Good New Music For Sad iPods in Need

Many critics are quick to point out the irony of Joni Mitchell both maintaining her protest against the music industry’s superficiality and signing onto a label managed by Starbucks. However, they are overlooking what she hoped to present in her new work: a complete album, packaged carefully, to be unwrapped and listened to as a whole. For this reason, I went to Starbucks and actually bought the CD (which can only be purchased in the store or online). The inserts accompany the music in the pensive, pleasing first impression they provide, framing startlingly confrontational lyrics like, “If I only had a heart, I’d cry.” Most people only think of Mitchell as the guitar-strumming folkie that she was in the late ’60s, but her music has been moving through several phases since the mid-’70s, and Shine sums up some of the best elements of each. The jazzy delivery and instrumentation of her late-’70s experimental period blends with the rich orchestrations of her recent standards albums and tactfully employs the vocal dubbing that was often overwhelming in her ’80s and ’90s work. Maybe she can’t reach for the high notes anymore, but it does allow her to sink deeply into a strong lower register.

The album starts with an instrumental piece inspired by the return of her inspiration. Most of the songs here are toned-down and never stray from bass piano notes, but she breaks this pattern occasionally to great effect, using biting electric-guitar chords to demonstrate life’s hardship on “Hana.” A jumpy, even slightly-confusing reprise of “Big Yellow Taxi” suddenly appears in the middle of the affair and is probably the one song she could have left out. It doesn’t throw off the focus of the album, though, and she closes by setting a Kipling poem to a strong arrangement. And all the while she’s reminding the svelte middle-aged women buying her album in Starbucks about the destruction they’re causing to the planet. This is one of Mitchell’s best albums in years, musically accessible yet scathing in its reproachful lyrics about our passive environmentalism.
—August Du Pont

Most radio listeners are familiar with Mat Kearney’s “Nothing Left To Lose”—a song filled with the compelling, earnest vocals that characterize his work. Lesser-known are the other 12 tracks on Kearney’s album, which is titled after his hit song. Each one contains much of the same smooth pop-rock sound that has made the singer popular, but with some surprises thrown into the mix: it turns out Mat Kearney is a rapper. Kearney’s sweeping ballads such as “Nothing Left To Lose” and “Crashing Down” are honest and convincing displays of his talent, while his forays into rap are less impressive—songs like “In The Middle” and “Girl America” have rapped verses that pale in comparison to their melodic choruses. His songs shift uncomfortably between his two personas, making it difficult to find coherence in the split musical personality that his album reveals. Maybe it’s bravery that encourages the odd, jarring combination of skills that Kearney displays on this album, but it may be more of a sign that Mat still has some evolving to do. Once Kearney recognizes that his true talents lie in the world of rock, we will hear more of the artist that listeners have come to love.
­­­­­­—Zoe Lubitz

Remember the days of The Colour and the Shape (1997) and There Is Nothing Left To Lose (1999), when new Foo Fighters albums would sweep the nation in their wake of oh-my-god-I-just-need-to-dance destruction and overall awesomeness? Early-era Foo Fighters came across the airwaves with an incredible sense of fun and a raw energy that has been mimicked, but not fully replicated. In Your Honor (2005) cast a wider net, which was interesting, but ... something was missing. After a few spins of the new disc, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, I’ve put my finger on it. The arrangements have become more involved—but is that what Foo fans want? Echoes does offer the occasional glimpse into their former rocking spunk, as the better moments of “The Pretender” or the entirety of “Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make Up Is Running)” demonstrate, but the rockers more often recede into uniformity. As for the mellower pieces, well, they do all right. Don’t get me wrong, I still think the Foo Fighters is a right fine rock brigade. It’s just that Echoes, like In Your Honor before it, doesn’t strike home with the same uniqueness and catchiness of its ’90s forebears.
—Reid Sandelands

It is generally accepted by music lovers that second albums often disappoint. In trying to replicate previous successes, artists and producers try to recreate that special something that made hit songs so worthy of attention. KT Tunstall’s new album is no exception. Despite optimistically entitling her album Drastic Fantastic, most tracks are far from either of these claims. “Suddenly I See” and “Other Side of the World,” released in 2006, impressed fans with fresh vocals and catchy guitar melodies. Unfortunately, few tracks on her new album have the same spunk and spark. “Hold On” is one exception—its funky guitar phrases and soulful vocals remind us of the KT Tunstall whose songs were omnipresent last year. Her slower ballads such as “White Bird” are honest and beautiful: “Made me look up from my shoes/To show me what you stand to lose,” she croons. Still, Drastic Fantastic leaves the listener wondering where the fresh sound has gone.
—Zoe Lubitz