Slipped Discs October 2011
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Feist
Initial Thoughts
Whether digging FEIST’s solid, “Metals,” or consumed by RYAN ADAMS’s rejuvenating, “Ashes and Fire.” October boils with empirical miracles. Musical chemistry further flirts in ruminating rapper ASTRONAUTILIS’ hard-hitting cosmic-country codas, “This Is Our Science,” and iconic California go-to guy VAN DYKE PARKS navigating Little Feat boogie and gospel-inflected Arlo Guthrie while masterminding potent components inside, “Arrangements, Vol. 1.“ Promising wonderfully unwound compounds, autumn’s elixir-riddled kinship compose musical recipes for adventure.
Disc Reviews
The Gift - Explode
The Gift
Album title: Explode
Record Label: La Folie
Grand-standing anthems dismantling pop-rock parades, “Explode,” downloads delirium-steered queries, igniting enchanted rockets bursting in perfect bubbles and blockbuster bombast. Symphonic aeronautics scoring escalated elation and kaleidoscopic schizophrenia, Portugal’s The Gift’s majestic conquests swiftly lift psychedelic synths above seductive child-like exuberance to layered melodramatic bravery breaching soaring guitar contortions exploring surrendered arena-sized splendor. The Gift visits Chicago’s Double Door Oct 11th.
(2415) Page Views
The Gift online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Explode from Amazon
• Purchase Explode on Amazon
Brown Bird - Salt for Salt
Brown Bird
Album title: Salt for Salt
Record Label: Supply & Demand
Somber and sensual, brisk gypsy jigs saw bluesy two-steps and woodsy rocking-chair tattletales conjuring back-porch baptisms from sawdust dance-floors. The East Coast duo’s raspy pluck, rosin-heavy flights and twisted tempos season blackwater stomps. Boosted by devilish bravado, “Salt,” bows and curtsey, bone-thin and thirsty, packing galloping insights into gossip-bound ghost stories, wily waltzes where goblin gauchos prance, scamper and canter.
(2678) Page Views
Brown Bird online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Salt for Salt from Amazon
• Purchase Salt for Salt on Amazon
Cuttooth - Elements
Cuttooth
Album title: Elements
Record Label: Psychonavigation
Skating, wading and dissipating translucent infusions of disembodied beats drift in unfathomable distance, “Element,” vents crackling static tracking unanchored flavors stalking self-absorbed moorings. Mercurial voices elude sizzling snippets wafting in weightless space, Cuttooth’s ethereal material hides whispered mysteries beside suspenseful silences, confounding boundaries alongside bent connections, veiled trails and traipsing vapors tuned to rippling sympathies, random abandon and alien samples.
(2261) Page Views
Cuttooth online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Elements from Amazon
• Purchase Elements on Amazon
Nick Lowe - The Old Magic
Nick Lowe
Album title: The Old Magic
Record Label: Yep Roc
Finger-snapping smooth and country-hip cool, Wilco tour-mate Lowe’s 13th album wraps itself around sentimental eloquence, replacing pub-rock raves made famous in his early days with a captivating compendium of frisky, rockabilly lullabies, starry-eyed Merseybeat and crooning Texas swing. Ace back-up and star-filled cameos from Paul Carrack, Jimmie Vaughan and Ron Sexsmith insure, Magic,” dazzles with professional performances surrounding impeccable arrangements.
(2225) Page Views
Nick Lowe online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download The Old Magic from Amazon
• Purchase The Old Magic on Amazon
VHS or Beta - Diamonds and Death
VHS or Beta
Album title: Diamonds and Death
Record Label: Krian Music Group
Peek-a-boo grooves twist and shout unrolling house-rockin’ rhapsodies between steamy disco fevers streaming over non-stop strobe-lit fantasies. Throbbing spot-on hob-knobbing frolic in polished mosh-pit palpitations, robot hooks and dark romance, “Diamonds,” cuts rugs and fashion action-packed panache from dreamy sequencers and funky bass primed for gothic crimes. Four years since their last release, VHS or Beta mine refined, rock-hard tunes.
(2286) Page Views
VHS or Beta online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Diamonds and Death from Amazon
• Purchase Diamonds and Death on Amazon
Scott H. Biram - Bad Ingredients
Scott H. Biram
Album title: Bad Ingredients
Record Label: Bloodshot Records
Raw, rambling laments and roaring, storming bulletproof blues turn what often is Biram and one guitar into a cut-throat road-house smack-down. Tinderbox tempests unravel midnight confessions as ragged sour-mash mojo seeks open roads and honest hearts through rambunctious redemption. Covering Lightnin’ Hopkins and Bill Monroe, “Bad,” flags punk-roots magic from authentic Texas desperation, stirring gutbucket gumbo into fast-talking grifter wisdom
(2180) Page Views
Scott H. Biram online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Bad Ingredients from Amazon
• Purchase Bad Ingredients on Amazon
Final Thoughts
This October churns out several cyclical-inspired gems. Magically philosophical within imaginative theatrics, MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND’s lyrical art-rock inferno, “All Things Unwind,” pirouettes and flutters in transcendent gestures and impressive introspection while the vacillating post-folk pleasures of perceptive messenger, DAN MANGAN’s, quietly complex, “Oh Fortune,” flow over snowballing emotions swimming in steady, understated sincerity. Tranquilizing trances drawn from ancient ideas cradle Comoros Islander NAWAL’s evocative Sufi hymns to impermanence, “Embrace the Spirit,” as curious, quirky, Seabear multi-instrumentalist SOLEY’s radical, radiant fairy-tale appetizers, “We Sink,” concludes our melodic maneuvering through entropic endeavors