WEEK IN RELEASES

With fall in full swing, I hope all you music fans have saved up some duckets for the plethora of worthy releases coming your way. From the long-anticipated reissue of the Kraftwerk catalog to a sprawling double album from trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, this week’s offerings are eclectic and electric. Here are some highlights:

Vic Chesnutt

Skitter On Take-Off

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Just weeks after Vic Chesnutt released At The Cut, his second collaboration with Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra, comes Skitter On Take-Off, a vastly different platter that finds the idiosyncratic songwriter stripped bare. Produced by Jonathan Richman and his longtime drummer, Tommy Larkin, the record is Chesnutt at his most raw, with most tracks only featuring guitar and vocals. Although sometimes a difficult listen, the starkness provides a perfect environment for Chesnutt’s songs and voice to shine, warts and all. Skitter On Take-Off serves as an apt companion to the the layered and dense instrumentation of At The Cut and stands as another worthy entry into Chesnutt’s stunning catalog.

Grant Hart

Hot Wax

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As the songwriting yin to Bob Mould’s yang, Grant Hart’s contributions to the legendary Hüsker Dü have been largely overshadowed since the band’s demise in 1987. This is mainly due to Hart’s crippling drug addiction, which hampered his post-Dü career. (Mould, on the other hand, soared with his solo work and as the leader of alt-rock success story, Sugar.) So it’s nice to see Hart back on the scene with his first record in a decade. From the first strains of opener “You’re the Reflection of the Moon on the Water” it’s apparent that Hot Wax is a return to form. While it’s evident that Hart has mellowed as of late, showing off a robust appreciation of organ-fueled 1960s baroque pop, there’s no mistaking the singular style that made songs like “The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill” and “Pink Turns to Blue” so memorable.

The Clientele

Bonfires On the Heath

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With Bonfires On the Heath the Clientele keep their winning streak of blissful, shimmering pop records intact, yet the band continues to expand their sound with tasty embellishments. Punchy horns, Spanish guitar, and more uptempo rhythms keep the Clientele’s melancholy, ’80s-informed pop sounding fresh.

Daniel Johnston

Is and Always Was

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Pop guru Jason Falkner was brought in to bring Daniel Johnston’s famously lo-fi aesthetic to a higher sheen plain on Is and Always Was. Judging from a quick sampling, it seems to work. Falkner wisely left the vocals and songwriting untouched, so as not to bury Johnston’s off-kilter charm in a wash of snazzy effects. The high-gloss approach serves these songs well, especially the opener, “Mind Movies,” and “High Horse,” both of which recall the whimsical spirit of Wayne Coyne’s Flaming Lips. Of course Johnston still delivers his singular lyrical visions about super heroes, wrestles with the devil, and household pets.

Exene Cervenka

Somewhere Gone

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The release of the excellent Somewhere Gone tempers, at least momentarily, the sadness that came with Exene’s announcement this past June that she has recently been diagnosed with MS. The powerhouse vocalist, most famously for LA punk legends X, as well as Auntie Christ, the Knitters and the Original Sinners, turns down the volume and largely unplugs the amps for this mostly acoustic folk record. With 14 songs clocking in at a snappy 34 minutes, Exene shows that the versatility of her voice and songwriting skill extend far beyond the punk-fueled glory of “Breathless” and “Los Angeles.” Indeed, the subtlety of her arrangements and delivery on Somewhere Gone (with the layered vocals of “Surface of the Sun” a definite stand-out) is a welcome return for Exene, and hopefully marks the beginning of a fertile and robust mid-career surge.

Wadada Leo Smith

Spiritual Dimensions

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A thrilling double album by the adventurous trumpeter, Wadada Leo Smith, Spiritual Dimensions spotlights two remarkable bands that both deliver with an intensity and skill that’ll give any open-minded jazz fan goosebumps. This sprawling set finds Smith’s introverted style in good company. The first disc features the Golden Quintet, with Vijay Iyer on piano and synthesizer, John Lindberg on bass, and Pheeroan AkLaff and Don Moye on drums. A more traditional ensemble, the Quintet plays with a style that compliments Smith’s use of space and abstraction. With a nod to Miles Davis’s simmering early to mid-1970s electric period, the second disc is a full-on powerhouse that boasts Smith’s Organic group, a four electric guitar line-up with a surging rhythm section. A master improviser and composer (as well as a noted educator), at 67 years of age, Wadada Leo Smith has proven that he’s only getting stronger with age.

The Raveonettes

In and Out of Control

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Dutch duo, the Raveonettes, have forged a nice career following the tried and true fuzz-pop formula perfected by The Jesus and Mary Chain back in the 1980s. Mixing in a bit of garage rock swagger and some lovely vocals by Sharin Foo, the Raveonettes manage to bring something new to the table. With In and Out of Control, the band pours on the pop, concocting a sugary treat that’s equally informed by JAMC as it is by the Supremes. And like the mop-topped Scottish duo before them, the Raveonettes prove that blasts of noise and tasty hooks can make wonderful bedfellows.

Kraftwerk

Autobahn (Remaster/Reissue)

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It’s been a long time coming, but Kraftwerk’s catalog (at least most of it) has finally been remastered and reissued thanks to the savvy folks at Astralwerks. The electronic music pioneers have influenced countless artists followed (i.e., Depeche Mode, Stereolab, LCD Soundsytems) and spawned whole movements of music to boot (i.e., techno, synth-pop, hip-hop). While Astralwerks is rolling out eight of the band’s albums, 1974’s Autobahn stands as the seminal Kraftwerk opus. Featuring the glorious title track, a 22-minute masterwork of minimalistic repetition (of which a severely edited version became an unlikely UK hit), Autobahn is a watershed record that belongs in every serious music fan’s collection.

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