Born in a Cardboard Box
Redd Tape
Arrogant Hipster Records
(out of 5)

Anyone familiar with Redd Tape is bound to fawn over the band’s live show. Though Born in a Cardboard Box fails to inject a rush similar to the one induced by witnessing group action up close and personal, the album manages to supply a different sort of satisfaction. The masterminds at Arrogant Hipster Records have helped these inventive musicians transform creative vision into compelling permanence.

Most of the 10 tracks have been bolstered with studio-enhanced effects (though not in a Glen Ballard fashion—overrated production techniques that generally turn all good music to shit). For example, the coos, giggles and incoherent babbling of small tykes accompanying “321 Melt!” renders it irresistibly playful. Most of the songs are light, upbeat and impossible to listen to without shaking some major booty. However Cardboard Box also delves into Redd Tape’s schizophrenic psyche by exploring additional emotional fronts.

The standout “Firengine,” is a somber stroll of cello and soft drums lingering below Lindsey Heath’s unusual Nico-like crooning. It’s a rare shift from her typical position as mute beatmaker. However, the move makes for what is arguably the loveliest song on the album. Closing number “Winter Wishes,” is a furious spiral into chaos. The destructive energy is so unexpected, one has to wonder what these local artists are capable of pulling off next.
—JG

Plasma
Trey Anastasio
Elektra Records
(out of 5)

This guy is weird. True statement.

On the other hand, perhaps the Phish guitarist's bizarre take in both music and life can also be acknowledged as his triumphant and unique contribution to music in America.

Phish hurt itself by taking unnecessary and annoying musical freedoms in its live performances, as well as in many studio recordings (the most recent casualty, Phish's Round Room, for example), and ultimately, the music suffers.

Phish jams incessantly over a repeated phrase until it diminishes into utter chaos, leaving many listeners disinterested in the performance, while others couldn't care, because they are so fucking high, man!

Plasma is the follow-up live album and tour for Anastasio's 2002 studio album. The album's opening song depicts the guitarist as a musician reborn, whose lyrical sentiment seems very fitting: "The message that I get from spring/Is that a change can surely bring/A break from sullen winter skies.”

Accompanying Anastasio on the album as well as during his solo tour last year, was a 10-piece Afro Cuban ensemble, rendering the improv guitarist room to break away from the predictable Phish performance and step into an altogether untapped musical genre.

Plasma shows the ensemble's intensity and independence. While many songs slowly spiral into a Phish-esque dissonance, the horn section's intensity provides a powerful Afro-Cuban groove, encompassing the importance of each musician, without upstaging Anastasio, who has plenty of room to shine.

Though Phish may soon find itself lifeless and grounded in its own stagnant waters, Anastasio's new venture pulsates with endless possibility.
 

American Life
Madonna
Warner Bros. Records
(out of 5)

She has cast a shadow over American pop music for nearly two decades. She has reinvented her image with a confident tenacity that leaves both critics and artists staggering in her dust. She has single-handedly reshaped pop-music to suit her in an effortless and outspoken manner. But, believe it or not, the material girl's still human!
Madonna's album, American Life, seems quite fitting. This album, from beginning to end, exudes values of the ideal American dream: Bust your ass at your career beginning until you reach the top. Once attained, ride the gravy train all the way to the bank, while kicking back punching out a half-assed product and basking in accomplishments of yesteryear.
American Life successfully merges folkie acoustic guitar melodies with synthetic vocals, drums and ambience engulfing each track. Sort of  "The Carpenters visit Tron" experience.
It is safe to say that American Life picks up where Madonna's previous album, Music, left off, while it may also leave the listener curious that this is a collection of tracks that didn't make Music's original cut...
Who cares if this album is mediocre?!
The bottom line is that Madonna has built a following that puts our great Joseph Smith to respectful shame. Whatever she releases will go platinum,  a triumph that most professional artists will never accomplish during their lifetimes.
Madonna has, and will always have, a Midas touch that trumps any music critic's views of her albums, no matter how insipid the album's context. Madonna has acquired absolute pop autonomy. She is, without a doubt, the Alan Greenspan of pop music.
 

Up All Night
The John Scofield Band
Verve Records
(out of 5)

For those of you who had the pleasure of witnessing the performance of this guitar legend last year at Libby Gardener Hall, this album signifies Scofield's next chapter. For those who missed it, too bad, for his unique style is completely indescribable.

Try to imagine a full-speed head-on collision of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew album, the really early Sesame Street music and a heavy acid trip at a Grateful Dead show...
No, that doesn't describe it very accurately...Hmm...

Scofield generates a soulful melodic style similar to Jeff Beck, a musical projection as unique as legendary jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan and a soulful foundation as solid as George Benson while drifting in a genre all his own.  

He gracefully performs over vast musical influences, ranging from acid jazz to deep drum and bass, while never upstaging his ensemble or his horn section (did I tell you he had a five-man horn section on this album too?), rendering a full music experience altogether unique.

Though the album is nowhere near orthodox to any one style, that is what undoubtedly sets Scofield and his band apart from other current jazz ensembles. He can emit smooth musical statements, while just as easily he can paint ambient and subtle textures to the band's overall performance.

What also sets Scofield apart from the larger jazz fellowship is also his greatest achievement. John Scofield relentlessly outperforms himself, seemingly filled with a confidence that could only come from years of hard work...Oh, and also much respect from Miles Davis...maybe.
—PK