Sarah Jaffe - The Body Wins

I saw Sarah Jaffe for the first time last year when she came through last Summer opening for the mighty Centro-matic and fell pretty hard for her breakthrough single Clementine. Backed by cello and insistently sparse backing, the track put Jaffe on the JS-NYC house system with good regularity. I saw the last couple times she made in through town, often with some semblance of Centro backing her and it was pretty obvious by the slowly growing crowds that words was getting out about the proud Texas daughter.

While there were flourishes previously, The Body Wins features bigger production (courtesy of John Congelton) and more pronounced electronic elements. Its a move that makes things a little more La Roux/Bad Seeds meets Gossip than previous, but also one that seems to place Jaffe in a position to get a lot of notice. There are a lucky thirteen tracks here, none of them even close to bad, so if the description above even mildly intrigues you, step lively to the Kirtland web presence and grab yourself a virtual or actual copy of The Body Wins before its on the tip of everyone's tongue.


R

Centro-matic - Candidate Waltz

Why Centro-matic are not gargantuanally huge I can't tell you. With all respect to The National and My Morning Jacket, I can't see why those two are playing the Garden and Centro-matic are still playing Mercury. Centro-matic have released hands down better, more consistent records over almost two decades that are recorded in top-notch fashion and consistently top critics lists. The new Candidate Waltz is yet another in a relentless succession of awesome, sporting nine of the best songs you'll hear all year.

Save yourself and buy Candidate Waltz here.

R

Live: Centro-matic with Sarah Jaffe @ Mercury Lounge 6.30.11

It had been a hell of a week, and one of the easiest panaceas for such things is a Centro-matic show at Mercury. The Mercury Lounge is my favorite place in town (maybe on Earth) to see a show, and while I don't get there nearly as much as I used to, it's always a pleasure to see those kids. I rolled in just as Sarah Jaffe was finishing leveling a packed room. I hadn't heard of her previously, but she sure can sing. Evidently she's from Denton as well. I grabbed the record, so look for more on her soon.

Denton's scruffiest took the stage with little circumstance, launching into over an hour of old and new tracks, including an extemporaneous new Danborn number worked up while the left side of the stage waited for power to return so they could play Blisters May Come. We also learned that cleaning up toxic waste on Long Island is not a great job, even if you do get songs out of it. Consider yourself informed. Centro-matic are a force live, and this evening was no exception. Drummer Matt Pence is terrifying behind the kit, making it look easy as he beat the piss out of his kit like it owed him cash. Danborn and Johnson sing like angels and Mark is one hell of an all-around player, even if he left his X-Series at home. There was a fair amount of ex-pat Denton in the room that upped the ante to boot. The new record Candidate Waltz dropped 6/22, courtesy of the good folk of Thirty Tigers. Look for a review in a bit, but don't postpone joy: see Centro-matic when/whereever you can. Here's a link that will let you do both.

R