BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

BRUCE SPRINGSTTEEN
DEVILS AND DUST (2005)
320 KBPS

The last time Bruce Springsteen ventured West for inspiration, the result was the desolate Nebraska and its tales of serial killers and used cars. On his first record in three years, Springsteen navigates barren deserts and Old West war fields for a dozen forlorn songs that co-star the artist and his acoustic guitar. Though he's always had a knack for carving out the hooks and melodies that make each journey memorable, this time around Springsteen relies on the lyrics to carry the tune-desperate tales of tragedy, heartbreak, and lust with a Latino twist, like the boxer coming home ("The Hitter"), a distressing border-crossing incident ("Matamoros Banks"), and the Nevada hooker with good intentions ("Reno," which led to the warning sticker Adult Imagery). With no E Street Band in the mix, the album is decorated with horns and strings and Springsteen’s novel falsetto on two his best efforts: "Maria’s Bed," where the narrator comes home to his woman after 40 nights on the road, and the fast-picking "All I’m Thinkin’ About," where he has more than Carolina on his mind. A decade from now this will be an underrated record in the Springsteen chronicles.

1. Devils & Dust
2. All the Way Home
3. Reno
4. Long Time Comin'
5. Black Cowboys
6. Maria's Bed
7. Silver Palomino
8. Jesus Was an Only Son
9. Leah
10. Hitter
11. All I'm Thinkin' About
12. Matamoros Banks

CAVE IN

CAVE IN
PERFECT PITCH BLACK (2005)
320 KBPS

"Perfect Pitch Black" is a collection of songs culled from three separate recording sessions and includes demos from what was to be the band's second album for RCA. These demos were given a few production related embellishments, but they still retain a rough edge inherent to any unfinished product. Even Stephen Brodsky himself admitted that the lyrics weren't fully flushed out.
This release signifies a band that has rediscovered its love for music after an ill-fated relationship with a major label. Cave In could have easily quit after being dropped from RCA. Instead, they quickly released a collection of songs which only hint as to which musical direction the band will take next, and since then the band has toured virtually non-stop. Given the tumultuousness of the band's past few years, what more could you ask for.
For those new to Cave In's music, I'd recommend investigating the band's brutal roots ("Until Your Heart Stops") and its space rock aspirations ("Jupiter") before coming up to speed with this release which is also pretty sweet but not a real album. Still a great catch though.

1. Perfect Pitch Black
2. The World is in Your Way
3. Off to Ruin
4. Trepanning
5. Paranormal
6. Down the Drain
7. Droned
8. Ataraxia
9. Tension in the Ranks
10. Sreaming in Your Sleep

DAFT PUNK

DAFT PUNK
HOMEWORK (1997)
320 KBPS

After rocking the suburbs with the infectious and persistent "Da Funk" (with its amusingly pointless Spike Jonze video), Gallic pranksters Daft Punk unleashed Homework, an album that combined everything good about house music with everything bad about French pop and changed the face of dance music in the process. The sound of production duo Thomas Bangalter and Guy Manuel de Homem is a raw and dirty collage of cheap drum machines (wired for maximum swing) welded to endless filtered loops and embellished with everything from guitars to talk-box vocals. The beats are lifted straight from the Chicago House textbook, but the simple bass lines and catchy hooks make a listenable pop song from what would normally be a stripped-down DJ tool. Uncompromising yet totally accessible.

1. Daftendirekt
2. WDPK 83.7 FM
3. Revolution 909
4. Funk
5. Phoenix
6. Fresh
7. Around the World
8. Rollin' & Scratchin'
9. Teachers
10. High Fidelity
11. Rock'n Roll
12. Oh Yeah
13. Burnin'
14. Indo Silver Club
15. Alive
16. Funk Ad

MANDO DIAO

MANDO DIAO
HURRICANE BAR (2005)
320 KBPS

Borrowing the Beatles' haircuts, the Kinks' mod guitar riffs and the Small Faces' ecstatic tambourine-shaking choruses, Mando Diao isn't exactly making the kind of great artistic strides one might expect from the likes of Bloc Party or the Arcade Fire. In fact, listening to the Swedish quartet's second album it's often hard to tell 2005 from 1965. But Mando Diao plies the well-worn maximum R&B formula on Hurricane Bar with so much excitement and enthusiasm, its creative shortcomings are easy to forgive. Singers Bjorn Dixgard and Gustaf Noren make great counterparts, especially on tracks like "God Knows" and "If I Leave You," where their vocals ricochet off each other and the rolling organs and punchy British Invasion rhythms. Credit also goes to producer Richard Rainey (U2's All That You Can't Keep Behind) for making the songs crackle. With the Libertines having fallen apart and Oasis nodding off, the time for Mando Diao's retro rock just might be now.

1. Cut The Rope
2. God Knows
3. Clean Town
4. Down In The Past
5. You Can't Steal My Love
6. Added Family
7. Annie's Angle
8. If I Leave You
9. Ringing Bells
10. This Dream Is Over
11. White Wall
12. All My Senses
13. Kingdom & Glory
14. Next To Be Lowered

YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN

YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN'S
RISING FORCE
ODYSSEY (1988)
320 KBPS

This is Yngwie's best album it has something for everyone...power metal songs, neo classical shredding in the solos, instrumentals, catchy hair metal tunes. This is also Yngwie's best performance on a studio album..every solo sounds different and everyone has feeling and technical difficulty. Joe Lynn Turner's vocals are amazing and do bring it mind 80s Rainbow which is a good thing. The writing is the best ever on an Yngwie album too. If you like power metal, neo classical metal, hair metal or virtuoso shredding rock than get this album.

1. Rising Force
2. Hold On
3. Heaven Tonight
4. Dreaming (Tell Me)
5. Bite The Bullet
6. Riot In The Dungeons
7. Deja Vu
8. Crystal Ball
9. Now Is The Time
10. Faster Than Speed Of Light
11. Krakatau
12. Memories

JOHN ZORN

JOHN ZORN
FILM WORKS XXIII: EL GENERAL (2009)
320 KBPS

Eleven cues recorded for a striking documentary focusing on the life of controversial Mexican dictator Plutarco Elias Calles who was called everything from a nunburner to the father of modern Mexico. Beautiful and dramatic, the music is scored for guitar, marimba, accordion/piano and bass and subtly draws upon Mexican, Spanish, minimalist and soundtrack traditions. Zorn's fifth film score in as many months is a pure delight. Moody and exotic music for a creative and revealing film dealing with truth and the complexity of history!

1. Los cristeros
2. El general
3. Besos de sangre
4. Maximato
5. Soviet Mexico
6. Lagrimas para ti
7. Mala suerte
8. Exilio
9. Recuerdos
10. Besos de sangre (Piano Trio)
11. Exactamente eso

M

M
AU SPECTRUM (2005)
320 KBPS

A short live album recorded in Quebec. I like this one better than M's other live album. First, it's more focused on the guy's best tracks, second, it has the song from "Les Triplettes de Belleville"'s Soundtrack and, third, I think it just sound better. So, if you want some fun chanson with a pop and a groove twist, this is for you.

1. Mon Ego
2. Souvenir Du Futur
3. Le Complexe Du Corn-Flakes
4. Psycho Bug
5. Zenitude
6. C'Est Pas Ta Faute
7. Gimmick
8. Je Dis Aime
9. Belleville Rendez-Vous

THE POSTAL SERVICE

THE POSTAL SERVICE
GIVE UP (2003)
320 KBPS

Give Up, the debut release by this indie supergroup composed of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Tamborello from Dntel, is a smart, quaint, and often transcendent little pop record. The roots of the album lie in "(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan," a woozy, gorgeous song recorded for the rad 2001 Dntel album Life Is Full of Possibilities. With Jimmy in L.A. and Ben in Seattle, the two simply mailed tracks back and forth, collaborating via (you guessed it) the United States Post Office. Lyrically it’s far breezier and happier (though not too happy) than anything Gibbard had written up to this point for Death Cab. The music is an elastic, very smart update of synth-pop and the melodies crystal clear, while the backing vocals courtesy of Jen Wood and Jenny Lewis are spartan and pretty. The songs stick in your head for days at a time. Forget the tags that have been thrown up against this music--Poptronica? New new new order? Please just enjoy this album. It just might be a classic--but of what exactly, we’re not quite sure.

1. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2. Such Great Heights
3. Sleeping In
4. Nothing Better
5. Recycled Air
6. Clark Gable
7. We Will Become Silhouettes
8. This Place is a Prison
9. Brand New Colony
10. Natural Anthem

XTC

XTC
BLACK SEA (1980)
320 KBPS

The 1980 release Black Sea represents the last stand of the punchy, angular new wave that had won XTC strong critical and college radio support. Still arranging with an ear toward the stage they'd soon retire from, they continued working in the "drums and wires" style that had christened their previous release. Black Sea brims with XTC trademarks: engaging guitar hooks, cleverly rendered lyrics, and frenetic, creative melodicism. The material represents the pinnacle of XTC's early incarnation--a counterpoint to contemporary punk imbued with style, rhythmic punch, and melodic charm.

1. Respectable Street
2. Generals and Majors
3. Living Through Another Cuba
4. Love at First Sight
5. Rocket From a Bottle
6. No Language in Our Lungs
7. Smokeless Zone*
8. Don't Lose Your Temper*
9. The Somnambulist*
10. Towers of London
11. Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins)
12. Burning with Optimism's Flames
13. Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)
14. Travels in Nihilon

*:bonus tracks

MIOSSEC

MIOSSEC
1964 (2004)
320 KBPS

Not a great singer, Christophe Miossec nicely manages to renew himself with every album he releases. 1964, his 5th, celebrates his return to form after a tepid "Brûle".
Miossec on this record has made the most of his trademark intimate voice by harnessing giant orchestral tides of sound to power his songs. You might call the arrangements alone sappy, but when they accompany his heartfelt and honest lyrics the package is hard to resist.
My favorites are the opener, "Je m'en vais," in which he repeats more and more feelingly the lyric, "I have loved only you," and "Rester en vie," which at the end resolves (dissolves?) into a beautiful solo organ.
"La quarantaine," which substitutes tympani for the waves of stringed instruments found elsewhere, is also hypnotic and beautiful. Even if you don't speak French Miossec's honesty and confessional spirit will shine through the language barrier.
French chanson lovers should try this.

1. Je M'En Vais
2. Rose
3. Brest
4. Essayons
5. Ta Chair Ma Chère
6. Rester En Vie
7. Le Stade De La Résistance
8. Désolé Pour La Poussière
9. En Quarantaine
10. Dégueulasse
11. Les Gueules Cassées
12. Pentecôte