New Music from 9/21/2010 - John Legend & The Roots, Matt Costa, and Mackintosh Braun

John Legend & The Roots Wake Up! - The R&B/Hip-Hop icons join forces on an album of funky songs from the 60's and 70's that still have social relevance today.  There is also one new song that John Legend wrote for the upcoming documentary Waiting For Superman.  C'mon now!  It's a new album by The Roots and John Legend!  Enough with the blather, let's get to the review!


"Hard Times" has an opening that harkens back to the soulful Baby Huey & The Babysitters original but infuses a modern rap in the middle that really manages to open the song up for younger audiences while still keeping true to the spirit and sound of the original.  "Ghetto Boy" doesn't transfuse modern and classic as well with its opening rap by Black Thought totally setting the wrong tone for the very thoughtful Donny Hathaway tune that Legend nimbly handles with his normally stunning vocals.  The well-known Harold Marvin classic "Wake Up Everybody" gets turned into a duet with Melanie Fiona that works surprisingly well although the rap by the generally awesome Common in the middle isn't as successful.  The new song, "Shine," is a very soulful, cozy tune that makes good use of Legend's voice with jazzy trumpeting offsetting the reluctantly hopeful lyrics. 

It's a good but not great covers album by two very talented groups of performers.  John Legend's voice is a good match to most of the songs given that the man could probably sing the phone book and it'd still be a hit.  The Roots do a good job backing the songs keeping it relatively mellow probably trying to stay true to the original artists.  When they do let go in songs like "Our Generation" and "Hang On" it's a treat to listen their take on classic funk.  The album alternates between songs that are extremely faithful to the original versions to songs that have been slightly altered (mainly by incorporating rap) that help update most of those songs for more modern audiences.  There aren't any songs that have been wildly transformed which I did find slightly surprising and the album skews more to the soulful than the funky side of things. 

Score: 7/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Hard Times" and "Wake Up Everybody"

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Matt Costa Mobile Chateau - The So-Cal singer/songwriter releases his third full-length album.  His indie/folk-rock music would fall somewhere between Jack Johnson and Ryan Adams, although his style isn't a laid back as Johnson nor does it skew towards country like Adams sometimes does.  However, like those artists, Costa puts on a very energetic live show where he typically plays a number of instruments like the guitar, piano, harmonica, and anything else he's picked up over the years.  He also tours a lot and has opened for a number of big bands like Oasis, Modest Mouse, and Death Cab.  

Costa stays true to his style on his new album while bringing a new found depth to his musical sound as well.  The album opens with a song whose opening melody seems like it was borrowed from something found on a The Turtles or an early Beatles single and is just as quaint and catchy as one of those singles in "The Season."  "The Drive" is the most accessible track on the album with its catchy pop hooks and piano melody.  While songs like "Painted Face" don't have that different a melody as a standard Costa song but its eerie backing vocals and odd horn and organ work add a level of spookiness to a song about how people can have two faces.  The song at its core isn't that different from what Costa gave us previously but its brought to a greater level by the use of the tools at his disposal during production of the song. 

I think it's a good direction for Matt Costa.  He seems darker than he had been before and he also gives us a greater depth to his songs by using a wide range of instruments more diversely than previously ("Painted Face" and "Bleeding Hearts").  He also seems to be reaching to past with a couple of songs that have melodies that echo to the early days of rock ("Secret" and "The Season").  I didn't love every song on the album but I found it a very interesting album in that it kept me wondering what direction each song was going to take us next.  There's a greater diversity to the album than I was expecting going in yet, despite the different pulls in various directions, the total package is far from aimless. 

Score:  7.5/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Drive" and "Painted Face"

Mackintosh Braun Where We Are - This two person electropop band from the Pacific Northwest release their debut second album.  Originally I was debating whether or not to spend the time reviewing a third album this week because it's a busy week at work but then I listened to this album and it was really good.  And then I tried to look the band up in Wikipedia and found they didn't even have a Wikipedia page so I thought someone should try to spread the word about them.  So while this may have started out as a pity review let me assure you this is an album worth a listen if you like electropop music. 

I would describe Mackintosh Braun as maybe two parts OMD, two parts Pet Shop Boys (a couple of references for you old folks like me), with a little bit of Miss Kitten sprinkled on top (and a reference for you kiddies out there).  I compare them to OMD because of the band's catchy synthetic pop hooks, to Pet Shop Boys for the danceable beats, and to Miss Kitten for their integration of more modern house and trance samples.  "Where We Are" has a definite OMD feel while a song like "Line in the Sand" has a definite Pet Shop Boys sound and beat.  Like most electropop bands, lots of synthesizers are used to achieve the band's sound, including on the vocals, but they aren't afraid to incorporate real instruments like guitars and bass into their songs either.

For a debut second album, this is a pretty impressive release.  It definitely sounds very polished and very well put together as an album.  Most of the songs are about love, either on the rise ("To Protect") or on the way out ("Made For Us").  The album opens with the extremely catchy "Could It Be" and it continues all the way through to the album title's eponymous song as the finale.  Definitely a group worth checking out as they have a sound that recalls some pretty good bands from the past while still managing to sound modern. 

Score: 8.5/10
Songs to Sample:  "Where We Are" and "Made For Us"