In the five years since Selena Gomez notched her second No. 1 album, she decided to return to acting and take time to heal herself. After canceling her tour in 2016 due to Lupus, Gomez steered her career toward TV ("13 Reasons Why"), but continued to write and collect ideas for a new album.
Much like Gomez today, "Rare" emerges from a stronger and more confident place. The lead single "Lose You To Love Me" topped the chart and the second single, "Look At Her Now," is pushing into the Top 20. "Rare" is mostly an uptempo, EDM-rooted Pop record written both for her longtime fans and the new ones who are joining the fold.
SELENA GOMEZ
Rare
(CD) (Interscope)
R.LUM.R
Surfacing
(CD) (Islands)
DEVING GILFILLIAN
Black Hole Rainbow
(CD) (Capitol)
2020 is already out of the gates with a pair of new gritty R&B-ish singers. R.LUM.R finally moves from internet upstart (2016's "Frustrated" earned him 50 million plays on Spotify) to full-fledged artist. His very weeknd-ish elastic voice is welcome.
"How This Feels" shows off his powerful falsetto, while "Cold" races for the ballad crown that Sam Smith has temporarily abdicated.
R.LUM.R is also a promising guitarist, but you would not know it from how "Surfacing" aims for the commercial prize. Let's hope he hits, so the second record can be his.
If R.LUM.R is being guided to a Pop crowd, the gritty Gilfillian is being groomed to be another Michael Kiwanuka or even Gary Clark Jr., his R&B side.
"Black Hole Rainbow" puts Gilfillian at its center presenting every opportunity to feel how raw and real he can be. The best songs baste themselves in an intoxicating Afrobeat influence ("Get Out And Get It") which uses modern production to sound like a new Charles Bradley ("Stay A Little Longer").
Beach SLANG
The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City
(LP/CD) (Bridge Nine)
Philadelphia's Beach Slang never give up. During seven years and through numerous members, James Alex leads his new Replacements-ish incarnation into battle.
"Deadbeat Bang" is recorded as if someone was about to take Alex's Rock ‘n’ Roll records from him. Shifting mercilessly from gear to gear, Beach Slang hits all the high points of post-Sixties Rock from Glam to Punk to sneering riff-driving RAWK ("Tommy in the 80's").
With no bass player at the moment, "Deadbeat" Beach Slang welcomes Tommy Stinson of the Mats to punch along for the entire album.
THROWBACKS OF THE WEEK:
THE REPLACLEMENTS
Pleased to Meet Me
(LP) (Sire/Rhino)
Despite multiple (some would say too many) columns waxing rhapsodic about the Mats, this one still merits close examination. Unlike last year's "Dead Man's Pop" (reclaming "Don't Tell A Soul" – also reissued this week on LP), "Pleased" has aged well despite its boomy production and somewhat chaotic release of the wild-eyed gene that makes the Mats great.
Produced with the legendary Jim Dickinson in Memphis, "Pleased" is the first post-Smokin' Bob Stinson album and it shows. Down to just a trio, the Mats of 1987 swing for the fences. "I.O.U" is a gritty opener with an uncharacteristic baritone sax solo, while the blistering "I Don't Know" continues their trend of sardonic (we-are-so-NOT-your) success story ("One foot in the door/The other one in the gutter/The sweet smell that you adore/Well I think I'd rather smother.") However, it is the hits that count. Singles that should have been: the booming "Never Mind," the soaring "Valentine" ("When you wish upon a star/And it turns into a plane,") the beautiful acoustic "Skyway," the strung-up "Tim" leftover diamond "Can't Hardly Wait" and the anthemic and inspirational "Alex Chilton" (which despite never charting still rings up at least a million YouTube viewings.) "Pleased To Meet Me" after all these years still rings true.
ANNE BRIGGS [LP](Topic)
BRIDGET ST. JOHN - Ask Me No Questions [LP](Trading Places)
So much is written about British Folk but too many chapters focus on one or two women. Anne Briggs was essential to the evolution if only for her teaching Bert Jansch the all-important D-tuned lick "Black Waterside," which led to Jimmy Page's procurement of it as "Black Mountain Side" for Led Zeppelin. Briggs was discovered by Folk leader Ewan MacColl in 1962 and embarked on a brief career that ended in 1973. Along the way, the 30 or so songs in her repertoire (many of which she sang in pubs a cappella) became standards in other hands. On this 1971 album, she tackles ten classic songs of old. "Reynardine" and "Young Tambling" remain high points for all of British Folk. Helped briefly by bouzouki and guitar, "Anne Briggs" is true to every age-old melody she sings, especially and importantly "Black Waterside."
Bridget St. John entered Folk music in the late '60s with languid guitar songs that today feel like Nick Drake as sung by Nico. Her 1969 debut "Ask Me No Questions" remains a curious artifact. Sometimes too true to Folk's seriousness ("Autumn Lullaby" lists trees) or devotion to detail (the diary entry that is the delicate "Like Never Before,") once St. John expands her palette, the beautiful trio "Curious Crystals of Unusual Purity," "Barefeet and Hot Pavements," and "I Like To Be With You in the Sun" stuns. After this point, she even grabs a guitar assist from fellow Folk guitarist John Martyn. "Ask Me No Questions" was the flame that gave St. John a brief push allowing her to make three more Marianne Faithfull-esque albums before bowing out.
DISCOVERIES OF THE WEEK
U-BAHN
(LP) (Melodic UK)
While they may look like they are straight out of Eighties Germany, this Melbourne band combines the restless experimental jitter of Devo with the sickly sweet Pop of Ariel Pink. Raging through 11 songs in 40 minutes, U-Bahn quickly exposes its razor-sharp sense of humor (the biting "Right Swipe"), love of squiggly grooves ("Turbulent Luv") and even tie it all together with a steamy pastiche ("Damp Sheets").
THE RIFLE
Honeyden
(CS) (Burger)
Tucson, Arizona's indie rockers The Rifle combine dreamy Girl-Group harmonies and melodies with the pre-shoegaze crestfallen stare of classic Galaxie 500.
"Honeyden" is intoxicating. The long, tambourine bounce of "Visitation" is a beautiful slow build with warm, twangy guitars that sound like something from one of David Lynch's dreams. The more driving single, "Are We Having Fun Yet," allows guitarist Nelene to sing sarcastically around a slinky beat.
BIGG BAND
Tha Almighty Bigg Band
(CS) (Earth Girl/local)
Six blazing tracks in just nine minutes, "Tha Almighty Bigg Band" sounds like what would happen if Black Flag hijacked a New Wave band's equipment in the early Eighties. All slogan-shouting anthems with HUGE beats and room-shaking synths, Bigg Band hit all the stops.
