The Langley Schools Music Project
Innocence & Despair (Bar None)
Sixty kids singing David Bowie's "Space Oddity"? Yep, thanks to a Canadian music teacher who, in the late '70s, bravely dumped his rural elementary school's standard choir repertoire in favor of Top 40 hits. You may scoff at the squeaky-thin voices tackling the complexities of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" and Paul McCartney's "Band on the Run," but this is more than a novelty album - as is evident in the touching interpretations of Michael Martin Murphey's "Wildfire" and the Eagles' "Desperado," the latter sung so delicately by a 9-year-old girl it sounds like a pleading love letter to a deadbeat dad.
Bush
Golden State (Atlantic)
British grunge survivor Bush dabbled with shifting sonic trends after its initial success with Sixteen Stone. Subsequent efforts missed and were panned. What's a band fronted by Gavin Rossdale - who possesses glam looks and the meanest pipes this side of Van Morrison - to do? Go back to what made Stone fans mosh with fiendish joy. Leading the aggression are the apocalyptic, hard-hitting "Fugitive" and the desolate "Out of This World."
Merle Haggard
Roots, Volume 1 (Anti)
Merle Haggard's soul belongs to the '50s, when Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, and Hank Thompson defined the honky-tonk themes of drink, defeat, and heartbreak. On this home-studio recording, he pays tribute to these seminal influences by performing their classics. The album takes a stripped-down approach unlike Haggard's previous efforts, and his band keeps the mood lively. But it's Norm Stephens, Frizzell's original guitarist, who makes this recording sound not merely nostalgic but vintage. While three new Haggard songs round out the assortment, the rediscovery of the old tunes will thrill your hillbilly heart.
The Anniversary
Your Majesty (Vagrant/Heroes and Villains)
The Anniversary shrugs off in-your-face keyboards and angst-ridden wails in its sophomore effort. Though the band explores its vocal range and simplifies its tone here, the Lawrence, Kansas, quintet hasn't lost its disarmingly sexy lyrics. On the first record, we heard "how that black dress fell upon your white neck"; this time, it's "move your hips pretty darlin', oh sugar come on." Indie rock has never been so hot.
DJ Colette
Our Day (Nettwerk America)
This is the true joint. Banging with seamless transitions, DJ Colette flows through thick, dubby Chicago bass lines into an area of tweaked-out disco vertigo. The cream of the underground - from Gene Farris to up-and-comer Home and Garden - blends with Colette's vocals in this diverse tangle of deep house. A true talent, she mixes and sings on these cuts, elevating the DJ performance to new heights. It's all love.
Dilated Peoples
Expansion Team (Capitol)
Dilated Peoples first made noise in 1999, propelled in large part by their ubiquitous West Coast anthem, "Work the Angles." With this second major-label release, they continue to make a name for themselves. Laden with midtempo drum programming and tasteful horn, guitar, and flute samples, Expansion Team evokes a classic, old-school feeling. It's no wonder - with producers such as the Alchemist (Prodigy), Premiere (Gang Starr), and da Beatminerz (Black Moon, Boot Camp Click) manning the boards for a majority of the tracks, listeners will feel as though they've been transported back to the canonical golden age of hip hop.
The Distillers
Sing Sing Death House (Hellcat/Epitaph)
The Distillers' gritty front woman, Brody Armstrong (whose hubby, Tim, is in Rancid), is saturated with rot, hope, and soul. Like a Pretty on the Inside-era Courtney Love, Armstrong rips into social ills and her fucked-up past with razored screams and ballistic energy. On Death House, she's buoyed by some of the catchiest street-credible punk produced in years - faster than bullets but popping with hooks.
Future Pilot AKA
Tiny Waves, Mighty Sea (Domino)
The Scots have long had a way with delicate pop, crafting songs with mica-thin melodies that shatter if you listen too closely. Future Pilot AKA follows that tradition. Plus, the Glaswegian musician - also known as Sushil K. Dade - taps his family's Indian roots for a more exotic, worldly sound. Feathery guitars, dew-laden strings, and the occasional ping from tablas exhibit Dade's penchant for experimentation. Highlights include "Beat of a Drum," with its pulsing, '60s garage rock organ, and "Om Namah Shivaya" ("I Bow to Shiva"), a 10-minute opus on which Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch wraps his gentle vocals around Hindi lyrics.
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