addd 0830 nashville 1-2

Apparently ABC is deeply invested in its hit television series Nashville; this soundtrack is the second volume from its first season. Creator and executive producer Callie Khouri's drama about the city's musical and political scenes, wound around and through the intimate lives of country stars Rayna James (Connie Britton) and Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere), are given weight and heft by a stellar cast that includes Charles Esten (Deacon Clayborne), Clare Bowen (Scarlett O’Connor), and Sam Palladino (Gunnar), among others. For those who don't already know, the actors in the series actually perform the songs assigned them. The music is selected, directed, and often produced and performed by T-Bone Burnett and his ace studio band, which includes guitarist Buddy Miller. This second volume features two performances from Britton and three by Panettiere. Of those songs, the standouts are clear, the latter's reading of Patty Griffin's "We Are Water" reveals the deepening of her character and stands in stark contrast to the more pop-oriented offerings on the previous volume, as does her performance of Sarah Buxton and Kate York's "Nothing in This World Will Ever Break My Heart Again," with its well-placed strings and canny drumming by Jay Bellerose. Britton's reading of Lucinda Williams' "Bitter Memory" -- a crunchy rocker produced by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach -- and her more languid performance of Buxton's and York's "Stronger Than Me" offers an intimate and convincing look Rayna's personal struggles (should Britton choose to become a solo artist apart from acting, she'd have no trouble). Lennon & Maisy Stella, the two young women who play Rayna's daughters, deliver their own intimate, killer take on the Lumineers' hit, "Ho Hey," while the duo of O'Connor and Palladino deliver wonderful duets in "Fade Into You" and "I Will Fall," which may be the album's finest tracks. Like the second half of the first season in this series, this volume has plenty to offer fans of the show, but more importantly, to fans of Americana and non-formulaic contemporary country to boot.

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add 0829 Nasville 01-01

There is plenty to like about the first season of ABC's prime-time drama Nashville. Executive producer Callie Khouri's take on the city's intense, competitive, thriving music and political scenes makes for saucy television. The centerpiece, of course, is music. Actors Connie Britton (Rayna James), Hayden Panettiere (Juliette Barnes), Charles Esten (Deacon Clayborne), Clare Bowen (Scarlett O’Connor), Sam Palladino (Gunnar), and others actually perform the songs in the series backed by a host of ace studio players. T-Bone Burnett is Nashville's music producer. He enlisted some of Music City's finest songwriters and the help of longtime friend Buddy Miller to co-produce (and perform on) most of the songs here. The end result is a collection that provides a compelling argument that contemporary country music doesn't need to divorce itself from its history; it also makes a solid case for the radio accessibility of Americana and alt-country. Most of the music here -- Britton's elegant "Buried Under," her duet with Panettiere on "Wrong Song," and Panettiere's duet with Esten on "Undermine" use contemporary country tropes, without sacrificing soul for production sheen. In other words, it's both the singer and the song that hook a listener. Burnett and Miller don't compress the hell out of everything to make it sound bigger. Virtually all of these instruments (especially drums and percussion) sound warm and natural, and serve to accent and support the vocals rather than overwhelm them. Panettiere's "Love Like Mine," and her performance on the radio mix of "Telescope" would likely chart if they were released as singles. Americana numbers such as the Civil Wars' "If I Didn't Know Better," performed by Palladino and Bowen, scored big on YouTube and prompted numerous Twitter conversations. So too the rootsy, original version of "Telescope," performed by Lennon & Maisy Stella (aged nine and twelve, who play Britton's daughters on the series), with only an acoustic guitar for accompaniment. "Twist of Barbwire," performed by Jonathan Jackson (Avery), is a tom-tom and whammy bar-driven rocker with just enough twang to make it walk between rockabilly and alt country. It probably doesn't hurt that it was written by Elvis Costello. Esten's "Sideshow" is a lovely ballad that walks dead center between Americana and contemporary country. Usually, soundtracks for television shows are a mixed bag at best. The Music of Nashville is a very notable exception.

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add 0828 romano drom

For their second outing, Hungary's Romano Drom build on their debut. No real surprises here, but plenty of power. They're still vocal-heavy, which isn't a bad thing at all with voices like these. Antal "Anti" Kovacs Jr. proves again that he's a natural frontman, with some epic tones in his voice, and remarkably agile guitar work -- the style of which owes more to flamenco (a style with some roots in gypsy music anyway) than anything from the Balkans. Certainly unusual for a Hungarian album, and none the worse for that, there's a complete absence of brass and violin, giving an intimacy to the music that's often enchanting. But its heart and soul is in the singing, from all four members (Mónika Lakatos guests to excellent effect on "The Wedding Proposal"). If you need an analogy, try the Gipsy Kings, but with much more rooted soul, and far stronger vocal work. "We Sing" is exactly that, with sublime harmonies, while "Don't Cry Woman!" sounds more like a field recording than a composition, with a train in the background. "O Milaj" shows off instrumental abilities, and gives Lakatos another -- wordless -- outing. Real progress on this disc, and a band well-worth hearing.

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add 0827 romano drom

Budapest-based Romano Drom is from the Olah Romany people, who lived in Romania until the middle of the 19th century, before migrating to Hungary. Their musical heritage is decidedly vocal, since the only instruments used by the Olah were percussive, consisting of churns, spoons -- anything but specific instruments. It's only in the last 40 years that the adventurous young Olah have taken up real instruments, and the result is the music of this band, who in many ways seem to have more in common with the guitar-based flamenco music of their Spanish cousins than most Central European gypsies. Bandleader Anti is powerful on the fretboard, and the others (including accordion, bass, percussion, and butter churn players) back him up well on this set of traditional music. While they've updated their heritage, they haven't abandoned it by any means -- the vocals, and the interplay between voices (although real instruments have largely replaced voices imitating instruments), remain the same. The seven-piece certainly doesn't sound like anyone else, and there's a touching beauty about some of their material, while other songs drive hard. Now that they've established themselves with one disc, it'll be interesting to see how they develop their sound

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add 0826 Soul brothers, soul meeting

This brings together all of the extant takes recorded for two albums that Milt Jackson made with Ray Charles for Atlantic in 1957 and 1958. With Oscar Pettiford, Connie Kay, and Kenny Burrell in the various lineups, this is bluesy jazz in a laid-back manner; it surprised many hardcore R&B fans when these albums were originally issued. Jackson moves from vibes to piano, and even guitar (on "Bag's Guitar Blues"), while Ray jumps between piano and alto sax on these sessions. A rare glimpse of Charles' jazz soul coming up for air.

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add 0825 canciones para un día de mierda 2 Reverend Glasseye and His Wooden Legs

The outrageously named Reverend Glasseye and His Wooden Legs look and sound as if they've just stepped out of an Edward Gorey drawing, complete with vaudeville street-corner instrumentation and waxed moustaches just itching to be twirled maniacally. Their swirling carnival sound and medicine-show vocals are one part Squirrel Nut Zippers, one part Tom Waits, and a hint of Sixteen Horsepower, with just a pinch of absinthe haze. Their 2001 release, Black River Falls, clunks and churns along with hints of klezmer and old-timey music peeking through the keyholes, recounting tales of preacher's daughters and tragic fishermen. While the band evokes an accurate period sound with some interesting quirks, the Reverend's theatrics tend to overshadow some fine songwriting at times, although that may be the whole point.

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add 0824 songs para un dis de mierda 1 Mark Eitzel

In between American Music Club albums, and also in between labels, Mark Eitzel was offered a deal to fly to London and play a solo show with the intention of releasing the results. To the dismay of many within the AMC camp, Eitzel accepted the deal, as he would have complete control over whatever came of it. Songs of Love Live is the result, a documentation of his show at London's Borderline. Though he played nearly half of what would become AMC's best work (Everclear), most of the CD is made up of gripping versions of earlier favorites, such as "Outside This Bar" and "Gary's Song" (from Engine), as well as "Firefly" and "Blue and Grey Shirt" (from California). The only missing element is the trademark banter between Eitzel and his audience. To paraphrase Saturday Night Live's Dieter from "Sprockets," Eitzel masks his self-depracation with the subtlety of a flying mallet, and when combined with his razor-sharp wit, it can lead to some hilarious and sometimes uncomfortable exchanges with the crowd. The closing songs "Take Courage" (a one-off Matador solo single) and "Nothing Can Bring Me Down" were actually recorded by Eitzel in a small room at Demon's offices. Fitting perfectly with the AMC mystique, Songs of Love Live was the best selling Eitzel record to date, despite it's U.K.-only release. A key possession for any AMC fan, it provides an unfiltered, uncompromised, raw vision of Mark Eitzel's songs.

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