Alex Winston and King Con

I'm just going to come right out and say it; I absolutely adore Alex Winston.  She's so beguilingly cute and quirky and when you hear her voice you just kind of have to sit there and catch your breath.  She's truly a unique talent and sounds something like Bjork or Kate Bush would if she were from the Appalachian Mountains.  Her album King Con is an unpredictable and highly entertaining record from one of the most intriguing singer / songwriters on the planet today.

Winston has this strange wispy, mousey, high pitched voice that almost sounds like it could shatter glass but never quite gets there.  She manipulates that voice through a series of dramatic and almost theatrical songs that showcase her singularly brilliant vocal chords and her ability to write fantastic songs.  She may be a singer / songwriter but her music is so vast, so whimsical, and has so much thought sunk into it that it's anything but folky, acousticky, or lame.  King Con is a stunning record that's mesmerizing and so quirky that its grip on your ears is almost impossible to shake.

With uncommon arrangements, huge productions, and songs that sound like they bigger than life Alex Winston creates a strange world in which her voice can run around free.  And run it does; it runs around all over the place on King Con.  It’s with her warbles, screeches, high notes, and tender moments that her voice enchants and grabs your attention consistently.  While King Con features a whole host of instrumentation and arrangements it's really Alex's singing that draws you in and it's her singing that makes it hard to pull away from and if great songs and a talent voice doesn't make for a great debut I'm not sure what does.

The Black Belles Are Awesome

The Black Belles are a garage rock band who are friends with Jack White, released their album on his Third Man label and sound as if the White Stripes had become all female. Dressed in Victorian garb and rocking the socks off of all who listen to them The Black Belles self titled debut is a killer rock and roll record that defines what it means to seriously kick butt. These girls so easily take garage rock and mix it with metal and come up with a lethal and sexy concoction that it all seems like it’s second nature to them.

The Black Belles is a rough, raw, and rocking record whose riffs chug and churn while Siouxsie/Karen O like screams and bashed drums and bass lines power the album through every conceivable blockade put in front of them. These girls kick some serious bootay and while they may be Belle's on the outside the power of rock and roll has unleashed an unquenchable hunger within each member that is unstoppable. These girls are all about overpowering you by any means necessary and they’ll succeed. Trust me. This is fantastic stuff that is unrelenting and sounds like the soundtrack to the best and most violent movie Tarantino never made.

Taking 60's influences roughing them up a bit and then adding a bit of metallic spikiness to the mix has allowed The Black Belles to come up with a formula of rock and roll that they can call their very own. While the idea may not be completely original, the sound and songs they come up with is and it's simply awesome. The Black Belles is a deadly record filled with seductive songs, catchy choruses and powerful guitars played by one of the coolest bands to strut across the planet and in Victorian garb no less.

Rosie And Me Know The Arrow Of My Ways

Rosie and Me sound like they've been roaming the Heartland of America for their entire lives passing through small towns and country stores, driving through fields of flowers, taking lazy cruises down creeks and rivers and writing songs about it all. What's truly amazing about all of this is 1) they haven’t done that and 2) that Rosie and Me are about as far away from the American Heartland as one can be, you see, they're from Brazil. Originally just a duo, the band now consists of Rosanne Machado (vocals/acoustic guitars/banjo), Ivan Camargo (acoustic guitars), Thomas Kossar (electric guitars), Guilherme Miranda (bass guitars) and Tiago Barbosa (drums/perc). Together, the band blends simple, introspective lyrics with soft female vocals and the effect is just gorgeous. Their album, Arrow Of My Ways, is a pastoral, mellow, countrified record that believe it or not I quite enjoyed.

Arrow Of My Ways is good in the same way that Jose Gonzalez records are great; their intimacy, warm feelings, and heartfelt songs will warm the cockles of your heart and win you over. Rosie and Me have a penchant for writing unobtrusive material that's rustic, hushed, and so fragile that it sounds like the aural equivalent of fine china. This is delicate heartfelt stuff that's tranquil and rural and from the gently plucked banjos to Rosanne's soft whispers the record is a meandering thing of beauty. While I generally dread folk, Americana and the like there's something about the level of closeness and warmth Rosie and Me convey that makes Arrow Of My Ways so good.

Rosie and Me have taken something completely American and made it their own. It's a sound that's crossed borders and even continents and proves that music is the universal language. Fully in touch with their inner Camera Obscura and their love of Americana they've created a rustic and pretty landscape that's a joy to roam around in. Arrow Of My Ways is a pleasant record whose closeness, introspective nature, and quiet sounds are beyond charming.

Ariane Moffatt's Ma

Canadian singer songwriter Ariane Moffatt is not what you think. If you think this Quebecian carries around an acoustic guitar and yodels at a coffee house you'd be wrong. If you imagine her as a French speaking chanteuse who is slinky, sexy, and seductive you'd be on the right track. Ariane brings to mind the golden era of chanson music but modernized for today’s world. Her album Ma is a fantastic cultural synthesis of language and sounds.

Named after the concept of the ma, which refers to a sensorial experience of negative space or downtime the album is a bit personal and introspective but far from being down, negative, slow, or depressing. Oh no, Ma is an upbeat sounding record that was put together and produced by Adriane herself and you can hear the personal touches and sounds that each song has. While Adriane is a singer songwriter, nothing about Ma would indicate this. The songs here feature lush synths, atmospheric songs, and Ariane's lovely voice. This is about as close to being a singer songwriter album as Quebec is to Florida.

Ma is a rich tapestry of sound and creativity and the fact that Adriane did this mostly by herself is a testament to the fact that she's more than just another songwriter. If there's one solo artist album you buy this year, I'd invest some money in Ariane Moffatt's Ma. You can order the album here.

Underworld Issue A Collection and An Anthology

At this point in time if you don't know who Underworld is...you seriously are in need of a cultural shot straight to the ears. Pretty much defining the sound of stadium techno in the mid to late 90's Underworld were arguably the most recognizable face in dance music. Now twenty years into their illustrious career the band are poised to be the musical curators of the 2012 Olympic Games in London and have just released not one but two greatest hits collections; one an anthology and one a summarized collection. The albums gather all the songs you know and maybe even a couple of mixes or versions you don't and when listened back to back to back you have one mega mega party that could quite literally go on forever.

A Collection is a single disc rundown of the band's biggest hits and contains edited, radio friendly versions of those songs. In addition to the old classics recent collaborations with High Contrast & Tiesto as well as Brian Eno also make an appearance. If ever there was a perfect record this would be it. Underworld, over the course of this record, show time and time again why they are as gargantuan as they are. The group has constantly created songs that are as catchy as they are moving and there probably isn't a person alive who listens to dance music that doesn't know the refrain, "Lager! Lager! Lager!" From "Born Slippy," to "Two Months Off," it's all here in shortened form. While some songs are conspicuously absent on A Collection they do appear on the multi-disc anthology that’s also just been released.

Expectedly perfect and absolutely brilliant, A Collection is a solid introduction to one of the most loved and important groups in all of dance music. While the anthology is the collection I would purchase, A Collection serves as a great rundown for people who don't really need (or can't handle) nine minute versions of songs. This is radio friendly awesomeness of the highest order. Having listened to this quite a bit I'm left anxiously awaiting the Olympics not because of the sport but because I'm hoping Underworld turn the opening ceremonies into the largest rave ever. That would be "Mega Mega!"

Said The Whale Climbs Little Mountain

Said the Whale is an interesting proposition of a band, I don't think I've really heard anyone so successfully meld quirk with depression so well but that's exactly what this five piece have done. Sounding something like The Decemberists colliding with a broken heart, Said the Whale write indie rock that's slightly twee and oddly technical but still very listenable. Their album, Little Mountain is a folksy homey record that mixes art and love together to create a welcoming atmosphere of pop.

While they occasionally playing more instruments than it sound’s possible Little Mountain never loses its accessibility or pop sensibility. This is quite a nice album that lilts its way across songs and gently massages its hooks into your consciousness. Said the Whale, despite the name, are not overbearing in their approach and instead utilize horns, multipart harmonies, some pretty good drumming, and a sense of innocence to work their magic and win you over. This is art pop supreme and it's all done very subtly and very well.

The songs on Little Mountain sound like stories and their whimsical and nearly twee approach is awesome. This is the sound of innocence and love and it's fantastic. Creating a sweeping setting in which to stage their songs, Said The Whale paint musical pictures with their songs and listening to them is like understanding what the picture means. They're always a bit off center but always very good. I thoroughly enjoyed this record because of it's quirky tendencies and winsome sounds. If you like things slightly homesick and forlorn, then listen to what this Whale says...it's worth it.

The Beautiful View Believes Life Is Beautiful

When you're from San Diego you're surrounded by beautiful views all the time (and I guess views of air craft carriers as well); it's a gorgeous city that could very well be the prettiest in all of California. It's really no surprise then that The Beautiful View is named after what surrounds them everywhere they look. Anyway, musically, this band specialize in jerky, angular, New Yorkish sounding indie that comes off like a west coast version of say someone like Interpol crossed with Foo Fighters. Their album, Life Is Beautiful, is a dramatic, powerful and shifty affair that takes some of the California sunshine and darkens it a bit.

Life Is Beautiful is noisy, brash, and obtuse recording that still manages to hang on to a sense of melody. The melodies on this record have to fight to be heard over the constant din and the sheer amount of music played but they eventually do win out and a song like, "Bells," is born. Complete with chunky riffs and a soaring chorus that's seemingly phase shifted at times, "Bells," sounds like the best thing Dave Grohl never wrote. Life Is Beautiful isn't immediately catchy, it's odd time signatures, jumpiness, and moodiness take away from it's being easy to latch on to, but if you sit with the album for a listen or two you'll start to discover it's subtle harmonies and grooves.

The Beautiful View are art-rockers that have crammed so much sound into Life Is Beautiful it's almost impossible to hear it all. They're very good musicians and whether it's angular post punk influences or stadium soaring power pop the Beautiful View seem to have it covered and almost have it too covered. Life Is Beautiful is a good record that takes some investment from the listener to enjoy but once that investment is made, the record will continually make an impact as a well played artful work packed to gills with musicality.