The Midway Point

I posted some New Year's Resolutions for 2011 at the beginning of the year, and as we're halfway through it's time to check in on them:

1) Playing music.  Mostly things have been going well.  White Mountain Murder Circus released its first album, which I wrote several songs for and played several instruments on (mostly fiddle).  I took three classes at Passim and have been progressing with my fiddle playing.  I'm still working on fundamental things like tone and the nuances of the fiddle; I still feel like a mandolin player trying to play fiddle.  I stopped working through Hot Licks; with Passim out of session for the summer I should pick it back up.

2) I'm killing this one.  My grand total for books read this year is 24, including The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft, Jim Tressel's The Winner's Manual, the twelve novels of Anthony Powell's A Dance To the Music Of Time, Red Harvest, Rework, Blood Meridian, True Grit, Popular Crime (by baseball writer Bill James), The Big Sleep, Shackleton's South, Naked Lunch, I Am Legend, Ubik.  That knocks six off my Time 100 list, bringing me to 35.  I think I can average a book a week for the year (meaning I need to read 28 more), including at least 10 Time 100 books (which will get me almost halfway to my goal).  Unexpected problem: my rapid reading rate is causing me to spend too much money on Kindle books!  I'm trying to temper this by reading some free ones, such as Edith Wharton's The Age Of Innocence.

3) I set a goal of 1.5 posts per week, which would be 39 posts so far this year.  This is my 36th post of 2011, so I'm a little behind, but I've averaged two / week over the past couple months, so there's plenty of time to get on schedule.

Live Review - 6/22/2011 Deadly Gentlemen at Passim

I spent a lot of time in my review of their latest album Carry Me To Home talking about the unique vocal style of the Deadly Gentlemen, and I can honestly now say after seeing them live: I didn't get it.  Their unconventional technique is a mix of rapping / talking and singing / harmony, but rather than borne out of an inability to sing (as I previously suggested), it's an exploration of the psychedelic properties of the vocal instrument.  Imagine the surrealistic poetry and relentless rhythm of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" over dense melody and harmony as performed by some of the most talented musicians in the Boston acoustic scene, and you get some of the idea.

Which isn't to say it's all high-falutin', because Deadly Gentlemen are FUN.  The crowd was completely into it, especially after some of their punchier numbers like "Police."  When they announced "one more song," it seemed like they had just gotten up there; they were so entertaining, the time flew.

Most excitingly, frontman / banjo genius Dr. Greg Liszt suggested that the quintet might get a residency in Boston, playing weekly gigs at a club starting in the fall.  The Punch Brothers did this, and it helped to solidify their tightness as a group as well as allow them to experiment with anything from Bach to Radiohead.  Given that the Deadly Gentlemen features Liszt (most known from Crooked Still) as well as young turks Sam Grisman (also plays bass with his dad David Grisman's band), Dominick Leslie on the mandolin, fiddler Mike Barnett (who I saw with John McGann at Cantab), and charismatic guitarist Stash Wyslouch, they could be Boston's answer to The Infamous Stringdusters or the Punch Brothers - an uber-talented group that's constantly redefining acoustic music for the new millenium.

Check them out if they come to your town!

The Gibson Brothers - Help My Brother

Rating: B

The Gibson Brothers have been one of the most successful acts of recent years in bluegrass circles; their last five albums have all hit #1 on the Bluegrass Unlimited charts.  Somehow I've missed them through the years, both live and on recording, but with my newfound affection for their mandolin player, Joe Walsh, I thought I should check them out.  Their newest offering Help My Brother seemed like a good place to start.

They've got a great sound.  The album is all songs, no instrumentals, and it really showcases the brother harmonies.  They use harmony as a weapon in many different ways - it's a sledgehammer in "I'll Love Nobody But You" and "Singing As We Rise," bringing out the power and joy in those tunes, but it's a scalpel in "Want Vs. Need" and closer "Safe Passage," just adding a little emotional punch when the song needs it.  The brothers have different voices that complement each other; Leigh has the cleaner voice and Eric has a bluegrassier high twang.  The band is built around the vocals.  Leigh's banjo, Walsh's mandolin, and Clayton Campbell's fiddle fill in the holes, bassist Mike Barber adds percussive slaps on "Walking West To Memphis," but ultimately the players accentuate the tune.  The album is not about instrumental showmanship; it's about the songs. 

Well, how about the songs?  It's about half covers and half originals.  They do a good job mixing up the pace; opener "Help My Brother" and "I'll Love Nobody But You" are barn-burners, while "Talk To Me" and "Frozen In Time" are slower.  The songwriting is a bit of a mixed bag - the first few times I heard "Help My Brother" and "Dixie" I cringed at some of the lyrics ("I've been more selfish than I dog with a bone").  But after a few listens the melodies stuck in my head anyway, and the earnestness the Gibson Brothers show really sells their tunes.  "Want Vs. Need" is a great example; in lesser hands the simple moral might be considered melodramatic and saccharine, but the band really sells it with their earnestness.

The end of the album is really strong, with "One-Car Funeral" and "Safe Passage."  Both are originals; "One-Car Funeral" is a stomping lament of a wasted life that has a Carter Family honesty, while "Safe Passage" is a modal journey through the generations that is both epic and personal.  Leigh Gibson describes his family's journey from Scotland through generations of farmers to the present day, and he cleverly highlights what's the same and what's different between the generation.  It's simultaneously epic and subtle; it's really like almost nothing else.  I wish they had captured that brilliance more consistently on Help My Brother, but it's still a good album and a fun listen.

Gibson Brothers official site

Della Mae's new album

It's been getting quite a bit of pub already, but I'd like to chime in for all my (two?) readers: Boston-based bluegrass band Della Mae is coming out with a new album, and they're funding it themselves with the help of their fans, patrons, and the like.  They are offering some pretty sweet incentives: check it out.  I saw them a few months ago right about the time Celia Woodsmith was joining the band; her powerhouse vocals really complement the band's ferocious sound.  I'm really looking forward to I Built This Heart!

Della Mae Kickstarter page

Yeezy

I'm digging Grantland, the new sports / pop culture site from ESPN's Bill Simmons (aka The Sports Guy), and Molly Lambert's article on Kanye West can't pass without comment.  She nailed a lot of what I was trying to get it in my review of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy:

Kanye West is having an identity crisis. Kanye is always having a crisis, but I'm really excited about this particular one because he's on the edge of intense personal revelation. Rather than getting stuck in any one static Kanye persona, he's allowing the "Kanye West" persona to continually evolve. He wants to know what the hell is happening with him psychologically, and so do we!

Muleskinner - Live Original Television Soundtrack

I'm kind of a sucker for "lost bands," like The Flatlanders, and this is a doozy.  Legendary flatpicker Clarence White (of The Byrds fame), singer / songwriter Peter Rowan, mandolin virtuoso David Grisman, accomplished fiddler Richard Greene, and banjo man Bill Keith.  Even at the time, Muleskinner was something of a supergroup; White had been with the Byrds, Rowan, Greene, and Keith were former Bluegrass Boys, and Grisman had played with Red Allen, Del McCoury, and Jerry Garcia. 

The band is frankly inspiring.  White has a reputation as the godfather of acoustic flatpicking, and he shows it off on several of the tracks here, such as "I Am a Pilgrim."  Grisman is the most respected mandolinist alive, and while this is more conventional than some of his "Dawg music," he has no problem with "New Camptown Races" or "Opus in G Minor."  With so many talented pickers, Keith's banjo gets a bit of short shrift, but he still shows off some tasty melodic licks on tunes such as "The Dead March."  Rowan is really impressive here - he's maybe the greatest minor key singer in the bluegrass idiom, and he just nails it on folk tune "Red Rocking Chair" and his own epic, "Land Of the Navajo."  But Richard Greene is the revelation for me here.  Despite his extensive career I'd never heard of him before this project, and now that makes me feel like an idiot.  He's all over this album, and whether playing it straight in a old-time melody line in "The Eighth of January" or really creative, organic use of rhythms and slurs in "Blackberry Blossom" or some of both in blistering closer "Orange Blossom Special," he's incredible.

This album is more of a tease than anything else, showing what might have been if not for Clarence White's tragic death in a car accident.  The Live Original Television Soundtrack shows the skill of each of its members, but just scratches the surface of the inventiveness each would show through long careers.  Could they have been New Grass Revival, ten years earlier?  Could they have been Punch Brothers or The Infamous Stringdusters twenty-five years earlier?  Who knows.  Even if it doesn't show everything the group was capable of, this is still a fine album and a heck of a listen.

Del McCoury Band and Preservation Hall Jazz Band - American Legacies

Rating: A-

What's weird about American Legacies, the new collaboration between bluegrass stalwarts Del McCoury Band and dixieland jazz legends Preservation Hall Jazz Band, is how not weird it is.  "Is it jazz plus some strings, or bluegrass plus some brass?" you might ask, and the answer is "both" and "neither."  What it certainly is is joyful; I get the constant impression that both bands must have had a hell of a lot of fun figuring out what tunes to play, figuring out how to arrange them, and just playing the hell out of them.

That's really the trick: some of this album must have been really finely arranged - fiddler Jason Carter trades licks with clarinetist (is that a word?) Charlie Gabriel on opener "The Band's In Town," the bluegrass instruments drop out for an explosive big band finish on "I'll Fly Away," mandolinist Ronnie McCoury throws bluegrass-style chops on the bluesy "Sugar Blues" - but throughout, it feels organic rather than orchestrated.  The song selection is clever, largely upbeat mid-tempo tunes with enough space to play around in both the bluegrass and jazz idioms.

Both bands have made careers through the contradiction of simultaneously being very loyal to the traditional forms of their respective musical styles while being progressive and open-minded.  It seems they've found kindred spirits.  Even when they're playing tunes with sad lyrics, like "A Good Gal," "One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart)," or "50/50 Chance," the joy is positively bursting out of the seams.

I'm sure there are fans of music who won't like this album.  But I feel bad for those people.  American Legacies is a triumph.

Del McCoury Band official site
Preservation Hall Jazz Band official site

Birds Make Birds EP

It's been a while since I last checked out Birds Make Birds, so I didn't realize they had an EP out.  Many of the songs that impressed me most in their live performances made the cut, so this brief (5 song) EP is a solid effort throughout.  "Closer," "Waiting For Tomorrow," and "Jack" are memorable tunes with melodies that stick in one's head.  Birds Make Birds has a great sound - emo without being mopey, heavy but still melodic - and it really comes through on these tunes.

The production is very clear and polished.  This is great for accentuating the subtleties of lead singer / guitarist Sandrine Mehry's voice and words, Greg Lyon's guitar riffs, and Chris Mascara's bass lines, but Jen Chouinard's drumming, so impressive live, is dulled a little bit by the production.  The mix is almost too clean, making every note heard but losing some of the punk attack of their live act.

Still, the songs are great, and the band sounds very good, and the price is right (free)!  Check it out!

Download the album for free from Reverb Nation

Joe Walsh - Sweet Loam

Rating: B+

"Joe Walsh?  Like the dude from the Eagles?"  That's what I thought, too, until last summer when I saw him killing it at the mandolin master's tent at Grey Fox.  Playing with Ronnie McCoury, Sarah Jarosz, David Grisman, and Buddy Merriam, he still impressed with his exceptional playing.  His day job is as the mandolinist for the Gibson Brothers, a bluegrass group very popular among the traditionalists.  I haven't gotten a chance to check out the Gibson Brothers, either live or on disc, but when I learned that Joe Walsh was coming out with a solo album, I thought I'd check it out.

Bluegrass solo albums, particularly from a gifted instrumentalist like Walsh, can  be indulgent affairs, showing off the skill and virtuosity of the artist without necessarily much regard for anything else.  The album is about half instrumentals, but they're not mile-a-minute notefests.  A representative tune is "Sunday Morning Reel," which sets the tone for the whole album in a lot of ways; it's an ideal Sunday morning listen, bright and melodic, Walsh trading licks and playing harmonies with fiddler Darol Anger.

Most of the album follows suit.  Much of Sweet Loam features typical bluegrass instruments, but only the waltz "Early" and the energetic "Hold Whatcha Got," two tunes where the Gibson Brothers guest, are really bluegrass in the traditional sense.  Or at least the Bill Monroe sense.  Where Big Mon would pound, drive, and wail, Walsh is going for something more subtle.  Walsh may provide a bluegrass chop on his cover of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," but it's more of a groovy feel than Monroe's relentlessness.  The songs are often sparse and arranged interestingly; a cello riff backs opener "Ain't No One Like You," and Scott Law's guitar rings out like an autoharp at times.  You can hear every note on the album; everything seems arranged and purposeful.  There's a ton of talent here, but there's no compulsion to cram them into every song

If there's a critique, it's that it doesn't challenge the listener, but sometimes I don't want to be challenged; I just want an album to listen to on a Sunday morning, drinking a cup of coffee and watching the sun rise as the smell of bacon and eggs wafts from the kitchen.  Sweet Loam is the perfect album for that.

Download the album from Bandcamp

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Rating: B

The King of Limbs is almost a paint-by-numbers Radiohead album.  That's a weird thing to say about the most inventive band of its generation, but they're not treading any new ground here.  There's beauty, and some groovy tunes, but none of the earth-shattering weirdness that's marked their going-on-twenty-years career.

Take "Codex."  It a gorgeous melodic tune arranged starkly, mostly just singer Thom Yorke's voice over piano chords.  Kinda like "Pyramid Song" from Amnesiac.  Or "Sail To the Moon" from Hail To the Thief  That's not to say it isn't a good tune.  It's one of the stronger tracks on the album.  But essentially it's a beautiful re-hash.

It's like that up and down the album.  Opener "Bloom" could slot easily on Hail To the Thief alongside "2 + 2 = 5."  "Little By Little," with its drum track and melodic bassline, would fit on Amnesiac right next to "Packd Like Sardines In a Crushed Tin Box."  The incoherent atmospheric vocals over the fast dance beat of "Feral" bring to mind "Pull/Pulk Revolving Doors" from that same album.

That said, there is no bad Radiohead.  Every moment in the album is drenched in luscious sound, and there are some brilliant moments: the backing sound dropping out in "Morning Mr. Magpie," leaving just Yorke's haunting voice before building back up; the opening creepy bass drones and background noises that open "Lotus Flower"; the gentle acoustic guitar in "Give Up the Ghost."  It's a Radiohead album, and even if it's not the most inventive of their efforts, it's still better than 99% of what's out there.

Radiohead official site