5 albums: 10 January – 16 January 2010.

This week’s non-writing listening, in roughly chronological order:

1) Ednaswap: Wacko Magneto (Island, 1997). I was in the mood to listen to Ednaswap this week because I thought I was reviewing a record with a cover of “Torn” on it. And then I realized that that review isn’t due for another few weeks (whoops!). This isn’t the original version of “Torn”; that honor belongs to Ednaswap‘s 1995 self-titled debut. But the band re-recorded that song for this album and turned it into a gut-wrenching, anguished performance. And then Natalie Imbruglia made it an almost-cheery pop song, and Ednaswap never got the big break that they so deserved. Chief songwriters Anne Previn and Scott Cutler have continued writing together (most notably, “Listen” from the film Dreamgirls), but they were really at their peak on this Ednaswap album– and “Torn” isn’t even the best performance here. Previn’s desperate shouts on “More”, her near-taunts on “YDWIBE” (‘you don’t want it badly enough’), and the skidding-off-the-tracks energy of “Stop Counting” all make this one of my favorite major-label albums of the late 1990s.

2) Holly Williams: The Ones We Never Knew (Universal South, 2004). Folksy, pretty ballads from Hank Williams’s granddaughter.

3) Jucifer: If Thine Enemy Hunger (Relapse, 2006). First concert of 2009: Jucifer. First concert of 2010: Jucifer. Coincidence? I think not! Seriously, though, there’s such a disparity between Jucifer’s melodic, powerful metal albums and the sheer wall of sound that emits from the tower of amplifiers behind this duo live. The contradictions don’t end there; frontwoman/guitarist/vocalist Amber Valentine is charmingly girly, with her vibrant minidresses and flowing wigs— but when she opens her mouth, she emits the most stunningly guttural growls. I have seen them three times in the past year (and before that, in 2000 on their tour with Enemymine), and while I do greatly prefer their studio sound to the earsplitting tornado that is their live attack, I also love watching a performance by people who fully and completely embrace what they’re doing. Photos by my pal Brandon for the Washington CityPaper can be seen here.

4) and 5) Beach House: Beach House (Carpark, 2006) and Devotion (Carpark, 2008). Is it cheating to count two albums that I listened to in preparation for something I’m writing this week? Who knows. It’s always so nice to get lost in Beach House’s stunning swirling watercolor sound.

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