The find of the fall was Talisk, a trio from Glasgow,
Scotland that can raise the dead. Both BBC2 and the Alba Scots Trad Music
Awards proclaimed it the band of the year for 2017 and it didn’t take long for
the word to get out; Talisk has been playing sold out shows around the globe.
It is a trio, but only in the sense that it has just three members: concertina
wizard Mohsen Amini, fiddler Hayley Keenan, and acoustic guitar player Craig
Irving. Lest you think I’ve forgotten the definition of a trio, give them a
listen and you will suspect they must have a few more musicians hiding in their
instrument cases. “Crooked Water Valley” is a track from their latest CD, Beyond,
and one of numerous tracks you can hear online. It’s briefly a quiet almost
pastoral tune with a down-home feel, but don’t get comfortable. Keenan’ fiddle
takes us to jig tempo while Amini’s concertina pulses in the background.
Eventually he shifts us to a fast reel tempo. At the 4-minute mark there’s a brief
lull but if you think there’s going to be a loft landing, forget about it. It’s
not for naught that the band name is derived from a term that means “land of
the cliff,” and what good is a cliff unless something goes over it? Most Talisk
tunes–they seldom resort to vocals–are paced by Armini’s concertina, an
instrument generally not associated with rollicking music, but Armini assaults
his humble box like Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire. Check out
“Montreal” from the new album, or “Abyss,” the title track of their second
recording. Another stellar offering is “Echo,” one is which Keenan fiddle is
something between a pulse and a drone before Amini explodes into the mix. The
tipoff for when Talisk is about to leap off the cliff is when you hear Amini’s
foot begin to stomp like a mad carpenter with a wooden mallet. This is band
that doesn’t waste time before shifting into high gear. I generally pay little
attention to how performers label their own material, but Talisk aptly calls
theirs “ScotSlam.” ★★★★★ 
Remember the English rock band James? They sold 25
million albums, were mainstays of college radio shows in the 1980s and 1990s,
and were big heroes in their native city of Manchester. James broke up in 2001,
but reassembled in 2007, when lead vocalist Tim Booth decided to supplement
solo projects–shamanistic dance, acting, MTV criticism–with a return to the
band. He again fronts what is currently a seven-member lineup. James features wall-to-wall
sound and, as a recent Paste Studios Session shows, they sound as
good as ever. Booth is his powerful self on “Coming Home (Part Two),”
crooning against Mark Hunter’s keys on a bittersweet song: My life is always
leaving somewhere away from here…. “All I’m Saying” is a jazz/pop/rock mash
that’s adorned by Adrian Oxaal’s cello, whose notes he bends in ways
reminiscent of a musical saw. Andy Diagram’s trumpet adds to the bright
arrangement of “Leviathan,” though the song itself might be called
pre-postapocalyptic: Before they drop the bomb make sure/We get
enough/Fucking love…. “Broken By the Hurt” is about the fragility of life
and heart and implores us to Find what really matters and let those
kicked-in-the-teeth moments give us shape. Okay, so maybe this isn’t la-de-da
cheerfulness, but it’s honest and it’s good to hear these guys again. ★★★★
Gooding is another band that may have fallen off your
radar. The Nashville-based Gooding–named for front man Steve Gooding–never
really went away, but it has concentrated on charity work in recent years.
After a 5-year hiatus, its back with a new record, Building the Sun.
It’s a tad uneven, but there’s plenty of good stuff on it. The album title
comes from the refrain of “House is Not a Home,” Bring down the sun/I don’t
care anymore/This house is not a home tonight. Gooding says he messed with
it to make it sound less country and more like Tom Petty, though to me it has
the frenetic pacing (though not the sound) of New Wave. “Horses of War” is a
classic rock song with crashing guitars that tamp down the noise for vocals and
then amp up for the instrumentals. “Last Train Out” features deliberate noting
on the guitars and big bang percussion from Jesse Reichenberger. If Billy
Driver’s bass sounds ominous and the song haunting, that’s because the song is
about running out of time. I also enjoyed “Troublemaker,” which is rock n’ roll
stripped to the bones–fuzzed out guitar, hard-driving, and unpretentious. To
add a small note of criticism, many of the vocals are competent but not
compelling. ★★★ ½
Short Cuts
I only heard two cuts from Sunset Kids, a new
project from Jesse Malin: “Room 13” and “Strangers and Thieves.” Malin
frequently haunted CBGB in the ‘80s and ‘90s when he was the punk band Heart
Attack and glam punkers D Generation. His new project was produced by Lucinda
Williams, who is no shrinking violet, but she is more melodic. Malin lowers the
volume and we discover that he has a really nice voice. He’s also
introspective. Both of the songs are reflective love songs, with “Room 13”
gentler and “Strangers” done with a harder edge. ★★★
An act with a name like Queen of Jeans must be a
Texas country band, right? Or at the very least a Tennessee bluegrass act.
Nope. It’s three-piece ensemble from Philadelphia that describes its sound as
“crockpot pop.” They have a new album title If you’re not afraid, I’m not
afraid. It’s a young band with room for growth, especially
instrumentally. The three tracks I heard sounded pretty much the same, some
jangly guitar and some echoey electric texturing. I liked “Bloomed” and
“Obvious to You,” both of which are about bad relationships, the first one that
fell apart; the second one in the process of doing so. The vocals of Miri
Devora and Mattie Glass remind me a bit of The Nields. They also do a nice
cover of “Teenaged Dirtbag,” which they borrowed from the alt-rock band
Wheatus. ★★★
A young man from Minnesota named Austin Plaine is now
in Nashville, where he has released his second project, Stratford.
Plaine is a singer/songwriter whose music could be called enhanced folk in
that it’s more acoustic than electrified folk rock. Plaine has a very pleasant
light tenor voice and a lot of the songs from the new release are upbeat. Both “Honey”
and “Lucky Ones” are love songs, the first about a traveler trying to sort
wanderlust and the other kind; the second an enduring love that shines on the
dance floor where cares are put aside. “Something More,” though, lives up to
its title. Plaine has said that the first song that grabbed him when he was a
lad–he’s all, of 23 now–was Dylan’s “Boots of Spanish Leather.” “Something More”
borrows themes from that one: It might be a long long time/You wrote me a
letter in riddle and rhyme/Secretly so I wouldn’t find you anymore… Several
of his songs end and then redux for a few seconds. I’m not sure this is
necessary, but I like what I’ve heard of Austin Plaine. ★★★★
Have you ever been to Sedona? If so, you know it’s a place
where non-mainstream spiritualism thrives. It’s an ideal place for a shamanistic
body healer musician named Poranguí. His self-titled latest download is a collection of
remixes of past work and (apparently) some new ones. Poranguí is enigmatic and would have it no other
way. “Ganesha” is very much meditation music and would be at home in a yoga studio.
But Poranguí is best known for
his prowess at looping, which allows him to be a one-man band when he wishes. “Cantode la Selva” is an example of this. You hear him on a small Brazilian ukulele/guitar
hybrid called a guitalele, but also hand drums, and voice all at the
same time, courtesy of said looping. But you might also hear him on didgeridoo
(“Tonantzin”), wooden spirit flutes (“Danza del Viento”), or caught up in ringing
tones suggestive of a gamelan (“Oxum”). Ashley Klein provides spoken word to Poranguí’s trance grooves that are part music, part
healing ceremony. His music feels like a soundtrack to a Carlos Castaneda
book. ★★★
Rob Weir
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