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Richard Thompson -
Electric
Best track: Stoney
Ground Nick Cave & the
Bad Seeds — Push the Sky Away
Best track:
Jubilee Street Jamie Lidell —
Jamie Lidell
Best track: Why
Ya Why Top 10 Singles Harlem Shake Baauer (CU)
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ALBUMof the month
Push the Sky Away,
Nick Cave’s 15th studio album with the Bad Seeds, settles itself in
a calm, restrained atmosphere. Here, the band discards the noise and
bang by stripping down their existence to a controlled, plaintive and
frequently sublime moody shuffle. The tone is set by the opening We
No Who U R, on which effortless organ, bass and drum sounds create
a sombre, accepting mood similar to Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your
Man. The brawny start to the album continues with the striking Mermaids
while the seven-minute plus of Higgs Bosun Blues finds Cave at his
most flamboyant and colourful, managing to squeeze legendary blues man
Robert Johnson and Hannah Montana into the same narrative. The first
Bad Seeds album written without founder member Mick Harvey, it sees
Cave and the Seeds exploring a wider range of sonics and textures, we
haven’t heard from the band before. Richly arranged and masterfully
sequenced, the album combines the stately beauty of The Boatman’s
Call and No More Shall We Part with an unmatched intensity.
Jubilee Street, especially transfers well to the live setting,
building with as much luxurious display as anything from the Bad Seeds
canon. Lyrics, of course, play a large role in determining Cave’s
success here as well. In the title track, wordplay remains predictably
mysterious, with detached lines about the sky, an unshakable feeling
and a belief that rock’n’roll "gets you right down to your
soul."
Nashville-based Jamie
Lidell’s fifth album is as lovingly crafted an homage to 1980s
electro funk as the most recent Mark Ronson album. This album
implies a new beginning, which effectively sees Lidell remodelled as a
promoter of the 1980s funk and pop soul. Lidell’s main strength is
in that voice, scraping the higher registers throughout every song.
From the sparkling astral synths of opener, I’m Selfish to
the space-dub of closer In Your Mind, it’s clear that the
processed funk of the 1980s lies at its heart. Big Love, at
first hit, reminded us of Janet Jackson’s The Pleasure Principle,
but after a few more listens, exposed itself to be a pitch-perfect
late 1980s track, reminiscent of Calloway’s I Wanna Be Rich. Why
Ya Why is an especially odd inclusion, a jazz-funk fusion set
apart by lumbering brass, while penultimate track Don’t You Love
Me is a much more laidback affair, offering a moment of respite
before the album’s suitably explosive ending. What a Shame is
another high point with its rolling, deep bass grooves and fiery
percussion. The album is so power-packed, it’s easy to become immune
to its charms and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of its layered
effects.