Norah Jones "Not Too Late"

Norah Jones "Not Too Late" (2007)

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Label: Blue Note
Producer: Lee Alexander
Projected Release Date: 30 January 2007
Tracks: 13 (check: Amazon)


snorah jones records are a few of those records which dont sound like your average radio would play, but they get tonnes of commercial success. why? its easy-listening guaranteed, and that "smooth, sultry" female vocals. thats right - when all else fails, get "smooth, sultry" female vocals. and your record will sell like hotcakes marketed by the mcdonalds corporation. and just as long as you keep it less 'texan', that is - as we've learnt, from the flop 'feels like home'.

this time around, lee alexander fills in the producer's chair, yet again. - so you almost know where exactly the guitars are gonna be panned at and how the piano is gonna be mic'd up even before you hit that play button on your ipod. its almost expected arif mardin (producer, "feels like home", rip) wasnt even the execs' minds again. with the damage arif did on the previous record, this album feels like damage-control. and interestingly enough, the first single (like the "come away with me" record), again does a good job at hiding the most obvious influence throughout both this album and the previous one he did: blatant country blues.

that said, the first single "thinking about you" is penned by Wax Poetic's main man Ilhan Ersahin, and while it's brilliant, i cannot say its anything that is unexpected from a norah jones record. meh, some might call it consistency, i call it being safe. but then again, if ms jones wanted to be different, she wouldve called for teenage popstars collaborations, anyway.

with song titles like "rosie's lullaby", the album just begs to be pigeonholed. we know it: sunday afternoon cafes, single 29 year old girls' dream sex soundtrack, traditional music elitists, part of the cd collection of music graduates (they wont actually play this record, they just own a copy), depressed upper-middle class 30 year olds, math nerds... hmm, that's quite a fan base right there, the label shouldnt worry too much.

we cant blame ms jones for only being able to write bedroom / cafe songs and knowing to use the wurlitzer in only one way. some people are not multi-talented enough like that, but when she does something, you know its good. and you gotta give credit to her that she's actually had a hand in writing some of these songs, this time around. but i really dont know if she's gonna get much new recruits in the nj fan club. hardcore fans will might even say the "come away with me" record is better (and the second album sucks all around) and the grammy people will have to think really hard whether to give out one of those gramophones again to norah. decisions, desicions. if i had to draft a mini-theory from the pattern we see here, it'd be; if you go "new york", your album goes worldwide; and if you mess around in "texas" too much, your album will stay in texas. we know from there where this is heading then.

expect a rejuvenation of the term 'snorah jones' in the media in the coming weeks. here we go.

Incubus "Light Grenades"

Incubus "Light Grenades" (2006)

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Label: Epic/Immortal
Produced by: Brendan O'Brien
Tracks: 13 (check: Amazon)

ahh its been a while since i last heard quality songwriting from this over-compressed post-00s modern rock genre. debuted at #1 on the billboard chart at release, "light grenades" sold 192 000 units. when justin timberlake released his "futuresex/lovesounds" album, it too entered at #1 on the same US chart, but he sold 711 000 units. really, the music industry is a fucked up one, from a marketing point of view. either that or incubus should've gotten timbaland to produce instead of brendan o'brien. oh yes, i am being sarcastic.

i quite enjoy brendan o'brien's production. he sounds like a nu-metal band's dream come true. except all that expired after the release of "crow left of the murder". he certainly has a sound style of his own (i dont care the way he works, or if he's a miracle worker - those things dont show on cd), BUT if u get a producer to produce the same band for the second consecutive time within the time span of 5 years, you're bound to get "crow left of the murder part 2". it sounds to me like 98.5% out of the 192 000 people who went out to buy this incubus record on its first week of release are a fleet of 20 and 30somethings who are already incubus fans circa "morning view" and prior. and to have *that* 'security blanket' for a band might not be the best plan for any major label who would want maximum music industry impact through one cd.

einzinger did say in an interview that the album sounds like 13 different bands playing 13 different songs. he must be kiddin. i hope he is. they might dress up differently, or be high on different social drugs when they were recording different tracks on this album - BUT the tracks don't sound different from each other - well nothing you'd unexpect from post-morning view incubus anyway. to top that up, they sound like they're from the same writing/recording session as "crow left of the murder", albeit a few more drum filterings, layered vocal harmonies and a few einzinger's attempt at making the guitar not sound like a guitar - nothing out of the ordinary.

a really different incubus would be: einzinger on a midi guitar, jose on the roland td-20 and possibly on the occasional akai mpc, brandon referencing anything but nature and planets in his songwriting, the bassist playing double-bass and dj kilmore sacked. it would sound horrible, i'm sure. but it seems like the only other way to get rid of this current brendan o'brien sound.

though, whatever this current direction is caused by, as a live-incubus fan, these materials will definitely work on stage. anyone who has been to an incubus concert will know that most of their more melodic, atmospheric numbers rarely work, live. the rockin brandon-screaming-on-top-of-his-lungs ones, however, do. anyone who has been to an incubus concert will also know that the mosh pit *always* rock harder than the band members. "certain shade of green" and "pardon me" will ALWAYS be expected in that sweaty and body-crushing space that is the area in front of the stage. ahhh yes, i could almost hear my poor eardrums pop at 150db. good memories last forever.

this is not one of incubus classics. "crow left of the murder" was incubus' attempt at making themselves sound different (and they did) and now it is apparent to us that when incubus *tries* to be *different* for the second time, you get 2 similar products.

get brendan o'brien and his fancy home studio out of the way and work with trent reznor or something. that said, if anyone needs me, i will be in that mosh pit at the next incubus concert.