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MUSIC ZONE
Grace Jones — Hurricane
(Pias America)
Saurabh & Gaurav
 Rising from a
two-decade hiatus, the 63-year-old icon shows little sign of
rust or wear; her husky voice and ear for dance rhythms are as
sharp as they were at the height of her post-disco success. The
arrangements mix dub reggae, trip-hop, electronica, and some
explosive bursts of rock. Hurricane is a mixed bag of musical
styles featuring collaborations with the likes of Brian Eno,
Wendy and Lisa, Sly and Robbie and Tricky. Corporate Cannibal
tunes into the obvious Jones image, the refrain "I’m
a man-eating machine" echoing behind her as she intones
"I can’t get enough prey / Pray for me" on
top of it. I’m Crying (Mother’s Tears) is one of
Jones’s paeans to her mother’s nurturing hands, her warming
embrace, peppered with as many cheerful anecdotal details as Butterfly
Kisses. Williams’ Blood examines the twisted roots
of a family tree, here portrayed by reggae verses representing
her reserved mother and a triumphant gospel chorus embodying her
preacher father. Closer Devil In My Life oozes a similar
distracted bass-heavy otherworldliness, seeing Grace clearly
enjoy updating the template. Welcome back, Grace.
Best track: Corporate
Cannibal
Worst track:
Well, Well, Well
Rating: ***
Wild Flag —
Wild Flag
(Merge)
 Wild Flag’s
self-titled debut album is an extension of the band’s
hard-charging aesthetic. This is an exceptional collection of
songs from an impeccable cross-section of musicians, Brownstein,
Mary Timony, Janet Weiss and Rebecca Cole, whose contributions
to independent music stretch back over 20 years. The way
Brownstein’s blunt guitar lines and Timony’s winding leads
play off against each other, before synchronising and exploding
in the choruses of Short Version and Future Crimes,
recalls the classic interplay of Indie quartet Fugazi. The
guitars at the beginning of Something Came Over Me recall
Sleater-Kinney pre-The Woods band, with Timony’s voice even
sounding like a subdued Corin Tucker. The record gets off to a
very nervous start with its first three tracks, but by the time Glass
Tambourine reaches its high note, they settle for hard,
skillful rock with none of the obvious trappings of the hard
rockin’ bands that came before them, and it’s a joy to hear
them go for it. Tracks like the lead single, Romance,
strike the right balance, leavened by a bouncy keyboard and some
short guitar solos. Brownstein’s Boom is emotional
testaments to rock ’n’ roll’s opulent attraction,
translating inner yearning into public manifesto, while Timony’s
Electric Band is displayed in more mythic and magical
manner. The album has a confidence that comes from working the
songs out on the road, recording live in the studio, and the
band members’ inherent chemistry.
Best track:
Romance
Worst track:
Black Tiles
Rating: **
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Album of the month
Tori
Amos — Night of Hunters
(Deutsche Grammophon)
 Tori’s
12th studio album, Night of Hunters, is the apex of her
ambitious concept albums, although it would be best
described as opera, released on the prestigious German
classical label Deutsche Grammophon. Tori has always
re-invented herself musically with every album. Strange
Little Girls, American Doll Posse, The Beekeeper even
Scarlet’s Walk had a persona and a conceptual theme
behind it. Night of Hunters seems to fit the series and is
another fine musical addition to a great storyteller’s
repertoire. The album’s opener Shattering Sea is
Amos’ most orchestral efforts to date. Despite its
sprawling nature, it manages to hang together incredibly
well. Nautical Twilight marks a key turn in the
album’s story, but it also works as a standalone song of
rediscovering one’s identity following a difficult
breakup: "I turned my back/ On the force of which
I am made/ I abandoned it/ Rupturing a delicate balance/
When I left my world for his." The title track, a
vibrant duet for Amos and her niece Kelsey Dobyns that
sounds like a lost outtake from the Stephen Sondheim
musical Into the Woods, riffs rather brilliantly on
Charles Laughton’s 1955 chiller The Night of the
Hunter. On tracks such as Your Ghost and Edge
of the Moon, there are clear melodic references to
church hymns and even carols. Several songs feature Amos’
11-year-old daughter and it is worth mentioning that the
young Natashya Hawley has inherited her proud mother’s
vocal talent, and has a mature voice for her age.
Best
track: Shattering
Sea
Worst track:
Star Whisperer |
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