JEFFREY MARSHEK is a personal music junkie, at your disposal.
I like to think of my work as a music trainer with a monthly plan to get your ears in the best shape possible.
I am setting up a regimen for what you should be listening to each month.
You could even look at me as your music doctor.
This month, I’m prescribing soulful R&B, Alternative Country Folk, Trip Hop and some Dance/Electronica.
Our next appointment is in a month……
MY-POD: THE SOUNDTRACK
MASSIVE ATTACK: Electro-ancestors and Trip hop forefathers
Massive Attack, the collective known for pioneering a unique style of sound, a genre (and a legion of copy cats) returns with ‘Heligoland.’
As with Sade, Massive attack has also only released a handful of recordings in its 20 year career, the latest installment being their 5th.
‘Heligoland’ (named after a German archipelago in the North Sea) clocks in at just under an hour.
And in true Massive Attack fashion, it boasts an impressive roster of innovative collaborations.
Tunde Adembimpe of TV on the Radio kicks the album off with ‘Pray for Rain’ a haunting funhouse of spook and ethereal production.
Martina Topley Bird follows “hallucinating, chasing, changing and racing” through the industrial groove ‘Babel.’
‘Paradise Circus’ is a seductive incantation cast by a spellbinding Mazzy Star front woman Hope Sandoval.
And ‘Girl I Love You’ is a hypnotic reggae dub trance.
But it’s the eerie trip through ‘Saturday Come Slow’ with Blur’s Damon Albarn (backed by Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley) that cements the hour’s haunting mood.
“Do you love me?” Albarn pines endlessly, with a brooding desperation to summon every little piece of your withholding heart.
SADE: Soldier of Love, Veteran of music
Sade is a rare breed of artist, one who has been able to endure in the Music Industry for some 25 years. Despite her notorious disdain for promotional tours/ the press, she continues to sustain an audience without the gimmickry and slick media packaging that most of her peers have come to rely on.
Sade always relies on the music. And the source, her muse: Love.
‘Soldier of Love,’ the follow up to 2000’s ‘Lover’s Rock,’ is a solid collection of reggae groove redemption tunes. These songs are, of course, sensual though laden with a deep sense of heartbreak and loneliness; not the recording you expect from the artist widely associated with being the universal soundtrack for lovemaking.
Marking the sixth studio recording with her band, Sade takes on a darker side of love: the life after the demise of love. Love IS a battlefield. And Sade is your samurai princess.
‘The Moon and The Sky’, the album’s opener, is a eulogy for the end of a relationship, with the possibility of what could have been lingering on. ‘Soldier of Love,’ the title track and first single off the album finds Sade, the warrior, picking up the pieces and “still looking for the light.”
‘Babyfather’ is a heart-felt dedication to the apple of daddy’s eye, a love that comes with a “lifetime guarantee.”
By the time ‘Long Hard Road’ appears, Sade the samurai princess rocks herself to stillness with the sage wisdom to persevere.
She’s her own Buddha on the mountain top, or the female incarnation of Bob Marley, and she’s telling herself that every little thing is going to be all right.
By album’s end, Sade is likening memory of the way Michael Jackson’s songs used to linger everywhere. She is ready for the spiritual shower, to peel you away and wash you from her ‘skin.’
It is the trademark sensual, slow burn kiss-off that you have been tuning in for all along.
And as always, Sade doesn’t disappoint.
HOT CHIP: Dance-hall days with the Dungeon and Dragon dorks
From the beginning of Hot Chip’s electrifying fourth studio LP, ‘One Life Stand’, a series of chords played on an organ slowly steals your attention, taking you away to a galaxy of synthesizers, drum beats and surprising harmonies. You are even discretely warned about delineating needs from wants as you fall prey to the sounds of Hot Chip.
And just as you are about to write it off as mere dance-pop trifle, you hear lead singer Alexis Taylor calling to you, saying “Happiness is what we all want! May it be that we don’t always want!”
For the next 49 minutes, Hot Chip ARE the thieves they warn you about-yearning about their desires, creeping up into your stereo speakers and taking over the movie in your mind.
Spending the last decade creating emotional dance electronica has been Hot Chip’s mission and ‘One Life Stand’ continues that legacy.
The title track finds lead singer Alexis Taylor on a soulful inquisition desiring a lifelong unconditional love.
‘We have love’ is an electronic after-thought to Donna Summer ‘I feel Love,’ and ‘Brothers’ is a sweet ode to those devoted, protective siblings.
Best of all is ‘Take it in’, with the boys in signature harmony, driven by pulsating stereo phonics and crooning “my heart has flown to you just like a dove. It can fly, it can fly!”
BZZZZZZ: Sleeper hit
Identical twin sisters by day and burgeoning Alt/Country folk act by night, Chandra and Leigh Watson’s, better known as The Watson Twins, latest album might be their most personal.
Titled ‘Talking To You, Talking To Me’ the 12 song set features solid musicianship from the sister act, and even some new, unexpected sounds.
This is their 4TH album, one with more of the Indie Pop feeling, and includes some of the riskier instrumentation the girls are playing with.
‘Harpeth River’ will “wash over you,” recalling the unique sounds of artists such as Tricky or the Sneaker Pimps. Even ‘Calling Out’ some might mistake for a lush Carole King cover.
‘Forever Me’ is a private moment and second look at the vows you take together.
And ‘Midnight’, a whiskey bar witching hour torch song during last call.
Later along the way, the girls play with more styles, namely blending Blues and Rock with Pop, to great effect:
‘Devil in You’ the first single off the album is a blues rock jam, with sultry vocals and a rollicking killer hook.
Best of all is the stellar ‘U-N-Me’ an ultimate raw pained love rock ballad , driven by Linda Perry-esque vocal stylings backed by a lush, angelic harmony that will surprises you most.
YOU TUBE: Under The Covers
The Eels “I Could Never take the Place of Your Man”
Eels perform a majestic rendition of the beloved Prince single.
Front man Mark Oliver Everett channels some surprisingly rugged, Springsteen-esque vocals.
This features a string quartet and an audience of random kooky fans that even Central Casting couldn’t create.
Temper Trap “Dancing In the Dark”
Speaking of The Boss… It’s those Aussie rockers du jour Temper Trap giving a soulful, variation look at what may possibly be the most covered tune in Springsteen’s collection.
Their rustic folk sound fits the song nicely: Earthy. Light. Infectious.
Radiohead “Union City Blue”
Thom Yorke and Company’s version of a much covered and coveted Blondie original. And Radiohead can do no wrong.
Jason Mraz “Peg”
The Pop star’s jazzified voice and high range are showcased to perfection on the Steely Dan classic. Playing up those hard to reach Steely Dan notes, Mraz rocks his higher register with an air of complete ease and some real impressive guitar strumming swagger.
I am loving the Eels covering Prince – but can anyone tell me what the deal is with the pajamas?!