Uber-popular female songstress Norah Jones has always been a misunderstood figure. The daughter of Ravi Shankar was unfairly pigeonholed to a life-sentence of Jazz piano crooning due to the mega success that was her 2002 debut Come Away With Me, even though that isn’t who she is or even close to what she’s about. Not content with being deemed the next Diana Krall, Jones has done everything she possibly can to dig herself out of that pigeonhole, be it starting bands influenced by Outlaw Country (The Little Willies) or Punk trio’s (El Madmo) and slowly moving her solo work out of the piano bars and into Rock concert halls.

For her new album The Fall, Jones enlisted big time Rock producer Jacquire King (Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, Tom Waits) to add heft to the proceedings. What transpires on The Fall isn’t quite what you’d call a full-blown Rock album, but it definitely is getting further away from what helped her sell over 18 million albums over a half-decade ago. The Fall is a breakup album of sorts for Jones, who parted ways with her ex-boyfriend/bassist Lee Alexander and the songs here run the gamut of being melancholy (”I Wouldn’t Need You,” “You’ve Ruined Me”) and amusing (the cutesy album closer “Man of the Hour” which trumpets her dog as being the best male in her life). Most of the album is focused more around guitars than piano and even when Jones decides to bring ivories to the proceedings, it’s based around her Wurlitzer electric, such as the opening “Chasing Pirates” and the foot stomper “It’s Gonna Be.” Fuddy-duddies that cling to their Diana Krall records and bitch that Jones hasn’t made anything worthwhile since her debut need not bother with The Fall, but those that have appreciated her transformation into a full-fledged artist will find plenty to admire here.

The Fall – Norah Jones

Inspired to create a new album after the highly successful Ocean Rain 25th Anniversary tour, which saw them play their 1984 masterpiece from start to finish at every show with a symphony no less, Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant are back with The Fountain, their first album of new material in four years and the fifth album to be crafted by McCulloch and Sergeant since their reunion in 1997.

While The Fountain doesn’t recreate the wheel for this longstanding Liverpool group, it does offer a few bright glimmering moments that remind you what made Echo & The Bunnymen such a big deal in the 80’s to begin with. The mood of The Fountain is a lot more sunnier than Echo fans are surely used to, but the constants of McCulloch’s sturdy vocals and Sergeant’s piercing guitar work are still there in fine fashion. Opening tracks “Think I Need it Too” and “Forgotten Fields” have more in common with mainstream pleasing arena rock acts such as U2 and Coldplay than most of Echo’s own early back catalog. But with that being said, McCulloch and Sergeant sound so comfortable and at ease here it’s hard not to just sit back and enjoy the ride. The only problem with The Fountain is that all the great tracks are lined up one after another on the first half of the album and the second half is nothing but filler that doesn’t seem nearly as inspired or as memorable as side A. Oh well, at this point in their career I’ll gladly take half a great Echo album and call it a minor victory.

Echo & The Bunnymen

The perfect 2009 bookend to go with their perfect early January 2009 release Merriweather Post Pavilion, Fall Be Kind is a five track continuation mini album for the New York trio that pieces together three unreleased tracks from the Merriweather Post Pavilion sessions and two brand new songs.

The first track on Fall Be Kind, “Graze,” is one of those songs that is so incredibly good you wonder why they left it off the full-length to begin with. A hushed two minute intro gives way to a kick ass flute solo built around heavy electronics that has an amazing rhythm to it that only a band like this that is on top of their game could have concocted. “What Would I Want? Sky” is the infamous track here that has the first ever cleared sample from a Grateful Dead song. Animal Collective use bits of “Unbroken Chain” off of the Dead’s From the Mars Hotel album to great effect here and word is that even Phil Lesh is a major fan of the track. While Fall Be Kind is a very short set, this is yet another Animal Collective E.P. that stands up strong on its very own.

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Well, it’s barely even February and the album that will have everyone arguing that it is one of the best albums of this decade or dreadfully overrated is already upon us. Ready for the album that you’re gonna hear about at least a hundred more times this year and for many more years to come?

New York’s Animal Collective have been making weird and stupendously pretentious records since the near beginning of this decade and I honestly will admit to not “getting” them for the longest time (Sung Tongs still sucks Boneman, I don’t care how many times you try to tell me that album doesn’t). But in the last few years, Animal Collective started doing something I never thought they would: they started becoming more accessible. The abrasive noise and overtly pretentious arrangements were still there but just lying underneath, especially on 2007’s Strawberry Jam, I thought for a split second that I heard a band that was trying their damndest to blend some harmonies and strong structure into their coda of organized chaos. It’s two years later and three men that bafflingly call themselves Panda Bear, Avey Tare and Geologist have done the unthinkable. They’ve crafted, in my opinion, not only what will most surely be the best album of 2009 but probably one of the albums that will be remembered as one of the best of this decade.

What is it that is so groundbreaking about Merriweather Post Pavilion? Everything really. The sonic noise melded with the Electronic beats fused with the Beach Boys style harmonies are like lobster tail soaked in drawn butter. It’s all just magic that makes me grin from ear to ear. Not a single second or note is wasted or played for too long or overstays its welcome. Every time I listen to this record, I find two new things I like about it I hadn’t noticed before. It’s challenging. It’s rewarding. It doesn’t sound like anyone else but them. It’s refreshing in every way and I can’t gush about it enough. It’s like the first time I heard Radiohead’s OK Computer in 1997 and couldn’t stop listening to it and still can’t. Ready to take the plunge yet? Ready to call me crazy? Please do so. But be forewarned, you’d better pack a lunch because I will defend the greatness of this album ‘til the day of my very last breath.

Download Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Other than maybe Radiohead or Wilco, it’s hard to think of any other band besides Sonic Youth that has had a more lauded and more well-recieved decade of work in the 00’s. Since 2002, Sonic Youth have made some of the most admired albums in their long tenured career including that years’ Murray Street, 2004’s Sonic Nurse and 2006’s Rather Ripped. Now comes The Eternal, their first album not on a major label in almost 25 years (and also first album with former Pavement guitarist Mark Ibold as a full time member), instead opting for release on the venerable and ultra respected Indie label Matador. Honestly though, what else would you expect from probably the most forward thinking and independent band ever to be assembled in the history of Rock music?

The Eternal is very similar in tone to the other albums Sonic Youth have released this decade, but after multiple listens I don’t find it as nearly essential as I do Murray Street or Rather Ripped. But just like Sonic Nurse however, The Eternal is a damn fine album that has some truly excellent moments. Take for instance one of the best songs that Lee Ranaldo has ever contributed, the taut and solidly rockin’ “What We Know” and Kim Gordon shines brighter than she usually does with first single “Malibu Gas Station” and the creepy album closer “Massage the History”. Thurston Moore’s offerings are fine as always, such as the epic “Antenna”, but his last solo record and contributions to Rather Ripped were far better than anything here. Will The Eternal go down as one of Sonic Youth’s best albums ever? I wouldn’t think so, but it’s’ still better than most albums that come out these days and a band with its core still going strong 30 years on is nothing to scoff at.
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