The Rectum Bar in Vienna.  Wicked cool.

What the hell is that accent? And that singing style–something between Nick Cave creepy and cabaret . . . Oh, no wonder. Jesca Hoop was a nanny for Tom Waits.

It is safe to say that Jesca Hoop’s sophomore album is unusual in the extreme–a little Petra Haden, a little Bjork and Kate Bush, a sprinkle of Suzanne Vega, a tad Joni and Tori . . . But also unique. Most definitely unique. Jesca’s songs, which she writes herself, are rootsy and folksy and quirky, and incredibly interesting. On The Kingdom, for example, she starts building a groove around a fairly simple percussion line, but every time the listener starts to settle in, she turns on a dime. The song keeps moving, like a midtempo rollercoaster.

All of her songs are like this–disarming and eclectic–but to her credit, they remain charming. It would be easy to be put off here–to write her off as so weird that she’s just silly–but her tone is so passionate and her voice so beautiful that the listener allows her her eccentricity. This music isn’t different just to be different, it’s different because she’s different.

Oh, and if you’re into it, the lead single “Murder of Birds,” features backing vocals by Guy Garvey of Elbow. It’s a good tune, but cameos are unnecessary distractions from the main event. Jesca is amazing.

What a ride!

Four Dreams
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BONUS: SONGS BY COOL, QUIRKY, AND FABULOUS WOMEN!

Ring My Bell-Tori Amos
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Psycho Killer (Talking Heads Cover)-Victoria Vox
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Hyperballad (Bjork) (acoustic)-Twilight Singers
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Yellow (coldplay cover)-Petra Haden
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Common Grackle aren’t the first rappers to name an album “The Great Depression.”  Remember DMX?  Remember when he used to be good, and then he came out with a horrible wannabe Tupac song about his Grammaw?  That was from his Great Depression.

So it’s a compliment when I say that Common Grackle are no DMX.  What they are, though, isn’t exactly clear.

Their songs sometimes sound a like a joke (“I don’t wanna die/At the Grindcore show”), and other times sound like indie club pop (the title track), and still other songs sound like the kind of weird hip hop pioneered by Kool Keith.  Especially since Mr. Keith himself appears on the album.

The album is the product of a cross-country collaboration, much like Postal Service began.

Except they’re from Canada.

Check it out.

The Great Depression (Featuring Ceschi)

Okay, so if any of you, my readers, have this album?  I need you to burn it for me.  I bet it’s very deep.

In honor of American Idol being back (Steve, we hardly knew ye), a couple tunes celebrating the only good thing to come out of that show.

I Do Not Hook Up (Kelly Clarkson)-Gaslight Anthem
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs vs. Kelly C-Aggro
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A mash up so good, it was covered . . .
Since U Been Gone/Maps-Ted Leo
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7 Nation Army-Kelly herself, live
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Milkshake Freestyle – Kanye West w/Common,  Neptunes
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I’m such a huge fan of hornhead that I made a pledge to buy every single Shadowland and tie-in (except for Thunderbolts, which I’ll probably get in trade).  I’ve never done that before, ever, but since they promised to include so many of my favorite hard-to-find characters (Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Shang Chi, Black Tarantula, White Tiger, Iron Fist, Ghost Rider, etc.), I decided to go all in for the first time.  I’ve been surprised, and not always in a good way.  Some of the ones I thought I’d love, I’m not digging, and the one I thought would be the worst (a new Power Man???) is looking like it has massive potential.  Here’s my take on all of it, now that we’re halfway through, ranked from worst to first:

• Shadowland: Blood on the Streets (Antony Johnston/Wellington Alves).  Paladin is, and always has been, stupid.  Silver Sable isn’t much better.  And the art is awful.  Skip this one, people, seriously.  Grade: F

• Shadowland: Bullseye (John Layman/Sean Chen). A funereal tribute to Bullseye?  Really?  It was a poor decision to make this the first one-shot for Shadowland.  Laaaaame.  D-.

• Shadowland: Ghost Rider (Rob Williams/Clayton Crain). Seems a little hard to believe that Ghost Rider aligns himself with Snakeroot, but the GR character is so confusing in general that I was willing to buy it.  If for no other reason than he’s a burning skeleton who rides a motorcycle and fights using chains.  Yeah, I’m that shallow.  C+.

• Shadowland: Daughters of the Shadow (Jason Henderson/Ivan Rodriguez).  I was looking forward to this one the most, but I was underwhelmed.  The art is mediocre, and I don’t get the whole feud between Misty Knight and Colleen Wing.  I know Zeb Wells made it happen in the old Heroes for Hire book, but they’ve been friends for decades—aren’t they over it by now?  And Colleen really wants to be an assassin in the Hand?  Just to satisfy her mommy issues?  This is a reach, and they’ve got to grasp hard in the next issue to get their grade up.  B-

• Shadowland: Elektra (Zeb Wells/Emma Rios).  A completely unnecessary book, but I love the Wells/Rios take on this character.  B.

• Shadowland: Moon Knight (Gregg Hurwitz/Bong Dazo).  I’m not a huge fan of Hurwitz on Moon Knight—he’s all right, but I prefer Doug Moench and Charlie Huston—but I’m loving Bong Dazo’s art.  The story so far is serviceable, but there’s potential.  The first issue seemed like a lot of set up.  A solid B.

• Shadowland: Power Man (Fred Van Lente/Mahmud Asrar).  Although the first issue was pretty trite and stereotypical, issue #2 begins to show promise.  I’m still not buying how easy it is to beat up Iron Fist, but other than that, this new Power Man could be an interesting character.  Cheers to Van Lente for taking on the nearly impossible task of creating a new Marvel hero.  B+

• Shadowland (Diggle/Billy Tan).  This limited series is, to quote Shakespeare, good, but not greatly good.  DD is turning into a caricature—a Sam Arkoff movie villain—and we don’t see enough of any one storyline to really connect with anyone in particular.  It’s too bad—I get the sense that if they’d taken more time with this, it could have been much more interesting.  But as events go, it’s got lots of fighting, good splash pages, and enough explosions to keep me entertained.  Liking it, not loving it.   B+

• Daredevil (Andy Diggle/Roberto De la Torre).  It’s a little frustrating to see what’s being done to the character de-development (or perhaps devolution is a better word) that was so painstakingly crafted by Frank Miller, who brought Matt to his knees and allowed him to rise again with scars but dignity; Brian Michael Bendis, who threw Matt in jail for being too self-righteous; and then Ed Brubaker, who showed that prison does indeed make a man a better criminal.  Andy Diggle, after a promising Dark Reign one-shot and a few initial issues on the main title, seems to be turning Murdock into (literally) a man possessed.  This screams cop-out.  I’m still hooked on the book, but it’s more because of its past than its present.  Cheers, though, to Diggle’s focus on Foggy and Dakota North, two of the best side-characters in the business.  A-

Remember them?  Their stuff is free on bandcamp, and it’s pretty cool alt-rocky kinda stuff.

I hope this helps them.  I got into the blogging thing to try to help folks who just wanna make music for a living, make music for a living.  VV are revving up for a showcase, and let’s wish them the best!

Can you think of a better name for a shoegaze band than Blue Sky Black Death? Well, maybe my personal favorite, A.D.I.D.A.S., which would stand for “All Day I Dream About Shoes,” but for that one I’m waiting until I start my own band. So until then, Blue Sky Black Death are the reigning moniker champions.

BSBD are a production duo who haven’t always been making this kind of synthy trip hop–they’ve also made edgier hip hop beats for underground giants like Del tha Funkee Homosapien , C Rayz Walz, Crooked I, members of Jedi Mind Tricks, Jean Grae, and Guru.  With that pedigree, they’ve created poppy partly instrumental album, “Third Party”, with indie-pop songwriter Alexander Chen (of Boy In Static and The Consulate General).

Check it out.

Carl Sagan
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Call to Arms
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