New Music from 1/25/2011 - Iron & Wine, Talib Kweli, and The Get Up Kids

Iron & Wine Kiss Each Other Clean - Indie folk rocker Sam Bean, aka Iron & Wine, releases his fourth studio album with his last album, The Shepherd's Dog, reaching as high as #24 on the U.S. charts.  However, the song that I most associate with Iron & Wine is his acoustic cover of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" which was memorably featured on the Garden State movie soundtrack from 2004.   I must say that I'm really digging his post-Impressionism inspired album cover, especially how the muted color palette really makes the individual figures on the artwork pop.  Now let's see if the new album can match the coolness of the cover. 

"Walking Far From Home" opens the album in the folk rock style that is reminiscent to the sound given to us from Bean's previous releases although the music this time around has a more lush, layered sound.  "Me and Lazarus" and "Monkeys Uptown" have more seductive grooves that gratifyingly have roots in Blues and Funk, respectively, while still not wandering far from the type of  music we expect from Bean.  "Half Moon" has a slow tempo but cheery melody buoyed by a good choral hook during the bridge.

It's a good album from Iron & Wine in that he gives us music in the style that we expect from him while trying to add a more robust feel to his sound by bringing in other genres of music.  It is also Iron & Wine's best produced and written album with a more complex layering of sounds, increased use of non-standard (for him) instruments, better integrated backing vocals, and a well thought out track layout.  Bean's slow tempo folk rock will not be a hit with every listener but I found this album much more accessible from beginning to end than some of Iron & Wine's previous albums. 

Score:  7.5/10 
Song(s) to Sample: "Half Moon" [sample it below] and "Monkeys Uptown"

Talib Kweli Gutter Rainbows - The rap/hip-hop artist best known from his work in Blackstar with Mos Def releases his fifth solo album.  This album is available for download from online retailers like Amazon beginning today although the date the actual CD drops is still to be determined for the U.S. (it comes out in the UK later this month).  As you would expect, Kweli's latest release is chock full of guest performers like Mos Def, Sean Price, Nigel Hall, and Outasight.  Let's find out how the latest album from the "Prince of Brooklyn" sounds.

The album opens with the quick, less than 90-seconds, "After the Rain" as kind of a throwaway introductory track.  "Gutter Rainbows" follows with a seductive intro featuring restrained horn work and a 70's style funk groove backing the rap and vocals.  The next song, "So Low," has a haunting sound with its roots more firmly entrenched in a more modern, downtempo hip-hop style.  "Cold Rain" has a tune more inline with classic Soul music but a modern rap and a choir doing the backing/chorus vocals to add a more modern vibe.  The album closes with the jazz-influenced "Self Savior" which has enticing piano work although the accompanying rap gets monotonous as the song drags on. 

Gutter Rainbows is a fun and entertaining release from Talib Kweli.  Although the album isn't avoiding tackling modern social issues, at least it doesn't try to ram those messages down your throat like in some past Blackstar tracks.  Instead, Kweli is able to refocus that energy into giving us a more diverse sound with silkier grooves.  The album has a very sexy vibe with many of the songs having melodies that credibly imitate grooves from the peak of Soul and Funk from the 70's and 80's yet still managing to sound modern with the vocal work and beats. 

Score:  8/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Gutter Rainbows" and "Cold Rain" [sample it below]

The Get Up Kids There Are Rules - The influential emo/indie rockers from Kansas City release their first album since 2004's Guilt Show.  During their seven year hiatus, the band broke up, reunited, and then went on tour before getting together in studio to lay down the tracks for this album.  They are currently on tour again supporting this 12-track release with gigs this week at LA's Troubadour and Pomona's Glasshouse venues if you are in the SoCal area.

"Tithe" opens the album with hard rocking, reverb generating guitars and a glam punk singing style to tell us the band is back and that they haven't mellowed over the seven year hiatus.  That segues into "Regents Court," a short and quick tempo song with more melodic guitar work and a catchy hook.  "Shatter Your Lung" has a more drawn out tempo and features heavy synthesizer work to create a song with greater atmosphere although it might only appeal to listeners with more eclectic tastes.  "Keith Case" incorporates heavily distorted guitars to beget a more somber song even though the song itself has a relatively quick tempo. 

Overall, it's an average return for one of the bands that helped define the emo sound in the 90's.  There Are Rules will not be remembered as a great album but there are a couple of better-than-average tracks to be found on it.  Unfortunately, there's also a number of tracks that are duds as well ("Rally Round the Fool" and "Birmingham" come to mind).  I read online that this disc was originally intended to be a nine track EP but the band decided to record a few more tracks and turn it into a full-length album.  Truthfully, depending on which songs were added late, this album would have been better and more succinct if the producer decided to cut a few of the dozen tracks. Bigger is not always better

Score: 6.5/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Regents Court" [sample it below] and "Shatter Your Lung"