Songs: Ohia

The Magnolia Electric Co.

Secretly Canadian

Country. The stigma the genre brings is devastating. The world of cowboy hats, faithful hounds and rusting Ford pickups is either groan-inducing or somewhat familiar territory. Independently-minded artists like Neil Young, Palace Music and Wilco have tried for years to bridge the gap between rock and country.

The Magnolia Electric Co., the latest from Songs: Ohia, is a paradigm of this musical tradition. The album will leave listeners confounded as to how songs that veer so close to self-parody (such as “Peoria Lunch Box Blues”) can be so utterly enjoyable. With its Southern-inflected vocals from Jason Molina, haunting background harmonies (which recall Patti Smith) from Jennie Benford and slow, steady arrangements of guitar and piano, this is no typical rock album. But it might have been your father’s in the mid-70’s.

Songs: Ohia dig deep into heartland rock traditions, and the results are startlingly good. Opener “Farewell Transmission” is enough to sell you on the album right away. It’s an apocalyptic tour-de-force: seven and a half minutes of crunching guitar and vivid lyrics which culminate in the band chanting “long, dark blues” over a snarling guitar solo. The memorable refrain shows up again in “John Henry Split My Heart,” another epic rocker that ties up the album’s thematic cycle of hardship and loss in a turbulent, changing world.

Thanks to Steve Albini’s production, the album benefits from a rough and gritty sound, as well as a rotation of singers. Most memorable is Lawrence Peters on the delightfully old-sounding “The Old Black Hen,” which marks the point at which the album is unmistakably country music. It’s bereft of the sort of irony that hipsters get a kick out of, but the album’s sincerity and raw beauty are charming.

—Christopher A. Kukstis

A Band of Bees

Sunshine Hit Me

Astralwerks

Appearing on the scene out of what seems like absolutely nowhere, A Band of Bees has scored a hit with Sunshine Hit Me.

The vision of Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher, A Band of Bees sounds like a more cheerful Beta Band hailing from Jamaica. Somewhat difficult to classify, their music falls somewhere in between indie rock, trip-hop and reggae.

The album hits the ground running with “Punchbag.” In forty-five seconds, the song is built layer by layer, starting with a xylophone bassline, adding a heavy dance beat and finally bringing in Butler and Fletcher’s crucial, unique falsetto vocals. Miraculously and wonderfully, these disparate elements somehow make for an enjoyable and relaxing listen.

From there, the album travels nowhere if not up. Like the instrumentation, the lyrics focus on being playful—they are simple, upbeat and irreverent. Occasionally, the band does away with them entirely, as in the ambient, obviously Air-influenced “Sunshine,” whose only lyric is the song’s title. And just for kicks, they follow up with the energetic and fun “A Minha Menina,” which is sung in Portuguese.

Masters of atmosphere, Butler and Fletcher have fashioned a gem on their first time out. Sunshine Hit Me is a rich, accessible and enjoyable album that more than deserves the attention of indie and non-indie fans alike.

—S. N. Jacobs

Kaada

Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time

Ipecac

Despite having only been released in Kaada’s native Norway, Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time earned the distinction of being one of 2001’s ten most important albums by Billboard Magazine. The Norwegian underground legend’s debut has finally reached the States, and is well worth searching out.

Yes, no one has heard of him—but Thank You is an easy recommendation for fans of the sample collages of DJ Shadow, the Avalanches, or (to an extent) Moby. Kaada brings influences as diverse as R&B, ragtime and jazz together for a unique sound that is at once soulful and humorous, not to mention funky. Like many artist debuts, the album strikes a distinctive chord; but unlike most, it sounds marvelously mature. Clearly, Kaada knows exactly what he’s doing in the studio.

Album opener “Care” sports a funky, curiously familiar-sounding bassline that will stay in your head for hours. “All Wrong” resembles music for a spaghetti Western twisted up and turned irresistably danceable. The title track, which closes the album, leaves the listener smiling and humming—and wondering if he’s being laughed at, as it fades out to the repeated words “bye, bye....”

In truth, it’s difficult to pick standout tracks on the album, which bursts with personality throughout. Its electronic pop madness may not be to everyone’s taste, but is sure to win open ears.

—Daniel M.S. Raper

Beans

Tomorrow Right Now

Warp

Mr. Ballbeam, a.k.a. Beans, was arguably the most distinctive third of the already inimitable Anti-Pop Consortium. Fans of the recently-split hip-hop trio can rejoice, as Beans has returned with a full-length solo debut that extends upon the group’s starkly experimental beats and rhymes.

Tomorrow Right Now is a strange collage of spoken word, lo-fi electronic beats and startling dissonances, refusing to be mainstream in any sense. At once the most impressive and the most alienating feature of the album is Beans’ lyrics, which are undeniably virtuosic but delivered in stuttering, robot-like fashion. They’re highly poetic—Beans has actually been published as a poet—but the lyrics sound too conscious of their own literacy, which robs the music of much of its emotional impact. He often sounds like he’s rushing to get his words out against the rhythm of the music, making for a jarring listen.

Still, the pure sonics on Tomorrow Right Now are as compelling as ever. From the frenetic electronic scratches of “Sickle Cell Hysteria” to the dense fuzz and blips of “Rose Periwinkle Plum,” Beans has created an expansive and atmospheric sound that is uniquely his own. But ultimately, the album engages the head rather than the heart. It eschews any sense of comfort; even when a recognizable melody appears, it’s presented in dissonant harmony.

Tomorrow Right Now pushes the boundaries of hip-hop and electronica—and while it is intelligent and definitely challenging, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is good music.

—Daniel M.S. Raper