Casual Listening - Greatest Misses 2009

Casual Listening

a review of cool new music

by Jeff Pinzino

December 4, 2009

The parade of end-of-the-year features continues:

Dec 4: Greatest Misses: stuff I’ve overlooked

Dec 11: The best of 2009

Dec 18: The best of the decade

Dec 25 & Jan 1: No reviews, possibly some special features

Jan 8: Launch of the new casuallistening.com

Greatest Misses: Overlooked in 2009

! Ami Saraiya– Archaeologist (vocal)

I don’t invoke names like Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday lightly, but I also don’t come across voices anywhere near that caliber very often. You’ve just got to hear Ami Saraiya to believe it. She’s able to pull emotional strings across the musical spectrum: her cabaret is romantic, her blues gritty, and her rock downright sinister. The orchestration is exquisite, with occasional strings, muted trumpet, guitar, and heavy doses of accordion. You can’t help but be swept off your feet by this album.

Disclaimer: I know Ami and have followed her work for years. I can assure you no favors were traded in preparing this review. This is legitimately a world-class album.

Listen to Ami Sariaiya’s “Vegas Moon” on MySpace, and order the album at www.amisaraiya.com.

! Anne Akiko Meyers – Smile (classical)

Eclectic pieces for virtuoso violin connected by a deep sense of joy. With achingly pure tone, Meyers does equal justice to Schubert, Astor Piazzola, and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The title piece is originally by silent film star Charlie Chaplin, and it’s a chaplinesque broad smile that’s the product of every piece on this recording.

Listen to Anne Akiko Meyers “Smile”

! Rihanna – Rated R (R&B)

I’m having trouble figuring out which of these is more shocking to me:

1. The best mainstream pop album of the year is about domestic abuse.

2. The most powerful public statement about domestic abuse this year is a mainstream pop album.

While I’m getting over the shock, let me say that the album sounds great. Slower tempos and dancehall inflections give a sense of gravity that’s uncommon for an artist aiming for the top 40. Rihanna portrays herself on this set as hardened. She evokes images of gang fights and Russian roulette not because she has a deathwish, but because she doesn’t. She’s been forced to face her mortality and somehow has to rebuild a life afterwards. Heavy stuff, powerful art.

Listen to Rihanna “Stupid in Love”

! Hiram and Huddie – various artists (country, blues)

A group of folk and blues players wrench two American music legends off their pedestals and make them dance again. Hiram is the given name of Hank Williams, and Huddie somehow got the nickname Leadbelly. The new interpretations of their honky-tonk and jailhouse classics are amazingly vital. The performers here – William Elliot Whitmore, Scott H. Biram, and Reverend Payton’s Big Damn Band are the tip of the iceberg – have the collective potential to turn the roots rock world upside down.

Listen to Hiram and Huddie “Gallis Pole”

* Filisko & Noden – I. C. Special (blues)

Two top-shelf instrumentalists wail on the forgotten blues of the 1920s and 1930s. Filisko is a legend in harmonica circles, and Noden deserves to be one for his slide guitar work. They find plenty of life left in songs and styles from the dawn of recorded music.

Disclaimer: I know these guys, too. What can I say? Genius loves company.

Listen to “Gridlock Blues” and buy the album here.

Ori Dakari – Entrances (jazz)

Dakari’s compositions blend Israeli music traditions with the jazz tradition. A talented sax-focused quintet gives these pieces life, with Dakari himself on guitar.

Listen to Ori Dakari “Beresheet”

Dunkelbunt – Raindrops and Elephants (world)

Master DJ’s alongside drums and instruments from across sound like a musical dispatch from the electronic Amazon. Dunkelbunt surprises at every turn, rolling a global amalgam over a big beat.

Listen to Dunkelbunt “Balkan Qoulou”

Animal Collective – Fall Be Kind (rock)

You’ll see the group’s earlier release “Merriweather Post Pavilion” on many critics’ best-of lists this year. This 5-song EP is a good introduction to their freak-out pop style.

Listen to Animal Collective “What Would I Want? Sky”

* highly recommended

! highest recommendation

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Casual Listening - Christmas Album Roundup

Casual Listening

a review of cool new music

by Jeff Pinzino

November 27, 2009

Happy post-Thanksgiving, all. We’re into the end of the year, and new releases slow to a crawl, so I’ve got a series of special features for you over the next few weeks:

Nov 27: Christmas Album Roundup

Dec 4: Greatest Misses: stuff I’ve overlooked

Dec 11: The best of 2009

Dec 18: The best of the decade

Dec 25 & Jan 1: No reviews, possibly some special features

Jan 8: Launch of the new casuallistening.com

Christmas Album Roundup

* Kermit Ruffins – Have a Crazy Cool Christmas (jazz)

It doesn’t snow in New Orleans in December, but that doesn’t keep Ruffins from spreading some holiday cheer. Spot-on Dixieland and funk jazz renditions of the classics along with a few surprises.

Listen to Kermit Ruffins “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”

Andrea Bocelli – My Christmas (vocal)

As a recording of a beautiful voice with over-the-top orchestration, Bocelli’s album belongs in the same category as Bing Crosby’s Christmas recordings. Some of the carols have a more classical bent, others more pop, but all of the have the kind of sentimental feel that brings families together around the hearth this time of year.

Listen to Andrea Bocelli “White Christmas”

Bifrost Arts – Salvation is Created (rock)

This collective of indie rock artists came together as a group to explore Christian themes in traditional music – which made a Christmas album a natural. The settings draw on a chamber orchestra, with various tracks having violins, xylophone, and electric guitar. These are adventurous and often dark takes on mostly familiar standards.

Listen to Bifrost Arts “Let All Mortal Flesh”

Straight No Chaser – Christmas Cheers (A Capella)

The novelty song is a venerable Christmas tradition, and Straight No Chaser carry it on honorably. Both more listenable and more clever than “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer,” this album is a big dose of jolly.

Listen to Straight No Chaser “The 12 Days of Christmas”

* highly recommended

! highest recommendation

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Casual Listening - Dave Rawlings Machine, Them Crooked Vultures, CAGE MATCH: Lady Gaga vs. Kid Sister

Casual Listening

a review of cool new music

by Jeff Pinzino

November 20, 2009

* Dave Rawlings Machine – A Friend of a Friend (folk)

Best known as Gillian Welch’s guitar-playing sidekick, Rawlings shows he can kick out the back porch jams. Tight harmonies, lots of mandolin, and an enthusiasm reminiscent of The Band brings on a big hippie grin.

Listen to Dave Rawlings Machine “To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)”

* Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures (rock)

A Frankenstein of a rock project. With superstars from bands like Nirvana and Led Zeppelin grafted together, the full assembly is menacing, but it’s alive. Sludgy guitar riffs and a trashcan drum sound make for a heavy but inventive set of tunes.

Listen to Them Crooked Vultures “Elephants”

Alan Lomax – Alan Lomax in Haiti (folk)

An enormous time capsule from one of the most important documenters of the world’s traditional music. Ten discs of field recordings from the island made in 1936 and 1937 are being made available for the first time. There are whole albums of voodoo music and carnival music, as well as three songs sung by folklorist and writer Zora Neale Hurston. It’s worth just picking through a few tracks at random to give yourself the sound of another place and time.

Listen to Alan Lomax in Haiti “Woy-O Woy-O Plus Ochan”

Grupo Pesado – Desde La Cantina (Latin)

While most only encounter the radio version of Nortena music, to catch its true spirit you need to hear it live with friends, accompanied by a few beers. Grupo Pesado’s new album comes as close as I’ve heard to capturing that setting. Perfectly harmonized ballads and brawny accordion solos show off a band playing their hearts out.

Listen to Grupo Pesado “Cielo Nublado”

Larry Sparks – I Just Want to Thank You Lord (country)

Gospel numbers have always been part of bluegrass, and Bill Monroe always had several hymns among the ballads and breakdowns. This album is all bluegrass gospel, in the best old traditional style. High and lonesome with plenty of serious picking, it’s also a window on an era when church music was one of the universals of rural life.

Listen to Larry Sparks “Little White Frame Church”

CAGE MATCH: Lady Gaga: The Fame Monster -vs- Kid Sister: Ultraviolet

The Contest: Dance Dance Revolution!

On the left dancepad, the new darling of dance-pop, so cool you need a refrigerator just to dig her, Lady Gaga! (GAGAGAGA!!!) And on the right dancepad, the princess of the hip-hop underworld, patron saint of nail technicians everywhere, Kid Sister! (HOOYAHH!!!!)

Lady Gaga drops a mid-tempo disco noir. Step-step, twirl (you’re doin’ great!) Stomp to the beat! Stomp to the beat! (you’re on fire!) Now she’s signing like Madonna! Hophophop-step (let’s do it again!) That score’s going to be tough to beat.

Kid Sister punches up the electro beats (let’s dance!) Step-step-jump! (all riiiight!) Bop to the left, Bop to the right, feel the funky flow (your moves are refreshing!) and the screen shuts off! Her stare is too seductive for the computer to handle!!! Kid Sister wins!!! (HOOYAHH!!!!)

Listen to Lady Gaga “Bad Romance”

Listen to Kid Sister “Right Hand Hi”

Giuliano & I Baroni – Faccia d’Angelo (rock)

Every once in a while, I run across an album so unbelievably bad, I can only marvel at the evil geniusness of the artist who concocted such a monster. This is hands down the worst album I’ve heard all year, possibly the most horrendous album I’ve heard since I started reviewing music. From the embarrassing cover photo to the pop trash sung in Italian, this is a true tour de farce. And if you think the album’s a nightmare, the YouTube video will have you screaming.

Listen to Giuliano & I Baroni “Piccola Stella”

Or if you dare, go to the website and watch the YouTube video of “Arrivano I Cow Boy”

* highly recommended

! highest recommendation

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Casual Listening - Asobi Seksu, Wale, Silk Road Ensemble

Casual Listening

a review of cool new music

by Jeff Pinzino

November 13, 2009

* Asobi Seksu – Rewolf (rock)

Like strolling across a meadow made of clouds, this is dream pop with a heavy emphasis on the dream. Xylophone, flute, toy piano, soprano vocals with heavy reverb, and anything else that weights the sound toward treble. A beautiful, fragile sound.

Listen to Asobi Seksu “Walk on the Moon”

Wale – Attention Deficit (rap)

Deftly syncopated flow over backgrounds painted with an extensive palate: afrobeat , retro R&B, and space-age synths. Amidst the party jams and boasting are a few tracks that speak fearless truths.

Listen to Wale “Shades”

Silk Road Ensemble – Off the Map (classical)

Even without founder Yo-Yo Ma, this is a formidable ensemble. With pan-Asian instrumentation including koto, er-hu, sheng, and tabla alongside orchestral strings, Silk Road is redefining the classical tradition to include east and west, ancient and contemporary. Four major pieces each present a different vantage point on this unexplored, challenging terrain.

Listen to Silk Road Ensemble “Sulvasutra: Letter to Pythagoras”

Julia Wolfe – Dark Full Ride: Music in Multiples (classical)

Contemporary classical music that still passes the coolness test. Layering of single instruments and repetition characterize the sound. The opening is a jaw-dropper – I guarantee you’ve never heard bagpipes quite like this.

Listen to Julia Wolfe “LAD Part 1”

* highly recommended

! highest recommendation

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Casual Listening - Dixie Bee-Liners, Celia Mur, Emma Lou Diemer

Casual Listening

a review of cool new music

by Jeff Pinzino

October 30, 2009

! The Dixie Bee-Liners – Susanville (Bluegrass)

A one-hour road trip for the mind, “Susanville” captures the restlessness and discovery of barreling across middle America. The string band sound evokes just enough nostalgia to capture the feel of truck stops and diners without getting too comfortable – after all, it’s the road that calls. These songs carry a sense of velocity, always moving us along to somewhere new.

Listen to The Dixie Bee-Liners “Restless”

* Celia Mur – Simpatia (jazz)

Nightclub jazz with sultry vocals in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Mur is a delight to listen to, and her improvisations show the confidence she feels with her voice. Mark Turner’s sax is a welcome bonus. A couple of flamenco tunes round out the set.

Listen to Celia Mur “Tres Morillas”

Emma Lou Diemer – Summer Day: The Complete Works for Violin and Piano (classical)

Diemer’s compositions are characterized by a strong sense of melody, a quality that is rare to find in the world of modern composition. The duet format leaves plenty of space for the melodies to emerge.

Listen to Emma Lou Diemer “Suite for Violin and Piano: Summer Day”

Rickie Lee Jones – Balm in Gilead (rock)

Jones’ unpolished but enthusiastic voice always brings a smile to my face. Whether she’s doing retro soul, honky tonk, jazz, or just her own thing, there’s an underlying joy to the music that’s irresistible. Not to mention songwriting that’s head and shoulders above most of what gets produced today.

Listen to Rickie Lee Jones “Eucalyptus Trail”

Amerie – In Love & War (R&B)

High quality pop candy. Amerie’s buoyant voice bobs across a clear sheen of energy that manages not to be too much of anything, but draws elements of soul, rock, rap, and funk. Nearly every song on here could see radio airplay.

Listen to Amerie “Dangerous”

Kate Earl – Kate Earl (rock)

While she’s cribbed a page from Lily Allen’s playbook, she does it so well that you really don’t mind. Slick, sexy, and aloof, this is an enjoyable listen.

Listen to Kate Earl “Nobody”

* highly recommended

! highest recommendation

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Casual Listening -- Havana Cultura plus Rock & Roll CAGE MATCH and Halloween Special!

Casual Listening

a review of cool new music

by Jeff Pinzino

October 30, 2009

! Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura: New Cuba Sound (Latin)

In the musical world, Cuba is the gift that keeps on giving. In this case, it’s giving to a DJ from the BBC who brought back two albums of material, one from a recording session he engineered and another that features recordings of artists he came across while on the island. It’s all hot. The first disc runs from mambo to afrobeat, while the other has strong hip hop, jazz, and reggaeton influences. One of these days the U.S. will lift the embargo and Cuba will become a global musician’s paradise. Until then, we’ve got Gilles Peterson to give us a taste of what we’re missing.

Listen to Havana Cultura Band “Pa’ Gozar”

And Ogguere “La Revolucion del Cuerpo”

* Jessica Pavone – Songs of Synastry and Solitude (classical)

A collection of tuneful compositions that captures a brooding introspection in the midst of the mundane. These pieces for string quartet move quietly, evenly, and effortlessly. Beautiful stuff.

Listen to Jessica Pavone “Hope Dawson is Missing”

The Blind Boys of Alabama – Duets (gospel)

A lineup of A-list musicians from rock, blues, country, and gospel each get a turn with the world’s best backup singers. It’s fun to hear descent singers suddenly sound awesome when surrounded by the Blind Boys’ enormous gospel harmonies. Lou Reed, Ben Harper, and Jars of Clay all get the royal treatment.

Listen to The Blind Boys of Alabama with Dan Zanes “Welcome Table”

The Lawrence Arms – Buttsweat and Tears (rock)

OK, so I couldn’t resist the title, but the music’s surprisingly good. High octane, three-chord punk-pop.

Listen to The Lawrence Arms “Them Angels Been Talkin’”

ROCK & ROLL CAGE MATCH!!!

Wolfmother ­– Cosmic Egg vs. Winger – Karma

In this corner, the young guns of retro-rock, the monsters of the mainstream, Wolfmother! (YAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!) And in the other corner, it’s the killers from the crypt, the band that would not die, Winger! (yay.) Wolfmother tears through the power chords, taunting Winger with vocals that sound ripped from the throat of Robert Plant himself! Winger seems laughably uncool by comparison. Is there a slaughter rule in the cage match? But wait! Winger cranks it up and launches barrage after barrage of screaming guitar solos! It’s a classic rope-a-dope! Winger unleashes a massive dosage of Rawk and double back even harder at Wolfmother. Wolfmother’s on the ropes! The referee steps in! It’s Winger!!!!!! (yay.)

Listen to Wolfmother “New Moon Rising”

Listen to Winger “Deal With the Devil”

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: THE WEEK’S SCARIEST MUSIC

The Red Shore – Unconsecrated (metal)

Boo!

Listen to The Red Shore “Slain by the Serpent”

* highly recommended

! highest recommendation

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Casual Listening - Sufjan Stevens, Forro in the Dark, Round Mountain

Casual Listening

a review of cool new music

by Jeff Pinzino

October 23, 2009

Welcome to all the new folks this week. I’ve got two weeks of music to give you, so you’ll get a lot to listen too, albeit with a little less to read about each one.

! Sufjan Stevens – The BQE: The Motion Picture Soundtrack (classical)

Beethoven wrote an ode to joy. Pablo Neruda wrote an ode to his socks. Sufjan Stevens wrote an ode to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. All three pieces make transcendent art out of something that otherwise would go unnoticed. In this case, it’s a multimedia symphony that draws into itself the best of the last century of classical composition and takes it another step. It’s time to start treating this cat as a real American composer.

Listen to Sufjan Stevens “Movement V: Self-Organizing Emergent Patterns”

! Forro in the Dark – Light a Candle (world)

Forro is Brazillian party music, and this quartet carries it off with enthusiasm. Fantastic flute playing with electric guitar and a boatload of drums and percussion. It’s an inviting beat that’ll give you a grin the size of a Cheshire cat.

Listen to Forro in the Dark – “Saudades de Manezinho Araujo”

* Round Mountain – Windward (folk)

Round Mountain gave their acoustic sound a passport and sent it around the world. It still invokes the melodies and harmonies of American roots music, but through a prism of global drums, accordion, musical bow, and bagpipes.

Listen to Round Mountain “Don’t Lie Down”

* Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard – One Fast Move and I’m Gone: Music From Kerouac’s Big Sur (rock)

Lonely pedal steel guitar winds along the coastal mountains on this literary journey. The album includes original songs by rock royalty (Farrar: Son Volt, Gibbard: Death Cab for Cutie) based on texts taken from Jack Kerouac’s book Big Sur. What’s most interesting musically is hearing the fragile clarity of Gibbard’s voice in Farrar’s rugged Americana milieu.

Listen to Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard “Williamine”

Jello Biafra – The Audacity of Hype (rock)

For those who missed out on the 80’s, this is what great punk rock sounds like. Biafra is a master, and his piercing voice alongside roaring electric guitar comes across as a steamroller of righteous indignation. He’s one of a handful of artists with the brains and the gumption to pull off a song about NAFTA.

Listen to Jello Biafra “New Feudalism”

Electric Six – Kill (rock)

This is gonzo rock & roll. Macho vocals and guitars wrapped in disco. Tongue in cheek, but not so far to miss some really catchy music.

Listen to Electric Six “Egyptian Cowboy” (explicit)

Del Tha Funky Homosapien & Tame One – Parallel Uni-Verses (rock)

Two very clever lyricists rhyming over jazz-inspired grooves. The strength of their flow is impressive, and evokes what made old school rap such a phenomenon in the first place.

Listen to Del Tha Funky Homosapien & Tame One “Flashback” (explicit)

Doug Cox & Sahlil Bhatt – Slide to Freedom II (world)

Slide playing is a sound that crosses continents. In this case North America and Asia, with two musicians playing a mix of blues and Indian classical on modified instruments that are half-guitar, half-sitar.

Listen to samples of the album at CDBaby

The Flaming Lips – Embryonic (rock)

Weirrrrrrrrrd. In a good way.

Listen to The Flaming Lips “Evil”

Twilight: New Moon (soundtrack)

I guess when vampires aren’t sucking blood, they’re hanging around indie record stores. This will be one of the most talked about soundtracks of the year, and there are several worthy cuts here, from a who’s who of hip artists.

Listen to Bon Iver & St. Vincent on Twilight: New Moon, “Roslyn”

* highly recommended

! highest recommendation

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