The Low Anthem feature (Orlando Weekly)

“We drive sound engineers absolutely crazy,” laughs Jeff Prystowsky. Prystowsky is one of the three multi-instrumentalists who comprise Providence, R.I., neo-folk group the Low Anthem, and the emphasis in that description falls on “multi.”

“It’s just the three of us,” says Prystowsky. “But we each play three to four different instruments during a live show. We have these five different stations set up [on stage], so we switch around on them during the set. Drums, organ, electric and upright bass, acoustic and electric guitar, clarinet … we just move around and play them all. [Sound engineers] think we’re a trio, then we show up with all these instruments, we’ve gotta hook up all these channels, and we insist on playing all the acoustic instruments without pickups right into a mic. It’s just kind of a nightmare for them, but, probably more than most bands, we kind of obsess about the tone and blend of our instruments live.”

Prystowsky and Ben Knox Miller founded the Low Anthem as a duo. The two met while attending Brown University and self-released their first album, What the Crow Brings, in 2006 and 2007. The addition of Jocie Adams in 2007 coincided with extended touring throughout the Northeast and the recording of Oh My God, Charlie Darwin in 2008; that album was also self-released, but by that point, several successful New York shows had garnered the attention of Nonesuch Records, and the label remastered and reissued OMGCD earlier this year.

“We weren’t really interested in signing a record deal,” says Prystowsky. “We were making a living at that point playing live shows and selling our record at the shows, so we didn’t really see the point. But when Nonesuch came along, it was a whole different story. We’ve always had such respect for the label, for the artist roster and for what the label stands for; they offered us a credible record deal – it wasn’t a 360 deal or any of the crazy things that bands are signing these days – so it was really a stroke of luck.”

The national release of OMGCD has increased the band’s profile considerably, leading to well-received festival performances at Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits and the Newport Folk Festival. But the organic pastoralism of a Low Anthem live performance is something altogether different than the atmospheric and enveloping sounds the band creates on their albums. Ultimately, these two facets of the band’s personality – heartfelt, contemporary indie-folk and expansive and ethereal dreampop – may appeal to drastically different audiences, but the warm experimentalism of the Low Anthem’s take on what folk music means is charting an interesting course.

“We have different arrangements of our songs designed for what we can play onstage with just three people, and what instruments will fit in the tour van,” laughs Prystowsky. “We really think of [the live show and the recordings] as two different art forms; we just have different ideas about what works best in each environment.

“Our hero in the studio is Tom Waits; he achieves this kind of blend where you hear organic sounds but it’s modern production. It’s not like an old Woody Guthrie record or something like that.”

First appeared Oct. 29, 2009 in Orlando Weekly.

KMFDM show preview (Orlando Weekly)

Technically, KMFDM is supposed to stand for “Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid,” which is a grammatically incorrect German phrase that sort of means “no pity for the majority.” The joke has always been, though, that it really signifies “Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode,” a phrase that neatly dovetails with the group’s aggressive take on industrial electronica. Sascha Konietzko hasn’t done a whole lot to push the group’s music forward over the past decade or so, but the template KMFDM laid out in the late ’80s and early ’90s on landmark discs like UAIOE and Naïve doesn’t need a whole lot of improvement. Chunky near-metallic guitars, throbbing dub-influenced rhythms and a wry, anti-fascist lyrical bent have always served the group well.

First appeared Oct. 29, 2009 in Orlando Weekly.

Heavy Trash: Midnight Soul Serenade CD review (Shockhound)

For someone with multiple irons in multiple fires, Jon Spencer usually manages to make every project he’s involved with sound like…well, a Jon Spencer project. Heavy Trash, however, has proven the exception to the rule. The duo of Spencer and guitarist Matt Verta-Ray (Madder Rose, Speedball Baby) has managed to forge a pretty distinct sound that’s far more dependent upon Verta-Ray’s gelatinous guitar chords than it is on Spencer’s sweaty mic-hugging. On their third album, MIDNIGHT SOUL SERENADE, Spencer and Verta-Ray continue to embrace an upended and updated take on rockabilly, squeezing the honky-tonk, jump-blues and swamp juice out of the dead-horse genre in a way that’s both exciting and breathlessly engaging. There’s no archaeological studiousness here, yet neither is there any of the Blues Explosion’s fiery inversion of the root sound. Instead, MIDNIGHT SOUL SERENADE glides along naturally, tossing off reverb-soaked haunts (“Bedevilment”), jaunty barn-burners (“Bumble Bee”) and swinging, twangy soul (“That’s What Your Love Gets”) with an easy and infectious aplomb.

First appeared Oct. 26, 2009 at Shockhound.com.

‘Urgh! A Music War’ DVD feature review (Orlando Weekly)

It’s been a long time coming, but nearly 30 years after it was released to theaters, Urgh! A Music War is again available for purchase. For music fans of a certain age – especially those who have suffered from years of squinting at grainy VHS dubs and bootleg DVDs – its purchase is mandatory; Urgh! is the ultimate document of the post-punk movement known as “the New Wave” (not to be confused with the later, poppier genre generality of new wave).

Thanks to a pioneering initiative at Warner Bros. Pictures called the Warner Archive, in which films with limited retail appeal are sold on a duplicated-to-order basis, that purchase is just a few clicks away. Although Urgh! can’t be picked up at your local music shop or on Amazon, the archive’s online store (www.wbshop.com) offers a direct-to-your-door deal that gets you a DVD-R pressing of the movie made from reasonably clean prints for $20. And it’s official, which means that, hopefully, some of the 30-plus artists featured on the movie will see some of that money.

Urgh! was briefly sold in the ’80s on VHS tape and laserdisc, but neither of those versions stayed in print for long. It’s important to remember that, in the early and mid-’80s, home video libraries weren’t nearly as common as they are now; most videotapes were sold to video stores for rentals, while laserdiscs, though beloved by cinephiles, were never broadly embraced by the general public. So videos frequently fell out of print quickly after their first run. In the case of Urgh!, it probably didn’t help that the USA Network’s excellent Night Flight program seemed to play the film and various clips frequently, thus negating the need for anyone to actually purchase a high-priced former rental tape or track down the hard-to-find laserdisc.

In the 28 years that have passed since Urgh! was originally released, the film has taken on a legendary reputation, due to its content and its rarity. The relative ease with which the music was licensed for the original production was a natural facet of the late-’70s music business; nobody was considering cross-collateralization, digital download residuals or multiplatform hybridization. Producer Miles Copeland (founder of IRS Records, brother of Police drummer Stewart Copeland) presented all of the artists with a fairly straightforward contract that permitted the use of their music and performances in Urgh!’s theatrical presentations and television broadcasts, and allowed for the initial home video versions as well as a double-LP soundtrack – which, sadly, remains out of print. Everything after those initial permissions would require every single artist – all 34 of them – to sign off on any new versions; thus, no CD of the soundtrack and, until now, no DVD of the movie. How Warner Archives got around those contracts is a mystery, but the fact that Urgh! is only available as a bespoke DVD – rather than in a full retail version – is probably reflective of the acres of red tape that have accumulated around it.

All those licensing issues, and all those memories of tracking down nth-generation copies, fades immediately upon popping in the Warner Archives DVD. The film itself hasn’t undergone any remastering process, but the print used for the transfer is suitably crisp, and the difference between this version and the unauthorized versions that have been traded for years is simply remarkable. More importantly, the Dolby stereo audio track provides a powerful and dynamic reproduction of the music.

Of course, the music is the entire point of Urgh! Filmed – not on video, but on film – at a multitude of concerts in various venues around the world in 1980, Urgh! features live performances from ’80s crossover stars Joan Jett, the Police, Devo, the Go-Go’s, Gary Numan (doing “Down in the Park” on an overwhelming stage setup) and Wall of Voodoo – all captured at the moment just before MTV made everyone tired of them. Beyond those marquee names, though, are the stars of the post-punk underground – Echo & the Bunnymen, the Cramps, Magazine, XTC (yes, live), Dead Kennedys, Surf Punks, Oingo Boingo, Chelsea (snarling through “I’m on Fire”), Pere Ubu, Gang of Four. Combine those well-known names with excellent, now-footnoted acts like the Members, Toyah Willcox, Skafish and Athletico Spizz 80 and the variety of music on display here – punk, post-punk, power pop, electro-pop, reggae, quirky new wave, a touch of postmodern weirdness and even spoken word – is simply staggering. There’s not a single performance on Urgh! that’s less than impressive: The Cramps’ blistering take on “Tear It Up,” Echo’s fiery, angsty version of “The Puppet,” Klaus Nomi’s legendarily operatic “Total Eclipse” and the Police’s taut and terrific runthrough of “So Lonely” are essential watching.

While some viewers might complain that the Warner Archives version doesn’t allow skipping right to those moments (you can only skip through in 10-minute intervals, not by indexed, single-song chapters), watching Urgh! straight through is how the film has been experienced for most of its 28-year history. If you could go straight to 999 playing “Homicide,” you’d end up skipping past the Alley Cats doing “Nothing Means Nothing Anymore,” and you would probably never even bother watching the masked men of Invisible Sex play their cardboard guitars on “Valium.” (Worth noting: The fifth chapter skip takes you right to the beginning of the Dead Kennedys’ “Bleed for Me,” which, with its segue into Steel Pulse’s “Ku Klux Klan,” is a highlight of the film.)

While this was probably a money-saving (or licensing) consideration, it actually helps preserve the dizzying effect the original had on audiences. And to those who try to make the argument that new wave was the purview of well-coiffed, telegenic pretty boys who couldn’t play their instruments, I highly recommend buying this DVD and preparing for a two-hour lesson in just how great this period in music was.

First appeared Oct. 22, 2009 in Orlando Weekly.

Maps: Turning the Mind CD review (Shockhound)

(2 out of 5 stars)

On 2007’s WE CAN CREATE, James Chapman – a.k.a. Maps – crafted an album that deftly blended shoegaze swoon, propulsive electronica and a touch of singer-songwriter honesty. The balance was a tricky one, but Chapman successfully mastered it, and WE CAN CREATE was the justifiable recipient of critical acclaim. It’s doubtful that TURNING THE MIND will be similarly praised. While many of the same elements that defined WE CAN CREATE are still in place here, the balance has been tweaked in a way that’s not entirely appealing. Elevating beat-driven electronics from a supporting role to a more pronounced presence, many of the cuts on TURNING THE MIND are notably aggressive – not angry, but definitely more insistent. Although that aggression is undercut somewhat by Chapman’s lyrical bent on the album – cuts like “I Dream of Crystal” and “Without You” are quite confessional – it still overwhelms the lush, psychedelic swirl that made WE CAN CREATE so enveloping. Though TURNING THE MIND is far from a dry and direct album of dance music, it nonetheless comes off as somewhat more conventional than one might hope.

First appeared Oct. 19, 2009 at Shockhound.com.

Os Mutantes feature (Orlando Weekly)

It’s been more than 40 years since Os Mutantes first made their mark as the catchiest and most overtly psychedelic purveyors of the tropicália sound in Brazil. The group found success in their home country, disbanded in the late ’70s and – thanks to reissues official and otherwise – achieved a legendary status among fans of off-kilter and quirky underground rock.

Nonetheless, Sérgio Dias, the 57-year-old guitarist and singer, feels an infectious glee for his music, his band and their reputation among a newfound audience of hipster music fans that’s more akin to a starry-eyed teenager in his first garage band.

“In Brazil, we were pretty big, but never outside of Brazil,” says Dias. “I wasn’t even close to any sort of awareness about what was happening [with Os Mutantes’ reputation]. It was a huge surprise, because every place we went to, there were kids singing along; at the Pitchfork festival, there were 19,000 kids and they were singing songs in Portuguese. That was so breathtaking.”

The band’s appearance at the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival was part of a U.S. reunion tour that occurred after the band agreed to appear at an exhibition about the tropicália movement at the Barbican Theatre in London. To Dias, the Barbican show was a one-off event, a reflection on the past. However, word quickly came back to Dias that Os Mutantes held much more interest to contemporary music fans than as a historical museum piece.

“I don’t think [reviving the band] was really a decision of mine,” he laughs. “It was much more something that happened in the world. When we did the Barbican thing, we thought it was going to just be that one show, but one month after we said we would do the Barbican show, we already had our first tour in America booked, and we hadn’t even played one note.

“It is an amazing thing to see that [the band’s new success is] basically the work of the kids who are excited about what we are doing. I don’t think we have too much to do with it. The music is what brought us back.”

The “us” is not the Mutantes lineup captured on the band’s legendary run of albums from 1968 through 1970 – of the band’s original lineup, only Sérgio Dias remains. Dias and the new lineup have recorded an intriguing new album, Haih Or Amortecedor, that finds Dias stretching out the possibilities of contemporary psychedelia.

“Everybody was saying to just play a couple of songs off the new record [on this tour] and then play the rest of, you know … the older stuff, whatever is safer,” says Dias. “But we’re playing almost the entire new album instead.

“The only thing I was aware of was to be true to the moment and not lean on things that had happened in the past.”

First appeared Oct. 14, 2009 in Orlando Weekly.

Fresh Wax :: 10.13.09 (Seattle Weekly)

​There’s not much in the way of new vinyl releases this week, although you’ll definitely want to take note of Found Songs by Ólafur Arnalds (pictured on the left), the Amazon-exclusive vinyl version of the Monsters of Folk album and two great slabs of wax from Kill Rock Stars – a vinyl-only reissue of the Raincoats’ self-titled album and the folksy awesomeness of the new set from San Francisco’s Thao and the Get Down Stay Down.

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Although there’s not a lot of new stuff, I did want to mention that I got my hands on the deluxe vinyl version of Porcupine Tree’s new album, The Incident. The regular version is nice and all, but the stylish packaging of the Tonefloat-produced deluxe set is an incredible complement to the prog-rock tunes within. Too often, high-end limited vinyl packaging gets a little too full of itself, but the elegant simplicity of The Incident is well worth the price of admission. There were only 2000 pressed up, and Porcupine Tree fans are notably completist, but if you happen to spot one in a local shop and you’re into what the band does, do yourself a favor and go ahead and splurge.

BYO Records box set

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Speaking of deluxe packages, the double-vinyl box set version of Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records is a must-purchase for fans of contemporary, mid-stream American punk. The music – NOFX, Dropkick Murphys, Lagwagon, Pennywise, Leatherface, 7 Seconds, and, duh, Youth Brigade – is obviously integral, but the 100-page, coffee-table book and DVD documentary that round out the package really seal the deal. Again, it’s pricey, but well worth it.

New Releases:

Ólafur Arnalds: Found Songs

Every Time I Die: New Junk Aesthetic

Ghostface Killah: Wizard of Poetry (green vinyl)

Jay-Z: The Blueprint

Lightning Bolt: Earthly Delights

Nellie McKay: Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day

Monsters of Folk: Monsters of Folk (Amazon.com exclusive)

Grant Lee Phillips: Little Moon

Piano Magic: Ovations

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down: Know Better Learn Faster (Kill Rock Stars)

Wax Tailor: In the Mood for Life

Various Artists: Tumbélé: Biguine, Afro and Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean, 1964-1974

Reissues:

The Raincoats: The Raincoats (vinyl-only reissue)

First appeared Oct. 14, 2009 at SeattleWeekly.com.

What You’re Buying This Week :: 10.13.09 (Orlando Weekly)

It’s Tuesday! New music! Go buy some! I’ve run down some of this week’s new releases that I think are particularly noteworthy and that, maybe, you hadn’t been inundated with coverage on already. (I know, Baroness lacking for press? Whatever, it’s a great record.)

Also, local bands: let us know when you’ve got new music. Email us atlocalmusic@orlandoweekly.com.

Metalheads rejoice! The new Baroness album is out! If you freaked out over the Red Album – and many people did – the Blue Record will probably cause you to have an aneurysm. Tight, pummeling compositions and massive – nay, EPIC – production work here provides a surprisingly strong complement to the sludgy brew this Savannah crew cooks up.

If Baroness is too … I don’t know, awesome for you to handle, then good lord, please do yourself a favor and don’t check out The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist by Junius. You’ll probably pull a muscle or something trying to cope with its heavy, post-Cave In awesomeness. (Also available in a damned impressive vinyl package!)

The new project from Xian Hawkins (of the legendary Silver Apples) is calledBell Horses and it’s a collaboration between him and singer-songwriters Jenny Owen Youngs and Alexander Hawkins. On This Loves Last Time, the three tap into the vein of glitch-folk that’s proven so interesting over the past few years, but instead of another Morr Music soundalike, Bell Horses are a little weirder. The songs written by Youngs and Hawkins are beautiful and well-crafted, but Hawkins splits the difference between the oscillating freakouts of the Silver Apples and the robotic swirl of Sybarite to craft backing tracks that are bracing and steeped in retro-futurism.

Need your electronic music to be a little more mellow? Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds is releasing Found Songs today. The music was the result of a project Arnalds indulged in earlier this year where he composed a track every day for one week straight, releasing them immediately via the web … for free. Well, now he wants to get paid for the work and you should definitely indulge him; the pieces here are well within Arnalds’ typical milieu of challenging, atmospheric electronica, but considerably more visceral and engaging, which shouldn’t be surprising, considering their genesis.

Portland-based MarchFourth Marching Band releases their second studio album today. Rise Up takes the band’s kinetic brass-band style and applies it – appropriately enough – to an invigorating set of songs that evoke the pride and strength of New Orleans, without getting trapped in the treacly homage that’s marked many post-Katrina musical efforts regarding the Big Easy. And, seriously, marching band music? Awesome.

And, finally, the fine folks at Soundway continue to chronicle the underappreciated greatness of the sounds of the African Diaspora in the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. While most crate-diggers head straight for the Motherland (if they can get past the funk, soul, and r&b that was being made here in the U.S.), Soundway manages to draw bright lines between the States, the many diverse scenes on the African continent and – most importantly – the far-flung colonial outposts that proved to be just as vibrant and unique in their approach to music. Tumbele! Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean is a rollicking set that provides plenty of accessible points of entry (I recommend heading straight for “Jojo” by the aptly named “Ensemble La Perfecta”), and a wide variety of sounds, but also a surprising consistency.

Oh yeah, the Raincoats‘ first album is being reissued today. But only on vinyl! Hahaha. Suck on that.

More stuff you’re buying:

• Air: Love 2
• Bad Lieutenant (Bernard Sumner’s new band): Never Cry Another Tear
• Bear In Heaven: Beast Rest Forth Mouth
• Roseanne Cash: The List
• Dead By Sunrise (Chester Bennington of Linkin Park): Out of Ashes
• Downpilot: They Kind of Shine
• Dukelbunt: Raindrops & Elephants
• The Flaming Lips: Embryonic (see my review here)
• Erin McKeown: Hundreds of Lions
• Nellie McKay: Normal As Blueberry Pie (A Tribute to Doris Day)
• Grant Lee Phillips: Little Moon
• Skeletonwitch: Breathing the Fire (see my review here)
• Skyfire: Esoteric
• Thao with the Get Down Stay Down: Know Better Learn Faster
• Vandana Vishwas: Meera: The Lover
• Kristeen Young: Music For Strippers

First appeared Oct. 13, 2009 on OrlandoWeekly.com

The Low Anthem show preview (Seattle Weekly)

Thanks to the wide array of organic instruments its members use, the Low Anthem is often referred to as a “folk” group. And perhaps in the strictest sense of the word, “folk music” is indeed the music the Low Anthem makes, in that the group’s songs draw on decades of American music for inspiration. However, the presence of acoustic guitars, pump organs, harmonicas, mandolins, and, yes, cowbells should not trick you into thinking that the Low Anthem conducts some sort of traditionalist foray into the sounds of the backwoods and hollows. Their latest album, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin(recently reissued on Nonesuch) is a decidedly modern take on acoustic music; the group’s studio-as-instrument philosophy morphs any folksiness into a warm, ethereal sound, emotionally engaging and often sonically challenging. Live, the Low Anthem brings a full complement of instruments for the three members to play, resulting in a crowded stage and an occasionally frustrated sound engineer, as well as a much more visceral take on their music. With Ryan Montbleau Band. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8000. 8 p.m. $10 adv./$12 DOS

First appeared Oct. 13, 2009 in Seattle Weekly.

Skeletonwitch: Breathing the Fire CD review (Shockhound)

(4 out of 5)

There are a lot of revivalist metal bands treading the boards these days, but very few who manage to evoke the spirit of classic metal without sounding like complete copycats. Skeletonwitch are very much on a revivalist tip, but instead of trying to emulate the mid-‘80s output of Combat Records, the Ohio combo has hit upon a much more satisfying approach. By combining several of the best aspects of metal’s many microgenres – breakneck speed-metal riffs, crushingly fast thrash-metal drums, blackened vocals, the melodic solos of power metal – Skeletonwitch’s music touches a nerve of primal recognition in most metal fans, but still manages to sound fresh. BREATHING THE FIRE,the band’s third full-length studio album, showcases a powerful and self-assured attack that’s obviously been honed by incessant touring. Cuts like “Repulsive Salvation” and “Released from the Catacombs” are brief – clocking in at just around three minutes each – but they still pack in dense, modular structures beyond the verse/chorus/solo grind. “Longing for Domination” and “Crushed Beyond Dust” come the closest here to evoking heavy metal’s glory days, but despite the ripping solos and crunching riffs, the arrangements are purely modern. For longtime metal fans, the current passion for the genre’s classic sound is a mixed bag; hearing things that are familiar is always nice, but it’s even better to hear something new that speaks to the sounds that you love. BREATHING THE FIRE manages to do just that.

First appeared Oct. 13, 2009 at Shockhound.com.