New Album Reviews - 5/1/2012 - Norah Jones, Santigold and The Music of Smash

Norah Jones Little Broken Hearts

The sexy singer/songwriter from Brooklyn teams up with uber-producer Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley & Broken Bells) on her fifth studio album.

Last year Ms. Jones assisted on Danger Mouse's fantastic album Rome (last year's best album) and Danger Mouse returns the favor by co-writing and composing on this 12-track release. 

Whereas Rome was an homage to a throwback spaghetti Western soundtrack with moody and atmospheric set pieces, Little Broken Hearts has similar themes both in terms of melody and mood but with much more modern musical sensibilities in this post-breakup chamber pop album.

While the theme of the album does have darker overtones, Jones voice still has a vibrancy to it such that the songs never come across as sinister.  On "Say Goodbye," Jones warbles, "It's alright, it's okay,/I don't need you anyway./You don't have to tell the truth,/Cause if you do I'll tell it too./(Oh, I'll tell it too)" but her light vocal tenor plus the buoyant guitar and keyboard accompaniment make the song a pleasant ditty rather than an overbearing rant.

Little Broken Hearts is one fantastic team-up with Jones' sparkling vocals and inviting songwriting and Danger Mouse's dynamic production work.  The overall tone of album might be a dark one but Jones' music seems to shine brightest when collaborating with the Mouse. 

Score: 8.5/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Say Goodbye" [sample it below], "After the Fall" and "All A Dream"

 Santigold Master of My Make-Believe

The dub and electronica songstress finds time away from collaborating on the albums of artists like Beastie Boys, Basement Jaxx and Kanye West to release her sophomore studio album.

This time around Santigold takes us another aural journey pulling in sounds from a plethora of modern genres.  The album opens with the aptly named "GO!" which sounds like a dub version of a The Go! Team song with its double-dutch style of vocals although the song isn't as tightly laid out as a typical The Go! Team song.

From there the album improves with the catchy "Disparate Youth" with its enchanting opening melody and a more subdued vocal style that is both distant and inviting.  Another standout song is the laid back "This Isn't Our Parade" that slowly draws you in with its steady rhythm and casual steel drumming.

There are some questionable song choices as well where Santigold seems to try something different either in terms of instrumentation or of song construction but the results are a mixed bag.  While the nonconforming track "Freak Like Me" will be able to win over some converts despite its funky production work and trippy vocals there are other tracks that prove to be more inaccessible.

Unfortunately, it's not a complete satisfying disc from the chanteuse with some inconsistency found on the disc.  But when Santigold is on her game, the jams are sweeping and the catchiness of the beats is undeniable. 

Score: 7/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Disparate Youth" [sample it below] and "This Isn't Our Parade"

Various Artists The Music of Smash

For those unaware, Smash is musical TV show whose premise is the creation and staging of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe.  The show features both original songs and covers of popular modern music.

Every song on the album save a cover of Michael Buble's "Haven't Met You Yet" by Nick Jonas features one or both of the leading ladies from the show, Katherine McPhee and Megan Hilty.  I guess the songs sung on the show by the rest of the cast didn't cut the mustard. 

On this 13-track album, the first eight songs are covers while the last five are the original songs from the faux Broadway show.  The original music is the big draw for me with big Broadway-style melodies and smartly crafted lyrics like the sultry "History Is Made At Night." 

The covers of popular songs are nothing special especially since it has been done on Glee already for three seasons and at least the Glee musical director is willing to play with the arrangements to create more memorable versions.

This album has some value if you enjoy the Broadway-style musical numbers but the majority of album is not that.  If you want to hear Katherine McPhee sing covers of popular pop songs, then just watch the Americal Idol reruns they show on the weekends.

Score: 5/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Let Me Be Your Star" and "History Is Made At Night" [sample it below]

New Music from 11/16/2010 - Norah Jones, Home Video and The Glass

Norah Jones ...Featuring Norah Jones  - The New York born and Texas raised jazz/pop/adult contemporary singer-songwriter (and daughter of legendary Indian musician Ravi Shankar) releases a new compilation album.  ...Featuring brings together collaboration songs Jones has performed for other artists' albums and features a wide range of performers from different musical genres.  A few of the songs are from her side project bands (El Madmo and The Little Willies), some are with classic R&B/jazz artists (Ray Charles and Herbie Hancock), a couple she teams with modern rock/indie bands (Foo Fighters and Belle and Sebastian), a number with veteran country musicians (Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton), and finally a handful of tracks are with modern hip-hop acts (Outkast and Q-Tip).  In total there are 18 tracks with no collaborator working on more than one song. 

Some of the collaborations are better than others.  Her voice, already so silky smooth and sexily brusque, naturally pairs well with on the Jazz collaborations.  "Court and Spark" (w/ Herbie Hancock) features subdued vocal work by Jones but the composition of the song, especially the piano work, makes it one of the highlights of the album.  Another Jazz artist's cover (Charlie Hunter's) of the 10,000 Maniacs song "More Than This" is another great use of Jones vocal control as she is able to wring out a maximum amount of emotion from a relatively subdued singing tenor on a version of the song that contrasts well with the original. The other songs I really liked were her hip-hop collaborations.  "Take Off Your Cool" from Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below album and "Life is Better" from Q-Tip's The Renaissance album are great, although most fans of that genre (like me) will already have both those albums.

All in all, it's a good album for Norah Jones fans as it brings together a lot of tracks that were only available on other artist's releases.  However, for non-fans of Norah Jones, there isn't a lot of variety in the music presented to us on this album as even to songs with bands/artists like Foo Fighters, Dolly Parton and Q-Tip all fall into the jazz/adult contemporary arena.  Only the Talib Kwali track would fit into another genre (hip-hop) and even then it's still not a fast-tempo song. 

Score:  6/10 (fans of Norah Jones can add two points to the Score)
Song(s) to Sample: "Take Off Your Cool" and "More Than This"

The Glass At Swim Two Birds - This duo originating from Germany releases their debut album.  Not to be confused with the progrock band Glass, this band from Berlin has an electropop sound with trance and house influences.  I couldn't find much info on the band itself so let's skip ahead to the review.

As I stated above, this is an electropop band so there are vocals on each song to accompany the electronic beats and synthesized tones.  The singing is done in a downtempo manner throughout the entire disc, like you might find in a Depeche Mode album although the singing voice is nowhere as good as Dave Gahan's.  The album opens with "Four Four Letter" which has a trance beat and a funky bass line at the beginning.  As the song progresses, the beat and rhythms work well together creating a very danceable song.  "Pheromone" has a slower, sexier backing beat to create a more sultry sound.  "Wanna Be Dancin'" has a trance beat but subdued vocals that fit in relatively well with the beat and synthesizer work.  It's a dance song that seems well fitted for raves but the tempo might be too slow for the song to get regular play at your more hip clubs.  "Washed Up" was one of my favorite songs with the vocals on that track doing its best to match the sweeping energy of the song without sounding too over eager. 

Overall, it's a well crafted and catchy debut electropop album, although there's definitely more "electro" than "pop" to the album.  Most of the songs are very danceable to with hard working trance and house beats.  However, the vocal work was a bit too subdued on some of the tracks and I thought it would have been a better fit for a downtempo electronica album.  The track layout was very logical though and that songs flowed well as the album progressed.  There were a few songs where they try to go all industrial on us with the beats that don't work as well ("Superhero" being one example) and the monotone singing and vocals don't always match up perfectly with the songs ("Atmosphere") but those are minor qualms to a very respectable debut album. 

Score:   8/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Washed Up" and "Surrender"

Home Video The Automatic Process (Note: this album isn't released until next week) - Woot!  Two electronica reviews in one week.  I feel like I'm back in college again!  Anyways, this three person electro-rock band from New York release their third full-length album.  I had never heard of the band before but a former classmate from grad school saw them when they opened for Blonde Redhead back east somewhere and she liked them very much so I thought I'd give this album a whirl. 

"Accomplished but Dead" opens the album well with a catchy electronic hook and a quiet but inviting meloday that draws you in to the album decently.  "Every Love That Ever Was" has a slower, downtempo sound that tries to bring more emotion into the song with techno beats by the time the bridge is upon us. "The Smoke" has some toe-tapping drum work and a catchy hook but the song gets monotonous after a while. 

The music they present to us is passable but there wasn't much that was outstanding or groundbreaking about it.   The tracks at the beginning of the album does it's best to invite the listener in but there's not much to keep the listener there as the album progresses.  It's similar to watching a well shot movie with no plot--it seems okay when you're in the moment but there's not much to discuss when you think back about what you just digested.  There's nothing really wrong with the album but, on the same token, there isn't anything that I loved about it either. 

Score: 6.5/10
Song(s) to Sample: "The Smoke"