Charlotte Gainsbourg has a pretty voice, but it’s more or less just that: pretty. What I mean to say is that she doesn’t possess a lot of range, which makes it all the more astonishing that her new album IRM is such an enjoyable listen. Despite her lack of raw vocal talent, the fourteen tracks that compose the album are a relatively varied and interesting bunch. Gainsbourg herself deserves credit here for switching up her style and delivery from song to song, but the real congratulations should be directed at Beck, who wrote and produced all but one of the album’s songs.

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Mako Sica are still in no hurry. On their second, Dual Horizon, the band follow the same path, a slow, meandering path at that, as they did on their debut, Mayday At Strobe, and god bless them for it. In a world of easy pay-offs and cheap thrills, Mako Sica force you to pay close attention to what they are doing. The reward doesn’t come at specific points mind you. Your reward comes with the whole. Dual Horizon is an album, three songs total, that gets inside of the listener as it gently guides from start to finish.

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Jemina Pearl performs with her band at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago, Ill., on Feb. 6, 2010. | Photo Credit: Audrey Leon

With one listen to Jemina Pearl’s solo debut album Break It Up, one might wonder if the ex-Be Your Own Pet vocalist had lost her gritty, punk rock edge. Yet, when Pearl climbed onto Beat Kitchen’s stage on Saturday, all doubts were erased.

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The Prairie Cartel’s full-length debut album Where Did All My People Go takes the listener on a 78-minute auditory roller coaster ride of fast-paced dance punk and slower synth-infused rock compositions. If you survive the ride, you will want to do it all over again.

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Slayer’s World Painted Blood is shocking. While their 2006 release Christ Illusion, with drummer Dave Lombardo back in the fold, felt like the Slayer album that fans had been craving for years, World Painted Blood makes Christ Illusion feel like child’s play. As a fan I had no idea this was possible. It’s 2009 and Slayer has produced a record that is every bit the brutal tour de force that South Of Heaven was in 1988. It’s not supposed to work this way.

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The Streets On Fire’s debut Hot Weekend is nearly unclassifiable. There’s a dancey rhythm section under post-punk guitar licks and a demented, lofi growl on top of it all. Though the band occasionally has problems fleshing out full songs, they’re freshness is immensely promising.

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Them Crooked Vultures‘ self-titled debut offers everything you’d want from a band comprised of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. It’s heavy, sexy and metallic hard hitting blues rock. But the album’s not perfect when at times the songs feel weighty, and the straightforward rock tracks don’t bring anything new to the table. Still, Them Crooked Vultures do something that’s not done too often in modern supergroups by offering a very organic feel in which the musicians sound like they’re actually having fun.

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Photo Credit: Audrey Leon

Whether or not the crowd was fully prepared for the event at hand, The Pixies certainly were, delivering a performance worthy of their legend and of the landmark record on display. The sound, appropriately, was simply enormous.

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