Another side to Mick Turner

It seems like I've been writing a lot, for the last couple of years, about Mick Turner, who is the guitar player for The Dirty Three (feature interview 9/12 in Blurt) and Venom P. Stinger (review in Dusted from last summer) and now the driving force behind a solo project which is called Mick Turner. (He's a painter, too, but I haven't written anything about that.)

This new album Don't Tell the Driver leans more towards the Dirty Three ethos than Venom -- it's expansively instrumented with brass and reeds and just a little singing, certainly more post-rock than post-punk, and gorgeously sad and spare.

Wait, I just found a paragraph about who's on the record, which is, apparently, an opera. (Like Tosca! or Tannheuser! except not!) This is from Exclaim, whose writer apparently got liner notes, lucky dog.

It's unclear if the narrative is connected throughout the concept LP, but Turner brought in Caroline Kennedy-McCraken (Dead Star, the Plums, Caroline No) and opera singer Oliver Mann to sing on the set. Additionally, bassist Peggy Frew leant a hand to the recordings, while Ian Wadley (Bird Blobs, Minimum Chips), Jeff Wegener (Laughing Clowns) and Kishore Ryan (Kid Sam, Where Were You At Lunch) played drums throughout the LP.

There's no audio yet, because the record's not out until November, but how about some Dirty Three instead?





There will be some shows, too, though mostly west coast and nothing in New England.
11/8/13 Union Pool Brooklyn NY
11/12/13 Rhythm Room Phoenix AZ w/ Bill Callahan
11/13/13 Pappy and Harriets Pioneertown Palace Pioneertown CA w/ Bill Callahan
11/14/13 Japan American Theatre Los Angeles CA w/ Bill Callahan
11/15/13 Soho Restaurant & Music Club Santa Barbara CA w/ Bill Callahan
11/16/13 Great American Music Hall San Francisco CA w/ Bill Callahan
11/17/13 The Chapel San Francisco CA w/ Bill Callahan
11/19/13 Aladdin Theater Portland OR w/ Bill Callahan
11/20/13 Neumo's Seattle WA w/ Bill Callahan
11/21/13 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland OH w/ Mono
11/22/13 Bottom Lounge Chicago IL w/ Mono
11/23/13 The Loving Touch Detroit MI w/ Mono