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New This Week
Wilco, Rob Thomas, Brad Paisley, Björk and more
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Listen to Rob Thomas' "Cradlesong" and more great
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June 30, 2009
By Kurt B. Reighley
Special to MSN Music
Fireworks might fill the skies this Saturday, but there's a decidedly
down-to-earth feel about most of this week's notable new releases.
Take Rob Thomas. He seems like an ordinary guy. Who
just happens to have sold over 80 million records. The Matchbox Twenty front man and "Smooth" crooner
retains his Everyman appeal on "Cradlesong," the follow-up to his 2005
multiplatinum "... Something to Be." Produced by longtime producer Matt
Serletic, Thomas' sophomore solo set doesn't deviate from the blueprint too
much. And why should it, when Thomas' music -- like "Her Diamonds," an
inoffensive yet hypnotic fusion of modern rock, jam band and soul grooves --
resonates with so many?
Brad Paisley stays grounded, too, on his eighth
studio full-length. The latest from the country icon, "American Saturday Night,"
downplays tongue-in-cheek tunes like "Online" and favors serious songs for
serious times, peppered with straightforward celebrations of life's simple joys.
"Then," his 14th No. 1 country single, was inspired by his love for his wife,
while "Water" is a musical frolic through that great community institution: the
swimming hole. Fire up the title tune, with its catchy fiddle licks and
melting-pot chorus about French kisses, Italian ice and Spanish moss, and your
Independence Day barbecue will be cooking in no time.
Even techno pioneer Moby sounds awfully levelheaded. While his
previous album "Last Night" rocked the underground dance grooves of his youth,
"Wait for Me" dispenses with big vocals and throbbing beats. Instead, Moby
tapped unknown friends to contribute low-key vocals, and he cobbled
together cuts that evoke the bluesy character of his mega-hit "Play," and the
quieter elements of his ambient excursions, with a bit of Joy Division/New Order-style melancholy for good measure.
Highlighting the record's homemade feel, he even drew the artwork. "Wait For Me"
boasts plenty of standouts -- "Study War" anchors a snippet of inspirational
speech with gospel moaning -- but is best enjoyed as a start-to-finish listen.
Levon Helm, longtime singer and drummer for the
Band, literally sings about the earth on "Electric Dirt." As its title implies,
his second solo album since beating throat cancer rocks harder than its dusty
predecessor, 2007's "Dirt Farmer." This time out, Helms turns over the grit in
compositions by Pops Staples, Muddy Waters, Carter Stanley, and the Grateful
Dead (a killer update of "Tennessee Jed"). But the big prizewinner is the only
Helm original: The fierce resolve of "Growing Trade," and its tale of a family
farm in decline, should make it a favorite with both Farm-Aid fans and Hempfest
habitués.
Want to talk humble origins? R&B sensation Jeremih hails from the South Side of Chicago, the
neighborhood Elvis immortalized with "In the Ghetto." Yet the 21-year-old -- who
sings, writes and produces, as well as playing multiple instruments -- quickly
shot to national prominence once a Windy City radio station started spinning his
demos. On the strength of his steamy "Birthday Sex," he scored a deal with Def
Jam and a No. 1 R&B/hip-hop hit. His eponymous debut includes both that
signature ditty and the burbling "My Ride," but showcases other sides of his
urban pop style via club banger "Jumpin'" and the soulful "Starting All Over."
"Wilco (The Album)" isn't the most imaginative title. But Wilco the band don't want for great ideas
on their seventh studio full-length. Pitched somewhere between the
laid-back "Sky Blue Sky" and their boundary-pushing breakout, "Yankee Hotel
Foxtrot," these 11 tunes by Jeff Tweedy and company rank among the sextet's
best. The insistent "I'll Fight" delivers strong medicine with a spoonful of
sugar, wrapping a dark lyric in a stick-in-your-craw melody. And "You Never
Know," with its hints of ELO and George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," manages to
come off as both contemporary and worldly wise, as Tweedy tosses off breezy
observations like "every generation thinks it's the end of the world."
If it's something otherworldly you crave, there's always Björk. "Voltaic" is a live-in-studio set, recorded
in one take at Olympic Studios in London, just before her 2007 Glastonbury
performance. The program mixes selections from "Volta" ("Earth Intruders,"
"Wanderlust") with inventive overhauls of old favorites ("Army of Me," "Pagan
Poetry"). As befits such a multifaceted artist, "Voltaic" comes in myriad
formats. The 2-CD/2-DVD combo augments the live album with a bonus CD of
remixes, a DVD of concert footage from Paris and Reykjavik, and another of all
the "Volta" promo clips; Michel Gondry's vision for "Declare Independence,"
equal parts "Norma Rae" and Jackson Pollock, is not to be missed.
Also New This Week
- The Fiery Furnaces: "I'm Going Away"
- Beastie Boys: "Hello Nasty" (reissue)
- Lila Downs: "The Very Best of El Alma de Lila Downs" (listen)
- Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan: "In Session" (listen)
- The Phenomenal Handclap Band: "The Phenomenal Handclap Band" (listen)
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