Freddie Stevenson
All My Strange Companions
Juicy Musical Creations
originally published June 18, 2008
This second album from folk-punk Freddie Stevenson is quite a different combination of Scottish and Nashville than Camera Obscura’s Let’s Get Out of This Country, and indeed, it sounds neither Scottish nor particularly country. Still, it’s a pleasant collection of strummy tunes with highlights here and there that make it more notable. The first song, “Easy Now,” may have nonsensical lyrics about J.K. Rowling following the narrator around, but it’s also got a quick, riffy melody and an agreeable scatteredness that calls to mind Wreckless Eric nailed down to Earth and brought up to date a bit. That is, there’s a sweetness and a grasp of tunefulness at work. Most of the rest of the songs slow the tempo considerably and scale back to a more acoustic set-up (“Nothing’s Gonna Change,” a peppy love song, is an exception), but they’re still built on pretty arpeggios and quiet hooks as in “If an Alien Astronomer Could See Us from Afar.” Stevenson never really gets that close to Paul Simon, a clear influence on the softer numbers, but he has a clear, pleasant voice that’s a bit like Glen Hansard’s (from Once) in its ability to be sincere without overdoing it, due to some imperfections around the edges.
Sinkane
Color Voice EP
Emergency Umbrella
originally published June 18, 2008
Back when Thrill Jockey Records was in its arguable prime, a one-off project called Directions In Music obliterated every assumption I had about instrumental rock music. It contained elements of John Coltrane and The Band, and it took risks while remaining humble. The sound was impossible to replicate - or so it seemed. Now there is a new artist named Sinkane; a one-man orchestra that embodies so much of what was good about the mid-'90s "Thrill Jockey sound." The drumming is impeccable, taking cues from The Who's Keith Moon and The Mahavishnu Orchestra's Billy Cobham, and saving Color Voice's four songs from the mediocre, navel-gazing noodling that too many modern rock instrumentalists fall prey to. Yoga music it ain't. Sinkane - the stage name of Sudanese refugee Ahmed Gallab - covers a lot of ground in four tracks, beginning his EP with slowly played, treble-heavy electric guitar work backdropped by backwards guitars and waxy synth chords. Ever imagined Pink Floyd playing film noir soundtracks? If so, then here's your jam. Gallab moves easily through heavier material, packing wild sax runs into the title track and lending his voice, which is less impressive than his drumming, to the anthemic tune "Autobahn." A 12-minute percussion jam called "Drumps" sounds like a psychedelic orgy of four or five Grateful Dead concerts played simultaneously. Play it loud, and it may screw up your radio.
Modey Lemon
Season of Sweets
Birdman Records
originally published June 18, 2008
I don't know why Season of Sweets, the new Modey Lemon album, makes me think of what Brian Jonestown Massacre could be (or maybe "could have been") if Anton Newcombe wasn't bat-shit crazy, but it does. Remember how BJM walked all over The Dandy Warhols in the movie Dig and made their band seem like the coolest guys on the planet? After a single listen to the "The Bear Comes Back Down the Mountain," the first track on Season of Sweets, all I can think of is "Jesus, maybe it's because these guys are from icy Pittsburgh, and BJM is from sunny California, but Modey Lemon could kick BJM's ass - no matter what current lineup Anton was playing with."
No, Modey Lemon doesn't sound anything like BJM, but a listen to any of the songs on Season of Sweets makes me thankful that one of the coolest things to do these days in indie rock, is to do only that: rock. Modey Lemon, Black Mountain, Dead Meadow and Blood on the Wall are all putting out a fairly similar sound these days, and thank God for it. These bands are playing the hell out of their instruments, not starring in documentaries and whining about this or that. Season of Sweets isn't the most original, or groundbreaking album to come out this year, but Modey Lemon never gives the impression that it deserves to be called as much. What it does deserve is to be played loud and enjoyed thoroughly.
Centro-matic / South San Gabriel
Dual Hawks
Misra
originally published June 18, 2008
Further blurring the walls between his various projects, this release features two of the acts in the Will Johnson trinity: celebrated twang-rock band Centro-matic and its more abstract indie sister South San Gabriel. However, dude’s a total machine when it comes to output, so this split release is actually a double album comprised of full LPs by both bands. No, Will Johnson does not screw around.
Placing them side by side yields a greater appreciation of the differences between the two bands. The stately musing of South San Gabriel strokes the cerebrum while Centro-matic’s sweet ache is all about soul. The true achievement of this sprawling release is that it represents a tidy and resounding testament of this crew’s rare ability to sustain quality in the face of breathless productivity. Judged against each band’s respective oeuvre, both records are standout works. The mighty groan and fuzzed-out glory of “The Rat Patrol and DJs” is an octane Centro-matic hasn’t attained in years. And with sweeps of quiet majesty like the gorgeously orchestral “Kept On the Sly,” South San Gabriel has possibly never been more salient. Though the Centro-matic album is the undisputed star, both are feats of texture, songwriting and craftsmanship.
A good album is enough of an accomplishment. Two bundled together is hitting the lottery, and that’s precisely what Dual Hawks does in one fell swoop - a landmark work in the Will Johnson dynasty.
Ocote Soul Sounds + Adrian Quesada
The Alchemist Manifesto
ESL Music
originally published June 18, 2008
That some sweet dope could come from a joint between these two minds shouldn’t be a surprise. With a collective résumé that boasts Antibalas, Grupo Fantasma, Brownout (who supported Prince in 2007) and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Martin Perna (AKA Ocote Soul Sounds) and Adrian Quesada make for one seriously credentialed duo. Their psychedelic take on rhythm-based forms like soul, funk, Latin and Afro-beat is a deep and artful one. The mostly instrumental songs on this sophomore collection slink by giving off ripples of heat and atmosphere. The grooves hypnotize, the percussion punctuates and the notes and textures transport the head.
Highlights include “The Grand Elixir,” a lush tapestry that captures the urban swelter of summer in the city. “La Reja” is a perfectly minimal slice of crisp jazz-funk. The woozy, slo-mo haze of “El Pescador” drifts somewhere between a day at the beach and the morning after. And the cinematic “Contra El Sol” throbs with a furtive, subterranean drive.
The forward-thinking pair of Perna and Quesada manages to take musical styles that are definitively ethnic and distill the heady essences of their evocative power without ever resorting to simplistic traditionalism. Their brand of innovation is achieved through intelligent abstraction and fresh contextualization.
If you are having problems with the site, or have questions or suggestions, please contact us here. Thanks!
Care to comment on this article? Click here!
You will be the first person to comment on this article.