a roundup of recent local releases

‘Let it Go’
by The Guts

The Portsmouth punk scene gained regional recognition with the emergence of The Queers in the early 1980s. Later that decade, The Bruisers formed, fronted by vocalist Al Barr, now of Dropkick Murphys fame. Both bands endured through much of the ’90s, keeping Portsmouth afloat in the collective punk consciousness.

Al Barr and Joe Queer are still touring the nation, but they have relinquished their reign over Portsmouth to younger faces in the 21st century. None of those faces are more familiar around town than guitarist Geoff Palmer, bassist Nate Doyle and drummer Rick Orcutt, who collectively make up The Guts. With their latest album due out soon, the trio has climbed another rung on the punk-rock ladder. 

The Guts recorded much of “Let it Go” last fall at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin. The studio is owned by Garbage drummer Butch Vig, and it has been the birthplace of albums by Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth. The Guts also signed on with indie punk label Rally Records.

With these credentials, “Let it Go” is perhaps the most highly anticipated Guts album to date. The band took advantage by doing what it knows how to do best, speeding through 14 power-pop tunes without ever so much as tapping the brakes. 
The disc begins with “Blackout,” which introduces listeners to both the band’s hyper-pop sound and its members’ reckless lifestyles: “Every day I wake up with a pounding in my head (I’m in a blackout and I don’t know what I did). I call in sick to work and then I spend the day in bed (I’m in a blackout and I don’t know what I did).”

The call-and-response-style lyrical repetition is punctuated by power chords and heavy drums, with boyish vocals evoking a mischievous tone. Palmer and Doyle share vocal duties on the disc, with a guest appearance from Hallie Bullit, of The Unlovables.

Later songs get a bit gushier, hovering around the bitter theme of love’s maddening trials. Variations on the topic emerge in numerous tracks, including “Cigarettes and Valentines,” “Heartbreaker,” “She’s Gone,” “Always and Forever,” “Down the Drain” and the title track. But the execution of these lovesick lyrics comes at a racing pace that never really slows.

A cover of the Queers “Love Love Love” is thrown into the mix, along with a song about the darkness and obscurity that surrounds the abuse of needle-injected drugs (“Cold Sweat”). “Invisible Guy” includes a raw punk disclaimer: “We ain’t out to save the world, I want the sex, the drugs, the money and the girls.”      

For updates on the official CD release date and other Guts news, visit www.myspace.com/geoffuseless.

‘Discussions’
by Avant Coast

Just to set the record straight, Avant Coast is not a band. It is a collective group of musicians dedicated to presenting creative, improvised music to live audiences on the Seacoast. This spring, Avant Coast held a concert series at Lotus Moon World Fusion Dance Studio at the Salmon Falls Mills in Rollinsford. The group recorded a show on March 21 and recently released it as a CD.

With Thom Keith and Larry Gelberg on saxophones, Tim Webb on bass and Jared Steer on drums, the disc consists of just three tracks—with an average running time of about 16 minutes each. It begins with an extended baritone sax solo that kicks off a 21-minute version of John Coltrane’s “Olé.” Eventually, a second baritone enters the mix, and Keith and Gelberg duel like a pair of mad songbirds. The percussion and bass make a subtle entrance and construct a borderless canvas for unrestrained jazz improvisation.

Next comes a take on pianist and composer Mal Waldron’s “The Seagulls of Kristiansund,” which introduces a different mood, somewhat slower and more meditative. The CD closes with an original tune by Keith called “The Agitator,” which again changes gears to present a more upbeat sound, with a creeping bass line, peppy drumming and meandering saxophone brainwaves.

Each musician demonstrates talent and artistry, but the collaborative stream of notes builds to an entrancing whole that cannot be divided into separate parts. Depending on the whims of the instrumentalists, the music is at times melodically soothing and at others maddeningly free, complete with plaintive saxophone squawks and cymbal crashes. Like most Avant Coast material, it requires an ear that is open to experimentation and is not constrained by the conventional boundaries of popular music.

The recording had no post-production work other than mixing. “You are hearing it as it was felt by the musicians and captured by the recorder,” a note reads on the back of the CD sleeve. “It is raw, honest and live, and that is what music is.”
The disc is available at www.cdbaby.com. For more on Avant Coast, visit www.avantcoast.com.     

‘Smoke Street’
by Moses Irons

On his Web site, Moses Irons describes himself as a poet, artist and musician born in a cabin in the back woods of New Hampshire. His heritage is demonstrated on the cover of his new CD, which shows him holding two chickens on a snowy day.

The 14 songs on “Smoke Street” seem to reflect that back woods upbringing. Irons’ rural sensibilities seep through the lyrics and melodies, implementing Delta blues and traditional folk sounds that shift between melancholic and celebratory. The lyrical content involves everything from love to alcohol to bed bugs.

After the rustic and folky “She Burns in the Morning,” Irons dives into a playful ode to Pabst Blue Ribbon, called “PBR Posterboy.” “You, blue devil make me lose my mind. You, cheap friends are hard to find. You, you’re better than rum whiskey or red wine. You, you remind me of tribal times,” he sings in the chorus.

Irons turns more serious during the next song, “Broke in Due Time,” a somber commentary on the world’s disheartened people. He seems to summon the help of some family members on the next song, “Sweet New England,” with Henry Irons on banjo and Asa Irons on bass. “Open up my arms to thee, New England. Sweet New England, you my home,” he sings.

In addition to his own work on guitar and harmonica, Irons roped in a plethora of instrumentalists to accompany his bluesy vocals on various songs, including Nate Edgar on bass, Mike Baron on drums, Dave Talmage on fiddle and Dan Chapin, Chris O’Neal and Warren Wilson on guitar. The harmonization during a vocal duet with Dag Shaw on “Don’t You Mind” is a little shaky, but Iron’s singing generally sounds authentic and genuine, and there’s a nice blend of slow ballads, peppy folk tunes and almost gospel-style blues.

“Smoke Street” was recorded and mastered by Chris Magruder at Thundering Sky studio in South Berwick, Maine. Irons played a CD release show at the Barley Pub in Dover on July 26 and has an upcoming show at the Ioka Theatre in Exeter on Friday, Aug. 29. Visit www.mosesirons.com.