Mojo anyone?

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050924/SCENE04/509240331/1011/SCENE

My (new) Morning Jacket
By Paul Curry
Special to The Courier-Journal

While it isn't likely to score a lead review in any prominent American music magazine (because said magazines are little more than publicity tools designed to help sell records selected by corporate suit monkeys), Louisville's My Morning Jacket is front and center with a five-star review for its upcoming album, "Z," in this month's Mojo, a British import.

In part, reviewer Keith Cameron explains, "Most contemporary rock is either scared of dealing in such cosmic currency, and thus contents itself with (at best) able pastiche of the blues/new wave/whatever, or else is so fixated on the brass ring that commercial expediency is all it knows. But with 'Z,' five guys from Kentucky have revived big music's pulse and given true believers a reason to smile again."
  
In a mini-interview with Cameron, MMJ's Jim James explained, "Doing this latest record I'd been more into hip-hop and R&B, and weird sounds. So I wanted to incorporate more of a rhythmic element. I didn't want to make a rap record, 'cause that would be kind of ridiculous. But I love that kind of music and I wanted to bring it in, to find another way, to not keep making the same record."

It has been something of an accepted criticism that the band's major label debut, "It Still Moves," was a musical rehash of ideas presented on its first two albums. For "Z," the band utilized a producer for the first time -- John Leckie, whose resume begins with a credit as tape operator for George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" -- and has made a record that anyone familiar with MMJ may "struggle to recognize" as the work of the band they know, according to Cameron.

Tickets for a Thanksgiving eve performance with VHS or Beta at the Louisville Palace will go on sale at noon next Saturday. Tickets will be available at the Palace box office, www.ticketmaster.com, TicketMaster outlets or (502) 361-3100.