Ani DiFranco
Red Letter Year
Available Now
2/5
I guess if the self-obsessed Ani DiFranco got over her issues, she'd have nothing left to sing about, and that is why her songs never evolve. Her new album, Red Letter Year, adds pretty musical flairs and nuances and all those little things any genius can whip up in the recording studio. The lyrics still obsess over small personal injustices, but the delivery is less impassioned.
Maybe I just don't get it. Fans will probably like it, but if you're, for some reason, just now thinking about getting into DiFranco, start with something way back in the day. Maybe you'll build an appreciation by the time you hit Red Letter Year.
The song "Emancipated Minor" sounds like she ran into the Bee Gees doing a performance on the subway and they handed her the microphone. And it's not even as cool as that sounds. At the beginning of the album she sings a few repeating lines about sugarplums dancing in heads. Come on. Dancing sugarplums? Did she even try to write something original in this whole album? It's peppered with lyrical clichés, it's boring, and, frankly, I just can't support this project. I've given her a few tries, but it's hard. Maybe if someone put together a best of Ani DiFranco album, I'd give her one more listen. There is one thing, though. If that essentials compilation ever did get made, it would have to include the last song on this album, a jam of trumpets and drums. At least she left us with a parade.
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Lucinda Williams ~ Little Honey
Jenny Lewis ~ Acid Tongue
The Pretenders ~ Break Up The Concrete
Metallica
Death Magnetic
Available Now
2/5
Metallica's album is a bit slow to pick up, but maybe it's a tease for rabid fans to get to the heavy stuff. It takes 1:39 to reach head-banging level. That's 5 months in album years. The first three songs start in the same key. Groundbreaking.
"The Unforgiven III" starts with a cello, piano, violins and a lone, foreboding trumpet. Classical music always works when combined with metal. It's like two agreeable extremes coming together.
"All Nightmare Long" shakes like a wet dog. Someone's playing 32nd notes on a guitar string. And out of the dark depths comes a deep, devilish voice. Cute. It's like the story sequel to "Enter
Sandman." They haven't evolved much either.
Maybe Metallica and Ani DiFranco should start a songwriters group together and see if they can expand each others' musical horizons. Meanwhile, TV on the Radio will be far away, making good music.
The last song starts on the same key as the first three. And probably all other ones, except for that fancy classical piece.
A huge argument ensued in the newsroom over whether the album cover was a vagina or a coffin, and that's the most excitement that ever came of this album.
If you like this music, you might enjoy:
Staind ~ The Illusion of Progress
Slipknot ~ All Hope is Gone
TV on the Radio
Dear Science
Available Now
5/5
TV on the Radio's second major-label release, Dear Science, opens with a mass of drums, synths and vocal ba-ba-bum's, so it sounds like you're running upstairs on eight legs. It's an octopus tap-dance party.
The band achieved a fuller sound since its 2006 album, Return to Cookie Mountain. Densely layered rhythms leave no room for your ears to slip in some silence or any ideas of how to make the album better.
These guys should do a movie soundtrack.
"Dancing Choose" is my favorite song of the week. Something about a guy getting his tortillas from a newspaper stand. The singing is rushed and puts the listener in a suspenseful panic wondering what in God's name will happen next, musically and lyrically. Good stuff. The music falls between a chase scene from a Wes Anderson film and old video game with simple and blunt audio.
This album has a weird combination of influences. They seem to take something from each decade since the 1940s. "Family Tree" starts on reverberated piano, a colorful breather in the middle of the drum-heavy album. With a sing-songy delivery of what sounds like a sad but hopeful dream: "Wake up to your window/ The day calls in billows/ It's echoing moonlight on to the blue nightmare of your heart/ In cozy red rainbows/ It's shaking off halos." This record's lyrical content is of high poetic value.
The last song sounds like a Christmas carol sung by a band of cowboys with voices similar to (but egos smaller than) Elvis. That transitions into a band of angels rising in choral glory - a majestic ending to a majestic album.
As for the overall album, I was dancing in my chair at work all through my bad mood. That's an accomplishment. Congratulations, TV on the Radio. You've made the grade.
If you like this music, you might enjoy:
Beck ~ Modern Guilt
Fast Heart Mart ~ Cheap and Sunny
