Depeche Mode - Playing The Angel

Let’s just call a spade a spade: 2001’s Exciter was by far the worst Depeche Mode album to ever be released, and I don’t care what fanatics think, it sucked ASS. Other than first single “Dream On,” Exciter was a train-wreck that featured Martin Gore’s worst lyrics to date, uninspired vocals by Dave Gahan and less than stellar production that missed Alan Wilder’s presence more than ever (and let’s not pretend that Andrew Fletcher actually does anything productive shall we?). It was no surprise to anyone that serious talks of breaking up were in the works shortly after. Solo albums by Gahan and Gore in 2003 seemed to fuel even more rumors that DM was done for.

All of which makes the existence of Playing The Angel all the more curious. How would Depeche Mode handle coming back from all the internal rumblings and grumblings of the last four years? Let’s not even start to kid ourselves. I refuse to be one of those critics that falls over himself to spew forth that this is a grand return to form and their greatest album since…whatever. Playing The Angel is certainly no Violator or Songs Of Faith And Devotion (their most sorely overlooked album). Hell, this album isn’t even up to par with something like Ultra. But it is something that Exciter wasn’t and that’s fairly decent.

If I could have just listened to the first three tracks of Playing The Angel (”The Pain I’m Used To,” “John The Revelator” and “Suffer Well”) and then been allowed to shut it off, I would have been inclined to opine that Playing The Angel was actually great. “The Pain I’m Used To” and “John The Revelator” are reminiscent of the best aspects of Songs Of Faith And Devotion (harder electric guitars and “Condemnation” style gospel choirs respectively) and “Suffer Well” with Gahan’s voice in top form, steady rhythm guitar, and Gore’s excelling backing vocals, may just be the best DM song of the last ten years. Even first single “Precious” isn’t half bad when you get right down to it.

But after that frontloaded set of goods on Side A however, Playing The Angel is pretty lackluster. The rest of the album suffers from murky, self-indulgent production just like Exciter did, and also like Exciter, the songs sung by Gore (”Macro” and “Damaged People”) stink right through the plastic lining on the CD. “Lilian” is the best song Side B has to offer, but it isn’t good enough to wade through the muck you have to go through to get there. Playing The Angel does have its moments, but I still say Depeche Mode should get on their hands and knees and beg Alan Wilder to come back. It’s not like his band Recoil is doing anything spectacular these days either.
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Secret, Profane & Sugarcane - Elvis Costello

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is not Elvis Costello’s first foray into the world of Folk-Bluegrass Country and Americana. All the way back in 1981 Costello released an album of all Country covers titled Almost Blue and then in 1986, Costello collaborated with T-Bone Burnett for King of America. 23 years later, Burnett and Costello are at it again with Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, an album that also boasts some of the best Bluegrass musicians in the game (Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Mike Compton and more) and only took them all three days to make.

The songs that make up Secret, Profane & Sugarcane are a real grab bag of sorts that were written at all sorts of different times for Costello. Some songs, such as “Down Among the Wine and Spirits” and “Hidden Shame”, were actually written for Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash respectively over a decade ago. Other songs here have already ended up on previous Costello records, such as “Complicated Shadows” which first appeared on 1996’s All This Useless Beauty. These songs actually fit the Americana mold quite beautifully, but it’s when Costello tries to do tracks from the Secret Songs sessions (hence part of the title) in a Bluegrass way that the album falters a bit. For those that don’t know, Costello was commissioned a few years back by the Royal Danish Opera to write songs for an Opera about the life of Hans Christian Andersen. A few of those songs, such as “She Handed Me a Mirror”, “How Deep is the Red?”, “She Was No Good” and “Red Cotton” make their first ever appearance here and the Country arrangements just make these songs feel awkward. It’s like trying to stick a square Country peg into a round Operatic hole.

Costello also finds time to throw in a cover of Bing Crosby’s “Changing Partners” at the very end as well bringing Secret, Profane & Sugarcane to a very odd end. Even though Secret, Profane & Sugarcane never seems to find a consistent footing from beginning to end, it’s still a good batch a songs from a plethora of who’s who musicians that I welcome new music from anytime, especially the always versatile Costello.

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Mark Knopfler - Get Lucky

Can you believe it’s been almost 15 years since Mark Knopfler put the kibosh on Dire Straits? Since then, Knopfler has released a steady stream of solo albums every couple of years and none have been better than the critically beloved Sailing to Philadelphia or his album of duets with Emmylou Harris titled All the Roadrunning. There have been a few middle of the road releases for Knopfler as well and Get Lucky for the most part tends to fall into that category.

Though it isn’t terrible by any means, Get Lucky feels like an album that Knopfler knocked out in his sleep. Those anticipating past toe-tappers such “Money For Nothing” or “Romeo and Juliet” may well be put off by the records hushed vocals, subdued guitar and heavy Celtic influence. But the more time spent with it, the more you realize that Get Lucky is a pleasantly easy listen from a master who no longer has anything to prove and hence rarely caters to anyone but his own Irish muse. He marches to his own drum, even when its heartbeat is faint, strange and distant. The few true Rock moments such as “You Can’t Beat the House” and “Cleaning My Gun” have more in common with someone like J.J. Cale than his former band, but it’s good to see Mark let loose the reigns and blow some carbon off the plugs. Get Lucky is certainly geared for Knopfler’s more hard-core fans and won’t go down as one of his essential recordings be it with Dire Straits or otherwise, but it’s still wonderful to hear from the Sultan who seems to be Swinging strong and well after all these years.

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Time Crisis album

Although the formation of Time Crisis follows a somewhat conventional scenario (in this case that the script called for natives of Pennsylvania and Jon Markson Will Brown to meet at the University of Connecticut, discovered their shared love of music and mix their styles seem diametrically opposed to a cohesive unit), nothing else on the classical duet cries. Brown was schooled in the art boom bap in Pittsburgh, while Markson has been exposed to an eclectic mix in Allentown – with an emphasis on guitar. But Time Crisis is much deeper than that – and his first album, Time Crisis, gender bending trends showcases the duo.

10 tracks from the album used for exploration of all kinds of genres that range from the obvious (hip-hop and rock) to the more subtle (glitch-pop), with a number of stops in between. As such, the record also makes use of a large number of instruments beyond the obvious – including the sequencer, six strings, vocoder and a violin. In the words of Fameless Fam (Time Crisis crew and label) “This record sums up the mosaic of our generation through collaboration and is sure to mark the beginning of a partnership that will give us the honest and progressive music for years to come. ”

Collaboration is not limited to aforementioned Brown and Markson, the album offers Emoh Betta DJ on the turntables, Josh Gottesman on drums, keyboards EJ3 Robot, Exquisite Corpse, of partyboobytrap Fameless Fam on glockenspiel, percussion and vocals , violin Amy Alvey, and member partyboobytrap Virtue on the microphone. It’s a testament to both Brown and Markson they offer their customers the freedom to create and add to the track in a way that goes far beyond a normal album This often leads to a mixture of music electronic and organic “feature.” – with results that, at the very least make you think.

The “Heaven”, second track of the album, Time Crisis of multiple influences “can be heard clearly, the duo offers up a production that is evolving from a relatively simple beat hip-hop in a combination of several genres they enjoy. Virtue lyrics are clearly informed of what’s happening in society today – and they serve to add another layer of a song already chalk full of them. That said, the track is closer to the Time Crisis comes to “traditional” hip-hop and is an excellent starting point for the rest of the album.

The next track, “the pen” seems to exist a striking contrast with the previous song, but the mixture of voices and instrumentation reveals another layer of Time Crisis. The two “blocks” and “Blue Lips” seem to capture the sound Time Crisis – if one exists. Tracks like the album itself, opened in a fashion like that, but to build quickly in productions that appeal to multiple genres. They both want to travel music – with lyrics and voice of virtue and Exquisite Corpse acting as constants only (which is a good thing that virtue sounds completely at home during productions Time Crisis and provides both deep and dope lyrics, everything).

But the undisputed stars of Time Crisis are Brown and Markson. The multiple layers in each piece of room to breathe – and the strength of the runway at the forefront. The many instruments, sounds and creations are only push the next track – and at the end of the album, the listener should be grateful, he / she has been along for the ride.

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Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon: The End of Day album

Say what you will about Kanye West the person, but Kanye West the rapper and producer has changed the Hip-Hop game for the better. His unique flow and ear for diverse beats, samples and live instrumentation have influenced a new generation of up and coming wunderkinds and his protégée Kid Cudi is near the top of that new generation. Originally noticed for his ground breaking 2008 free mix-tape A Kid Named Cudi, West recruited Cudi to help write and produce four tracks for West’s polarizing 808’s and Heartbreak album and one of those tracks, “Heartless” became a worldwide smash, ushering Kid Cudi into the realm of next big thing status. Early this summer Cudi’s single “Day n Nite,” a track from his mix tape about a lonely stoner who frees his mind at night, inexplicably reached #1 on the charts catapulting Cudi’s status further even though he still didn’t have a proper debut album released. With all the hype surrounding him, it’s no surprise that his long awaited debut Man on the Moon: The End of Day will have its share of haters, jealous types and naysayers, but don’t listen to them because Kid Cudi is the real deal; a young up and comer with talent to back up all the buzzed about hype.

One thing that is shockingly different between Man on the Moon and Kid Cudi’s mix-tape is the overall tone between the two. Whereas the mix-tape was for the most part a fun time party album, Man on the Moon is wildly moody and at times, quite depressing. The honesty and candor that Cudi portrays throughout is incredibly refreshing. Where most mainstream rappers would boast about how great they have it with their fancy cars, stacks of cash and mini-mansions, Cudi informs us on “Soundtrack 2 My Life” that “I got 99 problems and they all bitches, wish I was Jigga Man, care free livin’” which pokes fun at Jay-Z but dig deeper and you hear a Kid still mourning the death of his father when he was a pre-teen and “all of these emotions are pouring out of me.” Don’t let the serious subject matter however make you think there aren’t carefree moments to be had on Man on the Moon. “Simple As…” is one of the best produced Hip-Hop tracks of the year (which can be enjoyed ten-fold with a solid pair of headphones so you can revel in all the stellar layering being done on that track) and “Make Her Say” (featuring Kanye West and Common) brilliantly samples Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and turns it on its ear to make it something entirely his own. At times, Man on the Moon can be overly self-indulgent and bipolar to say the least, but that’s half its charm and over the next few years I think it’ll be one of those albums that people look back and say that it really changed the landscape of Hip-Hop.
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Pearl Jam - Backspacer album

I’ve been fortunate enough to see Pearl Jam live three different times during this decade on three separate album tours and nothing has been more frustrating than to watch Eddie Vedder and company put on such absolutely stunning live shows, but, during it all, drop such terribly average albums onto the public. Why they haven’t been able to capture and translate their tremendous live energy into the studio on any of their last three releases has been as mysterious as it’s been maddening. Lest you think the luster has forever faded from the Pearl, however – Backspacer beats that notion into the ground like a 4/4 jackhammer. This has to be the most welcome surprise of the year, as Pearl Jam’s ninth overall album and best since 1994’s much heralded Vitalogy demonstrates with shine to spare that they’ve still got plenty of Jam in the jar.

Pearl Jam haven’t sounded this joyful and comfortable in their own skin maybe since the Ten era and I have to say it’s more than refreshing to have this band sounding like they’re back in their prime. Backspacer rocks harder than anything they’ve done since 1993’s Vs. and that Rock is on full display right out of the gate with Vedder in complete command of tracks brimming with Punk-ish vitality such as “Gonna See My Friend,” “Got Some” and first single “The Fixer” which is probably Vedder’s strongest vocal work since Yield’s “Given To Fly.” As far as infectious Rock songs go, you can’t go wrong with “Supersonic” as well, probably my favorite track overall on Backspacer.

Balancing out all this bang and bluster are several well placed slower tracks. “Just Breathe” and album closer “The End” are reminiscent of the superb acoustic tracks that Vedder wrote for the “Into the Wild” soundtrack and “Unthought Known” is prone to be one of those songs like “Daughter” and “Elderly Woman Behind A Counter in a Small Town” that will be a hit at every upcoming live show and highlight Vedder’s consummate skill at wringing out every drop of pathos and melancholy from a phrase or chorus hook without stooping to even the most remote amount of calculated sentimentality. It’s hard to believe that if Jeremy hadn’t “spoke” in class that day he’d be pushing 40 and losing his hair the slow way. Which means that to most music consumers Pearl Jam may well be their parents favorite band. All of which makes this resurrection of one of the greatest bands of the 90’s all the more remarkable, do yourself a favor and pick up Backspacer – it will very likely be high on everyone’s best-of the year lists.

Pearl Jam – Backspacer

Norah Jones

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

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

Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind E.P.

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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Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

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.

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