ELVIS COSTELLO - Momofuku Review

Originally Momofuku was going to be released only on vinyl and digital download, an expression of Elvis Costello's frustration with the State of the Record Industry in 2008, but those plans soon changed, turning the album into a standard release yet not removing a sense of confusion surrounding its sudden appearance, as it arrived just after Costello publicly swore off ever recording again (or performing in the U.K., but that's another matter for another time). The very title of the record was a source of mystery, as it was suggested that it could perhaps be named after David Chang's string of N.Y.C. restaurants, but Costello clarified the situation by explaining that he and Chang shared a similar love of Momofuku Ando, the man who invented cup noodles....full text How does Elvis Costello do it? In the past four years alone, pop's reigning renaissance man has released a killer rock album ("The Delivery Man"), an eloquent collaboration with New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint ("The River in Reverse"), and a live recording with a Dutch jazz orchestra ("My Flame Burns Blue").

Today Costello gives us "Momofuku," titled in tribute to the inventor of the Cup Noodle, and this collection goes down as easy and tasty as its namesake's ingenious snack. Costello and the Imposters recorded and mixed the whole project in a week, inspired by a fast, loose session he sang on for Jenny Lewis's forthcoming album. And Lewis returns the favor, supplying harmonies all over "Momofuku," which is frontloaded with the sort of whip-smart, rough-and-tumble pop songs the artist built his name on....full text Why can't Elvis Costello act his age (53) and settle into that elder rock statesman mode -- you know, take it easy and putter around and put out a new record every couple of years?

In the last decade or so, the hyperactive renegade has recorded, let's see, a classical dance score and a live jazz-rock collection, a set of orchestrated art-pop, collaborations with Burt Bacharach and Allen Toussaint, jazz pianist Marian McPartland and soprano Anne-Sofie von Otter....full text