Tab Benoit
Power of the Pontchartrain
Telarc
Rating: 3.5
Sonics: 4
Noted Cajun bluesman Tab Benoit's Power of the Pontchartrain has a hard-edged bayou flavor that gets your toes tapping. Benoit's zydeco-flavored songs like "Sac-Au-Lait Fishing" are charming and the straight blues numbers jam. This is a diverse album, though, and the ballads and rock numbers seem forced. Sound is consistently good, with lush guitar and sharp vocals. With decent speakers, the guitar and snare in "Good To Ya, Baby" should hit hard enough to make you flinch. Dynamics and soundstage are solid.
Reed KD
The Ashes Bloom
Dirty Laundry Records
Rating: 4.5
Sonics: 3
Liking indie folk rock doesn't make you any less of a man. That's what I keep telling myself while thoroughly enjoying Reed KD's The Ashes Bloom, the latest branch on the Simon and Garfunkel family tree. This one has all the hallmarks of good folk music. There are simple, sometimes heartbreaking melodies and surprisingly intricate guitar work. Some of the tracks get synth chords or broken beats to date this stuff new millennium. This album was recorded in "various living rooms, bedrooms and closets called home," yet the sonics are clean, with excellent frequency range. Hooray, technology.
Aja West And Friends
Total Recall 2012
KOCH Records
Rating: 4
Sonics: 3.5
Aja West, leader of Mackrosoft, brings it with this solo funkathon. Despite the constant funk, the funk ain't constant. West keeps it interesting with instrumentation that features cutting violin, lazy sax and more synth sounds than you can shake your butt at. The album is recorded with excellent soundstage, but there's pretty much only one volume. The melodic broken bass line on "The Getaway" should be a good test for the speed and harmonic quality of your subwoofer.
Adam Freeland
Mexico City
Global Underground
Rating: 2.5
Sonics: 3
Surprisingly, I'm not dancing as I write this. That's probably why I'm a bit bored listening to Mexico City, an album based on a live show done by respected DJ Adam Freeland. The tracks are predominantly driving, mid-paced dance remixes. Freeland's tastes are eclectic. He does well to introduce new themes throughout songs, but the two-disc album is uneven as a whole. The sonics are what they are meant to be. That is, a loud constant volume with dominant midbass that leaves some space for high-frequency flourishes.
Toca
Toca
Two Tone Elephants
Rating: 3
Sonics: 2
Toca's a Los Angeles-based band with more range than Tom Hanks. They switch mid-song from hip-hop to Latin to psychedelic rock. Their debut album is a lot like Hanks circa "Bosom Buddies." The talent is evident, but it's wild and unfocused. On many occasions, it feels like they're changing style and pace for the hell of it without thinking of the song or album as a cohesive tableau. The sonics are the Peter Scolari here. They're forgettable. The mix is often strange, like a synth string that's twice as loud as everything else when it comes in on "Hearts of Gold." As a whole, the sound is a bit muddy.
Driver Of The Year
Will destroy you
Future Appletree Records/ Nail in the Coffin Records
Rating: 2.5
Sonics: 2.5
Driver of the Year is a band from heaven. No, it's Iowa. They want to rock hard and break into the heart of the snobby indie rocker who could never love a band from Iowa. DOTY's strengths are solid, aggressive guitars and drums. Unfortunately, the album vacillates between the awesome ("Celebrities are Guns") and the insipid ("Night Receiver"). Sonically, the instruments muddle together at times and soundstage is limited. The recording's got a full, brawny feel to it, though, that fits the material and sounds best at ear-splitting volumes.