked plate of dance blasts. Jon Spencer's explosive guitar updates 'Everything Is Under Control' with a welcome shot of grungy rock. And Saul Williams' poem about a suicidal businessman makes 'Mr. Nichols' a classic. Stunning work" ("Play: Reviews," Feb. 2006, p. 74).
Coldcut's website is http://www.coldcut.net. It includes a "VIP area" that you can access by inserting the Sound Mirrors CD in your computer, which offers Instant Messenger icons, MP3s, and wallpaper for downloading, plus lyrics, a chance to win a signed poster, and other features.
According to the record label, Ninja Tune: "Ex-art teacher Jonathan More and computer programmer Matt Black have been a team since the mid-eighties. … [Their first collaboration] 'Say Kids, What Time Is It?' … was released in 1987 becoming the UK’s first sample-built record. In the same year the duo defined the term ‘remix’ on Eric B and Rakim’s 'Paid in Full,' cutting and pasting Israeli singer Ofra Haza’s vocals in a notorious reworking which became a … classic."

Fall Out Boy: From Under the Cork Tree (bonus tracks release)

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Fall
Kelefa Sanneh wrote in the New York Times, 3/16/06: "Thanks to a nation of enthusiastic high-school kids, emo bands are everywhere; plaintive punk has become the soundtrack of white adolescence. … A genre that was once mocked for its supposed earnestness is now home to some of the most flamboyant boys in rock 'n' roll. Fall Out Boy has sold almost two million copies of its current album, 'From Under the Cork Tree' (Island Def Jam); the record company celebrated by rereleasing it on Tuesday, with bonus tracks and remixes. … [E]mo bands … use terms like 'sugar' and 'honey' to underscore arch lyrics about boys who claim to hate themselves almost as much as they hate their exes. … Fall Out Boy's current single is 'A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More "Touch Me,"' which matches its ridiculous title (and infectious tune) with hopeful and spiteful lyrics: "I don't blame you for being you/ But you can't blame me for hating it.' Deliberately overripe songs like this blur the line between earnest lament and theatrical parody. … [N]o one can claim that these emo boys aren't putting on an enormously entertaining show."

Ari Roland: Sketches from a Bassist's Album

CML call number: CD/JAZZ/Roland
Contents: The Lion of Yerevan; Most's Paradise; Replaceable Me; Swamp Thing Goes to the Indy 500; Mensch Blues; Ah, Transcarpathicus; Thou Swell (Rodgers/Hart); Byars-a-maki; Mo's On (Elmo Hope); I'll Walk Alone (Styne/Cahn); all composed by Roland except as noted.
Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times: "The young bassist Ari Roland plays bebop, not hard bop; he is fascinated by the fragile dynamics of that music from the 1940's and early 50's, with its imaginative, jagged melodic lines and unusual, sometimes cryptic harmony. (He also plays bowed bass at fast tempos with amazing skill, following the examples of Steve Brown, Oscar Pettiford and Paul Chambers.) 'Sketches from a Bassist's Album' (Smalls), a strong record, puts him with a like-minded, bop-obsessed group, including the tenor saxophonist Chris Byars, the pianist Sacha Perry and the drummer Phil Stewart" ("Playlist," 4/2/06).
Producer Luke Kaven writes in the liner notes: "The distinction for most number of appearances at Smalls [jazz club in New York's West Village] goes without question to bassist Ari Roland. …"

Sean Paul: The Trinity

CML call number: CD/REGGAE/Paul
Kelefa Sanneh wrote in the New York Times, 3/25/06: "Sean Paul, reggae's biggest success since you-know-who … makes hits by making only minimal changes to the genre's standard operating procedure. He slides cool, tuneful rhymes over sharp dancehall reggae beats. … Like many of his hits, 'Temperature,' which comes from his current album, 'The Trinity' … is deceptively slight. It has a mild pick-up line ('I've got the right temperature fi shelter you from the storm') that he half sings, adding just enough melody to get listeners to half sing along. … This song is based on a standard Jamaican dancehall reggae beat, known as a riddim. All popular riddims have names. … 'Temperature' is based on 'Applause,' a fast and nimble beat by the producer known -- deliciously -- as Jah Snowcone. Most of the top reggae stars have already recorded and released singles based on the 'Applause' riddim. … And yet Sean Paul realized, not for the first time, that a few tweaks -- a more memorable refrain, a more laid-back delivery -- could be the difference between a local hit and an American chart-topper. … All you need is a great beat and an infectious hook."

Afro Celt Sound System: Anatomic

CML call number: CD/INTERNATIONAL/Afro
Contents: When I Still Needed You, My Secret Bliss, Mojave, Sené (Working the Land), Beautiful Rain, Anatomic, Mother, Dhol Dogs, Drake.
Personnel: Simon Emmerson, guitars, bouzouki, cittern, mandolin; James McNally, whistles, keyboards, piano, bodhran, drum/keyboard programming, accordion, etc.; Iarla Ó Lionáird, vocals; Martin Russell, keyboards and programming, engineering; plus 14 guest musicians.
Sitarist Anoushka Shankar commented to the New York Times about this album: "I didn't know 'Vol. 5: Anatomic' (Real World) until a couple days ago, but I really took to it. I love the way it very smoothly moves between genres, West African and Celtic music, but within that the transitions are incredibly smooth. Some of it's very funky and psychedelic and some of it's very romantic. I noticed that within the songs they tend to transition -- it starts as a pretty song, and then switches into a funky groove, deep bass. 'My Secret Bliss' is very romantic, the duet is quite moving and sweet" ("Playlist: Global Beats with a Sanskrit Prayer or a British Flair," 3/26/06).

Matisyahu: Live at Stubb's

CML call number: CD/REGGAE/Matisyahu
Contents: Sea to Sea, Chop 'Em Down, Warrior, Lord Raise Me Up, King Without a Crown, Aish Tamid, Beat Box, Fire and Heights, Exaltation, Refuge, Heights, Close My Eyes. Recorded February 19, 2005 at Stubb's, Austin, TX.
Artist website: http://www.matismusic.com/
According to his website, Matisyahu seeks to create an "uncanny, electrifying fusion of orthodox Judaism and classic reggae music." Born in Pennsylvania and raised in White Plains, he "not only heard a profound spiritual calling" as a Lubavitcher Hasid, "but also discerned a revolutionary way to share his discoveries and reflections, via the reggae and hip-hop sounds that had long been an integral part of his day-to-day soundtrack." Whatever his background may be, he clearly takes the artistry of reggae seriously, and to this listener's ears, he and his backup musicians do a credible job. Singing about religious experiences in an Old Testament vocabulary, maybe it shouldn't be surprising that he sounds at home in a musical world created by Rastafarians.

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 7 and 18; Chopin: Piano Works

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Beethoven
James R. Oestreich wrote in the New York Times: "This you can try at home: put yourself in the shoes of professional piano judges -- in this case, the jurors for the 2006 Gilmore Artist Award. Here is one of the recordings that shaped their first impressions of the young Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter before they plucked her out of a field of some 450 nominees, tracked her in concerts and recitals and went on to award her the $300,000 prize. This is essentially an unadorned release of a private recording, made live in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam a year ago, that Ms. Fliter's manager has been using for publicity purposes. … The recording quality is good, the audience is silent and the performances, in the words of one of the Gilmore judges, leap off the disc. Beethoven's Sonata No. 7 … was made to leap, and the outer movements trip along impulsively. The burbling brook of a scherzo in No. 18 … here has the impetus of white water. And the lyrical moments are no less compelling. The Chopin consists of six waltzes and the Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise. … The performances are fresh and vital. … This disc is compulsively listenable."

SFJAZZ Collective: SFJAZZ Collective 2

CML call number: CD/JAZZ/SFJAZZ
Nate Chinen wrote in the New York Times: "Two years ago, SFJAZZ, the institution behind the San Francisco Jazz Festival, started an eight-piece house band called the SFJAZZ Collective. It was a West Coast answer to the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, with the tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman filling the Wynton Marsalis role. Yet the upstart ensemble set its own agenda, including original contributions as well as repertory work. Its inaugural season surveyed the music of Ornette Coleman. … Last year Mr. Redman and his colleagues addressed … John Coltrane, and the results, recorded on tour, make up this album. Strikingly, 'SFJAZZ Collective 2' doesn't suggest either a history lesson or an all-star confab. It's just a vivid and engaging acoustic jazz outing, quite possibly one of the best we'll hear this year. Mr. Redman is in fine form throughout. … There's as much to be said for Nicholas Payton's outstanding trumpet work on Coltrane's 'Moment's Notice' and … Bobby Hutcherson's vibraphone filigree on 'Naima.' … The rare accomplishment of the SFJAZZ Collective is that it can contain such fierce talent without succumbing to it" (3/13/06).

Susan Tedeschi: Hope and Desire

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Tedeschi
Jesse Fox Mayshark wrote a profile of Tedeschi and her family for the New York Times: "When the blues-rock singer and guitarist Susan Tedeschi considers her itinerary for a coming tour, she worries about more than venue size, motel rooms and the other things that might concern the average musician on the road. She also reads up on museums, zoos, aquariums and anything else that might appeal to the most important members of her entourage: her son, Charlie, who is almost 4, and daughter, Sophia, 1. And if the vagaries of scheduling and travel permit, somewhere along the way she might even work in a few days with the fourth member of the household: her husband, the guitarist Derek Trucks. Such is the life of the two-career family, roots-rock style. … Ms. Tedeschi's 1998 debut, 'Just Won't Burn,' earned her comparisons to Bonnie Raitt and a Grammy nomination for best new artist. … Ms. Tedeschi is still touring in support of her most recent album, 'Hope and Desire,' which has been near the top of Billboard's blues chart since its release last fall. …" ("Ramblin' Man and Woman, Married With Kids," 3/5/06).

Odean Pope Saxophone Choir: Locked & Loaded

CML call number: CD/JAZZ/Pope
Contents: Epitome, Prince Lasha, Cis, Central Park West, Coltrane Time, Terrestrial, Muntu Chant; all songs by Odean Pope except Central Park West and Coltrane Time by John Coltrane.
Personnel: Odean Pope, Elliot Levin, Terry Lawson, Terrence Brown, Seth Meicht, tenor saxophone; Julian Pressley, Louis Taylor, Robert Landham, alto sax; Joe Sudler, baritone sax; George Burton, piano; Tyrone Brown, bass; Craig McIver, drums.
Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times: "[W]ith the right material and on the right night [the Saxophone Choir] can be a rich, gorgeous thing, an orchestral version of post-Coltrane jazz. 'Locked and Loaded' (Half Note) is a recording of a recent concert in New York, but not a run-of-the-mill one: aside from nine saxophonists and a rhythm section, there are three guest saxophonists, Michael Brecker, James Carter and Joe Lovano, exploding the music. Mr. Brecker is especially impressive, sweeping and attacking the harmony, on the tunes 'Prince Lasha' and 'Coltrane Time'" ("Playlist: From a Nasal Yodel to a Five-Alarm Shriek," 3/19/06).

Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Arctic
Sasha Frere-Jones wrote in the New Yorker: "Their first official release on an actual label, the spunky single 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor,' entered the U.K. charts at No. 1 in October, and their delightful, fleet, and rackety album, 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' … recently became the fastest-selling debut album in British history. The success is deserved. … In a short time, they have figured out what they do well and how to stick to it confidently, and they sound as easeful and robust as a band that's been putting out records for years. Their sound is of its time -- Arctic Monkeys fit in with the sharp, fine-lined dance rock that is currently popular -- but in Matt Helders, they have the most limber drummer of their class, and [lead singer Alex] Turner comes fully equipped with a pleasantly rough voice, an actual personality, and a real songwriting gift. His lyrics will inevitably be called literary, if only because they often scan as complete sentences and sometimes stretch out over a whole verse" ("Pop Notes," 2/13-2/20/06).
Visit the NPR website to hear Arctic Monkeys in concert.

The Derek Trucks Band: Songlines

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Trucks
Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times: "It is a delicious pleasure to hear Derek Trucks play the guitar on 'Songlines.' You can just sit agog at his natural abilities. It's even sweeter to hear a 26-year-old guitar hero who isn't cold and mechanical. Somehow his nervous system has absorbed older, earthier models of jazz swing and the blues cry. Influenced principally by John Coltrane, Ali Akbar Khan and Duane Allman -- whose songs he performs during his duties as a member of the Allman Brothers Band -- Mr. Trucks uses a slide on his fretting hand and picks the strings with his fingers. Like most slide guitarists, he's aiming for a voicelike expression. … [I]n 'Sahib Teri Bandi,' a nearly 10-minute qawwali piece from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's repertory, … Mr. Trucks's improvisation is beguiling: somehow he has reached a natural balance between Southern gospel expression and the emotionally piercing vocabulary of qawwali music. … 'Songlines,' Mr. Trucks's first new studio album with his band in nearly four years, improves on the five that preceded it. There's more texture, more layers of sound …" ("Critics' Choice: New CD's," 2/20/06).