Earlimart "Hymn and Her" (Majordomo)
* * * 1/2
The kind of emotion-drenched indie-pop that fills "Hymn and Her" is nothing new for Earlimart -- the group delivered a fine album of confessional lyrics and inventive, engaging music last year with "Mentor Tormentor," a major step in its steady rise toward the top tier of L.A. bands.
Releasing another full-length effort less than a year later is unusual, but the accelerated pace might account for the infusion of freshness that makes "Hymn and Her" so arresting.
The music crackles and trembles with a restless bravado that might have been muted with more time and deliberation, and in the process Earlimart brings its intimate conversations out of the confession booth and into the cathedral itself, where they expand to fill the vast space.
The group, now down to the duo of Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray, returns to its trusted tools -- rich melody, a tone of taut urgency, clapping percussion, a strong sense of atmosphere and space, weird little things squirming in the far corners -- but on this sixth album everything seems enhanced, raised to a new level.
"Face Down in the Right Town" embodies the album's spirit of freedom and surprise. It's a gently throbbing caress with something faintly sinister in its touch, and it rolls along and thickens with accumulating layers of piano and swirling voices.
But instead of fading when you'd expect after four minutes, it suddenly introduces a melancholy trumpet line -- a sound and a daring that recall a free-flying Los Angeles band of another generation, Love.
Such touches animate the entire album and create a sonic terrain for the lyrics' allusive landscape of longing and anomie.
"Hanging by a string you lose the feeling in your feet," Espinoza sings in the hushed "Great Heron Gates"; the title references one of the Los Angeles River parks near their Silver Lake base.
He sings most of the songs in a deadpan but determined voice that's usually cloaked with a ghostly aura. Murray steps out for two ballads whose luminosity balances his dry urgency, but you can't just stop at the surface. In "Before It Gets Better," her comforting tone serves a discomfiting warning: "It's a deathtrap, it's a bloodbath, and it's gonna get worse before it gets better."
Mentors, collaborators and peers such as Elliott Smith, Grandaddy and Eels linger in the fiber of "Hymn and Her," but Espinoza and Murray (who headline at Spaceland on July 18) are clearly charting a course of their own now, heading for a place of saturated emotion and sanctified spirit.
--Richard Cromelin
Los Lonely Boys "Forgiven" (Epic)
* *
In 2004, this Texas trio broke out of the no-name roadhouse circuit when its song "Heaven" captured the hearts of a few million tailgate partyers. Since then, Los Lonely Boys -- guitarist Henry Garza, bassist JoJo Garza and drummer Ringo Garza, sons of a musician father who once hired the brothers to sing backup vocals -- have established themselves as one of America's most dependable live acts; no summer music festival is complete without their laid-back blend of blues-rock riffs, soul-pop melodies and Tex-Mex trimmings.
In an attempt to capture the Garzas' onstage energy on "Forgiven," their third album, producer Steve Jordan opted out of the traditional studio setup and instead recorded the band playing live on a soundstage in Austin, Texas.
The gambit was a wise one: Material-wise, Los Lonely Boys probably won't ever come up with anything as memorable as "Heaven," so better to accentuate their uncommon chemistry than their lack of hooks. (Better still to stack the deck with covers of classic-rock evergreens like "I'm a Man," by the Spencer Davis Group.)
The ho-hum tunes on "Forgiven" won't flip your wig, but the playing -- particularly in the three cuts featuring Dr. John on the keys -- oozes bone-deep feeling throughout.
--Mikael Wood
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Agyness Deyn 'Would Never Say Never To Music Career'
Supermodel Agyness Deyn has told Gigwise that she won’t rule out the possibility of launching a full time music career.
Deyn, who makes a special guest appearance on ‘Who’, the new single by Five O’Clock Heroes, said that she intended to “go with the flow”.
“You know, never say never – I’m just enjoying it,” she told Gigwise.
The singer’s collaboration with the band, with whom she is a long term friend, sparked a wave of publicity last week.
In addition to a number of television appearances, Deyn also joined the band for her first live public appearances at two venues in London.
On Tuesday she sang at a party held by the designer Henry Holland and last Friday she joined the band for four songs at Industry in East London.
In an interview with Gigwise, Five O’Clock Heroes frontman Anthony Ellis refuted claims from critics who said that the band were using the supermodel to gain publicity.
"No, it’s a song. They’re always gonna do that. There’s always gonna be someone.
“The music business is in a fucked up state at the moment, labels don’t’ do well at all and I think that, personally speaking, it’s always better to do collaboration, no matter happens, because you’ve got people from different creative fields,” Ellis said.
You can read Gigwise’s full and frank interview with Deyn and Five O’Clock Heroes HERE.
You can see pictures of their performance last Friday below.
See Also
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Ira Stein
Artist: Ira Stein
Genre(s):
New Age
Discography:
Carousel
Year: 1992
Tracks: 10
Pianist Ira Stein debuted in 1982 aboard oboe thespian Russel Walder on the Windham Hill release Elements; apart from 1986's Transit, he otherwise exhausted the bulk of the decade confined to a series of Windham Hill collections as well as respective releases by labelmate William Ackermann. After reuniting with Walder in 1990 for Under the Eye, Stein resurfaced deuce long time later with the solo chamber jazz record album Luggage carrousel. Upon forming the Ira Stein Group with cellist Hans Christian and saxophonist Dann Zinn, he issued Spur of the Moment in 1994.
The Drill
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Recording industry honours Jewel for 18 million in U.S. album sales
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Jewel has been honoured by the Recording Industry Association of America with a career milestone plaque commemorating sales of more than 18 million albums in the U.S.
Jenny Alves, RIAA's co-ordinator of artist industry relations, surprised the 34-year-old singer Thursday as she prepared to sign autographs at the Country Music Association festival.
"This is awesome. Thank you so much," said the singer, who also was scheduled to perform at the festival.
Jewel, whose full name is Jewel Kilcher, released a country album, "Perfectly Clear," on Tuesday. The lead single, "Stronger Woman," is No. 15 on the Billboard chart.
Perhaps best known for her pop and rock hits that include "Foolish Games" and "You Were Meant for Me," Jewel has sold 27 million albums worldwide since her 1995 debut.
She is touring with Brad Paisley this summer.
-
On the Net: http://www.jeweljk.com/
http://www.riaa.com/
See Also
Maya Azucena
Artist: Maya Azucena
Genre(s):
R&B: Soul
Discography:
Junkyard Jewel
Year: 2007
Tracks: 11
Mya Who
Year: 2003
Tracks: 10
Jason Bateman Is Not One of Those ‘Actors’ Who Gets His ‘Acting’ All Over Everything
Photo: WireImage
"I am not one of those people who wrings his hands and tries to figure out how to play my character right and do a bunch of research and all that crap." —Jason Bateman [Times UK]
"This is a modern, in-your-face movie. This is not a TV movie period piece." —Quentin Tarantino on making the Poochie of World War II movies [BBC]
"This isn't Shakespeare, so we don't take ourselves too seriously." —Paul Walker on the fourth (!) installment of The Fast and the Furious, which we like to call 4 Fast 4 Furiousest [USAT]
"Well, it's like I say to Chris [Nolan], 'I'll probably be doing this in dinner theater somewhere in my fifties.' I won't knock it because who knows where I'll end up." —Christian Bale on the possibility of playing Batman in a future Justice League movie [IGN]
"I know George didn't believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I'm spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, 'Carlin already did it.'" —Jerry Seinfeld [NYT]
"I am not one of those people who wrings his hands and tries to figure out how to play my character right and do a bunch of research and all that crap." —Jason Bateman [Times UK]
"This is a modern, in-your-face movie. This is not a TV movie period piece." —Quentin Tarantino on making the Poochie of World War II movies [BBC]
"This isn't Shakespeare, so we don't take ourselves too seriously." —Paul Walker on the fourth (!) installment of The Fast and the Furious, which we like to call 4 Fast 4 Furiousest [USAT]
"Well, it's like I say to Chris [Nolan], 'I'll probably be doing this in dinner theater somewhere in my fifties.' I won't knock it because who knows where I'll end up." —Christian Bale on the possibility of playing Batman in a future Justice League movie [IGN]
"I know George didn't believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I'm spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, 'Carlin already did it.'" —Jerry Seinfeld [NYT]
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