Listening Station: Guitar Shorty, Young Heart Attack, Sahara Hotnights, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, The Orb

Guitar Shorty

Watch Your Back

Even if you are well-acquainted with the blues, you may not know about Guitar Shorty. Although Shorty puts on a legendary live show, during which he once did somersaults and cartwheels in the aisles, he has not spent much time in the studio over the past 45 years. In fact, after a brief period recording singles in the late '50s alongside Willie Dixon and Otis Rush, and a two-year stint touring with Ray Charles, he didn't release his first full album until 1991. And he didn't really find his recording groove until this year with the release of Watch Your Back.

Considering the blistering guitar work and soulful vocals on this album, it's a crime that Shorty hasn't been able to devote more time to recording over the past four decades. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Shorty has a true rock 'n' roll heart. Every song on Watch Your Back kicks ass, combining the energy of Chuck Berry with the artistry of Jimi Hendrix (to whom Shorty was an inspiration and to whom he was related after marrying Jimi's stepsister). This is best exemplified on the red-hot rockers "I'm Gonna Leave You" and "Old School." Relentless is an apt word for Shorty's approach, a tactic that no doubt has driven his live audiences into a frenzy over the years. "Get Busy" is a bouncy blues figure that showcases Shorty's nimble fretwork, while "Let My Guitar Do the Talking" brings to mind Stevie Ray Vaughn. The highlight is Shorty's high-voltage rendition of the Elvis Presley ditty "A Little Less Conversation." Shorty twists this sugary confection into a china-shop bull.

Watch Your Back should transform Guitar Shorty from cult club figure to mainstream blues rocker.--Geoff Schumacher

Guitar Shorty plays Sept. 2 at Boulder Station's Railhead Saloon.

Young Heart Attack

Mouthful of Love

All you have to know about Young Heart Attack is that it re-creates the intro to the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" almost verbatim on "Starlite"--the second track on its major label debut, Mouthful of Love. While this may give rock purists a bad case of authenticitis, the result is the most ultra-super-bitchingest garage-rock blusterfuck you'll hear all summer. After all, if you're going to pinch a riff from a band, the Who is as good a band as any, and Young Heart Attack uses it to carve out a stick of bubblegum hard rock that keeps its flavor long after the first chew. Most of the credit for this goes to singer Jennifer Stephens, whose elastic wail bounces off singer/guitarist Chris Hodge like a superball in an empty gymnasium. Just imagine the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde fronting for the MC5. (Young Heart Attack even covers the Motor City quintet's "Over and Over" on Mouthful of Love.) It's music equally suited for shotgunning beers over your kitchen sink or knocking boots on a skeezy mattress in the back of a friend's El Camino. Isn't that all we can ask of rock?--Newt Briggs

Sahara Hotnights

Kiss & Tell

Of the 20 or so acts I caught at last May's Coachella festival near Palm Springs, Sahara Hotnights were by far the least compelling of them all. This foursome has benefited from the interest of all things garage, '80s-retro and Swedish, but it's yet to overcome its mere competency. Kiss & Tell, its first for RCA and third album overall, sees the post-punk girls at their slickest and tightest, but as a result, they project less identity. The synth-kissed tunes "Who Do You Dance For?" and "Empty Heat" actually bring to mind SH's countrymates the Sounds, who don't exactly exude originality either, but at least Sounds singer Maja Ivarsson provides the band with personality. Neither SH lead singer Maria Andersson nor the backing vocals--harmonic as they may be--offers any level of attitude or vigor. But most notably, their songs simply don't stick. They, like their creators, are sadly without much character or charm.--Mike Prevatt

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra

Who Is This America?

The rap on the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra has always been that it borrows a little too liberally from funky-soul renegade Fela Kuti. Not that the 14-piece Brooklyn collective makes any bones about its artistic debt to the legendary Nigerian bandleader who once married 27 women simultaneously and then declared his house a sovereign nation. Rather, Antibalas references him with every one of its frenzied horn blasts and runaway organ riffs. But on Who Is This America?, Antibalas finally steps out from Kuti's massive shadow and delivers a record that explodes like the first Molotov cocktail of the revolution. Gone are the truncated jams of 2002's Talkatif; in their place are a half-dozen hot-blooded funk workouts that denounce war and corporate greed over a riotous orgy of congas, trumpets, saxophones, guitars and bass. Like a possessed dancer, the music strains and writhes--always threatening to spin out of control but holding firm and teetering on the precipitous edge of ecstasy. On stage, Antibalas is a blur of robes and dashikis and righteous anger, but this is the kind of album that will make you reconsider velvet as a fashion accessory. It's also proof that if music is in fact going to save our mortal soul, it's going to do it with style.--Newt Briggs

The Orb

Bicycles & Tricycles

English electronic act the Orb has done its damnedest to avoid categorization for the past 15 years, and its seventh album, Bicycles & Tricycles, is a continuation of that career-long directive. Led as usual by figurehead Alex Patterson, the Orb finds ways to tweak the classic house formula and either make it more abrasive or more soothing--or, more often than not, do both simultaneously. Most of the album's foundation is Brian Eno-esque synth flourishes, usually decorated with a variety of approaches ranging from emceeing (thanks to guests The Corporal and Soom-T) and the usual vocal samples (see "Land of Green Ginger") to shuffling, steady breaks ("Hell's Kitchen") and manipulated, slowed-down dub ("Tower 23"). Patterson and company still provide pure headphone escapade that's more contemplative than absorbing, though it's certainly more connective than 2001's cantankerous Cydonia. Even with more focused arrangements and palpable rhythms, it may not be enough for impatient music listeners. For Orb fans, however, Bicycles & Tricycles could be considered a return to form.--Mike Prevatt