RIYL55

Two weeks worth of new music to document, so let's get right to it.

Wilco Sky Blue Sky Perhaps you've heard me mention this one before? I might do a separate post just about this disc someday, but for now I'll just say that I'm really digging it. Since the disc has more of the pop sound of mid-career Wilco discs (and a whole lot less of the feedback and loops of recent Wilco discs), a lot of reviewers (and quite a few Wilco fans) see it as a step backward from the expansiveness of Wilco's last two studio albums, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born. But I see the album as a nice combination of Wilco's older sound and a few of their newer tricks. No, it's not as strong an album as YHF or Ghost, but it is the band's most approachable disc since Summerteeth, so if you haven't given Wilco a chance before, you might want to try them this time. Wilco had streamed this on their website for the last two months, but I'm not sure that "listen" button is still working.

The National Boxer The soundtrack to Pretty in Pink (stay with me here, I promise this has something to do with this album) is a mostly upbeat collection of songs, but it saves the best for last with two deeper but still singalongable (it is too a word) tracks from Echo & the Bunnymen and the Smiths. The National's Boxer reminds me of those final Pretty in Pink cuts, all smooched together. (That's a good thing.) A mix of baritone vocals, smart lyrics and elaborate (yet catchy) music, I think it's one of the top five discs to come out so far this year. You can hear the whole album over at AOL where they're streaming it all this week.  

Loudon Wainwright III Strange Weirdos: Music from and Inspired by the Film Knocked Up and Rufus Wainwright Release the Stars Let's get the son out (no pun intended) of the way first: Rufus has dropped yet another disc of soaring vocals and orchestral sounds and just like all his other discs, it's the kind of music that I can't see myself buying but somehow always like listening to. I burned this one off a coworker and it's currently in heavy rotation at Long Cut headquarters (aka "my cubical").

Rufus's pop isn't quite as consistent as his son's been, but he still hits the mark more often than not. Loudon writes and sings the type of songs that Randy Newman used to do before he started doing all those Disney soundtracks. And now Loudon has his own movie soundtrack out. Oddly enough, it's first cut "Grey in L.A." is like Newman's "I Love L.A.," only in reverse - Newman wrote what many thought was tribute to the SoCal lifestyle but was actually a put down, and here Loudon sings what sounds like a slam but is actually a love song to the city. It's a great tune, as is "Daughter," the only other song I've heard from this disc. Sadly, I can't find anything more than Amazon's short samples for the rest of the album.

Wheat Everyday I Said a Prayer for Kathy and Made a One Inch Square All I know of this album - from the band who brought the world the uber-catchy "I Met a Girl" a few years back - is what I heard/saw in its first video. Supposedly, this is the brit-pop-by-way-of-Cambridge-Mass-not-Cambridge-England (a description almost as long as their album title) band's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - an ambitious and noisy move away from their previous sound. Myspace page here.

Au Revoir Simone The Bird of Music I was going to describe this Brooklyn trio as the female equivalent of Sweden's Peter Bjorg and John, so it didn't surprise me to see that the two bands will be touring together this summer. Impressively strong for an album made up mainly of bouncy keyboards and pretty voices. Plus I like this picture of them. A lot. There's a video available here, and their myspace page here.

Joe Strummer The Future Is Unwritten I rented the Clash documentary Westway to the World not too long ago (another item I meant to write a post about), and was happy to see that it was made early enough to include interviews with lead singer Joe Strummer before his death. Watching the video, it's pretty easy to see that Strummer was the brains of the operation - and he would be the first to say so. He knew about all kinds of music and was always willing to try different styles (see: Calling, London). This disc serves as the soundtrack to another documentary, this one focusing solely on Strummer. There are some Clash and post-Clash Strummer works here, but it's mostly made up of the music that influenced Strummer the most - the MC5, Eddie Cochran, Woodie Guthrie, Nina Simone - and offers yet another chance to see what went into making the Clash such a great band.

This week's list:

1. WILCO Sky Blue Sky
2. THE NATIONAL Boxer
3. AU REVOIR SIMONE The Bird of Music
4. PETER BJORN AND JOHN Writer's Block
5. THE CLIENTELE God Save the Clientele
6. FEIST The Reminder
7. RUFUS WAINWRIGHT Release the Stars
8. GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS Ongiara
9. THE SHINS Wincing the Night Away
10. ROSIE THOMAS These Friends of Mine
11. LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III Strange Weirdos
12. TRAVIS The Boy With No Name
13. THE ROSEBUDS Night of the Furies
14. WARREN ZEVON Preludes
15. BRIGHT EYES Cassadaga
16. MY MORNING JACKET Okonokos
17. BJORK Volta
18. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE Traffic and Weather
19. WHEAT Everyday I Said a Prayer for Kathy and Made a One Inch Square
20. JOE STRUMMER The Future Is Unwritten
21. ANDREW BIRD Armchair Apocrypha
22. PATTI SMITH Twelve
23. SON VOLT Search
24. KRISTOFFER RAGNSTAM Sweet Bills
25. GOLDEN SMOG Blood on the Slacks
26. ARCTIC MONKEYS Favourite Worst Nightmare
27. THE AUTUMN DEFENSE The Autumn Defense
28. ERIN McKEOWN Sing You Sinners
29. ALBERT HAMMOND, JR. Yours To Keep
30. THE DECEMBERISTS The Crane Wife

Dropping off the list this week:

• PATTY GRIFFIN Children Running Through
• THE POSTMARKS The Postmarks
• PAGE FRANCE ...And the Family Telephone
• COWBOY JUNKIES At the End of Paths Taken
• KAISER CHIEFS Yours Truly, Angry Mob
• GRANT LEE PHILLIPS Strangelet
• TRACEY THORN Out of the Woods

RIYL for the week beginning May 21, 2007. Backstory here.

Comments

[TwoBusy]

Hmm. I picked up The National's "Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers" last year based on glowing reviews, and felt kinda let down. Not sure if I'm ready to take the leap again. As for Wheat... I'm torn. I love "Hope and Adams," but honestly, I felt their follow-up "Per Second..." kinda sucked. A lot. Granted, they're the pride of Attleboro, MA, so maybe I should give 'em another break, but damn...

Your reviews vex me, Mark. I'm terribly, terribly vexed!