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The follow-up to 2005’s excellent Naturally is here and it’s every bit as excellent as its predecessor. Forget the “neo-soul” movement. This is the real deal, a female JAMES BROWN (the comparison makes even more sense if you’ve seen her live) and I don’t make that comparison lightly. And let’s not forget her backing band The Dap-Kings, who have also backed the troubled but also super-talented AMY WINEHOUSE on her most recent album and tour. In fact there’s a surprisingly great clip from MTV (of all places) where they profile the Daptone Studios in Brooklyn. You can watch it here.
Screw all the haters. I like this album and this track in particular has been getting a lot of plays on my iPod as of late. It’s as close as Rilo Kiley (and most likely JENNY LEWIS herself) will get to disco and it’s as catchy as infectious as that sounds, as long as you’re not expecting anything resembling the Rilo Kiley of old, of course.
I wrote about this terrific double album set last week, but I wanted to mention that I got the version with the full packaging this past week and it’s a beautiful set as well. In an era where the physical product is becoming less and less relevant, it’s nice to see a band pay special attention to this, at least for those of us who still like holding a CD in our hands.
The naysayers will almost certainly call this derivative (particularly of THE FALL’s early ‘80s output), but it’s also infectious. Imagine an even more minimal Fall (this is a 2-piece) where just about all that’s audible is bass and vocals and you’ll get to the heart of where this record is coming from. As a massive Fall fan, I love it and though it’s still hard for me to separate it from its main inspiration on initial listens, it’s nevertheless right up my alley.
This is England (Not Rated)
This is the best movie I’ve seen all year. Go see it if it’s playing anywhere near you and if not, don’t miss it when it comes out on DVD! The soundtrack is great, too!
You’re Gonna Miss Me (Not Rated)
It took me a while to finally see this great documentary about ROKY ERICKSON, but now that I have seen it, I can recommend it to those of you who haven’t seen it yet. It’s less about Roky’s music (though it does have some great clips and will make you wanna pull out his records or buy some if you don’t have any) than it is about his dysfunctional family, especially his relationship with his mother EVELYN ERICKSON and more recently his youngest brother SUMNER ERICKSON, who took care of him for most of this decade and nursed him back to health. Don’t miss the bonus features for some great deleted scenes, live performances from Roky and scenes from several court proceedings, culminating in his freedom earlier this year. Who says there can’t be a happy ending here?
Superbad (R)
Sure it’s the #1 movie in America, but amidst all the hype, it’s definitely worthwhile. Oh and it’s one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. It’s not perfect, but nonetheless it’s great that so many people are seeing something of quality as opposed to the junk that Hollywood usually pumps out, particularly during the summer months.
After watching This is England the other night, I had a hankering to hear this album. Particularly, the use of “54-46 Was My Number,” “Pressure Drop” and their version of “Louie Louie” (the latter two from this seminal 1973 album) is what inspired me to pull this one out. In any case, it’s one of my favorite reggae albums ever, so it was a pleasure to listen to it again.
Jay Reatard’s blog
He just started it a few days ago and has been uploading rare demos of his solo material as well as leftovers from his many bands. Check it out here.
Pulling out their excellent 1980 album Hypnotised the other day reminded me that The Undertones have put up excerpts from some new demos on their MySpace page recently. Based upon this, the new album should be a worthy successor to 2003’s excellent Get What You Need.
