Review - Headmint - Music for Corporations Volume 1

Volume 2 never saw the light of day. Another one that is begging for a listen.

* * * * * You say you're looking for some new music? Something that incorporates dance house, classical, rock, and sixties film music? That's a pretty tall order, except that the brothers drab have just released Headmint: Music For Corporations Volume 1. Consisting of Lindsay Jamieson of Departure Lounge and John Painter, one half of the amazing duo Fleming & John, the brothers drab play nearly every instrument on the disc, and between the two of them, they can play nearly every instrument in western music, plus a few outside western familiarity.

The album opens with "Le monde au balcon", a 3/4 piece played on accordion that is at once melancholic and nostalgic. But this bit of eerie carnival music is short and leaves the listener wanting more. "Paris" soon follows with it's swanky horns and sixties cinema vocals of "lah de dah de dah." If you're into lyrics, pass this one up because all of the tracks except one are instrumentals, not that there's anything wrong with that! Weaving a tapestry of a mysterious Arabian night, "Madagascar" adds a hip swing feel to a lilting violin and analog synth melody. "Number 6" takes a simple piano melody and backs it with pizzicato and glissando violin parts, slowly developing each as the melody mingles with each instrument. The effect is absolutely mesmerizing and definitely keeps your attention for the full seven minutes. Other tracks include Hawaiian guitar, the Theramin, electric drums, and eastern instruments. The title track includes some brief lyrics, sung by the astounding vocal cords of Fleming McWilliams (the other half of Fleming & John) and a great whistling ditty that evokes images of an easy summer stroll through the park. The final track, "Viennese Water Torture" picks up the haunting melody presented in the opening piece, although this time on a slightly detuned piano. Gruff violins are soon added to the mix, as are floating background vocals that give the piece a very Danny Elfman/Edward Scissorhands feel before ending quietly with the rhythm again played by solo accordion. Despite the name, the music is free from corporate intervention and as such, is only available as an independent release at www.flemingandjohn.com.

This review first appeared in WhatzUp, October 2000.

Review - Fleming & John - The Way We Are

This one still rocks my socks off. Buy it... NOW! Enjoy it for life. Too bad this duo hasn't released anything since, instead focusing on having and raising children. I understand. At least John is still active, doing mostly instrumental music for movies like Hoodwinked.

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Maybe once a year, I hear an album that gives me literal goose bumps. This one gave me goose bumps on my goose bumps. The second release by husband and wife writing team, The Way We Are retains the imaginative pop styling of their first album but with a more mature approach to lyrics and composition. Fleming, the wife, sings, writes the lyrics and creates the melodies which are unbalanced, full of unexpected twists, yet natural and horribly catchy. Husband John creates rich tapestries of sound around these melodies, writing the music, making string arrangements, and playing an astounding number of instruments (aside from drums and orchestral strings, he plays every instrument on the album including such non-conventionals as flugelhorn, balalaika, vibes, flute, oud, saz, dilruba, spacephone, accordion, dulcimer, and the creepy theremin).

Like the music of The Police, their sound is immediately catchy with just enough pop to have wide appeal but with enough musical meat backing this pop to appeal to the die-hard musician. Ben Folds, perhaps their biggest fan, calls their sound "the Carpenters of the 90's with a Led Zeppelin rhythm section". "I'm So Small" opens quietly but with enormous tension that soon floods into a full-out punk-flavored assault of guitars, Indian-flavored orchestral strings and Fleming's voice that can effortlessly glide from a sweet little girl to a screeching banshee. "Sssh!", with it's Alanis Morissette feel and theme of falling for a best friend, is driven along by timpani and spent more than one day in my head. Singing about their marriage, "Comfortable" hits home with anyone who has gone past the infatuation stage in a relationship with it's laid back, Carpenterish sound. The title song finds Fleming wondering if she and John will grow apart or stay "the way we are" against a jazz-influence slide upright bass part that morphs into an aggressive chorus of complex, interwoven vocal lines. "Radiate" can only be described as "The Go-Go's Meet Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass". In "Ugly Girl" Fleming sings "I can't believe you're leaving me for an ugly girl" while John plinks away merrily on the xylophone. Other songs verge on disco, mix R&B with tango, swing with grunge, and dirty blues with Siouxie and the Banshees. In the hands of lesser artists, this juxtaposition of styles would be a sonic mess. With these masters of songwriting, however, the result is absolute perfection.

This article first appeared in WhatzUp, April 1999.