| |
|
|
Download
New year, new tunes
BY MIKAEL WOOD
|
|
|
|
|
The new year calls for new music — new stuff that sounds like old stuff, old stuff that sounds like new. Arctic Monkeys | "When the Sun Goes Down" | This group of soused garage-rock libertines are currently the biggest thing in London since the Libertines. And their single "When the Sun Goes Down" achieves the same kind of sloppy elegance that Pete Doherty used to attain before he embarked on his current trip toward oblivion: fancy jazz chords laid over a half-assed skiffle beat that gallops at a junkie’s tempo. Laura Cantrell | "Hammer & Nails" | Cantrell’s a New York–based radio DJ and songwriter who makes great little country records that find a place for old-school Nashville verities in the big city. In "Hammer & Nails," a Dave Schramm–penned studio outtake from her recent Humming by the Flowered Vine, she sings about the onset of evening while producer JD Foster’s crystal-clear arrangement picks up lap steel, vibraphone, and pump organ courtesy of the guys from Calexico. Johnny Cash | "Silent Night" | Christmas is over, and most of the hype surrounding Walk the Line has died down (until Oscar time), but this rendition of "Silent Night" warms the heart anyway. It’s J.C. searching for whatever depth he can find in a lyric and melody we’ve all heard countless times before.
|
