Dig These Discs: Amos Lee, Celine Dion, Crystal Castles, Cass McCombs, Cassius

The French electronica duo Cassius teams up with Pharrell Williams, Cat Power, Mike D, Ryan Tedder, John Gourley, The Man and Jaw for their new album, "Ibifornia," a mash-up of Ibiza and California. Philadelphia Singer/songwriter Amos Lee has moved on from Blue Note, and releases his sixth full-length album this month, a baker's dozen of folksy rock hits. Crystal Castles, the experimental electronic band from Toronto, releases their fourth studio album, the follow-up to their 2012 album. The band is known for their chaotic live shows and visceral homemade productions. Alt-folk songwriter Cass McCombs releases his full-length album "Mangy Love," twelve solo tracks that mark his debut on his new label, ANTI-Records. Canada's most famous chanteuse Celine Dion releases her new French-language album, "Encore Un Soir," dedicated it to her late husband, Ren� Ang�lil, who died in January 2016.

"Ibifornia" (Cassius)

The French electronica duo Cassius teams up with Pharrell Williams, Cat Power, Mike D, Ryan Tedder, John Gourley, The Man and Jaw for their new album, "Ibifornia," a mash-up of Ibiza and California. It's their first album since 2006, and in 10 excellent tracks, they blend underground house and that easygoing Cali vibe. Ryan Tedder and Jaw help make their first track, "The Missing," a booty-shaker of epic proportions. Mike D raps on "Love Parade," which brings the disco sound of Donna Summer back to the forefront, with the cutline, "Lost my mind in paradise." He sticks around for the nine-minute track "Action," teaming up with Cat Power to have some fun singing, "when you see a woman doing her thing... don't you, don't you do," backed by excellent conga drums. "Everybody, close your eyes, ascend, go up," Cat Power and Pharrell Williams urge in the squiggly dance cut, "Go Up." There's not much more to the song -- and there doesn't need to be, it's that catchy. Jungle sounds and drums rule the title track, another nine-minute stunner that builds slow and crams a lot in there to keep your feet moving, including loads of spoken echo track, ending with the quip, "Ibifornia is inside every one of us." After this trip, it will be! Ryan Tedder comes back for "Hey You," with its poppy vocals and drum cascades. Cat Power slows things down in the excellent jam, "Feel Like Me," all about starting over, exhorting, "let me go; this don't feel like me." John Gourley of Portugal. The Man brings a totally different, '90s feel to the funky, sultry "Blue Jean Smile," and Jaw adds song and spoken word to "The Sound of Love." They end things with "Ponce," an arrhythmic mash-up of soft sounds and hard beats that will leave you wondering what these cats are up to. Vive la difference!�
(Interscope Records/Polydor/UMG Germany)

"Amnesty" (Crystal Castles)

Crystal Castles, the experimental electronic band from Toronto, releases their fourth studio album, the follow-up to their 2012 album. The band is known for their chaotic live shows and visceral homemade productions. Songwriter/producer Ethan Kath releases 12 tracks of sonic range, from gothic electronic paeans to distorted digital raves, from cinematic synth and noise crescendos to hip-hop and trap infused synth pop, it is uniformly compelling, uncompromising and anchored in feeling. Edith Frances has taken over from former vocalist Alice Glass, and her trancelike soprano adds a lot to this study in trip-hop. The intro "Femen" cedes to the techno-caustic cut "Fleece," and Frances' high voice adds a lot to "Char." Kath goes back to rapid-fire techno with "Enth" and adds distorted synthesizers to "Sadist." There's an uncomfortable amount of cackling and bleating in "Teach Her How to Hunt" and Glass' soft voice is matched with eardrum-scathing distortion in "Chloroform." "Frail" is anchored by a cool bass line, and mercifully, "Ornament" ratchets things down for a second. A mishmash loop of Glass' voice provides the quirky sound of "Kept," and they finish the album off with "Their Kindness is Charade," a sonorous, otherworldy tune. Crystal Castles hits the road on September 6 with dates in the South before heading to Texas, California, and points west, returning to the East Coast in October.
(Casablanca Records)

"Mangy Love" (Cass McCombs)

Alt-folk songwriter Cass McCombs releases his full-length album "Mangy Love," twelve solo tracks that mark his debut on his new label, ANTI-Records. He kicks things off with "Bum Bum Bum," a cut that sounds like what might happen if The Police's hit "Roxanne" rear-ended a Joni Mitchell tune. He gets grotty, with echo pedal and electric guitar, in Sky Ferreira's "Rancid Girl" with help from Blake Mills, singing about a girl who "tells the young warming stream from the hole where God threw her teeth." McCombs gets a funky '70s vibe out of "Laughter Is the Best Medicine," which slides right into the soft rock of his everything's mixed up "Opposite House," featuring the wunderkind Angel Olsen. The stylized track "Medusa's Outhouse" has McCombs asking you to help him to remember to forget, as he stretches the higher limits of his soprano range. Although he's known for his wit, passion imbues McCombs strummer "Low Flying Bird" as he sings, "Black suspenders and high-heeled walk, a painted mouth that says it wants to talk/ The offer's made and it's hard to miss/ but bear in mind that you're running a risk with those low-flying birds." He sings low and sultry like a young Mick Jagger in "Cry." He avows, "Justice is blind and a woman to boot, these boots are made for marching and that's justice too," in the reggae-influenced "Run Sister Run." In January, he finds a naked girl "In A Chinese Alley" in this fast-moving New Wave cut, and meanders through "It," a melancholy ballad in the style of Pink Floyd. He turns her on like a "Switch" in one disco-tinged track, and finishes the album with "I'm A Shoe," a naval-gazer with lyrics like, "goodbye good people, you can't help me anymore, I'm going down for sure." McCombs embarked on a European and North American tour in June to promote the album.
(ANTI-Records)

"Spirit" (Amos Lee)

Philadelphia Singer/songwriter Amos Lee has moved on from Blue Note, and releases his sixth full-length album this month, a baker's dozen of R&B, folksy rock hits. This bluesy, big-voiced singer seduces from the beginning with "New Love," singing, "Softer than the summer sun across my window, oh she's lying there... round and round this carousel, I'm am underneath her spell." He'll seduce you, too. "Lord have mercy!" he sings in the spiritual-influenced "Running Out of Time," which has the similar sound as the classic, "The Weight, (Take a Load Off Annie)." In "Spirit," he's trying to be the bigger man, and in "Lost Child," he gets a funky vibe, with accompanying percussion. The electric guitar whines in the soulful "Highways and Clouds," as he sings "I'm from the badlands, raised up by hard hands/ You can't feel your face when the wind makes you numb." He gets a country vibe out of "Lightly," singing about a girl he met on a Tuesday, and took out on Friday, and the soulful, sadomasochistic cut "Hurt Me." "One Lonely Light" and "Wait Up For Me" are melancholy acoustic strummers. You'll feel the soul in your bones when Lee sings about waiting for his love, "Til You Come Back Through." From left field, we get the R&B cut "Vaporize," with its theatrical instrumentation, followed by the excellent track "Walls," which gives listeners a chance to marvel at Amos' high vocal range. He finishes an excellent album with the folksy love tune, "With You," featuring excellent strings. If Aretha Franklin were born a man, Amos Lee might be the result. He hits the road this fall, with a North American tour that already boasts some sold-out dates. Catch this soulful fellow when he comes to an arena near you!
(John Varvatos Records/Republic Records)

"Encore Un Soir" (Celine Dion)

Canada's most famous chanteuse Celine Dion releases her new French-language album, "Encore Un Soir," and promises to give us "One More Night" of thrills. It's her first French album in four years, and she's dedicated it to her late husband, Ren� Ang�lil, who died in January 2016. She kicks things off with the smooth acoustic guitar track "Plus qu'ailleurs." The album is a mix of pop-rock guitar songs, piano ballads and even a few hip-hop stylings. It explores the themes of loss, bereavement, family, and the joys of life. "L'etoile" has a quick, upbeat sound, while "Ma faille" is an emotive, hopeful cut. In the title track, "Encore Un Soir," written by Jean-Jacques Goldman, she pleads for one more night, one more hour, admitting that, "when we live too beautifully, too strongly, we forget that time passes by." Dion's voice is impassioned in the beautiful ballad "Je nous veux," and gets poppy in "Les yeux au ciel," with its busker claps and fast-moving melody. The suspense mounts as "Si c'etait a refraire" runs up the scales, showing the full range of Dion's vocal prowess. It includes a cover a Quebec singer Robert Charlebois' grand ballad "Ordinaire," celebrating her heritage, as well as a remastered version of Dion's "Trois heures vingt" from her 1984 studio album "Melanie." There's also a song from a fan -- Quebec actor Daniel Picard -- whose voice is featured in the video game Assassin's Creed. "Tu sauras" has an excellent hip-hop beat, and "Toutes ces chos" will break your heart, even if you don't understand French. The cadence is poppy in "Le Bonheur en face." Dion finishes up the album with the spare, beautiful ballad, "A la plus haute branche." Fans of Dion 'en ingles' won't have to wait long. Earlier this summer, she told Entertainment Tonight that she's "already starting to work on an English album." Bon chance!
(Columbia Records)