Short Attention Span Record Reviews, Jul 24

DAVE ALVIN & JIMMIE DALE GILMORE – TexiCali
Ex-Blasters guitar-slinger joins forces with legendary “hippie country singer” on a competent mix of bluesy country rock originals and covers. (8)

JULIE CHRISTMAS – Ridiculous And Full Of Blood
The Queen, possibly the inventor, of Bjorkcore is back, and it's a welcome return. (8)

THE DECEMBERISTS – As It Ever Was So It Will Be Again
An excellent proggy folk-rock album including a few left turns such as the 19+ minute epic closing track that starts all jangly, then transforms to Pink Floyd, and ends up metal. (8)  

JOHN GRANT – The Art Of The Lie
Funky and poppy on the outside but sad and angry on the inside, this is one of Grant’s better albums. (8)

HUUN-HUUR-TU, CARMEN RIZZO & DHANI HARRISON - Dreamers In The Field
A mesmerizing album of Tuvan throat singing featuring a Western-style new age-y production, with a little help from their friend Dhani (George’s son). (8)

NOMEANSNO – Wrong (Reissue)
A masterpiece from 1989 by the best band you’ve never heard of, punk at heart but jazz at brain and metal at testicles. Now reissued on red vinyl. (10)

RED KROSS – RED KROSS
Power pop veterans are in top form this year, rawking out on a bunch of catchy tunes that sound like 1969 The Who reinterpreted with the enthusiasm of 2023 The Lemon Twigs (who seem to have modeled themselves after Red Kross anyway). (8)

RICH RUTH – Water Still Flows
A fantastic ambient/prog/doom/jazz instrumental record, which I’ll just call “SunnO))) Ra” as a shortcut. (8)

SUMAC – The Healer
Uneasy listening and heavy as fuck, it does reward the most patient of metalheads in the end. (8)

LINDA THOMPSON – Proxy Music
Better known as a singer of someone else’s songs (her then husband Richard’s) on some of the best folk-rock records of all time and having lost her voice to a rare neurological disorder, Thompson turns the tables by writing some great folk-rock songs for others to sing. Her own children, John Grant (singing about being in love with a man called John Grant on a song titled “John Grant”), an assortment of Wainwrights, and others are happy to do the job. (8)