NYC country folk collective The Little Willies have seen six years between the release of their debut and their latest album, For the Good Times. Still nursing a knack for twangy Americana, the group sounds more refreshed, energetic, and jazzier. With Norah Jones on keys, occasionally trading vocals with Richard Julian, the group’s breezy, swing-heavy sound is equal parts honky tonk and hopping jazz club. Each member of The Little Willies has his or her own solid musical identity outside of the group, but together they’re a powerhouse. For the Good Times is a covers record, sampling some legendary tracks from the country cannon, including Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson, and these musicians give everything a fresh, breezy jazz tone much like that of Jones’ early work. The group’s adoration and close study of these staples occasionally alters or outstrips the power of the original, an important feat in a cover album. Their take on Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City” fails to channel the fury of the original, but takes a steadier, more lamenting approach. Lynn’s original is feisty and cute, while The Little Willies make it mournful, with just enough rhythm to keep you engaged. The title track is an endearing take on the Kristofferson original, mirroring their sweetly haunting version of “Jolene” that serves as the album’s curtain call.Instrumental “Tommy Rockwood” is the only original track on the album, written by guitarist Jim Campilongo as the result of hours-long walks around New York City to kick his smoking habit. The distraction tactic clearly worked, as the whimsy shines in the tumbleweed, much like their idols. A well-crafted nod, For the Good Times finds the Little Willies showcasing their favorite pastime—giddily playing standards with their bandmates. Equal parts good time and fresh, original takes on these classic tracks, the band offers a medley of styles that color these standards in a new light.
Essential Tracks: “Permanently Lonley”, “For the Good Times”, and “Tommy Rockwood”
Do you remember when rock ‘n’ roll was fun? When you listened to rock to bang your head and yell the lyrics at the top of your lungs? If you don’t remember, or never have, well, it’s a shame. Bands like The Darkness, Electric Six, and Andrew WK have made rock fun again, and are continually trying to reclaim rock from the more serious folks. It’s easy to toss these bands aside as kitschy and over-the-top, but they just want to show you a good time. Foxy Shazam leads the pack. Their newest release, The Church of Rock and Roll, has crunching, blasting guitars, soaring vocals, and entertaining lyrics that will restore your faith in rock as a fun genre.
“Fallen Empires,” the sixth studio album from Northern Ireland’s Snow Patrol, drops today after more than three years of radio silence from the band. Despite the lull, lead vocalist Gary Lightbody explains that the six months they took to the make the record in the Malibu sunshine heavily inspired them, allowing a more creative process and dramatically affecting the tone of the album. Here’s a track-by-track look at “Fallen Empires”.
Old-school country outfit the Sweetback Sisters, who made their lauded 2009 debut with “Chicken Ain’t Chicken,” have no siblings in the band, are two-thirds male and hail from deep in the heart of … Brooklyn, N.Y. They call themselves a “renegade retro-band that mixes country, swing and honky-tonk.”
Truer words were never uttered as evidenced by this sophomore release.
Fronted by singing “sisters” Zara Bode and Emily Miller, the sextet specializes in close girl-on-girl rockabilly vocals like an estrogen version of the Everly Brothers. With nary a hint of irony or postmodernism, these six players revel in ’50s sounds to the point of recording on analog equipment, giving their music an organic warmth. Sporting four songwriters, the band creates originals that sound classic while making tunes by Patsy Cline, Hazel Dickens, Dwight Yoakam and the Traveling Wilburys sound fresh and energized. Read more...
Does the world still remember Gillian Welch? Maybe best known among mainstream listeners for her entanglement with the “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack back in 2000, it’s been eight long years since Welch released an album.
But questions about timeliness lose meaning pretty fast when listening to Welch teamed with her nearly symbiotic collaborator David Rawlings. Long trafficking in a sometimes spare yet intricately drawn sort of Americana that could fit just as comfortably at the turn of the 20th century, their latest delivers the same deceptively simple alchemy of dustily lilting voices, vivid lyrical twists and crisp acoustic flourishes. Read more...
She’s a best-selling poet and has appeared in movies and on TV, but Jill Scott is tops when she’s at the mike. One spin of this Philadelphia native’s terrific new soul record makes you wish she was less distracted by side projects that have kept her out of the studio for five years. Every one of the 14 songs of “The Light of the Sun” — and even its lone spoken word poem, “Womanifesto” — makes you think of the words strong and soulful.
The collection starts on a high note with “Blessed,” with Jilly from Philly sashaying between R&B and hip-hop. It has a surprisingly gentle melody, almost a lullaby, accompanied by lyrics in which Scott tallies up what’s right about her life, such as her 2-year- old son. Uplifting, it sets the stage for other like-minded tunes that brim with grown-up themes. Read more...
Seven albums in and nearly 15 years later, indie rock stalwarts Death Cab For Cutie are getting a little weird — and doing it right. On “Codes and Keys,” out today (May 31, Atlantic), listeners get a clear sense of where its members currently find themselves: in adulthood. And apparently it’s been a long, laborious haul to get there.
Early reports suggested the album was not a guitar-based album — a shift from 2008′s singularly rock-focused “Narrow Stars.” While “Codes and Keys” is less of a “they’re trading in their guitars for synthesizers” moment than some might expect, the album’s subtle experimentation makes all the difference, infusing darkness without maudlin emo-ness into one of Death Cab’s best. And in consideration of Ben Gibbard’s electronic Postal Service project, we have to wonder — why didn’t this synth love happen sooner? Read more...
“Girls With Guitars” may sound like a ’60s grindhouse flick, but it’s the name of the latest all-woman blues revue from the Germany-based blues label Ruf Records.
This year’s barnstorming tour/record features British lead guitarist/singer Dani Wilde, Missouri blues singer/guitarist Samantha Fish and Cassie Taylor on bass/vocals whose pop is lauded trance-bluesman Otis Taylor. The three are backed by veteran drummer Jamie Little.
With all three chipping in original, if somewhat derivative, songs, the album is an estrogen-to-the-wall blues-rock session with touches of soul thrown in for good measure. They open things, appropriately enough, with a rousing version of the Rolling Stones’ “Bitch” and gallop through a set of unsubtle yet rollicking tunes. Wilde throws in dramatic slide and wah-wah leads, Taylor adds thick, slippery bass lines and Fish fuels the band’s rock chops with deft rhythm work. Taking turns on vocals, the trio goes from sultry crooning to red-hot roadhouse shouts. Read more...
On blues vet Shawn Pittman’s 10th release, the listener will swear the Oklahoma native is recording live with a hot, grooving blues-roots outfit.
But that’s not the case.
Pulling a Stevie Wonder/Paul McCartney move, the Texas-based guitar slinger/vocalist plays every instrument save for Jonathan Doyle’s wonderful honking saxophone work. But the disc’s dozen original tunes paired with Howlin’ Wolf’s “Sugar (Where’d You Get Your Sugar From?)” sound energized and spontaneous, as if Pittman were rocking with a seasoned combo.
Since the late ’90s Pittman has worked with such blues luminaries as Mike Morgan, Sam Myers and Susan Tedeschi, and he brings all those lessons learned to the forefront on this rustic-sounding blues-roots recording. Read more...
The name fits. The Cars manufactured sleek, gleaming new-wave jingles, beginning in 1978 with their still-spiffy debut album. Turn on a Cars song, and instantly the world becomes a sea of androgynous boys and girls dressed in vinyl, wearing sunglasses and cruising for anonymous hook-ups.
After nearly three decades apart, the surviving members – Ric Ocasek, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes and David Robinson – have reunited for “Move Like This” (Hear Music), their seventh studio album (cofounding bassist Ben Orr died in 2000). Fans who loved the old Cars will find little has changed. Ocasek turns oddball phrases (“I heard your glockenspiel pounding soft”; “The world is full of quackers/And bellybutton rings”) in a deadpan voice well-suited for reading a William Gibson novel aloud. Jittery sixteenth-note rhythms coalesce into choruses fit for an army of androids to shout into space (“Sad Song,” “Free,” “Hits Me,” “Blue Tip”) while Hawkes breaks out his armada of keyboard squiggles and curlicues. Read more...
NYC country folk collective The Little Willies have seen six years between the release of their debut and their latest album, For the Good Times. Still nursing a knack for twangy Americana, the group sounds more refreshed, energetic, and jazzier. With Norah Jones on keys, occasionally trading vocals with Richard Julian, the group’s breezy, swing-heavy sound is equal parts honky tonk and hopping jazz club. Each member of The Little Willies has his or her own solid musical identity outside of the group, but together they’re a powerhouse. For the Good Times is a covers record, sampling some legendary tracks from the country cannon, including Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson, and these musicians give everything a fresh, breezy jazz tone much like that of Jones’ early work. The group’s adoration and close study of these staples occasionally alters or outstrips the power of the original, an important feat in a cover album. Their take on Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City” fails to channel the fury of the original, but takes a steadier, more lamenting approach. Lynn’s original is feisty and cute, while The Little Willies make it mournful, with just enough rhythm to keep you engaged. The title track is an endearing take on the Kristofferson original, mirroring their sweetly haunting version of “Jolene” that serves as the album’s curtain call.Instrumental “Tommy Rockwood” is the only original track on the album, written by guitarist Jim Campilongo as the result of hours-long walks around New York City to kick his smoking habit. The distraction tactic clearly worked, as the whimsy shines in the tumbleweed, much like their idols. A well-crafted nod, For the Good Times finds the Little Willies showcasing their favorite pastime—giddily playing standards with their bandmates. Equal parts good time and fresh, original takes on these classic tracks, the band offers a medley of styles that color these standards in a new light.
