Here’a an album that gets better with repeated listening, as the musical intricacies and lyrical mysteries reveal themselves, much like the band name promises; “Consilience” being defined by the bringing together of disparate, unrelated sources and ideas, resulting in a strong, unified conclusion. What this means for the listener is not a cacophony of different instruments nor a pile up of musical styles, but rather a very “right” coherence of instruments and styles that serve well Canadian band leader Tasy Hudson’s soft and dreamy vocals and her so-called confessional lyrics. Laid back dream rock combining PJ Harvey sounding piano and Cat Power’s intricate but never overdone song structures. One of the better indie albums this year so far.
Victor Gould Clockwork (Fresh Sound Talent)
Victor Gould assembled a powerhouse of a band for his Clockwork recordings and there are some nice compositions here, most of which betray an abiding love for mid-’60s John Coltrane albums. Aside from some free jazz horn squawk, Clockwork is a worthy musical odyssey that will please fans of the old Impulse! jazz label. Victor Gould’s music provides a nice excursion through a style of jazz that is now 50 years old—and aside from occasionally coming off a bit academic at times, this album will jibe with the multitude of fans of pre-Ascension/freak-out Coltrane. In a perfect world, Clockwork would also inspire a new generation of fans to discover artists like McCoy Tyner and Wayne Shorter, who, among other greats, inform the tunes on Clockwork.
Free Pizza Berlin, DE (BUFU Records)
While I can see where Free Pizza could be the highlight at certain dance parties, their geeky, bass driven thing just doesn’t get my toe a-tapping. Though this is Free Pizza’s second album, I just don’t see this group going anywhere for very long. And, I ask again: Why must this generation cloak their music in the bad sounds of ’80s new wave and MTV pop music crapola? These guys have taken even the handful of songs on Berlin, DE that could rock the bells and dumbed them down with plinkity-plunk bass and innocuous guitar sounds. I couldn’t give two hoots about the vocal talents of most singers, but c’mon: this guy is just purposely geek-bad. PASS.
