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Thursday, February 28, 2008
CD reviews: Aimee Bobruk, Bob Schneider, Caroline Herring
Aimee Bobruk - ‘The Safety Match Journal’
(self-released)
This album has a few of the danger signs of wispy singer-songwriter music. The spelling of the first name. The word “journal” in the title. The “Chicks with Picks” song sessions this Huntsville native has hosted since moving to Austin a couple years ago. The album cover shows Bobruk with the body of a bird.
But “The Safety Match Journal,” so texturized with unique musical ideas, finds Bobruk and producer Darwin Smith veering from Lilithian expectations. With “Fools For Love” bringing “vo-de-oh-doe” to modern times, “Dulcinea” dripping in dreamy lust, and shards of guitar scratching the melody of “First Move,” the album gets a little close to the edge of too-weird.
But the stunning, ready-for-radio “Losing the Magic,” the most singer-songwriterly song on the album, ties all the loose ends together.
With the slow-strumming “Precious Jesus” and LP closer “Shores of Gold” other highlights, Bobruk’s at her best when she’s like everyone else, only more open and with an atmospheric voice made for both cello and feedback.
Join this 26-year-old to celebrate the release of an album that sounds like it took several months to produce, Tuesday at the Cactus Cafe. You just might find the magic. — Michael Corcoran
(Photo from myspace.com/aimeebobruk.)
Bob Schneider - ‘When the Sun Breaks Down on the Moon’
(Shokorama)
Bob Schneider’s latest, “When the Sun Breaks Down on the Moon,” might not be the best place for a potential Schneider fan to start, but for the longtime fan, it’s a great departure from his everyday sound.
“Moon” is a laid-back, 12-song collection that has Schneider moving further away from big-band party-rocker and closer to daring, solo experimentalist.
In fact, Schneider made the record at his Austin home and played every instrument, including the ukulele, banjo, trumpet, trombone, bass, guitar, piano, drums, keyboards, mandolin, steel drums, melodic and harmonica.
He also charged himself with the engineering, mixing and mastering, which as it turns out is one of the album’s few shortfalls because of some odd volume changes and less-than-perfectly sharp sounds.
Aside from the easy-to-get-over production flaws, the album is charming in its minimalism and can’t be compared to Schneider’s popular, big studio-powered releases “Lonelyland” or “I’m Good Now.”
As for the songs, the album’s title track is brief but powerful — “I feel about as useful as a blind man’s bike/down at the bottom of the lake in me/God has made a big mistake you see.”
The album’s first quarter is dark and gloomy, but it moves quickly into happier, catchy pieces such as “The Way We Roll” and “The Stick Up,” where Schneider eerily sings cheerfully about a violent robbery.
The depressing, inspiring sadness returns with “Blue Mountain,” a downtrodden-but-moving song where Schneider sounds as if he might burst into tears at any moment.
Then the good times are back on “Confessor,” a funky jam featuring Schneider engaged in a toe-tapping a cappella with himself.
Sadly missing from “Moon” is Schneider’s trademark horn line, which on other albums has added that extra “oomph” and catchy harmony that gets stuck in your head.
Even so, this album is a welcome detour from Schneider’s usual sound and it’s exciting to peek in while he experiments with new sounds.
Recommended: “Blue Mountain,” “Confessor” — Ryan Poulos
Caroline Herring - ‘Lantana’
(Signature Sounds)
The sour certainty of a lover’s infidelity often slips a murder ballad’s trigger. Caroline Herring chooses to measure unconditional love’s disintegration instead. “I confessed that, for love’s sake, I drowned my children in John D. Long Lake,” the Atlanta-based songwriter sings on “Paper Gown.” “They’re with Jesus, looking down at me in this paper gown.” True story: That’s Susan Smith deteriorating underneath the weight of a malevolent Carolina moon.
Herring flawlessly reports the grisly material. Presented with corresponding degrees of damnation and empathy, her watertight assessment of the 1994 American tragedy would be a crowning achievement for most artists. On “Lantana” — an embarrassment of riches drawing the straightest line between tradition and transition this side of Adrienne Young — it only rates halfway up the chart.
More treasured moments — coming-of-age bookends “Heartbreak Tonight” and “Fair and Tender Ladies,” say, or the closing “Song for Fay” — celebrate women and strength in vulnerability. Every attempt pierces its mark. In fact, few folk albums since Young’s 2005 hallmark “The Art of Virtue” have proved a more thorough success. Herring’s endearing maternal memorandum “Lover Girl” — “Even now we’re dancing, longing for a place to know,” she sings — alone suggests its undying resilience.
Now, grab hold of a sturdy beam before spinning “Midnight on the Water.” Talk about the hollow aftermath of faded love. Echoing like a cannon in a cockpit, Herring distills the traditional fiddle tune into arguably the purest representation of heartache since “Goodnight Irene.”
“The scenes were there as in a mirror made by the moon upon the water and our love was never stronger,” she gently warbles. “The picture was broken by the waves we left behind at midnight on the water, once upon a time.” Even decades of scratching, of course, won’t remove the deepest stains of regret.
Recommended: “Paper Gown,” “Midnight on the Water,” “Song for Fay” — Brian T. Atkinson
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Weekend picks: Giant guitar epics, death-obsessed hardcore and the return of GLO
Friday: World Burns to Death at Beerland. Austin’s premier hardcore band, death-obsessed, black-clad, and the only band of guys in Austin that can make black eyeliner work. With Dwell Within, Laughing Dogs, Doom Siren and Black Jesus. — Joe Gross
Friday: Ghostland Observatory at the Austin Music Hall. Synth-pop’s dynamic duo from Austin, Texas drops their latest joint to an exuberant hometown crowd. Yes, this show is sold out. More on Ghostland.
Friday: NOFX at Stubb’s BBQ. Yes, these pop-punk veterans really have released a combined 25 LPs and EPs, have sold six million albums entirely on independent labels and have been around since 1983. This show is sold out. With No Use For a Name and Flatliners. — J.G.
Saturday: Jucifer at Room 710. This duo has lived in an RV for most of the 21st century, hauling giant amps around the country, playing some of the fiercest and most detailed two-person hard rock around. With the Roller, the Devil and the Sea, Canyon of the Skull. — J.G.
Saturday: Marilyn Manson at the Austin Music Hall.Original bassist Twiggy Ramirez is with the band again, yet tickets remain available. $39. — J.G.
Sunday: Built to Spill at Stubb’s BBQ. If you’re in the mood for giant guitar epics, boy howdy is this Boise, Idaho, band for you. With Austin’s own Meat Puppets and Helvetia. $20. — J.G.
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Mess With Texas lineup
It’s a fest within a fest and it’s free and open to the public. The Breeders, White Denim, Simian Mobile Disco, NOFX, Kimya “Juno” Dawson and Janeane Garofalo are just a few of the 50 or so artists signed on to appear at Waterloo Park March 15 at Mess With Texas fest. The show will be produced by Transmission Entertainment and others. Most of the acts are also playing official SXSW showcases.
Other musical acts scheduled for MWT, the biggest day party in SXSW history, include Islands, Two Gallants, Lucero, Jay Reatard, No Age, Neon Neon and Atlas Sound. Comedians include Brian Posehn from “The Sarah Silverman Show” and Eugene Mirman. Go here for more details.
Last year’s maiden MWT Fest was held at the Red 7 nightclub. Gates open March 15 at noon and the fest goes until 10 p.m.
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Review: Maceo Parker at Antone’s
It’s only February so it’s much too early to call it the show of the year, but topping Maceo Parker’s set at Antone’s on Tuesday night is going to be a tall order. Watching the 65-year-old Parker dance and shimmy across the stage like man half his age, it’s hard to imagine that he cut his teeth as part of James Brown’s band more than 40 years ago. But after a sweaty, bombastic set that lasted nearly four hours, Parker proved that he is not only still nimble on his feet, but even more so on his horn.
Parker has been making it funky since 1964, but his sound was more than a mere amalgam of the sounds he helped create as a side-man with Brown, George Clinton and Bootsy Collins. He and his band, comprised of former P-Funk, Bootsy’s Rubber Band, and SOS Band members, laid down some brilliant funk that had all of the bounce and strut of the Meters but with a glossy, R&B sheen over the top. Added to that was the occasional hip-hop flow from son and backup singer Corey Parker (who sounds a bit like Redman on the mic) and what emerged was a sophisticated strain of funk that had evolved rather than been cobbled together.
After a brief band introduction, Parker made his way onstage for “Funky Fiesta,” a possible homage to Texas, a state that has been kind to him over the years.
“We’ve been playing at Antone’s since I started this band,” Parker told the crowd, acknowledging it as one of his favorite venues. “This place really feels like home.”
The band, which formed in 1991, has an incredibly tight sound that Parker conducts with a precision he obviously learned from his days backing the godfather of soul. Pivoting around to face the drummer, one punch in the air was all it took to bring the band from full-tilt boogie to a dead stop midway through the set. One blast from his horn and the entire band dropped back in like a bomb. It was impossible not to dance.
Parker’s rapport with the crowd elicited raucous call-and-response sections during shout choruses in “Pass the Piece” and “Off the Hook.” It was easy to see how Parker can pack Antone’s nearly to capacity on a Tuesday night.
Time hasn’t diminished Parker’s tone or agility on the horn, rather made him a more selective player. He wove in and out of the groove, augmenting the horn section’s lines with punchy, rhythmic motives that filled in every little empty space. Everything fit neatly into place without feeling too orchestrated.
And like any great band leader, Parker made time to feature just about everyone in the band at least once during the evening including backup singer and Martha High who brought down the house with the “baby” parts during “Night Time Is the Right Time.” Parker, who just completed a tribute album to Ray Charles, turned out a smoking version of this classic during a lengthy encore that capped an incredible performance.
Parker wouldn’t be courted for an encore easily, though. Chants of, “MA-CE-O,” lasted for nearly five minutes before he re-emerged from the wings. After more than 40 years in show business, papa still don’t take no mess.
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Review: Daniel Johnston tribute show and video premiere
There’s no doubt that Austin loves its eccentric musicians. And even though vulnerable singer/songwriter Daniel Johnston isn’t technically an Austinite (he’s a Wallerian), 13 or so variations of local bands plus or minus a member here or there came out Tuesday night to the Parish to show their respect by playing different versions of Johnston’s songs.
Johnston didn’t attend, but his visage was present in the form of the world premiere of the new Danny and the Nightmares video for “Death of Satan.” The video was directed by ME Television’s J.J. Castillo, who also introduced each act.
Each band had only mere minutes to perform one or two Johnston’s songs before the next group took the stage, but the crowd, consisting mainly of musicians and a few ardent fans of Johnston’s, didn’t seem bothered by the quick transitions. The lineup jostled around between keyboard pop, indie acoustics and clamoring rock ‘n’ roll.
Monster Girl started the night with “Funeral Girl” in all its bleak vocals and throbbing keys. Michael Frazier of the intense experimental group Transmography sat down at a keyboard and rhymed his way through “Never Relaxed,” which he heard for the first time only two days before. Recent Austin musical migrant from the Big Apple Ladyfingers played a lengthy “King Kong” with a gritty, bluesy acoustic guitar as he stood on a wooden platform stomping out the bass with his foot. Shortly after, the night ended at its climax with a burst of brilliant rock ‘n’ roll with Golden Bear’s hearty version of “Impossible Love.”
The night ended just under four hours after it began and the fact that everyone had just seen performances from Nurtured by Love, Three Sons, Chris Brecht, the Come Latelys, Southern Drama, Mr. and Mrs. Mays, Bourbon Legends, Aimee Bobruk, Belaire, as well as those mentioned above and a music video world premiere seemed almost impossible.
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