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Spin Cycle is a biweekly roundup of the latest music releases selected by our editors.
Aerosmith |
Shawn Colvin |
Mirwais |
Pete Yorn |
Old 97's
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Aerosmith
"Just Push Play" (Columbia) |
The robotic Marilyn Monroe on the cover of Aerosmith's latest perfectly sums up the sound of the music: iconic, cheeky and beautifully tacky. For the first time, Steve Tyler and Joe Perry serve as producers, with assistance from pop-savvy collaborators Mark Hudson and Marti Frederiksen. Together, they punch up the band's trademark Beatles-via-Zep crunch and back off the gooey ballads—there's no trace of the hesitancy that dragged down Aerosmith's last few records. And while nothing else on "Play" quite matches the slinky intimacy of its Top 10 single, "Jaded," every song has something to root for, whether it's the title track's inventive genre-shuffle, Tyler's spontaneous yodeling or the way "Under My Skin" continues the band's love of gender-bending. By record's end, the Viagra-pop hooks become exhausting, but to have maintained that level of energy with craft and heart, rather than the histrionic rage of their peers, is quite a victory. —Justin Hartung
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Shawn Colvin
"Whole New You" (Columbia) |
Shawn Colvin's long-awaited "Whole New You" is poetry set to music, as opposed to married to it. With few exceptions, this is a collection of moody musical watercolors attempting to convey a wide range of emotions: Witness Colvin's metamorphosis from free-spirited artist to parent, balancing creativity with a newfound sense of responsibility. Only one song, "Bound to You," doesn't take itself too seriously—and, as a result, feels free to rock. The other radio-oriented standout is the catchy, Motown-tinged "Anywhere You Go." Often, Colvin co-writer/producer John Leventhal's influences are too apparent. The title track, though pleasantly hummable, is mired from the first bar in heirloom instrumental hooks from the Who and the Beatles. The music is rarely up to the task set by the lyrics. Truly successful union of melody and words occurs only twice—on the sparsely arranged stream of consciousness titled "Bonefields" and on the album's most original piece, "Another Plane Went Down," which teeters beautifully on the edge of dream and reality.
—Don Harvey
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Mirwais
"Production" (Epic) |
As the immaculate conception of Mirwais confirms, being dubbed the "future of sound" by Madonna isn't exactly the worst thing that can happen to a career. When he was picked to produce Her Majesty's last album (including its brilliant title track, "Music"), Mirwais shot up from French house obscurity to serious A-list party-rocker status. Such a storied rise serves Mirwais' solo debut well, if only because it makes the head-twisting weirdness of "Production" more intriguing than it might be otherwise. For better and worse, Mirwais is far weirder than he let on by Madonna's side. Something of a mixed bag, "Production" teeters between grating aimlessness and uniquely dark, claustrophobically compressed runs through the Vocoder-happy lands of French house music. The best track, "Disco Science," boils over a refried disco beat, with whip cracks and singed squiggles flying off in every direction. On other cuts—the warbly, drooling "Junkie's Prayer"; the corny but unusually misanthropic "Naive Song"—Mirwais gets his existential brood on, bringing some sporty, if spotty, pathos to the party. —Andy Battaglia
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Pete Yorn
"musicforthemorningafter" (Columbia) |
Testosterone-driven bands fuel alt-rock radio today, but when the format first evolved in the '80s, alt-rock stations trafficked in acts like the Smiths and R.E.M. Pete Yorn reminds us of those days with his debut album. Radio has already found a spot for the rollicking opening track, "Life on a Chain." The 26-year-old songwriter combines the beauty of British bands with a whiskey-soaked delivery similar to Neil Young's. The best example is the captivatingly simple "Just Another" (a song that has already premiered on "Dawson's Creek"). With Jeff Buckley-like good looks, Yorn drives the same road as other indie idols like Evan Dando—but the difference is that Yorn's songs overshadow his appearance. With a major film score behind him ("Me, Myself & Irene") and the backing of a strong label, Pete Yorn should be a familiar request-line name before long. —Jeremy Reed
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Old 97's
"Satellite Rides" (Elektra) |
The Old 97's, to paraphrase Donny and Marie, are a little bit country and quite a bit rock and roll. On their new, eagerly anticipated "Satellite Rides," the 97's join the ranks of the many alt-country bands (Wilco comes immediately to mind) making a living trying to fuse the poetic spirit of Gram Parsons with Paul McCartney's penchant for hummable radio fodder. When it works, as on the opening "King of All the World," "Designs on You" and "Up the Devil's Pay," the formula yields agreeable results, suggesting that leader Rhett Miller desperately wants to position himself as an earthier analog to Weezer's Rivers Cuomo. But too often, that formula—catchy, countrified choruses giving way to weak, unmemorable verses—makes for a slippery, schizoid ride (especially on the wincingly undercooked chorus to "Bird in a Cage"). It's these moments that keep "Satellite Rides" from crackling with the kind of Son Volt-age reserved for the genre's most memorable proponents. —Kevin Forest Moreau
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Previous Spin Cycles:
Mar. 1 SXSW Edition: Idlewild, Blake Babies, Kasey Chambers, Spoon, Kristin Hersh,
Jim White, Brassy, Kid 606, Will Hoge and F--k
Feb. 15: Stephen Malkmus, Rodney Crowell, Low, V/A "Studio One Rockers" and Dusty Springfield
Feb. 1: Double Trouble, The Donnas, Frank Black and the Catholics, Cliff Martinez and Talib Kweli & Hi Tek
Have a comment or question? Send a message to the editor:
Don Harvey.
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