Magik Markers
Boss
(Ecstatic Peace)
Magik Markers are Hartford's claim to indie-rock fame. This noise-rock outfit began as a three-piece, but after their bassist departed, that left guitarist/vocalist Elisa Ambrogio and drummer Pete Nolan to continue as a duo. Produced by Lee Ranaldo and released on the Thurston Moore-connected Valley label Ecstatic Peace, the record exudes a general Sonic Youth vibe, with looming clouds of hissing guitar noise and Ambrogio's vocals evoking Kim Gordon's damaged disaffection and attitude. But it's not all menace and abrasion, as can be heard on the piano-driven "Empty Bottles."
—John Adamian
Ray Bierl
Any Place I Hang My Hat
(Greasy String)
If you ever get asked what makes a musician singularly "American," just pop Ray Bierl into the CD player and let him answer. If you mixed some Carl Perkins rockabilly with Willie Nelson country power ballads and a few cowboy campfire songs into a stew with a dash of John Hartford, a pinch of Baxter Black, and a shake of Woody Guthrie, you'd end up with Ray Bierl. This unpretentious little gem also features some pretty fine guitar flatpicking and old-time fiddling. Bierl has been a mainstay in West Coast folk clubs since the 1970s, but isn't much known here in the East. It's time to correct that.
—Rob Weir
Shalini
The Surface and the Shine
(125 Records)
No, Shalini is not another fly-by-night diva. She's Shalini Chatterjee, a singer and songwriter who plays a mean 12-string bass and creates timeless power pop. No surprise, then, to learn she's married to Mitch Easter, the maestro of Southern pop who produced and appears on all tracks. This is indeed pure pop for now people, but it also transports one back to the 1980s. Echoes of the Go Gos are undeniable, but the songs are tough and grown up, more "feminine" than "girly," cheerful without being saccharine. The title track, in a better world, would be a hit single.
—Alan Bisbort
Gilberto Gil
Gilberto Gil
(Water)
It's often lazy shorthand to label music "radical" or "subversive," but Gilberto Gil's madcap Tropicalia songs actually got him imprisoned by the Brazilian government and later deported. During the early 1970s, Gil spent several years in exile in London. Hailing from that limbo period, this gem finds him singing in a poignant if slightly awkward English, fueled by both the British rock scene and a yearning for his native land. Even shorn of historical context, the wistful cover of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home" would still resonate. But just as impressive are the folk-soul hybrids like the psych-tinged "Three Mushrooms" and euphoric "Crazy Pop Rock" that showcase his rhythmic fluidity. Gilberto Gil is a fascinating document of a major artist caught in flux.
—Jeff Jackson
