Category: feature

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A Foreign Country: Depeche Mode

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A Foreign Country is a non-regular series in which I write about music I dug in my youth and still enjoy now. The name comes from the L.P. Hartley quote “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”, because, while I do continue to enjoy some of the music I listened to in my early days, my tastes have changed since then (thank fuck for that) and even the songs I still like are heard through different ears.

 

 

Depeche Mode

 

Depeche Mode initiated me into puberty.

This is an exaggeration, of course. I had already been a fan of Depeche Mode – then composed of Martin Gore, Dave Gahan, Andy Fletcher, and Alan Wilder – for a couple of years when their album Music for the Masses was released. I was 14, and the album brought DM up so high in my estimation that they might have even had a chance of knocking Duran Duran from their throne as my favorite band. It was a great album, an evolutionary step forward in their career, rich and meaningful. And one of those meanings, the one that spoke loudest to my hormone-addled mind, was sex.

In retrospect, though, I see that it wasn’t about sex: Depeche Mode introduced me to desire. I had no solid concept of sex, but songs like “Behind the Wheel” (you’re fooling no one with your clever car allusion, Mr. Gahan) and “I Want You Now” stirred up heat and longing inside me, a deep, full-body-and-mind desire that wouldn’t be elicited by another person until several years later.

 

“I Want You Now” – Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode I want you now Lyrics

 

The thread of desire is stitched heavily throughout the Depeche Mode catalogue from Black Celebration on – “Stripped”, “World in My Eyes”, “I Feel You”, etc. – reinforced by the feminine and feline sensuality displayed by frontman Gahan onstage (“I’m basically an overpaid stripper,” he recently said about his stage presence), and backed by sometimes throbbing, sometimes slinky rhythms.

 

“Personal Jesus” – Depeche Mode

 

The band’s career has had its peaks and valleys, as would any career that’s been going for over 30 years – ever-mounting success, followed by Gahan’s struggle with drug addiction, Wilder’s departure, and some uneven albums – but Gore, Gahan, and Fletcher have managed to hold on, with their nails dug in deeply. And with the release of the first single, “Heaven”, from their forthcoming album Delta Machine, the band may be poised for a new wave of success.

“Heaven” – Depeche Mode

 

There is some sense of personal pride in watching a band you’ve loved since your formative years continue to produce new music as inspired as this when you’re firmly ensconced in adulthood.

Delta Machine is slated for release on March 26, and Depeche Mode will be touring the world throughout the summer.

 

Depeche Mode Official Website

Depeche Mode @ Twitter

Depeche Mode @ Facebook

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A Conversation with Pete David of the Payroll Union

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The Payroll Union

photo credit: Nina Petchey

 

In the three years that Now This Sound Is Brave has been going, I have come to think of some of the bands we cover as “my bands” – bands who have struck a singular chord with me and whom I have continued cover, excited to share news of their movements. If I had to rank “my bands” based on which ones hold the biggest place in my heart and spend the most time on my personal listening turntable, the Payroll Union would likely top that list. We’ve been covering the band since spring of 2011, and this year has been the most exciting in our shared history with the band yet.

 

 

This year has seen them touring the UK, beginning an exciting collaboration with historian Andrew Heath, and, best of all, releasing their first full-length album, The Mule & The Elephant . TM&TE is a more somber outing than previous Payroll Union releases – though more in sound than lyrical content as they continue to focus on the hard and bloody stories of early American history – but it is the most rewarding one so far.

As Dr. Heath expounds upon in the album’s liner notes, “the album is no celebration of the history of the Early American Republic, but rather an eloquent measure of how unevenly the U.S. managed to live up to its democratic promise.” The early years of “the great American Experiment” were rife with ambition, death, and longing. Some of the stories illustrated on TM&TE include the tragic life that lead to the ruthless ambition of Edwin M. Stanton, the campaign for temperance by preacher Charles Grandison Finney, the relationship of Thomas Jefferson to his slave Sally Hemings, and the duel that ended the life of Alexander Hamilton.

The feeling that rises to the top on TM&TE again and again is one of yearning, from the longing for a dead loved one to the wish for a different outcome in a tragic situation to the yearning to be remembered for the good one did despite the precarious balance of the scales of one’s life. Singer Pete David’s voice seems naturally suited to these tales of longing, with its dark and woody timbre, especially at what feels like the emotional crescendo of the album in the double-shot of “The Cawing Cuckoo” and “Mary Lamson”. The more you listen to this album, the more the tendrils of this longing snake into your heart.

Knowing how the mention of early American stories sets him off on passionate tangents, I was very pleased to have Pete answer a few questions for us. Join us as we talk about the Payroll Union’s collaboration with Dr. Andrew Heath, the murder of “the Beautiful Cigar Girl”, exactly why Brits are making songs about early American history, and more.

How does a fine young British gentleman come to be so interested in the history of the treasonous American colonies? And how does he then rope other British gentlemen into making music about said history?

America’s unlikely experiment in democracy is fascinating precisely for that reason: it’s amazing that it happened. I think I gravitated to the Early Republic because I’m almost expecting it to all fall apart at some point. The stories are so rich and varied and the ideas so lofty and patriotic. It’s the paradox which keeps me hooked and that still exists today; the country’s attempt to live up to its promise is so appealing a subject. In terms of the band, I think they find the subjects interesting but it was never in the job description: ‘must be able to display knowledge of 19th Century American history.’

 

How do you put yourself into the minds of the subjects of your songs? Some of them are such heartbreaking stories, and that feeling comes through in your voice.

Exactly that. Putting myself in their skin is what I try to do. The voice is where I find the character and I don’t know if this comes across entirely but I do try and fit my voice to my subject. “House on the Hill”, the final song on the album, is supposed to be tender and so my voice is very different to, say, “The Anxious Seat”, where I’m attempting to inhabit an authoritative evangelical preacher. I love those little moments, tiny expressions of the voice, where I’m able to imbue the words with the feeling they deserve. I think “Mary Lamson” is probably my most successful attempt at that and mourning is a strange emotion to try and express in song.

 

 

Where does “Cawing Cuckoo” come from? The heartache of it is wholly relatable and seems like it could come from any number of painful relationships, modern as well as past.

Cawing Cuckoo is a funny one in that it was inspired by a New York murder in the 1830s. Mary Rogers – the “Beautiful Cigar Girl” as she was known – was found battered in the Hudson River and there were various suspects but no one was ever charged. She worked in a cigar shop and the story got a lot of attentione becasue she attracted a lot of newspapermen, as well writers like Irving, Poe and Cooper. Poe was actually a suspect for a while. I got quite consumed by the case. The story was strung out by the papers and various ‘witnesses’ came forward for their moment in the limelight. I worked on it for some time but then I ended up stripping away a lot of the detail and it soon became quite a simple heartbreak song. The lyric comes from the perspective of the murderer, who in my retelling of it, is the boyfriend who has come to the conclusion that she has been unfaithful to him. He was the character I was drawn to, particularly his weakness and uncertainty. Tragically, he ended up committing suicide. It’s a bitter song and yes, it’s true, it could really be anywhere at any time, especially when I say, ‘there are no pictures of you now.’ I wasn’t particularly thinking of photographs when I wrote that line but I can see how it would fit that interpretation. It’s a song of regret and resentment but I there’s enough sweetness in there to at least pity the protagonist. I suppose I was thinking of the Sun Kil Moon album, Ghosts of the Great Highway, when I wrote that one, particularly Glenn Tipton. Great song, beautiful but brutal.

 

What is the source of “Imitation of Life”?

Stolen from the film of the same title! It’s a Douglas Sirk melodrama and probably my… hmmm, second favourite film. The main protagonist is a black woman whose daughter is born very light-skinned and can essentially ‘pass’ as white. The daughter runs away to avoid suspicion but her mother tracks her down. In the film, it’s the most wonderfully tender scene and I felt the need to recreate it in song. Seriously, try and watch that film without crying, it is incredible. It’s also pretty radical. Sirk was obsessed with Bretcht and used all the distanciation techniques and reflecting the contradictions of the family unit back onto the audience. Imitation of Life is his masterpiece.

 

 

What can you tell us about your project with historian Dr. Andrew Heath?

Well, the project will be broadly focusing on music and history, but then more specifically we’ll be producing an album using a lot Andrew’s research on antebellum Philadelphia. We’ll be creating a website where people can delve a bit more into the subject matter and we’ll be producing a short film looking at the process. We’ll also be staging a number of events throughout the year to open the project up so I’m very excited about the whole thing. Andrew has been a huge inspiration to me and I’m really looking forward to working on something with more defined parameters. Having said that, it’s certainly a bigger challenge for me as a songwriter. The city itself, as an entity, is what I’m trying to get inside. As a band we’ve already begun talking about how we’re going to portray that and it’ll be a very different approach than the first album.

 

How was the mini-tour? Do you feel like you made a lot of new fans?

The tour was a lot of fun and we were fortunate enough to have great crowds and we played with some fantastic bands. Actually, I’d really recommend a couple of the other bands. Check out Johnny Panic & The Fever based in Liverpool and The Yes Mess in London. Both great. The two London dates at the end were a really good conclusion to the week. Loads of energy at both gigs and we got a chance to meet a lot of new people and yes, hopefully we made a few new fans.

 

Do your fellow Brits find your obsession with American history odd at all?

I think some people find it a bit strange, but that’s usually a reaction to my ridiculously long introductions to some of the songs when we play live. I can see the quizzical looks on some faces so I’ve tried to reign that in a bit. As opposed to a five minute lecture, I can just tell them in a sentence what it’s about but I get a bit carried away sometimes. I think generally it’s quite a good talking point when I chat to fans and for those who have even just a passing interest in the subject, it’s quite an interesting quirk.

 

The Payroll Union Official Website

The Payroll Union @ Bandcamp

The Payroll Union @ Facebook

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A Good Read, a Good Listen, and a Good Drink: Murder by Death

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Murder by Death's Dagan Thogerson

 

It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

Murder by Death’s latest album, Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, is a product of one of the most successful Kickstarter music campaigns to date, and the endearingly silly video for the campaign helpfully categorizes the band’s sound as “dark whiskey devil music”. But before you go off thinking this is another cheesed-up act pining for a time that never was, littering their lyrics with talk of crossroads and rotgut and deals with the devil, know that the music of Murder by Death is much more complex and elegant than that.

And on Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, Murder by Death have once again stood at the crash site of Americana and indie rock and swept the debris into a new, cohesive whole, honing the finished product into a rich, captivating journey through stories gritty and haunting. Lost girls, boozy wakes, rambling death, and fated (and perhaps fatal) romance, fill the 13 tracks, picking you up where you stand and setting you down somewhere very different, somewhere misty and full of shadows.

In anticipation of their upcoming appearance at the Grog Shop in Cleveland (February 22, co-headlining with Man Man), Murder by Death drummer Dagan Thogerson (who went so far as to offer his skin as canvas to a flush contributor in the aforementioned Kickstarter campaign) shares with us some space-centric recommendations.

“Hard World” – Murder by Death

 

Good Read: John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
I really got in to reading science fiction about three years ago. I’d never heard of the John Carter stories until Disney made a movie out of them that I heard was bad. A friend lent me the first volume containing three novels and I ripped right through all 900 pages. The stories were published in the early 1900’s, so the actual science is all weird and wrong, lending more charm to an already charming lead character. John Carter is a Virginia fighting man who is the noblest of all. When he unintentionally teleports to Mars (what?), he quickly fights his way to fame and glory, falls in love, and unites all of the planet’s races of Martians. All the while refusing to compromise his strict gentleman’s sensibilities. All of the ingredients of the story add up to something that is at once super cool and totally ridiculous, which is sort of the reason that I love sci-fi in the first place.

Good Listen: “Another Space Song” by Failure
My band mates give me shit for my love of nineties music, but I stand by this tune. It’s a song that I can get lost in. The drum beat is really cool and never changes for the entire four plus minutes of the song, and lyrics are a beautiful profession of the singer’s romantic love of space. It’s just a beautiful song.

“Another Space Song” – Failure

 

Good Drink: Manhattan on the rocks
Dash of bitters, tiny bit of sweet vermouth, and two ounces (at least) of bourbon. Splash of water, swirl it, don’t shake.

 

“Ghost Fields” – Murder by Death

Murder By Death - Ghost Fields

 

Murder by Death Official Website

Murder by Death @ Twitter

Murder by Death @ Facebook

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Fanmix: Warren Ellis, Gun Machine

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Fan mixes: collections of music created as both soundtrack and illustration for other works, usually works of fiction, intended as both appreciation of and enticement to read the work of fiction.

This one is for Gun Machine by Warren Ellis, who is author of, among other things, Transmetropolitan and Crooked Little Vein, and is NOT the dude who plays music with Nick Cave.

Gun Machine is a murder mystery set in New York. But not the New York you usually see on cop shows; the Financial District, which is older and darker. Down there you’re off the grid. The streets are narrow and twisty and reality can be very thin. Depending on how the wind is blowing off the water, it does feel like you could walk around a corner today and stumble into the 17th century, 1926 could be tomorrow and 2018 was last week.

“Off the grid” would actually sum up the book as a whole. It is also bloody, startling, deeply lonely, occasionally bitingly funny, like watching my own city from the wrong end of a telescope, a complex puzzle, and very, very good. If you pick it up, be sure to both read and listen carefully; Ellis uses music and sounds much like Nathaniel Hawthorne used light, that is, as both text and subtext.

The mix below is my attempt at capturing the spirit of the work. The songs chosen are intended to trace the outline of the narrative in broad strokes. All of them, save for two, are available for sale and/or free download from the artist.

The exceptions are Panic! at the Disco’s cover of Karma Police, which is a fan bootleg of a live performance, chosen for the quality of the static, and Kasey Anderson and the Honkies’ Abbaddon Blues, because it is from Let the Bloody Moon Rise, a record which saw only limited release before Anderson went on indefinite-but-hopefully-not-permanent hiatus and which is now (almost) out of circulation.

1.BT, Go(d)t
 


 
2. Panic! at the Disco, Karma Police (Radiohead cover)
 

 
(If you want a visual.)
 
3. Foster the People, Pumped Up Kicks
 
Foster The People - Pumped up Kicks

 
4. Breakfast in Fur, Whisper
 
Breakfast in Fur - Whisper (Official)

 
5. David C. Clements, Oh Child
 

 
6. Blondie, Heart of Glass
 
Blondie - Heart Of Glass

 
7. Jane’s Addiction, Chip Away
 
Jane's Addiction - Chip Away

 
8. Firewater, A Little Revolution
 
FIREWATER: A Little Revolution

 
9. Milan Jay, In the Shadows of Footsteps
 

 
10. BL/\CK CEILING, I’MNLUVWITCHU
 

 
11.Xiu Xiu, Hi
 
Xiu Xiu - Hi [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]

 
12. Kasey Anderson and the Honkies, Abbaddon Blues
 

 
13. Cage the Elephant, Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
 
Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest For The Wicked

 
14. Blackwater Jukebox, Carousel
 

 
15. Willow Sea, Night Light
 

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Swamp Dogg: Rat On!

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Swamp Dogg a.k.a. Jerry Williams

 

When you look at the cover of Swamp Dogg’s album Rat On! now – on a black background, Swamp Dogg, in beret and fringed vest, sitting astride a white rat, Dogg’s arms held up in triumph – it just looks silly (and has indeed been called one of the worst album covers of all time). But at the time of its release in 1971, it managed to offend some people (evidence that people searching for things to be offended by is not a new development). While the photo was never intended as anything more than a visual component of the title’s play on words, Swamp Dogg hasn’t been one to back away from controversy, so he decided to stoke the fires of the offended by claiming the cover represented “the black man on top of the white man”1.

Clearly, what the cover does denote is an album from someone fond of clowning around. What you may miss from just looking at the cover, though, is that, beyond the silly cover and between some jokey songs are serious responses to race, war, sex, and more, backed by solid soul.

 

“Creeping Away” – Swamp Dogg

Download

 

You see, Swamp Dogg is the alter ego of a man, Jerry Williams, Jr., with chops. Williams cut his first record when he was around 12 years old, when he was known as Little Jerry, and he’s been writing and producing music for himself and others since childhood. He’s worked with artists like Solomon Burke, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, Gene Pitney, and, along with writing partner Gary U.S. Bonds, was nominated for a Grammy for the song “She’s All I Got”, recorded by Johnny Paycheck.

Williams has not stopped working, either on his own or for others, and his first two Swamp Dogg albums, 1970’s Total Destruction to Your Mind and Rat On!, are being remastered and reissued on vinyl and CD by Alive Records on March 5.

 

“If I Die Tomorrow (I’ve Lived Tonite)” – Swamp Dogg

Download

 

To hear more about this entertaining man and his interesting career, check out this appearance from public radio program Studio 360 from July 2011, where Williams and writer Ben Greenman talk about their collaboration stemming from Greenman’s novel Please Step Back.

 

And for a little more background, check out his interview with Jesse Thorn on The Sound of Young America from January 2008.

 

Swamp Dogg Official Website

Swamp Dogg @ Bandcamp

 


1interview, North Sea Jazz special, 2010

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Rachel Brooke: A Killer’s Dream

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Rachel Brooke

 

I developed a kind of crush on Rachel Brooke in the spring of 2011 when she released Down in the Barnyard, and now Brooke back with A Killer’s Dream and even better. Upon listening to A Killer’s Dream, it was immediately impressive how Brooke has expanded her band, her sound, and her talents. The clear, strong voice and compelling stories now paint their pictures with more vibrant shades of honky tonk, rhythm and blues, and fiery torch songs. Brooke strides with appealing confidence through songs both sultry and sentimental, knowing and spirited.

If an artist’s albums are like the growth charts that tracked our heights when we were kids, Brooke has shot up like a weed.

 

“A Killer’s Dream” – Rachel Brooke

 

“The Black Bird” – Rachel Brooke

 

Rachel Brooke Official Website

Rachel Brooke @ Twitter

Rachel Brooke @ Facebook

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Leticia Rodriguez: La Americana

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Leticia Rodriguez

 

What struck me most early on in listening to Leticia Rodriguez’s album La Americana is how close and warm her voice is. Not only did it sound as though Rodriguez was in the room with me, but it also felt like she was singing to me in the tenderest way, as a mother might sing to her young child. The clearness, of course, can be attributed to top notch recording engineering, but the warmth is all Rodriguez.

 

Menealo – Leticia Rodriguez

 

It makes sense that this album should be imbued with such warmth as it serves not only as Rodriguez’s debut album, but it is also a tribute to her family, especially to her aunt, Decca recording artist Eva Garza. Though Eva Garza’s name is all but forgotten here in the United States, she enjoyed worldwide fame as one of Decca’s first crossover artists. Many of the songs on La Americana, an album of covers, have also been sung and recorded by Garza.

 

Estoy Como Nunca – Leticia Rodriguez

 

One of the aspects I love most about Latin music is that it is music of celebration. The songs of La Americana are full of joy and life, celebrations of the world, but also celebrations of self, as in the above song, “Estoy Como Nunca”. I am better than ever, Rodriguez is saying. People/conditions have tried to beat her down the song tells us, but she keeps her head high and her eyes looking forward. Pretty damn good song to start off a new year, I’d say.

 

Leticia Rodriguez Official Website

Leticia Rodriguez @ ReverbNation

Leticia Rodriguez @ Twitter

Leticia Rodriguez @ Facebook

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A Good Read, a Good Listen, and a Good Drink: Mutts

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Instagram Mutts

 

It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

 

Earlier this month, I extolled the multi-flavored virtues of Chicago’s Mutts and their latest album Separation Anxiety. It’s a wily, skittering creature of an album, difficult to capture in one of those pigeonholing boxes that music press and label execs seem so fond of – and I like that! Many a rich and long-lasted musical love affair has begun with the question “What the hell is that?”

(And, at the time of that previous post, I didn’t know that singer/keys man Mike Maimone is from Cleveland, so I have to give a little O-hi-o salute for that.)

Mutts covering Tom Waits’ “New Coat of Paint” at 90.3 WRST in Oshkosh, Wisconsin

 

Now these fine gentlemen are joining us to give us their recommendations to aid us in our favorite activities of reading, listening, and drinking, and, oh, it’s a good one they’ve put together for us. Sit back and give it your full attention.

 

MIKE MAIMONE (Keyboard & Vocals)

Good Read: Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
If you’ve ever felt embarrassed to be at a table where more people are on their phones than not (even if you were in the majority yourself), this novel is your best friend and your worst nightmare. Set in the not-too-distant future, it uses a middle-aged man’s obsessions with “analog” books and a modern young woman to cast a bleak projection of where our instantly-gratified, plugged-in, debt-laden, class-divided, age-defying nation is heading. And to a degree, it anticipated the Occupy movements in New York.

Good Listen: “Jon Three Sixteen” by The Field Auxiliary
This track from their recent EP is where I would recommend starting on your journey with one the best bands Chicago has to offer. “When in doubt, put records out.” But don’t stop here; the new LP, Nomenclature Fever, is incredible.

“Jon Three Sixteen/When Yer Twenty Two” – The Field Auxiliary (for Audiotree Live)

 

Good Drink: Woodford Reserve, neat.

 

CHRIS PAGNANI (Drums)

Good Read: 1984 by George Orwell
Although not what I would consider to be “light reading,” this would probably count as one of the most important books I’ve ever read. I taught high school English for five years before joining Mutts, and this book was one that I taught the last few years I was working. When I’d introduce it to my students, I’d tell them, “I’m not concerned that you like this book. I care much more about you actually getting something out of reading it and looking a little more critically at your surroundings because of this experience.” Every time I read the ending, I’m surprised at how tragic yet also beautiful it is.

Good Listen: All Ages by Bad Religion
When I was in middle school back in the late nineties, my idea of a punk rock band was Blink-182. This was around the time some friends and I first picked up instruments with the intention of creating music together as a “band.” My buddy, Jason, turned me onto this record, actually a compilation of songs from previous releases, and I don’t think I’ve been the same since. The songs here changed both my taste in music and my world view. I spent hours looking at all the show fliers the band used to decorate the liner notes, and the artwork on the back cover still scares and moves me at the same time. After all these years, I still come back to this record at least once a year and am surprised by how fresh and angry the songs still sound and the way the lyrical content remains relevant.

“21st Century (Digital Boy)” – Bad Religion

 

Good Drink: I love IPAs, so the hoppier the better. The Big Sky IPA is probably my favorite, but I just tried Three Floyds’ Zombie Dust and thought that was pretty tasty as well.

 

BOB BUCKSTAFF (Bass & Guitar)

Take Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s The Letting Go from the top and crack open David Berman’s poetry collection Actual Air. (Both of these fine releases hail from Chicago’s very own Drag City.) By the time the needle lifts from the final track, you’ll be nose deep at war with Berman’s Mirrornauts. An experience unparalleled. It will make sweet molasses of the mind.

“Cursed Sleep” – Bonnie “Prince” Billy

 

Let’s not forget the secret ingredient, a twelve pack of Olys from the corner store. Throw that sugar on top and you’ll be writing in Bukowski and speaking in a slurred sort of iambic pentameter for days to come. That’s some trippy stuff, Bill Shakespeare.

 

Shew, right? A good one.

If you’re in the Chicago area, you can catch Mike and a kick drum playing out live.

11/28, LiveWire Lounge, Chicago
12/5, Mike N Molly’s, Champaign
12/6, The Bridge, Columbia

“So Many, So Many” – Mutts

 

Mutts Official Website

Mutts @ Twitter

Mutts @ Facebook

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Old Gray Mule: Like a Apple on a Tree

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Old Gray Mule

 

CR Humphrey, who is better known under his nom de musicien Old Gray Mule, is a hell of a good guy. It’s clear when you see him play live, when you hear the soulful licks he lays down on tape, when you chat with him, and when you read the notes for the latest Old Gray Mule album Like a Apple on a Tree: everything he does is imbued with lots of heart, humor, and flat-out joy. He gives the lie to the “tortured artist” myth – you rarely meet someone more satisfied with his lot in life, even through the struggles, than Humphrey. And it’s evident in all he does. Take for instance, what he wrote about the song “Thanksgiving ’12” from Like a Apple on a Tree.

“I wrote this song in 2008 the day I got home from the hospital after finding out my three week old son was going to live. He’d died in his sleep 5 days before, I found him in his crib, did CPR on him, got him back…and my wife and I spent the next 5 days awake in the hospital with him. It was a miracle, he was going to be ok. I went home to pick up some clothes for Molly and I and when I walked in the door, I felt a need to play my guitar, so I sat down and played this song all the way through. It was Thanksgiving Day 2008. My son will turn 4 this October.”

And that joyful, tearful relief, that great, big exhalation after five days of breath-holding comes through loud and exhilaratingly clear in the song. This is the sound of a happy, grateful man.

 

 

Throughout the ten tracks, mostly originals, of Like a Apple on a Tree, Humphrey plays that good heart out with guitar work that is so immaculate and sharp, you could cut up your next meal with it. Though let me be clear: it is immaculate and sharp, but by no means clinical. Humphrey has sat at the knee of the best the Mississippi hill country has to offer (and when you’re talking blues, that’s pretty damn good) so these songs are made to play in stripped down, humid, dimly-lit jukes. With the help of friends like Lightnin’ Malcolm, Cedric Burnside, Australian artist Snooks La Vie, the welcome return of frequent Old Gray Mule partner CW Ayon, and others, Like A Apple On A Tree is going to make you feel something, whether its joy, the blues, the desire to strip down with a willing partner or just the need to shimmy your hips way, way down.

 

 

One of the highlights of the album is the above opening track, where Cedric Burnside handles drums and vocals on a cover of “Come on In”, a song originally by Cedric’s grandfather, the great R.L. Burnside. The song is one of two R.L. Burnside covers on the album (and those are the only non-originals in the ten tracks of Like a Apple on a Tree).

Though Burnside the elder isn’t the only great to have a direct influence on this album. As Humprhey writes about “Standin’ There Cryin'” (with vocals from Snooks La Vie):

This song was inspired by a story T Model Ford told me late one night after we’d played 5 hours opening for him at Club 2000 in Clarksdale, MS back in 2010. Less than a week later he had the first of a series of strokes that affected his right side.

 

 

If you’re up for some authenticity, as in authentic heart, authentic joy, authentic feeling, you’re not going to do much better right now than Old Gray Mule’s Like a Apple on a Tree.

 

Old Gray Mule Official Website

Old Gray Mule @ Bandcamp

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A Good Read, a Good Listen, and a Good Drink: Christian D.

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Christian D. by Jon Blacker

 

It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.

In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.

 

After a hiatus, we are happy to have Christian D bringing the read/listen/drink series back into circulation. We were introduced to Christian through his performance this year at Couch by Couchwest… when I may or may not have flung my panties at the screen.

 

 

As lead of Christian D and the Hangovers, Christian lays down dark rockabilly with smolder and swagger, and it’s hard not to get caught up in the mood.

 

 

You can download some free songs at the various Christian D and the Hangovers outposts, listed at the end of this post, and they’re having a Bandcamp sale on digital downloads from now until Christmas.

 

 

Aside from being one sexy rock ‘n’ roll motherfucker, Christian is also a nice and thoughtful man whom I’ve had the pleasure of having some good conversations with on Twitter. So now I’m happy to hand the reins over to Mr. Christian D.

 

Good Read:
It seems like I read three things mainly, science fiction, music biographies and sprawling novels with convoluted stories of shady characters. Here’s something that combines all three: Bruce Sterling’s Zeitgeist.

Sleazy pop promoter Leggy Starlitz takes a rip-off Spice Girls-style band through Moslem Cyprus in an attempt to make it rich and pass unscathed through the Y2K scare, with his strange pre-teen daughter in tow.

There’s tech geekery, music biz fuckery, pop star deaths, a Turkish warlord and tonnes of weird con jobs going on. If I described it any more, or tried to lay out the plot, I’d probably wreck it for you. So to sum it up, it’s fascinating and entertaining with weird tangential goings on.

 

Good Listen:
I do listen to a lot of new stuff, but return to my personal classics constantly. There’s not a week that passes where I don’t listen to some Elvis, Stooges, the Cramps and Tom Waits. Another big one for me is Nick Cave. I still remember the first time I heard him, ear pressed against the speaker of a cheap radio, lighthouse flashing on my wall, as The Birthday Party’s Release the Bats tore down my conception of rock and roll.

From the early Bad Seeds period my current favourite is Your Funeral… My Trial, which seems to sum up his career to that point, and point the way to the future. From tender love songs, to crazed lusty gothic blues, this is a record I return to time and time again. It’s a dark obsessive tour through love, sex and death.

 

 

Good Drink:
While in literature and music I appreciate a certain complexity, in drinking I usually want simplicity. Most of the time I’m a beer drinker. My current favourite is Rolling Rock. It’s cheap and tasty.

Another thing I drink often is my take on Irish coffee. No need to bother with cream, whipped or not, or sugaring the rim. Make a strong cup of coffee. Add Scotch – you now have a Scots Coffee. It’ll get you through the night.

 

Christian D and the Hangovers Official Website

Christian D and the Hangovers @ Bandcamp

Christian D and the Hangovers @ ReverbNation