The batch of music selected for review this time out seemed to organize itself into pairs. One record that didn’t find a mate was The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner Bros.) Not that another semi-orchestral psychedelic pop couldn’t have been found, but nothing of the sort found it’s way to my boombox before deadline. It’s hard to take the Flaming Lips entirely seriously given their penchant for “wacky,” if not “zany” [ironic post-modern quote marks] songs, and Wayne Coyne’s tendency to sing purposely out-of-tune to further distance himself from the material. Now, ironic distance from a song about pink robots is probably a good thing but what if you’re trying to say something that really means something to you? Well, on “Do You Realize?” he sings the lines “do you realize/that everyone you know someday will die and instead of saying all of your goodbyes/let them know you realize that life goes fast, its hard to make the good things last” completely straight and, coupled with a great arrangement, is actually quite moving. The whole album sounds great and very modern. In fact, it’ sounds more like an electronica record than a rock’n’roll record.
Speaking of which, the Swedish group Koop combines electronica with jazz on Waltz for Koop (Quango). When Koop say “jazz,” they mean the cool jazz of Stan Getz. Vocalist Cecilia Stalin is even very reminiscent of Astrud Gilberto, who sang on Getz’ landmark bossa nova albums, and Mikael Sundin does a great Chet Baker impersonation. The uncredited vocalist on “Relaxin’ at Club F***in'” sounds like Mel Torme. It’s all very laid back with live bass, bongos, and other instruments mixed with sequencers and samplers.
Very similar is the British group Morcheeba, whose new album, Charango (Reprise) for the most part trades hip-hop and Latin influences for cool jazz but is no less mellow and seductive. Lead vocalist Skye is joined variously by rapper Pace Won and Slick Rick (in the role of a murderer on “Women Lose Weight”) and Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner doing a turn as Leonard Cohen on “What New York Couple’s Fight About.”
Beth Orton started out singing for electronica groups Red Snapper and the Chemical Brothers and on her third album, Daybreaker (Astralwerks) she is more a folksy singer-songwriter album than anything else. Hell’s bells, Emmylou Harris and Ryan Adams sing harmony on “God Song,” and Adams appears on various instruments (including “foot tapping”) throughout. It’s all a little introspective and maybe a little mopey but Orton’s got a great, very distinctive voice and these seem like songs that will grow with repeated listenings.
Beth Orton has always reminded me of Linda Thompson who, after 17 years, has released her second solo album, Fashionably Late (Rounder). This album not only features Thompson’s son, Teddy (who released one album on Virgin a couple of years ago), but also Rufus Wainwright (in whose band Teddy tours), Van Dyke Parks, a variety of old and new generation English folk musicians, and her former husband and musical partner Richard Thompson (this is the first time the Thompson’s have played together since their acrimonious split following 1982’s Shoot Out the Lights tour). This is a sublimely beautiful album even if you have no idea of Thompson’s history. Unlike her debut solo album, 1985’s One Clear Moment which tried too hard to sound modern, Fashionably Late remains resolutely traditional – only a handful of songs even feature elcectric guitars or drums. The majority of songs are written by Thompson alone or co-written with Teddy; all are magnificent.
In an effort to earn some extra bucks (while University College is certainly affordable it’s by no means inexpensive!), I’ve been working at the campus bookstore where I’ve been “treated” to hour-after-hour of bland, faceless, modern rock (better, though, than the hellish ’80’s music day). Sadly, Rhett Miller’s The Instigator (Elektra) will fit right in. Sadly, because as part of the Old 97’s Miller wrote and sang some of my very favorite ever songs. In removing every trace of country, alt or otherwise, from The Instigator, Miller has also removed all the fun. Whereas Miller used to seem positively drunk with words he now seems tongue-tied. The best he can come up with is: “I’m going to be lonely for the rest of my life unless you come around, so come around.” Miller used to tell you how lonely he was – “I’m calling time and temperature just for some company” – now he just says he’s lonely and you’re supposed to believe him. It’s hard to begrudge Miller for wanting to sell records and have his music be heard but what he’s done is to remove everything that was interesting and fun from his music leaving only “product” to be sold. Sad.
Much less sad is the band Ours and their 2nd album, Precious (Dreamworks), which falls pretty much into the alternative-modern rock but which actually has some spark of life to it. The first thing that grabs you about Ours (well, apart from the awful name, maybe) is the wailing, Jeff Buckley-esque vocals of Jimmy Gnecco. The second thing is that the songs are as catchy as all hell. Ours covers the Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale,” and makes a good job of it, too.
I was so appalled by Rhett Miller’s album that I neglected to mention that it was produced by Jon Brion (Aimee Mann, Fionna Apple) who also produced Brad Mehldau’s Largo (Warner Bros).
Mehldau’s last several releases have been solo piano efforts but Largo features him in settings including not only bass and drums but also reeds, brass, and electronics. Some arrangements are more successful than others but mainly the piano doesn’t seem to mess with the other instruments. Mainly it’s just too loud in the mix; acoustic piano isn’t really that loud of an instrument and to hear it so clearly above, at one point, two drum kits is just unnatural. Worth listening to especially for Mehldau’s cover of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android.” He also covers the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence,” and “Mother Nature’s Son,” in a medly with Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Wave,” proving the point that jazz musicians should just leave the Beatles alone.
Fortunately, Jeff Watts (long-time Branford Marsalis drummer) doesn’t cover the Beatles on Bar Talk (Columbia) but he does veer uncomfortably close to smooth jazz territory at times. It’s not a horrible record by any means but it was clearly made to get played on the radio and that means smoothing off the rough edges. Even “Side B,” which features Branford Marsalis on “country horn” and Hiram Bullock on “stank guitar,” could squeeze in besides the Rippingtons and the Yellowjackets, though they might have to hold their noses even at it’s slight funk.
Wow, I’m already way over space and still have more records to get to. Next time, then. I do have to mention that Oasis have a truly incendiary cover of the Who’s “My Generation” out as a b-side to their “Little By Little” (Epic) single.
And Congratulations to Aaron Wolfson for knowing that Vida Blue was a pitcher for the Oakland A’s in the 1970s! You will be receiving your copy of the limited edition Vida Blue EP shortly.
Tony Renner is music director at KDHX FM 88.1 and is attending University College to (finally) finish a degree in Communications and Journalism.
