Canadian Audiophile's Reviews and News
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young
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What happens when you take the distinctive skinny-jeans-and-cigarettes vibe of The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas and dump it into a room filled with 70s synthesizers and computers? You get Phrazes of the Young, a deliciously melodic and alarmingly pleasant debut from the New York City singer/songwriter.
Casablancas’ debut is the latest of the Strokes’ side projects, with Albert Hammond Jr. releasing a pair of solo records and Fabrizio Moretti’s Little Joy popping out a self-titled record in 2008. Phrazes of the Young, however, completely diverts from the other Strokes offshoots in that it steps out of that minimalistic garage rock simplicity to capture some truly unique moments of musical revelation.
The most interesting aspect of Phrazes is how flat-out anthemic and joyful (?) it is, with mounting melodies capturing Casablancas’ ambitions with feeling. The record is a measly eight songs long, but it manages to feel immense with terrific new wave bits and a whole lot of glossy guitar glimmer packed in with that ditzy pop-and-fizz 70s synth funk.
As if to tease us regulars, Phrazes for the Young opens with a Strokes-ish roundup on “Out of the Blue.” Casablancas takes the low road vocally, allowing the music to all but drown him out as the chugging track progresses to the spectacularly beautiful chorus.
Recorded in New York, Los Angeles, and Nebraska, Phrazes really does feel like a record stretched out over the bizarreness and magnificence of the United States. It’s almost akin to a road trip record, pulling different pieces from various regions and plopping them together with lush and loose synthesizer goodness.
The incredible New Order-esque “11th Dimension” is a seriously danceable, fun, Studio 54-style track that gives Casablancas occasion to strut his stuff with lyrics like “Why I got music come outta my hands and feet and kisses, whoo.” Just try not to get completely wrapped up in the ridiculously catchy melody.
Other cuts allow Casablancas the chance to move a bit further lyrically. He is emotionally present everywhere on the record, but some pieces really do offer more than many might be used to.
Allowing the really diverse to emerge, “Ludlow St.” is a charming, moving, fucking amazing song that uses a mesh of Asian influences, country and brass to talk about the past. Casablancas moves through the moods of a piddling barroom drunk meandering through the haze of regret, putting in a turn that is half characterization and half deeply personal.
Phrazes for the Young is a remarkable showcase for Julian Casablancas, proving that he is an artist of ideas and risks. With The Strokes (apparently) ready to put out another record anytime now, it’s safe to say that they’re in good creative hands and will remain one of New York’s best bands for quite some time.
Tags: julian casablancas, phrazes for the young
Mean Creek – The Sky (or the Underground)
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Boston’s Mean Creek sits right in the middle of that meaty Boston music curve, settling somewhere in the territory inhabited by the likes of Buffalo Tom and Throwing Muses. Playing a brand of tender, accessible folk meshed with chunky, guitar-kissed rock, the quartet has shared stages with acts like Black Lips, Mew, Margot & the Nuclear So & So’s, and Black Confederate.
With their second album, the aptly-titled The Sky (or the Underground), Mean Creek gleefully explores the emotional boundaries of rock, folk and fuzzy alternative while binding together as one consistent, unique unit. Led by singers/guitarists Chris Keene and Aurore Ounjian—who originally began as a folk duo—and rounded out by ex-Tulsa members Mikey Holland and Erik Wormwood, these Bostonians are the perfect amalgamation of diverse musical tastes and talents.
Mean Creek makes great use out of dazzling male/female harmonies. Keene and Ounjian are intoxicating in their approach to each track, beautifully placing notes right where they belong and never fearing the riskier stuff.
That riskier stuff is all over The Sky (or the Underground), creating an album of consequential, immense lyricism and moving, expressive musical arrangements. The path explored by Mean Creek is not an easy one, but it is damn sure rewarding in the end and, luckily enough, the musical backdrop is simply stunning in its magnificence and reach.
Starting the record off, the title track introduces Keene as a vocalist with impeccable elocution and poise. The way he rounds off words and adds sparkle to the little segments while Ounjian fleshes out the environment with spacious, ethereal quality is amazing.
The dazzling “Light Into Dark” is a great example of how Mean Creek rocks the harmonies and the driving guitar sound to their full advantage. Its sparse, twinkling edges collide elegantly with a chunky lower end, creating a sound that is half ’90s grunge and half modern space rock. Add Ounjian and Keene’s delectable harmonies to the mix and “Light Into Dark” is a spectacular piece of work.
Other songs stretch the band’s sound out further, covering soft, personal folk (“Strange Man”) and charging roots rock (“The Patient”) without missing a beat.
Mean Creek is stacking up the accolades and attention and, with the release of The Sky (or the Underground), it’s apparent as to why. This is a band on the rise, creating fresh sounds that combine genres while forging ahead confident in their musical sense of adventure.
Tags: mean creek, the sky (or the underground)
Skeletonwitch – Breathing the Fire
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Ohio’s Skeletonwitch pushes their full-speed thrash assault on to their third record, Breathing the Fire, and largely succeeds in constructing an album that lacks pretension and feels completely natural. Some thrash bands go the course of the throwback act, choosing to excavate the best of ’80s thrash rather than bringing things to a modern context.
With Skeletonwitch, however, things are different and it shows throughout this record’s 12 tracks. The riffs are crisp, melodies are razor-sharp and the vocals are both ominous and piercing.
As the follow-up to 2007’s Beyond the Permafrost, Breathing the Fire has a hell of a legacy to live up to for fans of this quintet. Fitting in with the new brand of thrash alongside acts like Municipal Waste and Warbringer might seem intimidating, but Skeletonwitch proves that they’re more than up for it with every chunky, clean slice of bludgeoned guitar.
Right out of the gate, Breathing the Fire introduces Skeletonwitch as an act with a huge guitar sound. Guitarists Nate “N8 Feet Under” Garnette and Scott “Scunty D” Hedrick prove dangerous with matching riffs and slashes of noise. Every cut is rounded out with urgency, with Nate and Scott’s brisk playing piling on top of Evan “Loosh” Linger’s bass and Derrick “Mullet Chad” Nau’s drums.
It’s vocalist Chance Garnette, Nate’s brother, that really sets Skeletonwitch apart from the others, though. Delivering a vocal performance that seamlessly meshes dark guttural tones with a screeching, hellish pitch, Chance is every bit the fire-breathing skeleton that adorns the record’s cover.
The band drills the gas and never lets up, hauling through a remorseless salvo of songs that seize, scrape, sneer and scowl like a crazed fiend from beyond the grave.
Album opener “Submit to the Suffering” blamelessly sets the pitch, knocking out a sample of nonsensically swift riffs to match Chance’s frantic shouts and screams.
Nau’s drums hammer through the lower end of “Longing for Domination,” giving the cut a maddening sense of urgency and anguish. And “Gorge Upon My Soul” makes the best out of a killer riff by piling it on top of a nice set of tempo changes and setting fire to the whole fucking thing.
Offering a feast of bloody good thrash for the kids, Skeletonwitch’s Breathing the Fire is a lethal set of deafening aggression. While there isn’t much room to breathe on the album and not much by way of sonic diversity, there’s no questioning Skeletonwitch as a force to be reckoned with in the world of unyielding, devastating thrash metal.
The Jeff Hamilton Trio – Symbiosis
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Jeff Hamilton knows that the secret to a good jazz trio is balance. With The Jeff Hamilton Trio, that balance swings delicately and smoothly through each musical passage, allowing Hamilton’s drums, Tamir Hendelman’s piano and Christoph Luty’s bass to flow easily and freely.
On Symbiosis, the band’s debut for Capri Records, the trio delivers a lasting performance that sways with natural versatility, poise and eloquence. Making their way through up-tempo bebop, cool blues, inspiring ballads, and silky-smooth bossa nova, The Jeff Hamilton Trio impresses on nine vigorous, passionate tracks.
Hamilton has long made tracks as one of the most celebrated drummers in modern jazz. He’s worked with Oscar Peterson, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Monty Alexander and Diana Krall and has been leading his trio since the early 1990s. This current incarnation has been operating for nearly a decade, with Hendelman, Hamilton’s Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra bandmate, joining in 2000.
Symbiosis, which takes its name from a Claus Ogerman composition, is a wonderful gathering of tunes that showcases the talents of each member as they function as a unit. There’s close, true communication between each member of the trio, as no solo proves overpowering and no fill seems too rich or overcooked.
Things get underway with a rousing rendition of “You Make Me Feel So Young.” Hamilton’s brush and cymbal work really shines here, laying down a tight and controlled foundation for Hendelman’s keys before switching to the sticks for something a little more impactful to provide a killer groove underneath the piano solo.
The trio’s interplay rolls along through the slow and sensitive title track, offering bright percussion and a beautifully poignant turn from Hendelman.
The Miles Davis piece “The Serpent’s Tooth” gets done up nicely with a Luty arrangement and a whole lot of fun drum work from Hamilton. His solo is meticulous and eloquent, making the absolute most out of his kit with a flurry of landing punches.
Symbiosis showcases The Jeff Hamilton Jazz Trio at their very best. As they roll through these entertaining, warm, clever pieces of music, one gets the sense that theirs is a union that can’t be forced. There’s nothing put-on about the interplay and the style with which these musicians play. Each passage is fascinating and funky, swaying with a spirit of authenticity and raw swing.
Tags: jeff hamilton, symbiosis, the jeff hamilton trio
Russian Circles – Geneva
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With Geneva, Chicago’s Russian Circles have come through with another record that explores volume, pace and sound in unique fashion. Possessing a quality that lacks pretention and strives for pure sonic perfection, the Circles are one of the rare driving forces in post-rock that manage to keep things relatively simple while unfolding enormous, striking landscapes of composition.
Geneva is no exception. Out now on Suicide Squeeze with production by The Secret Machines’ Brandon Curtis, it is an expansive but succinct record. There is steady momentum to each of the seven tracks, with force and power and precision infused throughout. There is not one wasted movement, nor is there one inapt strum of Mike Sullivan’s guitar.
If there was something “wrong” with Geneva, it may be that the whole thing sounds a little too refined and a little too immaculate. Every drum fill from Dave Turncrantz is aggressively perfect and every urgent tapping of bass from ex-Botch bassist Brian Cook is on point.
Is there a point at which post-rock loses its humanity when played like this? Or is that the point of post-rock to begin with? The purity and deep exactness of a record like Geneva will never match the flawed glory of some of rock’s greatest records and it will never possess that ultimate quality that makes music such an emotional experience.
Even so, as the towering notes from the brilliantly-crafted “Melee” hit my ears I couldn’t deny an eventual emotional response. It’s not like the rabid fury I experience when I listen to Dylan’s “Masters of War,” nor is it like the passion and blood I hear when I listen to Waits.
But it is something, isn’t it?
Perhaps Geneva is more like gazing at a gorgeous landscape or staring at the stars. There is something instinctively perfect about our experiences with nature and something awe-inspiring in understanding how little we, as humans, have to do with how the mountains look or how the sky appears on a crisp, dark night.
And so it is that Geneva is like peering up at the stretch of the universe: ultimately inexplicable and inaccessible and yet, at the same time, extremely emotional and dreadfully stunning.
Listen, for instance, to the twinkling loop that begins “Malko” and urges it into the song’s groove. As the piece grows into its own, it is a heap of guitar, bass and drums spilling over one another to get to the surface like molten forces building a volcano. Powerful and yet elegant, “Malko” is an ideal testament to the detachment and authority created by the Russian Circles.
The use of brass instruments on “When the Mountain Comes to Muhammad” gives the trio a slightly different alignment, providing a voice to the introverted music without proving overwhelming.
Overall, Geneva is a commanding example of faceless, spotless post-rock music. It is arresting, dominant and downright fundamental in form, but it lacks the decisive humanity that makes it a truly relatable piece of art. While the Russian Circles certainly provide a marvellous experience with Geneva, as they do with every record, they still remain just out of reach on that most human of levels.
Tags: geneva, russian circles
Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine – The Audacity of Hype
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With The Guantanamo School of Medicine, Jello Biafra has formed his first new band since Dead Kennedys. While he’s certainly no stranger to collaborations, with a host of team-ups ranging from Melvins to the illustrious No WTO Combo, there’s something truly special about Biafra when he fronts his own outfit.
The Guantanamo School of Medicine is a crisp, clever group to be sure. Featuring Ralph Spight on guitar, Billy Gould on bass, Jon Weiss on drums, and Kimo Ball on guitar, the band does well to capture the energy of the aforementioned Kennedys and adds a touch of insanity a la The Stooges for good measure. Theirs is a throwback vibe, complete with hazardous swinging mic stands and drooling Detroit-esque proto-punk.
Vocally, Jello Biafra can be a bit of an acquired taste. While the 20 or so years since the disbanding of Dead Kennedys has kept the guy busy with all sorts of spoken word offerings and political dabbling, he’s still every bit the stutter-stepping frontman he was back in the day. Biafra’s vocals come like proclamations: half side-splitting exaggerations and half faltering fuckups.
The Audacity of Hype, the band’s debut, is a chaotic, lively record that really kicks ass musically.
Lyrically, Biafra attempts to tie some of his raw, angry Bush-era sentiments in to the new Age of Obama. The title of the record is clearly a take-off of Obamamania, while many of the songs suggest that little has changed in the configuration of the U.S. government. Biafra’s belief in protest from the people rather than glitz from the top shelf is a motivating subject throughout The Audacity of Hype.
“The Terror of Tiny Town” kicks off the record with a scorching stabbing on All Things Bush. “Texas oil’s favorite clown, never far from his feed bag of pretzels frosted with cocaine,” Biafra spits over a driving lick. He salvages it from a lame Bush-era throwback by keeping things current with a modernized stanza: “So what now? He ain’t gone ‘til they’re all brought to justice for war crimes.”
Other cuts pound with similar energy and barely contain The Guantanamo School of Medicine’s frenzied presence.
“Panic Land” is a swift, stunning rocker fuelled by the Ball and Spight’s outstanding guitar. “You can’t fly if your name is Mohammed or Ali,” Biafra shouts with traditional punk swagger. And “I Won’t Give Up” finds that Biafra isn’t buying the political differences between parties. “Ain’t left or right, or donkeys or elephants. It’s the top against the bottom; that is real,” he says.
With The Audacity of Hype, Jello Biafra and the marvellous Guantanamo School of Medicine transfers Bush Administration fury to the Obama age without spilling a drop. Biafra is every bit as wary of the government and corporate America as ever and these songs prove it. The band is tight and skilled, too, which greatly helps Biafra’s undertaking to mesmerize and madden listeners around the world.
Tags: jello biara, the audacity of hype, the guantanamo school of medicine
Rihanna = Daaaaamn!
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Soooooo Rihanna’s got new music and it’s a single called “Russian Roulette” off of her upcoming new record called Rated R.
I for one am totally jacked about this, as I think Rihanna is one of the best American pop stars currently working today. Next to Lady Gaga, who I also absolutely adore, Rihanna has the ability to keep it fresh and use her songs to reach new heights in music. She’s not the best singer out there, but she knows how to use her strengths and weaknesses to put out some damn catchy music.
As you can see from the above picture, taken from the cover of the “Russian Roulette” single, Rihanna is back and sporting a bit of an edge. Yep, that’s barbed wire across her boobies. The song itself, co-written by Ne-Yo, is a nice bit of dark, moody music that isn’t overproduced to hell.
The music video for “Russian Roulette” is set for a November 6, 2009 premiere on ABC and damn near everywhere else shortly after that.
For now, you can check out the track on YouTube sans video (duh).
Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar – Devla: Blown Away to Dancefloor Heaven
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In my quest to expand my musical mind to the breaking point, I head to some interesting places. The latest excursion led me, almost accidentally, to the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar and their brand of exciting, rapid Balkan brass music.
Boban Markovic is somewhat of a legend in the world of Balkan brass, often recognized as one of the top trumpet players to ever emerge from Serbia. His Boban Markovic Orkestar, based out of Southern Serbia, has been collecting accolades and awards for over 17 years.
Boban’s son, Marko Markovic, joined the Orkestar at the ripe age of 14 and was following in his father’s footsteps with amazing trumpet chops all his own. The Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar soon began to use the youth of Marko with the skill and flexibility of Boban to turn Balkan brass music on its head.
Devla: Blown Away to Dancefloor Heaven finds the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar playing aggressive, enchanting gypsy brass music with notes of hip hop, flamenco and dance hall grooves tossed in for good measure. The record, out in November on Piranha Musik, rips through exhausting melodies, rapid rhythms and a square mile of talent that will have listeners tapping their feet with all the vigour and flavour of a Serbian BBQ joint.
I was taken by the aggression of the playing, which really starts to dig its heels in with “Udri Mile.” Featuring vocalist Rade Krstic performing out of a decades-long retirement, the opening cut is dynamic, enthralling, and fun.
Ljubiša Stojanovic lends his remarkable vocals to “Kum Boemcina,” delivering a passionate performance over the jazzy track.
A smooth, groovy beat pulses through the title track and allows both Boban and Marko to show off a little. The cut is cool and the smouldering funk and trumpet accents help drive it further into the night. “Devla” would feel at home in anywhere drinks are flowing.
Devla showcases the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar’s drive, passion and skill with a salvo of fast, enjoyable songs worth repeating. There’s a staggering amount of energy on display here, from the rolling notes of Boban’s trumpet to the youthful exuberance of Marko’s genre-bending performing. For something truly different and breathlessly fun, check out the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar.
Converge – Axe to Fall
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The throat-shredding, eardrum-bursting aggression of Massachusetts’ Converge becomes an expansive, punishing, fearless assault on their eighth studio album Axe to Fall.
That isn’t to say that the destructive, chaotic extreme hardcore punk of Jane Doe or No Heroes was short of the mark, of course, but the band’s 2009 record reaches new heights that prove that they’re about so much more than just cranking amps and shattering fucking faces.
The magnificence of Converge’s exploration of fury and anger has always been found in the thread of spitting, panting insanity simmering on the surface. Whether through Jacob Bannon’s taxing, almost silly vocals or Ben Koller’s gruelling drumming, the Salem quartet has always delivered on the promise of face-breaking hardcore music that tests the boundaries and stamina of the listener.
Axe to Fall presents a different side, however. While the metal is just as gruesome and the punk is just as reckless, there’s a fine line of beauty to be found with this record.
Before any of you go running for the exits thinking one of the world’s greatest hardcore punk/extreme metal bands has gone all squashy and experimental, know that there’s really something wonderful about a band sure enough in their heaviness and pandemonium to know that really pushing the fucking boundaries of good sense requires a more even-handed, focused plan of attack.
It also doesn’t hurt to have a little help from your friends and Converge brings out some truly great musicians on Axe to Fall. With Neurosis’ Steve Von Till (!), Genghis Tron’s Mookie Singerman and Hamilton Jordan, Cave In’s Steve Brodsky and Adam McGrath, and ex-Hatebreed guitarist Sean Martin lending their services, the record feels significant and weighty.
At the core of it all, Bannon, Koller, guitarist Kurt Ballou, and bassist Nate Newton keep things clicking at a harsh pace.
The band’s unhinged hostility infuses the record’s first four cuts with rage, with Ballou’s absolutely wild riff swiftly tearing through “Dark Horse” and Bannon’s vocals chewing through the static and fuzz of “Effigy” like flames through a cardboard cut-out of Donny Osmond.
It’s the fifth track that really starts to turn things in a different direction, though. “Worms Will Feed” opens with ill-omened guitar and a slow pace that will push the low end of your stereo system to its limits.
“Damages” continues the sluggish, sludgy, tempo-shifting trend by showcasing a different side of Converge. Ballou’s work here is astounding, but it’s Koller who really steals the show with a pile of clattering, severe fills taken from the gates of Hell itself. The song is a monster, setting the table nicely for the rest of the record.
Neurosis’ Von Till, one of metal’s best modern vocalists, delivers on “Cruel Bloom.” His dog-eared tone is matched by a backing vocal choir, a sure peculiarity on a Converge record, and it all somehow fucking works like a charm. It’s poignant, petrifying and beautiful all at once.
Axe to Fall, produced by Ballou, is truly something special. Converge has elected growth over rote, choosing to create an album of challenging depth and horrifying beauty that still respects and builds on the balls-to-the-wall ferocity of the band’s previous work.
Mark Buselli – An Old Soul
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I first encountered Mark Buselli listening to the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra’s Where or When at the start of this year. I was taken by the crispness and fullness of their sound, so when a copy of Buselli’s An Old Soul came across my crowded desk I was excited to hear what the trumpeter and arranger was up to this time out.
Playing a program of 11 songs, An Old Soul finds Buselli taking the reigns for his first full album of his own arrangements. This is essentially a solo record, although trombonist Brent Wallarab and other members of the duo’s ensemble do take part. Also along for the fun and games is vocalist Kelleen Strutz. Just as Everett Green added spice to Where or When, Strutz amps things up on this recording.
Buselli, who began playing trumpet when he was eight, really works the melodies on this album, vigorously punching the voices of his soloists to the fore while still preserving the instinctive energies of the compositions’ themes.
An Old Soul opens with Buselli’s reimagining of “My Shining Hour.” Fans of old movies might recognize the song from the Fred Astaire film of the same name. Buselli’s arrangement works well to build to the pinnacle, utilizing inspiration from Bill Stapleton’s writing for Woody Herman.
“135 B. Chiswick,” a Buselli original, swings with the composer’s flugelhorn and a little bit of jazzy funk from bassist Jack Helsley.
Another composition written by Buselli, “An Old Soul,” is actually a tribute to the artist’s late golden retriever. An emotional, haunting piece of music, the piece is accented marvelously by pianist Luke Gillespie’s soft playing and Rob Dixon’s tenor.
Strutz’s vocals are a welcome addition, too, and never overwhelm the other players or Buselli’s arrangements. She shines on Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “If You Never Come Back to Me,” singing in both Portuguese and English over Sandy Williams’ acoustic guitar and a superb 13-piece string section. Strutz’s beautiful tones are divine on “If I Fall In Love” as well, showcasing her subtle range on Matt Dennis’ hit.
An Old Soul is a great piece of work from Buselli. He excels at the little things here, favoring deep and simple arrangements over gaudy pieces and allowing every voice in the ensemble to mingle impeccably together. There is no jockeying for position and no artificial soloing. Buselli knows how to make everything fit as it should and that makes for a hell of a jazz record.
Tags: an old soul, buselli-wallarab jazz orchestra, mark buselli
