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MUSIC ZONE
Saurabh & Gaurav
Sheryl Crow —
100 Miles From Memphis (A&M)
 100
Miles from Memphis sees a shift in Sheryl Crow’s approach,
from country-tinged singer-songwriter to blue-eyed soul diva.
The album features Crow paying stylistic homage to the music she
grew up listening to in Missouri. There’s a notable smoothness
to lead single Summer Day that is instantly pleasant and
vibrant, while reggae-styled Eye to Eye, featuring Keith
Richards, marks as one of Crow’s trademarks as a writer. Say
What You Want also impresses as one of her mildest political
songs, balancing the fury of its lyrics, "You’ve got a
lot of nerve to talk that way/Someone unplug the microphone",
with a laidback acoustic harmony that flows into a sing-along
refrain. Justin Timberlake does a bit of background vocals on
Terence Trent D’Arby’s mid-tempo track, Sign Your Name.
Here, Crow sings "Sign your name across my heart. I want
you to be my baby", while guiding Timberlake to fade
into the background, and managing to highlight his neo-soul
tenor at every twist. Beautiful ballad Stop, a Shelby
Lynne-style showstopper, features one of Crow’s most
expressive recent vocals, and the temperamental Roses and
Moonlight tantalisingly showcases her immense interest in
blues. On the bonus track Crow, who was a former backup singer
for Michael Jackson, travels from Memphis to Motown to pay
tribute to her late boss with a vibrant cover of the Jackson 5’s
I Want You Back.
Best track: Sign
Your Name
Worst track: Sideways
Rating ***
Korn — Korn
III: Remember Who You Are (Roadrunner)
Korn are back to
their original best, screaming and lurching around, to proudly
regain their position. They return to producer Ross Robinson,
who manned the boards for their first two platters, Korn
and Life is Peachy. Working with Robinson again and
titling their album as such suggests that the band is returning
to its roots, and to a degree, it is. Korn III has the
richness and intensity that many long-time fans have missed.
Ranging from the demented laughing and fierce alternative-metal
structure of Never Again all the way to the mosh worthy
chorus of Pop A Pill. The most rounded track of the album
though is Are You Ready To Live? It has a ferocious
slap-bass that only Fieldy can provide, backed up by the hearty,
beat-led torment that we know and love. Ray Luzier proves to be
a worthy replacement to David Silveria behind the drum kit, as
his performance here proves to be memorable and precise.
Vocalist Jonathan Davis’s screams on songs like Lead The
Parade and Fear Is A Place To Live haven’t sounded
this good since the 1990s. His crooning laughter on Not
Around is downright chilling, and his performance on Holding
All These Lies is possibly one of his best so far. Korn
III is easily the equal of any of their first three classics
and sees these freaks back off the leash again.
Best track: Are
You Ready To Live
Worst track:
Oildale (Leave Me Alone)
Rating **
Rick Ross —
Teflon Don (Def Jam)
 Teflon
Don is Rick Ross’
fourth solo album, and the one that establishes him as one of
rap’s most potent and creative forces. The album does nothing
to derail his position, consisting of 11 immaculately produced
and arranged tracks. Some of these songs, particularly those
helmed by The J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, are astoundingly verdant
and musical. Sonically, the album is beautifully constructed,
with West, No I.D., and the Inkredibles creating a symphonic
grandeur to match Ross’ elaborate delusions. The album starts
off with I’m Not A Star with a beat that has a
commanding organ and collapsing high-hats that instantly draws
you into Rick’s world. The Jay-Z assisted Free Mason
does the job of keeping the listeners attention as Jay downplays
devil-worship tales by being witty and clever with his lyrics.
On Tears of Joy Ross enlists the vocal talents of Goodie
Mob alum Cee-Lo and on Maybach Music III, Erykah Badu,
T.I. and Jadakiss lend a verse. The tracks B.M.F and Super
High featuring Ne-Yo sit well on the album despite having
already featured on the Albert Anastasia EP.`A0 MC Hammer
is a bombastic celebration of the rappers’s good life, on
which he boasts, "I got 30 cars, whole lotta dancers/ I
take ‘em everywhere/ I’m MC Hammer." No.1
which features appearances from Diddy and Trey Songz will more
than likely find a place on a club DJ’s heavy rotation.
Offering plenty of color in between, songs like the R&B
heavy Live Fast, Die Young featuring Kanye West and the
blunt All The Money In The World featuring Raphael Saadiq
show the spectrum that Ross is able build, all the while playing
his role with perfection.
Best track: Free
Mason
Worst track:
Aston Martin Music
Rating ***
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Konono No.1
— Assume Crash Position (Crammed Disc)
 Kinshasa
group Konono No.1 sticks to using handcrafted likemb
(thumb pianos) and drums and amplifiers, still putting out
the same brilliant Bazombo trance that first impressed
listeners on 2005s Congotronics. Their sound system
is built from handmade microphones, old car parts,
megaphones and discarded amps, and they use junked auto
pieces and pots and pans as percussion instruments. Now
the premier music ambassadors have set a standard for
modern world music, with their distortion-laden beat and
trance music. The album’s tracks are extended
experiments in group dynamics, each allowing every aspect
to swell and build on its own and in synergistic
collaboration with its counterparts. The sole song to be
titled in English, Thin Legs, is an excursion for
vocals and rolling drums. Far more successful is the
longer piece, Mama La Bana, which seem to embody
this hip folk music of the people of Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC) in Central Africa. A nod to the ritual
music that defines its village life, Konono No.1’s
tribal drums and repurposed junk objects inundate and
hypnotise. This is especially true for the infectious Fula
Fula, which is ultimately dwarfed by the band’s
preferred 11-minute expositions on traditional melodies,
such as the supernatural Wumbanzanga, the
deliciously organic Makembe and the hit track Konono
Wa Wa Wa.
Best track: Makembe
Worst track:
Guiyome |
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