El Bronx
Mariachi El Bronx II
ATO

The Bronx are back…er…excuse me…El Bronx, the LA band’s mariachi alter ego, are back with Mariachi El Bronx II, their second album of Mexican ditties perfect for serenading your punk rock sweetheart. Anyone concerned that this mariachi thing was some kind of gringo gimmick can worry about something else because there hasn’t been a proper Bronx album in three years; the sounds of the street now echo with trumpet blasts and maraca shakes, hand claps and classical acoustics, rolled tongues and accordion cries, and love lorn luchadores line the gutters amid crushed roses and empty tequila bottles. Like The Bronx before them, El Bronx have proven that music, no matter the form it takes or the genre it embodies, is most effective when delivered with the right attitude, and this band, mariachi or otherwise, has got that in spades. II is a celebration of life, love, and loss, is at once romantic, bittersweet, and bold, and will sweep you off your feet, taking you from barrio to bullfighting ring, stopping to kiss the hand of every mistress you’ve ever had the misfortune of knowing along the way.

Listen to “48 Roses” from Mariachi El Bronx II!

Jeremy Irons & The Ratgang Malibus
Bloom
Transubstans Records

It might be a little tough to get by the name, but once you accept the fact that Jeremy Irons & The Ratgang Malibus isn’t the title of a long lost Hardy Boys mystery novel in which sleuthing teenage brothers Frank and Joe Hardy spoil an international spy ring led by an award-winning British actor and his band of no-good, rich, white skaters from the coast, and that they are indeed a loose n’ groovy psych-rock band from Stockholm, Sweden, then things suddenly become mystically boss. Bloom, their second album and first on label Transubstans after self-releasing their 2007 debut Elefanta, is an incredibly soulful jam that focuses the majority of its attention on delivering its hazy, swirling melodies in a clear and present manner instead of burying them behind layers of fuzz and mud like most acid trippers are apt to do; songs like the organ-fried clock-melters “Skin Deep” and “IAOA” are propelled by an earthy, bluesy force, “Tales of the Future” and “Cosmo Tropic” require some serious hip shakes before that third eye of yours will open, and the Zeppelin-esque “Fernando” might one day replace “Stairway to Heaven” as the last song at Swedish proms. But where JI&TRM really excel is, believe it or not, in their ability to channel the amplified love of Jeff Buckley, as “Elefanta,” “Golden Hours,” and the title track each swell with an unnervingly delicate beauty reminiscent of the late musician’s sound, elevating Bloom beyond a trippy rock n’ roll record into something much more magical. Highly recommended.

Listen to “Golden Hours” from Bloom!

D.S. Yancey
Salt the Earth & Fill Your Hands
Thinker Thought Records

So, who the hell is D.S. Yancey? Well, he’s a trucker. Actually, he’s a trucker with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, so I guess that makes him a blue collar troubadour of sorts. He’s the kind of bare naked and broken folk singer who tells stories of love, loss, and the people and places who fill the American landscape. Salt the Earth & Fill Your Hands, the Phoenix singer’s second album, is a musical travelogue, a bittersweet scrapbook filled with heroes, losers, Jesus, hard times, bad luck, the rape of the land, life on the road, and the belief that the oft-dismal pursuit of the American dream means just gettin’ by as best you can. The songs ramble with a country n’ punk soul, Yancey’s voice straining with the emotion of a man who’s seen it all but is still struggling to understand it, and, despite their occasions of misanthropy (or perhaps because of them), provide an abundance of comfort in their dusty truth. If he hasn’t yet, Yancey really ought to be mentioned in the same breath as singer/songwriters like Tim Barry, Chuck Ragan, Cranford Nix, and Jay Bennett. D.S. Yancey, then, is a trucker with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, headed down the highway that leads to glory.

Listen to “Barstow To Vegas” from Salt the Earth & Fill Your Hands!