This month, we review CDs from Bass Connection, Pete Yorn, Fannypack, Golden Gate Breaks, Grandaddy, and Dangermouse and Gemini.
Artist: Bass Connection
Title: The Best Of
Label: Neurodisc
Rating: 3
Bass Connection's The Best Of contains tracks from the group's two '90s albums, plus three new tracks. Obviously if you're buying bass music, you're in it for the bass. And you won't be disappointed; the low frequencies are fully represented. That being said, the music itself isn't necessarily that great. Much of it sounds extremely dated; unless you were a raver in 1993, you may not be into the hardcore techno styles on display here. The new tracks are pretty good, done in a progressive breaks style. If you're nostalgic for the old days, give it a listen -- otherwise wait for more new material. --Douglas Adams
Artist: Pete Yorn
Title: Day I Forgot
Label: Columbia Records
Rating: 3
I know it's bad form to compare, but I'm going to do it anyway. Coming off the heels of his awesome debut album Music For The Morning After, Pete Yorn's highly anticipated Day I Forgot is a so-so sophomore effort by the (dare I say it?) "adult contemporary" crooner. What happened, Pete? Where is that deep, scratchy voice and those brooding melodies that made every song on the first album so good? I understand that as artists grow and change, their music does, too, but bland and uninspired songwriting doesn't count as "better." That's not to say the album is as bad as, say, our current economy, but with the exception of a few songs ("Come On Home," "Pass Me By," and "Turn of the Century") your life wouldn't fall apart if you were to forget Day I Forgot. --Ella Ngo
Artist: Fannypack
Title: So Stylistic
Label: Tommy Boy
Rating: 3 1/2
Upon first glance, the Fannypack CD looks like a whole lot of bad news. Three young girls pose, pop star-like, while the name "Fannypack" appears above, with not one, but two hearts in the logo. Let me assure you, it's all very, very tongue in cheek. Think JJ Fad's "Supersonic." Think L'Trimm's "Cars That Go Boom." Think Quad City DJs' "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)." Now stop thinking and get out on that dance floor. I hate to say it, but this really is a fun album. Sure, it all kinda sounds the same, but when there's cute high school girls rapping about "Cameltoe," you know it can't be half bad. Bubblegum and peach schnapps optional. --Douglas Adams
Artist: Various Artists
Title: Golden Gate Breaks
Label: Om Records
Rating: 3 1/2
San Francisco's Om Records has long specialized in a more organic strain of dance music, opting for vocals and trumpets rather than raise-your-hands trance. This yen continues into the breaks genre with Golden Gate Breaks, a collection of broken beats from (primarily) Bay Area producers. Bassnectar gets jiggy with it on two cuts including a remix, but it's his original, "Udu Shuffle," that steals the show. Rising drum and bass star DJ Abstract slows down the tempo and delivers a steppy remix of Ming and FS' "Freak," dropping a bass line that will challenge any install. Not every track is brilliant -- a few go more for experimentation and end up spinning out of bounds -- but overall, it's a wonderful reminder that San Francisco still has it going on. --Douglas Adams
Artist: Grandaddy
Title: Sumday
Label: V2
Rating: 4 1/2
All hail the pop majesty of Grandaddy. Sumday is the Modesto, CA quintet's finest album, a work of focus and beauty, a genuine refinement of style and a step forward in songwriting. Quirky and eminently listenable, Grandaddy has always had an ear for great pop. But that pop was usually delivered with something a little more clever, such as frequent tempo changes, meandering narratives about robots, or atonal synthesizers. On Sumday, it's as if the band has finally gained enough confidence to let the melodies take center stage. Opener "Now It's On" could rule alternative radio, as could "The Go In The Go-For-It." If the album has a fault, it's that it sags in the middle from too many same-sounding songs. But once you've reached the soaring climax of "OK With My Decay" and "The Warming Sun," all is forgiven. Perfectly delightful. --Douglas Adams
Artist: Danger Mouse and Jemini
Title: Ghetto Pop Life
Label: Lex Records
Rating: 3 1/2
Whoah, what is this? Fresh out of New York via England's Lex Records comes Danger Mouse and Jemini's Ghetto Pop Life, a crazy album of hooky hip-hop that manages to stay grounded amidst a flurry of crazy beats. Danger Mouse makes tracks in a Prince Paul style, combining elements from a variety of sources to create actual songs, joints that would be interesting to listen to even without vocals. And speaking of vocals, Jemini can drop rhymes with the best of them. Witness the baroque insanity of "Medieval" or the soul fire of "The Only One," which is destined to be an anthem. Any album that has a church choir singing, "I've got bullets in the clip," has to be heard to be believed. Don't sleep. --Douglas Adams