There is an unbelievable clarity of sound and vision to Veckatimest: vocals (a duty shared by all band members) are sharper and more complex, arrangements are tighter, production is more venturous and lyrics more affecting. Having opened the creative dialogue at such an early stage, Grizzly Bear was able to realize these 12 songs together as a band, making it their most collaboratively compositional album to date.
This yielded an unexpected mix of material that feels more confident, mature, focused and most of all, dynamic. From songs like 'Dory' (a gracefully psychedelic, ever-evolving work),'Ready Able' (a synth-y opus, and one of four songs that boasts string arrangements by composer Nico Muhly) and 'Foreground' (a plaintive, vocal-driven send-off, and one of two songs to feature choral arrangements also by Muhly) to more resounding pop songs like 'Two Weeks' (an other-worldly doo wop featuring backing vocals from Beach House s Victoria LeGrand) and 'While You Wait For the Others' (a triumphant and melodically cacophonous pop masterpiece), Veckatimest is an album of the highest highs and lowest lows an unbelievably diverse collection of songs that celebrates the strength of each band member, and the power of the whole. It was well worth the wait.
VIVA VOCE "ROSE CITY"
R5 Price: $11.99
After two years of non-stop touring, band founders Kevin and Anita Robinson took an entire year off (unheard of for them) to clear their heads and focus on other projects. Now Viva Voce are back with Rose City, an album they wrote, arranged, and recorded all in one furious month - choosing not to deliberate over every little thing but living purely in the moment musically and lyrically. Immersing themselves in sonic experimentation, it was spontaneous and cathartic. The result is an angular, immediate record that pulses with the palpable urgency of a band yearning for a return to the vagabond life of the working, touring musician - a mode in which Viva Voce is truly at home.
LUCIANA SOUZA
"TIDE"
R5 Price: $13.99
The last few uears have placed Luciana Souza as one of the most interesting and intriging singers of her generation. Her work on Herbie Hancock's "River - The Joni Letters" won her a grammy in 2008 and Paul Simon's residency last Spring at BAM in New York brough her voice to even larger audiences.
"Tide" is a collection of mostlyoriginal songs written by Luciana and her husband and producer Larry Klein.
BOB DYLAN "TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE"
R5 Price: $13.99
"Bob Dylan seems bigger than ever" "a unique gem" "a great listen" "one of the most naturally enjoyable albums we may hear all year" "like a snake shedding its skin"
LOS STRAITJACKETS
"FURTHER ADVENTURES OF LOS STRAITJACKETS"
R5 Price: $12.99
The Further Adventures Of Los Straitjackets continues their conquest as the champion luchadores of instrumental Rock. With the heroic efforts of Eddie Angel, Daddy-O Grande, Pedro Del Mar and Teen Beat, the world renowned kings of Chopsville release one of their most remarkable albums to date. Features 13 tracks of future vintage sounds straight from planet Straitjacket. Each CD package includes exclusive trading cards featuring the secret identities of Los Straitjackets along with information on their superhuman characteristics. Comic book panels detailing the adventures of LS provide clues to how the heroes acquired their now legendary powers. With well over a decade of experience under their utility belts, the instrumental rockers 14th album finds the band in classic form. Do not succumb to the evil temptations of mediocrity and check out Los Straitjackets' amazing journey to save the world one riff at a time!
SILVERSUN PICKUPS "SWOON"
R5 Price: $14.99
While Swoon generally maintains a mid-tempo nature, tempo changes are more common (both within songs and between them) this time around. For example, "There's No Secrets This Year", with those fantastic fuzzy guitars blazing away throughout most of the song, switches to a slower, ethereal, atmospheric ending minute, perfectly setting up the transition to "The Royal We", which starts out slow but quickly regains a driving tempo, and eventually soars to the rare occurrence of vocalist Brian Aubert extending his vocal range to its limit...the rest of the album mainly stays within his 'comfort zone' lower to middle registers range. On "Growing Old...", a clean bass guitar and kick drum groove serves as the foundation for light synths, delayed clean guitars, and cavernous vocals before eventually turning up the heat (and distortion) toward the end. And overall, the drum sounds here are generally 'small' sounding and not produced to be the focal point of the album's sound (plenty of loud cymbal crashes, however). The amazing intertwining of Joe Lester's keyboards and Aubert's guitars are what make this album stand out for me...the bass guitar work also drives many of the tunes in exceptional fashion.
JOHN DOE & THE SADIES
"COUNTRY CLUB"
R5 Price: $14.99
In true honky tonk style, Country Club is the bastard child of a drunken
promise. A post show hang-out between X & the Knitters John Doe
and The Sadies produced the idea to join forces to a make an album of country songs. Both rock n roll and country music are littered with the ghosts of broken promises, but this one was destined to become reality. Timeless sounds abound on Country Club, driven by Doe s gorgeously rough-hewn vocals, the dueling thousand pound chops of the guitar-wielding Good brothers and The Sadies world class rhythm section of Mike Belitsky and Sean Dean.
Here, the Countrypolitan sound of late 1960s Nashville is filtered through the telecaster-based honky tonk of Bakersfield, CA and the results are simply stunning. Classic tunes by Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings stand alongside corkers by Tammy
Wynette and Roger Miller, all of them getting unique treatments by Doe and The Sadies. The album also features four originals - three from The Sadies and one courtesy of the timeless pairing of John Doe and Exene Cervenka. On Country Club John Doe and The Sadies find the perfect blend of the reverent and the experimental, resulting in a slightly psychedelic brew that just might pass for straight if you re not lookin .
YONLU "SOCIETY IN WHICH NO TEAR IS SHED"
R5 Price: $14.99
Yonlu revealed just a fraction of his talent for experimentalism and a capacity to create delicate melancholy melodies before taking his own life at age 16, leaving behind works that are something between Badly Drawn Boy, Tortoise and Nick Drake. 16 year-old Vinicius Gageiro Marques, who was very active in various online communities under the screen name Yonlu, lived in the Southwestern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. He was a bright inquisitive young man, who spoke French and wrote and spoke English without ever taking classes (he learned by watching TV).
Vinicius also had an impressive musical aptitude. He demonstrated a knowledge and a critical sense in his analysis of pop music, always written in English and available on various websites. And he recorded hundreds of songs, playing guitars, bass, drums and sound effects in one of the rooms in his house he transformed into a studio.
After his death, his father discovered some of the precious sounds he had stored away -- the majority were his own songs. The music came with enthusiastic commentary made by Internet fans from around the world. Yońlu, almost without any real friends in real life, was a popular virtual artist with fans from England, Scotland, Belgium, Canada and North Africa. Yońlu is a disc that should have been a post card, but transformed
itself into a testament.
GRATEFUL DEAD
"WINTERLAND 1973: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS"
CD + DVD
R5 Price: $97.99
When the Grateful Dead played San Francisco's Winterland Arena for three straight nights in November 1973, they triumphed with home court advantage during one of their most celebrated eras. Recorded November 9, 10, and 11, the trio of epic shows captured on WINTERLAND 1973 are among the finest and most legendary in the band's vast tape vaults, according to Dead archivist David Lemieux. Housed in a deluxe archival box and presented in HDCD, the set contains a portfolio of 72 tracks mastered from the original two-track Master Tapes using an innovative process that delivers unprecedented sound quality. WINTERLAND 73 will be issued in a one time only limited edition run.
