12/6/19

Talisk, James, Gooding, Jesse Malin, Queen of Jeans, Austin Plaine, Porangui



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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