album reviews

January 26, 2012

Leonard Cohen

Old Ideas Columbia

Every song on Leonard Cohen's first album of new material in eight years takes place in the wee small hours. Tempos are at a kingsnake crawl and the sound is full of caresses, variations on the classy but louche cabaret tunes Cohen once dubbed the European blues. The vocals and music unfold in a whisper, and each cut waits tremulously for the dawn, with no guarantee that this time the darkness will not be permanent. The first words belong to God himself, who wants to have a talk with Le... | More »

January 24, 2012

Various Artists

Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Amnesty International

This collection, assembled in honor of Amnesty International's 50th birthday, is stuffed with 80 artists, from Pete Seeger (folk-music deity, b. 1919) to Miley Cyrus (hot mess, b. 1992). Revelation and humor are in as short supply as hip-hop; instead, you get a good catchall for a great cause, with head-scratchers and surprises side by side (Miley turns out to be both). Most often those who underplay their covers play it best: Pete Townshend's fingerpicked "Corrina, Corrina" capture... | More »

Craig Finn

Clear Heart Full Eyes Vagrant

In five stellar LPs as the word-spluttering frontman for the Hold Steady, Craig Finn proved that nobody can match his ear for the way American losers talk. And in a Finn song, they're usually talking themselves into their next doomed move. Cut with a country-rock pickup band, his first solo album is full of bleakly funny noir tales. His characters are like the psycho-eyes loners from On the Beach or Nebraska, except strung out on religion. Finn's gotten canny enough as a singer to p... | More »

Tim McGraw

Emotional Traffic Curb

Tim McGraw is country's tough-but-tender specialist, at ease enough in his Stetson to forsake macho posturing and plunge into emotional thickets. His 11th LP is his most assured, with a dozen sharp songs about middle-American struggles. Strong storytelling redeems cheesy stuff like "Touchdown Jesus," as does the music, a savvy mix of down-home twang, pop tunefulness and rock heft. (There's even a Ne-Yo duet, "Only Human.") But McGraw's at his finest reckoning with demons over a... | More »

First Aid Kit

The Lion’s Roar Wichita

Country music has become a free-trade zone: Witness "Emmylou," a love song about Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, sung by two Swedes with old-school sibling-act harmonies. Johanna and Klara Söderberg are indie rockers at heart: They recorded this set in Omaha with Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis; Conor Oberst does his own Gram Parsons turn on "King of the World." The songs shuffle styles, but the voices transcend genre distinctions – you may not hear a more beautifully sung record thi... | More »

Big Deal

Lights Out Mute

Big Deal is what happens when a young guitar teacher and his student bond over Sonic Youth, Alex Chilton and Freaks and Geeks: 12 feedback-laced psychodramas, delivered through hooky, drumless tunes specked with horny, guilt-ridden duet harmonies. "Can't do my homework/Can't concentrate," purrs Alice Costelloe on "Homework," then wonders, "Where have your clothes gone?" Partner Kacey Underwood offers, "Don’t hate my guts/It’s not my fault." A similar scene plays out in "... | More »

January 20, 2012

The Little Willies

For the Good Times Milking Bull

Turns out Norah Jones packs a sweet and true country twang. On the Little Willies' second album, Jones and four buddies remake down-home classics like Willie Nelson's "Permanently Lonely" and Kris Kristofferson's title track with offhand assurance, like a skilled (but not slick) pickup bar band. The lone original, "Tommy Rockwood," segues into Jones' note-perfect roar through "Fist City" – a Loretta Lynn dust-up that's never sounded so giddy. That's the Lit... | More »

January 18, 2012

Cloud Nothings

Attack on Memory Carpark

"Essential/It'll never get old," sings Cloud Nothings' Dylan Baldi. That's the Nineties- nostalgic gospel of this Cleveland band's second record; it’s not a new idea (cf. Yuck, Mr. Dream), but these guys might have the Clinton-era moves down better than anyone. On the murderously slow "No Future/No Past," The Bends and In Utero make out on a crusty futon, while songs like "Fall In" and the eight-minute "Wasted Days" imagine Green Day if they were thick-necked Midwest... | More »

January 17, 2012

Chairlift

Something Columbia/Kanine

In 2008, these kids made the Brooklyn scene with a song that got heavy iPod-commercial rotation ("Bruises") and an album of spookily sexy, PJ Harvey-meets-Eurythmics synth pop they claim was designed for haunted houses. Four years later, they've set aside such Scooby-Doo-ish pretensions and brightened things up, embracing the refined, airy side of 1980s New Wave with help from alt-rock production heavies Alan Moulder and Dan Carey. Singer Caroline Polachek still plays the towering ice qu... | More »

Ani DiFranco

Which Side Are You On? Righteous Babe

The world needs more radicals like Ani DiFranco: wry, sexy, as committed to beauty and joy as revolution. Her 17th LP is buoyed by communal seas: fellow political activists carrying the torch (the New Orleans art-funk update of the folk-standard title track); weed smokers weighing culture hypocrisy ("J"); a homeless mom baring her heart ("Life Boat"). Channeling multiple voices and styles, DiFranco rises to the cultural moment with a grin: "If you're not getting happier as you get older,... | More »