November 22, 2011 - Direct Current

Thursday

Jan052012

King's Daughters and Sons - If Then Not When

King's Daughters and Sons - Landing somewhere near the blurry nexus of pastoral folk/rock, capacious, riff-heavy post/rock and moody, atmospheric chamber/folk, the Louisville-based amalgam of various members of local bands merged their talents for this mostly somber, darkly dramatic collection // Release: If Then Not When (November 22, Chemikal Underground) // Sounds like: Atmospheric, expansive epics that belie their prodigious heft with a down-to-earth attitude and stark, gimmick-free production...the roots are firmly grounded in the shadows of mood-driven folk songs, murder ballads and the artsy side of campfire Americana while the songs grow and build with a slow, languid intensity...

Quote: “We could be really loud when we wanted to, and really quiet. Creepy and pretty, loud and quiet, and how can those things kind of operate together, you know? Soft and quiet parts that are really pretty, and soft and quiet parts that are uncomfortable. That’s a cool dynamic.” -- Joe Manning of KD&S // What we like: the glorious riffs that emerge and eventually ring with a chiming power in the seven-minute "Sleeping Colony"...the entwined voices of Manning and Rachel Grimes in the stately, slow-motion "Arc of the Absentees"...the otherworldly mood of "The Anniversary" has an almost Dead-like rambling jam quality, piano chords, drum splashes and intricately picked guitar lines converging and then splitting apart in an extended instrumental drift...

King's Daughters & Sons - "Sleeping Colony" (from If Then Not When)

King's Daughters & Sons - "Arc of the Absentees" (from If Then Not When)

Thursday

Jan052012

Kate Walsh - The Real Thing

Kate Walsh - Stripped down, live-in-the-studio acoustic album is, says the D.I.Y. Brit songbird, "the simplest and truest form" for her new songs, each delivered one per month this past year in a video leading up to the full album street date this week...her fourth album of original songs follows up last year's Peppermint Radio collection of cover songs // Release: The Real Thing (November 21 UK) // Sounds like: Walsh's "straight from my heart" performances are mostly whisper-soft confessional musings spun like fine gossamer... accompanying herself on guitar and piano with the occasional cello backup, the 28-year-old draws comparisons to the Blue-period Joni Mitchell with what we've described as her "achingly pure" voice and gifted way around a simple, compelling melody...(videos below)

Quote: "I really really wish I could write a song for its own sake…you know, think of an interesting subject and write a song about it. But I can’t do that. I just can’t. I write because I have to…I need to get something off my chest. It’s painful, but necessary…" // What we like: the deeply emotional songs of love, loss, longing and loneliness may be delivered in a soft, delicate surrounding but the sharp clarity and undisguised pain connect with a solid punch lyrically...the fragile music box beginning of "Stirring Up A Fire" blossoms into a sweeping torch song of lovely melodic twists and turns (even if she does rhyme "written" with "smitten")...the title track -- our favorite of all -- boasts some exquisite guitar lines and some Joni-like vocals of crystalline beauty -- the real thing, indeed...

Kate Walsh - "The Real Thing" (from the album The Real Thing)

Kate Walsh - "The Dark Knight" (from the album The Real Thing)

Thursday

Jan052012

Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow

Kate Bush - Eagerly anticipated new studio album from the iconic and trendsetting Brit art-pop songstress is her first collection of new songs since 2005's Aerial...new project came out of her studio work on this past May's Director's Cut where she revisited and reworked songs from her Sensual World and Red Shoes...guests including Elton John ("Snowed in at Wheeler Street"), veteran guitarist (and Bush sideman) Andy Fairweather Low ("Wild Man"), British actor/comedian/writer Stephen Fry (the title track) and on vocals, Bush's 12-year-old son Albert "Bertie" McIntosh ("Snowflake") // Release: 50 Words for Snow (November 21, ANTI-) // Sounds like: Bush's once lark-like, often childish soprano has deepened into a more richly textured instrument over time and the album's seven mostly symph/synth tracks -- all with a theme of "falling snow" that stretch over 65 minutes -- including the nearly 14-minute opus "Misty" (a love song to a snowman) and 11+ minute "Lake Tahoe"...

Quote: “I really like other people’s voices as they age. I think singers’ voices get more interesting as they age. People like Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday had wonderful voices when they were younger, but they sounded even better as they aged.” // What we like: The lengthy "Misty" may be the most interesting and intriguing of the songs here, finding middle ground between austere chamber art-pop meditation and more down-to-earth melodic fluidity, legendary drummer Steve Gadd (just Google him) and Danny Thompson on bass (ditto) laying down an empathetic and jazzy light touch to the track..."Wild Man" is more traditional Bushian fare, even with the near-spoken lyrics, a ticking rhythm, synth hook bumping up against a chilly production sheen that lets a few shards of warm light through now and then...

Kate Bush - "Wild Man" (single edit from 50 Words for Snow)

Thursday

Jan052012

Daughter - The Wild Youth

Daughter - Brit neo-folkie and alt-pop experimentalist Elena Tonra carves out her space somewhere between the moody soundscapes of Bat For Lashes' Natasha Khan and the modern acoustic storytelling of Laura Marling on this new dreamy and intense four-track EP...working with collaborator and guitarist Igor Haefeli, Tonra follows up and expands upon her spring debut EP His Young Heart..."Eno meets Enya" quips The Guardian U.K. // Release: The Wild Youth (EP) // Sounds like: Certainly there are some comparisons to be made to the fresh crop of U.K. nu-folk strummers and Daughter's stripped and revealing acoustic live shows present someone who could easily fit in that mold. But in the studio, we get a very different, very dark atmosphere, Tonra's brooding lovelorn melancholy and airy, icy vocals meshing with ambient electronic washes, rumbling percussion and piercing guitar lines...

Quote: "I got a bit bored of just me and my guitar..." - Elena Tonra // What we like: the ethereal "Medicine" is like watching clouds drift through a moonlit night, echoing piano chord progressions and Tonra's haunting vocals surfacing above the layers of chilly background electronics...the melodies may be spare and nearly stripped to the bone but there's something eerily effective in the way the songs slowly draw you in, as they do on the kid glove brutality beating at the heart of "Home"...

Daughter - "Medicine" (from The Wild Youth EP)

Daughter - "Home" (from The Wild Youth EP)

Thursday

Jan052012

The Rolling Stones - Some Girls (Deluxe)

The Rolling Stones - In 1978, surrounded by the raucous punk movement, rising disco scene, funked out R+B and the last wobbley hi-heeled stagger of glam rock, the "worlds greatest rock band" released an album of self-renewal that is regarded as one of their most successful -- critically and commercially -- and is now ranked as the best-selling disc of the band's fifty (!) year career...The album spawned the #1 hit and dance club fave "Miss You" along with Stones classics "Shattered", "Beast of Burden" and "Respectable" // Release: Some Girls (Deluxe/Super Deluxe Editions, November 22) // What you get: Deluxe Double CD adds a second disc of a dozen outtakes, rarities and covers while the new expansive (and expensive: $150) super deluxe box edition adds a "Beast of Burden" vinyl single, DVD (three music videos, three live performances from Texas '78), hardcover book, postcards and photos...track listing below...

Quote: "I learned quite a lot from doing the tracks on Exile about how you do this without it being too much psychological damage.... The Exile ones seemed really quite old and even though this is just seven years later it was just more immediate to me in some ways. This album was so much of a piece while Exile was recorded over such a period of time, over maybe three years and different sessions." - Mick Jagger // What we like: More than any other Stones album up to that moment, Some Girls found the band taking in contemporary stylistic elements and working them into their own distinctive sound rooted in blues, country and rock-'n-roll...Keith Richards talks about Girls as a rejuvenating and defining moment for the band after some self-described "coasting" and it's obvious that the band felt that they had something to prove -- which, of course, they did...

The Rolling Stones - "No Spare Parts" (bonus track on Some Girls)