‘Balas y Chocolate’ equal parts emotion, style


Lila Downs
“Balas y Chocolate”
(Sony Music)

Fluency in Spanish isn‘t necessary to understand Lila Downs’ shape-shifting voice: It transcends language, carrying pure emotion.

On her latest album, “Balas y Chocolate” (Bullets and Chocolate), the Grammy-winning Downs expresses outrage and pain over events in Mexico, her birthplace. And she capably blends traditional Latin rhythms with modern elements in an array of popular standards and her own compositions, with the themes of treason, loss, death and love woven throughout the 13 songs.

Downs‘ romantic bolero “Cuando Me Tocas (When You Touch Me)” is rendered achingly beautiful and accented by wavering breaths. “Mano Negra (Black Hand)” demonstrates her range of style in a terrific mash-up of pre-Colombian instruments and mariachi horns with rhythm and harmonics borrowed from Jewish klezmer. The gorgeous production allows Downs’ voice to soar solo to the edges of falsetto and contralto or dive into a blend of audio samples.

Downs moves from operatic stylings to rap and everything in between, with both artistic exploration and pop sensibility, such as on the first-release single “La Patria Madrina (Motherland)” in which she pairs up with Colombian rocker Juanes.

She sings: “You are the country of all of my dreams/He who doesn‘t respect, I’ll split his heart in two.”

More politically charged than her previous collections, the album‘s lyrics are as much a lament as a call to action. (AP)





Modest Mouse ramp up the weird on new album


Modest Mouse
“Strangers to Ourselves”
(Epic Records)

It‘s been eight years since Modest Mouse’s album “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank” smashed onto the U.S. charts at No. 1. Will lightning strike twice for frontman Isaac Brock with the long-gestating “Strangers to Ourselves”?

Stranger things have happened.

After aborted sessions over the course of three years -- in Atlanta with Outkast‘s Big Boi and Portland, Oregon, with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic -- and countless hours of studio tweaking, the resulting album is a hodgepodge of styles and ideas that improves with every listen.

Although the 15-track release lacks a cohesive structure -- with experimental space rock such as “Pistol (A. Cunanan, Miami, FL. 1996)” rubbing up against calypso-influenced travelogues like “Ansel” -- the joy of “Strangers to Ourselves” is in anticipating what challenging curveball will be pitched next.

Every time Brock and Co. flick on the Modest Mouse-autopilot (leadoff single “Lampshades on Fire” and acoustic lament “Coyotes”), they veer thrillingly off-course, throwing out a funk-flecked, brass-coated track like “The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box” or a menacing slow crawl like “S(asterisk)(asterisk)t in Your Cut.”

Brock has said fans won’t have to wait long for a sequel to “Strangers.” We can only hope he‘s as good as his word, as Modest Mouse is the very rarest of breeds -- a chart-topping rock act with brains. (AP)




Eubanks, Jordan display special chemistry on new release


Kevin Eubanks & Stanley Jordan
“Duets”
(Mack Avenue)

Kevin Eubanks has his jazz groove back since stepping down as “Tonight Show” band leader in 2010. On “Duets,” he teams up with fellow guitar virtuoso Stanley Jordan for an intimate, relaxed session that‘s more spontaneous than over-produced, mixing jazz standards, contemporary pop tunes and original compositions.

There’s a much richer palette of instrumental colors than one might expect. On Thad Jones‘ ballad, “A Child Is Born,” Eubanks’ gospel-flavored piano playing blends well with Jordan‘s trademark “touch technique” on electric guitar in which he taps the strings with both hands. On Miles Davis’ “Blue In Green,” Jordan turns to the piano while Eubank plays electric guitar. Meanwhile, George Gershwin‘s “Summertime” is a solo spotlight for Eubanks, who overdubs acoustic guitar and bass lines to engage in contrapuntal playing with himself.

Their electric guitars take on almost voice-like qualities in a moving interpretation of Adele’s hit “Someone Like You.” On Ellie Gouldings‘ electronic dance pop hit, “Lights,” the guitarists bring out the nuances of the hauntingly beautiful melody as they delicately intertwine their guitar lines.

Opening and closing the album are two original tunes – “Morning Sun” and “Goin’ On Home” -- that are pure guitar duets full of spontaneous interaction. Though this is the first recording together for these two musicians who‘ve been friends since the early 1980s, Eubanks and Jordan display a special chemistry, complementing rather than competing against each other. (AP)