HiromiTime ControlTelarc
Hiromi ain't your mama's young female Japanese jazz pianist. Time Control is an ambitious album that, as you might guess, experiments with a bunch of different time and rhythm structures. There's spunky interplay between Hiromi's agile keys and Dave Fiuczynski's electric guitar. The album is mostly groovy and intelligent, but it's occassionally repetitive or sappy. The recording is solid, but it doesn't go for the jugular on impact. Sound has a nice mellow quality and good definition, but there's not a whole lot of soundstage. The guitar riffs on songs like "To Be Continued ..." aren't given the bleeding sound that would match lush pianos
Best.Phat KatCarte BlancheLook Records
Phat Kat's a veteran Detroit MC with an aggressive flow and hardcore style. At the start, Carte Blanche projects a rougher Slum Village sound. That's because J Dilla lays down five posthumous bangers to this collection. His complex beats and lush electronica highlight the album. Phat Kat isn't a super-skilled wordsmith or complex rhythm junkie, but his expressive style surely has some followers. The record's clean and well-mixed. Bass and treble have nice overall tone. On the down side, vocals sound overproduced, and the soundstage is small.
GameFight Night Round 3EA Sports
They say video games promote violent behavior, but I feel peaceful after bloodying the video version of Oscar de la Hoya? Fight Night Round 3 is still an intuitive dual-analog stick adventure in catharsis. Basically a port for PS3, it does gain the awesome feature of "In the Ring" mode. Here, you box first-person, complete with your head swinging back after punches and your vision narrowing the more you get hit. The PS3 graphics are a notable step-up in skin detailing from the earlier versions. Boxers are within earshot of lifelike. Network game play is fast and fun. Load times, whether online or offline, are fat Buster Douglas-slow.
Autumn ShadeEzra MoonStrange Attractors Audio House
Autumn Shade's Jes Lenee plays piano and guitar, and sings kind of like a corn-fed Bjork. Ezra Moon mixes folksy guitar and melodic piano with melancholy vocals. Ezra Moon is a case of sonic and creative problems being one and the same. The music sounds like it's been run through all kinds of processors. The vocals are sometimes barely recognizable as human. In the title track and elsewhere, the instruments sound as if they're 25th century robot reproductions of a piano or guitar. There's high- and low-frequency distortion. All of this takes away from the emotional immediacy an album like this could have.
Little BrazilTighten the NooseMt. Fuji Records
Tighten the Noose isn't groundbreaking or virtuosic. It's just the kind of album that an indie rock fan can keep coming back to, like a comfy old pair of shoes. It's mid-tempo, guitar-driven, Shins-tinged stuff with nasally endearing vocals and catchy melodies. Oliver Morgan's drum work is stellar. The recording is professional, with a good mix and dynamics. "Packed" is a great example of a rock song where deep bass, jangly tambourine and everything in between are together while being distinct.