WUSB NEW JAMZ

If you already like M. Ward, there’s a good chance you’ll like this album.  Ward’s style has not drastically deviated from that witnessed on earlier releases such as The End of Amnesia (2001) and Transfiguration of Vincent (2003).  This is not necessarily a negative thing – he continues to produce clean, uncomplicated and generally low-key indie-folk melodies overlain with gruff, mature vocals that set him apart from his cohorts.  At times, however, A Wasteland Companion sounds like a half-hearted attempt from a somewhat prolific artist who is running out of steam.   The album opens with “Clean Slate,” and closes with “Pure Joy,” two songs in keeping with Ward’s standard form – no surprises there.  “Primitive Girl,” a catchy, toe-tappingly upbeat tune follows “Clean Slate.”  “Me and My Shadow” adds some musical and lyrical drama to the record, resulting in a pleasant shift for Ward. 

At this point, though, the album starts to get…confusing.  Ward includes two cover songs in a row (“Sweetheart,” by Daniel Johnston and “I Get Ideas” by Louis Armstrong) which stand out as lyrically and musically simplistic in a way that doesn’t fit with the rest of the record and Ward’s anthology as a whole.  ZooeyDeschanel joins Ward vocally on “Sweetheart,”  setting it apart from other songs on the album, however this is the song’s sole redeeming feature.  The next song hides behind the two covers, and is so understated and unremarkable, it is difficult to understand why Ward chose to make it the album’s title track.  The vocals end early in the song, which continues with an instrumental section consisting of slow guitar-picking over admittedly wasteland-sounding noise, but this is all so subtle that it makes the song easy to tune out. 

Ward picks up the pace again with “Watch the Show,” a song involving the intriguing subject of a bitter, long-time employee at a television station.  “Crawl After” stands up as the most genuine, heartfelt and melodic piece on the album.  Amanda Lawrence’s violin part sounds strikingly more classical than one would expect on a folk record, and this, along with Ward on piano offers a bit of the variety that the album desperately lacks in places. 

The good news is that A Wasteland Companion grows on the listener.  As a whole, it is an album that will make fans who love M. Ward just the way he is very happy.  Those who were hoping for any kind of transition or development for Ward, however, might have to wait for the next record. —Kirsten Sabotnik

After spending the last few months in high profile collaborations and producing other artist’s material, Jack White has finally released his debut solo album, Blunderbuss. Entertaining, confusing, and more than a little revealing, Blunderbuss is exactly what you would expect from one of Rock ‘N’ Rolls most prolific icons.

Say what you will about White’s approach and attitude, he has nevertheless built a career out of taking his quirky persona and using it to create some of the most influential and interesting Rock of the last 20 years. The opening track to the album, “Missing Pieces” is an upbeat sounding track full of the now standard Jack White instrumentation of loud, distorted guitars, warped organs and a driving piano to keep everything moving along. While it might be easy to write the track off as a rehashing of White previous projects – The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather – once you listen to the lyrics it becomes clear that White has gotten a more serious.  The track is about a man literally falling apart, slowly losing pieces of himself and being surrounded by people who can’t or won’t help him. Sure, it might sound like the usual Jack White silliness, but this is an excellent way to start off what is a much darker and introspective version of White than you’ve heard before.

The rest of the album has its moments of calculated intensity like on “Sixteen Saltines”, “Freedom at 21”, “Weep Themselves to Sleep”, catchy rockers like the well placed one-two punch of the bluesy duo of “I’m Shaking” and “Trash Tongue Talker”, but it’s really the more introspective songs that make Blunderbuss so much different from what you’ve heard from Jack White before. The beautifully orchestrated acoustic lead single, “Love Interruption”, and the hauntingly gorgeous title track reveal an introspective side of White that most long time fans may not even know he had. “On and On and On” is a tender country ballad and the album closer “Take Me with You When You Go” is a quirky song of longing that goes from a heartfelt, upbeat ballad into a funky rocker in seconds flat.

Loneliness and betrayal are the two most pervasive themes on Blunderbuss. “Love Interruption” is rife with sarcastic expectations of love and commitment while “Trash Tongue Talker” finds White calling out someone who has done him wrong. “I Guess I Should Go to Sleep” finds White literally by himself in his house, unable and unwilling to embrace his wanderlust, so instead he just goes to sleep.  While that may sound silly on paper, White’s introspective delivery makes the loneliness palpable.

White has himself stated that he never could have released this record until now, and when you listen to it from beginning to end you can see what he means. This album is a superb culmination of everything he’s done in the last two decades, and every track is tailored to White’s unique outlook to life and music. Gone are the seemingly arbitrarily aggressive tracks, replaced by tracks of calculated intensity and introspection. White may have always been this introspective, he was just too distorted to really notice it. Now that he’s mellowed out a little bit, you will be hanging on every last word, ready to revel in White’s next tale of depression. — Nick Kelly

The Ting Tings may have been aware of the discontinuity in their album when they named it Songs from Nowheresville, because frankly, some of the songs really do come out of left field. The British duo consisting of singer/guitarist Katie White and bassist/drummer Jules de Martino has evolved into a fuller, edgier punk/dance sound –one which is apparently great for commercials (the album’s first single, “Hang it Up,” has already been featured in several national ads).

On stage, the Ting Tings can be described as nothing less than spunky. Stage crew members stand ready on either side of the stage, waiting for White to toss her next instrument like a smoked cigarette, an entertaining (yet most likely costly) habit.

Although the overall performance was an exciting one, the eyes of the audience seemed unable to part from White, whose stocking-clad lower half was covered only by shorts that worked more as underwear. Sporting her usual flat-brim trucker cap atop bleach blonde locks, she shamelessly stomped around in front of a sold out crowd standing cozily in Webster Hall. De Martino only said one thing to the audience – that White had brought a bass drum all the way from the UK. He screamed, asking, “Do you want to f**king see her hit it?!” For what would seem like an utterly rhetorical question, the crowd responded with ear-piercing enthusiasm.

As far as the new album goes- there have been a few pivotal changes. Don’t worry, White’s quirky talk-singing hasn’t gone anywhere, yet Songs from Nowheresville showcases de Martino as less of a backup singer and more of a separate voice. His deeper male rasp makes for an almost duel-like contrast in songs “Give it Back” and “Hang it Up,” a polar-opposite that could refresh listeners tiring from 37 minutes of girl sass.

Fans that may have been pining for a softer side of the Ting Tings will be pleased to hear one or two slow songs amongst the fast-paced pop angst. The emotion in track five, “Guggenheim,” explodes at 3:25 with a screaming chorus that, I’ll admit, was captured better in the recording than in concert.

My pop chart senses tell me that the weakest parts of the album include the forgettable “One by One” and its latter, a semi-whiney pop tune called “Day to Day.” Next, “Help” radiates a warm, tribal feeling, resonating long notes that crescendo with quiet chants of “Ah yah yah yah yah!”

In the end, Sounds from Nowheresville finishes on a solemn note that greatly contrasts with the album’s overall “Hell yeah!” vibe. The last song, “In Your Life,” whips out a very un-synthetic stringed solo that will surely leave you depressed and begging for a resolution. Next album, perhaps?

Summary:

The best part of seeing the Ting Tings live - High fiving Katie White.

The worst part of seeing the Ting Tings live - Telling everyone you know that you high-fived Katie White and realizing that nobody knows who that is.

—Siobhan Barton

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After taking a five year break, The Shins released their fourth studio album, Port of Morrow, on March 20. In recent years, the band has strayed slightly away from their folky sound and has since moved on to long, dreamy guitar riffs. This new album’s uplifting vibe offers closure to the questioning strife listeners heard in their 2007 album, Wincing the Night Away.

Port of Morrow opens with the high-pitched screech of a radio. Immediately I pictured a ship’s radio dial picking up sound waves from an approaching port (of ‘morrow! Get it?). From its first note, the album gives off a sublime vibe of upbeat positivity. Good luck trying not to bob your head during your listen to memorable tunes, “The Rifle’s Spiral” and “Bait and Switch.” For fans of the more folky Shins’ songs, “40 Mark Strasse” and “September” strummed straight into my heart as two of my favorite ballads on the album. The pleasantly haunting tones heard in Wincing the Night Away’s “Sleeping Lessons” and “Red Rabbits” are revisited in “Port of Morrow,” which is still perhaps one of the more diverse songs on the new album. In this song, Mercer’s enters exchanges his usual melody for a higher-pitched (as if that were possible), sensual warble.

After stating that recording with the The Shins’ backing band was beginning to become “heavy,” James Mercer fired drummer Jesse Sandoval and took a vacation alongside Gnarls Barkley’s Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) to create successful side project Broken Bells. Burton, who has worked with artists such as Jack White and the Gorillaz, came into the public eye after he produced of the Grey album – an electronic love-child of Jay-Z’s Black Album and The Beatles’ White Album. Reflecting in an interview with AOL’s spinner.com, Mercer explained working with Burton may have done the band some good after all. Listeners will hear a more electronic influence in the new album, a evolution that could very well have emerged from working with Burton. The new backing band - Janet Weiss of Wild Flag, Ron Lewis of Fruit Bats, Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse and Nik Freitas, a touring member of the Broken Bells – most likely offered a more relaxed environment for Mercer, but don’t be surprised to see keyboardist Marty Crandall and other old members contributing on tour or behind the scenes.

Sonically tickling your eardrums with an optimistic allure and whimsical lyrics, the long-awaited album Port of Morrow does not disappoint. —Siobhan Barton

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1    A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS    Onwards To The Wall    Dead Oceans
2    MAGNETIC FIELDS    Love At The Bottom Of The Sea    Merge
3    YELLOW OSTRICH    Strange Land    Barsuk
4    SLEIGH BELLS    Reign Of Terror    Mom And Pop
5    ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR    Out Of Frequency    BMG
6    AVA LUNA    Ice Level    Infinite Best
7    TRUST    TRST    Arts And Crafts
8    HUNX    Hairdresser Blues    Hardly Art
9    XRAY EYEBALLS    Splendor Squalor    Kanine
10    LIJADU SISTERS    Mother Africa    KFR
11    GALACTIC    Carnivale Electricos    Anti
12    BALKAN BEAT BOX    Give    Nat Geo
13    BLACK BANANAS    Rad Times Xpress IV    Drag City
14    PEPE DELUXE    Queen Of The Wave    Asthmatic Kitty
15    NNEKA     Soul Is Heavy    Decon
16    LEE FIELDS AND THE EXPRESSIONS    Faithful Man    Truth And Soul
17    JOHN WESLEY COLEMAN III    The Last Donkey Show    Goner
18    THE MEN    Open Your Heart    Sacred Bones
19    MOTEL BEDS    Sunfried Dreams/Tango Boys    No More Fake Labels
20    POOR MOON    Illusion [EP]    SUB POP
21    TERRY MALTS    Killing Time    Slumberland
22    THEESATISFACTION    AwE NaturalE    Sub Pop
23    YOUNG PRISMS    In Between    Kanine
24    KETAMINES    Spaced Out    SouthPaw-Mammoth Cave
25    BEAR IN HEAVEN    I Love You, It’s Cool    Hometapes-Dead Oceans
26    CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG    Stage Whisper    Elektra-Because
27    MALLARD    Yes On Blood    Castle Face
28    PHENOMENAL HANDCLAP BAND    Form And Control    Tummy Touch
29    SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS     Ghostory    Vagrant
30    BLACK DICE    Mr. Impossible    Ribbon

The Kabbs / Down This Road

#discoverybot. The Kabbs are a jolly rock & roll quartet from the far away land of San Diego. They just released a dope EP full of lax garage rock jamz with that southern twang. So brolick, so bad-a$$.

Trailer Trash Tracys / Turkish Heights

Okay, let’s be real, Trailer Trash Tracys might be one of the worst band names of 2k12, or possibly one of the worst band names ever. They popped into the music world with one of the most banging debut singles of any dreamy synth pop blog band. Their new LP, Ester, throws down more hits and continues to expand the superstar legacy of this fresh UK act. At the tail-end of Ester, the Tracys throw down a slow one that will definitely melt your heart. Turkish Heights oozes with dreamy shoe-gazey synth notes bleeding into drowsy vocals, everything making sense with a bass line that’s so damn simple, yet with every turn it will definitely blow your mind. Sweet.

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