Hat Check Girl - Six Bucks Shy

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It would be easy to report that Hat Check Girl is the duo of Peter Gallway and Annie Gallup. That’s them on the album cover, and that was true of their debut album, Tenderness. But the inside cover of the new album has three musicians listed in bold type, and guest musician Mark Dann listed in plain type. The new “member” is drummer Jerry Marotta, who also co-wrote all but two of the new album’s thirteen songs. Yes, that Jerry Marotta! Liner note freaks like myself will know the name from Marotta’s work with Peter Gabriel and others. You might expect that Marotta would add punch, and that his presence here would mean that this album rocks out. There are times when his drumming adds a pulse that really propels this music, as in What Hemmingway Said, but it is never over the top. Marotta has a talent for creating texture with his playing, and that is often more to the point here. Marotta’s contribution is sometimes little more than a subtle line played with brushes. On top of that, Gallup and Gallway’s guitar lines intertwine like a caress, as do their breathy vocals. Dann adds bass and/or keyboard lines with a light touch. It all adds up to the most sensual-sounding music I have heard at least since Chris Isaac’s Wicked Game.

This sensuality is very much to the point. Six Bucks Shy is a collection of songs about heated moments. It can be the delicious passion of a forbidden tryst or the adrenaline rush of an actual crime. The songs present the passion of stolen moments, when voices can not be raised for fear of discovery. The writing does something rare. I admire songs which tell stories, but also those which capture the complex mood of a moment in time. These songs do both. August Sin sounds like the heat of the day it describes, and the tryst it presents is described in all of its languid passion. But the back story of how these lovers came to be here is also sketched in lightly. Getaway Car captures the rush of a minor heist, but also fills in the back story of the two characters. Echo Echo uses something as insubstantial as a radio signal floating in the ether to tell the tale of a tender parting in wartime. Cigarette Girl describes the push and pull of a flirtation, while it gets inside the hearts of its two characters to show us what each risks in this meeting. All of these and more are wonderfully economic pieces of writing. But the marvel of the bunch is Leave Most of It Out. Annie Gallup’s narrator talks around the real subject of this song. She reminisces about her now gone husband, and describes how she is raising their children. Only gradually, you realize the part she can not bring herself to put into words. The husband died in the World Trade Center on that awful day in 2001. No graphic description of that day could convey the sorrow as eloquently as this woman’s silence.

I would be leery of hearing covers of these songs. Gallup, Gallway, and Marotta have crafted eloquent gems of songs, and the performances smolder with barely contained heat. It would be all to easy to do to much with these songs, or too little. Hat Check Girl hits everything exactly right.

Hat Check Girl: Getaway Car

Hat Check Girl: What Hemmingway Said

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Blog business: This will be my last full album review here for the time being. I have become involved in some things, and I find that this kind of post requires me set aside a large block of time that I am finding it increasingly difficult to find. I will be going back to spotlight posts and single-song coverage. On the plus side, I am hoping that this will mean that I can get back to posting far more often than I have been lately.

New Year’s Special: at the “Lord of Two Faces”

A belated Happy New Year to all of my readers. New Years is the time not only for looking forward, but also for looking back at the old year and summing up. This is why the month of January takes its name from the ancient Roman god Janus, who had two faces, and was always looking behind him and forward at the same time. The Lord of Two Faces, a club named after him, would feature a selection of music that moves forward by drawing on the past in new ways. It’s a tricky thing to balance. The music can sound like an oldies act if overdone in one way, or it can come unmoored from the body of tradition that inspired it if overdone the other way. But, when the proper balance is found, the resulting music can sound both familiar and refreshingly new at the same time. Let’s have a listen.

Mark “Pocket“ Goldberg: This Train

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The foundation for the music of Mark “Pocket” Goldberg is clearly the blues. The music is partially electric, but Goldberg’s instrument is the stand up bass. In terms of vocals, Goldberg has the bluesy growl you would expect if you thought that Howlin’ Wolf and Tom Waits were somehow related to him. Despite that, Goldberg can sound very soulful on the ballads here. This Train is more of a blues incantation than a ballad. Goldberg and his band are after a gritty intimacy here, and they hit it perfectly. Rather than sounding like something crafted in a recording studio, (even though it surely was), this music sounds like something that was in a man’s heart and just had to come out. The gospel-like backing vocals in This Train are done in a way that only enhances this effect. All of the songs here were written or co-written by Goldberg. Within the blues form, which he stretches somewhat, Goldberg writes more involved lyrics than are typical of the blues. This allows Goldberg to tell detailed stories, but the emotional immediacy of the blues is preserved.

The Way Down Low: Check My Condition

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The Way Down Low are a four piece band whose members play mandolin, acoustic guitar, banjo, and upright bass. Three of the band members sing. Must be bluegrass, right? Not exactly. Bluegrass is certainly an element, but so is rock. The band displays a sensibility that reminds me of the Violent Femmes. And there is also a jazzy element that shows up more prominently in some songs than others. The Way Down Low get all of this to make perfect sense, through their high energy performances. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of all this is the fact that this is their debut album. They show an assurance and a well defined sense of musical identity that is very rare for a new band. The future for the Way Down Low seems very bright.

Elephant Revival: Drop

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Elephant Revival is a five piece band. Between them, the play eighteen different instruments, so they have a lot of options in terms of arranging their songs. One of the highlights is their beautiful arrangements for strings. Band members play violin and cello, and they bring extra violin or cello players on some songs. I use the word violin instead of fiddle, because of how it is played here. The music of Elephant Revival combines elements of folk and classical in songs that have a delicate power. That may seem like a contradiction, but they make it work. The band has both male and female singers, both on lead and background vocals. So again, they have a lot of options, and they know what to do with them. The singers each have their own personalities that come through when they sing lead, but the band has a consistency in their sound, even when they are working with a wonderful variety of musical textures. You can ignore all of this, and just enjoy a wonderful set of emotionally engaging songs. But this music is also very rich, and should greatly reward repeated playings.

Biscuit Kings: The Day I Met My Waterloo

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In the Day I Met My Waterloo, we are musically in New Orleans. The house is rockin’, and you can just about smell the gumbo in this song. But step back a bit, and you will notice that the smallish band is playing entirely acoustic instruments. Biscuit Kings are the duo of singer and songwriter Johnny Pierre and bass player Jeff Goldstein. Pierre plays guitar, keyboards and percussion, and there is a decent sized group of guest musicians. But this album is all about making a big sound with a group that is no larger than absolutely necessary. One key to making that possible is Pierre’s voice. He half-growls half-sings in a friendly but gruff baritone that is actually quite musical. When he gets to the ballads, of which there are quite a few, his voice manages to be intimate and emotional at the same time. Some of the instruments eventually get plugged in, but the power of this music comes from that voice, and the tightness of the band. Normally, I would wonder how the music would hold up when performed live by just the duo, but Pierre and Goldstein have earned my trust here.

Malcolm Hunter & the Makeshift Dream Orchestra: Hangups

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Suppose I told you that someone had discovered a long-lost tape from 1979 of an album that was never released, and that featured collaborations between Steely Dan, Michael Franks, and Gil Scott-Heron. To my knowledge, no such tapes ever existed, but Malcolm Hunter’s album Nostalgia in My Square Head is what they might have sounded like. It’s a heady mixture, and it really works. In the midst of all of this, Hunter includes a cover of a Charles Mingus tune, and it feels right at home. Hunter’s voice has that cool breeziness that Franks was known for, but with some of Scott-Heron’s grit. The arranging ideas, especially the interplay between Hunter and his background singers, are from the Steely Dan playbook. But this album doesn’t feel like a pastiche at all. It feels like the work of a talented artist who is paying homage to his inspirations, and laying down a solid foundation from which to build his own thing. Hunter is going to be an artist to keep an eye on as he develops his talent, and this is a great place to start.

Happy Birthday to Me

Oliver di Place was born on December 23, 2008. I’m celebrating a little late this year. That happens during the holidays. In this third year, I have reached the point where the blog is almost what I imagined at the beginning. This is a place where you might hear folk music, singer-songwriters, Americana, or jazz singers. This year, I was able to add my first musical love to the mix: blues. I also opened the Oliver di Place Cabaret for business this year; this is where you can hear music that defies categorization. For this year’s birthday celebration, let’s hear some of all of that, and see how it connects or doesn’t.

Mitchell & Harris: The Canyon

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From the folk/ singer/songwriter camp comes the duo of Anna Mae Mitchell and G Pat Harris, known collectively as Mitchell & Harris. Mitchell plays mostly rhythm on acoustic guitar and is the voice of the duo. Harris plays basses and does all of the writing. They are joined by a small band, playing a mix of electric and acoustic instruments. The sound is based on folk, but not bound by it. The Canyon is a fine example of how this album works. It is a haunting ballad that fits Mitchell’s voice perfectly. The musical setting beautifully enhances the mood while leaving Mitchell’s voice front and center, where it belongs. As a writer, Harris shows himself to be a fine storyteller, and also a great mood setter. His narrator has fled to the desert, and you can feel not only the heat rising off the sand, but also the loneliness of a place where not another living thing can be seen.

Bert Deivert: Kid Man Blues

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Ask me for two countries where I would not look for blues music, and I might name Sweden and Thailand. Actually, now that I have heard Bert Deivert, I can’t say that anymore. Deivert was born in the United States and lived there until he was 24, but his recording career started after he moved to Sweden. The acoustic blues styles from before World War II are his main inspiration, and that comes through loud and clear in his playing and singing. But Deivert is seeking and finding something that transcends historical recreations. He makes this music his own, and, by the time he gets to Thailand, Deivert has created a powerful new dialect for the blues. This album was recorded in Sweden, Thailand, the Mississippi Delta, and Germany. Deivert makes unique connections in each place. As fascinating as this is, it wouldn’t mean much if Deivert didn’t have the passion of a blues player and singer. He does, making Kid Man Blues, both the song and the album, a wonderful blues discovery for me.

Beau Hinze & the Back Porch Shufflers: Thunderstorms & Dominoes

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I suppose the music of Beau Hinze falls in the alt-country or Americana category. But this is acoustic music, and it is played and recorded in a way that dispenses with the layer of artifice that is so common in country-based music. Hinze sings in a rough manner that drops into spoken word for a moment here and there. This makes it all more real. Hinze is an imaginative writer. In Thunderstorms & Dominoes, he places a group of hard-working cowboys in a cabin together, and he has them stuck there due to a flood. What could be a calamity proves instead to be a rare opportunity to relax and enjoy each other’s company. In Hinze’ hands, the sense of comradery is almost a living thing.

Elizabeth!: Melting Snow

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On Brainchildren, Elizabeth! is usually a jazz singer. The are a couple of ventures into pop territory, but the jazz creeps in even there. There are also a couple of instrumentals. Her instrument is the trombone. Usually the trombone is a brash instrument, and you might expect a singer who plays one to be similarly brash. I have heard that done in jazz to good effect, but that’s not what happens here. Both as a singer and on trombone, Elizabeth! brings a quiet intensity to her performance. Her emotional expression is definitely subtle, but her songs are filled with emotion. She and her band go more for texture than improvisational fancies, making this a good album for people who are just discovering jazz. For the rest of us, Brainchildren is the work of a subtle artist backed by a responsive and talented band.

Don Ryan: Tangle Town

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Tangle Town, the album, is conceived of as a performance at a music hall in a fictional world, with slightly different natural laws than we are used to. It is a studio album, but there is a brief moment of “audience noise”, followed by an “encore” to close the album. The music makes reference to folk, country, and blues, but Ryan never lets us quite hear what we expect. The song Tangle Town starts off sounding like folk, but halfway through the band comes in, and we are suddenly in a woozy version of country. Similar things happen in other songs on the album. None of this is for show. Allow this music to take you where it will, and you will find the album to be a rich emotional experience. You will also find Ryan to be an artist of rare originality.

For a Song Christmas Eve Special: Chelsea Boys

Spottiswoode and His Enemies: Chelsea Boys

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Christmas is often referred to as the season of love. Jonathan Spottiswoode takes that to heart in Chelsea Boys. In a wonderful role reversal, he places a straight couple in the minority amidst a group of gay men. It’s not a problem at all. “They won’t care that you’re a girl”, he sings. In this season at least, love is love, and they all join in the celebration with singing and dancing.

As a bonus, this one has a beautiful video. It’s an animated short, with art by the Brazilian illustrator Maria Eugenia. Eugenia has more of her work available for viewing on her blog here. She has done wonderful work for books both for grownups and children. Just make sure you have plenty of time when you follow the link, because you will want to stay a while.

For a Song Solstice Special: Solstice Night

Michael Lewis: Solstice Night

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Sometimes in winter, there is a magical moment. It has snowed enough to completely cover everything, so the familiar world has been replaced by the mystery of smooth white shapes. The storm is over, the clouds have skittered away to their burrows for a winter’s nap, and the whole scene is lit by the full moon that wasn’t there a moment ago. Most of these images are not in Michael Lewis’ song Solstice Night, but he captures the same feeling in music as this scene does in in vision and feel. Lewis has only our sense of hearing to appeal to convey the full range of sensory and emotional response, and he succeeds brilliantly. No wonder he places this magic on the night of the winter solstice.

Lewis is the songwriting half of Traveler’s Dream, but The Natural World needed to be a solo album, because Lewis is after a different sound here. Some of the arrangements are a bit fuller than Solstice Night, but this music is rooted in the relatively young tradition of singer-songwriter music, rather than the British Isles folk stylings of Traveler’s Dream. The songs on The Natural World are personal, detailing the comfort Lewis draws from nature, and the awe it inspires in him. Where the Traveler’s Dream material is shaped by traditional forms, here Lewis can shape is words however he wishes. The result is every bit as much a collection of poetry as of music.

Shorelines

Sometimes a post tells me how it wants to be written. My last post, about Stanley Greenthal, was absolutely intended to lead into this one. Here then is a feature about music from the British Isles, with four examples with roots in Ireland, and one from England. But, as I was putting all of this together, I was struck by how three of the album covers, including the Greenthal, feature water imagery. And then I realized that none of this music is purely traditional. All of it has roots in tradition, but some of it crossed the sea, while some stayed home and had musical influences come to it across the water. So, even though some of the artists here live and work inland, this is music that lives on the shore, and grows and is nourished by what comes in with the tide.

Beannacht: Lovin‘ Ain‘t Ever Wrong

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Only one band name and album title in this post are in Irish Gaelic. Beannacht means “blessing”, and they hail from County Hunterdon. Now maybe you are an expert on Irish geography, and you are surprised you have never heard of it. That’s because County Hunterdon is in New Jersey. The music of Beannacht combines an Irish lilt in the background with American folk music closer to the surface. In the remarkable case of Love Ain’t Ever Wrong, the result is an Irish blues song, and it works. The most noticeable Irish part of this music is the vocal approach of Deardre Forrest. The Irish are rightly famed especially for the beauty of their female voices, and Forrest’s is no exception. The other half of Beannacht is Forrest’s uncle, Tom Johnston. He also sings, and provides a solid rhythm on guitar at all times. Johnston wrote almost all of the music here. Both members of the group write lyrics, with Forrest being the stronger lyricist at the moment. But Beannacht is a new act, and they are only going to get better. That is certainly something to look forward to.

Queen Elvis: Round and Round

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So, now let’s actually go to Ireland. There we meet Queen Elvis, a group that takes its name from a song by Englishman Robin Hitchcock. Hitchcock tends to ignore the rules in his songwriting, and so it is here as well. Round and Round is a waltz, featuring acoustic guitar and cello. The cello is plucked at first, making an almost percussive sound. Then we hear the amazing voice of Caroline Stanley. She sings powerfully in a low alto, with smoky tones. The only clear influence here of traditional Irish music comes in some of the bowed lines in the cello. Over all, Round and Round is a song of war, given a stern beauty by this performance. Little World is the only release so far from Queen Elvis, and it is just a three-song EP. I haven’t heard, but I hope there is a full length album in the future.

Fling: Ballyshannon Bends

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I had reported about Fling’s debut, also an EP. That one has become impossible to find, but no matter; All of the songs on it and much more are here on their debut album. The EP was all instrumentals, but there also three songs here with vocals. Curiously, those are all American songs, and they are performed that way, although with a slight Irish accent. But the instrumentals take inspiration from everywhere. Yes, there are a number of traditional Irish airs and dances here, but some tunes remind me of the folk-punk of the Pogues. And then there is Ballyshannon Bends. This one might have been at home on the Stanley Greenthal album; it sounds to me at first like it could have come from Greece. But the song is named for a road with perilous curves, located in County Donegal, and it speeds into folk punk territory by the end. It is performed, like everything on this album, with the irresistible combination of fine musicianship and high energy.

John Doyle: Selkie

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John Doyle may be the musician in this post who is most steeped in traditional Irish music. Even though the songs on Shadow and Light are all originals, they show a strong love of Irish storytelling. But Shadow and Light was recorded in Nashville. On Selkie, Doyle plays electric guitar, the other instruments are lap steel and stand up bass. The bass player is Todd Phillips, who I know best for his jazzy playing with David Grisman. Elsewhere on the album, more traditional instruments are heard, like fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and concertina. Doyle plays acoustic guitar and sometimes bouzouki. But even there, the fiddler is Stuart Duncan, who I first heard playing western swing. So there is no doubt from the sound that Shadow and Light is the work of an Irish musician, but Doyle finds common ground with other traditions throughout, and the result is an album of rare beauty.

Anthea Neads & Andy Prince: River of Lights

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Anthea Neads sings in a beautiful English folk soprano. She has a light tone, but the emotion of each song comes through wonderfully. Her musical partner here is bass player Andy Prince. Usually, a bass is heard in the background, as a supporting instrument. Not here. Prince is a melodic player, and the tone he gets from his instrument makes it a second voice, intertwining with Neads to make a greater whole. There are other instruments here, mostly for color, but Neads and Prince are the stars. English folk and folk-rock are the foundations here, but Neads and Prince are unafraid to go adventuring from there, and the results are well worth it.

For a Song: The Waves

Stanley Greenthal: The Waves

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The bouzouki is an instrument that is often heard in Celtic folk music. But the word bouzouki is not any form of Gaelic. In fact, the instrument comes from Greece, and the word is also Greek, possibly derived from Turkish. So maybe that explains the mix of musical influences in the work of Stanley Greenthal. there are Celtic songs and dances, from Ireland, Scotland, and Brittany. But there are also instrumental pieces from Greece, Macedonia, Crete, and even Turkey. The Waves is an original song, sung in English, but inspired by the songwriting techniques of Crete. So words and phrases repeat, like the rhythm of the water gently lapping up onto the shore. The result is hypnotic and beautiful. The water’s caress of the sand becomes a powerful metaphor for love. First Song is an album with many such treasures. It makes unexpected connections, and finds a common beauty in varied traditions.