Sounds of Spring

A recent deluge of intriguing new releases set me off on a downloading binge that left my wallet empty and my overworked iPod begging for a mental health day. Here's a rundown of my findings for your listening and purchasing pleasure:

Joan Armatrading Into the Blues (429 Records): With a songbook that contains a fierce fistful of genre-bending classics like "Cool Blue Stole My Heart" and "I'm Lucky," the Caribbean-born Armatrading is a maverick in my book even though she hasn't broken any new ground in new years. Now she's back with a sexy, soulful album that recalls her best work from the 1970s and 1980s.

Tori Amos American Doll Posse (Epic): Once again, the incomparable chanteuse of hormonal imbalance has concocted an epic song cycle that is alternatingly brilliant and monotonous. But when it's good it's really good, particularly on giddy upbeat tracks like "Secret Spell" and "Big Wheel." True to Amos form, this is a "concept" album that's comprehensible only to Tori. There are five members of the "doll posse" (Isabel, Clyde, Pip, Santa, Tori) who take turns singing the song. I've listened to the album many times and I still have no clue how to figure out when or why the narrators shift.

Bjork Volta (Atlantic): I'm a big fan of Bjork's early solo work, especially Debut, Post and Selmasongs (the soundtrack from Dancer in the Dark). But her 2004 effort Medulla left me cold, and her bonkers swan dress persona has started to feel a bit forced to me. Some critics have called Volta a return to Bjork's early funky pop form, and that's certainly true on superfun tracks like "Earth Intruders" and "Innocence." Many of the other songs blur together, though, resulting in an album that's best suited for background ambient techno noise when you're trying to convince guests that you're hipper than your Dionne Warwick collection suggests.

Rufus Wainwright Release the Stars (Geffen): Ah, Rufus, the adorable gay offspring of folkies Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle. He started off in 1998 with an audacious self-titled debut, and proceeded to release the phenomenal Poses in 2001. Just when his sound seemed to be baked to perfection, he lost some of his lyrical touch and veered off into really annoying Gershwin rip-off territory with the separately released Want One and Want Two. I felt pretty ambivalent about last week's release of his latest CD, Release the Stars, but I fished it off the Internet to find that it's definitely a step in the right direction, but not a true return to form. The single "Going to a Town" and "Between My Legs" are my faves so far.

Pink Martini Hey Eugene! (Heinz): The hip and lush world music outfit Pink Martini has been a local phenomenon since I moved to Portland in 1997, winning an international following (particularly French) with their debut CD Sympathique. It took them seven years to release their 2004 follow-up, Hang On Little Tomato, which makes it all the more surprising that it only took them three years to cook up their latest. I'm not a huge fan of suave 1960s throwback music (band leader Thomas Lauderdale himself describes Pink Martini as the touring band for the 1962 United Nations), but it's nice to throw it on when I'm fixing dinner and don't want to think too much about heady lyrics.

Feist The Reminder (Interscope Records): Not much to report here, since I haven't spent much time listening to it or Feist's previous hit album Let It Die. She has a lovely voice though, and her impressive sales at local indie stores makes me want to hear more.