Dave Alvin, Blackjack David. The King of California is back, and he's telling stories. Blackjack David is an American novel in 11 sparse, mostly acoustic chapters. It's full of characters exposed in their daily grind: a Vietnam vet on a bar stool, immigrants struggling over the border, a dancing girl on a Greyhound (she stars in the album's catchiest tune, "Abilene"). Bluesman and rocker to the bone, Alvin doesn't suffer the lyrical excesses of modern songwriters, and he knows how to lay down an inescapable groove. Producer Greg Leisz allows every song its own mood, calling on fiddle, accordion, organ, piano, drums, and his own contributions on most of the six- and eight-stringed instruments known to mankind. This is Americana at its best. (Hightone, 220 4th St., Oakland, CA 94607)
--Rani Arbo
Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane over the Sea. The brainchild of frontman and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Mangum, Neutral Milk Hotel calls to mind a traveling folk minstrel who has taken a detour from his main path and stumbled across many other smaller trails. Mangum's penchant for stream-of-consciousness lyrical prose, the band's harmonious brass accompaniment and solos, and a psychedelic undercurrent give the band its appeal. It's hard to ignore a record that incorporates a surreal marching band segue and opens with the line "When you were young you were the king of carrot flowers and how you built a tower tumbling through the trees in holy rattlesnakes that fell all round your feet." (Merge, PO Box 1235, Chapel Hill, NC 27514)
--Bryan Reesman
Victor Mecyssne, Hush Money. Victor Mecyssne's second release feels like a weekend in New Orleans. The Nashville guitarist's crack six-piece band conjures up the good-time blues of Professor Longhair and the sophisticated jazz of Louis Armstrong, while his self-assured, tongue-in-cheek lyrics bring to mind a meeting between Randy Newman and Tom Waits-"The whores are quoting Shakespeare, what kind of street is this?" he sings on the slow, brassy "Lower Broadway." "Drinkin' on a Dollar" is a dancing-all-night swing tune, while "Relax" is a tender, last-drink-before-bedtime ballad. When Mecyssne croons "Your breath on my chest like a sweet tenor sax," sunrise seems a lifetime away. (Sweetfish, 920 Edie Rd., Argyle, NY 12809)
--David Gold
The Gerry Beaudoin Trio, Just Among Friends. Everyone enjoys playing with friends, but when your friends include mandolin titan David Grisman, archtop legend Bucky Pizzarelli, and jazz clarinetist Billy Novick, a friendly get-together becomes a memorable musical event. Beaudoin and Pizzarelli trade sensuous, smoky lines on "My Romance" and "Mood Indigo," while Grisman pops pristine solos on Sonny Rollins' classic "St. Thomas" and the timeless Jobim melody "Girl from Ipanema." There's even an all-acoustic string version of Miles Davis' "All Blues." (Honest/Linn, PO Box 23468, Nashville, TN 37302)
--David McCarty
Alan Munde and Joe Carr, Welcome to West Texas. These picking professors from Bluegrass U. (South Plains College, Levelland, Texas) cook up a cool sound with guitars, banjo, mandolin, and vocals that combines bluegrass, western swing, straight-ahead country, and border corridas. Carr's originals include a Bill Monroe-influenced mandolin instrumental, a murder ballad based on the O.J. Simpson trial, and what gets my vote as the most uplifting song of the year: "Dust, Drought, and Depression," a Woody Guthrie-style lament. Munde's banjo tunes evoke Bob Wills and traditional fiddle tunes and include one title that says it all-"Border Baby Boogie Polka." (Flying Fish/Rounder)
--John Herndon
Hull and Larson, Double Cappuccino. Archtop guitars feature prominently in this first collaboration between Dakota Dave Hull (guitar) and Kari Larson (mandolin, guitar, tenor guitar). Their material includes Tin Pan Alley standards ("Blue Moon"), bluegrass-festival chestnuts ("Over the Waterfall"), world music ("Rhythmes Gitanes," "Lord Inchiquin"), and three sprightly originals ("Double Cappuccino," "Pretty Little Tune," and "Ghost Story"). The smart arrangements and classy playing evoke classic duets by Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson or Carl Kress and Dick McDonough, and the live and clean recording lets you hear the instruments in loving detail. (Arabica, 2515 36th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406)
--Russell Letson
Mance Lipscomb, Captain, Captain! Texas Songster, Vol. 3. Of all the great country bluesmen born around the turn of the century, none was more accessible and exciting than Mance Lipscomb. He was a true songster with a varied repertoire and style that bridged the gap between the down-home sounds of Delta bluesmen like Son House and Charley Patton and the lighter mellow sounds of pickers like Mississippi John Hurt. Of all the great records Lipscomb did for Arhoolie in the 1960s and early '70s none was better than this rerelease, which also features 16 bonus tracks. Classic tunes like the great "Night Time Is the Right Time" resonate with Libscomb's great relaxed swing, while ragtimey cuts like "Ain't You Sorry" and "Rag in A" will send fingerpickers to the woodshed. This is a must-have record for fans of country blues. (Arhoolie, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530)
--Dale Miller
Shin-ichi Fukuda, Tender Toys. For this outing, Japanese virtuoso Fukuda departs from his explorations of 19th-century music to present 25 brief contemporary works by Takashi Yoshimatsu. Fukuda's modern and 19th-century classical guitars are heard in solos and in duets with harmonica, a second guitar, and wind chimes. Pieces with titles like "Antique Tree Song," "Street Dancer," and "Arioso in Blue" showcase Yoshimatsu's fin du sicle lyricism, capitalizing on the best elements of contemporary music while avoiding the intellectual and dispassionate sounds of much modern music. A warm and immediately appealing program performed with finesse. (Denon)
--Mark L. Small
Mary McLaughlin with William Coulter, Celtic Requiem. In this remarkably lush concept piece, Irish singer McLaughlin and American guitarist Coulter weave together ancient and modern liturgical and romantic songs sung in Irish, English, and Latin. This is the most satisfying of Windham Hill's recent flurry of Celtic releases. Coulter's guitar work is masterful as he crafts moody textures using cello, uilleann pipes, harp, fiddle, and percussion, and while other singers try to imitate Enya, McLaughlin sweeps you away into her own melancholy dreamscape while communicating with a singular directness. Her voice is perfect for this music--honest and confident, yet romantically fragile. (Windham Hill)
--Danny Carnahan
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