Author Archives: Michael Curti
Jukebox – Haroula Rose’s “Lavender Moon (Hood Internet Remix)”
(Click on label to download/listen to the song.)
Aided by a properly-restrained production effort from Athens, GA journeyman Andy LeMaster (Now It’s Overhead, Bright Eyes, The Good Life, R.E.M., Azure Ray); the debut full-length, These Open Roads, from doe-eyed ex-Chicagoan Haroula Rose kindles hearts through her tender delivery of ear-soothing melodies and unpretentious lyricism. Securing a root in the L.A. scene, she has since scored a couple of TV show placements (notably FX’s series American Horror Story), plenty of coffeeshop airplay, and a SXSW invite.
Her album’s penultimate track became a challenging but redeeming play-toy for mashup-masters The Hood Internet. “Lavender Rose” is originally a two-verse wanderer’s song backed by sparse guitar, bass, in-unison plucked violin and glockenspiel staccato, and plenty of ethereal feedback with a Hope Sandoval bent. An otherwise somber track from the Haroula Rose’s LP was merely a quiet folk song until this remix rejuvenated it. With a tightly-constructed trotting synth part, The Hood Internet patched together a dance track that could be a B-Side for any single off of M83′s Saturdays = Youth.
With her young Susanna Hoffs meets Feist good looks and soft, pampered voice, Haroula Rose stands alone as a promising new singer/songwriter. But, this The Hood Internet remix makes her song all the more fun.
Richard Buckner – Our Blood (Merge)
Richard Buckner
Our Blood
Merge Records
Rating: 4.2 out of 5.0
Link: http://www.richardbuckner.com/
For Richard Buckner, you don’t get to where you are today without knowing how to sidestep a few landmines. Adversity assumed many different forms and played many different roles in his life. But, Buckner does what a true artist should; he writes. When the authorities were paying him close watch in a possible connection with a heinous crime committed near his home in upstate New York, he kept writing. When the tape machine he loved to use met its maker, he acquired a laptop and continued writing and compiling. When, in the same month, the house he holed up in was burglarized and the laptop stolen, he started over and kept working and writing. In short, no single paragraph can sufficiently summarize the staggering plan in place to retain the leftover melodies and ideas that would become Buckner’s testimonial LP, Our Blood.
After spending 2006-08 touring and headstrongly working on the score to Dream Boy, a film that would merely become a straight-to-DVD release in North America, Buckner tried to synopsize some of the prized pieces captured on tape for an upcoming full-length release. After all of the trials and tribulations, these songs in limbo were deleted and stolen but not lost. In his head, they were remembered and reborn. It had never taken five years between albums before, but with all of this behind him; the curtained, almost post-mature Our Blood was finally carved out and released, or as he puts it, “abandoned like the charred shell of a car with a nice stereo”.
The nine tracks spared become nine resonating elements of the entire theme: get out while you can, give up the ghost, and be constantly ready for it to catch back up to you again. Sneak glimpses into his haunted past can be mined out, even from the song titles themselves (see ‘Thief’). Tender moments are accented by precious nylon strings or Wurlitzer flourishes, paranoid ones by foreboding organ chimes. His booming voice, more confident and fresh than ever before, expanses tracks like ‘Escape’ and ‘Gang’. Up in front of a withering fingerpicked steel-string progression, Buckner lyrically genuflects on the standout ‘Collusion’. The arresting instrumental ‘Ponder’ precedes the affectionate redemption song of ‘Witness’. Imagerial observations, one after another, compose this work; reminding himself and him conveying to us the way that he felt on those particular nights.
On his website, Buckner characterizes his intent behind the stunning inclusion of ‘Confession’ as “realizing you are not alone, you duck out of sight, hoping someone will be concerned”. Great songs can be thoroughly revealing and personal, and Buckner can fragmentalize the point to high heavens; but we hear it and we experience it with him in the barrooms and empty apartments that we can visualize through his unraveled words and his graveled, whiskey-breath baritone.
Describing this album as the “weird pebble in (his) shoe that (he) just had to get out”, to say that Buckner had to face his demons and purge to get this record finished might be an overstatement. But five years down the line, let’s hope he can revisit this record and appreciate it to be just what it is — the most consistent and exquisite offering in his catalog.
Telekinesis – 12 Desperate Straight Lines (Merge)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.6MB)
MP3: Telekinesis – Car Crash (from the album 12 Desperate Straight Lines)
Telekinesis
12 Desperate Straight Lines
Merge Records
Rating: 3.1 out of 5
Link: http://www.mergerecords.com/artists/telekinesis
Sometimes, it’s hard to take some artists’ gushingly lovelorn breakup records seriously. Citing a recent example, Beck’s Sea Change—while beautifully crafted and earnest feeling—gets a few chuckles out of me when I track it from one to twelve. How can this incredibly talented songwriter saturate his full-length effort with so many ‘sad-sack’ scripts of despair (please don’t take this as a knock on Sea Change; just a point)? Others that come to mind are punchy with grit and fervor (Weezer’s Pinkerton), or conversely, innovatively backwashed with sunny tones and thick layers of instrumentation (The Format’s Dog Problems). The new LP from Michael Benjamin Lerner’s one-man show Telekinesis is a little bit of all of this.
This story unravels from the very first ten seconds of the addictively catchy opener “You Turn Clear in the Sun.” Handing it over to the wannabe single “Please Ask for Help,” the beat becomes pounding and the guitar lines indicative of the dying dregs of early-to-mid 80’s post-punk. “50 Ways” pays more homage to old Weezer records than to the Paul Simon song that it references. However, once “I Cannot Love You” comes on, a crooked smile comes to my face—it’s getting silly now.
12 Desperate Straight Lines clutches at straws to sound like a ‘feel-good’ record; greatly owing to Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, who gets the production credit. Enlisting the support of a mere half an index card of names, the Telekinesis release is a focused and efficient recording. However, all the while shaking your head all around to some electrified power pop redux, the lyrics sung become less and less relatable. You now feel like, maybe, Lerner had it coming to him.
“Car Crash” is a well-equipped rocker that jump-starts the gritty energy of this long-player and shovels it the top of the pile. With no need for segue, “Palm of Your Hand” slams on the accelerator for a hot minute and a half. But once the first half of the album elapses, the secret is out on the formula. Soon, you’ll be counting down the seconds of the guitar intro and timing out the arrival of the drum beat all on your own.
Oh, it’s true. Mr. Lerner can’t get ‘her’ out of his head, as evidenced by every single cut on the album. But, perhaps after a few proper spins of 12 Desperate Straight Lines, you may not be able to get Lerner out of yours.
True Womanhood – From Their Basement To Yours
ZapTown’s Michael Curti asked True Womanhood’s Thomas Redmond some questions, here’s what he found out about the DC band:
Link: http://www.truewomanhood.com/
Earlier this year, you released your debut EP, Basement Membranes. At a mere six tracks’ length, it is still an incredibly cohesive and vivid exploration into post-punk revivalism. How happy are you with the results of this recording and what do these songs mean to you?
What’s funny to us about these songs is how far past them it feels like we’ve already gone. We all are very happy with how the EP turned out. it definitely should be understood as our band’s first effort, as it was recorded when we were still trying to understand what type of band we are. That is a constant evolution but I definitely think that the new recordings we are working on will show have far we’ve come.
How did the three of you come together to form True Womanhood? Was it easy pooling your collective musical interests into the direction of the band?
All three of us have known each other since middle school, believe it or not. Noam and I actually played together in the clarinet section of our middle school and high school orchestras. After going our separate ways for college we found ourselves back in the DC area and interested in starting a new musical project. There was definitely musical chemistry from the very beginning and over time it hasn’t diminished. Any differences in musical interests between members have proven complimentary.
According to the wonderful world of Twitter, True Womanhood is in the recording studio. Is a 2010 full-length release something we can hope for?
It is! We are just putting the finishing touches on two separate recording projects that will be released as a series of 7″ singles, and EP and a full length LP. We expect that these will start to trickle out over the course of the summer along with some remix projects and music videos that we have been working on.
How important was it to start small with an EP’s-worth batch of songs for Basement Membranes and ride the energy from its release and the subsequent tour toward putting out an album proper?
It was incredibly important. recording that EP was the first time any of us had any experience with really recording anything and going in we didn’t really know what to expect, or what songs we would even be recording. we really just wanted to get something out that we could bring on tour with us. now we feel way more comfortable with the recording process, we are a lot more prepared to put out an album.
“The Monk” is a wonderful lead track on the EP—highlighted by silvery vocals singing rather unsettling lines out above a sedate pulse. Tell us about how this song came together. How long has “The Monk” been in the True Womanhood canon?
This is a relatively old track, dating back to the earliest days of the band. Originally is was a Neil Young inspired rocker, with a big guitar riff and some shout/sing falsetto. Fortunately, while recording the song it transformed into the fingerpicked, moody song that it is- anchored by the cymbal-less drums and the driving bass line.
Perhaps what sets True Womanhood apart from the rest of the pack in the experimental rock genre is how forefront the vocals are, rather than being undermixed as part of the musical patchwork. How valuable is lyricism and vocal melody in the songwriting approach?
That’s funny you mention that because up until now, vocals have always been the last part of our songs to get written and recorded. Usually all the instrumentation and arrangements are set in stone before I really work on the lyrics- the Morrissey method to writing pop songs I guess. That being said, the vocals in this band are by no means an afterthought, as they are in so much contemporary indie rock.
Personally, having seen the band perform in my hometown Pittsburgh, I noted the importance of the timpani drum during the live set. How did you come about using this instrument?
We got the timpani on craigslist as is the case with so much of our equipment. it was more a case of using what we had available than actually going out and looking for a timpani. but it definitely contributes a lot to the sound of our EP as well as some of the songs on the album we are currently working on. the sound of the timpani is so dark and evocative and that somehow comes through into the songs. a lot of the mood of songs we play depends greatly on the equipment we use – we just got our first subwoofer and all of a sudden we play nothing but disco dance songs.
True Womanhood will be back on tour starting in June. Tell us about a few of the shows you have coming up.
This summer is going to be particularly exciting for us. In July we are playing with some fantastic bands in DC including HEALTH and Bear Hands. Later on in July we are flying out to Los Angeles to play a handful of shows and shoot a music video out in the desert. Once we get back we will embark on a three week tour through the southeast, Texas and the midwest.
The band sets up shop in the nation’s capital. How does it feel playing a part in changing the face of the D.C. music scene?
It’s an interesting time in DC. From talking with some of our friends who were a part of the Dischord era, it seems as if the city has found itself back where it was in the very early 80s before Dischord was created. We are all too young to remember a time when there was no Dischord in DC but things now are very disorganized. There are a handful of interesting acts, collectives, and events doing their own thing but there is no real movement to speak of. This is not necessarily a bad thing- it’s always good to have diversity in a smallish city such as DC. Hopefully as we, along with other active DC bands, continue to expand, tour and reach new people we can help bring a little bit of a spotlight back onto DC music and a new tradition can be born here.
When not recording and playing live, how do the members of the band enjoy spending their free time?
This is probably the most difficult question to answer of all! we really don’t have very much free time at all, but that is the way we like it. as well as writing songs and recording, we go to lots of shows and try to find new and interesting things to listen to.. i suppose the line between work and play in this case is quite thin, but that’s never a bad thing.
I was in D.C. a year and a half ago for a show at the 9:30 Club and I had a blast checking out the city. Is it true that Ben’s Chili Bowl is no more?
Actually quite the opposite! Ben’s Chili Bowl has expanded and now has a sit down restaurant adjacent called Ben’s Next Door where you can have fine wine with your chili cheese fries.
Are there any cool new surprises that True Womanhood has in store for the rest of the year?
This fall/winter we will be traveling to the UK to do some shows. We will announce more details regarding this when we have got them nailed down but basically it is our dream come true!
Gary Lucas & Dean Bowman – Chase The Devil (Music Review)
Gary Lucas & Dean Bowman
Chase the Devil
Knitting Factory
Rating: 3.8 out of 5
Links:
Gary Lucas: http://www.garylucas.com/
Dean Bowman: http://deanbowman.net/
Gary Lucas remains one of the premier virtuosic guitar players of our time. Expert slide work and lock stock and barrel mastery of the fretboard, his passion for music of all types rifles out from his axe on countless collaborations and solo albums. Recently endeavoring to compose and arrange works in the styles of raga and Chinese pop, Lucas recognizes the importance of emotion rather than just instrument proficiency in his music. This time, he has teamed up with baritone jazz/blues journeyman Dean Bowman on Chase the Devil.
Two seasoned vets who have performed their inspiring and electrifying set of spiritual roots and gospel music to New York City crowds, Lucas and Bowman aren’t evangelizing so much as they are rallying for emotional intensity.
Lucas is outright impressive in his playing throughout. Blazing Strat fingerpicking licks behind Bowman’s frenzied lines on “God is a Good God”. It’s hard to tell who’s trying to keep up the pace, what with Lucas’ wailing leads and Bowman’s relentless hand-clapping.
“Jerusalem” is a wonderful selection, and praise is owed for this remarkably touching performance. Also inclusive of Chase the Devil, Lucas and Bowman fit well together on the very stripped-down version of the John Fahey-renowned ode “In Christ There is No East or West”.
The first two tracks are originals written for the release followed by ten renditions of traditional folk, blues, gospel, and Hebrew numbers. Joining the ranks of a few of the artists covered on this thrilling LP, and rightfully so, Chase the Devil achieves as another exemplar to true spiritual roots music.
