2007 was a good year for music. We’ve been fortunate in the quality of discs released. Here are a few great selections from the previous year.
The Cave Singers – Invitation Songs (25 Sept 07 Matador Records)
You may remember me raving about this band. Well I still love them and this is one of my favorite releases of 2007. Some compare Peter Quirk's voice to Arlo Guthrie. I can hear a little of Arlo in there. And the sparse arrangements with the repeating melodies reminds a little of Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon.) But it's the simplicity of the songs that caught my attention; two or three chords on acoustic guitars, minimal percussion, an occasional harmony. It's the formula that some our greatest folk musicians have successfully used to tell their stories. These guys have assembled one amazing folk album. Buy this CD now!
The Blakes – The Blakes (16 Oct 07 Light In The Attic Records)
I mentioned this band from Bumbershoot '07 before. The Blakes owned the stage. They rocked it. The trio, formed in Seattle, sounds like the bands from the '60s British Invasion. It's funny because according to Snow Kiem's bio on the Light in the Attic website the boys weren't allowed to listen to Rock music growing up. Somewhere along the way they had a crash course. While a few of the tracks have a bit of an edge, this disc has several up-tempo cuts that'll get you out on the dance floor (or bouncing around your living room.) Another great release from 2007.
Levon Helm – Dirt Farmer (30 Oct 07 Vanguard Records)
Levon has been one of my musical heroes since he sat behind the kit and sang for The Band way back when. And on this disc he hasn’t disappointed me. He’s taken five traditional songs and some tunes penned by a few of Country Music’s greatest songwriters and delivers them with his signature drawl, loose and lively arrangement and a real down-hominess for which he and The Band were most appreciated. Dirt Farmer comes from his Arkansas roots and is a slice of Americana. You may recognize the harmony vocal on many of the tracks, Amy Helm, Levon’s daughter and a member of the band Olabelle.
In recent years Helm has survived throat cancer, watched his studio get destroyed by fire, dealt with the death of former band-mate Rick Danko and presented biweekly concerts at his barn in Woodstock to pay the bills. Fans of The Band’s acoustic stuff will want this CD.
Giant Bear – Giant Bear (14 Aug 07 Red Wax Music)
They refer to themselves as, “…the world’s only five-piece Orchestral Funkabilly band…” The group was formed in Memphis a couple of years ago and has toured incessantly since. It shows. Their CD sports a dozen arrangements with very high production values, thoughtful lyrics, good hooks and exceptional musicianship. Giant Bear has the most complete sound I’ve heard from a Folk Rock combo in many years. Check out Annie & Nashville. “…a band that plays what I want to say…” I love the vocals. Great songs!
Maktub – Start It Over (6 Nov 07 Kufala Recordings)
A couple of years ago Reggie Watts, lead vocalist for Maktub, left the band to pursue a career in stand-up comedy. I was bummed. After all Khronos, their second album, was one of the musical highlights of 2003. Alas, time moves on. Then I ran into Thaddeus Turner, guitarist extraordinaire for the band, on the Kingston ferry last fall and he told me that they were mixing a new disc. There is a God! (Kurt Vonnegut said, “My epitaph, should I ever need one, God forbid: ''The only proof he ever needed of the existence of God was music.'') Maktub is my favorite contemporary R&B/Soul/Funk/Rock band. I’ve seen them twice and the live show is something to behold.
To get an idea of their sound combine Jimi Hendrix with Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Billy Preston & George Clinton. Start it Over is every bit as good as Khronos. According to Daniel Spils, Maktub’s keyboard & sometimes guitar player, the disc was written and recorded in 6 days in May 2007 of Seattle and funded by 200 fans. Reggie’s vocals are top shelf and the rest of the boys hold nothing back. These guys have found their groove. I’m just glad they choose to share it with the rest of us.
More to follow...
Showing posts with label The Cave Singers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Cave Singers. Show all posts
Friday, January 11, 2008
Monday, September 10, 2007
Bumbershoot 2007 Day One
I recently spent three days at Bumbershoot, the Seattle based arts and music festival that occurs over Labor Day weekend. The event takes place on the 74 acres at Seattle Center and consists of seven music stages, three comedy stages, four performance stages, a film festival, an independent publishers’ exhibition as well as countless artisans peddling their wares, numerous street performers honing their craft and food vendors with a selection so ethnically diverse it’s like a trip around the globe. It is with bittersweet anticipation that I look forward to Bumbershoot each year. The conflict stems from the excitement of seeing many great performers in a small location over a short period of time for a reasonable price, but it is tempered by the fact that it signals an end to summer. In the immortal words of Robert Hunter, “Every silver lining has a touch of grey.”
Saturday: My wife and I arrive at the Mercer Street entrance courtesy of the Metro system and head straight to Horn of Africa for chicken, lentils and that wonderful, spongy, fermented bread. Over the previous few days I’ve scoured the Bumbershoot sections of the Seattle Weekly and The Stranger, two of Seattle’s weekly newspapers, and made notes on my schedule to determine which acts we should see. Once nourished we proceeded to the Wells Fargo Stage to see The Cave Singers (Seattle Weekly pick) an acoustic-based trio and veterans of Seattle bands (Pretty Girls Make Graves) who play some pretty nice stuff. Their sound leans toward folk but the stripped down arrangements have a somber, almost haunting tone. I imagine that this is what Woody Guthrie would sound like if he’d been exposed to punk, grunge, rock, seemingly endless precipitation and great coffee during his formative years. Invitation Songs, their release on Matador is scheduled to come out 25 Sept 07. I would recommend getting it. If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page.
After The Cave Singers we hustled through the crowd to the Mainstage to see The Shins (Seattle Weekly pick.) I know they are the most popular band to come out of the Pacific Northwest in recent years and they are quite talented, but my mood for the show was soured when Bumbershoot staff made me dump my water bottles out before entering Memorial Stadium because a full water bottle could be used as a projectile (I’m certain it had nothing to do with stadium vendors selling bottled water, evidently equipped with projectile-restricting technology, for $3 per half liter) and then shut down the line just as we were getting through the checkpoint. Inside the stadium was hot with nary a breath of air. We sought relief from the heat in the shaded seats on the side but the sound mix was muddled. We stayed for three songs and left.
We navigated toward the Starbucks Stage to see The Honey Dripper All Stars, a group of accomplished Rhythm & Blues musicians assembled for the new John Sayles film Honeydripper. These guys were tight! Great sound, great songs, great delivery, all in all an excellent show! I can’t wait for film. It’s due out this fall.
After that performance we worked our way into the Starbucks VIP area, in the cool, cool shade and sampled free lattes while we reassessed our game plan and poured over the pages of the Bumbershoot Official Program, The Seattle Weekly and The Stranger in an attempt to create a new itinerary. We decided to stay for The Avett Brothers, three young, good-looking musicians from North Carolina. The trio consists of upright bass, banjo & guitar with all three sharing vocals. At first I thought it was going to be a Bluegrass band but shortly in to the first song they started jumping and dancing and hootin' & hollerin'. It was more like Black & Bluegrass. I heard once festival-goer refer to the music as Punkgrass. Whatever it’s called I liked it, high energy deliveries of fun melodies. The Avett Brothers have several releases with Emotionalism being their latest CD. If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page.
We topped off our lattes and waited for The Gourds (Seattle Weekly pick), a group of shit-kickers from Austin with ten years of touring and 9 albums under their belt. Sadly, most folks only know them for a countrified cover of the Snoop Dogg song, Gin & Juice. However, The Gourds’ are a talented bunch of boys who have a lot of fun playing music. They have a wonderful stage presence, they’re relaxed with the audience and you can tell that they are really having as much fun playing as the audience is listening & watching. To top it off their songs are wonderful! If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page. Unfortunately we had to leave their set early to catch a boat and get back home to feed the dog.
More to follow...
Saturday: My wife and I arrive at the Mercer Street entrance courtesy of the Metro system and head straight to Horn of Africa for chicken, lentils and that wonderful, spongy, fermented bread. Over the previous few days I’ve scoured the Bumbershoot sections of the Seattle Weekly and The Stranger, two of Seattle’s weekly newspapers, and made notes on my schedule to determine which acts we should see. Once nourished we proceeded to the Wells Fargo Stage to see The Cave Singers (Seattle Weekly pick) an acoustic-based trio and veterans of Seattle bands (Pretty Girls Make Graves) who play some pretty nice stuff. Their sound leans toward folk but the stripped down arrangements have a somber, almost haunting tone. I imagine that this is what Woody Guthrie would sound like if he’d been exposed to punk, grunge, rock, seemingly endless precipitation and great coffee during his formative years. Invitation Songs, their release on Matador is scheduled to come out 25 Sept 07. I would recommend getting it. If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page.
After The Cave Singers we hustled through the crowd to the Mainstage to see The Shins (Seattle Weekly pick.) I know they are the most popular band to come out of the Pacific Northwest in recent years and they are quite talented, but my mood for the show was soured when Bumbershoot staff made me dump my water bottles out before entering Memorial Stadium because a full water bottle could be used as a projectile (I’m certain it had nothing to do with stadium vendors selling bottled water, evidently equipped with projectile-restricting technology, for $3 per half liter) and then shut down the line just as we were getting through the checkpoint. Inside the stadium was hot with nary a breath of air. We sought relief from the heat in the shaded seats on the side but the sound mix was muddled. We stayed for three songs and left.
We navigated toward the Starbucks Stage to see The Honey Dripper All Stars, a group of accomplished Rhythm & Blues musicians assembled for the new John Sayles film Honeydripper. These guys were tight! Great sound, great songs, great delivery, all in all an excellent show! I can’t wait for film. It’s due out this fall.
After that performance we worked our way into the Starbucks VIP area, in the cool, cool shade and sampled free lattes while we reassessed our game plan and poured over the pages of the Bumbershoot Official Program, The Seattle Weekly and The Stranger in an attempt to create a new itinerary. We decided to stay for The Avett Brothers, three young, good-looking musicians from North Carolina. The trio consists of upright bass, banjo & guitar with all three sharing vocals. At first I thought it was going to be a Bluegrass band but shortly in to the first song they started jumping and dancing and hootin' & hollerin'. It was more like Black & Bluegrass. I heard once festival-goer refer to the music as Punkgrass. Whatever it’s called I liked it, high energy deliveries of fun melodies. The Avett Brothers have several releases with Emotionalism being their latest CD. If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page.
We topped off our lattes and waited for The Gourds (Seattle Weekly pick), a group of shit-kickers from Austin with ten years of touring and 9 albums under their belt. Sadly, most folks only know them for a countrified cover of the Snoop Dogg song, Gin & Juice. However, The Gourds’ are a talented bunch of boys who have a lot of fun playing music. They have a wonderful stage presence, they’re relaxed with the audience and you can tell that they are really having as much fun playing as the audience is listening & watching. To top it off their songs are wonderful! If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page. Unfortunately we had to leave their set early to catch a boat and get back home to feed the dog.
More to follow...
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