100 Words or Less
A lightning round of recent releases, including albums from Charli XCX, Jack White, Death Cab for Cutie, Ashley Monroe, and more.
Willie Nelson - Dream Chaser
At 93, Willie Nelson shows little sign of slowing down: Dream Chaser is his third release of the last year and roughly his 156th overall. As Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes, it seems likely that Nelson has banked a bunch of records with producer Buddy Cannon, ensuring his steady output continues even when time inevitably catches up. This is a particularly fine entry— devoted mostly to originals, warm and sentimental yet still funny and smart, with both Willie and Trigger sounding strong. Highlight: “I Can’t Read Your Mind,” a cowrite with Bob Dylan, two pros exhibiting casual mastery. My rating: 8 out of 10.
Charli XCX - Music, Fashion, Film
Too monochromatic to be a fully successful pop record, too mannered to satisfy as rock, the second Charli album of the year is most interesting for its masterful layering of subtext and meta narrative — a reminder that her true medium has been celebrity all along. My rating: 6.5 out of 10.
Tierra Whack - Whack’s Museum
“They said I should rap more,” announces one of Philly’s finest, kicking off 27 minutes of pure bars. Long heralded as a conceptualist — her landmark Whack World was a perfect suite of miniatures, World Wide Whack a mental health assessment both sobering and surreal — Whack is finally asserting her gifts as pure rap technician, and the result is a nonstop parade of one-liners, exaggerated flexes, and hilarious dismissals. Unless her neighbor Black Though drops something soon, this is sure to be the old-school rap virtuoso album of the year. My rating: 7 out of 10.
Jack White - Frozen Charlotte
Newsflash: Jack White is a pretty good guitar player. If Keith Richards reigns as “the Human Riff,” White surely qualifies as his understudy. His latest album is a merciless onslaught of blues-stomp intensity and classic rock guitar heroics, with White wailing away over a machine-precise band. Lyrically, this is Jack White doing Jack White things – panicking about modernity’s creep, rewriting Bible stories, subverting blues tropes, and singing about boy-girl politics in the language of domination and control. Less varied and dynamic than the terrific No Label, this one can be wearying; White’s tirelessness is both his blessing and his curse. My rating: 6.5 out of 10.
King Tuff - MOO
The artist born Kyle Thomas is a true pop savant, imbuing his bedroom recordings with the same one-man-band ingenuity heard on classic albums by Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Todd Rundgren. Come to think of it, the wonderful, whimsical MOO is the kind of thing I’d love Jack White to make: loaded with memorable riffs but also catchy tunes, strange textures, sly humor, and a winsome personality. This is pop classicism with a real point of view, and an infectious joy over the very act of creation. Millennial nostalgia-bait: one song hymns the pleasures of “Landline” phones. My rating: 7.5 out of 10.
Death Cab for Cutie - I Built You a Tower
Speaking of millennial nostalgia, there’s a new Death Cab for Cutie album in the world, arriving a year after the 20th anniversary tour for Plans. They’ve done plenty of growing up. No strangers to earnest songs about heartache and grief, the Death Cab of I Built You a Tower chase serenity, wise perspective, and self-acceptance. Thankfully, none of this means complacency. On the contrary, this is the most visceral and engaged they’ve sounded in years, their melodies strong, their rhythms intricate and punchy. Highlight: “Punching the Flowers,” where Ben Gibbard’s lyrics roil and rage, and the drums thunder their support. My rating: 7.5 out of 10.
Cécile McLorin Salvant- With Every Breath I Take
An artist of impressive restlessness, Salvant has done so many far-out and high-concept projects, it’s almost refreshing to hear her do something so back-to-basics — in this case, an orchestral album conducted by Darcy James Argue, loaded with Broadway standards and prime Ellingtonia. The arrangements are as moody as any of Sinatra’s classic ballad sets, but with deeper darkness and a sharper edge. That Salvant sings the hell out of these stalwarts, her crisp phrasing wringing out all the heartache and humor, goes without saying. Perfect soundtrack for a stormy evening in. My rating: 8 out of 10.
Ashley Monroe - Dear Nashville
Leadoff song “I Hate Nashville,” majestically rendered by Paul Franklin’s steel guitar and Monroe’s Appalachian lilt, drips with acrimony and strained affection for the city that’s never appreciated her prodigious talent. It’s one of the best songs of the year. The other seven can’t help but feel like afterthoughts — though it’s always a pleasure to hear Monroe sing. My rating: 6.5 out of 10.