Dixie Chicks
Taking the Long Way (3.5 stars)
The Dixie Chicks have undergone quite the metamorphosis in the four years since their last album, 2002's Home. It's not just that their music has evolved—although it has—ir entire worldview has altered as well, ever since lead singer Natalie Maines made a negative comment about George W. Bush at a concert in London. Targeted by angry conservative country fans, the Chicks embraced their progressive politics and become even more outspoken, allying themselves with rockers who shared their views.
On Taking the Long Way, the Chicks continue their shift rock-ward with a sound that's a stark departure from the bluegrass-influenced songs of Home. Uber-producer Rick Rubin takes the reins, and the result is a country-rock record that finds the three band members cowriting all of the 14 tracks and working with unlikely collaborators, including Semisonic's Dan Wilson and the Jayhawks' Gary Louris.
There's also a clear maturity in the subject matter, which covers politics as well as the comforts of marriage, the love of children and the frustrations of infertility. Rubin matches the serious lyrics with tasteful, restrained country-rock delivered by a mix of capable studio musicians and eclectic guests. Long Way is a good album that gets better with each listen, but it lacks much of the fun of the Chicks' previous work, and, in its move away from pure country, loses some of the genre's best attributes, including its rich storytelling. Maturity is all well and good, but let's hope the Chicks remember to loosen up a little next time around.
The Stills
Without Feathers (3 stars)
The last Stills album was like a bleak zero-degree January in Montreal, with one undeniable, shimmering single that crackled like a fireplace. "Still in Love Song" was all lust and drama and fantasy, as the band took Echo and the Bunnymen—and created a new-wave anthem that probably made even Brandon Flowers jealous. It was a neat trick.
The new Stills album is more like a cheerful 80-degree July in Montreal. Maybe success has made the band less mopey, or maybe they realize they like the Strokes and My Morning Jacket more than Interpol and Elefant. The Stills still brood, but mostly they just rock now. There's nothing undeniable; instead you get half a dozen songs that are immediately rousing, that get to the point right away. "Destroyer" sounds like the Walkmen and Hot Heat Heat throwing a party together, while "It Takes Time" in fact takes no time at all to make you think the Stills have managed to find the halfway point between the Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand.
"It's nice to see you're moving on," Tim Fletcher sings on opening track "In the Beginning," and it's obvious that he really hopes the feeling is mutual.
THE WALKMEN
A Hundred Miles Off (3.5 stars)
When did Bob Dylan join the Walkmen? Oh wait, that's just Hamilton Leithauser loosing his inner "Idiot Wind" on the indie quintet's third long-player. Though Leithauser's vocals have trended toward the raspy and abstruse before, he hasn't sounded like an escapee from The Basement Tapes until now.
Not that the Dylan likeness detracts from A Hundred Miles Off. If anything, it might better complement the band's highbrow disposition. On leadoff cut "Louisiana," glimmering guitars and elegant horns meet up with Leithauser's warm warbles about "drinking our coffee under a canopy" to set a balmy, New Orleans scene, while his foreboding on the organ-doused "All Hands on the Cook" ("By the way, it won't last/Rain'll come, the sun has passed") conjures the macabre of a sea voyage gone frighteningly awry.
Like its two predecessors, A Hundred Miles Off is a study in restraint, but this time the Walkmen don't give in to release until the ninth and 11th tracks out of 12, saddling the disc with a bit too much sameness. Still, it mostly succeeds as a radiant summer album, with just enough melancholy to help it survive a cold winter, as well.
Kaskade
Here & Now (4 stars)
Opening with "It's You, It's Me," Om Records offers up a retrospective of Kaskade's catalog from the last five years, a compilation of hit singles and rare B-sides running over two discs.
Kaskade (a.k.a. Ryan Raddon) has a distinctive '70s feel-good vibe blended with a house structure, perfect for spinning on a patio, as he did just last week at Empire Ballroom. The mellow grooves permeate both discs here, which include his hits "Gonna Make It," "What I Say," "Steppin' Out" and "Everything."
Andy Caldwell drops in on his fellow San Franciscan's Big Room mix of "Everything," doing yeoman's work on keyboards and programming, helping elevate the track to stratospheric levels with Joslyn's singing. DJ Colette Marino's vocals accenting a jazzy piano on "I Like the Way" is another Disc 1 highlight.
Disc 2 opens with "Steppin' Out," with Randy Herbert providing the live drums, Bret Garner on vocals and cowriter and coproducer Finn Bjarnson helping with guitar. It's followed by the Soft Shuffle mix of "What I Say," and "Sweet Love," a highlight from his second album, In the Moment, where Joslyn's talents should merit the track some high club rotation. (Joslyn also makes appearances on "This Rhythm," "My Time," "I Feel Like," "Peace on Earth" and "Meditation to the Groove.") Later comes another shot at "I Like the Way," giving us more of Colette's dulcet tones.
Wrapping up with "Still Still Still," sounding like part of a film soundtrack, Here & Now is an excellent introduction to Kaskade for newcomers and a welcome gathering for longtime fans.