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The Verdict: The guys do great with the instruments, but make it hard to get fired up over their vocals. Go see 'em live and yell at 'em to turn it up a notch -- this is music you should get excited about, even if they don't sound like they are.
– GRANT BRITT
Isis
In the Absence of Truth
Ipecac
The Deal: Neurosis crossed with Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath resulting in stoner rock for this young century's musically blossoming generation.
The Good: This LA-based band knows how to slowly build tension until you either pull your hair out or start flailing it in a rhythmic trance. There is a method to the epic riffage, which is composed with an ear for the subtle undercurrents of melody and generous use of rising and falling tension.
The Bad: The slow building and layered bombast, along with the loooong tunes, may work against them in radio-land. The attention-deficit crowd just won't get it and that's a damn shame.
The Verdict: This is hard, thick music made without any trendy hang-ups. Believe it or not, Isis' music has a meditative, almost medicinal aura. Hell, consider it dance music of the future.
– SHUKLA
CHUCK E. WEISS
23rd & Stout
Cooking Vinyl
The Deal: Weirdo noir tales from L.A. scenester Chuck E. Weiss.
The Good: Weiss' third solo release in 30 years suggests there's still some hip left in the ultimate hipster's shtick, even if his old Tropicana Hotel neighbor Tom Waits zipped past him creatively decades ago. On 23rd & Stout, Weiss again peers beneath LA's slick veneer in narratives populated by colorful Bukowski lowlifes and Fante down-and-outers with names like "Pork Chop" and "Piccolo Pete" -- questionable characters who invariably meet their fates in altered states.
23rd wanders through a good portion of the American songbook: low-down filthy swamp blues (Weiss played with Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon); beatnik bebop, street corner doo-wop, Carney music, country blues laments, and greasy rockabilly. Weiss' crackerjack band includes some of LA's most frequently hired guns -- among them ex-X guitarist Tony Gilkyson, drummer Don Heffington and reeds-man David Ralicke -- and the sinuous groove they lay down at times is as thick as a Friday rush hour on the 405.
The Bad: Poor Chuck. Forever destined to toil in Waits' shadow, and probably better known for his twin roles as the subject of Rickie Lee Jones' "Chuck E's In Love" and as co-owner of the Viper Room with Johnny Depp. But Weiss has no one to blame but himself when it comes to ubiquitous Waits comparisons; when you put out one record a decade, you should probably avoid Swordfishtombrones-like drunken sailor stomps or crooning in an ashtray rumble circa Small Change.
The Verdict: Not Tom Waits.
– SCHACHT
Múm
The Peel Sessions
Fatcat/BBC
The Deal: Techno-pop with classical sentiments from eclectic Icelandic combo.
The Good: This 4-track E.P., made at the legendary BBC radio show once hosted by John Peel, features mostly instrumentals by a quartet from that quirky island in the North Atlantic. A floating dreamscape is created by Múm with the use of laptops mingling with organic instrumentation of cellos and harmonium. The whispered female vocals on one track induce further daydreaming.
The Bad: There's a tendency for sameness, but we can forgive them here since this is essentially a recording of a short radio performance. It may also be a tad pretentious, but the quartet's sense of timing and exploration of sounds works in their favor.
The Verdict: The sound-twisting ethos so favored by most Icelandic bands (Sugarcubes, Bjork) continues with Múm's forward-reaching compositions.
– SHUKLA
Donna Hughes
Gaining Wisdom
Rounder
The Deal: Local songwriter's big time singing bid.
The Good: Trinity native Donna Hughes had been penning songs for a decade for bluegrass big shots including Allison Krauss and the Seldom Seen before Tony Rice heard her last solo album and called her offering to produce. Rice plays guitar on most cuts as well. Hughes' voice is similar to Krauss's, a little smoother and fewer nasals, but still with plenty of high and lonesome twang.
Hughes wrote all but two of the cuts. Covering Cindi Lauper's "Time After Time" bluegrass style is a bit difficult to wrap your head around at first, but after it goes by the first time it seems a natural fit.
It's a pretty album, not the galloping yee-haw kind of bluegrass, but low-key, quiet, introspective stuff more suited to a singer/songwriter. But just so you won't nod off, Hughes brings in Sam Bush for some fleet-fingered fret work on mandolin on the rollicking "Where Are You Darlin'" and the uptempo love song "Too Many." Hughes' voice is pretty enough by itself, but with the harmonizing help of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Rhonda Vincent and Krauss, it's ethereal.
