Gaslight Anthem’s ‘Handwritten’ is hardy
The Gaslight Anthem
"Handwritten"
(Mercury/Island Def Jam)
The Gaslight Anthem has always occupied this unsettling space between the earnestness of Bruce Springsteen’s lyricism and the musical passion of harder-edged bands like Jawbox. The former is no surprise, given the quartet’s New Jersey Roots and the latter -- well, this is a band that bounds back and forth across the line between punk and folk with no apologies.
Nor should it.
On its fourth studio album, the appropriately titled "Handwritten," Gaslight Anthem offers up plenty of material that is rich in texture and layered in its subtexts about love, longing and losing that careens from composed whispers to impassioned pleas.
In a way, the 11 tracks -- starting with the sublime "45" -- evoke the band’s prior recordings of stories blending hope, redemption, memories and regret. But there’s a more adult air infusing the 11 songs.
The Gaslight Anthem has fashioned a sturdy major label debut that more than pays homage to its upbringing while, at the same time, shows off a maturity gleaned from so much time playing on the road and a cohesion that is remarkable.
Check this track out: The splintering and howling title track is like a scornful letter about love and loss yet with a U-turn that transforms it from a clicheurod story about couples meeting later in life to something grander and, at its core, hopeful.
(AP)
Passion Pit hits the right notes on new CD
Passion Pit
"Gossamer"
(Columbia Records)
From their achingly hip EP "Chunk of Change" to their 2010 follow-up "Manners," anticipation has been turbo-charged for another pitch-perfect, electro-pop album from Passion Pit.
And their latest, "Gossamer," hits all the right notes. The band keeps exploring the themes of hipster life -- intoxication, love lost and hopelessness sung in their beautiful, uncontrived manner. Opening track and first single "Take A Walk" is a rousing festival anthem that you could easily imagine a beer-tinged audience chanting its chorus.
"I’ll Be Alright" blasts with a weighty beat and "Mirrored Sea" sounds like a definite dance-floor hit. Then there’s the electro synth-heavy "Cry Like a Ghost," which muses on excessive drinking.
Overall, the Massachusetts-based band has a created an album that is melodically upbeat and lyrically melancholy. And it works.
Check this track out: "Love Is Greed" questions young love with lamenting strings.
(AP)
Musical life only gets better for Nas
Nas
"Life Is Good"
(Def Jam)
On the cover of his 10th album, "Life Is Good," the urban troubadour known as Nas is dressed in a white suit, glumly holding his ex-wife Kelis’ green wedding dress -- the only thing left behind after the couple’s publicly acrimonious divorce. By way of his art, Nas both washes his laundry in public and shows he has moved on.
Producers No I.D. and Salaam Remi give this very personal record an aura of nostalgia, a throwback to the golden age of hip-hop, by using classic beats. Collaborations with artist like Mary J. Blige, Rick Ross and Swizz Beatz and Nas’ solos arrange themselves into a coherent necklace made of discreet gems. Old mixes with new, noir enters the flow and the lyrics are tinged with both vulnerability and brutality.
Nas is the same master wordsmith as he was when he first bowled over critics with his 1994 debut "Illmatic." He tackles thug life, chrematistics and the pursuit of status, yet shows signs of growth by considering more personal topics like parenthood, love and his relationship with his celebrity.
Songs like "Daughters," where he raps about his own real-life parenting struggles with his teenage daughter or "Bye Baby," where he addresses the breakdown of his marriage and his subsequent bleeding heart, show a touching self-awareness. "Cherry Wine" featuring the late Amy Winehouse paints him in a surprising light where he is unshackled by the stereotypical rap views of women. Nas manages to make a clean break with the past by submersing himself and us in it.
Check this track out: "You Wouldn’t Understand," with its fast beat enhanced by Victoria Monet‘s crystalline voice.
(AP)
