So many records and so little time...

to post.

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The Black Heeart Procession - Six

I am a huge fan of the Black Heart Procession's earlier work, but they have let me down over the years. The dirge-ridden and plodding tracks gave way to up-beat and overly thematic songs. The BHP return to the numbering system with their newest record and a few of the tracks return to their old nature as well. When the tempo increases,however, the music loses it's impact. There's no overbearing spectre or ghost behind your back on most the record, but 'Liar's Ink" and "Iri Sulu" are worth a spell. They are full of foreboding, fear, and haunting. These tracks are certainly worthy of the oncoming wintery weather.

Grade: 4.1

Zero 7 - Yeah Ghost

Zero 7 is another group who's releases have been less stellar as of late; although, they have not had many releases to mention. There is more depth of production on Yeah Ghost, but the whole of the album is not that good. While including more variances in style, they lose what they do best in most cases. Several tracks have a feeling of trying to do too much. Superfluous beats and a too contemporary feel make the record feel like it'd be better suited on VH-1 than an in a loungey set. The melodies are also missing with many of the tracks. When they do pull of quality songs it is with the methods that made them so great to begin with. The organ sound of "The Road" and the bounce of "Swing" are what you are looking for from Zero 7.

Grade: 3.8

Golden Ghost - The Unimaginative Body

Coming from Endicott, New York, Golden Ghost embodies a plugged-in farmers' market group with a lot of style and substance. Laura Goety's voice and talent are clearly present as is her spirit. The music has an ethereal psyche feel to it but with more depth to the sound which gives it more body. This psyche group is capable of so much more that daydreamy crap and I have to admit that I really dig their earthy sound. I kept "Plain Sight," "If You Are In Love Then Why Are You Aslpeep," and "Russet, Citrine, Olive & Black."

Grade: 5.6

Way Out Sounds

Jake Holmes - The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes (1967)

Never heard of Jake Holmes? Surely, you've heard one of his songs then! He wrote the "Be a Pepper" jingle with Randy Newman and the "softer side of Sears" riff that is still in use today. More importantly, he wrote "Dazed and Confused." That's right the Led Zeppelin song, which Jimmy Page stole and never gave credit for. Jake didn't care enough to pursue it past a letter, but those who do love music it's interesting to hear a much darker version of the song. Jake is like the Townes Van Zandt of the psyche world of the late 1960s: great melodies and songwriting, but never quite accepted past his pure talent. It's worth it for "Dazed and Confuse" itself, but also worth listening to "Signs of Age," "Lonely," and "Wish I Was Anywhere Else."

Grade: 5.9

Pleq - The Fallen Love
Minimal IDM made with organic sounds making wonderful use of the silence yet incorporating ambient noise to build tension throughout. Some good tracks here from Pleq. Who is Pleq? He is 25 year-old Bartek Intelligible based out of Katowice, Poland. The overall feeling from his songs is that of Angelo Badalamenti's background music from Twin Peaks with elements of glitch. Not Moby's crappy "Go" version of "Laura Palmer's Dream," but a dirty, ominous, and true representation of that same feeling of foreboding. Pleq does utilize vocals occassionally, but the creepy factor is increased exponentially for those tracks and it's a bit much. My one issue with Pleq is that the music does seem a bit too constructed at times and not as alive as the sounds that carry it. After a few tracks you realize that nearly all the spaces are measured and too exact-varying these spaces, even by the 1/100th of a second can breathe so much more life into songs. When all said and done I chose to keep "The Fragment in My Life," "Do You Remember Your Dreams," "Pleq is Dead," and the title track "The Fallen Love" is good too.

Grade: 6.0

Dizzee Rascal - Tongue N' Cheek
I love, love, love Dizzee Rascal. On his first record, 2003's Boy in da Corner, he amazingly produced the beats and spit vocal like a veteran: he was 17. Now he is a veteran, and he's using the beats of such club legends of Armand Van Helden, Calvin Harris, and Tiesto for the majority of his tracks. This leaves time for Dizzee to concentrate on his rhymes. While his frenetic vocals occassionally get in the way of the tracks, he is contuing to mature and allow for more space. Dizzee is nothing else if not focused and his track record of putting out a new album every eight months or so proves this. Even more amazingly, these records are usually not lacking in quality. The herky/jerky bangers are still there and ready to pump you up for a night out at the club. I kept "Bonkers," "Dance Wiv Me," and "Holiday."


Grade: 6.9