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

Goo Goo Dolls - "Let Love In"(Warner Bros., 2006)

There's very little on this, the Goo Goo Dolls' eighth album, that suggests the band is capable of anything but middle-of-the-road pop rock. And maybe, after "Iris" earned the band a mainstream name, the band stopped caring about making anything but middle-of-the-road music. Not a single song on "Let Love In" has the elemental sound that made "Name" such an alternative hit back in 1995, and that's a shame. Because songs like the band's cover of "Give A Little Bit," or their Christmas-themed pop number "Better Days" do little to develop the band's sound. Instead they make a case that there's very little left that Johnny Rzeznik has worth saying. Considering the four year wait since the band's album Gutterflower, and the eight years since their last decent album Dizzy Up The Girl, one has the right to have expected something more from this utterly forgettable album.