Spring Time

Spring is here and we are looking forward to the restorative effect of the season. It will be a time of improved health and well being, and the culmination of some home improvement projects.

The warmer weather and longer days will no doubt inject the energy to dial up the fitness mode, but we won’t be so militant about it that we'll pass up a chance to get out with friends and family for good food, drink, and banter. And we’ll get the backyard scene going too. Oh yes..... let the gin & tonics begin, please.

Have you been checking out the line up for the Lowell Summer Music Series this year? If you’re a live music lover this much anticipated annual festival is worthy of your consideration. If you’re interested in joining us for a few concerts give us a shout. Some of the more notable acts we’re looking forward to seeing this June through August include Ziggy Marley, John Mayall, George Thorogood And The Destroyers. Pink Floyd cover band: The Machine, is supposed to show up, and give us Boomers a "trip" back through our memories. That is, if we can still remember that period.

Our other choice for intimate concerts is the Tupelo Music Hall in Londonderry. This little jewel has been bringing in some really great acts for years. Too bad we didn’t check their website earlier or we would have certainly bought a pair of ducats to the Johnny Winter show coming later this month. He sells out early, every time.

We’ve been keeping the music scene going at home while we work on projects, or just for the pleasure of "getting loose". Provided below is a sampling of what one might hear passing by our house on a warm evening if our new :) windows are open.  We've included music file links that can be opened from the file sharing site "Box.com" if you want to hear some of the selections reviewed here. The files look like this: http://www.box.com/s/3eeea095d31a3be6b46c . Just click on the link and wait for the Box.com website to open with a "download" button in the dialogue box. Having a pair of good speakers hooked up will give you the best experience of course.

Alternative music

Mike Doughty – Guitarist, poet, former front man for Soul Coughing, and apparently a darling of the Hollywood producers set, you may have heard his more commercialized efforts "Looking Up From The Bottom Of A Well" http://www.box.com/s/9d2242ed78bdd590bc12 on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, or "I Hear The Bells" http://www.box.com/s/0568418a5aa6bc8111af on Veronica Mars. Despite his deadpan and off key vocals, Mike’s hook laden melodies will get your toe tapping and encourage you to sing along. If you like the sounds of Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Dinosaur Jr., Gomez, or They Might Be Giants, you’ll probably like Mike’s type of indie folk/rock. A personal favorite, "Your Misfortune", http://www.box.com/s/3eeea095d31a3be6b46c, comes off his Haughty Melodic album. Played in the lower keys of an acoustic guitar, this luscious song is about offering support and help to a friend suffering set back in life; but the lyrics and message are upbeat.

Beck – Folk rocker with that laid back Left Coast attitude. Beck serves up great mellow house party tunes anchored with some serious bass hooks. "Beercan" http://www.box.com/s/fc91fba5223abbfa0fff from the Mellow Gold album is a personal favorite, and should come with a warning saying it encourages drinking, smoking and carousing. There's also "Soldier Jane"    http://www.box.com/s/f0596bfc17ca99fa4f09and  and "Scarecrow" http://www.box.com/s/479ace330b72c7be0780 off of The Information and Guero CDs, respectively, that might be worth a bit of your time if you want to kick back. If you haven’t heard of this guy by now you either don’t listen to enough music, or are older than us.

G. Love – Sometimes touring and recording with Special Sauce, G Love is a contemporary of Beck and Jack Johnson, but he’s got a blacker funk in his groove as served up with "Thanks And Praise" http://www.box.com/s/54d7567858f71b987b71 and "Banger" http://www.box.com/s/f801e3f516500aeb386b. He can do the pop-rock thing too with the very infectious "Free". http://www.box.com/s/326bd5377f5a2412a64f.


Moving to the more progressive vein we offer the following:

Kinky – These extremely talented guys from Nuevo Leon, Mexico play Latino-techno/acid-trip hop on real instruments like never imagined by anybody before.  If there is another band like these guys we haven't heard of them.

Their super danceable "Oye Como Va" http://www.box.com/s/0599be738b7fa13d9679 is a nicely tweeked version of Santana’s original. "Selvi Lombardi" from the Rarities CD is flat out weird. Perfect sound track if Michael's Jackson's Thriller video had been done as a zombie Tango. Weird, but we love it. http://www.box.com/s/d5b12925e834f1383cf5

If Selvi isn't enough for you try the spooky "Una Linea de Luz" http://www.box.com/s/1433a56de5ea785b4594  from Kinky's Reina release. It must have been conceived with a dose of local peyote. 

Soul Coughing - "Soft Serve"http://www.box.com/s/211ce2654da31b10c293 off of their Irresistible Bliss album has some interesting keyboards wrapped around edgy but sublime jazz-blues riffs. You'll also notice the round punctual phrasing of a stand up bass that can be heard on most of their songs. We like how SC can make a stand up bass work with edgy rock and roll. "Lazybones", http://www.box.com/s/1aca3a08f20a9d31c99a also off of the same album, is a good example of the band's "less is more" approach to song writing, and is interesting for the fact the guitar serves as a time piece while the keyboard has the lead with only a few notes. Yes, the vocals are as flat as a pancake, but one can get used to it.

We still can’t figure out what "Saint Louise Is Listening" is about, but the looping electric guitar with chord flourishes and quavering keyboard lines keep pulling us back for another listen. http://www.box.com/s/e98476a68fb3377515b5. It's off their excellent El Oso release.

Smog – Most of the songs from Smog's catalogue reminds us of Tom Waits, as does former front man Bill Calahan's solo material. But "Held" from Smog's Knock Knock album is something entirely different. This song came to our attention during the closing credits of Jamie Johnson’s film "Born Rich", a bio/documentary about the lives of ultra wealthy kids, including himself. 

Trying to figure out how to describe "Held" has been a most trying exercise. A simple eight note guitar loop is accompanied by an over amplified kick drum beat and the anxious effect of high pitched warbling feedback.  A dark piano chord  insinuates itself near the end to add a feel of dread. Fittingly, the lyrics are about dealing with the prospect of breaking away from the bonds of family and legacy. Quite appropriate for Jamie’s movie, given that it was made to coincide with his 21st birthday, and the day of his inheritance into a ton of money from the Johnson & Johnson fortune.  "Held" might not come off as something anyone would want to listen to, but it is a very cool and hypnotic piece precisely because of it's stark composition and subject.

http://www.box.com/s/797762684952c1db0d16

"Mr Oysterhead", by Oysterhead - What can be said about the insanely original Les Claypool? 
Oysterhead is yet another brainchild of the Primus front man and bassist-supreme. If you know and get Primus, you might like this tune. Not for folks who like their rock and roll served straight up and straight ahead. As much as Smog's "Held" is strange, "Mr. Oysterhead" is a click or two further down range of strange... but with a bit more irony. http://www.box.com/s/8611f7c8f68127955dab 

Blues/Blues Rock music

This is probably our largest collection so we can’t name everything we are playing, but it can be said you might just catch Evangeline riding around town with some of this cranked on her car CD player.

Guitar Shorty – A contemporary of B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins and Albert King, he is one of those old timey blues dudes that’s been around since Moses was wearing short pants. When Hendrix was up and coming he used to go check out Shorty. If you catch his version of Elvis Presley’s’ "A Little Less Conversation" you’ll know why. http://www.box.com/s/93f2f3d5bc424632202b

Michael Burks - Born in 1957, MB is as old school blues as it gets. He’s got vocal qualities very much like Muddy Waters, and a killer slide guitar. His "Strange Feeling" is a roadhouse ripper. This is a MUST for any blues aficionado that likes their blues stew electrified. http://www.box.com/s/7e0493aab13c70e50979

James Solberg - Smoky vocals, laconic guitar with piano and organ accompaniment on "Gotta Play My Blues" makes for a great lazy Sunday morning brunch groove, or hanging loose in a dark smoke shrouded cantina with a couple of whiskeys. http://www.box.com/s/ca744cfd2a1c8b9bdbdc

Toler Brothers – Former Allman Brothers members "Dangerous Dan" and "Frankie" Toler, have put together some really good southern blues. Our favorite off of their 1994 album The Toler Brothers is "Goin’ Down Slow". It’s patience and clean economy allows the listener to savor each note for its own flavor. Truly beautiful work from relatively young musicians. http://www.box.com/s/e5e0fb567d26dfe88a75

The Nimmo Brothers – If we didn’t hear them play the blues we’d say the sound like a couple of button men for the Mob. "I Do It All For You" http://www.box.com/s/c8e6ba71c287e5e9075d off of their Moving On release has the quality found in many of Stevie Ray Vaugh’s more introspective numbers. The vocals remind of us where Johnny Lang has arrived.

Buddaheads – Relatively obscure band laboring in anonymity. Most of their stuff is standard fair done to death by many other blues rock bands, but their song about a stripper trying to get through life, "Dance Maria" from their Howlin' At The Moon album is top shelf blues rock with a Hendrix influence. http://www.box.com/s/c10d7052a2e7a1568016  

Gus Lambros & Electric Mud – Updated blues rock with some really great guitar. We may be persecuted for heresy, but we think their thumping, blistering, version of "Born Under A Bad Sign" http://www.box.com/s/b12def5af4cb95aa0c7c from the Bad Gamble release is better than Albert King’s original, or even Cream’s with the inestimable Eric Clapton. OK, you can burn us at the stake now.

Electronic music

This stuff is on the home sound system so often we should just go ahead and install some colored klieg lights, lasers, lava lamps, etc, and rent out as a weekend night club for the Gen X’rs, GenY’rs, and Millennials.

For the most part this stuff is not music in the traditional sense, but synthetic sounds layered over a repetitious chord or beat. Some of it is best served in moments of meditation and relaxation, while others listed here morph over into the dance club sound ("Trip Hop", "House" "Dub") that is the latest incarnation of disco. Here are samples from artists or "bands" as we go from Trance to Dub:

Go inside your head and indulge in:

"Al Talamh" - Asura. A Middle Eastern sound to the first half of this luscious composition transitions to something familiar of Vangelis.  http://www.box.com/s/cc451ff8e92b836c8499



"Blue Moon Station" - Solar Fields. This song gets us thinking of images from Forbidden Planet.  http://www.box.com/s/f9aa2dbfd365802a0a85


"Eyes Wide Open" http://www.box.com/s/cba1c2aea32fdd4f7f81 by Sounds From The Ground is one of the less than handful of electronica we accept with human intervention, i.e. lyrics, when we’re trying to zone out.

" Altered State" http://www.box.com/s/0f5126a84d96514d4e49, and "Big Trouble Upstairs" http://www.box.com/s/cd01da0afa1b4aa56ad0 from Pitch Black are best served with "X".... or working out. This stuff is usually on the iPod when we're ripping a technical single track on the bike.






Random Cuts - Honorable Mention

"Orange Sky" - Alexi Murdoch. A superb introspective ballad played with acoustic economy. A wonderful example of the allure of a great melody. http://www.box.com/s/1ce2271424351f24161f

"Kashmir" (acoustic cover) - Tim Reynolds played this excellent cover during the Dave Matthews "Live In Las Vegas" concert. http://www.box.com/s/2f89891312b0b2041aa4.

"Sometimes Always" - Jesus And Mary Chain. Every once in a while we pull this "old" chestnut out of the library to savor the musicianship and grin at the lyrics of sly manipulation.
http://www.box.com/s/1dfcc720d80794abe91c


"Sufficiently Breatheless" from Captain Beyond. Unbelievable that this really good tune was released in 1973. Ringing acoustic guitars and vocal harmonies reminiscent of the quality we got from Crosby, Stills and Nash. http://www.box.com/s/91f80bfe4c2a80a5ee76


"Seer" - Motopony. Good folk rock. http://www.box.com/s/37456797edc18430b70c


"I Had A Feeling" http://www.box.com/s/d433d2bbc323abb1dbe9 - Straight ahead pop rock from a band called Something Happens. Their stuff is in the same broad vein of commercial music that includes Bryan Adams, Third Eye Blind, or even Oasis. A guilty pleasure, but they've got some nice guitar licks.


"More Than Fine" from Switchfoot. http://www.box.com/s/32b26e74165cade52c0a  Listening to this emo rock band leaves us a bit red faced. But they turn out some pretty infectious tunes.

Our favorite Canadian blues/folk/rock band Cowboy Junkies came out some years ago with the Lay It Down CD that was most noted for the big airwaves hit "Common disaster". But we think two others songs were better. Lead singer Margo Timmins phrases the lyrics to "Something More Than You" http://www.box.com/s/c5f9b91cb795cef34085 with her typical languid pacing and beautiful melancholia. Brother Michael gives us a really clever guitar work on title track "Lay It Down" http://www.box.com/s/f373fcf703e7efa2397a. The tone knob is dialed up and back as notes are picked to create the auditory effect of being played backwards, ala Hendrix. For some unknown technical issue we could not rip and upload these songs in the "wma" format so we had to do them in the "wm4".

"Last Goodbye" http://www.box.com/s/9edddd13ff303894d639 from Jeff Buckley's Grace album is an all time favorite despite the fact it is a melancholic "break up" song. He was an incredible vocalist and musician; well respected by the likes of David Bowie, Jimmy Page and Bob Dylan. Too bad he died so young.