Category Archives: Rock
Megafaun – Self-Titled (Hometapes)
Megafaun
Self-Titled
Hometapes
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Link: http://megafaun.com/
Megafaun “State/Meant” by Hometapes
If you do not run out and pick up this incredible rock album, you will be missing out on one of the greats for 2011. The end of September expect a new adventure for the band as they go beyond previous conceptualizations and into limitless possibilities and scope. The brother to Bon Iver (when the band DeYarmond Edison split up, Justin Vernon went to Bon Iver and the rest of the band formed Megafaun), expect to be blown away because for Megafaun, it’s unlike anything you have heard before.
“Real Slow” sets the mantra like a buzzing head spin into a hypnotic crawl of gorgeous folk rock. The illusion lies within the simplistic sound structure so you will want to dig deep into the mindset of the song as they set the stage for a journey of musical experimentation.
The experimental values come in on the aquatic “These Words,” which incorporate spa-like sounds with psychedelic posturing. It does not do well for the vocals like “Get Right” does; a shame because it’s the vocals that build a powerful presence to the album.
It’s these songs that continue to put this band on a pedestal for talent and musicianship. “Second Friend” plucks out everything great from rock and roll and weaves them together with an accompaniment of strings as “State/Meant” brings the banjo out and adds to the ‘70s acoustic glow. All of this is interspersed with more challenging numbers like the multi-instrumental “Isadora” or the road-worn blues of “Scorned.”
You may gravitate to the easier numbers, but it will be something like the dimensional style of “Postscript” that will put a gleam in your eye, bringing the cool and collected rock numbers to a more appreciated light.
Despite the disappointing sing-along that ends the album, you will find the rest to be solid gold.
Afterlife Parade – Death | Rebirth (Self-Released)
Afterlife Parade
Death | Rebirth
Self-Released
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Afterlife Parade – “Black Woods, White Beach” (from the album Rebirth)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:15 — 3.7MB)
Link: http://afterlifeparade.bandcamp.com/
When you come across an EP titled Death, you begin to prepare for some kind of dark and deeply affecting lyrical promenade linking you to the mystic and often heartache of the other side. But for Quinn Erwin, his Afterlife Parade project is a surprise. When you dig into his songs, you begin to wonder where is the pain in his music? Sure on “Nothing But Love Can Stay” there is a soberness like a Sunday sunset, but the over-riding sensation is a feeling of celebration; not to death, of course, but to life. If you get beyond the sadness of mortality, then you realize just how special the gift of life is. That’s how Erwin thinks.
But he’s not going to preach that to you. The only thing you will get out of these songs are honest rock expressing his experiences through sincere storytelling. And the music is felt more as a backdrop to all of this than a statement. Everything is wrapped around his vocals that carry the song to success. And when you get to that Nashville-tinged rock on the title track, you feel that sense of belonging. It’s where he should be.
This makes a case when you compare Death to Rebirth. In the musical concepts of things, there is not much difference between the two ideas. “Black Woods, White Beach” continues that exploratory search. With the escapism of the rhythm, the thing you get out of this song is the feeling that Erwin his lifted the veil and is ready to take on the future. After that, it simply becomes an album.
But within the context of Rebirth, Erwin is more experimental, messing around with electronics and strange time signatures to co-exist with the standard folk rock leanings he does so well. But when you hear the title track to Rebirth you see he can handle himself under a different musical umbrella, even if that umbrella sounds a lot like U2. And “Sequoia” is encapsulated in indie rock immediacy. Why the whiny overtones, I’m not sure because he sounds stronger without it. For me, the title track would have been a perfect ending that is punctual and powerful. But again I am the one to stick around for the dusty trail of transient tales.
Joe Paulson – This Fine Evening (Joe Paulson Music)
Joe Paulson
This Fine Evening
Joe Paulson Music
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Link: www.myspace.com/joepaulsonmusic.com
Like the cover beckons and the simple outline of the piano, Joe Paulson entices you with his musicianship…and enticing he does. His piano skills are impressive. When you hear “Cinderella,” you get glimpses of Bruce Hornsby-like influences tucked in there. When the guitars and drums kick in, you realize what a great alternative rock number he has just created.
Even with the electronic piano on “Beauty In Her Eyes” you feel its warming sound waves wrapping around you. While we are on ballads, “Lovestruck USA” is tinged with soft hues and Sunday afternoon contemplation, feeling like that great love song from Cold Spring Harbour.
This Fine Evening is an album that gradually keeps getting better with every listen. When I first played through these tracks, I took them for what they were. But something kept me coming back to re-visit its whimsical allure. And a song like “All that I Know” becomes that much more meaningful.
Paulson’s knack for ‘70s rock introspection bursts forth in a glowing glory as you get visions of Ambrosia in your head as equally as you can imagine him next to Semisonic.
And then we return to the country folk jam “New York Highway” or the bouncy urbanized “Expectations,” both two different styles of Paulson’s musical spectrum, but both that wanders off without striking as many notes as say Hornsby likes to do, but has that same pop-like departure into a pianoesque daydream.
It’s a positive album that will affect you positively.
Various Artists – Keb Darge and Little Edith’s Legendary Wild Rockers (BBE Records)
MP3: The Gee Cees – “Buzz Saw”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:07 — 4.8MB)
Various Artists
Keb Darge and Little Edith’s Legendary Wild Rockers
BBE Records
Rating: 5 out of 5
Link: http://www.bbemusic.com/data.pl?release=BBE169CCD
Remember the Bob Keane Del-Fi resurgence in the ‘90s? That cat was releasing retro comps left and right. Be it surf, rare rock ‘n’ roll stomp, or exotica, there was never a dull moment to that scene and even the comps with modern bands doing old Del-Fi classics or other songs were ace (highly recommended is Shots In The Dark).
What Del-Fi Records did for me was to start becoming curious to this underworld of ‘50s and ‘60s rock that went beyond people like The Beach Boys or Bill Haley. I should credit The Cramps and their fascination for gritty rock and roll covers (Ronnie Dawson’s “Rockin’ Bones” is one of my favorites).
This and a little help through WFMU, I was able to stumble upon a really cool comp called Wail Man Wail, Original Rockabilly and Chicken Bop, Volume 3, which I believe is the only volume to this collection. The compilation of real rarities blew my gourd with a sound that was so raw and relentless in the rockabilly genre that I am hooked.
Since then, I have not been able to find a compilation that has blown my mind and charged me to re-visit a lost musical era that, to this day, is still equally vibrant and exciting. That is until now.
Keb Darge and Little Edith’s Legendary Wild Rockers is immaculate in their collection of gritty youth anthems and rage rockers. Darrel Rhodes’ souped-up roadster jam “Lou Lou,” The Carnations’ wave rider “Scorpion,” and Kai-Ray’s tribal “I Want Some Of That” will send you in an uncontrollable fit to gyrate something fierce.
And the sax on Mel Dorsey with Chuck Wayne and The Heart Beats’ “Lil Lil?” Wail man, wail! It’s also a pumped up B-side cover from the Hives (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfRyDDvlhs4).
Keb Darge and Little Edith, you cats have compiled an essential piece of music history that cannot be matched.
List of Wild Rockers
Boogaloo and His Gallant Crew
The Carnations
Dale McBride
Darrel Rhodes
The Jiants
Kai-Ray
Mel Dorsey with Chuck Wayne and the Heart Beats
The Moonlighters
The Reekers
Ron Thompson His Rowdy Guitar and the Brogham’s
Stormy Gayle
The Valentines
Heidecker and Wood – Starting From Nowhere (Little Record Company)
MP3: Heidecker and Wood – “Right or Wrong”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:41 — 7.4MB)
Heidecker and Wood
Starting From Nowhere
Little Record Company
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Link: http://heideckerandwood.com/
Oh those glorious ‘70s sunsets. That sweet van with the fantastical scene painted infinitely on the side. The sounds of Climax Blues Band and Poco illuminating through Super 8 lenses. These were the sounds of an endless summer; sounds that felt too good to pass up.
These are also the sounds that Tim Heidecker and Davin Wood stumbled upon and discovered that their creations were too good to pass up, creating Starting From Nowhere based off of an accidental song originally written for Tim And Eric Awesome Show, but the sound did not fit the curriculum.
Not replaceable of the glorious sounds that Seals and Croft sailed away with or the Eagles conceptualized on, Heidecker and Wood’s spirits are in the right place. With “The Wedding Song” you get the feeling of soft splendor even with lyrical signs pointing wryly to Steely Dan.
“Right To The Minute” sounds a little more like David Sanborn with the smooth jazz sax elements in this song, but the band picks back up with the guitar jam of “Right Or Wrong.”
We’ve heard are fair share of ‘70s throwbacks, but Starting From Nowhere encapsulates a time more accurately portrayed by a band with something more than a fuzz box pedal and a Led Zeppelin box set. This is real.
