CD REVIEWS

Jan 1, 2009 12:00 PM

B-REAL

Smoke N Mirrors (Duck Down)

West Coast fixture goes solo

As the frontman for Cypress Hill, B-Real has been one of the most distinctive voices in hip-hop since '91. Not to be outdone, the group's producer DJ Muggs is equally renowned with his penchant for funked-up percussion and visionary sampling. But as B-Real steps up for his first solo shot, Muggs is nowhere in sight. Instead, B-Real daringly puts the production in his own hands and mostly lesser-known players.

Listening to Smoke N Mirrors, it's clear that the rapper/beatmaker doesn't want to shed his history with Cypress Hill — he's just flipping it. The lone weed anthem “Fire” takes his group's trademark subject matter to another level with aid from Damian Marley and a respectable reggae beat. As a producer though, B-Real doesn't always aim in the right direction. Attempting to make a hyphy track on the generic club joint “Dr. Hyphenstein” does little to add to B-Real's new solo effort. He sounds more comfortable rapping about the realities of living the street life on unsurprising but solid West Coast-centric cuts (“Gangsta Music,” “Children of the Night”). Despite the minimal amount of standouts, Smoke N Mirrors should appease B-Real's loyal fan base. — Max Herman

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)

A new trip into organic drone

Animal Collective continues its electronic/trance direction on Pavilion. A few of the 11 tracks, such as “Taste,” grate with brittle synth-and-harmony arrangements, but most feature the multilayered sonic tapestries, psychedelic drone and wonderfully childlike feeling for which Animal Collective has become renowned. Meanwhile, Avey Tare and Panda Bear's lyrics advocate a simple life seemingly at odds with the detailed lattice-work surrounding Pavilion: “I don't need to seem like I care about material things like a social stance/I just want fort walls and adobe slabs for my girls.” — Mosi Reeves

ANDREW BIRD

Noble Beast (Fat Possum)

Whistle while you work

Multifaceted musician Andrew Bird doesn't let his big vocabulary — lyrically or musically — spoil his refined chamber pop. On Noble Beast, Bird incorporates tasteful flourishes into his polymath approach, sounding more breezy and stripped down than he did on Armchair Apocrypha. “Anonanimal” and “Effigy” open with crisp, clipped guitars, while “Not a Robot, But a Ghost” shuffles by with a fuzzy backbeat. The bookish songwriter blogged about the making of this album for The New York Times, and while his prose is clear, it can't compare to his lyrics, which are as brainy and mysterious as his music. — Patrick Sisson

CIRCLESQUARE

Songs About Dancing and Drugs (!K7)

The title sums it up, sort of

Jeremy Shaw's latest with Circlesquare is caught between his singer/songwriter inclinations and deep-techno inspirations. The strangely alluring songs are submerged in nostalgic melancholy with Shaw's sung, spoken, whispered and chanted lyrics fitting in among slapping kicks, pristine guitars and sounds of fractured machines. Arrangements wander between subdued and triumphant in geometries as confounding as his band's name. Shaw talks of “bathtub chemistry” on “Timely,” and on the epic conclusion, “All Live But the Ending,” he asks, “Are the drugs all gone?” — Noah Levine

LARS HORNTVETH

Kaleidoscopic (Smalltown Supersound)

Orchestrals from Jaga Jazzist master

The wistful opening notes of Kaleidoscopic languish uncertainly, backed by tremulous strings as the sound swell opens into a lush sweep of melody before pulling back again. And so it goes with Horntveth's 37-minute composition recorded with the Latvian National Orchestra. Vignettes surface and dissolve, pizzicato begins and ends tentatively, and warbly keys step forward and recede. When the tremolos give way to firmer melodies, the piece hangs on the verge of coalescing. But just as quickly, the crowd disperses and we're left with a haunting, forlorn coda that fades away. — Christine Hsieh

M. FUSION

This Solution (Nice Records)

Soundtrack to the best B movie you've never rented

Gazing into a crystal ball warped by hip-hop mind control and new wave/electro's first eyeliner, Fusion's chrome-rusted future, from “Case for the War” to “The Passenger,” draws on Deltron 3030's anti-virus strategies. The universal fretfulness is either emphatic or an irritant itching beneath, and optimism, as per “Freedom 1,” becomes a tainted olive branch. Fusion's fear factor lies in banks of synthesizers bleeding anxiety. Having been left for dead, they propel phantom operas “Belief” and “The Fall” to map out a compelling, nerve-striking escape from L.A. — Matt Oliver

MR. SCRUFF

Ninja Tuna (Ninja Tune)

Carefree beats make anytime party time

Returning with his first LP of new material since the 2002 Trouser Jazz, Scruff still works a smile-inducing pairing of bounding beats and sprightly jazz. Opener “Test the Sound” and the Danny Breaks-assisted “Bang the Floor” provide some harder touches, but like the infectiously groovy “Donkey Ride,” most of the time things are bright. He brings zest to every style as “Get on Down” is a shifty bit of house, and on “Music Takes Me Up” Alice Russell sings about “when the drums come calling and the bass line pulls you in,” giving literal voice to Scruff's musical charms. — Noah Levine

FRANZ FERDINAND

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (Domino)

Arty Scots expand palette

Franz Ferdinand hasn't lost its propulsive pace on Tonight, but like the Greek hero alluded to on lead single “Ulysses,” the group is searching for something. There's plenty of swagger out of the gate. The dark, slinky “Ulysses” boils over with crunchy synths. “No You Girls Never Know” doesn't diverge from the formula that served the group well so far, unfurling streamlined riffs and witty lyrics that build into a boisterous chorus. But Tonight experiments with a variety of new guitar sounds and synths, and more often than not tightly folds them into the group's muscular pulse. “Send Him Away” rolls forward with ribbon-like, African-inspired guitar lines. “Live Alone” kicks off with a wash of noise and bright digital disco pulse; “What She Came For” ends with a bluesy ruckus; and “Bite Hard” morphs from a piano balled into a floor-stomping groove. The album sticks to tight, three-minute songs except “Lucid Dreams,” a comparatively epic eight minutes that attaches a slowly unfolding patchwork of grinding guitars and fat synths to the end of a slightly unhinged Franz song. While some odd turns mean it's not as consistent and catchy as earlier discs, this album proves the stylish band still deserves the marquee-worthy title. — Patrick Sisson

PLUSHGUN

Pins & Panzers (Tommy Boy)

As sinister and as soft as a plush toy

Plushgun's debut full-length, Pins & Panzers, features all four tracks from its 2008 self-titled EP. If those four gave you a hunger for more, Pins delivers. The project of one Daniel Ingala, the lighthearted, plinking electro tones and robotic vocoded lyrics that have become the signature sounds for Plushgun are given full rein on Pins. While these sounds are strictly electronically generated, there is an emotional pull to them. This comes from Ingala's gentle manner and is experienced best on the rollercoaster-like ups and down of “Without a Light” and the comedown conducive closer, “An Aria.” — Lily Moayeri

ETHAN ROSE

Oaks (Holocene)

Speaking sacred without saying a word

Electronic minimalist Ethan Rose reveals the beauty residing in the noise around us. The ambient symphony and inspiration of Oaks tethers on a local Portland roller rink and its 1920-era Wurlitzer theater organ that Rose helped repair and recorded samples from. “On Wheels Rotating” glides along as if on thin sheets of ice over a frozen lake. “The Floor Released” whispers pristine piano tinklings and humming organs. Rose uses his film-scoring resume to float you through Oaks' cinematic snow globe of introspective wonder, transforming organic sounds into something sacred. — Chris Catania

SWITCH & SINDEN

Fabriclive.43 (Fabric)

Like being punched

The run-up to long-anticipated LPs from the UK's Switch & Sinden has been lined with remixes, singles and impeccable DJ sets. Fabriclive.43, as mixed by the latter, is predictably explosive. Menacing, light fixture-rattling bass tunnels through all 23 selections, as Sinden gathers momentum from Scottie B, Buraka Som Sistema, Skream and more. The last third of this drubbing shows no signs of a slump; the 8-bit oddities of Zomby's haunting dubstep find themselves flattened by Caper's thick wobble before Sinden's universe shifts into the tracklist's most frazzled chapter yet. Ouch. — Dominic Umile

TELEFON TEL AVIV

Immolate Yourself (BPitch Control)

Dark, gorgeous synth-pop

It's not quite a phoenix rising from the ashes, but the shift in Telefon Tel Aviv's sound is compelling. While the duo's early music was defined by pointillist precision, sound is more smeared on Immolate. Analog keyboards and drum machines are filtered, looped and layered, and the results are smoky, dark and richly textured. Driving lead single “Helen of Troy” is energized by churning synths, a wobbly melody and the elastic snap of the beat. With loops and bent notes that recall the raw edge of earlier electronic music, Telefon Tel Aviv is as passionate and darkly romantic as ever. — Patrick Sisson

ANDY YORKE

Simple (Chocolate Lab)

Simply impressive

Singer/songwriter Andy Yorke, brother of Radiohead's Thom, takes the album title seriously on his lo-fi solo debut, stripping production on these tunes down to the necessities to leave room for his plaintive, lofty vocals. His singing makes an immediate impact via the title track as he stretches his clear, melancholic notes through echo-y plucked guitar. Elsewhere, “Rise and Fall” begins delicately, adding in jarring electric riffs for balance; “Diamant” melds hypnotic rhythms with lonely melodies; and Yorke's emotional output unfurls beautifully alongside the effects-and-piano closing of “Ode to a Friend.” — Kristi Kates

VARIOUS ARTISTS

The Roots of Hip Hop (HARTE)

Learning never sounded so good

Citing that cultural themes are what created hip-hop, not the inherent grooves of '70s R&B or the nascent possibilities of the first Akai samplers or MPCs, The Roots of Hip Hop reaches back to doo-wop, blues, country, swing, jump and gospel for this juke-jointing 26-track compilation. With copious liner notes including recording dates and excellent biographical information, the CD features the music of Slim Galliard, Champion Jack Dupree, The Treniers, Rev. J.M. Gates, Big Jay McNeely and Famous Hokum Boys, among others. Time to get your learnin' on! — Ken Micallef

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