Album Of The Week: The Sadies

The Sadies
New Seasons
Yep Roc

There is a certain class of band, the kind that have a unique sound but rarely deviate from it, and sometimes it ends up limiting their creativity and longevity. I’d place the Old 97’s in that category, as the old joke about them is that they have two songs—the fast one and the slow one—and they just gave them new titles every album. In the alt-country vein, the Sadies could very well have been placed in that compositional straitjacket, too, since their trademark sound was a kind of Morricone-influenced spaghetti western instrumental vibe.
Recent developments in their career have helped them to avoid the traps of repetition, however. From serving as a backing band for Neko Case and Andre Williams to last year’s guest star heavy double live album, they seem intent on not carving out any specific niche for themselves.
This new CD stretches the boundaries of their own music far beyond the surf-country vibes of their early work, an evolution that’s a combination of Travis and Dallas Good’s maturing songwriting and the airy production touch of former Jayhawk Gary Louris.
The stylistic swath the Goods cut this time around includes reverb-drenched country weeper, “Sunset To Dawn,” and Gram Parsons-indebted, “Never Again,” but it also harvests psychedelic pop nuggets such as the Donovan-esque, “Yours To Discover,” and, “A Simple Aspiration,” which sounds otherworldly, like a lost track from Roky Erickson and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators. In a further departure, there are only two instrumental tracks included, almost as brief afterthoughts or interludes.
The times when they combine these approaches are the most musically satisfying and memorable. “Anna Leigh,” is a soft-spoken tune that recalls a Johnny Cash murder ballad. Though its subject is not nearly as dark, there is a palpable sense of foreboding brought on by the eerie guitar tones and insistent tempo, and the song’s coda arches into an orchestral, swelling bridge worthy of the Moody Blues.
“The Trial,” may contain the best lines the Goods have every uttered in, “Every time I look at it I can barely breathe, and if I’m still alive when the autumn kills the leaves, I guess I’ll be what they consider free.” That’s a passage worthy of a poet, both picturesque and evocative of emotions and memories that the listener can project upon the song. Like Son Volt’s, “Windfall,” human nature and Mother Nature collide in an allegorical and literal sense.
The Sadies may never escape the ‘Spaghetti Western Country” tag, mainly because they do it so well, but it also appears that they won’t allow it to limit what they do. With this new batch of songs they have at least proved they have a few more plots up their musical sleeves than the average batch of B-movie Westerns.

New Seasons on Amazon.com

Rock ‘n’ Roll Magnetism

Great bands don’t come out of nowhere, like some rip in the space-time continuum opens up and Led Zeppelin drops out of the sky or something—most really good bands take years to get that way. Look at Nada Surf, who hit their stride with Let Go, a decade after “Popular” nearly doomed them to one-hit wonder status and haven’t peaked yet as far as I can tell.
So imagine my surprise when a really great new band landed on me recently in the form of Magnetic Flowers, from right here in Columbia, South Carolina. How they made an album as good as their new debut, Presents Pasts and Futures, at such an early stage in their development, I don’t know and really don’t care at this point—it’s enough to just acknowledge that it exists and be thankful for that.
After seeing the band live last month, I made a mental note to revisit the CD their producer had handed me a few weeks prior to that, but didn’t actually get around to doing so until today, when I took it with me to run a few errands around town before heading to work.

Mike Scott of the Waterboys coined the term, “The Big Music” for the grandiose, spectral arrangements his band utilized on early albums like A Pagan Place and This Is The Sea, but it applies equally well to the Flowers’ important-sounding indie rock. There was always a sense of making serious and important statements on a Waterboys album, and it is that attitude, more so than the quasi-spiritual lyrical poeticism of Mike Scott, that Magnetic Flowers appropriates here.

“Mark Pyritz Goes to Mexico,” is a great, rollicking call-to-arms that’s a perfect album opener, even as it confronts life-and-death topics in the context of a road trip south of the border. The character that’s closing in on the Grim Reaper (probably the ‘Mark Pyritz’ of the title) gives a sage bit of parting advice, but the real kicker here is the intertwined music that fits the lyrics so well that when they sing, “Sun is drowning in the sea, and our hearts waltz in time,” the guitars actually crank out a quick 3/4 –time riff as a route back into the chorus. It’s a small moment, but one that speaks volumes about where these guys are coming from as musicians and artists, sweating the details that give a fuller understanding and enjoyment for the listener.

“Widescreen Version,” would be called the ‘hit’ on this album, if there were a chance that it might get a wide enough hearing to have a chance to become one. Starting off with a leisurely, loping, Seventies-rock vibe, like a sleepy Jazz Butcher Conspiracy, halfway through it kicks into fast forward, and as the song careens to a close with the repeated chorus, “Someone should make a movie about you,” somebody yells “Roll the end credits!” in the background, and a litany of movie workers, from the producer on down, begins, culminating in the line, “some of us actors, most of us extras, and you, you as yourself.”

Magnetic Flowers’ musical strength lies in their arrangements, a lost art among rock bands especially on the level of local clubbing that they are in. The piano alone separates them from their peers and adds layers of texture in their sound, then they add the occasional horn solo and various stringed instruments which sometimes results in a cacophony of sound resembling nothing so much as a Broadway pit orchestra with a few drinks in them after a three-performance day. Having seen them pull this off live, I can say that not only does it translate to the stage well, like all good music it is made even more immediate and emotionally stunning in person.

check their Myspace page to download the two songs mentioned above, and for tour dates.

http://www.myspace.com/magneticflowers

Album of the week: Mountain Heart

This is the first in what I’ll try to make a weekly feature here, spotlighting a recent release.

Mountain Heart
Road That Never Ends
Rural Rhythm

Unless you’re a bluegrass fan, chances are you’re not familiar with Mountain Heart, who just released Road That Never Ends: The Live Album. Unlike Nickel Creek, Sam Bush, or Alison Krauss, they haven’t made that leap from independent bluegrass labels to the mainstream market, despite having many of the same qualities (Well, they don’t have a pretty girl in the band, but several of the guys are mighty nice looking…). They are marketing the band a little bit like Nickel Creek this time, however—the word ‘bluegrass doesn’t appear in the cover text until the end of a list of influences cited alongside rock, jamband, country, blues, and jazz. Instead, the bland, “Acoustic music,” is used in its place, a cop-out that could place them in the same category as Will Ackerman or George Winston from the New Age-synonymous Windham Hill label. In keeping with the slicker image of many contemporary bluegrass acts, the album cover makes them look more like a New Country act or a Contemporary Christian band, instead of a killer band of bluegrass pickers—none of them is even holding an instrument, even. I don’t expect a bluegrass band in 2007 to wear bolo ties and hats like the Bluegrass Boys, but it is still a little unsettling when you look more like Rascal Flatts or Mercy Me and still sing, “Mountain Man.”
Originally formed in 1998 by members of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Mountain Heart was immediately embraced by the bluegrass establishment as a fresh, contemporary voice, and the band has delivered on that acceptance with a string of bluegrass and bluegrass gospel albums featuring both excellent traditional instrumental skills (Fiddler Jim Van Cleve won a Grammy for his 2006 solo album No Apologies) and new compositions that added to the canon of great bluegrass songs.
The new disc serves as an introduction to the newest member of Mountain Heart, Josh Shilling, who plays guitar and piano, bringing an unusual texture to the band along with strong lead vocals. Perhaps it was a wise move to get that “new singer” stigma off their backs before going back into the studio, or maybe they just wanted to get something out and didn’t have the luxury of studio time available to add the new guy. Either way, it turns out to be a wise decision, as the live setting knocks some of the contemporary sheen off the band’s sound, proving that behind the slick recordings there’s a really hot live act. Bluegrass is a genre that demands virtuoso instrumental prowess due to the sometimes impossibly fast tempos and frequent soloing required, and the members of Mountain Heart are all more than capable.
Shilling gets a couple of spots to show off, including the newly written blues, “It Works Both Ways,” and a version of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Whipping Post,” a nearly solo Shilling performance which showcases his piano skills.
It’s the addition of Shilling on piano that is the riskiest part of this new twist in the Mountain Heart sound, and purists will cry foul, claiming that a piano isn’t a “bluegrass instrument.” So far, however, it doesn’t sound like they have integrated the piano into the traditional bluegrass, they have just added a piano number or two to the typical set, something any bluegrass band will do in a live show if there’s a piano nearby and someone in the group who can play it.
Another thing most bluegrass groups do is gospel, and Mountain Heart is no exception. Their second album, The Journey, was an all-gospel release but it is currently out of print, making the inclusion of the fun a capella “Gospel Train,” from that disc a nice treat. “God and Everybody,” from 2006’s Wide Open, isn’t quite the stark, ominous gospel of their contemporaries Blue Highway but it’s pretty close, with some chill-inducing vocal harmonies.
This isn’t the album that will introduce Mountain Heart to the mainstream, but it will certainly make their fans in the bluegrass scene happy. As for Shilling and his place in the group, that will become clearer once they get into a studio and come out with a full album of new material.

The Next Worst American Band

The next great American band

When Simon Fuller of American Idol announced the full-band version of “American Idol,” I’ll admit I was curious to see how the format would fit. Like a national ‘battle of the bands’, the show’s first episode included some good music and some wretched music—no William Hung eviscerations of pop songs, at least, since the really bad ones they only let us hear for a couple of seconds each in several still-painful montage segments.
The setting, a big outdoor stage in the desert, is ridiculous. Why not put them in a nightclub, small arena, or some other more natural setting for a concert than a big empty sandbox?

And tell me again about this being the search for a great American band when one of the judges and the host is from New Zealand

Not sure I’ll watch the rest of the season, and I’m sure that this doesn’t really deserve this kind of analysis (it’s just bad reality TV), but I was bored tonight, so here’s what I thought of the show and the bands presented:

Silly Happy family band–Not sure I’ve got the name right but who cares, since they started the show with a cover song. Said they’d quit playing music if they didn’t get through to the next round. Anyone wanna buy a guitar? Or an amp?

Tres Bien—retro band, which is hot these days. Pretty good sound, catchy song, good performance. They made it to the next round easily.

Light of Doom –preteen metal? Singer’s voice needs a few more years to mature, but they rocked harder than any pre-acne bunch of kids have a right to. Reznik wanted to say “no” but got whined into agreeing by Sheila E…. I can see his and the other guy’s reservations; it’s kind of like “Heavy Metal Hanson.” They won’t last much longer.

The Hatch—You’re from New York City, a major entertainment industry town (well, they’re from Brooklyn, but it’s close) and you play a cover tune? Even Hootie & the Blowfish do “Use Me,” better than this. Lame, but the singer’s cute so they get through.

Big Toe: a guy without arms who plays bass guitar with his feet? Take that, Jeff Healey! All the judges said no (not willing to give them a ‘leg up’, I guess), but I kind of liked the song they played.

The Clarke Brothers—Ringers! Ringers! These guys used to be part of the Clarke Family Experience, a country band made up of members of an 11-child family whose album I reviewed years ago. It was good, I recall, but the band went nowhere commercially. I think I even saw them play a live show once or twice, and they were pretty good live, too. I guess three of them grew up and decided they wanted to try again. They got through, impressing with an acoustic gospel medley.

Zombie Bazooka Patrol—“Better off Undead,” I think was the song, an entertaining acoustic rocking tune that reminded me a little of the Avett Brothers…wonder if they have any more Zombie-themed compositions up their tattered sleeves? They made it through, amazingly enough.

Dot dot dot—like a combination of Naked Eyes and Fallout Boy, New Wave Modern Rock? I’d agree with the judges on this one, they were the only ones that really looked like a rock band, so they easily made it through.

Northmont—derivative modern rock that sounded like a cover band, though I think it was an original song they played. And the singer climbed the rigging? This is American Idol Junior, not Bonnaroo, dude. The judges gave them a second chance to mess up again.

The Muggs—another band I’ve heard of before—they put out a pretty good garage-metal album a couple years back that I liked a lot. MC5 influenced stuff from Detroit, the judges loved it and rightly so, but they’re probably too retro and dated to get farther than the next round.

Fifi larue the gothic killer clown of heavy metal—okay, maybe there is a William Hung candidate here. This was so pathetic it wasn’t even funny.

Denver and the Mile High Orchestra—did anyone tell these guys that the nouveau swing revival was over a decade ago? Didn’t think so. Probably the most musically adept group of the entire show, but it’s a limited sound.

Zolar X—Star Trekking rockers, even this close to Halloween, are ridiculous.

Six Wire—“We represent today’s Nashville,” they said, “You might call it edgy country.” They even admit to having been signed and putting singles out but going nowhere. You can tell from their performance they’ve been through many a showcase opportunity, nailing their song, which itself wasn’t anything special but against all the other crap on this show they sound great.

Cliff Wagner and the Old No. 7 – named after the mule from “Grizzly Adams” but sounding like the house band from O Brother Where Art Thou? They were a pretty decent bluegrass band, and took the insults to their original song with a grain of salt, throwing a refrain of, “Like a Virgin”, bluegrass style, back at them when asked for something “not written by a 70 year old Raccoon Hunter.”

Franklin Bridge—Philly rockin’ soul. I want one of those yellow guitars, dude. Too bad it’s still a novelty to see an all-black rock band, this many years after Living Colour. Good stuff, and they have the kind of multi-ethnic appeal to go a long way in this kind of popularity contest.

Heaven Bound—just in case you thought all hot black girls could sing, this batch of babes proved otherwise in about fifteen seconds.

Rockette—Girl band doing a Ramones cover? Glad they’re kind of hot, because they weren’t very good.

Mezcal—Latinos who shoulda been shoe-ins with Sheila E as a judge—she even gets up and plays percussion with them for a few seconds. Alas, they weren’t good enough, even for Sheila.

So by my count, I only saw a half-dozen decent groups in the whole thing, not enough to hold my interest for a full season, I’d say. Unless the promised “theme nights” offer up some interesting twists, this one’s already deader than the desert it started in.