My lack of time is your gain. No time for an in-depth post today, so we’re going to share a batch of Infantree mp3s we’ve been sitting on. (You may recall us talking about them before.) Not only are they a sweet bunch, but they are pumping out ever more impressive music. Here’s a handful of songs from their new album Would Work.
Infantree – Slaughter House
Infantree – Speak Up
Infantree – Water
If you’re in the Boston area on October 19, you can check Infantree out live at TT’s.
I could make supposedly witty remarks about how Infantree is an appropriate name because these guys are twelve years old if they’re a day, but that would belie the maturity of their sound and the confidence of their fully-realized songs. While they’re only a few years out of high school, three of this four-man band from southern California have been playing and writing together since elementary school, and the experience shows in their music.
Their sound encompasses influences from jazz to folk to Spanish classical to rock to blues to… they’re eclectic, let’s put it that way. And they have the skill to translate these influences into whole music instead of the mish-mash such eclecticism could otherwise engender.
Apparently, they also have the skill to make my write like some pretentious magazine reviewer, so why don’t you just listen to them instead. Here’s “Euphemism†from their EP Food for Thought.
Their full-length album, Would Work – produced by Niko Bolas (Neil Young, Warren Zevon) – will be out on September 14.
Here, people, have some music.
First up, a humid, languid tune called “Cicadas” from the upcoming Cowboy Junkies’ album Renmin Park. Renmin Park will be the first album in a four-album series called The Nomad Series, and the following album in the series, Demons, will be made up of covers of songs from the late, great Vic Chesnutt.
Cowboy Junkies Official Website
Even though I gave them a lukewarm concert review here last week, I still like the guys in Futurebirds. Damn those Southern charmers. Their debut album, Hampton’s Lullaby, will be dropping on July 27, and here’s a track from the album called “Johnny Utah”.
Finally, an energetic ditty with a seasick rhythm called “Confetti” from Houston band Young Mammals. They will be releasing their album Carrots on June 22 and playing at the Happy Dog in Cleveland on July 2.
It might not be the first thing you notice. The first thing is probably the musicianship throughout or the down-home quality harmonies on a song like “Hangman” or the sweetness of David Mayfield’s voice on a song like “Human Cannonball”. But it doesn’t take long to notice it, and it is the thing that will stick with you the most about this third full album from Cadillac Sky (made up of Bryan Simpson, Matt Menefee, Ross Holmes, Andy “Panda” Moritz and Mayfield), Letters in the Deep: the emotional wallop. It is not solely one thing or another; it is all the elements, from lyrics to instrumentation to vocals to dynamics, combining to make an incredible whole.
Recorded at the home studio of Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys in Akron, Ohio, with Auerbach in the producer’s chair, in many ways, Letters in the Deep is, as Auerbach declared at the end of the four-day recording session, Cadillac Sky’s “first record”. With new band member Mayfield (brother and cohort of Jessica Lea Mayfield, who has also benefited from Auerbach’s production skills), a new direction and a new commitment to capturing the vitality of their live shows on record, Cadillac Sky is like a new band, vibrating with energy and hunger, bursting with stories to tell.
Founding member Bryan Simpson and aforementioned newest member David Mayfield were kind enough to answer a few questions for us.
Can you give a brief history of your band? I know a number of my
readers will just be learning about Cadillac Sky for the first time as
they read this.
Bryan Simpson: A brief history of the band: well, we sort of kicked things off in November of 2002 in Fort Worth, TX- I met Matt our banjo, piano, drum guy in Texas at a benefit we were both playing with other bands, and a friend of mine knew I was looking to put together a sort of pseudo-bluegrass band and had seen a gold plate on Matt’s banjo (a banjo he had won in the contest) that read “2000 National Champion …..”- Matt hates that story, but he will stress he only played that banjo ’cause that’s the only one he had. So, anyway, my friend said I ought to check him out. So, we sort of got together at the back of the parking lot and played a few tunes- and it was love at first sight. He was my long lost musical soulmate. Ha. And from there, it came together easy. He knew Ross, and I knew a couple of other guys, and it came together pretty quick- within about two weeks.
Well, we wandered around in the desert for a while, but it never went anywhere. We were making music but nothing else. Weren’t even really trying (too left-brained?). It was sort of our virgin voyage for most of us to really be true partners in a band, and by 2004 we broke up. We all went off and did our own thing for about a year and just felt like what we had was or could be special, and, so, Ross leading the way (he’s to blame), we put it back together. Made a record in 2005 that Ricky Skaggs got wind of and really loved. He signed us to his label- around that time our bassist bailed and we scavenger-ed the countryside only to found the perfect guy in our backyard- Houston- Andy Moritz- now forever known as “Panda”. We then made another record- under what one would not call the best of circumstances- with a division in our band forming between us and our guitar player at the time that I feel like even showed up sonically on that recording. So we knew it was time to make a change- far past time, so we went looking for a guitar player. I called a friend of mine named Tyler Grant- he gave me a list of great guitar players he thought would work, but in triple-faced bold print he had David Mayfield written- said he would be perfect for our band if he would do it. I called him up- he was into it. And once he jumped on board, it started something that’s become more than a band. A real brotherhood was created, and God has moved this thing along at such a swift rate musically and more importantly spiritually, that it really has been jaw dropping.
Then at some point last year, David was out with his sis Jessica Lea Mayfield playing bass- which he does between tours with us, and they were opening for the Black Keys. Dan asked him what he was doing musically outside of his sister, and he passed along our CD. Dan must’ve heard something because he wanted to take us into his studio – and that all came to fruition last September in the making of “Letters in the Deep”. And here we are today. Four glorious days in Akron , Ohio, at Akron Analog Studios. That’s basically where we’re at- too much I know- brief? Not so much, sorry.
Tell me about your personal history with music. What did you hear or
see that first sparked your love of music? Who were the artists you
listened to early on that had the most influence on you?
BS:
Well, I can’t really quantify what sparked my love of music- it was just there early on- maybe it was the sense of community that music is usually such a part of. Maybe my grandfather’s love of traditional roots music was what sparked my interest in that style- early on at least- the opportunity to hang with him- mostly it’s probably because it’s the only thing I have ever been halfway decent at, ha!
The artists that influenced me early on were- Bill Monroe- Tim O’Brien big time, Ricky Skaggs, Tom Uhr and the Shady Grove Rambers- a local group that had an original sound-
David Mayfield: I grew up in a very musical household. So I was constantly surrounded by musicians and instruments. You had to move a guitar or a mandolin to sit down in our living room because they were always laying around. My mom or dad would just walk into the room, pick one up and start playing. So the first music I heard was my parents and my Papa. I remember also listenting to my parents’ records a lot. Stuff like Reno & Smiley, Jimmy Driftwood, all the way to Jackson Browne and The Starland Vocal Band.
The new album, Letters in the Deep, has such an emotional rawness to
the whole thing – the words, the music, the vocals, all of it. Do you
think that came from Dan Auerbach’s “hit it and quit it” recording
style, from the addition of David to the band, something else entirely
or a combination of things?
BS: Certainly a combination. I think our fans had a lot to do with it- a few very honest fans expressed that, although they loved our previous records, that they didn’t contain the same energy, sincerity, “raw emotion” that our live show unveiled. And we agreed, btw. So when me and Dan were talking, we sort of found common ground in the fact that he wanted to put something on tape that was us and nothing else. No computers- just five guys staring each other in the eye, around a few mics, making music mixed with blood, sweat and tears… certainly believe that added a certain humanity to this record, which, to me, makes it more relatable even though the music is far more blurry in definite direction. But yeah, Dan, David, the fans, all of that.
DM: I don’t feel like I really changed the band when I joined, I think of more as I allowed them to be themselves fully because I was an outsider who was excited about new possibilities, they really just needed some big change to jar them creatively.
I love what it says on your MySpace page about Dan Auerbach saying “BE
who YOU are RIGHT NOW†being a mantra during the recording of this
alb
um. Can you talk a little about that experience of recording with
Dan and what things you might have learned from that session that
you’ll carry into future recordings?
BS: Our prayer is to not live in the past, not live in the future, but just to stay concentrated on the moment so you don’t miss the beautiful subtleties of life. Our faith has allowed us that freedom, and I think that’s what “be who you are right now” is about.
Dan just served as a constant reminder that most of the best things that we’ll ever experience in life will not be planned- and so it is with this record. We went in the studio with somewhat of a plan- Dan thought great records are made by prepared bands- but we certainly didn’t have it all worked out- and there are some moments on this record that, without Dan’s humble approach to recording and producing, would’ve never seen the light of day.
DM: As far as Dan’s influence, he really shaped the sound of the record, but as for the arrangemnets, they were all there beforehand. I think we could have made this record somewhere else, and it would have all the same lyrics and notes, but that emotion would not be there. That came from Dan and his method of pulling the trigger and making decisions on the spot. Too many options can really stifle you in the end. Dan’s process forced us to live with little anomalies that would have been ironed out in a modern studio setting, ironing out all the life of the track as well.
The instrumental pieces on the new album are beautiful, and the names
of the pieces – Lee of the Stone East, West and North and The Long
Sigh – made me wonder if there was a story behind them. Do you think
there might be longer pieces like that in the future?
BS: Yes, I hope so- they really tie the whole record together and really took it to another place- I didn’t have much to do with those- Matt and Ross and Panda- really brought those things to life- but they do seem to tell a story- and sort of give the record an almost score, if you will- like the lyrical songs are the dialogue in the movie, and the musical vignettes are the score- I don’t know, maybe.
What albums are going to be playing in the Cadillac Sky tour van this
time around?
BS: Well, I’ve just gotten my hands on the new National record, and the first few listens have proved deserving of many more listens- it’s pretty great. The new Mumford and Sons record will keep you attentive while navigating the dark highways, and of course, the new Black Keys record- I can’t stop singing “Next Girl”.
DM: You know I can’t go on tour without my copy of Bridge Over Troubled Water. I think it is possibly the best album ever made. But, along with that, I’m listening to Among The Oak and Ash, Leslie and the Badgers, Tywanna Baskette, and my sister Jessica Lea Mayfield’s new album, which isn’t out yet but is blowing my mind.
Letters in the Deep will be available June 8th, and here are a few mp3s to illustrate just why you need to buy this album: the instantly likeable “Hangman”; my favorite track from the album, “3rd Degree” (which still knocks me out with its intensity, even after several spins) and instrumental piece “Lee of the Stone: North”.
Cadillac Sky – Hangman
Cadillac Sky – 3rd Degree
Cadillac Sky – Lee of the Stone: North
Cadillac Sky are on the road now, landing in Cleveland to play the Beachland Ballroom on June 5. It promises to be a great night.
Cadillac Sky Official Website
Cadillac Sky MySpace
It seems to happen so often that I have to ease into a band’s music, only having it click in after the 3rd or 4th spin, that I sometimes mistrust a band if I like them from the first listen. I enjoyed bands like the Black Keys and TV on the Radio for a couple of years before I decided they weren’t going to pull a fast one on me and finally bought their albums. I’m going to throw caution to the wind, though, and suggest you all listen to At Latl despite the fact that I liked their sound right away.
At Latl – currently a three-piece band consisting of D. Kent Watson, Dan Mahony and Kevin “KC” Christensen – hail from the impressive Milwaukee, Wisconsin, scene (that’s right: Milwaukee appears to have a scene – note Conrad Plymouth, Juniper Tar and the great blog Muzzle of Bees). What would you expect to hear from a band from Milwaukee? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure At Latl’s sound is not it. Switching off songwriting duties between members, they attain an eclectic sound, one minute seeming about to verge off into folk territory, then electronica territory, then flat-out garage rock land, all with a thread of slightly off-kilter vocals, high, chiming guitars and rhythms that move you.
At Latl are getting ready to release a full-length album called Safe, Sound and Temporary (with a tentative date of June 6), and they’ve kindly allowed us to share some of those songs here. You can also download their EP Atlanta Atlanta for free.
At Latl – Trains Freighted
At Latl – Hired
At Latl – How Can I Get Out
We’ve talked Conrad Plymouth up before, and we’ll continue to do so if they keep it up. If you don’t like music that moves you, that can fill you with yearning, a little melancholy and a strong sense of place – even if it’s a place you’ve never been – then stay away from these guys. If, however, you are a fan of beautiful music, heartfelt vocals and exceptional songwriting, go download Conrad Plymouth’s new EP and throw some bucks at them.
If you already took a listen to “Fergus Falls” when the band posted it previously, you already know you need this EP. If not, here’s your chance.
On first listen, the Famous’ new album, Come Home to Me, sounds like the soundtrack to a roadtrip* wherein Very Bad Things Happen. Can’t speak for your world, but in NTSIB’s world, that’s more than enough to merit a second listen.
The Famous has a birth story reminiscent of the birth story of the Rolling Stones, but instead of Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters albums, the chance meeting of Laurence Scott and Victor Barclay hinged on them both owning the same car: the ’65 model Ford Galaxie. The Rolling Stones comparison could be extended to the way the Famous take an old American songstyle (in their case, country & western) and mix it up with modern sensibilities… but that would be facile and trite, so we won’t do that. We could exaggerate the facts to make it seem that Laurence Scott left his life of farming for the life of a rock ‘n’ roller, but we’ll leave Scott’s 2nd place award in the 1983 Junior Farmers competition at the Dallas Farmer’s Market for excellence in radishes and swiss chard for the tabloids to uncover and twist when the band blows up big.
Though we can tell you that Scott and Barclay have secret identities, Barclay masquerading by day as a UI developer and Scott missing the whole “secret” part by being a reporter/anchor for the San Francisco Bay Area arm of NBC. And we can tell you that, both being veterans of the Bay Area music scene, they know their way around the phenomenon known as “rockin’ it”.
(We can also tell you that Barclay is the kind of noble man who will save sweet, innocent beer from being poured down the drain just because it happens to be a little past the expiration date.)
Come Home to Me is a follow-up to their 2005 debut, Light, Sweet Crude, and it is an all-around tighter and more focused album. Their penchant for down-and-dirty roadhouse country is brought to the forefront, and Scott’s voice is now strong and resonant in its timbre and twang. On closer inspection of their lyrics, there is a lot of love-gone-wrong here, but of the sort many can relate to, as evidenced in the succinct first lyric of the album opener, “Off My Mind”: This makes me sick. But I’ll make myself sicker. There are guts spilled all over this album, from the words to the guitars to Scott’s agonized howl midway through “Cold Tonight”.
But there is a lot of fun to be had in the listening. (Doubly so if you are a word nerd – “Perspicacious” had me laughing out loud the first time I listened to it.) So pop open a beer, no matter the expiration date, and have a listen.
*NTSIB may be a little fixated on the idea of roadtrips at the moment.
This is a good example of why I try to avoid saying “Artist X sounds like Artist Z” – aside from the fact that I have found many of those sorts of comparisons can project the wrong idea into a reader’s mind depending upon their relationship with Artist Z’s work – I would have to use three or four different artists to describe the sound of Cleveland duo mr. Gnome. Just within one song. Moving from gauzy dreamscapes to razor-sharp nightmares, sometimes within seconds of each other, mr. Gnome is the sort of band whose willingness to experiment with sound and whose ability to pull it off with confidence makes me proud to be a fellow Clevelander.
A couple of things you should know before listening to mr. Gnome: Nicole Barille will crush your head with her guitar. And if she can’t finish the job, Sam Meister will be right in to beat the pulp to liquid. But then they’ll sing a pretty lullaby and smile down at you just before you pass out.
Yes, Barille’s voice can sound childlike and pixieish (something I have confessed to often disliking), but it also howls like an apocalyptic wind through an industrial warehouse. No, there isn’t a bass, but Meister will make you forget about that with his muscular, sometimes tribal beats. And, yes, you can catch them live. They will be playing Musica in Akron, Ohio, on February 27 (with If These Trees Could Talk and Simeon Soul Charger) and are getting ready for another leg of touring which will bring them back home sometime in May. Keep an eye on their Myspace page for future dates. Give them your money. They’re nice people.
Okay, here’s what you do: Go download Hell and Half of Georgia’s self-titled album, play it through once, then set it aside and go do something else.
Now, come back and listen again.
The first thing you’ll notice is that you’ve gotten adjusted to the raggedness of Sean Fahlen’s voice and can now hear the sweet center of it. The second thing you’ll notice is that the band’s simple and friendly melodies have already lodged themselves in your brain. These are the best kind of country songs, made of heart and backed by solid musicianship. These songs feel like they belong inside a barn that has been cleared for a dance or at an old gas station during a rest stop on a long roadtrip through the dusty Southwest. When you listen to these songs, you feel like you’re listening to good friends play. And you can practically feel the sun of the band’s homestate of California shining down on your skin (which is very helpful as I sit next to a Cleveland window through which I can see several inches of Ohio snow – thanks, boys).
Hell and Half of Georgia – made up of Sean Fahlen, Kevin Burwick, Mike Troolines, Charlie Breneman and Captain Ed Brady – don’t have a label and, at the time of this writing, they are preparing to play their first show. But they are not new to the world of music-making, and, as Fahlen puts it, “we gots our fill of chasing any music dreams”. HaHoG began as a two-man (Fahlen and Burwick) project that they ended up liking so much that they decided to turn it into a full-fledged band, just for the love of the music and sharing the music. “[W]e just wanna play some songs,” says Fahlen, “tour round th southwest in a 88 chevy van with no radio, drink some whiskey nd make new friends along th way.” They back up this philosophy by offering their album for free to anyone who wants to download it. “[W]e are putting our music out for this moment here, you diggin it and sharing your feedback with us and anyone else that you want to share something you like with.”
“Sharing and connecting” could be a rally cry for HaHoG, putting them in good company with NTSIB favorites the Felice Brothers and A.A. Bondy. They will put in their time with websites and Facebook pages because they know these tools are a useful means to an end, but what they want most is to “connect person to person when we can”. In an unrelated conversation, Fahlen said, “[S]ometimes runnin round th country playin music pays off. [N]ot literally pays rent that is, but pays off one way er another…”
Hell and Half of Georgia – Bellingham
Hell and Half of Georgia – California
Hell and Half of Georgia Official Site (Scroll down for free download of their album)
I am guilty of misogyny in my listening practices. I am not the most girly of girls, and hearing twee and breathy vocals can turn me off to a song faster than mentions of pina coladas and getting caught in the rain or riding through the desert on a horse with no name. I find a great many female singers either sound alike to me or give me nothing I can connect to. This is one reason I am grateful for Erika Wennerstrom and her band the Heartless Bastards.
[Author’s note: In recent years, this line of misguided chatter has haunted me, and I feel shame whenever I think about it. I’d like to offer my apology for it. Women in music, women in general, people in general, deserve better.]
To say Erika Wennerstrom has a powerful voice is a bit like saying meteor showers are pretty. True as it is, it doesn’t get the whole idea across. By all accounts a diminutive woman, Wennerstrom can belt out vocals like she’s eight feet tall. Though her power is not just in volume, but also in the emotions she can convey: weariness, toughness, heartache, hope. Backed up by the Bastards with buzzsaw guitars and stomping beats, one might be inclined to dub the Heartless Bastards listening experience “empowering”. I prefer to think of it as bringing out my inner badass, and Wennerstrom effortlessly takes her place alongside rock ‘n’ roll heroines like Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, Kim Gordon and the Deal sisters. (One might be tempted to posit a theory that there’s a correlation between being from Ohio and being a wickedly cool lady.)
The Heartless Bastards will be playing two stateside dates at the end of this month (February 25 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and February 26 in Houston, Texas) before heading out on a Eurpoean tour. There has also been talk of a Heartless Bastards headlining tour with A.A. Bondy playing support for several shows, which seems like a perfect match.
On a sidenote, I would love to hear Erika Wennerstrom and A.A. Bondy duet. What stories those two voices could tell together!
The Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
The Heartless Bastards – Sway
