Trax
By Bliss 03/27/2008
VARIOUS ARTISTS, In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 (Shout! Factory): A tribute project with a mission: to underscore connections between U2’s music, the African artists who interpret it here, frontman Bono’s ongoing work on behalf of Africa and the myriad crises Africa’s confronting. Most of the 12 tracks offer refreshing rhythmic or choral twists on U2’s well-known arrangements. Angelique Kidjo, Vieux Farka Touré, Vusi Mahlasela, Les Nubians and the African Underground All Stars are particularly successful, taking ownership of “Mysterious Ways,” “Bullet the Blue Sky,” “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own,” “With Or Without You” and the rap-augmented “Desire,” respectively. Other contributors include Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, former Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen, the Soweto Gospel Choir and Angola troubadour Waldemar Bastos, who closes on a melodic grace note with his poignant rendition of “Love is Blindness.”
www.africacelebratesu2.com
MATTHEW RYAN, Matthew Ryan vs. the Silver State (00:02:59): Indie rocker Ryan’s more musically upbeat — somewhat — on this follow-up to last year’s intense “From a Late Night High Rise.” He still crafts tough, melodic thinking-fan’s rock, linking personal and social politics and despair in tuneful songs like “It Could’ve Been Worse,” “They Were Wrong,” “Drunk and Disappointed and “American Dirt” (“I wish I’d done something with my life/ Something safe, it’s so useless/ I move through days like I were a knife/ My eyes were blues, now they’re bruises”). But there are more buoyant hooks and choruses here, and one starkly beautiful ballad, “Jane, I Still Feel the Same.” Frequent comparisons to Springsteen and Steve Earle are understandable, given Ryan’s impassioned conviction and hard-edged romanticism. Not bad company to keep. www.matthewryanonline.com
AUKTYON, Girls Sing (Geometriya): The out-there Russian rockers get some funky assists from guitarist Marc Ribot, organist John Medeski and Klezmatics trumpeter Frank London, among others, on this decidedly eclectic platter. There’s an electric energy sparking through this wild conflation of Russian folk, Western rock and jazz, honking tubas, atonal piano runs, buzzing clarinet, pogoing bass and drums, but it may be a tad challenging for listeners not enamored of the avant-garde. See ‘em live at Safari Sam’s Tuesday. www.auktyon.com
www.africacelebratesu2.com
MATTHEW RYAN, Matthew Ryan vs. the Silver State (00:02:59): Indie rocker Ryan’s more musically upbeat — somewhat — on this follow-up to last year’s intense “From a Late Night High Rise.” He still crafts tough, melodic thinking-fan’s rock, linking personal and social politics and despair in tuneful songs like “It Could’ve Been Worse,” “They Were Wrong,” “Drunk and Disappointed and “American Dirt” (“I wish I’d done something with my life/ Something safe, it’s so useless/ I move through days like I were a knife/ My eyes were blues, now they’re bruises”). But there are more buoyant hooks and choruses here, and one starkly beautiful ballad, “Jane, I Still Feel the Same.” Frequent comparisons to Springsteen and Steve Earle are understandable, given Ryan’s impassioned conviction and hard-edged romanticism. Not bad company to keep. www.matthewryanonline.com
AUKTYON, Girls Sing (Geometriya): The out-there Russian rockers get some funky assists from guitarist Marc Ribot, organist John Medeski and Klezmatics trumpeter Frank London, among others, on this decidedly eclectic platter. There’s an electric energy sparking through this wild conflation of Russian folk, Western rock and jazz, honking tubas, atonal piano runs, buzzing clarinet, pogoing bass and drums, but it may be a tad challenging for listeners not enamored of the avant-garde. See ‘em live at Safari Sam’s Tuesday. www.auktyon.com
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