New Music Reviews

Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton What is Free to a Good Home? (Last Gang Records)
What a breath of fresh air – ok, stupid cliché. But in this instance it happens to be true. Emily Haines and her Soft Skeleton have laid down 6 bittersweet and lonely songs that are so stark and sad that they almost make one cry, except for the noodling piano and Emily’s childlike, precious voice, a pretty, fragile sounding vocal; I’m referring to “What is Free to a Good Home?”, a CD of beautifully melancholy music that would go well as a backdrop while reading her (brother’s? Father’s) posthumously released book – Paul Haines’s “Secret Carnival Workers”, a collection of beat prose, wicked poetry, liner notes he wrote for myriad jazz records, articles he wrote in the vein of musical journalism [see separate review].
This is a record that should be picked up by the most discerning of music fans. It’s got a jazz theme to it; a slow, vocal kind of jazz, which is, of course, different from the extemporaneous instrumental bop and post-bop that is the essence of jazz. Emily Haines’s lush sweet voice plaintively sings her heart out and although the vibe of the tunes is mainly a sad one, the beauty of the music gives it an ecstatic melancholia. (http://www.softskeleton.com) – KM.

Danny Decker & the Homewreckers The Rockabilly Lover (Delirium Records)
So, since you’ve been hoedownin’ to the Rev. Horton Heat, The Screamin’ Yee-Haws, et cetera for a while now, you might as well get into this CD as well, “The Rockabilly Lover”, the latest smash from Danny Decker and his Homewreckers. The CD opens with a real big hoot: “Mean Mean Man” – a sardonic reverie with which many misanthropes will identify. “Better Move On” is next and it is a tad more romantic, but not much. This is a good version of rockabilly – not an over-the-top act, not a schlock-y thing – they even do a rockabilly cover version of “Love Cats” – the old Cure song; it was done in such a different way than the original as to erase any “Cure”-ness from it.
The great thing about “The Rockabilly Lover” is that it doesn’t sound dated nor does it sound gimmicky, they’re just playing what they like, what a surprise, huh?
Danny Decker & the Homewreckers seem like they’d put on an exciting live show; I can imagine seeing them in concert, buzzing all over the stage, keeping the vibe at a high level from beginning to the end, no slowed-down boring ballads to interrupt the sky-high jamming. (http://www.deliriumrecords.com) – KM.

Paul Haines Secret Carnival Workers (H. Pal Productions)
This is an interesting book: the late Paul Haines was a writer, but more importantly, his life was all about music, mainly jazz. He was a writer of beat poetry, jazz journalism and his wonderful liner notes grace the sleeve of many a jazz album.
This new book, “Secret Carnival Workers” is a posthumous collection of his writings. The book features poems, liner notes, jazz journalism, prose pieces, reflections, memoirs, a few photographs and some wild, jazz-like riffing with words.
I loved the way he just riffs and riffs like some Kerouac on acid, be-bopping with words – words that accompany the hippest jazz. (http://www.softskeleton.com) – KM.

Spirits in Ambience Momentos (self-released)
Is Mark Peacock the new Brian Eno? That’s maybe going too far, but I have just received my third SIA CD and it’s still on that same mellow, untrammeled path that Eno, Jon Hassell, Moebius and others have lightly trod on.
The album is one continuous lucid dream-track, an escape that can take you miles from where you are when you start. Each track just melts into the next, there aren’t any “stand out” or “breakaway” hit singles on this album, which is a good thing, at least for purists.
As far as what to listen to or what I think is better or worse on this album? I’d say instead that “Momentos” is really meant to be listened to in one complete setting, something to put on for a wild night of passionate sex, quiet meditation or just staring at your bedroom wall, feeling deeply depressed and not feeling like living or dying. Whatever you feel at the time – this CD will help you escape from it, dig? Now, remember, the website is: http://www.aurorablue.com – KM.

The New Up Palace of Industrial Hope (self-released)
These days, with so many people putting out their own music without the “filter” of a record label – independent or otherwise – it is harder and harder to weed out the crap and pick out the good – sometimes they both come in similar packaging and that makes it hard for the undiscerning music shopper.
Never fear here, though: Some hipsters from the Bay Area have emerged with something that is going to stick (up, of course…): “Palace of Industrial Hope” is a full-length CD by awesome new combo The New Up. The new CD’s an original sounding bunch of tunes, stuff you wouldn’t hear on some commercial radio station, that’s for sure! The New Up is not necessarily some brand new genre or sound you’ve never heard before, but what they are is an iconoclastic rock & roll band that has put out a great debut; a solid work, including the vocal stylings of Emily Pitcher, who does not sound unlike PJ Harvey.
“Palace of Industrial Hope”, The New Up’s second full-length release has 13 tracks of semi-jaded post-pop, post-punk post-modern rock ‘n’ roll; there isn’t the usual sentimentality or antisentimentality, rather I hear out of this CD an more set of honesty in both the lyrics and the music. Like I said, they’re a rock band that does things their way which happens to be a really hip, downtown way and by that I do not mean hip-hop, but rather the type of bohemian, art-world, “Factory”-era party bands and soundtracks to wild, do-what-thou-wilt parties, et cetera. In fact, the music has an iconoclastic vibe all its own, something that defies labels and would drive a radio station programmer crazy trying to decide if it fits their “demographic profile” or not. Well, you know what? Nobody needs the damn radio anymore, not in this internet age, the age where the proletariat is truly in command and not just in the music biz, but in all kinds of ways. This is a really great to be alive for people who are always looking for something new and interesting to listen to; for those who just get bored sticking with just one scene or one style of music. Change and progress is constantly moving at an increasingly faster pace and it’s no wonder that more and more, with a little effort at locating them, one will continue, for some time to come, to discover great new musical combos as cool as The New Up. Keep bringing it back home, guys, OK? http://www.thenewup.com – KM.

Gunna Vahm Man Hands for Rump Lust (Reptilian Records)
It’s a veritable scream-fest here! What a bunch these guys are. Gunna Vahm – I think I’m Gunna Vahm – better make a bee-line for the toilet! Hahaha – no, but seriously, folks, these punk rockers will bang your head for you, you don’t have to do anything but sit back, slam down some malt liquor and let the “Man Hands for Rump Lust” do the brain-smashing for you. The first two tracks are a little cacophonous, but #3, “Bow Down” has a structure to it that can at least give you a little room to dance. Track #6, “…And Now I’m Gay” is a riotous song about a confused guy who goes to bars a lot. Gunna Vahm are label-mates with the recently reviewed [by me] Dactyl, who just put out another raucous disc called “Teething” – check out last issue (#35) for the review. But as for G.V.-they too are in that Drive Like Jehu/Melvins camp, so just accept it – they’re sick of all the stuff, they’re cynical, jaded MFs who are going to start telling it like it is – and you will take it, dammit! – http://www.reptilianrecords.com – KM.

Imogene [self-titled] (Intrepid Sound Recordings)
Whoa, man, like when does the spaceship come back? This is some way-out there shit, man. I dug it from the very first listen. Imogene’s eponymous debut is a record that showcases an interstellar group of tunesmiths that are not that different in vibe from Spacemen 3, before Jay Spaceman became a hopeless junkie. Anyway, someone please keep those bastards in suits away from these guys because I don’t want to turn on the radio one day (by accident or something) and suddenly hear them on some “modern rock” station. The only place they should be played is on a college radio station, one that is run by students at a college – not a corporate pretend one; otherwise they’d be totally ruined and the greatness, the outer-world, magick aura about them will be destroyed. But enough about me, let’s talk about the band: Imogene is a group of kids who prefer to remain somewhat anonymous, so I’ll keep their IDs on the “QT”. Nonetheless, they really have blown my mind – I swear, I didn’t think that, except for a small circle of people around the country, there was anyone out there making any truly original contribution to indie rock music – now, of course if you want to talk about other types of music (experimental; “classical”, et cetera) that’s a different ball of wax, but as far as plain old r & r goes, there has been such a dearth of both sincerity and a sickening amount of derivativity that passes for “being influenced by…” that when something like this record comes along I must make a big fuss about it – this kind of stuff should be rewarded, in the right kinds of ways – don’t go out there signing big contracts or anything stupid like that. You’ll be sorry, I guarantee it! Ask Leif Garrett or that guy who sang the “Pina Colada Song”. But if you’re truly great and play a great live show the word will spread and then people will start coming to your shows because they want to experience part of the mystique. Besides word-of-mouth, there’s the Internet Factor: to market and sell stuff these days, you really don’t need that much of a distribution network; well, ok, you do, but it’s not one that is going to be controlled by the syndicate of major labels.
Well, I must confess: I haven’t (yet, anyway) seen Imogene live in concert, so I can’t say what they are like live; the only thing I have to judge them on is this CD and I can say that it has a groovy flavor that lasts and lasts and lasts. I hear bits of Wolfgang Press, Apples in Stereo and a little, tiny bit of Tortoise too. This will be one to jam to even a year from now. For more insight, check out: http://www.imogene.info – KM.

The May Fire La Victoria (Rock Whores Recordings)
The May Fire is back – a good sign in itself. This Bay Area quartet have come bursting through the front door, guns ablazing on “La Victoria”, they’re sophomore effort. It’s just a teaser though, consisting of only 6 tracks, but they all rock, so there.
Musically, they are not unlike Yo La Tengo, in that they have that similar sort of college-radio-fare style to it, jangly guitars, a certain edginess and a hard/soft [rock] dichotomy. If I’m not mistaken, they were just a duo on their last outing, consisting then of only Catty Tasso and the one known as “El Pipe” – the one I reviewed a year ago or so; looks like they’ve rounded things out with a couple more dudes – well, hey man, whatever works for ya.
I could go on and on here about how the May Fire have this aura of…of something or other, but I will just say this: it’s a groovy little EP and I hope all you hep cats get out and pick up a copy – http://www.themayfire.com – KM.