NA: JAWBREAKER, PAUL MCCARTNEY, ETC.

Image courtesy of Freya Najade via The Royal Scourge

A surprising amount of big records for what is usually a pretty dry release time
of year! Let’s not waste any time, shall we? After the jump, we’ll trawl through some landmark pop/punk and indie-pop reissues, a retrospective from the inimitable Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, a smattering of new classical and jazz releases…and oh yeah, solo Paul McCartney! Join us….

Jawbreaker, Unfun – The heart-tugging, landscape-changing pop-punk masterpiece gets a deserved reissue. Jess Harvell writes:

Jawbreaker’s sound has become such a part of the modern rock landscape that it might be tough for new fans to understand how surprising their music (and their success) felt in the early ’90s. In 1990, the year of Unfun, Jawbreaker’s first album, dogmatic hardcore still ruled … But Jawbreaker realized that hardcore intensity and indie catchiness were actually complementary … [Singer-guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach] wrote punk songs you could slip onto mixtapes for your punk-hating friends (“Seethruskin”). And pop songs for kids who’d rather cut themselves than switch on the radio (“Wound”).

Paul McCartney, All the Best and Wingspan – You might know a few of these songs. “Band On the Run?” “Say Say Say?” “Maybe I’m Amazed?” “Live and Let Die?” They’re all here, and more. Two discs on Starbucks’ Hear Music label summarize the biggest hits from Macca’s ’70s solo and Wings period.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Dirty Shirt Rock and Roll: The First Ten Years – A retrospective of the first ten years of the original crazed, indie-blues crossover rawk ‘n’ roll outfit. Chris Weingarten sez:

‘The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s initial run was a screeching, epileptic, record geek’s revolt; the sexy, spasmodic cool kids here to sabotage the rise of Pavement and listless Converse-gazing ’90s indie. Unlike, say, Yo La Tengo, JSBX not only listened to the best rock ‘n’ roll records, they lived them, knowing that true rock myths weren’t engraved in melodies, but were forged in sweat, screaming and S.E.X. … Their first greatest-hits set includes all the requisite Alternative Nation novelties (“Bellbottoms,” “Flavor,” “Afro”). But Dirty Shirt Rock ‘N’ Roll does the band a great service by burying the quirky hits, positioning JSBX in their rightful place as a timeless, blooz-garage soul-punkers.

Christian Scott, Yesterday You Said Tomorrow – An incendiary Molotov cocktail of a modern jazz record from Christian Scott, one that tackles both the sound and the highly politicized legacy of 1960s jazz fusion. Includes a cover of Thom Yorke’s “The Eraser,” off of the solo record of the same name. Writes Britt Robson:

Christian Scott’s fourth disc is further proof that he wants to be, and should be, an artistic force to be reckoned with for decades to come. Serious in scholarship and adventurous in conception, Yesterday You Said Tomorrow is meant to invoke the ’60s, the heyday of bristling, highly attenuated ensemble jazz from the likes of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, of anthemic protest-songs from Bob Dylan and Marvin Gaye, and of a black consciousness that was nonviolent but unrelenting in its campaign to expose and correct social injustice (the title essentially paraphrases Dr. King’s “Why We Can’t Wait”).

Black Tambourine, Black Tambourine – And here they are, the tiny, little-known but well-loved cult band from D.C. that has somehow emerged as a primary-color influence for the indie-pop revival of late. Fans of the Vivian Girls, the Pains of Being Pure At Heart, or any other similarly cuddly indie-pop act, meet the avatar at which you should now diffidently worship. “Throw Aggie Off the Bridge” is a straight classic, as are the other 15 tracks on this easy-to-love, suddenly seminal record.

Mulatu Astatke, Mulatu Steps Ahead – This is fantastic. Ethiopian jazz legend Astatke just refuses to stop pushing ahead, whether he’s recording with the Heliocentrics or releasing plush, laid-back lounge-jazz/funk records like this one. Peep the James Bond-biting “The Way to Nice” or the smoky, regret-suffused “Assosa.” Less of a mind-bending trip than a gorgeous comedown, but still, essential listening.

Motion City Soundtrack, My Dinosaur LifeProduced by Blink-182, so you KNOW their bratty mall-punk cred is straight. These boys don’t quite have Hoppus and co.’s bratty twang or way with an indelible chorus, but “A Life Less Ordinary” sounds like it hits that guilty sweet spot that, say, Yellowcard’s “Ocean Avenue” nails. I chuckle to myself sometimes at how deathless this particular sound has become.

Javelin, No Mas – The sticky-fingered beat collagists Javelin settle into their new home at David Byrne’s Luaka Bop with a surprisingly sumptuous-sounding full-length, one that replaces their construction-paper-and-safety-scissors approach to sampling with a full band, to pleasing results. Here with the trenchant analysis is Sean Fennessey:

On the sprawling, sticky No Mas, Javelin have replayed (and occasionally re-sung) nearly everything that might resemble a sample, transforming their modest duo into a full-fledged band, with a sound as rich but no less lived-in than the original incarnation. From the slivers of New Orleans jazz on “Shadown Heart” to the reggae-infused pop of “Intervales Theme,” there’s a grainy but gliding quality to these songs. They sound like the best possible Urban Outfitters soundtrack — aspirational wallpaper music

Slow Club, Yeah So — Sticky, yearning boy/girl indie-pop, similar to Mates of State, but with a slightly barbed edge. This record has been available in the UK for awhile, but this week sees this surefire favorite to many finally popping up Stateside.

Hanoi Janes, Year of Panic – New from Captured Tracks! The Hanoi Janes rule: a rickety, fuzz-guitar laden, 4-track-tape-recorder good time. They bring a refreshingly goofy madcap energy and an effortless way with an earworm to the usual lo-fi crash-pop proceedings. Like watching happy toddlers hurl Tinker Toys at a wall.

Annuals, Sweet Sister – The North Carolina bedroom-pop project the Annuals have been throwing everything but the kitchen sink into pan-global indie-pop since 2006’s celebrated Be He Me, a flashpoint record that has receded into the mists of blog-buzz memory. Led by singer/songwriter/resident wunderkind Adam Baker, the Annuals have returned with an ingratiating-sounding and typically eclectic new EP.

Samamidon, I See The Sign – Haunting singer/songwriter and frequent Nico Muhly collaborator returns with an intriguingly textured, evocative collection of pop songs orchestrated by other means: chittering-locust orchestras of pizzicato violins, swirls of gorgeous Technicolor string arrangements, and other lush accoutrements. The songs at the root of this vivid haze of sounds are humble, clean-lined examples of country-folk, the sort of timeless-sounding songs that Gillian Welch might have written. Highly recommended.

Buzzcocks, Buzzcocks Live – Exactly as its title suggests. A lot of the hits — “Orgasm Addict,” “What Do I Get?”, “Ever Fallen In Love With Someone” — with surprisingly crystal-clear sound.

Wooden Shjips, Vol. 2 – Sun-warped, woozy San Francisco psych of the first order! This is the second volume of the band’s earliest, bleariest works, when their sound was little more than a captivating, bleary smear of Krautrock drone. Later releases would define the edges a bit more, adding in some Nuggets riffs and song structures.

The Wedding Present, The Wedding Present Live – Two discs! Of the Wedding Present at their peak! Get this for sure.

The Living Sisters, Love to Live Well, this sounds gorgeous. Inara George, one-half of the Bird and the Bee, pairs up with LA singer/songwriter Eleni Mandell and Becky Stark, of the LA band Lavender Diamonds, for some creamy, shiver-inducing three-part harmonies, shades of the Andrew Sisters. The songs split the difference between pure Appalachian folk, girl-group pop, and AM-radio pop of the 1970s. Highly, highly recommended.

Ken Camden, Lethargy Repercussion – Faded-Polaroid, Boards of Canada-reminiscent soft electronic music, a collection of daubs and smears from the folks at kranky.

CLASSICAL CORNER:

Daniel Bernard Roumain, Woodbox Beats and Balladry – Charismatic young black violinist and composer Daniel Bernard Roumain has made it his mission to find ways to combine the worlds of classical music and hip hop. The stuff on this disc — trip-hop beats, gypsy fiddling, live breakbeats, slightly dated-sounding turntable stuff, synthesized strings — doesn’t quite reach a new accord between these two worlds, but it’s a noble, sometimes fascinating, attempt.

New York Philharmonic, Passion and Pain – We got some auspicious new releases from the New York Philharmonic this week, under the baton of their charismatic new young music director Alan Gilbert. Check the program: no snoozy retreads of Brahms or Mozart here, but a clever and well-chosen program of Schubert, Haydn, and…John Adams. The link? Thematic: “Passion and Pain.” The orchestra sounds sumptuous and alive.

New York Philharmonic, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev – Another NY Phil disc, standard rep, but with superb pianist Yefim Bronfman. The strings in the Phil sound plusher and softer, more intuitive, than they have in awhile to me: Lorin Maazel, the previous music director, treated them more like a prize horse or a Camaro, a machine you could have fun testing the limits of. Here, they glow.

Orchestre de l’Opera de Paris, Strauss – Eine Alpensinfonie – Why do Naïve’s classical recordings always sound so incredible? This, a recording of Strauss’s monumental programmatic Alpine Symphony, sounds as if your memory has been scrubbed clean. Just so vivid and startling.

What did you find?