Singer Sharon Jones and producer/songwriter/bandleader Gabriel Roth (aka Bosco Mann) have crafted yet another classic album of true R&B soul music in the spirit of Stax and Atlantic, James Brown and Motown, the 60's and 70's. Alternately funky, playful, heartbroken, and imperious, Jones also beat cancer in 2013, marking her as an even more remarkable woman than she already appeared to be. (Btw, the cover art is a clear homage to The Chi-Lites' 1971 album, (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People.)
Click here to watch and listen to "Retreat!"
Sometimes all I want is to hear a couple blokes in their early 20's rock Zeppelin/Stripes/Queens riffage with an eye toward brevity, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. These kids have been a band for all of a year and a half, and the singer just plays bass -- there's no guitars on this mess, but with all his pedals you wouldn't know it. All haters can suck it. But, you know, maybe lose the baseball cap?
Click here to watch and listen to "Figure It Out".
This Chicago legend's latest is a stripped-down, sober look at the city he came from. He may be removed from the streets, and in that way Nobody's Smiling may appear to be a dilettante swooping in for a few pictures in black and white and then back to the hotel. But what you hear are hard beats from his old friend and collaborator, No I.D., and hard words about what hasn't changed in 20 years. I will always be drawn to stark, dry, hip-hop production, free of slick choruses and phony-sounding synth lines -- not to mention BS that glorifies partying above all else. Here's what Common offers: honesty, reality, and straight MCing from one of the best to ever grab a mic.
Click here to listen to "No Fear".
In spite of my own mixed feelings about this guy, I can't deny that he knows how to write exciting rock n roll which borrows heavily from his forbears, yet manages to sound entirely his own. I love his grooves, I dig his style, I share his affinity for classic sounds and media, I side-eye his obstinacy, and I lament his occasionally shitty attitude. But on guitar dude will smoke you the fuck up.
Click here to watch and listen to "Lazaretto".
Chicago-born and LA-based, these gentlemen are mostly known for elaborate, clever music videos. They push a pile of my pop buttons too, and on their latest effort incorporate a subtle 80's electro-dance element I don't mind at all. Yeah man, I'm keen on nearly every cut, but I ain't bananas about em, you know? It's good fun!
Click here to watch and listen to "I Won't Let You Down".
Matt Sharp left Weezer after Pinkerton because he's no fool, and started The Rentals in time to have a cute Moog-driven hit single in 1995. His first album in fifteen years (and the third ever) sticks to a winning formula: infectious pop jams that are both crunchy and smooth, carefully produced, repeatedly strong; a big Moogly-boogly body with a melancholy heart.
Click here to listen to "Thought of Sound".
Until I heard this new album of throwback soul sounds, produced by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, I had no idea this was the lady whose milkshake once apparently brought the boys to the yard, because I did not care. I'm just glad she decided to blow off the terrible shit that passes for modern R&B these days because oh goddammit I cannot get enough of the fonky "Hooch"!
Click here to listen to "Hooch".
Honestly, I used to pretty much hate Future Islands, with their overwrought baritone singer and cheesy overt 80's sheen, sounding like a lesser The The and/or Depeche Mode -- bands I love -- cuz come on, they're from Baltimore. But I'll be damned if their enthusiasm and actual skill didn't win me over, not to mention the extra-hummable songs they deliver here. It's called Singles for a reason.
Click here to watch and listen to "Seasons (Waiting on You)" - Live on Letterman.
Art pop from a guitar-mangling descendant of David Byrne who actually made a record with him two years ago that I liked too; this is even better. On top of being slightly weird, she's accessibly funny: "Oh what an ordinary day/Take out the garbage, masturbate."* Annie Clark has either come into her own at last, or I've finally cracked her oblique code; I'm inclined to believe it's more my fault.
Click here to watch and listen to "Digital Witness".
* "Hopefully not in that order!" - My funnier girlfriend.
This dark electronic R&B debut album from a 26-year-old white girl out of Orange County caught me by surprise, with one woozy, menacing cut after another. Where FKA twigs' beautiful music blurs into one long track, Jillian Banks' compositions are possessed with enough distinctive qualities to give her an edgy power I admire. Plus, she can sang, buddy.
Click here to watch and listen to "Drowning".
* * * * *
