Nickel Creek
Why Should the Fire Die? (4 stars)
On their third album, progressive bluegrass trio Nickel Creek take the progressive part of their designation to a new level, moving even further from the old-timey roots of their genre and becoming bluegrass' answer to Wilco. Not that they've abandoned their roots, but they push the boundaries of what it means to be a bluegrass band while delivering the strongest set of songs of their career.
The traditional bluegrass sound is still evident on instrumentals like "Scotch & Chocolate" and "Stumptown," but layered, contemplative songs like "Jealous of the Moon" and "Eveline" are closer to indie folk, with their dark lyrics and melancholic vocals. Fiddler Sara Watkins sings a beautiful interpretation of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow is a Long Time," but otherwise the songs are all original—as original as anything anyone's doing in country or bluegrass. By the time an actual drum kit kicks in toward the end of "Helena," the effect is orgasmic, a pure affirmation of the band's commitment to their evolution.
New Pornographers
Twin Cinema (4 stars)
On first listen, Twin Cinema is clever, catchy and disarmingly pleasant, with a lushness of instrumentation that recalls the likes of Belle & Sebastian. For those not in the know, the New Pornographers are a sort of Canadian, indie-rock supergroup whose best-known member in this country is Neko Case.
Twin Cinema's credits include four producers and more than a dozen band members. A cast that large should prove unwieldy under the best of circumstances, and yet there is nothing about Twin Cinema that feels like too many cooks in the studio.
The dynamics throughout are astonishing. "Falling Through Your Clothes" opens with the intimacy of a home recording before beautifully transforming into a blissful mix of vocalists and instrumentation, from mandolin to melodion. There are, of course, plenty of highlights, including "Use It" and "Jackie, Dressed in Cobras." But there is no filler here. Twin Cinema should be approached as a full listen, because its lovely coherence would be lost if just sampled through iTunes.
Pennywise
The Fuse (3 stars)
Pennywise, when it started out more than a decade ago with its fan base of surfers and skateboarders, could be surprisingly positive and optimistic for a punk band. But since then, the group has survived the alcoholism and suicide of bass player Jason Thirsk, and beyond personal tragedy, Pennywise now sees themselves existing in a world that has gone wrong.
The Fuse picks up where From the Ashes left off, with Pennywise delivering politically charged diatribes with only an undercurrent of increasingly desperate hope. On "6th Avenue Nightmare," Jim Lindberg decrees, "We're just trying to believe in something." Yet on "Competition Song," Lindberg can only offer a best-case scenario laden with qualifiers: "If we could only change our minds, maybe then we'd all survive." "If" and "maybe" make this sound like a slim hope.
Of course, the search for answers would be enhanced with a bit more knowledge, as on "Fox TV," where Pennywise confuse Fox News with the entertainment network. "Fair and balanced perjury and it's all on Fox TV." Still, the fun of Pennywise is that even when the facts are wrong, the riff is still righteous.
Armin Van Buuren
Shivers (2 stars)
Van Buuren's second artist album, after 2003's 76, is a disappointment, to say the least. Despite a two-year wait and guest vocalists on nearly every one of the 10 tracks, there is nothing here trance fans won't have heard before.
Opening songs "Wall of Sound" and "Empty State," with Justine Suissa and Mic Burns, respectively, are predictable arrangements, certain to get the Red Bull-and-vodka crowd moving but lacking anything noteworthy. Title track "Shivers" has some nice piano accents and an arc that redeems the poppy lines (van Buuren co-wrote most of the album's lyrics).
Gabriel & Dresden bring a nice feeling of intimacy to "Zocalo," but the mood is trashed by the cheesy "Gypsy," with guest singer Ray Wilson, Phil Collins' Genesis replacement just before the band imploded. "Who Is Watching," with vocals by iiO's Nadir Ali, is a standout track by virtue of it sounding like some sort of Enya-like, new-age song, complete with plucking guitar.