SCREECHING WEASEL / First World Manifesto [2011]

Some 25 years into their career, pop-punkers Screeching Weasel are just as snotty as ever and still capable at holding an inane grudge.
First World Manifesto is Weasel's 12 album and it seems not a single thing has changed since their first record. The production is a little cleaner and the songwriting is a little tighter, but whiny Ramones-esque Ben Weasel refuses to change for anybody. He takes jabs at everything from well-known fellow pop-punkers, to his own fans and even the punk rock scene he is very much a part of. Some tired subject matter but SW keeps it addictive with catchy melodies and head-bopping anthems.
It's an all right Weasel record but not really anything special to anybody that didn't grow up with them.

3 pokes at Fat Mike out of 5

Songs Of Note: Frankengirl; Dry Is The Desert

THE ROOTS / Undun [2011]

Soulful hip-hop act, The Roots take a bleak turn on their concept album Undun , which tells the story of Redford Stevens, a man living and dying in urban poverty.
The music is a compelling blend of a warm, yet dreary Curtis Mayfield and John Coltrane that works perfectly, however it's the lyrics that fall flat on their face. Black Thought's words should bring a heartbeat to the character of Redford but never does and the concept of the album becomes boring really quick.
The band themselves are at some of their best composing and playing here, it's just Thought's lyrics that pull it down a bit too much. Normally lyrics wouldn't be such a problem, however if you're going to do something conceptual you should at least make it lyrically interesting.

3 Sufjan Stevens nods out of 5

Songs Of Note: One Time; undun "short"

FRANK TURNER / England Keep My Bones [2011]

Nice-guy Englishman folkster Frank Turner is really coming into his own on his 4th studio album England Keep My Bones.
Lifting the album title from Shakespeare, Turner's songwriting style is noticeably the strongest it's ever been. While he's dropped the "I'm the underdog" type lyrics, Tuner has opted for more of an album based on his English identity and the rich history of his homeland. Retaining his punk rock like attitude and strong sense of the genuine and passionate, Turner seems to be heading to greener pastures.
England Keep My Bones proves no matter how big Turner is getting, he can still be fun, real and never forgetful of where he came from.

5 Lives and Deaths of King John out of 5

Songs Of Note: I Still Believe; Glory Hallelujah

JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON / The Miners' Hymns: United To Obtain The Just Reward Of Our Labour [2011]

Atmospheric Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson tackles the wonderful world of film score composing for Bill Morrison's documentary The Miner's Hymms.
Relying heavily on a brass ensemble which is incredibly powerful and moody it reminds me somewhat of Howard Shore's brooding David Cronenberg score work. It rumbles quietly in the corner rarely ever stepping into the light adding a haunting backdrop to the film. While it might be effective on film, it makes for a somewhat uninspired listen.
With long lulls of ambient drones, The Miner's Hymms soars with stark beauty when it is finally allowed to. A so-so affair from an otherwise brilliant musical act.

3 Durham Miners of yesteryear out of 5

Songs Of Note: They Being Dead Yet Speaketh; The Cause of Labour is the Hope of the World

MOBY / Destroyed [2011]

After an album as amazing as Wait For Me it's a might bit disappointing to receive something as mediocre as Moby's 10th album Destroyed.
Not to say it's horrible but it's really only effective at certain times of the day and that being the wee hours of the morning. This is probably due to the recording process Moby endured while working on this album: at 2am isolated in hotel rooms while on tour in support of Wait For Me. There are a few very impressive bits here and there but clocking in at 71 minutes it would have benefited greatly with 20-25 minutes cut from it.
It's nice for writing or painting with but as a listening experience only it falls short mostly due to length. Oh well.

2½ lonely cities out of 5

Songs Of Note: The Day; Stella Maris

LYDIA LOVELESS / Indestructible Machine [2011]

21 year old Lydia Loveless proves that country music girls don't have to be bubbly blond pop-tarts disguised as cosmetic commercial models.
On her debut, Indestructible Machine, Loveless wows with her full-bodied expressive voice decorated with colorful language and an unapologetic attitude. With her knack of entertaining punk-flavored songwriting and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, Loveless is a name to keep an eye on.
In a music wasteland of American Idol "country" girls, Lydia Loveless' Indestructible Machine is more than welcome and hopefully just the beginning of a long and successful career.

5 Steve Earle stalking victims out of 5

Songs Of Note: Can't Change Me; Jesus Was A Wino

PJ HARVEY / Let England Shake [2011]

20 years into her career, PJ Harvey has delivered her finest album to date with Let England Shake.
A bittersweet love letter to her home country and it's wars, all bent on hopelessness, loss and scathing criticism of your leader's choices. With Mick Harvey (no relation) and John Parish at her side, Harvey's produced a richly textured album that's something between airy dream-pop & melodic folk rock complimented with beautiful lyrical storytelling.
Never one to mince words, Harvey will probably chase off quite a few listeners with her opinionated lyrics but that's part of her charm. She's bold, smart and supremely talented. The triumphant Let England Shake showcases this talent quite nicely.

5 Autoharp ditties out of 5

Songs Of Note: On Battleship Hill; Written On The Forehead

CITIES AVIV / Digital Lows [2011]

Cities Aviv's debut album Digital Lows is a broody and seductive hip-hop record filled with intelligent and often smugly humorous two-liners.
It's chilled out and hazy production almost allows it to fall into the stoner-rap genre but Cities Aviv is much too alert and witty to go in that direction. With lyrics that go from the hopeful to the downright seething, Digital Lows is somewhat of an emotional mish-mash which is refreshing compared to a lot of one-note hip-hop acts.
There's no singles, hooks or repetitive lyrics here...just finely crafted songwriting that shamefully went largely ignored this year.

4 White Bitches That Like Mr. Bungle out of 5

Songs Of Note: Die Young; Sixsixsixes

R.E.M. / Collapse Into Now [2011]

R.E.M.'s 15th and final album, Collapse Into Now seems to act as sort of a final revisit to the many musical areas they've visited over their plus 30 year old career.
Even though the band doesn't visit any territories on Collapse it's all good as their skill is so finely crafted with such casual passion and grace. Good time post-punk rockers, mandolin-fueled ballads and feedback fuzzy country songs are all present and they serve as a reminder as to just how good a library of songs R.E.M. have left behind them.
It's R.E.M. in fine form and a nice album to end a bumpy career. They will be missed but it's nice to go out with a great album and not linger till they didn't have it in them anymore.

4 The Return Of Patti Smith's out of 5

Songs Of Note: It Happened Today; Blue

TIM HECKER / Ravedeath, 1972 [2011]

Sound-sculptor Tim Hecker's 6th ominously titled album Ravedeath, 1972 is an effective one indeed.
A hostile, but never aggressive, wall of sound created by multiple recordings of a church organ battling it out with a dense atmosphere of crackles, drones and distorted loops. Hecker never really needs to resort to anything outright terrifying but instead relies on the mood he's created to fog up your mind and chill you right to the bone.
It's as pleasant as it is unnerving. If you can accept this as listening material then I can highly recommend it.

4 digital garbage obsessions out of 5

Songs Of Note: The Piano Drop; No Drums

JARBOE and JUSTIN K BROADRICK / J² (2008)

Two of my favourite experimental musicians together on one album, Jarboe (of Swans fame) and Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, etc). At its most basic level it's the angelic/demonic voice of Jarboe layered over the top of Broadrick's Jesu-style soundscapes. But delve deeper and you'll find a marriage of two distinct identities that together produce a crushingly complex and chaotic third perspective. It oozes atmosphere and primal terror through ambient repetition.
It's not as initially amazing as I thought it'd be, but it gets under the skin after repeated listens - or more precisely after prolonged exposure. There have been no rumours suggesting they'll do a second album, but I really hope they do.

Songs of Note: Romp; Magick Girl

4 worthwhile experiments for the strange out of 5

ANDREW JACKSON JIHAD / Knife Man [2011]

Folk-punkers Andrew Jackson Jihad go from basic guitar & bass duo to more of a complete act by throwing in some drums on their 4th album, Knife Man.
Riddled with their trademark soul-baring, hilarious-turn-deadly serious lyrics and wailing whiny vocals, reminiscent of the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano, Knife Man still showcases the same old great songwriting as before only louder.
One moment you're pissing yourself laughing the next you're ready to cry as you realize you're in just the same boat as these guys. It's a little different from the stripped-down AJJ we're used to but it works...very, very well.

5 shameless plagiarisms out of 5

Songs Of Note: Hate, Rain On Me; Big Bird

AUSTRA / Feel It Break [2011]

Canadian Gothic synth-pop trio Austra's debut album Feel It Break just keeps growing on me more and more with each listen.
At first I wasn't too mesmerized with the Kate Bush/Cocteau Twins-esque music they were playing but for some reason I was eager to give it another chance.
What was revealed was hypnotically composed synth-pop songs that are never too synthy and don't rely to heavily on the exquisite dreamlike vocals to hold the songs up. In fact it's a perfect blend of both in such a nice and subtle shimmering '80's sort of way.
A fine little debut album that went under most folks radars but will hopefully keep turning heads in the future.

3½ SoHo's Revenge out of 5

Songs Of Note: Darken Her Horse; The Choke

JARBOE and CEDRIC VICTOR / The End (2006)

Jarboe's first dipping of toes into the spoken-word medium that she does so well (most of the time). It has some ambient music and trippy sound collages that support the narratives and give them a more esoteric nature. The 'music' of the album is created by Cedric Victor-DeSouza, a visual and audio artist from NY. It's a weird collaborative piece of spoken word/music experimentation/audible art that will have very limited appeal. but isn't that what blogs are for? To introduce you to new things? For fans of Jarboe and those that aren't afraid...

Songs of Note: Dog; Dead End

4 Gnostic narratives out of 5

THE WILDHEARTS / Earth vs The Wildhearts (1993)

A Power-pop/Rock band from Newcastle (home of the brown ale) that made a minor dent in the UK Rock music scene way back when. It's hard to hate the catchy riffs and sing-along choruses they chug out, even when you notice the structure of each song is virtually the same. Ginger (vocals) is a great front man and seems to be always full of energy. The songs are similarly imbued. The best compliment I can give them is to say that they're fun and full of good-time melodies. If you're in the mood for this kind of light-hearted Pop/Rock, then they shouldn't disappoint.

Songs of Note:  Caffeine Bomb; My Baby is a Headfuck

2½ suckerpunches from Shitsville out of 5