Tapes 'n Tapes "Outside"

I recall this band receiving favorable press for their debut EP back in 2004 during my last stint as a "community volunteer" DJ at WPRK.  I probably played a single track one week to satisfy the "new" requirement of the station's format, but it didn't grab me.  But I've seen continued positive reviews for them over the years, so when "Outside" dropped in January, I decided to spring for it, hoping to find a domestic (Minneapolis, MN) indie rock band for me to wonder loudly why I hadn't picked up on them before.  Ah, but it just didn't work out that way.

There was much to like in the music; short, quirky, guitar-based pop songs with a splash of keys and other unique instruments, ie. a glockenspiel and castanets.  In my audio notes I told myself I heard some David Byrne, and then I called it a ying to LCD Soundsystem's yang.  I really don't know what that means, but most reviewers put T'nT in the Shins/Cold War Kids/Broken Social Scene scene, and my sentiment towards those bands is the same as I get here, there's a lot to like but I don't quite get the whole of it.  I am going to mine three tracks from "Outside" for my Snippets folder, one being track 8, "The Saddest of All Keys", which harked of an old Animals & Eric Burdon style, manic drumming and all.  But I offer the official video here for "Freak Out", which hints at the undercurrent of humor I felt while listening to the record (be sure to watch through to the end...I went back to the beginning afterwards to make sure I got it!). 

Finding this video opened up a new chapter to me in the never-ending saga of "free music".  VEVO is an enterprise of three of the big four music companies, and I was unaware of its 16-month existence until today.  If you look at some of the comments on the above video link, not everyone likes the idea of advertising or the big corporate presence on YouTube.  Me?  I was happy to find that the artists are being paid for views.  Remember, I buy most everything I post here, with the occasional exception of someone loaning me a recording they think I may enjoy...yeah, the old-fashioned way.  I don't Torrent, Limewire, Kazaa, etc., and you shouldn't either. 

Angus & Julia Stone "Memories of an Old Friend"

There is an absolutely amazing story surrounding these kids right now.  Well, not here (and it's a damn shame), but in their Australian homeland.  Their previous album, "Down the Way" came out worldwide in March 2010, and was a monster hit Down Under.  A huge single called "Big Jet Plane."  Made it a mission to see them at Bonneroo.  A few people joined me in the tent for this.  Anyway, the siblings are nominated for several ARIA awards (that's Aussie for Grammys).  Early November arrives and the Stones steal the show, winning Album and Single of the Year, as well as Best Adult Alternative Album.  Hoping to capitalize on the stunning coup, this new album is released one month later in mid-December.  And here is where the story turns...

First mistake---one doesn't release anything but a greatest hits package in December, especially only a week before Christmas.  The second "problem" is the new record is essentially "Part 2" of the first, the only noticeable difference being the absence of any tracks over the six minute mark in length.  The third issue is the underestimation of the initial penetration of the first record in the market prior to the Awards.  "Memories..." charted for a brief period (that's how I found out about it) and then disappeared, only to have a resurgence of "Down the Way" stampede the charts again, today remaining in the Top 5 of the Aussie Album charts and "BJP" still hanging at #10 on the Singles chart, each over a year from the release date! 

Another twist to the story came as a surprise to me.  It appears that the Australian version of MTV actually programs and supports music (what a novel idea) and stages a series of concerts by some of the bigger ARIA nominees during the week preceding the actual awards show.  As luck would have it, the Stone siblings contracted a six-song, 30-minute iTunes exclusive from their set, releasing it just 24 hours after winning the two biggest awards at the ceremony!  Un-freaking-believable...  Four of the six tracks were from "Down the Way", but didn't include BJP, so here it is...

The only song from "Memories..." is the final track of the album, and it actually opens the iTunes sampler...go figure.  I am so happy that the domestic iTunes has scheduled the concert sampler to be made available today (April 19).  I don't anticipate Nettwerk Productions to drop "Memories..." on the domestic market until they see if they can squeeze success out of this scenario in the US.  Maybelline Cosmetics has put BJP in a television ad campaign, a brilliant move if you ask me.  A good friend of mine's 30-something daughter heard it for the first time in said commercial and researched it, posting her "find" for all her Facebook followers.  Yep, it has that kind of power.  

I know it's weird to many of you that I sometimes write about music not traditionally available to the US market, but this is a tale unlike anything that has played out in the music biz in ages.  "Memories of an Old Friend" is just that, another completely satisfying group of acoustically accompanied arrangements; a lone piano, an acoustic guitar, brushes on drums, etc..  The subtle songs grow on you with each play.  In last year's post, I quickly placed the Ray LaMontagne tag for a RIYL.  That certainly is still the case here for Angus' leads, and now I get a She & Him vibe for Julia's songs, with maybe a touch of a Macy Gray warble. 

If you are a fan of the singer/songwriter genre, you owe these kids a shot at your ears...please!

 

Updated April 20:  So now I feel like a complete idiot (hey, I heard that).  Last night, a friend told me about the SoundHound app and I tried to stump it, knowing this album wasn't out here in the States.  Sure enough, it worked and named the tracks I played to it, BUT it didn't list this album as reference.  It brought up names that sounded familiar...and then it hit me, they were the EP titles I had seen on iTunes.  Well, kiss my ass, I had not done enough research to discover that "Memories..." is a compilation of previously released singles and EP tracks from 2007-2009, before the success of last year.  Sort of makes the above post and story a wasted effort, but instead of deleting it, I'll own up to the lack of knowledge and leave it out there to hang.  I still feel like an idiot, though...

The Decemberists "The King is Dead"

The Decemberists Go Country!  Hey, that could have been the title if they wanted to be humorous.  "The King is Dead" led me to believe the record trotted the earlier paths of British-styled storytelling, like encountering a foe in the belly of a whale, or marrying a bird...but, NO!  This is actually a Midwestern band via Portland, making music of their native country for the first time.  They've morphed from The Waterboys into REM.  When I heard the first single, I was moved to yell/sing "Fire!" from REM's "The One I Love", not knowing how close I really was.  You see, I buy these things digitally without the benefit of liner notes and credits, and don't usually research that kind of info unless necessary.  So, little did I know that the chiming guitar that mimicked Peter Buck's was actually Peter Buck!  He appears on three tracks.  Also guesting is Gillian Welch, the West-Coast chanteuse who was born on the wrong side of the Mississippi, and she and Colin Meloy's vocals together are mesmerizing.  Ah heck, I've mentioned the first single and Welch so why not link the two to the Conan appearance. 

The Decemberists have been throwing curveballs with the last two records, changing up the styles but not the involved instrumentation.  There is a preponderance of harmonica across the album and a heavy pedal steel on a track or two, with the typical dose of acoustics and Hammond B-3.  The high-brow lyrics are still there (who else can you name who would use "A panoply of song" in a chorus), but they've been dumbed down slightly, more fitting for the Americana/folk setting.  

I think I was taken by surprise on my first listen, wondering what the hell had happened.  But that's why I give all these records three spins before forming a post.  Once I had gotten over the shock of the change, the genius of Meloy and mates came shining through on each additional spin, albeit in a different package.  The band is certainly one of America's most respected and appreciated, now landing A-listers as guests and reaching #1 on Billboard's Top Albums.  If you've never been a fan before and you like records by Tom Petty, or let's say the Traveling Wilburys, then you need to get over the bias and give this a try. 

Black Mountain "Wilderness Heart"

I heard good things about this band when the record was released last September, but I never seemed to be motivated enough to investigate further.  Second track released, more positive vibes, still didn't bother to sample.  Kept it on my list, though, waiting for a soft spot in the new releases.  So when the yearly "dead zone" for new music hit in early December, I picked it up, then promptly relegated it to back-of-the-line status once again.  Two more months pass and it's time in the changer finally arrives...what the hell was I waiting for?!  This is vintage Mad Rocker music!  Let's run down the obvious influences; Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, early Scorpions w/ Uli John Roth, UFO, and Rainbow.  Now factor in the male and female lead vocals and you get one track that easily could have been a lost song from early Jefferson Airplane.  I was also reminded of Atlanta's great Swimming Pool Q's, some of the Zutons where the cute little saxophonist got to sing (bummer, I guess they've called it quits), and the last couple of Decemberists records which feature guest female vocalists.   

Impressed enough to dig into the band's background, I learned a couple of things.  One, they are Canadian (who am I kidding, they're too good to be American), and two, I already had a connection to them.  Seems that band leader Stephen McBean has another project called Pink Mountaintops, which I became a fan of during my "community volunteer" stint at WPRK a few years ago.  Sonofabitch, now I'll have to try to find what I have in the archives.  Let me link a couple of the new videos for you.  They are the first two tracks on the record.   

So all you old-timers like me out there bitchin' that there's no good old school Rock 'n Roll anymore, you're wrong...

The Cat Empire "Live on Earth"

Highly unusual at this stage of my musical appreciation/collection for me to go backwards in a new discovery's catalog.  That calls for some seriously impressive tunes, and honestly, I can't recall the last time I did so.  I stated in the post about their ARIA nominated "Cinema" that I was going to get this 2009 live record instead of previous studio LP's.  Well, I finally pulled the trigger a couple of months ago and recently settled in for several spins.  "Live on Earth" is available in the States and well worth the $10 price tag.  As a double CD, there's over 120 minutes of music, all of which was new to me (except for a version of "Hotel California" in French, which I guess is new to me as well).  On the initial spin, I thought the horn section might have been overused somewhat, but subsequent listens calmed that fear.  As the record played, I found myself drawn to about 75 minutes worth of tunes, perfect for a Mad Rocker single CD edit.  And believe me, my edit is a full-blown smile maker, a head-bobbing/shaking hour plus of unconditional joy!  My music program labels it Hip-Hop, but there's no reasonable explanation for that.  The music is eclectically rhythm-based, with electric piano and keyboards dominating, along with the previously mentioned horns.  At one point I thought it could be a Jamaican Supertramp, another an Indian one.  With the occasional white-boy rapping and the employ of a scratchin' DJ, the playful banter from the stage and the joyous audience reaction, another comparison could be an Australian Barenaked Ladies. 

It's safe to say that whenever the next Cat Empire record drops, I will get it without delay.  No sampling required.  I hope they return to America for another tour and stop in Florida.  I would be their oldest field marketer...

Gang of Four "Content"

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, a new album by Gang of Four.  I recall their debut album exploding onto the playlists of some of my fellow WPRK DJ's my senior year.  Being the Mad Rocker, famously opposed to punk music, doing on-air commentary battles with several punkers and dueling with Paul Vonder Heide in the Sandspur, I wasn't supposed to like this anti-establishment, political angst.  But there was just something about it I couldn't shake, though I would never own up to it to those guys.  A couple of years later, I embarked on the music retailing career, resuming my exposure to tons of music, and we get a promo album for a film called "Urgh!  A Music War."  Great live tunes from an A-list of bands like OMD, XTC, X, & Oingo Boingo (had to include a complete name).  The label rep had a VHS copy of the film and loaned it to me for a weekend.  That's when I saw what Gang of Four was all about and here's the clip.  Well, I WAS HOOKED!  That rhythm section was simply nasty, and the guitarist didn't play as much as he stabbed the instrument, missing it at times, creating that staccato scratching.  I went backwards and collected everything issued.  The current record at the time was "Songs of the Free", and it signaled a change in the band.  The bassist had left to start Shriekback, which was easily less political and more rhythmic/danceable, but "Songs..." leaned that direction, too, with the track "I Love A Man in Uniform" actually receiving a remix for club play.  By putting funk into punk, it pissed off the purists but helped swell the growing New Wave scene.  The next album was "Hard" in 1983, and it turned out to be the final one for the first stage of Gof4.  Compare the earlier clip to this VH1 Classic, "Is It Love" to hear the difference.  "Hard" was the highest charting record for them and "...Love" was a top 10 Dance/Club track, but of course, to a punk act that's selling out, so they call it quits.  Over the next twenty-something years, some form of the group release three different albums, with two of them eliciting shouts of joy, "the Gang is back!", "Andy Gill is a guitar god", etc., etc., etc..  Pretty amazing to be called "Innovative" twenty-five years later. 

So now we come to "Content" in 2011.  From what I could gather, this was a project fueled and funded by fans, a new generation of fans, that is, the 30 and under crowd.  Gill and singer Jon King are the constants here, and it is certainly a Gang of Four record.  Is it great or groundbreaking?  Nope.  Is it funky and/or danceable like the more commercially successful recordings of above?  Not really.  But it is a good album, like an OREO is a good cookie, the best part is the middle.  Plenty of the scratchy guitar and militaristic rhythm section Go4 is known for.  As a matter of fact, they performed track 5 of the ten on the record for Letterman a couple of months ago.  A short album at 35 minutes, it's still a keeper.

Colin Hay Live at the Plaza, Orlando

That's right, the voice of Men At Work, on a solo tour in pre-support, I guess, of his upcoming album, "Gathering Mercury", due out next week.  Since the breakup of M@W some twenty-five years ago, Hay has been doing solo records every two or three years, touring to support each one since he lives domestically in the Los Angeles area.  I have the very first two, "Looking for Jack" from 1987 and "Wayfaring Sons" from 1990, and I was hoping to hear the title tracks from both, but only the latter fit the solo setup.  If you were a fan of the full catalog of Men At Work and not just the radio hits, you would enjoy "...Jack".  "...Sons" started more of the singer/songwriter bent of his career, which isn't a bad thing.  That voice is unmistakable, and the songs are imminently hummable.  There was an album called "Transcendental Highway" in 1998 that was good and one from 2007 called "Are You Lookin' At Me?" for which I almost went to his stop here in Orlando, but alas, I passed.  He was getting more notice since his inclusion on episodes of Scrubs and Zach Braff's "Garden State" soundtrack, which won a Grammy in 2005.  Then I see him announced on the Plaza's Upcoming Shows tab, and I make mention of it to Rob at WPRK, and then promptly forget about it.  After the Grace Potter show, he mentions he had put me on the guest list for this one.  Surprised, and pleased, I was able to attend (I owe him a bottle of something, which I may just have to deliver to his Morning Marinade show on WPRK).

My neighbor, Frank, and I arrive just in time for a beverage before taking our gratis seats in the next to last row.-------------------- Nope, that's not a dig, because the show was in the small room, housing about three hundred people.  Hay wanders out and immediately jokes that he went to the main room only to find it empty, which prompted a story from years ago when he actually started a show with four people in the venue, including himself!  Then another funny recollection, and another, and then he says he's fifteen minutes into the gig and not played a song yet!  The audience was laughing so much it felt like we were in Bonkerz or the Improv.  So he starts the first tune and it's "Down Under."  I say to Frank, "Never in a million years would I've guessed that to be the opener."  At its end he says there was method to that madness and would relate it to us later.  Several solo selections and humorous interludes later, we get to another classic M@W tune.  Hopefully, you will be able to understand him enough to grasp a bit of the humor of the evening.  Another song later, he tells why he started with arguably his biggest hit earlier.  As the years have passed, he noticed many in the audience leave after playing "Down Under", more reasonably placed in the set list, generally around the timing of the linked video.  So in a nod to his aging demographic, he started opening his shows with it, knowing that soon thereafter, many would quietly slip out, completely satisfied with their paid experience after hearing the one song that brought them there, and be home in bed before the concert had ended.  I'm sorry, folks, but that's funny as hell...  And it's a long show for a solo performance, this one clocking in at approximately 130 minutes.  I was going to say I didn't check my watch once, but I did, but only in order to see just how long he was actually playing.  I was truly amazed at his ability to seize the stage and hold an audience as raptly as he did as a solo performer for that length of time. 

For the three hundred humans in attendance, at $28 per, I'll wager not one was dissatisfied with their investment.

Two Legends and a Fortunate Hitchhiker

OK, do I really have to say who's the thumber?  Leon Russell had his heyday back before I left high school.  A young Elton John was a fan some forty-something years ago, and with good reason.  Leon was a fairly big deal in the 60's, writing songs recorded by Joe Cocker, Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, etc., and touring with Cocker on the Mad Dogs & Englishmen jaunt and the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed shows.  A couple of solo hits in the early 70's and then nada.  That is until Elton's charity puts him back in the spotlight with The Union, a decent little record that's heavy on EJ and lite on LR.  Sure, there's good piano and hooks to spare, but don't put Leon out to be seen, please!  He's so stiff next to Elton, looking as if he'd break if he displayed any movement besides his fingers.  God, he makes Willie Nelson look like a gymnast!  Pitiful...wish I had not seen him...probably shaded my take on the album, which for the die-hard EJ fans is quite good.  Russell's voice is OK, and the songs are definitely 80% EJ, and one track includes Neil Young on a verse or two.  But when it's all said and done, I may keep about a third of the sixty-three minutes.

Gregg Allman......if you're from the South, nothing else needs to be said.  When I saw that "Low Country Blues" was scheduled for release, I was expectant of something brilliant.  After all, this would be the first solo record this century, and with producer extraordinaire T-Bone Burnett, no less.  Most of you probably came to know him after his Grammy blitz some ten years ago with the George Clooney movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"  Me?  I was a fan of a few of his solo albums, they coming few and far between due to his production work schedule.  And he has helmed many a legend's record, like Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison, Tony Bennett and John Mellencamp.  Bands you all know and love (mostly), such as Los Lobos, Counting Crows and the Wallflowers.  Oh, yeah, and the previously mentioned duo recording of this post.  So teaming T-Bone and Mr. Allman on a blues recording is a win-win situation, right?  Well, the album has received some wonderful reviews and has sold well enough to be a Billboard Top 5'er, but for me...I was sorely disappointed.  There's too much production, burying GA's voice and organ, and the song's are mostly very obscure covers.  It hurts me to say this, but it was a total dud.  Absolutely zero keepers.  But what the hell do I know?  It didn't need my approval to become a best seller...