Angelique Kidjo, “Remain in Light”: West Africa-born Angélique Kidjo reimagines Talking Heads’ 1980 classic is both a rich tribute to David Byrne’s twitchy world-funk aesthetic and a reclaiming that which the Heads appropriated in the first place. Like the original, Kidjo’s “Remain in Light” bonds African music, grooves and hypnotic repetition to Western notions of sound and uses appropriate collaborators (now, Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen, Drake/Beyoncé producer Jeff Bhasker, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig) to get there. Often, Kidjo’s holy-rolling results wind up sounding similar to the Heads’ take, as the initial African influences were so divinely prominent. The cool halt of “Houses in Motion” and its rubbery rhythmic pulse is a great example of dedication to the original and a tribute to Heads’ Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz. But minus the Heads’ usual avant-punk-funk éclat and Kidjo’s own sense of jubilation, moments such as the elated “Once in a Lifetime” and “Crosseyed and Painless” are closer to African religious music. Then there is the matter of Kidjo’s lustrous voice versus Byrne’s chickenish cluck. On a simmering, slow song such as “Listening Wind,” where Byrne’s wiggly yelp showed off a cool and nervous hesitancy, Kidjo’s assertive baritone carries the track to new emotional heights.
— A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer
Nine Inch Nails, “Bad Witch”: An EP that Trent Reznor calls an album just to outfox Spotify, “Bad Witch” would nevertheless fit onto a single CD with Nine Inch Nails’ previous two offerings, “Not the Actual Events” and “Add Violence.” But unlike those records, you’d be able to blind-ID which one these songs hail from. The abrasively distorted opener “S- Mirror” is uncharacteristically followed by hyperactive neo-drum ‘n’ bass (“Ahead of Ourselves”) and free-jazz horns (“Play the Goddamn Part”) that come together memorably on the squelchy advance single “God Break Down the Door.” On that song and the closing “Over and Out,” Reznor croons like none other than his onetime collaborator David Bowie, whose latter-day albums pays deliberate homage to. If only the droning final two tracks, making up nearly half the 30-minute running time, were any good.
— Dan Weiss, Philadelphia Inquirer
Dawes, “Passwords”: This Los Angeles band is steeped in the sound of ’70s California — of the Eagles and Neil Young — but the lyrics and singer Taylor Goldsmith’s delivery are completely modern. It’s a juxtaposition that makes Dawes far more interesting than just another retro act.
The idea of opening with a song called “Living in the Future” that so clearly calls to mind Crazy Horse’s past is bold, but then dropping in references to Colin Kaepernick’s protests and the state of paranoia that comes with online life is brilliant. It becomes more than an homage to the era. It transforms that specific sound into something timeless.
— Glen Gamboa, Newsday
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
