Short Attention Span Record Reviews, March Round-up

COWBOY JUNKIES – Songs Of The Recollection
A collection of covers (Bowie, Cure, Stones, Dylan etc.) getting the beloved Junkies treatment. (8)

DEATHSPELL OMEGA – The Long Defeat
French black metal visionaries create their most Norwegian/Hungarian-sounding album, and it’s epic. (8)

DESTROYER – Labyrinthitis
I still don’t understand why a band called Destroyer is not a KISS/Twisted Sister tribute act and instead play a sort-of-danceable electro pop/rock that caters to the Pitchfork crowd. Missed opportunity and shameful misuse of a good band name, not to mention false advertising. (7)

FUCKED UP – Do All Words Can Do
If your favorite Fucked Up album is 2011’s prog-punk behemoth “David Comes To Life” (and it might as well be), you just hit the jackpot – this is essentially a collection of non-album singles from that era, fitting nicely into the David narrative. (8)

THE HANGING STARS – Hollow Heart
I really loved these guys when they were a total Byrds rip-off, now they’re trying to find their own sound and they’re still OK. (7)

ALDOUS HARDING – Warm Chris
One of those albums that creep up on you, on first listen you think “Jeez, another lo-fi bedroom pop singer-songwriter, God give me strength”, and after a couple more spins you realize the tunes have settled cozily inside your brain and won’t leave. (8)

RAY WYLIE HUBBARD – Co-Starring Too
Veteran Texan outlaw country artist on second album of collaborations kicks serious ass once again, rocking harder than most rockers one-third his age. Stellar performances from many aging A-List guest stars (Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Ringo Starr, Steve Lukather, Ann Wilson…) but it’s actually Lzzy Hale who steals the show. Oh, and he deserves extra credit for rhyming “reckless” with “redneckness”.  (8)

SHOOTER JENNINGS & YELAWOLF – Sometimes Y
Unlikely pairing of Americana star with a rapper who decides to actually sing ends up in an 80’s-flavored rock album that’s all over the place, but in a good way – sort of like a Cars/G’n’R/Don Henley/latter-day Floyd (Pink, not Pretty Boy) mash-up, except the final song which I think was aiming for a “Kill ‘Em All” vibe but ends up sounding like a lost NWOBHM classic. Which is what “Kill ‘Em All” wanted to sound like anyway, but that’s a whole different story. (7)

MIDLAKE – For The Sake Of Bethel Woods
If the idea of a crossover between early 70’s American folk rock and early 70’s English prog rock gives you wet dreams, you’ve just found your Album Of The Year. (8)

MAREN MORRIS –    Humble Quest
Where country and pop meet. (7)

SOUL GLO – Diaspora Problems
This year’s Turnstile, taking hardcore to extraordinary new places. (8)

TANYA TAGAQ – Tongues
A true mindfuck of an album, with Tagaq at her most political relentlessly attacking white Canada’s past colonialism and current complacency in her otherworldly voice over industrial beats and trip-hop noise. (7)

THE WEATHER STATION – How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars
A lot of people loved last year’s “Ignorance” but there’s a chance they’ll be disappointed with this companion album recorded at the same time – it’s totally bare/acoustic, with no discernible hooks, and more reminiscent of “Blue”-era Joni Mitchell than “Mirage”-era Fleetwood Mac. (7)