Artist: Joel Sulman
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Title: ??Chinese Whispers
Genre: Blues/roots/rock
Rating: ★★★★
In short: Legit
THERE’S nothing quite like hearing fingers slide across a guitar’s fretboard.
It’s a little thing, but it’s also a really organic musical moment that is a treat in this age of electronically-produced ‘music’.
The Border’s Joel Sulman is from the old school.
His style of blues (he originally hails from Byron Bay) is as accessable as it is bona-fide.
Joel’s voice is also something else, an engaging and powerful rasp that helps provide the legitimate storytelling quality to songs like No Sir and the superb closer Fatal Goodbye.
Over six tunes, we get the full gamut of what Joel Sulman is about — and it’s not f-bombs.
Opener Fifteen Seconds is a rocking foot-tapper that creates an instant rapport with the listener while Stop And Listen is more a breezy surf effort, the sort that have been massive hits for the likes of Jack Johnson.
And the piano-led Freeze In Time is an absolute stunner.
Artist: Jay Z
Title: ??Magna Carta Holy Grail
Genre: Hip-hop
Rating: ★★★½
In short: Blessed
WE get it, Jay Z.
We get that you’re impossibly rich and that you are married to one of the most beautiful women in the world.
We also get that your six-foot-two frame makes driving the new Bugatti a tight fit.
But do you have to keep reminding us?
Despite its swollen chest, Magna Carta Holy Grail is nice.
Justin Timberlake returns a favour on the stunning and different opener Holy Grail — JT takes the lead, Kurt Cobain provides the sample and Timberland the beastly beat.
MCHG is dark, its angry and its pretty damn cohesive
Beyonce teams with her husband on the stylish and somewhat saucy Part II (On the Run), Jay Z Blue is a touching tune about Jay’s anxiety over fatherhood and Heaven is highlight which lyric-checks REM.
But Jay still has bangers here — Picasso Baby and Tom Ford are crucial cuts.
Artist: Vydamo
Title: Becoming Human
Distributor: Sony
Genre: Pop
Rating: ★★★½
In short: Bouyant
YOU pretty much know whether you’re gonna like this record from the opening tune.
Hurricane is possibly the happiest pop song since Katrina And The Waves’ 1985 hit Walking On Sunshine.
Ok, it’s not that cheesy.
It is however a wonderful introduction to this side project of Art Vs Science’s Jim Finn.
Finn wrote this record while recovering from a kidney transplant.
And despite his serious health predicament, Finn’s songs certainly come from a positive place.
It’s pure alt-pop with a touch of Empire Of The Sun. There are lively acoustic melodies, cheek-bursting choruses and more impassioned whoa-ohhs than a Bon Jovi concert.
Check out the delightful Bare Feet for proof. And then try and get it out of your head.
And if Living In The Sunshine doesn’t feature a key-tar, it’s just about the only 1980s element missing.
Artist: Bliss N Eso
Title: Circus In The Sky
Distributor: Ilusive
Genre: Pop
Rating: ★★★★½
In short: Bouyant
IT’S hard not to place Bliss N Eso at the top of the hip-hop heap in Australia.
Once running a distant second to the Hilltop Hoods juggernaut, the Sydney trio are surely now level-pegging.
Circus In The Sky is BNE’s fifth release and continues the heady rise in quality — both musically and lyrically — the boys have shown since their 2004 debut.
While the group have done wild experimentation with their sound in the past, CITS sticks to an organic hip-hop style — DJ Izm’s cuts are a delight.
US rap superstar Nas is an amazing get on the stern early highlight I Am Somebody, the smooth Home Is Where The Heart Is is one of trio’s most epic tunes and Resevoir Dogs, with 360, Pez, Seth Sentry and Drapht, is Oz hip-hop posse rap at its most devastating.
There’s 17 no-skip tracks here with the retro Act Your Age and the soulful Can’t Get Rid Of This Feeling among the strongest.
Artist: Robin Thicke
Title: Blurred Lines
Distributor: Universal
Genre: Pop
Rating: ★★★½
In short: Sexy
HE’S behind one of the biggest hits of the year but Robin Thicke isn’t a new face on the pop scene.
Some might remember his 2002 Beethoven-sampling debut single When I Get You Alone.
Even back then, it was obvious that Thicke was a little funkier than the average pop star.
And so Blurred Lines brought back the funk in 2013.
Good news too, Thicke’s CD of the same name, his sixth, is full of similarly delicious tunes.
Always a tad on the saucy side lyrically, Thicke is on a winner with the ladies on tunes like Ooh La-La and the hit title tune.
Ain’t No Hat For That is the sort of stylish throwback effort that was desperately missing from Justin Timberlake’s disappointing 20/20 Experience.
Give It 2 You with rapper Kendrick Lamar, is a buzzy dirty funk standout, 4 The Rest Of My Life pulls out a faithful Prince falsetto and Top Of The World is a super-stylish closer.
Artist: Luke Kennedy
Title: A Time For Us
Distributor: Universal
Genre: Pop
Rating: ★★★½
In short: Talented
THIS is one of three ‘debut’ albums to release from The Voice’s final four this week.
Following on from winner Harrison Craig’s No.1 CD, Luke Kennedy, Celia Pavey and Danny Ross now all can boast a CD in the shops.
Runner-up Kennedy always seemed the strongest competition to Craig.
His classically trained voice was astonishing when delivering opera but it was equally astonishing as Kennedy ‘reversed’ his vibrato style to sing more contemporary pop songs. Both are on show here.
The timeless Time To Say Goodbye and I Dreamed A Dream show Kennedy at his technical best while show favourites like George Michael’s Freedom, Stevie Wonder’s Overjoyed and the self-penned Love Is Gone also delight.
But his take on John Farnham’s Please Don’t Ask Me is one Whispering Jack himself would be impressed by.
Artist: Harrison Craig
Title: More Than A Dream
Distributor: Universal
Genre: Pop
Rating: ★★★½
In short: Classy
IT’S an inspiring story, Harrison Craig’s — the stuff of reality singing show folklore.
He's The teen with the cruel stutter whose dad left him, inexplicably, as a toddler.
But when Craig sings, it’s magic — his speech impediment, also inexplicably erased.
The winner of The Voice, from Team Seal, has released his debut CD, as usual, a best-of from the show and including his co-penned iTunes smash More Than A Dream.
The self-labelled ‘popera’ singer is a star and shows it on re-recorded versions of his audition song (Josh Groban’s Broken Vow), the oft-covered You Raise Me Up and Elvis Presley’s weepy Can’t Help Falling In Love.
Michael Buble, whose career Craig might hope to emulate, is given a faithful rendition of his gentle Home while Rihanna’s Take A Bow (written by Ne-Yo, who also penned the winners’ single) is a nice acoustic ballad.
Artist: You Am I
Title: Hi-Fi Way (Reissue)
Distributor: Sony
Genre: Rock
Rating: ★★★★
In short: Revived
2013 is a year of celebration for the much-loved Aussie rockers You Am I.
It’s the 20th anniversary of the trio’s debut ARIA-winning CD, Sound As Ever.
To mark the occasion, Tim Rogers and the band have repacked their first three albums.
They even have their own beer out — Brew Am I. Clever, eh.
While Sound As Ever and 1996’s Hourly Daily were huge successes, it can be argued that 1995’s Hi Fi Way was the band’s most loved release.
Dubbed alternate at the time, a spin of Hi Fi Way these days delivers interesting pop-edged radio rock. It hasn’t really dated.
The hits still shine: Cathy’s Clown is riff-tastic, Purple Sneakers super stylish and How Much Is Enough begs for a singalong.
The 2013 version is also packed with extras — Triple J live cuts and the odd remix.
Artist: Kanye West
Title: Yeezus
Distributor: Universal
Genre: Hip-hop
Rating: ★★★½
In short: Dark and twisted
LAST week, Kanye West referred to himself as the “Michael Jordan of music.”
Typical from the brand new daddy, but with a new CD, West revels in the pressure to impress.
Yeezus is the Chicago rapper’s sixth solo album and really cuts the fat in hip-hop terms — no skits, no interludes and few guests (God himself apparemty appears on the militant highlight I Am A God.)
Musically trend-setting, Yeezus embraces the non-commercial — trap, dark house and jagged rock.
Black Skinhead feels like Marilyn Manson’s Beautiful People. Kanye’s angry.
It’s one of the three opening tracks all produced by Daft Punk, not coincidentally, some of the CD’s strongest tracks.
Elsewhere, New Slaves sees West spitting like a demon and his famous aching Autotune reappears in the CD’s secondhalf with the Nina Simone-sampling Blood On The Leaves.
Artist: Empire Of The Sun
Title: Ice On The Dune
Distributor: EMI
Genre: Pop
Rating: ★★★
In short: Shimmery
SYDNEY’S Empire Of The Sun took pop by storm in 2008.
The synth-pop collaboration between PNAU’s Nick Littlemore and The Sleepy Jackson’s Luke Steele yielded hits like Walking On A Dream and won seven ARIAs in 2009.
Since then, Steele has written and performed on releases by Jay-Z and Usher, whose Looking 4 Myself was a Walking On A Dream soundalike.
Ice On The Dune continues EOTS’s penchant for stylish, likeable and radio-friendly electronic anthems.
Lead single Alive is already a hit with a typically irresistable chorus while Concert Pitch has its heart in 1980s nu-wave.
Former silverchair frontman Daniel Johns contributes on the punchy Celebrate, a good single chance, and DNA is a lively, yet organic dancefloor highlight.
Not a huge amount of variation or evolution from 2008 till now but fans and pop purists should enjoy this.
Artist: Boy & Bear
Title: Harlequin Dream
Distributor: Universal
Genre: Rock
Rating: ★★★½
In short: Beary nice
BOY & Bear were the darlings of Aussie music in 2011.
Their debut album, Moonfire, was a No.2 chart hit and garnered the band five ARIAs.
Plenty of acts have struggled with follow-ups to first-up hits but Boy & Bear have taken a different approach.
Harlequin Dream is almost Moonfire’s prequel.
While its predecessor was born in Nashville, the band decided to make Harlequin Dream a true Aussie — heck, it was recorded in the same studios AC/DC made their magic.
It’s also intuitively more classic pop with the title track one of the more wonderful efforts yet from the Sydney act.
Back Down The Black is dreamy and moody in equal measures. It will be an important tune for B&B going forward.
Lead tune Southern Sun has earthy retro qualities — a modern Aussie pop classic.
Stranger and Old Town Blues are also worth a spin or two.
Artist: Newsted
Title: Heavy Metal Music
Distributor: Sony
Genre: Metal
Rating: ★★★½
In short: Metallesque
IF you’re a fan of metal, or at least hard rock, the Newsted surname should be familiar.
Jason Newsted was the long-time bassist for Metallica, joining the metal heroes after Cliff Burton was killed in 1986.
He served the band’s rhythm section until 2001, playing during arguably the band’s most commercially successful period.
His present self-monikered band boasts a modern Metallica vibe. Newsted himself takes on lead vocals and it seems like he took some pointers from James Hetfield back in the day.
Regardless, Newsted — the man — is re-energised.
This is powerful and pulsating. Lead tune Heroic Dose begins with lengthy instrumental intro (an old Metallica trick) before Newsted’s pained vocals kick in.
Elsewhere, As The Crow Flies is throwback metal at it’s finest, the galloping Long Time Dead is an anthem-in-waiting and the slower-tempoed Above All is a definite album standout.
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Title: Hyde Park Live
Distributor: Universal
Genre: Rock
Rating: ★★★★
In short: Enduring
“LADIES and gentlemen, please welcome to Hyde Park ... THE ROLLING STONES!”
As they launch into that familiar Start Me Up riff, you find youself stunned that this enduring group can still kick it with the best as far as live acts go.
Let’s face it, they have a combined age of 277 with Ronnie Wood the ‘baby’ at 66.
Recorded almost 44 years to the day from their first appearance at the famous London landmark, Hyde Park Live is almost two hours of footstomping hits.
We’re treated early and often — It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll, Tumbling Dice, Street Fighting Man and Ruby Tuesday feature in the first half-an-hour alone.
Mick is cheeky and, you’d imagine, prancing the stage like a 20-year-old. Keith is Keith.
So many highlights but check Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Sympathy For The Devil and show closer — of course — Satisfaction.
Artist: Court Yard Hounds
Title: Amelita
Distributor: Sony
Genre: Country pop
Rating: ★★★★
In short: Enduring
A FEW weeks back we reviewed Dixie Chick Natalie Maines’ debut solo CD, Mother, a foray away from country into rock.
Now Maines’ fellow Dixie Chicks — sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire — deliver their own ‘side record’ Amelita.
They assure us the Dixie Chicks still exist.
Amelita doesn’t stray too much from the DC style.
It’s still very much in the country-pop arena and while Maines is the Dixie Chicks’ lead singer, Robison does a fine job out front here, especially on the upbeat and sunny title track.
The vibe is standard throughout this CD. That, and a bunch of fun.
Take Rock All Night for example, or the lovely The World Smiles — both certain to be considered for single release.
Maguire takes lead vox on the aching A Guy Like You — a highlight — while Gets You Down is a stylish tune with a positive message.