Beastie Boys
To the 5 Boroughs
Capitol Records
••••••7•••

Ch-check it out, the Beasties are pushin’ 40 and they’ve just turned out some more wax. You probably know this. Hell, you’ve probably heard the album by now. Like a lot of artists of late, Mike D, MCA and the King Ad-Rock have found a donkey to get behind and they’re riding it for all it’s worth. While not every song on “To the 5 Boroughs” is political, and while none mention any names specifically, it’s pretty clear that they have that ever-increasing anti-Bush sentiment. And while I am all for getting Bush out of office, I’m a little tired of my party bands suddenly turning into expert analysts and political advisors. That said, if this CD is able to convince, cajole, or remind 1000 people or even one person to vote to get that fucker out of the White House, then it’s worth it.

“To the 5 Boroughs” as an album is better than mediocre but not mind-blowing or even somewhat spectacular. The lyrics, at times, are simple and contrived and sound as if they were written just because they rhymed (this is even alluded to in the footnotes for “3 the Hard Way” which state, “Sorry about the last few lines.”) The Beasties seem to have lost their edge, their wit and their juvenile ability to be mischievous emcees and party pranksters. It’s clear they are no longer kids who wanted to fight for their right.... Don’t get me wrong, however, they are still the Beastie Boys. And at times they are still able to do what they did so well for so long. The beats on this album are solid and sometimes even spectacular. MixMasterMike is in fine form, stripping everything down and building it up from scratch. Every song has its own flavor and feel, allowing the beats to carry the album from start to finish. Overall, there are some standout tracks, some fine rhymes and finer flows topped with a lot of great beats, but something is missing, or more aptly, something is different. Maybe the Beastie Boys have finally grown up, or maybe I have.—Josh Davis The Beastie Boys will be coming to Seattle for their first tour in over six years, Sunday, September 19 at the Key Arena. They will be performing with Talib Kweli. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets.

!!!
Louden Up Now
Touch & Go
••••••7.5•••

Sometimes “rock people” like to dance too, so it’s unfortunate that most dance music fails to rock. Bands like !!! and the Rapture aren’t even on dance-oriented labels, but I bet they number more fans amongst the rockers than the ravers. Arriving on the heels of epic 2003 single “Me and Giuliani Down By the Schoolyard,” !!!’s sophomore release plays like a mash-up between Heaven 17 and Pigbag—with more obscenities. In other words, they may be Americans, but !!! sound UK circa 1982... and I mean that as a compliment. Too bad their full-length isn’t as good as the single.—Kathleen C. Fennessy

The Cinch
Shake If You Got It
Dirtnap Records
••••••7.5•••

Vancouver, BC band, the Cinch, deliver their first full length and it’s damn good! It almost reminds me of a woman fronting the Brian Jonestown Massacre; culling loads of heroine chic, drone, swagger and chugging riffs from the early ‘70s. Think sleazy New York, think of a young Patti Smith backed by Johnny Thunder’s Heartbreakers; just don’t think about the Donnas.—Nathan Walker

Joel R.L. Phelps and the Downer Trio
Customs
Moneyshot
••••••••9•

Over the hard tones and crisp riffs, Joel R.L. Phelps croons his words with all his heart as if he were sitting in the seat next to you. Not for long, though, because the spirit is strong in him and when it takes him higher, you go right with him, helpless and free. The music keeps hitting hard, ceaselessly, from beginning to end, but it’s maestro’s voice that shapes the rollercoaster from its hushed heights to its faltering crescendos. After nearly four years of waiting, eleven songs are simply not enough, and maybe that’s why a limited edition five-song EP is included. But this dessert of covers did little to tide me over. In an hour, I was hungry again.—Shawn Telford

Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter
Oh, My Girl
Barsuk Records
•••••••8••

In reality I am in love, have a great job, am fabulously talented and life is just getting better. But in my perfect world I would be broken and beaten down by life—my lover has left me, I just cashed my last unemployment check, and life would be going nowhere but to the bottom of the bottle. In that world I would be alone in a dark bar on a rainy day, spending my last five dollars in this manner: ten quarters on a shot of whiskey and ten quarters on the jukebox playing each of the ten tracks on “Oh, My Girl.” Jesse Sykes sure has a way of making me believe that being sad is one of the most beautiful things in the world.—Eric Twelve Industries

Joanna Newsom
The Milk-Eyed Mender
Drag City
••••••••9•

The childishness of Joanna Newsom’s voice is the first thing most people notice, and she plays up that youthfulness in her songs (“mealy worms” don’t enter most lyrics outside the schoolyard). It’s that straightforward simplicity that makes her harp-driven folk actually work: her cooing “Lead me to water, Lord, I sure am thirsty” sounds so innocent it transcends any religious meaning, and the sweetness of her voice coupled with her sparse arrangements focuses all attention on the purity of her beautiful songs.—Catherine Lewis

King Radio
Are You The Sick Passenger?
SpiritHouse Records
•••••6••••

It’s as if a collection of devoted recording engineers and producers all huddled together in an underground think-tank deep in some dark pocket of the music industry and one day decided to build a giant robot. A giant robot that could, with utmost precision, mimic all the saccharine vocals and pleasantly fastidious arrangements necessary to present the world with the gift that it needs most right now: a brand new Burt Bacharach album. Apparently, no one told them that Bacharach isn’t dead, but I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have stopped them anyway. Such is the irresistible power and beauty of lounge pop.—Brian Graham

A C Newman
the slow wonder
Matador
••••••••9.5•

The first thing that came to mind was “He’s out-Shinned the Shins!” A C Newman, principal songwriter for the New Pornographers, has created one of most shimmering pop masterpieces with “the slow wonder.” I’m not afraid to put it up there with the Beach Boys, Big Star or Teenage Fanclub. Beautiful shimmering tunes fill the entire album leaving me breathless and unable to recommend a standout track.—NW

Burning Image
1983-1987
Alternative Tentacles
•••••••8.5••

Sadly, our modern-day perception of goth conjures up images of bad poetry, Hot Topic, and poorly co-opted pseudo-Wiccan solstice rituals. The surfacing of this disc is refreshing, if not desperately needed. Burning Image was somewhat of an anomaly in the California punk scene of the early ‘80s—fusing skate-friendly hardcore and spooky cemetery-dwelling goth. This is the sound that all of those Bat Cave Records bands (Specimen, Patti Paladin) were shooting for, but were too depressed and alienated to pull off. The collection serves up one of the most overlooked phenomenal bands to come out of the punk movement.—Robert Hanna

The Short Happy Life
The Album is Also Called ‘the Short Happy Life’
Nobody’s Favorite Records
••••5•••••

The Short Happy Life is the brainchild of one Jerry Fels, and it seems that no one ever bothered to mention to the guy that he can’t sing. His voice is front and center of each song—nasal and rarely in key. And yet there is something vital about these songs, something pure and overtly charming in their construction. Most of “The Album is Also Called ‘the Short Happy Life’” sounds as if Stephen Merritt’s slightly mental little brother was released into a studio after spending twenty years locked in a basement dreaming about love.—BG

The Fading Collection
Stems
Self-released
••••••••9•

This remix album from Seattle’s trip-hop trio is as good as anything available anywhere. Sarah McCulloch’s voice is smoky and serious in all of the right places and angelic everywhere else. The rhythm section concocts a tapestry of grooves and beats that sway heads and hips in an electronic ebb and flow for the duration of the album. The same fierce heart that inspired their debut is at the center of this collection; only here it’s been rethought, reshaped and rewired. Despite the doctoring, these 14 songs come out of the womb veracious and raw, like life itself.—ST

Comets On Fire
Blue Cathedral
Sub Pop Records
••••••••9•

The first five minutes of “Blue Cathedral” echo the space-noise psychedelia found on the previous two releases by this Bay Area band. Then suddenly, the chaos subsides. Wailing guitar, tortured vocals and an all out feedback attack give way to a subtle, beautiful break in the song. This new, varied, textured approach is apparent throughout the album. “Brotherhood of the Harvest” burns slow, like something out of Pink Floyd’s catalog, while “Organs” provides a very appropriate interlude. “Blue Cathedral” is a huge leap in musical maturity for a very important band.—Ben Allen

Far
Water and Solutions (with bonus DVD)
Immortal Records
••••••7.5•••

Listening to the re-release of Far’s 1998 release “Water & Solutions” is much like trying to revive a lost love, believing that this time things might be different, things might work out. However, like most rekindled romances this album fizzes out just as quickly as it begins with just too many sub-par songs to ignore. It is uncertain why their label decided to re-release this emo debacle. But if you’re just looking for a quick lay, this album won’t let you down.—Brian Kidd