AKA William

Pork is back, folks! That’s right, Pork has returned to AKA William with his weekly post bringing you the best of this week’s new music releases.

Let’s face it. This is not the kind of week where you’ll find yourself lined up at a late-night retailer at midnight. (Damn…I just realized there is nowhere left in New York City for a Monday night @ midnight retail experience.) So…It’s not even the kind of week you’d even bum rush Best Buy @ 10 a.m. for.

That being said, it’s not a completely black Tuesday.

It’s when companies send me advance albums that I start to feel like a read and real blogger/columnist, and during the process of putting this here piece together, Erika Jayne’s Pretty Mess showed up in my mailbox.

After reading it described as “if disco balls, ecstasy, pearls, Studio 54, sex, crystal chandeliers, Purple Rain, and Crème Brule, could be whipped in a blender and made into a delicious pop-dance musical confection,” I knew I had to spin it at least once before submitting to William. (No jokes, William.)

I must say, over the past hour I’ve had a “pretty” uplifting listening experience! Bold-faced producers such as Peter Rafelson (if you don’t know i can’t tell you), Eric Kupper (legend!) and Esthero provide subtle-yet-effective treatments on the album’s 14 tracks which do indeed reflect similar results as the work they’ve done with other artists that you may have heard of…uh, Madonna, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Destiny’s Child, etc…

Pretty Mess may actually take things up a notch further than any of their albums have cared to do recently, however, as the album seems to contain a cohesiveness that is absent from the previously mentioned artists latest works. Yes, I am saying that Erika Jayne’s album is better than the last Madonna and/or Britney Spears albums. There is a certain Prince-ly sexiness that cuts through the electronica where most artists would be happy to roboticize themselves to the background. Sheila E. even stops by to properly whack things out on “Time to Realize” which has some undeniable “Erotic City” goodness. (Not to mention a perfectly filthy take on Apollonia’s “Sex Shooter!”)

“Give You Everything” is the current single and with a slamming remix package featuring mixes by Dave Audé, DJ Escape & Johnny Vicious (I always love a Vicious Escape!), Moto Blanco (all hail!) and Mike Rizzo, how can they go wrong? Check the disco-pumped Moto Blanco mix here:

Since Erika Jayne is a new name to all of us, it might be necessary to make the ever-dreaded comparisons to artists as I have above. At the same time, that actually goes to say that if you are a fan of any of the artists/producers/remixers that I’ve mentioned, there’s no reason you shouldn’t eagerly seek out Erika Jayne and see what her Pretty Mess does for you. I bet you like it. I bet you like it a lot. Press Play.

And don’t sleep on the Chris Isaak DVD of his high-def, 15-song stellar Soundstage set for PBS appropriately titled Soundstage: Chris Isaak – Greatest Hits Live. It’s wicked. No games.

Beyond that last-minute eye-and-ear opener, it’s quite possibly the most dismal, unexciting week the record companies, record stores, iTunes OR Amazon has offered us all year! One that makes me do a lot of investigative research. Who are these people?! A Tuesday that leaves me with the difficult process of turning The List into an eye-catching carousel of intrigue.

We’re talking about a week where the standout in the usually-exciting re-issue/master list is by Jive Bunny. Yes…this Jive Bunny. Come on everybody! Co-Co-Come on everybody!

Til next week…keep on…with the pork, don’t stop.
Take a bit of time to peruse…

The List: (New 4 U on August 11th, 2009)

Between the Trees – Spain
The Bottle Rockets – Lean Forward
Cavo – Bright Nights Dark Days
Cobra Starship – Hot Mess
Johnny Cooper – Follow
Chris Isaak – Soundstage: Chris Isaak – Greatest Hits Live (DVD)*
Jessie James – Jessie James
Erika Jayne – Pretty Mess*
Imelda May – Love Tattoo
Michael McDermott – Hey La Hey
Justin Moore – Justin Moore
Nightmare of You – Infomaniac
Nisennenmondai – Destination Tokyo
The Rumble Strips – Welcome to the Walk Alone
Buffy Sainte-Marie – Running for the Drum
Slaughterhouse – Slaughterhouse
Mindy Smith – Stupid Love
Mike Stern – Big Neighborhood
George Straight – Twang
Terra Terra Terra – Mind Like a Man, Soul Like a Child
Patrick Wolf – The Bachelor

and in the Box Set, Best Of, Digitally Available, Reissued, Remastered, Repackaged and Renewed Departments you will find titles from:
Aswad, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Roy Ayers Libiquity, Joe Budden, Juan Calle and His Latin Lantzmen, The Fabulous Poodles, Fanny, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Dan Fogelberg, Sue Foley, Bobby Freeman, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Hot Tuna, The Housemartins, Jack Mack and The Heart Attack, Jive Bunny, Quincy Jones, The Laughing Dogs, Phil Manzanera, The Mojos, Painter, Peaches & Herb, Nile Rodgers,
Rush, Sagittarius, Sailor, Hank Snow, Stardrive, Hank Thompson, Three Dog Night, The Toasters, Merle Travis, The Truth and for you all you big ole hippies, it’s the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock* and Rhino is unleashing a collector’s necessity. In addition to outstanding packaging, 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur’s Farm contains 77 songs over 6 CDs and 38 of those 77 songs are previously unrelased. Put on your Birkenstocks and get to the record store with the least corporate presence for this set, which is being sold as a limited edition box set with all the frills or “just” the music on 6 CDs. :]
Oh, and don’t eat the brown acid.

*Acceptable bribe items…akaPicksO’TheWeek
OOooOO…how you doin’?”
[audio: Wendy Williams - OOooOO...how you doin'.mp3]