There is simply no way to sugarcoat it — it's a pretty weak crop of new album releases we have submitted for your listening approval this week. With all due respect to the Silversun Pickups and John Doe, if the best we can do this spring are a band trying to revive nineties alternative rock, and the lead singer of a great eighties punk-rock band doing a country record — well, you get my drift.
Where is Eminem when we so desperately need him?
That said, let's get to this week's new offerings. There's actually a fair amount of hipster buzz surrounding the Silversun Pickups, and I have to admit that for what they do, it's actually done rather well. To say that this band worships at the altar of Smashing Pumpkins would be to understate things considerably. The good news is that on Swoon, they do it so well, you may just find yourself nostalgically pining for those old Birkenstocks of yours.
By contrast, former X-man John Doe eschews the straight-ahead punk of his most famous band, and heads straight towards the country with Country Club, a collaboration with Canadian roots rockers the Sadies, that is equal parts Nashville purdy and Bakersfield twangy.
Death Cab For Cutie are back this week with The Open Door EP, a companion piece to Narrow Stairs that includes four new songs, and an unreleased demo. Now here's Pico with his latest jazz-tastic pick:
The Art Blakey of today could very well be trumpeter Derrick Gardner, but this hard bop bandleader doesn't replace great players with other great players, he adds them, instead. As an encore to last years superb A Ride To The Other Side, Gardner expands his septet to an octet with the addition of the talented Brad Leali (alto sax) and Jason Marshall (baritone sax). With this format, the Prophets gain the layered richness of a big band with the nimbleness of a small combo. As before, the arrangements are top-notch, the songwriting is tight and the re-imagining of covers creative (including a slow and slinky version of Aretha Franklin's hit "Natural Woman"). There's nothing but inspired jazzy goodness oozing from Echoes Of Ethnicity.
Article comments
1 - MarkSaleski
i have to stick up for John Doe here. his solo career has been fabulous. completely different from X and very, very entertaining.
so there.
2 - JC Mosquito
And I'll stick up for the Sadies, one darn fine alt county unit from Canuckistan. This'll be a good match of talent - the old dog who invented new tricks in his day and the young dogs who were smart enough to pick up some old tricks along with their own new ones.
3 - Glen Boyd
Just so we're clear here, I'm not dumping on Sadie or John Doe. I'm a big fan of both X and the Knitters. What I'm dumping on here is the lame list that came out this week.
-Glen
4 - JC Mosquito
We know, Glen - 'cause your taste is impeccable (which means simply, "unable to be pecced" - whatever that means).
5 - Glen Boyd
I've also been told the only taste I have is in my mouth -- whatever that means.
-Glen
6 - MarkSaleski
...and you smoke, so maybe not even there! ;-)