Brian Eyster’s Pitchfolk

Chatham County Line won last year’s Rockygrass band contest in part due to singer/guitarist Dave Wilson’s ability to change a guitar string mid-song without missing a lyric. The ovation after that song made the judge’s job easy. None of us that they were already signed to the excellent indie label Yep Roc Records. Few of us followed-up on their performance by investigating their 2 fine CDs.

The Raleigh, NC-based quartet was back at Rockygrass last weekend to claim their main stage spot. It’s a shame people referred to them as “last year’s band contest winners.” They were one of the best bands at this year’s festival. Period. Their uptempo songs have a lively bounce and their ballads are beautifully sung by a fine trio of singers. Most compelling is their youthful stage attitude and avoidance of the tired bluegrass concert cliches.

Their latest Yep Roc release, Route 23 is one of the best bluegrass releases of the year. Wilson’s songs bring genuine emotion to familiar bluegrass themes. Producer Chris Stamey adds some subtle production to give the traditionally flavored album a distinctly modern sound.

I’m a sucker for a good musical scream. So when I heard some honest yelling in the sound clips on the Avett Brothers website, I knew I’d found something. The Avetts, banjo/guitar-playing brothers Scott and Seth and upright bassist Bob Crawford, are an aggressive folk trio. Like a lot of these bands, they openly discuss their punk rock roots. But in their case, the influence is clear in their songs and their rough-edged energetic delivery. Live, Scott and Seth play stomp cymbal (hihat) and stomp kick drum. It sounds like a nice gimmick, but it’s a natural extension of their foot-stomping performance style.

The trio was a huge hit at last spring’s Merlefest, and their CDs are all reportedly excellent. I can personally attest that Mignonette has been in heavy rotation in the car stereo for 2 weeks now. The songs of love, family, and the road have a youthful grit and strong sense of melody. And some irrestistible screams. Highly recommended.

What better summer reading than a history of the Beach Boys and the Southern California experience. Or so I thought. Timothy White’s The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern California Experience is a laborious history of everything distantly related to the title. I read music biographies to gain insights into the performing, writing, and recording experiences of the artists. Timothy White wrote his book to collect every random story and fact he could find about the Wilsons and California. It’s a shame that a former editor at Rolling Stone couldn’t find himself a decent editor.

Next in my summer music reading list: The Talking Heads.

Okay, before I go any further, head over to Matson Jones’ website and download “A Little Bit of Arson Never Hurt Anyone.”

Last Saturday we hit the 2005 Westword Music Showcase. Six stages at different venues around the Golden Triangle area of Denver - including a festival-style outdoor stage - 60+ bands, $5. Easily the concert value of the summer. The main stage lineup included recent major label signees Love .45 (comically predictable, to my ears) and Boulder buzz band Rose Hill Drive (talented, but a little jammy for a showcase like this) - which Westword music editor described as “one of the best bands to come out Colorado, ever, ever, ever.”

In this format of short 30-45 minute sets the most successful bands pack their sets with lots of tight, distinctive songs. Jam bands typically feel a little mis-placed in these shows - though Polytoxic played a tight little set laced with jams. Funk band Bop Skizzum played a great set of edgy funk highlighted by interesting horn charts and solid tunes. Stacking the audience can also help generate buzz around a set - as the Swayback demonstrated in their rollicking set in the intimate Alcoma Center.

Interestingly, the two real stand-outs were not from Denver. Boulder’s Hot IQs rocked through a set of stunningly consistent material in the Interpol-goes-power-pop genre. Riding high on their cover story in this week’s Westword, Fort Collins’ Matson Jones was the most perfectly realized pop concept I’ve seen in years. A guitar-less punk band, fronted by twin-looking women seated side-by-side sharing the lead vocals and sawing away on cellos. That’s right: cellos. Add a bowed upright bass, a physically vigorous drummer, and dress the band formally in ties and skirts. Conceptually brilliant. And amazingly, Matson Jones executed it perfectly. The songs are short, angry, dynamic, and surprisingly varied.

With the rest of the country rapidly discovering Devotchka (and their rumored signing with Atlantic), Matson Jones is definitely THE band to watch in Colorado right now.

Oh, those Canadians are so clever. Toronto artist Brian Joseph Davis’ latest creation, Greatest Hit, is a literal mashup of six greatest-hits albums - by Whitney Houston, Kenny G., the Carpenters, the Police, the Rolling Stones and Metallica - each compressed down to a single four-or-five-minute track. No fancy digital editing and arranging here, each song on Greatest Hit simply consists of all the tracks on the respective greatest hits album played simultaneously. Brilliant.

From the CD description:

Ever imagine all 22 songs of The Carpenters 1968-1983 playing simultaneously? Now you don’t have to just imagine. Whitney Houston’s The Ballads starts sharing sonic space with Sainkho Namtchylak. Every track on The Police: Greatest Hits combines for a rhythmic freakout not unlike recent Boredoms.”

Davis’ website makes 2 tracks, the Whitney Houston - “I’m Every Song” - and Police - “Asynchronous” - available as free downloads. The way the pieces move from familiar simplicity to cacophony and back reminds me of Steve Reich’s phase pieces (”Come Out”, “It’s Gonna Rain”). Dig in.

I was trying to convince a friend to check out Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister recently. He tried several times to make it through the album, but couldn’t handle Stuart Murdoch’s vocals. I remembered a similar response the first time I heard them, so for the past couple months I’ve carried this secret suspicion that maybe they’re not really that good. Until yesterday.

Persuaded by the united voice of several critics I respect, I downloaded several tracks from their new EP collection Push Barman To Open Old Wounds. One listen to the opening track “Dog on Wheels,” and any suspicions I had harbored were slaughtered. An instantly memorable melody, colorfully quaint production, great lyrics - these guys are good: real good. Murdoch’s voice (and the whole twee-with-a-dark-underbelly vibe of the band) takes a little getting used to. But it’s worth it. This new 2-CD collection of all the early EP tracks is as a fine place to start. Only If You’re Feeling Sinister and Dear Catastrophe Waitress match the remarkable consistency of these EP tracks.

If you enjoy Stuart’s worldview, his online diary is highly recommended. It’s a consistently fun read because of the ordinariness of his life (if you happen to be a musician living in Glasgow, Scotland), and his ability to find fresh life in the most mundane activities. A recent entry discusses a “neighbors meeting” at his house:

I had sat through the last meeting without opening my trap either. I was sort of fascinated to see my new neighbours in action. They were like a team of superheros. Every household seemed to have sent along a representative with a secret power, amazingly apposite for attendance at a testy meeting with contractors and architects.

A journalist, a property developer, a financial advisor and a lawyer numbered among the ranks. They each spoke up when their expertise was called on. It was like the bridge of the Enterprise, with Captain Kirk calling on them one by one. Sort of.

Brian Wilson’s Smile was the best album of last year. Hands-down. The performance of Smile, accompanied by his 18-piece band, at Denver’s Paramount Theater last October was absolutely fantastic. So it pains me a little bit to portray Brian in anything but a genius light. But his interviews are such a painful mix of awkward and harsh, I can’t resist reading as many as I can. Here are some random excerpts from two recent ones:

Recent Salon.com interview and article promoting the new 2-disc Smile DVD.

Thomas Bartlett: Do you listen to much classical music?
Brian Wilson: Are you Jewish?
No … Why do you ask?
Just asking! No reason.
OK. Do you listen to much classical music?
I listen to Bach, and that’s it. You know that album “Switched-On Bach”? I love that. I love it!!

Westword interview with Robert Schneider (leader of the Apples in Stereo, and noted producer of such Elephant 6 bands as Beulah, Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control).

Robert Schneider: You seem really happy and relaxed, like you’re enjoying yourself. It’s really impressive to me. Being on tour for me is kind of weird, because you’re kind of in this suspended state, and your environment’s always changing.
Brian Wilson: Okay, what’s your last name?
Schneider.
Schneider?
Yeah, I play in a band called the Apples in Stereo.
I see. Okay, now I see what’s going on here.

I don’t know what to make of this. Today, Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan) took out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune with the title “A Message to Chicago from Billy Corgan.”

For over 17 years I have been proud to represent Chicago as an artist through my words and music, and am continually humbled by the undying love from this city as one of its native sons. I’d like to take this moment to address all that is going on in my musical life, from the new album and the current tour, to the future of the Smashing Pumpkins.

Obviously, this is largely a promo ad for his new CD, building on his goodwill with the people of Chicago. But do that many people in Chicago really care about Billy Corgan? Would Bruce Springsteen take out a similarly confessional ad in the New York Times? The copy goes on:

For a year now I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams. In this desire I feel I have come home again.

Is that a tear I see? Wowsers. I expect this from Oprah (or the nemesis in a Spiderman movie), but Mr. Rat-In-A-Cage? After dropping off most people’s radar several years ago, it’s a little presumptuous that the entire city of Chicago needs to be the first to know (or even cares) about a Smashing Pumpkins reunion. But props for taking a somewhat unusual (and refreshingly quaint) approach to this announcement. Though, to be fair, a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune likely represents the entire promotional budget of most indie labels.

[Billy Corgan’s new solo album TheFutureEmbrace can be streamed in its entirety for free from BillyCorgan.com.]

With all the talk about “indie rock” in the past year, Michael Azerrad’s excellent book Our Band Could Be Your Life should be required reading. Over the course of 500+ pages, Azerrad covers the birth of the American indie underground of the 1980s - a time when “indie” meant Do-It-Yourself independence rather than the vaguely hip music genre the term implies today.

The book chronicles the indie careers of 13 bands - including Husker Du, The Replacements, Mission of Burma, Dinosaur Jr., and Sonic Youth - with a music geek’s attention for detail. But whether you’re interested in any of these bands, the real impact of the book is the focus on the DIY ethics and attitudes of the time - “Jamming econo” as Mike Watt of the Minutemen describes it. (The book’s title is taken from a Minutemen lyric: the simplified/indie ethos can be applied to anyone’s life, musician or not.) This was a time when bands played gigs in warehouses and basements and slept on office floors as a matter of principle as well as necessity. Highly recommended.

It’s hard to know whether the debut CD from The Go! Team is good music, or if we’ve just been nurtured our entire lives to love this CD. The London buzz-band’s music is a combination of retro-hip hop, 80s dance floor vamps, and soundtracks to A-Team chase scenes. It’s a retro vein that hasn’t been explored this well or with this much enthusiasm. And you have to wonder it’s taken so long.

As a suburban youth growing up amid 1980’s pop culture, the music just feels good. The indie-rock in me doesn’t like to dance, but the 80s child in me wants to groove out to “The Power Is On.” Pitchfork’s response to Thunder, Lightning, Strike: “I tried to escape. They opened throttle in pursuit with amphibious helicopters, talking cars, and TV fanfares.”

Certainly samples play a part in this music; but The Go! Team bring an energetic enthusiasm for this music seemingly devoid of irony. The recording bumps - huge drum sounds and handclaps fill the speakers. The wild card in the mix is the occasional appearance of a Sonic Youth-style guitar riff. It’s a stylistic surprise, but the sense of adventure is consistent and perfect.

Due to licensing issues with the many samples, this CD has been notoriously dificult to find in the US, but it is now available as a $10 download from Bleep.com. Apparently, the band has recently signed with an American major label whose team of lawyers is working hard to clear the music for an American release.