Review: Pomegranates - Everybody, Come Outside!

Label: Lujo Records

Released: April 14, 2009

It's not unusual to hear a new record and think, "Here's a band to keep an eye on. This is really good, but the next one could be amazing." What is unusual is for that potential to actually pan out. Considering the frequency of this scenario, there is surely a lot of ground to cover between potentially great and actually great. But don't ask Pomegranates about the unlikelihood of making good on the promise of their previous recordings, because they clearly don't know. Both their debut Two Eyes EP as well as last year's Everything is Alive full-length set high hopes. They were excellent albums, yet they didn't quite break free of their moorings. But now they offer Everybody, Come Outside! which finds them free and open and seemingly limitless.

The album is experimental. It has tremendous movement over the course of its 45+ minutes. From the big echoey chords that kick it off to the the 13 minutes of folkiness and ambient sound that close it, one thing is clear: This is not just a collection of songs. It is a single work, a musical story. To be sure, any track could stand on its own and no one is like another. Yet, the album is far more cohesive than any formula could produce and its wild energy comes from experimentation in not just the music, but the soul.

Most bands are contained by the genres from which the draw their influences. Pomegranates effortlessly ingest guitar pop, walls of jangle, sweet indie pop, punk aggitation, gentle folk, mathy precision and wild psychedelia, yet the album is so big that it contains these rather than being contained by them. Likewise, the musicianship is amazing on Everybody, Come Outside!, yet that is easily lost in the work itself, because each note, each passage serves the bigger picture. As with all great art, the work takes precedence over the artist, despite the work's artistic ambition.

Like many bands, Pomegranates made a promise with their first two releases. What makes them such a rare find is that they fulfill that promise on Everybody, Come Outside!. In fact, they exceed it. It strives and yearns, is desperate and joyous and is huge and personal. Oh yeah, and it rocks!

mp3: Corriander

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 10/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Shirock - Everything Burns

Label: self-released

Released: February 3, 2009

Everything Burns kicks off as a fairly typical post-emo mainstream rock album. There are bits of alt rock and emo tidied up in a nice, easily digestible package and yet...there's something else, something deeper going on with this record. Underneath what seems at first to be a solid, but uneventful set of songs, there's an exuberance that is a true rarity. This band has a message and in their earnestness, they will save the world (or do their best at least). Once the message hits, the songs seem larger, truer, better. And by half way through, something else becomes apparent: They love U2. Their best songs filter mid-80s U2 through the subsequent alt rock and emo explosions and come up with something unique, yet familiar. Like their mentors, they have, at least on their best tracks, marry memorable, moving rock n roll with a message of hope. In case this message might be lost on some, the spoken word part of title track's intro spells it out. They are going to "love people." It's that love that permeates the album and changes it from a solid release to a magnificent experience.

Check out their site for tour details. This band isn't just singing about living life the right way; they're actually doing it. They've partnered with local charities at each stop and all proceeds help the communities in which they're playing. Mark one for the good guys!

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - Sunday at Devil Dirt

Label: Fontana International

Released: November 11, 2008

There aren't many albums as low-key as Sunday at Devil Dirt. Every movement of the album is so subtle that it's difficult to discern. The first two tracks, "Seafaring Song and "The Raven," seem more like movie soundtrack material than the road into a dynamic album, but they set the sparse scene for the album's first stand-alone song, "Salvation," which makes it clear that this album searches and journeys. Throughout though, it does maintain the feel of a soundtrack (albeit of a very good movie), with songs like the jazzy, cabaret "Back Burner" providing segues in the story. None of these are filler in the traditional sense though. They're very strong tracks taken in context and enhance the songs they act as a bridge between as well as the album as a whole.

It's easy to think that Sunday at Devil Dirt is dominated by Lanegan's deep, rough echoes of Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison and Iggy Pop (and some would say Tom Waits, but Lanegan has a true quality that escapes the novelty of Waits' work). That gritty earthiness is the album's grounding. However, countering that is Campbell's thin, ethereal, almost angelic, yet sexy voice. The two together set the tone for the turmoil that exists between heavenly salvation and earthly struggle. These two contrasting voices find their way through the sparse musical scenes that range from subtle strings to folk to dirty jazz and blues. As carefully constructed as the album is, Campbell has written, and performed with Lanegan, a work that is intensely human in both disillusionment and hope. I wish someone would make the movie to go with this, because there's something greater than even this album in there.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 9/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Brandi Carlile - Live From Boston (aka iTunes EP - Boston)

Label: Columbia

Released: 9/16/2008

A cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" is on Live From Boston, so I figured I'd skip right to that track and see whether Carlile and her band managed to do right by Johnny's spirit.

They did.

What more do you want me to write? If that doesn't make you go listen, nothing will.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Cheap Trick - Budokan 30th Anniversary Edition

Label: Epic/Legacy

Released: November 11, 2008

I always had a tough time understanding why Cheap Trick was so popular. Sure, "Surrender" is among rock's greatest songs and they had their share of other decent tunes, but why would they stand out like they did? The answer I was told is contained in their live show and this 30th Anniversary Edition of their Budokan set, re-packaging the original At Budokan shows into one DVD and three CDs, is the best thing short of being there.

The DVD features original concert footage from Cheap Trick's two nights at Budokan in 1978 that only aired once and only on Japanese television. If nothing else, the wild flamboyance of Rick Nielsen adds to the band's already electric live presence in a way that cannot be conveyed in the audio (at least not completely). The filming does have the quality of a TV special, but that shortcoming does little to compromise the entertainment value of a great live band in their element, especially at that very moment that will catapult them into the upper echelon of popular music.

Two of the three CDs recreate the the 1998 20th anniversary issue of At Budokan, remastered for 2008, but the real gem is disc 2, the April 28th show in its entirety. Most live albums really suffer from being culled from multiple shows, because they lose the real picture of the band live, the flow, the energy, the bumps and bruises even. This package however, gives the best of both worlds and the opportunity to really get a feel for why these shows shot the band into super-stardom.

For what it's worth, I saw Cheap Trick at the Virgin Festival in Baltimore in the summer of 2007, over 19 years after the legendary recordings contained in this set, and they were still amazing. The Budokan 30th Annivesary Edition is a great way to understand what the big deal was about Cheap Trick, but, as good as it is, it's still not a substitute for seeing the real thing and three decades later, while their peers are fat, old and boring, Cheap Trick can still deliver. See them if you ever get the chance.

Rating: 9/10

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Review: Avett Brothers - The Second Gleam

Label: Ramseur Records

Released: July 22, 2008

The Avett Brothers' breakthrough album, last year's Emotionalism, was a work whose broad influences were felt throughout and whose quiet ambition made it both huge and intimate at the same time. The Second Gleam, while keeping to the Avett's signature sound, doesn't share its predecessor's breadth. Instead, it focuses on intimacy and gentle folkiness. Not a single track could be described as rousing, yet it manages to rouse the soul with its simple honesty. As ever, the Avetts prove to be deceptively fine musicians who aren't afraid to put themselves into their music in a way that reaches heights both technical and emotional. The album focuses on personal themes (the past, family, love), yet manages to express them in ways that they can be personal for each listener in his own way.

Ratings:
Satriani - 8/10
Zappa - 7/10
Dylan - 9/10
Aretha - 10/10
Overall - 9/10

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Review: Mad Tea Party - Found a Reason

Label: Nine Mile Records

Released: July 15, 2008

There is an interesting revival of old-time music afoot. Tapping into vaudeville, string bands and vocal groups of the 30s and 40s, these bands' strengths can also be their limitations, making many strictly revivalists rather a modern look at the past. A few, however, manage to break the bounds of revivalism to make music that is as thoroughly modern as it is old-time.

Mad Tea Party is just one of those bands. Like their peers, both vaudeville and string band music runs throughout, but they aren't satisfied to have Found a Reason limited to just that. Like few of their peers, Mad Tea Party is part of the uke-billy scene, a small but perhaps growing subgenre where the ukulele rocks like never before. Ami Worthen's voice brings the charming, quirky beauty of the days before dull, cookie-cutter perfection to an album that has roots in the past but also stands firmly in more modern times with both social commentary and pop culture (was that a Pac Man reference?). They can follow-up a fun look at adolescent awkwardness in "I Never Was a Cool One" with the quiet sadness of "Waltz of Despair" and no one will blink. They just have that unique ability to move around like that and yet retain their purity in a way that only bands like the Dead and the Violent Femmes can.

Jason Krekel's licks are at times worthy of Chuck Berry as Mad Tea Party rips through some great rock n roll. Yet, they don't even stop there, moving into early 60s AM pop and surf at times as well. Mad Tea Party still manages to package this up into a distinctive homogeneous sound, taking detours that enhance the trip but don't change the destination. Their multi-faceted soul moves in ways that are both serious and fun, sometimes at the same time.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

"Every Way" video

Mad Tea Party - "Every Way" (2008) from Skizz Cyzyk on Vimeo.

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Review: Bigelf - Cheat the Gallows

Label: Custard Records

Released: August 12, 2008

Make a list of all the grandiose artists and albums in rock n roll history and you probably have a map of the influences on Cheat the Gallows. Bigelf manages to seamlessly move from one of rock's big ideas to the next, making an impressive sound for themselves in the process. It's scary territory and in a sense, it's the train wreck that didn't actually wreck.

Take a song like "The Evils of Rock n Roll." Over the course of six and half minutes, it goes from Sabbath to Budgie to the MC5 to Deep Purple to Sweet, not in a haphazard manner, but so smoothly that you'll miss it if you aren't paying attention. The whole album works this way. "Counting Sheep," the album's finalé, is Dark Side-era Pink Floyd and then before you know what happens, it's dabbling in the dark, heavy riffs of Black Sabbath only to finish up like an old vaudeville show. They borrow from several Pink Floyd eras actually, hitting up Syd Barrett on "No Parachute" and then borrowing the grand theatrics of the trial from The Wall on "Blackball." At other times, they help themselves to Aerosmith's early swing, Bowie's outrageous flamboyance and Queen's bombastic showmanship. In short, they aren't shy. In fact, other than a few of the bands they incorporate into their sound, almost no one has been able to go this far over the top and survive. Instead, they thrive on a sense of theatrics and an underlying soul that keeps Cheat the Gallows, with its ironic skepticism about fame and fortune, from being a regurgitation.

Nothing is entirely original. Nothing appears out of thin air. Everything has influences, but there is a popular misconception that if those influences are discernible, the band is not as original as if they're hidden deep under the covers. Bigelf proves that a band can wear its influences on its sleeve and be on its own trip nonetheless. Cheat the Gallows has liberal helpings of everything big and bombastic about rock n roll in its pot, but the stew it cooks up is fresh and new and downright exhilarating.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

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For another take on the album, check out the Heavy Metal Time Machine

Review: They and the Children - Home

Label: Kill Normal Records

Released: July 1, 2008

There are angry bands and then there are really angry bands. They and the Children are the latter. Their latest offering, Home, cuts right to the chase, brimming over with outright rage from the very start. The intensity level is so high in fact that it's quite a shock that the whole thing doesn't devolve into an inarticulate mess. Perfectly good bands have cracked under less pressure. TATC, however, become more articulate even as the rage factor goes up.

It starts with mix of speed and drone and slowly, subtly layers add to the music's density. The next thing you know, you're simultaneous drowning in hardcore and swimming in psychedelia. By "Invisible," the album's fourth track, the mind-bending space rock is no surprise and, while it provides a breather from the breakneck pace, it by no means takes it easy. In fact, it has perhaps Home's most burning moments.

TATC have found some strange point where hardcore, drone and psychedelia meet and the
confluence of the three turns out to be something akin to rocket fuel. You might get burned along the way, but it's a healing fire.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Spitfire - Cult Fiction

Label: Goodfellow Records

Released: April 29, 2008

There are two kinds of anger: one based on love and one based on hate. I've always found myself more attracted to the former. New Model Army's fury on "I Love the World" has always seemed both fuller and deeper than something along the lines of the Circle Jerks' "World Up My Ass." With that in mind, one look at the cover of Cult Fiction made it clear that it was going to be angry, but what type of anger would it be?

Spitfire convey themselves via a dynamic mix of brutal, churning hardcore and disturbing psychedelic passages. The breaks in heaviness never let up on the album's intensity though. In fact, it is the ability to change the pace and feel and intertwine the the elements (often with guttural screams running through the trippiness) that makes Cult Fiction such an emotional ride. It is an album for a world at war, a war both within ourselves and with others, an epic struggle between good and evil. For all of its extremes, this one is all about love though. The love of one who would lay down his life for his neighbor. The love that's angry about the world gone awry. The love that will fight rather than submit to despair.

Back in 1968, Peter Scholtes wrote a song called "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love" that expresses an ideal that dates back to the earliest days of Christianity. I thought of it when I learned after the fact that Spitfire was a Christian band. So much of the complaint about hypocrisy within Christianity has to do with this ideal being forgotten by many. But Spitfire has not forgotten. Mind you, their love is not nice, it's angry, it's downright furious, but it is indeed love and, on this record, it seems boundless.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Otis Redding - Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (2008 Collector's Edition)

Label: Rhino

Released: April 22, 2008

Otis Blue is a widely accepted soul classic and for good reason. It finds Redding running through some great soul tunes, many made famous by others, yet it never makes you long for the other versions (even Aretha's version of "Respect"). He's just that powerful of a singer. "Satisfaction," one of rock's most overrated songs, even sounds good when Redding does it.

Rhino's new double CD collector's edition includes both the original mono and stereo mixes as well as alternate takes, b-sides and two live shows. Frankly, I'll never understand the appeal to re-issuing a CD with both the stereo and mono mixes. There wouldn't have been a mono release of these albums had the world not been in transition between the formats. Why do we need them re-issued? Otherwise, the bonus material ranges from interesting to awesome. The live cuts are particularly hot and make the re-issue as a whole a very nice package.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Portishead - Third

Label: Mercury

Released: April 29, 2008

Lots of people are complaining that Third doesn't sound like Portishead. These people are smoking crack. In fact, they're probably trying to smoke crack through their ears, which means the crack smoke is blocking out the music.

I don't get the complaints of the crack smokers. Third sounds like Portishead. It is filled with the gorgeous richness and depth that made Portishead famous. No, it's not a repeat of Dummy or Portishead, but it builds upon them. It's the next logical step in a wonderful progression of music.

Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons, and Adrian Utley are exploring new sounds, and they're doing it in a way that stays true to the overarching sound of Portishead. There are beats on this album that are unlike anything the band has ever done before. Many of the arrangements possess the same understated complexity as great movie scores by Ennio Morricone or Bernard Herrmann (who composed for Alfred Hitchcock). "Deep Water" is simply Gibbons voice over a ukulele, yet it possesses all of the emotional vulnerability for which Portishead is known (and it even adds a hearty dash of hopefulness).

The only flaw I can find is that the compositions occasionally wander too close to the generic minor-key tension that has become a goth cliché. It's a flaw that musicians of this calibre should have recognized, but on an album this good, it's completely forgivable.

Ratings
Satriani: 9/10
Zappa: 9/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Social Distortion - Greatest Hits

Label: Time Bomb Recordings

Released: June 26, 2007

I'm not usually that big on greatest hits collections unless they're from a singles-only pop band where there is no real context on the regular albums anyway. Every now and then though, a collection can tell you something that the individual albums didn't. Such is the case with Social Distortion's Greatest Hits.

Mommy's Little Monster was one of the first punk records I bought and as such will always have a special place in my heart. While it is one of the best albums to come out of the early 80s Orange County punk scene, it is also limited by its young, snotty view of the world. However, when taken into consideration with the later material, the depth of songs like "Another State of Mind" and "It Wasn't a Pretty Picture" (sadly absent from this set) comes into greater focus. It also makes something else clear: Mike Ness is a bit of a punk rock Johnny Cash.

Sure, they cover "Ring of Fire," but that does little other than plant the seed for the comparison. A close look will show the parallels. "Another State of Mind" mirrors the pledge of fidelity despite adversity in "I Walk the Line." Pop culture today glorifies time in prison, yet Social Distortion's "Prison Bound," like Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," tells the other side, the real side, of the story. From early on, Ness had the "Man in Black" mentality. Even when immersed in his own dark side, his lyrics, while desolate, are critical of the world that had gone awry around him and yet they offer a vague hope. The last line of "Mommy's Little Monster" is "Don't take her life away," not "Now her life is over." Over the subsequent years, after Ness had kicked his nasty drug habit, that hope became less vague, striving for a better life in "Ball and Chain" and finding faith in "Bad Luck." That hope is extended to the hereafter in "When the Angels Sing" and a dimension of redemption and reconciliation brings this evolution to fruition on "I Was Wrong."

Like Johnny Cash, this evolution from hell raiser to hope to redemption has a religious quality and in the true spirit of the Man in Black, the joy found in the end is not a shiny, happy joy, but a deeper joy that co-exists with, perhaps even requires, sadness and desperation. It is in context of this Greatest Hits collection that I finally understand why Social Distortion resonated with me 25 years ago and why their music still resonates with me today. The collection may be a few tracks short of perfect, but the lesson isn't about being perfect, just better than the day before and the album certainly accomplishes that.

Ratings
Satriani: 6/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 10/10
Aretha: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Strangers Die Every Day - Aperture for Departure

Label: This Generation Tapes

Released: March 4, 2008

There are two approaches to marrying rock and classical. The first takes the worst of both and dummies them down for the least common denominator. Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Metallica's S&M have more in common with those old Hooked on Classics albums from the early 80s than they do with either classical or rock. They merely try to superimpose one genre onto the other and call it a marriage, but the simple fact is, it's not. However, for those interested in taking a step outside the mainstream, the relationship between the genres did finally come to fruition...in Godspeed You! Black Emperor. But now, Strangers Die Every Day has succeeded in this as well.

It may seem that being the other band in the genre is a slap in the face, but considering how earth-shaking Godspeed and the related A Silver Mt Zion project are, being second is hardly a point against Strangers Die Every Day. They address the glaring weanesses of both rock and classical, rock's being its inability to break out of its own confines and be truly dynamic and classical's is that it usually feels like the notes are being read rather than experienced.

Aperture for Departure, on the other hand allows the rock to slip its bonds and explore a broader musical landscape. At the same time, it loosens classical up with an off-kilter rawness that typical classical performances miss. It derives its dark mood from the classical layer while getting its drive and its edge from the rock rhythms beneath. On each track, the band strives more for emotional range than technical perfection, recognizing that rock's beauty stems from being blemished not pristine. This allows the music to build into manic noise or restrain itself to quiet passages that have real meaning to the listener, the rock listener in particular.

Overall, Aperture for Departure is classical in a technical sense, but its heart is rock n roll. The band's willingness to be loose and noisy makes for a vulgar classical even when the rock parts aren't overt. It is not simply classical music played with rock instruments, but its own genre that recognizes the two can enhance each other. It finds a common ground between them that has an almost folk nature in its connection with its listeners. No, it's not quite Godspeed, but it's very, very close, making it not just one of the most ambitious albums I've heard in some time, but also one of the best. There was only one 30 second passage on the whole album that failed to completely captivate me. It's that good from start to finish.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

Esther mp3
Bicycle mp3

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Review: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - 100 Days 100 Nights and Angie Stone - The Art of Love and War

Label: Daptone Records

Released: October 2, 2007


Label: Concord

Released: October 16, 2007

It would seem that the essential component of soul music (old school or new) would be the soul itself, yet that is often just what modern soul and R&B lack. Too often even a good R&B singer has a tough time overcoming assembly line songwriting and synthetic backing tracks. It is this old versus new soul difference that separates the new releases from Sharon Jones and Angie Stone.

Without question, both singers have great voices. In fact, Stone's is probably technically superior, but that is the only place that she manages to measure up to Jones on these albums. When you strip away that sheen, what's underneath, the soul, isn't even close.

Years ago, Sharon Jones was told that she was too dark-skinned, too short, too fat and once she passed 25, too old. Jones didn't get a break until she was 40 (singing backup on a Lee Fields record). In the meantime, she worked as a Wells Fargo armored car guard and a corrections officer at Rikers (!), but she kept singing. Angie Stone's break came much earlier, having a hit record as a member of The Sequence before her 20th birthday as well as at least middling success until taking off in the last decade. I can't help but wonder if the "business" hasn't robbed Stone of something that it in turn augmented in Jones through her struggles. While that may not explain why, these two albums leave little doubt that Sharon Jones just has more soul.

Sharon Jones' voice is everything that a good soul voice should be. It can be bold, soft, sultry, strong, defiant. She connects on a human level, because she sings with more than just her voice. After all these years, there's no going through the motions. She has hunger and confidence despite being ripped off. Her energy isn't angry though, just righteous. Her backing band, the Dap-Kings, whose horns helped light the fire on the otherwise soul-deprived Amy Winehouse's debut, is the kind of natural, organic band that has crossover appeal in the rock world. They have more in common with the Family Stone or even the Allman Brothers and Black Crowes than they do with modern R&B sounds. Rhythmically, they propel the music, giving Jones even more force. The horns are so natural that they work in the capacity of background vocals. They're just that rich. The intense interaction between Jones and the band is what makes the album so big and bold, so natural and alive. 100 Days, 100 Nights is essentially a 60s soul album, but it doesn't come off like a revival. The record is very much in the here and now despite its vintage approach.

There's no doubt that Angie Stone has the voice to make a great record, but The Art of Love and War is just formula R&B. The beats are measured and precise. The piano has all the emotion of light jazz. The background vocals are generic. The result is an album that sounds as if all the pieces were recorded in isolation and queued up to have Stone's vocals recorded on top like karaoke. There's none of the human interaction that makes Sharon Jones soar. Instead, it's just cold, synthetic music that robs Stone of any emotion she may have brought. Neither Stone nor the backing tracks have any touch, any feel, any swing. While this might be acceptable fare for an indiscriminate modern R&B fan, anyone looking for real soul, the kind that would crossover into other genres, will be sorely disappointed. This is a superficial soundscape and you don't have to poke very hard to find that it's paper-thin.

Whether it's their past or their present or some combination of the two, there's a world of difference between these two very talented singers on their latest albums. Quite simply, Sharon Jones has made an album that knows the true meaning of soul and Angie Stone has not.



Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 5/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

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Angie Stone
Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 2/10
Dylan: 4/10
Aretha: 4/10
Overall: 5/10

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Review: Marah - Angels of Destruction!

Label: Yep Roc Records

Released: January 8, 2008

I usually listen to music on the cheap stereo in my little Toyota. But as I've listened to Angels of Destruction! over the past few months, I've encountered a problem that I've never, ever had before.

The sound is just too big.

In my book, big sound is a good thing. I complain because Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" wasn't really much of a wall at all, and I get annoyed at all the empty sonic space on albums like My Bloody Valentine's Loveless and Curve's Doppleganger.

But for some weird reason, Angels of Destruction! kind of freaks me out when I listen to it in the car. I can't explain it. On headphones, the first track, "Coughing Up Blood," sounds great, with the buried layers of rhythmic backing vocals and bells and a harmonica and a bunch of other stuff that I'm too deaf to identify. The song is exciting, and the production is as thick as my fat belly after ten years of being a desk jockey.

But put it in my car, and I get nervous. Tense and nervous, can't relax. It's tough for me to get past the first couple of tracks. Seriously. This review is a month overdue, that's how bad it's been. I've been too nervous to write it. Crazy, crazy Chuck.

The thing is, Angels of Destruction! is awesome. It's not quite as good as 20,000 Streets Under the Sky, but that's one of the best rock albums I've heard in the past few years, and I don't think Marah will ever release another album that connects with me like that one did.

It's still great, though. First of all, there are some incredible words on this album. I hear a line like "Your laughter is my Jesus, cut down from the cross, shaken but alive..." and I'm blown away. I've heard laughter like that, and it's a powerful thing. That's the kind of laughter than inspired me to stop drinking, and could probably inspire me to start again.

Then you have songs like "Blue but Cool," which is one of the best summaries of a stale relationship that I've ever heard. It's the kind of song that makes me want to copy all of the lyrics right here, right on this blog, because I want you to feel what I'm feeling as I listen to it. But you won't feel it, because you're not listening to it. But you should. You should go out right now and sign up for Rhapsody or buy the song on iTunes or listen to the stream on Marah's web site, because it's a good song with really powerful and descriptive words like

"Cowering afraid in the corners of togetherness
look at what we made out of all of our old loneliness
and now that we are one, darling, how come it is we feel more like two than ever before?"

Really, just go take a listen. Or don't, whatever, It's your loss. Obviously, you don't really care for music, do you?

(Is my guilt trip working? Are you listening? I'll give you a minute, and then we'll carry on.)

Okay, welcome back. I've been talking a lot about the lyrics. What about the music, though? Well, it rocks. There's no other way to describe it. It's not super-technical or super-showy or super-rootsy or super-hip, but it certainly is super-good. There's energy in the music. There's heart in the music. There's soul in the music, and not in a "What's the target demographic for the new Anthony Hamilton record?" kind of way. The things I love about rock music? They're pretty much all here.

So my point to all of this is that I think you should give this album a shot. You should listen if you like rock music, or well-written words, or songs that bring their characters to life. Don't worry too much about what Marah sound like, because all that matters is they sound good. They captured something special on Angels of Destruction!. Just listen.

Ratings:
Satriani - 6/10
Zappa - 6/10
Dylan - 10/10
Aretha - 9/10
Overall - 9/10

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If you're curious about my rating categories, read the description.

Review: The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath

Label: Universal Records

Released: January 29, 2008

The Mars Volta really scaled things back for this one. Gone are the super-long songs (the longest here is comparatively radio-friendly at nine and a half minutes). All sarcasm aside, they run completely wild with music that's almost impossible to follow, yet just as impossible to ignore. On previous efforts, their bold explorations have never broken down, pushing to the very sonic limits of rock music. The Bedlam in Goliath, while it too reaches the upper atmosphere of experimentation, does get lost and confused at points. For the first time, the Mars Volta may have pushed too far or, more likely, not held on tight enough for their own ride.

Right away, "Aberinkula" makes no secret that the band intends this album to challenge the boundaries they had continuously pushed on their previous albums, particularly Amputechture. With its near chaos of manic virtuosity at full tilt, it's still possible to pick out their love for Mahavishnu Orchestra and Ornette Coleman. They seem to bring things back to this world on "Ilyena," but even that ultimately goes bananas as well. When "Tourniquet Man" also devolves into the nearly unlistenable (or completely unlistenable, depending upon your tolerance), the band might have given up too much control.

Still, their ability to mash-up Latin and thrash and intersperse it with spacey prog on "Ouroborous" or to transition the funk-infused energy of "Cavelletas" into Black Flag guitar noodling is amazing. In fact, the influence of Greg Ginn's playing on Omar Rodriguez-Lopez pops up in a few places and speaks well of both Ginn's underrated playing and Rodriguez-Lopez's ability to recognize it and incorporate it into his own seemingly boundless bag of tricks.

Always pushing, the Mars Volta find a home for Middle Eastern and classical, free jazz, prog, metal, punk and probably every other style under the sun in the boiling pot that is The Bedlam in Goliath. While there are a few moments when the music may crumble under the weight of its own ambition, Omar and company still hold the mania together over the course of the album even if the music can be as esoteric as the lyrics. The closer, "Conjugal Burns," breaks into free jazz and spacey electronics toward the end, but returns to its structure with about a minute to go as if to assure us that, despite the meandering ride, the Mars Volta is very much in control of the destination.

Rating: 9/10

The limited promo EP that many record stores were giving away (every store in my area was out of them by the day after the release) contains a cover of the Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd tune, "Candy and a Currant Bun." The Mars Volta certainly put their stamp on the song, but it's more for the serious Volta fan (do they even have casual fans?). Sometimes, too many crazy geniuses spoil the soup. The really great thing about the EP is that it's a CD on one side (that also contains the video for "Wax Simulacra") and vinyl (yeah, I said VINYL) on the other. That's as crazy cool as the band themselves!

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Review: Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

Label: Ramseur Records

Released: March 15, 2007

Americana's return to the distant roots of rock music can be both a strength and a limitation. The genre often taps into the stripped down honesty of early music, but is also limited in its influences. The Avett Brothers, however, capture the genre's strengths without being held to its limitations.

The band, Scott and Seth Avett on banjo/kick drum and guitar/high-hat respectively, and Bob Crawford on bass, along with a variety of guests, stick to traditional string band instrumentation and that both keeps their sound rooted in tradition and makes their broad sound more surprising.

While "Shame," one of the album's strongest songs, largely fits the traditional mold, it's the Avetts' ability to add a pop hook that is the cream rising to the top. They stray even farther from the old-time, down-home sound as they dabble in cabaret on "Paranoia in Bb Major" and Latin music on "Pretty Girl form Chile." They nearly cover "All My Loving" with "Will You Return," but that very Beatlesque charm pops up throughout the album in less obvious ways.

Because the arrangements are so traditional, Emotionalism never crosses the line into the ridiculous despite its boldness. The vocals in particular have a charming imperfection, adding both color and warmth. Instead of being sold on itself, the album remains down to earth, allowing low-key tunes like "The Ballad of Love and Hate" to speak directly to the listener, like a friendship rather than a performance. The Avetts' ability be simultaneously rooted in tradition and stretching their legs with eclecticism allows them to translate genre-specific work into broad appeal.

Rating: 9/10

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Review: Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vols I & II: Fire & Water

Label: Vagrant Records

Released: October 16, 2007

Some bands seem to have potential, but early on, it's unclear whether they'll fulfill that. When I first heard Thrice open for Hot Water Music at the 9:30 Club back in 2002, that's exactly the way I felt about them. The live show was dynamic and energetic, but the two studio albums were trying too hard and the result was disjointed and messy. They certainly had the potential and the big ideas for their own sound, they just hadn't brought everything together yet.

Five years later, Thrice has shown that those weren't just random ramblings on their early releases. They were in fact up to something big and that something begins to really pan out on these first two volumes of The Alchemy Index. The first two of the four EPs that make up their concept album about the medieval elements focus on Fire and Water.

There may not be a better explanation of the success of these volumes than the one-word descriptions that easily came to mind with each. Fire simmers, burns, explodes and ignites. It is the heavier of the albums and its churning rhythms and chunky riffs scorch the ground between hardcore and hard rock. Fire finds the band excelling at what they've been doing for years, turning up the heat enough to make it standout from its post-hardcore peers for both the standalone music as well as its ability to nail the concept.

Water is new ground (or sea) for Thrice. It's very fluid and moves in waves. It's much more low-key, but like water itself, probably more than fire. It is easy to become enveloped in the ebb and flow of its soundscapes which will carry you, pull you under, let you up. It's a cold sea, with ambient electronics and quiet echoes and the very distinct sense of the lapping waves on the surface. Sometimes the waves are big and heavy and others they are calm and gentle, but they are always present. Water's musical pictures are painted with a palette that includes Pink Floyd and King Crimson, but also colors that are distinctly Thrice.

On both EPs, the song titles hide nothing about their theme and in that sense, they may border on telling rather than showing their purpose. The music is never so blunt, yet leaves no more doubt about what it has to say. Concept albums are always a tricky game that can lead even good bands astray. Thrice, however, may have found their true calling with an album that is brilliant, challenging and listenable, a trifecta seldom achieved.

As if making a great record wasn't enough, Thrice is donating a portion of their proceeds to Blood:Water Mission which partners with local villages to build sustainable wells for the thousands of Africans without access to clean water. As little as one dollar can provide water for one person for one year. You can't beat that, so check out their site.

The band will follow this release up with a companion double EP in 2008. Obviously, it will address the elements of air and earth.

Rating: 9/10

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Review: Long Distance Calling - Satellite Bay

Label: Viva Hate Records

Released: September 21, 2007

When dealing with any of the post-this-or-that sub-genres, you're almost always going to have music that is a challenge to even the most patient ear and largely inaccessible to most everyone else. There are, of course, exceptions and Long Distance Calling is one of them. Their strong layered approach can be spellbinding both with a quick listen or a critical ear.

Throughout Satellite Bay, Long Distance Calling creates layers ranging from ambient noise to metal crunch, varying the music by subtly adding and removing elements. The care taken in constructing their music is evident from the first track which takes five minutes to build from it's quiet beginnings to its heavy climax. A pop song is over in less time than Long Distance Calling merely sets the stage. In both the airy and the dense sections, each component seems to be encapsulated as a standalone object that is nonetheless integrated perfectly into the whole. The ambient noise, seemingly multiple layers of drums and bass, echoy and crunchy guitar layers and voice samples in lieu of traditional vocals come and go as the music swells and recedes. This approach relies very little on any but the most subtle melody.

Half way through the album, it could end without complaint, yet the two truly heavy songs are yet to come. "The Very Last Day" begins as an ominous war march that ultimately becomes a crushing heaviness and "Built Without Hands" compresses that dense sound even further. Just before the intensity becomes too much, Satellite Bay draws to a close in much the way it began.

Long Distance Calling calls on the work of a number of experimental bands, from Isis' droning weight to Explosions in the Sky's noddling expansiveness to Husker Du's controlled noise. In the end though, they've concocted these ingredients into something quite its own and that something both pushes the limits for those who would takes its path and carefully pulls along the less adventurous listener until they can't escape.

Rating: 9/10

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Review: De Novo Dahl - Shout

Label: Roadrunner Records

Released: 2007

I'm gonna cut to the chase here. "Shout" is the biggest slice of musical joy I've heard since U2 released "Beautiful Day" seven years ago. The song bursts with unadulterated happiness. It's hooks and harmonies grab you right from the start. A tide of pop beauty rolls in on driving rhythms, infectious bass lines and waves of guitar, organ and voice and it flows out on low-key verses whose soulful vocals clear the way for the tide to return.

"Shout" acts as the mission statement for the EP (and perhaps the band as a whole), but the other two non-remixes don't give up any ground. They follow the same undeniable plan that makes the whole experience nothing short of exhilarating. Their mix of pop and soul in the vocals and keys with a rock edge, courtesy of a big guitar sound and an animated rhythm section, and the electronic details of the omnichord rocks as hard and passionately as the White Stripes, yet is as quirky and fun as Devo or They Might Be Giants. While the songs build from quiet to explosive, the actual energy never lets up, not even for a moment.

The second three tracks on the EP are remixes of the first three. While they do a few interesting things, the originals cannot be contained by their tricks and therefore the remixes never seem to capitalize on the strengths of the originals. The quality of the songs in their purest form makes the remixes expendable.

Let me leave you with one warning about this EP: If you play "Shout" really loud, be careful. You're liable to experience pure ecstatic joy.

Rating: 9/10

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DVD: U2 - Popmart: Live from Mexico City

Label: Island Records

Released: September 18, 2007

Popmart finds U2 at their most bloated. The set is absolutely huge and probably has enough lights to illuminate a mid-size town. The grand entrance with the band entering as a boxing entourage heading to the ring of a championship bout (with Bono as the fighter) all set to the tune of M's "Pop Muzik" is about as over-the-top as it could be. They had costume changes. At one point, they return to the stage in what appears to be a UFO. With all this superficiality, how could they possibly connect with the fans?

Certainly, they could reconcile this show with much of their 90s material with its Eurodance angle, but they can't avoid their older selves, the more organic U2 that saved the 80s from synthesizers and hairspray. They seemed to falter on these songs at first. "I Will Follow" gets lost in the lights. "Pride," a song that usually gives me cold chills, doesn't resonate in the way it typically does. However, by "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," they start to scale back some of the extremes of the show and let these songs stand on their own, the way in which they were intended. From that point on, they seem to reconcile the sheer size of the performance with the personal nature of their music. When the crowd sings along to "Sunday Bloody Sunday," it's downright moving. When Bono brings a girl from the audience on stage during "With Or Without You," he might as well have brought the whole audience up. It was that kind of universal moment. And hugging that girl was in sharp contrast to how he played to the cameras early on. Sure, I could have done without "Lemon," but in context, it worked. They sandwiched "Please" between "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" as seamlessly as if they all came from the same album. The one big disaster is the credits rolling over the last song, "Wake Up Dead Man," and excellent and unexpected choice by the band, ruined by the producers.

Popmart probably finds U2 at just about their worst. Amazingly enough, the show was still phenomenal. They found a way to marry huge, contrived sets and rock star bombast with music that makes real human connections. They reached out and touched tens of thousands in a way that bands struggle to in clubs that hold a few hundred. While this might not be their finest moment, it leaves little doubt that they are the greatest rock band since the Beatles.

Rating: 9/10

DVD: Ramones - It's Alive 1974-1996

Label: Rhino

Released: October 2, 2007

I have but one complaint about this DVD although I have no reasonable solution to remedy it: I wish the DVD was made up of complete concerts rather than songs culled from various shows over the years. Of course the sacrifice would be the variety of shows that a career overview should cover, so it's a fair trade-off. That being said, I can find no other fault with it.

The double DVD captures the Ramones from their earliest days at CBGB's up to their final months playing together. Just as the Ramones best and most important albums came out in the 70s, so this compilation of performances also focuses on that decade with well over half of the performances culled from those years. Obviously, some of the early footage is extremely raw, but what it lacks in quality, it makes up for in historical significance. The earliest clip shows an almost entirely incompetent band with such confidence nonetheless that it's no wonder they went on to become one of the most influential bands in rock history. As time passes over the course of the video, the Ramones seem never to grow old. Even as their significance waned over the latter part of their career, they seemed to never be at the end of the road. That makes it even more shocking now that not only is the band defunct, but 3/4 of the original members are no longer with us. It's weird when they always seemed like a bunch of kids just beating the crap out of their instruments in true rock n roll style. In addition to the concert footage, there is also a few music videos and some goofy, but insightful interviews provided in the bonus section. It's Alive 1974-1996 is essential viewing not just for Ramones fans, but for anyone who enjoys rock n roll distilled into its purest form.

Rating: 9/10

Check out the trailer:

Review: Building the State - Faces in the Architecture

Label: Amnot Records

Released: October 2, 2007

Both indie and math rock can easily degenerate into dispassion on their own. Combining the two should increase that possibility exponentially, making Building the State's latest EP all the more remarkable.

Ringing guitars, complex bass lines, precision drumming, indie rock vocals and ambient sound make up layer upon layer of distinct, yet intertwined noise. Unlike most vocal music where the instrumentation just provides backing for a voice, Building the State is made up of strictly equal parts. In a sense, they seem to be conceptually more like an instrumental group. They capture the ambling pace of indie rock and have just enough pop sense to mask their math rhythms. With only four tracks over its 20 minutes, the songs have room to develop into multi-part pieces, but the transitions are so smooth that the movement from passage to passage is almost imperceptible, moving from the calm before the storm to the storm itself before anyone even notices. This is a pristine album without being cold. It feels loose, but is actually incredibly tight and that's no easy feat.

In a nutshell, Faces in the Architecture draws the best from both indie and math and the combination is on par with the best that both genres have to offer.

Rating: 9/10

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Review: Sly and the Family Stone - Greatest Hits

Label: Epic/Legacy

Released: 1970 (reissued August 28, 2007)

Released in 1970 to fill the gap between Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On, Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits compiles many of the top tracks from the band's early years. While every song on this album is also contained on the later Anthology release along with selections from their later catalog, this is in most ways a superior album.

In the interim between albums, Sly and company's early optimism began to fade alongside the idealism of the 60s and into Sly Stone's increasing drug problems. Because Anthology fails to mark that change, it feels haphazard, like a mere collection of random songs. Greatest Hits on the other hand shares the common themes of joy and optimism that characterize both the albums that these songs are drawn from as well as the times in which they were made. The only inexplicable omission is "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey" from Stand!, an album which contributes several other songs. I suspect that this was just a matter of playing it safe and avoiding controversy on an album that by design would appeal to less hardcore Sly Stone fans. It's a shame, because the song, like several others which use that very emotional word, is incendiary, but fighting the good fight, not perpetuating stereotypes. Oh yeah, it's amazingly powerful too. Its absence doesn't hurt this album, so much as knowing the song just makes me wish it had been included.

While it doesn't take into account the second part of Sly and the Family Stone's career, which produced great music in its own right, and it backs down from righteous controversy by omitting a great tune, Greatest Hits is an amazingly cohesive collection of songs from the first few years that the band graced us with their music. The only real argument against owning this is that you should already have the records from which this was culled. There isn't much of a step down from the singles to the album cuts and that's even more amazing still.

Rating: 9/10

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Review: Frontier Folk Nebraska - The Devil's Tree

Label: Hands on Deck

Released: 2007

Desperation and salvation often have a parallel existence as evidenced by the role of religion in in the worst of times. Perhaps it is the hope of a better life to come, that light at the end of the tunnel, that allows people to hold on in these dire times. More likely it seems, in this band's view, it is the resolve of faith more than any real optimism. Frontier Folk Nebraska mixes Dust Bowl desperation with Bible Belt religion for an album that chronicles the struggle of faith in trying times.

Recorded with traditional, almost exclusively acoustic, instruments, The Devil's Tree is a step back in time, away from the happy sheen of modern comfort and convenience to a time when hope for the rewards of heaven was sometimes all a person could cling to. Like poverty, the music is sparse. The guitar work is simple with some subtly moving slide parts. Low energy bass lines and understated drums are the background of the bleak musical landscape. Accordion and violin are the drone of its even less welcoming middle ground. While the singer lacks the range to have a truly good voice, there is just enough twang and tension to make it the perfect voice to walk through the desolation, on one hand pleading to be saved and on another resolved to continued suffering in this life. Under the covers, there is just the slightest hint of pop, so slight that it is likely that very shred of hope that still remains in the farmer standing on his parched land as a dust storm approaches. As they sing, "It's hard to be like my Savior," it's clear that even this last shred of hope or faith to cling to doesn't come easy.

The most obvious comparison to The Devil's Tree is likely Uncle Tupelo, but that shouldn't obscure the influence of the Violent Femmes, whose bizarre perhaps tongue-in-cheek religious imagery and deep roots in American music manges to conjure up similar visions of the snake-handling periphery of Christianity in this country's poorer parts. While Frontier Folk Nebraska avoids the strange goofiness of the Femmes, they certainly tap into that same history.

For an unsigned band, there is little to complain about. If forced though, it might be worth mentioning that the production is rather poor. Granted, this album shouldn't have pristine sound, but there are times when some of the lower parts clip a bit and that kind of rawness detracts from the effectiveness of the sound. It's a minor complaint though and one that I might even fail to mention on an album with more glaring weaknesses.

Despite having only heard stories of the Great Depression, Frontier Folk Nebraska has managed to create its soundtrack. More importantly, they do it in a way that can relate to the depression (and shred of hope) that exists today under a facade of happiness.

Rating: 9/10

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Review: Tia Carrera - Heaven/Hell EP

Label: Arclight Records

Released: June 12, 2007

Most stoner rock bands love Black Sabbath and Tia Carrera is no different in that respect. What sets them apart, aside from sheer technical prowess and experimental intuition, is that Black Sabbath isn't the primary trick in their bag. They meld Sabbath's heaviness with Hendrix's psychedelic grooves and Greg Ginn's free jazz punk. The result is staggering, showing that all these things, some started 40 years ago, still have plenty of fresh ground to be traveled by a band with a spirit of exploration and map in their head.

Tia Carrera rein in some (though by no means all) of their experimentation on this album, but they don't lack creativity, they simply reap the rewards of past trips to the edge of the stoner universe and boil it down into a more manageable package. For its entire 33 minute ride (which once upon a time would make this an LP, not an EP), the heaviness of Heaven/Hell is never in question. But its not the crushing and dull heaviness of their peers that merely take Sabbath's slow, heavy dirges to an extreme. Tia Carrera moves. They groove. They rock. They bring technical skill that allows them to channel Hendrix in the way it was intended, not the distilled, clean, easy version we hear so often today. They rip it up, to the point that it seems the experiment may go awry and then they bring it back down into the groove again. Like Black Flag at their most musically genre-shattering, they never lose control and the music never feels boxed in. At any moment it could take off on some rambling passage, losing itself in darkness or in light. It's downright exciting.

Tia Carrera are the stoner heirs of Hendrix. They bring more than just a clear appreciation for his catalog to the table though. They bring his spirit, the heaviness of Sabbath, the wild abandon of Ginn and themselves, a force in their own right, to a scene that likely has no idea what hit it.

Oh yeah, there's no vocals, but don't worry, you won't miss 'em.

Rating: 9/10

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Review: Papermoons - 7 inch EP

Label: Team Science Records

Released: July 24, 2007

Houston's Papermoons, the duo that is Matt Clark and Daniel Hawkins, make music that is soft and gentle on the surface, but moves with subtle power. Their debut EP contains four songs (five on the CD) of indie folk beauty that mix layers electronic drone and traditional instrumentation. In just a single listen, the ride travels deep under the surface, touching far more than just the ears. The band really seems to be on its own path. It's a similar vein to the Postal Service perhaps, but by no means derivative. Each track is a big lush soundscape without losing its small folksy, rootsy feel. The best recommendation for approaching Papermoons' music comes from the record itself: "I think we think too much about everything..." This isn't a record to over analyze. Abandon yourself to its flow and you'll just understand.

Rating: 9/10

Note: Place your mouse over the album art to see the beautiful vinyl.

Papermoons Myspace

Review: Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Diamonds in the Dark

Label: Sugar Hill Records

Released: June 12, 2007

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles do more than just channel the past. True, Diamonds in the Dark is partially images of days gone by, but the package is fresh. Touching on every raw influence of rock music, the end result is an album that is both clean and warm, touching the old, but very much new.

The album centers on Sarah Borges voice which is rich and warm. She can use it across the genres the album touches and her passion is just as clear when she's subtle as when she's brash. She has similar qualities to Natalie Merchant, but Borges' individuality is so strong that the comparison only becomes vividly clear once (on "Modern Trick"). The band is more than just a backup for Borges' voice. The rhythms can be driving or sublime or anything in between, setting the tone as it changes along the way. The pedal steel plays an integral role throughout, sharing a lot of the understated movement of the vocals and bringing out a lot of the songs' color.

Diamonds in the Dark clearly digs deep into the core of rock n roll, coming up with rockabilly, blues, soul, bubblegum, country and punk. "The Day We Met" has the punk-edged rockabilly perfected by X (even more than the album's actual cover of X's "Come Back to Me"). Punk energy is even more prevalent on the garagey "Diablito" and "Stop and Think It Over" applies that same punk rock edge to 60s pop. Borges pulls off "False Eyelashes" with all the confidence of Dolly Parton's original and her own restless energy. The pedal steel is just superb on this as well as "Modern Trick." Even the comparatively average country ballads "Around 9" and "Belle of the Bar" could stand on their own. The album finishes up with another cover, this time Tom Waits' "Blind Love," whose sparse echoey slide and rimshots provide the perfect atmosphere for Borges range and control without constraining her.

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles have produced an album that burns slow and warm with their passion and love, not for the music of the past, but for the roots of the present. There's a difference between those two, because one is just a revival, but Sarah Borges and company show us that even the roots are still alive and growing today.

Rating: 9/10

Review: Bedouin Soundclash - Street Gospels

Label: Side One Dummy

Release Date: August 21, 2007

Punk and reggae have a long history together. The commonality of what was the people's music in their respective cultures was evident almost from the very birth of punk and that shared vision has been explored right up through today. Certainly some have used both genres for ill, but every time I suspect that the tie between the two is no longer genuine, a band comes along to reassure me that it's still very much alive. Right now, that band is Bedouin Soundclash. Their brand of reggae and dub boils with a punk undercurrent, but also recognizes that pop and soul are vital ingredients that are so often absent from the genre.

Reggae is the primary ingredient, but by no means the only one. With punk running generally under the covers and surfacing occasionally on tracks like "Walls Fall Down" and even more so "Gunships," soul is more overt. Soulful vocals, especially in the harmonies, roots each song without exception in something genuine, so much so that the album doesn't miss a beat on the a capella "Hush." In fact, the song is essential to the album’s flow. The opening track, "Until We Burn in the Sun," does more than dabble in dance with its reggae-tinged Madchester sound. It's an exciting start before the album settles into a solid reggae groove. Street Gospels strays into dub occasionally, most notably on "Jealousy and the Get Free" and "Midnight Rockers." The album overflows with great pop hooks and picking singles would not be an enviable task. With all of its elements, the album doesn't meander though. It's course is steady even as the sound varies and that might be its best case for greatness.

Sharp guitar work from Jay Malinowski accents the album’s undeniable rhythms. Eon Sinclair's fluid bass lines intermingle with the crisp drumming and djembe accents of Pat Pengelly and Brett Dunlop, creating reggae's warm rhythmic duality. While Bedouin Soundclash worked with some high profile musicians on the album (Money Mark who regularly works with the Beastie Boys, Wade MacNeil of Alexisonfire and Vernon Buckley of reggae pioneers the Maytones), bringing back Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer, a clear expert on the fusion of punk and reggae, to produce Street Gospels proved to be their wisest choice. He outdid his work on Sounding a Mosaic, capturing the band’s clear growth and getting a cleaner sound without sacrificing the music's energy.

There is no doubt that it is appropriate that "clash" appears in their name, because the Clash are Bedouin Soundclash's biggest influence. There aren't many better bands to look to for inspiration, but what's best about Bedouin Soundclash is that they don't dip into the common Clash pool. Instead they look to the grossly underrated Sandinista-era, picking up the Clash's ability to fuse not only punk and reggae, but also bring in elements of dance, soul and amazing pop hooks. The result isn't some of the best reggae outside of Jamaica, but some of the best reggae period. Bedouin Soundclash is not the average local college reggae act that goes through the motions for drunk kids in bars. They are a genuine reggae band just as if they came from Kingston, Jamaica, not Kingston, Ontario.


Rating: 9/10