ALBUM
Disclosure, "Caracal" (Island)
There have been other eccentric English electronic-duo brothers who used top-tier vocalists to make their wonky sample-based melodies emotive. Yet there's something special about Howard and Guy Lawrence, the team behind Disclosure. With an arsenal of dubstep, garage and house, Disclosure's first album, 2013's "Settle," was a sampladelic, melodic, dance-floor smash that introduced Brit crooner Sam Smith. Rather than rest on its laurels (besides using Smith to give "Omen" his tender touch), Disclosure uses fewer samples, makes its electro grooves downbeat and tactile and keeps each track filled with the human voice. Hence, "Caracal" is more of a sensualist exercise. There are still fast-paced house tracks. Howard Lawrence sings on speedy mixes such as "Jaded," and Nao, a British singer-songwriter, touches on the subject of "Ego" with a silken disco flicker. Yet it's the slower cuts and name-brand singers that do best, especially the Weeknd, who turns "Nocturnal" into a sexy, sleepy dream.
A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia Inquirer
STREAMING video
Director Danny Clinch blends breathtaking landscapes of Red Rocks Amphitheater with concert shots of My Morning Jacket in "Compound Fracture." tinyurl.com/phgcpdt
