Sevendust
Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow
(7Bros/Asylum)
While it incorporates pleasing elements (cool beats, industrial sounds, riffalicious guitars), this record is almost purely derivative. Soundgarden or Alice in Chains did the riffs and wah-wahs far better, and 311 already beat the "melodic/metally/melodic" equation into the ground. Some songs are practically worthy of lawsuits; "Scapegoat" all but lifts the riff from "Once," the opening track on Pearl Jam's Ten, and the chorus of "Enough" ("Too much is never enough") was penned years ago by the Valley's own Unband (and their song is way better). There are a few redeeming qualities drawn from the Mike Patton lexicon, but cameos by American Idol Chris Daughtry and some (ugh) Creed guys and others only make things worse.
—Tom Sturm
Harmonia
Live 1974
(Water)
For Krautrock fans, this is a discovery akin to the Monk-Coltrane live album that surfaced a few years back. Harmonia—a collaboration between Cluster and Neu!'s Michael Rother—recorded two (superb) studio albums. This newfound live set features five unknown compositions and documents the group in a more expansive mode. The pristinely recorded performances showcase Harmonia's ability to create visionary sonic vortexes and dark ambient drafts that deftly mix dub, delicate electro-pop, and industrial rhythms. Roedelius and Moebius provide the raw electronic pulses but the real revelation is Rother's gliding guitar which emits billowing, cloudy texture as well as pure smog. This exceptional music arrives almost 35 year late, but remains on the cutting edge.
—Jeff Jackson
Toumani Diabate
The Mande Variations
(Nonesuch)
Malian musician Toumani Diabate is the undisputed master of the kora, a 21-string harp made from a huge calabash. The thing about the kora is that its bright glassy tinklings can sound so prettily hypnotic as to lull the listener, almost concealing the virtuosity and the mind-boggling interplay between muted low strings and furious rushing runs on the high strings. And these compositions, some of which have roots stretching back centuries to the glories of the Mali Empire, are also uncommonly funky, something one doesn't expect from harp music.
—John Adamian
Danny Schmidt
Little Grey Sheep
(Waterbug)
If you tempered John Prine's bemused misanthropy with Dave Carter's wonderment and poetic imagery, you'd probably end up with someone like Danny Schmidt. This country/folk album is, in turn, snarky and reflective, rough-hewn and smooth. Easterners will chuckle at "Adios to Tejasito," wherein Schmidt insists that unless you're in Austin there's no reason to be in Texas. It takes cheek to turn The Odyssey into a country song, or to write one called "Go Ugly Early." But Schmidt can go deep as well. "Emigrant, MT" is awe masquerading as a fishing song, and "Leaves are Burning" is a detour into angst. Best of all are his single line nuggets; "She smells like smoke and tastes like desire" tells us indeed that "Trouble Comes Calling."
—Rob Weir
