It’s been a while since I touched this particular feature. I don’t know why. Maybe I just needed a break. Or, it could be that I took my big box of discs out of the car a month or so ago, and haven’t gotten around to putting it back. There are, however, still discs in the car, because I’ve purchased a few over the last few weeks. Some of which I’ve mentioned here, some I have not. I shall discuss a few of these now:

♦ Jonah Knight – The Age of Steam: Strange Machines: This is one of two records I picked up at Marscon this year, and it’s one a really like. I first learned of Jonah and his particular brand of steampunk paranormal folk music last year at Balticon when I caught his set there, and enjoyed another performance last month at Marscon 2012. His solo acoustic sets are impressive – he plays it all on an ancient, well-worn Gibson acoustic (with amazing tone) using all sorts of alternative capo gymnastics and amazing right-hand fingerpicking technique, and it’s beautiful, intimidating, and slightly unsettling, given that the subject matter often revolves around mad science, steam-powered necromancy, and mysterious malevolent entities…and George Clooney. On the record, it maintains that same feeling, and adds some excellent intrumentation and accompaniment. Personally, I love the steam-whistles and anvils on “Time Machine” and the beautiful harmony vocals on “Once Around the Sun”. The record also contains what I consider to be the definitive version of CCR’s “Bad Moon Rising”, which captures the dread portents inherent in the lyrics better than any interpretation I’ve ever heard.

♦ Mikey Mason – Impotent Nerd Rage: Also purchased at Marscon 2012, and like the previous disc, signed by the artist and purchased from the artist’s own hand. Mason is a stand-up comic when he’s not doing the singer-songwriter thing, and the former definitely informs that latter. All the songs on this record are comedic in some way, and tend to dwell in the geek mileiu. The centerpiece is “She Don’t Like Firefly”, about a guy who has the perfect geek girlfriend, but has to dump her when he discover’s she’s not a fan of a certain Joss Whedon IP, which became a viral video “hit” last spring, leading to this project, crowdsourced via KickStarter. There’s a lot to love here – Songs paying tribute to Jek Porkins, Unicron, and the RPG Kobolds Ate My Baby!, as well as tracks dealing with geek life’s social challenges (see the title track and “My Next Girlfriend”); though my my favorite track is “Me and Alan Moore’s Beard”, a classically-told story/song about the narrator’s increasingly improbable adventures discovering himself and the world after meeting the titular comic icon’s facial hair (playing the role of the classic manic pixie dream girl) in a pub in Chinatown.

♦ Rodrigo y Gabriela and C.U.B.A. – Area 52: I only learned of the existence of RyG after hearing a profile of them on NPR one evening a couple of weeks ago – they’re a jazzy latin guitar duo from Mexico who have garnered lots of attention in Europe and in the United States, though they’ve never really made any waves in their native country. This, their most recent record, was recorded in Cuba with a host of Cuban musicians, paying tribute to the music of that country. The profile of Rodrigo and Gabriela indicate that they first met playing guitar in heavy metal bands. That pedigree comes through – the guitar playing on these tracks is largely nylon-stringed acoustic (except on the excellent Santana tribute “Hanuman” and a few other places), but carries the unmistakable feeling of a players who grew up headbanging. I’m to understand that this collaboration is not entirely typical of the band’s music, though it’s definitely got me intrigued enough to seek out more of their stuff, and to try and catch them live someday.

♦ Lana Del Ray – Born to Die: Apparently Ms. Del Ray manage to make a splash in the pop music world before this record was even released by marketing herself and offending a host of internet music critics with her very presence. Apparently I don’t frequent those music blogs, because I hadn’t heard of her until people started talking about her recent SNL performance, and it’s relative quality. I then heard a few sample tracks on the radio and online, and couldn’t resist the 9.99 price point at Target the other day. The record itself is not bad, certainly not the offense to taste that it’s been categorized as. It’s actually rather lush and atmospheric and highly listenable, as far as mainstream pop goes – the title track is a really nice pop song, as is the lead single “Video Games”. The sound as a whole seems to evoke elements from all sorts of other iconic performers – I hear bits of Tori Amos, Joan Osborne, Stevie Nicks, and others throughout the record, all of which are perfectly fine influences to build from. From where I’m standing, it’s a fine melancholy listening experience, even if the lyrics to “Diet Mtn Dew” don’t make much sense (I suspect much of it is placeholder lyrics which were never exchanged for something else).

♦ Van Halen – A Different Kind of Truth: Despite my general indifference to the lead single, “Tattoo” (as documented here), there was never really a question of whether I was going to track this one down or not – It’s the first new VH record in 14 years, with David Lee Roth out front – it was going to fall into my hands eventually. After giving it a spin or two, I’m pleasantly surprised; for a record that’s pretty obviously just an excuse to kick off a tour and play “Panama” and “Runnin’ With The Devil” again every night, there’s a lot of the “classic” Van Halen sound and feel at work here (not surprising, given that many of these tracks are re-worked versions of unrecorded songs from the band’s early club days). While there are no tunes here that feel destined to become classics, I can definitely see tracks like “You and Your Blues” and especially “Big River” (easily the strongest track here) fitting into a setlist with all the good stuff from Fair Warning and Women and Children First. The guitar playing is vintage Eddie Van Halen, which even on it’s worst day is pretty damned good; he brought the chops for these sessions. Dave’s voice, once it gets warmed up, still sounds good on record, even if there’s a little more scatting and a bit less howling these days. In short, it’s a good Van Halen record, and I’m glad the personalities set differences aside long enough to make it happen, though I can’t help but wonder how much better the whole package would sound if Michael Anthony was there holding the thing together on bass and harmony vocals.