Our Lady Of The Broken Spine

Reverend Glasseye

In the press, um junket, which I got with this album it explains that Reverend Glasseye is a Boston band made up of members from two Denver Colorado bands, Devotchka and Slim Cessna's Auto Club. Now I've seen both Devotchka and Slim live in Colorado and they both are truly amazing. I was eager to check out this side project patchwork band made from members of these two.

I'll put it this way, if you know what a strop is, you'll probably dig this band. If you order shots of whiskey, not shooters, you'll like this band. If you like cabaret and country and knee kicking dancing, this will be the ball down your alley band. The junket describes the sound as gospel cabaret punk. I don't think I can come up with a better description, although the overall flavor is more country than punk. Whatever, gospel cabaret with second set Hank III anchoring the sound is as close as I can get, if you've never heard the Reverend with the blinking marble before.

Despite the name and some song titles this ain't going to church music. Honestly I don't know the bible at all but I don't think I'm missing much subtle spiritual meaning. The bulk of songs are about not ever reaching self-defined doorways to happiness. Not getting, falling short and being left behind, you know, the usual.

The sound accompanying the different shades of loss is great. BIG SOUND, feet stomping wood floors, BIG SOUND, smoking through your nose, BIG SOUND, six musicians plus pounding, slapping, clutching, alligator wrestling their instruments, BIG SOUND, BIG LOUD BIG SOUND LOUD BIG SOUND BIG BIG. You feel the music in your blood, and you feel it blowing the collars of your shirt up to your sideburns with every beat….

The thing is I don't think my heart really felt it that much. The lyrics seem a bit been down this now cemented path before, if you now what I mean. While the music is head turning, the stale imitation, drug store perfume of the lyrics is off putting. In the end even with the incredible music the disappointing phrasing leaves the whole band wanting. It pisses me off because the Reverend has a great voice, but it’s wasted on vapid and clichéd narratives.

I like this style of music a lot, and I'm afraid it's catching on and so bands will come out that ruin it, water it down. This band is not an example of that happening, with some stitching of badges over the holes the lyrics leave, this patchwork band would be the shit, or maybe I need more religion.

- Jason Miller

Chain Smoking Blues

C.R. Avery Band

Favorite sweater. Milkshakes on a late summer afternoon. Warm soup in the chilly rain with bread and butter. Having a little extra throw around cheddar after the rent. This record. All these are things that I think make life worth it.

C.R. Avery, with his incredible band, has been around the east side of our city for a long time now and their latest record reminds me how great a place it is. From the first moment Chain Smoking Blues begins until the last note, which happens all too quickly (the eleven songs seem to take five minutes to play out they are that good), I get the feeling that moving here was the best choice I've made in an incredibly long time. You know when you walk along the street and run into people you know and then you reach the tip of your block and you pause, look around and you smile at how great it is? Yeah, that's the same feeling you get listening to this album.

Nobody can capture the poignant and beautiful presence of the east end like this band. They pick up on the strong variety of the neighborhood, a magnificent cultural peanut butter and jelly sandwich that does not exist anywhere else in the world. The Drive is perfection on sidewalk, but she is not a partner who wants you forever.

A large number of the songs on this album revolve around the theme of having to leave. Because splitting greatness is so horribly sad, these exodus numbers are heavy powerful (and so by reflective nature it makes me happy to be in a place that's so hard to leave).

If you have never heard a C.R. Avery song I'll try to describe the action this way. Imagine someone beat-boxing while playing the harmonica, singing and playing the guitar or the piano all at the same fucking time!

Supporting C.R. with that remarkable sound is David Herbert on Drums, Noah Walker on Guitar and Paul Surjadinata on Bass. There are a lot of revolving back up vocalists and some guest horns on a few tunes as well.

The overall sound rocks like syrup poured over hardwood on fire. An amazing sound. On the pick-up songs you are inspired to dance and kick in delight of being part of the band's pure notions of love and departure. Listening to the more somber tunes you end up watering your drink down with the tears you're crying from the sorrow they bear.

Currently the C.R. Avery band is on tour across the pond 'till December, but when they get back home check them out. In the mean time do yourself a huge favor and throw down the fifteen bucks it costs to own this record, it is worth it, even if it means the rent is a bit late.

- Jason Miller

Hither and Thither

Micah Blue Smaldone

Micah Blue Smaldone sounds like a dead man. In Hither and Thither he taps into a vein of something real and present; a preternatural sensibility deep inside many post-millennial lost souls. This music is haunting, the notes and lyrics tugging the listener’s soul as if you’d fallen into a sonic bramble patch.

The Coen brothers’ film, “O Brother Where Art Thou” was responsible for reintroducing depression-era music back into the North American subconscious. Often called pre-war blues or “dustbowl blues” by some, this truly American genre of music is dominated by fingerpicked guitar and balanced by thin, yet powerful vocals. This simple music conveys so powerfully the experience of absolute sorrow and despair that was prevalent in the Great Depression, yet in their own melancholy way, these songs are uplifting as if reminding the listener that from here, things can only get better. On Hither and Thither you get forty minutes of true American gothic divided into twelve songs. While initially, they seem to be such utter uncomplicated simplicity, putting me in the mind of a really laid back Squirrel Nut Zippers. Certainly not toe-tapping melodies by any stretch, though after listening closely, Smaldone’s lyrics paint chiaroscuro portraits of spirit-crushing circumstances of lost love, livelihoods yet they shine with an indefatigable sense of hope that even in these gray Vancouver days can’t seem to obscure.

The very lack of production on this album is what I find utterly perfect about it. Seemingly recorded in a wooden shack in some dry and lonely place without a single 808 drum track or rip-off sample of some vintage melody, this is an utter original work of art. Smaldone lets us act as voyeurs, peering through a dusty lace curtain at an act of intimacy between a man, a guitar and his music.

Buy this album and listen to it, seriously.

- Ben Jones

Brocade

Landing

Coming back to the Strange Attractors label after a stint with K Records, Landing’s five-track Brocade evokes the live performances of Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream, or Patrick O’Hearn.

Brocade was performed live in the studio rather than put together from multiple recording sessions, giving the entire album the feeling of an opera or perhaps a requiem mass. While it certainly isn’t “classical” it feels like a substantial work that is best enjoyed in its entirety.

“Loft” the first track on the album begins with dissonant guitar fuzz that sublimates like fog into the clear undulating rhythms that sound oddly similar to something by The American Analog Set.

“Yon” takes the listener on a magic carpet ride a la Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells. It is 11:19 of simple melody and lush square wave pads that rise and fall in a most contemplative mode.

The almost thirteen minute-long “Spiral Arms” is a space odyssey of a track that creeps along slowly before re-entering real time with the driving fuzz-punk guitar riffs of “How to Be Clean.”

The final track, “Music For Three Synthesizers” is an exquisite seventeen-minute journey closing the album through arpeggiated synth leads and swelling pads that almost, but not quite, come close to the sonic geographies of Sigur Ros.

With Brocade Landing have created a fifty-four minute masterpiece in five parts. Aficionados of dreamcore and stargazing electronic music should definitely check this out.

- Ben Jones

Notes

A Day In Black and White

Washington D.C., or as all the cool kids call it, “The District” has been a fertile field for punk and post-punk for many years. Such genre-defining acts such as Rites of Spring and Bad Brains have influenced a new generation of artists in D.C. to take punk and post-punk to a whole new level.

Notes the new release by D.C.-based A Day in Black and White is something that you could almost call post-emo. Eschewing the inane lyrics and poppy rhythms of bands like the Postal Service, Notes brings thoughtful and introspective lyrics, weary vocals, and insistent instrumentalism together in a weathered, sonic soiree.

The first track, “Tinnitus” is a psycho-fuzz appetizer of a minute and twenty seconds that drops you quickly into the driving “New Energy.”

Track Four, “Lame Duck” is a sedate riff with an early Cure-like drum track that I can’t stop playing over and over while I work on this review.

Other tracks get more boisterous then “Lame Duck,” though the entire album never falls into clichéd dissonance, like the aftermath of a wrecking ball against an unreinforced masonry structure. Notes maintains an understated sense of dignity which illustrates just how together this band is.

There is a fine balance between the contemplative and the raucous – like a good plate of Pad Thai, the mélange of sweet, sour and savory conspire to create something that you can listen to all the way through to end.

- Ben Jones

Suburban Hymns

The Life and Times

The opening riff of "My Last Hostage" sounds like it's soaring gracefully above clouds, and sets the scene for the rest of Suburban Hymns, the new release from The Life and Times' featuring Allan Epley, formerly of Shiner.

The Life and Times deal in big spacious grooves that could be compared to shoegazer bands from way back when. Seriously epic drums courtesy of Chris Metcalf drive the album hard with sweet sixteenth note feels, backing up Epley's huge guitar riffs nicely. Eric Albert of Ring, Cacada rounds out the band. Epley's powerful vocals are well-matched to the bigger-than-life quality of the band.

Suburban Hymns has been growing on me gradually - the band has a very nice sonic brand, but Epley's voice is not especially distinctive and the songs aren't particularly catchy. The Life and Times traffic more in atmospherics than hook-laden rock.

The best numbers are the opener "My Last Hostage" with its soaring guitar riffs, "Coat of Arms" which has a strong melody and an interesting, effected vocal sound with some nice falsettos and "Running Red Lights", with another killer guitar riff and pretty vocal melody.

Recommended for fans of powerful, epic, shoegazing indie-rock.

- Gordon B. Isnor

The Ruts: Babylon's Burning - Reconstructed - Dub Drenched Soundscapes

Various Artists

The legendary and underrated Ruts have long been due for some kudos and respect. Upon receiving this for review, I was not sure it was the best type of tribute to begin enlightening the masses with; a whole disc -16 remixes of one song is a risky adventure to embark on.

I have not subjected myself to a cable TV subscription for over a decade. On the rare occasion I do get to experience its cultural joys, usually while being a hotel room guest, one of the first things I search for is The Iron Chef cooking show. Think of this as an Iron Chef episode with remix artists instead of chefs and the secret ingredient being the most well known Ruts track – “Babylon’s Burning”.

Fortunately, this track is fertile ground on all fronts. The dissections, focusing, manipulating, twists and sonic reworks on this CD take you all over the place but never do any of the aural etchings bore you. These are my favorites.

One of the most satisfying takes is the first. Coming from Ruts drummer Ruffy, he strips it down to vocals and under lays the now classic lyrics with a string rendition. Powerful.

Track 4, from Don Letts, arguably the man responsible for connecting reggae and dub with punk, is a cool hypnotic work out. One of the weird things for me on this track is hearing a guitar part isolated that pretty much Daniel Ash stole and expanding on tonally for his entire style.

Surround sound theatrics on track 5 from Terminal Head focus in on the beyond brilliant bass line and mix in sonic fireworks, then break it down to a sizzle breather before slamming it up to full again.

Babylon 23 and Apollo 440 really drag it deep with a strip down to bass & vocal. They use some great, hard, in and out punches of the drums and guitars.

The European-spy movie take by Black Star Liner is another standout. It cools it down and floats along. Vocal presentation on this one really makes you wonder what Malcolm could have yet created had he not left the planet so young.

Kid Loco’s traditional dub work out is another stand out.

There are no stinkers on this disc. The real question is: Are you the type of person to want 16 versions of a song? My thoughts are that it depends on the song. There are thousands of worse ones that could have gotten this treatment. I never did find myself getting tired of the lyrical repeat. The folks at Collision (Cause of Chapter 3) really need to get this hooked up as part of a Ruts Box set. Nice to see a project like this come successfully. Keep at em!

- Ron Kirsch

Northern Drive

The Young Tradition

Music is all about the feelings it gives you. A successful album will strongly move you through an emotion, or switch you from one emotion to another. But, a particularly successful album will gives you that warm, fuzzy, happy feeling. When you put The Young Tradition in your CD player, you can expect that fuzzy feeling.

It is quite clear that the sound The Young Tradition is going for has been influenced by Simon & Garfunkel, Belle & Sebastian and The Beach Boys. I could even go as far as comparing it to Elvis Costello. Their sound also has something in common with 80’s groups such as The Springfield’s and Teenage Fanclub.

With it’s beatnik nature, you hear sounds ranging from synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, trumpet, vibraphone, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, drums, organ, harpsichord, flute, saxophone, cello and bells. At moments it contains baroque sounding harpsichord, folk guitar, David Lynch style-mystery film scene sounds with the vibraphone and it always boasts with its infectious harmonies.

This fabulous debut album is made up of incredible musicianship. I cannot ignore the tight stops and evenly balanced harmonies that are found in this groove. This San Francisco based band is a unit that works perfectly together, and that unit is Swedish multi-instrumentalist Erik Hanspers and Japanese-American vocalist Brent Kenji (formerly of The Fairways and Skylark).

This refreshing album is full of magnetism and lure. It is rigidly orchestrated and offers a meadow of sound. The Young Tradition will find fans in all ages as it is a new touch to this vintage style but will also intrigue the chic baby boomers who will enjoy a happy trip back in time. Simply put, it is candy to the ears.

- Kristen Cudmore

Yesterday Was Dramatic - Todak Is Okay

Múm

I am sure many people have heard of Mùm; I remember telling my best friend that I received Mùm to write about this month: she responded with excitement because she, along with many others, was saying, “What ever happened to Mùm?” Good news has arrived that Yesterday was Dramatic, Today is OK is going to be re-released. After a change in labels Mùm was finally able to release their ideal sound on a label they felt at home with. “For us it was something worth fighting for,” says Orvar, one of the four band-mates.

Once a two-person group now made up of four, Mùm is Orvar, Gyda, Gunni and Kristin from Iceland. With sounds from the harmonica, accordion, glockenspiel, saxophone, voice, digital percussion and effects, the sound is indigenous, electronic, spazzy, meditative, moving and human. It is a souvenir of their past, but they fixed everything they wanted to change about the sound of the original release. Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today is OK was recorded in the summer of 1999, in a small studio. Amongst construction, they managed to create something to bask in and just appreciate for what it is.

This album sounds like being lost in the woods, trying to find the way out, surrounded by nature, scenery and then seeing where you came from in the distance. Mùm has created ethno-static lullabies in this beautifully balanced trail mix. Bearing a resemblance to Fourtet and Soft Pink Truth, Mùm’s unmatched sound will entice fans of all genres.

Yesterday was Dramatic, Today is OK shimmers with sophistication. It will relax your mind and body and will be essential listening for many music collectors… in fact you might need two, in case you wear out the first copy!

- Kristen Cudmore

High Expectations/Low Results

Faunts

I must say – October is going to be a month full of first-rate releases; here we have Faunts’ debut album, High Expectations/ Low Results, fashion-forward, pensive ambient rockers from Edmonton, Canada. The sole providers of this ray of sound are brothers Tim and Steve Batke who formed Faunts in 2000 with Paul Arnusch. Joel Hitchcock and Alanna Ven Leeuwen join them for this album.

Guitars, keyboards, effects, pink noise, and electronics comprise Faunts sound on High Expectations/ Low Results; together they produce a sound that harks back to bands like Radiohead, Starflyer 59, Air, Sigur Ros and Mogwai.

Beams of gloominess inspire melodies that run closely in unison with the instrumental parts. This somewhat theatrical album steps into sunrise and sunset, echoing off the sides of the hills. Modishly vibrant sound holds character in the way it’s orchestrated. Seemingly simple, and without compromise, Faunts created an album that will turn heads.

Faunts has been seen opening for bands like Broken Social Scene, Stars, and Do May Say Think – keep your eyes on the local concert listings, because Faunts would be an awe-inspiring show and while you’re there, take it home with you on CD. You’ll need it on those days that your frame of mind is crooked and you just want some reconciliation.

- Kristen Cudmore