Short Attention Span Record Reviews, June 23

THE LOUDER STUFF

RAY ALDER – II
Slightly mellower than 2019’s “What The Water Wants” but not straying far from that template, i.e. essentially what used to be called AOR but with slightly proggy overtones. I do miss Fates Warning very much though, and I hope Jim has another FW album inside him. (7)

AVENGED SEVENFOLD - Life Is But A Dream
I’ve deliberately avoided these guys since 2001, and I honestly don’t think I’ve heard a single note from them prior to “Life Is But A Dream” so I have no clue what a “normal” A7X album is supposed to sound like. All I know is that this one is interesting but tries a bit too hard to sound like Muse doing Faith No More cosplay. (7)

BUGGIN – Concrete Cowboys
If you want great punk singalongs played tight and with no macho bullshit posturing, these young Chicagoans just released a fantastic and really fun record. (8)

EXTREME – Six
Nuno’s got a day job nowadays playing with Rihanna but his hard rock shredding muscles are still in great shape – “Rise”, for example, has the best guitar solo I’ve heard in 30 years. Songwriting’s not too shabby either. (8)

FOO FIGHTERS – But Here We Are
Grieving the death of Taylor Hawkins, Grohl himself fills in on drums and this is actually a very good album, probably even their best – they’re still likeable and immensely popular, but now they’ll also get critical respect even if they don’t need it or care for it. (9)

GOZU – Remedy
Most people will compare this album to Kyuss or Clutch, but that’s because they’ve never heard of Goatsnake. (8)


THE OTHER STUFF

LAURA CANTRELL – Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions
Alt-country/Americana singer displays solid songwriting skills, but any such album released on the same day as Jason Isbell’s “Weathervanes” doesn’t stand much of a chance of getting heard. (7)

COWBOY JUNKIES – Such Ferocious Beauty
A very personal piece of work with lyrics revolving around the dementia of the father of three band members, sonically staying close to the unique Cowboy Junkies template – these guys were “Americana” before the term existed as a music genre signifier. (7)

BEN FOLDS – What Matters Most
Ben Folds Five (a trio, actually) were pretty hip among, well, hipsters in the second half of the 90’s, and the guy is back with a piano/strings/irony-heavy chamber pop record that will delight those of us who are still around. (8)

JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT – Weathervanes
In a recent interview Isbell said something along the lines of, in order to stay sane, he will just aim at writing good songs rather than consciously try to make a better record than “Southeastern”, but you know what? I think he just made a better record than “Southeastern”. BTW is that weathervane on the cover actually pointing southestern? (9)

UTE LEMPER – Time Traveller
Better known as a top-notch interpreter of the Weill/Brecht songbook and for 2000’s marvellous “Punishing Kiss” which featured songs by The Divine Comedy, Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits etc., Lemper nevertheless occasionally decides to release albums based on her own compositions and this is one of those cases, but she never strays too far from a safe, predictable pop-jazz framework. (6)

JANELLE MONAE – The Age Of Pleasure
I tried to watch the video for “Lipstick Lover” but couldn’t because it made my glasses fog up. In any case this is a very hedonistic album with Monae officially entering her T&A era. (8)

KEVIN MORBY – More Photographs (A Continuum)
Last year’s “This Is A Photograph” made the Geek’s List at #3, but apparently Morby wasn’t done with it – “More Photographs” is basically the same photograph subject from different angles, with three songs from the former album re-imagined plus six new songs revisiting the same lyrical themes. (8)

SQUID – O Monolith
On their debut album they sounded like part of the whole Black Country New Road/Dry Cleaning/Black Midi talk-sing London thing, albeit with a krautrock twist. On this second one, some of the keyboards plus the pastorally proggier elements make me think they spent the COVID lockdown listening to Cardiacs and Soft Machine. (8)

THIS IS THE KIT – Careful of Your Keepers
A pleasant little indie-folk record. (7)

JESS WILLIAMSON – Time Ain’t Accidental
Alt-country/Americana singer displays solid songwriting skills, but any such album released on the same day as Jason Isbell’s “Weathervanes” doesn’t stand much of a chance of getting heard. (7)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, May 23 Vol. II

CLARK – Sus Dog
A glitchy EDM album that’s more Radiohead than David Guetta, and not only because Thom Yorke is on it. (7)

BRANDY CLARK – Brandy Clark
Fourth solo album by country songwriter to the stars, includes a couple of real gems like “Ain’t Enough Rocks”. (8)

ELEGANT WEAPONS – Horns For A Halo
Superb metal supergroup put together by Richie Faulkner (Judas Priest) and featuring Scott Travis, Rex Brown, and Ronnie Romero tips the hat to 80’s non-Priest classic hard rock/metal – songs like “Do Or Die” might as well be retitled to “Do Or Dio”. (8)

ROBERT ELLIS – Yesterday’s News
This is so weird, back in 2016 this guy had again released an album on the same day as Paul Simon with the two albums blending seamlessly when played back-to-back, and the same thing happens now – “Yesterday’s News” is like a younger Paul Simon rooted more in country than in folk, and it’s sparsely orchestrated like “Seven Psalms”. (7)

GHOST – Phantomime
The between-albums EP is becoming a tradition for Tobias and this one is just cover songs, featuring a provocative mix of tracks originally by Television, Genesis, Stranglers, Iron Maiden, and Tina Turner (good timing). Great, as expected. (8)

ARLO PARKS – My Soft Machine
More textured than her wonderful bedroom pop debut a couple of years ago, adding a few “rock” bits into the mix (the grungy climax of “Devotion”, Phoebe Bridgers guesting on “Pegasus”), and again quite poetic, this sophomore effort will establish her as one of the most interesting voices of her generation. (8)

PAUL SIMON – Seven Psalms
A suite consisting of seven beautiful, chilling, sparsely orchestrated songs evoking spiritual imagery. A worthy addition to the catalog on one of the world’s greatest songwriters. (8)

COLIN STETSON – When We Were That What Wept For The Sea
If you thought you had a general idea of what one saxophone can do, well, think again. Another haunting, beautiful, scary masterpiece from Stetson and his amazing circular breathing technique. (8)

SBT – Joan Of All
Laura Marling does Lou Reed, or vice versa. And it’s a grower, you really start getting it on the 4th or 5th listen. (8)

MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES – Altitude
Wow. A revelation. Who would’ve thought that a 65-year-old country veteran who used to be in Johnny Cash’s band would come up with such a fantastic Byrds-influenced country rock album in 2023? (8)

TINARIWEN – Amatssou
By now they’re like Iron Maiden – they’ve been around since the late 70’s, they’re the biggest act in their genre (the Tuareg peoples’ assouf, known in the West as “desert blues”), they've released quite a few masterpieces, they're now dependable but predictable. (7)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, May 23

THE LOUDER STUFF

BLOOD CEREMONY – The Old Ways Remain
In retrospect it looks ridiculous that these guys were once grouped together with Ghost under the same “occult rock” umbrella, since they’re very different animals: Despite influences Ghost are very much a “today” band, whereas Blood Ceremony are firmly rooted in 1970 with a folk-rock streak that keeps getting stronger with each album and reaching its peak on this one. (8)

DANAVA – Nothing But Nothing
I remember being very impressed by an album from these guys maybe 15 years ago, then I lost track of them. But out of nowhere comes this gem, landing somewhere between early Riot and DiAnno-era Maiden and kicking all sorts of ass. (8)

DROPKICK MURPHYS – Okemah Rising
A sequel to last year’s “This Machine Kills Fascists”, recorded at the same time and without co-vocalist Al Barr due for family reasons: The Murphys mainly use unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics and build rowdy acoustic songs around them, and they also do a new acoustic version of their biggest hit “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”, a Guthrie original. Another track features the Violent Femmes. Fun! (8)

ENFORCED – War Remains
Thrashy death metal from this bunch that does a great job of raiding Slayer’s cabinet of leftover riffs. It’ll make you headbang until your brain comes out of your ears. (7)

GRAVE PLEASURES – Plagueboys
A bit of Killing Joke, a bit of Joy Division, a bit of Sisters, a bit of Bunnymen. Nothing original here but if you miss (or missed) the post-punk/new wave 80’s you’ll have a great time. (8)

DAVE LOMBARDO – Rites Of Percussion
Slayer etc. legend releases his first pure drum/percussion album demonstrating his virtuosity in a myriad different genres and managing not to be as boring as a 35-minute-long drum solo. (7)


THE OTHER STUFF

RODNEY CROWELL – The Chicago Sessions
Another excellent album from this somewhat underrated Americana/country stalwart, produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and featuring a couple of deep dives into the 70’s – “You’re Supposed To Be Feeling Good”, a Crowell composition recorded by Emmylou Harris back in 1977, and a great cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “No Place To Fall”. (8)

OLIVIA JEAN – Raving Ghost
Just because she’s Jack White’s wife doesn’t mean you should discount “Raving Ghost” – it’s a fantastic garage/rockabilly/surf/power-pop record with a backing band featuring members of Jellyfish, My Morning Jacket etc. and, actually, it’s the closest you’re gonna get to White Stripes riffage in 2023. Oh, and her cover of Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” is a scream! (8)

RICKIE LEE JONES – Pieces of Treasure
She’s always been more jazz than pop or anything else, but this is the first time she dedicates an album to the Great American Songbook, reuniting with the guy who produced her first two albums in 1979-1981. You know these songs from Sinatra, Chet Baker, Nat King Cole, Ella and Louis, Sarah Vaughan and others and those are some very scary comparisons, but Jones is so good she gets away with it. (8)

THE LEMON TWIGS – Everything Harmony
They’ve been on the Geek’s radar for a while now, and their previous album almost made The List, but this time they fucking nail it – 1967 Beach Boys, 1972 Big Star, and 1993 Jellyfish seamlessly merge into something totally 2024. (8)

PARKER MILLSAP – Wilderness Within You
Another slight move away from his trademark bluesy Americana towards a more experimental sound with elements of pop, electronica, even krautrock thrown into the mix, it works more often than not. (7)

CIAN NUGENT – She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living
Irish guitar hero (think Steve Gunn/Ryley Walker, not Steve Vai/Yngwie Malmsteen) releases breezy, summery country-tinged album. Right on time. (8)

OTIS TAYLOR – Banjo
Taylor plays the blues like no other – his music is repetitive, trance-like almost, and his lyrics are political but often touched by the surreal or the cryptic. It’s not for everyone but I love it. (8)

Nina Nastasia, L' Archipel, Paris, 28/4

Free afternoon in Paris, by myself, after a couple of days' hard work. What to do? Let's check the concert listings.

Hey! Nina Nastasia's in town for an acoustic set, she released a fantastic and devastating album last year, "Riderless Horse", which was probably my 6th favorite album for 2022. The venue, L'Archipel, is 3-4 kilometers from my hotel, it's a nice evening for a walk, despite what you see on the news there's no trouble on the streets of Paris, let's take a stroll and check it out, maybe they've got tickets available.

Yes, they do. L' Archipel is a combination art cinema/folk club with rows of movie theater-type seats and a capacity of approximately 150. Nice, clean, civilized. Smallish stage, decent lights. I'm actually one of the first people in, I take a look at the merch (a couple of old Nastasia albums on CD, her latest one on vinyl, a book, a few T-shirts only small sizes, and an album by someone called Bobbie - apparently there's a support act on the bill), I get a whisky from the bar and grab a seat on the second row.

Interesting crowd. The front row is occupied by a bunch of ageing rockers, rock journo/industry lifer types with ponytails and sideburns, probably from Rock & Folk or Les Inrockuptibles or something. They dress better than their Greek counterparts. The rows behind me gradually fill up mostly with civilians, you know, normal people: Young couples and small groups of people mainly in their 30's. I get the weird row, of course: A woman comes and sits to my right and promptly proceeds to take a big fat 800-page book from her handbag and just sits there reading, while to my left sit four ladies, I shouldn't call them "older" as they're probably around my age, but with their clothes and jewelry and hairdos they look VERY out of place, like they were planning to go to a luxury hotel at Champs-Elysées for afternoon tea and got lost. But they seem to be enjoying themselves, so who am I to judge?

Bobbie, the support act, hits the stage. Pretty blonde girl in a mini skirt and go-go boots and playing an acoustic guitar, she's straight out of central casting for a movie about a Parisian folk club in the 60's. Her songs are simple, innocent, a bit naive, and they'd probably work better as pop songs with a full band behind her than with just a guitar. But she does have a very good voice, and the audience gives her a warm and polite applause - with the exception of the four out-of-place ladies next to me who are much more enthusiastic and take tons of pictures which they immediately share from their phones, thus solving the mystery of what the fuck they're doing here: Obviously Bobbie's mum and aunties or mum's friends.

After a brief interval, Nina Nastasia takes the stage. She looks well, something I'm happy about given the circumstances that led to the creation of her last album. She is a commanding presence on stage too - she starts a capella with a folk song about suicide, and I swear you could hear a pin drop in the back of the room, nobody in the crowd dares make a sound or be disruptive before erupting into applause as the song fades, setting the pattern for the rest of the evening. She then picks up her guitar and proceeds to play essentially "Riderless Horse" in full, plain, bare, warts and all. Her banter between songs is light and pleasant and occasionally funny even, which is a blessing given the darkness of the material sung, but when she sings she transforms into a force of nature, an ancient sorceress commanding the elements, and she gives you goosebumps even if you don't know the backstory. Even Bobbie's mum looks shaken.

Her encore consists mainly of acoustic versions of older material and is well received, even though it lacks a bit of the emotional punch of her main set. But overall the show is a triumph, Paris loves Nastasia and she gives love back. She hangs out at the bar after the show chatting to the industry types and audience members, I go across and say thanks, then head out back to my hotel. Certainly a night in Paris to remember.

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, Apr 23

THE LOUDER STUFF

DODHEIMSGARD – Black Medium Current
No longer possible to classify as black metal, they venture into everything from psychedelia to goth disco, and all of it is great. (8)

METALLICA – 72 Seasons
We need Metallica because someone still has to play stadium shows, but everybody (including Metallica) knows they simply can’t release anything as good as their 1983-1991 run ever again, and if you’d make a list of their top-40 songs ever, most likely not a single track from “72 Seasons” would be on it. (7)

MUDHONEY – Plastic Eternity
Grunge survivors still at it and punk as fuck, but with a sense of humor. (8)

NETHERLANDS – Severance
50% of this duo (Timo Ellis) used to be in Cibo Matto, and members of Gojira and Mastodon are superfans, and they’ve been going for a decade, and this is their seventh album and it sounds like Big Business meets QOTSA meets RATM, so why the fuck have I never heard of them before? (8)

POISON RUIN – Harvest
Now on Relapse, they have found an audience mainly among the metal crowd despite being a low-fi punk band influenced by The Wipers (a very good one, too). Maybe it’s the medieval thing they have going on in the lyrics. (8)


THE OTHER STUFF

FEIST – Multitudes
People will call this “intimate”, “introspective”, or something like that. I call it “a bit too quiet for my tastes”. (7)

SUSANNA HOFFS – The Deep End
Excellent covers album for this beautiful, supremely talented artist. Hoffs is good at the classic oldies (Rolling Stones, Leslie Gore, Yazoo) but shows impeccable taste in both selection and execution of the newer and/or lesser-known stuff (Coconut Records’ “West Coast”, Brandy Clark’s “Pawn Shop” etc.). (8)

JANA HORN – The Window Is The Dream
Minimalist folk with some jazz and Tropicalia influences. Great guitar playing, but no hooks I could hold on to. (7)

LONDON BREW – London Brew
An album inspired by Miles Davis’ jazz-fusion masterpiece “Bitches Brew” and featuring the Dream Team of London’s contemporary jazz scene, that falls a bit short of the colossal expectations it set up for itself. (7)

WEDNESDAY – Rat Saw God
We can call them countrygaze if you like, but if you prefer to keep things simple we can just agree that this album qualifies them as one of the best American indie rock bands around at the moment. And, because I’m ancient, they remind me more of the Geraldine Fibbers than the Drive-By Truckers (with whom they often get mentioned in the same breath). (8)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, Mar 23 Vol. II

AROOJ AFTAB, VIJAY IYER & SHAHZAD ISMAILY – Love In Exile
Aftab’s 2021 album was gorgeous, seamlessly blending her Pakistani heritage with jazz and earning her a Grammy. This year’s collab with jazzman Iver and top-shelf sessionman Ismaily takes things one step further with lots of improvisation, the three musicians constantly feeding off each other. (8)

BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD – Live At Bush Hall
In a bold move after losing lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Isaac Wood, they decided to go ahead (three other band members now sharing vocal duties) without playing any Wood-era songs, and they release a live album consisting of entirely new material written specifically so they have something to tour with. So, no worries about their future, they’ll keep making the List (#19 in 2022). (8)

BOYGENIUS – The Record
Destined to be Album Of The Year for Pitchfork and most other music magazines/sites years before it was even recorded, the debut album by this female singer/songwriter supergroup of sorts (Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers) is actually really good – catchy songs covering a lot of ground between Liz Phair and Simon & Garfunkel, and clever lyrics that are in places funny, sometimes sad, often touching, and mostly celebrating their own friendship. (8)

JAMES HOLDEN – Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space Of All Possibilities
I’m a rock guy so I have no idea if this one classifies as techno or trance or ambient or whatever, but it is a magnificent throwback to early 90’s electronica and open air raves. (8)

THE HOLD STEADY – The Price Of Progress
I admit I can’t be objective with The Hold Steady, they simply mean too much to me because they almost single-handedly kept rock music alive over the past couple of decades. (11)

IHSAHN – Fascination Street Sessions
Pretty good (as expected from Ihsahn) 3-song EP, the first song sounding like a slightly blackened Opeth, the second one like a NWOBHM Emperor, and the third one, a cover of a 20-year-old Swedish synthpop hit and featuring Jonas Renske, (unsurprisingly) like Katatonia. (8)

LANA DEL REY – Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
Containing several references to her undisputed masterpiece, “Normal Fucking Rockwell”, this is probably her second-best album and could’ve given “NFR” a run for its money if not for a couple of tracks too many. (8)

LANKUM – False Lankum
Irish folk band experiments like Radiohead and plays with an intensity more reminiscent of Godspeed You Black Emperor. A small masterpiece. (8)

LITURGY – 93696
As a band, Liturgy certainly could always be more accurately described as “important” than as “enjoyable”. This album, however, feels VERY important, and quite intriguing once you get past the unintelligible screaming, the only thing that remains from the band’s black metal roots. (8)

NICKEL CREEK – Celebrants
One of the bands responsible for making bluegrass a relevant genre again, Nickel Creek make a decent comeback album that doesn’t really add anything new to their hefty legacy. (7)

SAXON – More Inspirations
A follow-up to 2021’s covers album, this one features songs originally done by Animals, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Alice Cooper, ZZ Top, Who, Uriah Heep, Rainbow, Kiss, Nazareth, and Cream. Totally unnecessary but fun. (7)

SCREE – Jasmine On A Night In July
Like Ennio Morricone doing Space-Age Bachelor Pad music, this guitar-led experimental jazz trio has lots of fun here, and you will too. (8)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, Mar 23

THE LOUDER STUFF

THE ABBEY – Word Of Sin
Great riffs and some solid songwriting on debut album from this psychedelic doom/occult rock band from Finland. (8)

ENSLAVED – Heimdal
Black metal, prog, space rock, anything goes and it’s once again great. (8)

PERIPHERY – Periphery V: Djent Is Not A Genre
Of course it’s not, I’ve been saying so for years. (7)

SIENA ROOT – Revelation
These Swedes were doing the vintage hard/blues/folk rock thing before it was fashionable and they just keep doing it now that it’s once again unfashionable, so respect to them. But that fucking hippy-ass sitar is really, really annoying. (7)

WITCH RIPPER – The Flight After The Fall
An absolutely fantastic slab of loud, epic, proggy, sludgy but melodic metal that adds a touch of Queen to its Baroness/Mastodon influences. (9)

ZULU – A New Tomorrow
Bundling these guys alongside Turnstile and Soul Glo as hardcore revisionists is a no-brainer, but the way they reach into the depths of Black music tradition to enhance their sound also brings to mind heroes of generations past like Fishbone and 24-7 Spyz. Zulu are far more extreme, of course. (8)


THE OTHER STUFF

SHANA CLEVELAND – Manzanita
Solo album by frontwoman of surf-rockers La Luz is an exquisite tapestry of rustic folk with orchestral pop elements that’s sometimes reminiscent of Jessica Pratt with a psychedelic edge. (8)

HACK-POETS GUILD – Blackletter Garland
English folk supergroup of sorts does 12 superb songs about life, death, and everything in between. (8)

LONNIE HOLLEY – Oh Me Oh My
Respected septuagenarian visual artist with a music side-gig releases fantastic album of dark and bluesy electronica, slightly Massive Attack-y, featuring high-profile guests like Michael Stipe, Sharon Van Etten, and Bon Iver. A revelation. (8)

THE LONG RYDERS – September November
In a perfect world Paisley Underground would still matter as a genre. (8)

REVEREND HORTON HEAT – Roots Of The Rev (Volume One)
The guy who wrote the best song of all time is back with a non-essential lo-fi album of rockabilly covers. (7)

SLEAFORD MODS – UK Grim
The compositions are a bit more aggressive than previous recent Sleaford Mods releases, even though Williamson no longer constantly sounds like he’s about to start a pub fight (he only sounds like that 80% of the time now). One of their better efforts. (8)

SLOWTHAI – Ugly
British rapper releases album influenced by 90’s alternative rock and opinions are split: Pitchfork hates it, everyone else loves it. (8)