From the Sep 6 – Sep 12, 2001 issue

Music

CD Review Revue

MIXMASTER MIKE
Spin Psycle
(Moonshine)
****
Eve, Jadakiss, and Bad Azz are not rappers but monsters. Jadakiss, the worst of this new breed, has a rage that is not even black rage, but simply criminal. This is the state of pop hiphop today: It is jam-packed with street mutants who are so desperate for money, they'll do anything corporate America dreams up to sell more CDs. The rage against these street mutants who are programmed to consume ever larger amounts of guns, ghetto hos, and cash-money can be found on Mixmaster Mike's new mixed CD Spin Psycle. The energy of the CD is combat energy, with Mixmaster Mike coming down from the mountain like some kind of Moses with the law in his hands. As with his past CDs, Spin Psycle is passionate, angry, heavy, and dense. But this time around Mixmaster Mike is not a happy sorcerer showing off his fantastic magic tricks on the turntables (which is what he did on his 1998 CD, Anti-Theft Device), but a furious sorcerer brewing up a thunderstorm that will destroy sucker MCs like Bad Azz, Jadakiss, and Eve. CHARLES MUDEDE

DENISON WITMER
Of Joy & Sorrow
(Burnt Toast Vinyl)
***
When the spirited voice of Innocence Mission's Denise Peris joins Denison Witmer's to grace the hushed refrain of the song "Rock Run," the listener is grateful for a new dynamic on a record that showcases Witmer's artistic simplicity from start to finish (his tender voice, functional acoustic-guitar-playing, and earnest lyricism). That said, Of Joy & Sorrow is a fine CD that floats along on Witmer's simplistic lyrical imagery, some minimal piano arrangements, and easy 4/4 drumming. With Witmer, clichés work, and lyrics like, "I could barely reach you when I tried/And I have tried to reach you many times/I just want to be someone you need..." are charming. The record's highlight is "The '80s," the gorgeous title track to Witmer's EP from earlier this year. And the only genuine dud here is "Yesterday, Tomorrow," the most ambitious track, which boasts joyful organ accompaniment, but a vocal refrain that makes one want for bright white stage lighting and an arena audience to sing along with it. JEFF DeROCHE

KELLY HOGAN
Because It Feel Good
(Bloodshot Records)
****
As anyone who has seen her live can attest, Kelly Hogan transcends the handle of alt-country. She is more of a classic country chanteuse who draws on Dusty in Memphis soul. With her second album, Hogan retains guitarist Andy Hopkins from her band Pine Valley Cosmonauts, which featured Mekons mastermind Jon Langford playing and producing. Hogan co-produced this album and it has a seamless quality, with her beautiful voice at the front surrounded by a small but lush-sounding band. Hogan is known for her transformative interpretations of others' songs, and here she works her magic on Randy Newman's "Living Without You" and Smog's "Strayed," both to startling effect. Just as noteworthy are the two originals she co-wrote: "Sugarbowl," with its struggling-musician's tangled tale that is part fond remembrance and part rueful glance, and "No, Bobby Don't," which sounds like a sweeping, string-laden classic with Hogan begging her Bobby not to make a fool out of her. Because It Feel Good shows Hogan at her best, singing her heart out in her own and others' words, with the conviction and malleable vocal prowess of a country-soul great. NATE LIPPENS

THA LIKS
X.O. Experience
(Sony/Columbia)
**
1/2This album is not outrageous, or brainy, or even great, but it's a controlled, solid project. Plus, X.O. Experience gets me thinking about a couple things. First, there's this Jimi Hendrix posturing in the artwork. The songs do not discuss Hendrix, but I don't think Tha Liks are mocking him, or genuinely adopting a "bohemian black" persona. I see the posturing as another example of rap's growing interest in rock and roll, right alongside Saul Williams and Mos Def starting their own rock bands. The group changed its name from "Tha Alkaholiks" to "Tha Liks," which is less forceful--accordingly, the artwork for 1993's breakthrough album, 21 and Over, shows the members reaching into a refrigerator full of 40s, while this record has them dressed in hippie clothes. Regardless of all else, Tha Liks still yell/sing, "We are the Al-ka-hol-liks/It's last call, can we get another ROOOOOUUUUUUNNNND??!!" And that is why the record is ultimately appealing. BRIAN GOEDDE

SPARKLEHORSE
It's a Wonderful Life
(Capitol Records)
***
1/2Like the title of the classic Jimmy Stewart movie it shares a name with, the latest record from Sparklehorse is a life-affirming affair. Of course the difference is that Virginia-based singer/songwriter Mark Linkous, and the musicians who gather under the tent of the band's moniker, come to that conclusion through sideways elliptical songs that brush their coats against the darker aspects of life, finding transcendence in the struggle. Linkous has a cracked voice that can be pushed into a tenor as haunted as Ralph Stanley's lonesome songs from Clinch Mountain, or can bottom out into a hushed, elegiac murmur that seems to twist in anguish. On It's a Wonderful Life, Linkous uses that voice to startling effect, mining the inner turmoil by turning to the bucolic entropy and weather outside him. He is joined by Tom Waits on "Dog Door" and PJ Harvey on "Eyepennies." Like both of them, Linkous is an idiosyncratic genius who fully creates and explores his own vision, lighting out for new territories using old idioms and American vernacular. NATE LIPPENS

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