Trey Anastasio’s Solo Debut Is Pretty Phishy

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TREY ANASTASIO

“Trey Anastasio”

Elektra

Phish fans would likely follow band leader Anastasio anywhere--after all, they went for last year’s messy experiments with his Oysterhead collaboration with Les Claypool and Stewart Copeland. He takes them to a few new places on this solo debut (due in stores Tuesday), breaking from his regular band’s rock quartet format by employing a horn section, some Afro-Caribbean rhythms and full orchestrations in a few places.

With the African percolation of the 11-minute workout “Last Tube,” he transcends the basic jam formula with a solid groove, although he’s no Paul Simon or David Byrne, let alone Fela Kuti. On another front, two instrumentals showcase his guitarist and arranger skills; the lovely “At the Gazebo” is the highlight, milking genteel Southern brass for an idyllic chamber vibe.

Still, the album is marked throughout by familiar Phish characteristics: breezy whimsy in words and melodies, unassuming but not commanding singing, and organic ensemble playing featuring Anastasio’s fluid guitar solos. Such songs as the opening “Alive Again” merely sound like Phish with horns, while the tropical-flavored “Cayman Review” could almost pass for a Glenn Frey frat-party tune. Faring better are “Mr. Completely,” mixing punchy playing and a sunny, psychedelic aura, and the low-key ballads “Flock of Words” and “Ray Dawn Balloon.”

All in all, this should satisfy Phish fans looking for a fix during the band’s current hiatus--if a second set of six full Phish concert recordings also being released now isn’t enough. But the new tricks aren’t likely to make any converts.

--Steve Hochman

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THE PROMISE RING

“Wood/Water”

Anti

Indie rock hasn’t always been so warm and fuzzy. But the Promise Ring is like that, stepping ever further from its emo-core roots and into something a lot more early Beach Boys than Fugazi. On “Wood/Water,” the Milwaukee rock quintet aims for sophisticated pop from the dark side, neither about screaming life nor navel-gazing. The angst here is real and manageable.

Recorded in England with producer Stephen Street (Blur, Morrissey), the album follows a two-year layoff while singer-guitarist Davey von Bohlen recovered from a noncancerous brain tumor. The result is a kind of earnest melancholy, focused mainly on romance and small human struggles, as Von Bohlen sings, “I’m just happy you stuck around” in a voice both fragile and intimate.

His raspy, distorted vocals are set against upbeat guitar pop on “Size of Your Life” and the light and breezy “Wake Up April.” There are occasional flourishes of slide guitar, while “Say Goodbye Good” brings things to an epic peak with a gospel flavor and spacey effects that could have been lifted from the Steve Miller Band.

The Promise Ring does blow up with crashing guitars once or twice, but the overall feel remains muffled and downhearted, with all those rough edges still sounding like the beating of a broken heart.

--Steve Appleford

***1/2

MARACA

“Tremenda Rumba!”

Ahi-Nama

Cuban music, like Cuba itself, has people divided into often conflicting camps. There’s the traditional Buena Vista contingent. The progressive timba wing of groups such as Los Van Van. The rootsy rumba regiment led by Munequitos de Matanzas. And Irakere’s vanguard of Latin jazz.

On his accomplished new album, flutist Orlando Valle, nicknamed “Maraca,” makes a remarkably effective attempt at pulling these diverse musical forces together. By inviting top musicians from various genres to join his core band, Otra Vision (Another Vision), Maraca offers a sweeping portrait of contemporary Cuban dance music, as colorful and lively (and occasionally busy) as the mural art commissioned for the cover.

Don’t let the title (which translates as “terrific party”) mislead you. This is far from a folkloric album, although Havana’s acclaimed rumba group Yoruba Andabo is featured prominently on a few fiery tracks. Maraca’s music is mostly modern, upbeat and danceable, always executed with the skilled musicianship you’d expect of this veteran of the seminal Irakere.

In its desire to please all tastes, this fusion seems overly commercial at times, as with its catchy but simplistic coros (choral refrains). Yet in throwing up a big musical tent, Maraca shows how universally inviting Cuban music can be if everybody just tried to get along.

--Agustin Gurza

In Brief

*** C-Murder, “Tru Dawgs,” D3. Doubling as the New Orleans rapper’s fifth album as well as the first compilation he’s spearheaded, this gritty, 17-cut collection features C-Murder (who’s awaiting trial in Louisiana on second-degree murder charges) and a host of friends delivering a strong batch of street-based narratives. Guest Snoop Dogg flows like a gangster godfather on the sublime “Dogged Her Out,” while Mia X mixes partying with sex on the bouncy “They Wanna Pay for It.” C-Murder and his “Dawgs” have plenty of bite.

--Soren Baker

*** Quarashi, “Jinx,” Time Bomb/Columbia. Not everything from Iceland is arty Bjork or airy Sigur Ros. Straight outta Reykjavik comes a foursome evoking Rage Against the Machine and Cypress Hill. The ensemble rapping on this U.S. debut is enthusiastically old-school boasting in the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC style (“I’m not even from America / But I will bury ya’” goes one line), but they freshen it with wit and substance (they name-check Euripides!) and some solid, even sweet singing. And on “Tarfur,” they rap in Icelandic.

--S.H.

*** Fine China, “You Make Me Hate Music,” Tooth & Nail. Funny where 1980s Great Britain shows up these days. Amid melancholic guitar sweeps and perhaps an overdose of breathiness, this Phoenix-based foursome constructs improbably blithesome anthems full of Smiths echoes and delivered at the pace of “Out of Time”-era R.E.M. Next thing you know, the London Bridge will materialize in the middle of the desert.

--Kevin Bronson

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.