Album Reviews

AUDIO OUT SEND
…or does it explode?
(Flashcard)
Oakland's Audio Out Send ties different strains of indie rock together on its debut album …or does it explode? Pitchfork readers might recognize snippets seemingly lifted from the Flaming Lips, Sparklehorse, Elliott Smith and the last couple of Wilco albums. But AOS is hardly just a gang of clever thieves. The band may use the same tools to build the house, but the design, as represented by melodic, heartfelt numbers like "The Carver" and "Rolling Heads," is its own. Michael Toland

THE BO-KEYS
The Royal Sessions
(Yellow Dog)
The Bo-Keys' The Royal Sessions is a funk for funk's sake jam. The trumpet alone on the album's opening track, "Coming Home Baby," makes me want some barbecue. This record is the debut effort for the group, but the men in the band are some of soul's reigning champs, including legendary drummer Willie Hall. The Royal Sessions brings together the old with the new in a seamless sound and delivery that you can't help but bounce to, no matter how little rhythm you have. Each song feels like you are being let in on a little secret, but the best is the smoky "Deuce and a Quarter." If soul is making a comeback, the Bo-Keys are the beginning, middle and end of the pack. Lance Looper [buy it]

SAM BUSH
King of My World
(Sugar Hill)
Newgrass pioneer Sam Bush and his incendiary picking are back with King of My World. This album brings a more traditional slant to modern bluegrass with "Eight More Miles to Louisville" and "Spirit is the Journey" that offers a splendid balance for the soulful King of the World. Bush also repurposes Keb' Mo's "A Better Man" into a pleasant bluegrass jam. Clearly Bush isn't afraid of stretching the genre, which he does masterfully with the subtle island tone of "Spirit is the Journey." King of My World strikes the delicate balance with traditional mountain strokes while keeping the listener interested in the way he incorporates rock and blues influences into the framework. Lance Looper [buy it]

CANVAS SOLARIS
Sublimation
(Tribunal)
Remember the old Fates Warning instrumental "At Fates Fingers?" If you like the same idea of technically advanced progressive metal without the overblown lyrics and overwrought singing that so often accompanies the genre, Canvas Solaris will be a balm to your ears. Mixing the aggression of Dream Theater with the jazzy explorations of Cynic, but keeping their mouths shut, guitarist/synthesist Nathan Sapp, guitarist/bassist Ben Simpkins and drummer Hunter Ginn present a baker's half-dozen tracks of knotty pieces that fuse metal energy with challenging song structures, managing to keep their shredding instincts (mostly) in check. Pretty damn impressive, I gotta say. Michael Toland [buy it]

LARRY CORYELL WITH PAUL WERTICO AND MARK EGAN
Tricycles
(In + Out/Favored Nations)
Jazz guitar giant Larry Coryell has played everything from pioneering jazz fusion to groundbreaking acoustic jazz to marketplace-driven fuzak, but if Tricycles is any indication, he's most comfortable with relaxed postbop. Joined by former Pat Metheny sidemen Paul Wertico and Mark Egan, he presents a program of vibrant, melodic originals, plus a couple of Thelonious Monk tunes and a Beatles cover (?). Coryell is an amazing technician—as well he should be, after almost 40 years in the biz—but it's his commitment to taste, melody and good writing (check "Spaces Revisited") that makes Tricycles an exceptionally fine record. Michael Toland [buy it]

THE DELAYS
Faded Seaside Glamour
(Rough Trade)
There was a time in the 80s when British rock bands held nothing back—folks like Echo & the Bunnymen, the Waterboys and U2 sang as if the scantiest feelings had world-shaking importance, and played hugely produced guitar music to match it. Those days are back in the guise of groups like Starsailor and (pre-self-conscious weirdness) Radiohead, and Southampton's Delays take full advantage. Lead singer Greg Gilbert's almost scarily flexible falsetto swoops and soars over the atmospheric guitar swells—the band is set up to leapfrog over the top and keep going. But its deliberately modest songs pull back from the brink of delirium, making simple fare like "Hey Girl" and "Satellites Lost" appealing for all the right reasons. Plus the deliberately disjointed, scraping "Stay Where You Are" hints at creative ambition as yet untapped. Michael Toland [buy it]

THE FLATLANDERS
Live '72
(New West)
Recorded in the legendary (in Austin, anyway) club the One Knite, Live '72 presents what was then a typical set by the group that would give Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock to the world. There are a couple of Hank Williams tunes (including the surprising choice "Settin' the Woods on Fire," sung by what sounds like a teenaged Ely), a pair of Townes Van Zandt songs, a couple of cuts from the trio's Lubbock cohort Al Strehli, a Sam Cooke song ("Bring It On Home to Me") and some old country and blues tunes. Surprisingly, hardly any originals made it into the set. The band's harmonies are rougher than they'd become, but no less appealing for that, and its song selection is impeccable. The sound quality bites pretty hard, alas, but diehards won't care; vintage Flatlanders recordings are too scarce to carp about such things. Michael Toland [buy it]

FREE MORAL AGENTS
Everybody's Favorite Weapon
(Gold Standard Labs)
Isaiah Ikey Owens tickles the plastics for the Mars Volta, but that's not a clue to his side band's direction as much as is his work with reggae, funk and hip-hop artists. Free Moral Agents revel in the sound of a bright electric piano riding a dubwise funk groove, with disembodied voices fading in and out of the mix. The record see-saws unsteadily between throbbing grooves with fascinating lyrics on the one hand and boring atmospherics with seemingly random cut-and-paste experimentation on the other. It's not exactly peanut butter-consistent, but one might argue that's part of its charm&mdash: the sound of musicians discovering the music at the same time as the listener. Your call. Michael Toland [buy it]

TONY FURTADO
These Chains
(Funzalo)
Slide guitar legend Tony Furtado's These Chains fuses rootsy folk rock and Delta blues to create a record so alive it practically bleeds. In a surprising twist, Furtado can actually sing. He has written an album that allows him to showcase his sufficient vocal range, from the granular "More and More" to the radio-friendly smoothness of "Standing in the Rain" and the ultra-tender "Oh Father of Mine." The music is not lost in all of this singing, however. Furtado peels off a sweet guitar jam on "Swayback Jim" and blazes a trail through "Doc's Bog." Lance Looper [buy it]

GONGA
Gonga
(Tee Pee)
You'd think the dirty T-shirt garbed, roach-ridden corpse of stoner rock would really be starting to smell by now. But you'd be wrong. England's Gonga proudly tosses its joint aside and raises a war-torn flag over this dead horse. The quartet pounds and grooves, slams and sludges as well as anybody still trucking in the traditional Sabbath/Stooges/Blue Cheer style, and adds a nice dollop of headcharging boogie for good measure. Gonga possesses dynamics, melody, nimble rhythm and sheer brute force to spare on cool cuts like "Stratofortress," "Fellowman" and "Hermes." That singer Joe Volk sounds uncannily like Kurt Cobain at times only adds to the fun. I was starting to think the only true pleasures left in heavy rock came from the old guard, but Gonga (along with L.A.'s Sasquatch and Sweden's Witchcraft) proves me oh so wrong. Michael Toland [buy it]

GRAM RABBIT
Music to Start a Cult To
(Stinky)
Psychedelia breeds oddballs, and the desert gives rise to even odder, um, balls. The Joshua Tree-based Gram Rabbit seems at first to be a particularly deep-fried slice of hookah, as it exploits a split personality that can't seem to decide between quirky psych pop ("Dirty Horse," "Devil's Playground") and pulsing dance rock ("Cowboys & Aliens," "Cowboy-Up"). But as samplemeister Travis Cline invades the gentler tracks and Jesika von Rabbit and Todd Rutherford add more melody and sunstroke weirdness to the electronica, the distinction between the two approaches blurs. It's like the Legendary Pink Dots if they'd come out of Studio 54. Gram Rabbit celebrates the breakdown of the bicameral mind. Michael Toland [buy it]

DAVID KILGOUR
Frozen Orange
(Merge)
Folks in the States outside of fanatical indie rock circles probably don't recognize his name, but in his home country of New Zealand, David Kilgour is a legend. As a member of the Clean, one of the first acts on NZ's notorious Flying Nun label, he helped jump-start a rock scene Down Under that remains beloved and influential, even after 25 years. His latest solo album Frozen Orange revels in the mellifluous melodies, homespun vocals and gregarious guitar pop for which Kilgour is justifiably famous. It's impossible to resist shimmery jangles like "Dogs Barking," peppy pumpers like "Blue Sky" and winsome ballads like "A Head Full of Rolling Stones." So don't try. Michael Toland [buy it]

KEVIN MOORE
Ghost Book
(InsideOut)
Chroma Key leader Kevin Moore follows up his one-man-band's last album (the excellent You Go Now) with the soundtrack to the Turkish film Okul, an adaptation of author Dogu Yucel's titular novel. I don't know what the story is, but from the sound of this record, it must be pretty damn creepy. Moore mixes warm analog keyboard tones with cold digital synths to conjure an atmosphere of gently, relentlessly approaching horror. The occasional uplifting respite (like "Overheard") only underscores the inevitability of whatever bad shit's about to go down. Though not as unsettling as, say, Shinjuku Thief's The Witch Haven (which will haunt your dreams for months), it's still not the kind of music to put on late at night if you've just watched some spooky Japanese horror movie. Unless you like shuddering in bed with all the lights on. Michael Toland [buy it]

MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY
Mutual Admiration Society
(Sugar Hill)
Mutual Admiration Society, which is actually Nickel Creek in disguise, is a soulful record that pushes former Toad the Wet Sprocket front dude Glen Philips' vocals to the tip. Philips' voice comes across beautifully, being wistful and powerful at nearly the exact same time. The disc comes out a little one-sided however, which is expected anytime a band eager to experiment with another sound takes on a side project. Each track seems sleepier than the last, with the small exception being the whimsical "Think About Your Troubles." MAS would benefit from an extra splash of Nickel's bluegrass origins here and there. Lance Looper [buy it]