Category Archives: Reviews

Backyard Tire Fire – The Places We Lived (Review)

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My discovery of Backyard Tire Fire is thanks to MySpace. I’d heard of the band– references have shown up in a few of the RSS feeds I follow– but I hadn’t heard their music. Apparently, their enterprising “web guy” saw that I was a fan of Cracker and Johnny Hickman and reached out. Hickman is quoted as saying that Backyard Tire Fire is his favorite band right now. After listening to the streaming tracks from their MySpace page and samples on their website as well as a full album stream of their previous album Vagabonds and Hooligans on Indie911 I, too have become a fast fan of their Midwestern brand of country-tinged rock. Hickman compares them to early Wilco, Son Volt and Flaming Lips.

However, I don’t think that the shades of early Wilco and Son Volt stick around for long on Backyard Tire Fire’s new album The Places We Lived. There is something more at work here. From the treated pianos, chimes, bells, and strings throughout, the plucky bass and the double tracked harmonies– specifically on “Shoulda Shut It.” It at times seems like a darker version of Brian Wilson’s vision and the band toys with some Smile-ish changes in mood and the layering of instruments and sound effects. Is this our Surfer Girl with Seasonal Affective Disorder?

I’m not sure that Backyard Tire Fire would ever claim the Beach Boys as a relative, however. Maybe through a second cousin of Tom Petty or Cheap Trick. Ed Anderson has one of the better voices I’ve heard out of the indie scene with the ability to get very soulful and funky on the stomping “One Wrong Turn,” he evokes his inner Zander with the anti-tribute to the workweek “Welcome To The Factory.” “Bright lights and blank stares through the night,” indeed complete with ratchet and clank over big rock drums delivered by official timekeeper Tim Kramp. This is clearly the sound of a band having fun in the studio playing with all the toys. The album sounds great. I read that Tire Fire likes to work in analog, and this album has a vinyl release to compliment that effort, BTW.

This record seems to owe a bit to Tom Waits as well. Certainly Ed’s voice is easier to listen to, but you can hear it in the slightly boozy songs anchored with treated piano in “Rainy Day (Don’t Go Away),” “One Wrong Turn” and the album closer “Home Today.”

“It’s funny how we forget sometimes,” Ed sings in the album opener and title track, “the places we once lived.” Tire Fire’s new album is as much about the Middle-Class Midwestern perspective of the places they lived that colors the landscape of the songs as it is about the influences of the music that provided the soundtrack to the journey to get to those places. The Places We Lived wears its influences proudly. Each of the songs on the album’s economical 35 minutes stands on its own effectively, but also provides guides to those places they lived from funk and blues to country and classic rock. Mixed together with some impressive studio production we have what I think it one of the standout albums from this Summer! In an interview with JamBase, Ed says that with each album he thinks, “this is the recording that everyone is gonna latch on to” which drives them to “get the job done.” In my opinion, The Places We Lived certainly has the hooks and chops to get them there.

Backyard Tire Fire are currently touring in support of The Places We Lived. Click Here for the updated dates. They are going to be at the Picador in Iowa City tonight (9/10) for an early show and I’ll be there.

Click Here for Backyard Tire Fire’s Website

Click Here for Backyard Tire Fire’s MySpace Page

Click Here for the interview in JamBase with Backyard Tire Fire

High Places – 03/07 – 09/07 (Review) & Upcoming Show

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The High Places’ first release on Thrill Jockey is a collection of singles and hard-to-find tracks leading up to their signing. This release stands as an introduction to the collaboration of Robert Barber and Mary Pearson. Barber provides a babbling brook of cut-and-paste drum circle riddims propelling the paper boats of Pearson’s innocent iko-ikoish jumprope chants. Daycare psychedelica for the Thomas the Tank Engine set, if you will.

At times the at once atmospheric and Caribbean feel of the songs reminds me of my favorite parts of Adventures in the Ultraworld by the Orb.

The cover art used in this release is exactly the same as the band’s 2007 High Places EP 7″ (only 300 made) on Ancient Almanac that earned an impressive 8.2 at Pitchfork. All four songs from that EP are represented here along with some harder to find tracks including “Jump In” which was a song commissioned for an elementary school music program. It seems to me that this band isn’t entirely inappropriate to play for the little ones, in fact, and certainly a bit more interesting that some of the kid fodder dolled out today.

The band is currently on tour gearing up for their self-titled release on 9/23. You can hear two songs– “Golden” and “From Stardust to Sentience” from that release if you visit the band’s MySpace page. They also have some downloads available, too.They will be stopping in Grinnell College at Bob’s Underground Cafe on Thursday, 9/25 and at The Mill in Iowa City on Friday, 9/26 where they will be with Ponytail and Wet Hair.

Sep 6 2008 8:00P
FREE! East Village Radio Music Festival at South St. Seaport New York, New York
Sep 11 2008 8:00P
Le Poisson Rouge w/ Crystal Slits, Breathe Owl Breathe, Deastro New York, New York
Sep 16 2008 9:00P
Brillobox Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Sep 17 2008 8:00P
Grog Shop Cleveland, Ohio
Sep 18 2008 8:00P
The DAAC Grand Rapids, Michigan
Sep 19 2008 8:00P
Forward Festival w/ Dan Deacon Madison, Wisconsin
Sep 20 2008 8:00P
Pygmalion Fest @ Krannert Center w/ Yo La Tengo Champaign-Urbana, Illinois
Sep 23 2008 8:00P
Record Release Show at AV-aerie Chicago, Illinois
Sep 24 2008 8:00P
Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, Minnesota
Sep 25 2008 8:00P
Grinnell College w/ Ponytail, Wet Hair Grinnell, Iowa
Sep 26 2008 8:00P
The Mill w/ Ponytail, Wet Hair, Peaking Lights Iowa City, Iowa
Sep 27 2008 8:00P
Rhinoceropolis w/ Ponytail Denver, Colorado
Sep 29 2008 8:00P
Kilby Court w/ Ponytail Salt Lake City, Utah
Sep 30 2008 8:00P
Badlander w/ Ponytail Missoula, Montana
Oct 2 2008 8:00P
Nectar w/ Ponytail Seattle, Washington
Oct 3 2008 8:00P
Department of Safety Anacortes, Washington
Oct 4 2008 8:00P
Richards on Richards w/ Ponytail Vancouver, British Columbia
Oct 6 2008 8:00P
Backspace w/ Ponytail Portland, Oregon
Oct 8 2008 8:00P
Bottom of the Hill w/ Ponytail San Francisco, California
Oct 10 2008 8:00P
The Smell w/ Ponytail Los Angeles, California
Oct 12 2008 8:00P
Modified Arts w/ Ponytail Phoenix, Arizona
Oct 15 2008 8:00P
Emo’s Austin, Texas

Listen to Head Spins

High Places MySpace Page

High Places Blog

Sheryl Crow Live In Boston 7/30/08 (Review)

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Sheryl Crow
I was in Boston this week for business and had the opportunity to see Sheryl Crow live at the very nice Bank of America Pavilion in Boston. It was a beautiful evening and the chance to see a show outdoors at night was great. The seemingly largely female audience was entertained by James “You’re Beautiful” Blunt and legendary Reggae/Ska act Toots and the Maytals. Overlong dinner plans caused the group I was with to miss all of Toots’s show and mercifully most of Blunt’s show. I did get to hear “Beautiful” as well as his newer single “1973” which seemed unexpectedly full of energy for the weepy folkster. He was standing on his piano and running through the audience. BTW: “1973” quotes “I Can See Clearly Now” which Crow drops in a song later in the evening.

In a fashion similar to the Detours album, Sheryl opened the set with a solo acoustic performance of “God Bless This Mess.” The band joined and provided a rocking set of Sheryl’s catalog– covering a good balance of her big hits and songs from her new album.

Admittedly, I was a bit skeptical about this show. I knew she put on a good live show but her last two albums– the country influenced Wildflowers and her latest Detours which is a personal account of the last three years of her life– have been a departure from her typical releases and certainly from the sunkissed C’mon C’mon. I had downloaded her last two albums but never really got past a cursory listen.

Any reservations I had about the show were cast away as Sheryl and band started working the stage. She was clearly enjoying herself and the crowd was returning the positive vibe she was delivering. My wife thinks that most men are only fans of Sheryl because they want to sleep with her. While I agree that Sheryl is holding up very well for 46, she is a very confident live performer that delivers as entertaining a live show as I have seen with any seasoned live act. In fact, it occurred to me watching the show that her no-nonsense blend of American rock reminded me of Tom Petty’s live shows.

I was pretty impressed with her (and her band’s) ability to carry off some covers and cover teases. It is with a knowing wink that they carried the bluesy Fender Rhodes and bongos driven “Gasoline” from Detours into “Gimme Shelter.” Her tease of Gary Wright’s “Love is Alive” in “There Goes The Neighborhood” was unexpected (at least by me, I don’t know if she does this at every show) and appreciated. The cover of “Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder was very good and a fun way to wrap up the encore.

The hits were mostly in attendance: “Leaving Los Vegas,” “Strong Enough,” “My Favorite Mistake,” “If It Makes You Happy,” “Soak Up The Sun,” “Everyday Is A Winding Road,” and “All I Wanna Do” enough to keep some of the others in my group who weren’t as familiar with Sheryl’s catalog happy and they commented about how surprised they were that they knew so many songs.

She performed no less than six songs from her new album, and they fit in very well alongside her very intimidating run of hits since 1994. Before performing the title track of this year’s Detours Sheryl made reference to her recent life-altering events by saying that “it’s the detours that really teach you about who you are.”

Sheryl Crow

On the flight home from Boston I decided to give Detours another listen. At times its honesty is a bit shocking and not at all what I expected. The brave portrayal of raw emotion in songs like “Diamond Ring,” “Make It Go Away (Radiation Song),” and “Lullaby For Wyatt” actually reminds me of John Lennon’s laid-bare biographical approach to songwriting during his solo career. The album and likely this tour is a cathartic exercise for Sheryl and one she evidently needed. This show and review of her latest album changes Sheryl for me from the “beer-drinking in the morning party girl” to a woman who is bravely sharing a close look at herself at a time of change. It will be interesting to see what is next.

Setlist (thanks to the boards at sherylcrow.com)

God Bless This Mess
Shine Over Babylon
Love Is Free
Leaving Los Vegas
Strong Enough
Can’t Cry Anymore (including I Can See Clearly)
Motivation
My Favorite Mistake
Gasoline (Gimme Shelter)
There Goes The Neighborhood (including Love Is Alive)
Detours
Redemption Day
Out of Our Heads
If It Makes You Happy
Soak Up The Sun
Everyday Is A Winding Road

Encore:
All I Wanna Do
Higher Ground

Click Here for my flickr photoset of the show with more pictures

Click Here for Sheryl Crow’s Website

Umphrey’s McGee – Live At The Murat (Review)

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Live at the Murat ArtworkThis is the longest I have taken to write a review of an album. I received the promo for Umphrey’s McGee’s newest live album Live At The Murat back in October of 2007. Unfortunately, at the time I received the promo I didn’t feel I was informed enough about the band to give this album a fair review so I “lived” with it for a while.

I was fairly familiar with the band, and liked parts of The Bottom Half, which was their last studio release (also released in 2007). The Bottom Half was the remains of the studio work from the previous 2006 release Safety in Numbers. As a result, I was pretty interested to hear this release, but was immediately overwhelmed by it in that I realized that the release didn’t have many songs from either of the last two releases so I wasn’t familiar with the songs.

In my review of Keller Williams’s album Dream, which was also on SCIFidelity, I told a story of my first Phish concert. This was the tour supporting Farmhousein 2000 and by then, Phish had already been together for seven albums. I hung with Phish until shortly after the hiatus before the subsequent breakup in 2004. During the time I was a fan I had a lot of catching up to do with Phish. While Farmhouse was regarded as Phish’s most accessible album, the albums to date were generally not as nearly as accessible and usually based on some amount of fleshing out of the material on tour. So, the previous releases had their own established history with the fans and the live shows. As a music fan who loves to dig in with a band– it really was a very daunting idea to do this with Phish. You had the officially released catalog as well as all of the taped shows and the volumes of information and statistics that were kind of a hold over from the Grateful Dead’s fanbase. I jumped in with both feet and even bought all of the LivePhish releases with the costume Halloween shows as well as the official releases. After the Hiatus, and the release of Round Roomin 2002, I kind of fell out of the collecting mode with Phish and I really even became sort of tired of listening to their stuff. I eventually sold off the LivePhishseries as well as some of the promos and other items I had. I still have the studio releases which are really allI feel I need. I didn’t follow the solo careers of the members after the first two Trey Anastasio albums and the Vida Blue release from Page McConnell.

And, so it is with Umphrey’s to an extent. Like Phish, Umphrey’s is a band with history of a growing and fervent fanbase. 2007 is nine years after their formation, and Live at the Murat is an attempt by the band to capture where they are these days with their live show. It is their first official live release since Local Band Does Oklahoma in 2003 and one the band spent time preparing for. While the album itself is based on two nights at the Murat Egyptian Room in Indianapolis, the show had some prepwork done ahead of time to plan some of the performance.

The album itself is a collection of new material, some of the planned “interludes” as well as some “fan favorites.” Since I got this album, I have had the opportunity to download some other shows to kind of catch up on what Umphrey’s shows are like. Like Phish and the Grateful Dead before them, a live show from Umphrey’s McGee while largely improvisational has a meticulously planned setlist with a focus on not repeating themselves. While this is great and guarantees that a fan gets a different show every time, this makes comparing a live album against any given show sort of pointless (unless you want to get down to discussing different dates of “In The Kitchen” which I’m not interested in doing).

In my opinion, the first five tracks on Disc One set the bar pretty high for the album with one of the strongest sequences of material I’ve heard in a while. There is a reason that “In The Kitchen” is one of the fan favorites and we get a cool transition of an acoustic version which after a couple of improv segments turns into an electric version. Very nice and I listen to this part of the album the most when I return to it. I really like the dramatic piano at the end of “Electric Improvisation” and the chord change that leads back into the reprise of “In The Kitchen.” This is followed with the only song on a studio release in two years, “Higgins” from The Bottom Half. I would have expected to hear more material from the last two albums as this is what most bands do with their live albums. This makes the album essential in the catalog since it provides many unreleased tracks.

I listen to my fair share of music in the course of a week and between my CD player and my iPod I always have something playing. I have found that Live at the Murat really stands up to repeated listenings for me. To that end, I might even recommend this album to anyone who was interested in hearing the band for the first time. It shows off the band’s astounding live chops as well as their ability to craft a song. One thing that this band has going for it for me is that their influences draw from some progressive bands that I listen to. The Wikipedia article on Umphrey’s lists Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Yes, Genesis as well as bands like the Police. I have pretty extensive King Crimson and Pink Floyd collections and I picked these influences out right away. One track that took me by surpise is “The Triple Wide” which is a dancey, electronic instrument propelled partially by an 808 beat carrying a buzzy synth line to a dual with guitar at the 4-minute mark.

Since last year I’ve been following the very excellent and recommended Podcast. In addition to the selected live shows provided we get to hear the very laid back sense of humor that seems to contrary to the virtuosity of their performance. We are provided with their sense of humor on this album as well even without stage banter. The band gave the audience some chanted cues which show up in the recording. One notable one is the “This album sucks!!” that closes out disc one. We also get some “FUCK YEAHs” during the great Fripp Guitar Craft-alike “Angular Momentum.” We get the requisite stoner humor in “The Fuzz” (“There goes my BOOOONNNG!”), bathroom humor in “40’s Theme” with the warning “Tomorrow you’ll be on the shitter.”

Of course, this isn’t really what Umphrey’s McGee is about at the end of the day. Umphrey’s is ultimately a band who is all about the music and really about bringing great shows to the fans and Live at The Murat is a great portrait of the band in it’s element. The twin-guitar attack of Umphrey’s provides a well-adapted and flexible tone surface. The band likes to stretch out in searing guitar solos and soaring anthemic building bridges. While I’m not part of the regular in-the-know fanbase, yet, at the end of the album I find myself looking forward to seeing a show.

Visit the Murat Mini-Site for streaming tracks.

Scion A/V’s New Singles: Ghostface Killah, Rhythm Roots All Stars and 45 King (Review)

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Back in December, I reviewed an incredible collection of Daptone Records artists that was put out by Toyota/Scion’s Scion A/V record label. Continuing in their pursuit of turning out promotional releases that appeal to their target Scion-driving audience, Scion A/V released three singles in May– all of them hip-hop titles. According to the PR, these releases will become available as downloads as well, but you should be able to pick these up at any events that Scion would participate in like car shows and Hot Import Nights-type events. I assume you can get these at the dealership as well, but I’ve never been to a Scion dealer.

Ghostface Killah vs. Rhythm Roots All-StarsThe first release (SA/V 003-01) is the Ghostface Killah vs. Rhythm Roots All-Stars “Charlie Brown” single. “Charlie Brown” is apparently a previously unreleased track from Ghostface Killah. You can hear the original track apparently produced by MF Doom HERE. Apparently never officially released due to sample clearance issues. Although, apparently it showed up on the “More Fish” EP. So, the track gets a new lease on life by pairing the acapella with L.A. Funksters Rhythm Roots All-Stars. The RRAS is a collection of long-time LA session players and members of the amazing Breakestra.

The track contains a typically fast rap from Ghostface explaining that he’s going to save us from the bleak landscape of hip-hop. The chorus says it all “This is real hip-hop on the line today / It’s worth more than any label or what they pay / I’m gonna save hip-hop because it’s dying away.” RRAS provides sliced and diced bass and horn stabs over the beat to move it. The only bummer with this track is that they had to edit out the profanity. I find the gaps in the rap distracting. But this is where the remixes help out, I think.

Ghostface Killah SA/V 003-02 is the “Charlie Brown” Remixes EP with knob-twiddling by the likes of DJ Mehdi, Yuksek, Orgasmic, and Guns N’ Bombs. I’ve got to hand it to Scion A/V, they really know their underground artists. I hadn’t heard of any of these remixers before this release! Something interesting I found out while researching this review is that Mehdi, Yuksek and Orgasmic are all French producers, and while Guns N’ Bombs are from Cali, they signed to Kitsune, which is a French label.

First up is Mehdi who took the whole acapella vocals from the track but also adds Sewdish female MC Mapei to it giving Ghostface a duet of sorts. The production is a stripped-down Electro 808 plus new bass line that really provides more melody to the track than the Rhythm Roots All-Stars did.

Yuksek is up next who transforms the track to a Garage-style with dirty synths and a slamming 1-2 beat. He mostly used the chorus otherwise it’s a completely new track, really.

Orgasmic is also known as the producer for French Hip-hop act TTC. His remix which harkens back to the late 80’s and early 90’s club music. DJ Orgasmic also kept all of the vocals on this acidhouse-ish version. This one is my favorite out of all of the mixes on this EP.

The last remix by Guns N’ Bombs is a big beat dub with 4-on-the-floor. It reminds me of Roni Size or a bit like The Chemical Brothers. I really dig the fun analog synth break they included.

45 KingThe third single (SA/V 003-03) features 45 King. 45 King aka “DJ Mark the 45 King” is the producer of a lot of groundbreaking Hip-Hop work including “Stan” by Eminem and “Hard Knock Life” by Jay-Z. As high-visibility as those tracks were, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of him. Looking over his Wikipedia article, one gets a sense of his career and how important he is to the scene.

So, this EP acts as an introduction and an update for 45 King. It is comprised of 8 tracks– actually four tracks of 45 King production and four tracks of remixes of those.

The first track is “Roof” and utilizes MC Wale, who we saw on the Scion Sampler 19 remix track of The Budos Band song “Chicago Falcon (Washington Square Lads Remix).” 45 King’s production hangs a simple guitar loop around the lyrics and you’re left with the hook “This is how we wind it down the line” stuck in your head long after the song stops. The remix is done by DJ Ayres and picks up the beat as well as speeds up the lyrics while adorning the mix with bongo, bass and maracas. Although Ayres removes the chorus hook from the song, it ends up being a real toe-tapper and an improvement over the original.

The next track is appropriately titled “Strings” and also features Wale on the vocals. Light beat with a string quartet loop floats the lyrics. The remix by Brooklin producer Inflagranti strips the track of the string quartet and– I’m pretty sure– inserts the guitars from “Love Is Like Oxygen” by Sweet and speeds it up a bit.

Tracks 5 and 6 are based on the classic “The 900 Number” which effectively brought fame to 45 King in 1987. In this “2K8” version, we have the original squonky sax and beat used in the original, which was sampled from Marva Whitney’s “Unwind Yourself.” On the mic is Pase Rock. DJ Eli Escobar returns with the same sample but flips it to a four-on-the floor beat and adds analog synth for his take on the track.

The last two tracks feature MC 4th Pyramid on the track “P-Y-R-A-M-I-D” in a funky bravado tale. 45 King brings the classic acapella from “Sissy Strut” by the Meters to really cement the tune. I have a bit of a distraction with this song in that I keep expecting to hear “The Magic Number” by De La Soul from 3 Feet High and Rising which used this sample as well. DJ Sammy Bananas (what a great handle!) flips this with a chunky stomp-and-clap beat and switches the focus to the “P-Y-R-A-M-I-D” lyric by distorting and slicing it up and creating a building pressure with it. I dig the synth line in his version.

So, Scion is doing themselves and the music community a service by matching up established artists with up-and-comers. I think the best part of reviewing these releases is that they don’t come with much of a guide, so I end up doing a bunch of googling and finding out about the artists who work on them. Find these releases when you can!

For a limited time, Scion is allowing free downloads of the Ghostface Killah Remix EP and the 45 King one. Don’t sleep on these! Do yourself a favor and follow all of the links I made in this review to learn more about all of these very talented producers as well.

Air – Moon Safari Reissue Blues : What’s Missing?

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Moon SafariPer the folks at Pitchfork (who heard from NME) Air’s landmark album Moon Safari will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a deluxe reissue. This reissue will bundle the original album, plus a disc of bonus material, and a DVD documentary ( Air: Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing directed by Mike Mills, who did the cover art and some of the videos for Moon Safari). The release will happen March 31st on Virgin in the UK and April 15th on Astralwerks in the US.

So, as excited as I am about this release– when this album came out I had a pretty big crush on the lush French sounds– it’s missing songs. For a while I was collecting anything that sounded like Air (Dmitri from Paris, DJ Cam, Mellow, etc.). So, naturally, I have all of the import singles associated with Moon Safari, plus any of the tracks that showed up on compilations like the tres groovy Source Records compilations (Source was the label Air was on initially). It has some of the tracks from the singles, but not all. Here is the tracklist as advertised with where the track came from notated by moi:

Moon Safari:

01 La Femme d’Argent
02 Sexy Boy
03 All I Need
04 Kelly Watch the Stars
05 Talisman
06 Remember
07 You Make It Easy
08 Ce Matin Là
09 New Star in the Sky
10 Le Voyage De Pénélope

Moon Safari Remixes, Rarities and Radio Sessions:

01 Remember (David Whitaker version) (“Kelly Watch the Stars” Single)
02 Kelly Watch the Stars (live at the BBC 1998)
03 J’ai Dormi Sous L’Eau (live at the BBC 1998)
04 Sexy Boy (live at the BBC 1998)
05 Kelly Watch the Stars (Moog Cookbook remix) (“All I Need” Single)
06 Mabrouk (live on KCRW 1998)
07 You Make It Easy (live on KCRW 1998)
08 Bossa 96 (demo)
09 Kelly Watch the Stars (demo)
10 Sexy Boy (Beck ‘Sex Kino’ mix) (“Sexy Boy” Single)

DVD:

01 Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing
02 Videos: “Sexy Boy”, “Kelly Watch the Stars”, “All I Need”, “Le Soleil Est Pres De Moi”
03 Album graphics

So, the rest of the tracks on the bonus disc are new– even to me. That’s enough of a reason for me to buy this.

But, What’s Missing?

“Sexy Boy (Etienne de Crecy & The Flower Pistols Remix)” (“Sexy Boy” single)
“Sexy Boy (Cassius Radio Mix)” (“Sexy Boy” single)
“Jeanne (with Francoise Hardy)” (“Sexy Boy” Single)
“Kelly Watch The Stars (American Girls Remix by Phoenix)” (“All I Need” single)
“Californie” (promotional flexi-disc, although this did get issued on the 1999 reissue of Premiers Symptomes. I consider this a Moon Safari period track)
“Cosmic Bird” (with Jean-Jacques Perrey) (SOURCELab 3 compilation)

Gary Louris Vagabonds Versions and Bonuses

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Former Jayhawk Gary Louris’s solo album Vagabonds was released on 2/19. From a collector’s perspective this is a pretty interesting release in the bonus releases and tracks that exist.

First there was the Limited Edition 180g vinyl gatefold release which came out ahead of the CD release on January 29th. I couldn’t find how “limited” the release is– at least not from the press releases. I suppose this will only be one pressing.

On the release day last Tuesday, if you visited your local independent record store they might have had a promotional 6-track CD called Acoustic Vagabonds. Based on what I read, the tracks on this CD are based on the tracks from the CD and LP except stripped to Gary’s vocals and acoustic guitar. The songs are “True Blue,” “Omaha Nights,” “To Die A Happy Man,” “She Only Calls Me On Sundays,” “We’ll Get By,” and “Vagabonds.”

Additionally, iTunes and Amazon got in on the action by having digital versions of Vagabonds with unique bonus tracks! The really great thing about these bonuses is that if you wanted just the bonus tracks (like if you purchased the album from other means) you can purchase them individually! The only bummer is that the bonus tracks from iTunes aren’t “iTunes Plus” which means that they– unlike the Amazon tracks– are copy protected.

The Amazon bonus tracks are “Baby Let Me Take Care of You,” and “Fall Day (Demo).” “Baby Let Me Take Care of You” reminds me a lot like Nashville Skyline Bob Dylan with it’s pedal steel. “Fall Day” is a nice layered acoustic guitar instrumental.

The iTunes bonus tracks are psychedelic Byrdsy “Three Too Many,” and a beautiful Simon and Garfunkel falsetto in “Working Girl.”

I think it’s great that Louris and Rykodisc are being so generous with the outtakes and bonuses for Vagabonds– I’d like to see more labels and artists doing this.

Get Vagabonds on CD on CD from Amazon
Get Vagabonds on LP from Amazon
Get Vagabonds on mp3 including the bonus tracks from Amazon
Get Vagabonds from iTunes including the bonus tracks
Gary Louris - Vagabonds (Bonus Track Version)

IT’S STAR TIME! – The Diplomats of Solid Sound Featuring the Diplomettes at 3rd Street Live 1-26-08

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The Diplomettes

“It’s Star Time!!!” Doug announced to the Saturday night crowd at 3rd Street Live after a quick instrumental set of songs from The Diplomats of Solid Sound. “It’s Star Time!!” he repeated and introduced the lovely ladies of The Diplomettes who were greeted by enthusiastic cheering and clapping.

The announcement style is a tribute to the emcee Danny Ray who used to exclaim “Star Time!” before James Brown hit the stage. It’s with this knowing wink that The Diplomats of Solid Sound pays homage to the work of soul greats like James Brown who is arguably the architect of the music that influences them. The B3-fueled sound of The Diplomats draws equally from the Stax houseband Booker T and the MG’s and Brown’s band the JB’s.

Nate Basinger on the keys

The band seems very comfortable in the role of backing band to the three vocalists of the Diplomettes. Prior to July 2006 when the girls joined the group, The Diplomats of Solid Sound were largely an instrumental act with three albums under their belt; two of which on independent label Estrus Records. They were enjoying a modicum of popularity mostly in the EU where they had been doing touring and by the finicky tastes of TV producers needing a juicy instrumental vamp for some scene on VH1 and MTV’s regular diet of reality shows. In a similar fashion to Booker T and the MG’s each of the members of the band are noted regional sessionmen performing on most of the noted Eastern Iowa recordings in the last ten years.

Jim Viner and Doug Roberson from the Diplomats of Solid Sound

I guess the last time I saw the Diplomats was March of 2006 at Martini’s. I’ve seen the guys since then– Nate and Jim at the two Bo Ramsey shows and Doug a couple of times at the Picador. There always seemed to be something conflicting with convenient shows. As such, I hadn’t seen any performances with the Diplomettes other than catching some clips on YouTube.

Back then, the Diplomat shows were pretty much low-key affairs. The band pulling out chestnuts from Booker T and the MG’s as well as Blue Note acts and the occasional surf tune in addition to their own material. A great band to kick back and listen to while drinking and hanging with friends. The 2008 version of the band delivers a completely different show.

In fact, the show Saturday night was almost more of a revue in the classic ’60’s sense focusing on showmanship. The focus of the show was the Diplomettes who brought a vintage girl group sensibilityto the act. Each of the three ladies provided lead vocal turns while the other two provided harmonies; sometimes singing in a three-part harmony. I could hear similarities to Motown acts like the Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas, but also Southern Soul/Stax styles, or a Phil Spector girl group influence. At times the vocals seemed to have a 40’s Andrews Sisters feel (at least in the three-part harmonies). Visually, the Diplomettes are stunning– color coordinated dresses and choreography all add to the appeal. I particularly like the palms-out and drop done to “Lights Out.”

Eddie

I was fairly familiar with a lot the songs as I’d been listening to them streaming from the Diplomettes MySpace page— it seemed like the crowd was as well. Original songs like “Hurt Me So” and “Come In My Kitchen” are certainly crowd pleasers. One cover that took me by surprise was the “We’re Doin’ It (Thang) (pt. 2)” by Eddie Bo and the Soulfinders! I’m familiar with this song due to its inclusion in the DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist Brainfreeze all-45’s mix. Very nice choice. I guess these shows are also an education in rare R&B!

The crowd Saturday night was great– lots of folks up dancing of all ages. My wife had a great time and we are talking about going to see them again in February– possibly in Dubuque or in Iowa City.

Go see them if you get a chance!

Here is my flickr.com photoset of the show with more pictures.

The Diplomats of Solid Sound Website

The Diplomats of Solid Sound MySpace Page with songs

The Diplomettes MySpace Page with songs

The Diplomats of Solid Sound Featuring the Diplomettes on Facebook

The Devil Makes Three – self titled LP (Review)

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Devil Makes Three on the TT

There is something right about The Devil Makes Three‘s reissue of their 2002 eponymous debut’s availability on vinyl LP.

The Devil Makes Three is a trio from San Francisco who plays music in a style that is largely influenced by folk but draws additional color and rhythm from 20’s and 30’s blues and bluegrass as well as drawing from a punk ethos. What does this mean? If you like the Violent Femmes first record or bands like 16 Horsepower, The Squirrel Nut Zippers, and possibly The Gun Club this band is for you. The headstones of death, drinking and disappointment carved with vocals, acoustic guitars, and stand-up bass.

Which is why I say that The Devil Makes Three’s record is fittingly on vinyl in addition to it’s future-shock CD and digital download versions. I can’t think of a better way to join Pete Bernhard in “Old Number Seven” than to knock a couple of fingers back of the song’s tribute neat while their 180g record spins in the background!

As a side note, the first time I heard “Old Number Seven” its scrubby 1-2 strumming reminded of the Pixies “Mr. Grieves.” Reading the press bio they do cite the Pixies as an influence.

The record was originally released in 2002 by Snazzy Productions, which apparently still carries the original version as well as the band’s 2004 effort Longjohns, Boots, and a Belt and their 2006 live album A Little Bit Faster And A Little Bit Worse. These last two are also carried by CDBaby who has Pete Bernhard’s solo CD Things I Left Behind, too. When Milan Records signed the band they started with their first release and appended four bonus tracks of live and demo tracks from 2002 and 2003. It was a good choice to reissue this album– all of the tracks are well-written and performed by the band and the lyrics are impressive. Pete’s lyrics paint the perfect picture– one track I particularly like is “Graveyard.”

“Well that’s Me / Just a’leanin on my shovel / In this graveyard of dreams”

The thing that gets me about this line is how completely it describes the situation. Not only is the narrator living in a graveyard of dreams– he’s actually digging the holes in which his dreams lie!

The vinyl release of The Devil Makes Three is a single jacket with new album artwork that is done with old engravings which suits the period-feel of the music contained within. The front cover is pretty simple and the back cover has the full lyrics printed for the ten original songs– not the bonus cuts. I don’t have the original release to compare the album art or the remastering, however the record sounds fantastic on my turntable. I suspect, however, that because they advertise the album as “Digitally Remastered” that they did that first and then mastered the vinyl. I would have prefered that they would have done a separate mastering of the vinyl from the original tapes. It could be the case that the original work was recorded digitally, I suppose. The remastering was handled by Christian Dwiggins at The Engine Room.

I have a mid-line Gemini turntable with an Audio Technica cartridge playing through a five-year-old Sony AV receiver and Polk Audio S-10’s that are coming up on 12 years old. My setup is purely functional. Still, it sounds great to my ears. I enjoy listening to vinyl because it forces me to deliberately sit down and listen to the music, and this album stands up to a beginning-to-end listening.

Listen or Download a full version of “Old No. 7”

Listen to other mp3 samples of tracks at the Milan Records Page.

Visit The Devil Makes Three’s MySpace Page to hear other tracks.

Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary Shows : Day 2 – 12/15/07 (A Review)

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After a day downtown of lunch with a couple of Erik’s friends and some light shopping Erik and I made our way back over to Logan Square. It started snowing ominously around lunchtime and didn’t look like it was going to let up. Undeterred, we were committed to seeing more bands and we were especially interested to see Califone, but we also heard from one of the guys at Restless Records that Tortoise would be making an appearance!

We got there early to secure a good parking spot and decided to eat at Johnny’s again. We had a late lunch so we weren’t really hungry. We split an order of fries and Erik got a grilled cheese or some kind of melt. We made our way over to the venue and hung out in the hallway waiting for the doors to open. We talked to the other early-arrivers and the security guys from the Empty Bottle.

While we were standing there we saw Tortoise bassist Doug McCombs walk out and in as well as guitarist Jeff Parker. Before the show I thought that Tortoise wouldn’t be able to play as Jeff was performing at another show that night. I asked Jeff if he was still doing that and he said he was– so he came to this show did his thing with Tortoise and left to do that other gig!

So, we got to see Tortoise doing their soundcheck which included two NEW Tortoise songs! One of them sounded very Stereolab-ish with the organ sound it had.

Tortoise soundcheck

The Tortoise was a welcome surprise, considering the circumstances and the fact that they did two new songs was great. Since Tortoise was first and unannounced, there wasn’t very many people there although people were drifting in while the set was commencing. McEntire played drums with his usual abandon– his sticks were disintegrating while he was playing. Wood splinters flying off of the drum heads. Really, Tortoise has two of the best drummers around between McEntire and Herndon. Seeing Tortoise live drives home the fact that first and foremost they are a percussion band. Everyone in the band at one time or another during a show is on sticks or mallets.

Tortoise

After Tortoise was done and Jeff made his hasty exit into the snowy night there was a short break while Tortoise tore down and the next band set up.

I was looking forward to hearing Eleventh Dream Day. They are an institution in some respects– ten albums release in their 20 years of existence. Theirs is the story of hopes dashed as Atlantic dropped them and rebirth on Thrill Jockey. I really liked their last album Zeros and Ones as well as Stalled Parade. Frankly, I was blown away by the energy this band has on stage. Rick Rizzo’s Les Paul and the rhythm of Janet and Doug evokes the stampede of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. I hope they continue to produce records and tour.

Feedback

It was during Eleventh Dream Day’s set that we got another surprise guest– Sue Garner joined the band for a couple of songs including her song “I Like The Name Alice” which Eleventh Dream Day covered for the Plum box set.

Sue Garner

The next band up was Frequency who was performing as a trio– apparently missing bassist Harrison Bankhead. Frequency put on a fairly high-energy set with its fair share of improvisation. Nichole Mitchell has an impressive ability to hum in harmony with her flute giving a kind of Eastern feel to her playing.
Nichole Mitchell of Freqency

Admittedly, I’m not a fan of ADULT. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate what they do– they have a fairly substantial back catalog and are considered pretty big artists in the electronic field. In fact, before the show started Erik and I were talking to a guy from Colorado who was in town for the Blackhawks game (at least that’s what I thought he said– the Hawks were out of town for Friday and Saturday night matches, so either he was mistaken or very disappointed) who apparently goes to a bunch of the big festivals in the EU and ADULT. is considered a HUGE act there. He was really bummed that a) they weren’t headlining, and b) they were only playing for 45 minutes. Most of the set was in the dark with a smoke machines and a single light– with Nicola Kuperus screaming into a microphone and assisting her hubby Adam Lee Miller twiddling the knobs on the analog synths and other gadgetry. That said, I think I got some good shots of them which showed what the stage looked like. Most of the other shots I’ve seen of their set had flashes which over-exposed the stage setting.

ADULT.

Another surprise act for me was The Zincs. I liked the Smiths-evoking guitars and the lyrics on their new album Black Pompadour, but hadn’t really played it much. Their live set was fantastic, and makes me wish I’d caught their shows with The Sea and Cake. They played mostly songs from their new album along with a couple from their previous releases. Dualling Telecasters– James Elkington and Nathaniel Braddock were both playing them. James’ looked to be an older American Tele, and Nathaniel’s was a Mexican Tele with aftermarket Lindy Fralin’s in it. Erik and I talked to Nathaniel after the set to get the lowdown on his guitar after we noticed his neck pickup didn’t have a chrome cover.

James Elkington of The Zincs

After The Zincs was Califone! Erik and I have been talking about going to see Califone play for a long time. We had loose plans to see them in Madison, WI the last time out, and didn’t get it together. I wish we had, because they are amazing live. They played a lot of the songs that we loved like “The Fisherman’s Wife,” so we were really happy about that. When the band started their first song, their horn section was up in the band balcony behind us, so it had a startling surround effect. After the song was done there was a pretty humorous exchange between Tim Rutili and the horn section where they responded Peanuts-adult-style to his questions. I don’t know if this was planned or not, but it was pretty funny! They soon joined the band on stage. There is something about this band that really draws me in– it is at once atmospheric and folky and melancholy. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite acts and I’ve been snagging as much live concerts off the ‘Net as I can.
Califone
Tim mentioned towards the end of the set that the band would be looking for some place to stay that night because of the copious amount of snow that had fallen since the beginning of the show. This broke the thrall of the show and made us realize that the weather was going to be something we were going to have to deal with.

Pit Er Pat was up next and put on a pretty decent show. The first time I saw them was opening for Tortoise at the beginning of the It’s All Around You tour in Minneapolis in 2003 at the Fine Line. That show seemed a big more rough to me. It was clear that four years of playing together have made them tighter.
Fay Davis-Jeffers of Pit Er Pat

The final act of the night was a highly-anticipated Trans Am. In some respects one of the elder groups on Thrill Jockey along with Tortoise and The Sea and Cake. In all their years of touring, I’d never gotten a chance to see them. I really liked their new release Sex Change– probably more than the last couple of releases. I haven’t really decided what to think about their adoption of vocoder vocals over disco beats. For their first albums they were an instrumental guitar trio and over the years they have made their sound much more elaborate with synthesizers, drum machines and vocals. At times they are like an 80’s synth band, and other times they are more progressive/industrial. Their live set was a really raw, high energy set. We weren’t able to stay through the whole set as one of the security guys we were talking to before the show came over to tell Erik that the roads had gotten really bad with all of the snow that fell. I got some more shots in and made my way over to the merch table to pick up Roots and Crowns from Califone on vinyl as well as one of the 15th Anniversary record bags.
Trans Am

Erik and I dug his car out and made the treacherous commute back to the hotel. We saw a lot of cars in the ditches on the way back. I hope everyone who went to the show made it safely back.

This was a fantastic tribute to and showcase of Thrill Jockey. I hope that this was a profitable enough event that maybe they’d consider doing another one at maybe their 20th Anniversary?

See you in 2012!

See all the pictures I took on Day 2 of the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary Show

Click Here to read my report of Day 1