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The Nels Cline Singers, Initiate

2010 | Label: Cryptogramophone / The Orchard

By Britt Robson eMusic Contributor

04.13.10 Initiate is meant to be an epic outing for both fans of general guitar heroism as well as those who cue in specifically to the dizzying moods and textures of avant-jazz-cum-Wilco-member Nels Cline. For the uninitiated, the "Singers" are actually a molten power trio that flips, Led Zeppelin-like, into stark, ruminative ballads. Their execution can be as uneven as the tempos, but the fireworks more than compensate for the occasional boredom and bombast.

The first of Initiate's two discs is dedicated to showing off the band's studio prowess. "Floored"… more »

Garaj Mahal, More Mr. Nice Guy

2010 | Label: Owl Studios / The Orchard

By Britt Robson eMusic Contributor

03.16.10 Prog-fusion jazz is a tricky enterprise — like lighting a fire in a small cabin on a frigid winter day. Stoke it too much, and you're peeling clothes; on the other hand, too little combustion is a fruitless misuse of resources.

On More Mr. Nice Guy, Garaj Mahal finds just the right temperature, balancing technique and texture, showmanship and songcraft, simmering grooves and stone-cold spontaneity. On "The Long Form," the quartet settles into the kind of vintage fusion that would please Mahavishnu and Return to Forever fans (only subbing out… more »

Joni Mitchell, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

2007 | Label: Rhino/Elektra

By Kristina Feliciano eMusic Contributor

01.11.10 This strange and dreamy masterpiece earned Mitchell a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1976. Her earlier albums Blue and Ladies of the Canyon are, for modern ears, perhaps a little too smooth, too pretty. But Hissing weaves in jazz's cool experimentalism ("Harry's House-Centerpiece," the title track), a sort of hybrid of gospel and synth-spaciness ("Shadows and Light"), and a fuzzy, buzzy track ("The Jungle Line"). That's not to say that Hissing presents a wholly new Mitchell; leadoff track "In France, They Kiss on Main Street" and… more »

Joni Mitchell, Miles Of Aisles

2007 | Label: Rhino/Elektra

By Kristina Feliciano eMusic Contributor

01.11.10 A brilliant live album that shows what a free spirit and pure talent Mitchell was (and remains), Miles of Aisles was recorded at a series of 1974 Los Angeles concerts with jazz-pop band L.A. Express. It's always exciting to hear an audience cry out with recognition at the first notes of a song, as they do here, and to imagine what an artist must feel at just that moment. For her part, Mitchell is entirely self-assured, letting her voice ascend and swoop as it wants ("Both Sides Now" is especially… more »