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Sights and sounds
From ‘bonus’ DVDs to plain ol’ CDs
BY MATT ASHARE

The big catch phrase in 2004, in case you haven’t noticed all those stickers that are appearing on new CDs, is "bonus DVD." And count on most of what hits the shelves to be at least "enhanced," even if that just offers access to an "exclusive" Web site with a nifty downloadable screen saver. That appears to be the major-label strategy for combatting the hordes of digital-downloading barbarians knocking at the gates of the music-industry empire. Which is not to say that that the recent DVD revolution (perhaps evolution is a better way of putting it) hasn’t already paid meaningful dividends. And those figure to continue well into the next year as labels scour their vaults for long-lost archival footage and platinum artists follow each new project from studio genesis to triumphant tour with cameramen documenting every last detail for a post-tour DVD.

Yet the CD remains the dominant product for both artists and labels. Ani DiFranco stripped her recording approach back to coffeehouse basics after a series of albums that found her experimenting with large-ensemble fusions of jazz, funk, and folk. Her new Educated Guess (Righteous Babe; January 20) has her playing all the instruments on a trip back to the confessional mode of her earliest recordings — back when there was something shocking about a bi-sexual folk singer in punkish combat boots. Then again, that was the era of Alanis Morissette’s racy reference to oral sex. She’ll be back on top when her So-Called Chaos (Maverick), a disc that features the talents of exiled Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery, hits stores on February 24. It will include a DVD element as well as Morissette’s version of "1974," a song that she wrote with Ryan Adams (he’s already released his version, on Rock N Roll). Still no word on Courtney Love’s American Sweetheart (Interscope), a disc that was supposed to be out last fall. She’s probably just finishing up the bonus DVD. Meanwhile, having left controversy behind, Sinéad O’Connor will have her two medium-length films, The Value of Ignorance and The Year of the Horse, repackaged together as a DVD by Capitol in late January.

As for the boys in the bands, JC Chasez — one of the other dudes in ’N Sync who isn’t dating Britney — tries to match Justin Timberlake with his own solo disc, Schizophrenic (Jive). Due on January 27, it features Wu-Tang’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard hiding under the alias Dirt McGirt plus a single produced by those phat-cat phunkmeisters Basement Jaxx. The latter have a new Astralwerks disc on the market, but it’s about to face stiff competition from an A-list of electronicists. Moby resurrects his techno-house Voodoo Child alias for the first time in almost a decade for the full-length Baby Monkey (V2). Labelmates the Crystal Method are back with Legion of Boom (also V2), a disc with vocal cameos by Rahzel of the Roots and some guitar slinging by Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland. And the coolest of the cool electronica duos — the French outfit Air — return from a year spent collaborating with an Italian author and a French ballet company with Talkie Walkie (Astralwerks; January 27), a disc that finds them looking more and more like a normal band, with bassist/vocalist Jason Faulkner (formerly of Jellyfish) and drummer Joey Waronker (he played with R.E.M. and Beck) on board. The disc comes with a bonus DVD.

After the death of Mary Hanson, Stereolab also seem to be moving in a less experimental direction on Margarine Eclipse (Elektra; January 27), an album on which they break their long-term ties with avant associates Jim O’Rourke and John McEntire while keeping High Llamas’ pop savant Sean O’Hagan on retainer. Oh, and old-school electronicists Roland Orzabel and Curtis Smith have reunited in Tears for Fears; they should have their new Everybody Loves a Happy Ending (Arista) ready by April.

Don’t count on any of these release dates to hold firm — in hip-hop they never do — but founding Goodie Mob rapper Cee-Lo has a solo album, Cee-Lo Green . . . Is the Soul Machine (Arista), due on January 20, and the aforementioned Rahzel has his first solo disc since ’97, Greatest Knockouts (Sure Shot), scheduled to hit stores the following week. Creating a different kind of Southern sound, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock are back as the Flatlanders on Wheels of Fortune (New West; January 27), and two bright new faces, Mindy Smith, who acquitted herself well on "Jolene" on a recent Dolly Parton tribute, and Anne McCue, who opened for Lucinda Williams last year, have solo discs due in late January and early February, respectively, on Vanguard and Messenger. They’ll probably forgo the bonus DVDs the first time around.


Issue Date: January 2 - 8, 2004
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