The Belle Brigade - The Belle Brigade

The Belle Brigade - The Belle Brigade
2011, Reprise Records

Brother and sister Ethan and Barbara Gruska are the heart of The Belle Brigade.  Releasing their self-titled debut today via Reprise Records, the pair have earned comparisons to Simon and Garfunkel and Fleetwood Mac.  The Belle Brigade displays a band with a distinct sense of melody, but moreover a pair of voices that blend in nearly supernatural fashion.  It’s no surprise, music runs in Ethan and Barbara Gruska’s genes.  Their father is composer Jay Gruska, and their father is non other than the incomparable film composer John Williams.

The Belle Brigade opens with "Sweet Louise", a catchy, low-key folk rocker with country accents.  The song is a simple declaration of love you won't be able to shake, full of great harmonies and driven by the exceedingly pleasant vocals of Ethan.   "Where Not To Look For Freedom" is a catchy rocker reminiscent of early Elton John in style and energy.  It's a vibrant, active tune that grabs your attention.  "Losers" shows off a notable skill at orchestration, but the incessantly repetitive chorus wears thin.  "Shirt" features Ethan and Barbara in a distinctive duet.  Barbara stands out for pure sound, but when the two voices combine they wrap around each other like lovers.  This blend is sonically appealing and helps build the song from into an urgent and edgy rocker.

"Lucky Guy" follows the series of lucky rolls that grow out of an inauspicious beginning of life.  The active folk/rock arrangement is appealing, and The Belle Brigade offers it up with great energy without going over the top.  You won't be able to sit/stand still through this song.  "Lonely Lonely" features the sort of great pop chorus that turns into chart gold.  The Belle Brigade changes things up with the moody and introspective "Punch Line", exploring feelings of being forgotten as a child.  Ethan delivers a highly emotive vocal here that drives the weight of the song home.  Barbara takes the mic on "Rusted Wheel" in a memorable performance aided by a brilliant melody line.  Listeners will want to hear more of her.  The Gruskas combine again on "My Goodness", blending their voices once again in a low key but ultimately accessible number that's likely to be a fan favorite.  The Belle Brigade bows with "Fasten You To Me".  Barbara brings listeners to the door with an exquisite performance in the surprisingly mellow closer.

The Belle Brigade is surprisingly subtle and nuanced on their eponymous debut.  Rock n roll, pop and folk music influences inform the songwriting on The Belle Brigade, driven by a distinctive ear for melody and interplay and the fine voices of Ethan and Barbara.  The Belle Brigade don't create the initial impression of a band who will catch fire right away, but rather an act that will warm up slowly and burn for a long, long time.  The intricacies of the songwriting process are very much alive on The Belle Brigade, but this is a band that is still figuring out just what they are capable of.  This is a great start.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about The Belle Brigade at www.thebellbrigade.com or www.myspace.com/thebellebrigade.  The Belle Brigade is available from Amazon.com as a CD, on Vinyl or as a Download.  The album is also available via iTunes.

Fun With Atoms - Smart

Fun With Atoms - Smart
2010, Blurb Records

Green Bay, Wisconsin's Fun With Atoms bring their edgy Americana pop sound wherever they go.  Inspired by their mid-western, working class roots, Fun With Atoms inject a pop sensibility into everything they touch.  Rick Smith (vox/guitars/keys); Dan Collins (vox/bass/keys) and Curt Lefevre (drums/percussion/vox) have crafted a sound that takes in a wealth of influences but matures as a sound that doesn't really sound like anyone.  There third album, Smart, captures the energy and angst have gained Fun With Atoms so much attention from their first two efforts.

Smart opens with "Walking The Razor's Edge", an Americana country/rock blend that is reminiscent of Blue Rodeo or Wilco with a Gin Blossoms chaser.  It's a catchy tune about the dangers of falling in love when your life keeps you on the road.  The lead vocals are serviceable, but sound better in the context of the vocal harmonies offered here.  "Really Happy" evokes Peter Case with a catchy, distinctive pop feel.  The chorus is highly memorable and the song is well-paced throughout.  It's a bit light in the lyrics department; more of a stream of conscious style than anything else, but solidly entertaining.  Things slow down significantly mid-album, but Fun With Atoms recovers in time to deliver some jangly country/rock on "Mystery".  This time it's as if the Gin Blossoms and The Beatles are battling it out, and for a change the bridge makes the song.  "Ringing In My Ears" sounds a bit more like garage Americana, as if the Skydiggers seriously electrified their sound.  It's entertaining, but serves as a sort of last gasp for Fun With Atoms and Smart.

Smart starts well, but Fun With Atoms seem to have had a hard time compiling enough material for a full length album.  The filler here, while not bad, doesn't measure up to the four or so songs that really make Smart worth checking out.  A four or five song EP may have been a wiser move, but Fun With Atoms show definite potential on Smart.

Rating: 2.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Fun With Atoms at www.funwithatoms.com or www.myspace.com/funwithatoms.  Smart is available digitally from Amazon.com and iTunes.

Breaking Laces - When You Find Out

Breaking Laces - When You Find Out
2011, Tenacity Records

Brooklyn's Breaking Laces have developed a hard-won, fiercely loyal grass roots fan base over the past seven years, selling close to 200,000 units (CDs/downloads) in that time.  Combining vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Willem Hartong's heart-on-sleeve lyrical style and a grand pop musical vision, Breaking Laces continue to open doors in the Indie Rock world.  Breaking Laces latest effort, When You Find Out, attempts to marry simple acoustic arrangements with a big pop sound, and meets with mixed success. 

Hartong is a complex and confusing vocalist, at times allowing his voice to soar in enigmatic style, but at others falling into a whiney drone that's reminiscent of Michael Stipe in the mid-1980's.  When You Find Out gets off to a lethargic start with "What We Need", a bland radio ballad for the lovelorn.  "God In Training" is memorable, transitioning from a rhythm-based acoustic arrangement in the verse to a Nirvana-like chorus.  The chorus itself is memorable and catchy.  "When You Find Out" is whiney acoustic pop and Breaking Laces come off sounding like a maudlin Maroon 5.  "Shopping For Two" waxes poetic on the little joys of being in a relationship.  The song is catchy and sweet without veering into saccharine.  

"Here To Stay" is a solid, mid-tempo love song reminiscent of a cross between Maroon 5 and Air Supply.  While a decent listen, the syrupy love song motif is carried a bit too far on the album in general.  "Angeline" finds the band going electric for an angst-filled, mid-tempo rocker that rages about getting kicked out.  There's an almost passive-aggressive anger present here that works surprisingly well.  Breaking Laces play their way through the self-indulgent power ballad "Bone Dry", and the bland "This World" and "Carry On" before fading out with the bland, middle-of-the-road pop of "I Do I Don't". 

"When You Find Out" certainly has its good moments, but a full length album might have been a stretch.  Breaking Laces has a mighty fine EP scattered throughout the album, but there's too much filler for the project to be cohesive as a full-length.  It sounds as if, seven years on, Breaking Laces are still trying to figure out just who they are.  That search can be beautiful, ugly, exciting and boring in turns.  This aptly describes "When You Find Out".

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Breaking Laces at www.breakinglaces.com or www.myspace.com/breakinglaces.  When You Find Out drops May 17, 2011.   You can order it now from Amazon.com as either a CD or Download.

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Paul Simon - So Beautiful Or So What

Paul Simon - So Beautiful Or So What
2011, Hear Music

Five #1 albums.  13 GRAMMY Awards.  The Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.  The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.  Paul Simon could never record another note and be remembered as one of the greatest singer/songwriters in American (or world) history.  Yet at the tender young age of seventy, Paul Simon releases his 11th solo album, So Beautiful Or So What, showing the same lyrical touch, melodic sensibility and musical complexity that his distinguished his work over a long and critically acclaimed career.

If the vigor of youth has begun to slip away from Simon, you'd never know it from listening to So Beautiful Or So What.  Simon is at the top of his game on the subtly complex collection of ten songs that may be his best work since Rhythm Of The Saints.  Simon opens with "Getting Ready For Christmas Day", contrasting the secular struggle with finances and gifts with the spiritual power of the Christmas story.  The arrangement is classic Simon with a modern twist.  The melody is timeless, drawn across an acoustic guitar progression that's as rhythmic as it is harmonic, and the chorus is speckled with spoken word sampling that adds an extra bit of rhythmic spice.  "The Afterlife" sounds like it could have been an outtake from the Rhythm Of The Saints sessions, and looks through the lens of humor at an afterlife overrun with the bureaucracy of man.  Simon's arrangement subtly melds musical and lyrical flavors that seem like they shouldn't work together but somehow do.

"Dazzling Blue" is a philosophical love song, blending influences from various stages in his career.  Delivered with a subtlety that continues to grow in depth with each passing year, Simon enters the realm of the sublime.  "Rewrite" opens with a complex, polyrhythmic progression on the acoustic guitar, and is written from the perspective of someone trying to come to terms with the mistakes of his past by re-crafting events to place himself in a better light.  Simon creates a character so real and dysfunctional that the song takes on a life of its own.  "Love & Hard Times" revisits the idea of making amends for past injustices, both personal and romantic, while acknowledging a current love.  It's a starkly beautiful exploration of how love can vanish and reform even in the midst of personal darkness. 

Simon deconstructs love in terms of good and evil in "Love Is Eternal Sacred Light".  The concept of abandonment resurfaces here (it was first raised in "Rewrite"), but this time the authorial voice is God himself.  It's an intriguing number that weaves its way through philosophical and theological considerations while attached to an incredibly catchy folk/rock arrangement. 

Simon shows off his guitar skills on the gorgeously free-form instrumental "Amulet".  Pensive and complex, the guitar players out there will be in awe on first listen.  "Questions For The Angels" is contemplative and quasi-spiritual.  Growing out of "Amulet", the song follows one seeking spiritual enlightenment in the sights and sounds of New York City.  "Love And Blessings" is an intriguing little number that juxtaposes blessings and curses, viewing them all from the bright side.  If there's a subtle implication that all are one and the same and a matter of perspective, then Simon has raised the bar on subtlety once again.  Simon closes with "So Beautiful Or So What", an incredibly catchy, low-tech folk rocker decrying the human tendency to overlook our own role in making our lives better.  Simon doesn't go quietly, and reminds us all that we don't have to either.

Paul Simon was a legend long before releasing So Beautiful Or So What.  But at an age when many legends are living off their expansive catalogues, Simon continues to create music as fresh and compelling as any he's written.  While it's impossible to judge, at this stage, what sort of competition he might have for the award itself, anything less than a GRAMMY nomination would be an insult.  So Beautiful Or So What displays the sort of musical excellence that truly comes along once or twice a generation, and can be nothing less than a Wildy’s World Certified Desert Island Disc.

Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

 Learn more about Paul Simon at www.paulsimon.com or www.myspace.com/paulsimon.  So Beautiful Or So What is available from Amazon.com on CD, as a Limited Edition CD/DVD, on Vinyl and as a Download.  Digital copies are also available via iTunes.

Phoebe Legere - Ooh La La Coq Tail

Phoebe Legere - Ooh La La Coq Tail
2010, Mysterious Ways / ESP Disk

Rule #1 - never start a review with the statement "there's no one quite like....".  The first thing that will happen is you'll get thirty or forty e-mails, usually from a small group of a dozen or so Google-happy music buffs who live for refuting such statements.  Besides, it's trite and overdone.  That being said, there is quite literally, no one like Phoebe Legere.  One of the most original jazz pianists of generation, Legere has never stood still long enough to be classified definitively.  A classically trained pianist who fell in love with jazz, Legere studied at the New England Conservatory in high school.  Her four-octave voice also led her to sing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the age of sixteen.  Signed by EPIC records as a teenager, Legere has gone to build a significant catalog of work in jazz and electronic music.  The Pulitzer-Prize nominated composer gets back to her roots on Ooh La La Coq Tail, blending French Musette, Jazz, Pop and Baroque Chamber styles in a whirlwind of class and charm.

Ooh La La Coq Tail opens with "Que Rest T'Il De Nos Amours?” a healthy dose of French cabaret jazz.  Legere's low-key, nuanced arrangement sidles up next to you and gathers your attention with a warmth and sensuality that's intriguing.  Legere's beautifully clear voice is the perfect complement and spoil to the arrangement.  "I Love Myself When I'm With You" features Legere in a duet with George Leonard.  His Steve Lawrence-inspired talk/sing style is a perfect complement to Legere's vocal glamour in a number that sounds like it was spawned from a 1940's movie musical.  "Under Paris Skies" features Legere in a stunning vocal performance in the chanson style.  Legere's voice is full of intricate tones and textures, providing a spine-tingling 'wow' moment. 

Legere starts out "Prelude To A Kiss" in a breathy, forced alto below her comfortable range.  Once she breaks out into her upper register you'll forget the slight detour, but the opening isn't a great reflection of what Legere can do.  "Sometimes It Snows In Las Vegas" is a piano-driven pop/jazz number.  Legere handles it with aplomb.  Legere launches herself into "Hot Sicilian Pizza Boy" with an enthusiasm and wit that is simply stunning.  It's an entertaining turn, and gives listeners a glimpse of the pure magnetism Legere communicates on stage.  "Sex Is Love" explores differences in perspective on the world's favorite past time.  This is great songwriting, plain and simple.

Legere offers up "Nancy", a love song with surprisingly uncertain pacing.  It's not a bad song, but something just doesn't go right in the dynamic built here.  Legere recovers nicely on "Playing Me Like A Piano", an innuendo-laden jazz ballad that Legere makes even better with her voice.  "Just One Of Those Things" is presented in French as an up-tempo number.  Legere instills the song with verve and a sense of class that's unmistakable.  Ooh La La Coq Tail closes a solid rendition of "Paris Je T'Aime" and a lovely piano instrumental entitled "Earth Singing World".  Here Legere blends styles and substance in expansive piano passages that display her subtle style, extreme melodicism and sense of freedom on the piano.

Phoebe Legere is a treasure; a name touted by musical cognoscenti but often not recognized for her talents outside of a core group of fans and music professionals.  While artists such as Diana Krall and Norah Jones have earned raves and racked up millions in album sales for pop-influenced jazz numbers with strong connections to the American songbook, Legere continues to challenge boundaries and classification every time she sits at the piano.  Ooh La La Coq Tail has a couple of quiet moments, but Legere consistently provides excellence in both her compositions and performance.  This album is a definite keeper.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Phoebe Legere at http://www.phoebelegere.com/ or www.myspace.com/sexbrain.   Ooh La La Coq Tail is available digitally from Amazon.com and iTunes.

Julie The Band - Wild As The Sky [EP]

Julie The Band - Wild As The Sky [EP]

2010, Baby Bird Records

When lead vocalist Nathan Blumenfeld-James and lead guitarist Dustin Bath met in high school they didn't have any idea that they might still be making music together a decade later.  The Los Angeles natives began a partnership that has continued to prosper over the years, and eventually grew into a band with the addition of Jon Spence and Nick Adams in 2009.  The band's debut album, An Act Of Communication, was full of witty song writing and pop structures, and won the band rave reviews from regional and national outlets.  In 2010, Julie The Band returned with the six-song EP, Wild As The Sky, maintaining the basic personality the band had established with their debut, but sliding more fully into an Americana influenced-sound.

Wild As The Sky opens with "Working For The Wind", a catchy mix of Americana and rock n roll.  Blumenfeld-Jones carries the day, but Julie The Band is as tight as can be behind him.  The chorus is the gotcha moment here, built on a great hook and filled to the brim with dynamic vocal harmonies and enough guitar fill to complete the sound.  The song is all about making your way through the world without getting caught up in earthly details.  "Memories In My Head" recalls a romantic interlude from years before that's been etched into memory for all time.  It's almost a lucid moment amidst memory, and is an amazing piece of songwriting. 

"Wild As The Sky" is another retrospective, thinking back to the carefree days of youth when the world around you is all you see.  The gentle country/folk arrangement is appealing, and seals the connection with the listener.  "Big Boned" is an interesting love song about the long haul.  Good hearted and sweet, with an under-current of humor, Julie The Band seems to embrace reality in lines like, "When my time comes and that curtain closes / and my eyes don't shine like they used to / forget all that stuff, I just hope I said this enough / I love you."  "Perfect Match" is another sweet little love song done up in a nice, simple arrangement.  This one is pure mix-tape material.  Wild As The Sky closes with "Free As A Cowboy", an ode to walking away from the minutiae of the every day and into a life of freedom.  Peace and anger mix in interesting measure in a tune that runs much deeper in motivation than it at first seems.

Julie The Band remakes itself on Wild As The Sky without losing their essential approach to songwriting.  Early returns suggest that this is a serious band with a light heart that will continue to grow musically as long as they are together.  Don't be surprised if Julie The Band continues to make albums that don't sound much at all like things they've done before.  Even for a six song EP, Wild As The Sky is ambitious and brave.  Even when Julie The Band doesn't fully connect, they get enough of your attention to keep you interested.  As time goes on, they're only going to get better at making that connection.

Rating: 3.5 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Julie The Band at www.julietheband.com or www.myspace.com/julietheband.  Wild As The Sky is available digitally from Amazon.com or iTunes.