SOUNDCHECK

The Game; Shivaree


The Game (4 stars)


The Documentary


Contrary to Snoop Dogg's fame (he could burp on a record and ship platinum) and Dr. Dre's Midas touch, West Coast rap has been lost in its own G-funk since the mid-'90s demise of Death Row Records and Tupac Shakur. Occasional signs of life—DJ Quik's excellent Rhythmalism, the Westside Connection's exceptional Bow Down—weren't powerful enough to revive a scene overwrought with pulse-deadening music, leaving some to think that Dr. Dre's seminal Chronic 2001 might've been the Left Coast rap's epitaph.


The Documentary, an 18-track reacquaintance with the NWA-styled aggressiveness that gave Compton a hip-hop ego and thug rap an outlet, is easily the West Coast's best effort in years. Dr. Dre's latest protégé Jayceon Taylor (The Game) impresses with his ability to rap outside the confines of LA's gang wars (he's a Cedar Park Blood) and weave convincing narratives, able wordsmithing and even humor—you know, real emceeing—into his rhymes.


While it's too early anoint Taylor as the West Coast's savior, he has single-handedly revived interest in hip-hop emanating from Pacific. Compton is back. Westside!




Damon Hodge




Shivaree (5 stars)


Who's Got Trouble?


It's been five years since Shivaree last made an appearance, not discounting 2004's EP, Breach. The time's been well spent, the eclectic trio has aged like good scotch, and they're back with Who's Got Trouble?


Equal parts Tom Waits, Kurt Weil and Stephen Sondheim, with a front woman evocative of the Cardigan's Nina Persson, Shivaree's third full album is a torch-song soundtrack to some unmade David Lynch film. The 11 tracks form a smoky come-on, a slit-skirted siren whose beckoning spells danger.


The voice belongs to Ambrosia Parsley, backed by Duke McVinne on guitar and Danny McGough on keyboard. Also sitting in on various songs are some of the more interesting persons and groups in alt-jazz today, from Sex Mob to George Javori to Jane Scarpantoni.


Parsley, McVinne and McGough never truly break the surreal lounge mood, coming closest on "It Got All Black," with its hypnotic country sway. Producer Victor Van Gugt gives Shivaree the aural space to create a perfect whole.





Martin Stein



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