Party Favours and Headphones

 

First of all, thank you, Bob, for the title to this post.  It's a perfect fit.  I'm using the UK spelling for a reason, and you will understand once you hear this record.  Now this, boys and girls, is psychedelic.  For the old hippie in each of you, I present Tame Impala "Innerspeaker."  It's got every 60's era studio trick in the book that bands like the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin used:  reverb, feedback, distortion, phase shifts, echo chamber, etc..  This really reminds me most of Ozric Tentacles with vocals which, at times, come off like tweaked John Lennon.  It's pre-"Dark Side"...Pink Floyd crossed with such shoegazers like Blur, the Charlatans, the Stone Roses, all enveloped in a foggy haze of smoke-induced smiles.  Trippy bass lines and manic drumming a la early Sweet or the Who form the frame for the guitar work, which has a tiny bit of fellow Australians, Wolfmother, in the fabric.  Did I mention psychedelic?  The new video for "Lucidity" is from a camera attached to a weather balloon, released from a spot where the band is set up in the desert somewhere, going up up up into the clouds, then crashing back to the ground where a vulture ambles into focus to take a look.  Yes, kids, spark one up!  The band will soon be in the states for a few dates in major metropolitan cities and eclectic music venues, but none within a thousand miles of me, so somebody out there please go see them and let me know the experience.  Here is a live video  from 2009 to give you an idea of what to expect.  And yes, they are KIDS, about the same age as many of my known readers' offspring!

Los Lobos "Tin Can Trust"

Everybody needs a Los Lobos record in their collection, and I don't mean La Bamba.  It was destiny that I picked this up.  I happened to be rooting through the "K" and "L" shelf of the Top 500 and ran across their 2002 release "Good Morning Aztlan".  Thought I would play the bonus enhanced CD for kicks.  A few days later on the satellite station, up pops one of that album's tracks.  Next thing you know, they are playing the AARP Convention here in town (certainly upping the coolness factor).  So I took all the hints and added this to the vault.  I'd have to go to the file to be sure, but I believe this is my third Lobos record out of their fourteen or so, and I also have one of the side project Latin Playboys CD's.  One of the members, Steve Berlin, will be on many albums you own from the last twenty years as a session man or producer, such as R.E.M., Paul Simon, Dixie Chicks, Gregg Allman, the Tragically Hip, etc..  In the mid-80's, The Lobos were big buddies with T-Bone Burnett, so having him as a friend and producer says mucho about their studio prowess.  All of their albums are sonic studio precision, blending rock, blues, R&B, and Latin inspirations into topical, traditional, or even Disney tunes!  There wouldn't be a Los Lonely Boys without Los Lobos... 
"Tin Can" is a typical LL album as described earlier.  A variety of story lines based in our economic funk, tucked into the standard aural stew, punctuated by dual guitars...perfection in headphones.  You don't get invited to play Clapton's Crossroads concert unless you're a top notch axe wielder.  And if you didn't know better, you'd think Steve Winwood was guest vocalizing on a couple of tracks.  I found this live video of the title track.  Now that's the kind of live setting the Ol' Mad Rocker likes!

Ray LaMontagne & the Pariah Dogs "God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise"

My first encounter with Ray LaMontagne was 2006 when "Be Here Now" played on my satellite station while I was creating dinner in the kitchen.  I stopped chopping, listened, and ran into the living room to see who it was.  Bought the album the next day and been a fan since.  I like the fact that his records are different stylistically to a degree.  "God Willin'..." is Ray Goes Country with plenty of Nashville influence, lots of pedal steel guitar and banjo.  Hey, Country sells product as well as anything out there, but what I've noted is how Country has become more pop and rock influenced to do so, which makes a strong case for the current trend of pop music leaning on country influences.  LaMontagne has also produced himself this time, but he obviously learned well from Ethan Johns, who's worked with names like Hiatt, Stills, Crosby, Nicks, Ronstadt...need I continue?  My favorite tracks on this album are the two six+ minute songs, "Rock and Roll Radio" (the lyrics speak volumes) and "Repo Man".  Click the link for a live rendition of the song from the tour.  The audio is lacking but ramp up the video setting to one of the HD versions.  Also do a little search for the videos from the Jools Holland program if you aren't too familiar with his music.  My ears hear Joe Cocker as a heavy influence, but I've not seen anyone else make the same determination.  I also hear a little Roger Chapman every now and then.  Who, you ask?  He was a singer in the 70's for a couple of bands I liked, Family and Streetwalkers.  But my favorite comparison for Ray L. would be this generations' Cat Stevens.

Blitzen Trapper live in Orlando w/Avi Buffalo

Really glad to have the time and opportunity to be able to attend this show (thanks Rob @ WPRK), knowing that their newest album will be in my Top 5 of the year, but where was everyone else?  My neighbor Frank and I got a late start for the show, so arriving around 10:15 I fully expected to get in just as they were starting their set, having to elbow our way through the packed house to get a drink at the bar and then commandeer a couple of square feet of floor space.  I was soooooo wrong and very disappointed.  Waltzed right up to the bar with little resistance and barely bumped into the first human crossing the room.  Avi Buffalo was still on stage for their set and there may have been fifteen people in the pit watching.  This is a young band with some serious national buzz!  People were actually able to stay seated at the bar and see them play.  Unbelievable.  We moved into the pit during the set change and were joined by maybe thirty people for Blitzen's set.  No jostling, pushing, and certainly no stage diving, as there were plenty of warning signs restricting that activity.  Good thing because you could have killed yourself splatting on the concrete floor if you attempted to fly into this "crowd."  There is a 10-minute video on the web from last year's stop at the Social and damn sure more people at that show than Friday's.  No wonder they came back to town.  Doubt they will again.  Techno music bleeding through the walls from Tabu, but they joked about it, even mimicking a synth line in true mocking fashion.  Couldn't even see the acoustic guitarist on stage left until frontman Eric Earley cracked wise about it, forcing a "house technician" to come out and adjust the lighting with a stick, for crying out loud!  My neighbor guestimated about 200 people at the outset, and I thought that was generous, but the numbers dwindled as the 65-minute set proceeded, so I wasn't surprised when they closed the final song and headed off stage, the front door opened and most of the remaining attendees filed out onto Orange Ave.  A gallant few urged for an encore but why bother?  OK, I realize that the two bands are Left Coast natives, and Orlando was their furthest tour stop to the southeast, but there should have been a better turnout from the faithful.  The only terrestrial radio station playing either band would be WPRK, but I heard one of the DJ's earlier in the week talking up the show but couldn't play any of the music because the CD's were in limbo, either misfiled in the library or, most likely, lifted "temporarily" by one of the staff. 
Suffice it to say that both Avi Buffalo (who played as a three-piece...I think they have four members) and Blitzen Trapper were consummate professionals, playing enlightened sets when they could have thrown out a "C" grade performance.  Here is a link to a BT show in Iowa from August, where they had a real audience.  Enjoy...

Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles "The Grand Bounce"

There are those of you who will recognize the name Gord Downie as the leader of the Tragically Hip, the legendary Canadian band with a twenty-year history and a dozen albums in tow.  They were quite popular in the early 90's, especially on the college circuit, and in bigger metropolitan areas of the northern US.  The further south you went, the less they were known.  I remember going to Niagara Falls for a Music 4 Less opening and my buddy Steve D. had every Hip record available for sale.  I was astounded by the numbers sold when I could hardly move one unit in Florida, unless it was to a Canadian, of course.  Got to see the Hip play in my favorite small venue of 300 where my guest and I, along with the club staff, were the only Americans in the house.  I had never seen so many hockey jerseys and Canadian flags in my life...in Orlando, for crying out loud.  "Hip, Hip, Hip, Hip" was the chant of the night.  We sold tickets for the show at my store and I ran into several of the purchasers at the venue.  They could not believe they were seeing The Hip in a club setting.  One of the band's merchandisers told me they had played for 30000 the week before in Canada.  Another M4L/Sound Shop manager, Tracy O. posted on his Facebook recently about Tragically Hip just as I found out this new solo album was dropping.  So to end this brief history lesson, I give you the Hip on SNL circa 1995.

The Country of Miracles is Gord's other band who has backed him on his previous solo releases but only now receiving billing.  This gives him the option of other musical styles besides the rock of the Hip, even though "Grand Bounce" contains two tracks that rock just as hard.  Here is a live video from just ten days ago for the new single as an example of what the record is like.  The harmony vocals of the young lass in the band meld perfectly with Downie's throughout the album.  If I had to offer a band name for comparison, it would be the Wallflowers, but this is far better than anything the fruit of papa Bob's loins has been involved with.  Actually, "Grand Bounce" is a much more cohesive and entertaining record than the Hip's 2009 release, "We Are the Same."   Unfortunately, this is another album unavailable to the US in the traditional sense, but if I have it, you can find it, too.  It will be worth your effort to find what I consider to be Canada's version of Michael Stipe.

Basement Birds

Also discovered this record while perusing the Australian charts.  It was released in the USA in July to little or zero fanfare, but let me tell you something, if you want to find the next Mumford & Sons-type sleeper hit to impress your musical friends, this is it.  The four members are all acoustic singer/songwriters well-known Down Under, so they equate themselves with the Traveling Wilburys, which is self-appointed high praise if you ask me, but I get the reasoning behind the comparison.  There is a Little River Band theme running through this album, but without the strong lead vocalist like Shorrock or Farnham.  Plenty of great harmonies, a la CSN&Y, the Rembrandts, maybe even Fleet Foxes.  Here is a video for an example Not the One.  This is Aussie-cana if I ever heard it!  One of the great things about a record like this is it morphs into something else each time you spin it, taking on new meaning depending on your listening environment.  I believe I would have sequenced the tracks differently as it starts out a tad slow but hits its stride about five songs in and is solid the rest of the way.  Don't let the Explicit Lyrics warning turn you off because there is only one "Ducking" in the entire record (damn that Tipper Gore).  The track called "Reasons" contains what would have to be one of the great karaoke stumper lines of all time:  "Only the lonely will tell you they're happy to be on their own when they're singing along to the songs that remind them of times when they weren't quite as happy to be on their own."  Whew, now that was even hard to type!