Capsules: Taylor Mills, Mark Ronson & Feist

Taylor Mills Lullagoodbye (Aquapulse)

There’s a new safe word being grunted out of S&M dungeons everywhere, and it is Lullagoodbye. It means slow down, ease up and take fewer risks. Although the album mostly lies within the boundaries of uninspired adult contemporary, at times her voice is filled with smooth, sometimes-sultry melody and a graceful piano whispers like a bedtime story. Then, there’s the added bonus of looking at her staggeringly attractive mug on every single page of the liner notes. The album, Mills’ solo debut, boasts a star-studded appearance or two by Brian Wilson and Tommy Shaw of Styx. The Wilson cameo makes sense because Mills is a backup singer for the Beach Boy and even performed on Smile, but the Styx guitarist duet was straight out of left field. And on a song called “Genie in a Bottle” no less, which immediately conjures graphic images of Christina Aguilera. Don’t worry, it’s not a cover. It pains me to say, however, covering that song might have been an improvement on an album that occasionally lacks oomph but would fit in well on the soundtrack to a sappy chick flick. You know, like Hope Floats.

Taylor Mills Official

--William Mills

Mark Ronson Version (Columbia)

Superproducer and DJ Ronson has created a summer party album for London on Version, a loving hybrid of UK radio hits and 70's soul arrangements. Ronson uses a tight R&B band to throw down with horn and bassline crammed revisions of hits by The Smiths, Coldplay, The Jam, Kaiser Chiefs, and Radiohead, and manages to keep the proceedings from winking at the listener too often. Instead, he takes a minor league hit like The Zutons' "Valerie" and adds Al Green-style Memphis horns and Amy Winehouse vocals, somehow one-upping the original by finding a stronger soul for the lyrics. Lily Allen also capably sing-talks through the Kaisers' entertaining "Oh My God" over an amazingly good groove that has the listener pressing repeat ad infinitum. Ol' Dirty Bastard even turns up posthumously to spit over a cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic," which provides some laughs mid-disc. The album doesn't always work - who the hell puts Robbie Williams vocals on The Charlatans' classic "The Only One I Know" and thinks it's a good idea? Despite a couple of clunkers, the disc overall has an original concept, great guests, and a cohesive feeling of fun that you can't shake. This is made for Sunday afternoons on the back porch, drink in hand.

Mark Ronson MySpace

--Tom Thornton

Feist the Reminder (Interscope)

Feist's new album, the Reminder sounds the way loading up on dessert before dinner feels – filling, but not particularly weighty (though it may go straight to your hips...we'll stop abusing the metaphor, soon, promise). The vocals are sweet and breathy as ever, but balanced with bursts of elegant crooning. And although the orchestration is rich with bell chimes, harmonies, arpeggios and other niceties, the album as a whole is nearly light as spun sugar. (There, we're done.) This is not to say the tracks are the least bit unsatisfying; they're well-crafted and the production values are spot on. A few, like “The Water,” are downright moody in that post-cabaret, torch song way. But, by and large, if these songs from the 1960s and in French, and if Feist had been linked to Serge Gainsbourg in the tabloids, we'd be calling this yé-yé girl pop – there's virtually no other way to describe tracks like “Sea Lion Woman.” With this album, Feist shows that she owes a debt to Françoise Hardy and Brigitte Bardot. But, Gainsbourg's gone on to the great bachelor pad in the sky, and it's a new century, so we'll have to hedge and call it yé-yé nouveau whipped up with indie folk rock sensibilities.

Feist Official
Feist Myspace

--Carly Kocurek