Two Gallants – Two Gallants
Saddle Creek Records

The sticker on Two Gallants’ third full-length describes the record as the “best translation of the duo’s folk-punk-blues alchemy.” If this were true, the combination of Adam Fontaine’s songwriting skills and their striking mix of American styles could have made for hands down the best record of ’07. Sadly, the band forgot the “punk” bit.

As is, 2GS rolls along with a Dylan-esque take on folk-blues. While their previous full-lengths fucked with the formula enough to raise eyebrows, much of this record could be slipped into a set of ‘60s style folk-rock without making many waves.

Which is a shame, really. Without stompers like “Los Crusces Jail” or “Fail Hard to Regain” (from 2005’s What the Toll Tells), the band lacks both the dynamism and sense of fun that made them such a cross-genre force to be reckoned with.

Plus, this is a break-up record. Gone are the murder ballads and character pieces that characterized their past full-lengths, and the political overtones are confined to a few moments of indignation.

Orriel Smith - The World’s Favorite Cluckoratura Arias

Orriel Smith hasn’t put out a hit record since her 1964 folk masterpiece, A Voice in the Wind.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and in a rash attempt at reviving her career, Smith now offers The World’s Favorite Cluckoratura Arias, an album of classic vocal passages reinterpreted as a chicken would have performed them.

Not since the days of Rusted Root has a singer so convincingly mimicked the vocal inflection of a chicken. Like some freakish cross between Big Bird and Mariah Carey, Smith succeeds in clucking her way through operatic pieces by such notables as Verdi, Donizetti, and Mozart.

Thurston Moore
Trees Outside the Academy
Ecstatic Peace, 2007

Although I disagree with him only using his first name (who does he think he is Cher?), Sonic Youth's main man has released a surprisingly quiet, pretty album. Asked in a recent Spin interview about the stripped down nature of the songs featured on Trees Outside the Academy, Moore replied, “They're more personally naked because I know that [the solo albums] are not a shared game.�

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Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
Yep Roc Records

With an opening track urging listeners to “turn up the stereo and turn off the bullshit on the FM radio,� Apples in Stereo’s latest full length record, New Magnetic Wonder, demands our attention and delivers.

While the abundance of 30-second filler clips make it impossible to suggest every track is a winner, this is still a great album that offers a variety of mood-boosting sing-alongs with yells, whispers and robotic voices.