Band Review: Lolita Black

     Lolita Black produces a maelstrom of sound. They excel at a very hard edged, industrial influenced punk-metal type of music with overtones of mosh. There is a rich historical vein being tapped by this entity; the influence of past masters in the art of rocking out permeates this group’s essence. The contemporary esthetic that results informs us of the fact that this band exists very much in the here and now. This is reiterated again and again as the songs on their new album, ‘Flesh, Blood and Bone’, appear in the ordered succession.

     Guitarist Bob Otis had the inspiration that lead to the name of the band, which was started in 2005 after he got together with Kaleigh Crass, the drummer. According to Bob, the name seemed to fit ‘the vibe of what we were trying to write’. Continuing in this vein, it is evident that the overall esthetic of the band is very much congruent with itself. Anyone who managed to get their hands on the groups first release, ‘Into the Wastleland’, can attest to the cohesiveness of the presentation; the graphics and name fused with the music to create a menacing edifice.

     Their influences are varied, ranging from various punk, post-punk, metal and industrial bands all the way to Victorian novels, angst, despair, and sci-fi and horror movies.

     Bob’s abilities as guitarist and riff-monger have improved from the first record; he could always play, and he gets better and better. ‘Hollow’ is a great example of this. The subtle accenting in the phrasing of the riff is attacked consistently and with authority. The tight rhythmic net created by Kaleigh and bassist Jacob Blanchett provides solid support and serious bounce. They keep driving the riff forward, building an incredible amount of tension along the way. On top of all of this, Scarlett Delgado delivers as a vocalist, using her voice to enunciate the lyrics in a highly dramatic way. There’s something about her vocalizing that calls to mind Bruce Dickinson passed through the diaphragm of a woman. Her tone is clear and she actually sings the lyrics. This is refreshing.

     The rest of the album possesses this level of coherence and articulated delivery. Slower tunes alternate with faster ones. Of particular interest is the inclusion of ‘Tightrope’, a song from the first record. If memory serves, this version is more punk-rock, the rhythms tighter and more driving. Scarlett’s delivery is more dramatic than was Jessica Pacitto’s, who was the group’s first vocalist.

     This group is also adept at translating the music to a live setting. As engaging as the record is, this needs to be experienced live. Their ability to project their music, to engage the audience, is a powerful asset. They have tons of stage presence and attack each song like it’s their last. They also know how to employ lighting effects for an enhanced presentation. A recent set at as220 caught them bathed in eerie orange light. The effect was quite surreal. They are aiming at a late November/ December release. Here’s to it.

Check them out at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lolita-Black/92115184903

http://myspace.com/lolitablackprovidence

http://lolitablack1.bandcamp.com/

Band Review: The Viennagram

Referencing deconstructed, Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd as the basis for even more sonic weirdness, The Viennagram burst into your psyche like theater on acid. Geographically bound by Fall River, their overtly broad scope gives them much wider terrain to traverse musically. Add in thespian flair, a fairly extensive list of auxiliary members, and a high degree of showmanship, and you have something closer to musical theater than a traditional ‘band’.

     Aiming to ‘shock, excite and secretly soothe’, The Viennagram has been building up a comprehensive body of work since roughly 2006. Ranging from show tunes to Tom Waits to experimental electronic/industrial and 50’s pop music, the group’s ability to exist in several different genres simultaneously while maintaining a coherent identity is impressive.

     The brainchild of A.V. Vienna and Scott Peloquin, The Viennagram seems intent on straddling the line between kitsch and art. The anchor in this endeavor is the high degree of talent that is concentrated in this entity. This band can play. Bearing testament to this is their recent ‘Batman’ show at Firehouse XIII. This was the first real introduction to them for me.

     Attired as various characters of the Batman universe, and aided by what amounted to a small ensemble, the band set its own music within the context of a two act mini-drama pitting A.V. Vienna as Batman against the usual set of villains, including the Joker and the Penguin. Their penchant for innuendo was apparent when Batman started making out with Robin, played by Keri Lyn King. At that point in time, Danger Dan as the Joker popped out of nowhere and started proclaiming, ‘I knew it! I knew it!’ There would almost seem to be a sense of architectural completeness in the sense that this moment could be seen as prepared way in advance by the performance being opened by a fairly crass standup comedian.

     And of the performance itself, the foregoing has implied much. The actual musical core of the group is tight. On top of that is the ever-present flair that accompanies the whole spectacle. These guys acquit themselves in high style.

     As much as the references to Tom Waits are apparent in some of the music, there is something akin to a tripped out union of David Bowie and Kurt Weill, or even The Residents. Added to this is a fairly sophisticated harmonic sensibility. Various harmonic sequences and ‘formal types’ are employed effectively, including cycle progressions and a seeming grasp of standards and older types of American music.

    This ten-second analysis only covers what could be termed the more ‘conservative’ (traditional) side of the band. The bands experimental side could also come under consideration, as well as its ability to lay down a groove that is seriously ‘in the pocket’. There are times when their sense of groove has some kind of hip-hop flavor to it. In short, this band is a highly flexible and intelligent entity, which possesses a holistic view of what it means to be performers.  Experience this. You will definitely be engaged.

Check ‘em out at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Viennagram/127898525498

http://the.viennagram.com/

Band Review: A Troop of Echoes

The very notion of a soprano sax as lead voice instantly gives A Troop of Echoes some distinction. The musical result gives them even more. Existing somewhere in the land between jazz and ‘prog’ rock, this band manages to create rock music with a high amount of melodic development and a very ‘in the pocket’ type groove, which adds propulsive energy to their music.

     Emerging from a basement in North Kingston sometime in 2005, they are on a mission to write the best songs they can, record them, and go play them loudly in public. On all three counts they acquit themselves nicely. While there is a slight drop in energy on the recordings, their ability to translate the music in recorded form is evident.

      This music presents a very interesting hybrid. Listing Battles, Sonic Youth and John Coltrane as influences gives some indication of things. They also possess a lyrical quality, imparted somewhat by the inclusion of a soprano saxophone in the instrumentation, but also seeming to grow from the perceptions of all involved. There is an obvious emphasis on songcraft in the writing. Given that this is a group of musicians who have been honing their skills for a number of years, this isn’t surprising.

     The fifth track off their bandcamp page, ‘Little Bird’, is a great example of what they’re capable of. The tempo is fairly up, and the rhythmic interaction of the drums, bass, guitar and keyboards creates a churning quality, especially due to the influence of Dan Moriarty’s syncopated accents. Peter Gilli unwinds a melodic line on soprano, and then drops out as the band plays some connecting passages, which lead back to a restatement of the melody with varied feel in the rhythm section; the increase in dynamic intensity is noticeable the second time around. At the end of the song, everything dies out in an electronically treated squall. The music abruptly seizes up, and fades off into the distance.

      The bands musicianship is impeccable, and the sense of ensemble is tight. This fact is reinforced by the next track, ‘Analog Astronaut’. The sectional feel of the tune coupled with the melodic development creates a compelling statement. By the time this track unfolds, the bands ability to work as a coherent unit is pronounced. The sense of formal development permeates everyone’s playing. Though performing as instrumentalists, they come to the task with a highly compositional bent. The Bad Plus is called to mind here, as well as the Wayne Shorter Quartet. Though not nearly as abstract as these bands, the same feeling of ‘composition in action’ transpires throughout. From this point of view, their effort could be considered of a similar type as that undertaken by a symphony orchestra.

      A Troop of Echoes manages to stay relevant while remaining completely distinct from the main lines of musical interest in the Providence scene. Anyone looking for rock music with a sense of compositional development should seek them out.

Check them out at:

http://www.facebook.com/atroopofechoes?sk=info

http://atroopofechoes.com/

Band Review: It's A Mountain

‘We really don’t have a genre, so don’t expect the same sound from every song’. This quote from the bio on their MySpace page is a fitting introduction to the entity known as It’s A Mountain. Active since May of 2009, It’s A Mountain channels its instrumental musings to Providence via Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The band takes its name from the rather steep path leading to the practice space they rehearse at.

      While there is a lot of truth in the above statement, they do list ‘various post-rock, ambient, and jam bands’ among their influences. In this sense, they automatically attain a degree of novelty. The Providence scene is generally known for noise and metal; post-rock influenced bands are something of a rarity.

     The band itself is a four-piece, and with the exception of Alex Klameth, who plays guitar, everyone is a multi-instrumentalist. With the exception of one line-up change, the band has consisted of Alex, Alex Perry on drums and synth, Alex Wasilewski on bass, guitar, mandolin, violin, and vocals, and Jacob Telford, on guitar, bass, and vocals.

     The music itself is a fairly lush affair. There is a fair degree of sensitivity regarding timbre, and layering of rhythms to create an orchestrated effect. ‘Journey to
Fog Mountain’, one of the tracks on their MySpace page, is a good example of this type of thinking at work. The track opens with an oscillating synth figure and some broad tones in the bass. As these elements coalesce, tremolo-picked guitar enters, presenting an introductory melody that has a haunting quality to it. As these elements build, the rest of the band kicks in, and everything breaks loose. The mid-tempo feel and the fundamentally riff-driven accompaniment, built out of a couple of chords, generate a feeling of wonder and quiet melancholy.

     ‘4’ is a fundamentally different affair. Built out of a delay-affected riff, this piece  moves with a higher degree of propulsive rhythm. While this tune is full of interesting ideas, as a whole it is less satisfying than ‘Journey to Fog Mountain’. There is something about the recording that sounds more like a rehearsal; it has less of a sense of confidence in the execution than the other. If the inconsistencies were ironed out, this would be another compelling musical journey.

     In general, there is a fairly close relationship between the recordings and the live show. The sense of energy loss usually encountered on a recording isn’t as noticeable. This probably has something to do with the fact that the recordings are essentially live demos. High-end production isn’t always a good thing.

     Jacob has explained that the band is essentially on hold, as the members are all attending different colleges, and the ‘Mountain has been laid to rest’, until such time that the band can get back together. So, that should be sometime next summer. For now, the band can be accessed via MySpace and Facebook. Here are the links. Check them out.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-a-Mountain/122607324431470

http://www.myspace.com/itsamountain

Artist Review: Katie Laub

      Hailing from Stuarts Draft, Virginia, located in the Shenandoah Valley, Katie Laub creates music that combines traditional, acoustic style folk ballads with modern electronic soundscapes. The end result is highly engaging, largely due to the fact that the songwriting serves as a nice relief to the at times abstract intensity of the electronic music.

     Her musical journey started with the piano; guitar, mandolin, and banjo followed. In the fall of 2010, she took a sound class through RISD, learning about sound programming and ‘other ways to approach noise making’. Though musically involved for most of her life, actively pursuing composition of any type is an activity that has only recently come to draw her focus.

     When the understanding is given that she lists traditional bluegrass music as well as Throbbing Gristle among her influences, things begin to clarify. Add John Cage and Godspeed You Black Emperor, and we have some philosophical insight as well as an indication of some kind of contemporary esthetic. For the uninitiated, John Cage left a body of work that raised questions about sound and silence, as well as the relationship between composer and performer. It is therefore fitting that a musician with such an overtly searching bent would list him among her biggest influences. Add in the fact that she was raised up in the Mennonite church, has blown glass, and is influenced by the idea of home and a longing for a simpler way of life, and this blend of old and new becomes much more clear

     There is something naturally authentic about her songwriting. Let us take track 7 of the SoundCloud site, ‘You Gotta Fly’, as an example. Accompanying herself on banjo, she sings effectively simple lyrics set to very diatonic, major key melodies,  harmonized in very traditionally standard ways. The end result is a solidly written and executed tune in a much older style. By the time she abandons spoken language for a series of melodicized ‘La la las’, you may find yourself wonderfully engaged in the music.

     The next couple of tracks highlight her experimental side. ‘No More’ and ‘Sparcile’ are intensely abstract and ‘out there’ compared to ‘You Gotta Fly’, but they are just as convincing in their way as ‘You Gotta Fly’ is in its; you have to be willing to actually listen to what she has to say. ‘Sparcile’ is particularly interesting because of the way it combines Katie’s untreated voice intoning against the isorhythmic and dissonant background. The last two tracks round out the proceedings nicely, as the long, searching experimentation of ‘Destination’ is met with the brief, extremely diatonic elegance of ‘Goodnight’.

     Katie Laub is a very talented musician.  Aiming to blend the old with the new, she is carving out her own path; while others have engaged in similar musings, there is a freshness to her approach that is thoroughly contemporary. Anyone interested in having their sensibilities stretched, and fans of such disparate musical entities as Controlled Bleeding and Pete Seeger would be well-served by investigating the sonic landscapes she creates.

Check her out at:

http://soundcloud.com/katielaub/sets/noise

     

Global Crash

Global Crash creates iridescent waves of rhythm. Conceived around 2008, and representing the culmination of a long exploration in the world of electronic music, this project represents the ever-unfolding musicality of Paul Holder.

      At present, there are two releases under this moniker; the first, ‘Fragility in Technology’, and now, ‘Echolalia’. After spending some time with the new album, I revisited ‘Fragility’. The advance in conception is astounding.

     If we turn to a dictionary, we see the following definitions for ‘Echolalia’:

1. Psychiatry The immediate and involuntary repetition of words or phrases just spoken by others

2. An infant's repetition of the sounds made by others, a normal occurrence in childhood development.

      Acknowledging the titles of the songs elicits a similar feeling, that of responding to the outside world, possibly through the naiveté of youth. ‘Baby’s Breath’, ‘Shimmer Reflection Underneath The Water’, and ‘Spectral’ are three of the nine tracks listed, and the names themselves imply some sense of reflected existence.

     The fact that this project was conceived of as an album with individual tracks is one of the reasons why it is a more satisfying listening experience than ‘Fragility’. ‘Fragility’ was essentially a collection of bright spots amidst an amorphous stream of unfolding sound; ‘Echolalia’ consists of individually conceived tracks that are generally well presented from start to finish.

      There is a wide range of variety within the scope of the project. On one hand, there is a track like ‘Until you’re numb’, which lies somewhere in the realm of trip-hop and ambient; a slowed down, jungle-esque beat wedded to a set of vaguely arrhythmic chordal and melodic ideas. The upper register ideas seem to float out of the churning rhythm like vapor from a fissure.

     On the other hand we have ‘Delicate Cadence’, which produces a completely different effect. In this case, the track evolves from the most minimal elements, and each instrument enters in a more leisurely manner. A major key vamp carries the body of the tune, and the effect is more uplifting. More rhythmically defined than pure trance techno, this track would be a great accompaniment to a beautiful sunrise in the woods or a cool down at the end of a show.

     The strengths of this recording lie in the realm of pacing, the unity of the ideas presented, and the variety of styles on display in the music itself. The end result is music that maintains a consistent point of view while diving into many areas.

     Go see this live. I have had the pleasure of experiencing this thing twice now, and the difference in effect is highly noticeable. Admittedly, DJ sets are generally a little less dynamic than a rock show. One guy scrunched over a G4 isn’t very exciting. What is exciting is the increased texture afforded by a superior sound system. On top of that, Paul has interest in various media, which is incorporated into the proceedings. He likes to project movies produced by a company dedicated to such things, and the accompanying visuals enhance the music in generally interesting ways.

Check him out at….

http://www.facebook.com/GlobalCrash

California Smile

     My introduction to California Smile was ‘Secret Message From Your Teeth’, given to me by Victor after meeting him for the first time at as220. “Postrock”! I thought. “You’re wrong”, said Cameron. “Keep listening.” And so I have. Cameron was right.

     “Listen to ‘Things Not Worth Saying’.” All of a sudden my attention was diverted…

“Was that a leading tone? Some kind of dominant relationship? This is awesome!”

California Smile is a highly complex musical entity from New England. There appear to be many musicians associated with this group, chief among whom are Victor Mansella, Michael Murphy, Jared LaFond, Jake LaFond, and Cameron Brennan.

     The fact that there is some ‘traditional’ thinking involved in the creation of this music is very fascinating. The linear motion (voice leading) and harmonic schemes have a classical bias in certain respects, but the framework is definitely clothed ‘in the now’. There are so many inferred influences, and there was one definite time when I was reminded of an instrumental, off- Broadway version of Queen.

     After this was ‘Roof Came Off House’. I had to reconsider my position yet again. This had a metallic-synth edge to it, with the same harmonic sensibility. Listen to that insane noise at the beginning of the first track and the way it dissolves into the band. There is, for me at least, something almost Schubertesque about them at times. Here, in ‘Sermons From Snakes’, the leisurely pace of the tempo and the broad, expansive quality of the melody line reminds me of the slow movement of the ‘Trout Quartet’ of Mr. Franz. This is to be taken in the most general sense.

      Concerning this album, I thought it was their newest release, until I checked the dates on the sleeves. ‘Things Not Worth Saying’ is later.

      This group excels at high musical drama, not in some ‘classical’ sense, but more in the sense of knowing how to build and develop an idea as a complete unit, and utilize emotional contrasts. In my opinion, this is due to their understanding of both pacing and the specific relationship that melodic rhythm has to metrical flow, to musical time in general. The end result has a very refined sense of ensemble, where that ‘band as one giant instrument’ effect begins to make itself felt. With the right sound engineer, this would be an awesome thing to experience live.

     On top of the European influence in the department of harmony, there is also an ‘orchestral’ feel to the band. The compositions have the quality of being composed and then arranged for the band. From talking to Victor, I was given that he did in fact attend music school, but didn’t feel it benefited him that much on many levels. Still, that kind of influence will have some sort of effect somewhere, even if it is not consciously perceived.

     After this, I was forced to go back to ‘Secret Message From Your Teeth’. This time I didn’t hear it being so post-rock; the nascent quality of the harmonic approach was more readily felt.

     This is a musical being that doesn’t fear change. ‘Variation on a Theme’ could possibly stand in as the group’s motto, if such things existed. ‘Constant Reinvention’ is another. This group presents music that is accessible while still being a positive challenge, music that is serious in its expressive intent while still being ballsy.

     In a recent conversation I had with Cameron, he told me that the band is planning to play sometime this month. Also, Victor told me that the band is currently at work on material for a new album and plan on debuting some of it this fall.

 Go check them out. They are yet another example of the best parts of the scene, awesome music made by people who love to play.

    

     Check em out at:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/California-Smile/122452896274?sk=info

http://www.myspace.com/californiasmile1