Tab Benoit

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Tab Benoit - Medicine

This is the usually prolific Louisiana guitarist Tab Benoit's first studio album in nearly four years, and although all his releases are top shelf, this one is slightly better. He teams up with New Orleans transplant Anders Osborne, who not only plays second guitar (press notes say B.B. King's famous "Lucille" was used for these sessions) but also co-writes seven of the eleven songs. Other high-profile bandmembers include Ivan Neville, Beausoleil's Michael Doucet, and drummer Brady Blade. In addition, noted roots producer David Z. recorded the project, bringing even more high wattage talent to the proceedings. Since 2003, Benoit has been an active spokesman and president for the Voice of the Wetlands environmental organization so, not surprisingly, the subject matter of some of the material leans toward the state of the bayou. That's especially true in "A Whole Lotta Soul," where Benoit sings "what you gonna tell the spirit/when the heart of the bayou bleeds" and "In It to Win It" that leads off with the line "I was born inside this Delta." Musically, Benoit sticks to his patented blend of soul, rock, blues, and Cajun, often mixed in the same song. His voice has attained a lived-in grit, always present but now somewhat accentuated by production that is spacious yet full. The electric set includes one unplugged tune; "Long Lonely Bayou" features justBenoit on acoustic and Doucet on fiddle. It's a highlight that finds the singer sounding as torn and frayed as the bluesmen who have been such a large part of his influences. He goes pure soul-blues on Toussaint McCall's slow dance classic "Nothing Takes the Place of You," this disc's Otis Redding-styled '60s entry, and rips into the lyric with tearful regret nearly equal to the original. The lovely and passionately sung Osborne-Benoit tune "Sunrise" treads similar territory. The closing zydeco rhythm of "Mudboat Melissa" allows both Doucet andBenoit to open up and solo against a festive, driving Louisiana backbeat. But the album's most riveting moment is arguably its opening title track, where Benoit and band tear into a tough, grinding, stomping blues-rocker that builds tension as it progresses and finds both guitarists unleashing slashing riffs on a song that might be Benoit's most powerful recorded performance. While nothing after quite tops it, lots comes close, making this one of the guitarist's finest overall efforts and well worth the extended wait.

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Odonis Odonis

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Odonis Odonis - Blood Feast

Despite the silly pun in its title, Odonis Odonis' debut album, Hollandaze, is bold, assured, and much more varied than the work of many other artists crossing the streams of noise rock and shoegaze. Singer/songwriter Dean Tzenos is fluent in rock history, allowing him to draw from lots of different influences in unusual ways and craft intriguing juxtapositions of different traditions. “Ledged Up,” for example, features Tzenos singing in a grayed-out post-punk monotone, accompanied by a tinny industrial beat and dark surf guitars that evoke The Munsters' theme song; “Seedgazer” borrows from OutKast's “Hey Ya!” and video game music as well as more obvious dream pop trappings like heavily looped layers of guitars and vocals. For most of Hollandaze, Odonis Odonis bring real menace and muscle to noise pop and the 2010s indie surf revival, something that’s been largely missing from both styles. The title track opens the album with genuine cowabunga surf rock, complete with a plummeting riff and crashing drums that would do Dick Dale and the Ventures proud. Later, former single “Busted Lip” takes that ‘60s grind in a snarling, fuzzed-out direction that A Place to Bury Strangers would be glad to call their own, and “White Flag Riot” and “New World” borrow from punk and industrial for their outbursts. Tzenos is just as skilled onHollandaze’s quieter moments, however: the intro to “We Are the Leftovers” shows off his flair for arrangements with subtle movement, and “Blood Feast” is pretty, creepy, and pretty creepy, as a song about heartbreak named after 1963’s pioneering, gory cult-horror film should be; synths flit like shadows down a hall, and as the song descends into chaos,Tzenos screams, “They’re gonna eat me alive!” It’s knowing, melodramatic, and slightly campy, but a great example of how Odonis Odonis use noise to blur the boundaries between moods. In-the-red levels are used as a shield and a weapon on “Basic Training,” where bruising sounds cover up bruised feelings, while closing track “Tick Tock” is as tense as it is playful. Hollandaze is an impressive debut, and since it came from a furious burst of creativity that produced dozens of demos, Odonis Odonis are just getting started. - review by Heather Phares

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Jonathan Coulton

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Jonathan Coulton - Sticking it to Myself

On his first album after returning from his self-imposed hiatus on recording new material, singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton draws upon the lessons of the Johns and Jonathans who have come before him on Artificial Heart. The first John is They Might Be Giants’ John Flansburgh, who has the distinction of being the first person, other than Coulton himself, to handle the production on one of his albums. Right out of the blocks, the album opener, “Sticking It to Myself,” makes the hand of Flansburgh immediately apparent with a song that has that perfect mix of eclecticism and solid pop songcraft upon which the TMBG man has made his name. Despite this, the album doesn’t come off like Coulton’s audition reel for a spot in They Might Be Giants, as the songwriter deftly injects a lot of his own personality into the songs through his lyrics. This brings us to the influential Jonathan,Jonathan Richman, who Coulton -- with his ability to see the wonder, humor, and sadness in the mundane world -- feels like a spiritual successor to. This quality allows Coulton to create songs that are more like little poignant slices of life than pop constructions, breathing that spark of life into songs like “Glasses.” As an album, Artificial Heart is like a panopticon that gives the listener the opportunity to observe an array of different lives, and offers them the chance to feel a little something different while peering into each window. And even though it’s a more emotionally heavy album than a lot of his previous work, Coultonstill knows how to leave people with a smile, ending the album with two new versions of his famous Portal and Portal 2 theme songs “Still Alive” (featuring a guest spot from Tegan and Sara’s Sara Quin) and “Want You Gone” (which features JoCo himself on vocals) as well as “The Stache,” a touching tribute to mustaches and the men who proudly wear them. With this kind of effortless versatility and easy charm, it’s no wonder Jonathan Coulton has managed to find a special place in people's hearts, artificial or otherwise. - Review by by Gregory Heaney

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Etta James - The Dreamer

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Apparently, Etta James' musical career ends with The Dreamer. The legendary vocalist announced a few months back that this would be her final album; she's retiring from music in order to deal with serious medical issues. Co-produced by James, Josh Sklair, and her sons Danto and Sametto, The Dreamer's 11 tracks offer an imperfect but utterly worthy portrait of the places she's been musically with a couple of selections that reveal her dictum that "every song is a blues." Her signature meld of soul, blues, rhythm & blues, rock, and country are all on display here. The production underscores her lifelong commitment to these styles and suits the material at large. Her musical accompanists include not only her co-producers, but guitarists Leo Nocentelli and Big Terry de Rouen, saxophonist Jimmy Z., trombonist Kraig Kilby, and trumpeter Lee Thornburg. Ms. James' choice of material is rigorous even if two of its selections are questionable: the cover of Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" doesn't lend itself well to the choogling boogie arrangement here; and the funkified reading of contemporary country stars Little Big Town's "Boondocks" sounds like she tried too hard to make it fit. These cuts aside, the rest of the material is vintage; it reflects the work of Ms. James' influences and contemporaries. Her readings ofOtis Redding's "Cigarettes & Coffee" and "Champagne & Wine," Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Dreamer," Bob Montgomery's country-pop standard "Misty Blue," Ray Charles' "In the Evening," Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "That's the Chance You Take" and "Too Tired," andLittle Milton's "Let Me Down Easy" all contain within them not only their original traces, but the musical experience necessary to bring their subtler, deeper meanings to the fore. She re-creates these songs not as mere touchstones or mementos from a career, but as signposts to the living, breathing tradition that bears the signature and considerable influence of her life upon them. The Dreamer is a fitting -- if not perfect -- bookend to one of American popular music's most iconic lives. - review written by Thom Jurek published on All Music

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Sinatra Best of the Best

Finally, a disc that combines Sinatra’s hits for Capitol and his hits for Reprise! Of course, since Capitol is the label releasing Sinatra: Best of the Best, the collection leans heavily on his Capitol sides, but the addition of such ‘60s staples as “It Was a Very Good Year,” “Strangers in the Night,” “Summer Wind,” “That’s Life,” “My Way,” and “Theme from New York, New York” to “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “Come Fly with Me,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” and “Fly Me to the Moon” makes this 23-track collection a superb sampling of Frank songs everybody knows by heart. Initial pressings in the fall of 2011 included the then out of print '57 - In Concert, a heavily circulated (and quite good) concert performed with Quincy Jones’ band in Seattle during 1957.

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The Muppets [Original Soundtrack]

For the 2011 film The Muppets, our fine felted friends partnered with Disney, raising the question of and hope that the collaboration would usher in a new era of Muppets mania and a creative renaissance for the franchise. Arriving a few months ahead of the flick,Muppets: The Green Album rounded up alt-pop/rock hitmakers of the day to put a fresh spin on the Muppets songbook, offering mixed results and more queries about whether the gang could recapture the magic of decades past. Happily, the soundtrack to The Muppetsthoughtfully blends reimagined classics with new tunes (and Muppet performances with live action singing, plus dialogue bits from the movie and a couple of classic non-Muppet radio hits), effectively reinvigorating the franchise for established fans and younger audiences alike. Much of the success of The Muppets' soundtrack can be attributed to Bret McKenzie, half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, who penned the lion’s share of the new compositions, skillfully interpreting the irreverence and emotional range that make theMuppets music of yore so enduring. He sets the stage with the buoyant, soaring opening and closing number “Life’s a Happy Song,” introducing listeners to Muppets fans Mary (Amy Adams) and Gary (Jason Segel), who travel to Los Angeles to try helping the troupe save their theater from oil tycoon Tex Richman (Chris Cooper). Alongside the track’s guest performers Mickey Rooney and Feist, Adams is charming and whimsical, recalling her star turn in Disney fairy tale musical Enchanted, and Segel is unabashedly enthusiastic (befitting considering his role as composer of a puppet-driven musical in Forgetting Sarah Marshall).McKenzie also shines on “Me Party,” a get-her-groove-back disco anthem in which Adamsand (naturally!) Miss Piggy proclaim “one is the new two,” and the moving Segel-centric tune “Man or Muppet”. Similarly rewarding is new piece “Pictures in My Head”, by Disney hitmakers Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman, finding Kermit the Frog reflecting on the state of affairs (“My green is feelin’ gray/Sometimes even frogs have rainy days”) in a ballad worthy to stand alongside “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green” and “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday.” The other factor that makes The Muppets such a treat is its ability to pack in tons of surprises without sacrificing narrative flow: eccentric indie singer/songwriter Joanna Newsom’s divisively Muppet-esque vocals are right at home in a new recording of The Muppet Show theme; rough-edged Cooper plays a Yosemite Sam-Cowboy Troy hybrid on the swaggering, goofy rap “Let’s Talk About Me”; Green Albumfavorite Andrew Bird returns with another carefree whistling session on “The Whistling Caruso”; and Muppet-ized takes on contemporary classics “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Forget You” are perfectly absurd but would make their original performers proud (and not make parents blush). In just 40 minutes, The Muppets offers all the silliness and sentimentality longtime fans have loved and new audiences will embrace, as smart as it is surprising. - Review written by Chrysta Cherrie

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Linda Martini - Olhos de Mongol

LINDA MARTINI is a post rock quintet from Lisbon, Portugal formed in 2003. The band consists of André Henriques (vocals, guitar), Cláudia Guerreiro (bass, harmonica), Hélio Morais (drums), Pedro Geraldes (guitar) and Sérgio Lemos (guitar). They started recording their first demo back in 2004 and finished it in 2005. They released it as a promo in the same year they finished it. In 2006 the band released their debut "Olhos de Mongol". In 2008 the band released their second release, an EP entitled "Marsupial" through Rastilho Records. 














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The Black Keys - El Camino

Picking up on the ‘60s soul undercurrent of Brothers, the Black Keys smartly capitalize on their 2010 breakthrough by plunging headfirst into retro-soul on El Camino. Savvy operators that they are, the Black Keys don’t opt for authenticity à la Sharon Jones or Eli “Paperboy” Reed: they bring Danger Mouse back into the fold, the producer adding texture and glitter to the duo’s clean, lean songwriting. Apart from “Little Black Submarines,” an acoustic number that crashes into Zeppelin heaviosity as it reaches its coda, every one of the 11 songs here clocks in under four minutes, adding up to a lean 38-minute rock & roll rush, an album that’s the polar opposite of the Black Keys’ previous collaboration with Danger Mouse, the hazy 2008 platter Attack & Release. That purposely drifted into detours, whereas El Camino never takes its eye off the main road: it barrels down the highway, a modern motor in its vintage body. Danger Mouse adds glam flair that doesn’t distract from the songs, all so sturdily built they easily accommodate the shellacked layers of cheap organs, fuzz guitars, talk boxes, backing girls, tambourines, foot stomps, and handclaps. Each element harks back to something from the past -- there are Motown beats and glam rock guitars -- but everything is fractured through a modern prism: the rhythms have swing, but they’re tight enough to illustrate the duo’s allegiance to hip-hop; the gleaming surfaces are postmodern collages, hinting at collective aural memories. All this blurring of eras is in the service of having a hell of a good time. More than any other Black Keys album,El Camino is an outright party, playing like a collection of 11 lost 45 singles, each one having a bigger beat or dirtier hook than the previous side. What’s being said doesn’t matter as much as how it’s said: El Camino is all trash and flash and it’s highly addictive. - via allmusic

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I could it resist to put this one to!!!

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Tinariwen - Tassili

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Tinariwen, the Malian Touraeg group, finally broke through to Western audiences with 2007's Aman Iman and 2009's Imidiwan -- culminating in an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival -- 20 years after their inception. The increased profile did little to alter their "desert blues" with its incantatory droning -- primarily electric -- guitars, claps and organic percussion, and chanted vocals in songs about struggle and independence (some ofTinariwen's members were once rebel guerilla fighters). That sound comes out of a nation that exists between the harsh Sahara and the lush African savannah to the south, but it has less in common with other Malian musicians because the band is nomadic, never staying in one place for long. Tassili, named for the region of the Algerian desert they cut the record in, is Tinariwen's Anti label debut. It is similar, at least structurally, to its predecessors.Tinariwen play their trademark, labyrinthine music on acoustic guitars this time -- a back to basics development in itself. Conversely, they've allowed trusted producers Ian Brennan andJean Paul Romann some liberties in letting Western musicians participate on some cuts. Opener "Imidiwan Ma Tennam" commences much as their music has in the past, with the guitars and lead vocals of Ibrahim Ag Alhabib to lead his bandmates in a snakey weave of handclaps, chants, and secondary guitars to follow his own. A little later, Nels Cline's electric guitar almost imperceptibly slithers into the mix, with a stunning but blunted array of effects; they take nothing away from the song's essence. "Ya Messinagh" begins as a single riff blues before handclaps and a second acoustic guitar answer it in what is the closest thing to a Delta blues intro that Tinariwen has recorded. Ag Alhabib's soulful earthy vocals are met at the end of the second verse by the sonorous open tones of brass and reeds by members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. What's amazing is just how seamless their interaction is. On "Walla Illa" and two other cuts, TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe andKyp Malone add vocals and guitars; they add a textual element to other cuts while restraining themselves vocally and instrumentally so as not to intrude. These artists may or may not extend the Touareg group's reach into the West. If so, they've done so withoutTinariwen compromising their sound. These songs are simply Tinariwen doing what they do best: being themselves, albeit more powerfully, not because of the collaborations, but because of the acoustic approach they've taken here. Their sound is dustier, more evocative of the landscape they wander; Tassili is as desolate -- and as timeless -- as the desert itself.

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