JENNY LEWIS
On The Line
[LP/CD](Warner Bros.)
Jenny jettisons her past to make a classic-sounding pop record with "On The Line." Her songs are wistful and bittersweet. As she mines her memories, she coos like a modern Dusty Springfield. "Wasted Youth" shimmers as she shreds her partying days, while "Red Bull and Hennessy" compares intoxication with emotional and sensual peaks.
Lewis is joined by an amazing band of Don Was, Jim Keltner and Ringo Starr plus guests Beck and Benmont Tench. Even with this stunning lineup, the spotlight never strays from Lewis.
EX HEX
It’s Real
[LP/CD](Merge)
Before the onslaught from fantastic female writers in both solo and group form, we had Ex Hex beginning in 2014. The all-star trio – Mary Timony, Betsy Wright and Laura Harris –m followed in the steps of Sleater-Kinney and Wild Flag (where Timony was a member) in writing tense, terse, biting stripped-down rock.
"It's Real" is no "Rips," but it is with ripe with potential. Their choruses feel a little more ‘70s rock ("Tough Enough" and the flashy "Rainbow Shiner") while other tracks gain a new Buzzcocks-ian pull.
American Football
[LP/CD](Polyvinyl)
On their third self-titled album, American Football return with a glossy, chiming sound and songs that are neatly colored with Post-Rock changes and details (the hypnotic "Every Wave To Ever Rise" is accented by beautiful bells and vibraphones).
While it would be easy for the newly-revamped band to take that turgid seriousness which plagues Death Cab For Cutie now, "American Football" finds a way to keep their cuts light and airy while still mixing the drums right up front. When they invite Paramore's Hayley Williams to duet on the breezy beauty "Uncomfortably Numb," you can hear the band discovering their second career of easing music into trailers and TV shows.
Wallows
Nothing Happens
[LP/CD](Atlantic)
Wallows clearly grew up around music. Their debut album reflected the detached grit of The Strokes and the constant sunniness of southern California.
"Nothing Happens" works where they loop their hooky hooks into recreating a more playground-esque sense of ennui than Lana Del Rey ("Are You Bored Yet?”).
Despite its journal-ish lyrics, the bratty "Scrawny" is a standout that could make them the next The 1975 or Panic! At The Disco.
REISSUES OF THE WEEK
JOHN AND YOKO
Wedding Album
[LP](Chimera/Secretly Canadian)
The last of three experimental albums from John Lennon and Yoko Ono is their most revealing and as close to audio verite as they would ever come.
"Two Virgins" bends and shapes their looping thus stretching time out. "Wedding Album" strings together the most random assortment of conversational bits and song fragments allowing you to feel like you are there with them.
"Life With The Lions" finds the extremes of noise and silence and presents them with little halfway point. "Wedding Album" sets you adrift in hearing them passionately calling each other's names at different distances and volumes.
Re-released for the first time in nearly 20 years, "Wedding Album" is also a piece of history containing photos from the famous Bed-In, drawings from John, photos, press clippings and even facsimiles of their wedding license and a slice of wedding cake on a doily.
X
Wild Gift
[LP/CD](Fat Possum)
The most important of all Eighties L.A. Punk bands, X's second album finds the band gelling even as John Doe and Exene Cervenza's marriage was encountering turmoil.
Unlike their brash, Bukowski-esque debut "Los Angeles," "Wild Gift" is less caustic and attempts more stylistic endeavor. As they were mastering their writing, their songs grew shorter and more streamlined.
"The Once Over Twice" and "We're Desperate" make a thrilling 1-2 punch of an opener before they alternate between the trashy taffeta spin on lurid novels ("Adult Books") and reductive, spiky punk statements of purpose ("I'm Coming Over").
"In This House That I Call Home" and the howling "White Girl" establish the blueprint for their classic third album "Under The Big Black Sun." While the revved up rockabilly of "Year One," the strychnine strut of "Back 2 The Base" and the existential dread of "When Our Love Passed Out On The Couch" proved that X was breathing new life into Punk.
TERRY ALLEN & THE PANHANDLE MYSTERY BAND
Pedal Steel and Four Corners|
[LP/CD](Paradise of Bachelors)
Texas is world famous for its songwriters. Fortunately, the most world famous of Texas songwriters openly laud those writers who push the limits.
The visual writing of Terry Allen created two seminal albums in 1975's Juarez and 1979's classic "Lubbock” (On Everything). By the time he was famous enough to collaborate with the greats (Guy Clark, to name just one), Allen parlayed his success into several conceptual pieces that defied logic, space and time.
"Pedal Steel" is an audio piece composed to accompany a dance performance. Tape recordings, spoken-word, distorted guitars, thunderous drum fills and a haunting story await you.
The Four Corners suite is four pieces Allen composed for NPR broadcasts from 1986-1993. These dramas unfold like chapters in a book. These Sam Shepard-like narratives are literally stuff that dreams are made of.
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