It may seem a quaint notion now, but there was a time when Peter Gabriel actually had a sense of humor. Even back in the Genesis days, his lyrics were sprinkled with puns and absurdity, and of course, the videos from the "Sledgehammer" era were always entertaining. Even in recent interviews, he seems pretty engaging, but Peter's newest "New Blood" seems light years away from that time; after the "Scratch My Back" covers album, "New Blood" continues the orchestral experimentation and career overview. "Scratch My Back" moved at a glacial pace, and at least "New Blood" perks things up a bit, and it's nice to hear songs like "The Rhythm of the Heat" and "San Jacinto" again, even if the orchestral bits don't really work. I was surprised, because the original studio tracks of those songs gave a nod to the new music of Philip Glass and especially Steve Reich, and what we get on "New Blood" wouldn't sound out of place in the next James Bond movie. I'm glad Peter's still experimenting, though.
Wilco seem to have stepped back some from their more experimental efforts in the new "The Whole Love", which unfortunately means less shredding from guitarist Nels Cline. Pity. The very last song on the CD runs for almost 12 minutes, and I'll probably buy the CD for that track alone -- the band does a great job of little fills that carry the arrangement along.
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have a new disc out too, and it's up to their usual high standards. I won't pick this one up right away -- "Time (The Revelator)" is still my go-to disc when I want to hear Gillian -- but I'm sure eventually when I've worn off all the oxide from "Time", I'll get "The Harrow and the Harvest". It's nothing we haven't heard before, but Gillian and David still nail it to the wall.
Bjork has made some of the music I've most enjoyed over the years, but she sure doesn't make it easy. I think her music is adult music in the best sense; meaty, difficult to hear at first, mature and always moving forward. "Medulla" came out in 2001, and I'm still getting used to it. On initial hearing, it sounded so foreign, so...odd that I really didn't like it. But I knew it was a big leap from her previous albums, so I stuck with it. Now it's 2011, and Bjork's released "Biophilia", and so my homework begins. There are many things familiar here from previous albums: the harp, the Icelandic choirs -- but I don't hear the melodies yet. But I'm willing to do the work, as Prince says. Bjork's never let me down yet.
