18 (Means You VOTE)
Music should be non-partisan, so I'm not going to say more than the obvious:
- The right to vote is one we enjoy thanks to a good deal of human blood. To forfeit this right dishonors those who died for it.
- It is wrong to cheer for war.
- Please follow the money.
- The stupider we behave, the happier they are.
- It is not unpatriotic to feel profound sorrow at the suffering of others.
One more thing, amid these dark murmurings:
For your own sanity … crank the bass.
1. Cee-lo Green
Cee-lo Green … Is the Soul Machine
(Arista, 2004)
Cee-lo, late of the Goodie Mobb, drops what may be the finest soul album of the new century. This is music for the whomp chamber: smooth vocals, infectious melodies, and beats engineered for the flesh-knockers among you. Bring a rain coat.
2. Dayna Kurtz
Beautiful Yesterday
(Kismet Records, 2004)
The most luscious larynx this side of Etta, Missus Kurtz returns with a disc that will turn your heart spooky with lust. She covers Leonard Cohen. She covers Prince. She turns in a besotted version of "Those Were the Days My Friends." Her duet with Norah Jones should be illegal to the recently dumped.
3. Smoosh
She Like Electric
(Pattern 25, 2004)
Asya plays keyboards and sings like Kate Bush. She is twelve. Chloe beats the drums like Topper Headen. She is ten. Their songs are exuberant, deceptively complex, totally, unstoppably rad. Forget Hanson—think Mozart with a mohawk. No wonder Catpower worships them.
4. DJ Dangermouse
The Gray Album
(Self-released 2003)
The Beatles' White Album mixed with Jay-Z's Black Album. Sounds gimmicky on paper, but the rodent-in-charge has the good sense not to cop the obvious riffs, and the result is a strange, whirling ride. God luck finding this bookleg, tho. My source is in jail, doing five to ten for good taste.
5. Be Good Tanyas
Chinatown
(Nettwerk, 2003)
Okay, I finally got religion on these ladies—and it only took 617 guest tips from you all. This is utterly fearless country death music: a sexy, haunting, mélange of banjo, fiddle, and soaring harmonies. Love is a feeling like a warm, black stone. Uh-huh.
6. Charlie Mars
Charlie Mars
(V2, 2004)
A dose of lush southern country pop, heavily layered for full hypnotic effect. Mars ain't afraid to break out the strings or his falsetto. He makes grand, orchestral gestures in the four-minute range.
7. Tangle Eye
Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed
(Zoe, 2004)
If you're going to steal the voices Lomax stole from those old cotton fields, this is the way to do it. These remixes are at once rousing and contemplative, spiked with luscious keys, horn charts, and drum loops. (Shout-outs to Evan Rosen, breeder of fat mice and cute children, for the luv.)
8. Augie March
Strange Bird
(SpinArt, 2004)
An Aussie band that produces big, somber, swirling canvases. Think Kandinsky rendered unto melody. Or Nick Cave and Radiohead jamming in the little hours, after the lager. The sort of sadness that makes you happy.
9. Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Pin Your Spin
(Basin Street Records, 2004)
Grizzled Nawlins veteran Cleary and his very fat, very syncopatico six-piece supply 51 minutes of funk for your junk, with detours into the provinces of Zulu Strut, Doo-Wop, and Cajun rumba. Pimp the shrimp, chere.
10. Everlast
White Trash Beautiful
(Island, 2004)
America's premier backbeat bluesman returns in form. He's ample with the sample, and his gravelly croon has never sounded sweeter. This is hip hop minus the Glock and Gucci fetish. "God Wanna" is the song your next party needs.
Bonus Tip:
Jake Brennan & the Confidence Men
Love & Bombs
(Yep Roc, 2004)
Brennan is far too purty to trust entirely, and his band sometimes tries too hard to rawk. But the best tracks on this debut|AMP|mdash;the quietest ones|AMP|mdash;absolutely kill. Sarah Borges lends her unforgettable alto to "Two of a Kind."