Chris O’Brien
Little Red
(independent)
We like some musicians just because they’re local, but some—like Northampton native Chris O’Brien—are so good we don’t have to apologize. His latest fan-funded CD dazzles with energy, fine songwriting, and sharp instrumentation. O’Brien now resides in Somerville, and the fingerprints of his Boston peers are all over this record. Think the vocal inflections and register of Ellis Paul and the forays into country-laced folk of Mark Erelli. O’Brien spins tales compactly, eliding details and stripping facts to their basics. A major theme of this record is dangerous love—be it too young, too fast, too tragic, or just a bad idea from the start. Mix warm vocals with some country pedal steel, some bluegrass banjo and mandolin, sunny pop hooks and some sparse acoustic strings and there’s an awful lot of music packed into 10 tracks. —Rob Weir
Yeasayer
Odd Blood
(Secretly Canadian)
Departing from the Middle Eastern psychedelics of All Hour Cymbals, Brooklyn-based Yeasayer forays into the realm of demented dance music. Odd Blood opens with the cacophonous bell-like effects of “The Children,” prefiguring the twisted pop to come. The second track, “Ambling Alp,” balances a clich?d pop refrain with a bridge that warps the music into an infectious dance. MGMT-style synthesizers permeate the album, and the artificiality of the sound becomes overwhelming on tracks like “O.N.E.” and “Love Me Girl,” which suffer from trite lyrics about relationships. “I Remember” uses hazy synthesizers to amplify the nostalgia in the lyrics, and the falsetto vocals contribute an organic quality to the otherwise synthetic sound. Such glimmers of life render the album a worthwhile listen. —Tristan Macdonald
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim
Here Lies Love
(Nonesuch)
Telling the story of the rise and fall of Imelda Marcos, the one-time first lady of the Philippines, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s new 22-song cycle is a lavish pageant, full of politics and passion. While in some ways it feels like this generation’s Evita, Byrne and Slim’s songs weren’t composed for the stage but the dance floor, inspired by Imelda’s love for disco. The narrative contrasts Imelda’s rise to power with the life of poverty led by the woman who raised her, Estrella Campas. Each song is sung by one of 19 distinguished female pop vocalists (including Tori Amos, Cyndi Lauper, Camille and Sharon Jones). Each has been paired with songs that best fit her style, and the net effect of so many voices (Steve Earle performs Ferdinand Marcos’ one song) telling this epic tale is an album as lush and odd as its subject matter. —Mark Roessler
