Mary Gauthier The Foundling

Mary Gauthier's (pron. Go-shay) 2010 release The Foundling starts out with the titular song, slow-waltz style; and has more in common with European cafe culture with its soft accordion and Italian folk arrangements, than what you think of as Americana singer-songwriter music.

This does not keep it from being any less visceral or poignant as this concept album is a rumination on being orphaned and searching some 40 years later for a birth mother. Sometimes coming off like a humorless John Prine (which is not a bad thing at all), by the time you get to Mama Here, Mama Gone you'll get the gist of this achingly beautiful singer-songwriter's muse.

Mary Gauthier is a rare singer-songwriter whose original and personal confessions become a nice contrast to this genre's usual observation stories. Not that the greats don't have personal and confessional songs but they don't always make whole albums about it without sounding maudlin. Goodbye starts out with the lyric 'I was born a bastard child in Louisiana.' Now that is honest.

It would be easy to compare Mary Gauthier to her fellow Louisiana contemporary Lucinda Williams, but I have to quit doing that. Primarily because they are really quite different and certainly matured differently as singer-songwriters. You are much more likely to hear New Orleans music gumbos or European folk idioms with Mary Gauthier than with Lucinda, who has chosen to pursue the more electric pursuits of rock & roll or roots rock for all its worth in order to mainstream herself in a genre she helped popularize some time ago with the brilliant Car Wheels on a Gravel Road album. And there is nothing wrong with that. Dylan is now doing the same thing and has made some of the best rock albums of this folk career here lately.

Mary though lets that musical melting pot of Louisiana really influence this album. Soft Cajun violins, New Orleans brass band and acoustic guitar permeate. It really makes the album haunting and so holds up her participating in her songs rather than writing about observations. She talks about herself in a deeply personal level without sounding like she is talking to her therapist (as is the common habit of so many of her male counterparts...Ellis Paul & John Gorka come to mind).

To make her abandonment legitimatized and forgiven she introduces a nice rock & roll style drum beat against an acoustic backdrop for the heartbreaking Blood is Blood.

'I got a heart that's ripped

I got a heart that's torn

I got a hole in me like I was never born'

The chorus is 'blood is blood and blood don't wash away'

Within the record she finally finds her birth mother and I won't give away the whole story in this excellent songscape that plays like a black and white indie movie that might not have an ending you expected, but you will appreciate it and will not be left without hope.

The New Pornographers - Together

The New Pornographers are not breaking any new ground with Together. The album is full of their usual excellent pop gems. And I mean every one. To me though, to operate in the pop rock realm and pull it off well is probably one of the most difficult things you can do without mimicking other artists...but c'mon with pop, that is exactly what you do unless you are The Beatles or Phil Spectre.

The New Pornographers are a Canadian supergroup and the only one I really know out of their group is alt-country singer-songwriter Neko Case, who I would gladly drink her bathwater. And she isn't even Canadian. Together, is reminiscent of their first three albums. I was struck though how much they really mine The Beatles. But on songs like the Crash Years we get treated to Brian Wilson via Pet Sounds. This is a strong complement. The next song following this, Silver Dollar Jenny, we get treated to the Neko Case's breathy 'wa-wa-wa-wa' sounding like that old pop easy listening classic Teach Me Tiger.

If You Can't See My Mirror is a swirling, swimming diamond ruby combining the male lead singer and brainchild of the group, A. C. Newman with Neko Case, in a cross between a Laurel Canyon Mamas and Papas and every middle 80s British faux gay alt-pop I have ever heard).

Their typical convention of making you think that you are getting verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus is turned on its ear, as they may change this completely in on itself. I don't know if it is because they are primarily Canadian, but it sure seems like you hear a lot of Euro-pop in here too. Guitars are sparse, but plenty of pianos and all kinds of Eastern European brass (especially the great brass arrangement on Daughters of Sorrow). In the classic pop sense, they let the voices of the various lead and harmony singers serve as the lead instrument. This is a great listen.

Be aware, that subsequent listens will turn you into an ear candy addict.

Belatedly, The Knitters

It was on May 15, 2010 that I saw them, but I forgot to mention that I saw the legendary band The Knitters. They are comprised of all the personnel of the seminal L.A. punk band X except for Billy Zoom on guitars. They do country music. When The Knitters are together, their staff guitarist is none other than the legendary Dave Alvin on guitar. Too bad he didn't get to sing as he has a great baritone like John Doe.

But I digress. The concert was terrific. And I forget how excellent of a guitarist Dave Alvin is. The primarily did music from their 1986 project called Poor Little Critter on the Road and their other traditional country album Modern Sounds of The Knitters (probably a play on words for Ray Charles seminal country album of similar name Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music).

In any event, before Jason & The Scorchers, before Uncle Tupelo, there was The Knitters. They are and were a punk band doing more than competent Americana, bluegrass, and Country and Western. The concert was excellent. There was much inter-band banter especially by former married couple Exene Cervenka and John Doe. Except for Dave Alvin's great surfabilly playing, it was primarily a rollicking acoustic set. I was particularly fond of the their cover of Rank Strangers. All in all a great concert where the whiskey flowed and the fun was had.

We also got to spend a little time talking to the great John Doe who came out to greet people and autograph CDs on the way out of Columbia, MO Blue Note venue.

Drive-By Truckers The Big To-Do

Ahhh yes, Southern rock. I love it. And no one does it better than my current-favorite-for-some-years now, The Drive-By Truckers. I have had The Big To-Do for a couple of months already. They have performed at my current city of Columbia, MO already. I have just hesitated reviewing for some reason. A Southern picture as always; hot, humid, political, rawking...these hard rock singer/songwriters never cease to amaze. As always, I never understand why they are not incredibly famous and popular. They can WRITE a song that kicks most other bands in the balls. This album is no different. In fact, shedding a lead guitar gave them a tougher, rawer sound on this album.

It kind of reminds me of a serious Pizza Deliverance. And that album had plenty of seriousness to it as well. I am so fascinated with a band that can continue to evolve and keep loyal to an incredible goal and sound that keeps the South so honest and raw and rural and urban even. As usual their Fualknerian ability to not explain away the duality of the South, but to embrace one of the only bits of cognitive dissonance I can possibly tolerate. Never apologists, only reporters this great piece of Rock & Roll and Southern Rock in particular keeps moving them forward.

The songwriting which has been great for years now just gets better. This album has dropped one of the lead guitars from 3 to 2 which makes it more muscular. They hopped from the New West label to ATO and chose to lean this bitch up a little. They also give their great rhythm section Shonna Tucker another two songs to sing on as well. My favorite album since The Dirty South I just never get over how much this band continues to grow and evolve. I can also never get over why they are not selling out stadiums because they have the 'tude of all the great Southern Rockers 10 fold!

The tunes are all great too, plenty of working man ennui starting with the power chord on Daddy Learned to Fly, the alcoholic paean The Fourth Night of My Drinking and the destined to be a classic This Fucking Job. Well done boys (and girl)!

Also don't miss Shonna Tucker's on-line southern cooking show.

IT'S RECORD STORE DAY

It's record store day, today April 17, 2010. Grab a fistful of your hard-earned cheese and buy some new music as well as helping out an independent business.

Times are changin'

I didn't have a chance to acknowledge the death of the great Alex Chilton. I am a huge Big Star fan and like Alex's back catalog quite a bit. I did not get 2009's box set of Big Star. I think I had quite a bit of what was on it anyway.

Alex Chilton was a great pop song writer. In the vein of The Beatles, Marshall Crenshaw, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, or many, many that came before and after his mark is indelible. R.I.P Alex. I thought you were terrific. It is a shame more people don't know who you are. You knew the South, the U.K. New York and L.A. You even knew New Orleans and for that alone you are the best. You were another Rosetta Stone that does not live, but still a Rosetta Stone which makes you important, very important.

Tonight, I am listening to the very underrated Pink Floyd Album The Final Cut. A lot of folks may not get what a companion album it was to The Wall. I bought it when I was probably 17. I've been listening to it for close to 30 years, eh.

I recently ordered all of Blondie's' back catalog. Tremendous. I am always fascinated with how late 70's and early 80's punk barrows so much from 50's Rock & Roll, 60's girl group and doo- wop. In any event these are cheap, masterful recordings. Seminal, really.

I will review The Drive-By Trucker's The Big To-do here shortly. Great.

Galactic ya-ka-may

As the header states on the liner notes "THIS IS NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER'S NEW ORLEANS RECORD." This really captures the attitude of New Orlean's own bounce-style band(the term for the New Orleans hip-hop sound) Galactic on their new album ya-ka-may. Knowing a little about ya-ka-may will help though a little.

As so much of New Orleans culture is based around food, ya-ka-may (a bastardization of Ya Ka Mein) is a loose set of ingredients used in an Asian soup done New Orleans style. For this album it just means a mixture of all kinds of fun stuff musically. Funk, jazz, blues, R & B, rap/hip-hop are just the starting point for this terrific album. We got some heavy hitters too. If there is a single on this album it would have to be Irma Thomas singing the song Heart Of Steel. She belts this out in her great New Orleans funky style. Boe Money features the standard New Orleans brass style of The Rebirth Jazz band. Legendary New Orleans bandleader and producer Allen Toussaint appears on the song Bacchus.

This album sounds so new stylistically, but it is firmly rooted in New Orleans. Hip-hop in general owes much to New Orleans. A lot of hip-hop out there samples New Orleans beats (especially The Meters, who are one of the most sampled bands in hip-hop besides James Brown!)

I give this album two funky-butts up!

Surfer Blood Astro Coast

Start with The Beach Boys Pet Sounds, multiply by The Jesus & Mary Chain (if you can't find it, The Dandy Warhols are fine to substitute for the J&MC), fold in a large scoop of British Sea Power and sprinkle liberally with Yo La Tengo and you have the jangly surf pop of this Florida-based band. I really like their debut album Astro Coast A LOT! I liked it immediately too from beginning to end. Those jangly guitars can turn fuzzy and dark though real quick. So don't be fooled by the shiny sheen you might hear on first listen.

The lyrics are fun and airy and they even sport a fun instrumental tune called Neighbor Riffs. It is absolutely made for driving down the highway Dick Dale style. That is if Dick Dale was Johnny Marr. This album should be loved by any fan of American 60's garage pop or Euro-pop. Their cool contrast tunes called Fast Jabroni and Slow Jabroni stick some more of that surf garage guitar stuff at you. So quickly in this music though it can change to that British informed no wave; sometimes even in the same song.

I just love their little punky guitar riffs. Can you tell? And the studio treatments they give lead vocalist John Paul Ptts are just wonderful...sometimes as fuzzy as the guitar.

Grab it up, sure to be on my Top 10 for 2010.

Crazy Heart Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

It's hard to review the soundtrack to Crazy Heart without reviewing the movie. Which was great by the way. Jeff Bridges inhabited the main character who is a once famous country & western performer and songwriter. The amazing thing though was how well he sang the songs on this soundtrack. As was amazing too, how well Irishman Collin Farrell sang. Collin Farrell played a character who essentially was a protege of Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) who now in the present day made fame on his own as a Top 40 country music performer. Anyway I digress about the music.

Primarily a T-bone Burnett project, he either wrote or co-wrote the original songs with up-and-comer Ryan Bingham (he and his band the Dead Horses have a cameo as a member of one of the bands that back up Bad Blake). The title song to the movie is called The Weary Kind is co-written with T-Bone and sung by Ryan Bingham. It has been nominated for an Oscar, so cross your fingers.

The songs are great road country done in the Bakersfield rather than Nashville style of AM 1960's country. Lots of Telecaster guitar licks to get the party and dancing going at any little club that Bad Blake may be playing, the flick really captured the road life of a country and western performer, which in this world is probably devoid of this kind of live traveling act unfortunately. Some of the live numbers are recorded in that concert style sound. I thought the performances were so good that when they are finished with a number you wanted to clap! The duet of Collin Farrell and Jeff Bridges on the tune Fallin' & Flyin' were just excellent. Another well represented country style on the original songs is the classic early 1970's Outlaw movement.

Sprinkled throughout the soundtrack are some great classics. Townes Van Zandt's If I Needed You, The Lovin Brother's My Baby's Gone, Kitty Wells's Searching, George Jones's Color of the Blues, Waylon Jennings's Are You Sure That Hank Done it That Way are a few of the great extras that round out an excellent soundtrack. Be sure and get the Deluxe Version of the soundtrack with all 23 rather than the economy 16 track version. You get a nice a capella version of Billy Joe Shaver's Live Forever, sung by big time country music fan and actor Robert Duvall.

See the movie and buy the soundtrack. Great traditional country and western will flow out your speakers.

Tim's top 10 list of albums for 2009

Okay, I am actually ahead by a month. I only reviewed 22 new albums instead of 28 like in 2008, which I didn't put out until the last week of February and did not post until July. Here we go...in order.

1. Neko Case-Middle Cyclone (album of the year)
2. Son Volt-American Central Dust (runner up and best band Americana)
3. Animal Collective-Merriweather Post Pavilion (best prog rock)
4. The Felice Brothers-Yonder Is The Clock (runner-up best band Americana)
5. Bob Dylan-Together Through Life
6. The xx-The xx (best minimalist pop)
7. Metric-Fantasies (best fuzz guitar pop)
8. Dinosaur jr-Farm (best hard rock/punk)
9. John Doe & The Sadies-Country Club (best country & western from a former punk rocker)
10. Rum Drum Ramblers-Tradin' Dollars For Dimes (best traditional blues)
11. Bob Reuter's Alley Ghost-Bob Reuter's Alley Ghost (best garage and punk)
12. Dave Rawlings Machine-A Friend Of A Friend (best singer/songwriter & folk)
13. Oliver Sain-St. Louis Breakdown (best re-issue and best R & B/soul)

Honorable Mentions:

Booker T. -Potato Hole (Best Blues/R& B)
John Fogerty & The Blue Ridge Rangers-Rides Again (best country & western performed by an outsider)
Levon Helm-Electric Dirt (best contemporary electric folk)


And yes I realize there are more than 10 albums in the "Top Ten."

The Great Larry Weir

R.I.P. Larry Weir; friend , music influence peddler, KDHX DJ.

The last of 2009 reviews are all about St. Louis.

There were three great St. Louis musician albums that came out late 2008 and 2009 that I wanted to share with folks. The first is the great blues/folk blues/country blues revivalists The Rum Drum Ramblers. I am so burnt on electric blues that it is ridiculous. And quite frankly I can't tell the difference between modern electric blues and the rock blooze of the late 60's. But blues revivalists, especially those in the folk & country vein, really trip my trigger. Even the electric blues of The Rum Drum Ramblers are great. I strongly recommend their excellent Tradin' Dollars For Dimes to any blues purist and anyone interested in retro tuneage that is as authentic as any St. Louis style blues that you can lay your hands on. The Rum Drum Ramblers are a Rosetta stone of acoustic, post WWII electric, and country blues like no other groups in St. Louis. Many of their tunes are comparable to the types of blues archetypes done by such bands as The Squirrel Nut Zippers or Flat Duo Jets. As fun as their album is to listen to, it is a great history lesson. Put these guys in league with Henry Townsend or Albert King and BUY THEIR RECORD.

Photographer, musician, singer/songwriter and KDHX DJ (and a true DJ at that) put out two excellent Americana albums under two different names. The first is Bob Reuter's Alley Ghost. This album features the Rum Drum Ramblers as the backing band and is full of the fun and humor you would expect from Reuter. His excellent command of punk and garage meshes nicely with his command of blues and folk. Primarily an Americana-style singer/songwriter record featuring blues, folk, and country blues, it is the softer side of this great musician's records that came out last year.

Contrasting from Bob Reuter's Alley Ghost to his other great band called Thee Dirty South, their record, 25 Conversations, sounds like it could have all been included on the first Nuggets Boxed Set; Detroit rock and roll in the vein of Sweaty Teddy, the MC5, or the Stooges. Hell, this could be Neil Young and Crazy Horse (speaking of Neil Young, included here is a great cover of Mr. Soul). You get the picture, heavey, tinny guitar, 4-track recording and hell of a lot of rock and roll fun.

Both of Reuter's albums reflect a true musician's musician and someone who understands the term "rock and roll" from its 1950's R & B beginnings to late 70's American punk. You don't get better than this. It is way, way, way underground but the sound is sooooo purely in the rock and roll spirit of rebellion that The Ramones would be jealous.

I think Bob Reuter is on a little hiatus from his gig as DJ of Bob's Scartchy Records on KDHX, but that show really defines how he approaches his own music. What a treasure and gem to the St. Louis music scene he and the Rum Drum Ramblers are!

Oliver Sain St. Louis Breakdown-The Best Of Oliver Sain

The next big reissue I got this year (it varies by two songs from the original issue) was St. Louis's R & B Giant & Legend Oliver Sain. I got a lot of St. Louis city music this year. Oliver Sain was a master saxophonist and producer par excellence of such greats as Fontella Bass (the original version of Deliver Me was sung by her and produced by Oliver-yes you know the song used for pizza delivery). This great reissue called Oliver Sain St. Louis Breakdown-The Best Of Oliver Sain is a must own for anyone with a passing interest in Rhythm & Blues, Disco, Soul and any other genre associated with not only the African-American music movement, but especially that of the Mid-West, and I ain't talking about Chicago and Detroit.

You can thank people like Tom "Papa" Ray, DJ of the program The Soul Selector on community radio station KDHX 88.1 FM and owner of Vintage Vinyl in University City for bringing these recordings to us. It would have been a magnanimous task. This album serves as a great historical document of Oliver. In the 90's in the heyday of Roy St. John's Morning Show Band, Oliver was always kind enough to lend his vast saxophone talents to this hodgepodge of a group who were typically raising money for KDHX. On these occasions I got to meet and shake hands with someone I consider as important as Allen Toussaint or Smokey Robinson as far as producers, songwriters, and performers go. Oliver was all of these as well as kind and humble too.

Pick up this very historically significant R & B/Soul album, it will not disappoint and should get your booty shaking and your hips grinding!

The reissue of Pearl Jam's Ten

I am sure a lot of people will disagree with me. I HATED the Seattle music scene of the early 90's. I hated Nirvana, I hated Soundgarden, I hated Mother Love Bone and all things associated with the Seattle scene. There were SO many other bands in the country that were trying to take punk to the mainstream that were SO much better, so much better. There were so many of us who had already invented that scene and left it by the time it got popular. In fact I thought it sucked before it got popular.

I did not hate Pearl Jam, but they were to me a top forty hard rock band. I thought their sound was a lot more original than all the other horrible crap from Seattle. Primarily because I could tell that they had a great understanding of classic rock. I thought that the really great bands of the modern and indie rock era had a great understanding of two things 1) Punk & 2) Classic rock. Needless to say, I did not ever buy any of Pearl Jam's albums. I knew that their catalog was going to be re-issued in 2009 of course starting with Ten.

Pearl Jam is intimately familiar with Punk and Classic Rock. Lo and behold for my birthday this year, a friend of mine who is a Pearl Jam fanatic bought me the reissue of Ten. Quite frankly, it is a brilliant example of modern pop rock. Heavy and tuneful with none of the stupid-ass ego of talentless hacks like Kurt Cobain (I will never understand what people saw in such an utter mistake of humanity) haunting their mix. The Ten reissue also known as Ten Redux has great packaging too. Inside it is the original issue of Ten, the second CD is Ten Redux which is a rough mix of the original plus six extra cuts. I really like this, it is too bad they did not issue this album as the original. The rough unmixed of this is the superior recording. The last disc is a DVD from MTV Unplugged. Predictably forgettable unless you are a true fan and believer. In any event this is a classic album and must be owned.

Starlight Mints Change Remains

The Starlight Mints hail from Norman, OK. Kind of similar to The Flaming Lips whom share state roots with the Starlight Mints. They make great jangly pop music and keep it pretty quirky. At heart, this fivesome is a pop band. They could fit on anything from 80's top forty to 90's modern rock to 21st century indie rock. They are tight, effective, fun, and dancey even. Lots of drum loops and funky keyboards and the lead singer sounds as nervous as David Byrne or Modest Mouse.

I have not heard their earlier albums, but Change Remains is such an enjoyable pop grab bag of pure music joy, it tickles the ears and the mind into wanting to mine that back catalog. In a single album you get a little reggae dancehall, beatlesque pop, funk, disco and all the stuff from all the decades that made real good pop music so nice.

Roy Rogers Split Decision

Roy Rogers has been knocking around for over 25 years. He is notable as a part of John Lee Hooker's Coast To Coast band in the 80's in which he played guitar, his specialty being his signature of being a slide guitar sideman. He also produced the excellent Hooker early 90's albums The Healer and Mr. Lucky (which won a Grammy), both being classic modern blues albums. So Roy's street cred is impeccable.

This Blind Pig Records offering, Split Decision is a good but not great blues album. Although some say Roy has not succumbed to the over produced heavy handedness of modern blues (which is essentially overproduced vaguely bluesy late 60's rock & roll), I would beg to differ. Modern blues, unfortunately, is nothing short of its continuing devolving of borrowed styles. In the case of acts such as Roy Rogers or say Walter Trout, these non-innovators borrowed the blues mined by Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones in the 60's and have regurgitated it in the 21st century as blues music. Yes, he's a stone great guitar player, yes the album rocks, yes there is competent R & B here, but it is pretty sterile and borderline soulless. It's all right and it may be a good introduction to modern blues, but then I just say pick up a couple old Led Zeppelin albums and you're probably good to go.

Artists of the decade

These are my picks for aritists of the decade (2000-2009)in no particular order: Ryan Adams, Neko Case, Bob Dylan, The Decemberists, Drive-by Truckers, Flaming Lips, Cat Power, Calexico, Lucinda Williams, U2, Willco, Son Volt, The Hold Steady, Beck, The White Stripes, Built To Spill, The Black Keys.

Here in order are my top 3 that I thought had the most impact on music in that decade.
1) Ryan Adams
2) Neko Case
3) The White Stripes

Dave Rawlings Machine A Friend Of A Friend

I sure like Dave Rawlings Machine. This is the other half of a songwriting team that includes Gillian Welch. Can't go wrong with that. In fact Dave Rawlings new album is called A Friend Of A Friend and that is absolutely the kind of sentiment I think is involved here. You can't contrast this so much from a Gillian Welch album as it sounds like a Gillian Welch album except it's Dave Rawlings on the forefront. It is slightly more band oriented as the backing band is none other than old timey greats Old Crow Medicine Show. So you can conjecture what is going on here, a fine, fine acoustically driven folk album full of melancholy, antiquity, lovelorn unrequited love and all those other things that you have come to expect from these various sepia-toned modern folkies. Gillian Welch is here too and in the photographs of the album art. And like you feel Dave's presence on her albums you feel her presence here but Dave Rawlings is the one up on the plate for this particular namesake.

As with albums like this, I am always intrigued by the covers or re dos of other songs past and present. When Ryan Adams came out with Heartbreaker on Bloodshot back in 2000 Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch were essentially his backing group for that album. Dave and Ryan wrote a song together called To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high). A fine song and standout on that album. Dave Rawlings slowed it down and folked it up in this nice re-work of it, his high thin voice is built for these gentle borderline bluegrass tunes.

The other beautiful re-work of a song is the latter half a medley he covers Neil Young's terrific and poignant song Cortez The Killer. It's very slow, acoustic style with just meager arrangement. Very wonderful. I certainly hope to hear more of Dave Rawlings Machine in the future because this was one of the better folk albums I heard in 2009.

Andrew Bird Noble Beast

As I wind down the last of the 2009 music reviews, I almost forgot Andrew Bird's Noble Beast.

As an axillary member of The Squirrel Nut Zippers, this singer/songwriter prog folkie makes the kind of swirling pop that you might hear with bands like The Thrills or perhaps even Midlake. His sound also hearkens back to old early 70's prog folk such as The Incredible String Band.

This album is flush with strings as he is a violin-player by trade. And being from Chicago, he did not forget to use the wonderful harmonizing pipes of fellow Chicago luminary Kelly Hogan. The songs are all good and very breezy, mixing everything from swing-jazz to gypsy music to easy folk tunes. But this is primarily an indie pop affair informed by singer/songwriter flair.

Lastly and most oddly this album is on Mississippi based Fat Possum Records. It is a label that I associate primarily with Mississippi Hill Country Blues. None of that on this great record though.

Metric Fantasies

Metrics's Fantasies starts out with fuzzy rhythm guitars and ends with fuzzy rhythm guitars. I instantly liked this album and its sheik, but not necessarily new, sound. I so adore high chick voices singing Euro-pop. All the tunes here hit you over the head with its punky, spunky, over and over 3-chord rock. Best part; they are really a North American contingent based out of such places like L.A., New York, Toronto and Montreal, Canada. That classic tinny sound, punctuated by a speedy economy of guitar and drum loops mixed with dancey, yet serious party fun make this decade ending release some of the best stuff I've heard in a long time.

They are as slick as a raw oyster, a taste that is acquired. Catchy rhythms with Emily Haines's Dale Bozzio-style voice (circa Missing Persons) flesh this great pop album out.

The XX

Wow! Cool! I had some Facebook friends recommend this great minimalist Euro-pop. I mean it epitomizes the genre, but wow, what a great job of it. I mean this is really catchy stuff. From the Velvet Underground economy of sound (except no fuzz) to the ice-pick-of-frozen vodka guitar plucks you just want to sway to this subdued dark-club-with-red-light atmosphere. Nice flat muted girl voice contrasted with a slightly lower male voice trading back and fourth and then following up with a harmony that works perfectly. The metronome drum and maybe a little guitar riff just really perfects this album and each of the songs. Reminds me a lot of The Jesus And Mary Chain. I am sure this will be on my top 10 and I am sure I won't be alone...a minimalist review for minimalist masters of pop.