Kieren Hebden & Steve Reid - NYC

KIERAN HEBDEN & STEVE REID
NYC (CD) – Domino

Kieran Hebden loses the Four Tet moniker again for this instrumental album with jazz drummer extraordinaire Steve Reid, their fourth expedition together. As its title intimates, it's an homage to New York with most of the songs paying particular attention to specific NYC locales. Those tunes comprise a flyby visit to the city with two tunes, the slow descent of "Arrival" and the ambient exit of "Departure," bracketing the trip. NYC attempts to capture the city's fizz and sizzle with limited instrumentation, relying very heavily on Reid's drumming and Hebden's ever-inspired knob fiddling. And since it was crafted within two days in a New York studio, the collaboration also bears a loose, improvisational sound. With its rumbling bass and skittering drums, "Lyman Place" begins like a number from a gritty David Holmes soundtrack, while eventually transmogrifying into something akin to a jet taking off. Then the clamor of “1st & 1st” approximates the hurly burly of that East Village intersection, which Seinfeld’s Kramer described as “the nexus of the universe.” Later, "Between B & C" commences with a sample of melodic guitar, bearing a hint of Alphabet City’s Latin influence, and also proves the disk’s most accessible track. NYC rounds out with “Departure,” a comparatively minimalist track, featuring accelerating Reich-like tintinnabulation. Like all of these tracks, it’ll provide challenging, yet rewarding grist for your ear. – Robert Stribley

kieranhebdenandstevereid.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 30 (Spring 2009)

The Matthew Herbert Big Band - There's Me & There's You

The latest and unfortunately last issue of Skyscraper has hit the stands. A sign of the times, the mag will cease to occupy physical space and will be going entirely online in the coming months. Two of my reviews from the issue follow.

THE MATTHEW HERBERT BIG BAND
There’s Me and There’s You (CD) – !K7

Those familiar with Matthew Herbert won’t be surprised that his new effort, There’s Me and There’s You, proves a sometimes challenging, always swinging compendium of glitchy show tunes. This second release from his incarnation as The Matthew Herbert Big Band is also a highly political album. We’re told its “dominant theme is power and its abuses in the 21st century,” and its cover even features a petition for music to be “a political force of note and not just the soundtrack to over-consumption.” It’s complex and cheerily excoriating in a way that only Herbert could arrange. “The Story,” for example, begins with a rude shock of sound, a snap like lightning, then settles into heavy beats and then finger snaps before London’s Eska Mtungwazi kicks in with her powerful vocals. It’s a delight divining the mélange of sounds Herbert serves up. He swipes the sounds of matches being lit, nails being driven into a coffin, and, er, 70 condoms getting dragged across the floor of the British Museum, among others. Most provocatively, he knit “Nonsounds” together with recordings from Palestine, including cicadas, roosters, and the sound of protesters being shot against the wall separating Palestine from Israel. The see-sawing here between expertly-crafted big band sound and more abrasive electronica may prove too challenging for some, but for those accustomed to Herbert’s manic method of musical chemistry, he doesn’t fail to satisfy and provoke. – Robert Stribley

matthewherbertbigband.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 30 (Spring 2009)

Woven Hand - Ten Stones

WOVEN HAND
Ten Stones (CD) – Sounds Familyre

David Eugene Edwards return, his ancient, funereal voice in tow for the eleven songs, which comprise Ten Stones, the solid, if somewhat predictable new effort from Denver's Woven Hand. He jump-starts the effort with “Beautiful Axe,” which contains the sometimes baffling admixture of Native American imagery and New Testament fervor we’ve come to expect from his band. He engages his dirgelike delivery on the sermonic “Not One Stone,” too, which references Christ’s apocalyptic prophecy of the destruction of the buildings his disciples had admired, so that “not one stone would be unturned.” If there’s one complaint to level against this effort then, it’s that Ten Stones begins to smack of a patented Woven Hand template: ominous vocals, redolent with foreboding religious references sung against raw rock. As if fearing this tendency himself, Edwards does throw us for a loop or two: The album’s riveting centerpiece “White Knuckle Grip” chronicles wild rides and Saturday night carousing via dirty, bluesy Southern rock. Even here, though, Edwards pauses to ask the man upstairs to keep an eye on him. The most startling entry is Edwards' take on Antonio Carlos Jobim’s "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars." Edwards allies his lilting drone to the samba song, modulating his tone, but still infusing it with enough of drama to throw a few threatening shadows across the starry skies.
– Robert Stribley

wovenhand.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 29 (Winter 2009)

Joan as Policewoman - To Survive

JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN
To Survive (CD) – Cheap Lullaby

I saw Joan Wasserman open for Joseph Arthur a few years ago in Denver, Colorado before I could really appreciate her in toto. She played entirely by herself and was pretty riveting, but I wasn't familiar enough with her music then. Oh, to return to that moment back and appreciate it properly. Wasserman's latest effort under the Joan as Poilice Woman moniker doesn't pack the visceral wallop of her last effort, Real Life, but To Survive is a lovely, refined effort nonetheless. It’s an intimate affair, whether you're ensconced in the slo-mo drip of "Start of my Heart" or the sultry, almost funereal "Honor my Wishes." The dirty guitar on "Holiday" is about as noisy as the album gets, but it's distorted and mixed in far enough back not to disrupt the proceedings. On all these tracks, Wasserman’s tender, quavering vocals are generally the focus, as well as her hesitant, jabbing piano. She maintains this tone on the yin/yang duo of “To Be Loved” and “To Be Lonely” and on the title track, in which she addresses her childhood fear that she might meet the fate of her namesake, Joan of Arc. Eventually, Rufus Wainwright joins Wasserman on “To America,” a subtle, almost stately rebuke to her country’s recent recklessness, closing the album with a loping beat, and, eventually, fading skyrockets. – Robert Stribley

joanaspolicewoman.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 29 (Winter 2009)

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

The latest issue of Skyscraper has hit the stands. Here are three of my reviews from the previous issue, starting with my favorite album of the year.

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (CD) – Anti

The old-timey preacher may have warned that our arms are too short to box with God, but damned if Nick Cave ain’t gonna give it a shot anyway. “We call upon the author to explain,” he insists six songs into the emphatically titled Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, Cave’s latest electric assembly with the Seeds. What follows is a rattling good album from the now 51-year-old Cave and his increasingly hoary disciples. In Cave’s topsy-turvy world, Lazarus, freshly raised from the dead, proves rather ungrateful, when confronted with the pace of “the dog-eat-dog world” and set offs for the left coast only to discover it equally inhospitable. From there, the threads are hard to follow, but who cares: Cave calls and we follow. Along the way, we encounter a cavalcade of sweaty meat lockers, receptive vulvae, hand guns, angels, and hotel beds. Against the crunch of guitars and The Seeds “Ooo-Ooo” background vocals, “Albert Goes West” follows three more men on their respective quests across America, and none of them seem to find what they’re looking for either. The song ends, however, with the narrator exclaiming, “I like it here!!!,” extolling the virtues of staying put. It’s a gentle reminder that wherever you go, there you are. And those pleasures you’re looking for may already be in your lap. Elsewhere, when Cave finds his bliss, it’s settled right beside him, too – and often in mundane places. The gorgeous “Jesus of the Moon” takes place within a hotel room. And “Moonlight” and “Midnight Man” place the onus on time to proffer pleasure, not place (nor religion, as the explosive “We Call upon the Author” declaims). Apropos of Cave’s disposition, beauty's often swirling within a cacophony. Tripping piano and snarling guitar propel Cave through “Lie Down Here (& Be My Girl)” with the Seeds cooing and chorusing along with him. “Night of the Lotus Eaters” proceeds at a gentler pace, but not without an industrial clatter. So, too, the spookily beautiful “Moonland” creeps along, itchily, and “Hold on to Yourself” materializes within the subtle, circadic swirl of Warren Ellis’s looping strings. By the time we get to the album closer, “More News from Nowhere,” —and note that the place now is explicitly “nowhere”— Caves practically ambles through eight minutes of dense lyrics. Still, we’re in no hurry for him to leave. – Robert Stribley

nickcaveandthebadseeds.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 29 (Winter 2009)

Best Albums of 2008

Here's my 10 favorite albums from the past year. There's a bunch of stuff I haven't heard yet, and I tend to buy a few disks near the end of the year, if I think I've missed something I'd like - so this may change. The order's somewhat debatable, too.

1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig Lazarus Dig!
2. Elbow - Seldom Seen Kid
3. Hot Chip - We Were Made in the Dark
4. Joan as Policewoman - To Survive
5. Bug - London Zoo
6. Portishead - 3
7. Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!
8. Steinski - What Does It All Mean?
9. Johnny Cash Remixed (aside from the godawful Snoop Dogg track)
10. Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree OR Spiritualized - Songs in A&E

What, no Vampire Weekend? I really enjoyed some of it, but to me they lacked the soul of the musicians whose music they templated: Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon.

Technically, Saul Williams was released late last year in its digital format, but it got a meatspace release in July '08. There's more soul in any 30 seconds of it, than in the whole Vampire Weekend set.

Your suggestions?

I know I'd like to hear more of TV on the Radio's latest, as well as Flying Lotus, Fleet Foxes, Hold Steady, Benga, Juana Molina, Randy Newman. I'm sure there's a slew of other great stuff I didn't get around, too, as well.

Mike Ladd - Nostalgialator

MIKE LADD  

Nostalgialator (CD) – Definitive Jux

If you’re familiar Mike Ladd's previous work, you may know what to expect on this re-release of his excellent 2004 album, Nostalgialator. Or not. I'm not sure anything could prepare you for the disk’s opener “Dire Straits Plays Nuremberg.” Ostensibly a hip-hop album, Nostalgialator really proves a ragged pastiche that defies genre. “Sail Away Ladies” showcases a rumbling electronic blues sound, while “Trouble Shot” sounds more like Jon Spencer’s raucous brand of blues. Ripe with Ladd’s jabbing wordplay and cut through with discordant, more experimental material, Nostalgialator whiplashes between slinkier fare like “Earn to Fall” and “Off to Mars” and blaring tunes like “Afrostatic,” “Black Orientalist” and “Wildout Day,” the latter often making a political point or two along the way. “Housewives at Play” is probably the most memorable track. It sways its hips suggestively, detailing the lives of women, who are not at all quiet in their desperation, driving their family cars while “thirsty between the knees.” And on the bubbly headphone-friendly “How Electricity Really Works,” Ladd throws some wonder into the mix with all that sensuality and passion. – Robert Stribley 

myspace.com/mikeladd

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 28 (Summer 2008)

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

NICK CAVE & WARREN ELLIS
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (CD) – EMI 

For the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Nick Cave and Bad Seed violinist Warren Ellis have collaborated to create a reserved, but deeply beautiful soundtrack. The first thing soundtracks usually prove guilty of is bombast, but there’s none of that to be had here. Instead, Assassination opens with "Rather Lovely Thing," offering tender fiddle against piano, not much else, and conjuring the melancholy beauty you’d expect upon seeing Cave or Ellis’s name attached to anything. “Last Ride to KC” follows later with deep cello sawing gently against a constant buzz of violin. Simple piano and violin provide most of the instrumentation on other standout tracks like “Moving On” and “Song for Jesse,” too. So, what are we to make of the fact that two Aussies forged the soundtrack for a movie about such an iconic American figure? Well, Cave is no stranger to the genre, having penned his own outback Western, The Proposition. He and Ellis produced the soundtrack for that film, too. Next up? Cave and Ellis are working on a soundtrack for the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. It’s hard to imagine two men better suited for the job. – Robert Stribley

nickcaveandthebadseeds.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 28 (Summer 2008)

Underworld - Oblivion With Bells

The latest issue of Skyscraper should hit stands soon. Here are three of my reviews from the previous issue. 

UNDERWORLD

Oblivion with Bells (CD) – Ato 

Overall, Oblivion With Bells is more about shy tintinnabulation than thudding beats, so club kids looking for more heaving dancefloor filler like “Pearl's Girl” or “Born Slippy” may want to look elsewhere. Still, Oblivion – Underworld's eighth album proper – does reward with subtle, sophisticated artisanship. While “Crocodile” does attempt to fill the obligatory banging club track slot, it's not the most noteworthy track, even if it does share moments of shivery elegance. More compelling, even cinematic is the gorgeous “Beautiful Burnout” throughout which Karl intones about “blood on a tissue on the floor of a train.” Over five minutes into the track, clattering percussion slips in, a spine-tingling moment during a recent Underworld concert. If you can get past Hyde's idiosyncratic rapping, “Ring Road” proves another standout track. Aboriginal rhythms and didgeridoo give way to thumping bass, as Hyde riffs on London’s multi-culti street scene. “To Heal” opens with a burst of sound that sounds alarmingly like the opening note to the Simpson’s theme. It quickly transmutes, however, into a quiet, meditative piece, which sounds more like a consciousness gradually tinkling to life. Oblivion may mystify the “lager, lager” set, but it should satisfy those who allow it to envelop them over a few listens. – Robert Stribley 

underworldlive.com 

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 28 (Summer 2008)

Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who See but Cannot Feel

ATLAS SOUND
Let the Blind Lead Those Who See but Cannot Feel (CD) – Kranky

Atlas Sound is Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox and Let the Blind Lead Those Who See but Cannot Feel is his first full-length solo release. It’s an atmospheric, fuzzed-out effort, shot straight out of Cox’s bedroom in Atlanta, Georgia. With that in mind, you can expect less guitar and more electronics and multi-tracking throughout. As the song titles suggest, Cox’s focus is autobiographical here. These are tales of young love, but love always with a twist and even a bite. Tales also of anxiety, death, disease and addiction. Sonically, Cox sometimes channels something akin to Vangelis meets shoegaze: “Winter Vacation,” for example, opens with all the chilly austerity of a Vangelis soundtrack. “Cold as Ice” sounds more like tripped-out Herbert though and “Scraping Past” more like “drone punk,” the label Cox himself affixed to Deerhunter. Among the most appealing tracks are the narcotic cloud of “Recent Bedroom” and “Quarantined,” a gorgeous show-stopper, with a repetitive tinkling sound to it that reminded me of carousel music. It was inspired by a story about quarantined Russian children, isolated, suffering from AIDS and “waiting to be changed” as Cox sings over and over again. A propulsive bassline gives the track the clearest pop undercurrent of any track on here. Listening advice for this disk? Turn it up, let it wash over you. - Robert Stribley

www.myspace.com/bradfordcox

Control - Various Artists

CONTROL
Various Artists (CD) – Rhino

Anton Corbjin's recent biopic Control details the brief, but electric career of Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division from 1976-1980, and the soundtrack to Corbjin's first directorial effort is notably satisfying. It smartly includes Joy Division's material along with contemporaries who influenced them or who would've provided the soundtrack to their lives. You experience Curtis's devotion to David Bowie and the Velvet Underground, and hearing songs by Kraftwerk, The Buzzcocks, Roxy Music, and Iggy Pop, you see how Joy Division stood on the shoulders of giants when they began wowing Manchester in the '70s. John Cooper Clarke even appears, performing his punk poem, “Evidently Chicken Town.” Clarke plays himself in the movie and used to open for the Sex Pistols, as well as Joy Division. The cast perform Joy Division's songs in the movie, and their version of "Transmission" provides an authentic glimpse of the rough, but entrancing spirit of a Joy Division appearance. Fittingly, New Order provide three instrumental tracks for the score. Nothing too striking, but it's comforting to hear their distinctive sound coloring this effort. Some fans will grouse about The Killer’s poppy cover of “Shadowplay,” which plays over the credits, but it seems appropriate to include a band so obviously indebted to Joy Division. Though you might reasonably ask, "What? No Interpol?" They'd have better suited the Control's achromatic mood. - Robert Stribley

momentum.control.substance001.com

This review appears in the latest issue of Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 27 (Spring 2008)

Hot Chip - Made in the Dark

HOT CHIP
Made in the Dark (CD) – Astralwerks

And now let us praise nonsensical men. Like fellow Brits Fujiya & Miyagi, Hot Chip make a living coupling occasionally silly lyrics to indecently catchy tunes. On their third album Made in the Dark, the supporting evidence most prominently includes "Wrestlers,” wherein the lads stitch wrestling references together to form a surprisingly mournful song with enough gravity to trick a tear to your eye. The descending piano scales and woo-woo background vocals contribute to this sleight of hand, but what really makes the song work is its underlying subtext: after all, this isn’t a song about wrestling; it’s about the narrator's combative relationship with his lover and his resulting emotional distance from her. And it’s still funny. Hot Chip run the gamut here, presenting dance-floor tremblers like the ironically entitled “Don’t Dance” and “One Pure Thought,” as well as wriggling Kraut-pop on “Bendable, Posable” or “Ready for the Floor.” They’ve also mastered some exquisite come-down tunes, including “We're Looking for a Lot of Love,” “Made in the Dark” and “Whistle for Will.” The band says this album was inspired as much by Willie Nelson and Richard and Linda Thompson as German techno. I believe it. They're also said to be headed to studio with legendary British musician Robert Wyatt to rerecord the title track. Now, that I can't wait to hear. – Robert Stribley

www.hotchip.co.uk

This review appears in the latest issue of Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 27 (Spring 2008)

UNKLE - War Stories

UNKLE
War Stories (CD)

Though their first release bore DJ Shadow's distinctive imprimatur, UNKLE continues as James Lavelle and friends now. On War Stories, those friends include The Cult's Ian Astbury on two tracks, as well as Josh Homme, and Massive Attack's Robert "3D" Del Naja. Despite its moniker, War Stories isn't really an explicit protest album. If anything the album's most unequivocal reference to current events, "Persons and Machinery," feels shoehorned into the disk, out of place within the generally more somber proceedings. Or maybe it just pops where most of the disk rocks. After a brief and wholly unnecessary intro, War Stories launches with “Chemistry,” an instrumental track, which foreshadows the grittier sound the album largely rattles along with. Ian Astbury makes the most impressive appearance; providing searing vocals on the thunderous "Burn my Shadow." Not all of these tracks pack the same visceral punch, but many do wend their way into your cranium after a few spins. Josh Homme owns the twisty, handclappy "Restless," but 3D's presence is better reflected in his sanguinary cover art, than on the wispy "Twilight." Lavelle contributes his own vocals to the ratcheting slither of "Price You Pay." And Gavin Clark's droning, loping vocals prove effective on the drowsy "Keys to the Kingdom," where on each chorus, Clark lifts his voice for a passage of optimistic if still paralyzed yearning. – Robert Stribley

unkle.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 26 (Fall 2007)

Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur

CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA
Ma Fleur (CD) – Ninja Tune

Who was it said, "It's not the notes that count, but the spaces in between"? Maestro Justin Swinscoe understands that principle and wields it masterfully as he fronts Cinematic Orchestra’s latest offering Ma Fleur. Beginning with Patrick Watson’s quavering, Antony-esque vocals on "That Home" and ending with the same, this fourth disk from Swincoe and crew proves a modest, but refined affair. American soul singer Fontella Bass joins the British-based Orchestra again on “Familiar Ground” and "Breathe," which gives Pink Floyd a casual nod along the way. Former Lamb torch singer Lou Rhodes' smoky vocals probably aren’t used to full effect on "Time and Space," but the song does build grandly, slouching through its notes, creating a dark, sexy atmosphere along the way. Those who have enjoyed the Orchestra’s purely instrumental music will find much to enjoy here, too, with tunes like “As the Stars Fall” for moody movies not yet made. It’s the closer that’s worth hanging around for though: Ma Fleur culminates with Watson’s goose-bump inducing contributions on both piano and vocals for "To Build a Home," a lengthy reprise that fully delivers on the promise of the opening track. It’s the most exquisite song I’ve heard this year. Swinscoe orchestrates this mellifluous closer primarily with Watson’s voice and his spare piano, eventually enjoining strings and finally double bass. – Robert Stribley

cinematicorchestra.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 26 (Fall 2007)

The National - Boxer

THE NATIONAL
Boxer (CD)– Beggars Banquet

One device The National deploy adroitly on their excellent fifth offering Boxer is the changeup. The disk’s stirring opener "Fake Empire" includes two of them. The first comes when, after drawling along to tentative piano for two verses, lead singer Matt Berninger bursts into a musical break against increasingly brisk percussion. It’s a moment that sends a pleasurable chill up your spine. The second comes at the song’s close after grungier guitars have joined the proceedings, when twirling brass close everything out. It’s a short and remarkably simple song – with just a few spare lyrics – but it illustrates what makes many of the songs here soar above their seemingly modest trappings. Listen for the subtle bassoon in "Slow Show" and wait for the surprising change in mood there, too, also signaled by melancholy piano. It’s the moment when Berninger interrupts "Ada" to address his lover in a tone that’s soft, almost pleading but doesn’t disengage from the flat dignity you typically associate with his baritone. In fact, it’s that emotional distance that contributes to the brooding atmosphere, which permeates Boxer. The terrain gets even chillier in some places: "Brainy" is a stalker song in the tradition Sting’s "Every Breath You Take." And the staccato "Mistaken for Strangers" might the most concise statement on existential isolation you’ll hear in a pop song all year. – Robert Stribley

americanmary.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 26 (Fall 2007)

Joan as Police Woman - Real Life

Skyscraper Magazine has graciously allowed me to reprint some of my music reviews here, so I'd like by adding a few from their last issue, then link to some from previous issues, as well. The latest issue of Skyscraper should be hitting a store near you very soon. Let's start off with one of my favorite releases from the last year or so.

JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN
Real Life (CD) – Cheap Lullaby

Joan Wasser is a New York artist/violinist who’s built an impressive résumé working with musicians like Joseph Arthur, Antony and the Johnsons, Scissor Sisters, and Lou Reed. On Real Life Joan and her band have crafted an exquisite album, which equals and even bests the work of many of those same luminaries. Throughout Real Life, Wasser alternates between sweet and insistent, often within the same song: "Feed the Light," "Save Me" – those are imperatives. So, too, on the title track, Joan tenderly implores, "be reckless with me," reminding you that lowering your guard sometimes exposes you to "real life." With similar insistence, Antony Hagerty appears in all his glory, too, trading vocals with Joan as they stamp out "I Defy" against militant piano. "Eternal Flame" proves most the charming and affirming tune here as Joan sings against chanting whirls of her own "yes, yes" accompanying vocals while Joseph Arthur seesaws between growls and falsetto behind her. Arthur also accompanies her on "Feed the Light," a spooky, elongated, but gently encouraging tune, ruffled with distorted strings. There’s much more: "Save Me" with its jabbing piano, "Flushed Chest," with its muted brass and Wasser’s violin, and the sinuous lines she traces on "The Ride." Take your time with Real Life. It offers sublime rewards. - Robert Stribley

www.joanaspolicewoman.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 26 (Fall 2007)

Grinderman

GRINDERMAN
Grinderman (CD) – Anti

As Nick Cave nears 50, he engages his new band Grinderman to bequeath us with some of his most bracing and profane work yet. Cave grouses, growls and grumbles his way through this lacerating little effort. About what? Well, ostensibly women, but you’ll eventually conclude it’s the velocity of life he has a beef with. Throughout, on tracks like the fuzzy "Electric Alice," the grinding "Depth Charge Ethel," and the bluesy "Go Tell the Women," the fairer sex dominates the proceedings, and a visceral sexuality seeps into everything from the light-hearted buzz of "Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to Mars)" to the more acidic, but comical "No Pussy Blues." Cave isn’t really berating women; he’s mocking himself, his own predilections, archly tracking his own mid-life crises. Compare Grinderman’s cover with its content: Is it a coincidence that the grinder monkey on the cover appears to be cowering, its tiny fists protecting its genitals? The tongue-in-cheek emasculation on "No Pussy Blues" epitomizes the theme here, as Cave complains about the contortions he engages in to secure some booty – even petting his lover’s "revolting little Chihuahua" – all to no avail. "My face is finished, my body’s gone," he laments. Life is flitting by and any desired words of wisdom can be reduced to the mantra repeated on the disk’s opening track: "Get It On." - Robert Stribley

www.grinderman.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 25 (Summer 2007)

Feist - The Reminder

FEIST
The Reminder (CD) – Cherrytree/Interscope

The danger in anyone’s covering the traditional "See-Line Woman" is that one can’t help but compare the results with Nina Simone's incantatory cover of the song, but on her rewarding new album The Reminder, Leslie Feist clears that hurdle with a great version. Spelled "Sealion” here, the song is based on a field recording from the 30s and its spelling has varied ever since. Feist’s version folds her skipping vocals into a convincing mélange of handclaps, minimalist glitch keys, country guitar and eventually throbbing rock. She further cements her considerable abilities throughout this, her third release, with compelling performances of her own material, such as “I Feel It All” and her gorgeous duet with Eirik Glambek Bøe (Kings of Convenience) on “How my Heart Behaves.” Feist’s voice is both strong and sensual, and she employs both of those traits to great effect on the pounding, propulsive “My Moon, My Man” and amidst her sighing vocals on the seductive "Honey Honey." The Reminder also features some superlative collaborative work, notably “Limit to your Love,” which Feist wrote with Jason Charles Beck and “1 2 3 4,” which she wrote with Australia’s Sally Seltmann. With fellow-Canadian Ron Sexsmith, she produces “Brandy Alexander,” which begins as a simple pretty tune, but eventually dissolves into gorgeous twinkling vocal fragments. - Robert Stribley

http://www.listentofeist.com

This review was originally published in Skyscraper Magazine, Issue 25 (Summer 2007)