Find out what the CL Music Team is jamming to rocket launch the work week. Click here to check out previous entries.
Gabe – Hot Ice, Stone Disco (1979)
I came across this gem a few weekends ago while scouring local vinyl bins, and my curiosity got the best of me. Hot Ice was a Miami disco band that released a full-length album of Rolling Stones classics re-imagined as full-on disco numbers. I know more about them after doing some immediate internet investigation when I slapped this on my turntable and was wowed! Superb production that lays a heavy but rhythmic gloss on Stones staples like “Street Fighting Man” and “Brown Sugar” are fleshed out with tasty horns, string accompaniment, chunky bass and heavy congas. In true disco style, all six extended cuts fade right into each other so the entire 49-minute album plays like one continuous disco Stones party. As cheesy as it is surprisingly good, this one is a good conversation starter and a definite ice breaker. I’ve been grooving to it for a while and plan to make it a staple at all future parties I throw.
Joel – Alt-J, An Awesome Wave (2012)
Alt-J are aliens. Yes, the four British lads that call themselves Alt-J look human and have human names, but the music throughout An Awesome Wave is just too strange to be naturally of this world. Joe Newman’s sometimes unintelligible warble takes some getting used to; and if the harmonies on the a capella "Interlude 1 (The Ripe & Ruin)" intrigue more than they unnerve, the rest of the album proves less challenging. Much of An Awesome Wave is spacious and sparse with twangy, folk guitar, airy Caribbean rhythms, and deep, digital bass tones. I’m still most amazed by the convergence of dubstep-like low-end and cello on surprise alt rock single “Fitzpleasure,” creating an oddly sensual tension that ebbs and flows. Video for "Breezeblocks" after the jump…
This article appears in Jan 10-16, 2013.