Gigi
Gigi (Palm Pictures)
Ethiopian refugee Gigi sings beautifully in her native Amharic of love and longing. Her musical heritage thrives in producer Bill Laswell's fusion-oriented scheme, where dub and Western pop mingle with African and Asian rhythmic vibes in tracks like "Mengedegna" and "Zomaye." Guests Herbie Hancock, Karsh Kale, Wayne Shorter, and Pharoah Sanders help to build the mood, but Gigi's graceful vocals are what the fuss is all about.
Miles Davis
The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions (Columbia/Legacy)
Back in 1969, Miles Davis' In a Silent Way gave birth to a whole new kind of cool by introducing electric guitars and the Fender Rhodes keyboard to jazz. With its simmering grooves and pioneering use of tape loops, the LP demonstrated that the new breed of instruments could be just as swinging as a wailing sax, while infusing the streetwise blues-jazz sensibility with transcendent calm. This three-disc set adds more than 90 minutes of unreleased jams (in chronological order of performance) to the original record, and maps the emergence of Davis' most meditative electrified incarnation.
Ben Folds
Rockin' the Suburbs (Epic)
Just when you thought irony was dead, it is resurrected in Ben Folds' impossibly catchy songs about aging hippies, mindless jobs, middle-class suburban anger, and, of course, love. In Folds' second solo effort, hand-clapping beats and bouncing piano chords disguise some of the finest bittersweet songwriting this side of 1979, while weird flights of whimsy and a dollop of sarcasm keep things interesting. Several tunes strive for the sublime storytelling of "Eleanor Rigby," but when Folds tries too hard for sappy lyrics, he comes off as insincere and corny. Still, this is top-down, sunset-driving, shower-singing music of the highest order.
Stereolab
Sound-Dust (Elektra)
Stereolab has always mixed tender vocals with swaths of quirky space soundtracks. Nearly a decade after its inception, the postmodern act still aims for the outer limits. Sound-Dust moves like a dream: Pastel melodies appear and evaporate at a tempo unfamiliar to the indie pop world. There are no hook-filled, college radio-ready tracks or messy sonic sculptures - just elegant, art-rock landscapes to explore with rose-swirled sunglasses.
The Residents
Original Soundtrack: Icky Flix (East Side Digital)
Despite the Residents' passion for multimedia, it's their animated musical compositions that remain essential. This CD companion to the Icky Flix DVD uses exaggerated electronics and piercing humor to produce new melodies from its 30-year catalog. The band turns songs like "The Third Reich 'n' Roll" into wonderfully absurd musical theater.
Rollercone
Rollercone (Sirkus/K7)
Patrick Duvoisin, aka DJ Rollercone, has been recording singles and remixing other people's tracks for nearly five years in his native Switzerland. On this disc, he borrows from the cool groove of French musicians like St. Germain's Ludovic Navarre, but replaces instrumental solos with soulful singers. Rollercone's best trick is knowing when to give the beat a rest, then kick in hard using driving bass drums. The feeling saturates the song lyrics with a credibility that rises above fact: Just listen to guest artist Jacob Eggay praying his heavenly father will heal the earth on "Nothing Can Stop Us Now" and see if you don't want to believe.
The Coup
Party Music (75 Ark)
The Coup's lead rapper-producer Boots Riley is an urban radical to the core. Reconfiguring rap posturing to fit his own ends, Boots tackles sociopolitical enemies - global capitalism, racism, educational inequity. He does so with passion and wit, and subtlety is not on his agenda. "Every one of y'all is getting pimped," he sternly warns on "Everythang." So what to do, then? Quipping about his "homie with a cell, but that shit don't ring" on "Ghetto Manifesto," Boots manages to capture tragedy and comedy at once. Though obsessed with the former, he understands the latter can help salve those wounds.
Laptop
The Old Me vs. The New You (Trust Me)
With seductive vocals reminiscent of Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry and a penchant for dark-humored lyrics, Laptop's second album continues the themes of his first: mocking the music industry and confronting past lovers. The versatile rocker forms unusual sounds through the synthesis of a slide guitar, Nord Lead 2 keyboard, and a Whitehall organ. Mixed with cutting verses, this release is bitter harmony.
STREET CRED
Airgo
The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal, by M. Mitchell Waldrop
Video Game Enhancer
San Francisco City CarShare
Silent Hill 2
Programming:1
3Com Wireless Bluetooth PC Card
ReadMe
Music
KEYKatcher
Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers, by Michael Baden and Marion Roach
Blood: The Last Vampire
Just Outta Beta
Digital Fish Finder
Evolution
Contributors
