Here’s a good first impression: Reed KD out of Santa Cruz, California.
Right up my alley, really. Uptempo, spirited, folksy & rootsy. The bass drum makes me think of Zeppelin’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”, and his voice sounds juuust a bit like Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses. Something about the annunciation. I dunno. I dig this one.
Hear: If the Tide Swings (mp3)
From his new album: In Case the Comet Comes
Visit: Official Site | MySpace
Sure, I could steer you toward the new Neil Young, Richard Swift, or Doves albums – all out this week – but this one’s been on steady rotation for several weeks now, and it would be silly of me not to make this my Ick’s Pick o’ the week. A few weeks ago, I announced myself blown away by this band: Pasadena’s Old Californio, and their new album, Westering Again – largely due to the mind-blowing infectiousness of the opening tune, “Mother Road”.
Well, today’s the day the album is unleashed to the masses, and I strongly recommend you visit one of the links below to pick it up. If you’d be interested in a diverse American album drawing on influences ranging from Gram Parsons and Moby Grape to the Grateful Dead and Crazy Horse, you’d be well served by hearing this album. Here’s my “Mother Road” post that goes into the band and album in more detail. And, you can still rock out to “Mother Road”…
BUY Westering Again here on iTunes or here on CD Baby.
HEAR Old Californio – Riparian High (mp3)
VISIT: Old Californio on MySpace
We all have those friends who decry the state of new music today. “All new music sucks!”, they say. Of course, some of these people think Creed was the best thing since sliced bread. Well, every time I hear these people, I now have another band to fire back with: Old Californio.
Last Friday, I opened up my snail mail to find their forthcoming CD, ‘Westering Again‘, inside. Instead of tossing it on the stack of CD’s I need to listen to, it went right into my car CD player. I don’t know exactly why. Cover art? Cool band name? Fate? How ’bout all of the above.
Less than 30 seconds into the opening track, a spiritual experience ensued. The song is “Mother Road”, and it’s easily the best tune I’ve heard all year. Rootsy, earthy, homegrown, purely American rock n roll – a perfect blend of inspiring, get-out-on-the-road lyrics, unforgettable riffs, great chord changes, and a harmonious sing-along chorus. If the Traveling Wilburys sprung back to life, this could easily lead off their third album.
“You got to get on the mother road
just like a river reflectin’ everything it’s told
You got to get on
Get your story told.”
You’ll understand after you’ve hit the repeat button 5 times and you’re singing along.
Old Californio is singer/songwriter/guitarist Rich Dembowski, Jason Chesny (bass), Levi Nuñez (keys, including some great B3), and Justin Smith (drums). The album was produced by the band along with Alfonso Rodeñas (Mark Olson, Los Tigres Del Norte), and recorded in their old chicken coop garage turned studio in Pasadena, California. There’s clearly a West Coast / southwest-y feel throughout the album. I hear shades of Dylan (”From the Mouths of Babes”), Calexico (the horns on “Riparian High”), and the Grateful Dead (during “Warmth of the Sun”, you’d swear that late 70’s-era Dead were morphing into “Not Fade Away”).
I’m an upbeat person by nature, and maybe that’s why this album connects with me so easily. Among the Californian soundscapes, the reverence for the great outdoors and the escapism, there is an undercurrent of positive energy – an “It’s good to be alive” vibe. I can get behind that.
Old Californio – Mother Road (mp3)
Westering Again will be released on April 7th. I’ll post a links to buy when available. For now, keep these guys on your radar.
Links: Old Californio’s MySpace page.
Canadian folk-rock collective The Great Outdoors have completed their ambitious project to write, record and release an EP for each season. The three preceding EP’s managed to perfectly capture the tone of each respective season and Winter introduces elements of blues and roots music to the mix to a stunning effect. “The Winter’s Touch” plaintive tenor closes the door and invites you in from the cold as Melisa Devost’s beautiful voice warms your heart. “The Garbage Man Song” rambles along and features some distinctly Tom Waits influenced moments provided courtesy of guest vocalist Nickle City Slim. “No Bells” swings with a bluesy swagger that pays off with an in your face guitar accompaniment that would otherwise seem out of place. “Edison’s Genius” picks up where the previous track leaves off with its blues-tinged delivery but in place of place of guitars is a horn arrangement that recalls Monk’s “Abide With Me”. The set wraps with “Snowdrop” a slow burn ballad. Check out “The Garbage Man Song” here and you can catch the rest of the release on the bands MySpace page.
The Great Outdoors – “The Garbage Man Song” (mp3)
There’s something about a sunny Sunday morning and the music of John Prine that just seem to go together. Hmm, a weekly Sunday post featuring a Prine tune? I’ll mull that one over.
Some of you may know of my appreciation for John’s 1991 album The Missing Years
“Lake Marie” is one that certainly crafts an interesting story, and has a chorus that sticks in your head. It tells the story of a lake on the Illinois-Wisconsin border, the makings of a marriage, and oh yeah, a double homicide: “Their faces had been horribly disfigured by some sharp object / Saw it on the news / On the TV news / In a black and white video / You know what blood looks like in a black and white video? / Shadows. Shadows! That’s exactly what it looks like“.
Some lyrics are unmistakably John Prine: “Many years later we found ourselves in Canada / Trying to save our marriage and perhaps catch a few fish / Whatever came first“.
John Prine – Lake Marie (mp3)
Links: Buy Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings
Pumping out these Ick’s Picks every week is making this year fly by. Week eight already? Can someone please tell me how we’re almost in March?? Thankfully, it is my favorite month: Cactus League baseball, a beer festival, and my anniversary. Oh wait, let me reorder, my wife reads this, you know. March is my favorite month: MY ANNIVERSARY, and yeah, that Spring Training and beer festival thingy is all right too, whatever.
That said, this week’s pick is the new album by JJ Cale. There weren’t any releases this week that had me jumping up and down in excitement, so I decided to take a listen to JJ’s new one, because he’s written some seriously solid tunes: “After Midnight”, “Cocaine”, “Call Me The Breeze”, and “Travelin’ Light”. These were the four JJ Cale songs I was familiar with due to their covers by Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Widepsread Panic, respectively. And after hearing the originals over the years, Cale’s versions were just as solid, and a tad more laid back, which suited my style.
I’ve listened to Roll On this week about five times. It’s a well produced mash-up of roots / acoustic / jazz sounds that are all pleasant to the ear. There’s nothing that absolutely blows me away, though I do have three favorites: the guitar on “Cherry Street”; the undefinable groove of “Fonda-Lina, whose namesake has “her bosoms hangin’ over the window sill / It’s a story as old as Jesus / Fonda-lina has a void to fill.”; and “Old Friend”, which faces the passing of time from the wise perspective of Cale’s 70 years: “I hear all the old folks are gone / I guess we’re the ones now / That’s the way it goes / those crowded days are behind us now.”
Clapton appears on the title track, and the legendary Jim Keltner plays the drums on some tracks, but other than that, Cale handles pretty much all the instruments by himself. It’s a solid piece of work, and probably an album that I’ll appreciate more as time goes on (like a lot of them seem to be). It would also suit me well to dip into some of Cale’s older records. There a reason he’s been covered so many times over the years.
Buy Roll On
Links: JJ Cale’s Official Site |MySpace
Here’s a stellar live version of “Call Me The Breeze”, with JJ and Mr. Clapton (sweet guitar, Eric)…
Awesome album cover.
I came to know and instantly like M. Ward when I heard “Poison Cup” (mp3) and “To Go Home”, the first 2 tracks off his 2006 album ‘Post-War’. Incredible atmosphere, and of course the unique, light sandpaper vocal of Matt Ward.
Ward’s new album, ‘Hold Time’, is another foray into the cool, lo-fi, retro sound that marks his music. There’s something about his voice – something that instills a sense of another era, an AM radio vibe.
There’s a handful of songs that have me clicking the back button:
What isn’t clicking with me is a cover of Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me”, a duet with Lucinda Williams. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Lucinda, but the combination of her and Matt’s voice doesn’t work for me. While Zooey and Matt’s voice go together like a good PB & J, Lucinda and Matt are more like peanut butter and tuna. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know. But rather than getting into the emotion of a slow and searing ballad, I think more of how their voices contrast with one another.
All in all though, a fine album. NPR is still streaming the entire record, so go give it a listen.
Buy Hold Time
Links: Official Site | MySpace
Here’s Tuesday night’s Letterman’s appearance – “Never Had Nobody Like You”
So Jenny Lewis has been doing her thing for a while now – solo, with the Watson Twins, and with her band Rilo Kiley. She’s also a former child actor who moved on to the righteous musical path.
But it took me until last week to finally discover her.
It all started when I stumbled across the video of “Rise Up With Fists”, a song from her 2006 debut solo album ‘Rabbit Fur Coat
A couple days ago, I was watching it, and looked behind me to see my kindergarten age daughter transfixed as well. She now proudly states that her three favorite artists are “Gogol Bordello, Led Zeppelin, and Jenny Lewis”. Never mind the fact she thinks Led Zeppelin is Jack Black, because “The Immigrant Song” was in ‘School of Rock’. But that’s quite a top three for a girl about to turn 5.
But back to Jenny Lewis. I love the folksy/indie/country vibe she exudes. I love her stage presence (watch her recent Letterman performance below). I love the effortlessness and clean quality of her singing voice. And face it, she’s pretty easy on the eyes too.
Here’s “Rise Up With Fists”
And here’s Jenny and her band with Elvis Costello, from last Monday’s Late Show with David Letterman. The song is “Carpetbaggers”, from her most recent album, ‘Acid Tongue
Me gusto Jenny Lewis!
Okay, yes, I am in a rather obsessive Band of Horses phase at the moment. And I feel the need to gather any embeddable BoH action and post it on my site so I can refer to it in 50 years when I’m an 88 year old geezer with a hankering to show my grandchildren one of my all time faves.
This is just over a year old, from KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic.
Gorgeous effing tune right here. I’ve listened to this song about 100 times in the last couple of weeks. I picked up A.A. Bondy’s American Hearts album in preparation for the Austin City Limits Music Festival. He was set to play at 11:30am on Sunday morning. And play he did. I guess. I didn’t make it. I was slowly coming back to life at the hotel. The previous day/night had involved many large $8 cans of Heineken at ACL, and a few Dos Equis back at Shakespeare’s Pub on 6th Street {and a block away, Band of Horses was playing their surprise benefit gig at the Parish. Ah cruel fate).
So this is a great record. A roots-blues vibe, and Bondy’s voice is one of a kind. He’s certainly influenced by Dylan (more apparent on the rest of the album). He’s also the brother-in-law of the Felice Brothers, another group sort of in the same vein.
Me, I’m a sucker for the love songs, especially when they delve into fatalistic scenarios like:
And I will hang for you
And you will hang for me
And the northern lights
Will take us in like refugees
Over our heads, over our heads
And a lovers’ waltz will turn until the end
Killer tune.
A.A. Bondy – Lovers’ Waltz (mp3)
Buy American Hearts
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