Record Reviews
Bubba Sparxxx
originally published April 19, 2006
As in "third time's the charm." After Bubba Sparxxx's last album Deliverance received shovelfuls of critical praise but a lot less attention commercially, he signed to Big Boi's Purple Ribbon label and scaled back the experimentation. Maybe people thought they couldn't dance to Deliverance, or maybe the combinations of fiddle, Yonder Mountain String Band, woodblocky percussion, funky bubbly keyboards and screaming found on "Comin' Round" were too far ahead of their time. And, as Mr. Mathis makes eminently clear on the first track of the new album, he does have a need to pay the rent.
But what's impressive about The Charm is the extent to which it remains impressively adventurous in its sound; that is, he's managed to take a step of just the right length toward accessibility, a difficult thing to gauge. In some ways, The Charm even improves on its predecessor. It's a tighter album, for one thing - 43 minutes is practically an EP for a rapper - and has plenty in common with Deliverance in its rhythms, which draw heavily on step and spoons in the way they overload the conscious mind with polyphony (sort of the equivalent of Ghostface's words). "The Otherside," one of the two songs that were floating around on-line for a while before the album was officially released, is the track most reminiscent of Deliverance. Others show the influence of Atlanta, like the single/ ode "Ms. New Booty," which features Ying Yang Twins and Mr. Collipark, but it's not completely crunk, not completely Outkast and recognizably Sparxxx.
It's always emphasized that Mathis is white, but the real difference in him is that he's country. It's a far wider divide between Atlanta and LaGrange than between black and white of the same economic class, and in much the same way you can taste the sun and sour soil of Georgia in its wines, you can feel the tailgating and the sting of corn liquor in Bubba's songs. But it's mostly amiable; The Charm sounds like coming to the city and finally getting into it after a few months of having a chip on your shoulder about where you come from.
"Wonderful" in particular, while not literally about the first day in March in Atlanta when you take off your jacket and sit on the porch with a beer, feels exactly like that. It's a new category to add to the well-known summer jam: spring bounce. Dancing should be easy.
Hillary Brown Bubba Sparxxx is playing at the Georgia Theatre on Thursday, Apr. 27.Record Reviews
T.I.
originally published April 19, 2006
What the cover of T.I.'s cocky new album King looks like is what it should sound like: a black-and-white picture of Clifford Harris with the contrast turned way up, highlighting his admittedly beautiful features. It's strong, it's simple without being simplistic and it's a little arty. Most of King's songs, however, don't live up to that image.
For one thing, there are 18 tracks on the album. By the time you get to the end of it, you've forgotten the beginning. Even something you could call a personal style can wear into monotony by the end of more than an hour straight of it. And there are skits. Not many of them, but still, I'll give a dollar to anyone who can point me to a genuinely funny or interesting skit on a mainstream rap album. It's great if you're having a good time screwing around with your friends in the studio, but the rest of us don't need to hear it.
Basically, King as a whole album is not really lyrically lacking, but the opener promises so much we don't hear. If "the king" is back, why's he gotta keep telling us all the time that he's the king? In the political world (both contemporary and older, monarchically-oriented times), those in power grow complacent, fat, willing to rely on what they've always done and occasionally crow about it a little. Meanwhile, younger, hungrier folks sharpen their weapons. No one who guests poses much of a threat here (Young Jeezy, Young Buck, Young Dro, P$C), but Jamie Foxx almost steals the track "Live in the Sky," despite its general corniness.
"What You Know" is a great single; there aren't any awful songs here, and production is solid on headphones, but the wow of something like "Bring 'Em Out" is lacking. It might not always be so good to be the King.
Hillary BrownRecord Reviews
Cinemechanica
originally published April 19, 2006
The cover may make The Martial Arts look like some old Canterbury prog-rock record, but these appearances are all kinds of deceitful, my friend. Cinemechanica most certainly does not sound like Caravan, which is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. It merely is. And that lack of musical similarity is immediately apparent, as "Pen" starts in with some spastic riffin' that's part hardcore and part heavy metal. These guitars are churning, these drums are pummeling, and this singer dude's voice shreds through the murk like the laser in Contra. No shit, we definitely aren't in Henry Cow territory.
Well, except maybe we are, indirectly. In terms of awesomely impressive musical skill and dexterity, the differences between classic progressive rock and the sort of intense, intricately structured punk played by Cinemechanica aren't so extreme. Slather Caravan's guitars with distortion, replace their jazzy-hippie-folkie outlook with copious amounts of anger and aggression, and speed the whole thing up a bit, and just maybe Caravan's records would've sounded like The Martial Arts. Who's to say, really?
Okay, I'll be honest with you: nine times out of 10, I dislike this type of stuff. I'd rather hear one note for an hour than 60 in five seconds, and songs remain important (except for when they don't). But The Martial Arts is pretty damn pleasing. It's tight without being overly rigid, and swings unexpectedly. There's also some degree of restraint, as it's not nearly as wanky as it probably could be.
Some of the songs resemble old favorite Les Savy Fav, like "Brain Tarp" and "Ruins of Karnac." And the stumbling instrumental intro to "Get Outta Here Hitler" is one of the finest bits of music-making thus far encountered in '06. So yes, Cinemechanica has got chops, and knows how to most effectively deploy them.
Garrett Martin Cinemechanica is playing at the Caledonia Lounge on Thursday, Apr. 20.Record Reviews
Aloha
originally published April 19, 2006
Aloha has never been one to stay in the same place for too long. Some Echoes is an apropos title in that the rainy-day pace of the recording resonates with a hint of the group's more experimental beginnings. Without the spherical tones of the vibes filling in the blanks, each song expands into a soft backdrop of dark matter.
"Brace your Face" opens with a more refined sense of pop melancholy than Aloha has ever put forth, which is a sign of unmistakable growth and maturity as songwriters. But in stabilizing Aloha's sound, there's an element of spontaneity that's lost, making this an easy record to figure out, and resolves any and all sense of mystery. But these songs are by no means an unfulfilling listen.
In "Big Morning," sparse emptiness fills in between plodding drums and Tony Cavallario's lazy falsetto chants. This slow and wide-open structure expands outward in songs like "Come Home" and "If I Lie Down." As each number unfolds, every instrument rings out with slow, natural clarity. There aren't a lot of studio tricks at work anywhere throughout Some Echoes. Nor are there bouts of showy songwriting or uncontrollable emotions. Starry-eyed arrangements shine through expansive and nocturnal fidelity, leaving plenty of room to roam in "Summer Lawn."
If indeed Some Echoes lulls you into a dream state, "Mountain" closes the disc with a blissful jolt of illumination at the end of a dark journey into inner space.
Chad Radford Aloha is playing at the Caledonia Lounge on Monday, Apr. 24.Record Reviews
Elf Power
originally published April 19, 2006
My favorite thing about Andrew Rieger's songwriting is that he has never been afraid to build songs around simple chord progressions. From this basic blueprint, Rieger and the rest of Elf Power have constructed a subtle, yet powerfully seductive, batch of songs for their latest album. Drawing inspiration from the English folk revival of the 1960s, as much as traditional Middle Eastern music, the album is nevertheless punctuated by Gram Parsons-style cosmic American music, such as the track "Peel Back The Moon, Beware!" There are a couple of tracks that exhibit, for lack of a better phrase, the fuzzy, rocking, "classic" Elf Power sounds, such as "All The World Is Waiting" and the magnificent "An Old Familiar Scene." This latter track's position as the second song on the record works to wonderful effect on the heels of the gentle opening song "Come Lie Down With Me (And Sing My Song)." The deeply moody "An Old Familiar Scene" reaches grand heights via its layers of sound interspersed throughout the track.
Rieger has simplified his lyrical styling somewhat on this album. Although there is still the broad appeal to nature and multiple mentions of mountains, rivers, oceans, sun, air, etc., the compositions feature more straightforward, earth-bound narratives than earlier Elf Power albums. The instrumental intro to "Somewhere Down The River" is a cool little ragga that has a loose clarinet lead courtesy of member John Fernandes. One of the standout tracks, though, is "The Spider And The Fly." The steadily plucked strings and Josh Lott's slow but insistent beat provide a nervous energy for the song and create feelings of anticipation.
In the end, this is not the most immediately accessible Elf Power album. Indeed, I listened to the thing a good five times before attempting to write anything about it. I wound up really liking it, too. As stated earlier, Rieger utilizes simple structures, but he is never simple-minded. Indeed, every painter begins with a mere seven colors in his available spectrum, and it's what he does with them that makes the difference. Let's just say Elf Power knows how to use them.
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