Tricky - Knowle West Boy

I finally got hold of a copy of this last week, following its belated US release - the Chilean release date sadly yet to be confirmed. "Knowle West Boy" is easily his most accesible album yet and without doubt the best thing he's released since his debut, Maxinquaye, 13 years ago. Sounding far more energetic and less asthmatic than on previous releases, Tricky has managed to craft something almost catchy and I like it. He even rocks out on this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqioPHIU6xk

Oh yeah, and there's a Kylie cover.

Return of the Trumpets

Calexico's latest, "Carried To Dust", heralds the triumphant return of the mariachi trumpets which were sadly muted on the folk rock by numbers of their last effort, "Garden Ruin". This is a much more eclectic affair and thankfully they seem to have returned to scoring their own imaginary westerns. I'm a big fan of the recent upsurge of popularity of Glockenspiels and Accordions on records, and on this one, as well as making great use of these old favourites, Calexico manage to incorporate a huge array of other weird and interesting instruments including, an Omnichord 1983, a Venezuelan Cuatro, a Chinese Guizeng, a Guiso, a Vibraphone, a Bottle Cap Rattle, and a Cassette Player, perhaps explaining why they sound like no other band. No other band that I've heard anyway. There's no single song on the album that rivals "Crystal Frontier", "Ballad of Cable Hogue" or "Minas de Cobre", but its a good listen and works well as a whole."Two Silver Trees" is a real grower, while "Man Made Lake", "Inspiracion" and the instrumental "El Gatillo (Trigger Revisted)" are the standout tracks.

Here's the "Two Silver Trees" video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCA0_bNXAao

Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea

Although the lyrics are as consistently great as ever, and with David Berman sounding more and more like Johnny Cash - "San Francisco B.C." somehow a close relation to "A Boy Named Sue", the album cover is perhaps the star of the show here. Who couldn't love those three adventurous abseiling elephants, dressed in velvet waistcoats, suits and crowns. Sounding fairly chipper following suicide attempts and various addictions this is probably Berman's most easy listening experience.

Here you get to listen to the second track on the album, the too short "Aloysius, Bluegrass Drummer." and get to see the elephants:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4lMC-lR8Rk&feature=related

Grant Lee Buffalo - Fuzzy

I don't really understand why Grant Lee Buffalo didn't sell more records. Their debut, Fuzzy, originally released in 1993 and re-released sometime last year is superb, plus, from what I remember of the trio's performance in Leeds Poly's student union fifteen years ago, they were excellent live as well. There's not a weak track on the album, and "The Shining Hour", "Fuzzy", "The Hook" and "Dixie Druck Store" are lost classics. The only down side to this reissue are the new sleeve notes (thankfully brief) written by band leader Grant Lee Phillips. Apart from making the bold claim that his songs ran "the gamut from majestic to cacophonus," he goes on to claim that,

"Grant Lee Buffalo was captivated by ideas of discovery, and the desire to attain something unique from the rubble of what was."

Oh dear. Lighten up Grant, its only rock n roll, but I like it.

Truckasaurus - Jack the Biscuit!

Creating a chirpy minimal techno-ish sound from vintage synths and drum machines, Commodore 64s and Gameboys, having multiple brightly coloured monster trucks on the cover of their debut album, "Tea Parties, Guns 'n Valor" and including their own homage to Jan Michael Vincent's Airwolf, how could it not be any good?

http://www.myspace.com/teapartiesgunsnvalor

Takka Takka - Migration

Not the most hyped band from Brooklyn to release a record in the past 18 months, that title obviously belongs to the highly over-rated but still quite enjoyable in small doses, Vampire Weekend, nor the most catchy - MGMT, its not the one with the best single track - Yeasayer and 2080 (Although that might be MGMT as well), nor is it the most downright odd - Battles, but Takka Takka's Migration is quickly becoming a bit of a favourite. You should listen to it. At least until the new TV on the Radio album comes out.

http://www.myspace.com/takkatakka

Fernando Milagros

Comfortably the best album by a Chilean singer songwriting theatrical stage designer that I've heard this year, Mr Miracles' solo debut, "Vacaciones En El Patio De Mi Casa", is an absolute belter. Just like the smattering of Spanish language songs which crop up on Devendra Banhart's albums, you don't have to be able to understand what he's going on about to enjoy them. There's just the one English track, "The Way", although he does offer a cover of Guns N Roses' "Don't Cry" on his MySpace page along with a number of tracks that don't make it onto the album. Album highlights are: "Mi Ciudad" which builds from a sparse acoustic opening, chucks in a bit of bass drum, tambourine and a simple picked riff that is just terribly catchy; the magnificent "Cancion del Rey Planta" - two videos of which are to be found on YouTube, not a lot happens in either of them but they're still strangely enjoyable; and the final track, "Rio", which is just too good not to be heard by more than a handfull of people in Santiago.

http://www.myspace.com/fernandomilagro