Get Your Fix: Album Reviews by the CoolJunkie Staff

October 1, 2008 3:07 PM
by The CoolJunkie Staff

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
by: Marcos Colón

After a couple of years and a successful fourth album with Rilo Kiley, frontwoman Jenny Lewis is back doing the solo thing as she releases her highly anticipated sophomore effort, Acid Tongue. Her angelic yet sultry voice captivates the listener on this album, but it’s the production and instrument arrangement that should really get the points here.

On Acid Tongue, Lewis provides all the melodic drama you can handle with tracks like The Next Messiah, where guitar rock mixes in with a little country jangle providing a perfect dose of both worlds, and Jack Killed Mom, a classic domestic rock fable that will hopefully make for a fantastic video, having Lewis softly singing “Mama thought her boy was cursed.” Never has such a distraughtful statement sounded so sweet. The album is full of playful melodies and country inspired riffs, and Lewis’ pipes seem to float along in a natural way no matter how the tempo shifts. On Acid Tongue, CJ’s pick as the title track of the album, Lewis’ is as honest as she can be as she recounts a moment that definitely adds to the title of the track and album, “Well I went down to Dixie and dropped acid on my tongue/tripped upon the land till’ enough was enough.”

It seems like Lewis didn’t fear the dreaded sophomore slump when she went into Acid Tongue. This may be her best effort yet, and you could even include the Rilo Kiley albums in there as well. A definite buy for fans of folk, country, rock and storytelling, Acid Tongue is definitely an album you should have in your iTunes library.

Click here to hear more from Jenny Lewis.

Deadmau5 - Random Album Title
by: Michael Maryanoff

Deadmau5’s new offering, Random Album Title, is less of an artist album and more of a showcase of the unique sound deadmau5 has cultivated over his brief but prominent stint on dance music’s global radar. To be sure, while it does offer some slices of deadmau5 nostalgia, with such classics (a very relative term for an artist who has been enjoying international recognition for only a few years) as Not Exactly and Faxing Berlin (the latter enjoying a wonderful Piano Acoustica version), it also has plenty of new material to satisfy even the most seasoned deadmau5 fans. It contains newer tracks such as I Remember, but also has some songs that have never seen the light, such as Brazil.

This album displays deadmau5’s uncanny ability to cultivate a sound that spans multiple genres yet still remains very distinct. I Remember, a track he produced in collaboration with deep house guru Kaskade, is incredibly deep yet still has a melody and vocals which delves in to the far reaches of trance (without the subwoofer-ratting boom boom boom). Complications, underscores deamau5’s ability to make big-room tech house, and Alone With You showcases his propensity to make something that is both dark and techno influenced, yet optimistic with hints of trance. Whether you are new to deadmau5 or have been paying close attention all along, it is worth owning an album that documents dance music’s boy wonder.

Click here to hear more from Deadmau5.

Matt Duke - Kingdom Underground
by: Damon Dewitt Boardman

Singer, songwriter Matt Duke is back with his second full album Kingdom Underground. The New Jersey native headed west for inspiration on his new effort. Landing in LA, Duke linked up with producer Marshall Altman (Matt Nathanson, Virginia Coalition, Zebrahead). The self taught modern age musician can be fit into coffee house formulas such as Pete Yorn and Jack Johnson. A sympathetic hand goes out to Duke. From his dough eyed -puppy dog faced CD cover to the constant contemplation in the lyrical content one can conclude that the lad is lost.

Throughout the album Duke questions faith in spirituality, faith in himself and in his lovers among others. In Kingdom Underground, Duke finds a way of making melodrama the everyday petty problems that most of us face. Matt uses a popular systematic approach to making a pop song; instrumental build leading up to the first chorus and instrumental decline in the close, but of course only after multiple repetitions of the chorus take place, pounding home the point.

Most of the tracks, Sex and Rerun and I’ve Got Atrophy On the Brain to name a couple, use first person, second person, third party like a game of jump rope. The verses speak of your sad story then retract back to his. By the end of the song the listener going round and round with the repetitive vocals with a feeling of vulnerability entering the next track. The most aggressive track on the dulcet album is Walk It Off. It took nine songs for Matt to stop feeling sorry and start get angry at his issues, but in doing so Walk It Off provides the most rock on the album and gives Kingdom Underground a much needed change of pace from the acoustic alternative which precedes throughout.

Click here to hear more from Matt Duke.