Spotlight Special: I Love You

I Love You: Carol Morgan Quartet

[CDs will be available for purchase soon here]

The new album review is taking longer than I expected. Partly, that is because the album I’m working on is a long one, with over an hour of music. But it is also an album that takes me out of my musical comfort zone. I hope to have the review up tomorrow, but you, my readers, have been more than patient, so I wanted to share something with you while you wait.

As it happens, this post also takes me out of my comfort zone, because I never write about instrumental jazz. That’s because I love it when it’s done well, but I am not sure I know how to say why. Let’s find out. The Carol Morgan Quartet has Morgan on trumpet, and there are a tenor saxophone, stand up bass, and drums. No piano. I Love You as an old Cole Porter standard. The risk in doing a song this familiar is that the listener may compare it to a favorite version by someone else. The way to overcome that is to add something original to the conversation. Carol Morgan and her group do so brilliantly. Morgan introduces the theme by herself; the trumpet comes in by itself, and states the theme in a lonely vacuum. When the saxophone enters, the bass plays a heartbeat accompaniment. There is something of a sense here of the trumpet and sax feeling each other out. The drums come in with a sudden jump of joy, and the bass pattern changes to accentuate this. But the sax soon drops out, with the trumpet trio moving things along for a bit. The trumpet drops out to make room for the sax solo, and the rhythm pattern changes again. Then it’s just drums and bass for a bit at one point; usually, that would mean a bass solo, but here it’s a drum solo supported by a bass pulse. Finally, everyone comes back in for a finale that features wonderfully intertwining sax and trumpet lines. So there are all of these shifts in mood, and even in the approach to making the music. In some modern jazz, the melody and the idea of the song fracture into shards, becoming abstract and unrecognizable. Not here. Morgan and her group put a standard through a remarkable number of changes, but they never lose track of the melody. The result takes the words “I Love You”, and makes an eloquent statement on how love changes and grows in the long course of a relationship. All of this happens without a single word being sung. There are times when no words are needed.

The Arranger’s Art

As I write this, in a room somewhere, a man or a woman is bent over a guitar, or seated at a piano. Actually, this is happening in many places. These people are writing songs. Some of them believe that their song will only have guitar or piano accompaniment, and a few of them are right. Some know that the song needs more, but they are not sure what. Some of these songs will be recorded and released, and we will all find out together. The difference between how these songs sound now and how they will sound when they are done is the arrangement. Some, but by no means all songwriters do their own arrangements. Others know that their band will take what they have written and make magic. And sometimes, the arranger is the producer. The five songs I present in this post may have all been written on an acoustic guitar, but they didn’t end up that way. Here then are five very different examples of the art of arranging a song.

Phyllis Sinclair: Washerwoman‘s Lament

[purchase]

Sometimes, the secret to a great arrangement is knowing when to stop. Phyllis Sinclair’s Washerwoman’s Lament was clearly written on acoustic guitar, and that’s the first thing you hear. Sinclair plays a rhythmic strum, and her vocal line has a wonderful folk-gospel feel. Eventually, a mandolin and bass part come in, and there is even some background vocals towards the end. And that’s all. Elsewhere on this album, there are some drums, some strings, even accordion. But Washerwoman’s Lament opens the album, and it establishes that Sinclair is going to use a light touch with her arrangements. This works beautifully throughout, but nowhere better than here. (Incidentally, it’s not clear who did the arrangements on the album. They may be by Sinclair, or producer Stew Kirkwood, or both.)

Bella Segreta: In Holsters

[purchase]

Arranging can be a matter not only of which instruments are needed, but also how they should be recorded. Bella Segreta is a band fronted by singer Victoria Ferguson and singer and guitarist Ben Ingall. Ferguson has a delicate breathy voice, although she can sing effectively with a full band plugged in. But on In Holsters, the only instruments are guitar and stand up bass. The guitar is recorded with a tone that sounds almost like a harpsichord, and it complements Ferguson’s voice perfectly. The bass is recorded normally, which in this context gives the song drive and texture. The few elements that are needed to make the song work are perfectly balanced here.

Johnny Flynn: Sweet William (Part 2)

[purchase]

Johnny Flynn is another matter entirely. Sweet William (Part 2) has banjo, fiddle, cello, electric guitar, drums and bass. There is also a double-tracked trumpet that sounds like a brass band. And those are just the instruments that I can pick out by ear. Also background vocals and audience shouts. It should be complete chaos, and I wouldn’t recommend that anyone try it at home. But Johnny Flynn wrote this on whatever instrument, (he plays four on this song, and a few others elsewhere on the album), and took it to his band to arrange. And together, they made it work. It probably helps that a few of the players play multiple instruments. In any case, the resulting song, in all of its brash glory, makes sense and is a work of real power. Elsewhere on the album, Flynn and his band demonstrate the ability to thrive on more subtle material as well, but here they are in their glory.

Moddi: Magpie Eggs

[purchase, prices in Norwegian Krone]

Moddi is Pål Moddi Knutsen, from Norway. He plays acoustic guitar and accordion. On Magpie Eggs, his guitar part sounds almost like a small harp. That’s still the writing. The arrangement adds bass and drums, and a very subtle piano part. And then there are those strings. I knew that I had never heard a string sound quite like this before, but it took me a while to realize what I was hearing. Moddi plays some accordion elsewhere on the album, and it has a slightly abrasive sound where it is used, and that works for those songs. But that would not have helped Magpie Eggs. So Moddi essentially has the string section playing the accordion part. it’s a great idea, and it really works beautifully. The song gradually builds in intensity, until the very end. Then everything drops out except the guitar and voice. Moddi uses this device a lot on this album, but it never gets old, and it has real emotional power.

Angie Mattson: Mississippi

[purchase]

Angie Mattson probably writes her songs on the guitar, and she brings them to her band to do the arranging. She plays both electric and acoustic guitars, and also drums and percussion. Her co-producer here, Jeff Mendel, plays all of that, plus drums, bass, organ and piano. The rest of the musicians can double most of that, and also add violin, mandolin, and trumpet. So the thing you notice about the arrangements here is texture. Mississippi starts with Mattson singing over a drone, and I’m not sure what the combination of instruments is here. This soon gives way to a bluesy feel. Parts of the song find a middle ground between these two sounds. Mattson’s vocal is recorded with just a slight bit of reverb, so the whole thing has a wonderful haunted quality that serves the song beautifully.

Call for help:

Adam Sweeney & The Jambouree: Bound to Go (demo)

[donate here]

Adam Sweeney & the Jambouree cite many influences on their Kickstarter page, but they don’t mention Steve Goodman. I hear his influence in the way these songs are arranged, and I also some of that warmth in Andy Sweeney’s vocals. Bound to Go, in its final version, will probably have a more complex arrangement, and I have high hopes for what that will sound like. What I hear already is quality songwriting, backed up by fine musicianship. Please do whatever you can to help Sweeney and Co get this one made. Thank you.

Finally, congratulations to Samantha Kushnick, who made her goal for her drive. Thank you to everyone who was able to help.

From Folk to Rock

The image above is a work of fabric art from Fabrics From the Heart. See more images and purchase here

Take a little walk with me. I’m going to start in the land where folk music just barely recognizes that rock exists. Then, in a series of steps, I will arrive in another land, where rock barely recognizes that folk music exists. But this is a strange journey indeed. These two lands never acknowledge one another, and yet they share a long border. Up and down the length of this border, there is music. It may be folk or it may be rock, but it does not matter. The people of this border land call it music, and are content. Let’s meet some of them.

Sharon Goldman: Winter‘s Come Around Again

[purchase]

Sharon Goldman lives closer to the folk side of the border. Her voice is rich and warm, with a sweetness the rock natives disdain. But Goldman knows exactly what words to write for this voice, and how best to sing them. Winter’s Come Around Again is a song of heartbreak. A different singer could turn this song onto a pathetic weepie. But Goldman sounds calm. The words tell us that she still hurts, but the performance gives us a woman who is learning to find consolation in everyday comforts. She is hurt, but healing. A performance more in a rock vein would miss this subtle emotional shading, and the song would suffer for it. Winter’s Come Around Again, as performed here, is a fine example of a singer writing perfectly to her talents and sensibilities.

John McVey: The Crooked Way

[purchase]

John McVey lives further from the folk border, but still close by. The Crooked Way is a poetic description of the journey through life, and McVey delivers the song in a strong voice. The song was written by McVey with Peter Gallway and Annie Gallup of Hat Check Girl. In fact, I first heard the song as performed by Hat Check Girl. Both take the song at about the same tempo, but McVey’s version feels faster. Where Hat Check Girl let the vocal float on a cushion of echoey instruments, McVey gives the song real punch. His version is declarative and passionate. Both ways are effective, but I think I prefer this. On the album, McVey does most of the writing solo, and he sings with great conviction. His arrangements are sometimes a bit softer than this, but his commitment to his songs never flags.

Martin England: Green Pine Grove

[purchase]

In this borderland of mine, one must be careful to stay on the path. Otherwise, you could veer into the realm of country music. Martin England threatens to do that. His album has banjo and pedal steel in places, and his vocal delivery is derived from country. But England is too literate a writer for country, and his arrangements vary enough that we can keep our path in sight. Green Pine Grove is a breakup song, but a subtle one. The narrator’s feelings are echoed in the images of nature around him, and those images are the main subject of the lyric. The arrangement is also subtle. A strummed acoustic guitar is joined by a bass and drums quietly played with brushes. There is also a hushed electric guitar part that you could almost miss. Martin England makes just this work beautifully.

Annie Fitzgerald: Another Sad Love Song

[purchase]

We are getting closer to rock country, but, as Another Sad Love Song starts, you may think that we got lost somewhere, and that we have returned to folk country. Be patient. Yes, the song opens with acoustic guitar and mandolin, but once the full band kicks in, you will see that we are still on course. There is even an electric guitar solo near the end. More than anyone else in this post, Annie Fitzgerald belongs to this borderland of ours. She can go from folk to rock in the space of a single song, and have it make perfect sense. She expresses emotion by putting more or less air in her voice, and this technique works for her on both louder and softer passages in the music. Another Sad Love Song would be a breakup song, except that the couple doesn’t break up. Instead, they play the same emotional scenes over and over again. Fitzgerald shows both her intelligence and her empathy for her characters beautifully with this one.

Kelley McRae: Long Walk Home

[purchase]

Kelley McRae takes us almost over the border into rock country. There is a strummed acoustic guitar on Long Walk Home, but you have to listen closely to hear it. Before the song is done, you will hear electronic percussion and noises. The vocal here has far more in common with Sarah McLachlan than Joan Baez. But other songs on this album have acoustic guitar as the only instrument. Indeed, acoustic guitar is the only instrument McRae plays on the album. She does not change musical genres in a single song, as Annie Fitzgerald does. But Kelley McRae shows a wide stylistic range on this album. She also shows that a big sound suits her just fine, but she can also be subtle. Long Walk Home has a chant-like quality to it. The “home” in the title is as much an idea as a physical place. The lyric is an accumulation of details about this idea, as it draws nearer. The mild distortion at the end reinforces the idea that the nature of “home” changes in our minds the longer we are away from it. The song perfectly captures McRae’s gifts, both as a songwriter and a performer.

Boundaries of Jazz

Jazz may be thought of as a musical nation. Within it are states, each covered by the same national laws, but also displaying regional differences. The common history goes back before the swing era, but swing is a good reference point for the current set of songs. The nation of jazz has visitors; some only drop in, and then return to their native lands; but others stay and make this nation their new home. At a given point in an artist’s career, it can be impossible to tell who is a tourist and who is an immigrant. Some of the immigrants form little enclaves, where the accent from their previous home never quite fades away. All of this is to the good; it keeps the national language of jazz rich and diverse. Here then is a mix of natives, immigrants, and tourists in the land of jazz. I’m not entirely sure who is who in all cases, but all have worthy contributions to make.

Erin Dickins: Tain‘t What You Do

[purchase]

It’s hard to believe that Nice Girls is Erin Dickins’ first album in her own name. She was a founding member of Manhattan Transfer almost forty years ago. Since then, she has worked with a diverse group of artists, including James Taylor, Talking Heads, and Jaco Pastorius. But this album makes clear that the jazz of the swing era has always called out to her. The songs on Nice Girls have some touches from later jazz: an accordion here, a cello there. But Tain’t What You Do is a straight ahead track, and Dickins hits it perfectly. The band makes a big sound, But Dickins sings in a natural unforced way, and she more than holds her own. Dickins also has a tight sense of rhythm that really helps put this one over.

Jane Stuart: Eleanor Rigby

[purchase]

Jane Stuart’s album Don’t Look Back opens with the song I Just Found Out About Love. Oddly enough, so does Erin Dickins’. But they are two very different singers. Stuart has a soulful voice, with the kind of gospel shadings that bring to mind the classic R & B singers. But Stuart is certainly singing jazz. She plays with time, stretching or compressing notes and phrases to enhance the emotionality of her vocals. Stuart’s take on Eleanor Rigby is a perfect example of this. She starts out pretty much on the beat, but then she starts getting ahead or behind it. You can tell that this is no accident. She makes “all the lonely people” really come alive for the listener. Her voice intertwines with the guitar part here, and really makes this Eleanor Rigby a thing of beauty.

Patty Ascher: Sunrise

[purchase]

I’m not sure how Patty Ascher is a Brazilian name, but that’s where she’s from. Brazil is one of those enclaves I mentioned in my introduction. On Sunrise, we hear Ascher’s gifts as a singer in a spare setting. The band sets up a rhythm that rocks back and forth, and so do Ascher’s vocals when she joins in. The use of both electric and acoustic guitar, plus the sensual purr of Ascher’s voice, give this one all the sunshine you could want. Elsewhere on the album, Ascher and her band are joined by a large-sounding string section. Sunrise shows me that Ascher does not need this help. Put her voice with this small combo, and she has all she needs.

Clea Crimson: Creepily Addicted

[purchase]

Clea Crimson may be a visitor or an immigrant to the land of jazz; it’s too soon to tell. She has a voice with more than a hint of playfulness in it, and she shows on her album that she knows how to use this voice equally well in a pop or jazz setting. The album closes with a stunning jazz-gospel performance on a song called Sing to Me Darlin’. But Creepily Addicted is just too much fun not to post. Crimson’s playfulness is on full display here, and this song needs it to work. The lyric could be frightening if it were song too seriously, but Crimson is clearly winking at us, and it makes this song a delight. Also, Crimson shows that she really knows how to swing.

Alexi Kaye: Summerstorm

[contact Alexi Kaye directly for purchase information]

Alexi Kaye tends to sound more like a jazz artist when she plays piano, while her songs on the guitar are more rock or folk influenced. On Summerstorm, we are in bebop territory. Drums, bass, and piano pull the rhythm one way, while the saxophone tugs in another. Finally, Kaye’s extraordinary voice comes in, choosing a middle ground rhythmically that binds the whole thing together. Kaye sings in a rich low alto, and her voice has an amazing quiet power. Even when the music is loud, as it is here, nothing overpowers her. Summerstorm is just one of the wonderful surprises on this album. I can’t wait to see where Alexi Kaye’s music takes her next.

My Country Station

In an alternate universe, country music had its punk moment, somewhere around the time actual punk emerged. In this other dimension or timeline, Nashville was flooded by a wave of bands and artists who rebelled against overblown productions and slick commerciality. Their music was fast and loud, and pundits thought that Music Row could just ignore them, and they would go away. But these rebels came out with Country Music Television, (remember, this is an alternate universe), and suddenly they started to sell massive amounts of records. The first artist on CMT, (“I want my…”), was Rank and File, and Dwight Yoakum would get there in due course. In the way of these things, there would eventually be a mellower sister channel, which welcomed the “new traditionalists” like The Whites with open arms, and later broke artists such as Red Molly. The upshot of the matter was that now, thirty years later, country music is only just rediscovering huge productions and glib faux emotion. But the biggest songs are still the ones that are descended from that country-punk wave of the eighties. Let’s have a listen to some recent and upcoming chart-toppers, shall we?

Mick Reed: That Old Brass Ring

[purchase]

For country, Mick Reed’s voice would be considered a high baritone. He can deliver a biting uptempo number like Singapore Sling, complete with the word play that has such a venerable history in country music. But Reed really shines on the ballads, and there are plenty of those here. That Old Brass Ring presents an older man looking back at the dreams and plans of his youth. The song is eloquent, musically as well as lyrically, and the production is exactly right, with not a note wasted. There is one ringer on this album; the closing number is a duet with pop-jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux, and it works beautifully. So the feel here is mostly country, but Mick Reed can do other things as well. Based on the music on Goodnight Texas, it will be well worth seeing what he does next.

Emma Hill and Her Gentlemen Callers: Meet Me at the Moon

[purchase]

Any discussion of Emma Hill must begin with her voice. Hill has a rich and smooth alto that I could listen to all day. But emotion comes first, and Hill delivers that beautifully. Meet Me at the Moon, the album, is a collection of ballads and midtempo songs, all delivered from the heart. The Gentlemen Callers are a new addition since I last looked in on Emma Hill, and they give the proceedings a definite country flavor. It suits Hill beautifully, and the title track is a fine example. Meet Me at the Moon, the song, is a wonderful declaration of love from a distance. It starts with just Hill and her acoustic guitar. The pedal steel comes in at the chorus, intertwining beautifully with the vocal line. Finally, the rest of the band comes in on the second verse, and the song acquires a road rhythm that perfectly sets the mood of travel. Hill and her lover are apart, but the band lets us know that she is coming home.

Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers: Let‘s Just Be Friends For Tonight

[to be released April 19, 2011. Link from here to purchase at that time]

I stated in my introduction that everything changed in my alternate 1980s, but the music of Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers looks back further, to the classic country sounds of the 1950s. Muth has that classic twangy alto down, and it’s no pose. Let’s Just Be Friends For Tonight is about a woman who wants to avoid commitment as she rebounds from a hurtful breakup; most of that story comes through not in the words themselves but in how Muth sings them. The music on Starlight Hotel begins with a Mariachi blast on the opening song, and proceeds through a marvelous tour of classic country sounds. You can tell that Muth and her band love this music, and they mean every note. Starlight Hotel comes out on April 19. Watch for it.

Lunch at Allen‘s: Sweeping the Spotlight Away

[purchase]

Lunch at Allen’s is a band that consists of Canadian singer-songwriters Marc Jordan, Murray McLauchlan, Cindy Church, and Ian Thomas. More… is their third album, and Church and McLauchlan cowrote one of the songs here, so the level of collaboration is a bit tighter than a Redbird or a Cry Cry Cry. The music ranges over many genre boundaries; there are tastes of folk, country, blue-eyed soul, and even jazz. Murray McLauchlan steps out for Sweeping the Spotlight Away, and he delivers a portrait of the man who stays when everyone else has gone, and cleans up the dreams of the circus. This would unbearably maudlin in some other hands, but McLauchlan and friends hit it perfectly, and make the song something profound. The album as a whole is far more coherent than it ought to be, with all of the different musical styles, and the quality is consistently high. This album does what any collaboration should: it makes me want to know more about each of the individual artists.

Renee Wahl: Keeping You For Mine

[purchase]

The scorned lover is a classic figure in country music. Renee Wahl takes this archetype and plays with it a bit. I don’t want to give anything away, but keep your ears open at the chorus, and you’ll see what I mean. The song gets a beautifully rendered spooky vibe. On Cumberland Moonshine, the twang in Renee Wahl’s voice comes and goes. It’s not an affectation; it’s just a tool that Wahl uses to get the emotion of her songs across, and she has others. She can go from the sweetness of a Dolly Parton to almost the sharp tone of a Maria McKee, and Wahl uses this expressive range perfectly, giving each song what it needs. The music has rockabilly accents, and even a bluesy flavor in places, but it is unmistakably country.

Back Towards Normal

Having just spent a week immersed in the music of Mikel Rouse, I find that I need to readjust how I hear music. This will not permanently change the music I present here, but it may have affected my selections for this post. We are back to the traditional verse-chorus song structure, but I still hear interlocking patterns of rhythm and harmony. And the songs that appealed to me this week all have unusual instruments or combinations of instruments. Still, in a way, what Rouse does is to strip down the pop song form to its most basic elements; here are five artists who build that form back up, each in their own way.

Liam Singer (with Wendy Allen): The Brief Encounter

[listen to samples of more songs and purchase here]

The Brief Encounter has piano, hammered dulcimer, and fiddle. I believe there are also some electronically processed sounds, but if so, that is done with great subtlety. The song tells the story of a man who has an encounter with a ghost, and the song itself floats along, wrapped in beauty. The arrangement has hardly any low end, so the sense of floating described in the lyric is perfectly stated musically. But the ghost wants to show the narrator something, and suddenly the music becomes briefly dissonant. The moment is gently jarring, and the narrator floats back to himself, somewhat shaken. It’s subtle but powerful, and that could also describe the rest of the music on this album. Liam Singer presents a mix of vocal and instrumental songs here. The textures vary just enough to make the album as a whole a wonderful listen. The album was produced by Scott Solter, and the female vocalist is Wendy Allen; both are from the group Boxharp. It looks like I need to know more about them as well.

F&M: I Tripped, You Smiled

[purchase]

F&M is the duo of Rebecca and Ryan C Anderson, plus a shifting cast of supporting players. Their last album featured subdued vocal performances which suited the meditative quality of the songs. But Sincerely, F&M is a set of more emotional songs, and so the Andersons really cut loose here in their vocal performances. I was already impressed with Rebecca’s voice last time, but in this new setting, Ryan’s voice is a revelation. I Tripped, You Smiled features both of their voices, with different musical settings when he sings and when she does. The song depicts an argument between lovers, and this musical device puts a distance between them that helps to put across the uncertainty and yearning of the situation. The substance of the argument is not important here, but the conflicting emotions of the situation come through perfectly.

Hilary Grist: Tall Buildings

[purchase]

Tall Buildings is based on a chiming figure on the piano, plus an interesting rhythm in hand claps. In the course of the song, Hilary Grist will take this basic figure, and change the arrangement in various ways, enhancing it with additional instruments. But that simple figure never quite goes away, although it sometimes exists as a mere shadow. It gives the song an insistent power. Elsewhere on this album, Grist switches up the arrangements considerably, even using a small marching band on one song. It all holds together beautifully, and shows Grist to be a wonderfully passionate and imaginative musician.

Robert Steel: Goodnight to My Childhood

[purchase]

Robert Steel’s album The Calm Waters of Youth is probably as close to being folk as the music in this post gets, but there is still a ways to go. The title of the album is meant ironically, as the emotions here are quite turbulent. In the song Goodnight to My Childhood, the narrator finds himself in the neighborhood where he grew up. He finds his old house, and sees that all traces that he and his family ever lived there are gone. This causes him to experience a flood of memories of his lost childhood. This is rendered completely without cliché, and with a specificity that makes the song powerful indeed. The music is based around Steel’s acoustic guitar, and has a tolling quality that only enhances the mood. The song is good taste of what to expect from the album as a whole. Calm Waters feels like the work of a man who is exorcising some personal demons. The musicianship is high throughout, making this one of the most emotional albums I expect to hear this year.

Bekah Kelso: Bang Bang

[purchase]

Bekah Kelso has the talent to go in many different musical directions. Bang Bang is a soulful folk-jazz piece that also puts me in mind of Fiona Apple. Elsewhere on this album, Kelso sings quieter ballads, and invests them with a full range of emotion. The album concludes with a spoken word piece that suggests that Kelso could also make it as a rapper if she wanted to.

Mud Blossom was Kelso’s debut album two years ago. Her next one will be called Departures, and for good reason. This time, Kelso says she will be emphasizing her “hip hop/ world music flavor”. That is how she described it to me. So Bang Bang doesn’t give an accurate taste of what Kelso is up to now. But the song is a blast. Kelso is doing a fund drive on her own to get Departures made. She is raising the money in stages. I will have a formal post about the drive as soon as I have new music from the album to share. For now, you can get more details and donate here. As always, thank you for whatever you can do to help.

Spotlight on: Mikel Rouse

[purchase all albums in this post here]

Take a look at the picture above. That’s Mikel Rouse. He looks like he just finished playing a folk or blues song, and everything went right and the audience loved it. Maybe this was at a folk festival, you might think. Well, not exactly. Mikel Rouse looks this way nowadays, and there are certainly touches of folk and blues in what he does now. But the journey that got him here is one of the most fascinating tales I know. In introducing Rouse to you, I am limited to five songs, one from each of five albums sprinkled throughout Rouse’s career. In his case, that isn’t nearly enough. Rouse began in a band that once opened for Talking Heads, he has composed for full orchestras and chamber ensembles, and used both electronic and organic instruments, separately or in combination. Rouse is so prolific that only about half of his music has even been recorded. And there is an important side of his artistry that I am unable to present: Rouse has been not only a musician but also a film maker, and much of his music is meant to be presented with a visual component. I can tell you that Rouse’s album Quorum is a work for solo drum machine, but that’s not quite true. Quorum is the music for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s piece Vespers. The music can only be properly appreciated in combination with the choreography of Ulysses Dove and the performances of the six Alvin Ailey dancers. (You can search You Tube for video of this by looking for Alvin Ailey Vespers; the video quality could be better, but it will give you the idea.) Nevertheless, what I can share with you is a suitable taste of Mikel Rouse. I hope you will come away from this post inspired to explore further.

Mikel Rouse Broken Consort: Winter in Wyoming

I mentioned that Mikel Rouse once opened for Talking Heads. The band was called Tirez Tirez. I must have read about them in the New York Times, because I actually bought one of their albums back in the 1980s. Now, they are all but impossible to find. There are three songs on You Tube to give you an idea, but only one of their albums was even released on CD, and vinyl copies are in the hands of collectors. Tirez Tirez built their songs on grooves which had interlocking parts, but didn’t seem to change much in the course of a song. The vocals were high and thin, really just another instrument in the ensemble. But you could listen to a song at the beginning, and then part way through, and you would be amazed that you got from the one place to the other. This is a layman’s description of Minimalism, and, technically, there is a lot more to it. Minimalism was pioneered by Phillip Glass, and in his lengthy pieces, the changes come very slowly, and try the patience of the listener. But, in the shorter form of a pop song, time is compressed, and the gradual change becomes fascinating. Also, because of those interlocking parts I mentioned, it is possible to listen to this music from different angles as the song progresses. To my ear, this is what Tirez Tirez was after, and they largely succeeded.

But soon enough, Mikel Rouse formed his Broken Consort. The vocals are gone, and the instrumentation is a mix of classical instruments and electronic ones. Winter in Wyoming has the interlocking patterns as its foundation, but there is also a longer theme and variations on top of this. This makes the song a good introduction to the music of the Mikel Rouse Broken Consort.

Mikel Rouse: A Brief History of My Boy‘s Life

There was a great deal of music in between, but ten years later Rouse created Failing Kansas. All of the instruments and voices you here are performed by Mikel Rouse. Failing Kansas is a work that is best appreciated as a whole, but I can only present one song. In A Brief History of My Boy’s Life, I can hear harmonica, guitar, flute, and some electronics. Rouse is still laying down an interlocking pattern, but now he is starting to find connections between Minimalism and blues. The vocals on the album are all spoken, with overdubbed voices seemingly having uneasy conversations. Boy’s Life has a definite lead vocal part, but the background vocal comes first. The traditional call-and-response is turned upside down, with the background vocal becoming a sly prod. Rouse sees the interaction of voices as part of the ensemble, and he calls this vocal technique counterpoetry. It sounds technical, and possibly off-putting, but don’t let it scare you.

Truman Capote’s In True Blood was what he called a “nonfiction novel”; it was based on a true incident, but filtered through Capote’s sensibilities. Failing Kansas, in turn, is based on In Cold Blood, and it introduces another layer of distortion. Rouse assumes that we are familiar with the original story, and that frees him to extrapolate further. Boy’s Life finds Perry Smith’s father trying to rationalize the horrifying things his son has done. The vocal technique amplifies his uncertainty, and really helps the whole song to connect emotionally.

Mikel Rouse: Beautiful Murders

Mikel Rouse called Dennis Cleveland an opera, but that may surprise you when you hear the music. It was staged, with different singers in different roles, but once again, all of the instruments and voices on the album are Mikel Rouse. Dennis Cleveland is the host of one of those TV talk shows where the audience members become participants and things sometimes get out of control. Life as presented on these kinds of shows is a distortion of the real thing. This theme of truth and distortion is one that comes up over and over in Rouse’s work. In the story of Dennis Cleveland, the talk show host is made to reexamine his own life as a result of his interactions with his guests. In performance, each of the verses of Beautiful Murders is sung by a different guest, with Cleveland and the talk show audience singing the chorus. Once again, Rouse uses the interplay of vocal parts to powerfully create dramatic tension. Musically, Rouse makes another surprising connection here, this time between Minimalism and funk.

Mikel Rouse: Johnny Dollar

I am tempted to call Johnny Dollar a blues song. It certainly has that flavor. There is a bluesy guitar that is prominent in the mix. But there is also a rhythm section that is playing a part with a cyclical African feel. Sunny Ade meets Son House? In any case, the song comes from an album called Music for Minorities, which is, of course, part of a larger work. In fact, the album comes with a CD of just the songs and a DVD of the full work. Rouse conducted interviews with people in New York City and Louisiana, and he also uses television footage and just things that caught his eye. I’m sure the whole thing was more thought out than that makes it sound, particularly since I didn’t have time to view the film all the way through. What I saw made this impression: fragmentation is another kind of distortion. Interviews trail off and bleed into parts of others. The opening footage of a news cast is cut in such a way as to strip the spoken word of meaning. It’s also interesting to listen to the songs first, and then find them on the DVD. They gain and lose meaning because of the images they are juxtaposed with. Johnny Dollar plays over images of superhero figurines, and we are made to question our notions about money. Because the visual component is part of the package, Music for Minorities may be the best introduction to the artistry of Mikel Rouse.

Mikel Rouse: Silence of Sound

Gravity Radio is a work from 2009, and things are changing in Rouse land. Rouse’s voice now has some grit to it, and that makes it a more emotive instrument. Silence of Sound is actually moving towards a more conventional song structure of verse and chorus; there is even a guitar solo. Once again, there is an African feel to the rhythm part, but the guitar plays a countermelody.

I read in the New York Times a review of a recent performance of Gravity Radio, and that was the original inspiration for this post. Rouse calls it a song cycle, and there are six radio news reports interspersed between the songs. These reports change every time Gravity Radio is performed, to keep current with the latest news. There is also a visual component of course. What I take from the songs on the album and what I know about how it is performed live is that Gravity Radio is all about people trying to sort through the noise of daily life and make connections with each other. The title Silence of Sound is at once a play on Sounds of Silence and a reiteration of this idea of attempted connections amid the noise. For me at least, the lyrics bear that out.

****************************************************************

So now I have brought you almost up to date on the career of Mikel Rouse. My next post will finish the job. It will be a review of Rouse’s most recent album. Stay tuned.

That 70s Vibe

In the picture above, we are looking at a riot of flowers in a garden. But the natural texture of the plants has been eliminated, replaced by day-glo colors. The resulting image is loud and may produce a strong emotional response, but the simple natural beauty of a single flower is nowhere to be seen. For me, a lot of the music of the 1970s was like that. The Beatles showed everyone how the recording studio could be another instrument in a band, and then the record producers of the 70s abused that lesson. There were layers of strings masking genuine emotions. Bombast was the order of the day for guitar players. Chorused vocals were used by singers who weren’t up to the task of emoting on their own, while other singers mastered the art of over singing, just so they could be heard above the din. To be sure, it wasn’t all bad. Steely Dan’s music was densely layered, but it needed to be to create the pop-jazz textures they were after. Earth Wind and Fire, in their predisco days, had a huge sound, but it served to make them a glorious funk orchestra. But compare Jackson Browne’s album Late For the Sky to its follow-up, The Pretender. The song The Pretender makes it clear that Browne was being pressured by his label to make hits. The arrangements are awash in strings that sound all the more forced, knowing what had come before. The real emotion of Late For the Sky is lost, replaced by responses that are forced by the heavy-handed production of The Pretender.

All of this comes to mind because of a realization I had while selecting the songs for this week’s post. These are all modern artists, and some may not even have been born in the 70s. But I wound up with five songs that have a 70s feel, but are not marred by the production excesses of that era. And it made me wonder how many of the songs I’ve always hated from those years were actually good songs wearing really bad make-up. Let me show you what I mean.

Jaime Michaels: Wish on the Moon

[purchase]

Wish on the Moon is a perfect pop song. Jaime Michaels gets a wonderful breezy feel, and the call-and-response with the background vocals gives the whole thing a wonderful gospel feel. The pop song craft that I praised last week is certainly here, but, given that, the production is done with a light touch. The song is allowed to fly on its own, and it does. As a bonus, the harmonica player heard here is John Popper.
Elsewhere on this album, the songs quiet down, and Jaime Michaels proves that he can deliver his emotional messages at a lower volume as well. He also is a very fine songwriter.

Susan Anders: Love Beats Time

[purchase]

The title Love Beats Time warns you to expect a love ballad, and that’s what you get. In places, Susan Anders is going to elongate syllables, and she will make use of changes in volume. But Anders doesn’t need a wall of strings or anything like that. This expression of love is so much truer because Anders puts it across with such graceful subtlety.

Swimmer has songs with country, jazzy, or even a bossa nova feel to them. Anders makes subtle adjustments in her approach that make all of this work. She can sing in a sultry purr or add and bit of a bluesy growl, always in service of the song. It all makes Swimmer a nicely varied collection.

Casey Abrams and The Mysterious Strangers: It‘s Rained Every Day Since They Closed Down the Zoo

[purchase]

Casey Abrams has a way of crafting new music that you could swear you’ve heard before. But a careful listen will reveal an odd note here or there that makes the whole thing more memorable, even if you’re not conscious of it. On It’s Rained Every Day Since They Closed Down the Zoo, he sings in a high tenor, and conveys all of the emotion he needs. The song has a wonderful bittersweet and wistful quality. A delicate arrangement is called for, and Abrams and Co deliver it. Other songs here have just guitar and vocal, and there are also times when the band plugs in for a light rock sound. Abrams and Co know just how to make this work.

Terence Martin: Down From Sacamento

[purchase]

Terence Martin does not have a pretty voice. There is a gruff quality to it, a voice that has been lived in. But it is a musical voice, and there is no need for arrangements to pretty it up. The music comes from that odd borderland between folk and country. What makes this kind of thing work is a fine singer and equally good songwriting. Martin is a master of small details, giving his songs great emotional resonance, but in a way that may sneak up on you with repeated listening. Down to Sacramento is one of many fine examples on this album.

Jenny Arch: Black Barns

[purchase]

For Jenny Arch, there is no need for a full string section, when a single cello will do. Black Barns is the kind of song that paints pictures in my head as I listen, (and not in day-glo colors either). Vocally, Arch sounds like a more intimate and contemplative version of Natalie Merchant, and her small-scale, mostly acoustic arrangements emphasize this beautifully.

Call for help:

Walking Home (Samantha Kushnick and Anna Fritz): Remedy

[donate here]

Samantha Kushnick has been a member of the Portland Cello Project, which is a sort of chamber orchestra made up entirely of cellos. They make quite an amazing sound. In 2009, Kushnick was in a cello duo with Anna Fritz, called Walking Home. That was where she made her debut as a songwriter, with the version of Remedy heard above. The twin cellos are sometimes bowed, and sometimes plucked, but cellos are the only instrument you hear. Now, Kushnick is ready to step out on her own. We already know that she is a wonderfully imaginative cellist, but she plans to work with other instruments as well, so I look forward to hearing her skills as an arranger blossom. Kushnick is asking for $1000 on Kickstarter to make her album, and she is already well along towards her goal. But I have a feeling she will need more, so I ask you, my readers, to do whatever you can to see that she has it.

Updates:

As I write this, Daniel Levi Goans has three days left to make his goal, so it’s crunch time. An angel or two would get it done, but, of course, smaller donations will also help.

Meanwhile, the String Bone campaign on Kapipal is just getting underway, but even a small donation is needed now to really get the ball rolling. Take Hold of the Line is going to be one of my favorite Americana albums of the year, assuming it gets made.

On behalf of all of these artists, thank you for whatever you can do.

Pop Music

Here are five fine examples of “pop music” by five artists you may well not have heard of. How can this be? Isn’t “pop” short for “popular”? Well, yes, but unpopular music can still be “pop”, as I see it. And not all music that becomes popular is pop music.

Think about it. Pop music can be made in country, grunge, folk, or even the ska genre. “Pop” is not a musical genre. It is instead an approach to making music. The idea in pop music is to take the limitations of a genre, and work within them to create well crafted songs. These songs are bound by the rules of the genre they represent, and this gives the listener the comfort of familiarity. But that should not mean that the song lacks emotional resonance. Too much pop music leeches out the emotional content of a song altogether. The great trick is to preserve the emotional content of a song, but comfort the listener by placing it in a familiar context. Put another way, pop music done well must be finely crafted, but the artistry of the performers must also be there. The ability to balance craft and art is what makes great pop music. Let me show you what I mean.

Dawnya Clarine: He‘s a Cat

[purchase]

He’s a Cat is the perfect place to begin. Here is Dawnya Clarine, solidly within a pop-jazz zone, wishing she could break out and do something wild. The song can be taken as a statement on her own artistry. Elsewhere on this album, Clarine’s band provides her with a light fusion jazz backing to sing with. Walking on Water does not take many musical risks, but Clarine and her band show a rock-solid commitment to this music. Most of all, Clarine’s vocals really put this one over.

Steve Poltz: License Plate Eyes

[purchase Dreamhouse and other Steve Poltz goodies here]

Take a sunny. optimistic lyric. Add a strummed acoustic guitar, and a band, plus some sound effects and a little reverb on the vocals, and you have one of the most derided forms of pop music ever: psychedelic folk-rock, as done in the early 1970s. There are artists nowadays who present this kind of music in an ironic manner, but Steve Poltz is not one of them. He plays it straight here, and what shines through is his complete belief in the material. You can make as much fun as you like of Poltz’s 1970s counterparts, but the best of them meant every word, and they offered hope and comfort in a very difficult period in history. The world could use that kind of offer now, and Steve Poltz provides it.

Seth Swirsky: Summer in Her Hair

[purchase]

As Summer in Her Hair opened, I was reminded of the singing of Elliot Smith. But, soon enough, we are in Burt Bacharach/ Hal David territory. Summer in Her Hair is an innocent paean to a beautiful woman, and the song has strings, brass, and I think there may even be some woodwinds in there. What is remarkable is how natural Seth Swirsky makes this all sound. All of this instrumentation never comes close to overwhelming the song. Swirsky delivers a fine vocal and really puts this one over.

Jordan Galland: Search Party

[purchase]

Jordan Galland remakes 1980s dance-pop here. Search Party has a coolness, an aloofness, that was so popular in those days. Galland, however, does this without featuring synthesizers. Here are regular drums, bass, guitar and piano. There is also a braying trumpet part that gives this a wonderful edge. Galland’s vocal, complete with reverb, is perfect here. What is clear from this song is that Jordan Galland loves this kind of material, and he completely does it justice.

Kori Pop: Shooken Up

[purchase in digital or “tactile“ format, (you‘ll see what I mean when you get there.)]

Naturally, if you have music by an artist named Kori Pop, and you’re doing a post on Pop music, she has to be included. All kidding aside, here’s how it works. R & B music these days is distinct from the rhythm and blues music of the past, and I will have more to say about that in a future post. Kori Pop creates a minimal groove and sings over it. In this, she reminds me of Sade and Erikah Badu. The groove here is made by acoustic guitar, drums and bass, with splashes of piano for color. It’s a great sound, but Pop’s vocal is the highlight, as it should be. Pop sings in a breathy alto, and she clips her phrases at the ends of lines for emotional effect. It’s a device that she knows exactly how to use, and it means that this one really hits home.

Call for Help:

String Bone: Midnight Train

[Listen to more String Bone songs here]

[Donate here]

[purchase nadir here]

Barry James Payne is raising money on Kapipal to make his next album Take Hold of the Line. His band is String Bone. Kapipal looks at first like Kickstarter; there is a goal amount, and a time limit for the end of the drive. But Payne will receive whatever money is raised, whether or not he makes his goal. Kapipal is not specifically designed for music, or even for arts projects, so I have provided a link where you can hear more of String Bone’s music. What you will hear is solid Americana. Payne has a low-pitched voice that he uses for quieter numbers, and also a higher pitched voice for the louder songs. Remarkably, Payne can achieve a full range of emotional expression in either voice. The writing is as good as any I have heard in the Americana field. My comments here are based on listening to String Bone’s first album, called nadir. I want badly to hear the new one. Please do whatever you can to help Barry James Payne get Take Hold of the Line made. Thank you.

Updates:

As I write this, Daniel Levi Goans has 9 days left to make his goal on Kickstarter, or he gets nothing. From what I’ve seen, that could be enough time, if enough people want to help. Still, an angel or two capable of making a large donation would really help. Goans, to remind you, is a folk artist, and a solo act with the ability to make you hear a full band. Hank you for whatever you can do.

Since I last reported on them, Allison Tartalia, Leannan Sidhe, and Urban Sun have all successfully completed their fund drives. Congratulations to all, and thank you to al of my readers who were able to help. Unfortunately, The Scarlet Furies were not so lucky. They missed their Kickstarter goal, so they do not get paid. I will be getting in touch with them to find out what they want to do next. I will pass that information on to, as appropriate, when I have it.