The Young

Dub Egg

Matador

I can’t get enough of this album. Hans Zimmerman and Kyle Edwards are amazing guitarists, reminiscent of the work Joe Walsh did with the James Gang; Television, and Karl Precoda of the Dream Syndicate. Vocally and lyrically, Zimmerman sounds a little like Scott Miller of Game Theory and the Loud Family, although his guitar playing is a lot more fuzzed out than what Scott played. And the lyrics also speak to frustration with romantic relationships, and “been down so long I think it’s up.”

The Young were one of the best bands on the Austin, TX comp Casual Victim Pile, while sounding like two totally different bands, as their cut on Casual was straight up 80s post-punk. The album’s title comes from a dream Kyle had about eggs, the master tapes for this album, and King Tubby’s music. That this dream sounds cosmic sums up The Young perfectly, a great alternative to the mush that is so much of today’s music, and one of the best albums I’ve heard all year.[http://theyoungblog.tumblr.com/ ]

Andrea Weiss

Pop Ect.

S/T

Rough Trade

Anyone remember the Morning Benders? Pop Ect. is the band under a new name and a new sound created by digital technology.

Musically they aren’t dreadful, just slick and processed to the point where it becomes obvious the band wants a top 40 hit. That’s not a problem. The nicely buoyant melodies, crisp production, and timely use of auto-tune and other digital studio tricks would have gotten them on the radio anyway.

Lyrically, while this is romance with a capital R, these lyrics are smart, knowing, and self-aware, which is the real saving grace of this album. And lead singer Christopher Chu’s voice is right for the radio. I had heard The Morning Benders’ last album, Big Echo, on offline radio, WXPN, and he and they sounded great on it. So even though this album can be irritating in spots because it’s so slick, it’s not bad--perfect for a pool party or anything else during the summer.

[http://popetcetera.com]

Bobby Womack

The Bravest Man In The Universe

XL

Womack, Damon Albarn and Richard Russell fashioned the sound and style of this album as an electronic secular gospel album, a blend of old and modern R&B and soul. It was a great idea, and a treat to listen to this blend of old and modern R&B, this melding of old and new soul. The best song on the album “If There Wasn’t Something There,” has a great, flowing melody to it, and is also the best example.

This is a love song to God, to a person, to something. Womack’s voice is rougher and gruffer now, which suits him well, conveys an ache, a longing for something,, or for God. And longing is the lyrical theme of the album, but the closer “Jubilee (Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around)” makes clear that he’s found whatever he is looking for.

Elsewhere, Lana Del Ray is very sultry on “Dayglow Reflection” and Gil Scott-Heron makes a joke about God from the grave. These are added incentives to a terrific comeback, and a logical move from “Stylo,” as “Stylo” is a good indication as to what was up Womack’s sleeve on this album. It is a great batch of songs.

[http://bobbywomack.com/]

Andrea Weiss

Lemonade

Diver

True Panther

This is pleasant enough to listen to, but there isn’t a lot of substance here either. The way the band uses 80s/90s R&B is enjoyable musically and lyrically. It’s also a sound that has been done to death, and there isn’t enough of their own sound in the mix to really define them as anything more than an update, one that could have had more heft and originality. So, something good for playing in the background, for dancing, but not so good for anything that requires a lot of thought. http://www.facebook.com/lemonadetheband

Andrea Weiss

Check Yo Ponytail 2

Light Asylum Chelsea Wolfe, Tearist, Violet Tremors and Slow Motion DJS.

Self-Released

The latest mixtape from Light Asylum features these bands/DJs, and it moves from early 80s new wave disco, through late 80s electronica, the 90s with a great reimagining of NIN’s Sin, to Bauhaus like goth at the end. The pace is fast and frenetic, a full 33 minutes of everything-and- the-kitchen-sink dance music, perfect for clubbing, and for getting anything done that needs to done fast It’s a lot of fun to listen to, and the energy will leave anyone feeling refreshed and ready for whatever comes next.

Andrea Weiss

.LIGHT ASYLUM http://www.lightasylum.com/ CHELSEA WOLF http://www.chelseawolfe.net/TEARISThttp://www.facebook.com/pages/TearistVIOLET TREMORS http://www.facebook.com/Violet.Tremors2

The Dig

Midnight Flowers

Buffalo Jump Records

This New York band seems to be taking the Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs as their starting point. Not as a clone band, but for their own music, warm mellow pop. They are wise about relationships, and they know themselves well. They are calm on the surface, but below that disquiet, mostly about the vexing situation they’ve gotten themselves into. The music reflects that, while highlighting their gentle quirks, and idiosyncrasies. A very good debut, full of promise for a great young band.

Andrea Weiss

https://www.facebook.com/thedig

MEN will make you dance. Their melodic, very catchy music instantly gets me shimmying around whatever room of my apartment I’m in. They will also make you get active--about feminism, G/L/B/T/Q rights, and many other issues. That makes them a favorite of mine.

Recently, I had a chance to interview JD Samson, leader of MEN, gender outlaw, and a very cool person. I thank her very, very much for answering my questions.

Andrea Weiss: This is really good feminist dance/rock. Do you feel like you’re carrying feminism onward?

JD Samson: I’m really happy to be involved in another wave of feminist art. I think I'm a carrier of the movement. Not the only carrier. But I have my hands on things for sure.

AW: Do you want to make people think as well as dance?

JD: I want people to use their brains while they do everything they do. I want artwork to always be conceptual. Not everyone has to understand, but the work I do is important in my own soul because it has multiple meanings and it is a way to express interest in what goes on around us as human beings.

AW: How do you feel music has changed since the 90s, especially for out artists?

JD : In the 90s I think people were actually talking about things in music. REM, B52's, Nirvana, these bands ruled the airwaves, and their music was self reflective and it was political. Nowadays I think we are lacking that sense of humanity. we are looking at music as a shallow background thump. An avenue of which to get us somewhere simple. Not complex. I think that goes for out artists as well. We are trying to fit in to the mainstream. Even I can admit I try. But then in the end i come out feeling like I need to be me. That's what is important.

AW: MEN is one of the most visible out bands. How do you feel about L/G/B/T/Q issues moving into the musical mainstream?

JD: Like I said I hope for LGBTQ artists to be able to maintain their own spirit and selves while being respected for who they are.

AW: Who are your influences.

JD: Tribe-8. Talking Heads. Young Jean Lee.

AW: What comes first, music or lyrics?

JD: Depends on the song. Every one is different. Sometimes I write words and then sing them to melody. And sometimes melody happens with words that don't make sense. And then I fill it in.

AW: Do you feel your music is making a difference, as in making people inspired to get active?

JD: I hope that people see someone who cares about the future. That people are inspired to move around and start thinking about how we can change. that we are all inspired to think about art together in a room. All of this I wish I can do.

AW: Are you happy with Obama on L/G/B/T/Q! rights?

JD: I think Obama has done more than a lot of other presidents in terms of LGBTQ issues and I hope he will do more in his next term.

AW: Any good music we should we be keeping an ear out for?

JD Kimann Foxman, Creep, Anika, Light Asylum, Venus X

Andrea Weiss

Dot Hacker

Inhibition

ORG Records

A very mellow experimental rock band from Los Angeles, Dot Hacker is made up of Josh Klinghoffer, Clint Walsh, Eric Gardner and Jonathan Hischke. Klinghoffer plays guitar for the Red Hot Chilli peppers, and the rest of the band have played with people ranging from Beck to Gnarls Barkley.

But within the enjoyably mellow, somewhat danceable music are edgy lyrics about alienation, confusion, weariness, depression, and sadness, all sung with out any self-pity, whining, or anti-social content. These are great lyrics. Dark themes are dealt with smartly in the right ways.

This full-length debut is a follow up to an EP out earlier this year, and both are extremely good. May many more albums follow from this band. [www.orgmusic.com/artists/dot-hacker/]

Andrea Weiss

Portland Cello Project

Homage

Self Released

This is a really cute idea. Take classical music, a mini orchestra composed mainly of cellos, and have it cover hip-hop. While the idea does work, as this is good music that is fun to listen to, the joke can make one wince. Not because it’s a good joke on classical music, but because it covers up the non-stop homophobia and sexism of hip-hop.

While I am absolutely sure that the PCP is not homophobic and sexist, nor is its music, when so many suffer from the effects of homophobia and sexism, reducing the original hip-hop songs this orchestra covers to an ironic joke is bad irony and an unfunny joke. Why? Because it still is a cover up, and a cover up G/L/B/T/Q people and their straight allies don’t need. As a lesbian, I was not amused. In the end, caveat emptor. [http://www.facebook.com/portlandcelloproject]

Andrea Weiss

Andre Williams and the Sadies

Night and Day

Yep Roc Records

All-star albums like this one aren’t supposed to work. Too many moving parts, and nothing meshes. Or it works for a song or two, and the rest is dross.

Night and Day is one of the rare albums of this type that does work from start to finish. The sessions for this album began in 2008, when Williams was 70 and still addicted to drugs and drink, but clean by the time the sessions were finished. The result is a great album, an album that Williams and producer Jon Spencer worked hard to get everything to mesh, and it’s to their credit that they formed a good team and synced everything up just right.

Williams does have a lot to say: everything from, “Jail ain’t no fun,” to, “stay out of Mississippi,” to his dark take on being poor in America, and thanking God that he’s still alive (Williams is Jewish.) His tender side is shown in his duet with Sally Timms on “That’s My Desire,” and his giving the woman he dated and took good care of back to her boyfriend after he gets out of jail on “Your Old Lady.” There is also the romance of “Hey Baby.”

Musically, punky blues and country. The Sadies are wonderful throughout. Timms and Kelly Hogan’s sublime backing vocals on “I Got to Get Shorty Out of Jail,” and choice cameos from the likes of Jon Langford, the Gories, Matt Verta-Ray of Heavy Trash, and Danny Kroha. Put them all together and this is an album that rolls adroitly and sprightly rocks hotly and nimbly. It will be out May 15^th. www.thesadies.com

http://www.yeproc.com/artists/the-sadies

http://www.facebook.com/TheSadies

https://twitter.com/#!/thesadies

Andrea Weiss

Willis Earl Beal

Acousmatic Sorcery

Hot Charity/XL Recordings

Lo-Fi folk, blues and rap. Lo-Fi not by using vintage equipment, but because found instruments, a $20 microphone, and a cheap karaoke machine recorder was all he could afford, working as a night porter in a motel in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

These songs are very compelling. He makes more music, more good sound from found objects and a roughly recorded guitar than a whole band could do in a million-dollar studio. And while the lyrics speak of bad times, down times, boredom and listlessness, the music, and his singing, is so strong that a cloudy day becomes a whole world, with all a world like that has to offer.

Tom Waits, a favorite of Beal, sometimes did music like this, although a bit more produced. So did Taj Mahal, and while there is a lot of Waits here, there is also a lot of Mahal’s warm, rounded sound, too. That Beal could be placed in their context says a lot about how good he is, how talented he is, and why this album is absolutely perfect for quiet and late nights. [http://www.willisearlbeal.com/]

Andrea Weiss