Me'Shell NdegÉocello
Bitter (Maverick)
Noticeably less aggressive than on her first two efforts, Me'Shell Ndegéocello exposes a tender underbelly with Bitter. Her powerful voice doesn't emerge beyond a guarded and gentle whisper in tunes like "Fool of Me" and "Wasted Time," as she reveals a soul battered by failed love. She has never sounded so beautiful - or so honest.
Tori Amos
to venus and back (Atlantic)
Two facts about piano-pounder Myra Ellen Amos: She's never had a Top 40 hit; no album compares to seeing Amos live. Here comes her first double CD to the rescue. Sure to thrill devotees, one disc, recorded live last year, demonstrates Amos' remarkable stage presence. The other, recorded with a full band, is all-new material. Sure, her inexplicable diary-poetry is here ("hey you gender nectar crystalline from the vine"), but so too is her most accessible music yet. On "Juárez" her ethereal breathiness is balanced by the funky groove. And the highlight, "1,000 oceans," just might be her breakthrough hit.
Richard Bona
Scenes From My Life (Columbia)
Born in Cameroon, Bona built and played his own instruments while still a child. He started playing professionally at 11, jammed jazz on electric bass by 13, and played with world-jazz bands in Paris by the time he was 22. In 1995, at 28, he played in New York with Joe Zawinul; a year later he became Harry Belafonte's musical director. On this solo debut, Bona seems ready to reinvent world music. He moves from the bluesy funk of "Djombwe," with its swooping bass line and percolating African percussion, to the pan-Caribbean groove of "Dipita." Bona's elegant arrangements make these musical snapshots glow.
Venice
Spin Art (Vanguard)
With family ties to the Lennon Sisters of Lawrence Welk fame, these young spin artists could have traded on a famous surname and served up Osmond gloppiness packaged as toothy family values. Instead, Venice's follow-up to its acclaimed 1997 debut is smart California pop. The born-and-bred tunes are infectious, heartfelt musings on love and what matters in life - all riding on gorgeous harmonies set to jangling guitars.
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
American Music, Texas Style (Blue Thumb)
Swing may be all the rage, but blues vet Brown has already been there. This cat was on the scene when swing first hit, and he obviously dug it. On his latest disc, this living legend plays the tunes of Basie, Ellington, and Bird - and their work can't get any bluesier. Backed by a blistering 17-piece big band, Brown's vocals and guitar lend perspective to the retro-fad zoot-suit music of "today."
DJ Krush
Kakusei (Red Ink)
Almost entirely instrumental, Kakusei might at first seem to be background breakbeat music, with tracks that combine a cool, low-frequency austerity with substantial rhythmic complexity. That alone would be enough to make this a crash-pad standard for years to come, but Krush's playfulness takes it further: Where some DJs on the experimental tip tend to get all didactic, joylessly showing you what they can do without putting a smile on your face, our man in Tokyo messes freely with his own handiwork, regularly setting up intricate rhythms only to inventively disrupt them for the sake of your, and his, pleasure.
Robert McDuffie/Houston Symphony
Violin Concertos of John Adams & Philip Glass (Telarc)
A virtuosic performance by McDuffie weaves these three-movement pieces by Adams and Glass together despite disparate compositional techniques. Dually commissioned for both concert hall and dance stage, Adams' provocative opus ebbs and flows without obvious meter, then suddenly pulses with excitement. Seldom resting in one place, Glass' first movement picks up the pace. It maintains forward momentum via the subtle development of repeating motifs. More mathematical in design than Adams' piece, Glass' work borders on redundancy, yet this may be part of its appeal.
The Folk Implosion
One Part Lullaby (Interscope)
In the tradition of "Natural One," the song off the Kids soundtrack that propelled the unassuming Folk Implosion into some serious jukebox rotation, Lou Barlow (bassist/vocalist from Sebadoh) and partner John Davis plug Stratocaster, drum machine, and some homegrown sensitivity into one electrified socket. Part Elvis Costello, part Dandelion Wine, this album trusses grade-school nostalgia with a firmly rooted late-'90s reality check.
STREET CRED
Hedgehog Bliss
Gone Postal
Get Back to Work
The Law of the Code
Speakers, Medium Rare
Monster Rumble
Email Made Easy
ReadMe
Music
Drag and Drop
Mad as Hell
Van vs. Pea
Amphibious Assault
Just Outta Beta
Tunes From the Crypt
Rediscovered Rants
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