Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band: Live at the Haunted House and Puckey Puckey CD review (Reax)

Known mostly for “Express Yourself,” a slinky funk jam so powerful it has yet to be rendered impotent by ceaseless overplaying in inappropriate contexts, the L.A. ensemble led by Charles Wright in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s has been the recipient of an interesting legacy hat trick over the past decade or so. For a current generation of soulful crate-diggers, the band has proven to be far more than just pleasant purveyors of AM radio hits. If any further proof were required, these two limited-edition releases should do the job nicely. Both are two-disc sets, and both take full advantage of the extended format … but for different reasons. Though parts of the surprisingly well-recorded ‘68 concert were later edited for use on an album, hearing the way the band eases into their all-night groove is both illustrative of their process and as good a way as any to get a good picture of how forceful this brand of funk could be, even though almost all of the songs are crowd-pleasing hits by other artists. Providing a look at the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band’s own creative process, on the other hand, Puckey Puckey dishes up breathtakingly long studio jams and a handful of alternate versions from album sessions. Four jams clock in near 20 minutes, and within that hour-plus, the group hits on perhaps a dozen different themes and hooks; the rest of the time they just ride the groove until inspiration hits, making for a hypnotic and insightful listen.

First appeared in the June 2008 issue of Reax.

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Buy Live at the Haunted House at Amazon.com.

Scorch Trio: Brolt CD review (Reax)

In 1969, after leaving Miles Davis’ group, Tony Williams took up the acid-soaked rock/jazz fusion gauntlet laid down by Miles and debuted his own group, the Tony Williams Lifetime, a power trio featuring Williams on drums, Larry Young on organ and John McLaughlin on guitar. The group’s first album was Emergency!, a smoking slab of rough-edged and rocking psychedelic funk that connected itself to jazz only through the players’ pedigrees and the improvisational flair they displayed. Oslo-based Scorch Trio – headed up by guitarist/composer Raoul Björkenheim – evokes, more than any of the other artists frequently namechecked in reference to the band (Zappa, Band of Gypsies), the powerful, free-form sound of Williams’ Emergency! album. This is primarily because the group is, like Lifetime, clearly immersed in the jazz tradition, but also moving decisively away from it in favor of sprawling, rockist jams that allow the players to freely fly off their respective handles. In keeping with Scorch’s analog fetishism (like their other releases, this one was recorded and mixed on analog tape), the 2-LP vinyl version of Brolt contains four extra tracks.

First appeared in the June 2008 issue of Reax.

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Venomous Concept: Poisoned Apple CD review (Reax)

Seventeen songs in 34 minutes. That alone is almost more impressive than the fact that this crustcore supergroup has lasted long enough to make a second album. With Danny Lilker (Anthrax, S.O.D., Nuclear Assault, Brutal Truth) having replaced Buzz Osborne on bass, Shane Embury (Napalm Death, guitar), Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth, vocals) and Dan Herrera (Napalm Death, drums) continue their mission to inject Poison Idea-inspired punk rock brutality back into metal. The result here, as with their debut album Retroactive Abortion, is a whipsaw blast of crunchy, rustbucket heaviness that’s basically D-beat with a different rhythm. Which means it’s fast, relentless and both more “metal” and “core” than that faux-hawked band you wasted 15 bucks on last night.

First appeared in the June 2008 issue of Reax.

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Mr. Gnome: Deliver This Creature CD review (Reax)

It’s hard, given the clanging, rockist aesthetic at work in Mr. Gnome’s music, to not compare this Cleveland duo to another Rust Belt yin-yang couple like the White Stripes. It’s hard, given the tendency of vocalist Nicole Barille to engage in breathy incantations atop Sam Meister’s occasional digital beats, to not compare Mr. Gnome to, say, Portishead. It’s hard, given Mr. Gnome’s delightfully thudding guitar work and propensity for diametrically opposed sonic elements – beauty vs. heaviness, oppressive volume vs. delicate dynamics – to not compare them to Jucifer. It’s hard, in other words, to wrap a band like Mr. Gnome up in a neat, reference-ready package for consumption. But that seems to be precisely the point. By jamming a suitcase full of often-contrasting elements into their sound, these two have gone and made an album that’s as quirky and individualistic as it is visceral and engaging.

First appeared in the June 2008 issue of Reax.

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Glass and Ashes: Glass and Ashes CD review (Reax)

SoCal hardcore outfit Glass and Ashes come screaming out of the gate on their explosive second album, defying the sophomore curse that plagues oh-so-many punk bands. The ten songs on this self-titled disc keep close to the formula the group laid down nearly four (!) years ago on Aesthetic Arrest, but unsurprisingly, the lengthy interim between albums has seen the group become both smarter and stronger. Blistering tracks like “To the Point of Paralysis” and “Exit Wound” still recall an unhinged attack that’s similar to Planes Mistaken for Stars, but G&A is wound far tighter, with an advanced sense of complexity. Those math-y tendencies get a great airing on longer, more structured cuts like “We Will Hang for This” and the seven-and-a-half minute track “The Rebuttal” that closes out the album. But although G&A have grown wiser, they’re still possessed of the same riotous energy that’s helped garner them a considerable live reputation over the years.

First appeared in the June 2008 issue of Reax.

Buy this CD at Amazon.com.