John Mooney doesn’t give a damn about blues “purity,” whatever that is. While many of his peers have stuck to just one brand of blue-hued music to the point of repetition, Mooney has spent the past thirty years deftly melding two disparate forms: straight-from-the-fields Delta blues and complex New Orleans…
The Virgin Suicides: Original Motion Picture Score(Astralwerks)Although “soundtracky” isn’t a term recognized by the folks at Webster’s, everyone knows what it means — instrumental music that may work when paired with cinematic imagery but seems empty and uninteresting without it. Detractors of Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin, a French twosome…
Helium(Angel)Taking cues from the late Argentine tango wizard Astor Piazzolla, the three conservatory-trained East Coast musicians who make up the Tin Hat Trio continue to tinker with “world music” — and boy, do they like to tinker. Recorded almost completely without overdubs, Helium marks the skilled followup to the group’s…
Equally Cursed and Blessed(Atlantic)Catatonia’s second effort to see American release combines the Welsh band’s sarcasm, gravelly vocals, smartly overplayed pop and an attitude that reeks of cigarettes, hard liquor and the morning after to give lightheartedness a swift kick in the groin. When lead singer Cerys Matthews sings “Ooh sha…
