Today's featured shit

I guess this is what they call “world music.” It’s very good for what it is. I am just too uncultured to be able to appreciate it fully.
“The Way You Are (featuring Bilal)” is a solid R&B effort with a twist. I think my mom would enjoy this record because she took a bunch of Afro dance classes at a junior college in the 1970s. They were free. All junior college was free. And then Proposition 13 passed. And now the state is bankrupt. I am sure that is just a coincidence.
A lot of these songs are featuring somebody. A bunch of somebodies that I don’t know, for the most part. But “Drifting (featuring G. Love)” features G. Love! It’s not just a clever name. No Special Sauce here, but it’s still nice to see some accompaniment by such a big name.
There is another big name contributor on this album. “African Diamond (with Tony Allen and Meshell Ndegeocello)” has a nice beat. Maybe it’s because it’s with those guests and not featuring them. There is a difference, you know.
“Chill Out” ends the album and has some fun little keyboards. This album is fairly well constructed, and I would play it at a cocktail party when all the guests have nicer cars than I do (which isn’t hard to do by the way).

This is a disappointing album because so many tracks are misses when they should all be hits. It’s as if half of them have vocals mixed by one producer, with the rest mixed by another.

“Just Like Honey” is an example of a great song. It’s a step above farmers market folk song singer/songwriter crap. The singer has real range, and she sounds relaxed and confident. I suppose you could say her voice sounds, well, just like honey.

“See My Love” is just a little too crazy for me. It sounds like Halou in a squeezebox. I can see why it’s buried at the end of the album. “To You” is a little whiny and self-piteous.

There are plenty of good tracks though. “Blues Run the Game” has that same relaxed sound. “The North Wind Blew South” is exceptionally lush (and Lush) in its sound. It also has the best musical accompaniment on the album.

More male-female harmonies but with more of an edge. Maybe not. This isn’t edgy music, but there is more attitude than what you’d expect from a name like “Casper & the Cookies.” “You Love Me” sounds like it should be in an Old Navy commercial, except if it did all the clothes would jump off the racks and revolt against the store’s security guards.

Sometimes you don’t know when an act has made it until you hear other acts like it. And if you’ve ever heard a Ting Tings song, then you will begin to have an idea of what Casper & the Cookies bring to the table. “Sharp!” definitely could be covered by them. Or maybe they are covering them. You just don’t know.

Sometimes a keyboard takes over the song in that “not a dance song but can be danced to” way. “Song Across the Sea” does this. I think the Steve Winwood-inspired vocals tell us that this song is going to be played in a Macy’s by 2012.

And sometimes a song takes over an entire album so much that you could care less about the other tracks. And that’s what happens with “Little Lady Larva.” This song must be fantastic live. They should open for Liz Phair. Her fans would love this.

But you can’t care less about the other tracks because they’re good too. “Moldy Flower” is a fun little number, but it gets lost amid the competition. Try to seek this one out. It sounds like a white guy pretending to be Prince, but that makes it good, promise. “Meredith” is Fastbacks meets Rush. These songs are all a little different, and they’re all good.

“Sunshine Girl” has nice keys and strong female vocals. It’s also very solid.

Lots of jingle-jangle semi-alt country here, the kind that makes me think of Club Cal-Neva in Reno. “You Thought It’d Make You Feel Better” stands out. It has a little more passion than the other tracks. “A Great Pain” sounds more modern but also less inspired. It’s still a decent song.

“Blue Day Moon” only works with a microbrew. You could never listen to this on your front porch with a Bud Light in your hand. “Anywhere But Here” seems like a bit of a departure for the band, but it would be good for fans of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “The Killing Jar.”

If you want to hear the man sing a good song, pick “We Are the Man Who Cannot Fly.” Otherwise I’m sticking with the female-led tracks. At any rate, there are some fun tracks here, but nothing that goes too far off the beaten path.