You Say Party! We Say Die!
Hit the Floor!
(Sound Document)

B

Website: www.sounddocument.com

The Proclaimers
Restless Soul
(Persevere Records)

C



Website: www.proclaimers.co.uk

The Reid brothers just haven’t managed to get any fresh breeze to blow through their creative imaginations, and so Restless Soul ends up being little more than a recycled version of their earlier work. There are occasional decent moments on this album, but for the most part it has nothing very new or very interesting to offer. There’s lots of heartbreak, a fair bit of existential angst, a thin anti-war song and a couple of fairly immature hymns to falling in love. All these years later you might expect these guys to have outgrown their adolescence, but maybe they’re just trying to channel the teenage muse that made them a success the first time around.
Jamie Howison

Shurman
Jubilee
(Vanguard Records)

B-

Southern rock meets country twang as L.A.-based Shurman lets fly with some good-ol’-boy tunes on Jubilee. Cranked on a Saturday night, Shurman reminds me of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, but the soul of this band lies in its country roots. We aren’t talking about the Nashville pasteurized country but the kind played in a bar with chicken wire protecting the band from flying bottles. Powered by Budweiser, Shurman rattles the joint on the rockin’ opener Drownin’. Other noteworthy tracks include the party-hardy I Got U Babe and the after-the-all-nighter lament of the title cut. Tracks are filled with Fender guits played through Fender amps and Hammond organs set to whirling as Aaron Beavers pushes his ragged vocals over the top of the mix. Comfortable with the Drive-By Truckers and others, Shurman champions roots, rock and country in equal parts.
Chris Brown

This matching pair of archival releases from the two old lions of Buena Vista Social Club fame represents some of the finest old-school Cuban music available. Both Gonzalez and Ferrer had long careers before being literally rescued from obscurity by American guitarist Ry Cooder and filmmaker Wim Wenders.
Mementos features the master pianist in full flow, especially on the handful of ’60s tracks included. If you didn’t know some of these tracks were recorded in Cuba you’d think you were hearing some particularly fine West Coast U.S. mellow jazz. The balance of the set is culled from a 1975-76 set, which has the more typical son rhythmic structure, and Gonzalez takes flight with a sureness that’s staggering.
Ferrer’s warm voice and mischievous grin were a highlight of the Buena Vista... film and it’s nice to hear these earlier sides from the respected singer. The 14 tracks on Ay, Candela were culled from the late 1970s and early ’80s, and Ferrer and the tight band easily establish mood and inject sweet personality into the romantically inclined songs here. That’s surprising considering Ferrer was over 50 in the late ’70s.
The matching sleeve graphics and fairly extensive liner notes on this dynamic duo make these discs a must for any Cuban-music collector. Who knows what other fine music lies waiting to be rescued from some undiscovered vault in deepest Havana.
Jeff Monk

The Dandy Warhols have always transcended genres, and their fifth studio disc is no exception. Dabbling with sounds from new wave to grunge, Odditorium is a marriage of spaced-out synth and jangly folk guitars. Melancholy and melodic, The Dandy Warhols have paired sleepy psychedelic keyboards with frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s husky, soft-spoken vocals, making for a dark, mysterious trip. Tunes such as Holding Me Up and the single Smoke It still have that early ’90s, college radio sound the Dandies are know for, while the new-wave afflicted Everyone is Totally Insane could be a New Order track. In the end, then, Odditorium is both pretty and introspective with an innate cool about it— kind of like sunglasses or smoking.
Jen Zoratti

There are many ways to tackle a broken heart. Some cry, some drink and some write an entire concept EP. Never Trust Anything That Bleeds, the debut recording from power-punks American Eyes is just that — a six-song journey through the break-up of singer David Henry and his girlfriend from high school. Though lyrically weak (we get it — she’s a bitch who made you sad), Never Trust… is a musically solid effort from the L.A. quintet, full of catchy, radio-friendly riffs with just enough guts to make things interesting. The aptly titled Radio is guilty pleasure material, as is Telephone Wires. But the contrived Day We Died is a ridiculously hokey ballad that’s just a bit too ‘jazz hands’ to be taken seriously. American Eyes could probably make a half-decent pop punk album — but they’re in dire need of a subject.
Jen Zoratti

From the very first drum break to the final note, Hit the Floor is one of the funkiest discs that will ever hit your speakers. A break-beat is a sample of old-skool drums looped into a beat and used as the foundation for rhythm tracks, but Breakestra don’t need no samples. These 14 funky tracks are all original drum breaks. From the LP-looking cover and analog-sounding tracks, Hit the Floor definitely evokes the sounds and style of the ’70s. The production is phat and warm, and the groovy basslines, wah-wah guitar and horn stabs would make James Brown proud. This is the ultimate party platter — set on repeat and the floor will be packed until dawn. A must-have for any fan of break-beats, hip hop or low-down, dirty funk.
Ashley McCurdy