Artiste: Tyler Childers
Album: Snipe Hunter
Rating: *****
Playing it safe is not in country star Tyler Childers’s genes. Religion to relationship play out in his latest album, projecting his ambivalence about his contribution to the world around him. He makes Snipe Hunter everything but ordinary.
He talks about koala bears and STDs on Down Under (All I know is I don’t want no koala cuddlin’ up to me), adds Hare Krishna chants to the Scottish folk-inspired ballad Tomcat and a Dandy to capture something timeless in a world where change is the only constant, and Dirty Ought Trill is an arena-sized song that touches on dog training (Raised in the bricks where the blue lights scream/ Somethin’ like a beagle with a fever dream).
He is country without being country, and that perhaps is the secret sauce to his success. The son of a strip miner, he is vocal about environmental impact. Deep down, his music owes allegiance to Kentucky’s country and bluegrass roots.
There is something for everyone in the album, whether longtime fans or those being introduced to his music beyond the US. Oneida is a mellow love song (I lay here awake, and I laugh at her jokes/ She is referencin’ movies I’m too young to know) that he didn’t release for years while the opening number, Eatin’ Big Time is boogie-blues at its best with Childers going after the rich (Eatin’ big time is a feelin’ with the friends that I have made).
The music gets complicated on Tirtha Yatra, about his time in India. He captures a spiritual journey through India: It took a little under two years for me to make it through/ But now I’m here and tellin’ you, it changed me metaphysically/ It taught me all about Dharma.
Contrast this with Bitin’ List, which is about his hate list: To put it plain, I just don’t like you/ Not a thing about the way you is/ And if there ever come a time I got rabies/ You’re high on my bitin’ list.
Snipe Hunter is already among the best albums the year has given, best enjoyed over a couple of drinks.
Artiste: Madonna
Album: Veronica Electronica
Rating: ***
The title Veronica Electronica is inspired by an alter ego Madonna teased in 1998 during the promotion for Ray of Light, the album that contained hits like Frozen, Nothing Really Matters and the brilliant title track. Madonna went on to release Music in 2000, which was inspired by Ray of Light. What Veronica Electronica offers are versions of remixes already present on the original Ray of Light CD singles, along with the new demo track, Gone Gone Gone.
Drowned World/Substitute for Love still sounds great as it is put in a new context with BT & Sasha’s Bucklodge Ashram New Edit and Peter and Victor’s remix of Skin is packed with sharp breaks.
Veronica Electronica definitely highlights the fact that musicians, over the years, have been inspired by the albums Ray of Light and Music. For example, FKA Twigs’s Eusexua adds a chill element to pop hooks, something Madonna did a long time ago. But the remixed efforts hardly stand up to the original songs.
The demo for Gone Gone Gone has been online for years, yet it’s good to find the track here, especially when you consider its killer bridge.
Group: Sly & The Family Stone
Album: The First Family: Live at the Winchester Cathedral 1967
Rating: ****
The earliest live recording of the legendary funk band is now available. Recorded at Winchester Cathedral, where Sly and the Family Stone served as the house band from December 1966 to April 1967, the music was recorded by the band’s first manager, Rich Romanello. The recording was made two years before the release of their debut album, A Whole New Thing.
Besides the Sly-written opener, I Ain’t Got Nobody, the tracks lean towards hits of the day, Otis Redding’s I Can’t Turn You Loose, the Four Tops’ Baby, I Need Your Lovin’ and Joe Tex’s Show Me. It has all the elements that made the San Francisco band popular.
They are supercharged on the Ben E. King track What is Soul and Saint James Infirmary appears like a frenzy.
What may detract listeners are the faint vocals on some tracks, which perhaps couldn’t be worked upon. Otherwise, this is a great album to begin a musical journey with Sly & The Family Stone.
Group: Tomorrow X Together (TXT)
Album: The Star Chapter: Together
Rating: ***
If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. In the music world, it can lead to something staid, which is the case with Tomorrow X Together’s (TXT) latest. Cute but ordinary as the K-pop quintet delivers synth-heavy fare that’s enjoyable to an extent, but the boys fail to shift gears.
Upside Down Kiss, the album opener, is an enjoyable nod to the 1980s, as they sing “we do it for love/forever” and equally well-played is the closing track, Song of the Stars, a ballad about togetherness.
Noteworthy is the falsetto-powered Sunday Driver, which you will enjoy even if you are a noob in the K-pop genre as they sing Just two of us/ Sunday for, Sunday for us. It’s heavy-and-sticky on Dance With You as love takes the dance floor: I wanna dance with you/ Hold hands with you.
No doubt there is enough charisma accompanying every track but it doesn’t rewrite the pop rulebook as BTS did. The album brings the Star Chapter series of albums to a close with a certain degree of warmth and perhaps paves the way to something more adventurous.