After spending a couple of months with few musical thoughts that don’t involve New Orleans’ music, it’s time for a palate-cleansing listen to the world outside.
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Genuine Negro Jig
(Nonesuch)
What keeps their exploration of string band folk’s history from being another well-executed trip through history is the cover of Blu Cantrell’s “Hit ’em Up Style.” It takes the classic theme of dealing with infidelity and modernizes it, encouraging women to grab his credit card and spend the cheater’s ass into the poor house. The song breaks down the line between past and present, and Rhiannon Giddens has all the sass of any R&B diva.
The New Pornographers
Together
(Matador)
I liked the everywhere-at-once nature of 2007’s Challengers because it showed the band’s hand, making its British art-rock roots clear. On Together, those same influences art internalized, leading to an album that’s a showcase for pop craft. “Crash Years” makes a well-trodden path from verse to chorus seem fresh, while “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk” makes a circuitous route to the hook seem natural. Musically, I’m fascinated by a pulse that unifies the tracks, even as it’s played on a variety of instruments. Lyrically, their songs are evocative without being word soup. Seven or eight listens later, I’m no closer to “Valkyrie in the Roller Disco,” but I look forward to the ninth listen.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxMCaU83QKs[/youtube]
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
I Learned the Hard Way
(Daptone)
Previous Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings albums have gotten by on the concept – raw soul singer backed by a band of cratediggers – and the passion and precision with which they executed it. On I Learned the Hard Way, the songs don’t sound like the third or fourth-best songs on albums by soul greats; they’re compelling songs that immerse you in their world instead of nodding toward the one that inspired them. The stylish eclecticism is similarly less obvious. The songs hook together sounds and styles that were separated by years and geography, but the songs are developed to such a degree that you rarely notice the anachronism.
MGMT
Congratulations
(Columbia)
Another specie of art-rock, and a brave one from a band that was as big as any recent act after the success of “Kids.” Congratulations explores melody, and what happens when you string together attractive passage after attractive passage without getting to a true chorus or payoff hook. Is prettiness its own psychedelic reward? The album has its short, tight, song-like moments, but there’s a lot more of the suite “Siberian Breaks” than “Brian Eno” here.
Or, is this what you do when you get what you once thought you wanted? Record an album that gets expectations and crowds down to more manageable levels?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvSMp7T2Kes[/youtube]
The Magnetic Fields
Realism
(Nonesuch)
I admire Stephin Merritt’s ability to commit to a concept, but on his folk album, I occasionally yearn for the electropop that kept his chamber pop songs from running together on 69 Love Songs. I doubt I’ll listen to more than three or four songs at a time because of that, but I return to Realism because there’s too much wit, wisdom and craft to ignore. Merritt and company play with associations between folk, honesty and community, giving you reason to question all those connections.
