Manu ChaoLa Radiolina | Nacional/Because  September 24,
2007 4:02:21 PM
|
What’s made earlier albums by the Paris-born, Barcelona-based, multilingual Chao — 1998’s Clandestino, 2001’s Próxima Estación: Esperanza, 2002’s live Radio Bemba Sound System — so thrilling was their unpredictability. Chao’s bold, kitchen-sink approach — some punk, some Latin, reggae, and ska, bits of folk, vocals in several languages, random sounds, lefty politics, street noise, and found voices — was unlike anything else. But if those early albums were a radio set on scan, touching down for a couple of minutes here and there, La Radiolina is more like satellite narrowcasting. Chao has always turned repetition into a virtue — he’s obsessed with loops, and his lyrical and melodic themes are often recycled, as are his rhythms. But on this 21-song disc, he appears to be at a loss for new ideas: songs are interchangeable, incorporating guitar lines, static tempos, and chords that rarely vary. Sirens blare, perhaps to punctuate the sense of urgency and despair in the lyrics. But too often the sophomoric setting blunts their impact — the two back-to-back English-language songs, “Politik Kills” and “Rainin in Paradize,” cover roughly the same ground. Chao has been an innovator since he jump-started the Latin alternative movement with the Spanish punk band Mano Negra 20 years ago. La Radiolina is the most rockist album of his solo career — and also the most disappointing.
|
 |
|
- Comic timing
- Five things you'd better keep straight.
- The little Dutch boys who could
- Never mind its tough-girl alt-porn feminism: SuicideGirls has already moved on to a new generation
- Steve Albini speaks
- Red Sox songs that don't suck
- Kick him when he's down
- Lessons from the build-them-up, tear-them-down Boston firefighter backlash
- Steve Albini speaks
- Covering all the bases with first-class Albanian and more
- The real significance of hired guns in Iraq. Plus, combating Ann Coulter.
- PBRC’s Two Can Play finds a moving balance
|
-
Chrome Dreams II | Reprise
-
Washington Square Serenade | NewWest
-
MVD
-
Bruce Springsteen returns to the E Street Band
-
Shout Factory!
-
The Bluegrass Sessions | McCoury Music | Working Man’s Journey | Cracker Barrel
-
Rhino resurrects the Doors’ Live in Boston 1970
-
Live in London: The BBC Recordings 1972-1973 | Water
-
Supermoon | Heads up
|
- Jeff Beam’s solo debut passes Rock 101
- Vanguard
- Sloe Gin | J+R Adventures
- Chrome Dreams II | Reprise
- La Cucaracha | Rounder
- Proof of Youth | Sub Pop
- Afriki | Cumbancha
- Revival | Fantasy
- Join the Club | self-released
- Washington Square Serenade | NewWest
|
|
|
|