Emitting energy from every note, syllable, and beat, Lucky to be Alive succeeds by showing that Braid is not one of those “new material only” live bands.
This Portland, OR power trio is a better live band than you’d deduct from this disc. Bio claims aside, they don’t sound much like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
Although Speed is more popular, the J-Pop group you should check out first is Max. Like Speed, they’re cute young teens with irresistible, upbeat songs.
Beck, always one to throw a change-up, slips into the cracks and becomes glorified in the public’s eye as the pop-culture-cuisenart-cum-disco-soul-jester.
Before this, I’d already gone to Musicmaker.com and customized my own two-CD set of Beastie Boys stuff. The labels played it too safe, but they always do.