Coldplay
Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends

Capitol/EMI Records LTD.

4 out of 5

I was sick and tired of Coldplay for a good year-and-a-half. I was sick of the hype, sick of the constant radio play and sick of hearing their music and seeing them everywhere, on everything. I was sick of hearing their music from the car windows of bubbly high schoolers, yoga moms, frat boys and middle-aged, Audi-driving professionals. I had developed Coldplay-itis. Then two weeks ago I got their fourth studio album in the mail, loaded it on my iPod, boarded a Florida-bound plane from Denver and hit ‘play.’ Something happened around the time I was over Oklahoma: I fell in love with Coldplay again.

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Trey Anastasio and the Undectet/Mike Gordon
Original Boardwalk Style: Live in Atlantic City/The Green Sparrow

Rubber Jungle Records/Rounder Records

3.5 out of 5 stars

If you have two CD players and you play both of these albums simultaneously it will sound like Phish. I promise.

Actually, I don’t promise. As cool as that would be, we don’t want Phish fans all over the country struggling with getting the two discs in sync, because it doesn’t work. But it should.
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Amos Lee
Last Days At The Lodge

Blue Note Records

2.5 out of 5 stars

Amos Lee has got all the talent in the world. That is why this album kinda pisses me off. Is it good? Sure. Is it great? Not even close. This is the type of non-offending album that you wouldn’t turn off, but you wouldn’t turn up either.
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Michael Young
Parallel Play

American Sketch Records

4 out of 5 stars

The third release from Michael Young may be his most broadly appealing album to date. The fingerstyle guitarist conjures up a Leo Kottke, but is clearly his own artist drawing on classical, folk, rock and blues melodies.

One of the album’s most shining moments is Young’s performance (which are all instrumental) of the traditional tune “Cripple Creek.” It takes a second to get it, but it sounds familiar from the initial notes and truly highlights Young’s incredible playing ability. He’d be a great fit at Folks Fest.

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Sera Cahoone
Only As The Day Is Long

Sub Pop Records

4.5 out of 5 Stars

I know this review is coming a few months late, considering this album was released in March, but every once in a while you uncover a gem of an album that floats under the mainstream radar.

Sera Cahoone’s Only As The Day Is Long is one of those albums I stumbled upon after seeing her in an opening slot at a show in Denver last month. I walked out of that show with her CD in my hand and played it on the ride home; she was that good.

Only As The Day Is Long is Cahoone’s second album and first for the label Sub Pop. The album genre is in the same alt country/folk vein as such artists as Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams and Eliza Gilkyson. I know that is mighty fine company to keep and I might have set expectations a little high, but Cahoone has got the songs, got the voice, got the delivery and got an album that should be noticed.

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G.G. Elvis & The T.C.P. Band
Back From The Dead

Mental Records

3.5 out of 5 stars

This is some good shit that would make both “The King of Rock,” Elvis Presley and the psychotic self-titled “King of Punk,” G.G. Allin, two happy sons of bitches. Originally started as Punk Rawk Elvis, the band went through lineup changes and eventually emerged as G.G. Elvis, blending Elvis classics with a punk rock style that somehow works. Never before did I think “Hey, ho. Let’s go!” and “Viva Las Vegas” would go together, but I must have had my head (and a microphone) up my ass. An intense DVD is also included.

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Cavedoll
No Vertigo

Independent

3 out of 5 stars

I thought new wave was dead, or at least reserved as a kitchy nostalgic sound for indie pop bands to only dabble in. But Cavedoll’s latest release, No Vertigo, changes that. The album could have been released in 1983, but the sound somehow fits in the current indie pop realm.

The really amazing thing is that this album is the first of 10, yes ten, albums that the band plans to release this year. Among the albums they are including a data DVD which contains the band’s entire catalog of more than 175 songs. It’s an ambitious project, to say the least, but as the Salt Lake City band states in their press release, there’s “not much else to do but sit around and record moody, dark pop gems all the day long.”

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16 Horsepower
Live March 2001

Alternative Tentacles Records

3.5 out of 5 stars

Two years after they disbanded, 16 Horsepower shows tremendous, well, horsepower, in this live posthumous release. Like all 16 Horsepower material, this live set delves right into the key of sad, gothic-country tracks. The album is a must-have for those already familiar with 16 Horsepower and a great introdcution for newbies. Too bad this is the closest thing to a real show by the group we’ll see anytime soon.

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My Morning Jacket

Evil Urges

ATO Records

4 out of 5 stars

Evil Urges is a bold step in a new direction for My Morning Jacket and it is not often that a band would make that change as intentionally blatant as this band has. Hardcore fans of MMJ are either going to hate or love this album, but drastic change always fuels some form of backlash.

My take: MMJ has made their mainstream masterpiece and in the process has grown musically and shown they are mastering the art of making great studio albums.

Evil Urges is MMJ’s fifth studio effort and it is very much in line with the band’s general musical progression from 2003’s It Still Moves to 2005’s Z. In the same way Z was the band’s most polished album to date when it was released, Evil Urges follows the same path, further showcasing MMJ’s growing studio talent for crisp production and sonic experimentation.

With this album, MMJ has decided to be as up front as possible. They have intentionally placed their three strangest, most experimental songs as the album’s opening three tracks and even named the album after one of them. The opening track on the album, “Evil Urges” is a Prince-influenced rock single, featuring a heavy metal guitar and drum breakdown sandwiched with falsetto verses by lead singer Jim James. It might sound strange, but it works, even if it’s a bit jarring at first listen.

The second track, “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream,” sounds like it could be a collaboration with the French band Air, featuring soaring electronic keyboard interludes and a drum track that almost sounds triggered. Track three, “Highly Suspicious,” sounds very much like techno gone wrong, with a grunting robotic background vocal and more falsetto from James. Things get back to normal with track four, “I’m Amazed,” which brings the album back to familiarity and finds MMJ hitting their signature stride with duel electric guitars and James’ reverberated voice.

The remaining tracks on the album should please all fans of the band as they are what most would have probably expected the album to sound like. Standouts include the acoustic ballad “Librarian,” “Smokin’ From Shootin’,” and “Thank You Too.”

Having gained a reputation over the years as one of the premiere touring bands with their energetic and enthusiastic live shows, MMJ can only expect to further establish its fan base with Evil Urges.

This album is going to open a new door to new fans and do very much what A Rush of Blood to the Head did for Coldplay by the summer of 2003, take MMJ from clubs to arenas and make them a household name in popular rock music.

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The Bellrays

Hard Sweet and Sticky

Anodyne Records

4 out of 5 Stars

I got a speeding ticket listening to this album! Seriously. $182 for going 67 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. zone.

I tried to tell the cop that it wasn’t my fault, that I was listening to this album for work and it just got the best of me. He didn’t buy it.

Hard Sweet and Sticky is just that damn good!

The opening notes of the album kick off with a “Sparks”-like The Who riff before quickly fading into the band’s top-notch rock and soul sound.

Lead singer Lisa Kekaulav has always had vocals as big and as loud as her giant ’fro and there’s hardly a note on the album that fails to keep pace.

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Crooked Still 

Still Crooked

Signature Sounds

4 out of 5 stars

Release Date: June 24, 2008

The self-styled, alternative bluegrass group Crooked Still has pretty much made a perfect album; no frills, no fancy studio production, no gimmicks, just great songs and stellar performances that have been recorded with unparalleled intimacy and taste.

Recorded in a single day in a large room, Still Crooked harks back to a time when albums honestly portrayed the way a band sounded in all their glory and shame. Still Crooked is a document of a group that is on top of its game.

After five years and two albums together, the departure of cellist Rushad Eggleston in late-2007 forced Crooked Still to amend their ensemble. Moving from a quartet to a quintet, two new members joined the group in early 2008; Brittany Haas on five-string fiddle (alum of Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings) and Tristan Clarridge on cello and second fiddle (a four-time Grand National Fiddle Champion). Drawing on the new blood as inspiration Crooked Still bunkered down in Shokan, New York in January, 2008 for three days of rehearsal. On the fourth day, with producer Eric Merrill there to commit sound to tape, they recorded Still Crooked live, playing together as a group.

Crooked Still sounds more powerful than ever and the constant play between cellist Clarridge and fiddler Hass is addictive. It is obvious that Crooked Still is a stronger band with the new additions and these new additions are carrying the band on this release. Lead singer Aoife O’Donovan’s voice still has a striking resemblance to Alison Krauss, but her delivery has more passion and feeling than Krauss could muster up on a good night. Banjoist Gregory Haas and bassist Corey Dimario hold their own as well.

Standouts on the album include “Tell Her to Come Back Home,” “Undone in Sorrow,” “Poor Ellen Smith,” and “Florence.”

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Atmosphere

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold

Rhymesayers

3.5 out of 5 Stars

Besides having one of the best album titles in recent memory, the Minneapolis hip-hop duo Atmosphere are back with their sixth studio album and first in over three years.

The album delivers; however, it is more on the mellow side and never kicks into high gear as their albums of the past have. Perhaps that is the point.

Ant’s synthesizer-based production and beats are excellent and rapper Slug’s rhymes are further solidifying him as an MC at the top of his game. Atmosphere is growing musically and creatively and that is clearly evident in the flow of the album. They are not sticking to the same old formula and that shows in the album’s down tempo mood, which sets the stage for Slug’s more serious lyrical content. The beats Ant has provided allows Slug to take on the role as storyteller, and he shines.

Standout tracks include “The Waitress,” “You,” and “Yesterday.”

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