This ain’t your elder rock-snob brother’s Esquivel; it’s 21st century space rock that will take your midsummer chill-out mode stratospheric:
the longest meow (Bloodshot), recorded in a marathon session during the spring, shows Nashville singer-songwriter Bobby Bare Jr. at the top of his game. Ensconced amongst the elite of true Americana artists, at least since Young Criminals’ Starvation League, Bare Jr. rivals Big & Rich in purveying the best rock & roll out of the country capital. Literate lyricism and emotional edginess abound in his music and Longest Meow — featuring 11 songs recorded in 11 hours by 11 people (including members of My Morning Jacket and Lambchop) — is no exception. The disc runs the gamut from traditional roots to punk, but also includes a postmodern take on Western Swing and horn-driven desert atmospherics comparable to Calexico’s. In that light, be sure to burn the stunning, hallucinatory “Borrow Your Cape.”
mutemath is a fast rising Louisiana outfit that simultaneously challenges preconceptions of Christian rock and the Crescent City Sound. Katrina’s long-range impact on its sound remains to be seen. Meanwhile, its recent eponymous release on Teleprompt ably remixes the shimmering bombast that characterizes most mainstream rock in the wake of U2’s permanent ascendancy to its pedestal. Personally, New Orleans equals funky butt for these ears. Who knew the fabled lost city could produce something like jet rock rave up “Chaos”?
the rise and fall of … Butch Walker and the Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites (Epic/One Haven/Red Ink) is a superbly fun, glam-tinged rock song cycle. The jewel case’s sexual content sticker ain’t no joke … and that’s a great thing. Sure, there’s nothing new under the sun in rock & roll as the genre enters its second half-century. But some retro is better than other forms. Walker gets it, from fuzzy hooks and string-laden epic sweeps to lip-curling attitude and nightcrawler lyrics. If you’re not one to be put off by the electric dandy strain in the best of classic rock, peep: “Bethamphetamine (Pretty Pretty),” “We’re All Going Down” and “The Taste of Red.” The Grand Guignol sing-along of “Ladies and Gentlemen … ‘The Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites!'” is a rush too. This is the T.Rex redux season after all.
sacred steel may be primarily about keeping the faith. Yet for we exogamous, godless listeners, the music’s thrill lies in the transcendental whine of the pedal steel itself. Florida’s Lee Boys do it best on last year’s Say Yes! (Arhoolie). Incendiary instrumental “Call Him By His Name” is otherworldly, indeed.
acid jazz may have been long ago consigned to the dust bin of history, early 1990s vintage … but the return of the genre’s premier Afrolantic outfit, Brand New Heavies, is still good news (and we hope to eventually see them here live). Get Used to It (Delicious Vinyl) is no radical departure from the Heavies prologue. The CD works as a measure of the interim growth of sometime ATLien chanteuse N’Dea Davenport and her Briton brers. Surprisingly, they even cover Stevie Wonder well: “I Don’t Know Why (I Love You).”
Bonus track: Amoeba Cleansing Syndrome (Freeworld/Joilicious) by ATLien rock bitch supreme Joi is an unearthed treasure from the same era when BNH held sway. Joi has always taken her blues power to the nth degree, channeling the hardcore spirit of lamentably overlooked black rocker Betty Davis and complex, funky cosmogony of Parliament-Funkadelic. (Fittingly, her independent label, Joilicious, was co-founded by George Clinton’s daughter, Barbarella Bishop.) Amoeba’s sound encompasses horror-show organ, guitar fuzz and go-go beats. If the title’s no tip-off, Joi, backed by Fishbone, works the axis bold as love between her country soul-full Southern roots (“You Turn Me On”) and outa space (“If I Could Fly”). She also covers Davis’ “If I’m Lucky (I Might Just Get Picked Up),” but when she scats “I love your dirty, stanky draws…” on “Hurts Sometimes” and the acid jazz arrangement reaches for inchoate galaxies simultaneously, Joi steps to her heroine’s millennium throne. Davis and Albert Ayler would be happy nappy.
This article appears in Jul 25 – Aug 1, 2006.
DIRTY STANKIN DRAWZ (c) 24 September 1993, Michael Turner Thomas. Quit supporting infringers!