Tuesday list mania gets going early today

[Jim Clark]

The National - Cherry Tree


Cheers
Mike

So Mike, what do you think of that The National album? I was blown away by "About Today" as I said but it was my first experience. I haven't even had the chance to listen to any samples yet so I don't know if it would be something I'd like or not. yours is an opinion I would like to get.

Thanks,
jc

[DarrenH]

Chain - .Exe
Dead Soul Tribe - The January Tree
Dead Soul Tribe - A Murder Of Crows
Anathema - A Natural Disaster
Blackfield - Blackfield
Gov't Mule - Deja Voodoo
Ozric Tentacles - Jurassic Shift
Eloy - Power and the Passion
Duran Duran - Rio
Fleetwood Mac - Future Games
Fleetwood Mac - Kiln House
Horacee Arnold - Tales Of The Exonerated Flea
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Charlie Parker - The Complete Verve Master Takes, disc 1 & 2

JC's new comp. I made it through one time. I need more time and a few more listening sessions to truly make any kind of real assessment. Thanks for sending me a copy Jim.

I see Karmakanic has a new release. Not sure if I'm gonna take the plunge. Does Izz have something new out?
Really want to get that Keneally/Metropole disc Troy was talking about a few weeks ago. Sounds very intriguing.
Timothy Pure is recording a new album as we speak. It's titled Bones Of Ghosts. Probably won't be released until late fall or early winter. Glad to read they're still at it anyhow.

[Dusty Chalk]

California Guitar Trio, Whitewater -- typically wonderfully delivery from these folks. Mostly acoustic guitar trio material, but the occasional track has some of it processed to sound like a loud screaming electric guitar, which is always amusing to hear, but even more disconcerting to watch live (I've seen them several times). The last track is a hybrid of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and "Riders on the Storm" -- it starts out going back and forth, but somewhere inbetween the beginning and the end attempts to meld the two. Don't know if it works, but definitely worth a listen.

Dead Soul Tribe, January Tree -- very hard rockin' number from these guys, recommended to fans of Dream Theater.

The Fucking Am, Gold -- The Fucking Champs and Trans Am, again. More what you'd expect from this outfit than their previous joint venture, more riffin'. (And don't give me crap about the name of the band, that's the name of the band. It's not my fault. Indie has a chip on its shoulder.)

Particle, Launchpad -- very cool instrumental "funktronic" jammin' along the lines of Primus, Ozric Tentacles, and perhaps a funkier, less psychedelic Porcupine Tree.

Golden Boy with Miss Kitten, Or -- "electroclash". I kind of hate Miss Kitten's fake-sounding French accent/inability to speak English and terrible lyrics, but she's so cute:

more

And I totally dig this electroclash movement. It's sort of a punk reaction to Kraftwerk. "We want to be Kraftwerk, so we got their synthesizers, but we don't have their ability."

Tears for Fears, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending -- you know, I am completely burned out on the Beatles, but I love this album. There's something fresh-sounding about it, despite its obvious Beatles influences, and also despite the fact that it picks up right where Seeds of Love left off. Flowing like water doesn't hurt, neither. And they're much better songwriters.

Fever, Pink on Pink -- no-wave-type EP, I dig.

World Party, Egyptology and A Brief History of... -- I forgot how much this guy sounds like Mick Jagger, but again...much better songwriters than the Rolling Stones.

LOTW: Lyube (don't know how to enter Russian letters, see site), a CD that my friend Mark gave me, not sure if it's Kombat or something else, I'll have to catch up on some of their more recent recordings. Somewhere between New Model Army (in terms of protest songs, call-response type feelings of solidarity, and willingness to experiment) and Chris Rea/Leonard Cohen traditionalism (no not their voices -- although the voice of the lead singer is really good). It's all in Russian, though, so if you're into lyrics, be forewarned.

[Mike]

Hey Jim if you like the track Dave chose for his comp (which I've not heard yet but I believe there is one in the post) I think you will like the rest of the album. It has a kind of unique but familiar sound to it if you know what I mean, with some great vocals.

I don't know much about the band in fact I think the album Cherry Tree is only an ep. A friend of mine gave me it to me as a CDR which also had Ella Guru on it, which you might like too. I'll pm you

I Forgot to mention one other disc I listened to was your comp which I'm still enjoying. I've just ordered the Josh Rouse disc, I know you said the track you picked is not indicative of the album but I liked all the samples I listened to.

Cheers
Mike

[nobody]

A bit of this and a bit of that...

ChrisNZ's comp, which I loved since the rap is fine by me. I immediately ordered the live DJ Shadow, which I was on the fence about. I'll probably end up grabbing a couple morte things off it too, but I don't have it at hand, and can't recall the names off hand.

Sonny Rollins: Way Out West
My favortie Sonny Rollins, especially side 2 where the tempo slows down. Ya want some sax? Here it is.

Ben Webster meets Oscar Peterson: Soulville
This one meets in that magical place where jazz, blues, and soul meet. Wonderfully listenable yet interesting record. This is a good one for those folks who find most jazz too hectic and unlistenable but don't get into the smooth jazz, Kenny G side of things.

Old Crow Medicine Show
Great, modern take on bluegrass by some young men that know how to put on a show. Produced by David Rawlings of Gilian Welsh fame.

Junior Murvin: Police and Thieves
The title track alone would be worth the price of admission, but this one features a host of top quality stuff. Another Lee Perry production. (look for an all vinyl reggae comp in the next couple weeks once I have a chance to sit down and work something up)

Maxwell: Urban Hang Suite
I'm always pulling this one out.

Chet Atkins: A Session with Chet Atkins
Great driving music. His first LP provides a midtempo mix of country, jazz, and something that almost approaches countrified rock. Al instrumentals, of course.

The Streets: A Grand Don't Come for Free
Still a strong entry for my favorite of the year. Anybody hear the new Dizzee Rascal yet?

Gene Vincent: Blue Jean Bop + Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps
Fantastic rockabilly goodness, featuring groundbreaking guitar work by Cliff Gallup on the first two Gene Vincent releases.

Blue Note Revisited
Nice remix Lp, featuring reworkings of the Blue Note catalog. It's not like this is the first attempt at something like this, but if you like this sort of thing, which I do, this one is quite good. Not as varied as the verve ones, but it has a more unified feel, making it a better listen all the way through.

Been on the road with lots of time tolisten, so there's more, but I figure 10 is enough for a week's post.

[-Jar-]

(look for an all vinyl reggae comp in the next couple weeks once I have a chance to sit down and work something up)

drool...

[ForeverAutumn]

Chain - .Exe

Does Izz have something new out?

How's the new Chain disk? How does it compare to Reconstruct? I'm very interested to hear your opinion. Also, IZZ came out with a new one a couple of month ago now. Ampersand. I was actually going to email you this week to see if you've heard it yet and whether it was worth ordering. But I'll take your post as being a "no".

A few things I've listened to this week....I haven't bought anything new for few weeks so...some older stuff...

Dan Fogelberg - The Innocent Age
Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth:3
I Am Sam Soundtrack
Spock's Beard - Day For Night
Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Matchbox Twenty - More Than You Think You Are
Finger Eleven - S/T
The Honeydogs - 10,000 years (Thanks Swishy...I'm addicted to this disk!)
IZZ - I Move
Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane

I'm looking forward to picking up the new Green Day disk which came out on Tuesday.

There's also a new Mark Knopfler disk coming out on Sept. 28. But after The Ragpicker's Dream, he fell off my auto-buy list, so I'll have to hear some of the new one before purchasing. None-the-less, I'm still excited at the prospect!

[DarrenH]

How's the new Chain disk? How does it compare to Reconstruct? I'm very interested to hear your opinion. Also, IZZ came out with a new one a couple of month ago now. Ampersand. I was actually going to email you this week to see if you've heard it yet and whether it was worth ordering. But I'll take your post as being a "no".

The new Chain is quite good. Matt Cash sings the majority of the vocals but there are other guest vocalists including some femme vox which may not be to your liking. The femme vocals were used sparingly but tastefully. The opening track, Cities, is a 38 minute piece broken into 7 movements and features a mix of hard and soft passages, femme and male vox. Even a saxophone solo thrown in for good measure. It's really a very good piece.

Mike Keneally displays his virtuoso guitar abilities on the final track Last Chance To See and also contributes vocals.

Track 11, Hot To Cold, is a real turd though. Cheesy rendition of 80's hair metal. I'm disappointed in you Henning for including such a stinker. It's really awful and is completely out of step with the rest of the music on this album.

Despite that I like Exe. I'm not going to say it was better than Reconstruct because I don't believe it was. It was however a pretty good sophmore effort and something I think you'd like. Just fast-forward past track 11 and you'll be happy. Who knows, you might like that track.

That new Izz album appears to be a collection of unreleased tracks from the I Move sessions and some live stuff. So I don't know if I'm gonna go for it. I'll put it on the back-burner for now.