It’s not only a box of 2009 Robert Pollard record releases that I’m behind on reviewing but more, much more once-new (in some cases) material that’s been submitted by independent musicians who are probably more professional in their musical pursuits than I am in any of my own pursuits as a rock journalist. In rapid-fire format, let’s see if I can’t catch up and give these artists their hard-earned and overdue due!
Gemini Wolf, Synchronized Eyes
Let’s kick this off with maybe the most egregious of my backlogged submissions for review. This CD was sent to Mr. Moderator about a year ago. He promptly turned it over to me, at which point I quickly delighted in spinning it and then more quickly lost the CD under a pile of empty pizza boxes and old sports pages. As my 9-year-old nephew said to me recently, “It’s good to lose things in your own house, isn’t it?” Yes, it is. Stay in one place long enough and you’re bound to find all that you’ve lost.
This same nephew, then 8 years old, was visiting when I first began listening to this CD. “It sounds like Irish music from outer space,” he said. Ah, from the mouths of babes!
I should have let my nephew review this CD then and there, because he wouldn’t have been hung up on the fact that the duo behind this music go by the surname-less monikers Mikronesia and Pandar (real names, it turns out, Michael McDermott and Megan Cauley). He wouldn’t have cringed at a description of the band’s music in their 1-sheet as “sounding more like a krautrock afrobeat shaman dancing in a sometimes crowded club in post apocalyptic [sic] Berlin.” He surely wouldn’t have shaken his head in mild disgust at the 1-sheet writer’s failure to insert a hyphen between “post” and “apocalyptic.” No, my then-8-year-old nephew would have simply lauded this duo and its contributing musicians for the comfort with which it weaves nervy, laid-back, late-night chill rhythms; jazzy horns; ambient sounds; and hypnotic, talk-sung vocals. If he noticed Uncle Ed was still hung up on the duo’s lack of surnames (“They’re probably the types who don’t use capital letters in their e-mails!” I likely would have grumbled), he might have pointed me toward my beloved copy of A Certain Ratio’s Sextet and asked me why I don’t have any hang ups with that album. In short, my nephew had it right at first listen. This is a cool album. How can I fret over tired comparisons to krautrock and a presumed lack of capital letters in artists’ personal e-mails when they’ve made an album of music that sounds like Irish music from outer space?
My Pet Dragon, “Lover in Hiding” (maxi-single)
Featuring contributions from members of Mercury Rev, Govt. Mule, Longwave, and Hurricane Bells, “Lover in Hiding,” the lead track on the maxi-single from the forthcoming album by My Pet Dragon, makes me want to go back in time and drive a stake through the heart of the 1980s. No wonder I kept myself medicated through much of that decade. I keep expecting the two guys from Tears for Fears to come dancing through my speakers while holding hands with Bono and that mysteriously popular Scottish guy who was once married to Chrissie Hynde. To their credit, this stuff is well done and could fool me for the real thing. The other two songs aren’t half as frightening. “Between Us” has a nice techno-Eastern vibe, like something from one of U2’s artsy albums, and fades out on some soaring, Fripp-like guitar solo. “New Nation” is unexpected, just a 4-chord, folky acoustic number, as if Jim Kerr had been listening to Billy Bragg. Weird what these kids have been plucking out of used record bins!
Alias Punch, Sly and the Family Stallone
Central Florida’s trio Alias Punch come out of the gates on this 4-song debut EP with a bag of offbeat, twangy riffs and zany lead vocals. Part of me wants to hate this stuff for the zany vocals and lyrics of songs like “Gorilla, Gorilla” alone, but the guitar-bass riffs are catchy and the beats are driving. Then I realize that vocals have enough sincere garage-rock charm at their heart, in a Fred Schneider/John Nichols (The Embarrassment) way, that I can go with the flow and simply shake my leg to the crazy rhythms. You can hear 3 of the 4 songs on this EP here.
Jackie Greene, Till the Light Comes
It’s funny that this album is being marketed by its label, 429 Records, as “Americana.” The New York Times, in fact, dubbed Jackie Greene “The Prince of Americana.” There are the slightest touches of American folk and country instruments, but if this qualifies Greene as the Prince of the genre then The Eagles must be the Kings of Americana. Who are we kidding? Songs like “Shakey Ground” and “Stranger in Sand” are more indebted to Badfinger than Hank Williams – and there’s nothing wrong with that – but I guess the Americana tag carries more weight. This is a solid, professional pop album that wouldn’t sound out of place on a ’70s AM station playing the titans of soft- and country-rock. There’s nothing wrong with that, but then again I wish there was more right with it. When the guy tries to rock out, as on “Spooky Tina,” he comes off as rockin’ as Kenny Loggins. What’s going on?
Manolete
Manolete’s self-titled debut is a real shocker for this old fart. The promise of what was described as Indie Latin Rock puzzled me. Would I be spinning a take on that Texas band with Mexican-American guys fusing MC5 and Santana that made a big splash about 10 years ago and then quickly splintered into a few other interesting bands that are still cranking out records to this day or would the Latin influences be along the lines of that cocktail music scene that centered in Chicago in the ’90s? As it turns out, Manolete’s music, after the openly Latin rocker that opens the album, “Alarm,” subtly mixes the band members’ Latin influences with a sound that’s more along the lines of a number of modern rock/professionally “indie” bands that I mix up, Modest Mouse being the band among that crew that most comes to mind. These guys are really good musicians, they’re creative and structured within a genre that always sounds ill-defined to me, and the recording is top-notch. I don’t know how a young band stands out from this crowd. I like it best when their Latin influences come to the fore, as on “Dumb Kidds,” but when it does I still can’t get a feel for who these cats are, for what makes them tick. Maybe there’s a modern-day Steely Dan thing going on that I can’t sink my teeth into. You can listen to this entire album here and help me better understand what’s going on.
Another Black Season
Robert Michaels, a Los Angeles-based musician and dance-remix producer (eg, NTC, with Gary Butcher and Julie Harrington) contacted us regarding his new rock project, Another Black Season, with independently produced tracks available through iTunes. His totally professional and surprisingly un-annoying Modern Rock music reminds me of yet a few more wrinkles in time that I’ve missed. There’s a grace and ease to tunes like “Blue the Stars” and “A Reason to Believe” that reminds me of “Eyeliner Rock” I mostly bypassed in the ’80s, stuff like Love and Rockets, Depeche Mode, and other poppier offshoots of the proto-goth scene. Psychedelic Furs‘ Forever Now album, a rare album I own along those lines, also comes to mind. Like I said, I’m so out of step that I have trouble discerning between a type of ’80s rock and today’s Modern Rock radio format, but it’s a great relief that Michaels actually sings his songs, steering clear of any Vedderisms and heavily compressed macho posturing that seem to be de rigueur for today’s Goon Squad. (Facebook users can hear more of Another Black Season here.)
Hey KingEd — I for one really appreciate your record reviews here at RTH.
There are fewer and fewer places (actually, there are probably more and more places on this here internet, but who’s got the time to surf?) to get unbiased reviews. Creem and Hit Parader used to be the places for me, and Rolling Stone gives everything three stars these days (unless your name is Yoko, then you get five stars), so you can’t trust them.
So I say thank you, and keep ’em coming.