2004
CAD 2403 - Lisa Gerrard and Patrick Cassidy / Immortal Memory
Released January 19 2004
try it
Immortal Memory is a collaboration between vocalist Lisa Gerrard and Irish composer Patrick Cassidy. Billed as a cycle of life and death and rebirth, Immortal Memory is better described as an orphaned film score. Cassidy's warm arrangements allow the former Dead Can Dance singer to step out of the dark medieval world that she's called home for nearly 20 years -- though there is much of that world within these castle walls -- and focus on the simplicity of love, faith, and loss with a grace that's bereft of the icy perfection of her previous work. Gerrard, whose voice has aged like the finest oak, displays an almost supernatural mastery of the material. Her effortless contralto wraps itself around the ten Gaelic, Latin, and Aramaic spirituals like an evening prayer, making each stunning entrance the equivalent of audio comfort food. Echoing her collaboration with composer Hans Zimmer on the Academy Award-winning Gladiator -- Gerrard and Cassidy framed this work during the recording of the film's soundtrack -- ethereal pieces like the solo showpiece "Elegy" and the Cassidy-penned lament for his late father, "Psallit in Aure Dei," are powerful statements hatched by two people who understand each other like old friends. The majestic opener, "Song of Amergin," with its sublime Celtic melody and slow build, is indicative of the pieces to follow, allowing listeners the time to decide whether or not this is a road they wish to travel. Fans of Enya, Dead Can Dance, or snowy, image-laden soundscapes of powerful quietude will have no problem making that choice. - James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
BAD 2415 - Blonde Redhead / EquusReleased May 24 2004
try it
If possible, the Mountain Goats' We Shall All Be Healed is an even bigger, lusher-sounding work than Tallahassee, the group's 4AD debut and the debut of their more polished production style. Whether or not this approach is somehow less authentic or more invasive than the ultra lo-fi sound of John Darnielle and company's earlier albums is up for debate, but, as with Tallahassee, it's a choice that works well for this particular set of songs. In fact, the lush strings and pianos that grace the album only make Darnielle's relentlessly strummed guitars and unadorned vocals sound even more strikingly plain. On Tallahassee, the Mountain Goats used their newfound polish to emphasize the album's decaying Southern gothic romance; We Shall All Be Healed sounds bright and crisp, burning with righteous anger that is fueled by Darnielle's sardonic humor. Beginning with "Slow West Vultures"' rapid-fire acoustic guitars and snippets of forced laughter and shattering glass, the album makes full use of its widescreen production; "Linda Blair Was Born Innocent" is searching and sad, using touches of Americana without sounding hidebound to that sound. As with all of his Mountain Goats work, We Shall All Be Healed has a passion lacking in a lot of music that is much louder. Darnielle's high, insistent voice, punctuated by his relentless strumming, is particularly intense on the talky, funny "Palmcorder Yajna." The oddly rousing "The Young Thousands" manages to be atmospheric and direct at the same time, and on "Home Again Garden Grove" Darnielle sounds like a veteran returning home. The album's softer songs retain that intensity: "All Up the Seething Coast" is quiet and mostly spoken word, but it recalls the calm before the storm more than the coffeehouse. "Cotton" is a sad and lovely song "for the people who tell their families they're sorry for things that they can't and won't be sorry for," and the cryptically lovely "Your Belgian Things" allows the listener to piece together a tumultuous story from Darnielle's recollections: "I can see you in my sleep/Playing the points for all you're worth/Walking gingerly across/The bruised earth." As musically and lyrically accomplished as We Shall All Be Healed is, it's not quite as gripping or rich as the best of the Mountain Goats' earlier work or Tallahassee, but that's relative; on its own terms, the album is still profoundly smart and profoundly emotional. - Heather Phares, All Music Guide
CAD 2420 - TV On The Radio / Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
Released June 07 2004
try it
TV on the Radio's Young Liars EP was a wonderful surprise, signaling the arrival of one of the most unique acts to seemingly come out of nowhere during the 2000s. Its alchemy of strange sonic bedfellows like post-punk and doo wop, and powerful vocals and experimental leanings, into songs that were challenging and accessible was no small feat; indeed, Young Liars was such an accomplished EP that it begged the question -- and ratcheted up the expectations -- of what TV on the Radio could do over the course of an entire album. The answer arrives with Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, a deeper, darker, denser version of the band's already ambitious sound. Dave Sitek and Tunde Adepimbe push their abilities as sculptors of sounds and words to new limits. Adepimbe in particular continues to prove himself as a distinctive and captivating voice, both musically and lyrically. Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes' opening track, "The Wrong Way," is one of the best reflections of his strengths as a singer and writer, and of TV on the Radio's overall growth. Through the song, Adepimbe explores his feelings about being a black man and about black culture at large. Inwardly, he wavers between radical and placating thoughts and his feelings of obligation to be "Teachin' folks the score/About patience, understanding, agape babe/And sweet sweet amour." Around him, he sees mindless materialism, with bling "fallin' down just like rain," and misplaced anger and violence: "Hey, desperate youth! Oh bloodthirsty babes! Oh your guns are pointed the wrong way." On their own, the lyrics are strong enough to make a fairly impressive poem, but Adepimbe's massed, choir-like vocals and the flutes, throbbing fuzz bass, and martial beat that Sitek surrounds them with turn them into an even more impressive and impassioned song.
That TV on the Radio can handle an issue like race so creatively and eloquently shouldn't come as a surprise, considering how organically the group incorporates elements of soul, jazz, spirituals, and doo wop into the mostly lily-white world of indie/experimental rock. However, the song does offer a refreshing reminder that hip-hop and urban music -- as vital as they've been recently -- are not the only kinds of music that can handle this kind of dialogue. Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes is a political album on other levels, from the psychedelic soul-tinged antiwar meditation "Bomb Yourself" to the more subtle politics of relationships that many of the other songs cover. This also makes sense, considering that TV on the Radio formed partially in response to the apocalyptic feeling in New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This brooding vibe, which also informed Young Liars, comes to the forefront on songs like "Don't Love You," "King Eternal," and the beautifully bleak "Dreams," which makes the end of a relationship sound like urban blight. But Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes also leaves room for hope, and finds it in connections with other people. "Ambulance" is a creative look at love that sets lyrics like "I will be your screech and crash if you will be my crutch and cast" to doo wop in a way that not only invokes nostalgia, but transcends it to sound utterly fresh. "Poppy" might be the only love song that rhymes "individuated" with "congratulations," but the track's ecstatic guitars do most of the talking; "Wear You Out"'s erotic grind closes the album on a surprisingly sexy note. Even though Young Liars was an accomplished EP, TV on the Radio have already progressed beyond it. "Staring at the Sun," the only song included on the EP and Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, seems almost simplistic compared to the rest of the album's songs. While it's not perfect -- occasionally the album's heady, indulgent feel tends to make it drag -- Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes is still an impressive expansion of TV on the Radio's fascinating music. - Heather Phares, All Music Guide
CAD 2414 - Rachel Goswell / Waves Are Universal
Released June 11 2004
try it
Fans of Slowdive and Mojave 3 have been pining for a Rachel Goswell album for years. Although 4AD billed Waves Are Universal as sounding like something you wouldn't expect from her, it actually sounds almost exactly record made while primary songwriter like you thought it would, provided you've heard a Mojave 3 song at some point during the previous eight years. The British folk elements that have been slowly coming to the fore in the Mojave 3 records are more of a factor here. Otherwise, it's a fusion of British folk and alt-country -- which, to be more forward, means it could pass for a Mojave 3Neil Halstead was too busy hanging ten. This, for the most part, is a good thing, but the record is rather safe, lacking an adventurousness that is only touched upon and possibly kept under wraps for the sake of not seeming like too much of a departure. Field recordings that are incorporated into the songs are very discreet, and a couple other tunes wouldn't be out of place in commercials plugging some mature teenage drama on the WB. Regardless, Waves Are Universal proves that Goswell can carry a whole record on her own without any trouble. A second solo album -- with more risks taken -- is a necessary thing. - Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
BAD 2423 - TV On The Radio / New Health RockReleased October 04 2004
try it
Considering how strong TV on the Radio's debut EP, Young Liars, was, it's more than a little ironic that the band's second EP, New Health Rock, is their weakest work to date. It suffers by comparison not only to the almost frighteningly good Young Liars and the ambitious, less-immediate Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, but also compared to the expectations generated by all the praise the band has (deservedly) garnered. Of course, these expectations aren't the band's responsibility. However, it's a little disappointing that out of its three tracks, only New Health Rock's title track is entirely original. Even more disappointing -- and odd -- is the inclusion of the album version of "The Wrong Way," Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes' opening track. This is an especially strange decision, since the EP is bundled with some copies of album, and most people that would buy the EP separately probably already own Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes. On its own terms, "The Wrong Way" is still a powerful song, but putting it here makes it seem like TV on the Radio didn't have enough tracks to fill out an EP. It's too bad that the B-sides from the band's recent Staring at the Sun U.K. single weren't added to New Health Rock to flesh it out and give U.S. fans a chance to check out those songs without splurging on an import single. As for the EP's other two tracks, "Modern Romance" -- a version of one of the atypically quiet songs by TV on the Radio's pals the Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- is pleasant, but aside from its distant, distorted drums and squiggly electronics, it's not especially different from the original. Probably unfairly, thoughts of the band's outstanding "Mr. Grieves" reworking on Young Liars come to mind and make this cover sound even more muted. "New Health Rock" itself takes Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes' dense, funky sound and opens it up a little, with mixed results. Though the track's relatively spare production and big, insistent drums complement the band's beautifully stinging guitars and offer the release that the album's slow-burning tension never quite gave, Tunde Adebimpe's half-sung, half-shouted vocals eventually sound more forced than forceful. TV on the Radio is still a relatively young band at this point, so it's not entirely surprising that the demand for new material from them outweighs what they can deliver. However, New Health Rock is just so incomplete-feeling that it probably would have served the group (and their fans) better to have waited and released a more full-fledged EP. - Heather Phares, All Music Guide
0 comments:
Post a Comment