CD Reviews
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SOULIVE
Up Here
Jazz/funk
Royal Family
A hot live act that's never fully captured its groove on record, Soulive softened its sound and added generic R&B vocalist Toussaint for 2007's "No Place Like Soul." The group recently celebrated 10 years as a band, and they are best when they are in concert.Matt Paris, Metromix
Overview: As soon as "Up Right" blasts out of the gate, "Up Here" announces itself as the tight, furious Soulive record fans have been waiting for. Even more laid-back stuff like "The Swamp" has an added swagger, as if the tune leans back and takes its time because it knows it's the Man, and it can. Most of "Up Here" elevates Soulive to the place fans always knew they should be.
4 stars
METRIC
Fantasies
Pop rock
MMI
For the past decade, Metric has co-starred with Broken Social Scene, Stars and the New Pornographers as the leading lights of Canada's close-knit indie scene. While the band's earlier work veered toward club sonics in efforts like "Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?" and "Grow Up and Blow Away," the 2005 release "Live It Out" was a refreshing blast of unhinged rock. A couple years off have mellowed the band.
Scott Thrill, Special to Metromix
Overview: The good thing about a peaking Metric is you always find what you are looking for. Want a dose of the brutal "Live It Out" riffage? Check out "Satellite Mind," or the boom-and-pound of "Stadium Love" and "Front Row." Downtempo head-trips? Mellow out to "Twilight Galaxy" or "Collect Call." Straight-ahead dance-pop? Move to "Help I'm Alive" and "Sick Muse," or the clever "Gimme Sympathy." There's something for everyone here.
4 stars
BILL CALLAHAN
Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Sadcore
Drag City
While recording from 1992 to 2005 under the Smog alias, Bill Callahan established himself as a pioneer of the lo-fi, sadcore movement. In 2007, he released his first EP ("Diamond Dancer") and full-length ("Woke on a Whaleheart") under his own name. Both discs were slightly less experimental than his Smog output and largely impressed mainstream critics.
Wade Tatangelo, Special to Metromix
Overview: The second full-length to bear Callahan's given name once again pulls listeners into his special world of concrete confessions and flights of fancy. His deadpan vocal delivery leaves you hanging onto every word as the singer/songwriter pledges his love ("My Friend"), chases the wind "(Rococo Zephyr") and contemplates God ("Faith/Void"). The metaphors and surreal imagery run thick and heavy but never undermine the emotional impact of Callahan's wonderfully twisted tales.
3 stars
GRAND DUCHY
Petits Four
Pop / rock / dance music
Cooking Vinyl
After impacting the pop-punk '80s like a nuke with Pixies and regaling the '90s and '00s with a prolific folk and rock solo career, the notoriously cerebral and cranky Charles Thompson, otherwise known as Black Francis and/or Frank Black, married Violet Clark and chilled. The two wasted little time in working together on Thompson's solo efforts and teamed up as Grand Duchy, leaking the atmospherically crunchy tune "Fort Wayne" online and revising the Cure's "A Strange Day" for the tribute album "Just Like Heaven." Now, this eclectic mix.
Scott Thrill, Special to Metromix
Overview: Coming off as a cross between Pixies stomp, Breeders pop and electronica soundscaping, "Petits Fours" is an approachable sonic mosaic. The gothic grind of "Black Suit" and garage thrash of "Come on Over to My House" finds Black thankfully screaming his lungs out once again.
4 stars
