This has been an abundant month of music, especially in the independent realm of Kickstarter funded projects. It’s also been a particularly fruitful one, with some remarkably good discs emerging from bands with whom I was largely unfamiliar. Thus, the comments will be kept brief so as to spin my opinions (and that’s really all these are) on as many as is possible.
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Cobra Juicy
French Kiss Music
If 2009’s Eating Us gave a glimpse of how this Pennsylvania based collective might be headed away from the homegrown quirkiness that made them both tantalizing and frustrating than Cobra Juicy continues that move further into the world of melody, danceable groove, and pop pleasure that was previously buried beneath players of discordant sound effects.
With tunes such as “Hairspray Heart” and “Windshield Smasher” relying more on crashing guitars, pulse beat drums, and pumped up bass, the sound is relatively mainstream, or at least as mainstream as BMSR would ever get. This is until the vocoder channeled voice of de facto bandleader Tobacco booms forth, at which point you’re quickly reminded that for all their wisely deliberate attempts at reaching a larger audience they’re still musical anarchists at heart.
Sure the sound is considerably clearer and more upfront than ever before-sounding at times like Odelay era Beck-but there’s plenty for fans of their earlier lo-fi releases to groove to. “Psychotic Love Damage” is a marvelous bit of psycho folk-and my favorite track so far-while the synthetic soundtracks swagger of “Spray-paint” could well end up on the soundtrack to the latest hipster cable show.
As it is Cobra Juicy is a bit of a risk for a band so closely associated with bargain basement (in all the best ways) but it might just bring forth a new cadre of fans without alienating the older ones. And for a band who so proudly wears their Do It Yourself credentials that’s no easy feat. ****
Paper Bird
Rooms
Boy-oh-boy do I love this band. Built around the vocal acrobatics of Sarah Anderson, Esme Patterson, and Genevieve Patterson (all of whom also play instruments) this seven piece assemblage is a jolt of lilting arrangements, playful engagement, and sheer energetic delight. Best exemplified by the lovely “As I Am,” which at last count had racked up nearly 12,000 You Tube views, Paper Bird — whose member’s play everything from trumpet to banjo to upright bass — might best be described as The Roches meets Van Dyke Parks.
“Hold It Down” and “Past the Sky” may be its two stand outs, but there’s not a serious stumble to be found. The playing is impeccable, the singing gorgeous, and the material so damn infectious it’s hard not to smile and tap along. While Paper Rooms isn’t quite perfect-it occasionally sacrifices structure for sheen, it’s the most pleasant listening experience I’ve had this year, which, given the amount of music that crosses my desk, is truly saying something. *****
Randall Bramblett
The Bright Spots
New West Records
While best known as a sideman extraordinaire Randall Bramblett is equally comfortable with the spotlight shining directly on him. He’s always been one to share his affections for soul, blues, and R & B flavored roots rock, and both his solo work and the projects he’s chosen to attach himself to reflect that.
That sort of eclectic diversity makes him a tough artist to pin down and the sort of dilemma that probably drives the marketing types crazy. For his ninth solo album — evenly spread over more than two decades — Bramblett wisely chose to avoid relying on the marketing skills (or lack thereof) of others and finance the project himself. He raised $30,000 via Kickstarter, gathered a bunch of his friends in his Athens, Georgia, home studio, and had at it.
The result is a rather loose effort that might just be his best yet. The fluid nature of the band — virtually every track sports a different line up — keeps thing lively and unpredictable.
As you might expect there’s a bit of everything, from funk-laden opener “Roll” to the straight-ahead blues rocker “Trying to Steal a Minute.” Best of the lot may just be the gospel fueled “John the Baptist” (buoyed by the unconventional pairing of baritone sax and electric sitar) and the swamp blues of “Whatever That Is.”
But there’s really not a weak moment here, and if The Bright Spots sounds like a typical Bramblett album it’s only because his output has been so consistently solid.
Randall Bramblett may be the consummate side man, but, if this record is any indication, he’d do just as well to step out front more often than not. ****
Standish Carlyon
Deleted Scenes
Felte Music
The duo of Conrad Standish and Tom Carlyon both emerged from the late Australian band Devastations, one of many such down under groups who flirted with but never quite achieved widespread success in our country.
Their sound certainly veers in the direction of electro pop, but the dance floor factor takes a back seat to ambient rhythms, veiled jangle rock, and an ethos that pulses as much from the heart as it does the head. There’s a surrealistic tinge but there’s also enough straight ahead production that Deleted Scenes rarely feels like background noise.
Much of it, particularly “Industrial Resort” and “New People” could have fit nicely onto any of David Bowie’s Berlin trilogy (not surprising since mixer/producer Denis Blackham mentored under Brian Eno) and while there are stretches where Deleted Scenes loses focus it’s by and large a surprisingly engaging and downright agreeable way to spend 60 minutes. ***1/2
Jon Hopkins
Immunity
Domino Music
Best known as a producer and effects guru whose credits include stints with Herbie Hancock and Brian Eno, Jon Hopkins, who co-produced Coldplay’s monster successful Viva La Vida, has also released a steady stream of his own seductively ambient efforts. Those familiar with his work won’t be surprised by the carefully constructed-although somewhat mechanical arrangements found here, but you might be nicely taken aback by how melodic bits and pieces are.
It’s still rather techno heavy (a genre I admit to having scant affinity towards) but there’s just enough breathing space to keep it interesting. “Sun Harmonics” has a sense of openness befitting the title while the title track closes things out with buoyancy I don’t typically associate with the form.
My best advice is to sample a few tracks at www.jonhopkins.co.uk and decide for yourself if Immunity is up your alley. ***
Alien Music Club
Dosta
My initial reaction to Jonathan Pearlman’s (AKA Alien Music Club) latest offering was strongly positive, and I am glad to say that repeated and more in depth listens have only reinforced that. Dosta works on so many different levels; its mix of psychedelic rock (Pearlman is a huge fan of Roger Waters), free spirit jazz (ditto Django Reinhardt) and classic rock (Beatles anyone?) is a pure joy to listen to. And if the preceding makes you dismiss Dosta as an opportunity for Pearlman to share his influences, that would be selling it far too short.
What makes it so fascinating is the myriad and unexpected ways he weaves these threads into one, making such familiar but divergent sounds wholly his own. It doesn’t hurt that Jonathon Pearlman and I share similar musical deities (although to the best of my recollection we’ve never met) but that sort of musical symbiosis makes Dosta an even more pleasant sentimental journey. ****