CD reviews by Kent Manthie
Aura: “…It’s Turtles All The Way Down” (self-released)
Another aptly named band – Aura takes one on an ethereal joyride, that is, a spin through the ether.
Aura is a quartet that is lead by the lovely and talented chanteuse, Sarah Duey, who sings and plays guitar. They’re aptly rounded out by Daniel Banks also on guitar, plus keyboards and drums; Lee Slatzer on bass and Mick Terrizzi on drums.
“It’s Turtles…” is a grown-up pop record; it is not some pap that’s dumbed down for a teenaged audience; nor do they pander to life-hating youth. You will either like them for their polished and stylish ambient crooning or you will like the way it’s conducive to slow-dancing with your partner in a dark place.
“…Turtles…” really grows on you after a while and by the end of the last track, “The Wrong Words” you are in this satori-like stresslessness that catches up with you the idea that, “hey – this really is a groovy CD!” I’d also put a plug in for “Girls Have Secrets” and the title cut as two more examples of what Aura has in store for neophytes and big fans alike. (http://www.aurarockmusic.com or else check out their social pages @ http://www.myspace.com/aura) – KM.
Saint Madness: “Vampires in the Church” (Nasty Prick Records)
OK, this is a simple and quick review. That is because there’s nothing spectacular about Saint Madness. First of all they have that ironic name – like “Sisters of Mercy” or “Ministry”; they are a rock band. They like violence, sex, violent sex, authoritarianism and they like singing about it (Cf. track 7, “Head”); they have a general, stereotypical death-metal outlook on life and a philosophy of mediocrity due to the unconscious fear of success, among other things that would have made Freud chuckle (Cf. Freud, “Studies in Hysteria”, 1904).
So, if you like to bang your head, jump up & down, be violent and obnoxious then this is the band that you’ve been waiting for. They’ll give you anthem after anthem of boot-stomping thrash-rock- yowza!
There is one high point in this whole affair: I was starting to get bored of “Vampires in the Church,” to tell you the truth, when all of a sudden, I got to track 9, and to my surprise, it’s a well-done cover of “Walk” by the late, great Pantera. Good job, guys! That will be my endorsement. (http://www.nastyprickrecords.com) -KM
Diable Amoreux: Ringstone Round (Bizarre Gothic Folk from Van Dieman’s Land) [self-released]
To sum up the musical styling that Amoreux takes, I thought a most apt description of Diable’s style: “Bizarre gothic folk from Van Dieman’s Land”, which was inscribed on the side of the CD inside sleeve.
I try not to say this about new music too often, so as not to turn it into a cliché, but this stuff really is a ‘fresh approach’ and that is a good thing. I don’t know if everyone would agree that something new and challenging. A good way to take a trip off the beaten path, as it were; I was moving around my apartment, cleaning up and rearranging things while at the same time I was playing “Ringstone”, an eclectic album, to say the least. While much of it is instrumental, there are a few vocalizings here and there, by some friends that sat in.
When you get past the novelty of the artiness of it all and its initial unpredictability, you find inspiration lacking, that is, when you want an ambience of music to help as a muse or to get psyched up, or to even use as a yantra, it falls short in that respect.
So, while “…Ringstone Round” has its charms, novelties and can maybe serve as a catalyst towards bigger and better projects, modes of thinking, paradoxes unfolded, keep it filed, for now, under “Ambient” in your MP3 files. (http://www.diableamoreux.com) – KM.
The Returnables (s/t) (Dirtnap Records)
Don’t return this one, if you get it for a gift from your mom for an Xmas gift. Hell, if your mom gives you this CD for the holidays, I want to meet her. She must be a really, really hip mother!
I like this CD a lot. It isn’t some pretentious, long-winded, virtuosic concept album; rather “The Returnables” is a blessedly un-ostentatious rock and roll record: lo-fi, skinny dudes, no-frills rock & roll. The Returnables are the 21st century continuum of such legendary 1980s alt-pop bands, Young Fresh Fellows & The dBs: poignant, catchy irony-laden hip songs for the jilted, the loner, the misfit, the children of YFF fans will be rocking out to The Returnables in their MP3 players now.
Dirtnap records is the label that sports these guys (for now, anyway); but you know the turnover rate at small indie labels. It’s almost as bad as a typing pool used to be. Let’s hope they can sustain the Returnables and shelter them from the vultures of the devils at Warner’s, Sony, EMI & Bertelsmann.
But enough about the major label shenanigans; why not get up and dance to the lovely jams of The Returnables, it is music so wild, so youthful and charming that it’ll definitely get you laid if you play it loud enough at your next big party when your friend’s parents go on vacation next month. (http://www.dirtnaprecs.com) – KM.
This Providence (s/t) (Fueled by Ramen)
I was sort of bored, listening to This Providence, the eponymous debut; I’m sorry for being so blunt, but I gotta tell you: I’ve been inundated with so much pap that is either a) derivative or b) god-awful [or c) BOTH!] That is why I don’t listen to the radio anymore. But I digress; what I found was a not bad album which had its ups & downs. I don’t condemn it here, but hell, why do something half-ass? Why settle for average? For what everyone else is doing? If you want some mediocre, bland and banal earthy pop music just stick with Dave Matthews Band. In other words, This Providence is ok; nothing spectacular but it won’t make you nauseated or give you a headache. Ringing endorsement? I s’pose. (http://www.thisprovidence.com) – KM.
Willie Bobo: “Lost and Found” (Concord Music Group)
The late, great Willie Bobo was a fabulous timbale player and percussionist- jazzbo bar none, not to mention a great showman, quite the entertainer until his unfortunate death in 1983.
Well, now, more than 20 years later, Bobo’s son, Eric, has teamed up with legendary Beastie Boys producer Mario C[aldato] to sort through the stacks of tapes that recently were unearthed by Eric Bobo and an idea was formed: it was time to cull together the best of the best and turn on a new generation to Willie Bobo.
“Lost and Found” is a snazzy compilation culled together by some real fans not the least of which was his loving son Eric Bobo from Cypress Hill.
The Cuban jazz, the groovy, infectious jams and the Hammond keyboard just pulls you in and once you’re there it’s a real musical Shangri-La that mesmerizes your pleasure center with zooming rushes of sound; keep that in mind.
What a good call that was; now the whole world can be (re)acquainted with this Latin-Afro-Cuban-tinged rainbow notes that are infused with a suave production that resurrects old tapes and transforms something almost forgotten, into a treat for those who are looking for a tropical blue note in which to lose oneself; (http://www.concordmusicgroup.com) – KM.
Steve Thorne: “Steve Thorne (Demo)” – self released
Hmm…I’m not quite sure about this. I was extremely mistrustful when I saw that the second track is called “God Bless America” (no, not the old Irving Berlin schtick). I don’t trust anyone who talks about patriotism and all that saccharine, nauseous propaganda. If there was a god she sure wouldn’t approve of the disgusting class warfare and racism that pervades America and the phony, hypocritical religiosity of the unwashed US masses, unlike almost every other civilized country in the world, who just laughs at our silly, baseless and blind piety to something so anachronistic that the fact that ANYONE still buys it just boggles my mind.
But after I can get past that (I still don’t know if it was supposed to be ironic or a gushy, clichéd paean to corruption and avarice. The rest of it is a mellow, AOR configuration of lite-rock; easy listening. KYXY-FM (San Diego) fare, if that tells you anything. Think of Matchbox 20 after being zombified by antidepressants or Thorazine for a month. (http://www.steve-thorne.com) – KM.
Commuter: “Brightly Shining, Dimly Lit” (Blacktooth Music)
I was equivocating back and forth during the first half of “Brightly Shining, Dimly Lit”, the new CD by mellow hipsters, Commuter. I just didn’t know what to make of it; still don’t, in fact. But I think I have come to appreciate it more. My experience has been that music that doesn’t instantly pique my interest and that doesn’t simultaneously turn me off or nauseate me eventually starts to work its way into my brain’s pleasure center, so –called, where it then finds something with which it can connect in my unconscious thereby solidifying my inclination toward it.
I knew after the ambiguous first listen of “Brightly Shining…” that, although I knew I didn’t dislike it, I also knew I must give it more careful analysis and that turned out to be a wise decision. Now I can tell you that this is a mellow, not unlike a pop-record with some laid-back hooks and some dance-y beats to it, but also some introverted sensibilities vis a vis the lyrics, the mood and the style, of not just the singer but of the nuances of the music.
All in all, “Brightly Shining…” is a work, not unlike Stephin (sic) Merritt’s Magnetic Fields or his Future Bible Heroes, with a vague reference to a middle-of-the-road ethic and I don’t necessarily mean that pejoratively – I have the utmost respect for anyone who is a visionary and knows how to craft a perfect pop song, not unlike Lou Reed. By the way, Blacktooth Music is, I believe, the band’s own incorporated publishing company, to keep their money and royalties, etc safe from unscrupulous, vicious, bottom-feeding record executives, referred to, by the dude in Consolidated (on the “Myth of Rock” CD) as “Child molesters & Mafia Nazis”*, which I just pointed out to say that this effort is another laudable DIY project, with no label support and really, who needs them?
As long as your music is good, original and has a following somewhere, you can, by word-of-mouth and word-of-internet get great CDs like this distributed in a totally underground, but effective mode of production that can rival the evil record empire. One that’s really been oppressing artists since their inception, another of those myriad “exceptions” to anti-trust regulations, designed to foster competition. Just go buy the album by clicking on here, to: (http://www.commutermusic.com) – KM. * -“Weakness”
Darren Deicide: “Temptation and the Taboo (Part I)” (Ever Reviled Records)
Two years ago I reviewed a CD called “Rockin’ ‘Til the Apocalypse” by one Darren “Deicide” Kramer, it was a raw, DIY, bluesy and with scratchy, plaintive singing and a rough, emotional guitar swagger, showed that he was a lean, mean, one-man blues machine.
He’s back, but now he’s dropped the ‘Kramer’ altogether and goes by Darren Deicide. Cool, huh? The new CD is called “Temptation & the Taboo (Part I). Hmm, what a mouthful; on a side note, just an observation apropos of nothing, the cover has a slight resemblance, at least to me, of Smashing Pumpkins 1996 double fiasco, “Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness”.
This CD is a good follow up to his debut, “Rockin’ ‘til the Apocalypse.” The opening cut, “Now is the Winter of our Discontent” threw me for a loop at first listen. For a second I thought I’d put on the wrong disc or else Deicide took a radically different turn, but it was only a brief prelude and he shifted into blues gear and riffed on “Little Ol’ Snake.” After that it was one simplified rocker after another, with ol’ Deicide doing the most of the work, however this time around he’s got a little extra help from a couple guests. Track #4, “Nothin’s Gonna Stop Me Now”, the aforementioned “Little Ol’ Snake” and “The Day the Man Went Down” are just three tunes that stood out to me, more and more with each subsequent listen.
A rather short length of time for a modern day album – 9 songs clocking in at only 32 and a half minutes, but every minute on this disc is chock full of raw, bluesy punk by a one-man dervish. I’d love to catch him at a live show – to find out more click here to this link: http://www.darrendeicide.com or http://www.everreviledrecords.com – KM.
The Modern Machines: “Take it, Somebody!” (Dirtnap Records)
A narcotized punk outfit, a mellow thrasher, if that makes any sense. That is just one of the first idioms to jump into my consciousness so I went with it on the idea that one’s basest instincts are true, relative to the person. That is the best way to judge a band or their new CD or maybe a concert that they recently played.
The style of the music, I suppose, could be generically lumped together as Punk – but not in the fraudulent way that pop bands such as Blink-182 or Green Day or NOFX, or Rancid claim (or at the very least, their publicists at the corporate record label for whom the band/artist works: ever studied contract law? Neither did them).
Hot of the presses is “Take it Somebody!” – I don’t know if that is a desperate sales pitch or a plea to other bands, collective progs and youth in general, wild rebellious children who are, fortunately, antithetical to their authoritarian, conservative parents (or is that redundant?) – in fact, I’d say that the more restrictive, authoritarian, hypocritically (well, natch, with all the other factors!) parents who try to shove their stupid anachronistic religions and dumb thinking are the ones who are going to end up with children who reject every facet of the crap that was shoved down their throat all their life. Check out their website @ http://www.modernmachines.org or go find out more stuff @ http://www.dirtnaprecs.com – KM.