Album Review: The Confiscation from Samantha Crain

Due to being in Detroit, being struck down by the flu, and the election, my focus on music has been somewhat diminished—and this is certainly uncommon for me. However, during my illness, I received Samantha Crain’s amazing EP, The Confiscation. This singer and guitarist is just 21 years old, but writes like a much more seasoned songwriter. Her music is, broadly speaking, in the singer songwriter genre. However, one of the things that really makes Samantha Crain’s music so luminous is the combination of her influences. She is as versed in Bob Dylan and folk music as she is in Radiohead and, for lack of a better word, alternative music. This EP really sticks with you. After a few listens, I was walking around and singing the songs, and listening to the disc on repeat. And for me, repeat is one of the highest forms of flattery.

Check out a live performance of "Traipsing Through the Ailses" below.

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Album Review: Live At Shea Stadium from The Clash

I was a mere lad when The Clash played their epic gig at Shea Stadium, opening for The Who on October 12, 1982. Technically speaking, I was just shy of my 12th birthday. I wasn’t yet loyal to any one band and was just starting to figure out the music scene and my place in it. That all changed for me when I heard Give ’Em Enough Rope a few years later. While this is perhaps not The Clash’s finest album, it was my gateway.

So now I’m not a mere lad. I, in fact, have a lad and lass of my own now. But the release of The Clash’s set from Shea Stadium proves, once again, what a great band they were. The set is thrilling to listen to. It’s the band at the top of their game, although teetering on the brink. They had recently fired drummer, Topper Headon, due to his drug use. Tensions were high. (The 11/08 issue of Relix has a great story about the gig.)

It is great to hear some of their older songs played with The Clash’s later influences, such as early hip hop, mixed in. This is chill inspiring stuff, and that’s what matters most about this recording. It’s a testament to the fact that music can save your life. For me, The Clash was one of the first bands that proved this to me. However, Live At Shea Stadium shouldn’t be viewed as an epilogue to The Clash’s greatness. It should be viewed as a further proof of their continued power and influence.

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Album Review: The Rhumb Line From Ra Ra Riot

If you’re not from Upstate, NY (And by this I don’t mean Westchester County!) you probably have no idea that Syracuse has a pretty active music scene. If you’re from Upstate, you likely think that its emphasis is on the blues. And while the blues certainly has a strong base in Syracuse—punk and indie music also hold great sway. Take for example Ra Ra Riot, who have recently released The Rhumb Line, their full-length debut, on Barsuk Records. This fierce band uses both a cello and a violin as centerpieces of their sound. But they’re no chamber-pop outfit. They rock. The use of the strings works great with their sound. Often when these instruments are utilized in rock music they’re either used to play the role of a lead soloist or to create saccharin string lines. Ra Ra Riot integrates the cello and violin into the overall fabric and texture of their music.

The band has received comparisons to Arcade Fire. While this is fair, what is great about Ra Ra Riot is that they’ve really developed their own sound and style in a very short period of time. They only came together in 2006. And during this time, one of the founding members passed away.

Lyrically the band writes some wonderful stuff. Take the chorus of the opening track, “Ghost Under Rocks.” “Here you are breathing life into / Ghosts under rocks like notes found / In pocket coats of your fathers / lost and forgotten.” Beautiful. Poetic. And together the lyrics and the music produce what I keep describing to myself as joyous melancholy. Yeah, I don’t totally know what joyous melancholy means. All I know is this is how I can describe the way the music makes me feel—and I like it. Or perhaps this sound and the feeling it creates is connected to the rhumb line—a path of constant bearing.

Check them out playing "Ghosts Under Rocks" on Conan O'Brien


Or stream more songs here.

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Album Review: Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson's Rattlin' Bones

I’ve been a big Kasey Chambers fan since her debut, The Captain, in 1999. I was, however, unfamiliar with Shane Nicholson, her husband and co-writer and performer on Rattlin’ Bones. Man, I really dig this record. On her four previous albums Kasey Chambers had definitely inhabited the more rock and roll side of her alt-country world. With the new album, she and Shane have drawn on the more country and bluegrass side, that’s always been present, but not at the forefront of the sound. The emphasis on acoustic instruments such as the fiddle, dobro, upright bass, and the banjo reflects this change in sonic approach—as does the almost-universal lack of drums. The instrumentation also perfectly matches with the songs on the album. All this comes together with their voices, which work really, really well together. It’s not just the harmonies, but also the sonic quality meshes in a really natural and compelling way.

And the songs? What a great collection of tunes. They wrote most of them together, including my favorite—the love song “Wildflower.” And I tell you what: the first time I listened to this song, I had tears running down my face. It’s a straight up beautiful tune. What a great reminder of why I love music—to be moved. Other standout tracks include: “Sweetest Waste of Time,” “Once In A While,” and “One More Year.”

Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson have just completed a very short US tour and have returned home to Australia. And hopefully they’re working on more great songs.

Here are a few tracks from the album.

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Album Review: A. A. Bondy's American Hearts

Just when I think there couldn’t possibly be another album to add to my mental list of the best records of 2008, along comes one more. Such was the case when I checked out A. A. Bondy after finding out he was opening for the Felice Brothers during the band’s recent Ithaca show.

A. A. is a populist singer-songwriter in the Steve Earle vein. High praise? Certainly. But also deserved. Take a listen to his solo debut, American Hearts, and you’ll see what I mean. This is a completely different sound for Bondy, who prior to going solo was the front man for the punkish Verbena. Not too many folks heard his old band, but I sure hope people tune into American Hearts.

Recorded in a barn studio in the Catskills with the Felice Brothers as the backing band, the album has the feeling of good friends making great music together. The arrangements are open and work perfectly with the lyrics and the feel of the songs.

Lyrically A. A. Bondy takes on the big themes of love, death, war, and religion. And the images he uses are wonderful. “There was a man with cinders for eyes / There was a girl with a dress made of flies,” he sings on the track, “There’s A Reason,” a very, very pretty yearning love song. Along with faith and the other subjects, politics is another topic featured prominently on the record. “Witness Blues,” takes on the topic of the war and military service. The title track is my new theme song for the election, containing all of my hopes for change and thoughts about what it means to be an American. And I’m right there with him when he sings, “And don't tread on me / For I am your brother / I was born with an American heart / And don't tread on her / For she is your sister / She was born with an American heart.”

Check out a live concert from SXSW that NPR recorded for All Songs Considered.

Or

American Hearts


There's A Reason

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Album Reveiw: Delta Spirit's Ode To Sunshine

Delta Spirit fit into that amorphous rock, folk, Americana milieu. That isn’t to say they’re derivative, because they aren’t. From the first notes of Ode To Sunshine, the band’s debut on Rounder Records, they show us its—well—spirit of music.

Recorded live in a cabin in the desert near Julian, California, the San Diego-based band has produced one of the most immediate and best sounding albums of the year. No studio trickery, just great musicians playing excellent songs.

While “House Built for Two” is a painfully beautiful break up song, the record is not just a collection of love songs. Ode To Sunshine also takes on the political and spiritual. On tracks such as “People C’mon,” “Streetwalker,” and “People Turn Around,” the personal is most definitely political.

The band is now heavily touring to support their major label debut. But I certainly hope this doesn’t mean that they’ll be too busy to write new songs because I am already looking forward to another record as great as this one.

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Album Review: Sim Redmond Band's Room in These Skies

Whenever I hear the Sim Redmond Band—regardless of the season—it makes me feel like it’s summertime. I think it’s something about the beautiful harmonies between Sim Redmond, Jen Middaugh, and Nate Silas Richardson. With this in mind, I guess it’s fitting that the band kicks of it latest CD, Room in These Skies, with a song about the venerable summer pastime of Bocce. Some folks might be confused about the song’s subject, though, as it’s called “Roll a Few.”

One of the things I really dig about the Sim Redmond Band is that while they pull together a wide range of influences—roots, afro-Caribbean, and reggae to name a few—they never sound derivative. They have wholly incorporated their influences and this is no easy task.

On Room in These Skies the band recorded differently than they have before, recording the album in a church and playing the backing tracks live. They added the vocals later. This approach really creates a warmth to the CD that’s just beautiful. In addition, some of the song-writing duties were shared this time around with Jen Middaugh contributing a song for the first time, “Come and Gone.” And, man, it’s a lovely tune. This new approach to recording and the expanded songwriting duties have made Room in These Skies a standout album in the Sim Redmond Band’s already very strong catalog.

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Album Review: The Horse Flies' Until the Ocean

The first time I ever heard of The Horse Flies was on a t-shirt that my now-wife owned when we started dating. That was ’round about 1996 in Chicago. Of course by then, the band had already been around for 15 years. After a recording hiatus that followed the death of original bass player, John Hayward, in 1997 they have just released a new album, Until the Ocean. The new record is a mix of covers and originals.

Until the Ocean is a welcome return to recorded music. It’s always great to get to see the band live—it is truly their element—but the new CD is a pleasure. With strong originals such as “14 Reasons” and the anti-war “Baghdad Children,” it’s clear what great songwriters they are. As strong as they are as songwriters, they’re also masterful interpreters of tunes by other musicians. It takes guts to cover the song “Oh Death,” which was made famous on the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

The new album is also a reminder of how lucky we are to have The Horse Flies call our fair region home. The band was alt-folk, roots rock, and Americana music, before these categories were even being used. They’ve been playing together for a long time and are fortunately not showing any signs of slowing down. And of this and the great Until the Ocean, we can be thankful.

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Album Review: Frightened Rabbit's The Midnight Organ Fight

Like many others who look to the Internet to find new music, I found Selkirk, Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit on YouTube. It was a grainy-filmed live version of their song, “My Backward Walk” (more on that song later) with a short intro consisting of The National’s track, “Fake Empire.” I was totally blown away. I had a new band to love.

As luck would have it, Frightened Rabbit was about to release its sophomore album, The Midnight Organ Fight. The band began as a trio but as of the new record is now a four piece. Scott Hutchison is the main songwriter, lead singer, and one of the guitarists. Another guitar player, a keyboard player, and a drummer fill out the band. No bass. However, the musicianship is very high and the music sounds totally full.

Lyrically, Frightened Rabbit writes quirky/clever lyrics—but in a very intelligent way. A lesser songwriter who used leprosy as a metaphor for falling in love (“The Modern Leper”) would come up with something offensive, instead of the compelling track found here. Another standout song on the CD is the aforementioned “My Backwards Walk.” This song’s line, “You’re the sh—t and I’m knee deep in it,” is one of the strangest, but loveliest, lyrics I’ve heard in a long time. Frightened Rabbit also cover some of the other big themes of life—such as religion—in addition to love. “Heads Roll Off” is a really beautiful tune about faith and the belief that death is not the end.

For me, it’s always super exciting to find a new band creating its own brand of compelling music. And Frightened Rabbit certainly fits that category. With two albums complete I certainly hope that the band keeps writing and recording, because the buzz is now building around them in the US and they’re poised to reach the much wider audience they deserve to.

Check out the "My Backwards Walk" with the "Fake Empire" into and "Heads Roll Off" below.

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Album Review: Fire Songs From The Watson Twins

Most people know The Watson Twins—Chandra and Leigh—from their playing with Jenny Lewis on the album Rabbit Fur Coat. And the sisters work on that record really helped make it special. So it is very exciting to have the follow up to their self-released debut EP, Southern Manners, scheduled for release on June 24. Their first full-length album, Fire Songs, is a beautiful collection of originals and one cover. It is being released by Vanguard Records, home to Levon Helm, Nellie McKay, and Doc Watson.

Sonically The Watson Twins exist in the alt-county/folk/indie sphere. While this is well-traveled terrain, Chandra and Leigh definitely have their own sound and approach that lets them stand out in the crowd. Certainly the excellent songwriting featured on the record does not hurt. Tunes such as “Bar Woman Blues” and “Dig A Little Deeper” explore a world mixed with struggle and hope, sadness and joy.

The Twin’s version of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” is so very lovely and does what the best covers do: pay homage to the original, but still take the song in a new and compelling direction. The sister’s version transforms the song from the joy of the present to the melancholy of memory.

A major element contributing to the strength of Fire Songs is the warmth and immediacy of the sound that can be attributed to the use of analog instead of digital recording. Producing the album this way allows the sister’s singing and harmonies to sound really natural. In addition, this technique really highlights the sound and the interplay between the vocals, band, and the melody. But in the end, all production aside, The Watson Twins are wonderful singers who write powerful tunes—and that’s what makes Fire Songs so great.

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Album Review: R.E.M.'s Accelerate

It might be overly sentimental to say that bands I have listened to for a long time are somewhat akin to old friends. R.E.M. is certainly a band I would put in this category. I have written before about how they are one of my Musical Touch Points. So it was with great anticipation that I started listening to REM’s newest album (their 14th), Accelerate. It was definitely a, “R.E.M.—Holy Sh*t—Welcome Back” moment because as with some old friends R.E.M. and I had drifted apart. Their recent music wasn’t really speaking to me. But from the first notes of the opening track, “Living Well Is The Best Revenge” you now that R.E.M. is on and I was welcoming back an old friend—remembering why I loved them so much in the first place.

Accelerate is definitely an apt title. It seems like during the four years between their most recent albums it was time to put the rock and roll gas pedal to the floor and create a truly great record. While I totally dig the whole record, a few standout tracks include “Houston” a beautiful song about Hurricane Katrina, "Hollow Man," and “Accelerate.” But the closing track, “I’m Gonna DJ” says it best, “music will provide the light / you cannot resist / you cannot resist / you cannot resist, yeah.”

Check out R.E.M. live from the SXSW festival.

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Album Review: The Slacker's Self Medication

The Ska, Reggae, Soul, Rockabilly, Punk fusion of The Slackers has been kicking out the great sounds for about 15 years now. For the record, the band describes their sound as Jamaican rock and roll. And given how good their latest album, Self Medication is—and how much they tour—to be cliché, they don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. And that’s good news for fans.

One of the elements of the band that makes their music particularly sound like their own and stand the test of time and survived the pop-ska craze of several years ago is the use of the organ. Together with the horns, this really provides a soul(ful) underpinning the Jamaican rhythms. “Estranged” from the new album is a great example of this. Another standout is the lead track, “Every Day Is Sunday.” I dare you to try and resist the overwhelming desire to pogo that this track induces. And wow, “Stars” is a kind of Ska-ballad. Very lovely and another reason these guys have got it going on. It takes a lot of guts to throw a slow song into the mix.

Beyond the aforementioned three songs, Self Medication is strong from beginning to end and is definitely found a home on my current regular listening. If you haven’t listened to The Slackers before, this new Album is a great place to start. And if you get the chance to see these guys live, word on the street is you should do so.

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Album Review: Portishead's Thrid

Portishead has just released Third, their first album in a decade. And jumping back into Portishead’s world ten years on, three things are immediately clear. The first is, I’ve missed them more than I realized. Secondly, the band’s music has been incredibly influential. Lastly, they still sound amazing. And this sound—this combination of voice, samples, and live instruments—has an elemental power that makes their music elegiac at the same time it’s thrilling. A major key to this is Beth Gibbons’ voice. It has this wonderful fragility at the same time it has power and a unique sound and approach. She’s sort of a trip hop Billie Holiday.

Third is certainly going to be on by best of 2008 list. It will also be a top contender for best comeback (though I hate the phrase). The track “Machine Gun” with its automatic weapons beats is the first single. The lyrics on the album are pure Portishead as well. The song “Hunter” is a relationship song full of insecurity and doubt. And when Beth Gibbons sings, “And if I should fall, would you hold me? / Would you pass me by? / Ooh, you know I'd ask you for nothing, / Just to wait for a while” you are right there with her, teetering on the edge.

Check out the video for “Machine Gun” or the song live on Later with Jools Holland below.

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