Sharanam

With the release of Sharanam Sharon Gannon adds another dimension to her body of work as a yogi, inspirational figure, and advocate of compassionate lifestyles. I have encountered Gannon’s philosophy and teachings in YouTube videos, web and magazine articles, on her website, and in a documentary on raw foods, and have always found myself appreciative of the contribution she makes towards a more peaceful and spiritually grounded world. This musical dimension, unfortunately, fell flat for this eager listener.

/\/\/\Y/\ (Maya)

A week prior to its July 13th release, M.I.A.’s new album, /\/\/\Y/_ (or _Maya), was made available streaming on the artist's MySpace page.

What Day Is It Tonight? (Live 1993-2008)

Hipster culture exists and sustains itself on a continuous loop, a vicious never-ending cycle, like a Möbius strip or an Ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail. Take something once mainstream and now uncool, adopt it with tongue planted firmly in cheek as “so bad it's good,” deem said sound/product/style “cool,” and watch as it is co-opted by a broader audience and becomes mainstream. Later, rinse and repeat. Every once in a while such a revival of the old dredges up some long-lost gem, but most of the time it's just masturbatory.

Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know

I have never been one to accept iTunes’ genre classifications of the music I purchase. Yes, the categories can be useful, but they never quite fit with my personal interests. As soon as the tracks are downloaded, I quickly listen to the album and decide where it fits amongst my feisty feminist punk rock, hipster late-night sing-alongs, or classical acoustic sleep inducers (to name a few). Admittedly, I am a little bit of a control freak and perhaps a tad obsessive.

Scars

I am not a house head, as some enthusiasts of electronic music might insist. I am, however, deeply rooted in my musical past, a history punctuated by middle-American rave culture, pre-emo indie shows in Ohio clubs, and stints at several of the top college radio stations in the U.S. They say it’s bad for a woman’s roots to show, but as one who sports natural color, I have nothing else to hide.

Detroit /Fabric 45 and Fabric 46

These two albums are the products of London’s Fabric nightclub’s monthly CD series. Fabric’s musical offerings span the electronic dance spectrum, and while they are super club with three distinct dance spaces, the sounds of Omar S on Detroit/Fabric 45 are refreshingly minimal. Referencing the famed early 1980s Detroit House scene, the album’s beats are loaded with reverb and recall the work of groups from the 1980s such as Liquid Liquid and ESG.

Fabric 40

Mark Farina, a San Francisco-based DJ, is a mainstay on the electronic scene. What began as an exploration of the house genre has now become Farina’s inimitable musical echo. The globetrotting performer is known for his genre versatility, but also his distinctive cocktail of Chicago urban, jazzy reverberation with San Francisco sound. While he’s also known for his down tempo grooves, Fabric 40 is nothing of the sort.

Fabriclive.36

If you want to get the party started, here is the album to get the job done. Fabriclive.36 features James Murphy and Pat Mahoney on this release of electronic disco to minimal disco. The Fabriclive.X repetoire features a new artist release on a regular (if not monthly) basis out of the Fabric night club in London. These works are compliations of artists spun up for the night club dance crowd.

Stromata

On Charlotte Martin's latest album, Stromata, the songstress presents her most experimental work to date. Stromata presents Martin's typically earnest and honest lyrics against a complex background of synthesizers and electronic beats. Her influences on the album are so varied - from techno to folk to Middle Eastern - that the album lacks a sense of cohesion.

Rashaya & Resistance Cruisers

Matt Weston’s album Rashaya is a fantastic piece of modern art. It is unique in that it is not a standard drum performance one would find at a symphony or pop music concert. Listening to Weston’s music is a different experience in and of itself; there is a variation in the sounds that is reminiscent of the Broadway show Stomp. The tracks have a surprising amount of expressive emotion produced from the unique instruments.

The Third Hand

Fans of RJD2’s previous albums might want to prepare themselves. Over the course of time, many musicians go through extreme changes and tweak their sound a bit. This can certainly be said for The Third Hand, on which RJD2 demonstrates an entire album with (gasp!) his own vocals. Known for his electronic music and quality of production, it comes as no surprise that The Third Hand is pieced together so well. Perhaps this new change in sound will anger older fans, but this album sounds like more of an experiment than a life change for RJD2.

Franchise Player 02

Joey Youngman’s Franchise Player 02 is an excellent collection of dance songs marketed for sophisticated urban hipsters, who prefer their dance music steeped in brainy jazz music.

Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge

When I started to listen to Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge, I thought “Oh, folk rock, how… er… nice.” Not that I have anything against folk rock, but… Then the beat kicked in. Forty minutes later, I was still dancing in my seat. This music rocks! The lyrics are good poetry about love, sex and strong women. There are some out of the ordinary instruments used on this album, such as a glockenspiel. I like different; it makes my senses perk up.

One Score and Four

The Good Players coalesce around the refined songcraft of one Stephen Nichols, equal parts weak-in-the-knees crooner and twisted studio-as-instrumentalist. Their most recent EP, One Score and Four, channels Jeff Lynne’s aesthetics of orchestral rock excess into the 21st century, absorbing the aleatory dissonance prevalent in contemporary electronic/art music while somehow leaving pretension to us music critics. This is itself an impressive aural feat, but how he and his dirty dozen manifest this meticulous multi-dimensionality live has to be seen to be believed.