Other Music International New Music Buyer's Guide
With Real Audio and Easy-Buy Link
Presented by USOUNDS: Le Internacional

BELLE & SEBASTIAN
"Jonathan David" (Matador/Jeepster) CD
RealAudio :: BUY CD
Eleven minutes of pop glory (if you get the 7", it's missing the languid 'take your carriage clock and shove it' led by maudlin strings). The title track places a piano line that's become nearly habit to B&S amidst lovely pop with more harmonies than usual, and a touch of a minor key. 'Loneliness' tracks along with electric piano and a bopping late Beatles guitar sound (a la 'Octopus' Garden'). Lyrics that view a/your life with a kind of detachment, which they and St. Etienne are so good at writing. Album still not scheduled. Though not raising the bar, they're keeping it quite high with this EP.

JORGE BEN
"Africa Brasil" (Philips, Japan)
RealAudio :: Buy CD
In my personal pantheon of Brazilian musicians, Jorge Ben sits next to, not beneath, Ze and the Mutantes. Yet among Tropicalia fans, he always seems to slip through the cracks, never mentioned in the same breath as Veloso, Gil, Costa. Maybe that's because he didn't rock as hard, nor did he take as outspoken of a political stance--but his pop melodies are the kind that etch their way into their brain, oft-covered by his contemporaries across the board, from bossanova musicians to experimentors. This CD reissue has been available for about three years, but has been really hard to find. Many cite it as his best, and a bunch of tracks from this album alone were lifted for the very first Luaka Bop "Brazil Classics" comp. For me, it's tied with "A Tabua de Esmerelda", and though both albums were only recorded two years apart, they're further than that stylistically--"Tabua" is straight Brazilian pop, "Africa Brasil" has been called the best Brazilian funk album ever made. With a 26-piece band (well over half of those being percussionists), the rhythms, both African and Brazilian in origin, are king. Yet this army of drumming (and squeaking, and spattering) is shaped and definable, never running ragged but toughly contained, a powerhouse of energy whirling in pop's service, and absolutely magnificent. [RE]

THE YEAH "s/t" (Wondersound)
RealAudio :: Buy CD
Holding up the Beach Boys and sunny So. Cal new wave (Bangles) as spiritual ancestors, The Yeah throw down some orch-rock, but bring in the thumping bass and beats of dance music. A bit like big contempo J-Pop (I could see this on Emperor Norton no prob.), and for fans of everything from Thievery Corporation to the Aislers Set. Great sampling use and choice (OM NYC's DJ Duane contributed some production tidbits in this dept.), especially in the approximately one-minute intros that usually precede and contrast (but complement, too) each song. Lightweight but not fluff, my only complaint is that the band (DJ Wade and Jackie G) are a bit disingenuous in how just plain/pop-template-ish their lyrics are -- mostly because you can tell, from the music especially, that the band is much, much smarter than their words reveal (something I now dub the "Redd Kross effect"). [RE]