Disc Reviews
by Max Ink Staff Writers
Aimee Mann - Charmer
Aimee Mann
Album title: Charmer
By John Noyd
Posted: Oct 2012
Label: SuperEgo
(3178) Page Views
Consistently meticulous, sprinkled with wisely concise advice, Mann’s character-driven parables unravel psychoanalytical salvos through a tidy Midas touch. Framing ungainly stations in irony and sympathy rolled together as revealing verses and not unkind choruses map the heroic ascent and inevitable fall we all have experienced, “Charmer,” calmly categorizes in safe house harmonies, delicious jig-saw solid lyricism supported by genuine rapport, clever retorts and savvy happiness. Modest impishness rises from aloof moods addicted to sun-baked heartache, detached backlashes adept in spinning webs of hip wit and long-term retaliation, the California transplant transports imploring metaphors. Wisconsin gets two chances to catch Aimee on tour this time around as she plays Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater November 11th and then circles back to Stoughton’s Stoughton Opera House on November 16th.
Field Music - Plumb
Field Music
Album title: Plumb
By John Noyd
Posted: Oct 2012
Label: Memphis Industries
(2053) Page Views
Fifteen knotty little tunes stuffed with swift kicks, crocheted riffs and hairpin turns, the compact, “Plumb” plummets from Olympic summits toppling punchy, prog-pop grandeur into dive-bombing whammy bars nestled in dreamy Disney strings, waterfall choirs and mischievous literacy. A follow-up to their sprawling double-disc “(Measure),“the fourth album from these British wizards returns to the supple adjustments, abrupt constructions and electric delicacy of their first two releases adding satin cinematic factors to their hot, art-rock hooks, stuttering funk and teasing falsetto. Imagine Yes and 10 c.c. collaborating in two minute intervals, condensing unmentionable eloquence from edgy head-trips, sculpting regal demeanor from evocative monsters. Nimbly swinging military operas prickling with hip-swiveling opinions, FM pumps rhythmic pistons in cat-like grace, always landing on its feet with syncopated dignity.
Convoy - Blue Collar America
Convoy
Album title: Blue Collar America
By Sal Serio
Posted: Sep 2012
Label: Swamp Rock Music
(2788) Page Views
Man, I sometimes long for the days when music truly moved me and meshed seamlessly with my sensibilities… the kind of rock that didn’t need over-analysis, and just made me want to bust an ear-to-ear grin and raise my fist in the air. Music that connects with one’s nether regions, if you get that. Needless to say, I am SO happy I found Convoy! These guys play the rock that satisfies my soul, and their new CD “Blue Collar America” is just what the doctor ordered!
Hailing from Westmont, IL, Convoy formed in 2009 around the riff-heavy songs of singer Brian Corbin, anchored to the beat by the rock solid rhythm section of “Big D” Dan Thompson on bass and wildman drummer Mike Getz. Convoy is rounded off by uber-talented musician Johnny Daniels on lead guitar. I hope they stick around for many years to come, because their first couple CDs show a ton of promise, and “Blue Collar America” is a true-blue hard rock masterpiece!
The songs are about booze, parties, cars, girls, and the military. Stand-out tracks are “Damage Done” & “Need For Speed”, but really the whole disc kicks butt from start to finish. Thank goodness Convoy hasn’t forgotten that rock ‘n roll is supposed to be FUN!
Efterklang - Piramida
Efterklang
Album title: Piramida
By John Noyd
Posted: Sep 2012
Label: 4AD
(1636) Page Views
Named after an abandoned mining colony perched on the edge of the Arctic Circle; “Piramida,” upgrades Danish trio Efterklang from agile art-rock intellects to unabashedly compassionate soul-catchers. The tightly-knitted outfit battles deep-seated ennui with altered electro-acoustics and micro-processed music, subtly manipulating field recordings from an on-site visit into sleek, otherworldly creatures. Stoic vocals focus quiet, kind-hearted care among subtle, understated despair as muted gloom and computer grooves braid icy programmed gloss around math-jazz pitter-patter, drums and bass sandwiched between gilded brass and calculated chasms of subsonic tectonics and wiggling widgets. Chilled post-rock thrills carpet sun-starved tundra in existential trenches and melodramatic castles; thawing memories waking fidgety sympathies inside slumbering wonder while amniotic dawns break from writhing tides of swirling space-age bravery facing handsome post-industrial phantoms
Calexico - Algiers
Calexico
Album title: Algiers
By John Noyd
Posted: Sep 2012
Label: ANTI
(1781) Page Views
A change of scenery from their native Arizona, “Algiers,” was recorded in the New Orleans’ district that bears the album’s name. Still, border-town tonics, fleet-footed fandangos and forlorn matadors inform the band’s cinematic core and literary visions. Crisp riffs dipped in mariachi brass, soothing grooves rippling in smoky twang and melodic empathy from roaming baritones; Calexico juxtaposes honored promises alongside foolish rebukes and bright advice beside stormy warnings as accurate character sketches marry unbridled pride from stabled stallions to unconfessed regrets from disbelieving seekers. Calming balm for weary travelers prowling speak-easy cantinas and moon-lit misfits pitted in dog and pony rodeos, “Algiers,” provides tempered redemption to troubled hearts and cornered souls. Calexico plays Chicago’s Lincoln Hall October 15th and Minneapolis’ Fine Line Café October 16th.
Freelance Whales - Diluvia
Freelance Whales
Album title: Diluvia
By John Noyd
Posted: Sep 2012
Label: Frenchkiss
(1423) Page Views
A sophomore discourse birthed while non-stop touring promoting their debut, “Diluvia,” is a happily agitated effort orbiting multi-layered contortions of twittering electronics, waltzing harmonics and percussive shuffles. Lyrical alt-rock lullabies fire a mythical sci-fi tale depicting flickering voyagers blissfully drifting into reflective trajectories, purring journeymen seeking peace-keeping equilibrium through calming cadence imbedded in sumptuous comforts. Embroiled chorals guiding tentative sentiments, the Queens-based quintet’s heartbeat-metered breezes blow through joyful noises, gurgling uncertainties and languid plaintive mayhem.. Floating in hopeful limbo, somersaulting through mile-high calliopes and swimming in traipsing relay races wrapped in upbeat dream-pop glazes, ” Diluvia,” flows in radiant cascades of unobtrusive acoustics and soft-spoken cajoling, trippy contrapuntal tunnels caging syncopated dangers.. FW plays Madison’s Redamte Coffee House October 6th along with soulful cybertronic rockers Geographer.
Here We Go Magic - A Different Ship
Here We Go Magic
Album title: A Different Ship
By John Noyd
Posted: Aug 2012
Label: Secretly Canadian
(2008) Page Views
Cantering sea shanties submerge beneath shimmering rhythms while soul-searching folk and dreamy cowboy doo-wop wash over oceanic mechanics fired in tireless dynamics; “Ship,” whips delicious conniptions into sizzling whimsy coating lonesome blizzards with snow-globe hopes. Spiraling vibes scatter fluid grooves through babbling labyrinths trapping locomotive emotions as Brooklyn-based escapists captivate and encapsulate, rallying rabid ballads dabbling in adventurous sentiment and scrambling past funky conundrums. A bubbling broth rocking runaway trains, swaying parades and gurgling circuses, the Nigel Goodrich-produced soup scoops unsettled regrets into scurrying diversions, persuasive labors flirting in uncertainty and tropical gossip raised from fretting lectures to tangy alt-rock meringues for lip-smacking tracks glistening in swirling whirlpool wisdom. A recently re-tooled HWGM visits Madison’s Overture Hall Sept 20th opening for masterful multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird
Joe Jackson - The Duke
Joe Jackson
Album title: The Duke
By John Noyd
Posted: Jul 2012
Label: Razor & Tie
(2191) Page Views
Tapping into Ellington’s multi-cultural influences of American swing, European symphonies and African spirituals and drawing from talented collaborators adding their modern jazz, rock and hip-hop stylings, former New Wave punk turned musical renaissance man, proves his agility once again with, “The Duke.” A hornless tribute to a big band genius, Jackson dives into the double-timing, half-beats and complicated rhythms directing incandescent instrumentals, melting medleys and sweeping themes with sophisticated shots of salsa-flavored chamber-pop. A musician passionate about surprising, revising and improvising, “The Duke,” proves Jackson’s mastery of transmuting moods and using inspiration to move new ideas, reinterpreting familiar melodies into fashionable acrobatics combining Fred Astaire flair with prowling alley-cat elegance. Joe brings his red-hot band to Milwaukee’s Pabst and Chicago’s Vic, September 28th and 29th
Kicksville - The Singles, Season 4
Kicksville
Album title: The Singles, Season 4
By Sal Serio
Posted: Jul 2012
Label: Dept. Of Records
(2083) Page Views
If Kicksville were a place, would you be able to drive there, or is it too remote? If Kicksville was a time zone, what time would it be there, now? If Kicksville were a state of mind, would it defy logic and mood? Maybe we’d have to time travel to a far away city where we’ll totally get out of our minds. I get it… Kicksville IS all of the above!
“The Singles, Season 4” is the latest installment of the journey to Kicksville. Sometimes it’s lovey dovey, sometimes it’s music for the apocalypse. Never boring, this is funky Jaco/Levin-esque bass lines keeping time with poly-rhythms that often seem to be a paradoxical mix of primal and techno. Always intriguing, this is beauty in contrast, borderline industrial bashings next to eastern spiritualism sitting on the lap of German avant garde synth prog with lyrics like “I Wanna Go Live With Charlie Manson”.
Obviously, this is heady stuff. Especially if you actually make your way TO Kicksville, and get the full sensory effect, visual enticement along with the wild sounds. This art / film / computer / music / acting / etc EXTRAVAGANZA… is coming Sat. Aug. 18 to the Barrymore in Madison. I can not stress my recommendation to attend more emphatically. Come be a citizen of Kicksville and join in the fun, but watch out for the “Filthy Piss Soaked Monkey”!
Saint Motel - Voyeur
Saint Motel
Album title: Voyeur
By John Noyd
Posted: Jun 2012
Label: On the Records
(2377) Page Views
Stalking urban jungles armed with crocodile smiles and barracuda moves, L.A.‘s regal dream-pop robbers and disdainful disco dilettantes rock cosmopolitan monarchies dissecting modern squalor into sleek lines, greased rhymes and tweaked heartache. Casting scandalous dancing debutantes into Afro-pop chops, royal brass blasts and frenzied indie angst, “Voyeur,” peers into restless medicines and unique critiques of nightclub gazelles, flippant sycophants and kick-start martyrs; doling out and riffing through champagne-wrangled fandangos and Smith-derived trials tucked in suave bravado and machine-gun seductions. Saint Motel’s tropical-rock concoctions atop rallying stallions churn gallant talent, wry surprises and self-pleasing allegiance into cool steel-cased gazes and audacious latent impatience stylishly applied and classically arranged for glistening listening. Touring with L.A. neighbors Races, catch them before they explode July 19th at UW-Madison’s Terrace.
MonstrO - MonstrO
MonstrO
Album title: MonstrO
By Sal Serio
Posted: Jun 2012
Label: Vagrant Records
(2369) Page Views
Witness L.A. band MonstrO’s debut release, it’s molten metal glaciers pushing the boundaries of the heavy-new-rock genre with swelling burning rivers of psychedelia and classic rock. Charlie Suarez’s vocals have elements of the best hairy rock crooners, say Phil Mogg of UFO mixed with Mark Lanegan, meshed with an even weirder mix of ‘80s English hard-psych-rock workouts like the early Cult were known for. Guitarist Juan Montoya kept me transfixed with the history of rock interwoven into his creatively conceived riffing.
All of these embellishments push MonstrO in to a world of their own, where they must be judged by their own merit, since there is absolutely no one to size them up against. I happen to like that. Several of my favorite bands of recent times (ex: Mars Volta, System Of A Down, Mastodon) keep the metal genre relevant, viable, and a force to be reckoned with, by refusing to be formulaic… denying the demands of the industry. MonstrO broke the mold, and then smashed the pieces to bits.
To this end, I must gush and pontificate the praises of this gnarly MonstrO aggregation and it’s full length first recording. For Gump’s sake, just get it, crank it, and ENJOY the HELL OUT OF IT all ready. Don’t sweat my whacked-ass prose or the sci-fi hippie paintings that make up the cover art – this group will kick your ass and simultaneously blow your mind.
Anna Givens - Just Last Year… Part One
Anna Givens
Album title: Just Last Year… Part One
By Sal Serio
Posted: Jun 2012
Label: Galena St. Music
(2208) Page Views
The latest release by singer Anna Givens was recorded live Spring 2011 at Murphy’s Place in Toledo, Ohio. Claude Black (Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery) serves as primary pianist on these jazz vocal standards with minimal accompaniment, mostly just piano and bass. Givens illuminates the material with a touch of spunk and playfulness, evident on “Honeysuckle Rose”. Some material swings more emphatically, especially with drums (“Green Dolphin Street”) provided courtesy of Jay Bergs.
When the composition calls for a melancholy, reflective attitude, Anna rises to that occasion too, with a sweet seriousness that tugs at one’s heart strings, stopping just shy of total heartbreak (“Blame It On My Youth” & “Since I Fell For You”). The Bacharach/David classic “Alfie” showcases Givens’ impressive range, from a sultry baritone to pristine soprano altitudes, giving the popular Dionne Warwick version a serious run for it’s money.
My personal highlight is “One For My Baby”, the pinnacle of all barfly last call scenarios. Ms. Givens paints the mood perfectly to the point where I swear I felt my pupils contracting in reaction to low light, there was a whiff of glass sanitizer in the air, and I swear I saw Jack Kerouac slouched in the corner.
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