Review: Carrie Rodriguez - She Ain't Me

Label: Manhattan Records

Released: August 5, 2008

Carrie Rodriguez's voice is beautiful. It's dynamic and full and she can be sultry, powerful and breathy at will. It is, as it should be, the centerpiece and strength of this album. She has the kind of voice that could lead her down any musical road she might choose and it seems more often than not, the technically talented stick to refined, methodical styles. Rodriguez doesn't though. She Ain't Me is a rootsy, country-tinged affair that allows her to exercise her voice in a very natural way. Rodriguez shares vocals with Lucinda Williams on "Mask of Moses" and they sound great together. Likewise, her songs aren't the silly fluff that runs through so much popular music. She's written songs that deal with humanity and faith and discontent and yearning.

The trouble that She Ain't Me runs into is that it never quite seems to break out. The overall feel is just too much like the studio and the band is very good, but, with few exceptions, uneventful. Without the innate sense that comes from a band really being together, the performance becomes a cage that prevents anyone, most notably Rodriguez, from really breaking free and taking flight. Throughout, I waited to hear her let go and it just never quite happened.

All in all, Rodriguez is way too good to be dismissed. Her voice, even restrained, has so much to offer and that strength makes the restraint even more pronounced. She Ain't Me is a rewarding listen that nonetheless leaves you feeling a little bit short of full, but hungry for the next album.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 6/10
Dylan: 7/10
Aretha: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

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Review: Mad Tea Party - Found a Reason

Label: Nine Mile Records

Released: July 15, 2008

There is an interesting revival of old-time music afoot. Tapping into vaudeville, string bands and vocal groups of the 30s and 40s, these bands' strengths can also be their limitations, making many strictly revivalists rather a modern look at the past. A few, however, manage to break the bounds of revivalism to make music that is as thoroughly modern as it is old-time.

Mad Tea Party is just one of those bands. Like their peers, both vaudeville and string band music runs throughout, but they aren't satisfied to have Found a Reason limited to just that. Like few of their peers, Mad Tea Party is part of the uke-billy scene, a small but perhaps growing subgenre where the ukulele rocks like never before. Ami Worthen's voice brings the charming, quirky beauty of the days before dull, cookie-cutter perfection to an album that has roots in the past but also stands firmly in more modern times with both social commentary and pop culture (was that a Pac Man reference?). They can follow-up a fun look at adolescent awkwardness in "I Never Was a Cool One" with the quiet sadness of "Waltz of Despair" and no one will blink. They just have that unique ability to move around like that and yet retain their purity in a way that only bands like the Dead and the Violent Femmes can.

Jason Krekel's licks are at times worthy of Chuck Berry as Mad Tea Party rips through some great rock n roll. Yet, they don't even stop there, moving into early 60s AM pop and surf at times as well. Mad Tea Party still manages to package this up into a distinctive homogeneous sound, taking detours that enhance the trip but don't change the destination. Their multi-faceted soul moves in ways that are both serious and fun, sometimes at the same time.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

"Every Way" video

Mad Tea Party - "Every Way" (2008) from Skizz Cyzyk on Vimeo.

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Review: Tippy Canoe and the Paddlemen - Parasols and Pekingese

Label: Late Bloomers Works

Released: May 31, 2008

One look at the cover of Parasols and Pekingese leaves little doubt where the album is going. It mixes art deco style with the painted effects of a pre-linen postcard. As the cover suggests, Tippy Canoe and the Paddlemen look back to simpler, more honest times. There's nothing new in that. Americana bands and folk-punk bands among others have been at it for quite awhile. The better artists are steeped in these days gone by while others just have a kitschy veneer. It doesn't take long (probably a matter of seconds, not minutes) to recognize that Tippy and her band are the former.

From the rollicking rootsy country of "Mass Transmissions" to the dark sensuality of "Sleep, Sleep My Dear" and everything in between, Tippy Canoe and the Paddlemen prove that theirs is more than a passing interest in the treasure trove of the past. Tippy's voice can tap both Patsy Cline and Billie Holiday and the Paddlemen themselves are so good they're easy to miss in a sense. There isn't a self-serving note played with all focus on the songs and not the players.

While "Neighbor of the Tell-Tale Heart" is the album's most memorable track with it's rich, old time country sound and undeniable hook, it is perhaps "Champs-Élysées" that gives greatest testament to the band's strength. Anytime, a band can fit the Pretenders into an old-time album this seemlessly, they have to be good, pure and simple.

While looking to the past for inspiration is fairly common these days, Tippy Canoe and the Paddlemen easily stand out. Not only is their music completely immersed in the past, but it also exists very much in the present.

Ratings
Satriani: 8/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

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Video: Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - "Stop and Think It Over"

Check out Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles' new video for "Stop and Think It Over". If you aren't familiar with their, here's a review their latest album, Diamonds in the Dark.

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Review: The Sojourners - Hold On

Label: Black Hen Music

Released: September 24, 2007

When gospel music is on, there's almost nothing that can touch it, but when it's off, it's an awfully tough listen. When I first read about the Sojourners' Hold On, I was intrigued. Here was a trio singing traditional gospel in a traditional style rather than the R&B for Jesus that typically passes for gospel these days. In a sense, the album was all it claimed to be and that made it all the more disappointing when it didn't live up to my expectations.

There is no doubt that Martcus Mosely, Will Sanders and Ron Small can sing. They can harmonize well, but what they fail to do is to truly sing together. They lack the synergy that puts the punch in gospel music. To make matters worse, the backing band, although they do the right thing by sticking to acoustic instruments, have all the energy of a studio band, not a church band. The result is gospel music as it might come out of a barbershop quartet or a vaudeville show.

They do rise to the occasion on "Run On" and "Walking Up the King's Highway," but on "Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb," a song that should certainly have a bang, they exhibit the same lack of explosiveness that pervades the album. All the pieces are in place, traditional gospel, traditional instrumentation, traditional arrangements, good singers, but Hold On still feels like a lackluster sermon.

Rating: 4/10

Review: Various Artists - Down Home Saturday Night

Label: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Released: July 31, 2007

As the liner notes describe, all across the country on a Saturday night music and good times go hand in hand and always have. American roots music, from bluegrass to zydeco, has been an influence on modern music as well as a vital part of life for many, many people. It's the latter that this compilation tries to capture.

Down Home Saturday Night crosses time and genres, mining the Smithsonian Folkways archive to create a collection of what is essentially an American roots music party. From the opening track, John Sebastian and the J Band (yeah, the "J" is for "jug") doing the old classic folksong "Minglewood Blues," to "Uncle Bud," the zydeco closer recorded by Boozoo Chavis and the Magic Sounds, every track can be taken on two levels, educational and enjoyable. Over the course of the album, cajun, bluegrass, jump blues, conjunto, Western swing (courtesy of no less than the Texas Playboys, masters of the genre), and country are all represented without the album seeming the least bit haphazard. Among all 15 excellent tracks, the New Lost City Ramblers version of "Bill Morgan and His Gal" still manages to stand out. The song itself has a clever comedy that eludes today's hip, cool indie artists along with a sing along chorus that is irresistible. Complaining about his spendthrift girl, Bill Morgan sings, "You might have known me pretty long / But sure have got my initials wrong. / My name is Morgan, but it ain't J.P.," over great old string band backup. It's more infectious than any of today's pop songs.

This may be seen as a label sampler by some, but that misses the point. Typically, a compilation like this would focus on a particular genre, be it folk or blues or zydeco or any other, as its theme. While that's a logical way to approach it, Smithsonian Folkways understands there's an even more fundamental connection, the spirit of the music. With that understanding, they create what may be the ultimate party album for people who love music. Sure, there's something to be learned on Down Home Saturday Night, but the album is such a good time, you don't even realize it's an education.

Rating: 10/10

Review: Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Diamonds in the Dark

Label: Sugar Hill Records

Released: June 12, 2007

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles do more than just channel the past. True, Diamonds in the Dark is partially images of days gone by, but the package is fresh. Touching on every raw influence of rock music, the end result is an album that is both clean and warm, touching the old, but very much new.

The album centers on Sarah Borges voice which is rich and warm. She can use it across the genres the album touches and her passion is just as clear when she's subtle as when she's brash. She has similar qualities to Natalie Merchant, but Borges' individuality is so strong that the comparison only becomes vividly clear once (on "Modern Trick"). The band is more than just a backup for Borges' voice. The rhythms can be driving or sublime or anything in between, setting the tone as it changes along the way. The pedal steel plays an integral role throughout, sharing a lot of the understated movement of the vocals and bringing out a lot of the songs' color.

Diamonds in the Dark clearly digs deep into the core of rock n roll, coming up with rockabilly, blues, soul, bubblegum, country and punk. "The Day We Met" has the punk-edged rockabilly perfected by X (even more than the album's actual cover of X's "Come Back to Me"). Punk energy is even more prevalent on the garagey "Diablito" and "Stop and Think It Over" applies that same punk rock edge to 60s pop. Borges pulls off "False Eyelashes" with all the confidence of Dolly Parton's original and her own restless energy. The pedal steel is just superb on this as well as "Modern Trick." Even the comparatively average country ballads "Around 9" and "Belle of the Bar" could stand on their own. The album finishes up with another cover, this time Tom Waits' "Blind Love," whose sparse echoey slide and rimshots provide the perfect atmosphere for Borges range and control without constraining her.

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles have produced an album that burns slow and warm with their passion and love, not for the music of the past, but for the roots of the present. There's a difference between those two, because one is just a revival, but Sarah Borges and company show us that even the roots are still alive and growing today.

Rating: 9/10