Sleepy Sun

Here's a heaping helping of pretty good psych rock from California's Sleepy Sun. The new album Spine Hits came out last week on the ATP label. it's the first since singer Rachel Fannan left the band, and most of the reviews have been calling that out as a weakness.

For instance, Prefix said, "Most notably Spine Hits displays a tremendous shift in sound, particularly with ethereal female vocalist Rachel Fannan leaving the band. While Constantino’s vocals are pleasant to listen to, the combination of both male and female vocals were a marvelous centerpiece in preceding albums Embrace and Fever. Fannan’s newfound absence from Sleepy Sun jolts the dedicated listener, like being caught unexpectedly in an empty room. Well-intentioned wanderlust that leans more toward aimless ambling, Spine Hits feels too spacious, lacking the depth that both Fannan’s swelling vocals and improvised jams filled with the band’s two previous releases."

Personally, I like it. The CD's been giving me a pretty heavy Mercury Rev vibe, as well as a kind of organically tripped Black Mountain feeling. It's got that dark but sunny thing going, if you know what I mean. The NME called it "bantamweight Fleet Foxes," but what do they know?

Check out "Stivey Pond" at Consequence of Sound.

And there's this:


They are in the midst of a pretty extended tour, too, if you're into the live thing:
04 16 12 Buffalo / Mohawk Place
04 17 12 Cleveland / Beachland Tavern
04 18 12 Cincinnati / MOTR Pub
04 19 12 Detroit / Majestic Garden Bowl
04 20 12 Chicago / Subterranean
04 21 12 St. Louis / Off Broadway Night Club
04 22 12 Oklahoma City / The Conservatory
04 24 12 Austin / Mohawk Austin
04 25 12 Houston / Orange Show Center for Visionary Arts
04 26 12 New Orleans / Siberia
04 27 12 Atlanta / The 529
04 28 12 Raleigh / Kings Barcade
04 29 12 Washington / DC9
05 01 12 Iowa City / The Mill
05 02 12 Milwaukee / Cactus Bar
05 03 12 Minneapolis / 7th St. Entry
05 04 12 Fargo / Aquarium
05 05 12 Winnipeg / Lo Pub and Bistro
05 05 12 Winnipeg / Lo Pub and Bistro
05 06 12 Sakatoon / Amigo's
05 07 12 Edmonton / New City Legion
05 08 12 Calgary / Broken City
05 08 12 Calgary / Broken City
05 10 12 Vancouver / Lucky Bar
05 12 12 Seattle / The Barboza at Neumo's
05 13 12 Portland / Mississippi Studios
05 13 12 Portland / Mississippi Studios
05 18 12 San Francisco / Independent

Lee Bains and the Glory Fires

So I went out and saw some live music last night...for the first time in forever, everything worked, no one cancelled, it wasn't sold out (it really wasn't sold out, more on that later), tickets were there where they were supposed to be, car worked, etc....and it was so, so, so fun.

The bill was headed up by Citay, whom I've seen once before, a couple of years ago, and who is still playing mostly stuff from Dream Get Together which I reviewed for Dusted, so that was familiar and damn, were they tight. They have switched at least one guitar player...but sound essentially the same, a sharp, sunny groove, full of sudden attacks and dead stops...the one new song seemed darker, churnier, more funk and soul influenced...there's a new record coming on Strange Attractors, I think. I'd like to hear it.



P.G.Six also played, drawing heavily from his Starry-Mind LP from last year (which I also reviewed for Dusted, see here)...and was, by a little, the best band of the night. It was a full band, Gubler himself, plus a guitar player, bassist and drummer, and it really opened out the sound, very Neil Young, totally great.



I wasn't crazy about Trummors, the only band on the bill that I wasn't at least marginally familiar with. They had some cool instruments, lap steep, pump organ...but the two-guitar thing kept slipping out of sync and the harmonies were off. It's kind of a sleepy, folky music anyway, and after a week of getting up at 5:30 a.m., it would have had to have been really good (I'm thinking Vetiver) to make an impression.

But the big find of the night was opener Lee Bains and the Glory Fires, an Alabama-based garage rock band whose lead singer was once in the Dexateens. They have a new album called There Is a Bomb in Gilead out on Alive Records, which I bought on the strength of the show...and am looking forward to cracking open...my favorite song in the show was "Magic City Stomp!" but of course that is not the one they're giving away. How about "Centreville" instead:



Sort of discouraging, one of the best shows I've seen in years was lightly attended, maybe ten people tops who weren't in one of the four bands. But also kind of impressive that none of the bands did any sandbagging, all played mostly for each other, but as if there were 100 ardent fans listening. They can't have made gas money though. The moral: go see a show.

Busdriver

A new review of Beaus$Eros, in which I ponder why Busdriver wants to be a rock singer...

Busdriver
Beaus$Eros
(Fake Four)

Busdriver, the LA-based MC born Regan John Farquhar, has been one to respect genre barriers. A rapper since his teens known for rapid-fire, super-literate lyrical flow, Busdriver has reached well beyond the usual suspects of collaborators. He has worked with experimental electronicists like Daedelus and Nobody, alternative hip hoppers like Nocando, indie rockers like Islands Nick Thornburg (of Unicorns and Islands) and Deerhoof and punk rockers like the Mae Shi. Here, on his 10th full-length, Busdriver works primarily with description Loden, but also Coco Rosie's Sierra Cassady. His music here strains the boundaries of even the most electronically adventurous hip hop, tapping a vein of synthy, electro-pop tunefulness and multi-voiced sung counterpoints.

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"NoBlackNoJewsNoAsians"

I'm going to see Citay, P.G. Six and Lee Bains tonight at the Flywheel, but I bought the tickets so I don't think I'm writing anything very formal about it.

Royal Baths

I've got a short feature with Royal Baths up now at Blurt, want a look?

STAY DIRTY Royal Baths

Nevermind that "better luck next life" mantra - these genre-busting garage refugees are too busy bum-rushing their current karmic incarnation. It's paying off, too.

BY JENNIFER KELLY

"It's a very clean, positive time right now," says Jeremy Cox, the singer and lead guitarist for the decidedly decadent Brooklyn-via-San Francisco band Royal Baths. "A lot of music just isn't very involved. It's missing the passion. I think that's where this kind of clean, happy sound is coming from."

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Michael Chapman tribute

It's a good day when I can simultaneously post about Michael Chapman and Meg Baird, two rather different pillars of the new folk movement who come together in a new Chapman tribute called Oh Michael, Look What You've Done, out May 29 on Tompkins Square.

Here's what Tompkins Square has to say about the album:

Michael Chapman began his career on the Cornish folk circuit in 1967. Signed to the Harvest label, home to Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, he recorded four quasi-legendary albums. The influential 'Fully Qualified Survivor' was John Peel's favorite record of 1970, and featured future Bowie collaborator Mick Ronson. After decades of recording and touring, Chapman remained an obscure figure in the States until his profile was raised by a lengthy 2009 interview with big fan Thurston Moore in Fretboard Journal. He toured extensively with the late guitarist Jack Rose, and more recently, with Bill Callahan. Seattle-based indie label Light in the Attic began a reissue campaign of his Harvest work, and Tompkins Square released the internationally acclaimed double disc, 'Trainsong : Guitar Compositions, 1967-2010'.

All this has brought newfound attention to a singular guitarist and songwriter.

'Oh Michael, Look What You've Done : Friends Play Michael Chapman', compiled by Michael's wife Andru and Tompkins Square's Josh Rosenthal, features artists who have shared a stage with Michael, or share a personal connection. These include some of his contemporaries like Bridget St. John, Maddy Prior, and longtime cohort Rick Kemp (Steeleye Span), as well as young guns inspired by Michael's legacy.

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And, now, Ms. Baird covering "No Song to Sing"


By the way, I caught one of those Michael Chapman/Jack Rose shows a few years ago and wrote it up for PopMatters. Check it out here, if you want.

Neneh Cherry and the Thing

Really interesting fiery yet cerebral collaboration between 1980s unclassifiable experimenter Neneh Cherry and a Scandinavian free-jazz outfit led by Mats Gustaffsson. Neneh is Don Cherry's daughter, so the skronk is, in some ways, her natural habitat. She's also comfortable in R&B, hip hop, punk and indie pop, at least to judge by the covers on this new album Neneh Cherry & the Thing, out mid-June on Smalltown Supersound. There are eight songs, one by Cherry herself, another by her dad, a third by Gustafsson and the rest extremely alternate takes of songs by Suicide, the Stooges, Ornette Coleman, Martina Topley-Bird and Doom. (I really like the Doom...not so crazy about "Dirt." She's been out of the game for a long time though...last thing I remember her on was that truly exceptional Until the End of the World soundtrack...perhaps my favorite soundtrack ever (and accompanying one of my favorite films). Nice to see her back, still pushing the edges...

Here's the soundcloud for "Dream Baby Dream"

Emily Wells

Really interesting amalgam of folk, country, classical, R&B and blues from Emily Wells, reviewed today at Blurt
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Emily Wells
Mama
(Partisan)

Emily Wells sings in a cracked country-blues soprano, with the natural swing rhythm of an old jazz hand, the flexibly-pitched emotional heft of a Karen Dalton or Nina Simone. She plays violin, too, quite well, and in a variety of ways, like the classically trained, Suzuki-schooled musician she is. And she builds beats and synthetic arrangements that pop and slink and shuffle, sounding very much like the kind of person who might collaborate with, say, Dan the Automator. (She has done this, too.) She is good at all these things and, even more important, manages to bring them together in a coherent, wholly original way, so that you hardly see the edges. You also don't worry much, while you're listening, about whether this hybrid makes sense.

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