The Duhks
THE DUHKS
Sugar Hill
As traditional and contemporary styles become increasingly homogenized in the genre-bending acoustic music world, it gets harder to truly classify much of what is being created. Multi-hyphenated monikers cloud the categorization and confuse the prospective listener. One must simply listen intently to really appreciate what an artist is doing. All it takes to realize the Duhks have something special going on is one spin. These young fresh folks from Manitoba, Canada, deliver a knockout with their Sugar Hill debut.
The delightful concoction starts with a pinch of Celtic guitar, uilleann pipes and pennywhistles provided by Jordan McConnell, then a little Afro-beat percussion from Scott Senior and some gorgeous traditional fiddle from Tania Elizabeth and old-timey banjo from Leonard Podolak thrown into the mix. It's topped off with the sweet, soulful voice of Jessica Havey.
Produced by Bela Fleck, and joined by luminaries such as Edgar Meyer and Victor Wooten, the band pulls out the stops song after song. The Duhks have no fear when it comes to combining a number of diverse tunes into unlikely medleys. Blending their original work with classic traditional pieces or songs by the likes of Leonard Cohen and Sting, the sound is fresh and compelling. The Duhks bring a vital energy and sincere respect to an otherwise obscure idiom. 
-James Kelly
End of Love
CLEM SNIDE
SpinART
Wry, mercurial outfit Clem Snide may have settled into more ears than ever last year thanks to compilation appearances on Barsuk Records' politically conscious Future Soundtrack for America and the super-hip Daniel Johnston tribute anthology Discovered Covered, but the band has been careening between accomplished Americana and adventurous, noisy rock for nearly 15 years now. With the brand-new End of Love, the pendulum swings back to clever, orchestrated twang-pop that's equal parts wit and earnest warmth, and never disappoints because it never tries to be anything but its own engaging self. After the upbeat title track, End of Love settles into a mostly mid-tempo groove driven by strummy, sunny yet melancholy melodies, and helped along by just about every instrument laying around the studio. But it's Eef Barzelay's endlessly interesting stream of evocative, aside-filled lyrics ("woke up with the sound of German hip-hop in my head"; "did you know Isaac Newton was a virgin when he died?") that give Clem Snide its own irresistible personality, and turn a collection of impressively wrought but fairly familiar tunes into something altogether more substantial, even when they sometimes sound like they're trying not to be. (www.spinartrecords.com)
-Scott Harrell
The Sunlandic Twins
OF MONTREAL
Polyvinyl
Of Montreal could be grifters, insinuating themselves into your confidence, and, trust in hand, making away with your heart. Leader Kevin Barnes has never lacked for ambition (see concept album Gay Parade, with its Kafka-esque stories and cast of more than 40 musicians). Born during the second wave of bands to emerge from the Elephant 6 collective, Of Montreal shares a passion for '60s pop, but Barnes is too adventurous to be so circumscribed. On the group's latest, the Athens act explores electronic backing-textures and expansive, bubbling psych-rock arrangements, which Barnes describes as, "21st-century ADD electro-cinematic avant-disco." It's not a bad description, as it combines a melodicism worthy of Ray Davies with an orchestral mien that screams Phil Spector. Barnes weaves the electronic elements into sunny harmonies and pastry-tasty hooks that subtly allow the songs plenty of room to breathe. It's pretty stuff that defies ambivalence. Among the highlights are: "The Party's Crashing Us," which sounds like Black Sea-era XTC; the scintillating "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)," recalling "Waterloo Sunset" set to a Wurlitzer-spawned marimba beat; and the swirling power-pop, dystopic lyrical tour de force, "Forecast Fascist Future," with its chorus, "Boredom murders the heart of the age/ While sanguinary creeps take the stage." Pure indie-pop bliss.
-Chris Parker Bleed Like Me
GARBAGE
Geffen
Back in '96, when the electronica movement was trying to seize popular music, Garbage's "Stupid Girl," with it's electro-rock feel, somehow seemed important. Yet there was always something fleeting about the band put together by producer/drummer Butch Vig. Quite honestly, it's a surprise that Garbage is still together for this, its fourth full-length. The band lacks the gravity that it once had, but has still managed to craft a big slab of thick pop, spearheaded by Shirley Manson's sneering vocals. Most of the tunes are driven by a gargantuan wall of guitars and synths, but the songs fare better when they breathe a bit: Best of the lot is the title track, with its swirling sonics, slow-burn dynamics and compelling lyrics about damaged people ("Doodle takes Dad's scissors to her skin/ And when she does relief comes setting in"). The other songs range from solid to disposable, and tend to run together in an amorphous mass. Bleed Like Me is best listened to in smaller chunks.
-Eric Snider
Somber Wurlitzer
GREATER CALIFORNIA
Earthling
For their second album, this five-year-old quintet from Long Beach, Calif. built its sound around the gauzy and dreamily psychedelic Wurlitzer organ. It gives their heavily '60s-influenced sound a bit of exotica and keeps it from becoming slavishly retro. You can hear shades of the Zombies, Nick Drake, Simon & Garfunkel and the Beach Boys in this melancholy set of tunes, perfect for bouts of late-night ennui. (www.greaterca.com) 1/2
-Eric Snider
This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2005.