Tuesday, April 13, 2010

NEW ARRIVALS: CDs - MGMT, The Stooges, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Harlem & more

JEFF BECK Emotion & Commotion CD
*** "For his first studio album in seven years, Jeff Beck returns with an eclectic mix of tracks that find the guitar virtuoso accompanied by a handpicked cast of talented musicians, as well as several songs accompanied by a 64-piece orchestra."

HARLEM Hippies LP / CD
*** "Austin's hardest working troublemakers can make club gigs seem like living room shows (and living room shows feel like club shows), harnessing this energy in its 16 blasts of pure pop energy with anew dimension of songwriting that is as tightly masterful as it is true to a joyfully frantic primitivism."

KAKI KING Junior CD
*** "This collection of songs delivers twists-and-turns: lyrically from exuberance and anger to heartbreaking melancholy; and sonically from experimental pieces to accessible pop."

MGMT Congratulations CD
MGMT Congratulations LTD. ED. CD

*** "Congratulations unlocks a new musical world whirling in its own space/time grid infused with hints of music from the past five decades. Produced by MGMT and Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, E.A.R., Spectrum), Congratulations is soulful and complex -- a delightful quantum step forward."

GEORGIA ANNE MULDROW Kings Ballad CD
*** "Slicing pop n'lock-friendly funk with gospeland gracious soul, the seeds of early experimental releases are now blossoming as Georgia's trademark scattershot beats and adventurous deepjazz melodies have grown to become the backbone for fully crafted songs."

SERENA-MANEESH Abyss In B Minor CD
*** "It may sound like a caffeinated Can or something from Funkadelic's 'Maggot Brain', but the whole album is so concise, so perfectly realised that it's all over in 38 minutes and 45 seconds. Self-indulgent? No. Self-important? Yes, and rightly so."

THE STOOGES Raw Power 2xCD
*** "The savagely bombastic Raw Power is a confluence of The Stooges' ages, hormones, creativity, ability, experience, tastes, lack of supervision, contempt for authority and ambition. This is the original 1973 David Bowie mix along with a second disc of previously unreleased live recordings from the Raw Power tour and studio outtakes."