Brakes

Brakes "The Beatific Visions” (Rough Trade/World's Fair)

Alternative

Few side projects and supergroups are worth time or attention — even successful multitaskers such as Ryan Adams occasionally stretch too thin. Brakes is that rare and beautiful exception: a side dish far more appetizing than the main course. Composed of key members of Electric Soft Parade and British Sea Power, two bands capable of both disarming beauty and unrelenting torpor, Brakes is all about fast fun.

The band's second batch of bash-and-twang punk, "The Beatific Visions,” makes a great case for quitting day jobs. Brakes breaks out the bluster with the jagged blues-rock of "Hold Me in the River” and the nervous, jangle-rocking "Margarita” before strapping boots on for the country-tinged "If I Should Die Tonight” and "Mobile Communication.” Then Brakes gets docile with the title track, a sweet, summery love song that sounds nothing like the raucous rocking around it.

In those rare moments of tranquillity, Brakes sounds like a different band — practically no commonality exists between the crazed buffoonery of "Porcupine or Pineapple” and the atmospheric disc closer, "No Return.” But even if "The Beatific Visions” lacks continuity, Brakes earns bonus points for delivering 11 great songs in less than 30 minutes, and never sounding like its having a laugh at listeners' expense.

— George Lang

Chevelle’s fourth album fails to impress

Courtesy photo Pete Loeffler (guitar), Dean Bernardini (bass) and Sam Loeffler (drums) make up the Chicago-based band Chevelle. The trio released its latest album, Vena Sera, April 3.

Justin Smith
Entertainment Writer, ocolly.com

Chevelle is back with another album.

On their newest release, Vena Sera, the band retreats to the heavy post-grunge distortion it became known for.

Whenever a band releases a new album, it should create something not only progressive from previous releases, but also within the album itself. An album should be a complete package of an exploration of ideas — highs, lows, harmony, dissonance, etc., which create comparisons and contrasts sonically, lyrically and emotionally.

Vena Sera prefers to stick to dissonance, interestingly delivered with perfect pitch and only hints at possible higher harmony. This relentless sonic drive through the song sequence creates a drone. There are songs that slow down the pace, like “Saferwaters” and “Well Enough Alone,” but the feeling the listener is left with isn’t any different from the rest of the album.

The album, Chevelle’s fourth, shows some promise at the beginning. “Brainiac” includes the lines: “We know we miss one cell/ Should’ve combined to save brains./ How ‘bout I teach you to crawl./ Lift up the head so proud./ Imagine this one cell.” This gives the album an interesting articulation of thoughts to build from but instead takes the easy way out with songs calculated in the recording lab to get the teenage adrenaline going.

One song that definitely questions what Chevelle was thinking is the middle-of-the-album track, “The Fad.” With a chorus of “Let’s call it the chase, I’ll call it a phase/ once the fad permeates, it’s hip to care, hip to hate it,/ Laugh at the violence,” it’s hard to figure out who the band is trying to reach out to.

It continues later with “So count us into that Gucci clan.” At least there’s some passion in the delivery this time.

It seems that if the band had spent only a couple more weeks in the studio, the album could have been better, but the corporate wizard had his eye on the “radio hit” meter, and the leftover songs were thrown in like a bunch of B-sides to pad the packaging.

The first single, “Well Enough Alone,” even starts with a sigh. By the end of the song, it is hard to tell whether that sigh was made out of boredom or fatigue.

There’s no end to Chevelle’s dirty, stripped-down guitar sounds in sight, it would be nice next time down the road to hear more contrasts and experiments with or beyond that patented sound.

What separates one thing from another is variation, but if this album sells well, what’s the point of fixing a broken record?

Summer prep

Pink Floyd Courtesy photos	Scissor Sisters. As students prepare for finals and gear up for the summer, the right music selection is vital.

10 songs to get through finals, set the mood for summer

Lisa Lewis and Austin Porter
Entertainment Writers, ocolly.com

It’s the time of the semester when frustration and stress run high among students, when finals are too close for comfort and the summer is just out of reach.

Some students party as the weather begins to get nicer, while others choose to use their spare time hitting the books for finals.

As a wise person once said, “Music soothes the savage student,” (or something like that).

Here’s a list of 10 songs to download to your mp3 player to get you through the stress of the last week of classes and finals week, and to get you mentally ready for the summer:



“Float On” by Modest Mouse

It’s obvious why this song is on the list. It’s all about not letting things get to you and maintaining a state of tranquility at all times. Plus, it’s just catchy! “I drove my car into a cop car the other day/ Well he just drove off sometimes life’s okay.” Who can argue with that?



“School’s Out” by Alice Cooper

This one’s probably better known as a high school summer rock anthem, thanks to the movie “Dazed and Confused,” but that doesn’t mean it rings any less true for us college folk. Youngsters supplement the chorus, but that doesn’t take away from the true rock-and-roll edginess of the song. If anything, it makes it more relatable. This one’s just as much of a rebel statement as it was way back when.



“Take Your Mama” by Scissor Sisters

Scissor Sisters has become known in the past couple of years for its poppy-percussion, dancehall-style/glam rock, with Bee Gee-style vocals supplemented by singers Jake Shears and Ana Matronic. The lyrics, “If the music ain’t good, well it’s just too bad, we’re going to sing along no matter what,” pretty much sum up the idea behind the song.

It’s all about going out, getting drunk, forgetting about troubles and having a good time. Word of warning: May cause an irresistible urge to don a brightly-colored, glittery one-piece jumpsuit and bust some embarrassing disco-style moves.



“Some Beach” by Blake Shelton

This one’s for you country music fans. The song is about having pretty much the worst day anyone can have, with the most irksome, unlucky things happening, but being able to retire to a blissful corner of the mind, where a beach chair on the warm sand and cold margaritas await (and hot senoritas, if that’s your thing). It’s a mellow, acoustic guitar-driven country track that even people who aren’t particularly fond of country music can enjoy.



“Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2” by Pink Floyd.

This king of ’70s anti-establishment tunes pretty much says it all in its paltry-yet-powerful six lines of lyrics that virtually everyone knows by heart: “We don’t need no education/ We don’t need no thought control/ No dark sarcasm in the classroom/ Teacher leave them kids alone/Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone/All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.”



“My Own Summer (Shove it)” by Deftones

What’s better than a little heavier-style music to let us get out our frustrations? Plus, the chorus lyrics are so simple that even non-Deftones fans can scream them right along with Chino Moreno. The words to this song can help listeners reminisce to the days of ’80s anthem-oriented rock.

“My Own Summer” has great riffs that make fans of nasty distorted guitar tones want to give a standing ovation, or at least tear the room up a little.



“I Remember You” by Skid Row

Sebastian Bach is a talented singer and uses his oddly high-pitched voice to dazzle any listener’s ear. Usually Skid Row is known for more of the louder ’80s heavy metal songs, but “I Remember You” could be sung by a southern church choir and convince the congregation of a new gospel.



“Nuthin’ But a G Thang” by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg

Two of the best rappers connecting the East and West side of the California hip hop scene combine for one of the most laid back songs that preach the basics of great classic hip-hop. The song is smooth with a funky bass line that makes listeners want to roll their car windows down and cruise residential areas as if there is nothing better to do.



“Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” by Rick Derringer

The words in Rick Derringer’s masterpiece put this song in the top rankings of southern rock. Any fan of bands similar to Skynyrd or Molly Hatchet can’t help but want to enjoy the summer party scene of gathering in the middle of nowhere to enjoy a decent get-together. Southern rock is accepted by even the most diverse groups of party-goers, and so is this song.



“Summer Breeze” by Seals and Crofts

”Summer Breeze” is the true definition of relaxation, not subject to any rules others could put on us.

This song has the potential to entertain whether relaxing in a lawn chair or hanging around with friends. Seals and Crofts were one of the best soft rock groups in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Soft rock has never been the same since similar bands have disappeared through the years.



Honorable mentions: “Margaritaville” by Jimmy Buffett, “Summertime” by Sublime, “California Love” by 2Pac feat. Dr. Dre, “Karma Police” by Radiohead, “Thunder Kiss ’65” by White Zombie, “Last Dance with Mary Jane” by Tom Petty, “Free for All” by Ted Nugent, “B.Y.O.B.” by System of a Down, “Aeroplane” by Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” by Jay-Z, “Come Out and Play” by The Offspring, “Ten Years Gone” by Led Zeppelin.

Brandi Carlile "The Story” (Columbia)

Brandi Carlile "The Story” (Columbia)

Adult alternative The late Jeff Buckley's influence is still deeply felt: his jaw-dropping vocal range and pained delivery drafted the blueprint for Radiohead's mid-'90s maturation and Coldplay's "Parachutes,” but until Brandi Carlile's self-titled 2005 debut, there had been no high-profile women who took Buckley's example to heart. But while "Brandi Carlile” had a stripped-down, campfire immediacy, producer T-Bone Burnett gives her follow-up disc, "The Story,” the widescreen sonic palette that could power Carlile into iconic status.

The changes are not immediately noticeable with the first track, the country-rocking "Late Morning Lullaby,” but then Carlile deploys her gorgeous upper register to the chorus, "Only beautiful, beautiful bright eyes lie” as cellos saw and pounding guitar chords rumble beneath her, and "The Story” becomes a different tale. "My Song” and "Wasted” date back to the early 2000s, but each song benefits from Burnett's "Joshua Tree”-style expansive production.

Burnett deploys such drama judiciously. He has the good sense and taste to give "Have You Ever,” "Cannonball” and "Josephine” more intimate arrangements. But Carlile's poignant and personal songs deserve the rich embellishment many of them receive. Culminating in the searing, 10-minute closer, "Again Today,” "The Story” is just beginning for this expressive singer-songwriter.

— George Lang

Kings of Leon "Because of the Times” (RCA)

Kings of Leon "Because of the Times” (RCA)

Rock

Kings of Leon "Because of the Times” (RCA)

The three sons and nephew of a defrocked Dixie preacher who call themselves Kings of Leon step outside the confines of their Southern-smoked garage shtick to explore broader musical horizons on "Because of the Times,” the Tennessee-based band's coming of age as a major creative force.

Sharp, flat, carport-like acoustics still enhance the angular double-sting of Caleb and cousin Matthew Followill's guitars, and Caleb's scaldingly expressive howl still recalls the drawl of an Allman or Van Zant. But tunes such as the Springsteen-like "Knocked Up” — a pulsing drama of rebellious young lovers running away in a Coupe deVille — and the urgent twang and percussive snap of the mid-tempo lover's pledge, "On Call,” carry their lo-fi y'all-rock to a new level of cinematic spaciousness via astral guitar and altered vocal effects. At the same time, the Followills eschew standard catchy-chorus song structure in favor of relentless, reverb-drenched drive on songs such as the bruisingly emotional "Black Thumbnail,” and the more playful "My Party,” with its dueling guitar barbs and galloping drums.

Throw in the warm fuzztones of the lullaby-like "The Runner” and the synth-sheened movie-theme beauty of "Arizona,” and it's apparent that these four Kings (two of whom are Oklahoma City-born) are upping their own ante — and winning.

— Gene Triplett

Tim McGraw "Let It Go” (Curb)

Tim McGraw "Let It Go” (Curb)

Country

Tim McGraw opens his 11th studio album with "Fly Away,” an uplifting sing-along (written by Big Kenny of Big and Rich) that finds a carefree McGraw, as comfortable churning out chart-toppers as he is making movies or selling out concerts. Then the crooner becomes a big downer: "Let It Go” definitely isn't McGraw's "glass half-full” album. Most of the tracks are stone-cold country tunes bemoaning blue-collar life, alcoholism and loneliness. On one song, he sings, "I drink because I'm lonely / I'm lonely because I drink.” This doesn't sound like a millionaire married to a supermodel.

But credit McGraw for consistently finding quality material that stretches his fan base and challenges listeners. McGraw has a knack for choosing songs (he co-wrote only one of the album's 13 tracks) that instantly sound familiar and recognizable. "Kristofferson” and "Shotgun Rider” will have you singing the chorus.

McGraw opts for the sure bet with a Faith Hill duet on "I Need You” and dusts off an obscure Eddie Rabbitt single, "Suspicions.”

Fans and critics can't pigeonhole McGraw, because he satisfies in whatever he tackles: country-pop, traditional country and hillbilly rock. With "Let It Go,” the Lousiana-bred crooner reaffirms his status as the George Strait of his generation — an artist who churns out hits and quality albums, usually one per calendar year, seemingly without effort.

— Ben Scott

CD Review: Fountains of Wayne "Traffic and Weather” (Virgin)

CD Review: Fountains of Wayne "Traffic and Weather” (Virgin)

Rock

Fountains of Wayne "Traffic and Weather” (Virgin)

Fountains of Wayne is still doing that thing it does, bubbling over with colossally catchy, Brit-pop-influenced tunes on "Traffic and Weather,” the New York foursome's first new album in four years. The band has been away too long, but front men Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger have many new and witty stories to tell, complete with flawed characters and situations that often contrast the band's sunny sound.

"Someone to Love” stars Seth Shapiro and Beth McKenzie, two lonely New Yorkers who almost meet on a rainy street; "Yolanda Hayes” is an unapproachable Department of Motor Vehicles worker who might crack a smile if her secret admirer can come up with the right pickup line; "Michael and Heather at the Baggage Claim” are travelers bone-weary of the rat race, although they still have their love to keep them going; and the narrator of "Strapped for Cash” needs to pay off a debt before "six bodybuilders in a Pinto” come to collect. There's drama, wicked humor and bittersweetness in the words, but it goes down smoothly and with a grain of hope using the band's formula of addictive melody, male-angst harmonies and springy guitars.

— Gene Triplett

CD Review: LCD Soundsystem "Sound of Silver”

CD Review: LCD Soundsystem "Sound of Silver”

Dance

LCD Soundsystem "Sound of Silver” (Capitol)

Much like Beck during his "Midnite Vultures” period, LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy is a master at synthesizing culture and deploying in-jokes at 120 beats per minute. LCD's second disc, "Sound of Silver” strikes a genius accord between monster dance grooves and the wit expected from a man who once turned down a shot at writing for "Seinfeld.” Murphy is too smart as both a writer and musician to just settle for quilting references together, so "Sound of Silver” ends up being a great Mensa party record.

"Get Innocuous!” celebrates "fitting in” and references the African "high life” rhythms and sonorous harmonies of the Brian Eno/Talking Heads classic "Remain in Light.” "North American Scum” pilfers from Pete Shelley's "Homosapien” and slings barbs at Canadian/U.S. relations, and is impossible to shake.

Murphy's calling card is sarcasm set to irresistible beats. On the piano ballad "New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down,” he delivers a venomous screed worthy of early Randy Newman, proving that LCD Soundsystem's "Sound of Silver” can chuck the drum machines and play it straight and nasty.

— George Lang

The View

Courtesy photo The View’s first album Hats off to the Buskers was released in the U.S. March 13. The album features straight forward lyrics and a mix of instrumental genres.

The View’s lyrics bring variety, flavor

Lisa Lewis
Entertainment Writer

Scottish band The View’s first release is a little like a Long Island iced tea: it’s a mixture of a lot of things that normally wouldn’t go together, and you can’t taste the alcohol but before you know it, it catches up with you and you’re drunk.

The quartet’s widely anticipated album, Hats off to the Buskers hit U.S. store shelves March 13, almost two months after it made its Jan. 22 U.K. debut.

“Comin’ Down’” opens the album with a barrage of cacophonous guitar feedback and messy drum beats, promptly followed by vocal near-screeching and a series of clipped-and-clean guitar chords. Yet somehow the band makes the sound work.

The harmonica interludes of “Same Jeans” add a Tom Petty-sounding element to a song that’s otherwise stage-suited pop-punk.

Fourth track, “Don’t Tell Me...,” has a sort of rockabilly feel to it, which is magnified by a blues guitar break toward the middle of the song.

Sad-and-slow “Face for the Radio” turns what should be, by all arguments, a humorous assertion into a melancholy peer observation (“He watches ‘Trainspotting’ 15 times a week thinking it makes him oh so unique”).

“The Don” is arguably the highlight, stand-out song of the 13-track album. It’s aggravatingly catchy with its xylophone tings and repetitive vocal chorus.

Lyrics like “So when you look in the mirror reflecting back at you someone that you don’t know” from “Same Jeans” are about as deep as it gets. There’s not much of an underlying psychological meaning to them; they’re straightforward and almost maddeningly oversimplified. For example, first single and fourth track “Wasted Little DJs” opens with the verse “They told me if I write this song for them that they would cut my hair for free but that’s not me no liberties.”

That’s okay — though. Half the time the listener can’t tell what lead singer Falconer is saying anyway. The other half, when words are decipherable, the listener can’t really tell what he’s talking about, thanks to his accent and the word usage differences between the U.S. and the U.K. (I still have no idea what a “busker” is).

The group from Dundee, Scotland has had no problems garnering national and European attention, making an appearance at No. 1 on the U.K. charts promptly upon the release of Hats off to the Buskers. Not to mention, tickets for its U.K. tour set to begin in April sold out within one hour. However, it has yet to make an appearance on the U.S. Billboard Top 100 chart, and its success in the states remains to be seen.

Adding to the difficulty of promoting itself in the U.S., the group’s tour that was scheduled for this month, a follow-up to its first trip to the states in January, was postponed because of visa problems — reportedly, lead singer Kyle Falconer’s arrest on a charge of cocaine possession this past summer caused the delay. The View is known for frequently opening shows for Babyshambles, and Pete Doherty’s influence expands to include recreational, as well as musical.

A reviewer for Jane magazine wrote of the album, “What’s up with all these U.K. buzz bands looking cuter and more stylish than they sound?”, but this assertion-in-the-form-of-a-question is ultimately one of genuine feminine ignorance and blatant superficiality. She also called the album a “generic mix of mainstream pop rock and Oasis-wannabe barroom sing-alongs,” which it absolutely is not.

The collaboration of Falconer, Kieren Webster, Peter Reilly and Steven Morrison makes for no generic mainstream U.K. pop rock buzz group. Albeit, given the sometimes-copycat-sounding instrumental and vocal techniques, the band’s combination of experimental Indie post-punk paired with an adherence to old and classic rock and roll undertones makes for a blissfully entertaining listen that’s never dull.

Hats off to the Buskers proves that a record doesn’t have to be groundbreaking to be good music. It’s four guys having fun doing what they love, and just happening to sound pretty good in the process.

Fans of The Shins, The Hives, The Sex Pistols, Babyshambles and Arctic Monkeys will love this album. Everyone else just won’t “get” it.

Modest Mouse

The mouse still roars with Marr

By ESTEN HURTLE Satellite Correspondent
3/23/2007

What album features sailors, ships and catchy pop songs? No, it's not a new Decemberists record.

Modest Mouse has released "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank," a follow-up to 2004's "Good News for People Who Love Bad News." The new disc continues in the band's recently adopted style of catchy songs and long album titles.

The first single, "Dashboard," seems poised to inherit the ubiquitous airplay of "Float On," yet takes a different approach to the radio-friendly pop song.

This track, as well as a large portion of the album, borrows heavily from '80s pop, which is not surprising, considering the guitarist from the influential '80s band the Smiths, Johnny Marr, has been added to the band's lineup.

The record takes the musical ideas explored in "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" one step further, turning raw but entertaining songs into complex, layered works. Smooth backing vocals add a necessary balance to Isaac Brock's typically rough vocal style, just as Marr's guitar work makes these songs flow more smoothly than those on any other Modest Mouse album.

As always, Brock's lyrics are both simple and endearing. The chorus of the song "Missed the Boat" reflects the

usual cynical pessimism the band is known for, perfectly illustrated as Brock claims "I laugh all the way to hell/Saying yes, this is a fine promotion."

Even the outwardly optimistic "Dashboard" ends in sympathetic but pointless anger. While the album avoids the frantic depression of "Good News For People Who Love Bad News," it fails to capture the subtleties that made 2000's "The Moon and Antarctica" Modest Mouse's finest work.

A problem with this record is a general lack of cohesiveness. Its pop styling, while unique and entertaining, does not lend itself to an experience beyond its individual songs as much as previous albums did. However, this is possibly the most diverse Modest Mouse record to date, making the disorganization easier to stomach.

Fans of "Good News For People Who Love Bad News" will find even more to like in "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank," while those who weren't satisfied with the previous release may find something to win them back here. Regardless, it proves that Modest Mouse's mainstream success will be anything but short-lived.

---

Esten Hurtle 581-8336
Jenks senior
satellite@tulsaworld.com

By ESTEN HURTLE Satellite Correspondent

CD Review: Luscious Jackson

CD Review: Luscious Jackson singer shows grown-up sound on disc

By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
3/17/2007

It seems like forever since anyone's heard a peep from 90s alt-pop-rock-hip hop band Luscious Jackson's lead singer Jill Cunniff. Or from her band.

This year marks not only the release of a greatest hits compilation from LJ, but also a reunion of sorts to finish its yet-untitled children's album, which the band hopes to release this year.

It looks like the bandmates have grown up since their 2000 split, when they parted ways to be with their families.

The proof is in this month's release of Cunniff's first solo album, "City Beach," a mostly self-produced collection meant to "bring the beach to caged-up city dwellers," she said recently.

A dozen summery, breezy tracks jangle and sway to Cunniff's trademark honeyed warble, and songs like "NYC Boy" incorporate the mid-90s-style loops and bouncy hip hop influences that made Cunniff and her all-girl band an influential force in college and underground music scenes.

But there's something else going on here. Cunniff's newest effort is far more than a rehash of loops and lyrical raps.

"Happy Warriors," "Calling Me" and "Lazy Girls" pull threads from LJ's hook-laden tapestry, but weaves in an updated, jazzy hint of 60s-era Tropicalia. The eclectic, laid-back, New York-bohemian-pop sound is a colorful thread that also binds the album together.

And then there's Emmylou Harris, who loans

her hauntingly lonely vocals to the soulful and very grown-up "Disconnection," a song about learning to nurture love. But despite Cunniff's usually sweet and spot-on pop sensibilities, "Exclusive" is cloyingly close to becoming too neuvo-retro with its cheesy, echoey harmonies and trite lyrics, such as, "I'm not gonna wait in line ('Wait in linnnne!')," and "I told you I'm a one-man band ('One man bannnnd!')."

Otherwise, "City Beach" lyrics are what one might expect from a former LJ member who has dedicated her work to her beloved home of New York City. Cunniff sings about popsicles, rain in parks, train yards, five-story walk-ups, subway rides, rooms with views, love, spinning records . . . and throws in plenty of merry yeah-yeah-yeahs and hand claps for good measure.

Overall, Cunniff's sound is brighter and more effervescent than most of her work with band Luscious Jackson, but her distinctive, fuzzily distorted guitar sound, especially on "Love is a Luxury" and "Future Call," blasts listeners back to a time when poppy femme-rockers such as Luscious Jackson, Liz Phair, The Breeders and Veruca Salt did whatever the h-e-double-hockeysticks they felt like doing to the genre, and their fans loved them for it.

This time around, it looks like fans will enjoy the matured counterpart of that era, too.

iPod picks: "NYC Boy" and "Love is a Luxury."

By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer

Sevendust stays true to its musical roots

Courtesy photo Sevendust released its latest album Alpha on March 6. The sound, which echoes its debut album, will please loyal fans.

Sevendust stays true to its musical roots
ocolly.com
Lisa Lewis
Entertainment Writer

It’s nice to have some consistency in a musical world full of Panic! and Fall Out, where bands blow up practically overnight and constantly change their sounds to mirror what’s popular with the public.

Hard rock group Sevendust’s sixth studio release, Alpha, provides a dose of originality.

The Atlanta-based quintet’s most recent release, which hit store shelves March 6, proves that popularity is no justification for a compromise of individuality, and that change isn’t always a good thing, especially when it comes to musical style.

For the latest album, longtime fans of Sevendust can expect the same vehement, blissfully chaotic, angst-ridden hard rock they’ve provided the past 10 years.

Bitter, heavy-hitting emotion-driven lyrics? You bet. Ominous-sounding one word song titles? Got ’em. Heavy, pounding guitar riff and drum instrumental backgrounds? Of course.

Despite a record label change——the group’s first three of its six albums were released on TVT Records, with the latest put out on a collaboration of Asylum Records and the band’s own 7 Bros Records­­­­——Sevendust has stayed true to its grudge-grunge roots.

However, the latest album doesn’t come without some minor differences. In comparison to Sevendust’s 1997 debut self-titled album, Alpha is a little more clean and refined.

Also, the band’s latest effort is minus the acoustic guitars and electronic effects of the past two albums, making for a raw, more stripped-down version of its sound.

A look at the band’s history and the losses it has suffered gives some insight into their inspiration. The group was close friends with rock cohorts Snot, and had to deal with the death of singer Lynn Straight in a car accident in late 1998.

Not long after, Sevendust was subjected to the loss of another friend when Drowning Pool singer Dave Williams died.

Finally, tragedy struck when a gang gunned-down and killed singer Lajon Witherspoon’s younger brother, resulting in the group taking a hiatus before returning to the music scene in 2003 with its fourth album, Seasons.

The group has also undergone a member change, replacing guitarist/vocalist Clint Lowery after his departure in 2004 with Sonny Mayo, formerly of Snot.

Despite having three albums reach gold status and the latest one making an appearance on the charts at No. 14 its first week, Sevendust has somehow managed to cruise under the radar, never having an album go platinum or a chart position higher than 14 reached.

The latest album’s first single and first track, “Deathstar,” pulls no punches; it dives right into a harsh and abrupt, energetic auditory mess, with no instrumental intros or lead-ins.

The fourth track, “Feed,” is one of the brightest spots on the album, with the newest band member Mayo’s beautifully done guitar solo.

It deals with one of the band’s favorite lyrical subjects – the conflict and pain caused by relationships.

“Burn,” the eleventh track, is the virtual musical opposite of “Deathstar,” and almost seems out of place on the record.

However, it goes along with Sevendust’s habit of placing one slow, melodic track on each album.

It’s gentle, subdued and ethereal, heartbreakingly melancholy and hopeless (“wash away the clouds of shame that you gave to me/so I can see again, so I can live again”).

The last and title track ends the album on just about the same note it began: harsh, heavy and in-your-face, not to mention filled with aggression – the last line is “now go f--k yourself.”

Alpha won’t disappoint current Sevendust fans; a prospective problem is it will probably fail to attract new ones who aren’t accustomed to the band’s unique brand of angst-rock.

However, it’s a refreshingly honest and extremely welcomed break from some of the uber-poppy, stylistically overdone crap that passes for rock music nowadays.

Alpha is the perfect listen for those not completely averse to guitar riff-heavy nü-metal, who have some aggression they would like to get out in a nonviolent way.

Anais Mitchell

Publication Date : February 16, 2007

Courtesy photo Anais Mitchell released The Brightness Tuesday. Some of the folk artist’s poetic lyrics reflect her travels to the Middle East, Europe and Latin America.

Folk artist provides music for rainy days
Lisa Lewis
Entertainment Writer

Underground folk artist Anais Mitchell’s most recent album, with the help of an arsenal of instrumentalists, pushes the boundaries of the folk music genre almost to their breaking point.

The Brightness weaves an intricate web of poetic self-expression that catches listeners at their center and holds them unaware before creeping up and devouring them.

The album, released Tuesday, is Mitchell’s debut on New York-based Righteous Babe Records, folk-rock icon Ani DiFranco’s label.

The Brightness can probably best be summed up in a few lines from second track, “Of a Friday Night:”

“Maybe I came too early/maybe I came too late/I’m waiting in the shadows of the scaffolds/of the old cafes where you told me to wait/and I’ve got this lingering feeling/ it’s like I’ve slipped between/fingers of the old century/I know you know what I mean”

The songs have no choruses, no verses and no bridges, only a flow of stream-of-consciousness thoughts that mesh and meld together to create a beautiful and elaborate, yet sad at times, canvas of Mitchell’s outside-looking-in take on life.

Travels to the Middle East, Europe and Latin America to study languages and world politics have obviously had an effect on the singer/songwriter.

Mitchell’s story-songs take the listener to places from ancient Bethlehem on “Song of the Magi,” to Virginia on “Shenandoah,” to her own bed in “Changer,” and even to hell and back in “Hades and Persephone.”

Some of her songs tell stories of where she’s been mentally and physically as in “Namesake” and “Santa Fe Dream,” while others are from different people’s perspectives like “Hobo’s Lullaby.”

One track, “Hades and Persephone,” is a script-like exchange between a hell-bound husband and wife. It’s fitting because Mitchell plans to stage a folk opera based on the myth of Hades and Eurydice, according to her biography in the album’s press kit.

The Vermont-born songstress said when she was young, she had dreams of a career in journalism, but luckily for fans, she opted for a full-time music career instead.

“I used to tell people I wanted to be a journalist,” she said in the press kit. “There is a lonely egotism and self-composure to journalists.

“Not unlike artists, they’re always traveling, always writing, loving their loneliness, feeling somehow that they have their finger on the pulse — worshipping the truth and trying to render it legible.”

On her most recent album, Mitchell writes about what she knows and she does it well, in a divinely lyrical manner.

How she sings, though, is a completely different matter.

The 25-year-old’s voice sounds like that of a girl half Mitchell’s age and offsets the poetic lyrics that suggest knowledge and understanding far beyond her years.

The often overly high-pitched vocals distract from simple-yet-superb instrumentals and downplay lyrics and music that are otherwise worldly and wise. Not to mention, at times they can be almost grating and borderline annoying.

The instrumentals and back-up vocals of the album are overly subdued, which in a way detracts from the overall aesthetic value of the album. Also, the tone of Mitchell’s voice rarely changes, creating the effect of many songs sounding very similar.

However, this is the kind of album listeners will want to put on while feeling lonely and introspective, or while reading a book, sipping on a cup of tea or coffee and looking out at a rainy or cloud-ridden sky.