Classic Album Review - Steve Taylor - I Predict 1990

I Predict 1990 was one of the first Christian albums I owned, definitely one of the first ten. God’s hand was most certainly a part of this. The music was quirky, intelligent, varied, humorous and just plain good. This album soaked into my thirsty brain, probably causing irreparable damage and if that Steve Taylor had any money I’d sue the pants off him. But instead I’ll give it another listen. Or watch. The album came with a video album with a video for almost every song. He ran out of money before he ran out of songs. I should dig out that VHS tape and … wait… it’s probably all on YouTube!

Anyway, the album starts with “I Blew up the Clinic Real Good”, a saxophone-packed rocker about an ice cream truck driver that blows up abortion clinics so that we won’t run out of “youngsters” so he won’t be out of a job. During the late 80s there were some big fights about abortion in evangelical Christianity and this song hit hard. Now the sub-culture has, for the most part, come to terms with this atrocity, this plank-eye unfortunately included. “What Is The Measure of Your Success?” is another hard hitter, a kind of whispy rocker with an amazing bass line and 80s synth tones. Speaking of synthesizers, while present on the album this is definitely a guitar rock album with touches of keyboards, unlike Taylor’s earlier albums which were much more synth-heavy. “Since I Gave Up Hope I Feel A Lot Better” was one of my favorites. It’s got a great bass line, a kind of frantic, tumbling feel, steel drums (probably fake) and a crazy fiddle going completely insane. The lyrics hit home because I was just heading off into the belly of the beast: a secular university. The video was of Taylor walking around with multiple cameras on sticks strapped to himself so that he was captured by a dozen angles. These were all smashed together somehow. See for yourself! Okay, so maybe there were only four cameras but in the late 80s it seemed like a dozen.

After three scorchers they show things down with “Babylon.” This one was never a favorite but it’s got plenty of 80s atmosphere and some gosh darned good lyrics. “Jim Morrison’s Grave” is another killer track, taking a critical view of our hero worship with lyrics of “I get weary, Lord I don't understand / How a seed get strangled in the heart of a man / While the music covers like an evening mist / Like a watch still ticking on a dead man's wrist / Tick away.” “Svengali” features another nervous rhythm, saxophones, and quite a bit of that late 80s vibe. Don’t get me wrong, it still sounds good, though. “Jung and the Restless” was just okay with a funny spoken word bit in the middle and subdued electric guitars elsewhere. “Innocence Lost” had more sax (oh yeah… the era!) and a spacious, slightly creepy while “A Principled Man” merges in Celtic influences, urging, challenging and encouraging the listener to stand up for your beliefs. The final track, “Harder To Believe Than Not To,” is one of the best. Opening with operatic vocals singing a line by Rachmaninoff (who the liner notes credit to something like “I’d dead so I can sue you”, even though by the time his widow would probably have had recourse) this fragile song of shimmering strings and flutes is completely unlike anything else on the album. It’s pretty much unlike any other song I’ve heard, chamber music of a sort, I suppose. This song was a great encouragement to my early years, warning against those who “tossed away the cloak that [they] should have mended.” I Predict 1990 is an album that is greater than the sum of its parts, arriving in my life with exactly what I needed at exactly the right time. Thanks, Steve!

Review - Skeleton Key - Gravity Is The Enemy

Months later this album still satisfies. It's wonky, weird and melodic as all getout! If you love bass-driven songs then weep a silent tear for your stolen youth and then get this album.

Skeleton Key has had a long and unusually colorful, though not exactly prolific, history. Their first full-length album, Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon, was nominated for a Grammy in 1997. Two more albums over the next five years did well but eventually all the members but bassist/songwriter Erik Sanko either left the band or died of dysentery. Sanko then joined a commune of yeti and only returned to civilization in 2011 when he learned that he could use Kickstarter to raise the funds for Gravity Is The Enemy, the first Skeleton Key album in a decade.

Just in time for the apocalypse, the album sounds like the end of the world. The world may have changed while Sanko was serving as head yeti groomer the sound of Skeleton Key has not. While in most bands this would be seen as a stagnating refusal to grow, in this case the sound of the band is so distinctive that any major change would betray their roots. Described by infantile rock critics as a “junk rock” band, it can be confirmed that the band does indeed have a regular drum kit drummer and an additional fellow who bangs away on a “junk kit” which consists of trash cans, propane tanks, boxes of 8” pie pans, tubs of discarded Atari 2600 E.T. cartridges, or whatever else strikes their fancy. Surprisingly it’s not as messily noisy as one might think but instead lends a nice, loose variety to the rhythm section.

As the bassist is the lead songwriter the songs themselves are heavily anchored in melodic bass lines. The title track is typical of their style, opening with richly textured bass that stays prominent throughout, leading to a playful tumble of a verse punctuated by crashes and distorted guitars that add hard-hitting harmonic accents to the organized chaos. Add to this Sanko’s idiosyncratically crusty vocals and you have a sound that few bands could match. While the entire album is packed with some of the best music I’ve heard in a long time, far and away the best, catchiest song is “The Mowing Devil.” Prominently comprised of a piano playing a plunky low-end riff and a male chorus singing a kind of sea-chanty this song could easily be a lost Tom Waits classic or a new genre in modern classical music.

Skeleton Key is not for everyone as their style lists heavily to the adventurous side. They have toured with Primus, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, They Might Be Giants, Morphine and The Jesus Lizard and oddly, their sound successfully contains bits of each of these. Besides, how many albums besides Gravity Is The Enemy can be said to have been written in the Himalayas with yeti?

Review - The Jelly Jam - Shall We Descend

Since my MP3 player crashed (a SansaClip, thank you for asking) and I bought my new one (a Sony which is merely okay) I haven't listened to this album much. Which is a shame. I'll have to load it pronto onto the new MP3 player 'cause this is good stuff! In other news, I know it's probably not what he was thinking but I can't help but think about Ron Paul during the choruses of "Who's Coming Now?"

It’s been over seven years since The Jelly Jam’s last release and I am excited, and relieved, to proclaim that with Shall We Descend they still have that intangible “it” that everyone seeks to have. Who’s this Jelly Jam, you ask? The Jam is comprised of Ty Tabor, guitarist for King’s X, Rod Morgenstein, drummer for The Dixie Dregs, and John Myung of Dream Theatre. Such a lineup would make one fear the worst… a technical wank-fest that requires a PhD from Berkeley to appreciate. However as on their past albums together the boys take the opportunity to step back from their more progressive bands to create shorter, less complicated, more instantly enjoyable songs. This isn’t to say that they aren’t able to pull out the killer riff or the jaw-dropping drum fill or the occasional twisty-meter passage when the song requires but that’s the point: the song is first and foremost with this band. In fact, like Led Zeppelin you may have jammed out multiple times to a song before you realize that they’re doing something musically interesting under the hood.

A prime example is their first single, “Who’s Comin’ Now.” This song is a masterpiece of restraint, cruelly giving you just a taste of itself and then pulling back, slowly unfolding until you find yourself straining for the band to stop messing around and to pull out the stops, which they do in an overblown bridge that builds to a final, powerful, complete version of the chorus. Only after you catch your breath will you realize that the song is in 3/4 time. In “Stay Together” Tabor emotionally pleads his case with more pathos than he’s allowed expression in years while a powerful rhythm section provide emphasis to the catchy melody. “Halos in Hell” is built around a finger picked bass melody, starting quietly but wasting no time delivering the goods with bold chunky guitar stabs and changing dynamics, naturally taking the song through a series of changes, ending with an all-too-brief guitar solo.

“Same Way Down” is meaty melodic sugar with layered vocal harmonies and clean guitars supporting Tabor’s confessional lyrics. Since I brought up lyrics, may I point out that Tabor has grown tremendously in this area? While known primarily as a guitarist many of the lyrics on this album are downright poetic, weaving complex ideas into their lines that would take up way too much space in this review to fully unravel. Aside completed. “Barometric Reign” is a smoldering ballad that is punctuated but some passages where the string players kick things up a couple of notches while the drummer goes absolutely gonzo. “Questions” is a quiet song built around acoustic guitar, providing a brief cleansing of your palate before the final two heavy hitters that close the album. As on their first album there are two instrumental tracks. “March of the Trolls” is mostly connective mood music but “Ten” is an eight minute slow simmering jam that leaves no doubt that every member of the band can play at eleven when the need arises.

Shall We Descend is a dream combination of deft musicianship and rock-solid songwriting, fitting in quite nicely with their first two albums. I can give no heartier recommendation than this: Despite the passage of seven years I still return to the trough and listen to both of their earlier albums. If that doesn’t make these classics I don’t know what does.

Review - Brandi Carlile - Bear Creek

Brandi Carlile is the female Johnny Cash. There. I’ve put my outlandish claim out into the world and I intend to stand by it. Not only does Brandi easily cloak country, folk and rock in pop sensibilities but at times her gritty, world-weary voice also kinda sounds like him, though not in a poser, imitative fashion.

On Bear Creek, her fourth album, she builds on her past success, stretching a bit as one would expect from any creative artist. For instance the opening track, the foot stomping “Hard Way Home,” features steel drums and vocal harmonies that evoke the lonely sound of a train whistle. “100” has a quirky yet subdued 80s new wave feel, albeit without synthesizers, and “I’ll Still Be There” reaches into early 50s rock for inspiration. And then, well, that’s about it for something new. Carlile sticks pretty much to what has worked so well for her in the past, working with the same band mates and themes to create a flurry of songs heavy on melody and crammed with cathartic passion. And for the most part, it still works.

For the most part. The problem is that Brandi is a victim of her own success. Her past albums each have a song or two that are absolutely gorgeous, perfect in their writing and packed with more emotion than a black hole has matter. They’re the kind of songs that make you want to pick up a guitar and sing along, confident that her talent is overflowing enough to make up for your own shortcomings. On this album there are no such timeless classics. The thirteen songs are by and large extremely strong and well worth your time but they are not transcendent. It’s a mere 9 jn the wake of two 10s so I’m not exactly complaining. I mean, after being disappointed a couple of times so far in 2012 by long-cherished bands I’m glad to be served some hearty ear food. Vittles like the rocking “Raise Hell” or the gentle piano and cello-based “Heart’s Content” or maybe even the invigorating “Rise Again” which culminates in a sizzling guitar solo, songs that stir the heart and sooth the soul. Lyrically she’s true to her past, being encouraging and uplifting without becoming cheesy. Apparently she had a pretty crappy, lonely childhood and her lyrics are comforting beacons of hope in this dark world. Highlights include “Keep Your Heart Young” (possibly the best song on the album) and the gossamer “Save Part of Yourself.”

Bear Creek is a worthy companion to Brandi Carlile’s earlier albums though at times it seems like she’s holding back just a bit. I blame the producer. But like hearing Clapton play on an off day is still hearing Clapton, a near miss by Carlile is a fine album indeed. Just make sure that when you purchase Bear Creek you also pick up The Story and Give Up The Ghost … you’ll hear how one day this artist will have earned the right to stand with legends.

Review - fun. - Some Nights

Two years ago fun. put out their debut album, Aim & Ignite, and it quickly shot to the top of my personal playlist where it has remained since, helping me make it through the infamous Music Drought of 2011. Now the boys are back, fighting hard to beat the sophomore jinx. The problem is that their first album was a glorious once-in-a-lifetime catharsis, a kind of modern Pet Sounds built around quasi-spiritual themes of personal regeneration wherein they invited the listener along on the journey. On Some Nights they revisit these themes, expanding their already broad array of sounds to make an even bigger rock orchestra. If these three gentlemen were not as impressive talented songwriters as they are such overblown production could easily explode and overshadow the meat of the music.

As on their previous album there is a kind of introductory song, in this case the song is actually titled “Some Nights Intro,” opening in a whisper of self confession before venturing into a slew of sonic effects and ending with a dramatic symphonic sweep. The title song hits you with a wall of vocals that would please Queen before jumping into an energetic African revival beat. This mirrors the first album in song layout, which is a curious choice but not in itself a bad thing. “Some Nights” is the first of too many songs that seem to be a kind of crowd sing along, like they anticipate fans singing along at live shows and recorded the future. “We Are Young” is a peppy song about bar hopping that quickly switches to a plodding synthy sing-along song where it spends the majority of its duration. The band picks up the ball in “Carry On”, telling about a night in a bar with old friends along with wisdom such as “If you’re lost and alone / Or you’re sinking like a stone / Carry on.” A sizzling guitar solo leads into the group-sing portion as violins and an accordion give the song a Celtic bar song feel. However in “It Gets Better” the band pulls out the stops, starting with a stuttering drum and vocoder vocals before slamming into a thick bass-drum beat that whips you around the frantic melody.

Whereas some bands like to build a song from a slow simmer to a big crescendo fun. tends to cram as many different parts into a four minute song as possible (see “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” by Wings as an influence.) In the amazing “Why Am I The One” there is a verse melody, played in three starkly different variations, a big chorus (with the revelatory lyrics of “For once I get the feeling that I’m right where I belong”) , and two completely different bridges. Classify this music as “pop” if you want but its sophisticated pop that goes down easy but is full of complex nuances. “All Alone” is about falling in love with a wind-up souvenir, a breezy, quirky song full of toy pianos, some very tasty guitar tones, a dad-blurned catchy chorus and half of a marching band. “All Alright” is another sing-along while “One Foot” beats the same horn-driven measure ad nauseum, which is extremely inexplicable for a band who normally keeps things varied. At best these two songs are boring and are easily skipped over to get to “Stars,” the final non-bonus song. Nearly seven minutes in length “Stars” is a summation of the album, looking back on his past and reveling in his present, zooming along with horns and crazy guitars for two minutes before settling into a loungy riff set to strings. Here the vocals are processed through a vocoder, auto-tune, and a few other effects, growing more and more bizarre as the song nears its end.

It’s no mistake that fun. teamed up to record a song with Panic at the Disco last year. They are from the same planet musically though they speak slightly different dialects. However Panic’s sophomore album was a huge creative leap forward while fun. takes a small step back and to the side. Some Nights is a very good album and some of the songs even approach greatness, but it’s missing the magic pixie dust of their debut.

Postscript: Since I wrote this I've found that I'm not listening to it much. It's just kind of bland. I'd give it a 7 out of 10. My eleven year old daughter loves LOVES LOVES the single, a song which I find to be simplistically beneath their abilities. But hey, if they want to follow the dollar it's their life.

Review - Phil Solem - Hodgepodge

Has it been THAT LONG since I added music reviews? Time to catch up!

One of the reasons a fella starts writing album reviews, aside from mental dysfunction, is because he’s found an amazing album and wants to share this discovery. In the case of Phil Solem’s Hodgepodge, I’ve had to sit on this self-produced and recorded treasure for eighteen months, at one point even being driven to contact the artist to see if there was anything I could do to help him give these incredible songs an official release. Mr. Solem was extremely accommodating and receptive but life happened to one or both of us and the next thing I know it’s 2011.

However that’s all in the past. What’s “now” is that you can download and immerse yourself in twelve astounding songs by half of the power-pop duo The Rembrandts. Much like Lennon was the cynical side to McCartney’s saccharine, Solem is the darker, heavier, humorous wink to Danny Wilde’s romantic pop sheen. As a result, the songs are undeniably romantic but well traveled and worn, a mature expression of someone who’s had the world in his hand only to decide that musical integrity was more important than robotically regurgitating a hit jingle at shopping malls across America.

As if to sum up the album before he begins, Solem starts things off with “Back@TheBeginningAgain”, a mid-tempo rocker with brilliant shafts of pop and sage lyrics of “When you get to the end / You’re right back at the beginning again.” The fuzzy “Out The Window” continues the theme of self-discovery in an analogy of a building with mirrored windows that was erected too close to his own so that now where there used to be sky there is only “a reflection of myself” whenever he looks out. Grungy bass and solid drumming encourage you to “just enjoy the ride” of life in the power-pop masterpiece “Questions Without Answers,” a song so invigorating it’s like hanging onto a motorcycle at full throttle, sans helmet of course. Likewise the quirky, careening “Shining in the Sun” loads on the breezy atmosphere of surfing on a California beach with not a cloud in the sky.

For every rock song Solem also includes a love song, or in many cases an unrequited love song. “Naïve” is almost a crooner with anguished lyrics of “My mind’s ached ever since I’ve been away / Imagining the perfect thing to say to you” and “Take me back and I’ll make you believe / That I only mean the best / I’m so naïve” over simple guitar and hand percussion. Evoking a jazzy feel from the thirties “Just Because” exudes a playful feel right down to a tasteful and tasty guitar solo. A personal favorite is “I’m Your Man, Baby” where Phil opines “If you’re lucky you’ll find / Someone else of your kind” over a jaunty rhythm and just the right amount of piano, organ and vocal harmonies destined to tug a smile to your face and a tap from your foot.

Phil Solem is at the top of his game with Hodgepodge. He has few peers when it comes to crafting a solid song full of melodic hooks. There’s not a dull song in the bunch, each one polished to perfection with lyrics that capture a mood in just a few words. While he handles all the instruments on the album with apparent ease he is foremost a rock guitarist and his immaculate skill and love of tone shine through on every track. And then there’s the crystal clear production and tasteful song arrangements and… what are you waiting for? If you love intelligent rock music click over to philsolem.bandcamp.com and treat yourself to a dozen sonic gems.

How to Make Fruit Wine... or Hooch

If you are from my church, please note that someone hacked my blog and ghost-wrote this post.

I used to love baking. But since my family is now gluten and sugar free I haven't done much in the kitchen. So Last year, in need of yet another hobby, I started spending time with Mr. Beer. Since I don't do anything by the books I didn't pony up the cash to get the cheap Mr. Beer plastic bottling kegs with "vented" lid. Instead I used a four gallon food-grade bucket and drilled a hole that would accept both an air-lock and a tap. Then, at the advise of a hard core beer maker, I purchased real yeast from the local wine making store instead of using the cheap junk they include with the wort (that's the can of goo that magically turns into beer). In about three months I have sixteen bottles of pretty descent beer! Yep, three months of waiting for sixteen bottles... I'M A RAGING ALCOHOLIC!!!!

But I ain't a-talkin' about Mr. Beer except to say that it was a gateway drug into harder things. Like homemade wine.

A couple of years ago I tried to make strawberry wine by following a recipe where you smash the fruit and let it sit uncovered for a bit and then blah blah blah and then a year later you uncork the bottle to find that you have "effective", but not especially delicious, wine. Too much work and too much time!

So now I'm trying a new method:

I take a 48 oz bottle of 100% juice (Juicy Juice or Aldi) or reconstitute a container of frozen juice and dissolve 1.5 cups of sugar into the juice. The big thing here it to make sure there aren't any preservatives 'cause that'll kill the yeasties. I pour this mess into a clean, sterilized 2-liter. I suggest using Sprite or some fruit flavored 2-liter just in case any flavors leech in from the plastic. Then I take some wine yeast and sprinkle a bit into about 1/4 cup of warm water (just like baking) and let it wake up the yeast for five minutes. Then this goes into the 2-liter. On goes the cap and I give it a really good shake to infuse oxygen into the juice. Take off the cap and put in an airlock. It cost me $2.50, with tax, for an airlock and a bung... size #3, I think. Some recipes say to use balloons or latex birth control devices I won't type for fear of invoking the wrong kind of ads but some people say it adds an off taste. Plus the whole she-bang costs a mere $2.50! How cheap are you??!?!

Then you wait. You can watch the airlock bubble if you really need to pass the time. For these two I used fancy blueberry and pomegranite juice in 32 oz jars so the 2-liter isn't as full as it normally is. Also I used less sugar. You can buy a hygrometer but since I'm working in such small batches it would be waste. Instead I'm taking how many sugars and carbs are in the juice and tinkering the amount of sugar I add.

After the airlock stops bubbling, between 2 and 4 weeks, I pour the stuff into sterilized bottles. I'm fortunate enough to have some grolsch bottles from when we made kiefer. But that's another blog post. You could use empty wine bottles and reuse corks if you want. One container of juice makes about two bottles of wine.

Then you wait some more. I suppose you could drink it right away but the waiting seems to soften the flavors. Kind of like having a soup the next day where the flavors have had time to mingle.

Then you drink, er, sample! My first batch turned out to be extremely carbonated (enlarge the image to see the tiny bubbles), almost like champagne! My wifey said it tasted yeasty so perhaps I have more tinkering to do. Either I left it in too long or not long enough for the yeast to do their work. Not as good as store wine but worlds better than the infamous strawberry wine. The nice thing is that I could really taste the juice so that now the world is my oyster! If I sees me some tasty apple-raspberry-kiwi juice at the store in about two months I can have apple-raspberry-wiki wine. Not to mention that cider will be available soon!

As for cost, juice runs from $1.50 to $3.00, unless you go in for organic stuff. The airlock was $2.50 and the yeast was about $3, which makes between six and ten batches depending on if you sprinkle it or use a scale to measure out exactly 1/10 of an envelope for each batch. So the first batch costs $4.25 per bottle and the next 5-9 batches cost a whopping $0.75 to $1.50 each. Plus you don't have sulfates, which they add merely to make the wine clear and to prop up the sulfate industry.

Speaking of clear, I've bottled three batches so far. Two of the three cleared up in the bottle within weeks but the second, the one made from frozen concentrate, took over a month for to clear and all the itty bitty yeast sediments to float down.

And speaking of yeast, you'll hear people say that you can't save the yeast. FOOEY! And DOUBLE FOOEY! After I extract my .5 oz for a batch I roll it up tight with a rubber band and put it in a capped mason jar and pop it in the freezer.