You’d think with a name like Cold War Kids you could expect angst-filled punk songs about climbing under desks and protest tunes against a nuclear arms race. But, such is not the case with this alternative rock band out of Long Beach, CA, which released their third full-length album Mine Is Yours on Jan. 25.

Back in 2009 I had the chance to see Cold War Kids at Lollapalooza, the annual Chicago festival that boasts a lineup of around 130 artists in August. At the time, “Hang Me Up To Dry” was the only Cold War Kids song that I had heard. It had been played on the radio quite a bit and had piqued my interest. So, I decided to give the band my time and check out its set. I was impressed with the atmosphere the band created and the professionalism with which they performed. I could tell, seeing Cold War Kids in Chicago in 2009, that it was a band worth remembering.

Well, here we are in 2011 and Cold War Kids is back on the radar with its most complete album to date. Mine Is Yours begins with the title track, a vocally driven song which introduces the album and builds anticipation through vocalist Nathan Willett’s repetitive, soaring lyrics, “What is mine is yours.” It’s as if the band set out to create something memorable right out of the gate with its opening song. The second song, “Louder Than Ever,” is the first single from Mine Is Yours and includes a noteworthy drum and bass combination leading into a positive pop chorus. The fourth track, “Finally Begin,” is easily one of the most polished Cold War Kids songs the band has recorded. This is one those songs that makes your day a little better no matter the mood. It would not surprise me if “Finally Begin” gets the nod for the next Cold War Kids single at some point down the road.

The album keeps pace throughout its second half with “Bulldozer” sticking out as one to remember. Mine Is Yours ends with a pair of songs reminiscent of the band’s earlier, more traditional Southern rock sound.

Overall, Willett’s refined vocal range mixed with a solid batch of songs creates a soulful pop rock album that will amplify already optimistic feelings induced by spring weather.

If You Like This Album, Check Out:

In Between Now and Then, by O.A.R. – In 2003, Of A Revolution (O.A.R.) released an album at a similar point in its life in comparison to Cold War Kids’ latest. O.A.R. had just finished an extensive series of tour dates and was gaining notoriety across the country. With In Between Now and Then, O.A.R. began shedding some of its jam-band roots and started recording songs with more traditional song structures. The band was adjusting its style and in the process created a solid album filled with notable songs. Transition albums are hit and miss, but when created to showcase a band’s talent in many different ways they can end up as classics. This is one of those albums I consider an example of a band coming into its own and playing to its strengths.

An SGF Band You Might Also Like:

Howdy, by The Cropdusters – In 2009 this SGF band released a six-song record which is good-time Southern drinking music. Although a little grittier and with less optimism than Cold War Kids, Howdy has a similar Southern blues sound which Cold War Kids played with on their earlier releases. The Cropdusters play unpolished, attitude-filled rock ‘n’ roll live, and some of its members perform every Wednesday night as The Nighthawks for The Outland’s “Wild Turkey Wednesday.” Check out The Cropdusters’ Howdy or make it out sometime to see them live to help support local talent.

While we do our best to work in local album reviews, we often receive requests for reviews of non-local work, too. Since we love discovering new music, but want to keep a non-local piece helpful for SGFers, we had an idea: What if we review one non-local album per week, whether brand new or just something we’re just learning about, and tie in recommendations of similar-sounding albums both local and otherwise? With that in mind, here’s another installment of our New (to us) Music Monday. Hopefully you find these useful and build some new favorites into your CD shelf or iTunes playlist. Watch for a new one every Monday, or as close to it as crazy schedules allow. Happy discovery.

Why now, you ask? Did it take this album winning Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards to spark my interest enough to give it a try? Strangely enough, yes. Let me explain: After listening to, enjoying and eventually owning Funeral and Neon Bible I was pretty excited for The Suburbs to come out. Then the first single, “Ready to Start,” came out and after hearing it I felt a little… flat. But last night’s Grammys provided a reason to finally pick the album up: the band’s live performance, which reminded me of everything I enjoy about The Arcade Fire in the first place, namely their sprawling, diverse instrumentation and infectious energy. The only downside with getting The Suburbs now is that listening to it comes with an almost unavoidable frame of reference to hear it in: Is it the album of the year?

No, not really. Not in my opinion, anyway. It’s a record more pensive than evocative, especially through its first half, making it hard to invest in emotionally until it’s almost too late. Better put, maybe it’s the best second half to an album of the year. The appreciation of it grows with repeated listening, though, such that I could at least say it at least belongs in the AOTY discussion. What’s most interesting is that The Arcade Fire, a band easily capable of a grandiose sound thanks to its eight members, made an album capable of sounding so confined. It’s done intentionally, of course. The Suburbs is a theme album, one about people trapped and decaying within their own lives. The title track sets the table nicely: “So can you understand/why I want a daughter while I’m still young?/I want to hold her hand/and show her some beauty/before all this damage is done./But if it’s too much to ask/if it’s too much to ask/then send me a son.” This tone, equal parts frustration and resignation, colors the entire record, and to reflect it musically the band sounds at times remarkably reigned-in. It’s especially true with the album’s first four songs (including the aforementioned “Ready to Start”), which is a dangerously long time to leave a listener waiting to be compelled.

The band finally lets loose on “Empty Room,” though, and from there it expresses its vignettes of compromised living with rich texture and building emotional force. By the time Regine Chassagne (wife of the band’s lead singer, Win Butler) sings “dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains/and there’s no end in sight” in “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” they’re back to their all-out theatrical selves, even if they remind one at times of Thompson Twins with their heavy use of synth organ. Their message is apparent by then anyway: Manufacturing and marketing an “ideal” lifestyle for a wide audience has taken away the idealism of the individual, giving the same thing to different people who want different things–the vibrance of the city, for one example–and draining that same thing of humanity by building privacy fences, manicured lawns and, yes, shopping malls. The “anything is possible” feeling of youth becomes shoehorned into a prefab, pleasantly colored box alongside others just like it, quietly drowning someone else’s similar feelings. Taken as a metaphor for life, the theme fits in lockstep with some of The Arcade Fire’s earlier work: we compromise our lives as we get older, creating ceilings and boundaries that define our lives where we had none before, and while we dare not advance past those boundaries we spend the rest of our lives looking out that window and wondering. While such deep rumination on modern life doesn’t make an Album of the Year, any work of art that brings perspective on the human condition to the masses can at least be put in the discussion.

If You Like This Album, Check Out:

In Rainbows, by Radiohead – Sonically this album has nothing in common with The Suburbs, but no band creates a confined, almost claustrophobic sound while still using lush instrumentation better than Radiohead. While the band’s bigger fans will probably not side with this one as the group’s best album, it’s almost inarguably its most accessible.

Up From Below, by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Speaking of bands with a lot of members, this 10-piece group quietly built an impressive following, as well as spots on movie soundtracks and television shows, with this 2009 release. You’ll probably know the single “Home,” but the rest of the album is actually quite different and, while sort of hipster-meets-flower-child in tone at times, is an enjoyable listen if you’re looking for an ensemble piece with a lot of varied instrumentation, including horns. Be aware, though: The album’s second half is slower and a little more melancholic than the first.

An SGF Band You Might Also Like:

The Nova Heat, by The Nova Heat – Though there is no such thing as a localized Arcade Fire, Jason Loftin and his oft-changing cast of collaborators and backing musicians makes thinking-man’s prog-pop that is both expertly played and catchy. This 2009 debut record remains the only finished album to date, but talk is there could be another on the way soon. Until then, you can listen to them on their MySpace page.

While we do our best to work in local album reviews, we often receive requests for reviews of non-local work, too. Since we love discovering new music, but want to keep a non-local piece helpful for SGFers, we had an idea: What if we review one non-local album per week, whether brand new or just something we’re just learning about, and tie in recommendations of similar-sounding albums both local and otherwise? With that in mind, here’s the latest installment of our New (to us) Music Monday. Hopefully you find these useful and build some new favorites into your CD shelf or iTunes playlist. Watch for a new one every Monday (or so). Happy discovery.

When it comes to hip hop music, it’s easy to get disenfranchised. There are hundreds of rappers, most of who we all know for the wrong reasons. And every so often an artist comes along that causes people to get flabbergasted, claiming that they are the next greatest thing.

J. Cole does that to people.

The North Carolina/New York emcee has added more fuel to the fire with his third, and most recent mixtape, Friday Night Lights. Do I like the title? Absolutely not. Do I enjoy the mixtape? Hell. Yeah. (Did I mention it’s free?)

To me, lyricists are to be judged on three levels. Cadence, content and voice. Cole hits on all three levels on FNL, and does it in a way that even endears himself to the old school crowd.

His cadence is not monotonous, flowing like it should be – smoothly, with moments of aggression and sense of the moment sprinkled in. His content ranges from pensive (“Too Deep for the Intro,” “Home for the Holidays”), flaunting (“Back to the Topic”) and females (“Best Friend,” “In The Morning”). And to provide that mixtape feel, he reaches out with lyrical flattery. On Enchanted, he channels 2Pac with the majority of the “Hail Mary” hook.

Come with me — Run quick see — Would you rather ride or die, la da da da, da da da da.

But he doesn’t do it in a disrespectful way, not biting the entire lot. It’s more to reminisce, rather than for personal gain. It’s refreshing. Why? Because he doesn’t need to do that type of biting to get people’s attention. Other tracks like “You Got It” and “Best Friend” have throwback lyrics, hooks, etc. and are a nice touch when you have a mixtape. All of it is a lead up to his debut Cole World, which is doesn’t have a release date in 2011, but is slated to come out on Jay-Z’s Roc Nation imprint.

And that voice. It’s the intangible. It’s not annoying, yet strong enough to carry an entire album. Most emcees can’t, spawning rap groups. Cole can carry an entire record, or mixtape — no problem.

It’s easy to see why Cole has the next greatest label. He has presence, and even in his lyrics talks about why it’s going to feel so good to blow up. And not from a, “I’m rich and it feels good because I was so broke.” Nope. It’s calculated. He discusses how he could have taken money, but waited for the right opportunity, honing his craft and his business model, while understanding the market.

Mix that headiness with the Cadence, the Content and the Voice, Friday Night Lights, here we all come.

Oh, and did we mention FNL is a free mixtape? You can download it here.

(THIS ALBUM CONTAINS WORDS YOU SHOULDN’T SAY IN FRONT OF YOUR MOTHER, FYI)

If You Like This, Also Check Out:

* The Ecstatic, by Mos Def – If you’re looking for iconic one-emcees acts, look no better than Ecstatic. It was TAGsgf.com’s No. 2 album of 2009 and still stands up.

* Food and Liquor, by Lupe Fiasco – If this is your first exposure to J. Cole, try out the mainstream’s introduction to Lupe Fiasco. Food and Liquor either created or popularized a whole new vein of music. It was quality, cool rap with a respectful edge. Released in 2006, it’s still relevant.

A Good Bet In SGF:

Any local show by Sincerely Yours – We are still waiting for a collection of work from SGF’s smoothest talent. You see him on a bill, you go. It’s that simple.

While we do our best to work in local album reviews, we often receive requests for reviews of non-local work, too. Since we love discovering new music, but want to keep a non-local piece helpful for SGFers, we had an idea: What if we review one non-local album per week, whether brand new or just something we’re just learning about, and tie in recommendations of similar-sounding albums both local and otherwise? With that in mind, here’s another installment of our New (to us) Music Monday. Hopefully you find these useful and build some new favorites into your CD shelf or iTunes playlist. Watch for a new one every Monday, or as close to it as crazy schedules allow. Happy discovery.

It’s time for Chris’s Slightly Alienating Confession of the Week: The ’59 Sound, the second album by New Jersey rock group The Gaslight Anthem, didn’t make nearly the mark on me that its predecessor, Sink Or Swim, did. The ’59 Sound took the band into the critical-buzz stratosphere, to say nothing of major festival dates and the chance to play with their musical hero and fellow Jersey guy Bruce Springsteen. Most people who know The Gaslight Anthem know it for this record. But while the band honed its songwriting craft it also lost some of its earlier intensity, backing off from the full-throttle, punk-inspired material it made on Sink Or Swim. It also seemed to get into a bit of a thematic rut; far too many songs followed the formula from “1930″ off the first record and centered around outpourings of emotion over a fictional young lover’s untimely death. I’m all for fatalism in music, but keep it to a song or two and make it count. Throw in the too-safe production on the album and its fate was sealed. Sink Or Swim is still in my regular listening rotation; The ’59 Sound isn’t even on my iTunes. And it’s not like that takes effort to do.

As a result, I hesitated in picking up the next record when it came out in June. I shouldn’t have. American Slang, the third album by The Gaslight Anthem, is not the middle ground between the two, but rather takes the best qualities of Sink Or Swim and The ’59 Sound while making something different. Two albums after the raw, pounding pace of that first record it’s clear the band isn’t all that interested in writing punk songs anymore, but the roaring guitars are back (at least in parts), the canned production is gone and Brian Fallon has more bark in his gravelly vocals. As with the aforementioned Boss, GA’s music succeeds most when it prioritizes playing with conviction over hitting every note just so. On American Slang the band seems less careful and more self-assured, and it makes a big difference.

That self-assurance also lets the group move into different territory with its songwriting rather than distill and reproduce what worked for it before. The band started to tinker more with loud and quiet in their song structure on The ’59 Sound, learning how to back off the all-out pace of the first record and building drama into the songs in ways other than just punk-rock earnestness. Here it’s moving those slow-downs and quiet moments around to other spots within the song, making the music less linear and repetitive. They’ve even taken entire songs at a slow- to mid-tempo pace, whereas on Sink Or Swim the only slowed-down song came from singer Brian Fallon playing solo on acoustic guitar for “The Navesink Banks.” Now the whole band is involved on songs such as “The Queen of Lower Chelsea” and the album-closing “We Did It When We Were Young.” There’s a tangible maturity and growth in seeing a band leave its comfort zone and succeed in new waters, and that’s precisely what’s happening here.

What might not be as immediately noticeable is that the band is cribbing from its mentor, perhaps more than it would care to admit. The hallmark of Springsteen’s music in the years before Darkness on the Edge of Town was that he was reviving the sound, vibe and lingo of the doo-wop and R&B music of the late ’50s through mid-’60s without just writing new takes on those old songs. It was a reminiscence, not a return. The Gaslight Anthem does much the same on American Slang with songs such as the excellent “Bring It On,” which is a Motown song played on rock guitar if there ever was one, complete with call-and-answer singing (“Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” (“Was he not into you…”)) and on “The Diamond Church Street Choir,” which could easily have found a home on The Wild, The Innocent and The E-Street Shuffle–you know, if it had been written 35-plus years ago. And good to them for it. The Gaslight Anthem has always been sort of a throwback musically, evoking thoughts and feelings that seem to belong to another time. At least now they seem to know better who, what and where they’re throwing back to.

If You Like This Album, Check Out:

Sink Or Swim, by The Gaslight Anthem – I had to do it. Though it doesn’t have as broad a musical range as the latest record, the heart-on-its-sleeve immediacy of the music keeps it just as powerful, and Fallon’s lyrics are just as vivid and brilliant early on in his career as they are today. If you’re more punk-rocker at heart, this is probably your album.

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, by Social Distortion – Hmm… punksters borrowing from America’s musical past to breathe new life into their sound… I think that’s been done before. Yup, and few have ever done it better than Social D, taking rockabilly and, yes, a little of ’50s and ’60s rock ‘n’ roll and R&B to give Mike Ness‘s super-gruff vocals a timeless (and lound) sonic bed to lay on. They never did it better than they did on this one.

An SGF Band You Might Also Like:

Chorus of the Commoners, by The Queen City Saints – No punk band in Springfield puts more non-punk influences into its music than this one, working in Dust Bowl-era folk, bluegrass, Americana and more while keeping its wild heart and message of “stand up, don’t accept complacency, fight and achieve” intact. We nominated this one of our Albums of 2009 and it feels as equally deserved now as it did then. You can find it at your local-friendly stores such as CD Warehouse, Stick It In Your Ear and more. Growing families and other obligations have meant significantly fewer shows for this band than in past years, but if you want to see QCS live you’re in luck: The band’s first show in more than six months is at The Outland Ballroom this Saturday (11/30). Check them out.

State of the World (2003)

After an instrumental track filled with timely cuts, Vast Aire jumps on with his standard off kilter flow, before Vordul Mega and Rob Swift appear in Cosmos. A chorus of “And the DJ can cut right there …” leads to a lot of shine for the DJ. Emcee Invisible begins a run of tracks with lesser knowns including Chocolate, Mondee and Roli Rho, but they early third of the album doesn’t suffer at all. They all affirm their presence before the likes of J Live and Slug jump into the fray.

J Live drops a classic basketball track, a move that can go sour quick with poor hoops metaphors, but that’s not the case here. The repeat track is when Keep SteppinMondee appears with Slug who steals the show with a track I found myself repeating when the album was new to me. Keep Steppin has stood the test of time.

The beauty part of where I found the album was (and still is) conflicting. It was released in 2003, and packaged to where it looked like a soundtrack. I spotted it “new” in the “used” section for $4.99. It was a bad sign, but the names on the back were worth the chance, considering the bulk of the investment is that a lot of times compilations suck. It’s conflicting because this album is cemented the permanent life rotation – which is a hard spot to claim, and it missed everybody. I implore you to do the same. You can pick up this musical gold for $2.79 on Amazon.

If you like this, check out:

* Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1 – This 1998 release featured an amazing set of poets: De La Soul, Mos Def, Q-Tip, Word A’ Mouth, Common, Pharoah Monch, Black Thought, Saul Williams, Kool Keith, Talib Kweli, Jurassic 5, KRS-ONE … and that’s just getting started. Do I really need to say more? Pure. Hip. Hop.

* Love Movement by A Tribe Called Quest – I know, I know … Love Movement is Tribe’s third best album, maybe. But, that’s still saying a lot. Jam after jam of smooth, jazzy hip hop. It just feels good to listen to. Actually, let’s clean that up … My preferential order of ATCQ albums (all great listens): 1) Midnight Marauders, 2) Beats, Rhymes and Life, 3) The Low End Theory, 4) Love Movement, 5) … Paths of Rhythm. So, Love Movement is their fourth best album and that was pretty official, so stamp it. If A Tribe Called Quest has somehow missed you (I’m looking at you 1990s birthdays and your autotune), don’t let it happen any longer. Start from the top and go chronologically (5, 3, 1, 2, 4). Enjoy!

In SGF it sounds like this:

* Jah Roots Band, Nov. 11 at Remmingtons Downtown – OK OK OK – It doesn’t really sound quite like Jah Roots Band, but I wanted to take an extra opportunity to remind you to go to Remmingtons Downtown on Thursday for the Mike Hulsey benefit show. Besides Sincerely Yours is real nice on the mic, and performing with JRB so the emcee element will be there. Other bands confirmed are: 77 Jefferson, The Spacetones, Members Only, The Hundred Hand String Band, and The Bootheel. Only $10???

While we do our best to work in local album reviews, we often receive requests for reviews of non-local work, too. Since we love discovering new music, but want to keep a non-local piece helpful for SGFers, we had an idea: What if we review one non-local album per week, whether brand new or just something we’re just learning about, and tie in recommendations of similar-sounding albums both local and otherwise? With that in mind, here’s the latest installment of our New (to us) Music Monday. Hopefully you find these useful and build some new favorites into your CD shelf or iTunes playlist. Watch for a new one every Monday (or so). Happy discovery.

There are few emcees in the world more polarizing than Asher Roth. I understand there are many of you who are going to click Back, or jump to another website right about, um, now. And then there are the people who would click on or listen to anything with his name on it. And maybe everyone assumed he went mainstream as soon as you saw the “I Love College” video.

And while I have a weak spot with emcees with charisma, there were few records as disappointing as Roth’s solo debut, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, especially after loving Roth’s mixtape with DJ Cannon in 2008, the first time we saw Roth emerge. The difference? On Asleep in the Bread Aisle, he tried to write songs. And to be honest, some emcees can’t write songs, but they can rap their asses off.

Roth clearly belongs in the latter. And that’s totally OK.

See, in Seared Foie Gras served with Quince and Cranberry, a mixtape effort with DJ Wreckineyez, Roth clearly focuses on the craft of lacing well-known beats with on-point lines. To be honest, it’s tougher than you’d think.While everyone loves beats dreamt up by Kanye West, Pharrell, 9th Wonder, J Dilla, Just Blaze, etc., not everyone can sound as good as the original artist. And don’t think people pay attention to those to fraudulently bless those tracks, either. Roth has the rare skill to make the beat his own, without sounding lazy or disrespectful to the originals.

And that’s all I ask from him. I don’t need thought-provoking songs and insightful lyrics. Nope, I need stuff like this:

Hey, yo, quick life lesson. Never tough a man’s (god damn)
While he’s resting, or while he’s bench pressing

or

Please don’t be so aggressive
You wastin’ T cells when you hating on my flesh and blood
Don’t be mad that this rap’s my profession
And I go to class in the same clothes I slept in
And watch hoes arm wrestle when I’m reffin’
Over the top? Psyche, no mic checkin’

Deep? Pensive? Not even close. But in a world of rap with people trying to act hard, or at least important, Roth reminds me of music that’s having a great time, without thousand-dollar bottles of liquor in some type of contrived club setting.To be honest, it’s refreshing. And funny. And he drops sports references like Jeremy Maclin, Mark Madson, Rik Smits, Mark Lemke, etc. Plus, he doesn’t line up a ton of other guest spots. B.o.B. makes an appearance, but that’s really about it.

He’s allegedly releasing a 2010 full-length record called The Spaghetti Tree. I’ll listen, because he makes me laugh, but I’ll likely be waiting for his next mixtape.

Meanwhile, click here to download his two FREE mixtapes. What do you have to lose? Fresh, recognizable beats and rhymes with levity. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

If You Like This, Also Check Out:

* Eastern Philosophy, by Apathy – Another emcee who struggles with songs, but kills freestyles and random verses, the Connecticut rapper does some good work on this record, a collection of songs he wrote while his major label deal was (indefinitely) shelved. One of the best rappers ever, just not a great songwriter.

* Cruise Control Vol. I, by Copywrite – An emcee who took a run at Asher Roth in 2009 for sounding like Eminem, hasn’t really put out a quality “album” since 2001. He went the mixtape route, with CC Vol. I in 2005. It’s solid, with some

A Good Bet In SGF:

Oy. There’s not much similar, so just go with something cool, like the new Kids and Chemicals stuff. They have nothing to do with Asher Roth, but it’s a whole bunch of fun.

While we do our best to work in local album reviews, we often receive requests for reviews of non-local work, too. Since we love discovering new music, but want to keep a non-local piece helpful for SGFers, we had an idea: What if we review one non-local album per week, whether brand new or just something we’re just learning about, and tie in recommendations of similar-sounding albums both local and otherwise? With that in mind, here’s the latest installment of our New (to us) Music Monday. Hopefully you find these useful and build some new favorites into your CD shelf or iTunes playlist. Watch for a new one every Monday (or so). Happy discovery.

PBS’s program Austin City Limits has a way of sucking me in to watch every time I come across it, and the most recent example I saw included Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin singing backing vocals for a redheaded lady I had never seen before. Anything Emmylou is singing on must be at least decent, I thought, so I stuck with it, but it ended up being the unnamed woman who really blew me away. It turned out that lady was Patty Griffin, someone I knew by name but not by music, and the episode was for her latest album, Downtown Church, a collection of gospel songs. As I delved further, though, it seemed every review or article about Downtown Church wanted to measure it up against Griffin’s first two albums, the folksy acoustic Living With Ghosts and its all-over-the-place follow-up, Flaming Red. Okay, now I was intrigued. Folksy acoustic sounds kind of predictable, so let’s look at all-over-the-place, shall we?

Flaming Red was released in 1998, in the middle of arguably the best time ever to be a female singer-songwriter in America, and the album really is all over the place stylistically. No two songs sound alike, or even similar. Griffin still goes with her acoustic folk at times, but she pushes herself into blues, country and, most surprisingly, feedback-laden and bombastic rock–the opposite end of the spectrum. Don’t worry, though; her voice can handle this broad range. And what a gem of a voice it is, at once sweet and adolescent, at times reminiscent of a cross between Bonnie Raitt and Liz Phair, but with deeper wells of power to draw from than either, a rapid, almost imperceptible vibrato and surprising, soaring range. At first listen one could be duped into thinking Griffin’s voice might be something of a one-trick pony, a tonally limited instrument confined to coffee-shop shows and other events prefaced with phrases such as “an intimate evening of music.” It’s anything but.

The other thing that stands out is Griffin’s songwriting, particularly lyrically. “Tony” is a story of oppression, suicide and the carelessness of youth. “Mary” has been covered by numerous people in the years since its release, and deservedly so; it’s as stirring as any song to come out in the decade. “Goodbye” is a plaintive country tune looking at dealing with the loss of a loved one, showcasing just how evocative Griffin’s vocal range (particularly her high register) can be. Don’t go thinking Flaming Red is a mopefest, though; the title track starts the album with wide-open mayhem and the opening of “Wiggley Fingers” sounds so much like Jimi Hendrix‘s “Foxy Lady” uncanny. Then there’s “Blue Sky,” re-purposing the squeak-and-whistle guitar strums and light-toms-and-tambourines drumming of ’90s U2 to give them a more contemporary-Americana space to breathe in. Some parts of the album will make more musical sense initially than others, but it seems more coherent and sensible with each repeated listen. Flaming Red is worth checking out for its myriad uses of Griffin’s incredible voice alone, but it will creep its way into your rotation for other reasons with time. Thanks, Austin City Limits.

If You Like This, Also Check Out:

* Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, by Lucinda Williams – This a decidedly more country album than Flaming Red, but range of song styles is also broad and Williams’ voice is another that will surprise with what it can do. She’s also a similarly impressive songwriter; “Lake Charles” alone would make this album worth a listen.

* birds of my neighborhood, by the innocence mission – Taking things in the opposite direction, this album is pretty much country-less, but is an acoustic folk classic of the same era. Karen Peris‘s voice won’t exude the soul of Griffin’s, but it’s no an enjoyable listen and, at its best, no less impactful. “The Lakes of Canada” even gained new life as a Sufjan Stevens cover.

A Good Bet In SGF:

* Before Daylight, by Cindy Woolf – Woolf’s debut was an immediate favorite among SGF country and folk lovers, but it’s her sophomore effort that, similar to Flaming Red, challenged the singer’s voice by putting it in bold new surroundings (i.e. a full, plugged-in band). She passed with flying colors.

E&A by Eyedea and Abilities

Michael Larsen, known to fans as Eyedea, is most broadly known for his battle raps. Before he gained national notoriety winning the 2000 Blaze Battle in Chicago aired on HBO (when he basically got a free pass against a terrible Shells in the final) after he captured crowns at Rock Steady and Scribble Jam. The Minnesota native was reported dead over the weekend, after his mother found his body. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the cause of death is unknown. He was 28. He had a handful of side projects including Face Candy (jazz meets freestyle rap), and alt-rock band Carbon Carousel, but his work with DJ Abilities created that under the radar hip hop that puts your neck to work. E&A was the group’s second release together (2004), put out by Rhymesayers and Epitaph.

Throughout E&A Abilities sets the stage with instrumentals showing off his turntablisms which are quantified by multiple awards on the ones and twos. On the ground level, the sound is simple but elaborate cuts and drops give the music incredible depth. But, as Eyedea explains on the opening track, E&A is in the business of :

Bringin’ you that DJ … MC … just some good hip hop music

After the reintroduction, they quickly point a musical flamethrower at your ear drums with Now. This is one of those songs that no matter the mix tape you can make an excuse to include it. Eyedea’s tongue twisting makes you shake your head and outwardly giggle at how ridiculous he is. Meanwhile, Abilities shows off his flare for the dramatic building powerful crescendos to hard-hitting drums. After a refrain, he rocks a turntable solo. It can’t be described as cuts, because he is making melody where there appears to be just a single tone, changing speeds and bending notes (if you see DJ Imperial or another turntablist – read: real DJ, make him play this song – it probably won’t take too much arm twisting and ask what is actually happening). The lyrical premise of Now is the opposite of Nas saying hip hop is dead. E&A was waving the banner of “hip hop is alive, it’s just not in the mainstream”:

We’re here to bring the people and the music and the movement all together now
We see through repetitive etiquette and the highly unoriginal
Were here to bring the people and the music and the movement all together now
They will lose

The album redirects back into the classic battle rap feel with Kept before the down-tempo Exhausted Love explores the frustration of a generation hitting the factories for work. The album continues the ebb and flow back-and-forth of battle then slow it down. A couple tracks later, E&A bangs you with the crazy fast MC-DJ track One Twenty.

Abilities flexes a bit of muscle on Two Men and a Lady which is loaded with classic cinematic drops and cuts before E&A Day reestablishes exactly the duo’s stranglehold on underground fandom:

The truth is I can do what you can’t
Sellin’ twenty thousand units hand to hand to the true fans

They leave our shows thinkin’ what these kids do is unachieveable, and they right
You never in your life could do as much as we do with just two techs and a mic

After Act Right, the album closes with Glass, a song you’ll repeat a few times before letting your ears rest. Emotion pours out and builds as it closes the album intensely. Eyedea talks about how he’s perceived and how he perceives himself, and ultimately how he would be thought of in death. It was powerful in 2004, but just days after he passed, it’s bone chilling.

If you like this album, check out:

* This Is Where We Were by Face Candy: Eyedea’s side project of freestyles over improvisational jazz instrumentals. The band consists of bass, drums, human percussion (Carnage) and other vocalists, led by Eyedea. It’s very clearly free form, purposely losing traditional song structure, making it a fun and ever-changing listen.

* Float by Aesop Rock: The second full-length release from Aesop Rock feels as abstract as anything else he’s done. Float is packed with bangers featuring production by Blockhead and Omega One and guest emcee appearances from Slug (of Atmosphere), Vast Aire, and Dose One.

I’m not sure which I like more  Das Racist’s music or the idea of Das Racist. See, when rappers are funny, sometimes it’s just as easy to dismiss their credibility as their perceived gimmick. And to be honest, Das Racist cracks me up. I’m just not sure how serious I take their music, and at the same time, I’m not sure how serious the New York City hip hop trio wants me to take it.

Seriously, one look at their name makes me giggle. (It’s pronounced Dass Racist.) They have nosed in the music scene’s periphery with a sound that bounces back and forth from 1980s party rap to subtle rap with lines dipped on so much sarcasm, you can’t help but laugh at the hyperbole.

And, if you’re keeping score, DR’s latest free mixtape effort, Sit Down, Man is funnier, more sarcastic and lyrically better than ever. Think of it as the Sham Wow of comedy rap.

For a taste of what the sometimes slow and lazy cadences of emcees Kool A.D. and Heems read like:

From Free Jazzmatazz: This is the best song ever. Better than ‘Juicy,’ better than ‘Für Elise,’ better than any song by Jay-Z. Better than Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear. That’s a pretty good song, right?

Later, a hook to one of their songs sounds like:

We’re not joking, just joking, we are joking, just joking, we’re not joking.

Sit Down, Man shows they have some traction in the music community. Featured are producers Diplo, Boi-1da, Scoop Deville, Devo Springsteen and Dame Grease as well as collaborations with El-P, Despot, Roc Marciano, Keepaway, Teen Girl Fantasy, Chairlift and Vijay Iyer.

Still, to me, Das Racist is epitomized by the following passage:

Yeah see, quit smiling and shut your silly traps, these doodoo brown weirdos is wilin’, but they can really rap
They saw the cover of the tape figured it’s really wack, later on eventually admitted it was pretty crack

Sit Down, Man promo video

Hahaha JK

If you like this album, check out:

(Since Das Racist sounds like no one else, here are two recommended albums from some collaborators.)

* Fantastic Damage, by El-P – It’s hard to imagine that this record came out in 2002, but it’s still as relevant and modern-sounding as ever. Not to say it was futuristic, because the topics are gripping. Politics. Girls. Shit talk. And for one of the most harrowing tales in music history, Stepfather Factory is as on point as ever.

* Florida, by Diplo – Revered for his party DJing around the world, Diplo entered the DJ Shadow and RJD2 pantheon with this 2004 release. Oh, it will make you move alright, but it’s a subtle head nod rather than Club Icon.

Also check out locally:

Das Racist sounds nothing like MC Smitty, a local emcee who is about to drop an album, but he’s worth a listen. He’s not known for rocking shows in the normal SGF music scene, but he’s assembled a following and hoping to cash in on Internet sales from an upcoming release. That’s a grind on its own. Facebook. Myspace.

To be honest, Nick Cave used to intimidate me a little bit. My first experience with his music came with his solo-project-turned-band Grinderman, a band with all the grit and bluster I loved in my punk-loving years and that once hilariously insisted that “I must, above all things, love myself.” Though I enjoyed that album’s humor–it magnifies its own underlying silliness by acting way too serious–I was left feeling a little cold toward Cave the musician and songwriter. In a way, he represented to me the epitome of the too-cool-for-school facet of art rock’s persona. Maybe I had just been introduced to the man’s music at the wrong (if fun) point in the timeline. I quietly hoped Cave’s work with The Bad Seeds would show me a different side and rolled the dice on its most recent work.

On Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, the fourteenth album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (they’ve been making records since 1984), Cave shows himself more to be standing at the intersection of The Velvet Underground and The Talking Heads. It’s equal parts swagger and quirk, with Cave alternately singing and speaking over rock that at times weaves in odd syncopation, bits of organ and a prodigious amount of tambourine as Cave spits out poetic takes on sex, love, death and other musings. The band even gets a ’70s R&B groove (with an excellent combination of percussion instruments in the mix) to accompany Cave’s spoken-word vocals on “Moonland:”

When the band unleashes its rock jones, though, is when it’s running on all cylinders, such as the infectious fuzzy guitars and libido-driven, sinewy bass line of “Albert Goes West,” a song The Dandy Warhols might secretly with they had written, one that begs for a Cadillac convertible ride through the desert with Ray-Bans in full effect. Even the “sha la la la” section at the end is more indulgence than cheese:

The band’s heartbreak songs don’t connect quite as well–Cave’s voice doesn’t really do wounded–but the band more than makes up for it on the sexy, Doors-esque “Hold On To Yourself,” while “Jesus of the Moon” sounds like something Murder By Death might have attempted on its more recent records. The band does take a couple of over-the-head art-rock shots, such as the eerie, upright bass-driven “Night of the Lotus Eaters” and “We Call Upon the Author,” which takes Cave’s spoken-word singing just to the wrong side of obnoxious. There’s a lot to like on Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, though, and while I can’t call Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds devoid of art-rock opaqueness it’s enjoyable–and accessible–enough to change my initial impressions. If you find yourself in the mood for Ray-Bans and a ride in a Caddy convertible, pick this album up along the way.

If you like this album, check out:

* Grinderman, by Grinderman – Think of this as the cut-the-crap-let’s-rock alter ego of The Bad Seeds, noisier, harsher…  but also more tongue-in-cheek. It’s much more of an acquired taste, but if you acquire it you may love it.

* Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, by The Dandy Warhols – Self-indulgently grandiose at times, this record drops Cave’s quirkiness and spoken-word delivery and just goes straight for the hipster-rock mojo… and delivers.

Also check out locally:

You’ll hear similar elements, though in a more Americana style, in the music of reborn local rock act The Western Paradise, including singing/speaking mixes and use of unusual percussion tempos (the Southwestern shuffle-drumming on “Valentine’s Day” is a prime example). The band has one EP out, the 2006 release Industry, though you’ll likely have a hard time finding it. On the other hand, you can hear the band’s work on its MySpace page and in concert at Art Factory 417 on November 5.

While we do our best to work in local album reviews, we often receive requests for reviews of non-local work, too. Since we love discovering new music, but want to keep a non-local piece helpful for SGFers, we had an idea: What if we review one non-local album per week, whether brand new or just something we’re just learning about, and tie in recommendations of similar-sounding albums both local and otherwise? With that in mind, here’s the latest installment of our New (to us) Music Monday. Hopefully you find these useful and build some new favorites into your CD shelf or iTunes playlist. Watch for a new one every Monday, err so. Happy discovery.

Kid 'n Play, 2 Hype

I know, I know. Kid ‘n Play are the punchline. The non-threatening lyrics can be cheesy. They were a Saturday morning cartoon. Dude had the biggest hightop fade anybody has ever scene. Hell, LeBron James clowned them on a State Farm commercial, and he was barely out of the womb when they were doing the thing. So why in the world would somebody review Kid ‘n Play in 2010? Because LeBron James doesn’t know Kid ‘n Play and I’m worried that their music might be completely lost on this generation.

When it comes down to it, 2 Hype is get off your ass and dance music – 11 tracks of upbeat party hip hop. Chris “Kid” Reid and Chris “Play” Martin were ultimately performers. With an endless arsenal of Running Man variations and the Kid ‘n Play kickstep, the duo was constantly moving while performing. Their rhyme schemes were never complex or lyrics very deep, but it was all about getting the party moving, which ultimately came down to them moving themselves.

2 Hype – their debut album – went platinum in 1988 behind the smash hit Rollin’ with 2 Hype. The song hit No. 2 on the charts and was recently listed at No. 63 of VH1′s Greatest Hip Hop Songs. You would recognize its horns, back-and-forth party raps and call-and-response chorus from just about any 1990s movie (you know – oh la oh la heyyy, oh la oh la heyy – did that help at all? If not, check out the video below.)

The title track 2 Hype and Gittin’ Funky soared on popular radio charts, but the album was bolstered by some classic, 1988 boombap head-noddin’ hip hop. My favorite track on the album, Damn That DJ (Wizard M.E.) exemplifies that most.

Of course, 2 Hype came with the standard party album love song, Last Night which will probably get some eyes rolling, but it’s by no means a track to skip. If you’re looking for something to get you movin’ (read: working quicker and partying) or something just a little bit different, find a copy and pop in 2 Hype. Make sure you’re not alone, because the kickstep won’t be long to follow.

Rollin with 2 Hype

At Fresh Fest, 2010

If you like this, check out:

* The Nine Yards by Paperboy (1992): While not directly in the same vein as 2 Hype, Paperboy brought it on the party song rap music. The Nine Yards is led, of course, by Ditty the top-ten hit. It had a bit of that G-Funk feeling to it and is a cover-to-cover (sort of under the radar) good listen.

Locally you might like

* MC Smitty: True, MC Smitty doesn’t sound much like Kid ‘n Play, but he’s a comical lyricist who tracks down some funky instrumentals. I say you might like him, because I enjoy both Kid ‘n Play and MC Smitty. The word on the street is that he’s got some recordings on the way. Check him out on Facebook.

John Legend with the Roots

While we do our best to work in local album reviews, we often receive requests for reviews of non-local work, too. Since we love discovering new music, but want to keep a non-local piece helpful for SGFers, we had an idea: What if we review one non-local album per week, whether brand new or just something we’re just learning about, and tie in recommendations of similar-sounding albums both local and otherwise? With that in mind, here’s the latest installment of our New (to us) Music Monday. Hopefully you find these useful and build some new favorites into your CD shelf or iTunes playlist. Watch for a new one every Monday. Happy discovery.

Let me be completely honest. I’m not sure I could pick out a John Legend song if I heard it on the radio. And I’ve taken a ton of grief from my friends over the years, especially the hip hop purists out there, for not frothing over The Roots and their discography. So when I heard the two entities teamed up for a record — Wake Up! — I tilted my head to the side and imagined it together. “I’ll check it out,” I thought.

What happened was a seminal moment for my best music of 2010. This is not an overstatement. The reasoning comes in three parts.

1. I discovered what I didn’t overly enjoy about The Roots was their vocalist, emcee Black Thought. Replaceable, I always thought. My favorite Roots song? “You Got Me,” featuring Erykah Badu? Why? Black Thought wasn’t as involved. So when you replace BT with a crooner, who was clearly trying to tap into some 1970s (or earlier) soul music, and mix it with hip hop’s premier live instrumentation group, why wouldn’t audio bliss coagulate?

2. The idea of covering idealistic songs tied to a certain generation is always intriguing. On the same measure of intrigue, those ideas rarely delivers. And in general, covers can bomb, because if you don’t find a unique way to cover a classic…well. Um. Oh, boy.

From NPR.org:

During the past 18 months, Legend spent his spare time collaborating with ?uestlove and The Roots on covers of politically motivated soul music from the 1960s and ’70s. What started as a potential single turned into Wake Up!, 11 vintage songs which are at turns optimistic and frustrated about the times that birthed them.

Dope.

3. The rapping that appears on the album doesn’t seem forced, and merges in with The Roots, because that’s what we expect. Yes, the parties involved added some rapping, putting their fingerprints on the original works. Naturally, Black Thought appears on the record, but Common makes an appearance (on the same track as songstress Melanie Fiona). It worked. Big time.

The finished product is a double-dutch jumpfest in and out of energetic head nodding and pensive inhales/exhales. I found myself gripped to the album either way. The project is only 11 tracks, but the album last more than an hour and doesn’t feel like a rushed group project. Instead, it’s long on groove, funk and soul.

Even if this isn’t your cup of tea, listen to the album’s opening song, “Hard Times” and tell me you don’t like it. The song which was originally recorded by Baby Huey, a 400-pound man who died after one album at age 26, hits hard, but still makes you feel good. Then listen to it dial down a big with song No. 2, “Compared to What,” a song recorded by Roberta Flack in 1969 and appropriated in 2003 by Coca-Cola for a commercial starring Common, according to NPR.org.

The record is available for sale on Tuesday (Sept. 21), but can be streamed for free at NPR.org until Sept. 28. That’s how I found it. And they have an IPhone app to stream it in the car — that is until I buy it.

If you like this album, check out:

* These Songs for You, Live!, by Donny Hathaway – Donny Hathaway was as talented as any singer in the 1970s, but was troubled and committed suicide at the age of just 33. Still, his music — even his covers — live on.

* Brothers, by The Black Keys – The Black Keys are as close to having a throwback ’70s funk to their music. The edge here on Brothers is harder than you’ll find on Wake Up!, but the sound is a virtual time machine.

Also check out locally:

Jah Roots band comes to mind, if nothing else, for their ability to appear in different pieces, yet still make versatile music. Reggae. Hip hop. Rock. Imagine if your favorite singer wanted to do a record like this. Of course, they’d choose Jah Roots.

And don’t forget J.M. Buttermilk’s Hot Buttered Soul ‘n’ R&B Revue doing something a little more edgy. More parts Marvin Gaye and less parts James Brown. Bring your own shaken moneymaker.

Through four full-length albums, four EPs and one book soundtrack–yes, you read that correctly–for Jeff VanderMeer‘s 2009 novel Finch, Bloomington, Indiana’s Murder By Death has undergone a fascinating sonic evolution. The band’s debut, Like the Exorcist but More Breakdancing, set the tone early with its blend of melodic indie rock, piano and groaning, morose cello, but subsequent work touched on something… darker. Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left Of Them was a story set to music of the Devil waging war on a small town in Mexico, and it introduces the noirish qualities and Western-style tunings and tempos that would later come to define the band’s sound. In Bocca Al Lupo was another concept album, this time centering around themes from Dante‘s works as well as sin and consequence (If you can’t tell, MBD doesn’t do light and perky) while singer Adam Turla dropped his voice down to a baritone loaded with gravitas and hints of Johnny Cash, if a little more agile. Red of Tooth and Claw further loosened the band’s musical coil as it became more comfortable with its dramatic, often sinister take on storytelling in song.

There isn’t a band in music that sounds like Murder By Death. Think about that for a minute. Given the state of music in the 21st Century, where entire genres have been smashed into subgroup bits like ideological walnuts, terrifically few bands exist that sound like no one else and have no one else try to sound like them. Any band that might even have such aspirations will likely give up and move on after hearing Good Morning, Magpie, MBD’s latest record. While the group has let go of making concept albums, it has also made a record as musically powerful as any you’re likely to hear this year. In spots the band breaks form and sees the sun break through the dark clouds, such as on the rollicking drinking song “As Long As There Is Whiskey In the World,” the improbably upbeat look at death “Yes” and the love song (?!) “Foxglove.” “King of the Gutters, Prince of the Dogs” is the masterwork, though, a slow builder with a second half that can be described as nothing less than quietly triumphant, capped by Turla’s singing “Nothing can touch me, nothing can touch me. No force. No sound.”

This is still a Murder By Death record, though, so you had better believe the darkness is coming, and when it comes it hits harder than even the meanest works from the band’s catalog. “White Noise” is an ominous plodder propelled by low, booming drums and Sarah Balliet‘s elegant, foreboding cello. “Piece By Piece” is the tear-blurred raging lament of a grand man now broken and probably the album’s most intense track. The title track, meanwhile, is the ultimate synergy of everything the band does well, blending elements of Morricone guitar strums and high-pitched theremin with cello and a story of love through struggle told through a vivid, literary bird metaphor. It could become the standard by which future MBD songs are judged, and the same could be said of Good Morning, Magpie for the band’s albums. In writing and playing, this band has never been stronger or more compelling, always original and, in this case, truly raising its own bar. They don’t need a unifying concept or motif to guide their work anymore, and without it they’ve progressed to creating real art.

If you like this album, check out:

* Animals In the Dark, by William Elliott Whitmore – Whitmore provided guest vocals on MBD’s first album, and on this 2009 release he’s at his full-band earthy best. Nothing close in style (remember what I said earlier about no one sounding like MBD), but fans of what they do will see where Whitmore is coming from.

* Il Buono, Il Bruto, Il Cattivo, music by Ennio Morricone – The legendary Italian movie scorer is a huge influence on the group (they even named a song for him), and this score for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly stands in the eyes of most fans as his best. Pick up this Italian version of it if you can (and you can, on iTunes), though, for longer versions of some songs than on the American release.

Also check out locally:

There isn’t a band in SGF that serves even as a reasonable facsimile of Murder By Death, so I’m going in the most logical direction and pointing you toward their local opener for MBD’s show tonight, Golden Giant. The four-piece instrumental (for now) power-post-grunge group (which, full disclosure, employs TAGsgf’s Scott Perket as its drummer) is putting the finishing touches on its first album right now, but until that arrives you can hear examples of the band’s music on its Facebook page.

While we do our best to work in local album reviews, we often receive requests for reviews of non-local work, too. Since we love discovering new music, but want to keep a non-local piece helpful for SGFers, we had an idea: What if we review one non-local album per week, whether brand new or just something we’re just learning about, and tie in recommendations of similar-sounding albums both local and otherwise? With that in mind, here’s the latest installment of our New (to us) Music Monday. Hopefully you find these useful and build some new favorites into your CD shelf or iTunes playlist. Watch for a new one every Monday … err so. Happy discovery.

Something to Write Home About doesn’t feel 11 years old. Kansas City grown, The Get Up Kids created singable hooks driven by grunge-driven powerchords under synth melodies at upbeat tempos. The album was the group’s second full length and is still timely today. The danceable songs are balanced by the down trodden, especially on the third track, Valentine. The occasional broken heart lyrics shoved Something to Write Home About into the dreaded emo genre, though I’m not sure anybody knows exactly what emo means. The album’s promotional tour was with Weezer during the ultra-pop Green Album days, which didn’t help the perception.

Catchy is the one word definition of the project. It opens with an immediate bolt of energy on Holiday – a breakup song that you can’t easily shake from your head. Red Letter Day and ballad Out of Reach drop directly in the middle of “can’t get out of our head.” Maybe none as much, however, as the fast paced 10 Minutes. It dances from riff to riff and the lyrics are memorable, again recalling the process of a breakup