Water & Bodies – EP

Portland’s Water & Bodies would like to think that it spices up indie rock. It doesn’t. Supposedly, electronics and jazz are the special ingredients, but on the group’s new EP, the former falls flat and the latter is nonexistent. Their already subpar sound is hampered by their attempts at eclecticism. This is the difference between being a pioneer and being lost.

The band dives in with “Something I Can Grasp”, a song that moves to the beat of a persistent snare drum. The chorus downshifts and coasts through some decent harmonies, but the pleasure is fleeting. A lot of middling indie bands try to be versatile within songs, playing with dynamics, tempos, and tensions without ever mastering any particular one. And so it goes with Water & Bodies. “Animals” begins with a non sequitur: an electronic beat, synthy bass, and vaguely haunting falsetto followed by the sound of a white bread college band over-eager to sound progressive. If you heard this in a club, you’d leave.

The best of these six songs is “Celebration Song” and “Written and Read”. The first is basic indie rock with a steady, head bobbing beat. The vocal is more than a little melodramatic but is nevertheless the best performance on the EP. Synths set a soft backdrop for “Written and Read”. Despite some questionable instrumentation choices, the beat—led by the cymbal—allows the song to develop and solidify the arrangement.

Water & Bodies offers nothing in particular. The guitars shuffle through anonymous alt rock, the rhythm section works like wallpaper, and the vocalist, while promising, should learn when to hold back. And better lyrics wouldn’t hurt, either. The vocal on “Naked in the Rain” emotes, “Take some common sense and some loose change, trade it for a wish and some cheap champagne / If only everything could be like this, I think we all would have it made”. The song’s message skips through an indecipherable sequence of feelings of wandering and remembering and regretting and feeling sad, and then lonely but needing to get away from something. Try getting away from music for a while.

Rain City Records

All India Radio – A Low High

Australian Martin Kennedy formed All India Radio in 2000, releasing several albums including an ARIA-nominated self-titled album in 2003, and has contributed compositions to film and TV soundtracks like director Michael Moore’s Sicko and the TV series One Tree Hill. 

A Low High is the last chapter in a musical trilogy that Martin started with All India Radio and continued on 2006’s Echo Other, but previous knowledge of his work is not needed to fully enjoy the contemplative, dreamy to down-tempo atmosphere of electronics, guitars, and sound samples that permeate this album.  Martin is joined by Graham Lee of The Triffids on pedal steel guitar, Jen Anderson of Pandora’s Box on strings, and Ed Kuepper, formerly of The Saints and currently a member of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, who provides some ambient sonics. 

Martin considers A Low High to be a sister album to his also-recently released collaboration with Steve Kilbey of The Church titled Unseen Music Unheard Words, with songs on both albums sharing similar sounds and points of origin, but this album stands on its own and is not conjoined to Steve Kilbey & Martin Kennedy Present… 

The 13 compositions that cover over 46 minutes are mainly lingering instrumental excursions that draw the listener in with a calm, mellow pace.  Opener “solstice” cycles slowly from dawn to dusk, starting off with birds busily chirping, which fade away as languid, attenuated notes move in, accented by bright, high synths and a laid-back drum beat.  Languorous, echoed slide guitar in the same tone floats by and then a second guitar, wavering with reverb, emerges, eventually intertwining with the slide guitar.  A pattern forms in the background from the third wiry, strummed guitar as lightly rising ambient sounds evolve.  Low register, low-key male “Oohing” vocals are soothingly drawn out until there is a sudden interruption, a knock on a wood door, the sound of a few footsteps, and the door opening upon an evening dotted with cricket chirps and owl hoots. 

A spacious, nocturnal atmosphere pervades “black satin” with its crepuscular synth notes that fade in and out amid a blend of measured, clacking beat, low-tone, Western-tinged reverb guitar, and wiry, lighter register, but heavy-with-reverb guitar.  The gentle sweep of brushed cymbals keeps time, along with the beat as unrushed, muted trumpet notes peer out of the backdrop of acoustic guitar strum and uplifting synth notes.  

“intrigue” lives up to its name in a delightfully jazzy manner, starting off with a light, spacey backdrop of echoing notes and a short, repeated loop of male vocals, then shifting to a fast tempo of soft, but snazzily tapped cymbals as the drum beat breaks out against the spacey backdrop.  The buried male vocals fade, reappear, and fade again until a sudden lull of shuffling static takes over, followed by deep space and muffled heart beat-like sounds.  Globular synth notes, the buzz of a bass line, and some clicks ‘n’ clacks work their way in, reminiscent of the instrumentals of Northern Valentine and Hotel Hotel. 

“lucky” proceeds at a leisurely pace, with subdued reverb guitar, a steady beat, the occasional piano note, light, bright synth patter, and bittersweet violin and cello lines that surface in tandem with a wash of cymbals.  The beat stops and the spotlight is placed on low, spacey sounds and reverb guitar until the other instruments join in again, sounding bright and hopeful.   Delicate acoustic guitar strings glide over “heat 2” along with a distant spacey sound, cymbal sheen, and reflective reverb guitar, with various synth frequencies flitting about.  Softly-sighing vocal “Ahhhs” drape over deeper synth lines and crackles of static, while intermittent words spoken by a girl verging on a feline meowing tone emerge through the static. 

The static-cling trip-hop beat and amorphous space sound at the start of “lo fi groovy” evokes lazy days under the sun, but the placidity dissipates rapidly as two contrasting guitars exchange lines, one reverb and one wiry with rapidly alternating notes, and the tempo rises with a flourish of fast cymbal tap, dynamic drums, and the addition of a hand-hit beat.  Order is restored by the end of the number, with a spacey sound taking over, only to be disrupted by one quick, sudden beat.  “lightship” takes off slowly with wavering piano notes, triangle ting, cymbal wash, and floating ambient sounds until two different piano runs come in along with a faster, clanging beat, spinning metal disc sonics, found sounds, and echoed male and female talking vocals.

Ambient notes appear then fade away on “little emu”, along with busily-twittering birds and male humming vocals.  A picked guitar cycles in, along with bell notes, mid-range chords of Western guitar, and acoustic guitar strum.  Sedate trumpet notes sound, rising and falling sweetly against the guitars, as wordless female vocals caress the ears.  A snatch of a shivery, whistling sound can be heard, and possibly a found sound of a female opera singer emoting at a very high pitch.  Twittering birds (no, they’re not Twittering online) reemerge at the end of the song.

The titular “a low high” has an enigmatic vibe and is full of drawn-out nightfall strings, runs of shimmering chime tinkle, and mid-range, glossy synth notes.   A few light guitar notes form amid the hand-beaten drums and “Ooohing” vocals.  Cymbal tap, shaken maracas, and deeper reverb guitar chords are contrasted with light xylophone-like tings which lighten the darker mood.

Patrick Cleandenim – Orange Moonbeam Floorshow

You’ve probably heard Patrick Cleandenim’s music before—but I mean that in the best possible way. In Patrick Cleandenim’s second album Orange Moonbeam Floorshow, a record distinctly different from delightfully poppy debut Baby Comes Home, delivers vintage songwriting in a contemporary pastiche of DIY dance-rock.

Speculating upon the inhabitants of the musical space similar to Patrick Cleandemin is a difficult diagnosis, especially since many of Cleandenim’s sounds and sensibilities come from an era long gone. The song structures and melodies are clean and tight, but packaged in an atmosphere more David Bowie than Elvis Presley (the Presley comparisons don’t come without direct support; Cleandenim mentions that he’d “like to die a hero like Elvis Presley” in “Little Baby Party.”) The most striking thing about Patrick Cleandenim’s music is the marriage of styles both vintage and modern, pulled together seamlessly into either a more updated version of fifties-era retro swing or a new strain of independent rock itself.

As any musician will readily admit, the musical vernacular of rock ‘n’ roll music has left little room for technical innovation, the (perhaps futile) challenge being to create a new angle on cliché. Here is where Cleandenim thrives, as listeners will be instantly familiar with the movements and breaks of Cleandenim’s music, but at the same time it’s an entirely different beast altogether. While this notion “repackaging” may be a tad oversimplified, Cleandenim’s music never sounds overstuffed or overzealous, very content to be spare, clean, and honest. At the very least, Orange Moonbeam Floorshow integrates a variety of classic styles into a chic amalgam of pop, dance, vintage rock and roll, and melody.

Album opener “Hotel Gansevoort” serves as a proper introduction to several thematic elements of Orange Moonbeam Floorshow, particularly the implication of programmed drums, bubbly synths, and emotionally-tinged lyrical venting; Cleandenim tells the posh Hotel Gansevoort denizens that “you can put your arms around us, but we aren’t going to take you home.” Orange Moonbeam Floorshow’s other highlights continue in this vein; the swing of “Stage Fright” and “The Show” perhaps stand as the best pure incarnations of Cleandenim’s strengths, exhibiting sharp, smart songwriting and crisp vocals over soundscapes that would comfortably fit anywhere from a late-night after hours dance-off to an eighties movie set inside a space shuttle. “Motorik,” perhaps the album’s best song, should be retroactively added to the “Top Gun” soundtrack, and I mean that as a compliment of the highest order.

Orange Moonbeam Floorshow, like many records coming out of the Brooklyn borough over the last year, can best be described as a love letter to pop music from all eras (even a tip of the hat to the former King of Pop in “City Lights;” “We’ll never know his love inside if we can’t realize/the one who lost his childhood for the sake of you and I”). The record stands as an album not mired in the recent trends of independent rock, but rather sampling elements of 50s and 60s blues, eighties new wave, and 90s indie emoting. Though more variety could be injected into the otherwise clean song formula employed on Orange Moonbeam Floorshow, Cleandenim shows off an extraordinarily sophisticated musical palette, something that will ensure a long period of success on whichever he chooses to follow.

Broken Horse Records

Kissing Cousins – Pillar of Salt

Looking back has its disadvantages, like turning into a pillar of salt. It also has its advantages, like Pillar of Salt, the debut album by California’s Kissing Cousins. Articulating the vision of songwriter Heather B. Heywood, this all-female lineup combines elements from punk, camp, R&B, hard rock, dark balladry, new wave, mystical psych, and art-rock into a bitchin’ brew. The songs sound totally inspired by sounds from styles past but never comes close to the dreaded derivative tag, thanks to creative arrangements, passionate performances, and raw production by Richard Swift. The tracks all sound lived in, like they’d been around a while before being recorded, and showed up at the studio knowing exactly what clothes they needed to be dressed in to look their best.

Opening track “Close to the Fire” warns of danger while sounding like Black Sabbath playing delta blues. Second track “Come Back to Me”, is a down-and-dirty invitation to psycho-sexual recidivism, loud guitars on the chorus set against a cold-metal, surf guitar riff. Third track “Deathhouse” is probably the highlight of the album, with a snappy disco beat and a forlorn, slinky melody played on flute, it holds its own with any of the Brooklynite neo-minimal disco popular in recent years, but with a pushy, agitated, alt-rock chorus to push the level of affect beyond the cool disinterest. The flute solo on this track will make you wonder if you’ve been transported back to a medieval village, and flute work over the course of the album is a genius touch which gives both an air of light menace and an out-of-time feeling.

The remainder of the album is just as good, channeling psychobilly riffs, punk attitude, Sabbath-sized crush, soft-focus dream balladry, and 80’s soundtrack drama, sometimes all at once. Penultimate track “Don’t Look Back”, a dreamy, moaning lament, is a late album highlight which ties the album together and reiterates the main theme of the album: expressing and dealing with conflicting feelings. There’s a great Kim Gordon-esque spoken word outro recounting the story of Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt accompanied by a chorus of girl-group background singers repeating “Baby, baby, baby don’t look back” and the singer doing double duty letting off ghostly vocalizations deep in the mix. The singing throughout is fantastic, at turns bratty, soaring, and reflective. It’s easy to assume a woman is going to sound pretty good while singing, but Heywood’s versatility and expressiveness put to shame voices like Jenny Lewis’s which is undeniably pretty but suggestive of little beyond itself.

Reading up on this band, it’s obvious that they’re proud of their all-female makeup, and the creepy-but-kinda-sexy connotations of the band’s name are reflected in the ambivalent emotional terrain of the music. This terrain is multi-faceted, being simultaneously darkly feminine, slinky and sexy, dreadfully pissed, boldly empowered, and mournful. Despite the femininity surrounding this project, it doesn’t make its mark by addressing gender specifics or hauling out the accusation-victim-pity confessionalism frequently associated with aggressive and emotional music made by females. Instead, on Pillar of Salt Kissing Cousins shoots for and hits an affecting vein of human struggle common to all existence, consisting of passionate desires, interpersonal travails, and internal pep-talks that everyone can relate to, and that just happen to be performed by women.

Kissing Cousins

Velvet Blue Music

Flipsides & Otherwise: FAO #20

No introductory thematic connection-making spiel this time around, just some notes on three semi-obscure oddments that might otherwise slip through the net, fall through the cracks, go under the radar, get lost in the crowd, slip overboard, become needles in haystacks… yadda yadda yadda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glen Johnson – Institutionalized EP (Secret Furry Hole, cassette)

When it comes to obsolete musical formats, a chunk of extruded plastic with magnetic tape running through it is almost up there with the wax cylinder, but perversely it’s making a small exclusive comeback just as the digital world tries to bolt the door on physically-manufactured musical products.  Certainly, the cassette’s brand new retro DIY aura appealed to Piano Magic’s Glen Johnson – as recently confessed in his endlessly illuminating blog – for encasing this follow-up EP to the recent Details Not Recorded album.  But as much as we all like to fetishise mediums old and new, it’s the contents here that make it worth dusting off a Walkman or boom-box to playback.

Whilst much of the material was cut during the home-recording sessions for Details Not Recorded, its five tracks don’t feel like flimsy outtakes.  The opening “Kill You” is possibly the creepiest and scariest song Johnson has ever cut in any of his guises, with a literally murderous lyric (“I know you never liked me/But I stretch out my hand/You may be foolish to take it/Cos I will kill you if I get the chance”) and a harsh lo-fi industrial coda that will probably cause the tape to self-destruct after a few spoolings.  “Ageing” is far less unsettling, at least sonically-speaking.  Set on top of antique percussion-loop patter, that recalls the imaginative soundscapes of ’60s BBC children’s TV music composer Freddie Phillips, Johnson contemplates the body-corroding cruelty of our mortal coils (“Oh, my bones are done/They barely hold the flesh/The seams have come undone”).  The doom-heavy drones and synths, redolent of early-Kraftwerk and the Clockwork Orange soundtrack, on “Come Back” frame a two-line lyric that merges Johnson’s unshakeable romantic streak with the bleakness of the surrounding songs; “Why don’t you come back?/Why don’t you bring back the love you gave to me?”  A ghostly serene yet faithful cover of Sonic Youth’s “Secret Girl” (excavated from 1986′s atmospheric Evol, as only the third re-interpretive piece in Johnson’s vast catalogue) almost acts as a moment of levity, with its elegiac guest piano from Piano Magic and Klima’s Angèle David-Guillou.  The acoustic-guitar-led finale of “I Can’t Help It” finds Johnson back in the Leonard Cohen-like clothing scattered within Details Not Recorded - albeit refracted through the austere prisms of early-Red House Painters albums – to deliver a message to an ex-lover; “I read the letters you wrote to me/Some would say I should’ve burnt them/The words do not work without the love/Those kisses, now only crosses.”

Knowing that the EP was part-inspired by the tragically-afflicted Joseph Carey Merrick (AKA ‘The Elephant Man’) certainly only adds to the all-pervading Victoriana gloom that grips this 5-track set from the sleeve image inwards, but as with other desolate Johnson wares, chinks of light always bleed-in via subtle beauty and unpretentious compassion.  Another release then, for Glen Johnson and Piano Magic fanatics to fight over, to add to their already-overloaded obscurities treasure chests.

Wilco – You Never Know b/w Unlikely Japan (Nonesuch, 7′ vinyl)

This soon-to-be-collectible seven incher (only available mail-order and through Record Store Day-affiliated US indie stores) near-perfectly represents the split-personality powering latter-day Wilco.  On the A-side we have the lush harmony-dripping “You Never Know” (one of the four or five essential tracks from the new Wilco (The Album) platter) highlighting Jeff Tweedy’s seemingly uncontrollable urge for imagining a Steely Dan & The Heartbreakers collaboration album.  With its somewhat ‘hey, stop worrying, man’ lyrical vibe that indirectly recalls John Lennon’s White Album-era radicalism-abdication anthem “Revolution,” it could stray close to baiting eco and economic protesters with couplets like “All you fat followers get fit fast/Every generation thinks it’s the last” and “I don’t care anymore/It’s a fear to transcend if we’re here at the end.”  But that’s just crude conjecture and Tweedy could just as well be copping a feel of the mischievous wordplay of his on/off creative foil Jim O’Rourke.  On the flip, there’s a more curious and previously unreleased 2003 version of “Impossible Germany” (which eventually appeared in re-recorded form on 2007′s Sky Blue Sky).  Substantially different from the previously-known official version, the alternatively-named “Unlikely Japan” peers much closer into the post-rock vortex surrounding 2002′s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and 2004′s A Ghost Is Born; moving from fractured piano lines and electro-acoustic strumming to a Krautrock throb and a vocoder-treated vocal conclusion.  Ultimately, the smoother Sky Blue Sky version is more assured but fans of Wilco’s wilder streak will be happy to hear it – that is if they can find this slice of wax before the eBay vultures do.

The Cure-Ator/Terry Edwards & The Scapegoats – In Between Days b/w Boots Off!! (Sartorial Records, 7″ vinyl/download)

As a long-serving accomplice to the sleazy Gallon Drunk and the debonair Tindersticks (amongst many others), with his adroit brass, woodwind and keyboard skills, Terry Edwards has earned himself the luxury of sneaking-out a steady stream of deeply eccentric solo records over the years; and here’s another one.  Originally conceived but shelved in the ’90s as part of the fourth instalment in a series of EPs sardonically reworking the works of The Jesus & Mary Chain, Miles Davis and The Fall, Edwards’s refashioning of The Cure’s much-loved “In Between Days” finally makes it out officially under the punning pseudonym of The Cure-Ator.  Whilst there’s been a bizarre glut of Cure tributes in the last couple of years – with three different covers compilations in circulation just for starters – Edwards’s wordless absorption of “In Between Days” into his own ’70s TV cop-show theme shtick is rendered with enough affectionate wit to induce both amusement and euphoria.  Even better though, is The Scapegoats-backed “Boots Off!!” on the AA-side (extracted from 1997′s soon-to-be-reissued I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today album).  With its squelchy freewheeling sax, splattering garage-rock drums and careening vintage keyboards, “Boots Off!!” could in a parallel world be Terry Edwards’s signature tune and hit-single rolled-into one.  But in this dimension, it remains a joyfully infectious instrumental nugget that will be cherished by the handful of us lucky enough to know one of the true British eccentrics worth (re)discovering.

The Aurora Project – Shadow Border

When one thinks of progressive rock/metal, the most obvious attributes are the musicianship, vocal skills and unusually (but often warranted) lengthy pieces. However, there is also the simple fact that most players are shameless geeks. Hell, Genesis took lyrical content from William Wordsworth, Led Zeppelin referenced Lord of the Rings, and Rush were obsessed with Sci-Fi. This trend continues today with The Aurora Project, which began by jamming out in between sessions of “Magic the Gathering.” The group’s second album, Shadow Border, breaks no new ground, but it doesn’t need to. It satisfies the genre requirement of stellar playing, singing and melodies, and any fan of Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Pink Floyd, and Tool should check this album out!

The group is releasing Shadow Border in conjunction with celebrating their tenth anniversary, and they still write primarily during jam sessions. The band describes the album as “…a no-nonsense progressive rock album…firm guitar playing, solid rhythm section and breathtaking vocals!” Surprisingly, the most transparent influences are Pain of Salvation and Anathema, two wholly unique, inventive and overall amazing groups who set themselves apart with remarkable shifts in tone and melody. In essence, this album is just a combination of their influences, but when you’re taking pages from today’s best of the best, that’s good enough.

The spacey guitar patterns and increasingly ominous drums that begin “Human Gateway” effectively set up The Aurora Project as a group who’s heavy on the riffs but sensitive vocally. Indeed the music draws upon King Crimson as singer Dennis Binnekade conveys the fragile purity of Riverside and Echolyn. Actually, anyone who’s heard Riverside will have a good idea of how the music shifts dynamics beautifully and the words are expressed with varying degrees of anger and sorrow. It’s an opener that sets the stage well.

“The Trial” is very heavy from the start, with crunching chords and distorted synthesizers. It’s a madhouse of alien sounds over a more straightforward metal landscape. The emotional guitar solo leads into a the crashing bass and syncopation of the gates of hell, and The Aurora Project handles it all with enough interesting choices to keep it from becoming pure noise (which so many other bands are).

One of the most interesting and memorable tracks is certainly “Photonic Reunion,” which has an intriguing enough verse before shifting everything for the chorus. Actually, this section reminds me a lot of “Hope” from Anathema’s Eternity album (a track originally written by Roy Harper). You can almost hear the instruments cry as Binnekade pours his heart out. It momentarily breaks from convention to hypnotize listeners and lull them into tranquility in the midst of chaos.

A segue leads into “The Confession.” After an explosive instrumental opening, things become very mellow, almost acoustic, as Binnekade carries his melody into a refreshing falsetto that his band is more than happy to complement. Of course things never stay too calm with this band, and eventually Binnekade has the echo of a fallen angel announcing musical apocalypse has his band reigns down sulfur. This then leads back into the delicate verse, which is beautiful.

The production of an Ayreon album blankets “Another Dream.” There’s the threatening Carney voice and computerized future sounds. Other than that, it’s a relatively uninteresting track, lacking any real noteworthy moments. Still, it’s not a bad one overall; it’s just weaker than the rest.

“Within The Realms” has lush harmonies and interesting arpeggios over standard riffing. It has the appeal of a radio single without becoming lazily commercial. Taking a page from any number of psychedelic jams with spoken word samples (i.e., Porcupine Tree’s “Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth”) is the latter half of the track. It effectively builds to a 1970s Jimmy Page guitar solo before ending with an emotional note pattern (i.e., Riverside).

Every prog band has to have their epic, “side long” piece, and for The Aurora Project, it’s the title track (which closes the album). The timbre of the guitar recalls Porcupine Tree’s more recent, heavier sound (“Futile” comes to mind), and the metal virtuosity recalls Riverside again. Afterward we have a nice junction of warm textures, funky rhythms and typically harsh chords. At the halfway point, a new section begins; a solo performance with Binnekade and an acoustic guitar. This is brief, and soon a third section begins, this time panicked and evil but still always showing complex, decipherable music instead of bland noise. The final melody of one of the best on Shadow Border, and Binnekade has one of those classy, angelic voices you never tire of hearing.

To summarize and restate what Shadow Border and The Aurora Project sounds like, you’ll hear a synthesis of Anathema, Riverside, Porcupine Tree and the like, albeit at times heavier than the rest. Granted (and this is not meant to insult) this band doesn’t have the songwriting chops or variety of any of their idols (especially Porcupine Tree, who have produced some of the greatest songs of my generation), but so what? They still make damn fine prog, and if you’re a fan of the aforementioned bands, it’s a no brainer to check out The Aurora Project too.

Staff Benda Bilili – Très Très Fort

Do you ever get that feeling, in the deepest part of your chest, where a certain kind of art moves you like no other? Those uniquely delightful moments and instances where the music and the story behind it tell such compelling stories? As often as I’ve said, and you certainly don’t need to hear it again but my goodness, music is one miraculous gift.

Just last week, I meekly attempted to put into words, the magnitude and sheer power the King of Pop possessed. And now, I’m at a loss for words with Staff Benda Bilili‘s Très Très Fort. At times reflecting a Cuban spirit, with many African-based genres like the rumba deeply rooted into their soul, the album’s rhythmic vibrancy and embedded inspiration are utterly magical. This is quite unlike anything else you will hear this year and it just may be one of the most beautiful things you will ever hear.

Music like this just doesn’t come along often enough. And even though this album has been out since late March, I am deeply grateful for having found it – even if I am way late. You don’t have to know or even understand what the words are because of how emotionally driven everything is. It’s as if, with every note, with every passing beat and with every single word sung they are rewarding you with a piece of their heart.

Recorded out in the open, the music flourishes with a dazzling amount of desire and encouraged improvisation. Layers upon layers of acoustic guitars and basses, African drums and one especially gifted guitar virtuoso are all responsible for Staff Benda Bilili’s charming music. “Sala Keba” begins with what resembles a lovely 60s ballad in the style of doo-wop. The guitar’s heavenly melody is later joined by harmonizing voices and Coco Yakala Ngambali’s inspired lead vocals. Carried out in such a fashion that it all seems as close to perfection as possible, this is what musicianship is all about.

I can’t help but compare this group of Congolese musicians’ story with that of Buena Vista Social Club. This is the journey of elder statesmen who live on the streets, on the outside grounds of a zoo in Kinshasa. They’re all hindered by a disease that has caused them to create makeshift wheelchairs to get from place to place. And backed by an all acoustic rhythm section and a 17-year old wunderkind, Roger, who plays guitar solos on his own created instrument, the satonge, the leaders are four vocalists and songwriters who deliver magnificent music in the most spectacular way. 

The bass lick on “Je T’aime” is unadulterated funk in its rawest form: smooth and lively. One of the many songs to actually be recorded at the zoo, the musicians play a sweltering pot of relaxation and efficiency to the guitar’s sophisticated delivery. The variety is unmatched with every single song sounding like a new genre all on its own. “Marguerite” appears encoded with a Mexican-guitar opening but before you know it, Coco’s voice has inflected so much African heart and soul that it transcends into some other wondrous piece of art.

This is a debut in the strictest of terms because with the exception of Roger, all the other musicians have been writing and performing music for many years. And their strength lies in how exceptionally alive everything sounds. The opening moments of “Moto Moindo” initiate a soft opening of expressive guitar flurries and Ricky’s rich voice. The tempo picks up after the introduction and once the drums kit if off, it’s absolutely riveting. Later, on “Sala Mosala,” the band start things off by declaring the album’s title in joyous affirmation. From here, Theo and the rest jump into a ska-like rock that is impressive amounts of both reggae and R&B.

Already stated, music like this is hard to come by. Not only is Très Très Fort something to behold but it feels almost impossible. Revolving around a heart of jubilation and coated with the ever-loving poignancy of superb music and gifted artists, Staff Benda Bilili are an exceptional group of musicians. Even if the story doesn’t move you (shame on you,) the music will bring you back to life, I guarantee it.

Crammed Discs

Aeroplane Pageant – Even The Kids Don’t Believe Me

The concepts behind Aeroplane Pageant’s songwriting may be a little too ambitious and often convoluted. With the band’s follow-up to their well recieved debut full length Wave to the Moon, Aeroplane Pageant has painted a story of lies, all starting with man being swallowed by a tiger and the world falling into choas, etc. Apparently it gets weirder, but all that doesn’t matter. With Even the Kids Don’t Believe Me, Aeroplane Pageant has crafted a pop gem.

“Stars Still Pretty” is pretty. It’s a soft, groove filled little ditty that relies on drum machines, acoustic guitars and some electronic bleeps and bloops. “And We Go” is slightly more focused, and really keeps things moving at a steady clip. “Nobody Gets Hurt” slows things down slightly and maybe changes things up too much for its own good at times, but overall, its a solid effort that unfortunately ends too abruptly.

The title track follows and takes serious risks by being an all acoustic/clean guitar number with percussive bass and digital noise in the background. “Where To?” is a low-fi yet fast number that again relies on mostly clean instruments, yet this time the sense of urgency is more apparent. Past the midway point of the album, things get darker, for better or worse. The Cure inspired “Mouthful of Flowers” even features a dreary cello in the ending parts and in the beginning its even used to great effect in conjunction with some electronics.  “I Remember I Think” takes vocals to a lush and lulling low, but with the effective melodies, it makes for one of the best songs on the album.

Overall, this is a flawed pop album, but for the most part Aeroplane Pageant’s members have their hearts in the right place. There are moments here where you really hear that these guys are on the brink of being the next big thing. Whether or not they make it, they still have solid records to show for it.

Auerbach tour dates announced

The man the AP said “just gets it” is hitting the road this November. Black Keys front man Dan Auerbach is heading on a late fall tour in support of his critically acclaimed solo debut Keep it Hid.

The tour begins in Columbus, Ohio, on November 5th. Check out the rest of the dates below. Justin Townes Earle and Jessica Lea Mayfield are the scheduled opening acts.

DAN AUERBACH FALL TOUR DATES
*with Justin Townes Earle and Jessica Lea Mayfield
†with Jessica Lea Mayfield

November 5               Newport Music Hall*             Columbus, OH
November 6               The Majestic Theater*           Detroit, MI
November 7                Phoenix Concert Theater*    Toronto, ONT
November 8               Le National*                             Montreal, QC
November 9                The Paradise†                          Boston, MA
November 11               Webster Hall†                         New York, NY
November 12              Theater of the Living Arts†   Philadelphia, PA
November 13               Sonar*                                      Baltimore, MD
November 14               Cat’s Cradle†                           Chapel Hill, NC
November 16               The Orange Peel*                   Asheville, NC
November 17               Variety Playhouse*                 Atlanta, GA
November 18               House of Blues*                      New Orleans, LA
November 20               Minglewood Hall*                 Memphis, TN
November 21               Cannery Ballroom†                Nashville, TN
December 3                Turner Hall*                             Milwaukee, WI
December 4               First Avenue*                            Minneapolis, MN
December 6                The Bluebird*                           Bloomington, IN
December 8                Southgate House*                    Newport, KY
December 9                House of Blues*                        Cleveland, OH

Coffinberry – s/t

Coffinberry continues to explore its sound, and this time around, it leads to full-on roots rock. Simple, yet distorted, rhythmic chords pervades the group’s self titled debut, while lackadaisical vocals and lazy melodies from frontman Tony Cross sit at home with the down-to-earth instrumentation. Almost none of the band’s previous forays into post-punk are present, giving way to straightforward rock approach, with a dab of twang. Think the Silver Jews without the intricate guitar noodling, and replace David Berman with a less charismatic frontman with a manly afflection. If that correlation worked correctly, you should have envisioned a band with just enough “rock” to stay off the alt-country map, with a lot of down-home approaches, that which are prominent in both the Jews and Coffinberry; the band never gets too poppy or melodic, they don’t revel in indulgent rock n’ roll solos, and they don’t try anything too fancy. And that’s what roots rock is all about. Deertick does some of it, Wilco did it on Sky Blue Sky, the Jews did it, Conor Oberst does a lot of it. So, I hope you kind of see where Coffinberry is going to file itself in your brain’s database.

These dudes seem like honest guys, so I won’t bust their balls too hard. I’ll get the negative stuff out of the way first. Sometimes, and never more prevalent than on “Glassy Shiny Sun,” the melodies come off the track on their lazy sounding monorail, and end up sounding too disjointed. However, “Celebrate the Holy Innocents,” “Monsters,” “The Vapors,” “Long Story Short,” and “Dead Skin Flowers Bloom” are all great tracks, following a rigid roots rock recipe, but they all find a home with a perfectly executed melody. The remaining 8 tracks are all solid works, with something to smile at and something to pick at, all along the way.

It’s difficult to say whether Coffinberry has burrowed itself deeply into this phase, or if this is merely a stop in the ongoing progression this band intends to make. But Coffinberry, regardless of prior efforts or future speculation, is something that has to be analyzed on its own merits. If you’re looking for something new, and are intrigued by some of the genre akin bands I listed, I recommend picking this album up. The great tracks are definitely worth hearing, and the rest of the album is decent enough that you’ll get some enjoyment out of Coffinberry.

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