A look at local discs, and more . . . .

The Alphabetical Order
I Am Magically Happening
www.thealphabeticalorder.org

Driving guitars launch The Alphabetical Order’s “I Am Magically Happening,” and the album takes off from there. The band’s first full-length effort (2005 saw “The Unimpeachable EP”), one can appreciate the maturation process this local group has gone through in it’s three years.  “Submarines” is a highlight, with spacey synthesizer sounds. “Shot From Cannons” is also a little space-dreamy, before kicking ass. And try not bopping your head to “This Too Shall Pass.” Excellent harmonies accentuate some tracks, and a steady backbeat keeps it all together.  Album drops Oct. 9. Plenty of area shows, check the Web site for details. — RF

My New Mixtape
Winter ‘07
www.mynewmixtape.com
Brilliantly executed solo effort by Virginia Coalition’s Jarrett Nicolay. What jumps out in “Winter ‘07” is the obvious Wilco comparisons. Seems like Jeff Tweedy was being channeled at times, with maybe a little James Taylor, which of course is a good thing.  Just when you think you have a nice but unassuming singer-guitarist record, My New Mixtape goes in a different direction, challenging and pleasing at the same time. Folk rock strumming, occasional electronic bloops, etc.  Highlights include “Drunk Me,” “Universe” and the sublime “Thank You.” New surprises with every listen. Get this album. — RF

Delta Moon
Clear Blue Flame
deltamoon.com

Atlanta’s Delta Moon know a thing or two about Southern blues and rock. Deftly layered compositions demonstrate this group’s finesse with guitar lines and solos. Having burned through two female vocalists on their previous two albums, Mark Johnson and Tom Gray have decided to deliver the vocals themselves. As some may have guessed, the result is a bit rougher and laced with a touch more gravel, but isn’t that part of the allure of the blues? “Clear Blue Flame” is an album chock-full of sharp, restrained, and focused blues, and worth a listen or two. — LGLP

Devendra Banhart
Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
devendrabanhart.com

Banhart’s music is akin to packing into a VW van and traveling an America long lost, then jetting down through Central America and Panama into Venezuela, where he was raised. “Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon” is indeed a journey — 16 songs carrying over an hour of music and transcending a number of genres while somehow holding fast to the psychedelic art folk sound that garnered his fan base. The experimentation on this album exceeds the playfulness of his previous work, providing some of the most startling and interesting tracks on the album. Long live nostalgia.  At the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue on Oct. 1. — LGLP

Bedouin Soundclash
Street Gospel
www.bedouinsoundclash.com

Strange how things can grow on you. When I first listened to Bedouin Soundclash’s “Street Gospel,” I was disinterested. Then it really started to make me move. Now I think it is fantastic. Funny.  Beautiful harmonies, excellent rhythms, positive vibes.  “Walls Fall Down” is haunting but energetic. “Hush” almost gospel like. “Bells of 59” will make you smile. “12:59 Lullaby” perfectly simple. “Hearts in the Night” a dreamy, fitting finale. This disc is a definite find. — RF


Dawn Dineen
The Ghostly Apple Tree
www.dawndineen.com
With her fourth album, “The Ghostly Apple Tree,” Dawn Dineen manages to create her own unique sound.  Her voice is both soothing yet haunting at the same time. The sound quality is good considering she recorded the album in a one-bedroom apartment.  Dineen plays most of the instruments on this album, including guitar, bass, drums and keyboard. Stand out tracks include “Tomboys (You’re oh so fine),” “Ladybug” and “Picasso in the Air.” The Ghostly Apple Tree is released on Dineen’s own record label, Yarner Records, which is based in DC.  She will be performing on Oct. 25 at IOTA in Arlington. — RL

Dusty Rhodes and the River Band
First You Live
www.dusty-rhodes.net

First you live, then you die. During that time in between, you should take a listen to Dusty Rhodes and the River Band’s “First You Live,” one of the best albums of the year. Out of Southern California, Dusty Rhodes capably combines tinges of folk, bluegrass and other musical elements. There’s an obvious Jugband Blues-era Floyd heard at times, as well as Abbey Road/Let It Be-era Beatles thrown in. Each listen reveals hidden layers, and the lyrical storytelling is worth paying attention to. Throw in an occasional violin and an organ, and you have a masterpiece. Highlights include the title track, “Ghost Trails,” and “Dear Honey.” A must have. — RF

Enter The Haggis
Northampton
www.enterthehaggis.com

Any album that starts out with a song titled “One Last Drink,” as does Enter the Haggis’ live disc “Northampton,” is a good thing. Unfortunately, the rollicking first song is pretty much as good as it gets.  This Canadian-based Celtic band has some chops, but this effort lacks the energy one would expect from a live Celtic band. You want them to kick it up a notch. This album isn’t bad, but check out Flogging Molly or DC’s own Scythian first. — RF

The Erins
The Year of Hello and Goodbye
myspace.com/theerinsband

Touches of Lisa Loeb, Melissa Etheridge and Tracy Chapman are carefully woven around Erin Cole-Baker’s songwriting and Erin Zurflu’s proficient accompaniment. “The Year of Hello and Goodbye” is a solid record, built upon strata of folk sounds that are not aimed at appealing to the indie scene, but closer to that of the Indigo Girls. If you are a fan of any of the aforementioned artists, then this album is a worthy addition to your collection. — LGLP


Rob Kendt
I’m Not Sentimental
robkendt.com

A former theater critic for the New York Times, Kendt’s music definitely has its dramatic moments. At times this theatrical leaning swings through the realms of the Beatles’, Rufus Wainwright’s and Elvis Costello’s catalogs, and is only enhanced by these musical detours. While vastly eclectic in its range, “I’m Not Sentimental” still feels focused, limiting its explorations of parallels and tangents well. The music is further enhanced by the stellar production. Definitely worth looking into. — LGLP

Jens Lekman
Night Falls Over Kortedala
jenslekman.com

There are a few stumbles here, but few artists can even claim to have stumbled like Jens Lekman. Sweden’s powerful answer to Morrissey and Magnetic Fields has outdone himself with his newest effort, a feat many worried was not achievable after 2005’s “Oh You’re So Silent Jens.” Where “Maple Leaves” made young girls weak in the knees, the chorus of “Shirin” is so overwhelmingly lavish and exceptionally pulled off that one wonders where Jens Lekman has been all their lives. If your days could use a little brightening up, Jens is here to help. Hear for yourself at the Black Cat, Oct. 25. — LGLP

Orishas
Antidiotico
http://orishasweb.com/
Represent Cuba—it’s a simple motto, but one that Cuban expats Orishas have fulfilled during their illustrious career. One that has taken them from the birth of hip hop in Cuba — a genre their country refused to acknowledge before 1999, a year before their debut album — to spreading their street gospel of fighting social injustice and world poverty to their new hometowns of Paris, Milan and Madrid; and on radios and in clubs throughout the Spanish-speaking world. They flawlessly mix traditional Cuban rhythms like rumba, sones, guaguancó and boleros, with hip hop beats to create feel-good danceable and head bobbing hits like “Represent Cuba,” ‘Nací Orishas,” “5.3.7. Cuba,” among other hits. —AF

The Payola Reserve
200 Years
thepayolareserve.com

Not even Baltimore has been rendered safe from the sweeping arms of this Tom Waits inspired, Elvis Costello saturated Americana that evokes Neil Young’s “Harvest,” and the Payola Reserve proudly bare their scars on “200 Years.” While their sound looks back, the thematic elements of the music explore today’s current situation: “They say they’re getting ready for the rapture, I picture local weather men enraged,” Ben Pranger croons on “Around That Long.” Overall, “200 Years” deserves some real estate on the shelves where you keep your records – just push one of those Wilco albums over a little more. — LGLP

Rockfour
Memories of the Never Happened
www.rockfour.com
This is music with a good objective, but not such a good sound.  Hailing from Israel, this alternative rock band is definitely influenced by the current chaos in their homeland. Most of their music is slow, sad and haunting, but the lack of tempo and chord changes and the persistent monotone makes the album boring. The songs sound the same and the mixing never changes. It’s too bad, because Rockfour just seems to want to bring a little peace to the lives of people who are struggling, but the true struggle may be listening to this album all the way through. “Memories of the Never Happened” hits the shelves on Oct. 9. — CK
Static of the Gods
Cycles Follow Signs
staticofthegods.com)

At times reminiscent of the ‘90s alternative rock that would have found itself on the soundtrack for films like “Empire Records,” Static of the Gods smartly weave in a few aspects of their Boston brethren Belly and the slightest hint of the sound of the Jesus and Mary Chain. The songwriting is strong which focuses “Cycles Follow Signs” tightly, enhancing the listening experience. Nineties music might take a bit of beating in the press these days (but so shall ‘80s inspired indie rock, and sooner than you know), but Static of the Gods capture everything that was vibrant in that decade past. — LGLP

Turbonegro
Retox
turbonegro.com
The Norwegian gods of rock’n’roll have once again descended from Scandinavian skies to re-educate us all on what rock really sounds like. The over-production of “Party Animals” is gone, this lower quality approach reminding the listener of decades when rock music was most important. As has become an integral part of Turbonegro albums, there are plenty of homages to their heroes: “We’re Going To Drop The Atom Bomb” pays its dues to the Dead Kennedys and “Do You Dig Destruction” borrows from the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy,” among others. A breath of rancid air from the bathroom of the dirtiest metal bar in Oslo… breathe deep. — LGLP

Vetiver
To Find Me Gone
vetiverse.com
Andy Cabic, Vetiver’s frontman, along with a whole orchestra of accompaniment, including the talents of Devendra Banhart, has created a lush, nostalgic dreamscape with “To Find Me Gone.” A distinctly American effort, Vetiver evokes the work of Neil Young and others of his ilk; that layered portrait of the 1970s. While this record ambles at its own pace and to its beat, it never stumbles. Having toured with Bright Eyes and now supporting the Shins, Vetiver’s music is highly accessible to fans of both ‘70s Americana and the more contemporary indie-folk approach. Nearly essential. At Merriweather Post Pavilion on Oct. 20, with the Shins. — LGLP

—————ALSO AVAILABLE—————
Line in the Sand
A Compilation in Support of Iraq Veterans Against the War
www.wyldstallionsrecords.com
A compilation CD from Wyld Stallions Records, a Vermont-based record label in tuned to social action. This disc is heavy at times, as you’d expect. National acts such as Tom Morello (the Nightwatchman, and of Rage Against The Machine fame) have contributed, as well as area acts as Son of Nun, Head-Roc, Attentat and Ryan Harvey (“Search and Avoid” is a highlight on the disc). Eighty-percent of the profit from this disc will go to Iraq Veterans Against the War,  a non-profit. Some good music. Check it out.



Laura Pursell
Somewhere in this Room
www.somewhereinthisroom.com
Competently done adult contemporary. Not our cup of tea, but very pretty, and could be yours.