I’ve been wholly impressed by Suzy Callahan’s heartfelt and smart lyrical content ever since I was blessed enough to review her previous albums. She once again strips away expectations with bright and clever wordplay amid a modern day coffeehouse folk-pop album. Spiritually calculating and ethereal hooks comprise the vast majority of the songs contained on “My Own Personal Watermelon”, which was tracked in analog and digital in equal parts by producer Scott Tyburski. The title refers to the new seedless variety of mini watermelons that you may see at a grocery store. In fact this morning when I was at the store I saw some for sale and was tempted to buy one and munch away while listening to Suzy’s cute, poetic and tender tunes.
Besides their silly attempt to play dress up and look like some cast-off fifth Beatle, Coldplay’s most recent foray into the music world finds them teaming up with oddball ambient man Brian Eno as producer. Eno paints a vivid portrait of incredibly intricate pop music whose choruses soar and verses lay tender hooks alongside drenching wet melodies. There’s a lot of world-beat influences as well as off-beat keyboard work throughout this album whose title was siphoned from renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Is it as good as it gets for Coldplay? Probably not, but it delivers where “X+Y” faltered and this band doesn’t seem to stop impressing, even if the U2 references (iPod commercial, much?) are getting a bit tired. To summarize properly though, I leave you with:
David: “You know how I know you’re gay?”
Cal: “How?”
David: “You like Coldplay.”
Wow Portishead is still alive and kicking? I pretty much gave up on this break-through trip-hop band years ago when you know, they weren’t DOING ANYTHING. So it’s been a long time coming since 1997 when the band released their self-titled sophomore follow-up to “Dummy” which was released half an eon ago in 1994. Fortunately the wait was worth it, groove-laden tracks and sultry singing aside, the band has displayed an uncanny ability to redefine themselves in these modern days with even a nod in the direction of the acoustic world on “Nylon Smile”. Beauty shrink-wrapped in plastic indeed.
Electro-pop continues its insane drive with reckless abandon towards the top of the charts. New players in the market are oddly monikered Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head. Melodic dance rock anthems emanate from “Glistening Pleasure” with undeniable catchy hooks and dudical synth bass. While these kids aged 18 to 20 years of age didn’t exactly grow up listening to the beginnings of electro and New Wave back in the Reagan era, you can hear the obvious influences. Energetic and fashionably late, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head will cut into the fanbase of groups like Go Team and Le Tigre. Between the bubblegum pop hooks, the intrinsically performed synth stabs, and pulsating beats you have a signature sound that will earworm its way into your musical psyche. Gnarly.
Big tits and acting ability can get you far in Hollywood, but they don’t mean shit to the wonderful world of sound waves. Scarlett’s husky voice might have SOUNDED ON PAPER like the perfect fit for covers of the whiskey-throated Tom Waits but “Anywhere I Lay My Head” (which by the way lacks the crucial subtitle of “(on Scarlett’s bosom, results in neck cramps”) is a sorted affair of pop interpretations with only one original song that was co-penned with the help of producer and multi-instrumentalist (he played darn near everything here) by none other than TV on the Radio’s own David Andrew Sitek which was a yawn not a delight. How can lips that perfect by so flawed?!? Yeah Yeah Yeah’s guitarist Nick Zinner also lends a hand to her debut. Now, I’ll leave you with what should have been the cover art…
