After generating a buzz with her 2007 debut, “Marry Me” — which I personally thought was a little too cutesy/forced – Brooklyn-via-Dallas indie-rock starlet St. Vincent (Annie Clark) makes good on all the attention with her sophomore effort “Actor,” out today. The disc simply does a better job making sense of her quriky, innovative sound, part Kate Bush, Bowie, TV on the Radio and Polyphonic Spree (she toured with the Spree as a guitarist). And the concept is sort of cool: The songs were largely inspired by her favorite movie scenes and indeed sound cinematic and grand, often careening from soft and elegant orchestral-pop to explosive and frantic noise-rock at the drop of an effects pedal. Click here to hear some sample tracks.

Another new album I really like right now: “Potato Hole” by organ guru and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the MGs, Stax Records, one of the guys who invented rock ‘n’ roll, etc.). His backing band for the record was the Drive-by Truckers, and as if that wasn’t cool enough Neil Young also plays guitar on nine of the 10 tracks. The disc is all Jones’, though, as his organ creates the grind in the cover of Tom Waits’ “Get Behind the Mule” and alternates between soulful, elegant, nasty, funky and downright scary in his original songs. Don’t buy it expecting a DBT jam, although the final track is a lush version of “Space City” that made me weepy. Click here for samples.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.