Trouble Doll – Pinwheel
Tired of all the mainstream musical fluff the media continues to force-feed us? If so, then Pinwheel may be just the band for you.
Don’t be fooled by the name, this quartet from Long Beach, California are full-on rock.
Their album Trouble Doll will remind you of those high school bands that were good enough to cut an album. The CD is full of twelve solid songs that reverberate with bass and pump out solid guitar riffs.
The composition of each song is good, and there is a steady rhythm to the music. Not all of the album is composed of furious rock riffs. Songs such as “Anyway,” “Just Like Me,” and “Save it for Later” bring more melodic and lighter sounds to the mix.
At the same time songs like “Once Upon a Lie” and “Iodine” reek of old school rock. With fast paced drums, rumbling bass, and sharp guitar licks combined with harmonious vocals make for a distinctive sound.
Pinwheel may not be breaking any new ground with this album, or making any top-ten lists, but it is still better then 90 percent of what the mainstream music scene is producing. -David Young
Electric Circus – Common
The much anticipated follow-up to Common’s critically acclaimed Like Water For Chocolate is everything you would expect from an artist who ain’t exactly underground, but ain’t exactly the Shining King of Chi-town neither.
Common has always shown a desire to stretch beyond his own boundaries and, (sometimes to mixed reaction), beyond the boundaries of what hard-core hip hop fans expect from him. Electric Circus is no exception.
Once again enlisting the boundless talents of the production crew, the Soulquarians, Common’s ambition is made manifest through the boldness and creativity of sonic adventurers ?uestlove (the Roots), Jay Dee (Slum Village among others), and James Poyser, not to mention a couple of shining contributions from the ubiquitous Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo).
The wildly exuberant eclecticism that one comes to expect from hip hop’s vanguard artists these days does not disappoint, making the album so deep musically that the interludes alone are worthy of any music enthusiast’s time.
While Electric Circus does fall into the modern trend of many many guest stars, the album does not seem to suffer from any sort of glut of personality or unnecessary filler.
In part because of the surprising guest choices (Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab on “New Wave”?) and also because of the pure talent of the chosen artists (Bilal, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Cee-Lo) the album somehow gains solidarity in the vision of this loosely associated Common-headed beast and rides its momentum into the final two (and very experimental) tracks.
Common is on-point as ever in the hustler-artist persona he has worked so hard to solidify in his previous releases, and particularly shines on the overly sincere “Between Me, You, and Liberation,” which may even rival Talib Kweli’s transcendent “Four Women” from the Reflection Eternal LP.
Above all, this is an extremely satisfying album and worth buying if only to hear the insanely unorthodox 30s swing vamp of “I Am Music.”
And, for music’s sake, let’s just hope these guys don’t run out of ideas. – Trevor C. Williams
