Oh well isn’t that just precious.  Look at the vaguely ethnic couple and their awesome kid. What the hell are they anyway?  Latino?  Native American?

Even worse, am I alone in thinking that those two look like brother and sister?  Creepy.

And speaking of creepy – thanks to AT&T’s powerful 3G network, you can increase the efficiency of your stalking by 73%!

All this wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t run this commercial eight billion times a day.  Ugh.

So much for Anakin Skywalker being the Chosen One.  Turns out it was Michael McDonald all along.

Dave King – Indelicate (Sunnyside Records)

King has already established himself as a jazz percussionist par excellence with the Bad Plus and Happy Apple, but here he decides to carry the entire load himself.   While I’d love to say that Indelicate is a prime example of a talented artist finally allowed to break free from the shackles of the group format, that isn’t really the case here.  King’s muscular and primal rhythmic approach to the drum kit carries over to the piano but it becomes clear fairly quickly that while King has a number of good ideas (among them the simple but engaging “Homage: Young People” and the bouncy “I Want to Feel Good”), he really needs someone like an Ethan Iverson to translate them into something more.  In the end, Indelicate feels more like an experiment than an album and while I’m sure it’s artistically rewarding, it doesn’t really make for a consistently rewarding listening experience.

One notable instance where King trades brawn for subtlety is “I See You, You See Me”, which offers a glimpse that he does have a melodic touch.  I do also dig the unsettling and appropriately named piano solo, “The Black Dial Tone of Night”.

Midlake – The Courage of Others (Bella Union)

It was probably inevitable that I would be a bit let down after the superb The Trials of Van Occupanther.  But really, The Courage of Others is a good effort from the Denton, Texas quintet.  There is a real sense of single-minded purpose on this album, it just lacks the “wow” moments that Van Occupanther had in spades.  Or to be more blunt, it lacks the songs.  The opening cut, “Acts of Man”, plops you in medias res into the album’s palette of subdued but lush folk rock dourness (I swear that on “Fortune” the group channeled the spirit of Peter, Paul and Mary).  There really isn’t a lot of deviation from that formula throughout the record’s 42-minute running time, so you’ll know by the third track if you want to stick it out to the end.  If you’re not inclined to do so, at least check out “Rulers, Ruling All Things” and “The Horn”, which do manage to distinguish themselves.

Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots (Atlantic)

The fact that we even have a new STP album to listen to is in itself a minor miracle.  As band devotees know, frontman Scott Weiland seems to be forever flirting with disaster, and his extracurricular activities have robbed the band of a lot of prime music-making and touring time.  As a result, it’s been nine years since the group’s last effort, the underrated Shangri-La Dee Da.  But in truth, the heart of STP has always been the DeLeo brothers, Robert and Dean, anyway.  The brothers’ knack for hooks is keen indeed, so how have they fared on this eponymous release?

For the most part, pretty good.  The energy is there, and the musicianship is top-notch as always.  The only major change is one of approach.  This record sounds like STP-lite in most places.  The beefy, muscular hard rock of past albums is eschewed in favor of a leaner, poppier sound.  For those needing a point of reference, this record most resembles Tiny Music…Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop in sound, although minus the freaky-deaky musical detours and psychedelic dabblings.

“Between the Lines”, the album’s first single, is vintage DeLeo craftsmanship.  It storms in, worms its way into your brain in under three minutes, and then it’s done.  The album continues in this vein, throwing in a bit of ’70s Aerosmith on the excellent “Huckleberry Crumble”.  At the halfway point comes the first letdown, “Cinnamon”.  It’s generic contemporary pop rock and sounds like something you’d hear on the soundtrack to an American Pie movie.

The group recovers from that misstep, but the album never really regains its early momentum.  You can’t blame that on Weiland, who sounds strong and confident on every song.  Perhaps the missing ingredient on this release is producer Brendan O’Brien, who is replaced behind the board by the DeLeo brothers.  Gone with O’Brien is the forcefulness and aggression that propels much of STP’s best material (even poppier tracks like the classic “Interstate Love Song” have a certain bombast that is essential to their success).  All that said, Stone Temple Pilots is a respectable entry in the band’s catalog and does nothing to diminish my appetite for more from the group.

Backyard Tire Fire – Good to Be (Kelsey Street Records)

On “Roadsong #39″, opening salvo of the fifth studio effort for the Ed Anderson-fronted trio, Backyard Tire Fire adds a whole lot of spit, grit, and groove to their alt-country sound.  Things settle down from there, though, and the rest of the album feels a lot more like the group’s last several releases.  Still, there are some welcome sonic changes, thanks in part to new producer Steve Berlin (of Los Lobos) – the arrangements are more expansive and nuanced, and not as dry and direct.  It was a bit jarring hearing the orchestral-esque backing on “Learning to Swim” at first, but it’s a nice addition on second thought.

Ultimately BTF sinks or swims on the strength of Anderson’s songwriting, which shines in spots on Good to Be.  The aforementioned “Roadsong #39″ is a gem, and the poppy choruses on “Estelle” are a pleasant surprise.  There are some songs that feel a little too familiar, though, such as “Food for Thought”, the title track, and “Hell and Back”.  It’s a testament to Berlin that some of the more predictable songs still engage.

Maya Beiser – Provenance (Innova)

The term “rock star” isn’t really applicable to the world of the cello, but if it was then Maya Beiser would be one.  She has toured and collaborated with the likes of Tan Dun, Philip Glass, and Brian Eno, and she’s been the featured cellist on the soundtracks to movies such as The Happening, The Great Debaters, and Blood Diamond.  Beiser’s latest effort, Provenance, manages a neat trick.  It’s chock full of rich textures that unfold slowly, but is always engaging and listenable.  Her quest on the record was to transport the listener back to the golden age of Medieval Spain – a period when Muslims collaborated and lived with Jews and Christians.  Whatever her intentions, this music sounds timeless but never dated.  The last track, a cover of Led Zeppelin’s classic Middle Eastern-tinged “Kashmir”, doesn’t rock quite as hard but adds some additional authenticity that turns it into a fresh take.

Beiser’s skill with the cello is undeniable – she seems to be able to wrench a wide range of emotions from her instrument, to the point that it sounds like a de facto vocalist (her take on the aforementioned “Kashmir” is very reminiscent of Robert Plant’s vocal melody).  This release should appeal equally to fans of contemporary classical, world music, or really anyone who just enjoys listening to great music performed with equal parts skill and devotion.

Trombone Shorty – Backatown (Verve Forecast)

Wow.  Just wow.  This is the album you should force someone to listen to if they complain that there’s nothing good or fresh about today’s music.  Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews has crafted an early contender for album of the year, and he does it by brewing an intoxicating blend of rock, jazz, blues, hip hop, metal(!), and soul.  There’s no lengthy exercises in musical skill, as no track cracks the four-minute mark.  It’s just round after round of exciting and engaging music.  Hell, Andrews should score points just for getting Lenny Kravitz to sound relevant (“Something Beautiful”).   This is a bold, brassy, and beguiling album that will probably be overlooked for much safer fare.  A damn shame, really.

Well that’s sweet, I’m sure Lady will be very happy that her little man is faithful (if not very bright).

I’ve observed over the past several years that few groups of music fans are as fickle as frequenters of indie music blogs.  They seem to judge music by some set of unwritten, yet ever-changing rules.  The slightest transgression – a change in sound, label, or look, for instance – is enough to turn album reviews into obituaries.  Such seemed to be the case with Minneapolis-based Tapes ‘n Tapes.  After their 2005 full-length debut, The Loon, was lauded by taste makers like Pitchfork, the quartet seemed to be off and running.  I even got into the game, albeit a little later.

And then…the dreaded followup record.  The first big change for Walk It Off was that the group enlisted one of them fancy, pro-fessional producers (Dave Friedmann).  The next was a change in style – away from the nervous, angular indie rock that I found endearing and toward a beefier, monolithic guitar rock approach.  I was so disappointed in Walk It Off I couldn’t be bothered to write more than a few sentences for my review.  I read quite a few other reviews, and even the most positive ones seemed to be fueled more by the residual goodwill generated by The Loon than by any inherent qualities Walk It Off possessed.

So it’s been just over two years since the record’s release, and still it sits largely ignored in my MediaMonkey library.  So it’s time to decide – does Walk It Off find new life or get the boot?

The first thought I have in listening to this album again is how TNT’s style isn’t all that changed from the previous disc.  What has changed is the songwriting and sound – and neither for the better.  First the sound – this is definitely a much more professional-sounding record, but that actually works against it.  Tapes ‘n Tapes are not a particularly complex or challenging group, and this new dense, drum-centric and reverb-heavy mix sounds like an attempt to make them sound like a more forceful and important band than they are.  All it really makes me think is “holy crap all this distortion is annoying.”

Next, and most importantly, are the songs.  They just aren’t there.  Of the dozen tracks on Walk It Off, only “Hang Them All” recalls the energy and infectious fun of The Loon.  Not coincidentally, it was the album’s lead single.  But even then, the chorus doesn’t kick in until the last 45 seconds of the song and therefore it feels like a wasted opportunity.  A few other songs – “Conquest”, “Say Back Something”, and “Demon Apple” for example – hint at something better but ultimately fall a little short.  The latter pair contain some of the color and subtlety I suspect the band was going for throughout most of the record.

The rest of the album is a paint-by-numbers exercise in generic, modern indie rock.  It’s decent but does absolutely nothing to distinguish itself.  Tapes ‘n Tapes aren’t the greatest musicians in the world so they live or die on the strength of their songs.  And when you can go through an entire album as a listener and recall exactly one melody, that’s death.  Almost everything about this record screams we are a serious band and we are proving it to you with this serious music.

I was little too harsh on Walk It Off when it was released, but I think my disappointment was understandable.  But while I can see what Tapes ‘n Tapes was shooting for on the album, it still feels like a huge misstep.  Who knows, maybe in time this will be seen as the transition album that pointed the way to greater things.  But for now I can’t really imagine myself wanting to listen to the whole thing again.  “Hang Them All” gets a reprieve, as do “Conquest” and “The Dirty Dirty”, but I’m deleting the rest.  That’s three saves out of 12 songs.

The final verdict: Nay

There are many ways to abuse the apostrophe, and this is one of the most annoying.  Fortunately this place has really good pizza’s.

Hank Jones, Newport Jazz Festival, 7/14/05 (credit Ed Newman)

Although I knew this day would come, it doesn’t make it any easier to handle.  Hank Jones, the man most responsible for sparking my love of jazz, has died at age 91.  Jones’ always tasteful and elegant brand of swing may not have blazed any musical trails, but it always made for good listening. The music was a reflection of the man – gentle, thoughtful with a touch of humor, and never self-important.

Jones was the last surviving member of an immensely gifted trio of brothers – Thad (1923-1986) made a name for himself as much for his trumpeting acumen as for his compositional skills, and Elvin (1927-2004) was one of the most respected drummers in the genre.  Hank’s understated style made him the least flashy or famous of his brothers, but he was always my favorite.

You can find any number of Hank Jones biographies online and in print, so I won’t recycle them here.  I’ll just relate a little bit about how I was touched by his genius.

About ten years ago or so, I started my exploration of jazz in earnest.  I had no idea where to start, so I started listening to the local jazz radio station, WBGO, to see if anything caught my attention.  Much of it sounded the same – some good, some not so good.  Then, out of the background, I heard a song that stood out from the rest.  Something about the style and arrangement spoke to me.  It was “Interface”, from a 1990 Jones release called The Oracle.  I immediately set out to buy the album but, of course, it was long out of print (a common problem with jazz artists who never hit it “big”).  I made do with a live version off another Jones disc for many years until I was finally able to track down a used copy of The Oracle.  Sure enough, I still love that song.

From there I branched out in many different directions of jazz, but I always return home to Hank.  He was never as acrobatic as Art Tatum, as sublime as Bill Evans, as idiosyncratic as Thelonious Monk, as flashy and complex as McCoy Tyner, or as versatile as Herbie Hancock.  But he was always, always a joy to listen to and to my ears he never played a bum note in his life.  You can’t help but be put immediately at ease from the chord of any of his songs.

I had the great privilege of seeing Hank perform not too long ago, during a week-long celebration of his 90th birthday at Birdland in New York City.  He was on top of his game and fulfilled every expectation I had going into the show.  At the end of the concert he was presented with a birthday cake, and the audience got to express their appreciation for Hank with a round of “Happy Birthday”.  Of all the performances I’ve attended, it was one of my favorite by far.  I’m so glad I got the chance to see him live and bring my love of jazz and his music in particular full circle.

RIP Ronnie, you will be missed.  Let us all throw the devil horns in his honor.