WHITNEY
Released June 3, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: WSUM's Music Director Karolina Barej sent me here...
"Light Upon The Lake," the debut album from Whitney, the collective fronted by guitarist Max Kakacek and drummer/vocalist Julien Ehrlich (incidentally the former drummer of Unknown Mortal Orchestra), does nothing to re-invent the wheel but does everything to ensure that wheel continues to spin beautifully.
This album of 10 lovingly composed and performed and warmly produced songs feels almost like a collection of long-lost ballads that possess a sonic quality reminiscent of early 1970's era AM pop hits--kind of like a 21st century version of Bread. Blending rock, pop, country and soul, Whitney's "Light Upon The Lake" is tailor made for either a warm Spring day lying in a field of grass or a late autumnal afternoon to early evening watching a sunset. Rustic and earthy while simultaneously slick, one song after another achieves the magical effort of forging an instantaneous connection while also feeling like a reunion with a treasured old friend. The implied nostalgia is powerful.
Yes, Ehrlich's falsetto vocals do veer on the edge of Kermit here and there but when he goes into that priceless "la la la" chorus at the conclusion of "Golden Days," I guarantee you will be singing along with him immediately.
MICHAEL KIWANUKA
Released July 15, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: The second album from the British singer/songwriter is unquestionably one of the year's most stirring, somber, sobering and undeniably soulful releases that I have heard.
Working in collaboration with Producer Danger Mouse, who has clearly taken everything he has amassed from his work with Gnarls Barkley, The Black Keys, Broken Bells and his own solo release "Rome" (released May 16, 2011) and utilized it to a powerfully orchestrated effect with "Live & Hare," Kiwanuka unfolds his song cycle of existence as a Black man in a 21st century world with the melodic grit of his vocals, the sting of his guitar work and the painful truths of his lyrics, all delivered in a world weary , all too knowing bluesy grit where the emotion and the experience is wholly palpable.
Opening with the nearly 10 minute "Cold Little Heart," on which Kiwanuka's guitar work often recalls David Gilmour's expressive and evocative work on Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" or "Marooned," the album takes the listener step-by-step in the shoes of people of color, most specifically Black males, with a skill that is devastatingly matter-of-fact as it is poetic a la Bill Withers or Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" (released May 21, 1971).
Selections like "Black Man In A White World," "Falling," "Place I Belong," the album's title track and more are all beautifully realized compositions aided superbly by Danger Mouse's exquisite and empathetic production, which blurs the lines between the blues and the operatic. And as for Kiwanuka himself, his gravelly soulful vocals and graceful guitar work grows powerfully over the course of the album, almost conjuring the ghost of Eddie Hazel by the final selections, the seven minute "Father's Child" and the stunning, slow motion glory of "Final Frame."
Michael Kiwanuka's "Love & Hate" is a album of spiritual slow burns, a collection of songs that fully illustrate the anguish and perseverance of a people--or more specifically, the perseverance inside the anguish and the anguish housed so deeply inside the perseverance due to still having to fight battles that should have been long won by 2016.
ANDRE CYMONE
Released September 30, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: Running in the same musically conceptual stratosphere as Michael Kiwanuka's album is this militant, ferocious 4 song EP from Prince's childhood friend/former musical collaborator-associate Andre Cymone.
While not adhering to the classic Minneapolis sound whatsoever, Cymone has crafted a release seemingly designed to sonically fit powerfully next to the classic soul/rock protest songs of the late 1960's in tone and spirit bridging the gaps between the blues, rock and roll, funk and even call and response gospel.
With sharp guitar strums and the martial snap of the drums augmented by an insistent piano, the EP begins with the roar of the title track, which is then followed by the equally urgent tale of rampant gun violence in "Hot Night In The Neighborhood," which cleverly quotes from Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer In The City." The EP's third track, "Black Lives Matter" brings the pace down if not the tension with its more acoustic, stripped down textures while Cymone's surprising rock guitar fueled cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," brings the proceedings to a roof raising jewel of spiritual deliverance.
FOXYGEN
Released October 14, 2014
PIXIES
Released September 30, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: A new producer. A new bassist. A newfound sense of re-energized and rejuvenated force.
When we last left the alt-rock legends known as the Pixies, original bassist Kim Deal had abruptly departed the band before the group released their loudly swaggering (and unfairly maligned) return album "Indie Cindy" (released April 19, 2014). Two years on, the band has welcomed not only a new producer in Tom Delgety but a new bassist in alt-rock veteran Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle, Zwan), who has now joined guitarist Joey Santiago, drummer David Lovering and band leader/songwriter/singer/guitarist Black Francis as an official member.
With "Head Carrier," the Pixies' status as a continuing, relevant musical force is more than confirmed with this rocketship of an album which blasts through indie rock guitars and power pop melodies in glorious fashion, and all in about 33 minutes. Where the monstrous roar of "Baal's Back" and "Um Chagga Lagga," firmly demonstrate that the Pixies have lost none of their rapacious bite, it is through the album's title track plus "Classic Masher," "Oona," "Talent," "Tenement Song," "Plaster Of Paris," and even more where the band brings the shimmering yet shaggy sheen to Francis' songs, which are all beautifully recorded, showcasing all of the band members in peak form.
And yet, the most graceful note arrives on the already much written about "All I Think About Now" (whose introductory riff undeniably recalls the band's classic "Where Is My Mind"), co-written and sung by Lenchantin and serves as a "thank you" to the departed Kim Deal--a poignant bridge to the past while serving as a gently defiant step into the future.
BADBADNOTGOOD
Released July 8, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: WSUM brought me here and Post Social's Shannon Connor has also proclaimed this album as being his personal favorite of 2016 so far. That was more than enough reason for me to head to B-Side and pick u a copy of the fourth album by this Canadian band whose instrumental tracks somehow sound like the missing link between Tortoise, Dungen, Air, J Dilla and Madlib.
With a sonic palate that instantly suggests the 1970's jazz/fusion scene with its analog synths, warm keyboards, those richly dry drums and cymbals and most expressively, Leland Whitty's "Coltrane-esque" saxophone solos, the grit of soul and hip-hop is powerfully evident throughout, especially upon the vocal tracks "Time Moves Slow" and "In Your Eyes."
One of 2016's most pleasantly surprising albums!
DONNY McCASLIN
Released October 14, 2016
NEW 2016 MUSIC: While the sadly departed and eternally missed David Bowie certainly intended his final album "Blackstar" (released January 8, 2016) to serve as a gift to his generations of fans, it would not be a stretch of the imagination that he bequeathed to all of us yet another gift within that album by presenting his backing musicians and collaborators so grandly to the world...musicians the larger population may not ever have heard of otherwise.
With "Beyond Now," saxophonist Donny McCaslin and his team of superior bandmates have released their first post-Bowie work and it is clear that his influence has only continued to loom largely over the band as McCaslin's group provides stirring covers of nothing less than two of Bowie's more evocative and arcane works, "A Small Plot Of Land" from Bowie's "Outside" (released September 26, 1995) and "Warszawa" from "Low" (released January 14, 1977).
In addition to honoring David Bowie's legacy, "Beyond Now" provides a ferociously composed and performed collection from McCaslin and his bandmates, which I am certain will consistently thrill and leave listeners breathless due to their dexterity, agility and power...and most hopefully, inspire all of us to dig deeper into McCaslin's own extensive back catalog.
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