About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2011)
DEX ROMWEBER DUO Is That You in the Blue? Bloodshot Thank God for Is That You in the Blue?, the new sucker punch of a record from the Dex Romweber Duo, After the 2009 release. Ruins of Berlin. it seemed like Romweber had lost some of the passion that previously drove comparisons between his music and a snake handlers revival His vocal trick of rumbling like a crazed preacher was largely replaced by a suspiciously smooth baritone, and the confident, raw quality of his guitar work just wasn't there But the new record proves he's still casting out demons, and he and drummer/sis Sara work as a cohesive unit His rumbling and rich torching now meld seamlessly on songs like Midnight Sun" and Nowhere evok ing a dark, ghostly, blues-drenched limbo that's both emotionally arresting and disturbing The instrumentals, while less charged, are equally impres sive The surf rocker “Gurdjielf Girl ' doesn't need vocals to paint a vivid picture It might just be the best back- alley spy theme ever written Romweber really is a master of the journey Listening to these songs is like wandering down a lonely road, some times sad with occasional diversions, but never boring There's always a new plane to be explored in his world. He's like the Rod Serling of American music Is Thai You in the Blue I * * * * * 7 is another dimension, indeed Jennifer Gibson Dex Romweber Duo play at the Caledonia Lounge on July 29 I COME TO SHANGHAI Eternal Life Vol. 1 Independent Release I Come to Shanghai came to Athens in 2010 as a fully formed band, splitting Oakland for a cheaper and sleepier town in which to make music. The: r first release as Georgians. Eternal Life Vol. /. is a brief but varied mini- album that, in the style of the day, can be downloaded for any price from the band’s website (www icometoshanghai. com). Six songs merge into three tracks, resembling the collage work of Faust or the Olivia Tremor Control if the more abstract and musique concrete elements were replaced with bass beats and vocals that somehow resemble both TV on the Radio and They Might Be Giants at their most nasally It sounds like post-Barrett Floyd for the Internet generation, with artfully arranged, serious pop songs that blend into a single seamless expe rience. The band flirts sporadically with electronic minimalism, chopped and screwed beats, heavy bass drops and jaunty acoustic guitar, weaving these in among the Eno-esque synthesizers and keyboards that make up the heart ol the record I Come to Shanghai delivers its impressively outsized ambition and pro chops about as unassumingly as possible Ryan Martin BOMBS BOMBSBOMBS Postcards lor Madeline Independent Release BombsBombsBombs' debut LP features 12 cuts of Garden State variety indie-pop Ben Gibbard is a prominent influence, and vocal melo dies sometimes recall the interplay between the male and female co-leads in The New Pornographers The songs on Postcards are not without their hooks and charms The lyrics concern romance and romanticized everyday life presented with wit and delivered with a rushed syncopation that energizes the verses Postcards nearly reaches the effer vescent/melancholic beauty of mid- aughts indie It often seems throughout their album that BBBs have overlooked the importance of countermelodies in the best songs of their predecessors. Frequently, the piano, guitar and bass are laying out big fat chords one after the other and relying on the vocals and the occasional drum flourish to add distinction to the song This isn't always a bad approach, but a little more variety in Ihe arrangements could result in a sound with much more impact Brian Veysey MADELINE Black Velvet This Will Be Our Summer With 2009s White Flag, Madeline Adams took a big step forward with her sound, moving from a spare, bedroomy DIY sound into something fuller. But with the new Black Velvet, she and her band have been touring together for years, settling into one another with comfort and confidence. Black Velvet balances the full- band thing with plainer arrangements of just-vocals-and-guitar. at which Madelines an old pro; smartly, though, this juxtaposition makes simpler tunes like "Traveling" stand out more when nestled between the jaunty. Willie Nelson-leaning lilt of ' Please Don't Put Me Down" and the dissonant, searing electric guitar of "Red Light Bulb." Perhaps the album's strongest point, as is always the case with Madeline's releases, is her iridescent voice, which she pushes into differ ent styles and shapes throughout the record, much in the same way great singers like PJ Harvey find the right voice for the right words and music. And its not just sonically that Madeliiw continues to push forward; her lyricism retains its usual clever essence, but explores areas more abstract as well as personal, working through relation ships both crumbled and healthy Black Velvet is a hell of an album from a hell of a singer and songwriter, and one of the best new albums—local or other wise—to come along in a long time. Chris Hassiotis Madeline plays Ihe Georgia Theatre on Monday, Aug 1. BIG BAZ The Blind Side Dynamik Productions If anything, Big Baz's latest mixtape, The Blind Side, is true to form. With a style and Southern drawl smacking of Bun B and Rick Ross. Baz sticks to the tried-and-true topics of authentic Southern rap—mainly money, cars and women—over samples provided by DJ Mr Big Yet these elements alone do not a rap star make What's missing from The Blind Side is substance, a claim that rway sound slightly ridiculous given the typical superficiality of lyrics in similar "trap music." Yet listen to TI. Gucci Mane, hell, even Waka Flocka, and you'll notice that even in their mixtapes there are underlying narratives there, back stories that give their most absurd verses of self-adulation some cred ibility (or. at the very least, make a case for empathy). To be lair, developing this narrative is a process that lakes time, and there are glimmers of potential greatness in The Blind Side. For instance, "Basi Got" is a relatively graphic song about an encounter with a girl that’s, uh. sexual in nature, yet Baz is genuinely having fun with the verses, and it shows Those moments of sincerity are so much more appealing than just rehashing tired old Deep-South- gangsta cliches, which unfortunately Baz is wont to do. In “The Cypher,’ Baz even has the audacity to have an implied crowd cheer like the end of his "freestyle" verse wasn’t a recycled Lil Wayne line. Really? Baz's story is still being written. and while it could eventually culminate in hip-hop fame, it won't happen with this mixtape But he's on Ihe right track he's got the style down pat, but more importantly the attitude is there, and when it comes to establishing yourself in this genre, that's half the battle John Granofsky Most fundamentally, he's gifted with the kind of clarion and evocative vcce that's built to reach out across great distances to grip you. The album's stature is best ren dered in the simmering stomp of "The Fear." the snappy forward motion of "All the Time." the orchestral twangs of “Two Lovers" and the high, rural drama of "Ghost of Old Highways." But the greatest testament to Lovett's songwrit ing is that one of Ihe album’s least adorned songs, “Like a Moving Train," is its most moving. All Ihe years it took Highway Collection to be born were worth it. It's a remarkably finished work that has both immediate, broad appeal and the substance to last longer than just a flare. Bao Le-Huu WOODFANGS WoodfangsEP Independent Release Like a child learning to speak (or Damo Suzuki), frontman John Harry jumps from a delicate, hushed volume to a phlegm-rattling scream, chops words into their distinct syllables ("ev- rey-thang"), yelps and makes tongue trills and other noises He opens the album with a psychedelic, Wayne Coyne-like invitation: “Let's get back to the days of synergy, I want to feel your kinetic energy" As a whole, the 2011 Flagpole Athens Music Awards “Upstart of the Year" seems limber, curious and energetic, and the group does know how to move. Produced by Futurebirds Thomas Johnson, the EP features many touch stones—a surf-rock slide down the guitar, the “oomch-ah" of The Zombies “Time of the Season" and backwoods harmonies—that creep in and out of the mix under a cloak of reverb to cre ate a big. textured production Most of the tracks share Elliott Anderson's short viola strokes, Patrick Atwater's punchy bass notes and Paul Stevens' sparse percussion, but the recipe changes with the addition of a piano, organ, synth or some horns from additional performers. The only item that does not belong in this mostly Americana EP is the boisterous Eastern European punk of “Get Away," but Woodlangs EP covers a lot of territory and represents more than a promising start Alex Dimitropoulos .... L. LOVETT Highway Collection Lovers Label Aptly named, Highway Collection is a travelogue for the past decade of Ben Lovett's vagabond life. Though the songs were written all across the country, their accent, like his path, tend to wind back to his Southern roots. And besides travel, these years - have been filled with film score and studio work for the Georgia wanderer. Together, these streams form a stout river of gentlemanly and literate Southern rock that's sumptuously appointed with detailed construction and sweeping vistas. And though it swims in instrumental richness, the modern pop concision of Lovett's melodies keeps his sound agile in step. PRETTY BIRD rules Birdhouse Collection On its debut, Pretty Bird culls an enthralling sense of urgency from a bare-bones approach. Vocals layered over drums build songs that alternate from campfire-quiet to boombox-loud. With no other instrumentation to soften their assault, the drums have a cacoph onous quality. This harshness helps to form a counterpoint between the drums and the singers—as if the latter were straining to be heard over all that noise—and lends added immediacy to- the disarmingly sincere lyrics. The band's quirky approach is reminiscent of early Animal Collective, but it is ryily a passing resemblance Animal Collective's early folk work meanders; with its propulsive, driv ing rhythms, rules has more focus. Preserving an earthy sonic texture while injecting hip-hop influences, the band recalls early Beck bootlegs. Fourth track "beeeeeallllyour- rrrpotenchall" shows just how big the band can sound d e its economic .approach. Freak-folk party jam "soon the moon" has the same intensity, and with its defiantly carefree refrain, “we don't stop 'cause the sun s gonna drop." encapsulates the tension in many of the album's lyrics—ebullient, but with a sense of foreboding, carefree and anxious at once. Marshall Yarbrough CASPER & THE COOKES Ice Mattress Independent Release Casper & the Cookies have always been tough to pin down, and that's been both to the local band’s ben efit and detriment. Bandleader Jason NeSmith's interest in sounds from across disciplines keeps the band's output varied, surprising and unpre dictable, but also wildly inconsistent both internally and from album to album. So, Ice Mattress, an intriguing and frustrating (but FREE!) collection of rarities, B-sides and other sundry tunes which spans seven or eight years, perfectly fits the band. The whimsical band name steers expectations towards the twee end of the pop spectrum, but the Cookies have always run the gamut from straightahead guitar-rock to extended showtune jams and quirk- ily boundary-free pop—always with a powerful sense of melody. Ice Mattresd strongest tracks are "Jennifer's House" (with bassist Kay Stanton on lead vocals) and "Huff." both initially released on a split 7-inch with Marbles back in 2008. and neither sounding as much like a trifle as the rest of Ice Mattress tunes It's a shame that only one track off the Cookies' 2004 tour-only CD-R, The Band That Shouted Love at the Heart ol Ihe World. shows up because that release showed exactly how a band could cleverly experiment with pop without losing sight of identity or tunefulness. “This is the first in what I hope to be a series of just-for-fun albums," Nesmith writes on the band's website, that raid some of the good stuff in the vault." At least the man knows what he's putting out—good stuff, but just for fun this time around. Chris Hassiotis DANGER MOUSE AND DANIELE LUPPI Rome Parlophone In theory, Rome sounds like a revelatory meeting of the minds: a col laboration between producer extraor dinaire Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton, renowned Italian composer Daniele Luppi, and superstars Jack White and Norah Jones, in reverent tribute to the spaghetti Western soundtracks of the legendary Ennio Morricone. In practice, while it's impressive that Burton and Luppi limited themselves to vintage recording equipment ot the era and recruited many musicians from Morricone's original orchestras for the recording process, Rome is a meander ing, largely homogenous album of forgettable background music White's three tracks provide the only respite as his dusty blues vocals offer a sun- parched, world-weary "Man with No Name’ quality to the proceedings, but for each of his turns at the mic there exists a feminine counterpart courtesy of the laughably miscast Norah Jones, who apparently stepped into the Morricone-founded Forum Studios under the impression that she would be recording a '90s trip-hop album. Talking about the individual songs is pointless; they're all ponderously strummed acoustic guitar, tense string arrangements and ominous choruses of “oohs" and "aahs." The component parts are all here, but the final product is only a pale facsimile of Morricone's sound. What should have been a gunfight at the O K. Corral feels like a Mexican standoff that will never end. David Fitzgerald JULY 27, 2011-FLAGPOLE.COM 13
