Shannon Harris Audio Urbanology: The Art of Audio Truism (Urbanicity Recordings) Release date: August 21

To get a sense of Shannon Harris¹s imaginative new album, you might look no further than its name: Audio Urbanology: The Art of Audio Truism, although, actually, I don¹t think he really means truism (loosely defined as a fact so obvious it¹s pointless to mention) as these tracks are indeed quite worth the mention. But the point is, yes, this is just that: a study of the city or, more precisely, its people and movement and rhythms. Employing more guest recordings than I can list here, Harris guides us through the late-night siren wails of the cities you know, across tin-drummed Caribbean beaches and onto the deep red dirt of an African road, all the while seamlessly weaving one style into another to create a sort of continuous acoustic mantra. Everything is familiar and haunting and evocative of something you somehow know. And then, most beautifully, I think, comes ³Spirits of the Black Experience,² which, were I a choreographer, I would attempt to stage, so thoroughly does it embody the echo of conflict and beauty, with nearly dissonant notes pushing up against an ever-rising rhythm. Harris is an artist whose musical awareness reaches so far across cultural lines it gives him full play with all of them, resulting in an album full of sound and feeling and signifying everything.
-Serena Hedison

It’s TV on the Radio producer and musician David Sitek’s solo project Maximum Balloon and I’m listening to the most recently released track, “Groove Me” on a loop. What a way to live. I realize that, when inspired by music, I find myself thinking of LA’s freeways. You ever watch people roller skate to music? How happy and in the groove they are? That’s what this song is doing to me. Dancing is great, but in order to fully realize a beat as gorgeous as this, I think being on wheels would be best. If you cannot dance, if you cannot move, sometimes going for a drive is the thing. The swoop of an on-ramp, the tricky smooth transition to the fast lane: these are things that can emulate music. I am also beginning to think that certain keys and chords can actually induce happiness because I was in a bad mood half an hour ago. In the way discordant tones can cause visceral discomfort, I’d say “Groove Me” (featuring Theophilus London in one of Maximum Balloon’s many collaborations – see also Karen O, David Byrne and Tunde Adebimpe, among others) is an example of something completely concordant. It’s so good; each note hits me with a little ping of joy.

Previously released Maximum Balloon: “Tiger”: bouncy with a background kink.

Maximum Balloon¹s eponymous debut album drops August 24 with new tracks being intermittently released in these weeks prior.
-Serena Hedison

So I’m trying to figure out which album to review. I have a couple choices, so I listen to the first one on the list, “Future Breeds” by Hot Hot Heat. And I like it. The energy of it. I think, yeah, this. But then, a few songs in, I’m gone. I’m at once in the music and then totally out of it. It just sort of loses me. Or maybe I lose it. Either way, we’ve stopped communicating. So, ok, I think, I’ll listen to the next one down, LP4, from Ratatat. Electronic, samples. Computer mastery. I’m into it. It’s textured, interesting. Good. But here again, I’m out. One song runs into the other. Something about the elements all sounds the same. And it’s like that with both. And I listen to them both again and am no closer to any sort of communion with either album.

Here’s the thing, though. This all means nothing. I like these albums. There’s a lot going on here. There is detail and certain influence and I appreciate that. There’s not even a “but” here. I’m just going to cede to the fact that I think sometimes you need to have a history with things, whether it be art or music or literature, in order to really appreciate them, and, certainly, to assess them properly. And I think this is the case here. I can say I think both these albums are good. There is a lot to them. LP4, even now, is growing on me. I would suggest you take a listen. If you’ve followed either of these bands, I think you’ll like what they’ve done. Both seem true. And that is definitely something.

-Serena Hedison

Both albums will be release June 8, 2010 on Dangerbird Records and XL respectively

You know, I could write a treatise on the horrors of the lowest common denominator, on the dreck that passes for music or art or thought, but instead, I think I’ll just offer up “Night Train,” the newest album from Keane (whom I’m tempted to call Keen, because that is what I did throughout my listen). Keane, a UK chart-topping and Grammy-nominated band has come through with an album that couldn’t be more mundane or less original, a fact seemingly realized with the lyrics of “Stop For a Minute,” in the crooned confession, “Sometimes I feel like it’s all been done.” (It has.) There is not one song on this album that says anything anew, or even well. It’s almost offensively banal. Which is why I was not surprised to hear that one of these songs was featured on a prime-time and highly-rated television show with the episode titled, “Shiny Happy People.” Indeed. Gather ‘round, all, they’re handing out the Soma.

-Serena Hedison

Would you like a little bit of sweet funk soul in your life? A little uncomplicated groove?
Well then you need to tune this one in. You know Kings Go Forth? Am I alone in the dark here? They’re a ten-piece band out of Milwaukee who’ve been together since 2007 and have recently released their first full-length album, “The Outsiders Are Back.” And, friends, it’s sick. I seriously cannot believe these are freshly laid tracks and I’m not in fact listening to a collection of newly digitized masters from a lost Motown label. I’m telling you, I don’t care what you normally listen to, this is music that will transcend whatever your current interests are. Put those aside for a while, take a step back, and listen to music that isn’t flip and ironic and dressed in some sort of hipster lore. Hear instead the sound of progress and community and an ever up-winding hope. You’ll thank me, I promise.

-Serena Hedison

Free Download of some tracks here

Tour Dates:
6/18 – Chicago, IL @ Double Door
6/19 – Madison, WI @ University of Wisconsin-Madison
6/27 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
7/8 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
7/10 – Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Blues Fest

I am of two minds about Broken Social Scene’s new album, “Forgiveness Rock Record,” which, given the title, might be allowed. In moments like now, I sit and listen and am drawn in by trailing alleyways of instruments, meandering, still alive, until they and the song fade. But then I am jolted into what seems to be a throwback mash-up with too many people too many styles and no focus. My first listen yielded notes about the excess of participation and the lack of any real direction. It’s a bit like an arena alt-rock jam band, which is not quite my thing. There are times, however, when I am elevated and listening and following the drive of a drumbeat or the textured wail or whisper of a voice, and I like it. But, I wonder, should an album be cohesive? Or rather is it merely reflective of a band’s present state. Which, to be literal, is quite like that here. As if each member stood up in turn to perform his or her own piece, and then all at once came in together. It’s too much a lot of the time, yet not enough as well. I made a note that I’d like to hear the solo albums of all the musicians, because the talent is clear. I’d just rather have it a little more specific and a little less crowded. I love the tracks “Sentimental Xs” and “Sweetest Kill.” I liked “Texico Bitches.” There really is a lot here to listen to, which is why I am of two minds. The album is like a boy who initially annoyed you, but to whom you’re warming up. I can’t commit, but I think I might want to take him to bed.

-Serena Hedison

Stream BSS’s “Forgiveness Rock Record” here at NPR

Ok, is it wrong to just say that I could watch Sky Ferreira do her math homework and be completely drawn in? Because it’s true. This girl is gorgeous, which makes viewing her new video for “17” less about watching a story than watching her. But maybe that’s the point. Thing is, when her voice opens up and gets into a bit of a growl, you realize you’re seeing some serious talent here, whether she be writhing, pre-tryst, around the floor of her very girlish bedroom, or hooked onto the back of a motorbike, spot-lit and bootlegged. The more I watch “17” the more I dig it, even with all of its literal storytelling and cross-cutting. For some reason I’m reminded of Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield” video, which spoke to a generation of lust-filled and willful girls in a way that nothing quite had yet. The forbidden street, the moral inappropriateness of it all, and a voice that you wished you had.

-Serena Hedison

Nikka Costa did something good. Very good. Releasing her 3rd Lp free of a major label , instead working with the indie gofunkyyourself records along with Stax Records. Which makes sense because this record stanks of Stax records classics. It’s all there.

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If you’re the type that is all about post 90s syrupy smooth slow jams, Dwele’s new album, Sketches of a Man, is definitely for you.
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Duffy’s sound is very nostalgic and retro. I’m not going to lie…she does
sound a bit like Amy Winehouse, but that isn’t such a bad thing. I mean
musicians bite off each others styles all the time, right?

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