Country Noir singer Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s new album is a must have. The Mighty Stef is an underground artist who’ll put a smile on your face and The Whitest Boy Alive is kind of pleasant.

I could tell you that the new U2 album ‘No Line On The Horizon’ actually harbours some pretty decent tracks like ‘Fez Being Born’, but you don’t come here to read about U2, do you?

So here’s three slightly more leftfield selections for your listening pleaseure. I doubt many people outside Dublin, Ireland, and Austin, Texas, have heard of The Mighty Stef before. Well, he played at the SXSW alternative music festival in Austin this year, so the fame might spread. Get on the bandwagon early and look smug later.

US artist Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, aka Will Oldham, is the Big Daddy of the whole Nu Folk and Alternative Country thing that has rocked Europe for the last six years but has yet to take off at home - Outside the Brooklyn-Williamsburg axis, that is. His new album ‘Beware’ is his most ambitious to date and should win Billy some new fans, who like their music dark and evocative.

Of all the rest, I probably played ‘Rules’ by The Whitest Boy Alive the most. It’s an easy listening sort of album and fits in any time of the day. I am not sure yet if that is a seal of approval or a kiss of death.

ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy ‘Beware’

Billy still follows his own alternative take on Country music, but this time he is firmly entering Country Noir territory. ‘Beware’ is very much a writer’s album, showcasing the songs of Will Oldham, aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. As such, it is darker and less democratic than its predecessor, last summer’s ‘Lie Down In The Light’.

The music on ‘Lie Down In The Light’ had a simple warmth that kept Billy’s darker musings in check. ‘Beware’ is more ambitious and puts no constraints on the depth of Billy’s recollections of his troubles.

Those troubles are almost always caused by women and ‘Beware’ is full of the curses of infidelities, cheating sweethearts and the strains of walking the line, as Johnny Cash would have put it. Purely by its subject matter, ‘Beware’ is a classic country record. Nothing goes on here that hasn’t been sung about before, but Billy’s strength lies in the way he cuts away all frills and adornments until only the most powerful chords are left.

On ‘Beware’, Billy is the boss. He’s the preacher and his word is final. There are backing vocals by Jennifer Hutt and Emmett Kelly, but they merely serve to confirm what Billy has to say. Like the gospel choir backing up the preacher man, the voices say Billy’s the man, hallelujah.

There is no strong duet partner standing up to Billy, like Ashley Webber did on ‘Lie Down’, playing Emmylou Harris to Billy’s Gram Parsons.

Where ‘Lie Down In The Light’ had a down home feel of musicians shooting the breeze on a front porch, ‘Beware’ is colder. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the record having been recorded in October in chilly Chicago, but ‘Beware’ is an altogether more frosty affair. The music twists and stretches, capturing the drama that is inherent in Billy’s lyrics. While Billy’s vocal delivery is always deadpan, it is the musical backing that provides the tension.

‘Beware’ is arguably Billy’s most universal album to date, reaching beyond the hardcorde of the Americana and Alternative Country scene. Fans of Leonard Cohen, Antony And The Johnsons and Nick Cave should check this album out.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy is touring extensively in the US and Canada from April to the end of June 2009. He will be coming to Europe for ten dates in April and May.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy European Tour 2009
20/04 Royal Festival Hall, London, UK
21/04 St George’s Church, Brighton, UK
22/04 AB Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium
23/04 Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands
24/04 Cigale, Paris, France
25/04 Printemps de Bourges Festival, Bourges, France
28/04 Espace, Torino, Italy
29/04 Estragon, Bologna, Italy
30/04 Auditorium San Domenico, Foligno (Perugia), Italy
01/05 Le Poste A Gallene, Marseilles, France

US Readers - Buy ‘Beware’ On CD And Vinyl Here!
BUY CD BUY Vinyl

UK And Ireland Readers - Buy ‘Beware’ Here On CD And Vinyl!
BUY CD BUY VINYL

#2: The Might Stef ‘100 Midnights’
The Mighty Stef, aka Stefan Murphy, is part Punk rocker and part bohemian. His new album ‘100 Midnights’ shows both sides at work, sounding like the result of a session with Johnny Thunders and Scott Walker in the back room of a pub.

When it comes to music, Stef’s heart beats for rock ‘n’ roll. His sound incorporates a big dollop of New York Punk with the flamboyance of Johnny Thunders and a pinch of blue collar rock a la Springsteen. Stef’s lyrics have a dry humour and his put-downs are cutting.

‘100 Midnights’, his second album to date, focuses on the bohemian side of Stef. The selection of songs favours downtempo numbers and the arrangements smell of seedy dive bars.

The best tracks on the album remind me of Scott Walker’s interpretations of songs by Belgian chansonnier Jacques Brel. They are bawdy ballads bursting with life, raucous and sad at the same time. Start with the title track ‘100 Midnights’, then check out ‘I Swear I Have No Feeling For That Girl’ and ‘Kings Of New York’ if you like that style.

Stef enlisted the help of some famous friends in the making of this album. Two members of legendary London-Irish hellraisers The Pogues appear as guest vocalists. Original Pogues frontman Shane McGowan duets with Shane on a cover of ‘Waitin Around To Die’, a song written by leftfield Country singer Townes Van Zandt. And Cait O’Riordain, the original Pogues bass player, duets with Stef on the track ‘Safe At Home’.

The rock ‘n’ roll animal that regularly graces Dublin stages for a bit of impromptu mayhem is largely missing from the album. Try ‘Safe At Home’ with Cait O’Riordain for a taster or the ace bubblegum Punk ballad, ‘Downtown’, that would have made Joey Ramone proud. This is real sing-a-long, fists in the air stuff.

‘100 Midnights’ is a great after hours listening album that captures that elegantly wasted feeling like no other.

Stef and his band are currently on tour in the US. They are due to hit the stage of the Mercury Lounge in New York on 7th March and will play three gigs at the prestigious ‘what’s hot in alternative music’ festival SXSW in Austin, Texas, between 19-21st March.

See The Mighty Stef On Video Here!
This video predates the new album, but it’s still a must see…

US Readers - Buy The Mighty Stef’s ‘100 Midnights’ As MP3 Download Here!

UK & Ireland Readers - Buy The Mighty Stef’s Album As MP3 Download Here!

#3: The Whitest Boy Alive: ‘Rules’
There is not a single grating moment on the entire album. There are no bum notes, no experimental freak-out to show you that they can be edgy if they want to. The Whitest Boy Alive don’t have anything to prove. As a result ‘rules’ is totally relaxed and gloriously unassuming.

Interestingly, ‘Rules’ is not an instrumental album but looks back to the coffe table vocal albums from the 80’s and 90’s - Sade, Seal, Jamiroquai, etc. - with singer swooning his way through the 11 tracks with an immaculately light touch.

‘Rules’ sounds just like a trendy Dance album should at a time when flashbacks to 80’s Disco are still flavour of the day. Marcin Oz plays funky bass, Daniel Nentwig injects spacey keyboards and Sebastian Maschat keeps time with his dead straight four-to-the-floor beat. My favourite track ‘High On The Heels’ sounds so authentic Eighties, it could almost be long lost classic played by Jellybean Benitez after a Madonna record at the Music Box. All very nice. Or is it?

Let’s say, if I’d walk into a bar somewhere and ‘Rules’ would be playing I’d be happy to stick around for a while. But after three songs I’d be wanting something a bit more exciting. you see, ‘Rules’ flows effortlessly but doesn’t go anywhere and after 11 tracks you’re back exactly where you started. There is no build up, no peak, no - oh, just do SOMETHING… ANYTHING.

Whitest Boy Alive have delivered the perfect background album - Super cool but ultimately bland. The upside is, of course, that you can play ‘Rules’ at any dinner party in the sound knowledge that it will sound reasonably hip without alienating anybody.

Don’t get me wrong,’Rules’ is a good album for what it is. Just play it judiciously and don’t expect any scenes of wild abandon when you do.

US Readers - But ‘Rules’ On CD And MP3 Here!
BUY CD BUY MP3

UK And Ireland Readers - Buy ‘Rules’ On CD And Vinyl Here!
BUY CD BUY VINYL