The Holloways So this is Great Britain? (TVT Records)
Since Oasis has imploded and stopped being good and well, Radiohead is in a class by themselves, The Holloways are perfect candidates for being the next cool thing out of the British Isles; they consist of four Londoners: Alfie, vocals; Bryn, bass; Dave, Drums and Rob on vocals, guitar and fiddle (fiddle!). Man, we sure do need something new over here in the US: we’re going mad in a crass, commercialized pile of Emo, pseudo-punk, power-pop and the like, not to mention the detritus, the dreck that gets manufactured out of whole cloth by the majors and – voila – payola’ed to the heavy-rotation top 40 stations around the country, where they get pushed on the poor listeners ad nauseam and next thing you know, clueless hicks in the “heartland” get this crap dumped on them by the maybe one radio station in their area and it gets marketed as hip, new, cool music, etc. But it’s not cool, it’s not hip and there’s certainly nothing original or new about. Thank “gawd” the Internet has enabled many music lovers to bypass this infernal racket and put out and get music directly from maker to listener.
So, anyway, this new British band, The Holloways could be just a tiny bit be compared to Oasis only in the way that both bands put out infectiously hip music and sing with their thick British accents; otherwise, I’d say they [Holloways] are more like the Stranglers or a tiny bit like the Buzzcocks.
Their new CD, “So this is Great Britain?” is a classic-in-the-making. OK, so, I’m exaggerating a little; but honestly, it’s a head-bobbing disc sung with a gritty, urbane East End accent that Alfie tunefully airs to the accompaniment of the rough and tumble rock born and bred in the streets of London. The Holloways play customary rowdy rock and roll with emphasis on the guitar, bass and drums as well as the attitudinal nuances in the vocalizing.
Some of my favorites on this CD include: “Fit for a Fortnight”, “Two Left Feet” and “What’s the Difference?” On track #7, “Most Lonely Face”, the lads slow things down a tad and quietly patter out this mellow, melancholy ditty. Also included on “So this is Great Britain?” are three “bonus” tracks; what’s “bonus” about them I’m afraid I don’t know, but they delve into an even rawer sound, reminiscent of American punk/garage rock bands of the mid-late 1960.
The Holloways, those suave guys, also remind me a little of another fresh combo straight out of those stony, lush isles, collectively known as the British Isles, Maximo Park who’ve also recently put out their sophomore CD; they both have a tight, crafty, clever and wry, even irreverent lyric to them. You can thank the swell dudes over at TVT Records for bringing these chaps to within reach of our grubby American hands; websites: http://www.theholloways.com and http://www.tvtrecords.com – KM.
Kariann It’s What Matters (Squish Records)
What can one say about Kariann? She’s smart, she’s talented and she is a good songwriter and one who doesn’t get stuck in a one-style-rut. Her new CD, “It’s What Matters” is a label-defying work of tunes. The first couple songs are a bit on the countrified side, then with “Waiting” she goes to a looser, more pop style and further on down on, say, “So Haunted” or “I Like it Black”, Kariann goes for a “loungier” style, a laid-back, crooning thing happening. “It’s What Matters” isn’t what I’d call an “eclectic” album; I mean, there is a stylistic thread that runs through her music and there are no surprises, really, except for the fact that I thought it had some talent behind it, something that’s rare these days. I think the MO here is about taking pop to a more sophisticated level; dressing it up a little bit (possibly). Anyway, to see what Kariann is all about, check out: http://www.kariann.net – KM.
Isabellas Partner, Don’t You Pull No Guns (self-released)
Isabellas are a new-ish rock and roll outfit – a power trio – that has a low-fi, anti-emo sound to their music. Their self-released debut, “Partner, Don’t You Pull No Guns” is a jingle-jangle, non-teen-pop album; their music is for the hipster, uptown set, a
sophisticated crowd, but it is as much for the kind of people who are just as comfortable sitting at home, in their room, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, zoning out while listening to some cathartic music on the stereo as those who get their excitement by prowling at some dark, Goth Danceteria or neo-hippie coffee house somewhere over by the university.
The people, the crafty, clever people who make up Isabellas are: Adam Waite, Dave Bartels and Chloe Martin, the front woman, who writes all the lyrics (the music is written collaboratively) and sings the vocals in her fragile, breathy voice, but it’s a voice that belies a certain inner strength and a depth that starts to sink in by about the time you get to “; Chloe has a melancholy and a quietness that masks a depth of soul within; a happy, pretty face that covers up lots of angst on the inside, but a trooper who plods on because it’s better than being dead.
It is this music, however, on “Partner, Don’t You Pull No Guns” that makes for a catharsis, both for Chloe and the listener, many of whom, I suspect, can identify with her lyrics. Not to take away from the musical aspect of Isabellas, they certainly do provide the perfect complement to Chloe’s smoothly emotive singing. They play an anti-pop, moody, bass-heavy, almost low-fi with an edge. In fact, certain songs throughout “Partner…” reminded me a little of Sebadoh in that they share a similar guise of jaded cynicism, but one that is scarred from emotional and possibly other trauma(s) in their lives; even though they go through their own particular hells and/or sufferings, those sometimes Dante-like tribulations always seem to bring out the best in artists of all types and with Isabellas things aren’t that off-course, so to speak; their emotive flair in their music is anchored by an unspeakable depth that were exorcised by making this record
I’d be very hard-pressed to have to pick a favorite or even two of them, but I might say that “My Latest”, “These Things” and “Ocean of Dreams” would be three that I’d recommend as good samples for the undecided. Want to find out more about ‘em? Go to the website: http://www.isabellas.com – KM.
KEG Lone Ranger (self-released)
Well, our old pal KEG is back at it again – I should say – was back at it again- as this new CD attests to: it’s a recording of a live show he did last year or so – Cinco de Mayo at a place called “Jimmy Z’s”; it’s got a loose feel to it; if you close your eyes you can almost smell the stale beer, cigarette smoke and sweat as if you were there at the show. At one point, during one of the between-song-banters KEG mentions a local radio station known as Z-100.
This is a smoking set of wild and danceable and ebullient punk-ette romps that includes all the witty banter between songs. For me, anyway, the highlight of this set is the cover of the Stooge’s classic, “Raw Power”. A couple other interesting ditties were a “new” (at that moment in time) cut called “The Airplane Walk” – an in-joke-thing, dedicated to his pal, Erik, as explained to the audience by KEG and also, the tune right after that, “Red Lips, Red Eyes” plus the rocker & a half: “Shake Your Blood”. The wild man also does an acoustic version of “Fat-Bottomed Girls” which is the penultimate song, followed up by the apt “The End”. If you like riotous punk-rock fun, then get to the website and pick up “Lone Ranger”! The site is – http://www.kegrocks.com – KM.
Phonovectra Too Young to Die (White Out Music)
This hep-cat quartet from Denmark, with the moniker, Phonovectra has broke through over here, in the good ol’ US of A, having hooked up with uber-indie-producer & Ex-Big Black and Shellac front man Steve Albini and recorded this CD, “Too Young to Die” for the White Out label at Electrical Audio in Chicago.
The album doesn’t have the typical edginess that is usually associated with Albini in the past, but it does have a rather un-European flavor to it, PV aren’t quite in the same vein as their Scandinavian garage-rock chic bands, they go for a more nuanced style, with a little bit of a dance beat behind, not unsurprising, given Steve’s propensity to use that infernal drum machine in Big Black, something that gave their tunes a trademark.
With Mark Rosener’s androgynous vocal stylings, the first couple songs sort of reminded me of Garbage, remember them? They were a band who was anchored by another uber-producer of the 90s, Butch Vig and which was fronted by Scottish songstress, Shirley Manson. Anyway, as “Too Young to Die” wore on Mark’s vocalizing showed more of a range hence it didn’t – at least – have song after song being the same trite formulae.
A couple examples of some of the best of this CD include: “Pray”, a moody, edgy plaintive wail in whose beat I can feel Albini’s influence. Also on “Pray” Allan Kitgaard gets to show off his slick fingers and does some sly soloing and prancing around the fretboard throughout the track. The very next song, “Those Days” is a sudden turn into a cul-de-sac of mellowness; it is a quiet ballad, just Mark singing this sad song to the accompaniment of just a piano; then it goes on and on from there, rocking on and on, until it fades out with the tenth and final song, “Strangers in This Town”, a fleeting but imprintable jam of a gem – many times the last song on a CD can be an important one in what is placed there and the quality and durability of the memory left behind as after that one is over, the whole record is over and the final cut being the most recent one left in your memory, you tend to, at least if it’s a really good song, have it swimming inside your head for a while. Well, in this case, “Strangers in This Town” does a slight departure from that and just closes the album out with a fading out tune, not trippy, not eclectic or hard and edgy, just a medium-paced melancholy-baby tune, one that takes you out through the sunset. Check ‘em out at: http://www.phonovectra.com – http://www.whiteoutmusic.dk or http://www.alarmmusic.dk – KM.
Joe Granata A Long Road to Hell (Castlerock Associates)
Ladies and gentlemen: meet Joe Granata; he’s a one-man super-rocker. His debut solo CD, “A Long Road to Hell” is actually a pretty good CD to listen to on that Long Road to Hell…nice traveling music.
I don’t know, I’m not a big metal fan, I usually just roll my eyes when I pop some death-speed-metal disc in the player and hear over-distorted barre-chords, anti-beat, double-barreled bass drumming and guttural screaming that is supposed to be, I guess, some kind of message, something that says “screw you guys, I’ll be as annoyingly atonal and cacophonous as I can possibly be”.
Not so, however, with “A Long Road to Hell.” Joe G has some thrashing shit going on here, but it’s done with a degree of aplomb not usually witnessed in the metal scene these days. The vocals can be grating at times, but are usually done comparatively well and the guitar – whoa, dude – he can sure make that axe scream and cry and do hair-curling, swirling solos.
The whole album was recorded by just Joe Granata who sang and played guitar & bass and his homie, Aaron Martin, who did a beat-sensation on the drums.
The song “Back to Life” slows things down a tad, but it is not any sort of ballad, just a brooding, quietly emotive kind of song, with a wicked, bluesy/rock solo towards the end. Track 5, “As the River Flows” is a short, but beautiful nonsequitur, an “Embryonic Journey”-style acoustic guitar solo, a nice little bridge between the aforementioned “Back to Life” and the back-to-Metalland, the closing tune “Supersonic Shred”, A six-minute instrumental jam that really showcases Granata’s guitar power. I’d say to Joe to keep at it and pretty soon we’ll have a new guitar hero on our hands.
Yes, it’s actually kind of a bummer, but this is an EP, after all, only six tracks. I’d like to hear more, myself. Hopefully there is a longer, full-length CD in the works and I will be keeping my ears open for it.
Bedlem [sic] (self-titled/self-released)
Apart from spelling Bedlam wrong, these guys have a bit of a flair for some 21st Century hard-rocking stuff that’s whipped up with a mish-mash of hard-hitting drums and some hip-hop noises going on here and there. What I get from that kind of sound is an urban feel. I close my eyes and I see a ghetto-ish neighborhood, lots of traffic in general, slick, homeboys driving down the boulevard with their stereos making everything in its vicinity shake due to the subwoofer in the trunk, lowriders pouncing down the street, sexy chicks with tattoos on their tailbones, walking down the streets, vendors hawking cheap wares. If it weren’t a bass-in-your-face rap jam being blasted in a passing car, it might be something in the area of Bedlem – it’s not too “white-boy-ish” not too rock and roll, if you know what I mean. There is an ominous vibe, almost a menace to the style.
Musically it’s a tightly produced little sample of their tunes: just three songs: “Inside Me”, “Not This Time” and “It’s My Life”. They’re metal, through and through, but with a sort of a “street” feel to it, not white bread stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put out a hip-hop album next. Well, OK, I wouldn’t go that far. But expect unpredictability: that seems to be the norm these days. You can locate these dudes at: http://www.myspace.com/bedlemmusic -KM.
Jay (s/t) (Murder 101 Records)
The clock ticks on constantly, no matter what any of us do. We all age at the same rate, basically, give or take a metabolic difference. Speaking of metabolisms, in the various arts today – 2007-today – there has been (or at least seems to be) an increase in the rate in which new art swallows up the old, absorbs the stuff that sticks and dispenses with what won’t translate. One can see this in writing, painting and music, but especially the latter two. For now, though, we’ll focus on music.
There are few things in music today that can be labeled “unique”, at least in the true sense of the word. So much is derivative that it’s almost an unconscious process by now for many younger, budding artists that weren’t even born in the 60s or 70s.
The latest musical offering from Murder 101 Records comes from a band that calls themselves Jay. They are a quartet of white guys who make easy-going rock and roll music; non-threatening, not unintellectual, which is good, musically inclined and they do their own thing as much as they can, I guess, but while listening to their eponymous debut, I couldn’t help but be reminded of this guy or that band or hear some kind of “déjà vu” note or riff somewhere.
Bottom line: it’s not a bad CD really, I mean I can’t really trash anything about it, but at the same time it doesn’t grab me by the lapels and somehow meld with my chemistry. It’s not a dance record, not a hard-rock thing, not a retro rock outfit, just a straight ahead rock and roll band is all I can call them. But, unfortunately, there just is no intensity, no highs or lows, nothing but a middle-of-the-road affect and to me that is depressing because it just evokes the mediocrity of the macrocosm of the world outside. (http://www.murder101records.com) – KM.
The Low Budgets Leave Us a Loan (Chunksaah Records)
On the back of the CD sleeve for “Leave Us a Loan”, the brand new effort from my new heroes, the Low Budgets that I received from the label, there was, written on the back of the sleeve, their motto: “Minimal effort equals maximum pleasure”, a refreshing philosophy to hear in this day and age of multitasking and the drive to work like a slave so you can have all the material things that your neighbor has so as to validate yourself in some meaningless way.
One little influence I got out of listening to this debut by the Low Budgets was a taste of the early 80s punk darlings – Minutemen – the jazzy, punk and laconic but quite aware worldview only they were taking at on their own, cynical terms. Of course, I heard more influences bleeding out through the music on this CD besides the late, great D. Boon & Co. It was a mish-mash of a lot of mid-80s working-class punk rock that was both being played (and dug by cult followings) in both the US and UK. Honestly, it was nice to hear an album of new music that played songs that didn’t attempt to cover up their influences too much.
I got the impression that to look into Chris Peelout’s psyche one would find a bunch of boxes full of repressed emotions and all the bad shit shut away in some dusty lockbox so as to be able to put ahead this emotive attitude of slick punk rock and write such carefree, unabashed songs that express his true self, all the good and all the bad – (whatever the hell that meant).
But, I digress…so after actually listening to the damn thing, I was – whoa! Contented, shall we say –and found this rock ‘n’ roll combo a thriving underground presence, I can’t see them being anything but loyal to the indie scene. But, let’s talk about the record itself: “Leave Us a Loan” is not a pop record disguised as a faux-punk/pop hybrid, but a well-meaning bunch of guys who are sincere in their desire to make their music, edgy rock music – not right-wing metal, not left-wing folksy stuff; rather they do a set of personal songs that are the stuff of what expresses them, as individuals, not seen as the latest “hit-making machine”; just another set of employees of a multinational conglomerate.
While “Leave Us a Loan” is neither a hard-core menace nor a set of political diatribes a la The Clash, it will put you in a better mood than you were than when you first hit ‘play’. Especially if you’re stressed-out or pissed-off about something. Anyway, if you don’t believe me, check this out: http://lowbudgets.com or http://www.chunksaah.com – KM.