Category Archives: Rock
Tim Foljahn – Songs for an Age of Extinction (Kiam Records)
Tim Foljahn
Songs for an Age of Extinction
Kiam Records
Link: Tim Foljahn’s Official Site
Being a character actor is one thing. Coming to the forefront and being the star is another. Tim Foljahn has labeled his career on the heels of others: Thurston Moore, Two Dollar Guitar, Cat Power, Townes Van Zant, and the list goes on.
Now Foljahn decided to go out on his own and release his debut solo project. With Songs for an Age of Extinction, it’s easy to hear the components: the experimental nature for some, the intimacy for others. Foljahn compiles it all together and that is why I am not particularly thrilled by its outcome.
It all starts out with a mantra. The meditative title track, builds a Krishna backdrop and an intensity that you would normally hear on a Dead Can Dance album. But instead of the soothing and sincere Brendan Perry, Foljahn sounds a little more like a drunk Jim Morrison. Despite the flaw, I would have loved for this album to continue in this direction. Instead, he floats through somber hymns of low-key compositions. “All Fall Away” and “Faded” do very little to entice me into believing this album is more than extraneous songs Foljahn has written during the off-season of being a contributing musician.
“War Song” perks up having that Two Dollar Guitar sound and presents marvelous guitar work. It’s a singer/songwriters dream to sound as elegant as this. But “New Light” tries too hard at being just that, a singer/songwriter. Throw in an estranged blues song “God Song,” and you will be as confused as I am.
Not sure where all of this is going, but a little better direction would have helped make this debut more memorable as a whole and less fragmented into its parts.
Edward Rogers – Porcelain (Bucketfull of Brains)
Edward Rogers
Porcelain
Bucketfull of Brains
Link: Edward Rogers Official Site
Glam rocker and pop maestro Edward Rogers returns with his fourth full length album that bodes a sincerity not quite expecting of what he’s capable of creating. Porcelain is a symphony of Rock ecstasy blending in elements of traditional British folk that beckons stylistic nods from Bob Dylan and The Band to The Pogues.
What Rogers does best is turn the style on its head and create a punk viewpoint to the singer/songwriter style. And what Rogers does is not portray the washed-up crusty punker who lavishes the golden years playing acoustic jingles like a crotchety old geezer complaining about society.
What Rogers does is liven up a sound that glistens from the pores of people like Elvis Costello or Billy Bragg. Where he excels is in a song like “Separate Walls.” Like an Iggy Pop freak out, the guitars are amplified and Rogers sounds like he’s orchestrating a bar brawl. It’s all fitting with his vocal grit and raw power. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, “Nothing Too Clever,” shows that he can slow down and relish in the core fundamentals of balladry while still maintaining an intensive vitality. Either way, you want to listen up and take note. Between that and the title track — a song about a sick girl he met who had to be put into foster care because their parents could not afford to take care of her — showcases Rogers gorgeously vivid lyrical writing and tapping of the human emotion.
Rogers has an all-star cast of credible musicians that would impress the hell out of anyone: James Mastro of The Bongos and Health and Happiness Show, Don Fleming of the Velvet Monkeys, B.A.L.L. and Gumball, Sal Maida of Cracker, Ira Elliott, drummer of Nada Surf and Bambi Kino, Pete Kennedy of The Kennedys, Konrad Meissner who works with The Silos and Graham Parker, Joe McGinty who has worked with the Psychedelic Furs to Ronnie Spector, and Claudia Chopek, who has recorded with Moby, TV On The Radio, and Bruce Springsteen.
With all of this in mind, you pay closer attention as to how all of his music is put together on Porcelain. And then in your mind, the grand illusion exists on how easy all of these songs exist. Rogers has completed another gem where the majority of these songs will have you feeling the vitality and passion of rock music.
Wooden Wand – Biarwood (Fire Records)
Wooden Wand
Briarwood
Fire Records
Links:
I often listen to Q95, the classic rock radio station in the city. I do so dominantly on my drive to and from work when the iPod is not charged or I forget to stock the vehicle with a CD or two. It’s the only thing a non-XM/Sirius subscriber can do.
Sometimes I don’t mind just turning it on to get my fill of familiarity, but I usually end up regretting my decision. It may still be rock and roll to them, but it’s the same song and dance from the same bands that’s been churning out the same song like the Russian radio station blasting shrill bleeps out into the airwaves. You sit there just hoping to catch an earful of something new. I always thought, if aliens do find our planet and tune into the radio to learn about us, would I want Guns ‘N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine” or Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls” to be what they think our taste in pop culture will be (not like they would understand pop culture in the first place)? I find it intriguing and disturbing at the same time the functionality of a classic rock station. Oh, it’s “Stairway to Heaven” AGAIN! Play some Skynard! AGAIN!
What about newer songs? You never hear anything from the Stones’ Steel Wheels album (which has some excellent rock songs) or what about more recent Tom Petty. That dude is still rocking some rich and talented songs. What about giving something new a chance. There are viable and new rock and roll artists out there like Wooden Wand? Why wouldn’t James Jackson Toth’s songs fit in there alongside some Bob Seger or Allmond Brothers?
Wooden Wand is churning out some impressive rock music without forcibly doing so. What’s on Briarwood are chapters filled with gorgeous lyrical imagination and songs that will grow on you right from the start. “Winter in Kentucky” makes a decent first impression, reminiscent of a ‘90s-era Go Betweens. Then you get to “Scorpion Glow” and “Whither Away” and you begin to feel it. I even nodded in appreciation. No one else was around, but I felt compelled to exert some kind of positive reaction, acknowledging the greatness of this album.
“Big Mouth USA” lures you into a state of bliss with its Psych Rock demeanor without getting weird and keeping the core essentials at the forefront. It’s something The Flaming Lips would write, but Wooden Wands to have successfully packaged it.
“Good Time” channels Beggars Banquet or early Neil Young making you appreciate the guitar work all the more. And if it’s not the lyrics that jump out at you, it’s the guitars. They are done so well, I don’t feel like I’ve blatantly appreciated what the guitars do to a song like I have with Thoth’s constructions.
An accentuation to that is the deluxe edition contains the demos of these songs and shows a variation of early ideas versus the finished product. It’s great for any fan, but also is nice to follow the diagram. Even in this raw state, you can’t falter Thoth for laying the groundwork as this is no lo-fi versions. Rough and tumble as they are, it’s all a joy to listen to.
When I get the itch to indulge in some rock, I will be prepared to discard recycled radio play for some Wooden Hands.
The Jukebox – Onward, Soldiers’ “Cinder Blocks”
There is something to be said about a good, honest rock song. For “Cinder Blocks” expect no gimmickry and no cheap tricks. The band does not spend a lot of time on special effects and more time exploring on exactly what needs to be explored.
What’s that? For Onward, Soldiers, it’s the essence of crafting imaginative lyrics and strong musical representation. The song, inspired by Sean Thomas Gerard’s dream about Medusa, it has all of the leanings to something epic and wild.
What we get is condensed into the three-minute concordance of pure power rock bliss. You may not have much in the way of the song standing out, but you will quickly respect the song for what it is.
It could be Gerard’s East Coast (Pittsburgh) leanings for punchy chords and tight beats, or it could be the band’s North Carolina roots, something that comes out as being relaxed and paced. “Cinder Blocks” proves that both can coincide together if carefully laid out, a style that is fitting with their release Monsters (Winoca Records).
“Cinder Blocks” is a great way to know the band and a nice testament to their growth as musicians.
The Heaven Switch – Self Titled (CSF Music Group)
The Heaven Switch
Self Titled
CSF Music Group
Link: Official Website
Maybe time has surpassed when one indie band after the other was putting out glossy versions of pop punk albums forging rock into radio-friendly hits and filed under the weight of what the industry was churning out at the time. It got to the point, you could hardly tell one of these groups apart from the other. The mad scientist found the secret formula and multiplied it to the masses.
Those times are gone and in comes Ryan Calhoun. He formed The Heaven Switch and re-visited and revised the formula to create something that I would not simply call re-hashing of the pretty boy pop rock era. “Raise A Flag” may start out like the rest of them, but Calhoun is better than that. “Stolen Car” proves that he can come up with a great rock song. It’s not like he’s new to all of this, his last album Everything That I’m Not got all kinds of attentions and chart placements through iTunes and other avenues.
I feel that Calhoun is in a place where he has the ability to expand his musical self, and has done so properly with this self-titled release. He has not stretched beyond his capabilities as this is a nice complement within his now growing discography. You will find that this album is easy to listen to, and you will be pleasantly surprised by the intimacy and exquisite acoustic number of “Fault Lines” or power rocker of “Surface.”
There are elements of this album I feel I should hate but Calhoun makes it so easy to be engrossed in his lyrical writings and consistent tunes. A well-rounded album for the masses.
