Jaebberwocky

The Future is the Beloved Familiar: Roebuck-Fischer

2012-03-10T08:45:00.000-08:00

We've been leaning toward the acoustic of late, and now it's time to go full-on campfire mellow. Mark Roebuck is a singer-songwriter whose name always evokes admiration among fans and musicians who've had the good fortune to catch any phase of his last thirty (yes thirty) years of creative output. Mark first grabbed attention in the early 80's with his band The Deal, one of those bands whose success seemed inevitable, and yet constantly thwarted as if by the spite of minor deities. What has earned the loyalty of his listeners across the various solo and group projects is the felicitous combination of soothing vocal melodies and expert songcraft. This is music that presents an innocence too wise to be naive and too strong to be broken.

The current feature "The Future Is a Foreign Country" comes from the Roebuck-Fischer Midnight to Morning album, where Mark works with ace guitarist Tony Fischer. The album was a commitment to purely acoustic guitar and vocals, and the results are a lovely mellow and wistful collection of tunes that invites comparison to The Indigo Girls and Simon & Garfunkle; and with no risk of hubris...Lennon-McCartney.

The Future is a Foreign Land

Enjoy, and as always, please return the gift by purchasing the music that gives to you.

Roebuck-Fischer album and singles on CD Baby

Fight the Sleep and Hear: Jono McCleery

2012-03-02T17:00:00.001-08:00

This is the second Jono McCleery feature here within three months, and honestly, the question is not why so soon again, but rather, what took so long? Jono McCleery, in musicological terms, is the shiznit. Besides enjoying a reputation as one of the nicest and most gracious performers out there, Jono is an incredible artist. I'll confess that it took me a number of listens to get on board with some of his album cuts after the instant infatuation with "Tomorrow." But isn't that how the deepest love comes about? You have to invest your own self before the real thing comes back to you in a warm, subtle glow.

You'll never hear a song from Jono McCleery that sounds or feels like "let me get on radio with this one." This is a musician who stays true to his muse with every note without regard to the sales potential. The current feature tune is Stream from his album Darkest Light, and it has the most haunting resemblance to Nick Drake's "The Riverman." With the reference to Nick Drake, let me say that I truly want to believe that magic can be recognized in the moment it occurs and not relegated to late "oh man why didn't we get it then?" discoveries.

If you enjoy this anywhere near as much as I do please visit the sites where you can purchase and download, thus completing the cycle and giving something back to the source.

Here's the listen now link: Jono McCleery - Stream

jonomccleery.com

Jono McCleery on iTunes

Jono McCleery on Facebook

Irresistible Charm: David Wax Museum

2012-02-18T11:34:00.000-08:00

OK no posting of flyers for this week's feature. If you're in you're in and welcome back.

Here's a delightful piece from the David Wax Museum. If this doesn't put a smile on your face nothing will. But then "some of us come with new hearts most of us come with used parts."

davidwaxmuseum.com

Cheshire Soul: Russell Morgan

2012-02-03T15:50:00.000-08:00

This week Russell Morgan, from Cheshire, UK appears for the first time on Jaebberwocky, which totally belies the degree to which his music has filled my ears in the past year. Whatever genie it is that bestows soul upon a singer, it's a capricious, miserly spirit that only deigns to bless a few in each generation. And somewhere in its travels it decided to light and grant a rare magic to Russ Morgan. This is a voice that draws the full moon into the sky in hope of laying claim to inspiration.

Comparisons to Richie Havens, Joe Cocker, John Martyn, and Nick Drake come readily, given the combination of dusky, soulful voice and lyrical, fingerstyle guitar in open-tuning . But this is a new and original sound that brings an admixture of jubilance and wistful longing for the enjoyment of the heart and ears. And it delights more with each listen.

Experience the triptych of Beautiful Day, Move these Mountains, and Surrender, and be moved. And give us your impressions after you do.

russmorgan.co.uk

Old World Elegance: Martin Klein

2012-01-27T05:49:00.000-08:00

Manchmal sollen wir auf andere Sprache bieten also dieses Mal wir hatten gern bei euch Martin Klein, Klavierspieler und Sanger aus Ostereich zu vorstellen .

In keeping with the Jaebberwocky philosophy, here's a very worthy artist that you're not likely to otherwise hear. Martin Klein is a songwriter, pianist and singer from Austria. Coming from the "Less is More" school, the production and arrangements are spare and lovely, and Martin has a vocal style reminiscent of Jeff Buckley.

I'd say that fans of Charlotte Gainsbourg, David Boily, Cold Play, and Explosions in the Sky would all find common ground here, but please have a listen to "Did I Ever Let You Know?" and "Your Heart Has Gone" below, and offer your thoughts and comparisons of similar artists.

Martin Klein on Facebook

martinklein.info

Feeling Returns -- Phantom Limb

2012-01-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks to UK site Tuna the Day this Jaebberweekend selection just appeared on my virtual doorstep this morning. Phantom Limb is a band out of Bristol, UK, and the text on their website needs no further embellishment--and you should need no further encouragement to enjoy it!

It’s The Staples Singers fronting The Band in The Last Waltz, Ray Charles striking gold when he made his first country album, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham down in Muscle Shoals writing Do Right Woman, a song that would go on to be recorded by both Aretha Franklin and The Flying Burrito Brothers.

I just love this, and you will too. Unfortunately there isn't a US representative website yet to buy & download this but hopefully this will be redressed soon.

Phantom Limb on Facebook

phantomlimbmusic.com

Jessie Grace: Lovely Gothic Darkness

2012-01-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

Here's our next 2012 feature, this one from the Ray Recordings stable. Jessie Grace has a luscious voice (yes one may say these things in the privacy of one's own home) and here on her tune "King of Villains" there's a wonderful tube distortion & warmth that just makes it sound like melted chocolate. This tune also features some wicked piano playing by Jessie and a complex, dramatic arrangement. Those who like Kate Bush, Alison Moyet, Pink Floyd, Portishead, and Bjork will find themselves quite at home here.

I dig this heavy gothic doom. But you knew that already; so now let's hear *from you* after you hear this!

Jessie Grace on Facebook

Premier Pas de 2012: Les Beaux Arts de David Boily

2012-01-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

Welcome back. The holidays are over so it's time to get back in the Jaebberwocky groove. No best of 2011 lists here, there are too many out there already. Again, the premise here is to provide exposure to music I love with the hope that you'll enjoy it too and to do so without excessive critical intrusion or jabber. I hope you enjoy the blog and music, and your thoughtful feedback is so welcome, whether positive or negative.

The first feature of 2012 is a wonderful tune from one of my friends and favorite artists, David Boily of Montreal. His music is passionate, dark, and hauntingly beautiful. "Feuilles mortes" (the dead leaves) needs no more verbal description, it just needs to be heard. Whether you understand the French or not the sound is universal and it is gorgeous.

This song is in the album available for free download on David's website. Use link in any of the song titles ('telecharger' = download).

http://davidboily.net/

All songs can be played individually here:

http://davidboily.bandcamp.com/

Feuilles Mortes on Jaebberwocky Soundcloud

L'automne et ses mille catins
qui dansent sous une pluie glaciale
Les blondes et les brunes
déferlent en chaine

La nuit et ses créatures
que je regarde sans bouger
Je suis bien caché
sous mon visage
qui est la pointe de mon rivage

Si je veux juste oublier tes yeux
c'est parce-que je connaitrai jamais ton nom

Beauté, tu te dessines
sous une lune ronde et divine
qui t'éclaire d'une lumière bleu et grise
qui trace les courbes de ton emprise

Si je veux juste oublier tes yeux
c'est parce-que je connaitrai jamais ton nom

Les feuilles mortes craquent sous mes bottes
Le feu assèche le rouge orange des feuilles mortes
qui craquent sous mes bottes
Le feu assèche le rouge orange des feuilles mortes

Autumn and her thousand dolls
dancing in freezing rain
Blondes and brunettes
unfurl in chain

The night and its creatures
I look at without moving
I am well hidden
bellow my face
which is the edge of my shore

If I just want to forget your eyes
it's because I'll never know your name

Beauty, you draw yourself
under a divine and round moon
that illuminates you with blue and gray light
which traces the curves of your grip

If I just want to forget your eyes
it's because I'll never know your name

The dead leaves crack under my boots
The fire dries the dead leaves of red-orange
that crack under my boots
The fire dries the dead leaves of red-orange

Jim Pearson: A Musical Isle of Skye

2011-12-10T09:57:00.001-08:00

I'd compare listening to Jim Pearson's music to aquiring a taste for single malt scotch. For me, the first listen was merely an "OK this is pretty good" experience. And then, as is the case with some of the more sublime pleasures, there was a transition from "hey I like this" to "my God this is exquisite!" So what did I find along the way that made this happen? Probably the best comparison group would be Ray Davies and The Kinks, only with a lot more smoke and peat to it. There's a unique, compelling storyteller's voice with the precise British diction that we Americans find so quaint and a lilting rasp that sounds like 80 years of experience being channeled through a body still young enough to jump up and dance at the Workingman's Club. Lyrically there's an unabashed sincerity that pervades all of Jim's music, with a focus on the absurd, but winsome frailty of the human experience. As in "Home for Tea," where a palpable sadness is coupled with a wink and hat tip to the joys of home and hearth when a businessman manages to recover his senses and dash home from an attempted affair:

when she crossed her legs it crossed his mind
he's not too old to read the signs and not exactly in his prime
middle age and pheromones...tired, guilty, and alone
there's a message on his mobile phone
"Darling when will you be home? I cooked your tea and kept it warm"

There's so much music out there that reeks of calculation and pose. But that makes the pleasure of finding a real artist even more profound So now it's your turn to take the first step onto a delightfully quirky musical island from which you won't want to leave.

*Many thanks to Richard Filaccio for video production

Jim Pearson Music on Facebook

http://www.jimpearson.com/

Jim Pearson - I'm Not Your Superman

Deep Soulful Music: Brian Blade's Mama Rosa

2011-12-06T18:52:00.001-08:00

The best of 2011 lists are coming out now. But I want to go back to 2009 for an album that you might not hear, or even hear of, given the current state of radio. First-call jazz drummer Brian Blade released the album Mama Rosa with ace producer Daniel Lanois at the board and adding a lot of his distinctive guitar work. And it has that Lanois voodoo all over it. This is a hard to categorize album, with a definite gospel influence and a very serene, spiritual quality throughout. There are refrains here but no choruses, and some tunes are almost stream of consciousness lyrics with a more linear approach and no deliberate pop circularity, even though lush harmony and haunting melodies abound. That more free-form structure allows this music to be so much deeper and confessional. The aching vulnerability, sincerity and palpable longing for life more full of brotherly love is reminiscent of Curtis Mayfield's message music. And it doesn't get much more soulful than that.

This is a deeply textured, reflective album that rewards more with every listen. Highly recommended.

Brian Blade Mama Rosa MP3 Album and Songs on Amazon

http://www.brianblade.com/

Mercy Angel

Modern Mystic: Active Child

2011-12-03T07:14:00.001-08:00

I first heard of Active Child on the NPR Song of the Day page:

Pat Grossi is from New Jersey, has orange hair, and looks like the kind of guy who owns a few skateboards. He used to sing with the Philadelphia Boys Choir when he was little and still plays the harp. These days, Grossi mixes the many sides of his personality using the moniker Active Child, for which he adds synthesizers and dubstep beats to his classical repertoire. A man of apparent contradictions, Grossi splashes his pristine vocals all over Active Child's full-length debut, You Are All I See, and the result is dizzyingly gorgeous.

This song is in the hyper-dramatic vein for which this writer has a marked weakness (Jeff Buckley, Wild Beasts, Cymbals Eat Guitars, and Kate Bush among others). Grossi has a lovely contratenor voice and an equally appealing use of the Celtic harp here. I'd venture to say that there's a harp-geist at work in current music, having noticed a number of tunes in the past year that use it to great effect. The performance below is just incredible--to pull of a live version of a tune like this is quite an amazing feat, even with recorded backing vocals. And anyone who loves James Brown is OK in my book.

https://www.facebook.com/ActiveChild

http://activechildmusic.com/

New Mama's Gun Single: Only One

2011-12-01T04:35:00.001-08:00

Here's a follow-up to the Mama's Gun post earlier. Much respect to promo agent Kev Marston, whose "got something new get back to ya soon..." means exactly that. This single "Only One" features lovely guest Beverly Knight, a talented UK soul artist in her own right, and it will be on the new album The Life and Soul coming out this January. Tasty Soul music, who can ever get enough?

http://www.mamasgun.co.uk/

http://www.beverleyknight.com/

Mama's Gun Only One

Wednesday Weird: Coco Rosie

2011-11-30T08:35:00.000-08:00

The Wikipedia entry for Coco Rosie describes them as "freak folk...a musical group formed in 2003 by sisters Bianca and Sierra Casady." This isn't a new group or song featured below, but probably new to most listeners. I discovered them on some Rolling Stone sampler CD a few years back and still haven't recovered from the shock. Nor do I want to; there is something so compelling about their totally weird musical juju. In artistic counterpoint to some of the talentless poseurs that get elevated by Pitchfork (like Sleigh Bells, Fucked Up, Yeah Yeah Yeahs...), there are those truly fey spirits that are just doing what they do out of true artistic impulse, whether anyone's watching or not. That compels respect even if it isn't one's cuppa. And one must have the most profound Wiccan respect for lyrics like these from "The Promise":

And if you take me inside
And you give me a place to hide and cry
I’ll bathe you in the crystal light
That sleeps between my thighs
A times you fear the angle’s sigh
To the lord and heavens that is aint right
But in this chalice you’ll fine the wine
Our hands hold bonfires burning bright
And the heart is dumb and the heart is blind
But I think you’ll find that the lord is kind
And I pray you’ll cherish this tarnished offering
Burnt silver brushed lavender offspring

The Promise

Smokey Taboo

Tomorrow: Right Now

2011-11-28T18:41:00.001-08:00

Mighty thanks to Russell Morgan (you'll hear a lot more about Russ later) for the heads-up on Jono McCleery. Here's "Tomorrow," which is one of those tunes that just intoxicates it's so damn good. The initial simplicity is corrupted with magic as the artfully restrained and syncopated bass & drums work against the original 12/8 of the harp and strings. Jono McCleery cites Bill Withers as one of his influences and the vocal similarity is striking; it takes rare maturity and confidence to leave huge amounts of space in the vocal phrasing and bring that much intensity through the quiet. This is musical absinthe and you will be hooked on it too.

http://www.jonomccleery.com/

Acoustic Delight: Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun

2011-11-26T06:19:00.001-08:00

Here's our first acoustic feature, and it's a good one. Morwenna Lasko and Jay Pun are a fiddler and guitarist from Virginia who record and perform both as a duo and with larger ensembles. They work in that Shengen zone of music that combines many styles in a hybrid that exceeds all music of origin. It's energetic instrumental hard-folk that follows in the footsteps of Michael Hedges, Pierre Bensusan, Darrell Scott, and Natalie MacMaster, with a liberal infusion of blues and jazz. Guitarist Jay Pun has true-North rhythmic instincts and very disciplined playing; on most tunes he fulfills a support role that belies his first-rate fingerstyle chops (listen to the studio version of "Atip Ouypron" on their Facebook site). And Morwenna, to put it in musicological terms, just freakin' gets down on the fiddle. Her live performance of the Hendrix Star-Spangled Banner induces out-of-body experience.

To be young, good-looking,and prodigiously talented would be an ego trap for most. Yet these two gifted performers are far too busy encouraging other musicians and getting lost like dervishes in the joy of their own music for that. When world-renowned musicians Corey Harris and Pierre Bensusan choose to record with young artists like Morwenna Lasko and Jay Pun it behooves the rest of us to pay attention too.

Facebook Page for Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun

http://www.mojamusic.net/home.html

Electric Mantra: Exactly That

2011-11-23T16:09:00.001-08:00

Electric Mantra may be the most appropriately named musical project on the planet. This is the brainchild of singer, guitarist, producer, and writer Van Roland, coming out of a musical sweatlodge somewhere in Alberta, Canada. No this isn't for the Shirley Temple drinker crowd at all; and why should it be? This is aggressive, darkly passionate music that may be best described as a sonic visionquest.

Here "Only Sun" is featured but please do not consider your listening complete until you've heard the mystical "Red Sea" on the band website (which has an excellent mp3 player). "Red Sea" is pure magic and you need to hear it; trust me. Also highly recommended is the video with "Monkey." I'll spare you my lascivious musings on semi-nude 60's girls in black & white film...

On "Only Sun" Roland uses a primal recipe: Start with a didgeridoo growl, add in a throbbing drum machine beat and then a relentless guitar riff that weaves in and off of the beat as it turns around in a meter longer than the beat. A chorus of wailing male vocals completes a tribal backdrop of sound that's simultaneously energizing and intimidating--like experiencing the All Blacks rugby haka at field level. Then on top of this he delivers some very witty and salacious white boy rap that manages to incorporate "chia pet" in a highly innovative trope. What's left? Just dig it.

http://www.electricmantra.com/

Canadian Classic: Sills and Smith

2011-11-21T20:57:00.001-08:00

Pacing is everything; but there's music that should be getting heard. So for a 2nd Monday feature here's Sills and Smith (Jeremy Allan Michael Sills /Frank Smith) with "Writer's Retreat." It might seem like a cop-out to compare a group from Ottawa with other Canadian bands, but here it's apropos. The Tragically Hip have been trying for years to get something as epic and achingly personal combined in the same tune, and these guys have done it as if it were just that easy. Maybe they spent a snowed-in weekend drinking Les Maudits beer and listening to "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" relentlessly to get into the proper frame of mind here. The song opens with wobbly singing that intones "a cabin in the woods, a writer's retreat, a long gravel road..." over an ominous minor chord to minor sixth dirty guitar; clearly this is isn't a story that ends well. The spacious mix leaves storytelling room, and the choruses open into a rolling 6/8 release of major chords with layers of expansive bass and lead guitar. The production work of Jonathan Edwards makes what would be a merely quirky tune in the wrong hands into a dramatic knockout. And this is definitely one of the more artful videos I've seen. Well done guys!

http://www.reverbnation.com/sillssmith

Laid Back Neo-Soul: His Name is Alive

2011-11-20T17:45:00.001-08:00

You won't hear this tune on the mainstream radio, and I think you should. Thanks to one of the WTJU afternoon rock DJ's for giving me the first listen. The group is His Name is Alive (yeah I know...really? did you have to?) and the song is "No Hiding Place Down Her." This is a very eclectic group (really more one writer/producer, Warn Defever, who brings others on board for collaborations a la Zero Seven), and this tune isn't indicative of an overall sound you'll find with this project. But although the quirkier groups take more work to appreciate they're ultimately so much more rewarding in the long run.

No Hiding Place has that great Wurlitzer electric piano sound I can never get enough of and languid vocals with a breathy, reedy sound like Norah Jones (were she not quite so languid). There's a constant male vocal doubling underneath the lead like an old Rufus tune, and some wickedly tasty bass playing and chimey acoustic guitar parts in a relatively spare mix.

This a great tune, and well, these days buying a great tune is just a click away.

http://www.hisnameisalive.com/

Musical Dreamscape: SheLoom

2011-11-17T19:25:00.001-08:00

SheLoom is a two-man group whose members live in Canada and Italy; Jordon Zadorozny and Filippo Gaetani, respectively, met online through a collaborative music and began to work together as a duo (Jordan has produced music for one of my Canadian favorites Sam Roberts and Filippo produced Russell Morgan's outstanding debut Surrender). I discovered them by hearing one of their tunes on the now defunct Garageband music review site. The title tune from the album Seat of the Empire (Minty Fresh Records) was a shockingly good and original song with guitars that were very precise and clean, yet extremely aggressive. And it compelled further listening within this very pleasing and enigmatic work. Rather than anachronistic I'd call it a-chronistic--this music seems to have come out of no time period and all of them. In counterpoint to the very deft and intricate electric work, the vocals maintain a languid serenity even on the more energetic tunes. And the album reflects the presence of two talented producers at play--there are many layers of ambient sound and a rich variety of instrument tones. The thoughtful, sophisticated lyrics and overall song structures are very reminiscent of XTC in their prime with a touch of Godley and Creme production savvy thrown in. This is music that reveals new nuances on every listen.

I could jabber all night and not really pinpoint this sound by references to other groups. Instead let me say have a good listen to this group for yourself; you'll be rewarded for doing so. The dreamy "All For Love" is featured below and is available as a free download on the LastFM page for the band.

SheLoom on LastFM

SheLoom on Amazon

Undiscovered Gem: Life During Hard Times

2011-11-16T18:35:00.001-08:00

"Life During Hard Times" is a lovely tune from Richard Filaccio. This self-produced singer-songwriter from Northern California makes some truly idiosyncratic and passionate music. It calls to mind the work of Todd Rundgren for the dogged sense of individuality and compositional gifts he possesses. And of course there's some strong Beatles influence present here (and this writer still can't get enough of that).

There are some parts in this song that are just astonishingly beautiful, with an overdubbed mandolin ensemble and huge amounts of aural and arrangement space that make this sound bright and darkly dramatic in equal measure. The descending chromatic bassline, chord progression, and lyrical mandolin melodies on the bridge are pure genius--it sounds like the ghost of Beethoven making a brief cameo appearance in a Vivaldi lute & mandolin concerto.

And it ends with one of the best...well, listen and find out:

Funk Me With Mama's What?

2011-11-14T16:51:00.001-08:00

Mama's Gun out of London. One of my favorite neo-Soul bands--they've got the sweetness of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gay, and sometimes they even venture out into the uber-sweet turn-them-panties-loose netherworld of Russell Thompkins and the Stylistics --but that's soul-junkie jabber.

At any moment they can throw down some Sly funk too, with one very tight rhythm section (listen to "Let Me Put My Finger On It" ).

Below "Pots of Gold," their breakout UK hit, and "Let Me Put My Finger On it."

Mama's Gun Website

Worthy of More Attention: Pale Hollow

2011-11-14T05:41:00.001-08:00

Pale Hollow is a band out of Cleveland, OH that sounds more like they came out of Manchester, UK. Their eponymous debut album was released in 2007. Stylistically the tunes alternate between a classic British sound with overdriven Vox amps (think George Harrison on "She Said She Said") and Country Rock with tasty string bending a la Clarence White (The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers).

Songwriter Michael Allen's lyrics are cerebral and engaging; he writes as if he'd spent considerable time reading Hesse, Jung, and Robertson Davies. From my favorite tune on the album, "Let the Change Begin" :

should I push my will to force the shape out of the clouds up in the sky
I could live and die a million times before my summer would arrive

see them wandering on the wind there's no more hoping cause the wait has ended

and the branch has sprung forth from the stem can't you hear the new bell ring?

This is one of those bands that is so worthy of greater attention and support.

https://www.facebook.com/PaleHollow

Worthy of More Attention: Wild Beasts

2011-11-11T20:28:00.001-08:00

If Roxy Music and Heroes-era David Bowie mated they'd have given birth to Wild Beasts. Or is this Kurt Weill does Kabuki? Definitely not for everyone, but I really like this hyper-dramatic falsetto singing and lush keyboard sound. And amazingly they pull it off quite well live; there are more live performances than studio versions on YouTube.

New (to me) Music Find: Brooke Miller

2011-11-10T18:23:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Russell Morgan for turning me on to Brooke Miller. Wow this is just great. She's got this unaffected alto voice , wicked fingerstyle guitar chops, and wonderful songs. Did I say "Wow this is great" already? Oh yeah, but wow this is great. I just love the easy vocal grace here and her guitar playing is just plain awesome. She lilts her voice like Joni Mitchell and the open-tuned guitar invites the comparison on two fronts. But the amazing resonance I hear is with Bruce Cockburn--there's something about the vocal phrasing that has that same intimate, poignant confessional tone that I love in his music. And if YouTube banter has any basis in fact she's married to Don Ross, who's a fingerstyle guitar giant himself.

I've listened to several songs now and they're all just as good as "You See Everything." David Lowry from Cracker sang "the world needs another folk singer like I need a hole in my head," and usually I'd agree. Not this time.

Worthy of More Attention: The Sadies

2011-11-08T05:46:00.000-08:00

I learned of the Toronto-based group The Sadies after seeing their very energetic show in Victoria, BC. I don't think they're very well known here in the US, and as with a number of Canadian bands, it's a loss on both sides. Alt-Country is probably the best single description for them. But they incorporate a number of styles in both relatively pure and hybrid form. The Sadies offer a melange of Folk, Country, Surf, and Psychedelic that fans of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers will recognize and love immediately.

New (to me) Music Find: Cymbals Eat Guitars

2011-11-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

One of the questions that I pose, both at large and directly to myself, is: To what extent do preconceived notions influence taste? Not an original question but still an interesting one. Sometimes I think that hipsters would rave about a project that consisted of Partridge Family songs played backwards by two DJ's wearing Renaissance masquerade costumes if it had been annointed by appearing on a Pitchfork list. And, similarly I might decide that I don't like an artist because I've decided beforehand that they're just one of the same pretentious-about-nothing's.

Here's a group whose name alone just gives me that "Two dweebs learn 4 chords from the Big Note Guitar Book and decided to start a band after meeting in Starbucks while filling out MFA applications" feeling. It's "Cymbals Eat Guitars" --a name that's both cloyingly pretentious and smacks of teenage bed-wetting at the same time. The irony is that I heard them on a WTJU afternoon rock show and loved their music without knowing which band it was until the back-announce list. This is a bit noisy and hyper-dramatic, so I may only share the venue with teenage bed-wetters if I get to see them live.

So what do I like about them? Well to my ears, anyway, this is actually very earnest music with no calculated pose. The vocals are plaintive, dramatic, and wonderfully melodic. The guitars have a satisfying, slightly dirty tone with tasty, surprising chord progessions and complicated, interlaced parts that are equally melodic rather than the typical rhythm/lead divisions. The overall arrangements are almost theatrical, with rubato lapses and complete left turns into extended instrumental passages. No one is coaching VERSE / PRE-CHORUS / CHORUS add REPEAT to these guys. Lyrically there's an apocalyptic suburban lifescape that doesn't really hold up under independent reading--a Bukowski meets Ben Folds tract housing sinister that caves in on itself without the music. But the lyrics work as sound, and it's the wonderful sound that gets me. Somewhere in this band's DNA there's a prominent strand of Jeff Buckley, even if they don't know it. And in the simplest terms that's what I really love here--this sounds like the next generation of Jeff Buckley's music.

2011-11-07T17:30:00.001-08:00

Any journey starts with the first step, and a blog with the first post. Better to just be about it than jabber about the intentions. So let me tell you about my intentions...

To share music that I don't think gets enough attention.

To rant about music that gets too much attention.

To review music that seeks attention.

To get your attention and thoughtful responses.