CD reviews

The Besnard Lakes' new album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night.

The Besnard Lakes
The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
(Jagjaguwar)
*8.3*
Goes well with: Spiritualized, Secret Machines, Mazzy Star

Whatever happened to production values? Recording in the bedroom is easy on the wallet, but it seems like the choice to drown pop songs in a pool of hiss is too often borne of aesthetic preference rather than necessity. Sometimes it’s just more satisfying to bask in auditory glory than continue to slum it.

Montreal-based couple Jase Lacek and Olga Goreas are the impetus behind The Besnard Lakes, and there’s a reason why Are the Roaring Night sounds so incredible—Lacek owns and operates Breakglass Studios, where most of their music is recorded. It gives the band room to breathe and experiment, which many groups of their stature would never have the opportunity to do.

And they have the ideas to match the ambition. This album is absolutely huge, with “Albatross” shimmering like a My Bloody Valentine outtake from Loveless and “Light Up the Night” building slowly until it finally swaggers like a lost Roy Orbison / Jeff Lynne collaboration. But nothing here comes even close to the gorgeous boy-girl harmonies on “Chicago Train,” its simmering string arrangement eventually boiling over in a joyful crescendo of sparkling guitars. It’s a profound reminder that while melodies are enjoyable covered in fuzz, the best ones deserve all the gloss they can get.

—Todd Kroviak

Galactic
ya-ka-may
(Anti-)
*7.1*
Goes well with: Rebirth Brass Band, STS9, The Meters

It should come as no surprise that the post-jam funkers in New Orleans’ Galactic have built their loyal fan base touring behind Big Easy heroes like The Meters, Maceo Parker and Medeski Martin & Wood. But ya-ka-may—named after a regional soup supposedly able to feed more than it should by way of some Christ-like miracle—is easily their most ambitious and hometown-flavored release since their 1994 debut.

Coming on the heels of well-received live sets recorded at the ’08 and ’09 Jazz Fests, this new collection is something of an epiphany for audiophiles, as the studio, long the bane of so-called jam bands, is apparently familiar territory for Galactic these days.

Honed by millions of miles on the road, their horn-heavy, bottom-based sound perfectly integrates the multitude of N’awlins guests, including such stylistically varied artists as the Rebirth Brass Band (“Boe Money” and “You Don’t Know”) and “sissy rappers,” or female impersonators, Cheeky Blakk (“Do it Again,” with its oh-so-catchy refrain, “C’mon motherfuckers!”) and John Boutte (the indefatigable swamp-rocker, “Dark Water”).

By no means a sympathy fuck thrown the way of their embattled and well-loved hometown, the latest from these talented cats brings it all back to their roots without an ounce of pretense.

—Will K. Shilling

Galactic play Wednesday, March 3, at Belly Up Tavern

Scout Niblett
The Calcination of Scout Niblett
(Drag City)
*6.9*
Goes well with: Cat Power, PJ Harvey, Nina Nastasia

Never one to resist her idiosyncrasies, Scout Niblett has been skirting around typical song presentation for a little more than a decade. Childlike and whimsical at times, reflective and somber at others, her tunes waver from rock-girl fantasies to almost unbearably intimate confessionals, consisting of minimal guitar, vocals and erratic drumming (if she’s feeling particularly generous).

When I last checked in with Niblett, on 2005’s Kidnapped by Neptune, she was rarely—if ever—playing guitar and singing at the same time. Long periods of captivating vocals led to grungy outbursts that occasionally seemed aimless despite bearing the distinct production touches of consistent collaborator Steve Albini.

Say what you will about Niblett, but if focus was ever an issue, it certainly isn’t now. As an artistic statement, Calcination is absolutely uncompromising. The sparse arrangements are more purposeful and the heavier passages are more restrained, both of which highlight her strength as a lyricist.

As much as I respect and admire Niblett’s vision, this isn’t a record I can imagine many people going back to with any regularity. There are no hooks, and it seems too private and intense to comfortably share with others. But such is the high cost of establishing oneself as an iconoclast—the devoted few will offer their undivided attention at all times, but casual listeners will be left out. I’m sure she wouldn’t have it any other way.

—Todd Kroviak

Scout Niblett plays Saturday, Feb. 28, at Bar Pink.