I'm really enjoying this CD, because it's not the average singer/songwriter
CD. Jayme herself calls the music 'New Age Folk', but it strikes me more
of an extremely emotive folk-rock. While the instruments themselves are
acoustic, the blues feel of many of the songs gives a 'rock' flavor to
the whole project, if that makes any sense. The album itself is split into
three parts, the first track, 'Documentary', is the "Prologue", while the
next nine tracks make up the "Travelogue". And here is where the album
really shines, especially the more rocking tracks like 'Alchemy' and 'Locked
Out'. Still, some of the more memorable moments appear on songs like 'Sideshow',
where all of a sudeen a great accordian part appears. And none of this
is mentioning Jayne's voice either, which is absolutely powerful, for lack
of a better term. This is truly a dynamic worth listening to more than
once, I know I'm going to keep listening for quite awhile.
***1/2
This is one of those CDs that's really good, yet difficult to listen
to the first time. I had ended up with a copy of one of the band's singles
thanks to a tape trade, but really didn't know anything about them before
ordering this. The band (at least on this album), is three women and one
man, and the vocals are usually done by one or more of the women, but not
always. The sound is a very fast noisy punk, sort of like early Bratmobile
but with a thicker sound. I don't really have a favorite on here,
at about two minutes each, by the time I get into a song, it's over. One
nice thing is that the band tacked a thiry-plus minute live set onto the
end of the album that more than doubles it's length. I think this would
be something to hear first, and buy later.
**1/2
This just keeps fading into background noise without really trying too
hard. Elixir are a rather genreic indie rock band, with some nice female
backing vocals and nice melodies, but that's about it. Nothing has really
stood out after a couple listens, but it's definitely not bad music in
any way. It's just another rock album from another rock band, that's all.
***
This is definitely one of those albums that has grown on me over time.
And since I've been listening to nothing else for three days, this is becoming
a real favorite. Ellen's music is a rocky folky pop, the sort of music
made by a singer/songwriter that really doesn't fit into a neatly labeled
bin. The first track, 'Perfect Malcontent', is my pick from the album as
far as airplay, though 'Crash Bang Boom!' and 'Good Girl Bad Girl' are
real winners too. Besides those rockers, there are some wonderful quiet
moments on the album as well, such as the second track, 'Homefires' and
'Jericho'. One of my personal favorites about the album as a whole are
the lyrics. Ellen's carefully chosen words are smart, and very expressive.
This is an album I dare you to listen to and not be moved.
****
This is another one of those albums which I didn't 'get' on the first
listen, but after a week-long listen-a-thon not too long ago, this album
has itself stuck in my brain like peanut butter. Heather's music is best
descried as a dark electro-pop, with extremely haunting lyrics. On songs
like 'Your Little Girl', sometimes it's hard to focus on the music when
there are lyrics like "Daddy isn't it strange the twists and turns a life
can tkae/Daddy there's a very thin line between love and hate" pressing
themselves brain-ward. Nope, this one is not ear-candy like the other 95%
of everything else out there. This album seems to be part of a great healing
process, and it's wonderful to hear. Some of my other favorite track are
'Modern Day Art', 'Bitter Blue', and 'The Faith of a Crucified Child'.
This is something different to listen to, all right, but I highly recommend
it as a very welcome change.
****