Cheatahs, Extended Plays EP

Cheatahs? Yes! Here's a band that has that wonderful sense of vocal melody and chord progression, who do a hard hitting lyrical yet advanced rock thing, a new Sonic Youth of sorts, an REM'd gift for presence, a beautiful wall-of-sound-sound.

I speak of their EP Extended Plays (Wichita Recordings). They are England-based and this release is a combo of a couple of mini-EPS out for a while in the UK. They are in the middle of touring the States right as I write this so look out for them.

It's just a band and a set that has it. Four guys with the guitars, bass, drums, voices and some really good hard-joy songs....with the knack!

I would recommend that you track this down if you like hard tunefulness.

More!

Cat Power, Sun

Singer, songwriter, alt queen Cat Power is aging well musically. Her album Sun (Matador) shows that well. Thanks to Hurricane Sandy and then another storm that knocked me off the net a good part of last quarter, I am running a bit behind. Sun has been reviewed and duly acclaimed out there already. What can I add?

I can add that good songs and interesting arrangements make or break the sort of alt that flirts at the edges of pop yet transcends the bleakly dismal results that usually prevail in the great wasteland today.

Anyway, Cat Power didn't sing at the inauguration and I don't suppose we should expect much from our State events from a cultural point of view. No one would accuse Cat Power of donning continually the evil falseness of voice-pitch correction software or other slickly glib tricks that are a big part of the music machine today. So though she may be popular, she could I suppose never be mainstream enough for some musical rep of consensus, and I like that. Political consensus is one thing, musical another. We don't need a common denominator in music and Cat Power isn't that. And that's very cool with me.

If there's a wrong note, it's there, though I hear none on the album, offhand. She does do a little with the digital voice enhancement thing, but quite sparingly and seemingly for effect.

Lyrics that must be heard and understood and have poetic fullness, music that doesn't run through the formulas, a kind of believable human-ness, that's Cat Power to me and she gets my applause for this new one. She doesn't have to sound cute, young and coy and she doesn't. That means she can grow older and still have credibility, no?

Good job!

Song Sparrow Research, Second Album

Today an alt band from Seattle who have named their second album simply Song Sparrow Research (self released), which also happens to be the name of the band.

This is a brightly jangley and deceptively straightforward guitar centered rock band that has some real songs that can give things a twist and get in your craw.

The musicianship is tight and the arrangements direct in a band-oriented way, but that can be refreshing and in fact is. The singer reminds just slightly of Morrissey but ultimately goes his own way and carries a distinctive signature sound.

It's a good sign that I've heard this one a bunch of times and it continues to grow on me. It's art rock and I hope it gets a good hearing out there.

Extra Life, Dream Seeds

Judging from their new album, Dream Seeds (Northern Spy), Extra Life is a very quirky alt rock band with a somewhat disturbed vision of lyrical reality, a musical sensibility and song producing capability, and a peculiar lead vocal style thing brings them into a land unto their own, like a little island that via geographical isolation gets different things happening.

It's a concept album centered around dreams and children. Charlie Looker, the main songwriter, lead vocalist, synth, and acoustic guitarist for the band, apparently had a series of harrowing dreams involving children (he teaches elementary school). He took them as the raw material for the lyric content and devised an interconnected set of songs.

With Caley Monahon-Ward on electric guitar and Nick Podgurski, drums, the threesome crafted some very creative arrangements.

The songs are in an art mode--with twists and turns of all sorts musically, and lyrically a bizarre series of imagery/symbolism.

It's like nothing else around right now. That in itself is a recommendation. It should be heard by anyone concerned to experience what's going on in avant rock nowadays.

The Horrors, "Skying", Third Album from the English Combo

OK, the Horrors are back with their third album, entitled Skying (XL Records). This is wall-of-sound, synth/mellotron drenched moody fare in the lineage of the Smiths and the David Bowie-Iggy Pop solo career nexus, only a little more psychedelic in its weird density at times.

Now if you don't like that idea, you may want to leave this alone. But for those who find that interesting I think you might just like these folks.

Happy Thanksgiving for the Statesiders or anyone else who would like to have a holiday. Go ahead, call in.

Bird Names Debuts with Some Odd Sort of Garage Music: "Metabolism"

OK, we have a group called Bird Names on tap today. They did an album in their basement (Chicago) which they call Metabolism: A Salute to the Energy of the Sun (Northern-Spy). It has a strange sort of garage momentum combined with an element that is so original I don't quite know how to describe it. The Northern-Spy website mentions the Residents, and there is a wall-to-wall conceptualism here that I suppose has some Resident qualities. There is a hint of classic Beefheart and psychedelia, but then it goes off on its own so you might just forget all that and approach the music on its own turf.

There is a DIY ingenuity at play though. They have a low-fi kind of authenticity and an asymmetrical kind of alt going on. It's absolutely underground sounding in the classic sense. The vocals are garagy, they use the usual rock instruments plus extra percussive and home-grown sounds.

It's fun and rather deranged. I have trouble easily assimilating where they are coming from. Which is a very good thing. This is recommended for those searching for another way to do things. They are original and perhaps a bit nuts. That is quite cool with me.

Decline of British Sea Power, Valhalla Dance Hall

Those who float their boat on the indie-alt rock sea know it is a vast body of water. I wouldn't venture to guess how many releases there are every month, but "many" would be an answer that would not be incorrect. To keep track of it all takes dedication. It would be a full-time job--and in fact it is that for some. I don't claim comprehensive knowledge. I do rely upon my ears to get acclimated to anything new, though.

The new release by the Decline of British Sea Power, Valhalla Dance Hall (Rough Trade), to my ears brings more thrust to the songwriting than was the case for the very first albums. Songs are more compact, symmetrical and accessible to a general alt crowd, I think.

There is the big wall of sound going on, guitar centered, which I find interesting. The lead guitarist has a melodic sense that goes beyond the lick stage by a good margin. Vocals remain at the distinctively alt-idiomatic level, where they've always been.

All in all, an attractive effort. They had a sound on their first albums; they have one now. It's a bit different--there's more of a pop-alt veneer, but the overall thrust continues to be quirky. It should float the boat of many listeners.

Information Superhighway, Definitely Not the Ending!

Information Superhighway is a Chicago-based advanced rock outfit (post-prog? prog?). They are distinguished by the very engaging vocal style of Leslie Beukelman and the musical vision of composer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Rob Clearfield. Their second album This is Not the Ending (http://informationsuperhighway.bandcamp.com) has been playing in my space for about a week and I must say I am taken with it.

They draw on the longer forms that prog rock traditionally addresses, but there are contemporary strains in there, some space, odd meters and other influences that are skilfully integrated into their own personal amalgam.

Leslie sings like a songbird; Rob writes and arranges with a flair; the four-person lineup delivers a sound with musicianship and drive. The original drummer left after this album was completed. The new lineup has a free live download recording you can get at the bandcamp address listed above. I have not listened to that yet.

This is Not the Ending has much to like about it. They are a free-ranging outfit and they clearly have talent. You can grab the album at CD Baby and you should if you'd like to hear something new and exemplary in the prog to fusion to alt nexus. Seriously good.

Uz Jsme Doma, Czech Alt Rockers Celebrate 26 Years and their 7th Album "Caves"

Uz Jsme Doma, the Czech rock outfit now working on their 26th year together, do not fit neatly into a ready-made pigeonhole. Their new, 7th N American-Western European album release Caves (Cuneiform Rune 312) shows that wildly eclectic does not always mean derivative. Not with Uz Jsme Doma at any rate. There is a strong flavor of Eastern European dance/folk forms, a punk directness, the intricacies of prog rock and a healthy, hefty infusion of avant rock.

Mirek Wanek, leader and principal composer for the group, crafts some very original music. Like Zappa before him, he does not stay in any one place for very long, and also like Zappa the rock song form manages to accommodate some seriously involved musical variations with some of the heft and substance of modern classical music.

I don't suppose it should come as a surprise that Czech culture should spawn a mastergroup of this sort. After all there has been a tradition of Czech excellence in music, literature and the arts for many centuries.

Guitarist Romek Hanzlik stands out as a very dynamic thrasher on these sides. The band as a whole is put through hairpin-turn gymnastics (to mix a metaphor) that tell beautifully what a long-time tenure can do for a band. They work and breathe as one on the musical plane. And the vocals are quite impressively brash and bravura.

It's an album that gives you faith in the regenerative power of creative musicianship. This is music for today and, I believe, music that will be appreciated long in the future. Highly recommended!

The National: An Album of the Era

The National? I don't know how many albums they have out but their new one, High Violet just slays me. Where to start? The singer, one Berninger, has a baritone voice that has a familiar ring in its tone, Bowie, later Iggy Pop. It's direct and a little laid-back, which contrasts nicely with the lyrics, which are haunted, alienated, lost.

The songs have an alt-indie excellence that doesn't come along very often. It's a dark mood The National are in, and musically the support to the melodies is quite interesting. The songs just pop out at you in the best sort of way.

My wife is a kind of barometer for a kind of "people's" ear. When she notices what I play. even though our space is bombarded hour-after-hour with a constant deluge, I know that there is an appeal there that might be common to any hip listener. The fact that she was out in the yard (OK, I was playing this one loud) and came in and asked, "what is that?"....That says something. This is a completely irresistable record. I wont say it's a classic. It just came out, right? Well it does make me want to hear their other records. That means it tops my ear chart. You think you like? You get.

Kate Gaffney Steps Forward with "The Coachman"

Originally posted on January 7, 2009

I don’t know a great deal about singer-songwriter Kate Gaffney, save what I know from listening to her last album The Coachman (Dig). She has a nice voice, a little reminiscent of Edie Brickell but only a touch. Most of the songs are quite good, in the style of a slightly country-influenced songwriter rock.

She is joined by a sympatheic supporting cast, notably guitarist Steve Kimock of jamband fame. The final, title cut goes for nearly 20 minutes and has a jam component. It’s good to hear people stretching out like that. I hope for her success. The album gives you a most decent listen.

The Black Keys Show Depth and Immediacy

Originally posted on October 29, 2008

The Black Keys have a bluesy-rock sound that comes as a needed antidote to anything out there too slick or polished to cut through the muck and stale, room-needing-an-airing quality of the situation we find ourselves in the later ‘00s.

The latest album that came out a little earlier this year (Attack and Release) (Nonesuch) has the electric guitar-drums lineup of previous outings, with a bit more of the multi-tracked extra instruments and so a thicker texture. It still gives you the primal group sound and has a strong sequence of songs that gives the lie to the idea that Rock has somehow seen its final days. It hasn’t, of course.

O.A.R.? Dunno.

Originally posted on August 1, 2008

Here’s a new rock-pop conflagration that has crossed my desk. O.A.R. is their name [album: In Between Now and Then (Atlantic)] and they vary between a kind of bouncy Jason Mraz sound and almost a jamband without much in the way of the jams.

Electric guitar, acoustic-electric, bass, drums and tenor sax underpin the vocals. Some of the stuff is catchy. Instrumentally they are not incompetent. I suppose they could be big. Late teens and college age folks will decide that, I guess.

Green Day Sound Good To Me

Originally posted on February 12, 2008

Here I am with something a few years old and what of it? It’s Monday. Green Day’s American Idiot (Reprise) has an impertinence I like and as far as 3-4 chord bands go, this one is one of the best. They thrash, there’s some emo, tunefulness, and variety.

All young folks need a model and so here is one if you play bass, guitar or drums. We older folks need to respect anyone who injects some freshness into older models of playing.