2010

Billboard has the scoop on the debut album from 7 Walkers – the collaboration between Austin-based bluesman Papa Mali and Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann. The self-titled debut is set

This week’s B List focuses on the unclassifiable Ali Baba’s Tahini, who return to the stage this evening at Martyr’s in Chicago for the first time in seven years. Made up of Umphrey’s McGee guitarist Jake Cinninger, brilliant songwriter Karl Englemann, whirl-of-motion drummer Steve “Krojo” Krojniewski, touring bassist Jeff Hinkle and Justin Powell on keys, ABT had an incredibly unique sound and developed a sizable fanbase over its brief existence as a touring band out of South Bend during the late ’90s.

Once Cinninger disbanded the group to join UM, you might have thought the future was bleak for Ali Baba’s Tahini but luckily the boys stayed in touch and recorded the outstanding Rockstars and Lawnmowers in 2004 before reuniting this year to put out Living Room and to embark on a brief five-gig run across the Midwest this weekend. There are only ten ABT recordings on the Live Music Archive, yet they each give a nice taste of the band’s history and what they are all about. We put together a list of one classic track for each recording along with a link to the recording itself…

The Unidentifiable = January 17th, 1998 – Mickey’s Pub

This recording of one of the first ABT shows comes from Jake Cinninger’s archives. While the track in question is marked as 42nd Street, this unidentified track features gorgeous lead guitar work and vocals from Cinninger. It almost sounds like the love child of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Lenny and Jimi Hendrix’s Angel.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/abt42nd.mp3]

READ ON for more of this week’s B List on Ali Baba’s Tahini…

Stockholm Syndrome @ Brooklyn Bowl – September 12

Faced with reviewing a show like the barnburner Stockholm Syndrome put on at Brooklyn Bowl, you’re tempted to focus on the visceral impact. But for the uninitiated, know first it’s a quintessentially Jerry Joseph band, and that means punch. The soulful, merciless Joseph was the combination bar band howler, insightful folk-poet and razor-witted iconoclast long before the Hold Steady’s Craig Finn and other more fashionable frontmen, and he clearly loves this lineup.

But it’s not only Jerry Joseph and friends, it’s Jerry Joseph and entirely like-minded hellraisers. It means the protean Wally Ingram behind the kit, and the heavy-heavy-heavy, yet amazingly supple Dave Schools bass anchor. It means the one-two punch of Danny Louis and Eric McFadden, both mischievous improvisers, both preferring the unpredictable palettes of acid blues and psychedelic jazz to modal rock solos. It means you take that fivesome, jack up the whole glorious thing to ear-splitting volumes, and spin tales of love and disaster at a relentless pace ad with the verve of a garage band.

It’s a supergroup that’s often transcendent and only occasionally feels like a collection of excellent players passing the baton around. So well do these musicians gel onstage, in fact, that you wonder if the decent-to-quite strong range of original material they’ve released so far could become great if any of them had his full time and energies to devote to it.

READ ON for more on Stockholm Syndrome at the Bowl…

The highly anticipated Roger Waters – The Wall kicks off tonight in Toronto after years of preparation and months of build up. Released in 1979, Pink Floyd’s The Wall contains