Weedeater - Sixteen Tons

Ain’t nobody like this band. Heavy doom-metal, musically like Black Sabbath should have sounded, had they not been overproduced. Vocally, the singer sound like he gargles a mixture of battery acid and embalming fluid, but it works in this context. But the audio is only half the experience of this band. You gotta see ‘em live. I saw them in DC not too long ago, and they were described by Yanni of Stinking Lizaveta, who they were touring with, as “authentic.” Now I’m not completely sure what Authentic implies exactly, but with the scraggly beard, the offset trucker’s hat, the completely possessed look in his eyes and the intensity that inhabited his performance, when he got to the chorus of “God Luck and Good Speed,” (not on this album) I was convinced. They’re from the Carolinas. Google them well, cause guys this real don’t tend to update their MySpace very often.

Here’s God Luck and Good Speed, which isn’t on this album. Or any other. Sue me.

Author: listener | Category: Music Reviews | Comments(0) June 2007

Baltech

You missed Baltech. It’s not your fault, and I won’t hold it against you, but you missed Baltech. Baltech originated in the DC and Baltimore area in the 80s. Baltech was an original, authentic creation. Baltech has since disbanded, but the carnage remains as evidence of their reign. They were the loudest band in DC, and their art was legendary, not just in DC, but in famous NYC clubs as well. Sadly, the individual members which, when added together, created the whole of Baltech which was greater than the sum of its parts, have all moved on. All reports indicate new directions and new musical projects, but in my mind they will all pale in comparison to one night of Baltech at the Marble Bar, the Galaxy Lounge, Roxy, 930, or some crazy dude’s Groundhog Day/eviction party. Baltech changed my life, and I know I’m not the only one. Give me an amen if you were there too.

Every Moment Counts:
Change Of Heart:

Author: listener | Category: Music Reviews | Comments(0) June 2007

Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy

I’ve been wanting to post this review for a week now, but server problems were preventing it. It’s a good thing, too, because the more I explored this release, the more I discovered, and the richer my experience has become. Let me start by saying this is a concept album. You’ll find from my previous reviews that I have a thing for concept albums. If you’re going to release an album, a collection of songs, why not find or invent a theme to tie them all together at the same time. It’s not that hard. Black Sheep Boy, aside from being quite possibly one of the best albums of its decade, is a concept album which used as its source a Tim Hardin song from the late 60s which was also covered by Scott Walker back in 1968. Part indie, part folk, part Appalachia, this release digs deep lyrically and musically. “Although my heart started to race, now it has slowed, I’ll let it go.” Give it a listen, and tell me if I’m full of crap.

Author: listener | Category: Music Reviews | Comments(0) June 2007

Scott Walker - Scott and Scott 2

I picked up these two because of Okkervil River, who based an entire two-disc concept album around one of the songs on Scott 2, “Black Sheep Boy.” This is the closest we get to Nick Cave in the late 1960s (1967-1968). And don’t say Morrison, because Morrison doesn’t compare. Great vocals, orchestral pop arrangements, with progressively darker lyrics. Some of his later albums are even darker. His Jacques Brel covers are wonderful, but his own work truly stands alone for the time period. Lyrically unique, musically powerful, I’m really surprised he’s not considered more mainstream.

Author: listener | Category: Scott Walker | Comments(0) June 2007

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

When I received an advance copy of this album, scheduled for release next week, I didn’t expect to like it. I wasn’t a huge fan of Ryan Adams’ solo work, although I really liked the Whiskeytown stuff. After the first listen, I can admit when I’m wrong. A couple of rockers, one really out-of-place tune (Halloweenhead) complete with the outdated “guitar solo” shout before the bizarrely-outdated guitar solo (I’m sure there’s a reason this cut made the album, but I haven’t deduced it yet), and a whole bunch of mostly-acoustic ruminations on love and lost-love. You’ll like it. Go buy it. Because I said so.

Author: listener | Category: Alt-Country, Music Reviews | Comments(0) June 2007

Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

This album is a couple of years old now, but I’m in the mood to spread the gospel of beautiful psychedelic epics. I believe I used the term “masterpiece” in the last review, so I’ll hold back here, despite the strong, strong instinct. I also have to resist the temptation to start a religion surrounding this concept album. “One more robot learns to be something more than a machine, when it tries the way it does, makes it seem like it can love.” The robots come to life. Yoshimi the blackbelt works for the city and takes her vitamins so she can defeat them. Fight Test is a fragile exploration of a man being tested. He doesn’t want to fight, but “I’m a man, not a boy, and there are things you can’t avoid, you have to face them when you’re not prepared to face them.” Musically this release is glorious and action-packed, a fireworks show and an aural massage designed for headphones and the dark.

Author: listener | Category: Music Reviews, Psychedelic | Comments(0) June 2007

Mary Gauthier - Mercy Now

I admit it. I can’t stand pop country. It’s too polished, too watered down, not full of misery and despair like it used to be. Mary evokes some of that classic country spirit. When she sings “Fish swim… Birds fly… Daddies yell, mamas cry. Old men sit and think…… I drink,” it’s not bragging or lamenting. That’s just how it is. There’s no tongue-in-cheek with Mary, at no point do you doubt her authenticity. Falling Out Of Love sounds as if was written and recorded “in the moment,” I mean we’ve all been there.

Author: listener | Category: Music Reviews | Comments(0) June 2007

Neko Case - Blacklisted

Imagine the dark Americana evoked by Nick Cave, but couched in the persona of a female country singer with an amazing voice that projects without distortion or crackle, like a bell ringing in an empty sky. Things That Scare Me is a tense, semi-paranoid Appalachian meditation. ’same birds that followed me to school when I was young, were they tryin’ to tell me somethin’, were they tellin’ me to run?’ Deep Red Bells is a vocal exercise in American Gothic, evoking what seems to be a victim of a random murder. “A handprint on the driver’s side… It looks a lot like engine oil and tastes like being poor and small and popsicles in summer,” she says. “Where does this mean world cast its cold eye? Who’s left to suffer alone without you? Does your soul cast about lke an old paper bag, past empty lives and early graves?” Perhaps the bloody handprint was shaped like a bell. I don’t need to say more, you will buy it for these two cuts alone.

Author: listener | Category: Music Reviews | Comments(0) June 2007

Feist - The Reminder

Reminder indeed. From the first listen of the first cut (So Sorry) you wonder who’s writing her lyrics, they’re so on target. “We’re so helpless, we’re slaves to our impulses, we’re afraid of our emotions, and no one knows where the shore is, we’re divided by the oceans.” Sparse arrangements here, so that her accomplished voice can ring out. Feel It All is an 80’s rocker musically but with more. The Park is as sparse as it gets, appropriately with its themes of distance and longing. The Water is sparse and powerful. “Telegraph cables hung and few can decipher who the message is from, and delivering quietly, cause some don’t get much company.” Past In Present is another 80s rocker. Honey Honey starts as a chant over vocal train whistles, and retains its hypnotic feel as it grows. This will go down as a great release.

Listen (naked) now:

Author: listener | Category: Indie, Music Reviews | Comments(0) June 2007

Ani DiFranco - Knuckle Down and Reprieve

Knuckle Down features some stellar cuts. For me, each release of Ani’s has eclipsed the one before. Knuckle Down is no exception. In this 2005 release, she makes you believe she’s singing right to you, especially in the final cut, Recoil (sampled below). Seeing Eye Dog is pretty fantastic, Ani-style power blues ballad.

Reprieve, the 2006 followup, she moves from that dark, breathy thing she’s done sometimes for the past couple of years in Nicotine (sampled below) to the timely anger of Millenium Theatre, superbly executed.

Author: listener | Category: Folk, Indie, Music Reviews | Comments(1) June 2007