folk

Two

mandy — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:00:00 +0000

I would not be the least bit surprised to learn that the ability to write a catchy pop song is a hereditary trait, in addition to being a skill developed over time. That definitely seems to be the case with Los Angeles sister duo Chapin Sisters. Their lineage is chock full of singer-songwriters, including their father, Tom Chapin, and their more well-known uncle, the late Harry Chapin, who wrote and performed “Cat’s In the Cradle.” With their self-produced second full-length release, fittingly titled Two, the Chapin Sisters prove themselves to be worthy predecessors, albeit ones in need of a bit more practice.

The pair has keen ears and seem to know something about what can make pop music truly transcendent. Remember a couple of years back, when it seemed like every indie artist and her mother was covering the Gnarls Barkley hit “Crazy?” That’s because the song had a great beat with familiar yet poignant lyrics—a winning combination for any pop classic. Similarly, the Chapin Sisters were one of many groups in the mid-aughts to cover a song made famous by Britney Spears. They first garnered a bit of buzz in 2006, with their heavenly slowcore folk version of Spears’ “Toxic.”

Abigail and Lily share duties on songwriting, as well as vocals, guitars, keyboards, and percussion; separately, Lily is on banjo and Abigail plays the flute. The album also features performances from Louis Stephens of Rooney (with whom The Chapin Sisters have recently toured), and Jesse Lee and Josh Diamond of New York experimental band Gang Gang Dance. The lyrics are chock full of sweet deceptively simple language, and often skirt that very fine line between effortlessly crafted enduring pop and too-familiar schmaltz. Every song seems to start out basic, with either just voices or sparse instrumentation, then starts to build up, taller and bigger with more sound – more horns, more percussion, more harmonies. It works well, so long as you choose to block out the fact that almost every song is following that formula.

Despite Two having been recorded in the New Jersey woods, there is a very Fleetwood Mac quality to The Chapin Sisters. Let me explain: Fleetwood Mac started as a British blues/folk band then, with the addition of Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, became known as the quintessential California band. As with The Mac, The Chapin Sisters combine tight harmonies, traditional British folk sounds, a vaguely haunted aesthetic and a gentle airiness. Excellent examples include “Sweet Light,” “Paradise,” and “Palm Tree.” Meanwhile, “Digging a Hole” sounds less Nicks-style “Gypsy” and more genuine world-music-style gypsy. The flute is put to good use on this track, which sounds like it should be sung around a campfire.

Overall, the songs on Two are the sort that make you want to stand in a the middle of a field or dark concert hall while wearing a long skirt that you grab at the corners as you swish and sway in place, set adrift on the ocean of sound.

Written by: M. Brianna Stallings, March 4th 2011

Acoustic Project

alicia — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:00:00 +0000

By Laura Cortese

When I moved to Virginia over four years ago, I didn’t know what folk music was. Growing up in Portland Oregon, I was raised on the quickly growing West Coast indie rock scene. But sometime in my teenage years I started finding artists like Sparklehorse, Nickel Creek, Laura Gibson, and Blitzen Trapper and I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t know then what it was about these different artists’ sounds that made my mouth water, but there was something they had in common, something earthy, something gritty, that I absolutely loved.

And when I arrived in Virginia, it finally dawned on me. It was folk. It was bluegrass. It was Americana; that’s what I liked so well. I found myself in the pocket of “real” American country music, the influence of which I had been drooling over for years. This is where that sound was bottled. I was at the source of what had morphed into the post-folk-indie-rock that I had been listening to on the other side of the country.

Laura Cortese, too, is a migrant from West to East Coast, having grown up in The Bay Area and then moving East to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. Based in New England since, she has reached acclaim both at home and abroad, touring the U.S. as well as overseas in the countries where all that fiddling began—Ireland, UK, and Denmark. Her newest effort is called Acoustic Project: a collaboration with Natalie Haas on cello, Brittany Haas with five string and fiddle, Hanneke Cassel on fiddle, and Laura playing fiddle and singing. Singing quite well, I might add. She is well suited to her genre, and melds sugary pop songs and traditional fiddling that makes for a happily surprising combination.

The first track, “Overcome”, is deeply felt and lovely, with the instrumental line and the vocals moving between complimenting and contradicting each other. It is as if Laura has split her vocal chords and is harmonizing with herself: the instrumental and her vocals are equally strong in delivering her voice. “Perfect Tuesdays” is much less interesting, with lyrics that lie flat and fail to surprise. The middle two tracks, however, “5 Tune” and “Du Petit Sarny” are absolutely perfect.

Without a vocal line at all, the listener can dive into the instrumental energy that these women have together, reveling in their momentum and the tension between the lines. “Women of the Ages” is a welcome respite after two such energetic tracks. Harp-like finger picking and the simplicity of structure allow the listener to relax once more into the album. The poem that Laura sings is by John Beaton from 2005, with the refrain “We’re the women of the ages wooed to walk to the aisles of grief; we’re the wear on well-worn pages where posterity retraces deeds of men in bold relief.” A profound image, rightly sung simply and clearly to let the poem be heard. “Wade On In” is probably the best showing of Laura’s voice.

There is a beautiful depth and ease that she demonstrates here, and again it is in delicious tension with the instrumental line. I wish she would embrace her lower vocal range more often—it is rich and mellow. Finally, “Greasy Coat” finishes the album. A fun track, but a little out of control, and it lacks the subtlety of the other songs.

The album is overall an enjoyable listen, a perfect accompaniment to a rainy day or a drive in the country. The lyrics, for the most part, invoke a pleasant introspection and calm energy. Some tracks are more successful than others; the music succeeds when the different instruments and Laura’s voice all play well against each other. It is the friction between the lines, like the friction of a bow grinding the violin, which makes this music exciting. On this album, sometimes that friction exists and sometimes it doesn’t.

Written by: Beth Fagan, December 2nd 2010

Images of Women, Volume 2

alicia — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Robin Greenstein

Windy Records

Several years ago, native New Yorker Robin Greenstein issued Images of Women, Volume 1, which delivered fourteen folk songs about women’s depiction in the genre, based on her concert-lecture on the topic. Images of Women, Volume 2 delivers fourteen more numbers about women, mostly traditional in musical style.

Songs range from comical to jaunty to sorrowful. In “Father Grumble” a farmer complains that he works harder than his wife, but when they switch chores he ends up swearing “by all the leaves in the trees and all the stars in heaven / that his wife could do more work in a day than he could do in seven.” “Born in the Country” has a rockabilly beat but the structure of the blues; our lusty but proud narrator tells us “a country girl ain’t anybody’s fool” and warns her former lover to stay away on pain of death.

“The Cruel War” focuses on women’s lot in wartime: a woman begs to accompany her lover to war and eventually he relents. In “Bold William Taylor” a woman disguises herself as a soldier to find her lover. Discovering he has abandoned her for an heiress, she guns him down. In a bizarre twist, the captain of his regiment who witnesses this act is not only impressed by her determination, but makes her captain of a ship! Overall, the sparse arrangement fits the plaintive tune perfectly.

Woody Guthrie’s “Union Maid” extols the virtues of an organizer who refuses to be scared by the company’s hired goons, while the narrator of “I'm Gonna Be An Engineer” by Peggy Seeger (Pete’s sister) is discouraged from pursuing her dream. The disc concludes with a rendition of Christine Lavin’s “Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind,” which hopefully will make listeners aware of one of the funniest folk musicians today.

Greenstein's songs are backed by acoustic guitar and banjo, and fiddle often sets the pace. The steady bass gives many numbers a singsong beat, and harmonica, percussion, harp, and recorder add just the right touch. This is a basic introduction to folk music and a sing-along tribute to the changing roles and perceptions of women through the ages.

Written by: Karen Duda, November 2nd 2010

Apple Core

mandy — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Kendl Winter

K Records

So much folksy lady rock, so little time. Add Kendl Winter’s Apple Core to the ever-lengthening list of guitar-loving, country-inspired singer-songwriters with a flair for bluegrass. It may not be terribly original, but Winter makes a fine effort on her fourth solo album. At times, her work is hauntingly beautiful; at others, it’s frustratingly cliché.

“Everyone’s so avant garde,” Winter sings on “Made It Through the Yellow,” perhaps referring to the sudden rise in folk hipster chic that makes committed musicians cringe. Should there be more beards and flannel on stage or in the crowd? On “Waiting for the Taker,” a would-be somber track about death with a jaunty guitar riff, she reminisces about apple pies, loyal dogs, and droopy-eyed cowboys.

A tribute to the late abortion provider, “Dr. Tiller” is clearly a lovely sentiment, if not the most enchanting song. Descriptive lyrics about the doctor’s murder feel more appropriate for some sort of spoken word tribute. In a song, phrases like “I’m walking through a mob of pro-lifers just to get a pap smear” feel awkwardly earnest and self-referential without any possibility of reaching people unfamiliar with the story or less than sympathetic about George Tiller’s fate.

Winter is a great talent. It isn’t her fault that so many artists in the last few years have grabbed washboards and banjos and sound oh-so-similar in their nature-themed crooning. While I’m perfectly content listening to Apple Core, if I’m looking for folksy jams, I’ll admittedly seek out albums by Mountain Men, Fleet Foxes, or even some old Wilco first.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, October 16th 2010

A Record

brittany — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:00:00 +0000

By Laura Stevenson and the Cans

Asian Man Records

A few months ago I reviewed the new record from People Eating People. Laura Stevenson and the Cans are certainly along the same sound profile—folksy female vocals with a tinge of She + Him and a pinch of Regina Spektor. As before, I ask, how can yet another folksy crew of musicians survive? How can they set themselves apart and make their music worth an earnest listen?

Laura Stevenson and the Cans manage just that—and they do it with a twist that isn’t quite the wild gypsy punk of Gogol Bordello, but certainly manages to jump with jangly fast-paced punky multi-instrumental swagger just the same. And while the precious folk thing has been done for a while now, there is something just a bit more excellent about doing a precious folk thing with a wicked punk rock beat and a troupe of multi-instrumentalists. Laura Stevenson and the Cans are precious like Frank Kozik’s artwork is precious. They’re precious like The Happy Tree Friends. They’re about as adorable and innocent as the animated rabbits in Watership Down. The punk-rock sensibility works well here, blending with the lo-fi resonance of the more countrified folk roots to create an album that sounds like it was performed live.

Of course, not every song is tinged with the vicious flavor of punk rock. But even their slower more traditional folksy tunes resonate with the strength of lead singer/guitarist Stevenson’s vocal talents and clever lyrics. I have to say I was tickled with “Beets Untitled” which begins with a dinner of boiled beets and ends with a sad refrain: “Keep away from me / I am full of terrible things / but if you love the terrible / then please be near to me.” I have also officially become my grandmother, who uses words like “tickled.” Although, perhaps it’s appropriate to channel my grandmother, as she listened to her fair share of the folk music during her time—mostly Woody Guthrie—and I have to say Laura Stevenson and the Cans owe quite a debt to that man and his sound.

Written by: Emily S. Dunster, September 17th 2010

Fairytales and Lullabies

brittany — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 18:00:00 +0000

By Sol Skugga

Cauldron Soundwerx Productions

Sol Skugga is someone I need to keep my eye on. Her third album, Fairytales and Lullabies, is a well-mixed collection of electronica, ambiance, and folk. Skugga wrote, mixed, and produced her own tracks. Clearly a collector of sound, her long list of instruments include vocals, piano, acoustic and electric guitars, "electronic drums in all shapes," ambient sounds, synthesizers, samplings of Nordic nature, and rhythm instrumentation. She effortlessly merges the traditional with the experimental, topping it off with magical elements. Be still, my beating heart.

The first two tracks on the album are delectable electronic songs. The third track "Burn Her" is a complete surprise; classical and Medieval sounding folk with rock elements was the last thing I was expecting to hear. Though it's completely unexpected, it is equally wonderful. "Letter To Myself" really made me want to waltz with David Bowie in a hallucinated ballroom while wearing a beautiful dress. "I Had My Share" is a folksy rock tune. I was happy that the album ended on a classical flavored note with possibly Skugga's best vocals of the entire lot.

It's cliche to say that every interesting female artist to have ever existed sounds like Tori Amos and/or Kate Bush; however, Skugga's vocals did remind me of them both. "I Wanna Know" reminded me of listening to Tori Amos' "Hey Jupiter" when I was sixteen. I also felt a Madonna vibe going on, especially in "Share Tonight" and "Sweet Lullaby", when her wavering vocals were backed by predominantly electronic sound (Confessions on a Dance Floor came to mind). In any case, Skugga’s vocals are both new and familiar, often taking a front seat in her songs.

On Fairytales and Lullabies, Sol Skugga has proven herself as a multi-talented, electronic musician, and modern day bard.

Written by: Jacquie Piasta, September 13th 2010

Oh, Hear the Wind Blow

brittany — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 02:00:00 +0000

By The Chapin Sisters

Lake Bottom Records

The West Coast, indie feel to the Chapin Sister’s album Oh, Hear the Wind Blow could easily have made it my pick for this year’s perfect summer album. Sadly, it’s September as I write this, and soon flip-flops will make way for boots. However, I suggest you squeeze the last rays out of summer with this album.

The Sisters are nieces of musician Harry Chapin and the daughters of Tom Chapin. Their musical family and the thorough musical training they received as a result shines in their pieces. Simple instrumentation, easy-going rhythms, and the sisters’ reedy and mellow harmonies carry on the tradition of American music while incorporating a modern-folk-pop flavor. On some tracks, Abigail and Lily are joined by their other sister, Jessica Craven. Their instrumentalists are The Brothers Brothers: Dan Horne on bass, Louis Stephens on the keys, and Aaron Sperske on the drums.

Their tambourines and “ooh wa’s” on “Left All Alone,” echo the style of Zooey Deschanel, currently in vogue as the lead singer of the band She + Him (with whom the Sisters toured this last spring). The lilting melody and Stephens’ stylings on the keyboard of “Let Me Go” and the slowly rollicking guitar progression on “Palm Tree” drew upon the sound of their uncle’s generation. The exposed melody and chant line of “Digging a Hole,” combined with the almost tribal percussion stands out as the most unique song on the album. The lyrics are worth a listen as well, drawing on an attitude of strength and folk-inspired images of the natural world.

From the lovely handmade appearance of the cover art to the familiar and familial bond of perfect harmony, this album carries the Chapin signature and fuses it with the new era of American music.

Written by: Cristin Colvin, September 11th 2010

Ghosts

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Smoke Fairies

453 Music

A disclaimer before listening to Ghosts: If you're not careful, loud English folk duo Smoke Fairies will consume you. With their swampy blues riffs, exquisite harmonies, and formidable command of songwriting, Smoke Fairies is truly enchanting. You might not believe that a nine-song collection (billed as “a collection of A-sides, B-sides, and an EP from the recent past”) would have such a mighty power. There's no harm in skepticism. But you'd be wrong.

I'm not the only one who's been thoroughly taken in by Smoke Fairies' many charms. Following last year's release of their EP Frozen Heart, they shared UK tour dates with The Handsome Family and Richard Hawley (formerly of Pulp), and performed at a variety of prominent British music festivals, including Latitude and Glastonbury. They also had the good fortune of opening for Jack White's latest group, The Dead Weather; White has since gone to release a limited edition Smoke Fairies vinyl 7-inch on his label, Third Man Records.

Indeed, Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies have been keeping some good company. That's because good recognizes good, and Smoke Fairies are most decidedly that. Theirs is a dark roiling sound buoyed by their preternaturally beautiful voices. Hints of Fairport Convention, Eliza Carthy, Cowboy Junkies, and Mazzy Star all emerge from these songs.

Their lyrics are full of a simple classic poeticism. Listeners find this exemplified in such songs as “Sunshine” (“red sky descends in the morning/feels like I'm never awake for the warning”) and “Troubles” (“I drew my demons out to the snow ... drawn together like moths to light/never believing we burn so bright”). “When You Grow Old” is also a great example. In it, a woman wonders what lasting impact her love will have on a former lover, and whether he will someday “take a wife.” She then responds to her own wonder in kind with these wise, poignant words: “But people like me/we're not the marrying kind/but who will hold us/when we reach our time?”

Locked in an oppressive summer heat, it came as no small comfort to listen to something so... wintry. You can almost feel the crunch of new snow under your shoes as you trod lightly through each song. There's a compulsion to put on a coat, and then, as the album progresses, to draw it tighter around you.

Be not misled by the chilly description, though. The world within Smoke Fairies' Ghosts is cold, but certainly not stark. Yet if you're looking for an invigorating pick-me-up, Ghosts is right out. That's okay, though. From the second the CD arrived, I found myself transfixed. I've been unable to stop listening to it. This is the musical equivalent of laudanum: reminiscent of a bygone era, potent, drowsy, generating an all-encompassing high–and a highly addictive one at that.

Written by: M. Brianna Stallings, July 8th 2010

Made The Harbor

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:52:00 +0000

By Mountain Man

Partisan Records

It’s deeply problematic that my first thought it is to compare the Mountain Man ladies to the men of Fleet Foxes. Why must my point of reference be boy bands, so to speak? But truly, Mountain Man sounds like a fusion of two bands, both gender-segregated, that I adore: Fleet Foxes and Au Revoire Simone. Simple, reverberating, mostly a cappella harmonies meet woodsy charm and the sparseness of a cold winter’s night, and these ladies sing about lovely, folksy evergreen topics such a soft skin, affectionate nicknames, sitting on the back stairs drinking good beer in the summer air, and dancing at the hall while the band was playing.

Song titles with animal themes are prominent—“Loon Song,” “Honeybee,” “White Heron”—and while they don’t necessarily nod to their namesakes, they certainly incorporate woodsy creature folklore.

The sweat will roll down our backs And we’ll follow animal tracks To a tree in the woods in a hole in the leaves where we’ll see The bright baby eyes of a chickadee

“How’m I doin’” is the most adorably infectious track, a nod to perfectionism and doing the best one can. It even sounds like the women utter the word “yins”—shorthand for “you ones” where I’m from, a variant of “y’all.” Wishful hearing or not, I’m smitten.

Even their digital recordings have a nearly tactile quality, like an old LP spinning on a turntable, scratches and bumps clearly audible. These mountain (wo)men, though they met as Vermont co-eds instead of across a campfire, get so many things right on Made the Harbor and offer up truly inspiring gospel-tinged folk greatness. This is one of my favorite albums of the year so far.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, June 29th 2010

Hadestown

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:01:00 +0000

By Anaïs Mitchell

Righteous Babe Records

Before reviewing the album, I have to admit, Ani Difranco and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, who are both major contributors to the project, definitely rake up the most counts on my iTunes top played lists. Bias.

That said however, Anaïs Mitchell’s folk opera Hadestown is a masterful album in its own right, originally beginning in 2006 as a live show that toured New England with a cast of twenty-two performers. The show, and now complete album, is an impressive Americana retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that evokes a feel of Depression-era America and a doomed future in which all desperately seek to preserve their power, freedom, and riches.

Researching the mythical story a bit so I could understand the compelling narration of the album, I found that it is a love story about Orpheus, a poet who swayed Hades with his beautiful music to bring back his beloved Eurydice from the underworld. As I already alluded to, Mitchell’s ambitious, bold, fourth album is a collaborative project, with the lead singer of Bon Iver as Orpheus (my all-time favorite), Ani DiFranco as Persephone (the strong-willed wife of Hades), Greg Brown as Hades ("king of the kingdom of dirt") and Mitchell as Eurydice, the beautiful young woman seduced into Hades' underworld.

"I recognized in the Orpheus character something a lot of artists feel: his heartbreaking optimism," observes Mitchell. "In the underworld, the rules are the rules, you don’t get a dead person back—but Orpheus believes if he can just sing/play/write something beautiful enough, maybe he can do the impossible, move the heart of stone, get through to someone. I've felt that feeling..." And alas, an incredible album is born, complete with human emotion, social commentary, and an incredibly impressive artistic collaboration.

In general, the lovely Vermont singer-songwriter has a unique, eclectic style all her own, but has definitely been influenced by "the earthiness of Shawn Colvin, the child-like bite of Joanna Newsom, and the urban jumpiness of Ani DiFranco." As this reviewer continues, "These elements, as disparate as they might seem, come together as nicely as cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg" (Margaret Reges, Allmusic.com). In January 2008, I was actually lucky enough to see Mitchell play shortly after she was taken up by Difranco’s Righteous Babe Records, opening a show for the extraordinary anti-folk goddess herself.

Back to the album, Hadestown is definitely the most creative, inspired folk album I have heard in the past couple years, bringing a fresh perspective to the mythic tradition and timeless themes of power, love and desperation. Listen—to the feature on NPR or buy it—but listen to it all the way through. Even if the Americana style generally doesn’t appeal to you, and I admit it normally doesn’t for me, the inspired and compelling narration, craft, and featured artists on the album come together and truly form something magical.

Written by: Abigail Chance, May 28th 2010

Levantine Indulgence

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Gaida

Palmyra Recordings

Singer and composer Gaida’s debut album Levantine Indulgence is named for Levant, the Fertile Crescent’s desert oasis. Aptly named, this album offers listeners an abundance of vocal and instrumental styles that even the most resistant listeners can find nourishing and enchanting.

The opening track, “Dream,” begins with rhythmic clapping and percussion and a chorus of male voices who share vocals with the lead singer. I should clarify by referring to sharing and “trading.” This distinction is important because the contrast of Gaida’s voice with the male singers makes this short song into a true performance. The vocal banter between Gaida and the men reminded me of a musical where the lead female actor is center stage and the men in the chorus sing to her with the purpose of wooing or impressing her. But in the case of “Dream,” the men sing with Gaida at the end of the song. Unlike a traditional musical from an earlier era, where the woman needs to fend off potential suitors with clever lyrics and a silky voice, in this modern version Gaida works with the men, but the song is still decidedly hers.

“Kaifa Uhibuka” transports the listener to a smoky, jazz club with purple walls and red, plush booths. When I close my eyes and listen to this track, I’m a patron of this club, sipping gin and smoking a clove cigarette, while I lean back into my lush surroundings to enjoy the music. I despise gin and I no longer smoke, but the song evokes feelings of real or imagined indulgence, and yet sadness. I felt that this song represented the overall mood of the album even more than the title track.

Another track that evoked this mood was the beautiful ballad “Ghayeb.” The piano, cello, and flute blend with Gaida’s vocals to create a song that expresses love, longing, and caring. Despite the fact that the lyrics are not in English, my eyes filled with tears as I listened to “Ghayeb.” Without even knowing what Gaida was saying, I could feel the pain and loss in her voice. When you hear a song like this, it can cause you to have a flashback to a situation that may have been painful, or one that caused you to feel a sense of bittersweet regret. Granted, this isn’t exactly a desirable feeling, but if a song can make you feel this way, I think that’s pretty powerful.

Gaida has lived in Germany, Damascus, Detroit, Paris, Kuwait, and New York. Through the incorporation of jazz, bossa nova, ballad, Tarab (ecstasy) songs, Arab folk, and traditional Arabic maqam (modes) and improvisational style in her music, it is easy to see that she has carried pieces of these places with her as she has traveled the globe. Some people would create a scrapbook or a photo album of their diverse living experiences; Gaida has produced an audio diary of her musical and emotional journeys, and the listener can feel her sentiment with beat of the bass, the raining piano notes, and memorable melodies. On the album cover, the artist in fact states that she, “will always sing with tears close to my eyes, beats pounding my fragile heart, and care wrapping the entire world.”

Written by: Rachel Muzika Scheib, May 27th 2010

Good Problems

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Summer People

Red Leader Records

Ah, spring time on a New England college campus! I always forget what it’s like when everyone emerges out of the stacks of the library, poorly-lit dorms, and stuffy classrooms to congregate on the sunny main green. Amid intellectual circle-discussions, shirtless Frisbee tosses, romantic lunches, and hipster dance parties, the upstate New York band Summer People couldn’t have picked a better time to release Good Problems, a seemingly perfect soundtrack for this cultural phenomenon.

Eight people collaborated on Good Problems, which was recorded live with no effects, giving it a gritty, authentic feel. Thirteen tracks is awfully ambitious for a freshman project, but the Summer People’s debut proves to be a noteworthy, sophisticated, eclectic mix of classic rock, folk, punk, and indie sounds. Each track evokes a completely different experience of sounds and moods, yet the album as a whole comes together seamlessly and brilliantly.

Several songs on Good Problems give the airy, folksy feel of Fleet Foxes or Death Cab for Cutie, including “Two Hearted River,” “The Other Side,” and “Curtained Rain.” With cheery lyrics, chants, handclaps, and guitar, these tracks produce a delicate acoustic sound that greatly contrast with the other, more traditionally alternative rock vibe of “Shallow Water People,” “Balcony,” and “Two Truths.” With slow buildups to loud percussion and the occasional off-key screaming, some reviewers have commented on the “bi-polar mood swings” of these tracks, and really, the album as a whole. It swings back down to a more melancholic, electric, instrumental feel with “For Giving In” and “The Sun Was Up,” which have a similar to sound to Sigur Rós- both poetic and haunting.

While not everyone will appreciate the experimental, artsy sound of Good Problems', both the messy rock tracks and the poetic mellow instrumentals match the eclectic conglomeration of warm weather gatherings, and is a perfect fit to the desperate enjoyment of the sun right before the exam time crunch. As the title of the album suggests, despite the stress, college life is filled with generally good problems.

Written by: Abigail Chance, April 18th 2010

Live in Louisville

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Carrie Rodriguez

Luz Music

“Well you have it, you love it, now it’s your turn to shove it…I don’t want to play house anymore,” sings Carrie Rodriguez on her newly released live compilation album, Live in Louisville. Her soulful voice, accompanied by rousing fiddles, makes her point with grace and force. The tunes on the album come from Rodriguez’ various other projects, but the most colorful are those she takes the credit for writing.

“I Don’t Want to Play House Anymore,” “Seven Angles on a Bicycle,” (from the album of the same name), and “Never Gonna Be Your Bride” are among the more upbeat sounds on the album, but that doesn’t mean the rest are purely maudlin. The slower tracks on the album are as much soulful as they are haunting.

The eclectic sounds of her band would put her solidly in an Americana, that amalgam of roots music that revisions country, folk, and blues, but the unique twists and turns of her voice bridge the renewed attention to the genre with more traditional bluegrass and even the more sentimental songwriting of Jewel, Indigo Girls, and Julie Roberts (of country fame).

There is an element of the unexpected in each song, whether it’s a musical bridge or a turn of phrase, and the dusky sound of Rodriguez’s voice seems to make her the perfect candidate for a closing credits track on HBO’s True Blood—a new Grey’s Anatomy of sorts for launching the hottest new music.

Rodriguez can please the country in you while reminding you through her pertinent lyrics that you’re alive, you share in disasters and joys like the rest of us. And just as you’re ready to dismiss one track as too country or too slow, the next places you squarely in New Orleans among an impromptu fiddle fest or back into a dark, dank bar with a lonely mic.

Live in Louisville's variety—in voice and vision—is well worth a listen.

Written by: Dr. Julie E. Ferris, April 14th 2010

No Rest

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:01:00 +0000

By Christy and Emily

Klangbad

Brooklyn songstress roommates, longtime collaborators, and bestie brunettes Christy Edwards and Emily Manzo have hipster cred out the wazoo. So do loads of other borough-based bands, but few have the raw talent of these two singer-songwriter women—a label that hardly defines the true depth of their talent. Their music, at times hauntingly sparse, reverberates with their lush voices and minimal instrumentation, often just Christy’s guitar or Emily’s keyboard. Sound cloying? The opposite is true. There is nothing pretentious or difficult about this album.

On No Rest, their second release this year, the gals focus on teasing out their folk influences, veering away from their psychedelic roots. At the same time, they maintain their sound experimentation and focus less on complicated lyrics. Lines like “Why not live a life of truth/Like your siblings” could be as autobiographical as they could be creative poetry put to music. No matter that their words are uncomplicated; every sound out of their mouths is truly beautiful, and there is additional beauty in simplicity.

“Idle Hands” has some of the best rhythmic composition on the album and draws to mind a more serious Girls Guitar Club, starting Christy and Emily instead of Karen Kilgariff & Mary Lynn Rajskub.

“Here Comes the Water Now” is a nod to natural disaster—and how unfortunately timely. The nearly rhyming lyrics—which pay off at the end—kept me fully engaged with the story as well as the music.

Better decide on what to bring Take a look around at everything There’s only so much time will allow Here comes the water... now

Closing track “Amaryllis”—which is coincidentally my favorite flower—uses the annual as a metaphor for periods of light and darkness. If you’ve never cared for these bulbous houseplants, just know that they’re like any other bulb. After blooming in the spring, they require months of darkness during the winter. In my experience, this typically means putting them in a large paper bag and tucking them in a dark corner until the springtime frost has vanished. C&E no doubt like these big horn-shaped flowers, as they’ve dedicated a whole song to them and sing, “Oh how lovely the plant you keep in the dark.”

From the album’s opening line—“I’m not scared of what I can’t see anymore”—to the sonic waves, gorgeous vocals, and wind chime-type sound effects, this album will mesmerize you. Let it.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, April 5th 2010

Western Theater

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Mighty Tiger

Paper Garden Records

Mighty Tiger are the sort of band to open for Animal Collective or Grizzly Bear on tour—and not just because of their similar four-legged names. It’s easy to compare bands in folksy sub-genres, but the truth is, Mighty Tiger are a solid pop-driven fit among more established bands of similar persuasion.

On Western Theater, Mighty Tiger do what other comparable bands do not. They lean on alt-country traditions and add a layer of pop jubilance that makes their folk-country rock a pleasantly danceable treat. This Seattle-based quintet also creates soothing harmonies a la Sufjan Stevens, whereas their freak folk counterparts often make discordant, if enjoyable, sounds.

Maybe because I recently started trying my hand at chess again, board tucked away since childhood battles against my father, the song “Rook and King” drew me in almost immediately. The song also rhymes “Alsatian” and “fornication,” which is somehow incredibly endearing. I should dust off my rhyming dictionary along with my pawns.

Another favorite, the seven-minute “The Most American Thing in America,” would be a perfect addition to a moody, road-trip-ready mix-tape. Admittedly, I haven’t had a tape player in my car since 2000, and even then, I was pretty old school for carting around cassettes of indie hits compiled by friends with far superior tastes. Nevertheless, epic songs make me smile, and this one is no exception. Over and over, the guys repeat, “And we won’t hold on for too long.” I’m all for closure.

On tour this spring in southern and western regions, you can catch Mighty Tiger at South By Southwest and elsewhere, with support from Grand Hallway.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, April 1st 2010