The Ugandan singer has been a big hit in the UK. For his third album, "Kiwanuka" is aimed firmly at the US market. With its Dangermouse production, songs crackle between modern squall and antique effects like The Black Keys ("Hero.") The Motown bounce-meets-EDM noise fares better with the talented singer as Kiwanuka circles around the groove neatly on "You Ain't The Problem." However, in the quieter textures, despite his golden voice, lush strings and a tricky arrangement, the lyrics of "Piano Joint" sound as tossed off as its title. Still, much like "Cold Little Heart" from the last record, an excerpt of it would make a great TV theme.
Michael Kiwanuka
Kiwanuka
(LP/CD)(Interscope)
OMNI
Networker
(LP/CD/CS)(SubPop)
As Omni makes its jump from Indie to Major Indie, the terse trio sands down some of its edginess in favor of abstract melodic minimalist guitar Pop. If that is a mouthful, is it intended to be. "Networker," on first listen, is so sparse it is easy to obsess about what is missing. Instead, focus on how the bass and guitar tangle over riffs and immediately fall into unison on several strangely charming single-note stop-start melodies. While they are again as wiry as Wire, "Networker" introduces a television-esque thrust (the beautiful chords on the chorus of "Courtesy Call") and reformulated Power Pop punch on "Skeleton Key."
Hootie & the Blowfish
Imperfect Heart
(LP/CD)(Capitol Nashville)
Multi-platinum ("Cracked Rear View" has sold 21 million copies and is the 19th best-selling album of all time) South Carolinians try for success just one more time. Some things don't change: Darius Rucker's voice has beautifully mellowed with age. Some things should change: Choruses that just endlessly repeat their titles. While they all take credit as writers, they draft several pros for co-writes (Ed Sheeran and Chris Stapleton) as well as local singer/songwriter Adam Doleac, who helps them nail the southern rock-ish standout "Rollin.'"
Stray From the Path
Intern Atomics
(LP/CD)(UNFD)
The East Coast is synonymous with a brash, howling love of Hardcore. While Long Island's Stray From The Path contains all the hallmarks of Hardcore (screaming vocals, molten metal guitar riffs, double-kick drum ka-blam-blam,) they rethink it in very Rage Against The Machine terms. There is an endless shriek on "Actions Not Words" that speaks as boldly as RATM did on the quiet moments of "Killing In The Name." The posturing and attitude from singer Drew York on "Fortune Teller" are as impressive as the band shuffling from head-nodding to neck-breaking riffage.
BOB DYLAN
Travelin’ Thru 1967-1969
(LP/CD)(Legacy)
In the latest Bootleg Series installment, we journey into the lost years of Dylan. On July 29, 1966 Dylan crashed his motorcycle near his home in Woodstock, NY and began a period of seclusion whose mysteries we are still unraveling. Bookended by two Nashville recording sessions (1968's "John Wesley Harding" and 1969's "Nashville Skyline,") a new Dylan emerged from the wilderness. "Travelin' Thru" reassembles those years with outtakes and alternate versions from both of those recordings as well as Dylan taping 25 songs with Johnny Cash in the studio ahead his appearance on Cash's TV show. Finally, the set wraps with a 1970 session recorded with Earl Scruggs.
VARIOUS
Across the Great Divide
(3 CD)(Grapefruit/Cherry Red)
We all know the year 1968 was one of dramatic change and exponential growth in culture and music. The question remains what were the lessons of that tumultuous year. This new Grapefruit package contends that many Rock music fans were alienated by both the events and the growing complexity of Rock. So bands retreated to the Country to write, create and record in isolation away from the meddlesome business of Music. The overall result was a return to rootsy music. Fairport Convention's move away from West Coast (US) Rock led to their renewal of British Folk. Along the way, they experimented with many different types of music as the Dylanesque "Cajun Woman" here demonstrates. Mott The Hoople also waxed folksy on "Home Is Where I Want To Be." "Across The Great Divide" lets you hear from lost bands like Mighty Baby (dubbed the UK's Grateful Dead,) Orange Bicycle (first to cover Elton John/Bernie Taupin songs, ) and Bronco (Folky rock that earned them accolades from Led Zeppelin.)
The Fall
1982 Boxset
(6 CD)(Cherry Red)
In the sordid (and sorted) history of the almighty Fall, 1982 was the breakthrough year. Having matured through the punky, poetic experimentation of the early years, those albums ("Grotesque (After The Gramme) especially) set the stage for "Hex Enduction Hour." The March 1982 album changed the band and the swirl of opinions around them. Unknowingly dark ("Hip Priest" famously used in "The Silence of The Lambs") and loud ("The Classical" famously lifted by Pavement who even borrowed the style of their album covers, ) "Hex" set the standard for ALL Indie bands to follow. Side One is abrasive yet packed with winners. This double-drum lineup charges like wild bulls and yet changes on a dime. In the meantime, it feels like every riff Mark E.Smith throws out is a hit. "Jawbone and The Air Rifle" is a children's song for pogoing until they change a single chord from major to minor and effectively flip the mood. "Fortress/Deer Park" is blistering, while "Winter" is harrowing and beautifully sets up the descent into Side Two. If the Fall never had many competitors, it was often because they were too busy competing with each other. While Mark E.Smith will always be The Fall, it is telling that his true experiment in autobiography ("I'm Into CB") is relegated to a B-side of post-album release single.
The far more political "Room To Live" fills out the second half of 1982 for the Fall. More noisy, droney and shambolic than its predecessor. It is howling fun to hear the same band lumber through the demented Rockabilly of "Joker Hysterical Face," find the funk on "Marquis Cha Cha" and give you a preview of the next go round on the title cut. If these two albums were not enough, you also get the Peel Session (of course,) several unreleased live recordings and an entire concert from Auckland, NZ in 1982. Finally, as we always add as a disclaimer, while The Fall might not be what you are expecting from music - it could very well change the way you at least listen to music.
