Since moving to Portland from San Francisco, Coykendall has produced, engineered and performed with M. Ward, She & Him and Blitzen Trapper. But he has been writing songs and making records since the mid 80s. Midwesterner’s might remember Coykendall in the Kansas prairie-psyche band Klyde Konnor; Americana fans might remember him the seminal San Francisco group The Old Joe Clarks; and a lucky few will have copies of his 2005 underground classic Hello, Hello, Hello, also available from Field Hymns.
The Unbearable Being of Likeness offers a diversity of sounds, from mellow ditties to melodic rockers. Coykendall’s compositions share something with Jay Farrar’s campfire comfortability, but his work in the studio mastering the songs adds layers to the album, making it a much spacier, more nuanced affair.
Richmond Fontaine is a four-piece alternative country band based in Portland, Oregon. Like Franz Ferdinand or Jethro Tull, the band is named after a real person but their namesake was not famous prior to being adopted by the band.
John Dworkin at Blurt says, “A few of the songs on ‘Freeway’ deserve special mention and ‘Lonnie’ is one of them. Its crackling distorted rhythm guitars throwing off sparks, detailed melodic hooks, and attention to dynamics recalls Shawn Colvin’s ‘Get Out Of This House,’ but with more of the rough edges left in.”
I’d compare the song “Lonnie” to several by Drive-By Truckers, but it’s funny because no other track on the album sounds like “Lonnie.” What the other songs do have is plenty of story. In fact, Willy Vlautin’s dark, story-like songwriting, has helped the band achieve critical acclaim at home and across Europe.
Vlautin is also an author of two novels, with a third on the way. Here’s a promotional video for his new book, Lean On Pete, due in April in the U.S.
YaelMeyer is an independent singer-songwriter-multi instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. Her recently released EP entitled Heartbeat was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Bill Lefler and includes guest appearances by Danny Levin on trumpet, Fil Krohnengold on acoustic guitar and accordion and Joseph Karnes on bass.
Here’s a track from the new EP, “Shed Their Fear,” performed with her friend Chanie Kravitz.
Meyer’s EP is available now on Amazon and iTunes. My favorite track on the five-song effort is “Favorite Two.” It’s a very pretty track, in a flowery, alpine valley-in-summer kind of way. And sometimes that’s just what a person wants to hear on a rainy day.
Garage a Trois pulled into Portland last night prepared to showcase songs from their new album, Power Patriot, and to win over fans not yet accustom to the band’s new lineup (Charlie Hunter left Garage to focus on his own band and his family in 2007).
After playing shows with Robert Walter and John Medeski, the group finally melded with keyboard impresario, Marco Benevento. By all accounts the music is heavier now, but I didn’t hear anyone at Doug Fir Lounge last night complain. By my estimate Garage played in an inspired performance. I know I visited some intergalactic destinations I hadn’t seen in awhile on the strength of the band’s contemporary improv.
Here’s what JamBase is saying about the new lineup:
While I immensely enjoyed and appreciated the Garage A Trois from the first half of this decade, I honestly feel this lineup and sound is what Garage A Trois was meant to be and what will take them to the next level. While the former Garage A Trois’ sound felt more rooted in cross-cultural, past musical traditions, the new sound feels current and even futuristic.
Only these four musicians—in their perfect storm of cosmic improv energy—could manage to make dark industrial jazz sound lighthearted (“Rescue Spreaders”) and conjure perfectly danceable freakout swing (“Fragile”), and that’s just the first two tracks of Power Patriot.
In an interesting twist of fate, Charlie Hunter played Mississippi Studios last night, just a few miles away from the East Burnside basement where his former cohorts were reaching for the outer limits.
Twenty five years ago, Dirty Dozen Brass Band released its first album, My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now and New Orleans became that much funkier.
With classic cuts such as “Lil Liza Jane” and the stirring version of “St. James Infirmary,” in addition to rousing originals such as “Blackbird Special” and the title track, this album set the standard for what was to become a reinvigorated brass band scene in the Crescent City.
To celebrate the anniversary, DDBB has made the title track of its debut album available for free on its website. In addition, the group will re-release a re-mastered version of the currently out of print album and play the disc in its entirety at several shows this fall, according to Jambands and Jambase.
Here’s the full track list:
1. Blackbird Special
2. Do It Fluid
3. I Ate Up the Apple Tree
4. Bongo Beep
5. Blue Monk
6. Caravan
7. St James Infirmary
8. L’il Liza Jame
9. Mary Mary
10. My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now
Disc opener and title track “New Country Blues” is another major highlight. Its assaultingly quick pace gets the music started on the right footing, establishing straight away the theme of the album—pulling away from the trappings of urban life in exchange for the simplicity of the country. Its refrain is sincere and catchy, “I ain’t going back to the city no more / I’m staying right here on the farm.”
I also like track three, “Surfing the Red Sea.” It’s sounds like a Garcia-Grisman number to me.
Emmitt-Nershi Band is playing in-store today at Twist & Shout Records in Denver, before embarking on a Rocky Mountain and West Coast swing. We plan to see them at Mississippi Studios later this month.
Light In August is a famous 1932 novel by William Faulkner. It’s also the name of a well read band from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The band’s hometown newspaper says their “melodies hit the ear gently, supported by impeccable musicianship” and that their debut album, Places, is “an effective tonic for difficult times.”
Filmmaker Amy Weber likes their music. Her new Michigan-made movie, Annabelle & Bear, features Light In August’s track off the new album “Headline News.” You can hear the track on the band’s MySpace page.
Light In August formed in 2007, when guitarist, flutist and sitar player Alex Wand, came back to University of Michigan after studying in Spain. Bassist Jack Henry, drummer Max Stewart and keyboardist Ali Hodges make up the remainder of the band.
Here’s a look at the latter, a group of transplanted Southerners who originally got together in Bowling Green, Kentucky:
Jarman explains Brock’s attraction to the band…
Brock says their blossoming friendship was partly a matter of timing. “I just really had a good time any time I’d run into them,” he says. “At that point, anyone I’d try to hang out with wanted to hang out with a dollar bill hanging out of their nose. And those kids weren’t doing white drugs, so they were a lot more fun to hang out with. I was on my way out of the drug scene entirely, and just being buzzed and cruising around with these funny-as-fuck kids was great.”
After a few such hangouts, Brock finally had an opportunity to see the band play last year. His expectations were low. “I went and caught them just because they were playing in town the same night we were,” he says. “There was no one there, but they were fucking awesome. I was kind of shocked by how good they were. I liked the energy.”
Ryan White, music critic at The Oregonian came up with a funny description for Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog, which played The Wonder Ballroom last night as part of MusicFestNW.
Dr. Dog looks a little like a VW micro bus — with a Ferrari’s engine and other essential parts dropped inside. They accelerate and brake equally fast. They handle well in any kind of weather. They hug the road.
It’s also probably true, as a friend theorized, that Dr. Dog might be far more powerful live than on record.
Darby has her own way with words and an amazing grasp of popular music. After a few songs, she turned to me and said, “The Beatles and The Clash had a baby.”
I nodded my agreement and added that I didn’t realize how much Ska was in the mix–an aspect to the band that might be more visible than it is audible. These guys high step with the best of them.
This morning I’m reflecting on how good last night’s show was (Portland’s Helio Sequence followed Dr. Dog). It was good enough for me to want to know more, that’s for sure. Which leads me to this in-studio performance and interview care of KCRW in Santa Monica:
I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers–one of the most anticipated albums of 2009–hits the shelf on Sept. 29. Produced by musical Svengali, Rick Rubin, the album is the band’s major label debut.
Here’s an ad for the album meant to further build the listening public’s anticipation:
Bart Blasengame, a Senior Editor at Portland Monthly magazine, writing in the September issue of Paste Magazine says the North Carolina four-piece is “All Growed Up.” I don’t believe the article is available online at this time, but he argues that it’s kind of sad to see a favorite band blow up.
At the same time, Blasengame is in awe of the band’s new work. He writes:
…they’ve constructed something beautiful. An album that’s not merely loaded with ballads, it’s almost wall-to-wall epic ballads. Pianos trickle before the storm, strings ball up their fists, swell and waves of sound wash over the Avett’s sorghum-sweet harmonies. And this is just in the first song, a goosebump engorging title-track that could by itself inspire a legion of new fans.
The Avett Brothers have been playing their new title-track live for several months now. For instance, they played a special unplugged verison for The Ice Cream Man while in Newport, RI for the folk fest this summer.
