Rockin' With Roth

At 24 years old, and armed with a degree in Elementary Education - Asher Roth is positioned to be the next hip-hop stalwart. He might not turn into a superstar but like such artists as Del the Funky Homosapien, RZA, or Aesop Rock - he might gently guide the emergence of true hip-hop from the sludge of modern rap. The social conscience and swagger of an emcee like Roth, reminds us why studio rats like T-Pain and Lil' Wayne should have their careers stripped as soon as possible.

Released for free last year through his website was The GreenHouse Effect Mixtape: Vol. 1. This plays like most underground mixtapes, with twenty-plus tracks and a smorgasboard of producers. And that is kind of the problem with this recording. Being an up-and-comer I can see the intimidation factor for Roth, but his flow seems forced and/or uninspired throughout the mixtape - as he lets iconic producers like Kanye West, Pharell, Timbaland, and Will.I.Am run away with the show, when it's supposed to be showcasing him.

However, if you move to his debut album Asleep in the Bread Aisle, you definitely hear what this kid is all about. Not enslaved to producers here, he plays mostly with a live band and spits rhythmically complex, and insightful lyrics through out most of the album. "Blunt Cruisin" and "La Di Da" are throw aways, they sound like hip-hop sound scapes that were thrown in to fill out a track obligation. Roth's rhymes feel tagged on.

Beyond those two there is not a throwaway song on the rest of the album (even the sarcastic, deadpan deliver that distinguishes his lead single "I Love College" works in the context of the record). You can tell this is an artist that does for a love of hip-hop and not to count their spins on modern radio, this feels like a throwback to the days when hip-hop was relevant and imporant...it has De La Soul written all over it. He even tackles the inevitable comparisons that sure to rise with the song "As I Em" - in which he praises and shows gratitude to Eminem for breaking the glass ceiling so that he could now be embraced by the industry he so obviously loves.

"Be By Myself" might very well be the sickest song on the album, with a beautiful hook from Cee-Lo (Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley) - I predict now that this will be the next single, as well it should be. But make no mistake, Roth does not hide behind guests on this album, only four songs here feature artists other than Roth himself, he carries this one on his own brilliantly.

If you liked rap, and you hate where rap has gone, you might just find a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel by the time this record stops spinning.

Album Review: Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band

Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band

Outer South
[Merge Records]

# of spins (out of 5):

With Bright Eyes currently on the backburner, Conor Oberst is moving full-speed-ahead with his solo project, The Mystic Valley Band. Outer South is the follow-up to his self-titled 2008 release. Amazing this record feels more solid, more put together, and more collaborative than his first solo effort (and oddly enough, far more collaborative than Bright Eyes has ever been). In fact six of the fifteen songs on this album, Oberst doesn't even sing on. The band he has assembled features two (out of three) of his regular Bright Eyes collaborators, Jason Boesel and Nathaniel Walcott (Mike Mogis is surprisingly absent from this record), as well as two singer/songwriters, Nik Freitas and Taylor Hollingsworth, who have been marginally successful in their own right.

Oberst's voice is as aching and quivering as ever, while his lyrics feel far less personal, and in a lot of ways that's good thing. Oberst often has tendency to write lyrics so raw, that he sings so passionately, it becomes uncomfortable to even listen to - that doesn't really happen here. "Slowly (oh so slowly)" is a stand-out track that kicks off the album with a backbeat, and acts as a reminder to his loyal listeners, that they should never assume that know what Oberst might serve up next. "Nikorette" and "Ten Women" are solid folk/country compositions that blends the honesty of old country music with the beautiful symbolism of modern indie-rock.

Taylor Hollingsworth's two songs, "Air Matress" and "Snake Hill" actually steal the show from Oberst's heartbreak. "Air Matress" sounds like a surf-rock anthem that meshed with the cheese of 80's new wave, in a glorious anthem about joys of being in love and poor. While "Snake Hill" comes off as an old-school country ballad, tells a story in a way that only bluegrass crooner's could.

If you come expecting Bright Eyes...you are going to be disappointed. If you come expecting Oberst's last solo album...you are going to be disappointed. But if you come to Outer South (as you should with all of Oberst's incarnations) with a clean slate...then you couldn't possibly be disappointed.

Derby City Scene

Neil Hulsewede

Army of One

Local singer/songwriter Neil Hulsewede's album Army of One has been in constant rotation since I laid my hands on it a few months ago. He plays a blend of straight, old fashioned, no frills country music, accompanied by lyrics that are achingly relevant for a young man who is still trying to find his place, in a world that hasn't quite embraced him the way he had been promised. Topics range from an ode to his father, to drinking anthems, to love lorn tales of heart break, to the universal dissidence of isolation. Basically, it bears the themes of old-fashioned country - but these are not your parent's country songs.

DO NOT skip these songs: "Army of One", "Oh Baby, You", "Drinking Out on the Town too Late At Night", "I've Been Reflecting"

My Morning Jacket
Celebracion De La Ciudad Natal [tanslated: Celebration of the Hometown]

My Morning Jacket ceased to be Louisville's band quite a few years back. Once critics in L.A. and New York began to hail them - while people like Dave Grohl and Cameron Crowe were name dropping them in interviews or sticking them in films. Those of us who remember their final 2 night stand at Headliner's (and far smaller venues) before sending them off into the big bad music industry - could no longer claim the band as our own...we had to learn to share. And MMJ has been back many times since those fairwell shows...but the venues have gotten larger - when Headliner's sold out at 800, they went to Brown Williamson which sold out at 1,500, they then moved to The Palace which sells out at just under 3,000, then they moved to Louisville Gardens which sells out at 8,000, before their most rescent show at the Waterfront where they sold out over 10,000 hometown tickets.

Alas, it is that show from where this live album, an ode to their home town is recorded (half of it anyway, they other half is recorded at a in-store performance in their hometown local record store Ear X-Tacy). Eventhough it's only 7 songs, I say album because it clocks in over 47 minutes long (to give a point of reference it's signifantly longer then EVERY album Weezer has ever put out, with approximately half as many songs). There's a good mix of old and new tunes, while avoiding the ones you might expect. "Evil Urges", "Highly Suspicious", and "Librarian" are the three songs off their epic 2008 release Evil Urges; and these were by far the strongest tracks on that record, and have translated wonderfully to the stage. The band digs deep for expansive, new takes on some of their older crowd favorites...the songs that would have filled these very same streets a decade ago, at the band's inception, songs like: "Where to Begin" and "Phone Went West". But the band also doesn't let you forget about the creative outpour that came with their groundbreaking album Z, with "Gideon" and "Dondante". Noticeably absent are any songs from their Earth-shattering major label debut It Still Moves.

John Swift

More Taylor Swift kicking more ass. This time it's a co-kick with John Mayer, from her concert at the Staples Center in L.A. 5/22/09.

The two songs (one from each artist) span two aspects of a relationship. The first "Your Body is a Wonderland" is about the playful, seductive aspect of a healthy thriving relationship. While "White Horse" is the resignation and realization of a relationship that fell apart long before you ever realized it.

(excuse the quality but they're from YouTube, you know what to expect)

"Your Body is a Wonderland"


and "White Horse"

Album Review: Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode

Sounds of the Universe
[Mute/EMI]

# of spins (out of 5):


Depeche Mode is not a band who's know for pushing their own boundaries. They have an effecting sound that has worked for three decades now. And its obvious that this late in the game Dave Gahan and company aren't going to mix it up now. For those who aren't enamored by the band's retro-new-wave appeal - this album won't interest you. But for those who can't get enough of it, will be thrilled.

Sounds of the Universe sounds vaguely like every Depeche Mode that has come before it, which is why several of these new songs have a timeless, familiar quality to them, even on the first listen. A prime example is "Wrong" - a buzzing synthezizer laden track that echoes the band's pinchant for brooding pop-hooks.

"In Chains" and "Hole to Fee" show the band's playful side, as they seem to ironically play on their reputation as Mope Moguls. Both songs cut with emotional urgency eventhough they still seem over the top, even for Depeche Mode. "In Sympathy" is an aching analysis of someone dealing with the loss of a loved one. Gahan's lyrics brilliantly reflect the raw emotion that comes with saying an unexpected goodbye. While at the same time vividly recounting the speechlessness of friends who try in vain to help the narrator cope: "You're bright, you're strong/You know your right from wrong/At least to some degree/You're wise, you're tough/You've heard their lies enough/You smile in sympathy".

Sounds of the Universe won't convert Depeche Mode any new fans, but it certainly won't offend any of their old fans.

Previous Albums:
Speak & Spell
A Broken Frame
Construction Time Again
Some Great Reward
Black Celebration
Music for the Masses
Violator
Songs of Faith and Devotion
Ultra
Exciter
Playing the Angel
Sounds of the Universe

Album Review: Cracker

Cracker

Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
[429 Records]

# of spins (out of 5):


Some bands never learn and never, and sometimes you love them for that. Cracker just happens to be one of those bands. Nearly twenty years into their career, they are as sarcastic, snarky, and clever as they ever were. So this is Cracker being Cracker. Most of the material feels appropriate for middle-age men, which is odd, because lead singer David Lowery's voice is as strong as it ever was. Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey is an incredibly strong album from a band this far into its career, although the youthful dynamic has changed within the band since their early hits "Low", "Get Off This", and "Euro-Trash Girl". And they seem vaguely aware of this fact and seem to be self-conscious of that fact.

The finest moments on Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey are when the band lets go of pretense and lets it all go. This happens most effectively on the first side of the album with the rocking ode to losing touch with pop-culture, "Show Me How This Thing Works." The dense Leonard Cohen influenced "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out With Me" is a stellar song that reinvigorates an outdated reference.

"Hand Me My Inhaler" is a stand out song that is sadly WAY too short. Clocking in at only a minute-and-a-half - this is a song I so badly want to hear more of. The stand out strongest song here is the country-saturated "Friends" a duet with Patterson Hood of Drive-by Truckers. With a slew of old hillbilly riffs, sardonic lyrics, and a wonderful sing-song chant of a chorus.

There's nothing wrong with this album, but it does offer reminder that Cracker was definitely on the fore-front of a roots revival in Alternative Rock in the early 90's, and they don't get their due. They too often fall through the cracks when conversations drift into the Alternative Country spectrum, as music-geeks hail bands (and rightfully so) like Whiskeytown and Uncle Tupelo.

But sadly, Cracker always seems to get lost in the shuffle, and they've been right there all along.

Previous Albums:
Cracker
Kerosene Hat
The Golden Age
Gentleman's Blues
Garage D'Or
Forever
Hello Cleveland: Live From the Metro
O'Cracker Where Art Thou?
Countrysides
Greenland
Berlin (Live in Berlin December 2006)

Nowhere Fast: Live at the 30 Minute B.J.

Here's a live performance from Nowhere Fast from their appearance on the 30 Minute B.J. podcast. It was a podcast about nothing and everything at the same time as the three hosts spiraled in and out of depravity. Nowhere Fast showed up as part of the season finale for the first season and performed two songs - "Black Angel" and a cover of The Descendants song "We". Singer Seth Robinson's voice is achingly strong on these versions (although the recording isn't flawless, it still sounds pretty damn good), and former guitarist Bobby Radd offers a wonderful back-up to what Seth seems to do effortlessly.

The 30 Minute B.J. ceases to exist any longer, however the three hosts are now hosting a similar podcast called Talk Hard.

Here's a stream of Seth and Bobby performing both "Black Angel" and "We":

You can visit Nowhere Fast here.
You can find Talk Hard here (in the blog section) or on iTunes here.
You can find old episodes of 30 Minute B.J. here.
You can visit Little Heart Records here.

An e-mail from Derek Webb

This is why I like Derek Webb. He' s known as "Christian" singer/songwriter - but the Christian music scene has mostly shunned him because he has the courage to challenge them, to make them self-realize, and to hold them accountable, so that fallible human representation of an infallible being, can be better than they are. But people don't want to hear these things, and Webb has suffered because of it. And from the looks of this e-mail he is once again being cut off at the knees because he's not saying what Christians want to hear, but rather what they need to hear.

Here's a copy of an e-mail he just sent around about why his latest album is being delayed:

friends-
i haven't sent many personal emails to this email list but we're in a situation that has gotten a little out of control and it's time to fill you in. as some of you may know, i've been working for months on my new record, 'stockholm syndrome', which i've recently finished and turned in to the record label. they've been very supportive over the years, but this time we didn't get the response we expected. it seems i've finally found the line beyond which my label can support me, and apparently i've crossed it.

i consider this my most important record and am adamant about all of you hearing it. we had originally hoped to have 'stockholm syndrome' out this month (next week even), but at this point we're not sure when the record will come out and in what form. the majority of the controversy is surrounding one song, which i consider to be among the most important songs on the record. so we've decided it's an appropriate time to break the rules.

but because of various legal/publishing issues we're having to be rather careful with how we do what we're going to do next. that's really all i can say for now and i've probably said too much.

we have a plan and we're moving ahead, but we're not sure what kind of trouble we might be getting into. we'll let you know as soon as we know our next move-

derek

Mother's Day Mix Tape

Here's the perfect mix tape to celebrate Mother's Day. Go find these songs, put them on a CD (CD's more than likely), and give them to the coolest most important lady in your life.

Mother, Mother - Tracy Bonham
Dear Mama - TuPac
Mama I'm Coming Home - Ozzy Osbourne
Mama Told Me (not to come) - 3 Dog Night
Mother - Pink Floyd
Mama Tried - Merle Haggard
Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys - Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
Stacy's Mom - Fountains of Wayne
Mother - Danzig
Gold Mother - James
Mothers of the Disappeared - U2
Hey Mama - Kanye West
Blueprint (momma loves me) - Jay-Z
Mother's Little Helper - Rolling Stones
My Mama Said - ABBA
Mother and Child Reunion - Paul Simon
Mama Didn't Raise a Fool - Primus
If I Was Your Mother - Bon Jovi
Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J
Mother - John Lennon
Motorcycle Mama - Neil Young
My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama - Frank Zappa
Mother Stands for Comfort - Kate Bush
That's Alright Mama - Elvis Presley
Mama Kin - Aerosmith
Mother - Tori Amos
Your Mama Don't Dance (and daddy don't rock n' roll) - Loggins & Messina
Mama Weer All Crazee Now - Quiet Riot
Mother's Day - Blink 182
Ya Mama - Pharcyde
Mama You Been on My Mind - Bob Dylan
Your Mother Should Know - The Beatles
God Bless Mom - The Frames
Mama's Got a Girlfriend Now - Ben Harper
Mother, Father - Dave Matthews Band
Mummy's Boy - Madness

Currently Listening to...

Television
Marquee Moon

If you don't know Television...know them. Tom Verlaine and crew were punk-rockers with musical sensibility. They exude the defiant confidence that punk demands, but still have 8 minute sweeping epics and slicing guitar riffs that would put most any of the staples on classic rock radio to shame.

Songs you must hear: "See No Evil", "Friction", "Marquee Moon", "Prove It", "Torn Curtain"

Loretta Lynn
Van Lear Rose

It took a Jack White produced album to inject this country icon with relevance again. These songs sound like classic country filtered through the prism of White's of ravaged old guitar, and equally ravaged (in a good way) mind. The lyrics that Lynn writes here are come of the most cutting and relevant work she has done in decades...even though she treads very little new ground (all heartbreak/and low down dirty cheatin' husbands). White's musical thumb print and Lynn's distinctive voice were, in some cryptic cross-generational fashion, made to meet each other perfectly in the middle.

Songs you must hear: "Van Lear Rose", "Portland Oregon" (duet w/ Jack White), "Family Tree", "Little Red Shoes", "God Makes No Mistakes"

Tom Waits

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, & Bastards

Waits was, is, and always will be an acquired taste, that is indisputable. And in a lot of ways this, three disc collection, is most eccentric offerings in long and varied career. But for those who love Waits' consistent experimentation, and endless need to work outside of proverbial box, then this collection of b-sides and outtakes is right up your alley. His voice is as grizzly as ever, probably even more so than usual at times - but the dry sadness of a troubadour singing about an America that no longer exists makes an almost heartbreaking collection of songs to experience.

Songs you must hear: "Bottom of the World", "You Can Never Hold Back Spring", "Take Care of my Children", "Down There by the Train", "Rains on Me", "Fannin Street", "Home I'll Never Be", "Young At Heart", "First Kiss", "Lord I've Been Changed", "King Kong"

Excerpts from "When I Grow Up: A Memoir" by Juliana Hatfield

Excerpt 1:

"...When I was a young girl I thought I wanted to be a rock star when I grew up. But what happens when a rock star starts to wonder if may it's time to grow up? Maybe I never became a household name, but I have made a living with my music. I've heard my songs on the radio, I've seen myself on TV and in magazines, and I've played in front of tens of thousands of people.

You could say it began when I was on the cover of Spin magazine, or when I first performed on The Tonight Show.

You could say it all started when I signed my first record deal with an independent label, or when I was dropped from Atlantic Records. You could say it started when I canceled a whole string of European shows due to severe depression.

Or you could say it really began in earnest when I set out on yet another cross-country tour of small clubs, a few years back, and came face to face with my inability to play this role any longer; that it took me a whole decades-spanning career in music to realize that maybe I wasn't really cut out for the job of rock star...."

Excerpt 2:
"...The first show on a tour is like kissing someone for the first time. It's a kind of wonderful blur. It happens in a flash of blinding light as if time has no weight or meaning and then suddenly, it's over. After the initial thrilling, terrifying, dive into it, the experience never again has the same intensity. Some of the magic, wired energy slips from your hands - maybe because your nerves have settled - and though you strive to reclaim it every night thereafter, you do settle into a workaday routine of gig after gig...."

Excerpt 3:
"...Freda asked me, 'Hey, Juliana? Do you think I could have one of those sleeping pills?'

I said, "Yeah, of course," unenthusiastically. But then, suddenly worried, I said, "But promise me you won't drink anything with it. I don't want to be responsible fo your death. It says on the bottle, 'Do not drink alcohol with these pills', okay? Look- it says it right here.' And I showed her- I held the bottle out to her, made her read it.

Freda laughed and said, "Okay."

But I wasn't joking. Tonight I felt cursed, doomed, like darkness personified; the darkness that could snuff out even Freda, who was so full of light.

I unzipped my backpack as we got into the elevator and took out my pill container as we rode up. I handed an ambien to Freda just as the doors opened on my floor. I said goodnight and the elevator doors closed behind me and the tears came instantly, even before I could get to my door.

I ran a bath, still crying, and got in the tub, my warm tears mixing with the bathwater.

As long as I've been doing this I have felt this way half the time. It's like God wants to make sure I stay humble, so I can really appreciate the good stuff when it happens. Like maybe all these little depressions and disappointments that come out of nowehere for practically no real reason keep me balanced, in a weird way. All of the joy and wonder need to be tempered with dejection and doubt so I am better able to recognize an be thankful for my good fortune...."

Excerpt 4:
"...When I entered my room, I sat down on the edge of the bed and turned on the TV. It was tuned to the MTV channel. I watched as Guns N' Roses' epic, pain-drenched power ballad 'November Rain' drew to its dramatic conclusion. It ended and then my "My Sister" video came on, identified in the corner of the screen as a 'buzz clip'.

Guns N' Roses and then...me. Me and Guns N' Roses. Back to back. Joined in some kind of surreal union. It seemed so completely unlikely. So bizarre for the two of us- me and G N' R to be lumped together.

I had nothing against Guns and Roses. It was just that me and them seemed so fundamentally, philosophically unlike one another. They were rock icons - the biggest band in the world, in fact ,at the time- and they knew it and believed in their mythology and were working it. All the time. The lived rock & roll, 24/7. They seemed to breathe rock & roll. They ate rock & roll. They probably shat rock & roll. You knew that they knew that rock n' roll stardom was their birthright, that they fuckin' deserved to be rock stars.

As for me, I seemed born not to raise hell but to doubt everything. Had I earned my place on the charts next to G N' R? Did I deserve my current success? Did I fit the role- fill the rock star shoes - like they did? It was open to debate. And I, for one, was decidedly skeptical. I certainly didn't feel like a superstar, or have any sort of clue as to how to act like one.

Guys in bands like G N' R, with their top hats and scarves and tight pants, and swilling Jack Daniels out of the bottle, believed in pop stardom as a way of life from the beginning and were aiming for it as if it were a vlearly marked destination on a map. For me it was always a fanciful dream, an amorphous and somewhat delusional fantasy. So when it actually happened, to me, I couldn't understand it or make sense of it or accept it or believe it or deal with it. It didn't seem real. Or, rather, it seemed too real, and that took some of the shine off of it.

Fantasies are visions of perfection and they serve as escapes from the recurring letdowns and disappointments of reality. They aren't supposed to come to life. When they do, they inevitably lose some of their sparkle in the journey from dream to the here-and-now. That's why people warn, 'Be careful what you wish for.' In a rock and roll fantasy you're better, more beautiful, more interesting, more talented, more desirable, more charismatic. In order to sustain this kind of vision, day-to-day, you have to actively play along and keep the fantasy afloat by deluding yourself, and other, into believing you are as wonderful and dazzling as the ongoing fantasy. There can never be any untidy or unpleasant or uncomfortable moments, moments that are always in reality sprouting up during the lifespan of any long-term situation...."

My Book Pages...a book review

When I Grow Up: A Memoir
By: Juliana Hatfield
[Wiley Press]

It is in no way an over statement when I say Juliana Hatfield’s When I Grow Up… is the most fascinating and unique memoir that I’ve read since Bob Dylan’s Chronicles Vol. 1. Mostly it’s the structure and the way she tells her own story. This is not a “has-been” rewriting her personal relevance, but rather it’s a “should’ve-been-more” writing about her irrelevance in an industry that no longer welcomes her. She’s self-deprecating and self-analytical. She doesn’t shy away from her propensity for moodiness, while still making it clear that she isn’t the angst ridden 90’s grrrrrl one might assume her to be.

The book is split into two sections (usually swinging back-and-fourth from one chapter to the next) – the first part is a tour diary from a run of shows she did in the summer/fall of 2005; and the other section is filled with the more conventional anecdotes one might expect from a memoir. But by the end of the book it becomes painfully obvious that the road diary acts as a metaphor for the journey she has taken through life. It's truly brilliant in its simplicity. Her use of language is not the least bit gratuitous or flowery, but it flows with a poetic rhythm in its structure.

Hatfield has always had a guarded stance toward the press and her fans, generally keeping everyone at arm’s length. In that regard I wouldn’t say she let’s you in – in fact she probably still holds the reader at elbow’s length. But by doing just that, she does allow you some insight and a better understanding of the sometimes-tortured, sometimes contented, and the always unpredictable psyche, of an artist who is coming to terms with middle-age. Lying beneath the surface of every word, seems to be an attempt at reconciling the smoldering embers of a career that was inexplicably ripped out from under her, before she ever really had chance.

As a geek and long time fan of her work, I have only one real criticism. There is one dangling question I have always wondered about, that she comes close to answering but never quite does: how did she come to be the bassist for The Lemonheads’ opus It’s a Shame About Ray? She discusses her relationship with the band and its lead singer Evan Dando – but never broaches how exactly she came to play bass on such an iconic record.

Regardless, anyone who is going through 90’s withdrawal, or just happens to be interested bya complex, insightful artist who has been there and done that – then this book is a must read.



**Juliana has posted two chapters on her website that were removed from the original pressing of the book. I don't know why, because they're very cool (especially the antidote about the friend of her room mate's mom). If you want to read those you can find them at the links below:
Lost chapter #1: "Familiar Stranger"
Lost chapter #2: "8/6 Cambridge to Cleveland"

Let's keep our fingers crossed that she posts more missing chapters in the near future.

Too Sewn Together to Die

Meat Puppets have seen and been through a lot in their almost thirty year career. From drug addiction, jail time, and even a band member being shot twice; the core of the band, brothers Cris and Curt Kirkwood, are holding the band's legacy in tact. They're persevered and continued to inspire countless artists around them, while only finding marginal mainstream success personally (although the band did have minor hits with the albums Too High to Die in 1994 and No Joke in 1995). Playing a unique blend of rock that incorporated country, punk rock, and psychedelic music, the band wasn't able to simply draw the line at musical experimentation. By1996 drugs had ravaged the band, and began a decade long estrangement between the brothers Kirkwood as Cris spiraled deeper into heroin addiction.

After a 2006 reunion, the band released a highly praised come back album called Rise to Your Knees. Today, as I sit down to talk with Curt Kirkwood, the band preparing to release their twelfth album called Sewn Together and about to embark on a nationwide tour in support of the record. Today we talk about everywhere they've been that has finally brought the band through the fire, and left them still standing today.

Do you enjoy the live process or the studio process more?
Curt Kirkwood: Live is probably the most comfortable because once you get done, that’s it, ya’ know? That kind of commitment is kinda like going off a diving board, or rock climbing, or whatever, where half the thrill of it is just the process. And if you can get out of your headspace and get out of the critical realm in the studio, that’s desirable too; at least by my standards. I have a real good time in the studio, if nobody’s around dickin’ with me.

One thing people seem to overlook with you in particular is how innovative of a guitarist you are, who did you admire?
CK: Oh, anything that’s guitar oriented. String instrument oriented. I’m game to listen to any of it. I’m trying to do whatever; I’m trying to do [anything from] mandolin runs to saxophone lines on guitar. Miles Davis was a big influence in terms of: “if you make a mistake play it again and people will think you’re a genius.”
I also try to be conscious of trying to make it swing for a live audience. That’s probably my biggest influence in a way – [because] if I’m going to play music live, it’s going to be in consideration of the audience.

How does it feel playing songs that are now 25 years old? Do they evolve, or are you all still playing them the same way?
CK: Nah, they evolve. They evolve heavily at some points and then I’ll try to kinda re-evaluate and throw in some of the old way [again]. But we’ve always been pretty loose with that. Truth be told we never really tried to play any of the albums the way that they sound. We’re more like that these days, where we sound like we sound. But in the early days we would do one thing in the studio, we’d be all messed on some thing or another, and then you go out live and you’re messed up on somethin’ else.
We were making studio albums, and then playing punk rock shows. We were making something like Up on the Sun and then having to go out and open for a lot of punk rock shows. We’re [now] starting to play with Los Lobos and bands like that, but it was kind of a weird thing to make albums the way that we did and pull those off in front of people, like they [sounded on the album].

You all have always had what seems to be an inherent optimism in your music, even in the midst of the grunge cynicism of the 90’s, and amid personal turmoil and tragedy – where does that come from?
CK: The Beatles. Elvis. Bach. Ya’ know, they’re our seminal influences. because even in the passion and sadness of a lot of this stuff, you try to find the beautiful aspect of it.

Do lines get blurred between Cris being your brother and also being your band mate?
CK: Not really. Actually, it helps because I can tell him stuff in a really easy way. I can be myself, I don’t have to sugar coat anything, and that really helps when you’re working with me. It’s not like I’m a control freak, I’m just not very good, a lot of times, with people’s emotions. And Chris is real easy that way. He doesn’t get offended.

Cris came very close to the fire, didn’t he?
CK: Oh yeah, it’s crazy. It’s hard to believe when you talk to him because he’s still pretty courageous, and he’s retained a lot of what made him a decent person in the first place. He’s a good soul. He just had really bad drug habits, probably stemming from chinks in psychic armor, who knows? But it was completely horrid. I’ve plenty of drug addicts in this business, and anyone worse has died a lot quicker, and I just don’t know anyone who has gotten as bad as [he was] and figured it out. But he got shot [in regards to a 2003 incident where bassist Cris Kirkwood was shot twice by a security guard and later sentenced to 24 months in jail] and it straightened him out. That’s something that’ll happen too, if you can hit rock bottom like that, so that it kind of makes sense to you.
It’s pretty insane though.
He’s a lot different person than I am. He’s got a lot more heart than I do. That’s one of the things that make us work well together; he’s a big heart, I’m kind of a little black heart.

Did you really go years without seeing him?
CK: Yeah I didn’t see him for…I don’t know, I can’t tell you. I saw him once in ’98 [after they originally broke-up in 1996] and I didn’t see him again until we started the band back up [in 2006]. Yeah, it was a really long time. I wrote him off for dead. I didn’t make any attempt and he didn’t either. He was a completely sick fucker, ya’ know? He was completely gone, it wasn’t like a dispute or anything, anyone can tell ya’ that. It was a tragedy…a pure tragedy. It’s a miracle that he’s back.

How is producing a record yourself differ from when you have someone else, such as Paul Leary producing for you?
CK: I don’t get my ass kicked at pool all of the time, when Paul’s not around. I don’t know, it’s subtle stuff. I mean, everybody’s kinda going for the same thing. The big deal with me is that since I’m me, I know myself really well.
I know I can make good records this way, because I’ve made a lot of good records that way, too. This was kinda like Meat Puppets II or Up on the Sun, where basically I know what I wanna do, I work on the kind of boards I really like, which I like old analog equipment and I like two inch tape. It’s been hard to get that for a really long time. This is the first time where I really got exactly to what I needed for many, many years. A lot of the production was just giving the band that opportunity to work on that gear. At that point I just let it go. I get everything up, get the mics setup, and then there’s not much that really needs to be said. I feel that humiliation is really great motivation and that’s a big part of how I like to produce. Debasing and humiliating and then seeing what the self-righteous, beautiful little artist has to offer then. I have Elmo, my son, come in there to kind of back me up on stuff I thought sucked, so not only did the people I was picking on feel beaten on, but they felt doubly beaten on.
I don’t feel a need to mean or anything, but it’s like my son told me the other day, “The joke’s not funny and the truth is mean.” I told him that’s a great fuckin’ name for an album…but it’s true though.

The opening song and title track to Sewn Together kind of seems like the mission statement from an older, wiser Meat Puppets, was that the intention?
CK: I don’t know if there’s any more wisdom honestly. I mean, I’ve always just been like: onward through the fog. My ethic has always kind of come from the seventies to a degree, [with the mindset of]: “It’s already too late. Are you kidding?” That’s where punk rock came from, Devo or whatever…it’s de-evolution. So I don’t know if there’s anymore wisdom, I just move on, I keep going, that’s what I’ve always done. Even though I was construed as a punk rocker, and weirdo, or alternative, or whatever, I just kept going.
The music is the motivation and I wanna play music until I have to stop. I’m really thankful that I keep being involved, and I feel really lucky when an album comes out as good as this one did, to me. Because I don’t have to look at it with any regrets and go: “well, I had to accept that…,” or “I didn’t have the money for this…,” or “I didn’t have the time to do that….” It came out cool and I’m glad I made it and I’m glad I can get behind it. But it’s a pretty weird fuckin’ album if you ask me.
The naming of an album and all of that stuff is also kind of the fun stuff about music. Because it can stand on its own whether I called it Sewn Together or whatever, I mean I could put just about any words to it. I’m conscious of the words, to a degree, only to having to serve the mood that music has already set. I don’t wanna go in there and put some horror rock shit on Sewn Together just because it’s kitschy. There’s a lot of wiggle room when you’re writing lyrics, if the music is what it is – it doesn’t necessarily demand explicit stuff. And I don’t really write that way anyway.

Is there any music that’s out today that excites you?
CK: Oh, all the time. We did a tour with Built to Spill which was a lot of fun, and they had a band from Australia out with us called The Drones who I really, really liked. And we played with a band called The Shaky Hands recently that I thought were fun. I know it sounds like I’m going to pitch these bands because they’re my buds, but that’s also how I get turned onto music, is live. It’s pretty hard for me to get turned onto a band through its records anymore. I used to do that more when I was teenager, like when I got into Can [European Art-Rock Band] or Zappa, I was intrigued and I wanted to see the live shows. Now that I’ve been a musician for a while, I really get off listening to live music and I see most of it when I’m playing with these people. So that’s what it is.
I tend to go back and listen to Bill Monroe and stuff, just because it’s comfortable. I like bluegrass, I like country stuff a lot of times. I like Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, that’s what’s comfortable for me.

I heard a lot of that country and bluegrass influence on “The Monkey and The Snake”, I suppose that’s where that comes from?
CK: Yeah, it’ll get in there. I mean, we’ll never do straight country, or straight bluegrass, or anything. But some of it is really great music, and it rocks in its own way. I’ve always liked that kind of stuff. We’re from Phoenix, we grew up around the horse track and we heard this stuff played on the radio since I was five or six, if anything. I mean, that’s what I remember, is country music. Deliverance was big deal to Chris and me, I used to love that soundtrack, and I still listen to it, there’s lots of really well played stuff by Norman Blake on there. I’ll just put on a Bill Monroe or Louvin Brothers compilation, and I love that stuff because it’s what I grew up listening to. Oh, and Hank Williams, too.
I remember seeing the Andy Griffith Show and they used to have this band come on that was the real deal, and it turned out to be one of those bands you would see at hippie bluegrass festivals in the seventies [referring to The Dillards who appeared on The Andy Griffith Show as fictional group The Darlings]. Kinda like when they dug up Vasser Clements to play Old and In the Way [an album recorded by Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, and John Kahn which featured Clements]. Some real deal bluegrass artists became main stream once the hippies got into it.
I don’t listen to a lot of rock music, honestly. If I do listen to rock music it’s probably Led Zeppelin a lot of times.

You probably get this all of the time but I can’t talk to you and not ask about the Nirvana: Unplugged in New York experience. Certainly in my opinion, and I don’t think I’m alone, it’s one of the greatest live documents in the history of rock n’ roll, and you guys were kind of a focal point of that. What was that like?
CK: Ya’ know, it was a lot of fun. I actually remember a lot of it, which is weird for gigs, and in a lot of ways it [was] just another gig. I was real conscious of their status and the status of the whole process in terms of, whatever the limelight means and whatever cultural influence was going on at the time. Because that was part of the thing, people didn’t have to wait to find out that this was a huge cultural influence.
We already knew that.
But what was fun about that is that they were a lot like us, and it’s not like they gave a rat’s ass that they were a cultural influence. We really liked the music we played in both bands, and we did a lot of the same stuff, and we liked to play the kinda shit that we liked to play. So, we had both gotten there by that means, and they asked us [to play] because we were both kinda the same band at the time. Ya know, it’s the Meat Puppets, you’re not going to get anything other than that.
But we’ve done a lot of crazy shit that people don’t even know about. We did a commercial for radio that they didn’t get to use our name on, and it was like one of the most played things that year. But nobody knew because we just played the song that they wrote: “Heads up now/here’s to you/no one does it quite like you do” – and it was kinda right before that.
[Nirvana] just wanted us to play it like we do, so I wasn’t really distinguishing it from anything else that we did then. And all the guys in Nirvana worried that they really wanted it to be good music, but no one was going: “Oh God, we’re a huge cultural influence…so what’s the next step?”
The real joy of it was, and it’s so obvious, is that we all snuck under the door like cock roaches, both bands. That’s part of why people were going, “Look at this grunge. Look at these shit heads.” It was beautiful and it was getting huge, but eventually someone had to ask: what’s next? And we were like: yeah we’re huge, it’s great, there’s lots of money – but there were too many devices there at that point.
What made it fun though was being the turd in the punch bowl that everyone was vying for; and to know that it wasn’t being dressed up as anything other than a turd in the punch bowl.







Sewn Together, the New album from Meat Puppets is in stores May 12th on Megaforce Records.

Pics from the 5/1/09 O.A.R. Show @ 4th Street Live

All pictures By Michael Dossett, forThe Courier-Journal

Album Review: Jars of Clay

Jars of Clay

The Long Fall Back to Earth
[2009, Gray Matters/ Essential Records]

# of spins (out of 5):


Jars of Clay is a band that regularly has strokes of genius, but is also a band that often buys in to their own ego. Thus resulting, a band with a spotty catalog that is sometimes brilliant and sometimes un-listenable (not to mention they relented to the pressure that gets put on "Contemporary Christian Rock" bands and put out an album of hymns/praise music as well as a Christmas album).

I don't hold their CCR genre against them, I love many artists that fit that mold, Caedmon's Call, Third Day, Derek Webb, and Jars of Clay among them. But when Jars broke in the mid-nineties it was obvious this was a band on the edge of a lot. They crossed over from CCR radio to Alternative Rock and were without questions on the forefront (with contemporaries Counting Crows and Toad the Wet Sprocket) of the Acoustic-Alternative Rock scene that followed shortly after, a scene which included artists like: Days of the New, Shawn Mullins, Paula Cole, & Lisa Loeb. Jars' stunning debut was co-produced by the band and King Crimson's Adrian Belew (who also worked closely with Nine Inch Nails at the time), and video director Ken Fox who worked with bands like Blues Traveler and The Wallflowers.
No, no, this band was not at all like the others.

However, Long Fall Back to Earth is a far cry from the urgency that rang through the band's debut as well as many of their later albums Much Afraid, If I Left the Zoo, or Good Monsters. Long Fall Back to Earth sounds like middle age men trying to care about the same things they did when they were twenty-five. The lyrics mostly feel disingenuous while the band sticks with a familiar sound that didn't work previously, on their weaker albums The Elventh Hour and Who We Are Instead either. It's a thick, polished sound that muddles the band's strengths, mostly Dan Hasseltine's vocals and lyrics (although the lyrics throughout most of this record are fairly forgettable) with electric guitars and suped-up keyboards.

The content of the music are topics the band worked out in their first few albums, disenchantment, divorce, and the struggle for real love in a world that's becoming increasingly indifferent to the concept.

Every song sounds like it was written to be used over the pivotal scene in a generic chick-flick. The stand-out songs that are admittedly fantastic are "Weapons" and "Two Hands". With "Weapons" I can actually picture the scene in a movie where the male protagonist drives home in the rain after the quintessential lover's quarrel. And as the song progresses you see as he begins to realize that he just let the best thing to ever happen to him slip through his hands.

If you're a fan of Jars of Clay, you might like hearing this album just to see what the boys are up to nowadays. But don't expect the passion and vigor that you remember from the olden days.

Previous Albums:
Jars of Clay
Much Afraid
If I Left the Zoo
The Eleventh Hour
Who We Are Instead
Redemption Songs
Good Monsters
Christmas Songs

Derby City Scene

Louiville is for Lovers Vol. 9
Now Available on CD/Vinyl/Digital Download

Here are a couple of songs (and live video of one of said songs), from the Louisville is for Lovers Vol. 9 compilation.

First is "Same State" by The Fervor (this song also features Louisville great Dave Cronin, formerly of the band Follow the Train). These melodic brooders write achingly beautiful while equally heartbreaking odes to the most mysterious of the human conditions. There's stunning naivete to the wistful lyrics that forces this song to linger long after it's stopped playing.

02 Same State [with Dave Cronin].mp3

And also a video of The Fervor performing "Same State" on WFPK's Live Lunch:

Second is "Joan's Song" by Teneia Sanders (who has one of the best voices in town). This is a gorgeous song about secret, unrequited love from one woman to another, in a time when such feelings were not widely accepted. It's brilliantly based on a character from the t.v. show Mad Men.

08 Joans Song.mp3

2 in a week? Really?

For the second time in a week there's a new video from Taylor Swift. This one is definitely higher production value...but I don't buy the fact that they put the 80's hoot-owl glasses on Swift and expect us to buy her as the "Plain Jane" character. Although I totally buy the dark wig turning her into the vixen character. Good song, kind of a hokey video. As much as I dig her music, her videos have disappointed me on a fairly consistent basis.

"You Belong With Me"
from her 2008 album Fearless

This is an absolutely ancient video that features Stuart Duncan (a good friend of this blog) and a rather vintage looking Allison Krauss...

Show Review: O.A.R.

O.A.R. (Of A Revolution)
5/1/09 4th Street Live, Louisville, KY

O.A.R. is a band that has acquired the perfect amount of praise, the perfect number of fans, and the perfect number of infectious radio singles. Nothing more. They aren't a bad band by any means, as well they'll never be mistaken as a great one either. They can draw a massive crowd but maintain the fan appreciation that goes with their pseudo-underground following. All of this combines to make a perfect concert going event because a) their die hard fanbase will show up no matter what and force the crowd into a good time, while b) even the most casual listener of their music can go, have fun, and recognize at least a handful of songs from their setlist.

Last night the band was on and rolled through their catalog of crowd pleasing favorites. Highlights included pretty much everything you assume they would "Hey Girl", "This Town", "Love and Memories", "Shattered", and of course "Crazy Game of Poker". The unexpected shocker was when the band pulled out a nearly flawless, note-for-note cover of The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends" (they of course did the classic Joe Cocker/"Wonder Years" arrangement of the song).

The sad affair of the whole night was the fact that the steel and concrete interior of 4th Street Live is not designed well acoustically speaking, therefore anywhere further than fifty feet from the stage sound pretty distorted. But the band was playing on point last night, they were talkative, and obviously in a good mood - while fairly restricted by sound issues that were out of their hands.

Opening band Parachute left much to be desired. They are the kind of band that you hear live and feel immediately underwhelmed, however, at the same time in your mind you're thinking "I'll be their album sounds really good." But during their performance last night everything meshed together and ended up sounding like one really long song.

New Taylor Swift Video...

This is the new video from Taylor Swift. The song's about her mom and it's all heart warming in stuff. Happy early Mother's Day.

Cover of Fearless

"The Best Day" off of her 2008 album Fearless...