Cowgirl

playing together for a little over a year now, Providence's own Cowgirl create dense and varied textures within the context of a three piece group.

If I was writing this twenty-five years ago, I'd call these guys a power trio, except that there is a little too much noise in their sound and two of the members are multi-instrumentalists.

Meeting in the Providence scene, and coming from various musical projects, the band gradually coalesced into the current unit I am writing about now.

One of the many great things about this band is the fact that they draw from a very wide pool of resources while not sounding at all derivative. Referencing everything from Olivier Messiaen to New York experimental group Battles will give informed readers a sense of the scope of their influences.

Like all great Providence bands, their sound has familiar elements while being impossible to pigeonhole. I hear a type of voice-leading in the writing that reminds me of Bela Bartok's counterpoint at times, but the classical influence is so seamlessly integrated that you have to be a music geek like me to even notice it is there.

The greatest thing about this band, for me at least, is the fact that in their sophistication they haven't forgotten how to rock. Their drummers use of backbeat and Spencer and Dan's ear for the "killer riff" completes the wall of sound they seem to revel in creating.

An all instrumental group, These boys utilize their training and compositional sophistication to create progressive rock songs that are really compositions covered in a thrashy veneer. There is a strong emphasis on thematic development and a use of passagework that reminds me of European methods of connecting sections of a composition.

Timbrally, I love Spencer's use of distortion. it is truly one of the cleanest sounds I have encountered in "rock" guitar.Also, Dan's bass is very beautifully eq'd, and I find that his high end speaks clearly without losing its bottom. Well done.

Tying it all together, their drummer Chaise is a madman. I am very impressed with the way in which he locks in with Dan to tie down the rhythm while accenting in such a thoroughly syncopated manner. He seems to revel in accompanying the same thematic material with different hits, emphasizing different beat partials at different times. Something like Billy Cobham on acid.

Support this band. We need musicians like this making music like this for as long as possible. Looking for something thoroughly contemporary that is akin to a revelation? Listen to "One" over and over. It gets better and better with each listen.

check em out at www.myspace.com/cowgirltheband

Tinsel Teeth

There is something about Providence, Rhode Island that seems to just produce great, unique bands. Anyone with even a passing familiarity will tell you that all the great bands in the capitol city are all unique, no two sounding at all alike.

Tinsel Teeth is a case in point. How to describe their sound as anything but "Tinsel Teethy"? Which, when you think about it, is retarded. But there you go. There are a couple of things that this band shares with ALL great bands in the area. One, they are a tight-knit unit who have obviously practiced their asses off, and they are intense.

Rocking out since 2007, TT are a four piece comprised of Steph on vocals, Brandon the guitarist, Dave the bassist, and, Will, the drummer.

I first saw TT in the flesh this past September at the Arab On Radar DVD release party, playing with Daughters and I believe another band. It was at this moment that I knew I wanted to write about them.

Their live show is a spectacle to behold. Steph, the above named singer, is a small framed young woman who turns into a manic, crazed individual when the band starts rocking out. Her stage manner will appeal to anyone who loves interactive bands, as I was body-checked with some force a couple of times during their set. It was a lot of fun.

So, back to the matter of their sound. Part of my job as a teacher/music journalist is to deconstruct a bands sound for the purposes of education. This can be a tricky proposition, but the medium demands it. So, here we go.

Imagine a sort of noise rock with more straight riffage, coupled with a subtle blues element and a very punk rock, aggro drummer and you have a start. At least from my point of view. You see, there is something almost sexual to me in the rhythmic aspect of the phrasing that the instruments set up. Some sort of drunken, cocksure swagger. Listen to Farewell to Architecture or Postmodern Posture and hear for yourself.

Anyway, this band wants to play all over, and I think they should have this chance. If you want a raw, non-commercial rock experience that will leave you sweaty and smiling, you need to see this band. Besides which, you have to love a band that lists among its extra-musical influences "cryptozoology and drugs." Personally, I think that there is a huge connection between these two subjects, but that is best left for a later blog. Cheers.

Check em out at www.myspace.com/tinselteethy

All leather

The latest fractured musical experience from the fractured mind of Justin Pearson is All Leather.
Comprised of Justin on vocals, Nathan Joyner of Some Girls fame on guitars, and Jung Sing of Manqui Lazer on drums, All Leather is dance music with a difference.
Working in a gay bar in San Diego, Mr. Pearson would hear track after track of insipid electronica. One day, amidst all of this testosterone and bad sequencing, an idea was born.
Taking elements from the electronic music dance world, and then adding in a live drummer with an electric kit and lots of "noise rock aesthetic", All Leather was conceived.
The end result, to me, sounds like club music produced at some venue in a dayglo section of hell, where the denizens are skinned alive and pumped full of amphetamines.
The guitar textures are so heavily processed as to barely resemble a guitar most of the time, and the drum set is electronic, which adds an extra grating quality to the proceedings.
Fans of the Locust might be surprised at the relative simplicity of the result, but therein lies its strength. All Leather's straightforward approach complements its musical intent in the same way that the Locust utilizes intensive complexity to achieve its ends.
Justin and company's musical instincts are dead on, especially considering the lack of formal schooling. I have been teaching for a long time and have never encountered "self-made" musicians whose innate musicality was so high. If only everyone were this naturally musical.
One thing that everyone will relate to is the subversive political agenda. In the course of my interview for this review, I was given to understand that JP has been involved in multiple grassroots organizations, well before he started playing music.
Lyrics like "Can we drain the oceans for some real estate and then jerk off to some aspirations?" show quite clearly that the protest spirit is alive and well.
As Justin was quick to point out, the politics are about the "not so obvious" agenda, more to the point of supporting humanity in general. All Leather are not a gay rights band, nor is the band gay. But the sense of commonality they share with the rest of humanity in these increasingly desperate times provides some hope for us all.
There will be an e.p. released around June 1st on Dim Mak recordings, and as for the future of the band, there is "no clue."

check em out at www.myspace.com/allleather

Memphis Khan

Hello and welcome back.
Let me begin by stating that this group has produced the greatest version of "Beat It" I have ever heard. For one thing, Memphis Khan, the group in question, are a modern folk duo.
So, this recording has guitars and banjos and layered background harmonies, coupled with a sentiment evoking a sort of resigned determination, like the guy really does not want to have this conversation again. The result has its own unique power to it, and I don't think anyone can touch this.
I was first introduced to the music of Memphis Khan this past September ('08), at a gathering of about 20 people in Fox Point, in Providence. I managed to talk to both Ryan and Patrick that night, and decided that if I liked what I heard I would pick up a copy of the The Merchant EP, their six-song demo containing the aforementioned version of "Beat It". And it was in that spirit that I handed over a few dollars for a copy.
The next day I went downstairs and put the disc in the stereo, and was able to truly appreciate what I had seen the other night. This was due to significant differences between the live and recorded versions of the songs I had just heard.
Whereas the live set was Patrick and Ryan with no backup, the disc is a much more orchestrated experience. Not that the live set was lacking. Not true. In fact, it served to demonstrate the pairs' talent. The ensemble was tight and fluid. The songs were musically expressive and they managed to convey a lot of sonic information with a very limited personnel.
It helped me to put the demo in context. I would love to hear those arrangements live. The use of distortion on the banjo is an intriguing bit of orchestration, and brings out the natural metallic quality in its' tone-color. The use of overdubbing to layer the guitar and beef-up the arrangements in general is really interesting. The end result is some sort of electric folk music.
It was explained to me that there has always been an interest in American folk music, that "at some point you realize that the music made in the first half of the twentieth century in America had a raw, elemental power and heaviness." We agree with this assessment. What is great about this bands' conception is the way they inject electricity into the folk tradition. There is a certain aspect of noise rock in the proceedings. My personal favorite is "Criers On The Phone", with the slight bit of feedback at the beginning and then the clean banjo layered on top of distorted banjo following that. The form of the piece has a strange, assymetrical shape to it as well. It seems that they are using a harmonic sequence of some degree of regularity coupled with irregular phrase lengths and syncopated cadences, which evolves into an A-transition-B-coda type of form.
These guys definitely have carved out their own niche. There is something about the demo versions that reminded me of Smog, not in a specific way, but in the spirit of the proceedings.
Memphis Khan was born in the summer of 2008, after a homeless man stole one of the bandmembers' shoes and bet that person that they couldn't start a band called "Memphis Khan". They decided to take up the challenge in earnest, having a great love for those shoes.
The band plans on having a full-length release available in spring of 2009, and The Merchant EP has been picked up by an indie label called Reverb Worship (www.reverbworship.com), where it can be found for sale on the labels' website. They will be posting new tracks on their MySpace page, and will be appearing on the radio in Sydney, Australia on January 28. (www.sidewaysthroughsound.com)


check 'em out at www.myspace.com/memphiskhan

Hey Lovey Dovey

The focus of this blog is a band from the Garden State, Hey Lovey Dovey. These guys are relatively young in terms of their members ages, but they perform with a musical depth that puts them in league with their older contemporaries. Their expressive emoting is tempered by a sense of humor, which adds nicely to their style.
One of the interesting facets of their sound is the incorporation of certain aspects of grindcore in the writing, juxtaposed against a more melodic sound containihng quite expressive basslines (courtesy of Ian Eckstein). It calls to mind early Mr. Bungle and An Albatross, the Wilkes-Barre madmen.
One of the things that is quite interesting about this band is the fact that Brian Berman, the singer, has never fronted any other bands. The only track he has contributed vocals to at this time that I know of is "On a Glass Bottom Airplane", but it is obvious that the boy has talent. He has a strong sense of intonation, which imbues the lyrics (which are a collaborative endeavor) with a melodic expressiveness that enhances the abrasiveness of his tone. Another interesting thing is the fact that the drummer (Brandon Lipman) is only thirteen years old. This kid shreds. I mean he kills. His hits are dead on and he drives the hell out of the beat. His sense of pulse is real strong. He is tight-yet-flexible.
As I sit here writing this and listening, I cannot help but think that while what I said was true, at the same time I hear the talent of everyone involved. These boys can play. Everyone locks into the pulse and drives the beat from beginning to end.
The two guitarists (Justin Lipman and Dan Stone) and the keyboardist (Nick Potters) create interesting structures over the drum/bass complex. There are countermelodies underneath the vocals buried in the riffage and the changing textures of the keyboards and guitar effects enhance the sense of phrasing, which is strong and well articulated, culminating in songs which create highly unique music that still has tons of thrash and backbeat. It is music you can bug out to live, and it is hoped they stick around to become known by all.
The band started in October of this past year as a fourpiece, acquiring the keyboardist and vocalist by December. The resulting six-piece line-up is just a result of the fulfillment of the needs of their sound.
I was given to understand that the hardcore scene in New Jersey is not so unique and that this band wants to inject something fresh and new. They are living up to their intentions nicely. This music is, as above stated, thrashy yet strange, and the combination keeps you on the edge of your seat. The sense of storytelling, of drama, that they inject into the music, imbues the songs with a compelling aspect that simultaneously heightens the intensity and the musicality. Support this band, they are going places.

check em out at: www.myspace.com/heyloveydovey

Our Great Golden Man

Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Our Great Golden Man revels in noisy self-expression. What sets them apart is the element of surprise and seeming chaos they inject into their Salem, Oregon thrash. Guitar timbres tumble from clean to distorted, and when you expect growling or screaming from the vocal department, you get semi-shouted singing that actually has melodic shape. it's a nice distinction.
The band have been friends since high school, and three of the members are currently enrolled in college. They want to make a living doing this, so lets give them a hand.
Their sound is highly diverse, while at the same time encompassing all the prevailing trends at work in the sounds of good bands, namely, high rhythmic diversity relating to phrase structure, changing guitar tone coloration and a sprawling-yet-tight sense of organization in relation to the form. They have a very confident sense of ensemble, which shows through in the execution of all the myriad transitions, time, and feel changes these guys pack into a small space. Everything is tied together by a highly imaginative approach to songwriting, which seems to be the key to pulling it all off.
The band formed in 2008, two of the members having played together in a previous band. Knowing one another as friends has probably been key in terms of their rapid growth, as the songs they have released so far are tightly constructed. This would probably translate even better live, as I could easily see myself slam-dancing to this at a show.
In their friends I see the Locust listed, and I can definitely hear elements of that type of thinking at work in Our Great Golden Man's writing. This band seems to prefer a more relaxed pace however, as the oppressive tempos are largely absent here, and the fracturing is, as stated before, achieved as much by timbral (clean-to-distorted) changes as by rhythm. One thing that is interesting about the rhythmic approach is the way they change accompaniment styles seemingly with each new phrase.
Musically, this translates into a style of expressiveness that ties the music to the words in a highly emotional unity. You have to hear it to truly understand. As the singer delivers his lyrics, the band seems to comment on and draw out the feelings expressed by actualizing the sentiment in the music. The songs seethe and recoil, shimmering with life. The result is similiar to the songs of the nineteenth century composer Hugo Wolf. His accompaniments were so richly imbued with the internal life of the texts that you don't need the libretto to get the gist of the lyrical intent. That's the kind of thing at work here. The band has plans to expand their touring/fanbase area, but don't expect them out here on the East Coast any time soon, as they need to become more exposed in the area near the Pacific Ocean. As tight and inventive as they are, I see a bright future for them, and think that people, given exposure to their sound, will be won over.
Check 'em out at www.myspace.com/ourgreatgoldenman

Global Crash

Hello again and welcome back. This next review is about the music of an old friend of mine who goes under the moniker of Global Crash. This music is what would be categorized as "electronica". Unfortunately, I am not a fan of that term. At all. But you get what I am driving at. This man's conception is highly eclectic, encompassing a wide variety of styles ranging from trance to progressive house and breakbeat techno. It strikes me that the trance ethos pervades the whole thing, because of its overall hypnotic quality and broad rhythmic structure. Sonic events, once unfolded, will persist in the airspace for a while. Usually there will develop a matrix of sorts that will be comprised of a few of these sonic events. From that point on this grouping will be subject to myriad subtle nuances in terms of rhythmic structure, timbre, etc., that will eventually move the grouping to another place entirely, securing a type of "perpetual development", eventually arriving at a new point of departure. On and on this process persists, creating broad canvasses painted with large strokes.
The resulting picture is one of zen-like simplicity, seeming at times to revel in the sake of its own existence, existing solely for itself, quiet, introspective.
The area where Global Crash and its creator Paul Holder reside is near the ocean. I have spent alot of time living near the ocean and something about this music makes the same impression on me, one of deep, unfathomable space, uniformity of space, timelessness. There is a sense of gravitation, the feeling of looking out into the ocean late at night and seeing no clear division between land and sea, only a black, endless uniformity. Standing too long staring, one feels the pull of the tide, as though it might suck you into its void, string you out in its limitless blackness. This is the type of impression Global Crash has on me. As if I might possibly get caught up in its aural net and sucked in by its subtle, imposing gravity.
I do not want to give the impression that this music is dark or negative in any way, as there is nothing "evil" about it. The forgoing bit of exposition is simply an attempt at describing the overall effect of this musical impression. It is "quietly active", and pulses with a life all its own. One could possibly dance to this music, but it possesses such a contemplative, meditative quality that it seems better suited for those types of activities. It would translate even better live. We feel that this would be great "cool-down" music at a rave or something similiar, as its broad rhythmic conception, though supported by traditional "techno" drum sequencing, is so gradually paced that one never feels frantic or jumpy, but rather lulled.
For the sake of disclosure let me state that Paul and I went to high school together. We skateboarded and also listened to a lot of similar music. Among the shared interests musically was Skinny Puppy, Ajax, Ministry and many others. But in the foregoing list it is clearly seen that seeds were planted.
Global Crash eschews traditional musical norms. In response to my round of questions, I was given to understand that he considers himself to be more of a sound engineer than a musician, but I feel that the proof of his intuitive musicianship indicates that he is more of a "musician" than he may realize.
In my questionaire, which was posted as a seperate blog on Myspace, I inquired as to musical schooling. The answer I received was most telling, which pointed out a mentality that has confronted my very existence forever. The fact is, that as much as I am glad to be "trained" in this art, too many academic musicians ruin the experience with their snobbery. It was put to me that Paul was told that his style is not real music. As if being knowledgeable confers upon one the right to DECLARE what is valid in art. How is this not real music? It is sound organized through time, hence music.
The production is of a type I have heard referred to as "continuous mix", meaning that there is no break in the songs, no silence between tracks, so those interested in specific track divisions and the like need to pay real close attention to the track numbers. It seems to me that this relates to the type of production that occurs live, and also supports the broad rhythmic conception nicely. The primary instrumentation is keyboard/drum machine, with enough sampling and secondary instrumentation thrown in to provide variety.
Paul's long-range plans for Global Crash are to keep expanding, to continue on for as long as possible, distributing his music himself until he finds a bigger outlet. His other goals are to do soundtrack music for films, etc. He is also interested in securing a DJ gig at a club and doing live performances for fashion shows, art exhibits and the like. Anyone interested should look him up.
check him out at: www.myspace.com/globalcrashmusic , also at www.facebook.com/home.php/pages/GlobalCrash/34560838866.