Concert Previews
Spoon Spoon's new album, titled Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, according to their MySpace page, isn't due out until July, but the band is road-testing the songs now on a brief tour that brings them to the Starlight Ballroom. More than most bands, Spoon has constantly evolved while maintaining a consistent excellence. The Austin, Texas, group's first album, 1996's Telephono, earned Pixies comparisons. But Spoon moved on to terse, Wire-y guitar rock with 1998's A Series of Sneaks, then to even catchier Motown-influenced songs with 2001's Girls Can Tell. Britt Daniel and Jim Eno, the two constant members, pared the rhythms further on the wonderfully spare 2002's Kill the Moonlight before exploring darker, and occasionally more soulful territory on 2005's Gimme Fiction. What's next? Find out Sunday.
Spoon
Spoon's new album, titled
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
, according to their MySpace page, isn't due out until July, but the band is road-testing the songs now on a brief tour that brings them to the Starlight Ballroom. More than most bands, Spoon has constantly evolved while maintaining a consistent excellence. The Austin, Texas, group's first album, 1996's
Telephono,
earned Pixies comparisons. But Spoon moved on to terse, Wire-y guitar rock with 1998's
A Series of Sneaks
, then to even catchier Motown-influenced songs with 2001's
Girls Can Tell
. Britt Daniel and Jim Eno, the two constant members, pared the rhythms further on the wonderfully spare 2002's
Kill the Moonlight
before exploring darker, and occasionally more soulful territory on 2005's
Gimme Fiction.
What's next? Find out Sunday.
- Steve Klinge
Brandi Carlile
The buzz on roots music powerhouse Brandi Carlile that began with her self-titled 2005 debut album has kicked into overdrive via the road-tested songs that became the nucleus of her just-released, much-praised follow-up, The Story. With veteran producer T Bone Burnett using vintage equipment to strip down Carlile's potent vocals, and backing support from her ever-faithful "twins" - guitar-and-bass-playing brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth - the fresh-faced singer sounds more confident and relaxed than ever.
From the unadorned, earthy "Cannonball" to the epic sweep of "Until I Die," The Story shows off Carlile's genre-jumping versatility and lyrical storytelling. Onstage, Carlile shines even brighter, with the Hanseroth brothers and cellist Josh Newmann enhancing her malleable whisper-to-a-growl voice. Fans can expect a mix of original numbers and memorable covers, such as her hushed, jarring take on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."
- Nicole Pensiero
Devon Sproule
On
Keep Your Silver Shining,
Devon Sproule sounds like a more carefree, less deathly serious Gillian Welch or a caffeinated Jolie Holland. Recorded in Charlottesville, Va., where she lives with Paul Curreri, her blues-songwriter husband, Silver digs into Appalachian folk and country sounds, but with a swinging old-time jazz sensibility (that's a clarinet tooting in the background) and a neighborly mixture of innocence and experience. It's the 24-year-old Canadian native's fourth album, and songs like the deceptively ambitious "Dress Sharp, Play Well, Be Modest," mark it as one of the most fetching roots records to come down the pike in quite some time.
- Dan DeLuca