Slipped Discs September 2011

Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey

Initial Thoughts

Feelings run deep as September grapples with baser human desires. Embrace cultural clash tragedies from chamber-jazz magicians JACOB FRED JAZZ ODYSSEY’s rag-time hymns and atmospheric depictions of 1920’s Tulsa history, “Race Riot Suite,” and first-person folk-poet LAURA MARLING’s florid, imploring and utterly absorbing,” The Creature I Don’t Know.” Add crackerjack six-string rambler GLENN JONES’ runaway acoustic musings inside, “The Wanting,” and post-punk wunderkind SUPERCHUNK’s effusive conclusions and fuzz-drenched moments in the reissued classic, ”Foolish,” and music becomes your emotional rescue. 


Disc Reviews


St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

St. Vincent

Album title: Strange Mercy
Record Label: 4AD

Cool, ghoulish guitars unraveling ripped runs from walloping chops and funky grunts against vivid synths and livid delivery, “Mercy,” serves gilded memories over liberated librettos packing punches inside tweaked dreams covered in pleasing pandemonium. St. Vincent’s discerning yearnings burst in sharp turns and wide-eyed surprises, melodramatic maneuvers proving irresistible crucibles for smoldering treasures. Catch her conquering Milwaukee’s Pabst October 3rd

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Host Skull - Totally Fatalist

Host Skull - Totally Fatalist

Host Skull

Album title: Totally Fatalist
Record Label: Antephonic

Collaborating multi-instrumentalists concoct bristling hybrids plucked from tasty alt-pop influences. Thoughtful interlocking improvisations underline frolicking prog-pop playfulness haunted by jazzy contractions and mathematical happiness, “Fatalist,” yields exquisite eloquence from its sunny blues and clever new wave strategies employing artful brass and woodwinds.  Flipping from spastic to placid, HS’s skewed cool fuels back-lit mischief through cinematic poise and charming chromatic acrobatics..

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The Kooks - Junk of the Heart

The Kooks - Junk of the Heart

The Kooks

Album title: Junk of the Heart
Record Label: Astralwerks

Effortless Britpop perfection transforms trusted structures into sweet, savvy, alchemical delights, Two years in the making, “Junk,” mines bouncy countenance through space-age minstrels extolling earth-bound ballads. Hugging the beat around propulsive hooks soaring in choruses and immersed in flirty verse, The Kooks’ nicked riffs and sizzling sonic comments mix flippant misfits within sumptuous salads producing tuneful larks beside feather-weight heartache

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Luke Temple - Don’t Act Like You Don’t Care

Luke Temple - Don’t Act Like You Don’t Care

Luke Temple

Album title: Don’t Act Like You Don’t Care
Record Label: Western Vinyl

Folksy consoling grooves caressed in essential sentiments, the Here We Go Magic mastermind turns gurgling turmoil into upbeat Talmudic jamborees. Nestling old-fashioned passions, “Don’t Act,” frames love-pangs against organic harmonics and honest optimism, bending tender amends into lively unguarded pardons through layered nuance. Wavering between humble and grand, Temple’s intimate minimalism, scores fleeting, deeply textured tunes from faint, dainty serenades. Luke plays Chicago’s Lincoln Hall October 18th with CANT.

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Nikki Lane - Walk of Shame

Nikki Lane - Walk of Shame

Nikki Lane

Album title: Walk of Shame
Record Label: IAMSOUND

Hard-hitting honky-tonk harnesses faraway wails and unflinching farewells, coasting home in tear-soaked commotion, timeless codependent tension burning bright beneath a sea of twang and reverb. “Shame,” tames coyote kiss-offs, hopping from swinging barroom bop to stoic alt-country romps. Nikki’s concrete cow-punk pairs sassy Southern gumption alongside I told you so odes, tipping a ten-gallon to reckless youth and restless penance.

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Geoffrey O'Connor - Vanity is Forever

Geoffrey O'Connor - Vanity is Forever

Geoffrey O'Connor

Album title: Vanity is Forever
Record Label: Chapter Music

Crayon Fields singer’s plastic nostalgia buoys stately sustains and ominous bass, concocting frosty melancholy tossed over sophisticated chords and clinical beats for eighties soul-searching encased in faced facts, romantic traps and lapsed compacts. “Vanity,” uncannily channels overheated libidos by playing it cool; mod Aussie shoe-gaze smothered in shiny sounds and tragically poignant perceptions. O’Connor plays Chicago’s Lincoln Hall October 3rd

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Final Thoughts

Beyond the self, September offers the world. From bilingual Brazilians CSS’s smarmy pitch between rave-rock kitsch and grooving anarchist’s politics, “La Libracion,” to Outback bushwhackers WAGONS’ round- up of American Country-blues and electric roots-rock topped with sly irony, “Rumble Shake and Tumble.” Multi-racial mojo runs through cosmopolitan colonialist GRACE JONES’s brilliant beat-pop, art-ska, “Hurricane,” while Finland’s FRIGG debuts, “Grannen” at Madison’s World Music Festival Sept 15th trading songs of limitless hypnosis between charging pre-battle jigs. Finally, French-Canadian alt-rockers MALAJUBE bring their shadow-searching “La Caverne” to Madison’s High Noon Oct 2nd