Under Cover

I've always been an advocate of strong covers of others hits ... by taking another's song and reinterpreting it, artists find ways to stretch our ideas of what limits are placed on a genre of music. In this video, Mandy Moore takes Rihanna's "Umbrella," one of this summer's biggest urban chart hits, and turns it into an acoustic country jam, illustrating the songwriting skill of Terius "The Dream" Youngdell Nash, who penned the song for Rihanna. In its original form the song drips with sexual tension and double entendres. As read by Moore, however, one can sense the song's power as a heartfelt love song. That's what a cover should be -- not a by-the-numbers note-for-note retread, but rather a reimagination. Keep an eye on Moore ... she seems to have an ear for this kind of thing.

Mandy Moore - Umbrella.mp3

Schweitzer Fest '07: A Multimedia Review

When Schweitzer Fest rolls around each year, our community comes together to enjoy the festivities. From the food to the rides and carnival games, the atmosphere is one of celebration. It also, however, is a time when people get together to hear great music. And while Perry County might not always seem to be a place where great bands come to rock, this year’s Schweitzer Fest proved to be quite the magnet for great music.

During the festival week, more than half a dozen bands brought their sound to downtown Tell City. Though all tastes could not possibly be accommodated, it was hard for this critic to find fault with the variety selected. Whether a fan of country, bluegrass, classic rock or modern rock-and-roll, there was plenty to be excited about for nearly every music fan.

Tell City's own "Above The Law" performs in the Schweitzer Fest beer garden.

Among the standouts, Tell City’s own “Above The Law,” featuring Bill Huff and Rob Gladish on guitar, Tony Hollinden on bass, Dave Arnold on keyboards and Josh Huff on drums, rocked the beer garden Thursday night. Playing everything from sixties-era art-rock to seventies r&b and eighties pop-rock, the band kept a relatively small crowd energized for several hours. Standout tracks included an excellent cover of the Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin” and a midnight performance of Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music, White Boy.” Variety and strong musicianship proved to be the band’s selling points.

Tell City's Elsie's Shack, performing in the beer garden Saturday night.

Elsie's Shack drummer Carl Sommers owned the stage during the band's performance.

They weren’t alone, however. Saturday night, a much larger crowd packed onto main street to hear another local act, Elsie’s Shack. The four-man rock act featured Louie Harbarville on rhythm guitar and vocals, Justin Bosley on lead guitar and vocals, Sam Graves on bass and Carl Sommers on drums. The band brought fans to their feet with covers of Mellencamp (“Play Guitar”) and Stevie Ray Vaughan (“Pride and Joy”), but were generally capable of rocking everyone from Eric Clapton to the Rolling Stones without breaking a sweat. The band played the Schweitzer Fest last year and brought the house down. They’re close to becoming a fixture, and that’s a great thing.

Josh Mahoney and the Second Chance Band playing early Friday night.

Fans of country music enjoyed Josh Mahoney and the Second Chance Band, which brought a flair for contemporary country to the stage Friday night. Lead singer Josh Mahoney and his band handled “Copperhead Road” by Steve Earle with real verve, and the fans enjoyed the modern covers of the likes of Keith Urban and Chris Cagle as well. Leo Gronquist and Friends opened the festival with an acoustic blend of soft rock, alt-country and bluegrass. They handled everything from Jim Croce to Willie Nelson with flair. After early hiccups including forgotten lyrics on an Alison Krauss song, the band recovered nicely and proved capable of entertaining the Wednesday night beer garden crowd.

Firm Foundation entertains a small group of fans Saturday afternoon.


Damascus Road, featuring (l/r) Victoria Backer, Ryan Backer, Gene Jones and John Backer.

But among the Schweitzer Fest’s biggest musical surprises was the solid afternoon of gospel music performed Saturday. Firm Foundation, an Owensboro touring group, had the Statler Brothers’ sound down pat through their mix of standards and originals. Meanwhile, Perry County’s own Damascus Road, a contemporary gospel band, played a variety of interesting covers – including “Personal Jesus” and “The Man Comes Around” by the late Johnny Cash. The band featured Victoria Backer on keyboards, Gene Jones on guitar and vocals, Ryan Backer on drums and Victoria’s husband John Backer on bass. The band played well as a unit, and the beautiful harmonies were a true highlight.

All things considered, this year’s Schweitzer Fest proved to be a goldmine for those in the area who have long argued that living in Perry County doesn’t have to mean missing out on great music. Add a rap music night to the beer garden next year and there won’t be a musical stone left unturned for the festival’s 50th Anniversary next August.

- - - - -

To see videos from Josh Mahoney and the Second Chance Band, Firm Foundation, Damascus Road, Elsie's Shack and Above The Law, visit my YouTube page:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=theindiecritic1982

A long overdue update

I'm in between websites at the moment, and though it's been more than a year since I've used this blogger account, I intend to add current album and concert reviews as well as interviews and other articles to this site until I can complete a newer, user friendly web design ... that may take as long as six months, since I'm currently involved in an internship for the fall 2007 semester.

In the 14 months since I last posted here, I've reviewed 25 albums and singles, which were published on my website http://www.inmyheadphones.com/. As that site is at this point no longer being updated (at least until I can redesign it for simplicity's sake) I'll post the links to individual album reviews here, from the most recent to the oldest, along with my "short take" on each album:

Jon McLaughlin - "Indiana"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/indiana.html)

Jon McLaughlin has a smooth voice which, thanks to the solid studio work of Chris Lord-Alge, blends appropriately in both full band settings and intimate vocal-and-piano mixes. If Indiana can successfully market at least one of these great singles to radio, this guy's going to be a household name by Labor Day. (4.5 stars out of 5)

Brandi Carlile - "The Story"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/thestory.html)

What results is an album of surprising resonance. Carlile clearly is an artist performing well beyond her age, and this recording oozes the confidence of someone who's been recording for decades. The album's depth makes it worthy of repeat listens, but it's the consistency of material on The Story that puts it more than a few steps ahead of competitors like K.T. Tunstall. (4 stars out of 5)

The Cat Empire - "Two Shoes"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/twoshoes.html)

The Cat Empire is a difficult band to pigeonhole. For those of you who need modern comparisons, imagine if Cake, Beck, Sublime and Soul Coughing all combined to form an uber-potent supergroup, and you might come close to what this band has to offer. Two Shoes is an amazing album which deserves to be overplayed immediately by every radio station getting FCC clearance. (4.5 stars out of 5)

The Attorneys - "Stereocracy"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/stereocracy.html)

New York's The Attorneys aim to show how fresh musical and lyrical ideas can change the landscape of music world. "On A Whim," the album's lead single, channels Freddie Mercury so deftly that it?s difficult to believe lead singer / bassist Ryan George's song isn't some long-lost Queen gem unearthed for a new generation. Stereocracy is a classic in the making. (4 stars out of 5)

Korn - "MTV Unplugged"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/mtvunplugged.html)

Have you ever wanted to hear Korn's music distilled to a bare-bones level of acoustic guitars and bongo drums, accompanied on occasion by the wail of a musical saw? If so, this album is for you, though I suspect it serves more as a curiosity for those who already are fans of Jonathan Davis's music than as much of an introduction to new fans. (2.5 stars out of 5)

Relient K - "Five Score and Seven Years Ago"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/fivescore.html)

For all the "pop-punk" bluster, Relient K is yet another contemporary Christian band trying to gain mainstream appeal by latching on to the flavor of the moment. If the band doesn?t make a marked stylistic development or two in the coming years, albums like this one will rightly label them footnotes in modern music history. (1.5 stars out of 5)

Dustin Kensrue - "Please Come Home"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/pleasecomehome.html)

Kensrue's Please Come Home is one of the better indie-country albums of this year or last, an example of how the alt-country ethos can be blended with modern alternative flair to create a great album. It is an effort from a seasoned musician with the chops to survive in this industry no matter what style of music he plays. (4 stars out of 5)

Lindsey Buckingham - "Under The Skin"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/undertheskin.html)

If you're already a fan of Buckingham's music, you owe it to yourself to hear Under The Skin. If you've never taken the time to study his legendary discography, the album still stands as a brilliant introduction. It's hard to imagine that anything could top this magnificent album, one made all the better by the length of time we had to wait to hear it. (5 stars out of 5)

Spin Doctors - "Nice Talking To Me"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/nicetalkingtome.html)

Staying true to their name, Spin Doctors returned to the music scene in 2005 after a six-year absence to create the most outrageously fun album since their debut, Pocket Full of Kryptonite. Songs like "Nice Talking To Me," "Happily Ever After" and "My Problem Now" make Nice Talking To Me the most fun album you probably haven't heard. (3 stars out of 5)

Matthew Ryan - "From A Late Night High Rise"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/fromalatenighthighrise.html)

Matthew Ryan's tenth album in as many years is the ultimate song cycle on the mortality of man. More than that, however, it's a shape shifting album that blends rock, pop and folk into a cohesive whole, tied together by Ryan's Bono-meets-Springsteen vocals. No lover of music should be without a copy of this album in their headphones. (4.5 stars out of 5)

Langhorne Slim - "When the Sun's Gone Down"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/whenthesunsgonedown.html)

Langhorne Slim knows how to make an album that doesn't outstay its welcome. From the opening frenetic bluegrass strains of "In The Midnight" it is clear that there's never been a folk album like this one. When The Sun's Gone Down is a must-hear album from an artist who's sure to revolutionize modern Americana music in the coming years. (4 stars out of 5)

Amon Tobin - "Bloodstone EP"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/bloodstone.html)

This is music which demands an audience, and Tobin has respect enough for his listeners to assume we're not demanding mindless drum 'n' bass thumping to get us on a dance floor. Brilliant, simply brilliant. If "Bloodstone" and the other two songs on this EP, which build their samples from field recordings rather than from old records, are an example of what we can expect from Foley Room, it's going to blow away the best Tobin has offered to date. What a welcome way to open 2007. (4 stars out of 5)

Jeremy Enigk - "World Waits"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/worldwaits.html)

If Lindsey Buckingham recorded chamber pop music, he'd be playing with Jeremy Enigk. This long-time-coming sophomore effort from the former lead singer of Sunny Day Real Estate swims in acoustic guitar, synths and deeply resonant vocals. And the arrangements of tracks like "Been Here Before" show impressive studio prowess that allows Enigk's unique songwriting skills to shine through. (4 stars out of 5)

Sister Hazel - "Absolutely"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/absolutely.html)

Sister Hazel had a few hits in the mid-nineties and should have fallen off the face of the earth when their style went out with Hootie and his Blowfish. Thankfully, however, a few things in life don't have to change. This southern country-rock outfit from Gainesville, Florida, hasn't changed a bit since 1993, as Absolutely shows clearly. (3 stars out of 5)

Cobra Starship - "While The City Sleeps"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/whilethecitysleeps.html)

I hate to say it, but those guys who brought us the novelty theme-song for "Snakes on a Plane" may actually have some staying power. Upbeat tracks like "Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell" show the band's got the ability to craft a hook, rock the floor and steal your woman without breaking a sweat. (3.5 stars out of 5)

Skillet - "Comatose"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/comatose.html)

Vertical Horizon fans will love their hooks, while fans of Thousand Foot Krutch and P.O.D. will love the uber-rock bombast of Comatose, but really who's surprised by that? The band's been recording heavy rock Christian music since 1996, and they've got it down to an artform. If you want to listen to the lyrics, you can hear their message of God, and if you don't, you can hear the crunching guitars of "Rebirthing" or "Comatose" and be grateful this isn't another Nickelback clone. (3 stars out of 5)

Jared Anderson - "Where To Begin"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/wheretobegin.html)

Contemporary Christian music's proving again and again that it is the genre of choice for those of us who pride ourselves on hearing adventurous pop music. And Jared Anderson's "Running Away" opens Where To Begin, his impressive Columbia debut, with a bang that doesn't let up through the album's length. This is exactly what radio stations in the genre salivate over. (3.5 stars out of 5)

Eamon - "(How Could You) Bring Him Home"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/howcouldyoubringhimhome.html)

Anyone who listened to Eamon's debut Don't Want You Back knew the Staten Island r&b vocalist wanted to bring do-wop vocals into the modern rap age, but perhaps the musical goals got lost in all the male rap posturing. Regardless, on his latest single (from a yet unannounced follow-up album), Eamon turns the break-up single on its ear, developing a hard-edged yet addictively layered revenge epic. (4 stars out of 5)

The Be Good Tanyas - "Hello Love"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/hellolove.html)

British Columbia's Be Good Tanyas have the kind of harmonically intricate folk country sound that can drive a listener into a permanent state of music-shock. Face it, Canadians know good music when they hear it. For anyone who professes to love great acoustic folk pop, missing this album is not an option. (3 stars out of 5)

Hinder - "Extreme Behavior"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/extremebehavior.html)

It's refreshing to see that a band can sell records without help from music television and the traditional hype machine. It's depressing, however, to learn that Hinder's music is mediocre at best, which suggests that even without the hype machine, crap rises to the top. If this copy of a copy of a copy of a rock stereotype is what passes as rock these days, I'll have no part of it. (0.5 stars out of 5)

Bebo Norman - "Between The Dreaming And The Coming True"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/betweenthedreamingandthecomingtrue.html)

Between The Dreaming And The Coming True manages to be subtle even as Norman delves into Rich Mullins territory, writing songs aimed directly at God, songs which directly address religious concerns. While this album verges on being Norman's first true "worship" album, he attacks the songwriting process by focusing on the darkness, the depressing moments, that lead most people to search for meaning in life. That's something few artists have attempted in the genre; even fewer have pulled it off without creating a depressing album. (4.5 stars out of 5)

Citizen Cope - "Every Waking Moment"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/everywakingmoment.html)

When he's at his best, Citizen Cope (otherwise known to the world as Clarence Greenwood) is a hip-hop folk troubadour, using his unique raspy sing-song delivery to hit a listener hard where it hurts with his lyrics. When he's at his worst, on songs like "Every Waking Moment" off the album of the same title, Greenwood lulls listeners into a stupor with songs that could be great but which settle for Jack Johnson-esque mediocrity. (2.5 stars out of 5)

John Mayer - "Continuum"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/continuum.html)

Anyone who finds a way to hate John Mayer after hearing this album is deluding himself. You can forget any comparisons to the likes of Dave Matthews; with Continuum, Mayer has crafted an exquisite blues album with the self-assured nature of someone twice his age. Most important, though, he does it while maintaining the ability to craft hooks that should guarantee he'll retain his hitmaking status on adult contemporary radio. This is a rare album that can keep album lovers and single lovers equally happy. (4 stars out of 5)

Vienna Teng - "Dreaming Through The Noise"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/dreamingthroughthenoise.html)

Dreaming Through The Noise is that rare album lover's album which suceeds from start to finish on the merits of the song cycle as a whole. That would be stunning enough coming from a veteran artist with ten albums under her belt. That Vienna Teng has reached this level of artistic finesse in just her third effort suggests she's the most important American singer-songwriter to emerge this decade. (5 stars out of 5)

Chris Knight - "Enough Rope"
(http://jonathansanders.0catch.com/Reviews/enoughrope.html)

If you listen to the radio much, it might be difficult to believe, but there's more to country and americana music than what the Kenny Chesneys, Toby Keiths and Keith Urbans are singing about. Like Steve Earle and John Prine before him, Chris Knight wants to tell you the true stories of blue collar America you won't get from "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere." Brutally honest, heartfelt and affecting, Enough Rope stands out as the best country album of the year so far. (4 stars out of 5)

The Hush Sound - "Like Vines"(Decaydance / Fueled By Ramen, 2006)

Hear The Music
The Hush Sound - "We Intertwined" (96 kbps, mp3)

I've got to hand it to the boys from Fall Out Boy -- they know a good sound when they hear it. The first band signed to Decaydance last year was Panic! At the Disco, which spawned the addictively fun track "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies." Now they bring us Like Vines by The Hush Sound, a Chicago band not afraid to blend the likes of the Shins with the most addictive piano rock since Ben Folds Five debuted eleven years ago. "We Intertwined" deserves to be a #1 summer hit, with its hook-filled chorus that rises in the end to the kind of raucous conclusion that I wish I could hear more often.

And from there it gets better! "A Dark Congregation" features the same upbeat piano-pop sound, but with a female vocalist who reminds me a lot of Caedmon's Call vocalist Danielle Young. As it turns out, The Hush Sound features four members who share vocal duties, something that is rarely done in pop music, since finding that singular voice to catapult a band to stardom is often deemed more important than ingenuity -- think Hootie and the Blowfish, for example. Equally impressive is the fact that the band keeps up the momentum throughout the length of this stellar sophomore album. "Sweet Tangerine," "Lighthouse" and "Magnolia" all deserve to be successful singles. This is the kind of music that's putting the midwest on the map and making Chicago into one of the hottest scenes in the nation. If you let this album go unnoticed, you deserve every ounce of the Hoobastank ilk you get.

The band is now touring as Panic! At the Disco's opening act, and will be playing several dates in the midwest during July:

July 6: Columbus OH (PromoWest Pavillion)
July 7: Chicago IL (House of Blues)
July 11: Cincinnati OH (Bogart's)
July 12: Cleveland OH (Plain Dealer Pavillon)
July 19: Indianapolis IN (Murat Egyptian Room)

Katie Melua - "Piece By Piece"(Dramatico Entertainment, 2006)

Like Norah Jones before her, Katie Melua blends jazz, blues and pop to create ear-catching melodies which have captured the world's attention. And like for Jones, following up a successful first album that broke genre barriers proved difficult. Should an artist change up the sound, continue to evolve after a creative breakthrough? Or should the sophomore slump be avoided by simply sticking to what worked before? Melua chose the latter path, filling her largely forgettable second effort with songs like "Shy Boy," which retreads the ground her cover of John Mayall's "Crawling Up A Hill" did on her debut, or "Nine Million Bicycles," saccharine numbers that mask in cuteness the fact that the songs are dull as dishwater. "There are nine million bicycles in Beijing," she sings. "That's a fact, it's a thing we can't deny ..." Like the fact that this is yet another suprisingly boring follow-up to an exceptionally original debut. But you can bet it'll sell millions.

The Mystery Jets - "Flotsam and Jetsam"(679 Recordings, 2006)

If you're a fan of the Violent Femmes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or, to a lesser extent, bands such as the Arctic Monkeys, you might find something to enjoy about Flotsam and Jetsam, the debut EP from experimental UK rockers The Mystery Jets ... if you have the patience to sort out what the band's trying to do, since every song sounds as though it's been recorded by a different band for a different album. From the opening moments of "You Can't Fool Me, Dennis!" which introduces its sound with a catchy, yet off-kilter alt-pop number, it's clear this isn't your everday UK "let's cash in on Oasis's sound" outfit. But the band's sound is overly eclectic for such an EP to develop a cohesive hook. "Zoo Time" sounds like an extended jazz rock jam session, which isn't a terrible thing in itself. But "Lizzie's Lion" leads the band into indie lo-fi territory, with indecipherable vocals, off-kilter percussion and fuzzy keyboards that drown any chance for the song to latch on. And though this sounds like a solid live recording, we're halfway through the EP and I still can't tell where the band's going with Flotsam and Jetsam. As the rest of the EP equally fails to grab my attention, I expect The Mystery Jets will burn out in America too quickly for anyone to seriously miss them, or notice they released an EP in the first place.

Live - "Songs From Black Mountain"(Epic, 2006)

With Songs From Black Mountain, Live commits the Ultimate Deadly Sin of music-making, by creating what may be the most boring rock album in years. It depresses me to say that, because Live was one of my favorites during the mid-1990s, with their album Throwing Copper standing tall among the best of the decade in that regard. But the band's been remarkably inconsistent since then, much of the blame for which has to lie on vocalist Ed Kowalczyk's constant need to insert religious cliches into the picture. Secret Samadhi swam in middle-eastern rhythms and symbolic lyricism that dragged miserably, and no album since Throwing Copper has managed to succeed as an album.

Sure, the band's had occasional hits, including 1999's "The Dolphin's Cry" and "Runaway" (perhaps the most addictive song of 2003, off the band's album Birds of Prey). But through it all Ed K. figures he has to hit us over the head with theology, which ends up creating songs that are dull and unmoving. "Heaven," from Birds of Prey proved it -- though it became a hit despite everything working against it. And instead of correcting the flaws, the band has reveled in them, creating an album that ranges from the mediocre ("The River" and "Wings") to the downright embarassing ("Love Shines (A Song For My Daughters About God)") As much as I'd like to give the band the benefit of the doubt again, I've decided to wash my hands of them. Even as a Contemporary Christian album, which it is not, Songs From Black Mountain fails miserably -- the the band's didactic lyricism merely insults its audience.

Dixie Chicks - "Taking The Long Way"(Open Wide / Columbia, 2006)

Right from the start, Taking The Long Way shows the Dixie Chicks as a band wanting to show just how non-conformist they are. "My friends from high school married their high school boyfriends, moved into houses in the same zip code where their parents lived," Natalie Maines sings on the album's title track. "But I could never follow ... I hit the highway." And with that, country's most antagonistic trio flies the coop. Already banished by the country industry for what amounted to treason in a genre known for support of outright lyrical jingoism, the Chicks claim that they don't need country music anymore. They've evolved.

But have they? The band built its reputation on layers of neo-traditionalist country, bluegrass and acoustic Americana, producing slick slices of life that appealed to a wide audience. Since their debut in 1998 they've continued to evolve musically with each effort, even dabbling in turning bluegrass into pop country. But their sound, as much as it has evolved, is still a country sound. And by elminating that core segment of their audience, the Chicks have isolated themselves in a genre known for lack of support for veteran acts. This begs the question: if Taking The Long Way isn't aimed at a country audience, who is it aimed at?

The album's full of catchy heartfelt music, something that’s become a trademark of the Chicks. But by releasing "Not Ready To Make Nice" as their first single, the band has re-opened their war wounds and poured peroxide in. And though the album itself opened with sales of 526,000, netting the band a third straight #1 album on Billboard's 200, the single has been incredibly disappointing, peaking at #36 on Hot Country Songs and #32 on the Adult Contemporary chart, two places the band has been unbeatable in the past. "Lullabye," the album's second single, hasn't even cracked the country chart, peaking at #76 on the Hot 100 only because it had a Hurricane Katrina tie-in, and "Everybody Knows" peaked at #48 on the country chart. Yet Natalie Maines has said the band is poised to cross over to pop, country be damned.

Yet at its core, this is an album of country, or at least Americana, music regardless of how the band sees it. And without the country audience, and with it highly unlikely to spawn any crossover hits, Taking The Long Way will almost surely lack the impact of the band's previous efforts. Is this fair? Certainly not. The album's as earcatching as ever, and "Lullabye," "Everybody Knows" and "Lubbock or Leave It" would have been surefire #1s for the band had they not decided to pour salt in the wounds they incurred after bashing Bush.

By releasing "Not Ready To Make Nice" as the first statement from this album, they (in the eyes of country fans and station programmers) made a clear statement. The band saw the song as a defiant answer to the people who said they should "shut up and sing" ... but instead it was received by the fans, and many in the industry, as a complete slap in the face to country music's fans. And while the band's free to say what they feel, and as a listener I choose to fully support that, they've surely got to be aware that they can't poison their water supply and then expect to drink from it.

Taking The Long Way is indeed a confident album from the Dixie Chicks that artistically lives up to the best they've produced. But the way the tide's turning, if the band doesn't find a way to sonically evolve beyond pure country music, they're never going to live up to their past successes. It's time to leave the past behind and make decisions that support the future, if the band doesn't want this to be its swan song.

Andy Caldwell - "Universal Truth"(OM Records, 2006)

At 31, Andy Caldwell is a favorite among club-electronic fans, having paid his dues over the last dozen years working in movies, television and on a number of successful albums, both as a solo artist and with popular Bay Area group Soulstice. With Universal Truth he shows why his music's so well accepted. This is a smooth, funky album from a man who sounds completely within his element in the studio. "Runaway," the album's frenetic opener, sets the tone and doesn't let go, urging you to get up and dance with an arrangement that is decidedly more rock than electronic. With a pulsing bass and a synth line that sets the tone for super-sexy sultry vocals, this is a song that's prime for summer smash hit status. The rest of the album's an interesting mix. Sometimes he slows things down a bit too much, and loses track of the raw energy that made the album so alluring upon first listen, but if you make it all the way to "Universal Truth," the album's uber-addictive title track, you'll be hooked for good and the occasional misstep won't matter in the least. I'm no club / dance music fan -- in fact, I avoid it for the most part due to the genre's affinity for endless dull four-to-the-floor mixes -- but this is an album that's simply fun to listen to, and even more fun to groove to. In my eyes, that's a very good thing.

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's - "The Dust of Retreat"(Artemis Records, 2006)

In the fall of 2003 I had the opportunity to interview Richard Edwards, lead singer for the band Margot and the Nuclear So and So's. At the time he was fronting a band called Archer Avenue in Muncie, Ind., and he was quick to note that his true aim as a musician is to craft an album he likes. "I think albums should be listened to as a whole," he told me. "[A good album] can be played from start to finish and be seen as a whole album." It worked like a charm on that band's album I Was an Astronaut, and it is a process which continues to astound on his latest band's album The Dust of Retreat, released this March on Artemis.

The Dust of Retreat is an album which benefits from the cinematic approach Edwards has taken on previous releases. The eight-member band crafts exquisitely arranged pieces and then arranges them in a manner which forces the listener to hear the entire album as a cohesive whole. That the individual songs are earcatching and melodically sound is on its own irrelevant. What truly shows the band's artistic depth is the fact that this album plays best as one 45 minute opus. The songs are meant to be heard in succession, and since the music is so meticulously built from the ground up, it's a treat to let the entire length of the album soak in.

The band builds that album-length depth through the blending of genres. "A Sea Shanty of Sorts" opens the album, starting out on an ethereal note, slowly layering guitar, bass, piano and horns until the vocals come in and sucker-punch you with brutal honesty. Like Sufjan Stevens, this band enjoys the process of layering, and the reward for their fans is that songs like this one reveal new things on repeated listens, something most artists of this era couldn't do if they tried. It's the perfect opening track, because it sets the tone and dares the listener to keep up. Though "Vampires in Blue Dresses," "Jen Is Bringing The Drugs" and "Skeleton Key" are standout tracks -- the latter of which deserves massive college radio airplay -- the album itself is the true winner here.

"A lot of people listen to something original and immediately say 'this is too weird' and they throw it away," Edwards told me during the Archer Avenue interview. He suggested that making music that is interesting sometimes requires a listener to be willing to go along for a ride in which attention must be paid for full benefit of the music to soak in. Margot and the Nuclear So and So's took the next step with The Dust of Retreat, and in the process they created one of the finest debut albums 2006 has had to offer. Letting this pass you by is simply not an option.

The Music
http://www.margotandthenuclearsoandsos.com/
http://www.myspace.com/margotandthenuclearsoandsos