Snarky? Bring It On!

How have I missed this group?  Snarky Puppy, a once Denton Texas based, and now Brooklyn NY based collective jam band of roughly 40 outstanding musicians has been putting out amazing music since 2004.  If you enjoy funk, jazz, a solid groove, and the sound of true joy, their sound is for you.  They are led by the amazing bassist, producer and composer, Michael League.

Their first album, "The Only Constant" was released in 2006 on Sitmom records, while many of the band members were still attending North Texas University.  Between 2006 and 2015 seven more recordings were released.  2014 was the band's breakthrough year.  They received their first Grammy nomination and won their first  Grammy for "Best R&B" performance for Something.  JazzTimes named them “Best New Artist” and “Best Electric/Jazz-Rock/Contemporary Group/Artist” in their 2014 Reader’s Poll.

Snarky Puppy is a group of musicians enthusiastically committed to music education and community outreach. Working with groups like ROAM (Roots Of American Music) in inner city Cleveland and the Music Lab at Jefferson Center in Roanoke, as well as giving clinics at hundreds of colleges, high schools, and middle schools worldwide, the band has made a strong commitment to spreading their love of music and positive outlook to a young generation looking for something real to be inspired by.

This year they released, "Sylva" their first recording on a major label, Impulse!.  On this record the band shares the stage, literally as this is a live album, with the Netherlands based Metropole Orkest. This collaboration is not to be missed.  Check out this video of a complete concert featuring Snarky Puppy with Metropole Orkest.

 I love the mosaic of diverse musical styles and sounds brought about by these artists.  While they have 9 recordings to their credit they are still filled with creative ideas.  We can look forward to many years of hearing what these extremely talented Snarky Puppies come up with.
  

This Rose Is No Stand-In

It begins with the sound of a heavily punched and distorted guitar chord immediately followed by the sound of a gorgeous female voice exclaiming, "I'm making a call to any line that's open." From that moment on, Caitlin Rose captured my full attention, no easy task these days, and thus I remained riveted as I listened intently to her second full-length album, The Stand-In, for the first time.  The opening track, "No One to Call," starts off like a rock anthem, but quickly and adeptly morphs into an alt-country lament. Much to this listener's delight, this album is full of delightfully surprising sounds.

Throughout the album, Rose creates, with a cool aplomb, a mosaic of musical styles including rock, alt-country, country, and a bit of swing. The stories in her songs are compelling and deftly written. Scanning the credits, I note that two of this album's terrific tracks, "Only A Clown" and "Silver Sings" were co-written with one of my favorite songwriters, Gary Louris.

I also note that Rose acknowledges the author Joan Didion for inspiring the moving tune, "Pink Champagne." An early Joan Didion essay, "Marrying Absurd," about the quick passions of a Vegas wedding, proves to be the source for Rose's song.

Throughout the album, Rose and her co-writers create an album full of meaningful and witty musical lamentations. A prime example is the music video to "Only A Clown":

It's easy to see how Rose was drawn into songwriting. It's what her mother, Liz Rose, does for a living. The younger Rose was raised in Nashville.  She began writing songs at the age of 16.  Originally, her work was much more Punk influenced.  Over time she has integrated increasing amounts of the Nashville sound into her music,  and the resulting sound is what is revealed on this album.

I encourage you to answer Caitlin Rose's call and open your line to her music.  Her album is easily one of my favorites so far for 2013, and I expect that it will be in the running to be one of my top albums of the year.

Out of the Game: Rufus Wainright

When exploring the work of a songwriter who is new to me, I look at several components of how he or she crafts music:

• Melody:  Is this work truly original?  Why does the songwriter move the melody in the direction it's going?  Why do the notes go higher or lower?  Why do they go faster or slower? Is the melody beautiful?  If not, is it not supposed to be beautiful? Is the music alone telling a story, or is the music subordinate to the lyrics for that purpose? What is the musical range of the melody?  Is the difference between the low notes and the high notes huge, or is it minimal?
• Lyrics:  Is there a compelling story?  Do I care? Am I paying attention to the words, or do they just seem to be an afterthought? Do the lyrics make me think?
  
• Scoring:  Is the music scored minimally, such as with a simple accompaniment by a piano or acoustic guitar, or does the score call for a greater number of instruments and layers?  Why was the scoring designed as it was?

Discovering songwriters who succeed at their craft is truly a joy: Rufus Wainwright does just that. While Wainwright has been around for some time, with the exception of his brilliant cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," for some reason I had not paid attention to his work before. Rufus is the son of the singer/songwriter, actor, and humorist Loudon Wainright III. 

Noting superlative reviews by sources I respect, such as Paste, for Wainwright's Out of the Game, his seventh studio album, I decided to check it out.

It's a terrific work.  The songs are all carefully constructed, layered, and performed.  Not nearly enough can I enjoy listening to complex pop music and enjoy having a wonderful melody in my head hours after having heard it. The stories in the songs are compelling. While the music is new and original, I can hear echoes of the pop music songwriting giants: Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and David Bowie, upon whose shoulders Rufus Wainright stands.

The musicianship on this album is stellar.  The Dap Kings do a fantastic job serving as Wainright's backup band.  And the guest artists on the album,  including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner, Wilco's Nels Cline, Martha Wainwright, and Sean Lennon do more than just show up.

Here is the clever studio video of Out of the Game's title track, featuring actress Helena Bonham Carter:


In a few weeks Fletcher and I will be sharing our "Best of 2012" lists.  Don't be surprised when you see this album on my list.

An All American Band: The Drive-By Truckers

A few years back, my friend and co-blogger Fletcher McNeill told me that an indie Southern Rock band, The Drive-By Truckers was coming to town. He asked me if I wanted to go see them perform live. Not the biggest fan of Southern Rock, except the original Allman Brothers Band, I nonetheless paid attention when I later heard a few tunes by DBT on the radio and was impressed. I then purchased their latest CD at the time, The Dirty South, and started listening to it more intently.

I was flabbergasted by the songwriting, especially for "Where the Devil Don't Stay," "It Sounded Like a Train," and "Carl Perkins' Cadillac." And the songs grew on me even more as I listened to them repeatedly. The Austin City Limits website says that DBT "surveys the modern South with a complex blend of realism-tempered pride and compassionate but uncompromising analysis," and I agree.

The ballad "Carl Perkins' Cadillac," written in the third person, tells the story of how Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Records, promised (and subsequently delivered) a Cadillac to the first artist who worked for him to achieve a gold record in sales. The song, in a flowing and reverent manner invokes the names of many of the founders of rock and roll -- Carl Perkins, Elvis, and Johnny Cash. Not coincidentally, DBT hails from the mini-musical mecca Muscle Shoals, Alabama, also the source of Sam Phillip's roots. The Muscle Shoals area continues to produce interesting new bands like DBT and Fiddleworms.

Back in 2004, attending that DBT live show with Fletcher, left me, in a word, amazed. The Truckers performed for several hours, going through a large chunk of their repertoire. Since then, despite personnel changes, they continue to put out quality albums. Still, I must confess that The Dirty South continues to be my favorite.

Enjoy "Never Gonna Change" from The Dirty South!




On a side note, DBT served as the backup band for Bettye Lavette's 2007 break-out album, The Scene of the Crime, which I mentioned in a previous blog.

Wilco (how I learned to love listening to new music again)

In 2001 a friend of mine, Fletcher McNeill approached me about listening to some new music. He was extremely excited about a band named Wilco whose new album was due out soon.

Fletcher let me borrow some of their older albums. I was immediately impressed with "Misunderstood, "the opening song on Being There, Wilco's second album. The song is a reminiscence about the neighborhood where the singer grew up, and it begins softly but with a sense of the power that will later fully emerge. The song, which starts as a ballad, ends with Jeff Tweedy, Wilco's lead singer, screaming, "I want to thank you all for nothing, I want to thank you all for nothing at all." The rest of the album wonderful mix of songs by a creative young band showing off their versatility. Wilco plays in most any style of music, from country to classic rock and roll to cutting edge indie rock.

Several albums later, Wilco's 4th album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, remains my favorite. The tonal colors are rich, and the songs vary broadly in their styles, from the dark opening song "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" to the humorous "Heavy Metal Drummer." Here is the beautiful ballad, "Jesus, Etc."

Fletcher introduced me to Wilco just before they hit the big time. They have since gone on to win critical acclaim, including 2 grammy awards, including best alternative music album for their 5th album, A Ghost is Born.

I'm enormously pleased that my friend Fletcher has graciously accepted my invitation to co-author this blog with me. Fletcher has a keen ear for new and emerging bands ,and I am excitedly looking forward to his posts.

A movie, a romance, and a band

In 2007, 37-year-old Glen Hansard and 19-year-old Marketa Irglová , both singer-songwriter indie musicians, agreed to star in a film. The film, Once, was both written and directed by John Carney. In the film the characters played by Glen and Marketa fall in love while creating music together. For me, the best part of the movie is how it captures the joys of musical collaboration. The film, which was filmed for $160,00 and shot in a month, went on to win critical acclaim and an Oscar for best song, "Falling Slowly." That song is used as the background music for the trailer of the film. And while the film was being shot, Glen and Marketa fell in love (I'm not making this up0.

Fast forward to 2010. While their romance is over, their song-writing collaboration continues. Hansard's and Irglova's band is called The Swell Season. Their new album, Strict Joy, deals with their break-up. The music is on this album is painfully powerful and beautiful. The Swell Season continues to put on wonderful live shows.

Below, you can see a clip from the fim Once, featuring the song "When Your Mind's Made Up":