Local spins

Joe Myers
‘Troubled Notes from the Hotel Chelsea’

“Troubled?”

Here and there in the nooks of Tempe native Joe Myers’ artful artifact from his pre- and post-9/11 days haunting the rooms of New York’s Chelsea Hotel, we get hints of the moodier stuff, the messages of desperation never intended — but always implied — in peppy postcards back home.

Mostly, “Troubled Notes from the Hotel Chelsea” an album of bright, exploratory instrumental songs done on Myers’ alternately-tuned acoustic guitar and his newest baby, a 1918 “harp guitar,” with extra resonant bass strings that add greater depth to tunes that already sound like exotic Bela Fleck musings performed by plucky Ani DiFranco for the wintery Windham Hill label. His skilled but playful fingers create fine aural poetry.

On scattered vocal tracks, Myers’ singing is unaffected and plain, like ’90s group Dada, and his lyrics (in tunes such as “Fruit” and “Silver Shoe Lou”) seem jejune in the wake of meaty instrumentals like the rainy-day “Asphalt” and midnight serenade “Rode the Elevator with Jesus.”

Fans of lush acoustic guitar music should have no trouble with Myers’ latest album and those expecting 9/11-inspired melancholy from the disc will be pleasantly surprised by its softhearted dreaminess. A-

— by Chris Page

Magnum P.I.e
‘Undercovers’

Hip-hop artist Pie Gomez raps that he’s the Eminem that never made it on his new solo album’s opening track, “Don’t Forget About Me” — fitting considering he’s been struggling to make a name for himself for the last several years.

Although he has a little ways to go before he becomes the next Slim Shady, his sophomore solo release “Undercovers” — which finds him continuing his experiments with funk and electronic beats while adding a new punk edge — is certainly an indication that he's on the right track.

The former Cousins of the Wize MC displays a sense of humor on the hip-hop skate song “Throw Your Vans in the Air” and wears his heart on his sleeve for the melodious “You’re Not Alone,” an ode to former bandmate and partner-in-rhyme, Chris “C.P.T.” Pangrazi, who died last year in a car accident. But at times, the album grows a little tiring, such as the interlude where he samples a Speak ’N Spell toy, a maneuver too many artists have done before. Still, when he sings “This is my last shot at music/I hope you all find it and I hope I don’t lose it” on “Just Walk Away,” you can’t help but hope he perseveres. B

— by Kelly Wilson