Week of Nov 20, 2023

Best of the Week

Lazuli - 11

2023 11 tracks  (54:22)

An elegant prog rock album from the French masters. They have no problem in generating interesting song vignettes for the whole album with tasteful arrangements, luscious vocals, and fabulous musicianship. I don’t speak or understand French so that part is lost on me, but music this good allows me to enjoy it. The only one I translated was the first cut that translated roughly to criss-crossing a sea of vinyl - records, I assume. I can relate to that. A

Interesting Finds

The Silos - Cuba

1986  16 tracks  (1:04:11)

Reconnecting with an old friend is often beneficial, especially to find that there hasn’t been anything lost in the 37 years. In fact, it sounds just as fresh and strong as before. What may have been called alternative country at the time, if that term existed then, it really is more roots based Americana rock. It’s closer to David Lowery than Dwight Yochaim. Oddly, it’s the only album I bought by this group and it behooves me to check out a more recent release.  B

Wednesday - Rat Saw God

2023  10 tracks  (37:09)

Wednesday is a thrash alternative rock band fronted by singer songwriter Karly Hartzman. It’s an acquired taste due to the band sounding like The Pixies on a rough day and Karly singing like she is in a separate isolated room in a drugged voice at a disproportionate lower volume. That is until she decides to scream out as if greatly distressed. There are exceptions, like the cut “Chosen to Deserve” when both the band and Hartzman sound musical - it’s a great song. Unfortunately, nothing else approached it. D

Margo Cilker - Valley of Heart’s Delight

2023  11 tracks  (37:53)

Margo Cilker could be labeled a country music singer songwriter, but that wouldn’t be complete. She really excels at Americana ballads and the arrangements stay away from country’s signature band components such as steel guitar and fiddle. Her lyrics stay away from country’s simple love-gone-bad, I-drink-too-much, and God-and-patriotism-rules quagmire. It’s more simpler things of life sung with warmth and character. No one cut stands out, they just make you at ease like a warm cup of coffee and a good book. B

Blondshell - Blondshell

2023  14 tracks  (49:02)

Dynamic artist Blondshell is someone to keep an eye on. The songs pack a punch with powerful guitar and bass lines that could raise the dead. A lot of the topics involve teenage and young adult angst which is fine because the music is equally dark and raw. A few of the songs stand out and nothing is really less than average. B

Tides From Nebula - Aura

2008  9 tracks  (43:42)

Spacey prog from Poland. Their signature sound is fast-picking tonal pairs and is heard on most of the songs. Comparisons to Russian Circles would not be wrong. Pretty good listening, but newer material is better developed and more interesting throughout. C

IZZ - Don’t Panic

2019  5 tracks  (43:59)

Take a little Gentle Giant, ELP, and Renaissance and you have IZZ, a prog rock band from the US. This particular album was one of the most notable releases in their catalog. The music is well put together, interesting in the time and theme shifts, and sung well by the male and female leads, especially when they harmonize. What the songs mean is not clear, but I sense it has something to do with loss and remembrance of the past. B

Forgettable

Kadavar - Abra Kadavar

2013  10 tracks  (48:21)

See the kitsch title. See the overly wretched long hair look. What time period does this suggest? 1970? Well, if one wasn’t surprised this was only ten years ago, the music is a dead giveaway with the revival of an old Black Sabbath sound. The restrained voices and basic strumming guitar and plodding bass certainly is all there. The only thing not there is the memorable songs that at least you were interested in hearing again. Not so great here. D-

Week of Nov 13, 2023

  

Best of the Week

Dave Martone - Clean

2008  11 tracks  (46:11)

An absolute master of rock guitar shows exactly why so many believe he has no peer. Martone has taught and influenced a number of well known contemporary guitar freaks and you can hear them all in his eleven tunes on this album. Now, it is one thing to play an instrument on the highest plain, but can you make it musically relevant? Yes, and every track is worthy of listening to multiple times. Incredibly, he sounds like many different persons given how one sonic style is not played throughout; he is many players in one. It is unfortunate he only has a few albums and plays as an accompanying artist on a few others. For that reason, this is to be enjoyed and savored.  A+

Django Django - Glowing In The Dark

2021  18 tracks  (1:04:56)

Using a variety of electronic instruments, this new age, electro pop, and art rock group make some of the best smart pop around. A little art and psyche thrown in they just let the creative mixes sell the easy hooks to draw you in. Most of these clock in at around the three minute mark, so you certainly don’t tire of the jig they pitch at you. Many just flow into each other anyway. For comparisons, there is a combination of 10cc, Phish, OMD, and Arcade Fire. Hard to peg but fun to listen to.  A

Wolf Hoffman - Headbangers Symphony

2016  11 tracks  (48:32)

Hoffman is the band Accept’s long time guitarist, but as a side project he likes to take classical classics and recreate them into heavy metal bangers with symphonic support. The results are excellent, possibly improving the original (sorry Beethoven). The trick redoing any song that has stood the test of time is doing honor to the original while bringing something new to the table. Hoffman does this well and the results are a delight.  A

Interesting Finds

Nada Surf - Lucky

2008  11 tracks  (42:51)

Considered an alternative rock band, but they know how to make exceptionally tuneful pop tunes without the alternative edge. Death Cab For Cutie would be a comparable band. It’s hard to pick out favorite songs due to its consistent sound. Well done throughout. B+

Gary Hoey - Ballads That Burn

2012  15 tracks  (1:04:17)

Another terrific ax man that shows Joe Satriani like compositional and guitar savvy with Buckethead like technically gifted hands. That’s pretty heavy company and he may not quite be as astute as either one, but it’s close enough. This release seems like a mixture of several different recordings because some are clearly studio efforts (“Coasting”), live performances (“Peace Pipe” and “The Deep”) some with vocals (“Fades Away”). Doesn’t matter, the result is very good.  B

Minami Deutsch - With Dim Light

2017  6 tracks  (40:42)

Described as a Japanese band that plays Krautrock, you wouldn’t know it from the first song (“Concrete Ocean”) that sounds more like a light jazz trio. Whatever. Everything else seems to be on point with hard driving guitars leading rhythmic bass and drum lines. The two adjoining cuts, “Tunnel” and “I’ve Seen a U.F.O” are so similar that one just seems like an extension of the other. Good stuff.  B

Dolly Parton - Rockstar

2023  30 tracks  (2:21:30)

OMG, this album has some amazing moments. DP signs up some of the greatest icons in rock to do their songs, often with the original performer. All of the songs, many familiar to everyone, were redone from scratch. I’ll be honest, many of the rewrites are fine but unnecessary. “Purple Rain”, “Wrecking Ball” with Miley Cyrus, and even “Stairway to Heaven” turned out better than expected. But the real stars of the album are the eight or so originals written by Dolly and performed with the likes of Kid Rock, Ronnie McDowell, and Judas Priest frontman, Rob Halford. Her amazing writing skills and ability to belt out a song makes the album sizzle. Are there some clunkers? Are there moments when her voice isn’t steady or strong enough? Yes, but that’s nitpicking and she is fabulous. It doesn’t warrant a top line rating, but there is enough to make this a worthy album.  B

Week of Nov 4, 2023

 The first Galveston set. A lot of this stems from the online listening sessions with Mike, but a lot of free time here has given me an opportunity to do a lot of exploring and music mining. 

Best of the Week

Monkey3 - The 5th Sun

2013  7 tracks  (54:07)

The German kings of stoner psychedelic rock made this a few years back, but they stay true to form. The 14-minute “Icarus” starts the parade with a few moments of reflection thrown in. “Circles” at the end is the closest they come to a conventional song. As usual, no lyrics, at least not in the normal sense. A-

Ex Hex - Rips

2014  12 tracks  (35:10)

The return of the great girl band. This power trio of women have a great knack to make the three-minute power pop song. It’s hard to come up with favorites because they are so delicious throughout. Credit the ageless and somewhat forgotten Mitch Easter to bring their vitality out. I’m hoping for more to come. A

Follakzoid - V

2023  4 tracks  (53:30)

Chilean electronic music masters feature long rhythmic music pieces. Evidently heavily inspired by electronic dance music, it is still better to listen to with your feet on the ground. Definitely more Eno like than Editors. Once they get into a groove, you can listen to it for hours. A

The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers

2014  13 tracks  (43:06)

This album is a pop tune explosion with many well done and catchy songs by the large assemblage of performers. Often switching back and forth between vocalists Newman, Case and Bejar, the arrangements are dense with piles of instruments. Sometimes too much is not a good thing, but not here. The overlaying harmonies and jingle nature give a psychedelic punch. The homage to the Brill Building is not displaced. In fact, they played a live set where the Brill Building was home to all those hits in New York. A terrific album.   A

The Silencers - A Letter From St. Paul

1987  10 tracks  (53:03)

Jingling guitars, pretty harmonies, catchy tunes are prevalent on this album by The Silencers, a band similar to Simple Minds, a contemporary at the time. There were so many groups at the time that the whole post wave scene just imploded by the sheer weight of all the output. That was unfortunate considering how hard it is to make the quintessential four-minute pop tune that this album is chock full of. The album is slick, well produced, performed, and fun to listen to for a blast in the past. A-

Interesting Finds

GoGo Penguins - A Humdrum Star

2018  11 tracks  58:25

A riveting set by a jazz/rock trio. Featuring mainly piano, double bass, and drums - with a few electronic keyboard additives - they are able to rock pretty hard in an accessible manner. Think Pat Methany and Lyle Mays when they were at their rocking best. Beyond that, there are elements of nu-jazz, ambient, classical, and EDM, without straying from the core jazz flow. The piano, of course, sets the pattern and is often melodically tuneful. The double bass adds a real presence. Top tracks “Reactor”, “Prayer”, “Raven”. Well recorded and played throughout. B+

Jenny Lewis - On The Line

2019  11 tracks  (47:14)

She may be considered a crossover artist considering the pop nature of the songs often with a country filament, but it would be fair to think of her work as more indie. “Heads Gonna Roll” is a contender for the Chrissy Hynde sound alike award. Practically everything on this is palatable and some plain great. Once in a while she becomes the living embodiment of Karen Carpenter, but without the sentimental goo (see “Party Clown”). All in all, a solid album. B

Psychic Ills - Hazed Dream

2011  11 tracks  (40:54)

Psychedelic shoegaze album by these experimental rockers are likely to lead you into a sleep, especially after some mind altering substances (or even beer) are taking effect. This album represented a shift from experimental noise makers to dreamy sparse electronic and fuzz guitar mood music, aided by Tres Warrens sleepy vocals. Warren died in 2020, so anything after that is probably archived material. Not bad to listen to if you know what is coming. Just not super engaging. C-

TV on the Radio - Seeds

2014  12 tracks  (52:43)

If TVOTR had a blood brother, it would have to be Nine Inch Nails. They share a similar style of electronic pop without the angst and edge of Reznor’s group. TVOTR has a better pop sense that leads to more of a mix of The Byrds, XTC, LCD Soundsystem, and Arcade Fire. It’s as infectious as hell. B

Moon Duo - Shadow of the Sun

2015  10 tracks  (45:42)

It is clear Moon Duo has a pretty simple pattern that plots through their material. Start with a basic song structure in simple time, use a regular set with keyboards augmented by some simple fuzz guitars and over-echoed duet vocals and round out with a few added instruments. Not bad, just not invigorating either. The problem with formulaic approaches is the predictability wears thin. Still, for an occasional listen like those inserted in a playlist, it’s a fine listen. Album listening should probably be avoided. I was lamenting the fact that I had a chance to see this act that was warming up for Les Claypool and Lennon concoction during the summer and passed it up, but this at least cured me of feeling like I really missed out.  C

Ulrika Spacek - The Album Paranoia

2016  10 tracks  (45:07)

This group could be Moon Duo’s alter ego. With similar sparseness and droning, they devolve the Moon Duo sound into a freaking mush that sometimes doesn’t sound like music. To be clear, Ulrika Spacek is not an individual, but rather a group. A couple of the tracks were added for future playback, but a lot of it skipped as it just wasn’t appealing. It’s amazing how the styles of the two bands aren’t that dissimilar but the results diverge. D

Sleep-makes-waves - …and so we destroyed everything

2012  8 tracks  (52:11)

Despite going through traumatic line up changes and having one remaining original member of the core group, this sophisticated prog rock group delivers a creative impressive album. The titles are the only clue that there is a central theme, but the overall music is cohesive and interesting. Better to listen through it from beginning to end rather than listening to spot songs. The multi-layered splotches of guitars, keyboards, and miscellaneous other instruments is good throughout. B