Music critics and fans alike have long droned on about the inability of musical road warriors – concert-focused bands like Tea Leaf Green – to produce a decent studio listen. While that onus doesn't apply to every album in the cosmos, it definitely applies to Tea Leaf Green's Looking West.
Following in the grand tradition of misleading monikers (Thompson Twins, 10,000 Maniacs), Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, and Amelia Randall Meath are the trio of voices that form Mountain Man. And more than anything else, it is their voices that elevate Made The Harbor above the babbling brook of Appalachian folk music flowing through indie music these days. Pairing their exquisite harmonies with almost nothing else, Mountain Man creates an album that can be appreciated as much for what it achieves as for what it leaves out.
The bio page on 30db.net refers to this collaboration between Brendan Bayliss (Umphrey’s McGee) and Jeff Austin (Yonder Mountain String Band) as “unexpected,” but fans of both bands have long recognized the musical and personal friendship between the pair. After hearing the debut album under the 30db moniker, One Man Show, even outsiders won’t miss the chemistry and similarities that Austin and Bayliss share.
History From Below plays like Delta Spirit's stripped down B-side to 2008’s Ode to Sunshine. As that term suggests there are none of the standouts like “Thrashcan” or “People C’mon” contained here yet the band continue to experiment. “White Table” is one of the better efforts, at once sonically barren yet pulsing with promise until springing alive halfway through; a neat trick. “Bushwick Blues” bounces along at an urgently brisk pace, and “Golden State” is an exuberant piano pounding rhythmic shake-fest, both are infectious highpoints.
Collective wisdom has always been that Andre 3000 was the freak and Big Boi was the street when it came to OutKast, but Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, could slightly shift that view. Big Boi has mastered the microphone and allows his purple freak flag to fly with bass lines, beats, and various musical styles. Caribbean, classical, new wave and syrupy southern soul all seep into the sound.
Just as both camps will be attracted by the gorgeous color packaging of You Hear Me, newcomers to the music of Tommy Keene who hear the double CD set will no doubt be as impressed by the consistency of this Retrospective as long-standing fans. Yet the most beautiful virtue of this music may be that it’s equally satisfying to play in the background or sit down and listen closely.
With the release of her debut album, Nomad, Anna Rose offers listeners a slick blend of singer/songwriter based pop and rock – and although on a certain level her sound isn’t the most unique sound you may ever hear, it works as it brings to mind comparisons to famed artists such as Harvest-era Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and the like.
An indie-rock/classical/concept album trifecta may seem like a broad over reach, but in reality artists like Frank Zappa and more apropos for Television Landscape – Prince, have shuffled down these paths before, now whether the combo actually works is another question entirely. In William Brittelle’s case the answer is yes, for the most part. Fully orchestrating the Television Landscape with electronic and acoustic instrumentation infuses a sense life to the disenchanted themes presented.
Roadsongs is a two disc live set recorded with Derek Trucks Band in Chicago after release of their most recent 2009 studio album, Already Free. This live recording captures the band fresh from the studio with increased energy and fluidness complete with Trucks’ staggering solos and New Orleans style horn section.
Sacred Steel guitar maestro, Robert Randolph has come a long way since the days of leading church worship to becoming one of the most recognized guitar players in the country. Randolph’s highly anticipated third album – We Walk This Road – is a work of art that began over two years ago with roots pioneer and producer extraordinaire, T Bone Burnett
