Saby Reyes-Kulkami on Isis

"Wavering Radiant … contains a thematic thread, although bandleader and Hydra Head Records founder Aaron Turner is refusing to divulge what it is. In fact, he won't even discuss the lyrics or even shed light on what inspired the title. … By blending elements of prog, ambient, drone and hardcore with heavy guitars and death metal–style growling vocals, Isis forges a distinct post-metal alloy. … Isis brings a more refined palette to the table and suggests that loud and quiet and soft and heavy actually exist on a continuum, with infinite points between them, as opposed to mutually exclusive poles. Additionally, the band focuses on interplay more than ever before, for what Turner describes as an 'orchestral' kind of density, rather than the more typical, stacked-guitars brand of thickness it usually employed in the past. … Meanwhile, fans that insist on having the band's help in 'getting' the album need not worry. Turner's vocals are higher in the mix, and [guitarist Michael] Gallagher says the band eventually plans to disclose the lyrics. 'If you're that interested that you want to chase after it,' he says,' it's more important to us that you come to your own deductions'" ("Noise's New Direction," New York Press, 5/27/09, p. 58).

Eric R. Danton on Sonic Youth

"Sonic Youth … chose New York indie Matador to release its 16th album, 'The Eternal.' As it happens, it's Sonic Youth's most compelling album in years. The band has always had a penchant for musical experimentation that sometimes veers into outright noise, but 'The Eternal' follows the path of its best work by balancing the musicians' avant-garde tendencies with accessibility on songs that are taut, inventive and sometimes downright exhilarating. … Lee Ranaldo's guitar crackles with restless energy as it gallops across opening song 'Sacred Trickster,' and he and guitarist Thurston Moore undermine the mellow chiming notes that open 'Antenna' with controlled bursts of noise. The noise grows into sonic squalls on 'What We Know,' threatening at times to overwhelm the brawny riff that drives the song and creating a thrilling tension. Moore, a Bethel native who now lives in Northampton, Mass., sings most of the songs, switching off at times with wife and band mate Kim Gordon and Ranaldo. …There's no guessing what might happen next, which makes 'The Eternal' a record, full of twists and turns and dissonant digressions. It's rock 'n' roll the way it's meant to be" ("CD Review," 6/8/09).

Eric R. Danton on Ian Hunter

"There's no question Ian Hunter is best known for singing 'All the Young Dudes' when he fronted Mott the Hoople. There's also no question that he's done an awful lot since the band broke up in 1974. … [T]he New Milford transplant has released a slew of solo albums, including the excellent new collection 'Man Overboard' (New West). Hunter's solo material bears little resemblance to the glam-rock sound of Mott the Hoople. Like its 2007 predecessor, 'Shrunken Heads,' 'Man Overboard' is rock 'n' roll with a rootsy cast and an emphasis on Hunter's wry, often gleefully cantankerous lyrics. The songs are full of acoustic guitar, mandolin, accordion and various keyboards, with subtle electric accents on guitar. Hunter has a knack for vivid descriptions, running for his life from an impending brawl on opening track 'The Great Escape' and marveling at advances in technology on the title track, singing, 'They got lasers that zap, they got cures for the clap, you can see your insides on TV' before concluding, 'they ain't found a cure yet for me.' All the same, a heart beats underneath his prickly exterior, and there's genuine feeling in his weathered voice" ("CD Review: 'Man Overboard by Ian Hunter,'" Sound Check, 7/27/09).

Houston Person: The Art & Soul of Houston Person

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Partial contents: You do something to me — I don't stand a ghost of a chance — You're a sweetheart — Maybe you'll be there — All the things you are — You're my everything — Skylark — I only have eyes for you — Everything I have is yours — Wonder why — Do nothing till you hear from me — Here's that rainy day — Isn't it romantic? — Fools rush in — It had to be you — But beautiful — For all we know — Blue moon — Bewitched — Don't get around much anymore — Sentimental journey — Where are you? — There's a small hotel — Tenderly — Be my love.
"Joe Fields recorded Person's debut at Prestige in 1966. When Fields moved on to found the Muse and High Note labels, Person was his first hire: a slow-moving, easy-swinging soul man, so consistent that the biggest problem has been differentiating between his albums. This three-CD set settles that: Thirty classic songs from a dozen mature albums sum him up perfectly. Irresistible for anyone with a taste for tenor sax and a sense of jazz's grand historical arc" (Tom Hull, "Jazz Consumer Guide," Village Voice, 5/27-6/2/09, p. 50).

Mike Ragogna on "Wilco (The Album)"

"The songs are laden with fat, beefy hooks although there isn't the usual amount of boundary pushing here. On the other hand, can't these fellers record some guilty pleasures now and then, like the sublime 'One Wing' with Cline playing a restrained koo-koo in the last minute or so? There's also 'You And I,' a coo-y duet with pop pixie Feist that's the more than obvious hit. … Then again, there's another potential hit in 'You Never Know' with its Harrison guitar-ish licks and big vocal chorus on '...I don't caaaaaaaare anymore' that takes the listener back to Cracker Box Palace. No, the influences don't stop there: 'Country Disappeared' has enough of the late Chris Bell's phrasings to get you a little misty for 'Look Up' or 'I Am The Cosmos'; 'I'll Fight' has some great oldies swipes, specifically, from The Zombies' 'Tell Her No'; the personal read on "Solitaire," with its doubled vocals and acoustic atmospherics, is almost as charming as 'You And I,' though it's a bit more sullen; and if one needs a fun, happy summer sing-a-long that will have you bummed out when you realize it's about the exact opposite thing the music infers, then 'Sunny Feeling' is the song for you" ("New Tunes on Monday," Huffington Post, 6/22/09).

Sasha Frere-Jones on Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

"A few years ago, the band played a street show on Portobello Road in London, within earshot of a man named Alan Scholefield, who owns a nearby record store called Honest Jon’s. He also runs a record label called Honest Jon’s, with Damon Albarn (of Gorillaz, and of the nineties Britpop band Blur). … In 2008, Albarn gave Hypnotic the use of his London studio to make a record for the label. That album, also self-titled, is a compilation of sorts—it features rerecorded versions of songs from Hypnotic’s self-released CDs, plus 'Rabbit Hop,' a song by the eccentric New York composer Moondog, and 'Alyo,' a composition by their father. In most cases, the new recordings are an improvement. 'Ballicki Bone,' a song from the band’s second album (the green one), was originally a somewhat sluggish mid-tempo showcase for stately trumpet lines. The new version features a quicker pace and harder drumming, and better reflects the tightly organized unit that Hypnotic has become. … [T]he band has absorbed the biggest electronic music of the last century (hip-hop), filtered it through America’s century-old classic music (jazz), and made it portable" ("Pop Music," New Yorker, 6/8-15/09, p. 116).

Jon Pareles on Franz Ferdinand

"Desire leading to trouble, romance soured by disillusionment, and melody harassed by jitters and dissonance are Franz Ferdinand’s essentials. The band started its set on Thursday night at Roseland with Alex Kapranos crooning, over placid keyboard chords, 'You don’t know I sing these songs about you.' Soon afterward the band was pounding a beat, and the song turned toward post-breakup bravado: 'It ain’t lonely alone/What would we talk about anyway?' Franz Ferdinand has been making those musical and emotional pivots from the beginning of its career. It prizes the craftsmanship of pop songwriting, with its concise hooks and choruses; it is also suspicious of all simple pleasures. … Franz Ferdinand’s first two albums relied on the friction of scrabbling, postpunk guitars against Beatles-tinged melody. Its newest one, 'Tonight' (Domino/Epic), evades that formula with keyboards and dance club bass lines, looking back to the new wave and electropop of INXS, New Order and Duran Duran rather than the barbs and spaces of Gang of Four. But the album is still a chronicle of hollow lust, tracing the loose story of a night out, from pickup to letdown" ("Music Review," New York Times, 5/8/09).

David Garrett: David Garrett

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: Summer, Nothing Else Matters, He's a Pirate ("Pirates of the Caribbean" theme), Smooth Criminal, Csárdás—Gypsy Dance, Who Wants to Live Forever?, Thunderstruck, Ain't No Sunshine, Carmen Fantaisie, Air, Zorba's Dance (from "Zorba the Greek"), Chelsea Girl, Rock Prelude, Dueling Banjos (Dueling Strings). David Garrett plays violin on all tracks.
From the notes by Mr. Garrett: "Probably the most famous tune by Antonio Vivaldi is the last movement of the 'Summer' from his Four Seasons. The challenge with this piece is to keep the original structure but to create a new sound that captures the energy of rock music. As this piece is written in 3/4, I tried to spice it up a bit by sometimes adding a 4/4 rhythm on top of it. I have been performing The Four Seasons now for over 10 years all around the world. I hope you enjoy this excerpt of this great masterpiece and come to listen to me when I play the whole piece again in concert! … The inspiration for arranging Metallica's beautiful Nothing Else Matters came while I was preparing Impressionist music for a concert recital. …"

Sasha Frere-Jones on Grizzly Bear

"If 'Yellow House' was a respite, a quiet, single-story structure, the band’s new album, 'Veckatimest,' is a sprawling water park, sending you through different sluices and dropping you from pools down into slides that give onto small lakes. The album is named for an island off the coast of Cape Cod. 'We got really into the topography of the region and have fond memories of rehearsing there,' [band founder Ed] Droste explained. Like Sonic Youth’s 'Sister' and Radiohead’s 'Amnesiac,' 'Veckatimest' captures a band in full, collaborative density. The second track, 'Two Weeks,' is a big fat ice-cream cone of a song. The piano part sounds a little like 'Chopsticks' expanded into something more robust, with [drummer Chris] Bear merging a shuffle and a straightforward backbeat as the boys sing 'Oh-ooh-oh' up into the air—a doo-wop quartet launching into orbit. Droste sings about a 'routine malaise' but pledges, 'I told you I would stay.' The voices rise higher, as though the song were making itself giddy. … What’s so enjoyable about 'Veckatimest' is how wide an arc it swings after 'Two Weeks.' The band wants to unfurl in every direction, and does" ("Pop Music: Boys' Choir," New Yorker, 5/8/09, p. 111).

James Velvet on John Prine

"He can write wry, dry, tragic, mundane and fantastic. … He's a wordsmith who seemingly pieces rhymes together effortlessly, often with comic results. Good story-telling alone does not explain why Prine's tunes have been covered by Johnny Cash, Dave Matthews, Kris Kristofferson, Ben Harper, Jimmy Buffet, Laura Cantrell and Tanya Tucker. There's a melodicism built into his finger-picked guitar playing, often in the key of G, 'the people's key.' Through waltzes and two-beats and straight-four time he can make melodies soar, push, plod, or skip depending on what the lyrics call for. Here's a good example: The title track of his 1999 album of gal/guy duets is 'In Spite of Ourselves,' sung with Iris DeMent. He uses the same three chords (C, F and G) throughout the song. In the verses, the melody stays on the beat with very few rests, emphasizing the dead-pan humor. … But in a romantic chorus, sung in two-part harmony, the melody stretches out and arches over the beat, with plenty of rest time between phrases ('In spite of ourselves/we'll end up sittin' on a rainbow/against all odds/honey we're the big door prize') giving the song a true love feel" ("Live Music," New Haven Advocate, 5/7/09).

Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: In the flowers — My girls — Also frightened — Summertime clothes — Daily routine — Bluish — Guys eyes — Taste — Lion in a coma — No more runnin — Brother sport.
Band website: http://myanimalhome.net/
Band MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/animalcollectivetheband
According to Wikipedia: "Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Deakin, or Deacon as spelled on Strawberry Jam (Josh Dibb, not 'Conrad Deaken' as is often claimed), and Geologist (Brian Weitz)."
"Back in January, jubilant critics were already declaring Animal Collective’s latest record, 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' (Domino), the finest release of the still nascent year. The pronouncement might have felt premature, but the album is stunning: an odd (and oddly accessible) collection of swirling melodies, vocal bleating and beats that encourage whoops and spins" (Amanda Petrusich, "Pop and Rock Listings," New York Times, 5/8/09).

Jim Black: Houseplant

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: Inkionos, Cahme, Houseplant, FYR, Malomice, Littel, Elight, Naluch, Cadmium Waits, Adbear, Lowers in a Nine Sense, Downstrum; all songs by Jim Black.
"As a sideman in experimental-music circles, the drummer Jim Black can usually be counted on for fast-tumbling or convulsive momentum. With his own band, AlasNoAxis, he pulls back to panorama mode. 'Houseplant,' the group’s involving new album, due out in the United States in June but available now as an import, frequently courts a slurred and hazy grandeur, like the effect of certain vistas by Sonic Youth. Mr. Black’s longtime partner Chris Speed, a tenor saxophonist with elastic intonation, generally takes the melodies; the harmonic glue comes courtesy of a pair of Icelanders, Skuli Sverrisson on bass and Hilmar Jensson on guitar. Sometimes, as on a tune called 'Malomice,' quietude yields to an eruptive squall, with amplifiers cranked and cymbals bashed. Distortion needn’t be harsh, though, as this band proves on a number of other tracks. …" (Nate Chinen, "Playlist," New York Times, 5/3/09).

Dinosaur Jr.: Farm

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: Pieces — I want you to know — Ocean in the way — Plans — Your weather — Over it — Friends — Said the people — There's no here — See you — I don't wanna go there — Imagination blind. All songs written by J Mascis except "Your Weather" and "Imagination Blind" written by Lou Barlow. Recorded: Bisquiteen, Amherst, MA, 2008-2009.
Artist website: http://www.dinosaurjr.com/
According to Wikipedia: "Dinosaur Jr. is an American alternative rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur prior to legal issues that forced the group to change their name, the band disbanded in 1997 until reuniting in 2005. Guitarist J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph were the band's founding and current members."
"After reuniting for 2007's Beyond, their first disc in 10 years, J Mascis and crew continue their renaissance. Veering from Pearl Jam-esque grunge to Replacements-style garage, it's one of 2009's best rock albums" (Chuck Arnold, "Music: Quick Cuts," People, 7/27/09, p. 43).

Allan Kozinn on Korngold's Violin Concerto

"The early and late shows at Le Poisson Rouge on Monday evening, though both built around works composed in the 1940s, could hardly have been more different. At the first, David Broome, a pianist and composer, performed what had been billed originally as John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (1948) but turned out to be more — or less. … Later the violinist Philippe Quint celebrated the release of his new Naxos recording of the Korngold Violin Concerto (1945) with a program of showpieces. … The centerpiece of Mr. Quint’s recital was the first movement of the Korngold Concerto, a work with a leg and a half in the late 19th century, played here with the sumptuous, singing tone it demands, but with a pianist (Min Kwon) instead of an orchestra. Still, you almost felt sorry for Korngold. Known mainly for his brilliant film scores ('The Sea Hawk,' 'The Adventures of Robin Hood'), he craved success in the concert hall. During his American years he found it with relatively few works, this concerto among them. But Mr. Quint pushed the film connection, devoting the rest of his program to composers of both film and concert works" ("Music Review," 7/1/09).

The Dave Brubeck Quartet: In Europe

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: 1. Wonderful Copenhagen (Frank Loesser) — 2. My one bad habit is falling in love (Brubeck) — 3. Tangerine (Mercer-Schertzinger) — 4. The Wright groove (Eugene Wright) — 5. Like someone in love (Burke-Van Heusen) — 6. Watusi drums (Brubeck) — 7. Shish kebab (Brubeck) — 8. Fare thee well, Annabelle (traditional, arr. Brubeck) — 9. Don't worry about me (Bloom-Koehler) — 10. Lover come back to me (Romberg-Hammerstein) — 11. Royal Garden blues (Spencer Williams) — 12. How high the moon (Lewis-Hamilton) — 13. Love walked in (George & Ira Gershwin) (incomplete). Tracks 1-6 recorded live in Copenhagen, Denmark, March 5, 1958. Bonus tracks 7-13 recorded live in New York, September 1956. "Contains Brubeck's only known version of Frank Loesser's 'Wonderful Copenhagen,'" etc. — Container.
Personnel: Tracks 1-6: Paul Desmond, alto sax; Dave Brubeck, piano; Gene Wright, bass; Joe Morello, drums. Tracks 7-13: Desmond, alto sax; Brubeck, piano; Norman Bates, bass; Joe Dodge, drums.

David Gates on Bob Dylan

"Dylan is singing at least as strongly as on any recent album, and if he generally sounds like a Man of Sorrows, he revisits his old ironic edge on 'It's All Good,' and on 'My Wife's Home Town' he's got a folksy slyness we've never quite heard before, complete with a demonic chuckle. That song reprises Muddy Waters's 'I Just Want to Make Love to You' almost note for note, with David Hidalgo's accordion taking over Little Walter's original harmonica part. The accordion, in fact, colors 'Together Through Life' as decisively as Scarlet Rivera's violin colored the 1976 'Desire'; where she was fiery, he's appropriately world-weary. 'Together Through Life' grew out of its world-weariest song, the '30s-sounding Euro-café ballad 'Life Is Hard,' which Dylan wrote for a forthcoming film by the French director Olivier Dahan. How did Dylan get from there to the Americana of the rest of the album? Who knows? But it's usually his destination of choice. As on 'Modern Times,' he's appropriated the title of a country classic (here it's Dolly Parton's 'Jolene,' there it was Merle Haggard's 'Workin' Man Blues'); he's built another, 'If You Ever Go to Houston,' on a line from Leadbelly's 'Midnight Special'" ("Music," Newsweek, 4/27/09, p. 62).

Mos Def on Noisettes

"It has been 10 years since the Brooklyn rapper Mos Def, a k a Dante Terrell Smith, released his debut, 'Black on Both Sides.' In the interim he’s honed his acting chops, winning an Obie for his work Off Broadway, nabbing an Emmy nomination for a television movie and appearing in successively larger film roles. And he has steadily recorded albums, earning three Grammy nominations. He picks up where he left off with his fourth album, 'The Ecstatic' (Downtown Records), scheduled for release on June 9. … While he spoke by phone with Winter Miller about what he’s listening to now, his daughter interrupted with an accusation: He was eating all of the jelly beans. … 'Noisettes … have the most incredible lead singer in rock ’n’ and roll today, bar none. Her name is Shingai Shoniwa. She is phenomenal. She plays bass, she does lead vocals and her range is out of here. And she’s a stone babe. Like Grace Jones, Barbarella. It’s really kind of disturbing. The songs on "Wild Young Hearts" (Mercury) are well written, and the band is tight. They put me in the mind of Earl Greyhound, those three-piece sets that really work'" ("Playlist," New York Times, 5/10/09).

John Coltrane Quartet: Live in France July 27/28 1965

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: CD 1, Juan les Pins, Antibes, July 27, 1965. Naima; Ascension (quartet version, aka Blue Valse); My Favorite Things; Impressions. CD 2, Salle Pleyel, Paris, July 28, 1965. Ascension (quartet version, aka Blue Valse); Afro Blue; Impressions.
Personnel: John Coltrane, tenor sax; McCoy Tyner, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Elvin Jones, drums.
From the notes by Lawrence Steel: "The inclusion of 'Ascension' on both of these concerts is noteworthy, for these are the only other known versions of the tune apart from the studio recordings. When Coltrane performed this piece in Paris, a French radio broadcaster asked what the name of it was. Coltrane mumbled something incomprehensible, which the Frenchman took to be 'Blue Valse' — that is, 'Blue Waltz.' … But these are indeed quartet versions of 'Ascension,' the recording that raised the hackles of the conservative jazz press … but without the collective improvisation and without Pharoah Sanders … it sounds in fact like a gentle ballad."

Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Contents: Tulinesangala (with the Nakisenyi Women's Group) — Kinetsa (with D'Gary) — Ah ndiya (with Oumou Sangare) — Kabibi (with Anania Ngoglia) — Angelina (with the Luo Cultural Association) — D'Gary jam (with D'Gary, Oumou Sangare, friends) — Throw down your heart (with the Haruna Samake Trio, Bassekou Kouate) — Thula mama (with Vusi Mahlesela) — Wairenziante (with the Muwewesu Xylophone Group) — Buribalal (with Afel Bocum) — Zawose (with Chibite, the Zawose Family) — Ajula/Mabamba (with the Jatta Family) — Pakugyenda balebauo (with Warema Masiaga Cha Cha) — Jesus is the only answer (with the Ateso Jazz Band) — Matitu (with Khalifan Matitu, Fadhili Bbata) — Mariam (with Djelimady Tounkara, Alou Coulibazy) — Djorolen (with Oumou Sangare) — Duniahaina wema/Thumb fun (with Anania Ngoglia).
Mr. Fleck writes about "Djorolen": "The chorus is: 'The worried songbird cries out in the forest, her thoughts go far away / For those who have no father, her thoughts go out to them.' …"