THE CD: 10,000 Days
PERFORMER: Tool
LABEL: Zomba
WEBSITE: http://www.toolband.com/
Like Tool? You may/may not love: King Crimson, Pink Floyd, A Perfect Circle
Yeh, but what does MTV call them?
Psychedelic math metal

Yeah, so I’ve seen Tool live twice. I got to see Maynard Keenan, singer, turn his back on the Huntington crowd when they came to dub-vee. Let me bullet this review, to make it easy 4u:

• Tool is one of the best rock bands ever; and
• Maynard James Keenan is one of the greatest rock singers ever.

So, now, the skinny: It only seems like 10,000 days since prog-rock gods Tool (Keenan; Adam Jones, guitar; Justin Chancellor, bass; Danny Carey, drums) released “Lateralus” in May of 2001. There is some good news that we can stick in that time period up to now: Tool is still a band, no matter what label they’re on. And, as they approach two decades of band-hood, they still rock.

While “Lateralus,” was more instrumental at times (I found myself asking “What are they on?” — I still liked the CD.), “10,000 Days” seems to find Tool back at their hard-rockin’ best, maybe influenced by recently touring with Swedish metal outfit Meshuggah.

Songs along these lines on the new CD are “Vicarious,” the first single and opening track (and incidentally, leaked earlier in the month from a Pittsburgh radio station “The X. . . 105.9″), “Jambi” and “The Pot” (that one’s about kettles and hypocrisy). Headbangin’ tunes, all.

“Wings for Marie (Pt. 1)” and “10,000 Days (Wings Pt. 2)” are more trippy songs, in line with what you’d expect out of the band’s experimental side. The songs sound to me like they fit in between “Aenema” and “Lateralus” — heavy, tribal, and trippy.

Keenan, who left the army to go to art school, still lays down some of the most beautiful and powerful vocals. And, his lyrics deal with suffering, spirituality, and ultimate salvation. Not to mention the perils of the record industry.

This is not a band easily categorized or dissected. Yes, the weird time signatures (like Meshuggah) and polyrhythms still give a sort of tribal feel to their version of nu-metal. It does seem that “10,000 Days” is a little more approachable than “Lateralus.”

Tool fans will likely make this latest effort No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, as they did for “Lateralus” five years ago. It’s a Nick2 mustbuy for rock fans. All the sharpest Tool fans, out there in their sheds, will agree with me come Tuesday. Thanks for the CD, Freddie Malcolm of Quincy Hollow, YOU ROCK!

– 10,000 Days release date: 5.2.2006

THE CD: Lost In America (Vanguard)
PERFORMER: Edwin McCain
WEBSITE: Right about here.
BEST SONGS: “Gramercy Park Hotel,” “My Mystery”
LISTEN: here

When I first listened to Edwin McCain’s new CD “Lost In America” I must have been in a bad mood or something. I was reviewing McCain’s seventh release, having never heard him. His mix (maybe overproduced) of rock, folk, blues and country seemed bland to me; I was comparing it to stuff you’d hear on 93.3 K-Love. You know what I mean.

“Gramercy Park Hotel,” the first single, opens the CD and is a good alt-rock song. It’s a perfect example of the duality of McCain’s songs: at once catchy and inviting, the next moment you feel like you’re in an elevator or something, listening to the theme music from “Friends.”

The title track, a tongue-in-cheek American anthem, features another fairly dated production technique: singing through lo-fi effects. YEAH, like you hear on all those K-Love commercials! Escalades and prosthetic surgery are the new apple pie and Chevrolet, so McCain sings:

Yes we’re lost in america/in this land we’re so proud of/we got the cars, the girls, the money, the drugs/to get you out of your rut.

“My Mystery” is probably the most rockin’ song on the CD, along with the closer, “Babylon” — another good tune.

One thing I noticed was how many fade-outs there are on the CD. I thought that was more of a couple-of-decades-ago thing.

Yeah so, I think I owe this guy an apology for the K-Love reference. I rushed to judgment on that one. He’s a good songwriter with a kind down-home quality, and the band is good. It just seems a little too radio-friendly, not really my cup of tea.

Threaten your mother’s life or something on your CD. Now, that’s entertainment!

The CD: “Wicked Little High” (Narada)
The Performer: Bird York
More: Click here.

Millions of viewers were first exposed to actress/singer/songwriter Bird York when she recently performed her Oscar-nominated song “In The Deep” at the Academy Awards. The dirge-like “In The Deep” is included in this collection of songs, but it’s hardly the highlight. York is an intriguing lyricist, but the music on this CD fails to do justice to her words. The tempo rarely breaks past a slow trot, and that leads to a sameness among the songs.

Even York’s take on the Sam and Dave classic, “Hold On, I’m Coming” suffers from a low-key approach, as though she’s trying to perform it in a manner that won’t wake anyone up. She has a very pretty voice, but it’s not terribly distinctive. The CD has an overdose of “Lilith-fair” styled production, with tepid arrangements that really don’t do anything to enhance the lyrics. It’s a little too laid back.

Exceptions are “Freedom,” which is one of the more uptempo cuts, and sports a catchy chorus. “Up In Flames” mixes things up a bit, with a funkier beat and more adventurous production. “Lovely Thing,” featuring a squeezebox and sitar, shows that York can mix things up with very nice results. In addition to the unorthodox instrumentation, this song features York’s best vocal performance. These songs hint at greater things in the future, should York hook up with a more diverse production team.

“Wicked Little High” is an okay CD. It’s very laid back, lacking much musical range among the songs. This is definitely a “Sunday morning” album, not something that you’d crank up in the car on a sunny afternoon while tooling down the interstate. Still, it’s lyrically interesting enough to make me want to hear her work in a less restricted context. Fans of Suzanne Vega or Loreena McKinnett may find a lot to enjoy here.

—By Rudy Pannuci

THE CD: “Show Your Bones” (Interscope)
PERFORMER: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
WEBSITE: Click here.
SUGGESTED TRACKS: “Cheated Hearts,” “Way Out,” “Phenomena,” “Gold Lion”
YOU’LL LIKE IT IF…: NYC art-house ballads with gnashing claws and teeth get your blood flowing.

Channeling the voice of a jilted lover on the song “Mysteries,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ singer Karen O., in her horny-nymph squeal, belts out over a hyper riff: “I don’t even know what it’s like not to go back to you.”

That’s more or less how I feel about the New York-based trio’s latest effort, “Show Your Bones.” No matter how many CDs I have floating around the car or teetering in boxless stacks on the dresser, I pop in this aural speedball (as in John Belushi, not Nolan Ryan). “Bones” lulls the listener into a happy stupor with tracks tantalizingly familiar to some really good pop song we can almost remember, then punches with the maniacal, shout-and-thrash garage-rock that fueled the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2003 album, “Fever to Tell.”

The dance-club grind of “Phenomena” drips of Gwen Stefani, with a few “Rock your body, y’all”s thrown in for effect. Seconds later, guitarist Nick Zinner whips out wild bends and vibrattos to a backdrop of blaring car alarms. Karen follows up with a ghostly moan. How very Eels.

An effective formula overall, but it comes of as half-cocked at times. One minute, the band curls up in the prickly blanket of UV-lit-basement metal on “Fancy” only to later connect with its inner-Sheryl Crow for the acoustic “The Sweets.”

What kind of album is this anyway?

A cynic could say the Yeah Yeah Yeahs saw the public’s fleeting infatuation with every band with “The” in front of its name, and spiked successful formulas with their own sound to play it safe without selling out.

Evidence: “Gold Lion,” although a good song, jumps on the making-noise-as-a-chorus train with veteran passengers Blur and Third Eye Blind. The Nena-esque “Cheated Hearts” smacks of the ’80s-pop resurgence headed by Franz Ferdinand and others.

But the Yeah Yeah Yeahs pump out enough attitude, distortion and screeching (not to mention super sexy) vocals to plant their own flag on familiar territory.

–by Morgan Kelly

THE CD: “At War With the Mystics” (Warner Bros.)
PERFORMER: The Flaming Lips
WEBSITE: Click here
IF YOU LIKE THE LIPS THEN YOU’RE GONNA LOVE . . . Sonic Youth, Wilco, Beck
Here’s what they’re saying: “Existential space-rock protest songs, commentaries about social responsibility and some really weird pop tunes” (so says a reviewer) and “Songs about life, death, and what it means to be alive” (so says lead singer Wayne Coyne).

So, yeah, I’ve been a fan of The Flaming Lips from the first time I heard their song “She Don’t Use Jelly” more than a decade ago. The Oklahoma City-based rockers have developed a reputation for their original mix of ball-trippin’, experimental, American acid rock.

If you are in the mood for a challenge, listen to their 4-disc set “Zaireeka” simultaneously. (That’s right, a la Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz.) The band — Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Michael Ivins — had a huge hit in “Do You Realize??” off 2002’s “Yoshima Battles the Pink Robots.”

“The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)” opens “Mystics” and is a zany upbeat number about the responsibilities of being in power. Coyne’s lyrics celebrate life and imagination, and, impugn the president’s and our choices alike. Coyne sings:

“It’s a very dangerous thing to do exactly what you want. If you could make everybody poor just so you could be rich would you do it? yeah yeah yeah yeah/yeah yeah yeah yeah. And so we cannot know ourselves for what we’d really do/with all your power.”

Phaser effects and squwakboxes make it trippy, so it’s good for you!

“The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)” is the first single off the CD, and probably the best song on the 12-song CD. Fuzzy synth riffs play over top of record-playing skip sounds. You like your phasers set to random pan, with a slicer effect over it? You’re in luck here.

Coyne has more socially conscious lyrics for you as well: “Time after time those fanatical monks try to rule all the world/tellin’ us all it’s them who is in charge of it all/I’ve got a trick/a magic stick that will make them all fall/we got the power now motherf*&*ers — that’s where it belongs.”

This CD has more of a ’70’s funk feel to it than “Yoshima” and doesn’t have as many really good, catchy songs, either. Reviewing a Lips CD can be tough, but I made it. These guys are a treat to listen to, take it from me. Any band that can incorporate a theremin and a bullhorn in to their live act is ok with me. As a P.S — try and find “The Kleptones vs. The Flaming Lips,” a mash-up remix of “Yoshima” featuring 50 Cent, Chuck D, and others. Thanks, MarkT. It’s cool.

— By Nick Harrah