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Mammoth
5 out of 5 Stars

Mastodon are bending time and space on their fourth studio album. "Crack The Skye" picks up where the progressive leaning Blood Mountain, but they expand even deeper into the elements of the music. If there was ever a band that made the melodic chiming sounds of an army of panzer tanks, it's Mastodon. This album is that heavy a trip.


Allegedly a concept album about the rise and fall of Tsarist Russia, "Crack The Skye" is ambitious and thoughtful at the same time it is skull crushing. The centerpiece of the CD, "The Czar," is a sonic spiral of heavy rock with textures shifting throughout the four parts of the piece. There's plenty of menacing atmosphere to the point that some listeners might be taken aback...most metal depends one speed and the harshness of the sound to provide the intimidation, yet Mastodon have mastered that most elusive of beasts; dynamic. The drawn out harmonies of "The Last Baron" wouldn't be possible if the band were trying to crack land speed records, yet there's no way to miss the power and the weight of the song itself.

"Crack The Skye" was my favorite metal album of 2009, and on a par with another conceptual rocking fave, Iced Earth's Glorious Burden.Months later, it continues to reveal new things on repeat listens. Along with producer Brendan O'Brien, Mastodon have delivered an album that is both a sonic boom (listen on headphones or a surround system for the best effect) and rocks harder than 90% of what most metal bands and fans collectively obsess over.

blackleatherbookshelf: (Tie Dye)
 
I and Love and YouI and Love and This
5 Out of 5 Stars

I was fortunate enough to see The Avett Brothers at The 50th Newport Folk Festival, and they were the new find of the year for me there. I picked up Emotionalism and was eager to hear the songs that the Avetts previewed from an album they kept mentioning from the stage to be released in the fall. This is everything I was hoping for after seeing them live. It captures the brothers' dynamic as Scott and Seth Avett, along with bassist Bob Crawford and their melding of bluegrass and rock (which leans way towards the non-rock side of things).

In fact, this album almost single-handedly rescues the moribund "Americana" genre from too many bearded bands that have forgotten that empty spaces often say more than over-layering the tracks. Songs like the title track and "Ten Thousand Words" are naked with emotions, yet the band knows that "Kick Drum Heart" or "Slight Figure of Speech" are just as OK with a pop hook then without. They've discovered (and I would bet producer Rick Rubin - who signed them to his American label personally - influenced this) that you can make epic music without being grandiose or saccharin.

When the Avetts get to the album's final song, "Incomplete and Insecure", they sing "I haven't finished a thing since I started my life, I don't feel much like starting now." "I and Love and You" utterly blasts that as a lie, because this album, which captures all the best elements of older groups like The Band or Rubin's mining of Johnny Cash's forgotten talents, The Avett Brothers are now showing that they have what it takes to make it in the majors, and do so on their own terms.
blackleatherbookshelf: (Tie Dye)
These are my faves since 2000; Dig them crazy beats!

Radiohead - "Kid A" - 2000 - Thom Yorke and company shatter all expectations by starting the century with a record of shimmering ambience. It's almost 10 years old and I can still groove to this.

Alice Cooper - "Dragontown" - 2000 - The Coop is still making decent albums, but this one stands up with his best 80's material.

R.E.M. - "Reveal" - 2001 - I turned to this one over and over in a year when I needed healing, "I'll Take The Rain" still makes me cry.

Rufus Wainwright - "Poses" - 2001 - His fragility is focused on this, his best album.

Elton John - "Songs From The West Coast" - 2001 - Elton entered the new century with his most autobiographical album since captain fantastic, and the one of the few to really address his sexuality.

Johnny Cash - "The Man Comes Around/American IV" - 2002 - We were on the brink of losing Johnny Cash, and he knew it as well. The naked emotion with his cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" said it all.

Bruce Springsteen - "The Rising" - 2002 - When America needed an album to help heal the wounds of 9/11, Springsteen came through with one of his all-time bests.

Green Day - "American Idiot" - 2004 - The return of the rock opera, and the return of major bands making political staements when many were terrified of doing so.

Iron and Wine - "Our Endless Numbered Days" - 2004 - Sam Beam can calm you no matter how frazzled you may be.

The Killers - "Hot Fuss" - 2004 - And so the 80's revivalists begin to bang down the door.

Jill Sobule - "Underdog Victorious" - 2004 - Clever and witty, smart and poppy, Jill combines her folkish playing with the riff from "Saturday In The Park" to create the fabulous "Cinnamon Park."

U2 - "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" - 2004 - In which the world's greatest rock band decides it is perfectly ok to play like you are the world's greatest rock band. (Which they promptly forgot one album later.)

Bright Eyes - "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" - 2005 - The return of folk as a lyric driven form of music. IMHO, his best work.

Mark Weigle - "Soulsex" - 2005 - A double disc set from the out singer-songwriter. But the big surprise is disc 2, subtitled "Versatile," which is an entire album dealing with man on man sex (and I did not say relationships, I said Sex. With a capital S). Stunning stuff, and as far as I am concerned, an absolute must own.

Rosanne Cash - "Black Cadillac" - 2006 - Rosanne channels the loss of her father and June Carter into her music. Her best to date.

Muse - "Black Holes and Revelations" - 2006 - This three peice Britsh group have become one of my favorite rock bands, and this album breaks them away from the imitations and into their own, recognizable entity.

Slaid Cleves - "Unsung" - 2007 - Slaid is my favorite folk singer, bar none. Here he applies his considerable skills to songs by artists that he admires.

The Hives - "Black and White Album" - 2007 - Finally capturing these Swedes and their kinetic energy. "Tick Tick Boom" should have made them superstars.

White Stripes - "Icky Thump" - 2007 - I like my Jack White loud and high strung. The title track to this album encapsulates the history of Led Zepplin in one song.

Coldplay - "Viva la Vida" - 2008 - Finally distilling their sound to well produced, melodic chunks, this is my favorite of Coldplay's decade.

Panic at The Disco - "Pretty. Odd." - 2008 - Say what you will, but I am a total sucker for any band that successfully mines the Beatles or Queen for their sound, PatD did just that on their second album...then promptly broke up.

Elvis Costello - "Sacred Profane and Sugarcane" - 2009 - When Elvis teams up with T-Bone Burnette, they make folkish magic.
 

blackleatherbookshelf: (Default)
The Return of The Coward Brothers,  
4 Out of 5 Stars  
 
Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnette have a special chemistry. When they make music together, it often comes in on the high end of EC albums, and their work on King of America ranks as one of Costello's finest. Their first collaboration (billed as The Coward Brothers) was the critically acclaimed single, "The People's Limosene." Their last collaboration ("The Scarlet Tide" for the movie Cold Mountain), netted them an Oscar. Now they're back for the rootsy and spare song cycle, "Secret, Profane and Sugarcane ."  
 
As a folk-rock album, it falls somewhere between "King of America" and the Nashville "Almost Blue". It's also a better album than The Delivery Man, in that it's a more consistent album in sound and theme. This almost sounds like a hootenanny, with basic instruments and swell live sounding harmonies. Featuring Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Dennis Crouch on bass, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and banjo, and Jim Lauderdale on vocal harmonies, these songs were reportedly recorded in a mere three days. It keeps the album from sounding labored over and helps keep Costello from overloading the overdubs. (The previous Momofuku was also cut in a rapid fashion and has held up pretty darn good.)  
 
It's also a chance for Costello to indulge. He originally wrote the album opener "Down Among the Wine and Spirits" for Loretta Lynne, she repays the favor by co-writing "I Felt The Chill." He visits his inner crooner by covering Bing Crosby's "Changing Partners." And it sounds like "Sulphur To Sugarcane" was fun to record. While I am always willing to listen to whatever indulgence Costello decides to allow himself, his folk world walks are an acquired taste. But take it from me, "Secret, Profane and Sugar Cane" is a satisfying album from a pair of men who always seem to know where their combined sweet spot is located.  One of my Best of 2009 picks.
blackleatherbookshelf: (Default)
Yes, Actually
4 out of 5 Stars


Following the politically charged Fundamental finds the Pet Shop Boys pulling in the reigns a bit to mine more familiar territory. This is danceable synth-pop that is the Boys' stock in trade since the 80's, but with the maturity of men who have seen trends and styles come and go, yet weathered the changes. "More Than a Dream" could have been lifted from the likes of Behavior until you hear that refrain that says "I believe that we can change, we can make it more than a dream." So while the politics of the last album were right up front, they haven't disappeared completely.

They are also feeling expansive about love these days. "King of Rome" is about the loneliness of need, and the opening "Love Etc" harkens back to the gold standard of Very. A smile may pop up as Tchaikovsky peeks through on You'll be able to dance to "Did You See Me Coming" and "Pandemonium." And then you can marvel at the symphonic quirkiness within "Legacy." "Yes" is a good Pet Shop Boys disc, once more proving that Neil Tennent and Chris Lowe still can make us smile and dance...and think about what we're listening to. One of my favorites of 2009.

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