Freedy Johnston
Rain on the City
(Bar/None)
Johnston's smoothed out all the weird phrasing and vowel shapes in his voice, and only a couple tunes are worth remembering. What remains of his arsenal? "Evocative" lyrics, which usually only evoke the feeling that I wish the song was faster; and a pretty good sense of rhythm for a singer-songwriter, which is SOMETHING, but also faint praise. You should totally listen to this, though:
xoxo
Jason Boesel
Hustler's Son
(Team Love)
Boesel drums for Rilo Kiley and Conor Oberst, so it's ironic that this alt-country effort is devoid of beats. He sounds SORT of like Jack Johnson, if Johnson had a less distinctive voice.
xoxo
James Horner
Avatar soundtrack
(Atlantic)
Depending on how much you dig movie scores, your opinion may vary. The most I can say is that it's unobtrusive enough for background music. As someone who's recently been subjected to the third Harry Potter soundtrack, I can testify that big budget mainstream movie scores can be far more adventurous than Horner's faux nativisms. With all of the 20th century's classical techniques at his disposal, why is Horner content to rip off himself?
No comments:
Post a Comment