The Crystal Method "Community Service II" (Ultra) Sounds like: techno remixes of classics B-
Ever since 1993, L.A.'s The Crystal Method has been cranking out fat dance beats for folks of the electronica/ techno persuasion. With this, their fourth proper album and second to be composed of remixes, they offer remixes of such artists as The Doors, New Order and Smashing Pumpkins.
The Crystal Method's music is very dynamic and not nearly as monotonous or repetitive as some other forms of electronic music. The songs, mostly instrumental, flow and move very smoothly between sections, allowing the listener to sink into the music while not being put to sleep.
The remixes are generally well executed, making a whole new song while keeping certain recognizable parts of the original. In the cover of the Smashing Pumpkins classic "1979," Billy Corgan's soft warble is all you need to relive seventh grade, even though it's now set within pounding dance beats and synths. The remix of New Order's amazing "Bizarre Love Triangle" is also very good, but the jury's still out as to whether it's because the original's so good or because the Crystal Method is great at remixing. My guess is it's a little of both: the Crystal Method are indeed able DJs, a fact that is bolstered by their choice of great songs.
- CHRIS DEWITT
Chatham County Line "Route 23" (Yep Roc) Sounds like: traditional bluegrass about Jesus and Dad. A
Raleigh, N.C.'s Chatham County Line is a young bluegrass band, releasing its first album in 2003. The band's new effort, "Route 23," is full of energy and authentic spirit, making it easy to draw comparisons to the elder statesman of the genre.
The album has a lingering sense of nostalgia for simpler times. The title track, a highlight of the album, tells of the singer's father losing his filling station after the state built a new highway through the area. Many of the other songs have a similar longing for days lost, a melancholy yet thankful air.
The instrumentation and arrangement on "Route 23" is phenomenal. Banjo and mandolin particularly stand out, busting out incredibly technical and yet always melodic lines, fitting perfectly into the rhythms created by the bass and acoustic guitar. In true bluegrass form, frequent solo breaks by the able musicians make the music that much more exciting. The melody instruments complement perfectly singer Dave Wilson's smooth tenor and tight vocal harmonies.
This album, unlike fellow "contemporary" bluegrass bands like Alison Krauss and Nickel Creek, tries to get back to the roots of the music while still moving forward. Chatham County Line owes more to Bill Monroe himself than to current trends in new, more pop-inflected styles. They are the band for the more traditional-minded.
- C.D.
Graham Coxon "Happiness in Magazines" (AstralWerks) Sounds like: pre-"Think Tank" Blur B+
The scenes on Blur's recently re-released DVD "Starshaped" tell it all. In candid camera shots from various tours, starting at Reading '91 and ending at Nottingham's Heineken Music Festival '94, we see a young and innocent Graham Coxon slowly isolate himself from the band that made him the Johnny Marr of the Stone Roses generation. We also see the late John Peel famously dismiss Blur as "all right" and "not my cup of tea" at the band's festival debut. While Damon Albarn was busy kicking the help and taking his shirt off at every possible moment, Coxon was wandering drunk and alone on festival greenery. "I'm feeling emotional and homesick," he confided to a roadie.
Yes, Coxon never really fit in. For every kitschy, up-tempo pop number that Albarn wrote about charmless men or really big houses in the country or girls who are boys who like boys to be girls, Coxon countered with the lethargic, lo-fi bliss of "You're So Great" and "Coffee & TV." But those two gems weren't enough of a creative outlet, and in his off-time, Coxon channeled his homesickness in four Pavement-obsessed solo records, complete with such Mr. Mopey song titles as "Leave Me Alone" and "Bitter Tears."
Then he left Blur, and much of the despair went away, judging from his latest solo offering, "Happiness in Magazines." It sounds less like the frown we're used to and more like the band he didn't belong in, pulsing like XTC, popping like the Kinks, and bouncing like, uh, Blur.
- COSTA CALOUDAS
Angels of Light "Angels of Light Sing Other People" (Young God) Sounds like: Swans, Broken Social Scene, Explosions in the Sky B+
Angels of Light is a band that not a lot of people have heard of, but since the release of their debut album, "New Mother," in 1999, Angels of Light have managed to continually generate material that builds off the strength of what has come before it. Led by the unique voice and disturbingly descriptive lyrics of former Swans frontman Michael Gira, Angels of Light add a new chapter to the continuing story of experimental rock. Gira is a 23-year veteran of the genre and the Angels' more than 10-person lineup is practically overflowing with the talent of a diverse group of artists Gira has worked with on his previous projects.
Their new record, "Angels of Light Sing Other People," is a shift from 2003's intensely paced "Everything is Good Here/Please Come Home." Though Gira addresses many of the same issues about sexual desire, religion and social conformity, the violent confrontation of "Everything is Good Here," has become a much more reasonable discussion on this most recent release. "Sing Other People" challenges what we believe in as tranquilly and peacefully as Huck and Jim making their way down the Mississippi.
- GREG WASSERSTROM
