Review: Chrissy Coughlin - Look Ahead

Chrissy Coughlin - Look Ahead
2008, Chrissy Coughlin

Chrissy Coughlin calls wherever she happens to be her hometown. Having moved around a great deal as a child, Coughlin became adept at meeting new people and finding how situations work for her. This ease in transition comes across on her 2nd album, Look Ahead. Coughlin presents a musical traveling soul, with sounds/influences ranging from Sheryl Crow to Natalie Merchant to Lucinda Williams to Sarah McLachlan.

Look Ahead opens with Back To You, a delightful country rock tune built on a strong guitar hook and a snappy melody. From there Coughlin slides into Watch Your Step, a rootsy song born in dark tones that resolves into an airy melody and bright message. This one sounds like something Tom Petty and Sarah McLachlan might have written together if they were so inclined. Look Ahead is the mix-tape song on the disc, although it does get a little bogged down in itself. Big Log is a real treat, featuring Robert Cray style guitar playing and soulful vocals from Coughlin. Coughlin sounds very at home here, and her voice opens up with more color and nuance than we've heard to this point on the album.

Perfect Time may be the most commercial song on the album in spite of itself. It's a very straight forward rock tune with a clean melody line that sticks in your head. Wait For You is probably the most well-written song on Look Ahead. The juxtaposition of guitar, piano and voice here is quite striking, their mutual tension creates something greater than the sum of the parts. Coughlin is very courageous to take on Carlos Antonio Jobim's Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado). Not only courageous but successful. The tune is stylistically out of place here, but nonetheless a brilliant rendition, and makes you wonder if Coughlin might have a history (or future) singing jazz. The album closes out with Honestly, a pop confection that marks another divergence for Coughlin. It's a pleasant song that highlights the durability and reach of Chrissy Coughlin more than anything else.

Chrissy Coughlin brings a mixed and varied pallet of singing styles and vocal textures on Look Ahead. She appears to be able to sing most anything (well), and also displays a great sense of melody in her songwriting. A couple of songs on Look Ahead get a little bogged down in themselves, but on the whole it is a very solid album. It's a great rainy afternoon, snuggling on the couch music. It will fit well into your ears whether you like adult contemporary, country, light pop or rock. A strong effort.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Chrissy Coughlin at http://www.chrissymusic.com/. You can purchase a copy of Look Ahead at www.cdbaby.com/cd/chrissycoughlin2.

Review: Cash Cash - Take It To The Floor

Cash Cash - Take It To The Floor
2009, Universal Republic

Roseland, New Jersey’s Cash Cash is on the verge of something big. Brothers Jean Paul and Alex Maklhouf, Samuel Frisch and Anthony Villacari come on with a fresh sound steeped in 1980’s power pop and accented by modern electronic instrumentation. Round it out with big harmonies and a bit of that infectious bubblegum pop spirit and you have a tasty pop confection. The band’s full length debut, Take It To The Floor, is available today, December 23, 2008, as a download, and will be released on CD on January 20, 2009.

Take It To The Floor opens with Breakout, a peppy pop/rock tune with big harmonies in the chorus, a strong melody and an unbelievably catchy beat. Cash Cash has perfectly captured the spirit of classic pop music. Take away the electronic embellishments and you have a song that would have fit perfectly in the early days of MTV. Sugar Rush is aptly named, and almost too sweet for consumption. This is bubblegum pop at its most notorious, and will get countless spins at pop radio. You'll love it up until the point you start to hate it from overexposure. Concerta is a big electro-rock offering that's catchy with a great guitar hook. The big arena-rock harmonies here make the song as the verses themselves fall a little flat.

Two Days Old has pretensions of being a big guitar-rock style song. The heavily distorted synth opening is complex and fun listening, but resolves into a too-mundane verse. The chorus recovers with a great pop melody, but the end result is a disjointed tune that sounds like three separate songs were forced together. Your Love recaptures the strong pop sensibility that Cash Cash is so very capable of. This one has a bit of a new wave feel to it, but has very strong commercial viability. Dynamite is another strong pop contender, sounding a bit like a 1980's Mike Rutherford composition (stylistically).

Cash Cash has a strong sense of crisp melodies and pop arrangements that go down like cold water on a hot day. Take It To The Floor has some great pop/rock moments as well as a few songs that don't quite make it. A strong pop debut that is sure to bring Cash Cash significant commercial success. Right now Cash Cash has a lot of inertia based in newness and infectious song writing, but it will be interesting to see how they grow over a few albums, because there is real talent here.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Cash Cash at www.myspace.com/cashcash or http://www.cashcashmusic.com/. You can download Take It To The Floor on iLike. You can pre-order a CD with a signed booklet through Newberry Comics.

The Wildy's World Top-40 of 2008: #34 - #40

Ah yes, the dreaded end-of-year lists have begun. Not being able to resist the call of annoying pop-culture end of year lists, we here at Wildy's World thought we'd tear our hair our trying to present you with the top 40 albums we've reviewed in 2008. The albums had to be released in 2007 or 2008 in order to be considered, and a total of 537 albums were in the mix. This means the forty albums we'll present over the next 10 days comprise the top 7.5% of submissions in 2008!

Each listing will give a very brief statement about the album, and the artist name/title will serve as a hyperlink to the original Wildy's World review, where you can also find links to the artists' website and links to purchase their CDs.

Today we are covering #'s 34-40. Without further ado...

#40 Katey Laurel - Upstairs, Downstairs

With a warm, unforgettable voice and an ability to connect with listeners that's a little unreal, Katey Laurel's debut album slips into the top 40 quietly at the end of the year, but once you hear this young lady you won't be able to put her CD down.
#39 Great Big Sea - Fortune's Favour
Great Big Sea's 9th album takes a more pop turn while preserving the strong New Foundland/Celtic influences that have made them fan favorites the world over. Producer Hawksley Workman takes what has always been a talented and exciting band and streamlines their sound in a way that is both sleek and exciting.

#38 Hot Buttered Rum - Live In The Northeast
Easily one of the finest live bluegrass albums I've ever heard. Hot Buttered Rum brings an energy and presence that could not only carry bluegrass back into the mainstream of country music, but of popular music in general.
#37 Anj - When Grey Blushes
One of the most darkly beautiful albums we reviewed this year, Anj brings her brand of orchestrated jazz into the twilight for your listening pleasure. It's an enthralling album, the sort you might listen to obsessively.
#36 Maria DeMaio - Maria DeMaio
With a sultry voice and a palpable vulnerability, DeMaio is everything you want in a Rock N Roll songstress. Her debut is fantastic!
#35 Wensday - Torch Rock
When your musical patron/mentor is Alice Cooper, you've got a pretty decent shot at success. When you have a voice and a presence like Wensday, it's practically guaranteed. On Torch Rock Wensday sings just about every style imaginable, and does it well. Perhaps a little too varied to be commercial, but I'll bet you won't be able to put it down.


#34 Olio - Living The Dream

Olio is like a super group made of people you've never heard of. Three top-notch musicians/composers come together to bend genres and styles around a classic rock core to create something dynamic and familiar yet refreshingly new. One of the most pleasant surprises of 2008.

Review: 13 Stories - FunkyPopSexyHouseRap

13 Stories – FunkyPopSexyHouseRap
2008, 13 Stories

Atlanta, Georgia’s 13 Stories are a band that almost didn’t make it. They’ve played together for six years in different capacities, and almost broke up before finding the sound that they put forth of FunkyPopSexyHouseRap. A mix of power pop, rock, rap and everything else you can imagine, 13 Stories craft the sort of infectious pop songs that were all over the radio in the late 1980’s, but with a sound updated for today.

Bubblegum pop is back in a big way on FunkyPopSexyHouseRap. 13 Stories have managed to craft 12 original songs and one remix that use a lot of words to say very little. The sugary-pop confections contrived by 13 Stories are generally very danceable, and one suspects 13 Stories would do very well on the nightclub circuit. The album opens with Ride, a memorable, peppy tune that like will be remixed ad nauseum. Lexi and Beep! Beep! are both mindlessly danceable. Beep! Beep! sounds like a mix of The Spice Girls and The B-52s, and has the potential to be a major pop radio hit.

Be sure to check out The LA Song, a true Whoo-girl anthem if ever there was one. The other material here is very much hit or miss. If you're looking for intellectual music, or lyrics more intelligent than drunken bar babble among the Mighty Whoo on Friday nights, then this disc isn't for you. FunkyPopSexyHouseRap is a fun listen, even if you might not respect yourself in the morning. 13 Stories will most definitely find a niche.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about 13 Stories at http://www.13stories.com/, where you can purchase a copy of FunkyPopSexyHouseRap.

Review: Rebecca Katz - Spendin On Today

Rebecca Katz – Spendin’ On Today
2007, RKatz Music

Boston’s Rebecca Katz is something of an anomaly as a songwriter. Rather than adhering strictly to a folk or pop tradition, Katz has chosen a much more difficult and rewarding path. Harkening back to the age-old troubadour tradition, Katz blends stories, anecdotes and music into a blend of entertainment that is both glorious song craft and something that is greater than the sum of its integral parts. Katz lights up the room as a performer and can draw out the music fan in even the curmudgeonliest of listeners. Her debut album, Spendin’ On Today shows off the songwriter/storyteller side of Katz in phenomenal fashion. You need to hear this.

Rebecca Katz makes you feel at home right from the opening notes of Spendin' On Today. Her warm, rich alto voice is a tonic for all that ails you. Opening with If You See The One, Katz mixes heartfelt angst and humor to convey that sometimes the right person can come along at the wrong time. (If you see the one that I could love / just give him a push in the wrong direction / 'cause I've been waiting so long / I just spent the last of my affection.) The Real Thing is perhaps the perfect wedding song. So many wedding songs get picked because of a chorus or a verse that rings true and often other parts of the song run very much counter to the occasion. The Real Thing is the sort of song you could use as a first dance song without question or pause. It's incredibly well written, heart-felt and touching.

Katz moves on to This Story (The Maid & The Sailor). This Story is an epic story song in the tradition of the great folk troubadours. The acoustic guitar here serves as more of a meter to Katz' story than anything else. Her voice shapes the words as smoothly as a Vegas dealer laying cards on the table. To Donnie is a little more dynamic, reflecting distinct affection for the protagonist. Kiss Me Goodnight is another potential signature song. Katz memorializes in less than four-and-a-half minutes all that is important about a loving relationship. It's almost the anecdote to Sheryl Crow's Strong Enough. Rather than challenging, Katz simply asks for what she needs in one of the sweetest realistic love songs you'll hear in 2008. Spendin' On Today closes with Home Again, an a cappella tune that would work wonderfully well with a gospel choir. It's a great song, but is just a little too bare when done a cappella.

Rebecca Katz comes out of nowhere with what is undeniably one of the best folk albums I've heard this year. If there is any complaint one can make its that at six songs it’s just too short. Spendin' On Today is warm and rich, with a heart-on-the-sleeve tendency that smacks of Nanci Griffith or Dar Williams. Katz' voice is glorious and her delivery is spot-on. Great songs and a primo performance make Spendin' On Today a must have. It's a Wildy's World Certified Desert Island Disc. You don't want to let this one get by you.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Rebecca Katz at http://www.rkatztunes.com/, where you can purchase a copy of Spendin’ On Today.

Review: Bill Canty - Elysian Peace

Bill Canty – Elysian Peace
2007, Bill Canty

Australian musician/composer Bill Canty is out to get you. His musical experience runs the gamut from orchestras to Rock N Roll bands. A classical pianist by training, Canty has a profound talent for musical subtlety and grace. On Elysian Peace, Canty practices both in an ambient environment. Twelve five minute compositions inspire relaxation and peace while encouraging active listening through the use of stepped variation and subtle gradation of themes.

Bill Canty's Elysian Peace is among the most difficult types of albums to review. There is no specific song structure; there aren't even any songs, per se. Elysian Peace is 60 minutes of gentle musical breezes that blow gently across a nearly still body of water. The breeze here doesn't so much touch the water as kiss it gently from time to time as it rolls and wheels across the horizon. Canty uses electronic instrumentation and ambient settings to create movement that isn't so much inertial as spatial. Twelve five-minute tracks are not so much differentiated from one another as they are extensions of one to another.

Canty uses undulations of sound, brief glances of melody, random notes and a dawdling sense of development to craft the ultimate relaxation/meditation disc. I'm not talking the cheap and terminal recordings you find in new age boutiques or mall havens like Brookstone, but a vibrant, ambient new age recording that has life and movement within it. Elysian Peace holds the listener's interest because within the still calm of the music is another world that beckons the listener: A world full of energy and currents you can't see but which pull at you all the same.

Canty mixes up the "instruments" and sounds throughout the sixty minute recording to display a gradual change in effects over time. You might hear the electronic equivalent of glockenspiel, guitar, synth, water bells, orchestras and most anything else you can imagine. All of these sounds and effects are woven into the textures of Elysian Peace so as to become practically indistinct. Canty seems to have a real talent for creating these musical tableaus in four dimensions. Nothing is ever flat or concrete.

Bill Canty is an unusually talented composer in the realm of electronic music. Elysian Peace is perfect for relaxation or meditation, but also provides ample musical nutrition for the active listener. Like the deep and powerful currents that often lay far below the still surface of water, Elysian Peace moves with its own inner power and grace. There is too much energy here and too much raw potential for change to not listen closely. Bravo.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Bill Canty at http://www.billcanty.com/, where Canty offers several options for purchasing Elysian Peace.

Review: The Wildcat - The Wildcat

The Wildcat – The Wildcat
2008, The Wildcat

The Wildcat are a Hollywood, California alt-rock trio that’s part garage and part Americana. Joshua Gollish (guitar/vox), Robin Everhart (bass) and Ric Rocc (drums) give it all they’ve got on their third release, and full length debut, The Wildcat. The Wildcat rocks it old school, from the foot-tapping, hook filled guitar rock songs to the vinyl-lp replica looking CD.

The Wildcat opens with Nothing's Fresh, a deliciously bright rock tune with big guitar sounds and a real pop bent. This is rock and pop at its most streamlined and enjoyable. Lead vocalist Joshua Gollish reminds me distinctly of John Thomas Griffin of Cowboy Mouth, and at times channels a bit of Eddie Vedder to boot. The Wildcat is definitely more in the Cowboy Mouth territory, while Can't Sleep and Where The Wind Blows have that Seattle influence that is distinctly Vedder. The Girl is an incredible messy blues tune with lots of slide guitar and dirty licks. Shimmy Interlude is a fun little musical sidebar, and All That Remains hearkens back to a 1960's musical ethic. Other highlights include Shimmy Rock and Some Friends (which has a guitar lick that sounds like it was partially borrowed from The Eagles' Life In The Fast Lane).

The Wildcat is a rough work that runs all over the map. It's a very enjoyable listen, but there's little cohesion or consistency throughout the album. This means that while it's a great listen it's not likely to find a lot of commercial oomph. The Wildcat (the band) comes across as your quintessential bar band. These are guys whom you'd be very happy to be entertained by on any given weekend night, and they're good enough to be more than just a bar band, but until a real musical direction or cohesion comes into play it's probably what they'll be (and there's no shame in that - The Black Crowes have been a bar band all of their careers - a very good and successful one).

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about The Wildcat at www.myspace.com/thedeniercri. You can purchase a copy of The Wildcat at www.cdbaby.com/cd/wildcat.