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Outsight music column for June 2005 By Tom Shulte DETROIT
Frank Black Honeycomb solo album
Anthrax redux
Soundflat drops the Dirtbomb
Nicki Jaine is a Blue Girl
Moore and more "OGX! 1994-2004" is the 10th anniversary double-LP compilation from Old Gold Records. Get details at the Old Gold Web site. Limited to just over 200 copies, with handmade gatefold sleeves, this double-vinyl reviews the entire decade of adventure that has been Old Gold. This includes unreleased sounds from R. Stevie Moore & Jad Fair, Eugene Chadbourne & Davey Williams (live cut from Eye Scream Festival), and more. Audiolove and more Compiler Keith Grave is responsible for the excellent proto-punk compilations in the "Shielded By Death" (Bacchus Archives) series. Now the Dennis Most And The Instigators bassist takes us back to Dennis Most & Audiolove live in the Captain Trip release, "Live at the El Cid, December 1976." "The El Cid" is not that as redundant as "Mr. Mister." Well, instead of pop rock choruses of Catholic Mass acclamations, you get here rough and ready recordings of Most and company tearing it up with covers of early Pink Floyd ("Lucifer Sam"), The Stooges ("Down on the Street") and Mothers of Invention ("Who are the Brain Police?"). This is a fierce moment when angry garage rock was making the apotheosis into ugly punk ... On "Meet Me in the Time Tunnel" (Wizzard in Vinyl), the intrepid compiler goes forward a bit to mine the years from 1978 to 1985. Here he unearths shiny nuggets of brilliant power pop from unsung skinny tie era heroes like Strattford Survivors, The Zips, The Matcheads and more. There are excellent liner notes with track descriptions and short band bios along with a smattering of pictures... Bringing it right up the present era is the Grave compilation, "We Ain't Housewife Material" (Dionysus). This collection of all-female or female-fronted punk and garage rock bands steps of the globe to bring together Betty Blowtorch (USA), The Gee Strings (Germany), Astro Babys (Japan) and more. DVD reviews (Ratings on a scale of 0-5 stars) Shades of Dylan Bob Dylan has finally given permission to a Hollywood studio to make a film about his life. He will be portrayed by seven actors – one of them a black woman. Todd Haynes, the Oscar-nominated director, confirmed last week he was searching for a woman who could do justice to the short, white Jewish singer's "inner blackness." The seven will play Dylan during different eras in his 43-year career, starting in the 1960s when his song "The Times They are A-Changin'" became an anti-war anthem. It is traditional in films spanning a lifetime for characters to be played by more than one actor, but rare for them to change sex or race. Haynes, however, has built his reputation on being different. His first film, about the life of the anorexic singer Karen Carpenter, had a cast of Barbie dolls. He made his name with "Velvet Goldmine," in which Ewan McGregor played a gender-bending rocker, before going on to receive an Oscar nomination for screenwriting for his 2002 film "Far from Heaven." The 44-year-old director said Dylan was "too complex" to be played by a conventional actor. "I am setting out to explode the idea that anybody can be depicted in a single self," he said. He said that Dylan, who has rejected many other offers, had approved this project because of its unconventional casting. It is due for release next year under the title "I'm Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan."
A day in the life
This video document of the 2003 Springing the Blues festival in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., opens with "The Star Spangled Banner" performed by Jimmy Thackery. Other performance include Otis Taylor ("Resurrection Blues"), John Hammond ("Buzz Fledder John"), Anthony Gomes ("Higher") and an a cappella "Seminole Wind" by J. J. Grey of Mofro. Grey, Gomes, Hammond, E.G. Kight and Taylor offer the most in-depth interviews. Telling and candid interviews with the artists, often with guitars in hand for segues between each musical segment. This is an entertaining and informative 100-minute viewing for the blues fan, especially for the contemporary blues fans. Also captured in performance are Deborah Coleman, Albert Castiglia and Michael Burks. CD reviews (Ratings on a scale of 0-5 stars)
Husband and wife duo Scott and Tracy Cox-Stanton leave The Causey Way behind to jet off into the future with hip and fun electro-pop. Everything eerie about The Causey Way disappeared in the jet exhaust and up above the clouds with Pilot Scott Tracy the sky is bright and sunny. This ranges from the controlled turbulence of rockers like "Human Earthquake" to the slow, low-angle descent of new wave melodic keyboard ballads like "Return To My Home." So, what we have here is center point of balance on a triangle whose three sides are The Causey Way, Ladytron and Man ... or Astroman?
This is an exhibition of the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle (in Norwegian, hardingfele), similar to the violin. Each one is a handmade work of art beautifully decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay and black pen-and-ink drawings called "rosing." Its most distinguishing feature is the four or five sympathetic strings that run underneath the fingerboard and add echoing overtones to the sound. This makes the traditional playing style heavily polyphonic with a melody voice accompanied by a moving "drone" voice. These sonic features of the instrument make the instrumental music, while expressive, dirge-like and dark, though in tones of brown more than black. The instrument is usually given over to the classic, Celtic-like folk melodies it is known for, but here we have an entire album of original music with a swaying jazz feel.
The original architects of psychobilly give classic goth-abilly ("Juggernaut") as well as some scorching surf ("3 Against 1"). Lead singer and founding member P. Paul Fenech has had his ups and downs keeping a lineup together, and this has caused some variation in the group's output, but this incarnation of The Meteors is solid and the album is tight and solid as a result. The combination of horror movie subject matter and ragged rockabilly is a sure and right as a Misfits and murder ballads mix tape.
This reissue of the fourth album from the seminal American punk band The Flesh Eaters is a complete session release, including five bonus tracks: "Impossible Crime," "Pony Dress," " Hard Road to Follow," "Lake of Burning Fire" and a live "Divine Horsemen." None other than Circle Jerks frontman Keith Morris often in interviews and from stage extols the virtues of this group, king of the American second wave of punk. Hearing these recordings of the group hammering to tape a classic punk rock collection of songs that it had refined on the road in 1982 is an energizing sonic experience and should not be missed. (3.5)
This is the debut release from a hot, rocking Austin quintet. The Farfisa-fueled frenzy burns from one scorcher ("Trouble's Over") to another ("Girl on the Brain"). Ten of the dozen tracks here are solid originals, with one cover from The Easybeats ("I'll Make you Happy") and another from Outsiders ("Filthy Rich"). The group has so incorporated the spirit, style and substance of '60s garage rock that it is one of the few ensembles that revives a tradition that included The Seeds, Shadows of Knight and Them, and would also be worthy of inclusion on a new, contemporary Nuggets compilation.
This oi band's record is as rude and rousing, as crude and commanding, indeed as street and sincere as they come. Declaring itself "the next wave to the close shave," steps up to the pub's stage using only the fewest chords to craft suitable new anthems for the boots and braces crowd. The rough-and-ready working-class album might not be the equal to the group's phenomenal out-of-nowhere "Helen of Oi" debut, but it is pretty darn close. And, in case you really intend to use this as a soundtrack to "smack a goth ... kick a hippy" as the song "Skinhead" declares, bassist Fat Bob clears things up: "Hard Skin is about having a laugh and having a say and that's what we are doing. Having a laugh and having a say. So stop thinking and start drinking."
This album cover proclaims, "garage rock 4 stereo." This is a great promise that a lot of contemporary garage rock bands, along with this British mod revival quartet, can make. Today's excellent recording technology can be used to make potent garage rock recordings for today's stereo systems. Jarvis Humby does very well in that regard on the scorcher "We Say Yeah!" and the Santana-esque "99 Steps to the Suns." However, the album is littered with jangly paisley pop like "These Eyes." This is good material in and of itself, but it breaks up the mood and movement of the CD, so that it is like finding unpaved residential sections every few miles punctuating the driving of an open freeway in your 1964 Jaguar E Type roadster.
In this ensemble led by spastic saxophone, ex-members of Sweep the Leg Johnny, Swing Kids and Tekulvi join together for a no-wave freakout – like playing your old Contortions LPs on 45 RPM. This recording is like gypsy jazz and math rock, like pouring krautrock into a pool of art pop.
The instrumental sounds of high-level guitar drone and thunderous drumming is like a gathering storm, a meteorological holocaust sending lightening flashes and ominous sounds over the horizon. This debut release is an intersection of doom and drone in the sludge pit of molten Black Sabbath vinyl. This is the work of Campbell Kneale, a.k.a. Birchville Cat Motel.
Math-y, angular noise-metal makes this album a ton of bricks precisely dropped with "Anvil Chorus" precision on clanging sheet metal. Last Of The Juanitas combines this intense and agile surgical ferocity with Slayer-esque thunder rhythms and screamo vocals.
This Israeli rock band sings in English and takes cues from hard rock and grunge. MC5 fans should note that Michael Davis (MC5, Destroy All Monsters) produced the album and appears on "Like It" playing bass and supplying backing vocals. This mostly sounds like Screaming Trees-inspired alt-rock with little of the garage rock content typical on Dionysus releases.
Keyboards provided the melody and the rhythm section is the traditional bass and drums. There is no six-string guitar, but you would not notice that in this full mix of the aforementioned instruments as well as piano, vibes, samples and more. Sometimes male leads vocals, sometimes female lead vocals, sometimes both adds variety to this album of hard art rock that seems to be the intersection of Crass, The Pogues and Steel Pole Bathtub.
Daniel Givens wears out hyphens as a New York City poet-MC-DJ-photographer-producer. Givens' hip, post-hip-hop has gotten him to work with Tortoise, Tricky, Gil Scott-Heron and more. You will find this music stretching from Prince and Morris Day to DJ Logic. This is urban music through a sci fi experiment in hi fi. The post-rock, electronic and spoken word tracks here took me a while to get into, but once I got in there, I wanted to build a condo and start a new life enjoying the view and the vibes.
This is the first album in a planned trilogy from the art and ambient electronic group that sprung from the ruins of San Diego post-rock troupe Physics. This first chapter explores the idea of music itself as communication and the band members seem to be musing these weighty topics as they use guitars, synthesizers, computers and other electronic devices to make a surreal soundscape.
This amazing album of cathedral organ music takes us to the cathedral, the side chapel and, for a particularly stormy recital, the crypt of this historical cathedral that was the center of The Reformation. This is the second document of a special 2004 event and includes performances by Marcus Davidson, BJNilsen, Philip Jeck and Fennesz. The artists certainly do not feel bound by any austerity or conformity such a venue may seem to impart. The music is powerful and free, restrained and reflective depending on the performer and the location on this two-CD recording.
This amazing Canadian label is responsible for a cornucopia of quality blues albums from Eddie Turner, Paul Reddick, David Jacobs-Strain, Harry Manx, and more. This budget-priced sampler is an excellent introduction to the roster as it includes all those artists, as well as Taxi Chain, Dan Treanor & Frankie Lee, Toni Lynn Washington, and more for seventy minutes of music. All the tracks save one come from other Northernblues Music releases. The bonus track is "Burning at the Feet of the Lord" from John and the Sisters, a raucous ensemble built around master guitarist Kevin Breit and journeyman blues vocalist John Dickie.
Single-handedly keeping barrelhouse piano alive, Ann Rabson pulls her own "Little Red Wagon" on "In a Family Way." The title comes from the talented family members presented here. We have Ann's sister, violinist Mimi Rabson; Ann's brother-in-law Dave Harris on trombone and organ; nephew Kenji Rabson took time away from the New York jazz circuit to be on the record; and Kenji's father, jazz pianist Steve Rabson, is also here. Let us not overlook the talent of Ann's daughter Liz Rabson-Schnore here playing rhythm guitar. The energetic parts of this album have a boogie-woogie, New Orleans piano jazz feel that would make Professor Longhair proud ("Little Red Wagon," "Little Chickee Wah Wah"). Interspersed are the mellower, relaxed tunes in shades of blue ("Do Your Duty," "See See Rider", etc.).
Not noisy enough to be riot grrl, but better hard rock than most boy-fronted indie bands that come across my desk these days, this is a swinging album of power pop with a swinging punk delivery. There certainly is some riot grrl attitude in a frenzy of feminism and focused rock. But, delivering the message seems on the same level of performance of crafting good rock songs and that blend is potent on this album.
This is a laid-back indie pop record built on a Wurlitzer electric piano by a Long Beach ensemble taking the low and slow road to pop perfection. It is a witty and relaxing intersection between "Pet Sounds" and American Analog Set. I can hear this as Brian Wilson taking Andy Warhol's role with Velvet Underground. This is an excellent, richly wrought semi-acoustic collection of moody, reflective psych-pop that is in no hurry to get there, just enjoying the ride.
Kateryna Zavoloka is a musician from Kiev, Ukraine. Her instrumental electronica percolates with rapid and unexpected beet, bleeps and crisp snaps. At times this seem to be such a dense polyrhythms as to approach incomprehensibility. Then such tracks as "Rankova (Matin)" will gel into a languid if trippy journey. Zavoloka explains that her intention is "to produce more and more frank music that could reflect her momentary shades of feelings and emotions."
Saxophones and Hammond B3 organ fuel the swinging instrumental music on this excellent album from the Iowa band. The instrumental soul ensemble from America's heartland masters the slow funk groove on vamp after vamp here. Like Booker T. and The MGs for a new generation, the suave groovemeisters here channel a '60s beat and Stax soul through slick and sultry original material.
Heady prog jams with prominent drum presence are the fare on this compilation. The baker's dozen tracks range from Pat Mastelotto to Terry Bozzio and from Dennis Chambers (Niacin) to Clyde Stubblefield romping through "Cosmic Slop" with The Clinton Administration. Other excellent drummers that can be heard here include Tim Alexander, Virgil Donati and Rod Morgenstein. Drum Nation, Vol. 2 continues the tradition started by the preceding volume. That is, Magna Carta head Pete Morticelli gives drummers free creative reign and license to submit music unfettered by commercial constraints. The result is a florid display of percussive creativity.
This 10-song enhanced CD includes six bonus video tracks. The rough, growling street core is bruised oi and rather uninteresting as working-class punk goes. Give this Boston hardcore band a horn player or two and some good, anthemic choruses and we would really have something.
Part of the fertile '77 London punk scene, The Menace never released an LP but the group did put out a half-dozen singles. This CD has all that material and more with a dozen tracks from current vocalist John Lacey (joined 1997) and six including original vocalist Morgan Webster. This overview of the group's output shows a consistency in delivering raw, explosive old school punk. |
Honeycomb, Frank Black's first solo album since 
Be warned, we are witnessing the reunion of the original line-up of legendary speed metal icons Anthrax. For the first time in 13 years, the entire original lineup of Joey Belladonna, Frankie Bello, Charlie Benante, Scott Ian and Danny Spitz are together planning new music releases as well as the future plans for this reunion. Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) has said of the group, "Anthrax? The cover of 
There is a new Dirtbombs single on Soundflat Records due out now. The two-track single of the manic Detroit garage soul heroes includes '60s punk version of Hubert Kah's Neue Deutsche Welle (classic German punk) song "Tanzen Gehn" and a dance mix (!) of the melodic "The House As A Giant Bong." Check out the 
After touring this past fall as a member of Black Tape For A Blue Girl, Nicki Jaine and Black Tape For A Blue Girl founder Sam Rosenthal are working on a new collaboration called Revue Noir. The new band has a dark cabaret sound and is sure to intrigue current fans of black tape and Nicki Jaine. Look for pictures, MP3 files and news of a debut EP at 
While waiting for your eyes to "eat that document" you can take in a different attempt to take in the many facets of Dylan on "
GMVS has two The Last 24 Hours DVD titles out. Music Video Distributors makes both available and one title focuses on 
Presley autopsy report and a detailed handwriting analysis. DVD extras include Elvis' death certificate, his last will and testament, a filmography, discography and an audio documentary called Spotlight on Elvis. The DVD comes with an 11-song gospel tribute to The King by The Jordinaires and Johnny Earle. Now the Hendrix DVD is a real psychedelic trip as it slices between Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend and Eric Clapton in a conspiracy-a-go-go that suggests villainous government forces conspired to murder the great guitarist before he could emerge as a Black Power leader. While you take that in, peruse the 32-page booklet and the Hendrix picture gallery as your head spins while the disk spins.
Play Like a Girl
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