CD Reviews

Photo by Michael Babcock   

27
Hydra Head Records

Let The Light In
6 songs

Holy shit, when did these people get all this personality? A year or two ago, caught up in the hype of the time, I tuned into a live broadcast of theirs and was promptly put to sleep. It’s hard to believe this is the same band. In fact, it’s hard to believe this is the same band doing all six of these insidiously unique and seductive songs. Rarely is something so tauntingly understated and boiling with genius at once. There are ideas here so impossibly simple, you can only smack yourself and ask, “Now why, in all this time, hasn’t anyone else thought of that?” The band has taken un-cluttering to a whole new science. As a result, the music flexes and breathes like it was sitting in your lap, then sticks its tongue right in your ear. But for all its prettiness and anti-bombast, it never comes close to fading into background. Rather, you could put this on at some huge, loud-ass party, and people would actually shut the fuck up. This is the kind of impossibly pleasant shock I look forward to all year, and the reason it’s still worth sifting through mountains of petrified shit over and over and over. Simply, one of the coolest damn things in ages, and I’m grateful. (Joe Coughlin)

THE EXPLOSION
Virgin

Black Tape
12 songs

I think, at this point, you’re just supposed to bow down in supplication and shield your eyes from the blinding white light of celebrity and fortune pouring out of The Explosion. What other bands in town are on Virgin-fucking-records and touring with Social-fucking-Distortion, right? These yobbos are swimming in teenage punkette pussy now, baby, you can believe that. They are living the private tour bus dream, eating mile-long deli trays and drinking corporate-sponsorship booze. So, do they deserve it? I mean, anymore than you and your retro-Pacman death-disco hippyfolk garage-duo? Well, yeah, sure. I dunno how they sounded when they were slugging it out in the basements and church halls and trenches of Boston punk, but on this, their major-label debut, they do a bang-up job of aping the early Manic Street Preachers’ perfect prescription of grit, glitter, and hard rock soul, only without the Manic’s messy tendencies towards blood and artifice. Instead, they throw in an extra dose of chart-pleasing pop hooks and a few rabble-rousing street rock choruses. And, apparently, that’s all you need to “make it” in nu-punk these days. I’d tell you what the standout tracks are, but when you buy this, (hopefully at the Virgin Megastore, so that the circle of consumer hell can remain unbroken), odds are there will be a sticker on the front telling you which songs are the hits. They’ll be the same ones you heard on the radio, so you really don’t need my help there. The rest of the songs are pretty good too, just not as good. Tesco Vee is NEVER gonna come back and save punk rock from itself, is he? (Sleazegrinder)

LOCKGROOVE
Shark Attack! Music

Calm Right Down
12 songs

I like this a lot. In fact, I think I love this, and that has nothing to do with the fact that the title is something my therapist would say to me. This is music that doesn’t sound like anyone else. Sure, I can detect some influences, like My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain, but they are so subtly interwoven that I could be dead wrong about their very existence. Sometimes the music kicks right along, and sometimes it chills quite nicely, and other times it drifts seamlessly into limitless vistas of barely structured sound that nonetheless make perfect sense. Sometimes trippy and sometimes drony, but always with the overall sense that it’s all been planned beforehand, and you know that the trip will end in a minute or so and land you safely in an actual song. “Execution Style” is a highlight, a potent hybrid that crosses Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles with early ’80s Echo and the Bunnymen and maybe a dash of Fugazi or Neurosis. Can’t imagine it, can you? Well, neither could I have, until I heard the song. Get this and be reminded of just how drug-like music can be, in the best possible way. (Tim Emswiler)

THE ELECTROLUX COMBO

Beat Party!
14 songs

Not sure if someone who grew up actually ENVYING the happy-go-lucky, existentialism-pondering, bongo-playing, beret-sporting, work-avoiding, deodorant-abhorring, turtleneck-sweater-wearing, poetry-spouting, action-painting beatniks who got to groove ’til dawn in their sweat-walled basement tea pads to this kind of honker-and-shouter derived jazzy instrumental R&B; ’til hours wee ought HIMSELF to be revisiting this turf some 40-odd years after the fact. But Qué será será. It’s Kismet. And good taste is timeless. Ya really want the skinny? If this sort of circa-1961-ambiant instrumental floats your boat, Big Chief Hug ‘Em and Kiss ‘Em , then ya just gotta have this, whether you be hipster- manqué or the sort of superkool chianti-chugging finger-poppin’ kat who calls the English teacher Daddio. Okay, it’s not perfect. What is? Round about “Breakin’ Up” my foot stops tappin’ for a spell. And on some of the tracks the sax-playing isn’t quite as nimble as you’d like. But what choice do you have? Look, if you were to go to every Goodwill, garage sale, miser’s attic, and boutique vinyl store in the metro area you might squander endless time and money just to snap up one or two choiceys in this genre. Uncool. Why bother—when it’s all here? electroluxcombo.com. (Francis DiMenno)

THE HUMANOIDS
Imperial Phonograph Recordings

If Not Us, Who?… If Not Now, When
5 songs

JOE TURNER
Camera Obscura

Between Two Seconds
11 songs

Ex-Abunai! drummer Joe Turner has made an extraordinary CD of shimmering, psychedelic dream-pop. His arrangements are complex and reward repeated listens. The instrumentation is a shifting tapestry of guitars, synths, cello, horns, flute and zither. Bill Doss of Olivia Tremor Control does guest vocals on one song while Joe handles all the instruments and vocals on three songs. Joel Simches of The Noise played keyboards and helped Joe record and mix.

Each song flows into the next seamlessly and there’s not a weak song on the album. “Waking Dream,” an instrumental, creates suspense with a hopeful bass figure and fuzzy, monotone guitar. Ajda Snyder’s flute floats in as if on a breeze and then Joe’s authoritative drumming amps up the five minute track. This is like the path through the forest and with “When Will You Wake Up?” you’ve reached the clearing and found the perfect pop song. A kiss off to an ex, the lyrics go “Good to know you haven’t changed/good to see you still play games.” Another song contemplates life in the city while the upbeat “Hills of Pennsylvania” describes a drive in the country: “Truck stops/and signs that talk to God.” On “Dollar Star” Joe’s overdubbed vocals remind me of Crosby Stills & Nash’s angelic harmonies. And on “When the Day Crowd Leaves,” sustained guitar notes unwind in the slow, epic manner of a Pink Floyd song. Joe’s wistful vocals add a moody quality to the track while heavy drums with crashing cymbals build excitement. “Perfect the First Time” closes out the CD with an epiphany of wah guitar, melodic bass and intense drums. “Make it perfect the first time,” Joe sings. I’d say he came pretty close. (Laura Markley)

TAXPAYER
Ernest Jenning Record Co.

I’ll Do My Best to Stay Healthy
7 songs

I’m writing this mere hours after watching the Sox win the AL pennant in the heart of the deathstar that is Yankee-land, so bear with me, I’m a little frazzled after watching every single inning of the entire series. Anyway, this disc is really pretty much what I hear in my head when I think of the phrase “indie rock,” and not quite in the way I meant that phrase back when The Replacements and Hüsker Dü were my indie rock bands of choice. But I digress. THE SOX WON! HOLY SHIT! Okay, back to business. This is well played, well produced, and at times well conceived, and “Conversation, Please” kicks things up several notches with a guitar riff so sweet that I have walked around all day with it repeating endlessly in my mind. DAVID ORTIZ IS GOD! Sorry, but I’m sure you understand. I hear these guys are in The Rumble this year, and if they can demonstrate the energy and songcraft of “Conversation, Please” combined with the smart construction of “Sterile Agendas,” they could have a shot. It might also help if they covered “Tessie.” That’s just how those judges think. (Tim Emswiler)

MOLLYCODDLE
AAD

Beautiful Californian Failure
13 songs

I admire the gracious unobtrusiveness of the elegiac “Won’t Let You Down,” and if the non-derivative originals were as appealing in their own right I might be better disposed to be muster enthusiasm for this collection. People belabor Sir Paul for his soppiness, but at least Macca, even at his drooliest, tried to be INTERESTING. Lennon had his marshmallow heart as well, though he usually had the dignity to keep it concealed and mix it up on both sides with a little bile. Not so Mr. Eric Schmider, who makes a notorious McCartney acolyte like the critically neglected and cruelly underrated Emmitt Rhodes sound like a dyspeptic crank. Unlike Rhodes, however, who seemed in a most remarkable way to penetrate to the essential melodic core of what made McCartney’s ditties so appealing, Mr. Schmider merely limns the surface. No room here for a course in aesthetics, but readers of Scott McCloud are hip to what I’m laying down. As is, I find it neither memorable nor offensive. Just flat. Pale. Horizonless. Unremarkable. Overall, a nondescript dozefest. As such, assessing this CD isn’t a job so much for a critic as for a forensic pathologist. (Francis DiMenno)

BLACKLISTED
Band in Boston
4 songs

Check it out: Johnny X and Mick Keddy from Boston sickcore legends Psycho have joined up with that hot chick that used to be in The Flux (Bridget Murphy) and here they are, playing punchy, old-skull punk n’ roll. Keddy does a dead-on Jello, Bridget coos like that freaky girl in Jucifer, Johnny X’s guitar squeals like it’s being stabbed in the guts, and Dennis Maffeo’s drums… well, I never notice what’s going on with drums, to be honest. Collectively, they sound like the Heartbreakers on the nights when Johnny didn’t show up and Waldo would just sing and play and shoot the dope for him, and everybody would be too wrecked to know the difference until somebody dug up the bootleg cassette two years later. You know, loose and lippy, loud and proud. Of the four tracks here, the best one is the minute long “Candlelight,” because it sounds like The Tubes trying to play Iron Maiden, and that kind of inspired nonsense doesn’t happen everyday. The other songs are snotty, sloppy, and short, which is entirely the idea. File under “Will play for beer, or at least the empties,” if you’re into filing things. (Sleazegrinder)

MOREX OPTIMO
Broken Hill Music

Beast of Reflection
12 songs

Foxes and Crows are agents; they observe changes in the world and perform their own changes on the world. But Cheese is passive. Extreme Behaviorists would beg to differ, though they wouldn’t have any problem distinguishing Morex Optimo from cheese; this project by Western Mass. native Heather Wagner is a wild and brainy rush and provides a refreshing change of pace from the quotidian. Listen: feel yourself beginning to take a psychic holiday from the get-go; “Burkino Faso, Kung Fu” sets the tone—it’s like a cross between XTC inventive dissonance and B-52s style crazed tomfoolery. The vocalizations are inspired and some truly intricate jazz-level guitar bass and percussion parts render this musical project a decided cut above. Fans of Beefheart and Baby Ray will find a good deal to like here. The sweeping “Kosmonaut” has the sort of epic sound some would call ponderous but devotees of Savage Republic and the like will lap it up. This is possibly too esoteric for some benighted tastes, but who cares about THOSE shitheads? As per Harvey Pekar, average is the new dumb. And the undumb and discerning will vastly appreciate these musical stylings, which are themselves a type of ingenious calculus of contrariwise. (Francis DiMenno)

COUNTERPART
Papp Smear Records

Me vs. the World
7 songs

Now here’s a 21 year old guy from Manchester, New Hampshire, whose favorite music came out when he was about 10… Nirvana, Weezer, etc. I liked that style the first time around, but something gets lost after 10 years. Chris Papp is the one-man band known as Counterpart, and instead of a bio or description on the project, he sent a paper with four smug-looking photos of his face (ah, we all could do no wrong at 21) and HIS review of his own album which he thought would appear in The Noise. A piece of this: “With his infectious hooks, hard rockin’ guitar style, and introspective lyrics, Counterpart is the cherry on top of the alternative pop/ rock/ shit pile.” Now I don’t know about you, but if I saw a cherry on top of a shit pile, I’d pass it by. Some introspective lyrics from “Desend”: “Now that I’m grown up and everything’s messed up, the brighter side, it gets harder to find.” Wow. The deadpan vocal needs work, so as what is basically a bedroom-level quality demo, I suggest Counterpart keep on rockin’, refine your music and keep looking for the brighter side. (Mike Loce)

BROKEN TOYS
Trashtone

A Fistful of Caulk
10 songs

I’ve got some friends from Noo Yawk who’re in an industrial robo-porn band called Hate in the Box, which even they’ll admit is a stupid name. Thing is, they used to be called Broken Toys, which makes much more sense, since they dress like broken dolls and play toy instruments, but they had to change it because, as they once told me, “Some fucking punk band in Springfield, Mass. or some fucking where already had the name.” And this, ladies and gentlemen, is that fucking band. Only they’re from Methuen. I have no idea if that’s any sexier than Springfield. Anyway, I’ve digressed. A Fistful of Caulk was recorded by Coke Dealer, it’s got a porn star (Cailey Taylor) on the cover, there’s a line in the song “Kicked in the Head” that goes “Drive me around like a stolen car/hypnotized by a Wonder Bra”, and they claim to have once played the “Ass Factory.” These are all signs of sleazy rock ‘n’ roll band in full, glorious, kill-for-thrills mode. So why does this record sound more like the Best Kissers in the World or the Goops, then, say, the Dead Boys, or the KariNations, or Crystal Pistol? I don’t know, Jack, I didn’t write the songs. I’m just reporting the facts. As human beings, the Broken Toys are shameless drunken wrecks, but their music is poppy and playful. Non-alcoholic, even. Listen, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with being pleasant or listenable, but if you’re gonna puke in your own lap or piss the bed, you should at least SOUND like you meant it. (Sleazegrinder)

GRUBSTAKE
Nine Mile Records

Dynamite and Other Inventions
16 songs

I really wanted to like this, especially when I noticed the participation of local legend Chris Brokaw (Come), but alas, the dominant emotion with which this disc leaves me is one of disinterest. While the press kit throws out the phrase “swamp rock” to describe some of these songs, I found them rather devoid of either swampiness or rock-ness, while other songs tread the territory of blues without getting really Muddy. But I should also add that I generally prefer my music with a large measure of dirt and hacksaws and general ass-kick-ness, and this just carries an atmosphere of laid-back-ness that fails to speed up my slowly slowing heart. However, complete redemption is found in the instrumental “Percy Wentworth Stomp,” which features Caged Heat’s Chilly Kurtz unleashing a truly ripping harmonica solo, achieving tones that are so downright nasty they make James Cotton sound like he’s playing “Camptown Races.”

Having said all that, I should also mention that the production sparkles, the musicianship is flawless, and the songwriting is solid. Not my cup of tea, but it could be yours, if you would just mellow the fuck out and, um, maybe drink a Mike’s Hard Lemonade instead of Jack Daniel’s. (Tim Emswiler)

WINDMILL
Big Spoon Records

Every Last Windmill Shall Fall
13 songs

There’s genius here. As he proved on his previous EP, Kent Randell has an uncanny knack for utilizing sonic textures to produce both aesthetic and profoundly emotional responses. “Mark” works as opening salvo because it’s picture-perfect garage-punk: open and raw and resonant all at the same time. Randell has the inspiration thing licked, though he needs to work on pacing and craft; some of the songs on side one, like “Long Road Home,” “Kansas,” “Candle,” and “For Iris” don’t quite work, except as a part of a suite. The dynamic rhythm-propelled softcore-psyche jangle of “Kansas” might have been a better second song. Ideally, “Tornados” would have been next—its stark magnificence leaves one tingling and numb. In fact, all of side two works: the keening “Orwell,” the loping “All the Birds,” the poignant “5th of July,” the haunting “Nostalgia,” the unnervingly hypnotic “Octillion”—all are brilliant and some deeply insinuate themselves into that same area of the brain which causes one to stand stark still with shock in the presence of sublimity. Despite the presence of uncompromising mood-pieces on “side one,” “side two” is brilliantly conceived, and the entire CD has a peculiar rhythm all its own. (Francis DiMenno)

REBUILTHANGARTHEORY
Plays-Rite Records

With Hurricane Blows
14 songs

Other than the clunky name, there’s not much to dislike about this band. This album is a compilation of songs mostly recorded in the mid-90s, but it sounds like it came from even earlier than that. Rick Prior’s detached cool recalls Lou Barlow. In fact, Rebuilthangartheory often sounds like early Dinosaur Jr. without the guitar pyro. Other times, they sound like Pavement without all the wackiness. The lack of those qualities keeps Rebuilthangartheory from reaching the heights of the aforementioned bands, but there’s no shame in that. The disc’s lo-fi production suits the band very well. I really dig the interplay between the lead guitar and the ultra melodic bass, and you can easily surmise that these tunes sound fantastic live. While fourteen songs may be a little much for one sitting, this is a very pleasant introduction for those like me who had never heard of this band. (Kevin Finn)

SUSPECT DEVICE

A Moment’s Notice
12 songs

Local yokel pub-punks Suspect Device score high marks on authenticity with this collection of ragged, raucous rock ‘n’ roll tunes about growing up tough on the streets of Boston. I grew up tough on the streets of Boston myself (okay, the slightly-less-tough streets of Cambridge), so I can relate. Originality? Well, not so much, but let us chalk it up to traditionalism. Suspect Device like their Clash city rockers, their Social D greaser ballads, and their US Bombs shout-alongs, and they play ’em all with power and grace. Their penchant for big pop hooks in all the right places certainly doesn’t hurt their cause, either. Case in point: the glorious stomper “Knocked Down,” a boisterous, insanely catchy ode to getting punched in the face that sounds like “Walk Among Us” era Misfits, minus the cool ghoul bullshit. It’s some seriously rousing rock ‘n’ roll, punk-o. Elsewhere and otherwise, there’s plenty of heartfelt gruff-stuff to sweat out a hard day’s night on the docks to, so if your taste in punk is provincial (i.e. Dropkicks, Street Dogs, Lost City Angels), then grab a pint of green beer and a baseball bat with a nail through it and this record, and go live a fuckin’ little. (Sleazegrinder)

FAT DAY
Load

Unf! Unf!
23 songs

Think! To think. What to think. Know what to think. Don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to think. How’s that? FAT DAY. Description: am self-described “Chimp Rock.” Lyrics am Dada, Ubu, Devo, Situationist Comedy, and Doo-Doo. Music am varied from track to track (!Think….) I am think maybe of Minutemen as a runaway juggernaut the size of the world flattening two billion buck-naked acolytes. (!Think to….) Am hard to describe other than a mix of (!Think to what…) trad sqronk scree guitar, (!Think to what know….), acid horns, (!Think to what know don’t….) vengeful rant, (!Think to what know don’t I….), stumbo bass-drum and heavy guitar riffage (“Fawn”), grinding guitar (“Adoration of the Crapass” am beautiful), restful patches (“Processional”) and electronic noodle soup (me love “Chick Tract”), and brilliant indignant thrash (“Enterasys”). No song am over 1:55. Mean length of songs: 46 seconds. I am listen to this ten times in three hours. And… I. I don’t. I don’t know. I don’t know what. I don’t know what to. I don’t know what to think! But I am know this!! Any band am list Sparks as Number One Band In Heaven am FUCKING ALL RIGHT. (Francis DiMenno)

ZO TOBI
Zo Tobi Records

From The Layers That Surround You
10 songs

Zo Tobi is an acoustic guitarist and environmentalist who hears his own drummer. This is a good thing in his case, because on the bio sheet, and as a spoken word bit on the CD, the first thing he says is, “The guitar was a drum before it was a guitar.” He hails from Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, attends Clark in Worcester, and looks like he’s been gigging at various musical/ activist venues around New England. Not your standard Lizard Lounge or Burren gigs, or anything even listed in the Downtown Boston zone, though he’d definitely do well at places like these—a good singing voice, usually odd metered compositions with environ/ political lyrics, and an acoustic guitar in various open tunings. He’s got a lot of energy behind his delivery, though the sometimes sprawling acoustic song/ strumming voyages can feel like he’s not fully letting you into his world. His guitar technique is solid and built well, I’d recommend any folk or acoustic based artists around Boston to get this album and hear what’s going on with Zo Tobi. zotobi.com. (Mike Loce)

VICTORY AT SEA

Gern Blandsen Records

Memories Fade
11 songs

What with weepy violins and a screamin’ chanteuse, tracks like “Little Town” and “Love Is Ageless” sounds like nothing so much as a hysterical gypsy orgy. And even though the whole CD reeks of crypto-sophistication, there’s also hints of a Stairway-to Heaven faux-eldritch vibe on a track like “Logan Way.” Ordinarily I dote on this kinda stuff, but this outing comes across as tinny and overwrought and unconvincing; a track like “All Night Superstar,” whether intentionally or not, evokes bad show tunes as written by a brain-cramped Kurt Weill. I won’t say it comes off as contrived, exactly, or calculating, since I have no insight into the motivations of the musicians, but I will say that to me it smells more spectacular than beautiful; more declamatory than subtle; more stiff than supple. Maybe I’m annoyed because the vocals are mixed so high that they overpower the sometimes poignant instrumentals, particularly on “Animals and the Weather.” Or maybe I’m just tired to death of evocations of bottomless gloom that sound less earned than perfunctory. (Francis DiMenno)

BROOKFIELD
Brookfield Records

Maybe this Time
10 songs

I had a feeling that this record was going to be a little too ‘AAF for my tastes, and I was right, as it too often veers into the white boy funkiness of 311 or the generic hard rock of Staind. But in the interest of fairness, the disc does have some strong points that make it more palatable than those aforementioned bands. Granted, that’s not saying very much, but I really don’t mean it as a backhanded complement. Most notably, Brookfield understands that a little subtlety goes a long way. Mikey J can actually sing a bit and doesn’t feel the need to use gratuitous volume to overcompensate for lack of range. His bandmates are guilty of a little too much noodling in places, but give them credit for exploring shifts in dynamics that mostly avoid slipping into the soft verse-loud chorus cliché. I don’t see Brookfield and I finding long-term happiness together, but I’ve had worse first dates. (Kevin Finn)

I HATE KATE
Dynomite Pop Records

I Hate Kate
8 songs

I Hate Kate is a new four piece outfit from Boston. Their sound is mature and smooth but not without it’s rocking moments. In particular, the lead guitar playing has a certain almost dangerous sounding edge to it, which makes a fascinating counterpoint to the subdued vocals. Now that I’ve mentioned the vocals, I’ve gotta say that this is the one area of this disc that I have a problem with. And it’s not all bad; sometimes it’s slightly reminiscent of The Shoes’ homemade recordings. But for the most part it sounds more like they’re trying to hide the thin, reedy voice so you won’t notice. Which is too bad, because some of my favorite singers have thin, reedy voices (Dylan, Neil Young, etc.).

There are several really strong songs here: not so much hooky as interesting, the melodies drawing you in and making you want to get inside the songs. Which is another reason it’s too bad the vocals are so hard to hear. I’d like to know what he’s singing, I want to know what’s going on. But, putting that aside, I like this disc a lot. I’m humming along with “Mr. Airplane” and “Doesn’t Matter,” and I’m even playing a bit of air guitar. (It’s possible that my co-workers are thinking about calling the local mental hospital, but I don’t care.)

It’s not a party album, but it’s a good album. It sounds a bit like Sunday morning to me, sipping my espresso while I read the newspaper. I’m not sure how to classify it; it doesn’t really fit into any of the usual genre sub-categories—just good songs, written and played by real people. There ought to be more of this in the world. (Brian Mosher)

TONS OF CHILL

It’s On
7 songs (plus radio edits)

Don’t believe the hype (of the press sheet), which tries to sell this as Beck, Beasties, and Chili Peppers, although fans of any of ’em would probably lick this right off the floor. The closest thing I’m hearing is actually local band Stymie, which is way better anyway. This is a little more slick, a little less melting-pot, and doesn’t gimme the full-on brain-boner of the other guys, but still wields the undeniable vibe that these people are all having a serious ball on the same page, which obviously counts for much when you’re pushin’ the party vibe. This makes me wanna mispronounce words like “FUN-kay” and “BOO-tay,” and I mean that as a compliment. Even the raps, which usually have me changin’ channels, are fun in the context. Spotless production, ace playing, grooves as deep as J-Lo’s asscrack, and you’re gonna need hooks to hang some of these hooks on. Never forced or condescending, it’s one of those welcome instances where a hundred bands try the same thing, and this is the one that comes out sounding like they really mean it. A good night out if you’re staying in. (Joe Coughlin)

VINTAGE RADIO
Canadian American Records

Invite Me In
10 songs

This is the type of record that causes you to lose faith in indie rock. Maybe that’s a bit harsh. Maybe it’s because I’m smack in the middle of reading Our Band Could Be Your Life, and even the bands in there that I don’t like impress the hell out of me with their ambition. Nothing on this album suggests to me that Vintage Radio has that kind of drive, and there’s nothing here that suggests to me that people will be speaking about this band in reverential tones ten years from now. How best to describe what I hear? The Replacements without the hooks? Buffalo Tom without the heart? It’s hard to say exactly, for while I would not classify this disc is horrible, I also can’t remember a thing about it ten minutes after it leaves my stereo. (Kevin Finn)

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Will Dailey

WILL DAILEY

NATIONAL THROAT 

by Max Heinegg

I caught up with perennial Boston Music Awards winner Will Dailey at an unadvertised gig at Toad in Cambridge. Fresh off a tour of France, Will and his trio debuted songs from his forthcoming CD, National Throat, all of which illustrated his skill in taking varied musical genres and uniting them under the banner of honest, emotive songwriting. From the psychedelic “Castle of Pretending” to “Once in a Century Storm,” which is one part Cole Porter and one part romantic anthem, to the rousing, corrosive blues of “Don’t Take Your Eyes Off of Me” and his stellar, falsetto-drenched cover of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U,” Will’s voice as a writer, his expansive range, vocally and on guitar, and his band’s exceptional musicianship are an indication that one of the city’s best musicians is still evolving.

When I received the CD (sadly sans the Prince cover), I was able to immerse myself in a thoughtfully layered CD that calls to mind a modern Led Zeppelin III in the way that the songs, often quite distinct in instrumentation and theme, are held together by a singular voice and a consummate songwriter.

Noise: National Throat is an intriguing title. What is the story behind it?

Will Dailey: I was reading a book on music and found the John Phillip Souza quote: “Then what of the national throat?  Will it not weaken?” where he was decrying the gramophone entering the home in 1906.  He was concerned pianos might disappear from our living rooms and that we would be taken over by machines. While the disappearance of the family instrument is an interesting discussion, what struck me the most was that even in 1906, musicians, and those within the music business, were commiserating over what was going to happen to music and the business of music and how that was going to lead to ruin. This was before the Stones, Beatles, and Dylan. Yes, pianos have left the living room and our schools. We can argue for days about what has happened with music and what is happening. The truth is: artists will make art, regardless of what technology is coming or going. We can argue again about the receding sales, the shit sound of MP3s, and the loss of artist development, or we can get busy listening, playing, writing, and recording. I argue the National Throat is strong and will always be strong because musicians make music because they have to. I saw the quote and immediately knew my album title.

Noise:   You have stuck to your guns artistically and continued to be prolific, even with a new child (congrats!); what keeps you hungry?

Will: I don’t remember a life when I wasn’t doing this. I’ve never felt a hunger. A hunger implies that it can be satiated. It is just a way of going through life—a way of being that suits me. It takes life to make art. Happiness, sadness, laughter, and delirium are all ingredients. Whatever I can get myself into is only going to fuel the pursuit. A child has made it more valuable and enriching. I find I’m more purposeful in my choices with my career.  There is also more sleep now on the road, which is bizarre.

Noise: This album is a testimony to the friends and fans you’ve made in your time in the music scene; what does Pledge Music (where donations fund art and artists can offer different produces and services, like CDs and signed lyrics for various prices) represent to artists and you, as an opportunity or a different artistic model?

Will: I was told it was a bad idea to get off a label, but in the end I had to get off a major label so I could be successful. I began by writing my fans to tell them what was up and what the first step would be. Pledge provided me a platform and followed along on every step after that. It takes money to make a recording and put on shows, and I couldn’t have made this album without everyone involved. It was the best experience I had recording because I wasn’t in that vacuum. Every person who pledged was along for the ride with me.

Noise: You take a lot of pride in being a Boston-based artist; what challenges does the city offer a musician?

Will: I love being from here.  (While) it is incumbent upon musicians now to move to Brooklyn, Nashville, or LA, what we don’t count are the corpses of dreams down there that get buried in the success stories. You cannot find in LA what happens at the Lizard Lounge, Toad, Atwoods or the [Rock ’n’ Roll] Rumble. However, in Boston you can’t find the path to a career as easily. You can toil a lot longer here because a chance at the plate where the measure of your abilities is brought to task has never been presented. The best a Boston artist can do is tour. You’ll find out quickly that if you can connect on a larger scale and if you have the stomach for the path, that is this life choice.

Noise: To the new record: the album’s opener, “Sunken Ship,” has been getting a lot of attention lately; it’s a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition (one of 190 out of 20,000). It has a bit of a reggae-inflected, Caribbean vibe, which is new stylistic territory for you.

Will: I love hearing that. When we are recording, those kind of characteristics are the last thing we are thinking of. I showed the song to the band around 1AM and we set up some mics in the live room and that is what came out of the three of us playing through it. No words were spoken and it is one take with Dave Brophy (drums) and Kimon Kirk (bass). I wrote the lyrics while walking my dog. I spoke them into my phone.

Noise: In the song, who is it that thinks he’s “the captain of a sunken ship/sunken in the shallow waters/still thinking you’re still sailing”?

Will: It is tribute to how I felt sitting on the deck of a major label. It came out that way because, as I said before, you know when it makes sense with the content and melody. I could play that song right now as a punk tune for you, but it wouldn’t make sense or drive home the essence. I have no map for getting there, but I feel like I know when the song has arrived. It’s pretty exciting with the way the song is being received because it kicks off the story of getting to this album, making this album, and where I’m going from here on out.

Noise: The album covers so much ground, from melodic rock to blues tunes like “Don’t Take Your Eyes Off of Me”; how do you approach a song in a genre that some would argue is fully explored and still make it your own?

Will: The same way I approach the others: get excellent musicians, capture performances, and be void of rules while knowing all the rules at the same time. I recorded that song for fun as a possible bonus track, but we ended up liking it too much. It’s really just a mantra, but we did it in a take and covered it in dirt. I’m also not a blues artist or guitarist, so hopefully that keeps it fresh. The last thing a guy like me needs to do is the blues. But what started out as a little ditty to a friend turned into a perfect centerpiece for an album about being an artist no matter what the cost and doing it no matter what happens to the world around you.

Noise: It seems the last two songs on the album are (potentially) for your audience; how does the current disposable climate of art stand in contrast to what you’re trying to share and create with yours, or what does your audience mean to you?

Will: It all goes back to the National Throat. I don’t need to worry about the current climate. I need to worry about the song, the recording and the show. I need to pay attention to the fans I have and not the fans I don’t. The fans I have made this album. They are also the reason other people will hear this album. I never know what fans are going to like the most. Fortunately, some ears like the more aggressive tunes, some who like the more introspective ones and some are excited by the different aspects of my writing. It’s made for an enduring career and in the end hopefully I will gain more fans with that approach because I can’t do it without them.

Noise: The album’s closer “We Will Always Be a Band” seems to be both about weathering doubt, and hoping for success—about how art is the work you need to do. How do you feel about still working towards trying to break?

Will: That song is full of truths and delusions at the same time. There is something delusional about being in a band-—yet at the same time, anyone who has been in one, even for a night, has felt that euphoric surge. The feeling endures throughout lifetimes and becomes tales. I feel like the guy in the song is shaming the choices of one who rejected him and, underneath, is afraid of where that euphoric path has taken him. The only choice left is to play it again, louder and insist that you will break. Maybe that break is crashing—hardly able to keep the lights on. Maybe it’s the act of doing it that is the success story.

Will Dailey releases his new CD at the Somerville Theater in Davis Square,  on Saturday, June 7th.

www.willdailey.com

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Minibeast

PETER PRESCOTT IS UP TO IT AGAIN: MINIBEAST
by Eric Baylies

I suppose that for people of a certain age Chuck Berry invented rock ’n’ roll and the Beatles and Rolling Stones improved upon it. If you are just a little bit younger you may be of the opinion that Mission of Burma perfected it in Boston almost 35 years ago. When Mission of Burma broke up for about twenty years or so, Peter Prescott did not sit around and twiddle his thumbs. He created two more great Boston bands in the Volcano Suns, Kustomized, and Peer Group. Mission of Burma are now about a decade into their reunion and Peter has stepped up and started yet another fantastic band in Minibeast. Imagine The Shining soundtracked as performed by Neu! or Can and you have some idea of what the band sounds like. Down the road from Boston in Providence a generation or so after Mission of Burma first began Rick Pelletier was making robotic punk rock with Six Finger Satellite. Their first full-length was produced by Bob Weston of Shellac, later to be the extra sound manipulator of Mission of Burma.  After a few line-up changes and several albums for Sub Pop records the band broke up. Pelletier kept busy in various projects including La Machine. Prescott has recruited Pelletier along with guitar player Gillian Chadwick and Alec K. Redfearn, longtime leader of Providence avant everything group The Eyesores. It was absolutely a dream come true for me to finally interview Peter Prescott, one of my earliest and certainly biggest musical influences.

Noise: How did this band come about?

Peter: I started making this music with an eight-track hard drive recorder with absolutely no preordained direction when I first moved to Providence. I just kept adding and subtracting until I liked a song and then I would move on. I started with the bass and drums upfront. At a certain point I had an album.

Noise: So how did the other three members end up joining?

Peter: I moved to Providence two years ago with my girlfriend. I did the record with no intention of playing it live. The first people I got together to play with here were Alec K. Redfearn on bass guitar, Gillian Chadwick on guitar, and Rick Pelletier on drums. I play the guitar, second drum kit, and  samples. They were curious enough to go with it and translate the stuff I made into flesh and blood.

Noise: Now that the band has played together for a little while, do you still write all the music, or does it come together more organically? Does everyone still play outside of the band?

Peter: I expect it to get more collaborative. We all have other on-going bands, including Burma, Ex Reverie with Alec and Gillian, the Eyesores with Alec, and La Machine with Rick.

Noise: Does Minibeast have any recordings available for public consumption? Will you be touring?

Peter: I released it at the end of last year on vinyl. You can also stream it and buy it on Spotify and iTunes. As far as touring, we are just starting to play. When we have recorded the band version, we will tour.

Noise: The songs that I have heard online feature background conversation and non-singing-type vocals. Are these samples from movies or do you sing them?

Peter: Sometimes I am singing. Usually it’s samples from instructional, children’s, and documentary records, stuff like that.

Noise: Where did the name Minibeast come from? Did the cartoon mascot come first?

Peter: The name was something small and kind of shadowy. I threw the name at a friend of mine, Matt Albanese of Evil Design (amazing stuff) and he made the cartoon.

Noise: Tell me a little about how this all came to be. Was this a cerebral reaction to Mission of Burma and pulling in another direction? What were some of your influences when you were conjuring up this material? What do you think of the young house party scene in Boston with bands like Guerilla Toss, Cult & Leper, the Needy Visions, Mike Mountain, and Cave Bears and the Providence warehouse scene with artists like Lightning Bolt and Russian Tsarlag? 

Peter: Because the band formed around my recordings and my recordings were made by a sort of automatic songwriting, there were no influences on the band. That said, after the fact when we started translating the pieces to a four-piece “rock” format, everybody’s playing style came into play. So the influences were in the playing and not the writing itself. Actually, over the past 20 years though I still like and listen to a lot of punk and post-punk, my preferred listening tends to soundtracks, exotica, odd jazz, and Krautrock. These are the influences on the band, in a  sense, so it is an action, not a reaction to anything, except maybe modern indie stuff, much of which I find a little boring and predictable. As far as the basement stuff, I have flat out not heard too much, but damn, I love the idea of it. I try to go out and see stuff when I can and Burma tours expose me to stuff. At my age I would not waste time mimicking other bands I have been in, or liked, for that matter. I want to do original music and I feel with this band, that I am, and I can.

Noise: What do the band members do outside the group?

Peter: We do voiceovers, other bands, make unique headgear, do construction, fix instruments, and build things.

Noise: Now that the band is a solid four-piece, is it set in stone or will you consider adding other musicians?

Peter: Nothing with Minibeast is set in stone and we welcome interest from people who might offer sonic seasoning as a one-off.

Noise: What do you want people to get out of your shows? Do you have any local shows coming up?

Peter: We would like people to dance or at least throw themselves around in a rhythmic way. We are opening for Mission of Burma (yeah I know a couple of them) on February 6 at Spaceland in Connecticut and on February 9 at a benefit being held at the Regent Theatre in Arlington.

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CD Reviews – Sept

TWO VIEW REVIEW

Page Contents

BOBBY LEGER

Imaginary Dream

10 tracks

This is a pretty cool CD in a number of ways.  The gritty blues ring out true. Bobby Leger’s worn matured voice adds a believable factor and gives the lyrics a true blues feel.  The inspiration for the blues on Imaginary Dream is Mary Lou Lord, who made her slice of fame by connecting with another famous artist. Bobby has piggybacked onto the story: the late-in-life artist finds love, loses love, dreams about love. The songs are basic blues with a trumpet, organ, piano, and background vocals adding to the basic guitar, bass and drums. “Hideout” begs for soulful female voices to sing the background. “Will You Miss Me When I Go” hoists a red flag for radio airplay with its B.B. King feel. “Light the Light” has Bobby in his upper vocal register sounding a bit like AC/DC. “Evil Hearted Girl” draws a little from “You’ve Got to Change Your Evil Ways” but Bobby’s song is stronger in the finger pointing. He gets his hope up in the Stones-ish “She’s Coming Back Home to Me” and his emotions peak in the instrumental “Movin’.” But he lands in a good place to close the disc with the sweet sounding track “Dreams Are Hard to Find,” though the sentiment is still sad.  Imaginary Dream and its heavy love lost theme holds together well as a whole and could easily transform into a rock opera if Bobby desired it.

Jimmy Tournas’s cover photo hits the mark in creating the imaginary dream: Bobby is playing guitar in a field of giant mushrooms with a couple of Through the Looking Glass characters hanging around and a sort of Emerald City looming in the background.  Excellent job on many levels.  (T Max)

…

BOBBY LEGER

Imaginary Dream

10 tracks

The cool cuts on this North Shore guitar ace’s new release were all written over the years by Leger and Charlie Flannery and can be generally divided into two categories: Memphis r&b with great horns and keyboards and powerful ballads featuring his rugged, weary and passionate vocals. The name of the game on this CD are good songs, scorching and stinging guitar leads and a band that plays really well together. For top notch  bar room r & b check out: the opener “Hard Times,” “Hideout,” “That Letter,” the rocking tunes “She’s Coming Back Home” and “Light the Light” and the uptempo and radio friendly “Waiting For The One.”  For straight – ahead blues listen to “Will You Miss Me When I Go.” The ballads include: “Evil Hearted Girl” and the closing cut “Dreams Are Heard To Find.” My favorite melody is the instrumental “Movin’ ” because it really showcases his screaming licks. Bobby plays guitar and sings, Ron Chane is on bass, Alizon Lissance (The Love Dogs) sings backup and tinkles the ivories, Jeff Casper pounds and Leger’s son Sebastian blows the horn. Donald Crockett Perry is heard on the conga drums and the album credits list Mary Lou Lord as the inspiration.

Leger’s style can be briefly summarized as Jimi meets Jimmy (Hendrix and Page) and this Joe Canatelli and Leger produced album is a great listen. Turn this music up LOUD.     (A.J. Wachtel)

…

BILTMORE

Biltmore Music

Revolutions and Romantics

11 tracks

Swirly ecstasy rock from Providence, RI; the incipient classic “Never Let You Go” comes roaring out of the starting gate, and the parade of dark sunshine pop, swoony and delirious, proceeds unremittingly. There are some very nice tunes amid the electric rainbow glitter, including the broken and stuttery chantey “Neon.” The catchy “Dirty Pillow” is full of  dynamic touches, replete with a sock-o-delic guitar solo; the inimitably springy “Going Out” reveals an introspective side of the band reminiscent of early-’80s neo-psychedelia; the beautiful “Stars in the Attic” is a touching lullaby which resolves into grandiose jangle. This is a high-quality production worthy of repeated listens; the best songs constitute a musical feast. Highly recommended. (Francis DiMenno)

…

COMANCHERO

Thrown

10 tracks

Admittedly, Comanchero is one of my favorite local bands, so I may have a bit of a bias as I review their eighth release Thrown. That being said the collection of songs featured in Throwndoes not disappoint, holding true to Comanchero’s trademarked blend of American themed jam music, yet at the same time, each songs venturing out on its own undiscovered territory.  As a long time fan, I was alarmed at first listen by what seemed to be a heavy reliance on synths and keyboard, but after a few listens, it becomes something my ears can’t live without (much similar to the reaction I had the first time I listened to Morphine’s Like Swimming album).   In “Citgo” Caribbean rhythms meld with traditional country and bluegrass. “Ghost Creator” dances with reggae. “Watching Rome Burn” is classic barroom Honky-tonk mixed with New Orleans funk and multi part harmonies.  As one would expect from these veteran musicians, Comanchero’s performances are exceptional. Jim Levin and Greg Moon bring so much to the collective on percussion and drums, leading the charge on these experimental rhythms.  Andrew Kramer and Sam Margolis take the reins driving some infectious melodies. They also work on the back end as engineers, recording much of Thrown in their own home studios. Bob Moon tops off this release with some tasty licks, even taking a stab at singing lead on “Make Me Whole,” a folky pop song, reminiscent of a modern Donovan. (Kier Byrnes)

…

SAM BAYER

The Great Indoors

11 tracks

I met Sam Bayer at Giuseppe’s Singer/ Songwriter Shuffle and immediately took to his smart city/folk approach to performance and songwriting. He’s got kind of a high-end attack with a direct shot at the cerebellum, causing you to think sometimes and laugh at others. When his CD arrived in my mailbox, I wondered how well this approach would work in the recording studio. He gets right to the point on The Great Indoors with a cool acoustic rhythm and the declaration “I Ain’t In It For the Money” (’cause there ain’t money in it) in his edgy voice that doesn’t leave you guessing the lyric. He almost over-pronounces to make his point clear. And he gives us a lot to take in. He’s full of an abundance of clever lyrics. In “Crimes Against the Blues” he admits he hasn’t suffered much in life but does it all with phrases that bring the blues to mind. To spice up the ending there’s sort of a talking drum solo. “I Wanna Be Your Henchman” shows Sam’s admiration of the colorful life of crime and those who choose the excitement of the dark side. “Wagon” is a sad love song to alcohol, or to a woman who has the same effect on him. “The Handyman’s Waltz,” with its catchy chorus of “Three parts McGiver, one part Magoo/ The world is my toolbox it’s true/ I’ve managed to solve all the problems I’ve found/ with whatever’s been lying around” is dedicated to his dad… which reminds me of my dad who gave me his old Chevy Malibu that was being held together with duct tape. Sam has written “I Wanna Write Me a Bad Song” but I don’t think he’s capable of it. He jams this one full of typical ways you can ruin a song but he’s so aware of what it takes to fail that he’ll always end up on the right side of tastes. “Not Quite the Truth” is a tale of a compulsive liar who tries to explain his way out of every untruth he congers up. It’s wrapped up in an acoustic blues progression. The title track “The Great Indoors” bounces along like a Jimmy Buffet vacation tune. In it Sam bathes in the joy of his control of the situation – “I am the king of my thermostat/ halogen sun at my fingertips/ rubber duckies sail in my bathtub seas/ and beach blanket laid out beneath my electric breeze” verses the reality of actually being in nature – “There are signs that warn of bears if we go off the path… There are tiny little creature at the edge of the wood, that would eat you if they could.” He ends The Great Indoors with another track about songwriting, “The Songs That Write Me.” He describes the talent of his younger self – “A knack for staying in time and a taste for internal rhyme and a hook as he approaches the chorus.” And Sam Bayer still has it. He’s an intelligent songwriter with a great feel for the flow of music. Pick up The Great Indoors if you’re looking for something that’s three steps up from the ordinary.   (T Max)

…

FEROCIOUS FUCKING TEETH

Ferocious Fucking Teeth

Safety Meeting Records

11 tracks

Ferocious Fucking Teeth are based in New London, CT. They traveled to Chicago to record this album with Steve Albini. This record explodes out of the speakers from the the first second to the last note.  The first track “One Bright Light” reminds me of Ministry but the rest of the record is more in the vein of Today Is The Day, Tar, and Unsane. The song “Fred” is just over a minute long and sounds a bit like Kyuss. Ferocious Fucking Teeth takes these influences, or maybe accidents of history, and creates a sound that is 99 percent there own. Steve Albini has recorded some amazing music in his life, but this album has to rank up there as one of the very best, and that is really saying something. (Eric Baylies)

…

IKAGILA

The Velvet Drapery

5 tracks

What is an Ikagila? Is it a Finnish furniture store or a Swedish fish? Damned if I know. This is a heavy instrumental album with little singing and long  complex songs and arrangements. Is Ikagila Berklee kids with a Rush cover band on the side? Their Bandcamp makes them a bit of a mystery, I guess they prefer to let the music do the talking. The Velvet Drapery is fairly heavy on the Tool influence, with a bit of that kind of Mars Volta Latin percussion thrown in. I don’t know how only two guys can get this many sounds. The must do a million overdubs, so I don’t know how they will pull this off live, but I’d like to see then try it. It’s heavy but not quite heavy metal. (Terry Boulder)

…

SILVERTEETH

Silverteeth

3 tracks

Silverteeth are a Newport, Rhode Island duo that seem to have a time machine in their studio. They effortlessly move back and forth between current sounds and classic ’80s sounds and ’60s melodies. They cross that (Clairborne Pell) bridge between Modern English, Icicle Works, and REM with the Mamas & The Papas and Byrds. This way too short EP is by turns beautiful, rocking, and magnificent. These songs are both familiar and alien. In the changing musical landscape that we exist in, the question is, what is this? Is this college rock or commercial? The lines have been blurred. I don’t know how this will be marketed, but this should rise to the very top of wherever the powers that be decide to lump them in with. I’m reluctant to say that Silverteeth is one of the best albums of the the year when it is so very brief, but I am excited to hear more, much more. (Eric Baylies)

…

ZEN TARR

Zen Tarr  

11 tracks

A highly ambient album, reputedly improvised in the studio, and mostly driven by synthesizer electronics, albeit with superadded violin, guitar, bass and percussion. I will resist the impulse to say that much of it seems Eno-esque. The most accessible tracks are the reverb-laden “Gunk Loops”; the heartrending “Reprieve”, and the dreamy soundscape “Half a Sliff,” with Richard Carr’s emotive violin at the forefront. Lovers of this type of avant-garde ambience will be well pleased by this effort. (Francis DiMenno)

…

EVOCATION  

Skin Drone

9 tracks

The team of Otto Kinzel and Erik Martin have crafted a crushing, deliciously intense assortment of devastation. This one that takes me back to hitting Soundchasers for the latest albums from Cryptopsy, Necrosis, and Nile. It’s the sound of nostalgia – hitting my first show to see Eternal Suffering at the Lions Club and spending the next day wondering what that damn ringing sound was. Good times.

This metal/industrial duo hit hard and fast with the opening of each track and keeps the pressure constant with a steady, slamming beat. Guitar and drums are like endless cannon salvos, one atop another.

The lyrics from Martin are shredding and vicious, the kind of verbal assault you’re glad to hear. Vocal effects in songs like “God Complex” create ghostly wails and echoes, a nice touch and strong enhancement to the album. The opening of “Death Sentence,” with Martin saying “I want your blood, then I want your soul, and I want them both, right, fucking, now!” sets the tone for nine tracks of wonderful brutality.

Skin Drone is old-school in the lyrics and instrumentation, and incorporates the tech to create some killer effects. It’s the sound that defined my teens and 20s, and hearing this makes me want to see if the bands I grew up hearing have put out anything new. I hope these guys remain for years to come so that the next generation remembers what this genre really sounds like. (Max Bowen)

…

MANDOMANIA

Mandomania

11 tracks

Do you consider guitars a nuisance? This recording features only mandolins, drums and various ambient noises. It’s completely free of guitars or bass guitars, which is remarkable, as guitars have become synonymous with the vast majority of modern-day rock ’n’ roll.  That being said, this album does indeed rock, even if it is sans-guitar. What it lacks in guitar, as the album/ band title suggests, it makes up for in creative arrangements of all things mandolin: octave mandolins, electric five-string mandolins, mandocello, mandola and of course, the traditional plain old mandolin.  The city’s finest mandolinists do a bang up job showcasing their talents, proving the mandolin is a bit more versatile than one would think. Matt Glover shows off his fretwork with Bach’s “Musique Concrete” and Aaron Goff and Jimmy Ryan battle it out over eight strings in Goff’s original composition, “Allegheny Ridge.” The album from start to finish is a keeper; it’s a good example of out of the box thinking in musical composition. It’s become one of my go to CDs whenever I have a long drive to the mountains or am trying to impress fellow audiophiles at a dinner party. (Kier Byrnes)

…

TSUNAMI OF SOUND

Permanent Wave

14 tracks

This all instrumental album is chock full of interesting surf riffs and passionate playing. The songs are all aggressive. They are all ominous. And they are all performed with the necessary nervousness and jittery-ness required for authenticity. Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon would have loved this release. “Boogie Boardwalk” could have been in Beach Blanket Bingo, and “Pearl Harbor” should have been in Gidget Goes Hawaiian. The rest of the music sounds like a soundtrack for a ’60s fictional feature film. Riding on the crest of this wave are Dave Esposito on guitars and reverb, Jamie Huggins on bass, Bob Damiano on guitars and keys and drumming dervish Rick Sanger. Esposito, Huggins and Sanger composed some of the music together. Damiano solely wrote others and they do three very interesting covers. The 1963 Rocking Rebels hit “Wild Weekend” is wild, the Herb Alpert hit “Spanish Flea” is estupendo and they even eclectically tackle “The Cantina Band” from the 20th Century Fox film Star Wars; written by ex-Boston Symphony Orchestra bandleader John Williams. All the music sounds vaguely familiar and that’s a good sign that the band is playing up to expectations. Performing good surf music that keeps your attention all the time on every song is a tough nut to crack but these cats really rise to the occasion. Check out: “Pull Toy,” “If Pete Could Surf,” “Blue Fonda,” “Linda’s Bench” and “Mr. Moto” for foot tapping nostalgia. While listening to this, I’m thinking the only thing missing is the sun and the cute chicks in bikinis.    (A.J. Wachtel)

…

JEFF & JANE HUDSON

The Middle

11 tracks

Well, one of our all-time favorite Boston bands, The Rentals, echo back to reality with their prime motivating force, techno wizards Jeff and Jane Hudson releasing The Middle, a CD which includes two re-worked Rentals classics, “Elephants” and “Gertrude Stein.” Opening with the title track, “The Middle” we encounter a forest of cosmic sounds, Jeff Hudson giving an hypnotic reading that climbs a spiral audio ladder gathered from some hidden place of inner space. “Innocent” follows – a haunting melody Jane sings as if locked in some glass prism, the synth-bassline directs as it also drives the dance beat.  This music would be perfect to blend into the deep house nights at Club Bohemia in Cambridge, and would merge the underground rock with the dance music which currently play to two separate audiences.  The emphatic piano stakes the claim of the song’s title.

With a thump-a-thump bassline Jane indulges Captain (Star Trek Next Generation) Jean Luc Picard’s favorite line with “Make It So,” bringing back thoughts of Boston’s November Group and its explorations of these continuous vibrations and themes.  “Friday 1” is simply amazing, 3-D depth with persistence of aural vision. The guitars annunciate as the keyboards set the pace, drums rollicking along as if a human got inside the computer beat

The three minutes and fifty-three seconds of track 6  – “Up Til Now” – groove along with the proficiency we’ve come to expect from the sound research that this collaborative engage in. The vocal reads/sings the lyric in an authoritative manner, commanding to keep up with the soldier like instrumentation. With Greg Hawks going ukulele and Lord Manuel Smith exercising his creativity in an alternate reality, Jeff and Jane have the genre cornered throughout this New England region.  This is synth rock meets Metropolis, touches of techno, machine shop, industrial, electronica all swirling and cascading as in the delightful “Forever.”

“Los Alamos” goes back to the themes from the duo’s Manhattan Project in the ’80s, Jeff asking the favor, the music on a sideways roller coaster, an eerie piece but one of the best on a consistently solid outing.  “Victory” and “Sleet Blues” close out this imaginative disc, dissimilar and making for an interesting conclusion. “Sleet Blues” winding and turning, bordering more on synth jazz than blues, but enough elements of the latter to qualify a spot in the title.  (Joe Viglione)

…

THE INVISIBLE HOURS

Wake the Ghosts of Night

11 tracks

The Invisible Hours hail from Providence. What we have here is a nice collection of rock songs with some subtle psyche influences, more shoegazey in a ’90s kind of way. The music is very British without the accents. This is excellent driving music, when driving your yellow submarine or your beautiful balloon, but beware, you might get lost.  Very moody and atmospheric,Wake the Ghosts of Night is aptly titled and a long dark journey into the light. (Eric Baylies)

…

THE GUILLOTEENAGERS

Cheeseballs to the Wall

8 tracks

The Guilloteenagers (Gheee-OH-teenagers) CD Cheese Balls to the Wall had Club Bohemia resplendent in… cheeseballs, of course, for the record release party for this excellent and consistent disc.  “The Guilloteenagers Are Back” blasts open the disc with early Alice Cooper meeting iconic Boston punk band Unnatural Axe and it doesn’t let up. “50 Seconds” takes the Black Sabbath “Paranoid” riff and brings it to the Ramones, smack dab in their face.  The onslaught continues with a chant over power chords on the two minute, seventeen second suspended anthem “Let’s Get Greasy,” a middle finger response to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” Hannah Montana’s “Let’s Get Crazy” and Slade’s “Mama, We’re All Crazee Now.”   Beer is a main theme here, and why not when cheese balls are bouncing all over the placeBefore Greg Walsh formed the band Pop Gun his song “Packie Run” was a staple on Boston Radio. “Part Deux,” track 4 from the Guilloteenagers at 2:04 is the logical continuance of bad-boy behavior.  And when you hear the energetic “Even Though I Drink a Lot” it sounds like the Real Kids on methamphetamine.  All the songs on this eight-song disc are under two and a half minutes save the last two, “Ride On King Jesus, Ride On” and “Michelob” (but, of course!) which clock in at 4:01 and 3:33 respectively.  (Joe Viglione)

…

THE DRUNK NUNS  

Ocelot Records

…And Friends

16 tracks

Opener “Better Luck Next Time” is frenetic ala the Buzzcocks, and earthy ala the Clash (or maybe even the Dictators). We then proceed with some yob-rock (“Gotta Believe Me”); some more fine, sputtery, relentless punk rock taken at a hyper-accelerated pace (“The Diplomat”); and from here on we are treated to a full panoply of quick-stepping (if not quick-witted), foot-stomping hook-laden punk rocking racket. Highlights include: the irresistible “Last Laugh”: the almost pretty intro to “Dependence Day”: the downright anthemic “Just Another Scene”; the blowsy fake-reggae intro to “Out of Focus”; the rambunctious chugging of “Truth in the Stereo”; the fiery “Gallows”; and the grinding “Better Than Nothing.” The Drunk Nuns manage to accomplish a great deal while employing a genre-limited palette; all in all, it’s a worthwhile listen. (Francis DiMenno)

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HOT SAUCE

Funk the Beach

6 tracks

“Baby Please (Don’t Go)” is smooth and beautifully produced r & b that one would find populating the Top 40 in the 1960s, respectful of its roots and bringing that classic sound into 2016.  Recorded in November of 2014 at Big T Productions in Quincy,  Jeff Shwom’s vocal is an everyman pleading, not Arthur Conley or James Brown shouting please… please… please, not Levon Helm re-working Marvin Gaye’s “Baby, Don’t You Do It” (which Levon truncated to “Don’t Do It,” ) Hot Sauce brew their blues sauce for a newer generation. The same formula works with “French Perfume Blues,” where vocalist Shwom takes it from an American perspective on Bryan Ferry’s first solo work on cover songs from his early Roxy Music days.   Not spoken word, but not wailing in pain, more like just devastated by love and stuck in the mood that makes for that bluesy feeling.  “Shake It Up!” may be the title of a Cars song and album, but this is more like J. Geils with Cory Magno’s squawking guitar and the general mayhem of the band condensed into a fun stomp. In 1973 the final studio album from Rod Stewart & the Faces Ooh La La, landed in the stores the year that Ian Lloyd and Stories’ Blue-eyed-Soul reigned supreme on the charts with “Brother Louie.”  In 2016, 43 years later, Hot Sauce give us a similar title – “Oo La La” – drenched in a laid-back style trumpeter Hugh Masekela keeps alive, perhaps if Masekela’s usual tempo was slowed down with backing from Janis Joplin’s Kozmic Blues Band.  At 3:25 it is short and sweet and despite the ’70s motif noted above, it also harkens back to the ’60s.  The instrumental “Tribute to Mr. McGriff” grooves like the Hot Sauce Thursday night colleagues at Cambridge’s Cantab Lounge, Chicken Slacks Soul Revue. It’s a good showcase for the double trouble of Fabricio Bezerra’s saxophone and CD co-producer Cory Magno’s guitar.   The closing track, “Jimmy Lou,” drives well thanks to the magnificent Lee Lundy’s bass and Osi Brathwaite’s drums.  Lundy is a staple in multiple bands at the Cantab and is quickly becoming a legend on the local scene.  (Joe Viglione)

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ANDY CALIFORNA!

The Amazing Andy Califonia! Live!

Macchio Records

7 tracks

Andy California! has lived in Boston a long time, though I don’t know if he is even from California. I do know that he played in Tunnel of Love and has transformed into a gritty, old timey blues artist. No drums and bass, just electric guitar and vocals that ring through the mud of the Mississippi. This is the last of a dying breed, American folk blues from the heart. The Amazing Andy Califonia! Live! keeps it real and is fun in a jump blues kind of way. (Eric Baylies)

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THE DAYBREAKERS

Hard to Explain

11 tracks

This is hooky folk-rock brimming over with genuine fellow-feeling, as on the opening title track. The band’s forays into rock are perfectly competent in a Creedence Clearwater Revival sort of way (particularly on “Bad Habits and the Blues,” and the choogling “It Ain’t Easy”). “First Train Home” is a pretty standard blues number with a funky guitar line; “Ways to Go” is a Band-like country ballad with elements of gospel; “Suite Mary Lou (Part Two)” is a lively CCR-style rocker; “Beg and Plead” is a ’70s-rock pastiche; “It’s Alright” is a rockabilly-inflected number. In hearkening back to an earlier era of songsmithing, the band might be righteously placed to exploit the nostalgia market, and perhaps even bring pleasure to those who might have missed out on the era and the genre the first time around. (Francis DiMenno)

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MYSTICS ANONYMOUS

She Wanted the Future

5 tracks

The fourth E.P., She Wanted the Future, from Mystics Anonymous of Northampton, Massachusetts, is a journey through a variety of popular genres that today’s audiences are attracted to, all wrapped into one visionary sound that is highly enjoyable. With the vocals/ bass guitar of Jeff Steblea along with his comrades, Brian Marchese, Matt Silberstein, and Andrew Goulet, this unique package should have a solid place in whatever your favorite listening device is.

The opening title track, “She Wanted the Future,” is so catchy it sticks in your head – inspired by Blink-182’s “All the Small Things.”  The strong lyrics in “Imperfections” reflect the band’s perspective on current politics and the atmosphere of violence.  “(I Want to Be A) Mathematical Rarity” is equally appealing with a tip of the hat to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Barenaked Ladies, then ends with an echoing ’60s psychedelic guitar. “Maudlin, You Liar” is more ’60s retro musical styling using Mitch Mitchell’s “Manic Depression” beat, a dash of Jefferson Airplane/ Jorma Kaukonen guitar playing  and Steblea’s vocals channeling Mr. Mojo Rising himself throughout the track.  She Wanted the Future closes out with cosmic sounds in “St. Elmo’s Fire,” which has nothing to do with the John Parr track from the 1984 film – it’s a cover of Brian Eno’s tune of the same name and it’s got everything.  And so does this disc. It’s a keeper.  (Ed Wrobleski)

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TELELECTRIX

Move EP

4 songs

Telelectrix has Steven Borek from a great Boston band The Luxury, so I was excited to check this out. This album is called Move and you will once you hear it. This is an album for the future when we can all dance in outer space. This could be the album Madonna worked on if she were famous about five years early and worked with OMD or New Order instead of playing with jellybeans in the studio. Somebody better get the key to the mops, there’s about to be blood on the dance floor. Move is a great album for fans of Giorgio Moroder type dance music. (Eric Baylies)

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TSUNAMI OF SOUND

Wet Sounds

6 tracks

David Esposito (guitars), Rick Sanger (drums), Jamie Huggins (bass) and Bob Damiano (guitar/ keyboards) team up for the latest Tsunami of Sound release. The band is in classic form, tearing through surf rock tune after surf rock tune. The band alludes to the great sounds of Dick Dale, The Ventures and Link Ray, yet at the same time bringing their own reverb-drenched signature sound to the mix. The production on the album is solid, produced and arranged by Tsunami’s own multi talented Bob Damiano. Next time the surf is up, my advice is to be a big Kahuna and strap Wet Sounds to the roof of your woody and go on a surfin’ safari. Or better yet, just play Wet Sounds on your audio device.  (Kier Byrnes)

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HUMMINGBIRD SYNDICATE

“Waterfall Away”/”I Want You to Stay”

2 tracks

This Boston/LA combo delivers a delightfully chirpy-cheepy bit of countrified bubblegum on their debut single. Both sides infuse the warm melodies of the Beach Boys with chewy hooks of the Brill building. Sure it’s retro, and like all sunshine pop, there’s an underlying hint of Laurel Canyon-esque death-cult dread billowing through the grooves, but that only sweetens the deal, really. For the most part, it’s all popsicles on a bright summery day. As you might have gathered from their name, the Syndicate is more of a liquid gang than a band so who knows what they might do next, but if you’ve wondered what it might be like to breathe in the dry Californian air in 1968, this single might be your best bet.  (Sleazegrinder)

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…

TELAMOR

Olex Records

Stoned!

4 tracks

This is subtitled, “Four Iconic Rollings Stones Tracks Re-Imagined.” Tom Hauck, the solo mastermind behind this project, brings an interesting twist to these well-worn Stones tracks. “Sympathy for the Devil” features an ominous electronic drone vibe like the gates of some North African hell yawning wide open. “Satisfaction” is a low-key take, as though Buddy Holly’s hiccuping vocals were combined with Bryan Ferry’s vocal stylings. There’s also a faintly mechanistic approach to the track not wholly unlike Devo’s celebrated cover. “Happy” is presented with a soulful and more melodic approach which is by far the most radical, and memorable, departure from the original. “Undercover of the Night” is taken as a ballad rather than an anthem and has its own mysterious vibe. Overall, this project is an intriguing set of interpretations; but one which reveals more about Telamor than The Rolling Stones. (Francis DiMenno)

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SAX GORDON

Continental Blue Heaven Records

Showtime 

10 tracks

This is a horn album. There are trumpets, trombones, and saxophones EVERYWHERE!  From the opening uptempo shuffle and title track “Showtime” to the closing traditional blues “Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” there are tooters all over the place. And that’s an understatement. I really like Sax Gordon compositions “The Way It Is,” “I Got It,” and “Don’t Mess With Me”  because they showcase his amazing skills the best. He flutters and honks all up and down the scale with a power you can FEEL as he blows. Then, when you least expect it, he jumps an octave, and the sound and fury comes at you with an even GREATER force – then he returns and continues his audio muscle flexing with a more potent and energetic thrust. It must be heard to be believed. The momentum of the songs never waver.  Close your eyes, play this CD on volume 10, and it may be the closest you have go to feel like you are there with him live. On horns you have Sax Gordon blowing tenor sax, Scott Aruda on trumpet, Jeff Galindo sliding the trombone, and Tino Barker and Jeremy Valadez on bari saxes. The rest of the band includes Matt Stubbs and J.R. Watson on guitars, Matt and Jesse Williams on bass and Chris Rivilli and Chris Peet pounding. This is wailing, screaming, and honking horns at their best. I love it !   (A.J. Wachtel)

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T MAX

Dove Records

The Portal’s Rhyme: Undoing The Secret Of Time

6 tracks

Love T’s music! This CD is no exception. Only six tracks, but he fits a lot of diverse coolness into it.

The music is still T, only better. The same sound fans love, only a fuller, matured feel. Familiar songs sound richer and new songs, surprising. “The Magician” is reminiscent of early Bowie. There are background noises sounding a lot like… sea gulls in spaceships. Completely unexpected!

T’s gritty cover of The Beatles’ “I’m a Loser” lends a heartfelt vibe to it that I’d never sensed before, making me feel that this is the way this song should be sung, given its lyrics. There’s a Tom Waits sound to it which works remarkably well.

“Danny Boy” is quite simply, beautiful. T’s voice fits this beloved classic so well. A sentimental song and his voice works magic with it.

“Rhythmatic Addicts” is at the opposite end of the spectrum. A fun, sexy, song (love the line,”My baby rubs gasoline down the nape of her neck.”). Again, that awesome Tom Waits’ grit. Nice sax and slick keys compliment it perfectly.

“Sometimes Smart Phone” just didn’t work for me. What really did work for me, is “Turn To A Song.” Blues tinged, with a killer bass. Meant to make people feel good, this song delivers. I’m loving the quality of T’s voice on this gem of a CD. It’s a winner and he knocks it out of the park.  (R.J. Ouellette)

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DESIGNER

Bufu Records

Kalvin & Kline

4 tracks

Boston’s Designer is relentless pounding spaz rock. They have more structure than US Maple but retain a certain restless energy that jumps out of the speakers.This album is noisy psyche that you could probably slam dance to, but it is a little complex for a pit, like The Daughters meet The Doors. The singer is either very happy or in a great amount of pain all the time, I’m not really sure. Is it noise? Is it jazz? Is this even music? Yes, yes, and yes. This is easily one of the best records I’ve heard this year, from Boston or anywhere. This album is cuter than a bag of dead kittens. (Eric Baylies)

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THE UNDAUNTED PROFESSOR HARP

They Call Me The Professor

10 tracks

I really like the way the Professor plays a lot of fluttering notes. It’s really cool how when you least expect it he’s fluttering away on a note when he solos. And his vocals are believable too. His voice sounds like it drips with experience and he’s not just singing the words. This combination forms his music’s formidable foundation and his great band supplies the rest. Marty Ballou and John Packer play bass, Tom Ferraro is on guitar with Glen Hardy on piano. Mark Texeira from Duke Robillard’s band and Mike LaBelle are drumming and Doug James is blowing sax. They’re a great band playing great music. From the Memphis shuffles “They Call Me The Professor,” “That’s What You Do To Me,” and “Fighting The Battle” to the cameo of Brookline native and Muddy Waters band vet Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin on “My Life: An Exercise In Blue,” this band plays with passion and pleasure.  I also really dig the jazzy “It Just Comes Natural” with the Chuck Berry leads. And check out the slow blues closing cut “Eine Fur Herr Schmidt,” the Professor’s tribute to his mentor George Harmonica Smith. On this cut he plays a chromatic harp. Another treat is his remake of the ’60s instrumental the Rocking Rebel’s classic “Wild Weekend,” where he changes everything and makes it a harp song. It’s first rate red hot and blue music.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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DEREK ASTLES

Blue FX Records

Chili-House Pay Phone

12 tracks

Derek Astles’ mildly strangulated voice, like Bob Dylan’s, takes a little getting used to – he’s a stylist, not a full-bore singer – but his very best songs are haunting and memorable and brave, and well worth hearing. While I find a lack of sonic variety in the lone man with a guitar approach, he does manage to accomplish a lot with a little. Among the best of his songs is a plaintive ballad (“Message to Rita”), a lovely guitar pastoral number (“At Her Mercy”), a folksy disaster song (“Coming Home”), a rousing working-man song (“Shit, Shovels, and Whiskey”), a wonderful jaunty and ominous, clever and unusual folk blues with a Flamenco twist (“Neil Young Knew Charlie Manson”), a true, plaintive and bitter talking blues brilliantly reminiscent of Michael Hurley and best of show (“Find a Fat Girl, Knock Her Up, and Call Her Mama”), and a wondrously lyrical traveling ballad (“Frozen’). At its best, this collection is captivating. Recommended. (Francis DiMenno)

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CHANTICLEAR

Old Glories and War Stories

11 tracks

I was pretty excited that there was a song called “Cock Rocket” on this record. Figured maybe I had some kinda sleazy, GN’R sorta situation on my hands. This is not the case. Old Glories and War Stories is a years-in-the making pop-punk record that sometimes veers into Social Distortion-y hard-luck hard-rock territory and sometimes into Midwestern ’80s slacker-rock. Somehow Chanticlear make all those side-winding sub-genres sound like the same thing. And that’s fine, it’s not like I’m expecting dungeon synth or anything. If you like barely-together garage-rackets and warbling vocals (lots of people do, put down your knives already), then this is the Lawrence, MA-based low-watt punk rock band for you. But also if you write a song called “Cock Rocket,” it would be nice if you sounded like a band that would have a song called “Cock Rocket.” GG Allin did it and I’m pretty sure he was brain-damaged, so it can’t be that hard.   (Sleazegrinder)

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TOMO FUJITA

Pure

9 tracks

This cat can play! Tomo teaches at Berklee and this completely instrumental release showcases his incredible abilities that guitarists and music lovers alike will appreciate. He is a groove guitarist who plays lovely jazz chords in the middle of his lead solos, and I really dig his power and finesse. Beautiful tone, imaginative chops, and when he picks up or slows down all of a sudden in the middle of a solo you just can’t stop listening or anticipate what he’s gonna do next. Fujita composed all the music and he plays guitar with Will Lee on bass and Steve Gadd, Steve Jordan, and session legend Bernard Purdie, the world’s most recorded drummer, supplying the backbeat. My favorite cuts are “Boy Back Home” and “Tiny Tapper” with the remarkable drum breakdown where the guitar, bass, and keys pick up the slack, and the bluesy “Through the Pain.” Listening to this remarkable guitar playing is very enjoyable. It’s cool how you hear distinctly jazzy chords out of nowhere in all the songs, and he uses the entire neck of his guitar with nicely thought out high end solos moving down the fretboard and ending on the low end. The only vocals on this CD are the “one two” count offs at the beginning of a few songs. Very very cool! (A.J. Wachtel)

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LAZERTUTH

Mayner Manep

13 tracks

If you think this album title is a tongue twister, you should see the song titles! Keyboard wizard and singer Ethan Weiss has assembled a talented crew of New Bedford and Fall River musicians behind him. If you ever wondered what would happen if New Bedford and Fall River had a baby (it would be an ugly baby), here is your answer. Why would you wonder that, anyway? Do something constructive with your life and listen to Lazertuth. This is a deep space trip with some aggressive rock leanings. Think Don Cabelero meets Amon Duul and Tangerine Dream. This is like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer without the boring parts. This is a jewel of a punk prog album. (Eric Baylies)

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ANDY LAMPERT

10 Songs of Pain

15 tracks

This Rhode Island artist’s music is like The Who meets Deep Purple meets Pink Floyd meets T. Rex.  Metal arena rock ballads with loud guitars and vocals and pounding drums. From the opening crescendo of power chords in “Denial,” “Salem,” and “Even I Can Dream” to the English rock ’n’ roll feel of “Warsaw” and “I Want To Go,” every song is loud and filled with attitude. Lampert wrote all the music and I really like “I Don’t Like Her.” Andy on guitars/ bass/ keys and all vocals, Joe Auger did all the keyboard programming, percussion and harp, and Mike Rovin is on drums. This is heavy metal rock ’n’ roll the way it was meant to be played. Great stuff.    (A.J. Wachtel)

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PAUL TAIT

Everything Is Subject to Change

10 tracks

A grab-bag of hard-rocking tracks in a variety of modes. “Some Days” will remind you of “Woman From Tokyo”; “Losing My Mind” will remind you of The Rolling Stones back when they were jealous of Marc Bolan; the liquescent “Don’t Stop Being a Rocker” has a diddly guitar filigree evocative of early ’60s rock. “No Soliciting” is a soulful toe-tapper; “Heart Condition” is a flat-out rocker a la The New York Dolls; “Searching the Skies” boasts a telegraphic guitar figure, and the tune evolves into a plaintive love song. “Self Awareness” is a song of thwarted love; a heavy metal grinder in a truncated march rhythm. “World of Pain” is a heavily percussive and polyrhyhmic piece of harrowingly melodramatic agitprop. You have to admire the ingenuity of Tait’s songwriting – particularly his mastery of various tropes from the history of rock ’n’ roll –but, ultimately, there’s little here that’s so original that it will truly open your eyes.  (Francis DiMenno)

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BARRETT ANDERSON

The Long Fall

11 tracks

Barrett is a great guitarist and I enjoy listening to everything he plays on all the cuts throughout the whole song. The music is a mix of guitar groove melodies and more uptempo Memphis r&b tunes; and for a three-piece group they sure do make a lot of good sounds. Anderson wrote most of the music and backing him on vocals and guitar is legendary B-3 organist Ron Levy and veteran drummer Per Hanson, whose impeccable beat-keeping cements the song as Barrett and Ron play off each other. The drums push the song but the tunes are taken to another level whenever Levy comes in. Listen to the opener “Not our Baby,” “Tomorrow Morning,”  “Emma Lee,” and “Peace I Need” to hear what I mean. I like the slide guitar tunes “Mile Wide Wind” and “Grinnin’ In Your Face” by Son House. Sorta like Rory Gallagher meets Bo Diddley. The great lead guitar work influences of Rory via Barrett and the rhythmic swirls of Bo from the rhythm section. My favorite cuts: “Atwoods,” a traditional blues song about the Cambridge club, with Barrett’s stunning guitar work, “Good Man/Gotta Move” with Per’s non-solo as “Good Man” progresses into “Gotta Move”; and “Grin & Bare It,” the instrumental, for its great groove and fantastic force. Check it out.  (A.J. Wachtel)

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I AM BECOME DEATH

I Am Become Death

6 tracks

There’s a lot to like about this CD. It starts out as a Daughters sounding metal core type thing and you say, Oh, I know what this is going to be. Before you know it, the train takes twists and turns and flies off the tracks. This album is super heavy but swings in a way the old Killing Joke albums did. Take a little Dillinger Escape Plan and add a dash of the Jesus Lizard and you get an idea of how unrelenting and great this record is. Not only do they have one of the best band names in Boston, they are one of the heaviest and best groups as well. (Eric Baylies)

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KEVIN CONNOLLY  

Weathervane Records

Ice Fishing 

14 tracks

Kevin has been on the local scene making music since the ’80s with his band The Great Divide, and this is his 10th CD. His first in five years. He plays the guitar and does all the vocals and his older brother Jim provides upright bass, banjo, piano, backing vocals, percussion, and melodica. This is basically a labor of love between two brothers on different coasts and it took three years of trading files to complete. Legendary local production ace Ducky Carlisle plays drums and produces the material. The voice is very personal and you get the feeling that Connolly is singing just to you, which is what you expect from such a personal project. The songs are all ballads at different tempos and every song has either country, folk, or rock influences. I like the uptempo opener “Bus Station” with the neat mid-song bass riff, the almost twangy “Up On Willoughby,” and the folkie “Blow Them Away,” about his daughter’s coming of age. I also dig  the country-rock “Here Comes Whitey” about you know who. The nice country/folk ballad “Interstate” and the pop/rock ballad “Just About To Fall” are both sweetly special too. There are nice harmonies on “Bus Station,” “Hot In Arizona,” and “Busy Thinking Bout Love.” Cool music for the heart and soul from a vet.    (A.J. Wachtel)

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OPPOSITION RISING

Riot Starter EP

5 tracks

Hey, remember when Boston hardcore was basically a psycho-circus of blood-soaked, male-dominated ultra-violence? These dudes do. They play classic Boston thrash n’ mosh, catchy and fast and testosterone-packed, perfect for beating some dude with a baseball bat or half a hockey stick because he’s from out of town or whatever it was all those dudes were angry about in the ’90s. Five songs in less than ten minutes, the highlight being the berserk “Stop Saying Stupid Shit Online” which, ironically, is what I’m probably doing right now. Also my copy is pink, which is probably the punkest thing about this whole affair.  (Sleazegrinder)

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THE CHARLIE KEATING BAND

Slide on Over

13 tracks

This is a boogie band… and these cats can play. The music is jump blues/ boogie woogie/ shuffles and slow traditional blues. All the uptempo songs start with a blistering groove Charlie sets with or without his slide. Lenny Turnquist on bass and Uncle Dom Micarelli on drums keep the groove going as Keating sings and plays guitar. The opening instrumental “Elmo’s Boogie” showcases his stunning Johnny Winter influenced slide guitar chops and it rocks. Another Keating original,”Eric’s Boogie,” is also a screaming instrumental  that follows along the same hard-pounding path.  Elmore James’ “Shake Your Money Maker,” the traditional “Rollin’ And Tumbin’ ,” and Memphis Slim’s “Everyday I Have The Blues” all have the same good-time, great bar-band sound. The blues tunes are tense and passionate rather than introspective and calm. Even Charlie’s slower blues songs “You Don’t Have To Cry,” “Goodbye Baby,” and “Dog Biscuit” simply shout and scream. Check it out.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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CAROLYN WATERS

A Touch of Blues

5 tracks

This is a very good and unique blues release. Carolyn’s beautiful and powerful voice is the main focus, and these five cuts are all duos. Carolyn’s voice combines with Tokyo Tramps’ Satoru Nakagawa on guitar and backing vocals.  His licks are red hot, clean and creative. One cut, “Blues Medley” starts with Jimmy Reed’s “Bright Lights Big City” and visits “Baby What You Want Me To Do,” “Kansas City,” and “Sweet Home Chicago” before going back to and ending with the Reed classic. And it’s all her wonderful voice, without a guitar, and Peter Tillotson on bass. I love his mid-song solo, too. B.B.’s “Rock Me Baby,” John Lee Hooker’s “Black Night Is Falling,” and her own closing cut,”I Really Like The Way You,” are very creative and bluesy. She’s got a great voice and there’s a lot of cool guitar guitar here. And it works!   (A.J. Wachtel)

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Comments

Found Hummingbird Syndicate through this blog! Love the 60’s vibe with the harmonies and if I’m not mistaken they are using a rickenbacker guitar on their song “waterfall away”. Love it!

Yes, those old Rickenbackers were a fave of John Lennon.

I greatly appreciate the review of “Slide On Over”! I do believe your words nailed the focus and energy of the music we play. Thank you!

Lenny,
Glad you are happy with your review in the Noise of THE CHARLIE KEATING BAND’s latest CD.
T Max

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Photo: Paul Blowfish Lovell

RANDY BLACK & THE HEATHCROPPERS 

Limborations Records

the sky goes clear   

9 tracks

Little of the intensity of earlier ensembles such as Limbo Race or Dr. Black’s Combo is diminished on this recent outing–there is still the heartfelt emotion and earnestness which has always marked the best songs of Randy Black. The best of show is the underproduced but undeniably catchy hiccoughing toe-tapper “Can’t Get Over.” Other highlights include the jangly confessional “Monkey”; the oddball country ballad, ready-made “Green Dress”; the grandly monumental duet with Linda Viens, “Imposter”; and the irresistible forward momentum of “Days Gone Blue” with excellent drum and bass accompaniment by Larry Dersch and Matt Gruenberg. At its best, this collection evokes Springsteen, the Replacements, and Yo La Tengo, and would probably have a great appeal to folks who are into those artists.  (Francis DiMenno)

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SARAH RABDAU & SELF-EMPLOYED ASSASSINS

Free as Thieves

11 tracks

With this very solid effort, Sarah Rabdau manages to pull off the harder-than-it-looks trick of making music that is catchy yet weird, arty yet accessible.  These keyboard-driven songs sound like how someone from the 1980s would envision the not-too-distant future.  Songs like “Summer of Love” are full of hooks and sound like they could be on the radio, if it weren’t for the underlying menace bubbling beneath the surface.  It’s Rabdau’s warm, clear voice that first grabs the listener’s attention, but it’s the sharp rhythmic sense of the Self-Employed Assassins that keeps the momentum going.  There are a few instances in which the music is either a little too theatrical or goes down a little too easily, but fans of Kate Bush, Fiona Apple, and the like will find this record hard to resist.  (Kevin Finn)

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GENE DANTE & THE FUTURE STARLETS

“We Are All Whores”

single track

The Romantic Lead Sampler             

8 tracks

These cats were finalists in the 2009 Rock ’n’ Roll Rumble, and their song ”We Are All Whores,” produced by John Eye from One of Us, is the first of a series of six singles to be released every other month through 2014. It has strong, passionate vocals that I like right off the bat. This is metal arena rock done well. The Romantic Lead is an eight song sampler that really showcases Dante’s versatile and strong voice. He’s mellow in the opener, “A Madness to His Method” before rocking in  “The Love Letter is Dead” and “Like a Satellite.”  But most of this music is ballads in various tempos—all with loud guitars and great vocals, such as “The Starlet Hits the Wall,” with its Talking Heads powerchord guitar opening, “Brian, My Darling” with its nice organ part, “OK Sunshine,” “Photosynthetic,” and the closer, “To a God Unknown.”  Play this music loud!    (A.J. Wachtel)

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CHARLIE CHESTERMAN

Solid Gold Electric Chestnut Dispenser

20 tracks

This odds and ends collection from the late beloved roots rocker will certainly do nothing to tarnish his legacy.  Chesterman was an amiable frontman and one with a keen, distinguished sense of melody. The songs are generally mid-tempo numbers that mix in elements of country, rockabilly, power pop, and straight-ahead rock.  They are comfortable songs, and I mean that as a compliment.  They feel very homey, and only occasionally does the lack of variation in tempo make things seem staid.  Chesterman hardly has Freddie Mercury’s range as a singer, but his voice is expressive and inviting.  The final song, a revved-up little nugget called “I Hate Everything” brings things to a rousing close, although the joy that Chesterman brings to the proceedings makes you realize that he can’t possibly mean it. (Kevin Finn)

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SCOTT DAMGAARD

Through a Stained Glass Eye

13 tracks

“The circus is in town and I’m just another clown,” the underrated Scott Damgaard sings on “Just Another Clown,” the third track off of his fourth full-length studio album.  With his self-proclaimed objective of turning out “rock ’n’ roll with heart and soul,” Through a Stained Glass Eye finds the thirty-year music veteran exploring a wealth of genres.  The result is something fresh and chock-full of rock, pop, soul, funk, country and blues—commendable in its own right, albeit slightly disjointed.  Damgaard’s strength lies in his ability to craft songs that evoke the Brit-rock of The Beatles (“She’s Letting Go”) and the psychedelia of Jerry Garcia/The Grateful Dead and The Chris Robinson Brotherhood (“Galaxies Away”).  Even the tongue-in-cheek “Prince 4 a Day,” in which Damgaard imagines what it might be like to spend a day in the rocker’s shoes, is driven by a heavy bass and drum groove—fitting when you consider the tracks that came before.  Disconnect occurs when, on the latter-half of the record, Damgaard delves into the country realm.  What began as a powerpop/rock effort suddenly turns Nashville, and cohesion is lost.  No longer does the record feel like a unit but instead, a hodgepodge of songs displaying Damgaard’s creative capabilities.  Fortunately, Through a Stained Glass Eye’s strengths outnumber its weaknesses, making for an overall entertaining piece of music.  (Julia R. DeStefano)

…

KERRI POWERS

Kerri Powers    

10 songs

The tone is set on the intoxicating blues refrain “Tallulah Send a Car for Me.” Ms. Powers has a powerful country-blues voice with an inimitable timbre, and her compositions display both a groundedness and a refreshing lack of pretension. The brilliant “Old Shirt” is a pedal-steel augmented ballad of remembrance and regret, which is lovely and evocative. The excellent “Train in the Night” is an ineffably sad lament featuring a lilting vocal catch by Ms. Powers that will break your heart. “Buttercup” varies the sound—it is a mean old hoodoo blues; “Ghost” has a similar mysterious hoodoo ambiance, and Ms. Powers does remarkably expressive things with her voice. The halting, ominous “A Little Light” varies the pace with a tolling guitar sound and dreamy pedal steel accompaniment. Judging on the basis of the best of these songs, Ms. Powers is a major talent.  This debut is a keeper. (Francis DiMenno)

…

MICHELLE WILLSON 

Evil Gal Records

Live at Scullers – Fortune Cookie

11 tracks

I was at this show and reviewed it for The Noise a few months back and now I am thrilled to hear it in my living room. Michelle has a passionate, emotional, and big voice; and her set on this live CD is a mixture of Dinah Washington, Ruth Brown, Abbey Lincoln, Etta James, and even a bit of early Ray Charles. Her jump blues/swing sound is unique on the scene and her band, including Zac Casher on drums, bassist Sven Larson, guitarist Mike Mele, Shinichi Otsu on piano, and Scott Shetler on reeds is just plain incredible. Listen to them play Dinah’s “Relax Max,” “Stranger on the Earth,” and “New New Blowtop Blues.” Hear the horn in “Fat Daddy.” Listen to the great piano in my favorite cut on the disc “Hallelujah, I Love Him So,” a very early Ray Charles cover. Listen to how the vocals and the horn play with each other on the title cut “Fortune Cookie,” a song written by the two provocateurs themselves, Willson and Shetler. A lot of the songs have short intros by Willson as she explains their importance to her to the packed house. Check out “Racehorse,” as the band plays a few measures of western TV shows’ theme songs, including Gunsmoke and Bonanza. Great stuff.    (A.J. Wachtel)

…

GADI CAPLAN

Look Back Step Forward

10 tracks

There’s no denying this guy Caplan has talent with his enviable guitar chops and wide-ranging compositional skills, running the gamut from true-blue jazz tunes to exotically-tinged arabesques and tender guitar finger-pickers. No denying he has an ear for talent as well with this fatally capable cavalcade of classically and jazzically-trained supporting musicians. Nor is there any denying the—for better or worse—indelible Berklee kid brand that marks this album: the luxoriously-timed track lengths, the Satriani school of guitar pedagogy, and the kitchen-sink approach to instrumentation. There are moments of real ingenuity here, like the head-rush of a tune “Within the Clouds,” which starts out as a nebulous guitar-lined rubato that, with its drum-thunder crescendos, builds into a bass-thumping Beatles-esque maharishi freak-out that then rockets into the stratosphere and beyond. Then again, there are muzak-al moments as well where I need a sharp pinch to remind myself that no, I’m not stuck in an elevator and no, I haven’t been put on hold. (Will Barry)

…

PETTY MORALS

The Lemonade EP

4 tracks

One of my friends once accused me of hating fun, yet I really love Petty Morals.  Seeing as how Petty Morals’ dance-pop-punk cocktail is, undoubtedly, a blast, I am now confident that I do indeed love fun and can credit this band for disproving a harmful rumor about me.  Enough about me, though. The four songs on The Lemonade EP are a pleasant mixture of tart and sweet and are pretty much guaranteed to make you move.  While it is probably impossible to capture the frenetic energy of the band’s live shows, this recording comes very close.  “Radio Action” reappears in a glossier form than the version on The Cotton Candy Demo, and it’s still their best song.  But “Keep It Down” is a close second as it overflows with the type of sexy metaphors that would make Prince blush if Prince were actually a real human being and not some sort of magical elf.  (Kevin Finn)

…

ERIC SALT & THE ELECTRIC CITY

Please Say Yes  

11 songs

This is a deceptive album. At first, you think that it’s going to be soft rock by the numbers, filled with the requisite production effects (ably supplied by Ed Valauskas): melodic fillups, breathy vocalizing, hook-filled repeated phrasings, pleasing affect, jolly jelly-crammed vocal Easter eggs, life-affirming lyrics, patented sentimentality, double-tracked vocals, solid-right-down-to-the-ground drumming, shouty declamatory sentiments, progressive bass loping–and all this on the first two songs! It is with the third song that you suspect that there is more here than meets the ear. “Only Lovin’ You” is kind of like U2 filtered through the early drum and bass experiments of XTC, with a little OMD thrown in. Multitracked dueling instrumental lines and huge slabs of echo make this one an interesting oddball experiment. “Last Man Standing” is a simple rave-up with a horn section; “Cold Wind Blow” is an introspective ballad in the mode of the early Bee Gees; “Movie Screen” is a bit of Bowie-esque theatre-rock; “Stay on the Line” is early ’80s McCartney-esque pop. “Pied Piper” is a conventional flat-out boogie with a psychedelic acid-pop fillup, which is refreshingly bizarre. The memorable “Please Say Yes” is best of show; an incipient classic; brilliantly anthemic, irresistibly catchy, heartening pure pop – one of the best songs I’ve heard in months. Say what you will, but at least this ensemble is trying something novel–to apply production values to goose seemingly ordinary genre workups into something which sounds extraordinary. Surprisingly, they are successful more often than not. Final verdict: three parts brilliant and one part sheer fudge. But even the fudge is interesting. (Francis DiMenno)

…

THE UNGRADED 

Squid Ink Records

Making the Grade   

8 tracks

The Ungraded’s latest effort runs the gamut from garage rock to punk to memorable pop hooks, so there’s something to please most music lovers’ palettes. “Join Together” is a catchy opener that highlights frontman Dean Calamari’s energetic and somewhat growly vocals and has one my favorite lyrics of the CD: “When you’re coming down and you hit the ground, then you realize you can fly.” “Kid Sid” is a retro-punk/’80s mashup more along the harder lines of much of the rest of this CD. Then there are songs such as “Say You Want It,” which contains fairly complex music and is one of their softest, most melodic songs with good backing vocals. Their next song, “Watcha Gonna Do,” dives right back to their roots of harder-edged rock. The album smartly closes with “Train Song,” their most thoughtful song, both musically and lyrically. This song strikes the perfect balance between gritty, down and dirty rock with hints of mellow melodic sounds. This was a good choice to end their CD because it sums up the band’s versatility, which I believe will continue to evolve. I’d give this a B-plus with expectations that their next effort will be an A.  (Valerie Kahn-Dorato)

…

MY OWN WORST ENEMY
“Paul Revere”/”Angel of the Underground”  

45 rpm vinyl 

Ten year veterans of the Boston underground, My Own Worst Enemy, serve up a schizophrenic single that showcases  polar sides of the two guitars/drums/no bass/no last names  trio’s impressive range.  “Paul Revere” creates a perfect (if unlikely) fusion of Mission of Burma and Jonathan Richman, with Steve’s declamatory vocal and AJ’s martial beat celebrating the midnight ride of you-know-who, only this time the guy’s looking for an ice cold beer as he whizzes by familiar Boston landmarks (what, no Stop ‘n’ Shop?).  MOWE frequently draws comparison to the Replacements, but this track suggests their true lineage belongs at least in part  to ’80s indie-wiseacres like Boston’s own Big Dipper.  The flipside reverently salutes Beantown busker Mary Lou Lord with a pretty alt-Americana ballad sung by Sue, whose sweet, mellifluous, slightly husky voice could land her a career in Nashville any time she tires of Boston winters.  (Jim Testa)

…

JUKE JOINT 5  

Black Rose Records

Rock This House   

5 tracks

A highly enjoyable and evocative revival of ’40s and ’50s-era honkers and shouters, these electric blues are refreshing and effective updates on the old style proto-and paleo-rock ’n’ roll. Opening jump blues “I’m So Mad” is by far the strongest track, with an inimitable bluesy vocal turn by the talented Gretchen Bostrom. Steve Coveney’s guitar and Dick Laurie’s tenor sax breaks on the cover of Bo Diddley’s “Roadrunner” are particularly apt. “Ready for My Closeup,” featuring persnickety bass work by Jason Adams, slows the frenetic pace. “Big Jack’s Kitchen” is an old-fashioned sax-driven blues shuffle. Their version of “Rock This House” picks up the pace and closes the EP on a lively note. The band and the EP both are aptly named; their music truly does evoke a Delta Mississippi Juke Joint or roadhouse in which the celebrants dance and stomp and rock on until the hours wee. (Francis DiMenno)

…

JAMES KEYES 

The Middle  

12 tracks

James Keyes brings a wealth of styles and instrumentation to this amazing folk album. It’s got a great production quality and the result is an album—Keyes’ third—that I feel really echoes what a live performance would sound like, drawing the listener into the experience. What’s significant is that Keyes’ prior two albums were both sparse acoustic pieces, but this time he brings the full band into the mix. Everything feels natural, passionate, and seasoned. Duncan Arsenault (drums), Jeff Burch (bass), JP Beausoleil (trumpet), Klem Klimek (saxophone), and Josh Kane (trombone) hold pace with the vocalist, crafting a rich environment that is constantly changing, song to song. Along with his skills on the mic, Keyes plays guitar, piano, organ, and harp.

“Little Things” has a big band feel to it, while “Taking My Time” and “Little Bird” are straight-up Americana goodness. Keyes has a commanding voice, resounding throughout this album and right into the ears. Listening to songs like “Roll with the Punches,” I get the image of a club of clapping hands and stomping feet, with Keyes jumping into the crowd to share his music with everyone there. “Mile of Blue” is a mellow, instrumental bridge placed at the mid-point of “The Middle.” I think the title of this album is very appropriate, as the music doesn’t stand firmly in one genre—it spans a range, showcasing an artist that has a lot to say, and innumerable ways to say it. (Max Bowen)

…

THE JON NELSON BAND                                          

12 tracks

Jon plays Jewish rock music and he plays it very well. I didn’t know what to expect. Was I reviewing a Klezmer band? Not at all. Jon composes all the music and lyrics, but many of his songs are credited: “Text adapted by Psalm 150; text adapted from Liturgy,” and the like.  His melodies are poppy with folk, blues, and even an almost George Harrison Indian influence in the guitar opening  of “L’Dor Vador,” itself a song with a bluesy feel. The opening cut, “Funk 150,” with text “adapted from Psalm 150,” is a funky tune just as the title states. I really dig the pop “Have You Heard?” and the jangly folk/pop of “Wedding Song,” sounding a bit like a Pete Seeger song. One cool tune, “Bo’i Kallah,” an uptempo folk/pop song, is partially sung in Hebrew and the text is “adapted from Shlomo Alkabetz from the 16th century”! Interesting, unexpected, and done very well, making it worth a listen or two, even if you don’t have a clue what a yarmulke is.    (A.J. Wachtel)

…

BOMBSQUAD LARRY

God’s Country High

5 tracks

Bombsquad Larry plays the kind of barroom classic rock that will only appeal to listeners who don’t need their music to bring anything particularly new to the table.  If you’re looking for an innovative new sound, then this isn’t the record for you.  If you’re looking for something that would fit in with the better parts of WZLX’s catalog, then look no further.  This is guitar rock at its most straightforward, and when one of those guitarists is Pete Cassani, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  The band has a tight, professional sound, fitting for the veteran status of its members, and the music has an infectious energy to it.  The only major misstep is “Get Out of My Way!”, which lyrically might as well be Sammy Hagar’s “I Can’t Drive 55.”  I didn’t realize the world was in the need of more mildly-rebellious driving songs.  I’d prefer to see the band further explore the sound of “It’s You,” which introduces an introspective, western-tinged sound.  (Kevin Finn)

…

STRAW WINGS

Deface the Machine        

6 tracks

There was a time during the late-’90s when Straw Wings could have ruled the FM airwaves in Boston. You remember, right? Back in the day when bands like Godsmack, Sevendust, and Disturbed were household names, and their brethren headlined national arena tours and giant festivals.

Well, it appears that with the release of their 6-track EP, Deface the Machine, Straw Wings may try to singlehandedly resurrect the heyday of groove-heavy melodic metal. Given that the genre is no longer choked with a glut of also-rans, and based on sheer quality of their effort, they may just have a shot at waking that sleeping giant.   (George Dow)

…

FIERCE BAD RABBIT

The Maestro and The Elephant                               

15 tracks

Lead vocalist Chris Anderson, from Ft. Collins, Colorado, now pitches his tent in Boston. His band’s music has bits of Arcade Fire, Delta Spirit, The Shins, The Nationals, and Wilco in them and I also hear New Wave and ’60s pop. In the opening cut, “Wild Flowers,” his pleading and plaintive vocals make the song special. “Shine a Light” reminds me of Jackson Browne, maybe if he was less Tex-Mex and more introspective. I dig “Matter Of Time,” where the opening and catchy beat pulls you along with it. I also like the harmonies. “Carry On” is an uptempo ballad that is radio friendly and I hear New Wave and its quirky beats throughout “In and Out of Mind” and “Apple in Your Hand.” The title song has a killer piano opening and I really dig the arena rock of “Time Machine” with its synthesizers. This is full of good vocals and nice harmonies and, overall, is a very interesting and enjoyable sound. Check it out.    (A.J. Wachtel)

…

KURT VON STETTON                       

Static Motor Recordings

Broken, But Not Undone              

12 tracks 

Cross Pavement and Sonic Youth with a dash of Sebadoh and out pops Kurt Von Stetton. Is there an indie-rock mash-up that can top that blender-load of awesomeness? I’m hard pressed to think of one. The biggest question that arises out of Von Stetton’s eighth record in fifteen years is: How did this guy fly under my radar for so long?

Jangly, fuzzed out guitars and subtly distorted vocals abound. Lyrics are drawled in an offhanded slacker mode, which belies the obvious care with which they were composed. Those tracks that aren’t electrified ear candy reveal a homespun feel reminiscent of Beck’s lower-fi recordings.

Dissonant guitar scrawls are always backed by bubblegum melodies that envelop the art-noise in a candy coated pop-prock shell. OnBroken, But Not Undone, Von Stetton distills the very best of an entire mid-’90s, indie-rock movement into a 12-track, pink vinyl record.  (George Dow)

…

ICHABOD 

Rootsucker Records

Dreamscapes from Dead Space   

8 tracks

Ichabod has always pushed themselves beyond most bands. Unfortunately, great risks don’t guarantee great results, as illustrated byDreamscapes from Dead Space. This prog-rock/metal outing hits the mark as often as it misses. Riddled with mediocre lyrics, vocals, and arrangements, this release has no distinct voice—literally and metaphorically. Never seeming to move beyond his influences, John Fadden’s vocals would work great for a grunge cover band. Musically, the group borrows heavily from Tool in both tone and composition. The adventurous “Epiphany” is a shining example, including a spoken word section reminiscent of Henry Rollins in Undertow’s “Bottom.” Sadly, unimaginative riffs sprinkle otherwise solid compositions. That being said, one cannot ignore the previously mentioned “Epiphany,” “Baba Yaga,” and “Return of the Hag,” which refreshingly combines a Hendrix-y guitar wah-wah à la “Voodoo Chile” with Jethro Tull-ish flute in a nod to prog-rock’s greatest. “All Your Love,” although not the strongest track, gets an honorable mention for its unexpected backing female vocal tracks. (Marc Friedman)

 …

WILDCAT O’HALLORAN

Party Up In Heaven  

11 tracks

Wildcat is from Western Mass., but from the sound of his new release, he is certainly turbulent everywhere he goes.

First off, he reminds me a bit of Elvin Bishop in the way that he is an excellent guitarist and he is also a showman; his tunes all have a lesson and he enjoys giving it to the audience.  In this sense, he is also more rhythm and blues then just blues, and the nine original songs and two covers here prove to me that these cats must be one helluva bar band. I love the rocking title cut with the cool harp. I like the funky guitar on the final track, “N.Y., I’m Home,” written by NYC songstress and the voice of Mass. company Dunkin’ Donuts (!!!) Cassandra Kubinski. “Probably Dead” is also a favorite of mine, with its funny and casual lyrics, and a great uptempo R&B barroom feel to it.  “Gypsy Deadend Track” has a slower tempo but also has great guitar and a hot harp. After hearing this new release, I just want to see Wildcat O’Halloran and his band live. This is not your father’s blues, for sure. Good stuff!    (A.J. Wachtel)

…

 

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Top 10 Lists for 2011

Top 10 for 2011

T MAX
Top Ten Photos & Writings in each Noise issue of 2011

February: Photo: Jenny Dee on the cover (by Ahsan Rahman). CD Review: The Bandit Kings CD Precious Stones (by Francis DiMenno).

March: Photo: Niki Luparelli’s Big Shot (by Vintage Girl Studios) . CD Review: Ed Moose Savage “Go To Helldorado”—a tribute to Billy Ruane (by Francis DiMenno).

April: Photo: Ann Marie’s Big Shot (by Louise). Review: Willie Alexander & Preacher Jack live review (by T Max).

May: Photo: Sophia Cacciola’s Big Shot (by Rachel Leah Blumenthal). Story: Three Day Threshold’s Middle East diary (by PJ, Gina, Kier, Emily, Evan, and David).

June: Photo: Anais Mitchell and Hadestown crew at Me & Thee (by Cliff Garber). Review: Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library live review (by Oliver Gunther).

August: Photo: Alan Estes on the cover (by Louise). Story: Doug MacDonald (by Julia DeStefano).

September: Photo: Heather Maloney’s inside shot (by Richard Young). Story: Steve Berkowitz interview (by AJ Wachtel).

October: Photo: Chelsea Berry, Alan Estes, T Max, Julie Dougherty, and Sal Baglio singing at the 30th anniversary party (by Ray Dollard). CD Review: Ramona Silver Small Circle of Light (by Harry C. Tuniese).

November: Photo: Liz Frame & the Kickers inside shot (by Daniel DP Perry). Story: The Bandit Kings (by Samantha Goddess).

December: Photo: Julie Dougherty on the cover (by Dawn Kingston). CD Review: Franc Graham CD Steady (by Mike Loce).

FRANCIS DiMENNO
Eclectica: Top Ten CDs of 2011

1. ANDY SANTOSPAGO Shiny Bombs

2. NRBQ Keep This Love Goin’

3. DESOLATION BELLS Jangle & Dischord

4. DAMON & NAOMI False Beats and True Hearts

5. DAVID GREENBERGER & MARK GREENBERG Tell Me That Before; DAVID

GREENBERGER WITH JUPITER CIRCLE Never Give Up Study; DAVID

GREENBERGER & BANGALORE How I Became Uncertain; DAVID GREENBERGER AND

RALPH CARNEY OH, PA

6. THE LONGWALLS Careers in Science

7. THE BYNARS The Bynars

8. KAREN ZANES Radio Flyer

9. THE MICHAEL J. EPSTEIN MEMORIAL LIBRARY  Volume One

10. P.J. O’CONNELL Join the Crowd

Reissues and Compilations:

1. ED’S REDEEMING QUALITIES

Ed’s Redeeming Qualities (the Band); Ed’s Kitchen; Guess Who This Is

2. DMZ/LYRES Radio Demos/Live at Cantones Boston 1982

3. LA PESTE La Peste (DVD)

Honorable mention:

1. THE BANDIT KINGS Precious Stones

2. BAYLIES BAND All Clowns, No Lions

3. JJ RASSLER & THEE CUBAN HEELS Behold!

4. MY OWN WORST ENEMY Electric Like the Moon

5. THE OTHERS The End

6. THE CATBIRDS Viborate

7. CADILLAC HEART Cadillac Heart

JOEL SIMCHES
Top Ten That Made Me Squee Like A Schoolgirl in 2011

10. Four Point Restraints

9.   Endation

8.   Stu 2

7.   Radio—Union Sq.

6.   Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling in TIME magazine!!

5.   Count Zero —New Album/shooting a video with Michael Pope

4.   Curious Ritual/360s reunion—celebrating the life of a departed friend

3.   The Hush Now

2.   Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys Halloween Shows

1. Watch City Studios—Waltham

JOE COUGHLIN
Top Ten CDs and Live Combo
In no particular order:

1) DIRTY BOMBS, Alpha Transmission CD

2) JOHNNY ANGEL WENDELL, IT!! CD

3) THE IN OUT, The Venal Column vinyl LP

4) JJ RASSLER & THEE CUBAN HEELS, Behold! CD

5) HIP TANAKA (Reunion), THE LUXURY, at Great Scott, 4/23/11

6) THE FATHOMS (“Polynesian Pounce Night”), at the Midway, 5/14/11

7) RICK BERLIN, Paper Airplane CD

8) THE CRANK-TONES, at the Midway, 11/23/11

9) THE ROYS, Balls to the Wind cassette, remastered, free download

10) Tie: LITTLE BANG, Boom CD, ROY SLUDGE, Too Drunk to Truck CD

KIER BYRNES
Top Ten Musicians I Hope To Work With Again In Boston Someday Soon:

Jabe

Glenn Yoder

Sean Staples

Jake Brennan

Tim Gearan

Jimmy Ryan

Duke Levine

Billy Beard

Johnny Ransom

Jim Fitting

Joe Pleiman

KEVIN FINN
Ten Things That Made Me Smile in 2011 (in no particular order, except for #1)

1.        The Dents reunion show at T.T.’s.   Possibly my favorite Boston band of all-time and definitely one of the top five live acts I’ve seen, local, national, international or intergalactic.  My friend, Brian, and I went to see The Foo Fighters two nights before.  It was a great show, but we both agreed that The Dents blew them away.  Please don’t let it be five years before we get another show.

2.       The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ Hometown Throwdown.  This is on my list every year and for good reason.  There is nothing in the world that would make me miss these shows.   They pick amazing openers, both local (The Ducky Boys, Have Nots) and national (H2O, The Slackers), and they show their fans a ton of respect by playing very different setlists each night; I believe they played fifty-four different songs over the course of the three nights.  As I write this, my voice is still shot from screaming, and my legs are still tired from dancing.

3.       Ted Leo at Brighton Music Hall discussing his love of Buffalo Tom and then covering their classic “Reason Why” on a night when Bill Janovitz was his opening act.  There are a few musicians I respect more than Leo and Janovitz, so this set my music nerd radar all aflutter.   Janovitz looked legitimately touched.

4.       Speaking of Janovitz, Buffalo Tom taking a well-earned bow with a series of shows at Brighton Music Hall, celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary.  This made me smile, but it also made me feel very old.  Buffalo Tom is one of the few bands I loved as a kid that I still love.

5.       Armageddon Shop celebrating the first anniversary of their Boston store.   It’s beyond refreshing to actually go into a record store where the employees are nice to the customers.  I have to limit my visits or else I’d be broke.  Here’s hoping to many, many more anniversaries.

6.       Andrea Gillis, Michelle Paulhus and Marc Pinansky’s charming set of classic country covers at The Lizard Lounge.   I don’t see Gillis play as much as I should.   Maybe that should be one of my 2012 resolutions.   In addition, Amy Griffin’s opening set was amazing as always.  Her voice and songs are so rich and deep.   Please make a solo record, Amy!

7.       The New Alibis reunion show at Great Scott.   I was both sad and surprised that this great band’s run ended so quickly.  It was nice to be able to hear classics like “Angel Over Me” one more time.

8.       Corvette Somerville’s set at Mixtape: 1978 at The Rosebud Bar.  It’s hard to beat a Boston punk rock supergroup covering The Ramones, Blondie and Generation X.  Their set-closing version of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” turned into the most raucous sing-along I’ve seen in years.

9.       Have Nots second album, Proud.   I played the ever-loving crap out of their first record, so I was glad to see that its excellence wasn’t a fluke.  Very few bands can balance the personal and political like Have Nots, and if there’s a better punk rock bassist than Jameson Hollis, I’ve yet to hear him or her.

10.   The Hotel Vernon in Worcester.   Not so much for the show I attended, which was good, but for the almost indescribably bizarre atmosphere.  From the regulars all staring my friend, Brit, and I down when we walked in to the fact that they felt the need to post a sign banning dogs, this place is truly an original.  And for the record, there was at least one unattended pit bull hanging out inside the bar all night.  Stay classy, Worcester.

HARRY C. TUNIESE
Top Ten Local Products (not downloads – actual physical discs!) of 2011:
The champs:

The Grownup Noise:  This Time With Feeling   [Totally sensational from start to finish! Progressive pop Amerimusicana. These kids should be huge!]

Ramona Silver:  Small Circle of Light  [The delightful Ramona returns with some her best insightful tunes – ever!]

Bird Mancini:  Tuning In/Tuning Out  [Came out in late Dec. 2010, but officially released in January. Great pop/rock/folk/blues/swing from my fave married duo!)

and some more fascinating artists that tickled my musical fancy:

Carla Kihlstedt & Matthias Bossi:  Still You Lay Dreaming

Little Bang:  Boom

Sarah Blacker:  Come What May

Heather Maloney:  Time & Pocket Change

27:  Brittle Divinity

Marissa Nadler:  Marissa

The Duke Robillard Band:  Low Down and Tore Up

Adventure Set:  Centuries to Go

Jon Macey:  Intention

Ben Schwendener:  Industrial Folk Music

Birdsong At Morning:  Annals of My Glass House

WILL BARRY
Top Ten Bitchin’-est Band Names of 2011

1) Count Zero—cool cyberpunk name referencing William S. Gibson.

2) Dirty Virgins—a naughty little paradox that’s just plain fun to say.

3) The Fagettes—as clever as it is risqué.

4) Giantist—conjures some mad scientist and his unholy genetic deformity.

5) Grey Valley Ghost—supernatural and, dare I say, biblical in evoking Psalm 23.

6) The Old Edison—nothin’ says blue-collar like naming yourself after an old abandoned factory.

7) Mighty Tiny—an oxymoronic Tom Waits reference. ‘Nuff said.

8) Pray For Polanski—some nice black humor that just rolls off the tongue.

9) The Swaggerin’ Growlers—no explanation necessary.

10) Young Tremors—as energetic and rambunctious as teens on Ritalin.

TONY MELLOR
Top Ten Fave New England Acts 0f 2011
(in alphabetical order and without explanation)

Autochrome

Barrence Whitfield & the Savages

Daniel Ouellette & the Shobijin

The December Sound

Endless Wave

The Milling Gowns

One Happy Island

Orange Nichole

Soccer Mom

and…

some band that I’ll probably not hear about until next year…

FRANK STROM
Top Ten “Top Ten List” Items That Came To Mind But Couldn’t Be Worked Into One Cohesive Theme For 2011:

10. The gross injustice and disservice to humanity that Chris Horne’s new band The Flipsides haven’t played outside Maine yet

9. Hey, wasn’t there supposed to be some Alan Radio Knives/Chrissie Killer Abs/Vicky Sugabomb band?

8. Babies! Everywhere!

7. Also new cd/vinyl babies from the Queers, Cuban Heels, Furiousity, Evil Streaks, Jordan Valentine,  Andrea Gillis, and Muck

6. Desperately need to reason to mention Jay Allen & Archcriminals and Jenny Dee & Deelinquents

5. Desperately needed to see more of the Curses and Sprained Ankles

4. Top highlight #2: Triple Thick’s Rumble set

3. Top highlight #1: Dents reunion show

2. Andrea Gillis’ striped halter (see Item 5)

1. Really really really missed JJ Rassler!

CHRIS DeCARLO
Top Ten Best New England Acts I Saw For the First Time

1) Fat History Month (life changing)

2) Big Mess (my favorite instrumental band)

3) Saralee (best New England vocals)

4) The Exposure (awesome reverb)

5) The Sinbusters (some of Lowell’s finest)

6) Hurricanes of Love (most memorable)

7) The New Highway Hymnal (best showmanship)

8) The Party Pigs (crazy, but tight)

9) Thick Shakes (nice mish mash of garage and noise)

10) Witchita (they have only played a few shows, but they show a lot of promise)

NICOLE TAMMARO
Top Ten Bands That I Will Be Shooting A Lot More in 2012

OldJack

Cropduster

Rule

Roy Sludge Trio

Ebenezer Blood

The Handymen

Real Synthetics

Sinners & Saints

Movers & Shakers

Flat Rabbits

LOUISE

Top Ten Photo Subjects

AnnMarie (the Bandit Kings)

AnnMarie

AnnMarie

AnnMarie

AnnMarie

AnnMarie

AnnMarie

AnnMarie

AnnMarie

AnnMarie

GEORGE DOW
Top Ten Restaurants to Visit Before a Show

Church, Boston (www.churchofboston.com) – A trip to the House of Blues in Boston cannot be complete without a visit to Church. It’s a bit of a jog from Kilmarnock Street to Lansdowne Street so you’ll want to plan time for the walk, but what’s better than a brisk walk to work off a good meal? Church’s menu is an eclectic mix of American fare featuring food from local farms. My menu favorites are the Pressed Cuban sandwich and Chicken Breast “under a brick” with sweet potato tater tots. Throughout the year Church features specialty dinners of various themes, often tied to the seasons or beer and spirit tastings. Did I mention that Church is a music venue in its own right? With one of the best small club sound systems in the city, Church is also the perfect place to check out an up-and-coming local or national act.

Central Kitchen, Cambridge (http://www.enormous.tv/central/index1.html) – Entrees at Central Square’s Central Kitchen can be a little pricey and their small dining room fills up quickly but despite these draw-backs it is one of the best places to start a night out to the Middle East or T.T. the Bear’s. Their limited but scrumptious menu makes the choices simple and their top-notch beer selection will satisfy any thirst.

Green Street Grill, Cambridge (http://greenstreetgrill.com) – Green Street is another choice in the Central Square area of Cambridge and another oft pricey and busy pick but, like Central Kitchen, the dinner is worth the extra cash if you’re looking for something more than a slice of pizza at HI-Fi Pizza. I suggest starting with their always interesting Artisanal Cheese Tray before diving in to their fantastic Macaroni & Cheese, with tomato and bacon. (Note to reader – I’m not responsible for your cholesterol problems if you decide to follow this recommendation)

Ricardo’s Café Trattoria, Lowell (www.ricardoscafetrattoria.com) – Before we even get to the menu let me mention—when you leave a message to make reservations, it’s Ricardo that returns the call—when you show up for your table, it’s Ricardo that greets you at the door. If you’re looking for a neighborhood feel, you can’t beat that kind of welcome. The menu is traditional Italian fare, complete with lots of pasta choices. Ricardo’s is a great choice if you’re heading north of the city for a show at the Tsongas Arena or Boardinghouse Park.

Blue Taleh, Lowell (www.bluetalehlowell.com) – If you’re in the mood for Asian food and sushi while in Lowell, Blue Taleh is the only choice as far as I’m concerned. Their sushi creations are impeccable and their Thai/Japanese cooking have enough variety to satisfy any taste. If you’re visiting during the warm months choose a seat on the deck overlooking Lowell’s canals. It’s a wonderfully relaxing way to begin your evening.

Sugar and Spice, Cambridge (www.sugarspices.com) – Heading out to the Lizard Lounge or another club in the Porter Square area? The best Thai choice, in my estimation, is Sugar and Spice. The only drawback is that you may be overwhelmed by the bazillion menu choices that they offer. The good news is that you could simply close your eyes, open to any page and blindly drop your finger on the menu. There’s nothing on this menu that doesn’t taste fantastic. Sugar and Spice can take even things I don’t like and make them taste wonderful.

Sunset Grill and Tap, Allston (www.allstonsfinest.com) – I won’t even try to comment on the Sunset Grill and Tap’s beer menu. Suffice it to say that if it’s not on their menu, then it probably doesn’t exist. I’ll focus instead on the food. By way of selection and variation, the best comparison is to the encyclopedia that they slap in front of you at the Cheesecake Factory. I use this comparison not to defame the Sunset Grill and Tap but to instead give you an idea of how many selections you’re going to be faced with. If you’re visiting the Paradise Rock Club on this outing plan extra time, not only for the walk to the club, but also for the time it takes to make a choice from their extensive menu. I always find their home cooking selections the most satisfying.

The Independent, Somerville (www.theindo.com) – Heading to Somerville for a show? Try The Independent next time. You’ll be surprised by their eclectic twist on the traditional Irish pub. I know it’s not exactly an Irish specialty but I feel compelled to recommend the Mexican Hot Dog—a bacon-wrapped hotdog accompanied with avocado, refried beans and pineapple salsa. Yikes!

Redbones, Somerville (http://redbones.com) – It’s not exactly a secret that Redbones has some of the best barbeque in the greater Boston area. If you’re headed to the Davis Square area of Somerville, Redbones is the obvious choice in this regard. Grab a stack of napkins and Hand-i-wipes and dig in. My only caution is to order the spiciest things on their menu at your own risk. The last time I ate one of their Jamaican Jerk sandwiches I felt it for nearly a week afterwards.

Lolita Cocina & Tequila Bar, Boston (http://lolitaboston.com) – I almost left Lolita off the list because of its location. Nestled between Newbury and Boylston Streets, it’s not exactly convenient for most show-going nights. But—given the fact that I ate there just a few weeks ago before seeing David Wax Museum at the Arlington Street Church—I figured I could justify its inclusion. You’ll be glad that I did. The experience alone is worth the trip. Dinner starts off with their signature “palette cleanser” of shaved ice and grapefruit dowsed in tequila and ends with a bucket of cotton candy. In between you are treated to some of the best high-end Mexican fusion cooking I’ve ever had. Plan for an early dinner because Lolita is a trendy nightspot at which hipsters line up around the block for entrance as the night gets later.

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SILVER CIRCLES REVIEWS Dec10

Comment on any CD Review in Reader’s Respo™
Make sure you title your comment so we know which review you’re talking about.
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Page Contents

BIRD MANCINI

Tuning In/Tuning
Out 12-song CD

Ruby Bird and Billy
Carl Mancini’s latest release is also their coolest one to date. Twelve
lush Beatles-influenced original tunes tinged with a bit of blues and
a bit of flower power; and always Ruby’s soulful vocals and Billy’s
first-rate musicianship. Ruby also contributes harmonica, accordion,
melodica, and glockenspiel. Billy brings the guitars, keys, bass, and
percussion. The tunes have very personal lyrics and after listening
to the project as a whole, one gets the romantic idea that the metaphorical
words in the many love songs were written for each other: and there
is a comfort in the familiarity of the idea as well. Steve Gilligan
and Sal Baglio from the Stompers, blues siren Madeleine Hall, and Low
Budget’s Tim Casey also appear on the melodies. Songs like “Truth,”
“Because It’s December,” and “Didn’t Last Long Did It?”
are radio friendly, while “(I Want My Own) Brian Epstein” and “Tuning
In/Tuning Out” best illustrate their likable style.
(A.J. Wachtel)

THE SALVATION ALLEY
STRING BAND

“The Pioneer Valley
Rose” and Other Favorites
11-song CD

Opening track “8
Miles High” sets the tone for this collection: it is not a Bryds cover,
but a modernized example of Texas swing replete with front man Ryan
Quinn’s impeccable pedal steel and guest star Eric Lee’s superadded
fiddle. The follow-up, “Annalee,” is delightfully akin to an updated
Sun-era Johnny Cash oldie and features Andy Goulet’s subtle bass backing
and honking tenor sax by Annalee Locke. The harmony vocals on “A Robot
Told Me” are achingly poignant. There are even touches of Carl Perkins
and Phil Ochs (“Hartford Bound” and “Santa Fe Trail” respectively).
Best of all is the monumental “Nebraska,” a song that sends chills
up my spine with its sheer rightness. At their best, the songs
from this talented western Massachusetts quartet is not so much alt-country
but simply righteous old-timey roots music with modern production values—
updated sounds of a lost Arcadia from a playbook forged in the American
forest primeval. (Francis DiMenno)

THE DOLL EYES

75 or Less Records

Too Many Feelings
13-song CD

I want to start this
off by the numbers: the band has four members, two guitarist/singers,
one bassist, and one drummer. The CD has 13 songs, six of which were
previously released on the three-way split 666. It is 37 minutes
long I have had it for 72 hours, and listened to it nine times.

This is a great punk CD. It is hard to believe it’s by a local band.
The mix is excellent, the energy is insane, and the content really makes
me think. It feels like the Doll Eyes are holding a mirror up for the
world to be able to see themselves through untainted eyes. I’m not
sure if this is a raw commentary on the downfalls of man, and society
in general, or just a glimpse into the daily lives of the Doll Eyes.
They admit they are far from being perfect; “History” states “I
used to be a man, now I’m not so sure,” “Make It Better” dives
deep into Phil’s depressive side; “Sun is shining raining in my
head. Got this feeling I’d be better off dead.” “Irish Catholic
Blues” is a story of a man trying to make it through life, but his
vices keep getting the best of him: “My soul is black, and I’m never
coming back. Love for no one, but the bottle in my sack… try to be
a good man right before I die.” I like how the band doesn’t point
fingers or whine about the trials they’ve had to face. “Tell Me”
shows this by simply saying, “You stayed away while I made a pretty
mess of my life/ Come back and visit with some words of wisdom/ Tell
me how to make it right.” My words of wisdom: find this CD. I can’t
promise it will make everything right, but it will provide one hell
of a soundtrack when life gets difficult. (Melvin
O)

HUMANWINE

Screech Owl Records

Absinthe Rose
11-song CD

So I’m riding my
bicycle with my darling new cat, Seymour, perched on the handlebars
and a pack of pit bulls started chasing us! Luckily, I had several cans
of Beefaroni that I could throw at them which bounced off their heads
as we made a hasty retreat.

Oh, please allow me to inoculate myself, I am Mrs. Slimedog, top reviewer
of the Noise, top music expert of the Noise and top disco
roller-skater in the Northeast. This CD starts with some of that
country music. What country you may ask? I believe it’s Ecuador.
It’s very upbeat at first but then slows down after a few tunes. Slimedog
says its folky/alternative sounding but admits this band is fairly original
and is hard to describe. He says it sounds a bit like PJ Harvey at her
most mellow. But unfortunately, Seymour and I do not like it. What we
do like to do is roller-skate which is what we are going to do. We’re
putting on some Abba right now. We are the dancing queens!
(Mrs. Slimedog)

•••Alert—Three Holiday CDs•••

THREE DAY THRESHOLD and
SUMMER VILLAINS

…present Christmas
and Holiday Songs Volume
1 11 songs

I love Three Day Threshold
so I was pretty excited to see this CD in my batch for the December
issue. And though I hadn’t heard of the Summer Villains, I’d have
to say I’m on my way of loving these guys too after hearing this Christmas
collaboration. Spinning holiday jauntiness into their already upbeat,
country punk rockabilly, both bands gift us with 11 tracks that truly
have the feel of classic Christmas tunes while perfectly splicing in
a sense of humor. In all seriousness, I believe it’s a challenge to
write new holiday tunes that musically have the spirit and sound original
all at once. Three Day Threshold and Summer Villains pull off the janglified
twangified music most awesomely. The recording is only available online
(as is an accompanying video for “I Want A Zoo For Christmas”—very
entertaining, by the way, and the kids will crack up at it, too!) via
the sites you are all most familiar with. Not your run-of-the-mill Christmas
carols but highly enjoyable all the same.
(Debbie Catalano)

KRISTEN
MILLER &
TOM EATON

Winter Loves Company
10-song CD

There’s a real purity
about these holiday instrumentals—the sounds are dreamy. It’s Kristen
Miller on cello and Tom Eaton on piano. The two instrumentalists
take turns being featured from tune to tune. The production is delicate—ambiance
is the focus, overdubs are minimal. Holiday classics mix with originals,
both aiming to soothe the soul. These tunes are for the exhausted adults
of the holidays, not the energized kids. The cellos often loop under
a lush melody while the piano prefers the long sustaining harmonics.
The disc ends with a Robert Frost poem, “My November Guest,” spoken
by Kristen with piano backing. When the holiday snow is falling and
you’re sitting cozily by a fireplace, Winter Loves Company
is the perfect soundtrack for the hypnotic flames dancing before you.
(T Max)

VARIOUS ARTISTS

A Basement 247 Christmas Compilation
12-song CD

Hats off to anyone
writing an original Christmas song as I imagine it can’t be an easy
feat because we have grown up hearing the same Christmas tunes over
and over again, those melodies just become ingrained. But here we have
12 local artists who have done just that, and though only a few sound
traditional, they’re definitely all highly original. The compilation
is that of artists who recorded at Basement 247 studios in Allston,
MA, by Jack Younger. I don’t have enough room to adequately review
each track but I’ll say as a whole the CD offers a wide range of styles
and is a great showcase for these local bands. The acts include Jesse
Dee, Spirit Kid, the Dead Trees, the Coffin Lids, the Big Big Bucks,
Graham Gregory, Adam Keller, M.C. Lederman, Nefarious Jack & the
Naysayers, the Ramblin’ Souls, Mars, and Many Hats featuring Nash
Kato. The ones that stood out to me include the kick-off, Jesse Dee’s
“Underneath the Christmas Tree,” a track that most definitely captures
that old school ’60s Motownish feel; the Dead Trees’ “Sit Fuzzy”
kind of has a cool John Lennon vibe to it; the punk/garage rock of the
Coffin Lids’ “Don’t Tell Me Its Christmas”; the nice indie pop
“Waiting for Christmas Day” by Adam Keller; the fun tune, “It’s
Christmas Time Feelin’ Lazy” by Spirit Kid. Though the Big Big Bucks’
“Duck Dinner” didn’t even remotely sound like a Christmas song,
I just loved it for its heavy rock grooves! (Debbie Catalano)

DAN KING

Victory Agents

Western Color 15-song
CD

Like a world-weary
18-wheeler easing into a lonely and careworn truck stop, this album
pulls into your mind with the same mix of loneliness and consummate
purpose. A reflective collection of tunes with themes ranging from love
to travel to all the tangles to experience ensues. The title certainly
doesn’t lie, this musical story definitely has the western color—in
my opinion, I’d call it flavor. But, Western Flavor sounds
like a new addition to the A-1 steak sauce line, so “color” delivers
the message nicely. Dan has an excellent back-up cast consisting of
professionals David Brown, Dave Mattacks, and Wolf Ginandes. These guys
lead the texture front with the likes of dobro, organ, and your standard
guitar/bass drum fare that rounds out the sound. The arrangements are
impeccable and first caliber. It’s just a pleasant listening experience
that reminds one of the transience of life—that is, if you look at
life as a journey with some western color.
(Mike Loce)

 

CLARA KEBABIAN

LowBudget Records

Symbiotica
15-song CD

“A thousand rushing
wings in triads and octaves, heaven or the depths of despair, love and
or loss, the suspension of disbelief by a gilded chord” are merely
a few of the many ways in which Clara Kebabian characterizes her signature
sound—a combination of violin, electricity, and effect pedal.
A thoughtful testament to her efforts, Symbiotica is a best-of
compilation showcasing her work with bands across the spectrum of the
Boston music scene. Most notably, Kebabian’s fitting contribution
to Emily Grogan’s “Restless Souls” makes for a beautifully haunting
piece that is ethereal, effortlessly transcending the levels of space
and time. The Milling Gowns’ “Dust for Kissers” is equally
as poignant and memorable, albeit gloomy. Leo Blais’ “We Must
Begin” is simplistic, combining elements of the rock, indie, and acoustic
genres. By the same token, the energy of Mr. Curt Ensemble’s
“Chicken Feed” is unique whereas Kebabian’s own “Clarafication”
is atmospheric, evoking images of the afterlife. The retrospective
is indicative of Kebabian’s talent. She is a talented up-and-comer
who most certainly deserves a listen.
(Julia R. DeStefano)

RIDING SHOTGUN

Riding Shotgun Records

Boombox on the Dash
8-song CD

This record sounds
way too polished for something that was recorded in Charlestown. And
although it’s competently performed, strongly produced and by no means
bad, Riding Shotgun’s middle-of-the road rock could certainly a use
some Charlestown grit. At times, the band allows a bit of a twang to
set in. When they do, the band reminds me a bit of Buttercup, an old
Boston favorite of mine. Too often though, Riding Shotgun gets trapped
in nostalgia for its youth, with too many banal lyrics about Dairy Queens
and town centers. A song about a beloved building’s plight makes me
think of how much better Living Colour tackled the subject, and references
to Jimmy Buffett and John Cougar’s “Jack and Diane” are pretty
much never welcome. (Kevin Finn)

VULGARITTY

Dog Hill Records

Dance 2 the Grave
15-song CD

VulGaritty’s new
release, Dance 2 the Grave is an interesting animal. Brother
and sister duo Shawn and Tracy Garrity, for all their dark and gothic
imagery, end up sounding suspiciously like a metal version of the Killers.
Behind all the gore and horror movie props is a slick rock band that
would sound right at home on alternative rock radio.

Track two, “Freakshow,” defines VulGaritty’s sound at its best,
opening with a looped dual guitar onslaught straight out of a Judas
Priest record before morphing into a post-punk rock song. And that’s
one of VulGaritty’s most endearing qualities: their ability to juxtapose
metal with pop in a way that doesn’t leave them sounding like Linkin
Park. The rest of Dance 2 the Grave revolves around the same
successful formula: stabbing guitar blasts and bass lines supporting
slightly distorted vocals, shared by both Shawn and Tracy.

For all the enjoyment to be had along the first 14 tracks, the most
memorable is the closer, “Vully,” a four-and-a-half minute mini-epic
prog-rock instrumental, that jumps neatly from horror movie soundtrack
organs to hair metal guitar solos to jammy freakouts and back again.
This track alone makes Dance 2 the Grave worth a listen.
(George Dow)

LOIS GRECO

Pantha Girl Records

Takin’ Hold of
Your Heart 11-song CD

The songs on this CD
are typically blues or an R&B romp with tasty guitar licks, nice
keys, and superb vocals. This formula successfully illustrates why,
whether she’s shouting or whispering, Lois puts her heart and soul
into each tune and is one of the best female vocalists on the scene
today. Her voice varies between passionate and soulful, sultry and powerful
and her expressive tone behind everything brings these original melodies
to another level. B.B. King’s influence is here on songs like “Love
Me Just Right” and “Help Me Find My Way.” Memphis is represented
in tunes like “Takin’ Hold Of Your Heart.” But her four octave
voice is stunning on this CD as she makes her own special sound. My
favorite song, the Muddy-inspired “Ain’t No Kind Of Love” complete
with her first-rate slide guitar, is amazing and hearing it is similar
to swallowing bait: your feet keep moving, your ears catch every note
and the band has captured you hook, line, and sinker. (A.J. Wachtel)

TENEFLY VIPERS

Your Event Horizon
13-song CD

Tenefly Vipers are
a hard band to pin down. Not that I would try to. I wouldn’t touch
these disorderly hooligans with a ten-foot pole. Their music is a combination
of metal, punk, speed metal, hardcore, traditional hard rock and they
just put it in a blender till it’s a nasty, disgusting pile of ooze.
But I must admit it’s a pretty fun listen.

Maybe
if you threw Black Flag, Motorhead, the Stooges, Slayer, and Foghat
in a ring to battle it out the winner might sounds like this. Dirty,
snarling guitar, drooling, venomous vocals, slamming pulverizing drums;
young children, pets, and retired schoolteachers should definitely be
banned from witnessing this.

But
I say rock on, let the mighty decibels of “La Fin Du Monde,” “The
Hammer,” and “God Damn Champion” bring you to the blitzkrieg bliss
you were born to savor. I am not ashamed to admit I lost control of
my bodily functions while listening to this CD. Excuse me, as I have
a rather disgusting mess to clean up.
(Slimedog)

ILL E. GAL

The Grass Is Always
Greener 15-song CD

Ill E. Gal, has been
making a big noise in the underground. She has been playing some major
psychopathic shows lately, opening for Blaze, and then Twiztid when
they played the Palidium. She even had a main stage spot at this year’s
Gathering. After listening to this CD, I can see why everybody is impressed.
The CD is very diverse; Ill E. Gal uses interesting backing music, such
as rapping over Black Sabbath, and Tom Petty. The songs mix heavy guitar
riffs, with hip hop break beats effortlessly, thankfully not sounding
generic. Many artists have tried this and failed miserably. She has
a few darker songs, but most of them are playful, danceable, and very
light-hearted. You can hear that she loves what she is doing. Guest
rappers M-1 from the Mastamindz, Professor Fresh, who also produced
the album, and Daddy X from the Kottonmouth Kings lend their unique
styles to several tracks. Some people however, might be turned off by
the fact that the majority of the songs are about her love of weed.
I know, a thousand bands have done this time and time again, but not
many have done it as well as Ill E. Gal.
(Melvin O)

THE AUTUMN HOLLOW
BAND

Love Letters and
Ransom Notes 11-song CD

The Autumn Hollow Band’s
most recent release, Love Letters and Ransom Notes, packs a wallop
that runs from beginning to end. This CD, released a month ago to a
full house at the Rosebud, brings the best of Americana/folk rock music
to the forefront, with tunes to get your feet moving and others that
make you sit back and take stock of what’s come before. The album’s
momentum never wavers, and not once did a song grace my ears that I
didn’t want to hear again. Or three times, or four. F**k it, just
hit repeat and let this be the soundtrack of my day! The music is smooth,
easy to take in, and creates a kind of homey atmosphere that makes your
problems fade into the background. Lead singer/ guitarist Brendan Murphy
takes to the mic for songs like “Thinking,” “I’ll Be Your Fool,”
and my personal favorite, “First It Rains.” He’s backed both instrumentally
and vocally by the versatile quartet of Mike Burke (electric guitar,
accordion), Noel Coakley (pedal steel, guitar, banjo ukulele), Scott
Marucci (electric bass, upright bass, electric guitar) and Todd Sampson
(drums, percussion). The wide array of sounds blends seamlessly, a testament
to the band’s dedication. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading
back to the CD player to start this album over again. And again. And
again. (Max Bowen)

DOUG RATNER

Eye To Eye
10-song CD

Okay, so you get home
from a long day and smoke a badass bong and you read a story about Matthew
Sweet and Marshal Crenshaw teaming up to write and produce an new album
for Social Distortion, with guest appearances by members of the Posies,
the original Yardbirds, the Nerves, Peter Case, Low Barlow, and maybe
even Julian Cope, in a rare cameo. Then you wake up and realize
that you’ve actually been listening to this full-length by Doug Ratner.
Nowadays most bands who go by some person’s name are usually singer-songwriter
projects more in the vein of Jack Johnson and John Mayer than the Who
or the Ramones. This album is full of surprises. It attempts
a bold array of garage/power pop/classic rock with loads of harmonies,
psychedelic mind twists and dirty bar rock. It’s the El Rey
and CBGB simultaneously smashed together onto an Andy Warhol canvas.
This is an impressive piece of plastic. (Joel Simches)

ANNE STOTT

Pennsylvania
9-song CD

On her MySpace page,
Anne Stott places her music in the genres of rock/shoegaze/alternative.
I don’t know if she was joking around, like when a metal band labels
their music “crunk” on their MySpace—all I know is, this music
isn’t remotely shoegaze, and I hesitate to call it alternative. It’s
pretty much folk-rock—able, but not amazing folk-rock. Far from bad,
but not all that interesting. Her voice pays the bills, as long as she
stays away from the high notes (as heard on “Someone Else”—incidently,
said song is the only somewhat—as in not—shoegaze-sounding song
on the album—like, you; won’t be wondering if Drop Nineteens reformed
and got a new singer. Know what I mean?). Her collaborators seem
talented; they don’t overwhelm her, nor do they cower in the corner,
but the only musical moment that came and perked my ears up was that
cool slide guitar sound in the beginning of “Standing.” Don’t
get me wrong, Anne Stott and company are good! It’s just… it’s
not my thing, so it doesn’t hold my attention.
(Tony Mellor)

OTIS GROVE

The Runk
10-song CD

What is “runk”
exactly, a mixture of the funk and rock genres, perhaps? Regardless,
Otis Grove has brought it in the form of a quintessential jam band.
Clocking in at about fifty-one minutes, the disc is exceptional and
in the realm of the San Francisco-based Tea Leaf Green, sans lyrics.
Among the inclusion of funk and rock are nods to R&B, jazz, and
hip-hop, resulting in some truly inimitable and ear-pleasing sounds.
“Waiting,” for instance, begins seductively and subtly but is brought
to a crescendo through the unexpected wailing of instruments, startling
the listener and keeping them guessing for the duration of the song
or rather, the entire effort. A keen sense of musicality brings
the collection to life, and each track has its own “personality,”
so to speak. “Uncle Runky” is bright and sunny, due in part
to leisurely, mellow guitar riffs and an accompanying organ. With
perseverance, the band will do well in the world of film-scores.
The Runk is experimental, pleasant, and even danceable. It
would be very well suited for inclusion in the media. Groovy.
(Julia R. DeStefano)

FARM

Farm
11-song CD

I almost sent in this
review and then decided to do a last minute proofread. Good thing I
did, because I mistakenly listed the band name as “Fram,” and car-savvy
folks might have though I reviewed an album by an oil filter. Anyway,
the smooth stylings of Farm bring to mind influences that including
Dinosaur Jr., Velvet Underground, or mellow Neil Young. There’s a
proliferance of acoustic textures and interesting instrumentation which
frame a musical vision depicting something. Moments of energy and insistence
sweep over the Farm sometimes. There’s an absurdist edge to some of
these statements—think acoustic Primus ideas. I like the pacing; as
the album doesn’t feel rushed in showing you the songs. The order
is good, as albums go. Farm is an acquired taste, not unlike maple sugar
candy, the smell of manure, or mixing salt in your coffee. I think it
would be very cool to sit in on one of their recording sessions. (Mike
Loce)

DELVIS

The Road Is My Home
10-song CD

Greetings, Zortar here—alien
from another planet once again inhabiting the effete, erroneous, egregious,
embarrassing, evasive, erratic corpse known to you as Slimedog. Oh,
what an unsanitary task it is, Luckily, I have many handy wipes. And
this bitter pill to swallow is not relieved by this CD. This CD makes
John Denver look like Trent Reznor. It’s country/folk mellow smoke
your grass and pluck your banjo ’til the cows come home music. Mix
the Eagles with the Greatful Dead and subtract any dubious value from
those acts and you might be left with this CD. Occasionally, you do
get a little crying in your beer, pedal steel, honky tonk tune but it’s
very little. If I could figure out how to unscrew my eardrums and feed
them to the birds I would gladly do so in a drastic attempt to never
hear this music again. (Slimedog)

GUT-SHOT

More Bang For Your
Buck 7-song CD

Ooooooof! I feel like
someone just hit me in the gut! Sounds like Rob Zombie and Helmet
had a baby and they’re bastard offspring is this angry little child
named Gut-Shot. It’s a boy and the little bugger is crying out
in bitter, avant-garde angst. Could these dudes have invented jazz-metal?

With a name like Gut-Shot,
I thought I might hear some good ol’ cookie monster hardcore.
Nope. It’s fancy and it’s noisy. As if Radiohead woke up in
really bad mood instead of a sad mood. She’s fast moving with
lots of sudden turns like a Ferrari—and my ex-girlfriend. Apparently,
Gut-Shot bassist Rob Whitaker not only produced this seven-track, noise
metal doom ride but, provided us with delightful satanic preacher samples
as well. Track four, “Glad You’re Alive,” took me into sludgy
country. Wait! I know what to call this gutsy stew.
It’s alterna-metal! MySpace has got to put that in the drop
down menu when you upload your band. Oh, and give me credit for
naming the category. (Lance Woodward)

ZIP TIE HANDCUFFS

Heavy Love Child
13-song CD

To be honest, it was
really hard to find things to say about this band. I don’t really
like them, but they’re not the worst thing I’ve ever heard either.
I’ve never been gifted in choosing adjectives to describe music, other
than the emotions that the music evokes, and in this case, those emotions
are irritable and bored. The vocals are lackluster and vaguely off-key
(think of someone yelling while pinching their nose shut), not to mention
mostly indecipherable. The guitar chords are random at best and the
drumming is sloppy—way too much cymbal-ing for my taste. A for effort,
C- for execution. (Emsterly)

THE SPOILERS

Loaded to the Gunwales
5-song CD

Short and sweet. That’s
what best describes the Spoilers new EP Loaded to the Gunwales.
Opening track “Sincerity” rides the pocket between garage rock and
punk and could easily be a lost Runaways track from 1977. The next three
tracks amp up the pace with a more contemporary punk-rock style, sounding
like a female-fronted Rancid. The EP closes with “Fuck You I’m Drunk,”
written in the tradition of the Dropkick Murphys’ “Kiss Me I’m
Shitfaced”; a song that’s sure to become a signature show closer,
complete with on-stage fan sing-along and bodies tumbling off the stage.
(George Dow)

MUCK & THE MIRES

Q-Dee

Rock and Soul #3
2-song vinyl

Muck & the Mires
are the Beatles in the Cavern Club and the Kink’s “You’ve
Really Got Me.” They are the Nuggets Box set! Few bands have ever
captured that spirit and brought it into the now the way this band has.
They have studioized with the legendary Kim Fowley and gigged with the
New York Dolls. Muck & the Mires will rock your world. This
new single, produced at Q-Division, sounds like a lost rare B-side backed
with an unreleased gem found in a vault next to Jimmy Hoffa. Side
A gives you a snarling love me/leave me song with a hint of Tom Jones
swagger, while the B-side gives you a cheerful introspective power pop
lament about not getting laid. Get your hands on the red, limited edition
45! Do it! Now! (Joel Simches)

THE BANDIT KINGS

EP 4-song preview
CD

The Bandit Kings sound
like a country band who skipped the whole Garth Brooks and Tony Keith
eras and chose to listen to Patti Smith, early Linda Rhonstadt, and
Heart’s Dreamboat Annie instead in equal doses. The sound of
the duo’s female lead vocal is timeless and the songs are memorable.
The arrangements are tight and there is enough rocking to make Lenny
Kaye reminisce. I am wet for more… or maybe I spilled my scotch.
Either way, this EP has reawakened my love of twang and the bark of
an old Fender amp. For the love of Gawwwwwd, please keep making
music. (Joel Simches)

MUY CANSADO

Goodnight Rec’ds

Love & Fear
4-song CD

This four song EP is
the f0llow-up to Muy Cansado (Spanish for “very tired”) 2008’s
critically acclaimed debut Stars & Garters and they waste
no time setting the ground rules. This is good straightforward
indie pop with impressive vocals and superb production and playing.
They come out swinging with the catchy title track and continue to excel
with the Pixies-ish “Not About a Girl,” which repeats the infectious
chorus of “I bang my head.” Overall, this is strong release which
showcases the trio’s impressive songwriting and playing skills.
Guitarist/lead vocalist Chris Mulvey, drummer Jon Ullman, and especially
bassist Lisa Libera shine throughout. Muy Cansado could really
break through if they continue to develop as they have.
(Steev Riccardo)

Voodoo Rock
’n’ Roll
6-song CD

For those most part,
this is a band that knows its strengths and sticks to them. If you like
ghoulish catchy garage punk, then you could do a hell of a lot worse
than the Egos. The opening “The Kids Are Getting High” is
as addictive as the drugs being sung about, with an infectious chorus
and a rhythm section that plays like an oncoming train. The proceedings
are generally at their best when delivered with a sped-up rockabilly
feel, but one of the two slower numbers, “Dirtbox,” produces
a nice chilling atmosphere and some really neat drum breaks. It’s
quite possible I’d lose interest over the course of a full-length,
but this little teaser makes me hope I’ll get the chance to find out
soon. (Kevin Finn)

THE DEAD BEATS

The Dead Beats
6-song CD

“In an era of self-indulgent
bands that care more about their image than their music, this band is
a breath of whiskey-scented fresh air,” or so says their ReverbNation
page. The self-titled debut, reminiscent of the New York-based
Young Lords, is a smattering of deliciously raunchy and rambunctious
anarchical rock that practically begs to be put into your stereo and
turned up at full, maximum volume. Offerings such as “Love,”
“Heroin,” “PBR,” and “Stoned,” though not particularly groundbreaking,
are certainly amusing. Not that such a critique matters, for one
gets the impression that the Dead Beats are dead set on entertaining,
and that is just fine. (Julia R. DeStefano)

MELODEEGO

The World Is You 5-song CD

Melodeego plays pleasant,
jam band-ish music in the proto-hippie style popularized by the likes
of the Spin Doctors with splashes of the laid-back stoner acoustic
sounds of Jack Johnson and Donovan Frankenreiter. Over the course of
The World Is You’s five songs Melodeego seems hell-bent on saving
the world through sheer force of positive will. Unfortunately that positive
outlook can, at the same time, turn grating. Life is not all peace,
love, and happiness guys. We all appreciate that you’re trying to
do your part but introducing a small dose of reality into the mix would
go a long way.
(George Dow)

A WISH FOR FIRE

Sight Unseen
6-song CD

So I have one more
CD that makes me want to nail my head to a tree. And pluck out my eardrums
as such, and feed them to the birds as I’ve heard enough. Raw and
powerful they claim to be but dramatic and pretentious is all I see.
Echoey alternative rock with guitar full of fuzz, melodic vocals performed
well but fail because a lack of substance seems to invade every tune
this band has so diligently made. So, alas, I can not recommend this
bouquet of tunes which if I never hear again it will still be too soon.
A Wish For Fire is their name; I wish, oh wish they all return from
whence they came.
(Slimedog)

•••CD
REVIEWS NOT PUBLISHED THIS MONTH IN PRINT•••

DOCTOR X AND HIS GROOVALICIOUS
ASTROBEATS

Stuck In the Sedated Seventies 12-song CD

Doctor X (a.k.a. Tim
Casey) totally gets the ‘70s grooves, man. His selection of electronic-fied
remakes feature a super cool span of ‘70s acts that include David
Bowie, Gary Glitter, Alan Parsons, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Walter
Becker/Donald Fagen, James Taylor, to name a few. Doctor X and his accompanying
featured musicians take some of these known classics and either uniquely
replicate the original vibe of it—meaning for example, Alan Parsons’
“Time” swirls with the same beautiful floating feel of the original
but is clearly a remake. The two David Bowie tracks, “Sound and Vision”
and “Heroes,” also capture and do justice to the distinct David
Bowie essence—in fact those tracks were two of my favorites. However
the listener is also met with twists of these classics with Doctor X’s
versions of “Hotel California”—slow, smoky, dark, awesome… “Do
It Again,” the Walter Becker and Donald Fagen tune, meshes the dirty
guitar rock of this genre but has a Doctor X signature astro-electronica
sound. Tim Casey accomplishes that aforementioned sound via a combo
of software and actual instrumentation. I digi-dig it… solid. (Debbie
Catalano)

AUX

Post Colonial Records

Aux
10-song CD

A reflective, whiny, loose, nostalgic,
alternative-sounding album that grows on you. I found that Aux is a
good soundtrack to my recollections and reflections on the world around
me. I think that you might get yelled at if you put it on at a party
though. This band has a chilled-out sound that exudes understatement,
is content with its quasi-folksy leanings at times, and makes its statement
with a cool confidence. Sometimes the vibe energizes with some fuzz-tone
guitar; the strongest you’ll get is a Primitives-like sound, which
we first started hearing around 1994. Think of songs on the soundtrack
to Dumb and Dumber. I personally like it, because that’s my
vintage. Smooth vocal harmonies make Aux good for repeated listens while
you step back and think what coulda been. Nice to listen to in a coffee
shop. Or while smoking a clove cigarette, even though they banned those.
(Mike Loce)

 

HAT ON, DRINKING
WINE

Plastic Flowers 12-song
CD

Half of the tracks
on Hat On, Drinking Wine’s Plastic Flowers are entertaining
songs that take a meandering path, splitting the difference between
rootsy folk and country. The vocals have a slightly nasal vibrato, reminiscent
of a young Willie Nelson. Unfortunately the other half of the tracks
wander way off the path ending up in the nameless, faceless wasteland
of adult contemporary music, with songs that could easily soundtrack
one of the innumerable generic teen dramas featured on network TV. (George
Dow)

DFL VS. TGAT

DFL vs. TGAT
11-song CD

Is the title a cryptoquote
for a word defined as “Sounds kinda like an unholy alliance of a Nickelback
cover band and a Postal Service tribute act in a Hollywood studio working
with a TV jingle producer”? Well, maybe—I’ve always sucked at
that puzzle (that and Jumble) and I would never know what that ever-so-appropriate
word is…Okay! First track is a serious song about a set of keys. Track
two’s chorus: “We’re stepping on the toes of a ghost tonight.”
Brilliant (sarcasm). The name of track five is “Purrrfect,” but
it doesn’t seem to be about a cat. A lot of this stuff is kinda catchy.
It’s also really overproduced, and so sugary-sweet I feel like when
I ate way too many gummy skeletons in the leftover Halloween candies
this year. I feel like I gotta brush my teeth. “Holiday” has a postpunk
bassline to it, and the singer sounds like he’s imitating the guy
from the Human League, along with autotuned backing vox. Track 10’s
awful chorus? “I can sleep through anything.” (Tony Mellor)

Push
7-song CD

I’d like to think
I could up with a more creative way to start a review than by saying,
“I didn’t realize that someone could make a record this bad,”
but I truly can’t believe someone made a record this bad. Mudflap
Junior Jones had to be stoned during the entire writing, recording,
and distribution process. It’s the only explanation. The groovy white
guy music is bad enough (brainless repetitive melodies, a vocalist with
less range than Derek Jeter), but the lyrics really bring it to a new
level. The record features a constant barrage of jokes and asides that
either aren’t funny or simply don’t go anywhere. Seeing these “ideas”
stretched out into full songs is like watching a bad SNL skit
get made into a feature film. And if I had known back in 2004 that the
Red Sox winning the World Series would lead to “Red Sox Fan,” then
I would have gone all Tonya Harding on Curt Schilling’s good ankle
just to make sure the Sox didn’t have a chance. This band is that
bad. (Kevin Finn)

THE COBRA-MATICS

Original Recipe Recordings

Play the Notes
12-song CD

The year is 1953, or
so you would think listening to the Cobra-Matics’ new release,
Play the Notes. The album evokes memories of Bill Haley: all hollow-body
electric guitars, stand-up bass, and plaid suits. While most contemporary
versions of the classic rock ’n’ roll styles are performed with
equal parts reverence and tongue-in-cheek, the Cobra-Matics prefer theirs
straight up. There’s no humor, nor any attempt to update the classic
sound. This album could have literally rolled off the press in 1953.

Play the Notes
has momentary pleasures. The opening track “Gangway for Gansett!”
is a pleasant rocker. “My Babe” includes some great surf-rock guitar
work. “Shiverin’ in the Corner” introduces George Thorogood-style
guitars and a wailing organ. The problem with Play the Notes
is that it suffers from a terrible vocal performance. At times it feels
as though the Cobra-Matics drew straws for their vocalist, and bassist
Bob Mac and drummer Russ D. drew the short ones. (George Dow)

SPAULDING

From Then to Now
8-song CD

Greetings, Zortar again,
space alien from a planet far away, thankfully, from Earth inhabiting
the fey, feral, flammable, foot fetishist vessel known as Slimedog to
you readers and most agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco &
Firearms.

So this CD is modern
metal that the young male humans are so (lady) gaga about. Their testosterone
is boiling in their blood and they feel the urge to scream about it—and
they do making their guitars and voices emit intense, anguished sounds.
Spaulding does this style quite well mixing the abrasiveness of death
metal with acoustic mellow parts all produced in a grandeur manner.
Fans of Seether and Three Days Grace should approve of these lads. I
was born without genitalia but those who have might feel a certain camaraderie
with this band.

Alas, this scene is
not for me daddy-o. I’ll stick with my LCD Soundsystem and Rammstein
CDs, played simultaneously, of course. (Slimedog)

If you’re sending a CD in to
the Noise make sure to use our new address.
And everyone else should
update our contact info too. Thanks.

T Max/ the Noise
PO Box 155
Georgetown, MA 01833
978-352-8656
tmaxnoise@aol.com

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CD Reviews

Page Contents

AMY KUCHARIK 

Cunning Folk                            

10 tracks

Oh my, this is such an energetic and delightful CD. Amy has a playful, growling voice, that winds its way through these ten wonderfully arranged, jazzy songs that she wrote. “Prodigal Son” asks for her reward, NOW.  “Like A Boss” has a New Orleans-flirtatious-winking-Bessie-Smith-double-entendre kinda message. “He Doesn’t Need to Know” sounds like something Bette Midler might have done on her tours in the ’70s – Amy raises the rafters and the song ends with a raucous, rousing jazz finish. “The Cunning Snake” is a melancholy tune with harmonica and chimes. “Buzzards Bay” uses the Groucho Marx line, “I wouldn’t join a club that would have me as a member,” and sounds a bit like Beirut or the Fishtank Ensemble with a klezmer clarinetist on the roof. “Stranger,” is a ballad, quiet and soulful as Maria Muldaur in her Jim Kweskin Jug Band days, a ukelele strumming over a bass and harmonica, and the great line; “We wrote the book while you ripped out the pages.” She seems to like snakes. They appear in several of the songs. Edgy strings start out “The Snake” – in fact, it has a Tom Waits feel. A wandering clarinet weaves along as she tells the culling tale, Leon Russell’s “Tightrope” could be a subliminal influence here. “The Noncommital Love Song” evokes Annette Henshaw and Betty Boop. “Clocks and Bottles” is catchy, mesmerizing fun.

I love the cover art—the birds escaping from cages, and the fox/  wolf/ coyote (?) hiding behind the trees. Amy writes the songs and draws the art, she writes and sings the songs, she gathered a top-notch group of musicians, plus, she’s cute as a button—what more do you need to know? This is a ferociously adorable creation, buy the CD, see her in person, this is a keeper.    (Kimmy Sophia Brown) 

…

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Live From Studio Dee: The Very Best of On the Town with Mikey Dee  Volume One

35-band compilation              

35 tracks

It’s impossible to cover 35 songs in a limited space so let’s hit the highlights first. Disc one of this monstrous compilation leads off with the brilliant avant avatars Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys and their classic circus echoey tune “No Room.” Given its creepy grandeur, it’s a shrewd choice. The liquescent School Tree contributes an eerie art song ballad, “Let’s Dance.” The Michael Epstein Memorial Library provides a further highlight with their dramatic and colorfully textured standout track “Amylee.” The magnificent electro-pop scrawl of The Milling Gowns’ “Zenith” is followed by Jaggery’s bizarre but oddly compelling recitative “Rare Earth Element.” The sparkling and lively heaven-rock of Here We Just Dream is more than amply represented by their ecstatically joyful “Birds Fly Information.” Side two starts out strong with Sarah Rabdau & the Self-Employed Assassins’ chunkily percussive mysterioso recititive “Say Hello.” The Invisible Rays score with the airy and droning—and weird—synthesizer instrumental “Combinations-Combinations.” The Weisstronauts show up to the party with their excellent instrumental version of “Pleasant Valley Sunday.” Baby Ray perform their cantankerously clanky roundelay “Snipe Hunter.” The Luxury provides us with a Beatlesque psychedelicized pastiche titled “Nothing Comes to Mind.” Other interesting songs include Varsity Drag’s “Animal,” which is competent meat ‘n’ potatoes buzzsaw rock with an elegant hook. This Blue Heaven’s “Slow Dance Slow” is so paradisiacal and evanescent it threatens to float away–at least, until its grandly U2-esque climax. The vaguely Doorsy “Deep Water” by What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? is a throbbingly melodramatic art song. The Pills contribute their jittery new wave/Merseybeat manifesto “Apologize.” For excellently ominous strangeness, you can look to the buzzsaw cello and glam rock stylings of  The Wrong Shapes’ “The Right Man on Your Side.” The Doom Buggies venture forth with a slovenly but hearty rendition of “Think Big,” like a mutant version of the early Rolling Stones. The Lights Out contribute their willfully odd heavy psychedelic growler “Five Seventeen.” Four Point Restraints add their jouncy ska tune “Casualty” to the roster. Naked on Roller Skates deliver the epic-sounding guitar-scrawly “Bad Side,” and the mind-numbing Mission Creep—sounding a bit like the Strawberry Alarm Clock on steroids—let fly with “Weed Wacka” (with a horn section, no less). For downright ookiness, it would be hard to beat Vary Lumar’s subtly spacy synth-backed ballad “Slave.” The Daily Pravda lets loose with a full bore synth-driven goth-tinged recitative “Evelyn.” Reverse brings the hammer down with the chugging freight train HM excess of “Blues in D,” and The Sift end the proceedings with a halting, almost grudging version of “Within You Without You” which judders sporadically into an instrumental raga. As I have perhaps demonstrated, this collection is hard to beat for sheer variety and diversity of styles. Several important bands are represented with several more obscure gems tucked in. An epic assemblage.   (Francis DiMenno)

…

ANDY PRATT

The New Normal?                   

14 tracks

If you weren’t already familiar with Andy Pratt, Google him and you’ll first learn he’s a brilliant man with a rich and lauded musical history including a discography that expands from the ’70s to the present. But there’s more to Andy Pratt than his interesting history—really what he’s about is whatever music he’s creating in the here and now and this “hear” and now is The New Normal?  With a voice that is absolutely distinct and a most heartfelt and unpretentious essence in his performance, Pratt’s latest consists of 13 new tracks and a 2014 version of his 1973 hit “Avenging Annie”—it’s a nice closer for those who are already fans and followers and for those who are not so familiar, it’s just another great song on The New Normal? as it blends seamlessly with the newer tracks. These piano-oriented blends of jazz, folk, pop, singer/songwriter, and some rock may not fall into the current mainstream but I don’t think that was the intention. It’s music, it’s sincere, and with many tunes about relationships, it’s relatable—so it speaks to us all and I love that it’s in his voice that’s really unlike any other. There’s no one I would want to compare him to as that would be doing this artist a disservice. My favorites: “Tomorrow,” “Object Constancy,” “Songbird,” “Everything is Gone,” and “Avenging Annie 2014.”      (Debbie Catalano)

…

AMY FAIRCHILD   

So Fair Records

Amy Fairchild                           

11 tracks

Amy Fairchild combines a sweet voice with a decided knack for melody and is a talented songwriter to boot. Kudos go to Paul Kolderie for producing a mix which brings out in full the eldritch qualities of Fairchild’s voice and guitar, particularly on her dynamite opening track “Situation,” which is a little bit country and a little bit… punk. The best of the ensuing tracks show a softer, more introspective singer-songwriter side: the choogling “Hold Me Down”: the quietly passionate “Long Way Down,” and the stately piano-driven ballad “I’ve Tried”: “giving up on what I know can make the stars collide” is a nice turn of phrase; one of many. Songs like “Time Bomb” and “Pieces” are more rock-oriented and are enlivened by an almost ecstatic feel to the vocal phrasings. A sing-songy tune like “Get it Right” explores a more sunny pop-oriented direction-—with extremely gratifying results. Recommended.                             (Francis DiMenno)

…

VARIOUS ARTISTS    

Los Wunder Twins Del Record Label 

D-Tension’s Secret Project     

11 tracks

It’s always good to hear folks trying something new, and that is certainly the case here, as noted hip-hop producer D-Tension gathers a bunch of friends from the rock world to create a set of synth pop nuggets.  As tends to the be the case with projects like this, not everything works, but the hits far outnumber the misses.  Of particular interest is how some performers sound so different in this environment that you barely recognize them, while others sound exactly like themselves.  Both ways can work wonders, as they do here on the Aaron Perrino-led “Heartbreak of the Century,” which dials down his usual belting in service of a subtle yet infectious hook to the point where I didn’t even realize it was him, and the Kevin Stevenson-featured “She Don’t Like Rock N’ Roll,” which sounds exactly like you would expect The Shods to sound like if they went new wave.  Frank Morey gives the album its strongest number as the roots rock standout comes out of left field with a song that borrows equally from Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs and Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine, with just a touch of hip-hop thrown in.  The very British-sounding Liz Enthusiasm, who makes me think of Elastica and The Long Blondes, and the sexy playfulness of Stephie Coplan also hit the mark.  Consider this experiment a success.  (Kevin Finn)

…

KINGDOM OF LOVE

“When You Follow”/ “Karma Song”   

2 tracks

Richard Lamphear and Linda Viens teamed up to create Kingdom of Love and they’ve got something cool going on. “When You Follow” starts with atmosphere—the kind you hear in a David Lynch film. A clean acoustic guitar strum breaks through as guest Scott Getchell’s trumpet blows a smooth mood. Then the double Dylanesque vocals harmonize in a tale of an airplane going down. The story continues with JD (Jack Daniels?) escaping the glass and flooding the hybrid fields in Indiana while cars pile up on I-65.  As the voices hit the chorus “when you follow you fall” a harsh effect washes over them then quickly rolls off, like a wave hitting the shore.

The upbeat ’60s-feeling “Karma Song” picks up the pace with happy drums, bouncy vocal melody, and easy sing-a-long chorus. Kingdom of Love puts together a fresh, clean modern folk-rock sound with touches of electronics and lyrics that let your mind go for a swim. Find these memorable songs on bandcamp.          (T Max)

…

THE REAL KIDS

Ace of Hearts

EP                        

4 tracks on vinyl

The Real Kids legend may have been obscured by the much larger shadow cast by the likes of their buddies Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers but their 4-track EP, which serves as a teaser for their first release of new music in decades, Shake… Outta Control, is sure to extend The Real Kids own shadow.

Opening track, “She Don’t Take It,” is a vamped-up, angular, garage-rock romp that is reminiscent of their 1978 debut.

“Fly Into The Mystery” revives the 1970s Jonathan Richman classic ode to Boston’s North Shore. The Real Kids take Richman’s already downbeat track and drive it through a heavy dose of cough syrup, leaving behind a slow-burning outlaw country rock track.

“Got It Made” speeds up the tempo slightly, while their cover of the obscure 1968 Kinks b-side, “She’s Got Everything,” show their continuing penchant for first-wave British invasion garage rock.   (George Dow)

…

KRISTEN FORD

Dinosaur                                    

12 tracks

With its genre-bending musical diversity, sharp lyrics, and delicate balance of jaunty pop sounds and brood-laden grooves, Kristen Ford’s Dinosaur sets the bar pretty high. There’s something for everyone on this record. If there isn’t, you may be deaf. Or maybe just dumb. Where a lesser musical act showcasing a range of styles and soundscapes like this might come off more like a mish-mashed compilation rather than a record, there’s a quality here that makes each tune and the record as a whole inexplicably… Kristen Ford. The songwriting, sure. The attitude, you betcha. But what really sells it is the voice. It cuts through the post-punk twang, the electro dance-pop, the stripped down acoustic numbers and reggae grooves, acting as a common denominator for the album, something to ground the listener while the music soars.                              (Will Barry)

…

JOHNNY ANGEL WENDELL

& THE FABULOUS KNUCKERHOLES

“Sex Talk”/ “Mama Needz Luv 2”                                                2 tracks

Johnny is legendary in New England for his punk band The Blackjacks and for his parody band The Swinging Erudites: and his new music has none of the anger and bitterness of the former but possesses plenty of the creative humor of the latter. And it’s not the same Garage rock he is known for. “Sex Talk” is jazzy, folksy, a bit Cajun and silly; a musical tribute to cybersex set to a swinging beat. “Lookee here, are you that well endowed? I hear the camera always adds 10 pounds. Don’t you post my selfies up on Flickr. My doucebag friends will all grunt and snicker”. The anger is dropped for irony. And it’s FUNNY. Johnny on vocals, guitars, basses, kazoo and percussion with Sugar Tallerino on vocals, Brock Avery from Boston’s New Man (!!!) on drums and percussion make this nice uptempo song a good one. “Mama Needz Luv 2” is a happy, rocking, poppy, reggae song about one of Johnny’s friends telling him how difficult it is to date when you have kids. Ironically, Johnny’s 11 year old son Xerxes sings at the end of the song too. This is a horny lament set to reggae or “reggae sorta” as Johnny Angel laments to me online. “Mama is going loco now. her estrogen ain’t dropping. She needs to get hopping.” Ha. On this cut, J.A. is on vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, percussion and harmonies. Robbie Rist is on bass, lead guitar and harmonies, Brock Avery is on percussion and drums and Xerxes Carmen is on vocals and percussion. A perfect tune to enjoy with a Red Stripe and a chillum. Great stuff from a great artist.    (A.J. Wachtel)

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BEN COSGROVE

Field Studies                             

13 tracks

Picture yourself taking a leisurely stroll through woodlands or perhaps reclining nonchalantly on a porch swing, sipping sweet tea whilst listening to the rustle of the evening breeze.  All is well in the present moment and the foreseeable future.  Few musicians have the innate gift of evoking or even perpetuating such a temperament within listeners.  Enter Ben Cosgrove, a Cambridge-based composer, pianist, and multi-instrumentalist exploring time and place solely through the intricacy of sound.  Just as well.  So fully realized are these compositions, that the addition of words would only hinder their impact.  Consider the blissful, piano-driven glide of “Montreal Song” with its potential counterpart, “Palo Alto,” each of which brings forth feelings of lightheartedness.  Continuing on this trend is “We Will Be Fine,” where piano has been supplemented with the delicate finger picking of an acoustic guitar.  While Field Studies is primarily a record of optimism, suspenseful moments do make their appearance through “Sigurd F. Olson,” “We Never See Anything Clearly”—where the addition of a violin adds a whole new level of dimension and drama—and the haunting, barely audible chanting that takes place throughout “Narrow Land/River of Grass.” Music supervisors for television and film—are you reading?     (Julia R. DeStefano)

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WESTERN EDUCATION 

Let Your Secrets Out                

11 tracks

Like a musical fireworks display on the Fourth, the first full-length from this rock foursome is high-energy and full of explosive highs. There’s an eclectic mix of pop-synth sounds from the ’90s, rock overtures and high-quality vocals, all combined with expert precision. Switching off from pure synthesized electric pop songs to wall-smashing rock tunes, this album shows a band with a diverse set of influences, each finding its home. Lead singer/keyboardist Greg Alexandropoulos’ voice rings like a bell amidst the shifting sound that the band produces, flying above it all and bringing the production to a new level. His keyboard skills are downright surgical, and add a new dimension to what this band can do.

Georgio Broufas lends great skill on the vocals and shreds on the guitar, while bassist Will Hunt is as impressive on the studio as he is on stage. Drummer Mark Ragusa brings the power, and I totally dig his work on each of the songs. Speaking of which, “Rivals” gets my nod as the favorite on this album. It gets you revved right up within the first few seconds, shredding guitar riffs creating a kickass tune that I’ve run through about half a dozen times. The whole album is just as catchy, and bodes well for a young band with a lot of potential.      (Max Bowen)

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TAMMY LYNN & MYLES HIGH

Turn My Music On                    

9 tracks

This married pair’s winning blend of rockabilly and roots music exudes a charm and authenticity that more than offsets the occasional descent into the formulaic.  There’s a nice variety on the album as hoedown dance numbers find themselves next to moving tearjerkers, and the duo’s close harmonies and traded vocals keep things fresh.  Music from this genre demands a killer guitar player, and Myles more than delivers the goods, particularly on the closing instrumental “Rye on the Rocks.”  The tracklist is a mix of old classics plus originals, and I have to say that as good as the covers are, I’d love to see the band emphasize their own songs more.  The strongest number, “Maryann” sounds like something Chuck Berry would have loved to have composed.                   (Kevin Finn)

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PSYCHO

Selfmadegod Records

Chainsaw Priest                 

17 tracks

I first started listening to punk and hardcore as a 14-year old. My first exposure to a hardcore show came in 1986 when I took the train into an all-ages, matinee show at T.T. the Bear’s Place in Cambridge. I was there primarily to see Boston hardcore punk legends, The Freeze, but it was Psycho, one of the supporting bands, that always stuck with me. Particularly Charlie Infection who, in addition to his role as drummer, vocalist, and general mastermind of the band, also played what, at least during that era, seemed to be the role of punk rock governor.

During the course of the next few years Psycho was on the bill as the opening band for literally hundreds of hardcore show in the city. I could always count on finding Charlie on the sidewalk after their set holding court with the local punks. To a young wanna-be punk like me this was an amazing experience. To that point in my life hanging out and talking with the band after a show was entirely outside of my experience.

Nearly 40 years later those brief encounters at the punk rock shows still resonate strongly. Charlie wouldn’t know me from a hole in the wall but his friendliness and encouragement left a lasting impression. Thanks, man… Now, on to the music.

After 40 years Psycho are still ambassadors of the thrash-core scene. They may have slowed their album output and show schedule but Chainsaw Priest demonstrates that they haven’t slowed their assault—17 songs crammed into a 24 minute package. Only one song breaks the two-minute mark. Coming in at 2:50, “Hep-C” seems downright long when slammed against the 1:15 tracks. Lyrically it’s not exactly anthemic—chastising heroine users for shooting dirty needles, encouraging them instead to drink beer or smoke pot—two presumedly less dangerous vices.

Lyrics for the rest of the songs are equally inane, which only makes Psycho’s pummeling delivery all the more entertaining. “Mystery Meat” is a 57 second ode to the perennial high school lunchroom legend that maybe—just maybe—Wednesday’s shaved-steak sandwich is actually human meat. “Leave Me Alone” bears a mention for its lyrical nuance. In fact, I can’t help but lay out the lyrics in their entirety here: “Leave me alone/ I hate your face/ You annoy me/ I hope you die./ Get away/ You really suck/ You are dead to me/ You fuckin’ douche bag.”

Chainsaw Priest closes with a cover of the Plasmatics classic, Won’t You, (rebranded by Psycho as Want You) featuring guest vocals from Audrey Hell. Psycho’s co-opting of Wendy O’Williams P-S-Y-C-H-O chant is pure thrash-core genius.    (George Dow)

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JEN KEARNEY & THE LOST ONION 

Age of Blame                              

8 tracks

Picture if you will an amalgam of War and the Grateful Dead with elements of funk jazz and you will likely come up with an approximation, howsoever poor, of the brassy voiced Jen Kearney as she skillfully steers this collection’s opening track “Waiting For It.” Subsequent numbers explore Earth, Wind and Fire style R&B (“Too Far”); soul-stirring electric piano funk (“Overwhelming”); melodic jazzy piano balladry (“Corner of My Eye”); a Latin-flavored dance number (“Better”); and Funkadelic style heaviness also reminiscent of Stevie Wonder (“What If”). She also offers up a calm, gospel-styled piece (“Age of Blame,” and, to top it all off, an ambitiously slow and decidedly trippy slow burner of a number called “Sanctuary in Sabotage.” Those who revere 1970s-era jazz, R&B and funk stylings will find a great deal to like in these original compositions. 

(Francis DiMenno)

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SOGGY PO’ BOYS

Perhaps It Is Time To Go Home  

12 tracks

The sultry horn-heavy sounds of New Orleans aren’t exactly what one would expect coming from a New England-based band, but it’s a pleasant surprise. Sounding like Mardi Gras parades, raunchy blues bars, born-again church services, and good ol’ New Orleans funerals, Soggy Po’ Boys bring the rich sounds of the Big Sleazy up to the East Coast.         (Will Barry)

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PIGBOAT  

Deporter Records

Distracted By Adventures In Healthcare                               

8 tracks

Portland, Maine’s Pigboat may have one of metal’s truly regrettable band names but these heavy dudes get my vote for the absolute best album title of this century. Their new LP, Distracted By Adventures In Healthcare marks the band’s tenth anniversary and comes on the heels of singer/guitarist Mark Belanger’s successful battle with lymphoma.

Pigboat trade in super heavy stock. Deep grooves and squawky guitars abound. Stoner riffs pummel continuously while Belanger growls like a deeper-throated Curt Cobain. There’s more than a speck of Helmet buried beneath Pigboat’s sludge.

Tracks “Whatsadrexel?” and “Spaceship 13, You Are Forbidden To Dock” amble along like a wooly mammoth trudging through quicksand, sounding not unlike a combination of Clutch and Karma to Burn. “I Don’t Give A Fuck About Your Couch” slows things down using Nirvana’s patented LoudQuietLoud formula distilling their tectonic  delivery into the one of the hardest metal ballads of recent memory. Every track is earth-shatteringly heavy, requiring liberal use of volume when listening.

Cheers to your tenth anniversary and, to Mark, much respect and positive thoughts—congratulations on taking back your health.         (George Dow)

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IRENE SOLEA

Beloved                                        

7 tracks

This is a harmonious and peaceful collection of mostly sanskrit chants that have been arranged against pop, Latin, and Indian musical styles. Irene has a lovely feminine voice, which flows either layered or solo throughout arrangements that feature mainly keyboards, guitar and drums. The album seems designed for meditation, yoga, or for background use during various kinds of healing therapies. Her voice is extremely lovely and conveys an atmosphere of compassionate kindness. If you’re looking for a mellow CD to help you unwind at the end of a stressful day, this may be it. Irene Solea is a chant artist and music therapist who wrote or co-wrote the songs with Danny Solomon.
  (Kimmy Sophia Brown)

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OYSTERS      

Taang! Records

“Mine Caroline” b/w “Tell Me”

2 tracks on 7” vinyl

Released in February of 1986, “Mine Caroline b/w “Tell Me” captures the Oysters at their punky best. “Mine Caroline” uses a revved-up version of the traditional “Hand Jive” backbeat. Without the trebly guitars and snotty vocals you might mistake it for a George Thorogood tune (Thank god for the trebly guitars and snotty vocals).

     “Tell Me” captures a similar sound. Crunchy, jangly guitars and ragged nasally vocals, support a punked-up blues rock melody.

      The Oysters are another sad example of a great Boston punk band that burned brightly for far too short a time and were promptly lost to the annals of time.          (George Dow)

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REVEREND KERRY KEEFE

Came To My Senses featuring James Montgomery                             

10 tracks

In most CD reviews, I just talk about what I hear. But in this case, I have to first speak about what I see; the cover photo. The Reverend, in all his glory, is seen grinning and wearing sunglasses. Under a somber robe with clusters of palm trees, he is wearing his cleric white collar and black Reverend shirt. He’s also holding a beautiful old Gibson Firebird with a large metal cross attached to the body on the pick guard; and he has a wedding ring and metal slide on his fourth finger and pinky. It is truly a sight to behold. And now the music: this CD is dedicated “To My Guitar Hero, John Dawson Winter III” and his guitar playing, while not as flashy as his hero’s is clearly influenced by him and is very, very good. Both his lead and his slide. The leads are quick and creative and you hear plenty of two note Chuck Berry riffs also. All of the songs are spiritual tunes but the good guitar work adds feeling to the passionate messages; which makes the whole package work well. James Montgomery plays on a few songs including Keefe originals “Baptism Song” and “Conversion Of Paul”—the best songs on the disc. I also dig the traditional “Jesus on the Mainline” with it’s screaming guitar. It rocks. And “Amazing Grace” with the growling guitar and female vocals. There are a lot of female guest vocalists on this CD and they don’t sound like a choir much and add a lot to the final product. Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody” and Lightning Hopkin’s “Needed Time” are done very spiritually and very different. Music with a message: Jesus you can dance to.    (A.J. Wachtel)

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LILLA               

Karisma Music 
The Awakening                        

11 tracks

This sounds like what my white Irish Catholic mother would come up with if she made a record with soul, funk, hip hop and reggae touches.  Well, that is if my mother happened to possess a very nice singing voice rather than the typical Finn family warbling.  Despite Lilla’s proclamations that she’s “kickin’ it real,” the music lacks any edge at all, which makes it come across as supper club music for a Bible Belt bridge club.  That is not to say there isn’t anything of value happening here.  Lilla is indeed a very talented singer with an emotive voice, and she surrounds herself with a solid backing band.  I  just think she might be better off going for straight easy listening, which would allow her to play to her strengths, rather than trying to force in a funkiness that just isn’t convincing.  (Kevin Finn)

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ONE ELEVEN

Livin’ The Dream
10 tracks
The first thing one notices about these songs is the great vocals. Artie Eaton sure can sing. He’s got the power. He’s got the sound. He’s got the passion. And he has the range. The next thing one hears is the great band and the powerful, all-original songs; Artie on vocals and bass, Brielle Eaton on vocals, Steve Gouette on guitar and vocals, and Steve Carter on drums are red hot. Just listen to the three part harmonies and you will be convinced this CD is special. Artie plays in D.K.’s Full House and his band mates join in on the fun here also. With their contributions, Danny Klein, the four-stringer from The J. Geils Band, Dave Quintiliano on keys, Rosy Rosenblatt on harp, and drummer Jim Taft on vocals put much more power into the punch. I really dig this power pop with loud guitars and great vocals a lot; the power chords are a bit arena/metal and always bring the listener back to the focus of the compositions.. Songs like “I Know,” “She’s Gone,” “Dance,” “She Loves Me,” and the title track “Livin’ the Dream” all showcase the group’s energy and strengths. I really dig “Love Dr.” with its slide guitar and harp and the last song, “Lay It On Me” (unplugged) is just slightly more acoustic and a bit more Americana. Power Pop with very impressive vocals. Great stuff   (A.J. Wachtel)
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ADAM RECZEK

In the Night, for the Morning
10 tracks
Acoustic guitar-driven, Americana-tinged, adult-contempo tunes aren’t really my cup of tea. Still, I gotta give it to this guy. He had a vision and, like it or not, he brought that vision to fruition and did so on his own terms. Maudlin, heart-on-sleeve, and hokey as his vision may be, it is still overall a tight, well-produced, and eclectically textured record. Just a little heavy on the Hallmark for my taste. (Will Barry)

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JAY WILLIE BLUES BAND

Zoho Roots Records
Rumblin’ and Slidin’ 
14 tracks
This Connecticut band rocks with a capital R!  Another great guitarist (playing a Gibson Firebird) releasing a solid CD with cool covers and originals. First the covers: Link Wray’s instrumental “Rumble,” classics “It Hurts Me Too” and “Key To The Highway,” and a very interesting “Fly Away” written by Edgar Winter and his White Trash sax player Jerry LeCroix, which is done as a harp song instead, are very good listening. Jay includes a bonus four live tracks recorded in September 2013 at The Newton Arts Festival where they do a killer cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”— rock ’n’ roll style. Jay Willie on vocals and slide guitar, Bob Callahan on guitar and  vocals, Steve Clarke on bass, and powerful pounder Bobby T Torrello kick ass pure and simple from beginning to end. Bobby T used to be in Johnny Winter’s band and he brings his expertise front and center on this project. His song “Rotten Person” is a great rock ’n’ roll love song: “You’re so cold/ You’re so mean/ You make me want to scream.” Ha. And they do. Other originals like “Dirty 2:30” and “Bad News” are rock solid and Jason Ricci on harp is first rate. On the back cover, I laugh when I see the familiar words I had written in my last review of their first CD in The Noise, from last year, with my name NOT credited. Oh well. Maybe if I keep at this for another 30 years my name will be more recognizable and worth mentioning. PLAY THIS CD LOUD.     (A.J. Wachtel)
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SINNET

Pink Flamingo Hotels 
1 track
Recorded as part of Converse Rubber Tracks, the new single from the rock foursome Sinnet pours out smooth rock tones in a never-ending wave. The theme of the song is the search for fame and the tragic results of those caught up in the quest. Lines like “Gone girls that came just to be starlets/ somehow ending up in the drive ins/ or lying on their backs” point to this with emphasis, and the music rises with intensity as the story progresses. An amazing guitar solo rides the wave, crashing down on the ears and bringing a close to a solid new offering from this exemplary band. (Max Bowen)

 

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