Brian Wilson is back with evocative album


Brian Wilson
“No Pier Pressure”
(Capitol)

Brian Wilson‘s “No Pier Pressure” offers ample reason to celebrate the extended solo career that has followed his Beach Boys’ journey.
His 11th solo studio offering opens with “This Beautiful Day,” a short track that captures all of Wilson‘s yearning and desire in the simplest, most direct way, offset by lovely harmonies and some fine trumpet work.
Of course, the entire CD does not reach that level, and some of the new compositions sound tepid in places. Wilson, at times, seems to be striving for a breezy, carefree sound that, after five decades, no longer sounds fresh. But even the weaker songs bear his unmistakable stamp: complex vocal mixes that can never, ever be taken for granted, and a distinctive flair for arranging.
The addition of trumpeter Mark Isham brings new textures and pleasure to a number of songs, particularly the instrumental “Half Moon Bay,” with its languid pace and lovely mix.
The days of hit singles are long past, but “The Right Time” with former bandmate (and cousin) Al Jardine and David Marks shows Wilson can still come up with seductive three-minute tracks that would sound fabulous on a car radio. The same applies to the evocative “Sail Away” with Jardine and another former Beach Boy, Blondie Chaplin. Most challenging is the gorgeous finale, “The Last Song,” which can be seen as both a love song to his family and as a tribute to, and desire for, the fabled band of his youth. (AP)



Calexico flies high on ‘Edge of the Sun’


Calexico
“Edge of the Sun”
(Anti Records)

The ninth studio album from Tucson, Arizona-based Calexico is a sonic road trip through the American Southwest, the roots of rock ‘n’ roll, the music of Mexico and more.
There has always been a strong Latin strand to the band‘s country-tinged indie rock. “Edge of the Sun” is partly inspired by time spent in Mexico City, so cumbia and mariachi sounds mix with guitar and pedal steel. And that’s not all -- there are dollops of everything from folk to electronica, mixed together with verve and culture-crossing curiosity.
The opener “Falling from the Sky” is a soar-away single, buoyed by jaunty trumpets. From there the album crisscrosses borders and genres: “Bullets and Rocks” is a moodily entrancing meditation on migration, while “When the Angels Played” is a harmonica-soaked country charmer about loving and leaving.
Mexican sounds assert themselves on “Cumbia de Donde,” the instrumental “Coyoacan” and the brooding “Beneath the City of Dreams,” then it is back to the U.S. heartland with “Woodshed Waltz.”
Through it all, Burns’ weathered, wistful voice lends the songs a sense of restless yearning. At its best, the music on “Edge of the Sun” is retro, modern and timeless. For evidence, check out “Tapping on the Line,” which blends an antique-sounding drum machine with a plaintive vocal that channels Edward Snowden-era concerns about surveillance. (AP)

Pop-rockers Mana reignite on ‘Cama Incendiada’


Mana
“Cama Incendiada”
(Warner Music)

It is a given that pop-rock band Mana will sell out shows wherever it goes. But what has not been easy for the band is keeping the energized sound that propelled it to fame with their 1992 breakout album “Donde Jugaran los Ninos?”
But after several uneven albums that verged too far into sweetness, Mana has found its edge again with its ninth studio album “Cama Incendiada,” or “The Burning Bed.”
On the opener “Adicto a Tu Amor,” Fher Olvera‘s rough-hewn voice is colored with a raw sexiness that had been missing of late. On the title cut “La Cama Incendiada,” Olvera displays a range of character, from whispers to playfulness and power, mixing the Spanish lyrics with bits of English, “I saw you with otro guey, no and that’s not right.”
Grammy-winning producer George Noriega (Shakira, Ricky Martin, Draco Rosa) has with this new collaboration helped Mana revisit and freshen up sounds from early albums, blending them into modern rhythms and incorporating different sounds, including the pan flutes and ska-guitar licks on “La Prision,” which build up into something akin to the recharge of an old-school flash bulb.
While the album has its shortcomings, such as the over-sweetened ballad “Ironia” or the rocking “Electrizado,” which fails to energize, Mana fans who have been hungering for the strength of the band’s early works will rejoice. Grab those tickets for “Cama Incendiada” tour while you can. They‘ll go fast. (AP)