Eastmountainsouth

“Eastmountainsouth” (DreamWorks)

Compare to: Dar Williams, The Jayhawks, Beth Nielsen Chapman

Leaves in the fall, the sweetness of spring or the warmth of a fire on a cold winter’s day — “Eastmountainsouth” echoes them all.

For its debut, Eastmountainsouth has created an album consisting of sweet hymns that blend the light sounds of classic folk and country. Conjuring up haunting rhythms and chord structures reminiscent of Appalachian music, Kat Maslich and Peter Adams unveil a soft, simple sound that has been forgotten for far too long.

Maslich and Adams take on the roles of vocalist and instrumentalist for their self-titled album, but their true talent lies in songwriting. Borrowing themes from treasured literature, American culture and personal experiences, the duo sings passionately of love and heartache. The theme never overwhelms, but instead invites the listener to relax and let the bittersweet melodies take over.

“Eastmountainsouth” carries a very simple sound, but doesn’t lack creativity.

Underneath, each song is intricately crafted, intertwining the calming strum of acoustic guitar and seamless harmonies of Maslich and Adams. Breathy acoustic riffs keep the album grounded as the two experiment with sounds of the fiddle, mandolin and lap steel. The duo also fuses modern electronic sounds and drum machines into their songs.

The album opener, “Hard Times” and “Show Me the River,” draw attention to the light, carefree sound of the fiddle, while banjos inspire a darker setting on “The Ballad of Young Alban and Amandy” and “You Dance.” “Rain Come Down” is a powerful tune capturing the perfect harmonies of Maslich and Adams.

“Eastmountainsouth” comes to a peak when Maslich fiercely sings gentle, poetic lyrics on the short, but moving love song, “So Are You to Me.” Simplified by the light sounds of the fiddle and piano, the ballad whispers a sound so peaceful, it could put a baby to sleep.

“Eastmountainsouth” is a perfect introduction to the band. The reminiscent sounds of the album will bring the listener back to a time when music was music and nothing more.

— Katie Piepel

Vida Blue

“The Illustrated Band” (Sanctuary)

Compare to: Galactic, Herbie Hancock, Mongo Santamaria

Every few years, an artist or band will come along and shake the very foundation of music. Vida Blue is one of those bands.

Jazz has slowly become a lost art, hidden from view by “radio-friendly” artists who refuse to challenge themselves or their audience. Vida Blue is here to remind listeners just how funky, sexy and engaging jazz and music can be.

“The Illustrated Band” has four tracks, clocking in at just over 60 minutes. There is more then enough room for the members of Vida Blue and the Spam Allstars to improvise and groove. The interplay between the instruments reveals “The Illustrated Band” is a kindred spirit to Miles Davis’ own “Bitches Brew.”

The album starts off with a title track that kicks you right in the gut with the pounding funk of Oteil Burbridge’s bass.

The title track is carried by what may be the best rhythm section in music. Burbidge and drummer Russell Batiste enable the track to soar to astral space-funk heaven. If pioneer of funk Prince heard the illegal amount of groove contained in the title track, he would smile.

“Charmpit” begins with the combined powerhouse of the rhythm section and keyboardist Page McConnell. Compared to the first Vida Blue album, McConnell has placed himself in a supporting role. He first peaks around the 20-minute mark, where his improvisation and composition abilities shine.

The rest of the album is a testament to the musical abilities of both Vida Blue and the Spam Allstars. They throw down a rich and thick funk that hits deep down in your soul.

“You Don’t Know” and “Little Miami (Reputation)” demonstrate what happens when musicians step aside and let the music flow through them.

For listeners to truly be touched by the album, they have to listen to how the horn lines interact with the piano melodies and how the drums and bass work together.

Vida Blue has been able to create a piece of music that is fun, soulful, intelligent and moving at the same time.

— Padraic Cepek

Paloalto

“Heroes and Villains” (American)

Compare to: Jeff Buckley, Echo & the Bunnymen, Swervedriver

Based on rock ‘n’ roll music’s blues roots, which emphasize uptempo songs designed to make the listener want to dance, there can be no such category as soft rock.

The two genres are separate entities. However, the music on Paloalto’s “Heroes and Villains” treads waters in both soft music and rock ‘n’ roll musical territory.

At first, one will get a taste of sound that could be created from mixing a Flaming Lips ballad and any keyboard-heavy The Anniversary tune.

A lightly accented drum pattern fades in with keyboards, and both share dominance until James Grundler’s soothing voice penetrates the microphone, begging the listener to stick around for just a little more.

“Fade Out/In,” is one of the album’s featured rocking tracks, which has a gung-ho garage music feel to it. The listener will get a Kings of Leon/Hives experience from it. Grundler seems like he is talking, almost half-gawking into the mic, all the while tightly gripping the guitar pick and flapping his wrist up and down to accent the standard blues and rock bar chords.

“Heroes and Villains” has a relatively cheery vibe until the appropriately titled “Bones,” the musically dark, sinister and lyrically confusing eighth track.

“Bones” sounds like a Kurt Cobain composition minus the grungy distortion, head-banging teenagers and pounding drums.

The track gives the listener a picture of one horrible day in the studio, when everything went wrong and one of the members seriously considered exposing the goth inside of him or her.

“Bones” is the dark and blackened heart of build-up, taking its toll and leaving a deep, biting scar.

Though simple and clear, the lyrics on most tracks lose touch with the listener after blending with the music. You start to focus on the guitar harmonies or the thumping of the snare drum on beats two and four.

The members of Paloalto may have done a decent job on blending rock and blues, but they blended almost too much, making the music and lyrics one big pile.

— Dan Hopper

Something Corporate

“North” (Cambria)

Compare to: The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, The Promise Ring

What’s in a name? If Something Corporate’s latest album is any indication, quite a bit. It’s not like anyone expected this poppy quagmire to be the next College Music Journal poster child. If anything, the Orange County quintet, strategically placed on the front lines of DriveThru Record’s pop-punk war, laughed in the face of indie acclaim by releasing two undeniably mainstream albums in a row — “Audioboxer” and “Leaving Through the Window.”

Unfortunately, the band has lost sight of what made each of its previous releases successful. “Audioboxer” quickly became a roughshod favorite in the heyday of the tears-on-the-sweater emo craze. “Leaving” took this jagged-yet-beautiful sound and melded it with solid producing and better songwriting, creating a polished final product that gave justice to lead singer Andrew McMahon’s muted, grainy falsetto.

Instead of riding the ambitious efforts of their work, however, McMahon and crew have chosen to release an album that smacks of rehashed material and generic, overproduced radio pop-rock. Fans of the unreleased “Konstantine” will be pleased with this disc — it’s essentially 12 listless versions of the same down-tempo song, repeated with such frequency that a bottle of Xanax by the stereo might be a good idea.

The repetitive, sleep-inducing pattern is so noticeable, the album sounds more like a bad cover album of already-mellow musicians. “She Paints Me Blue” sounds like Ben Folds’ “Brick” on life support, “Me and the Moon” and the opening bars of “Ruthless” are far too close to Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait” and lyrics like “If you run to the ends of the world I would catch you” from “The Runaway” are poppy (and nerdy) enough for Orville Redenbacher.

But even a broken clock is right twice a day. “Down,” which starts out a little slow, does build up enough momentum to keep the gun barrel out of the mouth, and “Only Ashes” smacks of Something Corporate’s younger days. Sadly, it’s not enough to pull a pile of lifeless love songs from the recycle bin.

— Aaron Ladage