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“Bookended by excerpts from Franklin Roosevelt’s Depression-era Fireside Chats as well as the 1932 original version of Bernard “Slim” Smith’s “Breadline Blues” and an updated version by McCoury, “Moneyland” convincingly speaks to the current economy and how it affects the working class, always ripe material for a bluegrass album. While many of the cuts have [...]
“America may know Alison Moyet for her only top 40 entry, 1985′s “Invisible,” but global music aficionados have celebrated her charms as part of ’80′s duo Yazoo with Erasure’s Vince Clarke and a half-dozen lovingly crafted solo efforts during the two decades following. “The Turn,” which launched at No. 21 in the United Kingdom last [...]
“”Exit Strategy” finds Ron Sexsmith exploring his songwriting talent in new ways, crafting an instantly memorable album full of soulful, classic pop tunes. The Canadian vocalist/multi-instrumentalist hits high points with the Enya-meets-Brian Wilson instrumental opener “Spiritude”; the lilting, Buddy Holly-evoking “Music to My Ears”; ’70s soul epic “This Is How I Know”; Bill Withers-style uplifting [...]
“Recorded in Albert Hammond Jr.’s native New York, “Como Te Llama” is the solo Stroke’s follow-up to his lauded 2006 debut, “Yours to Keep.” The album is filled with big guitar noise and mildly incongruous but not unpleasant mixtures of modern riffs (“Rocket”), new wave basslines (“Victory at Monterey”) and retro hooks and melodies (“Miss [...]
“This Argentine-Uruguayan crew originally used the band name Bajofondo Tango Club. It recently reduced the name to Bajofondo, in recognition of the fact that the music the band is creating nowadays is reaching beyond simply tango. That’s evident with opener “Grand Guignol,” which blends a heavy drum’n’bass bottom end with the sweeping flourishes of tango. [...]
“Searching for a ray of lyrical light in John Mellencamp’s latest treatise on the state of the world proves consuming—but largely fruitless. That, however, makes the album all the more compelling. Its unrelentingly bleak landscape, populated by plain-spoken narrators and richly detailed characters and settings, leans more on the death part of the title equation, [...]
“Randy Travis’ 1986 emergence as the leader of a fresh crop of country music “youngsters” came with a deeply reverential nod to the makers of what was once long-considered authentic, unvarnished, old-school country. Now, after an early-millennium shift into no-doubt-about-it Christian country, Travis returns here with a somewhat more mainstream country release, in a career [...]
“Looking at the smiling face on the cover of John Schlitt’s new solo project, it’s hard to believe he’s a Gospel Music Hall of Famer who has been around the music biz for years. The former Petra lead singer is engaging as ever on this set of pop/rock tunes. Opener “Stand” draws listeners immediately into [...]
“Kakande revolves around the superb artistry of balafon virtuoso Famoro Dioubate. The balafon, essentially a West-African xylophone, is not an easy instrument to master, but, then, Dioubate, a native of Guinea, is descended from griots who were playing gigs in the Mandé Empire in the Middle Ages. Dioubate cut this fine album in Brooklyn, working [...]
“This Canadian singer/ songwriter has for years doubled as a visual artist, and it shows in her music. Originally released via Sub Pop in 1997, this reissue (with three bonus tracks) is cinematically sparse, each track spinning a new tale and nuanced mood. Doiron’s longing and simple voice is placed front and center, paired with [...] |
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