Album Review: Matthew E. White ' Big Inner

Matthew E. White has fallen in and out of love. He'll tell you about it, if you're willing to listen. Big Inner isn't a misnomer; White reaches deep within his psyche on his debut album and unfurls emotions, confessions, and misgivings. But this isn't catharsis. He doesn't mull over a shitty breakup or whine about how things didn't go his way. White looks back with calm reconciliation, basking in nostalgic highs and examining the lows.

'Big Love' acts as the thesis track. Its galloping, road-song tempo meshes with White's refrain: 'Moving on like any other man should, moving on like any other man would.' His words are reinforced by a seven-voice choir and a swelling string section. Musically, Big Inner reflects White's stint as the band leader of avant-garde jazz group Fight the Big Bull. He cites Randy Newman as a personal hero, an influence that bridges the songwriting here with White's jazzy background.

If 'Big Love' is White's take on an optimistic break-up song, then 'Will You Love Me' is the inverse: a beckoning gesture incited by longing. Pheromones dart to and fro as White gets seductive: 'Baby, you're magnificent/ Child, you're intelligent/ Honey, you can pay the rent with that smile on your face.' But during the chorus, White reveals that he's alone, trying to charm someone back into his arms. 'Darkness can't drive out darkness/ Only love can do that, only love can do that,' he yearns through his whispery baritone ' a cross between Bill Callahan and Bon Iver, for one.

White beautifies tragedies. On 'Gone Away', a song penned on the night of his young cousin's death, he pleads, 'Why are you living in heaven today?' It's bittersweet, with a minimalist arrangement that gently unspools into gospel soul 'one of the many uplifting flourishes that recur throughout Big Inner.

White juggles darkness and light, but his songs always end with their bright sides facing up. Though his lyrics often deal with personal conflicts (love, death, religion), White sings like a man who knows something good will happen. And it's not wishful thinking. He knows things will get better. You can hear it in his voice. You can hear it in his music. Big Inner is a brilliant debut, brimming with homages to pop music's past, whether it be Motown or Randy Newman. But it's Matthew E. White's past, too. He lived these sounds, grew up with them, honed them as a bandleader. Now, he's giving them to us and we're much better for it.

Essential Tracks: 'Big Love', 'Will You Love Me'

Album Review: Yeasayer ' Fragrant World

Two years ago, Odd Blood went above and beyond most of the high expectations for Yeasayer's second album, transforming the group from heavily-hyped experimental pop act into a huge draw at festivals across the globe. While that album may not have incorporated exactly the same tribal, post-apocalyptic acid trip that their career opened with, it remained funky, intricately layered, and danceable. The especially positive response from crowds to the accessible psych cuts like 'O.N.E.' seems to have made an inroad into the Brooklyners' third LP, Fragrant World, an album that takes fluidity and sheen to another level.

The further predominance of synths and disguising of guitars accomplishes that almost supernatural slipperiness, signaled instantly by album opener 'Fingers Never Bleed'. Chris Keating's once near-manic vocals find a cool pocket over the tumbling, heavily reverbed synth groove, his presence barely breaking free from the dense layers. On lead single 'Henrietta' (named after the woman whose cells live on forever in medical research), the sleepy chorus fades the intensity of the sub-bass and synth twirls that it opened on, the chilly layers undisturbed by any un-perfected blip. Once in a while, though, a surprise would be worthwhile. 'Blue Paper' proves that necessity, its five minutes passing without much growth or change in intensity.

Anand Wilder's gradual move into the forefront carries over as well, with Keating and him taking turns with the lead, providing the group with a less intense take on the Avey Tare/Panda Bear dichotomy of Animal Collective. Wilder, much like Noah Lennox, hits the softer notes, the soaring melodies, while Keating provides the more aggressive vocals. As the gap between the two vocalists narrows, so does the potential depth and difference in material. As the Wilder- and Keating-sung tracks hit similar notes, the album begins to fade into an expected groove. What once was a nice counterpoint is now just the same point over again.

When the stuttered poly-rhythms of 'No Bones' roll around, it seems the perfect time for Keating to hit his wildest, but his vocals remain mixed relatively low, pushed through some effects that damper his personality. 'Reagan's Skeleton', on the other hand, succeeds despite this lack of vocal intensity, the strongest chorus of the album managing to win its fair share of glory. The low-end rumble and insistent percussion feel like a house track, but the political critiques and warp-drive synths make this off-kilter new wave work off the dance floor just as well.

The music of Fragrant World is far murkier than its predecessors, yet it never quite hits the same peaks that epic tracks like 'Ambling Alp' did. There's nothing to match the sentimentality of 'O.N.E.',  and they're not hitting any dark or eerie emotional valleys, either. The thin 'Folk Hero Shtick' comes across like some sort of weird indie dis track, telling some 'fair-weather friend' on 'bargain Broadway' to 'pack it in, please pack it in.' The flute-like synths and thrumming bass get a dose of weird thanks to distorted, out-of-tune organ sounds, the first real sign anywhere on the album that things aren't going to play out exactly like they seem.

Album closer 'Glass of the Microscope' comes the closest to working the glossy depth to the band's advantage, finding a lithe, muscly darkness in Keating's pitch-shifted and multiplied vocals. 'Tilt your head back/ and don't choke/ under the glass of the microscope,' he calls out, danger seemingly just around the corner, the dark beat claustrophobic and frenetic. The world is looked at, the town called into question, and the beat moves on despite the uncertainty. Keating points out that we're all analyzing and analyzed constantly, 'over and over again.'

Fragrant World works like a light fog, wrapping the listener in its graying world for a while, only to roll forward not long after. You're in its grips, and for a moment, tunes like 'Fingers Never Bleed' hold sway, a fleeting dark dance that won't stick around but is enjoyable for its moment. The band themselves seem worried about this possibility: 'Never count on longevity,' Keating drops, a startling moment of honesty. While Fragrant World may not give Yeasayer the next step into the upper echelon of the indie world, it's certainly enough to keep their longevity alive. The grooves and the sonic wizardry work, but Fragrant World doesn't have half of the intensity, innovation, or memorable hooks of the group's two prior LPs.

Essential Tracks: 'Fingers Never Bleed', 'Glass of the Microscope'

Pussy Riot found guilty in Russian court

Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich ' the three members of Russian feminist collective Pussy Riot who were arrested on charges of hooliganism following a protest against the Kremlin ' were found guilty in court today and sentenced to two years in prison.

Alyokhina, 24, Tolokonnikova, 22, and Samutsevich, 29 were charged with 'hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility' in February after performing a one-minute protest song, 'Our Lady, Chase Putin Out', at Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral. The women were denouncing the ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime and the Russian Orthodox Church. (Watch footage of the performance below.)

According to The Guardian, Judge Marina Syrova said Pussy Riot was 'motivated by religious enmity and hatred, and acted provocatively and in an insulting manner inside a religious building in the presence of a large number of believers.' She frequently referenced the colorful nature of the band's clothing and said it was not acceptable for church.

Pussy Riot remained resolute even as it became increasingly apparent that they'd be found guilty. One of their lawyers Mary Feygin tweeted shortly before the verdict: 'Well, they'll be convicted. No use in harboring any illusions. However, no one is afraid.' Another, Nikolai Polozov, said 'We will oppose any illegal sentence that envisages their imprisonment, and we will appeal it in Russia and in international courts.'

Shortly before the verdict, Tolokonnikova sent a handwritten letter to Putin saying the trial had united disparate forces of dissent against those who 'threaten destruction of the liberating, emancipating forces of Russia,' reports The Telegraph.

'There is no personal malice,' Tolokonnikovasent's letter continued. 'But there is a political one. Our term in prison is a clear and distinct sign that freedom is being taken away from the whole country. And that threatens destruction of the liberating, emancipating forces of Russia. That's what makes me angry.'

After being convicted, all three women were seen smiling as the judge read out witness testimony against them, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The trial gained international attention, and the punk band garnered support from countless members of the music community including Pete Townshend, Bjork, and Jarvis Cocker.

Today has been declared Pussy Riot Global Day, with calls of protest and support planned across the world. Find out more information at freepussyriot.org.

Album Review: Nude Beach ' II

In a recent interview with Nude Beach, Vice's Tony Rettman asked the Brooklyn rockers a simple question: 'If your parents or someone similarly clueless' like myself' asked what Nude Beach sounds like, where would you categorize yourselves?' Singer-guitarist Chuck Betz and drummer-vocalist Ryan Naideau both gave fairly impalpable answers. Naideau called it an 'annoying question' and said they were 'stuck somewhere between punk, power pop, and rock,' while Betz could hardly answer, stating that he was 'clueless as to what these classifications even mean.' Some clarity, perhaps: Nude Beach is strictly timeless rock 'n' roll.

Now, if you're a vinyl enthusiast who happens to even dabble in rock 'n' roll, you've probably at some point in time owned (or thought of owning) Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Damn the Torpedoes, Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True, The Replacements' Let It Be, or Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak. These are literally timeless records, worthy of a spin or two at any time of the day, at any point of the week, and amidst any sort of emotional state, whether it's a momentary snapshot of bliss or a flair-up of insert your own self-diagnosed mental conditions here. They're innately designed to connect with the pathos of the human spirit, and consequently, they become life preservers, aural parties, and sometimes everything you have in life.

There's a lot of that in Nude Beach's II, a record that's so traditional and dusty it almost feels gimmicky. It's not. Similar to landmark albums in the early aughts (e.g. The Strokes' Is This It, The White Stripes' White Blood Cells), Nude Beach echoes the past without drooling in the rearview mirror. The album's overall genetic code has strands of DNA from Costello, Petty, or Paul Westerberg, but who gives a shit. Those are strong influences to carry, and the flannel-wearing Brooklynites run well with them.

'Walkin' On My Street' dances around mid-'70s rhythms, 'Cathedral Echoes' gets sloppy but never stains past its napkins, and 'Don't Have to Try' traces Westerberg's early morning footsteps from 'Sixteen Blue'. There's a sense of brutish innocence on II, and it's all in Betz's delivery. Right from the get-go, amidst the immediacy of the fast wheelin' 'Radio', the soulful crooner marries his vocal tones with the melodies, as if to say, 'Yeah, this was all meant to be.' No kidding. Even when he's blatantly ripping off the vocal melody of Petty's 'Learning to Fly', as he does on 'Love Can't Wait', it all feels so goddamn natural.

But that's what makes a good rock record. It's never about the hooks or the melodies, or even the lyrics ' it's about the soul. It's about that feeling you get when you listen again and again and just swear you can taste the copper. It hearkens back to that timeless quality, to the special kind of rock 'n' roll that's neither tied to a decade nor defined by one. Judging strictly from II, Nude Beach are within arm's reach of that unique spirit, and prove to have enough chutzpah to carve out a timeless record. They only need to start on a cleaner piece of paper, not one with penciled-in ideas of yesteryear. It should be easy for them; after all, they've only just picked up the pencil.

Essential Tracks: 'Radio', 'Don't Have to Try', and 'Cathedral Echoes'

Album Review: JJ DOOM ' Key to the Kuffs

So DOOM has teamed up with an exciting producer (this time Jneiro Jarel), picked a theme to unite the team-up, and come out with an album under a moniker that combines the names and brands of the rapper and his collaborator. Not exactly a fresh formula, but one that has certainly worked in the past (Madvillainy, anyone?). On Key to the Kuffs, the duo known collectively as JJ DOOM work off of the fact that the man once known as Daniel Dumile was born in England, winding up with an album that references his semi-home lyrically, takes samples from Anglo-cultural material, and features famous Brits Damon Albarn and Portishead's Beth Gibbons. In end, that theme is a bit too direct for the dude who's best when he's that blurry, dadaist supervillain.

At times, it seems as if DOOM is attempting to drop just enough about England into a track to justify the theme. 'Banished' makes a sidelong attempt to mention the metal-faced rappers' exodus ('No, not deported, be a little minute before things get sorted') over a hyperactive, headrush beat. Jarel's on the money here, car alarms and dubby bass prompting DOOM to ask if 'anybody notice[s] time speeding up'. Albarn's appearance on 'Bite the Thong' attempts to sandwich that familiar voice into a barely-there chorus, distorted and faded far into the mix.

If there's any British cultural tic that seems a perfect fit for DOOM's style, it's rhyming slang. The practice can be difficult to wrap the head around, but it essentially involves making a patterned jump from one word to a seemingly unrelated other word, all based around rhymes. That has been a good portion of DOOM's game all along, connecting sound-alikes in a twisted web of verbal confetti. 'Rhyming Slang' the track, though, lays back, pushing the swagger to 11, where a rapid, hulking mass of words would've worked better.

While it may not hit the heights of Madvillainy (to be fair, what could?), there are some strong verses and some equally strong production. Few other rappers could make a track about washing your hands after going to the bathroom interesting ('Wash Your Hands'). Even on a middling set, DOOM proves his retained relevance.

Essential Tracks: 'Banished', 'Wash Your Hands'

New Music: Gotye ' 'Eyes Wide Open' (Cornelius remix) (CoS Premiere)

Gotye's Making Mirrors was one of last year's best albums, and now one of the album's best tracks, 'Eyes Wide Open', is getting its own remix EP. We've already heard reworkings by Yeasayer and Tanlines, and now he's revealed Japanese producer Cornelius' version of the track.

Cornelius is known for experimenting with layering dissonant sounds, and his remix of Gotye's work follows that design. Plucky electronic keys and bass keep a toe-tapping rhythm while skittering percussion scurries underneath. Little by little, other elements get added to the mix, building towards an aural tornado as Gotye's vocals ride high and clear above it all. Check it out below.

The 'Eyes Wide Open' remix EP is due August 21st.

Album Review: Steve Vai ' The Story of Light

Beneath the impossibly fast salvos of notes and dramatic whammy bar heroics, guitarist and composer Steve Vai retains an immense understanding of music. The man wrote his first orchestral arrangements while still in his teens. However, Vai's grasp on the inner workings of music have never really translated into records for average music fans t0 enjoy: He makes music for musicians, and he's quite proud of that fact, even going so far as to find a record label dedicated solely to providing a place for those artists with similarly aesthetic styles to call home.

Vai's latest release, The Story of Light, is the second part of a planned trilogy that began with 2005's Real Illusions: Reflections. Though the trio of albums are intended to eventually be arranged as something of a singular concept piece, there is no chronological organization or specific plot to speak of between the first two albums ' at least not one that can be sorted by listening alone ' though Vai has explained it as being 'the cosmic journey of a man driven mad by grief, intertwining tragedy, revelation, enlightenment, and redemption.'

The Story of Light has little in the way of vocals, though when voices other than Vai's guitar do appear, they are certainly substantial. The lead single for the album ' a cover of Blind Willie Johnson's 'John the Revelator' ' features The Voice finalist Beverly McClellan belting her way through the gospel number, which has been given the proper Vai treatment. The final result is an exciting mix of chunky and warped guitar rhythms holding down the fort as Vai's unbelievably deft lead guitar twists in and out of McClellan's call and response with a full choir. The song links up immediately with 'Book of the Seven Seals', a track that contrasts the bombast of 'Revelator' with a hokey-sounding choir and an awkward vibe that would be at home as the soundtrack to the bonus round of your average B-list Sega Genesis game. Though the two were obviously intended to juxtapose one another, 'Book of the Seven Seals' has a cheesiness that earns it the distinction of being the weakest track on the album.

'Creamsicle Sunset' shows Vai's guitar playing in rather uncharted territory for the axe-man, floating through lush, clean tones that recall the great lullaby-esque ballads of the Hawaiian-influenced guitarists of the 1950s, and rounded out by Vai using a playing technique that produces a pinched sound, similar to traditional Eastern stringed instruments. This is just one of countless reminders why Vai is one of the most revered guitarists on the planet: His progressing ability to coax different sounds from his guitars. Later in the album, Vai similarly exhibits his uncanny musicality on the track 'Mullach A'tSi', which is possibly the most dynamic number of the entire album, and features Vai paying homage to the vocal-style guitar work that Jeff Beck pioneered, over a subtle-but-crucial harp part. Yes, harp.

Fans of Vai's high-energy rock playing will not be left wanting with this album. The track 'Velorum' has a prog-meets-Hendrix vibe and is significant for its monstrous display of guitar chops. However, 'Gravity Storm' is the shred coup-de-grace, a hectic romp through all of the man's signature tricks and licks over a heavy groove. The track's title is also the name of his new signature guitar pickups, which hints at Vai's own fondness for the song.

The Story of Light is business as usual for Vai, a man who fights to avoid repeating himself and always tries to find new territory on an instrument that he has described as being 'infinite' in its creative potential.

Essential Tracks: 'John the Revelator', 'Creamsicle Sunset'