November 2024 Music Roundup: Julian Taylor, Banning Eyre, Dekel, FBR, Srikanth, Toc de Crida

 

I’m running out of superlatives for the amazing West Indian/Mohawk/Canadian performer Julian Taylor, he of the silky smooth but powerful voice and incisive pen. If you’ve not heard Pathways, by all means correct that oversight. That song alone is worth the sticker price. It’s a gentle and poignant look at moving through life. Who can dispute advice such as … be gentle, be kind be grateful, take time, remember we’re in this together/let’s just be who we are, follow our hearts, and dream that love is forever. Yeah, he’s that kind of performer–the sort who can make you weep, feel wistful, and occasionally sad or mad. “Love Letters” is a sweet waltz tempo song, but he even induce calmness by asking Do we even know what we’re doing to ourselves. “Ain’t Life Strange” implores us to look deep into ourselves, especially when we feel “numb.” Taylor even gives us a bit of achy breaky country in “Running Away,” but at least it’s more prairie country than another overly processed Nashville song. Once again Julian Taylor is my artist of the month.

 

 

Banning Eyre and I share history in that we both once wrote for Global Music Magazine and we both play guitar. That’s about where the similarities end, as Eyre in an amazing guitarist and I astound people with my ineptitude. Eyre’s Bare Songs 1 is a 14-track delight that highlights his bright and precise picking. It ranges from the dreamy “Fifteen Rounds and No Decision” to the Galician-meets-Ukraine “Portal 7 " to the rain-like “Kaku Hiva” to “Djelimady,” the latter reminiscent of Eyre’s forays into Afro Pop. This is a perfect album for serious listening or tasteful background music.

 

     

 

Dekel is an Israeli singer and composer. Her new record Starlings showcases many things, including her love of nature. The title track is a haunting song with near drone-like cello setting the beat. Her voice and the pacing are pop-like, but there is much more depth and, yes, it’s partly about the humble little bird, but listen and you’ll hear that the starlings are witnesses. “So Much Logic” has accordion and clarinet. Although the song dances, the vocal is darker, and it pops like a cross between klezmer and something from Zorba the Greek. “Meet Me Halfway” is klezmer with a hip hop beat and I’ll leave it to you determine if the song is religious or the starting point for negotiating a relationship. On “Sing With MeSisters,” Dekel sings in deeper, more mature tones. It's an unusual song in that it toggles between introspective and anthemic. Put directly, Dekel is hard to pigeonhole. She has a habit of never being quite what you think.

 

 

Tim Hunter (acoustic guitar, vocal, harmonica) and Malarie McConaha (electric guitar, vocals) of FBR describe themselves as “two hippies,” but their music within a band of six is more rock, blues, and country. If you’re wondering about the name, it’s shorthand for Leonard Cohen’s song “Famous Blue Raincoat.” I suppose FBR sometimes sings about dark subjects, but their vibe on Ghost is not much like Cohen’s. “Before I Drown” is wrapped in an electric mix that gets progressively bigger to build McConaha’s desperation as she tells of a doomed relationship marked by fighting and booze. “Rain On” has a big rock sound as well with McConaha muscular vocals and splash of blistering guitar. By contrast, “Bottle of Blues” is country blues with a roadhouse vibe. Another departure is “Skies of Donegal Blues,” but don’t expect an Irish tune; it’s more of a big-voiced wailer. And why not? McConaha can deliver.

 

Short Reviews:

 

 

 

 

If you’d like to sample music from South India, try Jyotsna Srikanth and her album Carnatic Nomad. Carnatic music is considered “classical music” in India, a term that bears little resemblance to Western connotations. It refers to its complexity and its place in tradition. Srikanth, who now lives in Britain, is grounded in Carnatic violin and vocals. Other instruments include various hand percussion, lutes, and the stringed tambura that often acts as a drone. Try “Manasa Sancharare” to appreciate her string prowess and “Tiruppugal” for something a bit livelier.

 

 

 

The island of Mallorca lies off the eastern coast of Spain and north of Algeria in the Balearic Sea. The six-piece trad band Toc de Crida features lightly modernized tunes from North Africa, Catalonia, and Valencia, with some departures across the Atlantic. Their self-named album is joyous. No matter where they land the music sounds like you’ve stumbled upon a celebration and have just discovered an amazing group you never knew existed. Try these two tracks.: "Jota de Son Pudol" and "Can Bou." FYI, a jota is a Spanish dance and if you listen to other tracks and hear unusual bagpipes, it’s the xeremia, an odd-looking instrument that’s like a watermelon-shaped sheep’s bladder with attached pipes.

 

 

A xeremia

 

 

Rob Weir

June 2024 Music: Ruth Moody Lynne Hanson Beth Bombra JM Clifford Moonsville Collective

 

How about a five-way tie for best artist of the month? I lucked upon some amazing music and can honestly say that any of all of these would make a wonderful addition to your playlist. 

 

 

Ruth Moody is the songwriting anchor of the Wailin’ Jennys, but this Winnipeg-based artist is a solo treat all on her own. Any musician would assert that Wanderer is a good title for a record, but Moody means it on more cylinders than one–coming of age, relationships, motherhood, musing on the meaning of home, and life’s ups and downs.  Her music is often filed under bluegrass, but Wanderer is more folky in its emphasis on lyrics, polished but understated arrangements, and a voice as calming as a breeze through the sweetgrass. Moody sings of her journey to contentment on the Wanderer. Nor is she afraid to be vulnerable or admit to bouts of self-doubt. “Already Free” is an example: I’m running from the future or the past/Or somebody I can never be… Maybe I’m already free. She even revisits adolescent regrets in "Seventeen,” and if it’s not putting yourself out there to back to that age, you were raised in a sealed bunker! “Twilight” is another small gem. Add it up and you have a musical treasure chest. 

 

 

Lynne Hanson has been lionized on this blog before and Just a Poet is the latest reason to celebrate. She’s also Canadian, but she shatters images of northern niceness by exploring the skeptical side of life. “Spray Paint” has meaty hooks, but is the relationship about which she’s singing ending or finding its way to new beginnings? Number two is doubtful!  Hanson’s alto voice gives everything she does a slightly dark edge of mystery, including herself. “Outlaw Lover” poses as a confessional in which she’s bad news in many ways, including being the blue tattoo that your mama fears. This one draws comparisons to Bonnie Raitt’s blues-influenced country/folk approach. Hanson calls such songs “raw Truth” and that’s pretty good tag. “Just a Little Bit” is heartbreak country and this time it’s someone else who might deliver pain Great line: Heartbreak hurts but it never killed anyone. Detect a theme? In the doomed affair of “Rubik’s Cube” she describes herself as being as jumbled as that puzzle. Hanson is on the money about singing raw truth. One suspects that “Weeds” might be the most autobiographical selection on the record. It has a strong walking beat and delivers the message that she is putting all of me in every single song I ever wrote/Ain’t work ‘cause I do it for me.

 

 Beth Bombara sometimes sings with the birdlike delicacy of Patty Griffin, even when she’s been a rock n’ roller. It All Goes Up is a departure.  She picks up an acoustic guitar on “Curious and Free” and sings Don’t have to know where we’re going/As long as the tide keeps pulling in. The overall treatment is mysterious–from the catch in her voice to its melancholy feel and a “fiddle” that’s probably a mellotron, an early electronic keyboard/computer hybrid. “Electricity” is a mix of old and new. It has passages with the frangibility of love songs, but with electric breakouts that pulse with… well… electricity. Bombara is a Tom Petty fan and “Lonely Walls” has the vibe of one of Petty’s more introspective songs. “Everything I Wanted” is almost classic Bombara in that it’s bop rock served with blue-collar attitude and irony. I’ve been following Bombara for a few years and, though I like her hard surfaces more than the shiny ones, I applaud the fact that she keeps testing her limits.

 

 

If I told you I had an album titled Trains, Thinkin’ and Drinkin’ from a guy who uses his initials as his first name, and dropped a single called “Damn Shame,” you’d probably start thinking Alabama, Tennessee, or maybe Kentucky. Nope. J. M. Clifford is a Brooklyn native and an elementary school teacher.  He underlined the conjunction on the cover of his new album and, from where I sit, he’s heavier on the thinkin’ than the drinkin’. Like many of us, he had time to think during Covid lockdown, plus he was dealing with the aftermath of a divorce. “Damn Shame” is a good song, but “Complicated Man” gets to the heart of the matter even better. He takes the wind out of his own sails on the self-effacing first song, its upbeat bluegrass tempo a veil over his broken relationship. He cowrote “Complicated Man” with Ron Pope. It’s an infectious  bluegrass song featuring mighty fine picking and a mountain music gospel feel. No wonder he draws Norman Blake comparisons. It’s worth plenty to hear Clifford pick. When it’s available, check out “Billy Goose.” By the way, the title track is bathed in irony. 

 

 

Speaking of drinking, how about a song called “I Like Drinking Beer?” It’s performed like a Texas two-step and is a litany of all the things the band loves with the punchline and I like drinking beer. Welcome to the Moonsville Collective, a California quintet that plays old-time music and not-so-old songs that sound timeless. They also like having fun and don’t always take themselves seriously. They have a song titled “Ain’t Got No Home,” but it’s not the one penned by Woody Guthrie, and give a string band treatment to “Red Rocking Chair.” They also do one called “Long Gone” because, why not add still another song of that name to the annals of music. A Hundred Highways, their first new record in half a dozen years. Ya’ gotta love any band with the cheek to do a song titled “Helen Highway.” You want drinking songs? They’ve got a million of them!

Rob Weir

Wonder Women of Country, Holly Lerski, Crow & Gazelle, Spencer LaJoye, Evan Boyer

 

 

The term supergroup is so overused that the moment I see it, I grow suspicious. In the case of Wonder Women of Country, I yield to whomever first gave that handle to the trio of Kelly Willis, Melissa Carper, and Brennen Leigh. Willis, of course, is the best known of the three having rocketed to fame in the 1990s in the pop/rock-infused genre that is today’s country music. It was sheer genius to join forces with Carper, a standup bass player who is more Hank Williams and Patsy Cline than modern country, and mandolin/guitar/vocal talent Leigh. Put them together and they are a dynamic combination. Among the gems is the cheeky western swing of “Fly Ya to Hawaii” sparked by a hint of yodeling, Willis going retro on “Won’t Be Worried Now” and singing of love gone missing on “Another Broken Heart” to Leigh’s turn-back-the-clock electric lead, and a bass-heavy calypso reworking John Prine’s “I Have Met MyLove Today.” The eponymo
usly named Wonder Women of Country release returns us to the harmony- and tune-forward country music of yore. Wonder Women of Country are my artists of the month.

 

 

Holly Lerski has been a musical nomad. She’s British and learned to play Led Zep licks in her ‘tweens during the 1970s, played rock in the ‘80s, and was inspired by Jeff Buckley in the ‘90s and first decade of the ‘00s. Then she traveled to the United States and was blown away by the West: the prairies, the mountains, the Pacific, the redwoods…. Sweet Decline is her foray into Americana. With titles such as “Chicago,” “Joshua Tree,” “Carmel,” and “Yosemite,” she leaves little doubt about her lasting impressions. “Sweet Decline” also reflects her immersion in the West, right down to the splashes of pedal steel in the mix and lyrics comparing the mountain ridges to the curvy stickle back of her thoughts and down the middle of the sweet decline. Its wistful edge suggests she’s musing of her journey into middle age. “Tall Trees” is elemental in both metaphorical and literal ways as she hints at a fractured relationship that can be healed with love that endures like centuries-old giant pines. But don’t worry; there’s joy on the album. “Oh Cassy Run” is bouncy in the ways older Joni Mitchell songs used to be (though Cassy is a dog). She also has a fine song titled “Nepenthe,” a word that usually means a mythical Greek drug of forgetfulness, but all indications are that Lerski has her memories intact.

 

 

As Above So Below is the debut recording from the duo/life partners Mike McClure and Chrislyn Lawrence who perform as Crow and Gazelle. That unusual moniker owes its origin to the first two tarot cards drawn during an early date. Each spent a lot of their youth in fundamentalist parts of Oklahoma and Texas, but as the title track reveals, they opted out of harsh tenants for a more universalist faith in which the gap between the human and the divine is narrower. “Still Free to Fly” dispels wisdom in how they dumped the libertine view of freedom in favor of one that replaces drifting in the twilight with one that celebrates not needing to wander. If you have any doubt about what they mean, check out the lyric version of “Blackbird." To don my reviewer hat, though, I found McClure and Lawrence more admirable than musically enticing. For my tastes, the album is too safe and of a piece. 

 

 

 

Spencer LaJoye has released Shadow Puppets, an apt title on several levels. LaJoye grew up in an evangelical household, but uses the pronoun they, identifies as non-binary, and is religious but adamantly non-Christian. This Michigan-based singer songwriter is unafraid to play in churches or to assert their experiences. On the title track LaJoye confesses … all I got is a shadow so big, a shadow so wide/it’s a darkness I fit my whole self inside, and later boldly discusses top surgery in an offering directly titled “Surgery.”  LaJoye has been well received by many communities of faith, in part because of songs like “Plowshare Prayer.” It is, in my estimation, the best song on the album. It is deeply spiritual, appeals to a higher power, and challenges believers to live up their creeds. Listen to the link as the close captioning reveals the depth of those sentiments. LaJoye has a powerful message and an even more powerful voice. The arrangements, though, could use much more diversity.

 

 

 

Evan Boyer is about to drop The Devil in Me. In the namesake song he comes off as the anti-Spencer LaJoye: I’m a bad man doing bad things/I’ve walked the line so many times for all the joy it brings/I’ve got a bad way, pray for me like rain/I should have died so many times and all the souls would have been saved. I couldn’t find a clip of this excellent gritty song, but I suspect that this Dallas-based Americana artist who draws comparisons to Jason Isbell and Tom Petty is more bark than bite. “Burn the Ships,” backed by the excellent Texas band Della Rose, is soulful country that’s more a man searching for a landing place than a bad boy anthem. “Cedar Creek” is positively sweet, the hard edges of his big voice notwithstanding. Ditto “Home to You.” Hey Evan, get some more vids out there so more people can hear what I did.

 

Rob Weir

Minyeshu: August 2023 Artist of the Month

 

 

Minyeshu (Kifle Tedla) isn’t as well known in North America as she is in Europe and it’s bloody well time to correct that. She hails from Ethiopia, where she made waves with the Ethiopian National Theatre. Alas, some of the Theatre’s work ruffled the feathers of the autocratic EPRDF government that took over in 1991. Five years later, Minyeshu was granted asylum in Europe and now lives in The Netherlands. Call it Ethiopia’s loss, as she might be the most exciting singer to come out of the African continent since Benin’s Angélique Kidjo (who also now lives in Europe because of religious and ethnic strife at home).

 

No wonder Minyeshu ‘s new album, Netsu, translates as ”Free.” She is a different kind of singer than Kidjo, but every bit as exciting. The opening track “Fidel is an earworm of the very best type, a stunning and infectious song that’s in turn catchy, growly, and soaring. (It even has a little talk-box surprise near the end.) It’s also typical of Minyeshu’s blend of West-meets-the-Horn-of-Africa. She sings mostly in Amharic and other African languages, but you don’t need to understand a word to know she’s the real deal. Plus, her blend of funk, roots music, soul, and jazz is so hip you’ll want to jump on the Minyeshu bandwagon.

 

On “Ethiyo yo yo pa” she and her backup singers warble like birds, but shift when the brass brings on the funk. It is one of several tracks in which you’ll hear ululation, a distinctive African wavering vocal that comes from the back of the throat and presses the tongue to the roof of the mouth. It’s hard for Westerners to emulate. One is tempted to leave it to the experts, but it’s just so joyous it’s hard to resist trying! “Yene Africa” is an ebullient mix of Afropop and brassy instrumentation. It backs Minyeshu’s strong lead that cues robust and percussively-timed backup vocals.

 

“Qhakaza Thando” is the jazziest track on the album, hence the most familiar in sound for those unfamiliar with Minyeshu’s repertoire. Those familiar with Ladysmith Black Mambazo might find resemblances to South African Township songs in the merged voices that that open this song. (Note: South Africa lies nearly 4,000 miles from Ethiopia and one should be aware of cultural differences.)  

 

For the most part, Minyeshu follows the rhythms of Eskista, which lends itself well to schoulder dance, a term that means pretty much what you think it does. This is a movement that originates in the shoulders and emphasizes everything from a hands-on-shoulder birdlike circular movements to a stiff-bodied shrug that is a prelude to looser movements of the neck and lower body. It can seem unusual at first, but observe how perfectly it fits the music and how much fun the dancers have with it.

 

Note: The two live tracks I posted are not from Netsu, though they serve to reinforce my comments on how Minyeshu gets in your ear. I’m betting that the feet and shoulders will follow.

 

Rob Weir

Kitty Macfarlane: May 2023 Artist of the Month

 

Kitty Macfarlane

Namer of Clouds (2019)

Navigator Records

 

 

I follow Karine Polwart , one of my favorite folk/traditional artists of all time. When Polwart recommends someone, I take notice. My artist/album of the month is a bit unusual in that the featured recording came out in 2019. I had not heard of Kitty Macfarlane until I sampled her on Polwart’s Website, but I’m sure glad I did.

 

Macfarlane hails from Somerset in England and is both a lovely singer and a smart, thoughtful person. Let’s start with the title track of Namer of Clouds. It’s an offbeat title, but it befits the song. Ever wonder where we get categories such as nimbus, cumulous, stratus, and so on? Give credit to Luke Howard who thought of them back in 1802. The song imagines him as a small boy doing what kids do, gazing into the sky with amazement at the shifting shapes of clouds. Howard took it to the next level: The changing shapes, the chaos and calm/The shadows cast as winds collide/Tries to explain with words not written/Put name to face, the need to define.

 

You’ll get all of that, though the first things that will strike you is Macfarlane’s own sense of calm and a voice whose purity invites comparisons to a young Joni Mitchell. Mitchell, ironically, released a 1969 album titled Clouds that included the song “Both Sides Now” with its quotable line: I really don’t know clouds at all. Macfarlane does.

 

Macfarlane has keen environmentalist instincts. “Wrecking Days” catalogues the damage done by the things we cast into the sea and reappear on the strandline (the highwater mark on a beach); “Man, Friendship” simultaneously muses upon climate change and hope, which is quite a trick. “Seventeen” parallels coming of age with the observation that nature cycles–the growth of trees, the growth of lichen, the migration of birds, tides, and so on–are both humbling and bewildering to the young. Some of the songs actually incorporate natural sounds. You’ll hear a rushing waterfall on “Morgan’s Pantry.” In this case, sea morgans are legends, not people. This is Macfarlane’s take on a traditional song about rather nasty sea creatures that lure sailors to waterfall portals to another world. “Glass Eel” ponders both continental drift and the miraculous 4,000-mile annual migration of small transparent eels. (Puffins find them delicious!)

 

Macfarlane dazzles us with voice and wonderment, not flashy instrumentation or dramatic arrangements. Her lyrics employ an economy of words that invites us to intersect our narratives with hers. “Starling Song,” for example, is just twelve lines long, but there’s much room to draft stories in lines such as Like the rush in a sea shell or a hum in the maize/Or the mutter of pages turned in haste. “Frozen Charlotte” is the wordiest song on the album, but they come from poet Seba Smith that recount a decidedly weird 1839 event in which a vain young woman was so determined to attend a dance despite the frigid winter weather that she arrived frozen to death. (Some versions say she was found in her bath.) In a level of the macabre only Victorians could conjure, alabaster white frozen Charlotte dolls enjoyed a 70-year run of popularity.

 

Macfarlane draws inspiration from all manner of things large and profound. Among the latter is “Sea Silk,” and you’ll hear background clicking. It’s the sound of needles from a woman she met off the coast of Sardinia spinning delicate silk strands that appear brown inside but glow gold in the sunlight. By now you won’t be surprised when I say that Macfarlane spins some gold of her own: I’ll spin saltwater into sun/Until the time I am undone. How good is Macfarlane? Even Iggy Pop, the Grandfather of Punk, is a fan.  

 

Rob Weir

 

Alice Howe: Artist of the Month

 

April’s Artist of the Month is a no-brainer. On Circumstance, Alice Howe shows how to make a folk/soul/country album that sounds like something special. “No histrionics” is a tag often applied to Howe and it’s apt. Unlike the oh-too-young singers who land in LA, Nashville, and Austin and think that drama is produced by volume alone, Howe understands that the key is to sing a song from the inside out. Her articulation is superb, a small detail that allows the deeper edges of her voice to shine and burnish her compositions.

 

On Circumstance, two other things stand out. First of all, she recorded it at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and makes no bones about chasing the ghosts of Aretha Franklin and Etta James around the sound stage. Second, she collaborated with Freebo, the professional handle of David Friedberg, who has recorded and toured with a veritable who’s who of the music world: Ringo Starr, Bonnie Raitt, the McGarrigles, John Mayall, Crosby, Stills, and Nash… the list goes on. How many musicians do you know who drag out a tuba to go with their bass and guitar?

 

These days Los Angeles tries to claim Howe, but she’s from Newton, Massachusetts, grew up summering in Vermont, and graduated from Smith College so sorry, California, she’s a New Englander! You might know Howe from her 2017 EP You’ve Been Away So Long, the title track of which she reworks on Circumstance. (She also recorded two previous LPs.)  Check out how she mixes the lyrics-forward style of folk music with a bluesy country feel. Then watch her turn an NPR studio into a socks-on-the-sofa blues joint in “Travelin’ Soul.” Observe how she turns it up a notch higher still when she steps inside Muscle Shoals to take advantage of a studio band on “Somebody’s New Lover Now.” Somehow, she doesn’t sound totally devastated by her change of fortune! To circle back to the no-histrionics comment, notice how she airs it out without resorting to the vocal equivalent of playing air guitar. It’s a formula she repeats to great effect on “Love Has No Rules.”

 

If you prefer a more acoustic touch, “Let Go” will answer. As you watch this clip, ask yourself how many people sound this strong and clear when singing outside on a breezy day. “Things I’m Not Saying” is another keep-things-simple gem. Alice Howe wears a metaphorical Real Deal full body tattoo.

 

If you want to explore even more, you’ll find some clips of Howe performing amazing Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan covers. My only regret is that I had to be out of town when she played at the Parlor Room in Northampton last weekend.

 

Rob Weir

February 2023 Music: Lorraine Klaasen Catrin Finch Marc Timon and More

 

 

 

There’s no contest for the February Artist of the Month. Lorraine Klaasen is a South African-born singer who now lives in Ontario. Her idol was Miriam Makeba, but Ms. Klaasen is rapidly becoming a legend in her own right. Her latest work, Ukubonga/Gratitude is a collaboration with another South African, guitarist Mongezi Ntaka. You might see it listed as jazz, but that’s because it’s hard to find a category for music grounded in African soil but enriched with Caribbean and Quebecois nutrients. Watch her dominate the song “Amampondo.” Ntaka lays down sunny riffs with dollops of Caribbean influence but when Klaasen takes the stage, there’s no question of who’s in charge. Her voice snaps you to attention through its power, trills, and range. “La Reine” is French for queen and she is indeed commanding in a mix enriched with some Celtic-influenced flute. There are even a few songs in English, including the charmingly accented “Meet Me at the River” and the good-time “Can’t Cross Over,” which sounds like African music via Jamaica. Want some moxie? How about a semi-bohemian treatment to “Thanayi,” a song popularized by Hugh Masekela?

 

Catrin Finch has been making records that long to be made. She’s a Welsh harper–the official one to the Prince of Wales no less—but on ECHO [sic] she collaborates with Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita “for the fourth time. Harp and kora? What could be more compatible or contemplative? “Gobaith” has a New Age feel but listen to the crystalline sprays of notes and you’ll know it’s more than fern bar music. Keita takes the lead on “Chaminuka,” though the mood is equally dreamlike. Keita adroitly mixes his runs with drone-like effects when Finch takes over the melody. “Jula Kuta” is the most ambitious offering, an 8 ½ minute piece with elements of classical music that add to an exploration that’s partly experimental and partly rooted in numerous other styles. Overall this is a perfect record for a quiet winter’s night with the lights down low and a warming drink in hand.

 

Barcelona’s Marc Timón is a composer, pianist, and orchestra director who splits his time in Los Angeles doing film and symphonic music.  His album Amalia is a pop-laced departure from his usual large ensemble work. “La quinta medianoche” has big production values and some electronica evocative of dub step, but it always dances away from the brink of slathering too much butter on the musical palette. I led with this one, as much of the album is quieter. “Tot És Perfecte” is a pop love song, even though one doesn’t usually hear whistling accompaniment on the radio. “I Just Wanna Be With You” takes an indie folk rock approach with colors enriched by warm brass. “Cold” is frosted with longing and has a memorable dominant melody line. “Perfums de nit” showcases Timon’s emotive voice at its tenderest best. Hey, how can we not admire a guy who names an album after his grandmother?

 

Stacy Antonel titled her debut album Always the Outsider and it’s easy to understand why. How many classically trained pianists decide to learn flatpicking to become a throwback country singer? She is fond of old Patsy Cline records and one of her first country gigs was as a June Carter Cash soundalike. The title track is a bit of honky tonk with some backdoor critique of the industry: Always the outsider/thought I could move forward in this town alone/without playing the game…. “Karmic Cord” is a breakup song, but it has delightfully weird vibe that shows she’s neither cookie-cutter singer, nor someone who can kicked around. Note her defiance when she sings, I’m not coming back…. “Heartbroken Tomorrow” has a road song feel, but it’s really about working her way past a bad relationship. She’s not afraid to ask blunt questions, as she does in “Better Late Than Never:” Are you awkward or just an asshole? Patsy wouldn’t have put it that way, but you can bet she thought it!

 

 

Short Cuts

 

Dario Acosta Teich is a guitarist from Argentina who likes jazz fusion, in this case taking Argentinian folk melodies and turning them inside out to leave a lot of musical space for his quintet to do its thing. To be honest, fusion jazz isn’t really my thing, but all you have to do is observe a clip or two– ”Como Antes” and ”Encurentro” are two good ones–to appreciate the talent. Give him a try and see why you think.

 

 

Vigüella is a folkloric ensemble based in Spain’s Castilla-La Mancha region. a la manera artesana intrigues, though it’s mostly for those whose interest is as much anthropological as musical. This quintet plays old songs in old ways on old and/or improvised instruments. Think village music that emphasizes participation, not slickness. “Estrellas matutinas” is exuberant, but the vocals are rough. “Ara y olà” features percussion. The unusual drum through which a rod is inserted is the zambona and you’ll also hear a fry pan, spoons, a soda bottle…. The women singers are better than the men, so you might wish to sample “Tonada, ronda.” It’s followed by a jota, a folk dance.

 

                                                                                                                                              

Tracy Sirés Neal is a mom who writes songs. Her Haiku Love EPis a cool concept: eight songs, all of which are around 3 minutes in length. She’ blends minimalist jazz, folk, and pop fusion. The title track is playful and not just in the way that she and the on-screen kids get covered in paint. “New Song” is more serious in facing the challenges of modern life, but it and most of the rest of the project call for a new imagining of how to live. Titles such as “Don’t Give Up Now,” “I Know You Can,” and “Everything is Going to be Ok” alert us she thinks that’s possible.

 

 

I don’t know much about Isaac Watters other than he’s based in LA. His EP Extended Play 001 has its heart in the right place. “Sadness” is a riff on nuclear testing; “Child in the Rain” a plea for a world where kids can find joy. At least, that’s what I think! Watters sings with a pained voice that’s gruff and often hard to understand. You could call it Tom Waits-like, or perhaps just not very good. Listen and take your pick.

 

 

Rob Weir

January 2023 Music Reviews: Julian Taylor, Lodestar, Voyagers, Fenya Rai, Ivy Ryann, Etc.

 

It’s time for another cleanout. You’re welcome for eliminating most of the Clonevilles, those sound-alikes who think their road to Nashville is to sound like everyone else trying to make it there. These days I only review them I find something of interest in their work.

 

I only needed a few tracks to once again sing the praises of Julian Taylor. His latest, Beyond the Reservoir is a departure. The vibe of “Wide Awake” reminded me of something Garnet Rogers might have done if the lyrics were darker and we replaced Taylor’s smoothness with Garnet’s booming power. They’re both Canadian, though. (Taylor is of First Nations and Carib descent.) Beyond the Reservoir finds Taylor shifting from his earlier folk approach to something more rootsy and soulful. ”Opening the Sky” unfolds as if he’s going full troubadour, but he turns up the juice and immerses himself in an electric mix. Check him out in his coolest goes-down- easy mode on his official video of "Seeds." To invoke one of my favorite descriptors, he’s the real deal.

 

Lodestar Trio consists of Britain’s Max Baillie on violin, Norway’s Olva Laksengård on the hardanger fiddle, and Sweden’s Erik Rydvall on the nyckelharpa. That alone intrigues as all three instruments look like violins, but the second has internal strings that resonate harmonically, the third has a row of keys to alter the pitch, and each has a unique sound. Their recording From Bach to Folk indicates their aim, though the title is slightly deceptive as the music is more drawing room than town hall. Rearranged cello suites and Baroque arrangements dominate with forays into “folk” tunes as interpreted by the bewigged set. They arrange Couperin’s “Les Barricades Mystérieuses” for their instruments, a melody originally written for harpsichord, and give similar treatments to Bach, my favorite being a musette that found old Johann doing his crossover bit 270 years ago. For the record, their take on “Deliverance” has nothing to do with the film of the same name. The closest they get to “folk” as we think of that term today is a couple of Norwegian traditionals. Here’s one.

 

 A much better-defined crossover album comes from the trio Voyagers. Their album Chasing the Light combines the talents of Yocomba Sissoko, a Malian singer and kora player; Edith Letner on alto and soprano saxophone; and guitarist Banning Eyre. The last name might sound familiar; Eyre is former print media music critic who produces NPR’s Afropop program, and is the founder of Lion Song Records. Chasing the Light shines with talents of all three and puts the “world” back into world music. There aren’t a lot of tracks available online but “Today is a New Day” gives you an idea of what I mean. “Solole” will give you a taste of Sissoko’s gentle vocals and you can hear more tracks on Bandcamp. I love the way Voyagers meld the hypnotic grooves of West African music with the exuberance of modified klezmer music and Eyre’s grounding guitar. This album and Taylor’s are my favorites for January.

 

Fenya Rai is a deliberately rough-edged, irreverent group of Catalan band of musical outlaws that befits this rebellious region of Spain. If you like things silky smooth, you probably won’t like songs like “les rondes del vi",” but the raucous accordion-driven "Pastor Cabrer” might put you in mind of a Cajun party that got out of hand! "baixeu al carrer” is another of the 11 tracks on Placa Major. Truth be told, the entire album is like these three. I enjoyed the insouciance of making a record that makes no effort to use studio mixes to smooth out its ragged edges. I suspect, though, that non-Catalan speakers–that includes me–will find that a little goes a long way. 

 

Ivy Ryann grew up in a fundamentalist Virginian family. Her A Nonaggressive Extreme Violation of Boundaries holds promise, despite glitches. “Driveway Prayers” is only tangentially linked to her background; it’s mostly about finding understanding and safe places. Her most “extreme violation of boundaries” is a cover of the Johnny Cash standard “Walk the Line,” which she slows down and plays on the piano. It won’t make you forget Cash, but it’s a bold try. “The Weight” is an original, not the song popularized by The Band. She offers two versions of it, one with electric backing and another with an orchestral take. In order to soar, Ryann needs to emote more clearly and can the sonic drone and shapeless instrumental of songs like “In Wanting.” It’s always a good idea to fledge before you try to fly.  

 

 

Mixed Feelings:

 

The three didn’t set me on fire, but they might light yours.

 

Teddy Grossman is a white guy who loves old-style soul music. “Leave It on the Line” comes complete with soulful backup singers. “What I Owe” is a bit less raucous but is cut from similar cloth, with some mouth harp tossed in. He even tickles the ivories on “Soon Come,” his album title track. I confess that the LA-based Grossman isn’t the kind of stuff I’ve listened to since the days of Bill Withers–too much high octane singing–but he’s very good at what he does.

 

 

Gotta be honest about The Deer’s Cry. Heal the Heart was billed as a blend of Celtic, Americana, and world music. My ears would say it’s a mash of Christian, New Age, and Japanese-style vocals. Harper/vocalist Karen Ballew anchors a quartet that includes a bass player, a banjo artist, and a percussionist. Ballew’s vocals are so high they strike me as strident, but I’m fine if you think they’re different in a good way. Try “I Want to Get Through to You” and “I See His Blood Upon the Rose.”

 

 

Rachel McIntyre Smith has room for growth. I think there’s a good voice in the development, but her songs left me waiting to see where she lands not where she is. I liked her fiddler, but that’s probably not where she wanted me to land. Try “First Love” or “High School Reunion.” I’m willing to believe I just have no desire to relive either of these things.

 

Rob Weir

Hanneke Cassel: November 2022 Artist of the Month

HANNEKE CASSEL:

NOVEMBER 2022 ARTIST OF THE MONTH

 

Hanneke Cassel Band at West Whately Chapel

 

Some media outlets continue to call fiddler extraordinaire Hanneke Cassel a “rising star” in Celtic music. Good grief! After eight solo albums and two collaboration albums in less than two decades, what more do they need? (Or are they doing the famed Internet cut-and-paste-don’t-look-at-the date routine?) Do the math; that’s an album every two years.

 

To be sure, Ms. Cassel, a Portland, Oregon native who now lives in Somerville, has worn a lot of hats. She cut her teeth on Tex-Mex music before making her way to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, a school that doesn’t turn out half-talents. She was part of Berklee’s scholarship tour in 1996 and won the National Scottish Fiddle Championship the next year, a career-altering experience. It didn’t hurt to apprentice with Alasdair Fraser, my candidate for the finest Celtic fiddler on the planet. How good is Cassel? Good enough to teach at Fraser’s camp in California and instruct students in Boston. Good enough to wow audience across the globe. Good enough to try her hand at Baroque music.

 

 

 

Cassel specializes in Scottish and Cape Breton styles, the later island the home to older styles of Scottish music before they were influenced–for good or ill–by 19^th century Victorianism. The Boston Irish Reporter calls her “artistic and emotive,” but what immediately strikes most people is her exuberance. A friend of mine endearingly calls her “The Energizer Bunny,” an apt appellation. Even though she’s also the mother of a two-year-old–her husband is cellist Mike Block, a superb player in his own right–Cassel is a performer who leaves it all on the stage. I caught her in a recent Watermelon Wednesday concert at the West Whately Chapel. Perhaps “see” is too tame a verb; she’s often a blur when her part comes around. That night she was with guitarist Keith Murphy and five-string fiddler Jenna Moynihan. Sometimes the Hanneke Cassel Band also includes cellist/fiddler Tristram Clarridge.

 

Cassel played from both her back catalogue and from her latest album, Over the Sea to Skye, which I don’t own yet, but given what I heard, I soon will. Like all good artists, her repertoire has grown more sophisticated over the years. There’s something sublime to be said of all her records, but if you want to hear her in her most traditional mode, her 2004 recording Some Melodious Sonnet offers old-style strathspeys, some jigs, a few early compositions, a couple of hymeneals (wedding songs), a journey to Norway, and even some Irish tunes. Pick up Dot the Dragon’s Eyes (great title!) and you can hear how she picked up the tempo in nine years, but also retained the grace. That’s really the key to great music; you let the music play you instead of trying to cast the spotlight on yourself. Do it well and the accolades follow. (How often have you stifled the urge to shout “Overdone!” at a concert or belt it out at home?)    

 

The best way to experience Cassel is to check her out for yourself. Here are a few live links that come close to capturing her performances. Close but only half of a cigar. The best way lies in the category of “You had to be there.”

 

Rob Weir

 

Instructional video for the Dot the Dragon’s Eyes title track. Note the control and emotion though it’s a fast-paced tune. You can turn it off at 1:41 if, like me, you’re only a fiddler in your dreams. 

 

Catch her with hubby Mike Block on a medley of “Christina’sJig/Dot the Dragon’s Eye.” I love the way she uses her whole arm and the subtle transition of tones and pace. And I adore the deep resonance of Block’s cello. Can “dark” light up a room? 

 

Think that went by fast, how about this Cape Breton set that includes a bit of everything with Montreal’s Yann Falquet.Precision + control = amazing. Having a lot of fun helps too!

 

The true test of a fiddler is how well they play a slow tune. Cassel’s take on the air “Hector the Hero” answers any questions about her prowess. Listen through to 4:21