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Under The Radar
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Tuesday, 02 February 2010 |
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Tom Kressler wanders the unmarked lanes and alleyways of today's musical streetscape, always returning with something unexpected.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Wednesday, 17 June 2009 |
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‘92982’
by William Basinski
label: 2062
genre: memory reels
suitable for: Sept. 29, 1982
From the composer himself:
“Home at last after a day of work at the answering service. Answering
phones for Calvin Klein, Bianca Jagger, Steve Rubell and all the other
somebody people ... Roger is in the front, gluing old shoes on canvas
and painting them orange. I’m clicking the old Norelcos back and forth
between channels. All the windows are open. The sound is spreading all
over downtown Brooklyn mixing with the helicopters, sirens, pot smoke
and fireworks ...”
I’ve included Basinski’s own description
of his work because, like his most well known series of albums, “The
Disintegration Loops,” this latest archival release circa 1982 seems to
be the sum of something larger. Basinski, an artist and composer who
has been experimenting with tape loops since the early ’80s, was
famously transferring the music that would make up “The Disintegration
Loops” when the tape began to fall apart in the spools. A recorder
captured the decaying sound as the loops slowly faded into oblivion.
This all occurred in September 2001, and apparently Basinski, eyes on
Manhattan from the roof of his Brooklyn home, was listening to the
sound rise and fall as the towers went down.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Friday, 24 April 2009 |
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‘I Blame You’
by Obits
label: Sub Pop
genre: rock
suitable for: drinking Schlitz in a parking lot
This is the only record in the column this week with lyrics.
There are many defunct bands whose members have spawned additional
projects, but there are only a few whose lineages have been 100 percent
awesome 100 percent of the time. Drive Like Jehu, I believe, is one of
them. Formed in San Diego in 1990, the members, specifically John Reis
and Rick Froberg, have since been single handedly improving the chances
of rock music surviving into the next generation. Reis founded Rocket
from the Crypt and is currently in Night Marchers; Froberg, the voice
of Drive Like Jehu, and Reis teamed up again in 1999 as devious punks
Hot Snakes. Now Froberg is in Obits, thank God.
Not a lot has changed in Froberg’s formula here. There’s a ton
of energy, lyrics of little consequence, pure rock posturing and volume
all coming together in brilliant songwriting. Obits, though, is a band
interested in its roots. Overdriven vintage amps and accompanying
spring reverb are like instruments unto themselves on this record.
There is a rockabilly influence throughout, as well, and dig the garage
stomp on the last track “Back And Forth,” one of the most
uncharacteristic tracks I’ve heard on a Froberg-related album. “Widow
of my Dreams,” the opening track, is one of my favorites in the Froberg
songbook to date. Can’t wait to listen to this with the windows down.
Visit www.obitsurl.com.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Friday, 09 January 2009 |
‘Shallow Grave’
by The Tallest Man on Earth
label: Gravitation Records
genre: folk
suitable for: saying goodbye to 2008
A
totally stirring album by this Swedish folk singer, “Shallow Grave” was
released earlier this year overseas but did not see wide release in the
United States. I wonder if that’s because The Tallest Man on Earth,
a.k.a. Kristian Matsson, plays American roots music better than any
American in recent memory. There’s plenty of pluck and twang on these
lo-fi recordings, making Matsson’s songs more Mississippi than
Scandinavia, but most of all there is a ton of soul. With a booming,
gravelly voice, Matsson rips through 10 tracks with grit and wisdom,
just like the best bluesmen, and ends up with some of the most
emotional music of the year.
This is one of the best albums I heard
this year. It has the feel of a contemporary indie-folk record (he
toured with Bon Iver earlier in the year) but nails the sound of the
old South without sounding archaic. Kind of stunning, actually. Limited
edition label Mexican Summer is issuing an LP version of “Grave” in
early 2009. Can’t wait.
Visit www.thetallestmanonearth.se.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Wednesday, 19 November 2008 |
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‘Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.’
by Deerhunter, Kranky
genre: weird pop
suitable for: troubling dreams
Surprise! For those not following the band closely, this second
full-length from Atlanta’s Deerhunter includes a bonus album—not a
bonus track or a bonus fold-out poster; a full bonus album meant as a
secret gift for fans strong-willed enough to wait until the release
date to buy a copy. This says a lot about the lengths labels and
artists are willing to go to inspire excitement about buying physical
CDs, but it also says a lot about Deerhunter, because these two albums
paired together are stunning.
On both albums, it’s clear that singer-songwriter Bradford Cox,
who is influenced heavily by Brian Wilson, is likewise talented in
unnatural ways. “Microcastle” is slick and focused, with Cox’s vocals
once again swathed in hazy effects even while much of the music is more
straightforward than older work. Already, this album is a step up from
the band’s debut, “Cryptograms,” but it is on “Weird Era Cont.” that
the band seems to just blast off. The record is more raw and
uninhibited, allowing Deerhunter to sound the way the band is meant to
sound, free of expectations. It is also incredibly beautiful. “Vox
Humana,” in particular, is one of my favorite tracks of the year. With
music so good, it’s exciting enough without any gimmicks.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Thursday, 14 August 2008 |
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‘Stay Positive’
by The Hold Steady, Vagrant Records
genre: high-five rock
suitable for: making out with strangers
Singer Craig Finn says this about his band’s origins: “The Hold
Steady was born out of some loose talk in my Boreum Hill apartment in
2002. I had moved to Brooklyn about two years earlier. I was 31 years
old, and the other dudes were about my same age. Our concept was to
start a straight rock band with low aspirations.” Little did they know
that a low aspiration rock band was in high demand. Since then, The
Hold Steady, armed with Finn’s deeply nostalgic storytelling about
being young and drunk or spending summer nights at the water tower, has
become one of the biggest rock bands in the underground. And Craig
Finn, like something out of a dork’s dream sequence, is now a
37-year-old rock star.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Thursday, 10 July 2008 |
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‘The Devil, You + Me’
by The Notwist,
Domino Records
Can it really by six years since The Notwist’s breakout album,
“Neon Golden,” came out? What have I been doing with my life?
Originally released by German label City Slang, then reissued by Domino
Records shortly thereafter, “Neon Golden” was an album so obviously
good upon first listen that it quickly turned the group, known
previously for wildly changing styles, into standard bearers for its
adopted pop-electronica sound. Influenced by similar artists on the
Berlin-based Morr Music label, and boosted by the programming work of
band member Martin Gretschmann, a.k.a. Console, The Notwist became
hugely popular even though, to this day, no one, not even the band
themselves, knows how to pronounce their name.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Saturday, 10 May 2008 |
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‘Commonwealth’
by Brendan Murray, 23Five Inc.
In his words, “I’m really
fond of Massachusetts and my family is from here. I was born here but
grew up in Florida, so I always idealized Massachusetts. The record is
‘about’ that if it is about anything—creating a ‘dream state’ in one’s
mind and then inhabiting it.”
It took Keene State graduate Brendan Murray almost three years
to piece together “Commonwealth,” his fourth official full-length album
and first for the 23Five label. It began as several tracks, but soon
Murray was culling some of the best sounds from each and constructing
what would became one long, engrossing composition, running at just
under 50 minutes. Murray has long been a standout in Boston’s excellent
avant-garde underground, but the release of “Commonwealth,” an epic
piece of modern minimalism, will no doubt turn heads around the globe.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Friday, 04 April 2008 |
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‘Guitar Trio Is My Life’
by Rhys Chatham & His Guitar Trio All-Stars, Radium Records
Written amid the punk breakout of 1977, Rhys Chatham’s “Guitar
Trio” is what happened when a band geek (Chatham) somewhat reluctantly
went to a seminal but probably rather smelly club (CBGB) to see an
incredible, enormously influential band that was probably a bit beneath
him musically (The Ramones). The band geek’s mind was blown, and,
shortly thereafter, he composed “Guitar Trio,” a seven-plus minute
exploration of punk fury fused with minimal composition that could not
be more relevant 30 years later.
Proving the point is this three-CD set recently released by
Radium Records. In celebration of the song’s anniversary, a
silver-haired, axe-wielding Chatham took to the road last year,
assembling a new band of Guitar Trio all-stars at just about every
stop, and repeatedly playing the hell out of a lengthier “Guitar Trio”
manifestation. This release captures 10 live performances from that
tour, with a number of guest guitarists, including Chatham
contemporaries Alan Licht and Tony Conrad, both members of the Canadian
Silver Mt. Zion collective, as well as Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and
Lee Ranaldo. I can’t think of any band more indebted to Chatham’s punk
rock guitar experiments than Sonic Youth, and their performances with
Chatham are among the most spirited.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Thursday, 14 February 2008 |
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‘For Emma, Forever Ago’
by Bon Iver, Jagjaguwar
Self-released last year, this terrific debut will get a wider release
come Tuesday, Feb. 19 on Jagjaguwar. Bon Iver—French for “good winter,”
though I hear it’s not spelled right—is the moniker of songwriter
Justin Vernon (www.myspace.com/boniver). Legend has it that he
retreated to a lonely cabin in northwestern Wisconsin to write and
record the songs on “For Emma, Forever Ago.” According to the
Jagjaguwar Web site, Vernon spent his downtime “wood splitting” and
doing “other chores around the land.” If those hours of man-work were
meant to increase his brawn, it didn’t work, because this is some
sensitive music for sensitive dudes (and ladies).
There’s nothing wrong with that, though. “For Emma, Forever Ago”
reminds me of Iron and Wine’s debut, “The Creek Drank the Cradle,” not
so much in style—Vernon’s music is more like minimal soul than folk,
and his mostly falsetto vocals are far more inventive—but in substance.
Neither album blazes new ground, but somehow they both sound refreshing
in their simplicity. There are literally billions of young men who play
acoustic guitar and sing (if you listen close, there’s probably one
practicing somewhere in your apartment building right now), so it’s
truly special when that old formula produces something exciting. Vernon
is playing the Middle East in Cambridge on Sunday, Feb. 24 with label
mates Black Mountain.
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 06 June 2007 |
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Sera Cahoone
With her self-titled debut album, Seattle
based Sera Cahoone (www.myspace.com/seracahoone) has stepped out from
behind the scenes and into the limelight. Having spent her career as a
drummer, most notably for popular Seattle bands “Carissa’s Weird” and
“Band of Horses,” Cahoone has emerged as a singer-songwriter of
considerable talent. In fact, NPR’s Stephen Thompson has her on his top
10 releases of 2006. It’s hard to argue the point once you hear this
collection of sweet country songs.
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 16 May 2007 |
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Kristy Kruger’s (www.kristykruger.com) latest album, “Songs From a Dead
Man’s Couch,” draws from a variety of American musical
styles—traditional country (“Gold Rush” and “Talk Radio”), New Orleans
Jazz (“Little Polyanna”), alt-folk (“Blackhole”) and something she
calls Ameritronica (“Dark Stranger” and “The Peddler”). Most of this
territory she’s covered in her previous albums, but, with “Dead Man’s
Couch,” she seems to have come into her own, transcending the forms she
employs, creating a quirky, haunting, sexy and original work.
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 11 April 2007 |
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When you think of African-based, rock-influenced music, you might not
immediately think of Asheville, N.C. Unless, that is, you have heard
the music of Toubab Krewe (www.toubabkrewe.com). When listening to this
quintet, it’s easy to believe you are hearing an authentic West African
band, complete with kora, djembe and other exotic instruments. And in a
sense, you are. They just happen to be American.
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 21 March 2007 |
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The
story of how The Weepies (www.theweepies.com) came together reads like a movie
script. He (Steve Tannen) is playing a gig at Club Passim in Boston. She (Deb
Talan) has played there many times before, but tonight has come to hear him
perform. Smitten by his debut album, she has been obsessing over it for about a
month. He gets a bit nervous when, looking out into the audience, he notices
that she is there. He has been smitten by her debut album and has been
obsessing over it for about a month. After the gig they get together, both a
bit nervous now, sensing the electricity between them, and trade songs until
the wee hours. They’ve been together as The Weepies ever since, and listening
to their music is like attending a singer/songwriter master class.
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Thursday, 11 January 2007 |
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“Hey, how come I don’t know this band?” That’s what your friends will
be wondering when you spin some tracks for them from “Ghostly Life” by
Pedestrian (www.pedestrian.org). Pedestrian is the creation of Joel
Shearer. In fact, you might say that Pedestrian is Joel Shearer. He
doesn’t seem to have a steady band roster, and he’s the driving
creative force, as well as the guy who writes the songs—very good songs.
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Written by Jon Nolan
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Wednesday, 03 January 2007 |
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The Twitch plays meat and potatoes rock ’n’ roll. Beefy riffs, 4/4
rhythms and even the occasional rock screech are the modus operandi on
their self-titled EP, and they slug it out with two guitars, bass,
drums and vocals—old-school style. Aaron Katz, best known as a
songwriter and drummer for Percy Hill, produced the four-song set.
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 13 December 2006 |
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It’s that time of year again when people start writing about that time
of year, that is to say, the holidays, family, traditions and the
passing of another year. It is a time ripe with nostalgia for times
that seemed simpler, more honest and, in a word, innocent. In a cynical
age, it’s easy to believe that innocence is just another word for
denial of reality, but sometimes something so pure comes along that it
chases away our inner Scrooge and makes us believe again.
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 01 November 2006 |
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“Hymn Noire” might be one way to describe Jolie Holland’s song
“Old Fashion Morphine” from her second album, “Escondida.” It’s a dark
transformation of the traditional hymn, “Old Time Religion,” sung by
someone who is familiar with the church down the lane, but took a left
at the crossroads and ended up on Beale Street hanging out with William
Burroughs instead.
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 04 October 2006 |
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The title track from Catherine Feeny’s second album, “Hurricane
Glass,” feels like driving down a long, straight stretch of highway in
an old Chevy. Windows down, music blaring, Lucinda Williams in the
passenger seat and Bob Dylan grinning like the Cheshire Cat in the back
as she sings, “It’s not what I wanted, it’s not what I planned, it’s
not where I thought I’d be.”
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 09 August 2006 |
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Brushes on snare drum in three-quarter time set the pace—a slow,
spacious dance. Enter bass and guitar, weaving a cyclical pattern.
Spare notes on a piano are struck, sustained, released, repeated. A
tenor sax whispers, soft, luscious and cool. A vibraphone adds
punctuation. Everything flows together now, moving the music forward in
a perfect symbiosis of folk and jazz sensibility, rising, shifting.
Then, more than two minutes into the song, surprising, yet somehow
expected, a clear, high, voice descends on strings into this musical
tapestry. Three concentrated, poetic verses on the themes of time,
light, beauty, love and loss arrive and then pass. Back to the flow of
the instruments and the eventual end.
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 05 July 2006 |
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If you love singer-songwriters in the tradition of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Elliot Smith, Shawn Colvin, Jeff Buckley, etc., you will love what’s happening in Scandinavia these days, especially in Sweden. Here you will find many bright, shimmering musical lights—a kind of “aurora musicalis,” to coin a phrase. (I’ve always wanted to coin a phrase.) So much talent, in fact, a follow-up column may be in order at some point. For now, let’s focus on three musicians who, already well known in Europe, are poised to make some noise here in the United States. |
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Written by Keith Sabella
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Wednesday, 31 May 2006 |
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I love hearing music I’ve never heard before. But as a single parent of two kids, I don’t get out much and most of the music I’m exposed to on a daily basis is of the “yo’ bootie, my grille” genre. That’s great for bustin’ a move, but most of my moves are in the closet collecting dust with my platform shoes and polyester shirts, as they should be. |
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