Athens Ear Buds (09-24-09)

We welcome two or three new Athens Ear Buds contributors, and I for one am glad to have them. Many m3embers of our "œclassic" roster have been hard put to come up with recommendations lately (including myself!), and AEB should constantly be replenished with true blood... er, I mean new blood.

To be frank, I've been trying to pull myself out of a fallow period for music. There's nothing that excites me. Well, that's not exactly true. In scouring YouTube for videos to complement AEB, I've found some amazing stuff. Keep reading...

Got some great videos to look at later in the column. I was tranfixed by the music and dancing in the Sim Gaillard video.

As always, if you want to support local business when you're on a music- or movie-buying jag, Haffa's on West Union Street is the place to go. - Terry Smith, AEB commander-in-chief

Dale Francis, electro acoustic musician/owner/engineer, Long Run Audio, Athens: John Coltrane, "Giant Steps" (Atlantic Records, 1990 "“ originally released 1959) and "A Love Supreme" (Impulse Records, 2003 "“ originally released 1964). Listening to music is always challenging. You can hear so much, and coming back to their recordings can reveal things you missed in previous encounters. I found myself in the library picking up these two older recordings by John Coltrane. I haven't heard them since I wore the LPs out decades ago. "Giant Steps" is his second album as a bandleader, and the first where all the compositions are his. What a soundscape his ensemble paints. Hard Bop in its heyday with the players meshing in exquisite form. Tom Dowd is the recording engineer (the same man who a decade or so later did Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominos). "A Love Supreme" is on the cusp, bridging bop into the avant-garde predating Coltrane's immersion into the free-jazz movement. You can hear this ensemble pressing the boundaries and challenging the status quo. The engineer is Rudy Van Gelder of Blue Note fame. Now I find myself ready to search out more Coltrane! His playing, writing and ensembles are a joy to hear again.

Andy Vogel, is an OU student and a freelance writer from the Columbus area: Kyle Sowashes is a name to get to know. Coming from the streets of Columbus, the Sowashes offers a refreshing sound to the atmosphere. Tracks that give props to the deceased wrestler Andre the Giant create some quirky goodness. Ironically, they sound like They Might Be Giants, but everyone loves big people so it's all good anyway. On their album, "Yeah Buddy!," Sowashes create several versions of their songs in a slow and fast tempo. Imagine hearing a punk-rock version and then a bummer version. Of course, the bummer version includes all fancy violin and piano work for that dramatic effect. "Yr Band Flaked Out On Me" is the best example of this style. These Columbus boys will be playing at The Union Thursday, Sept. 24 with Zest of Yore, Grade School and Donner Party Dinner Party.

Christopher Pyle, owner of Donkey Coffee and 3 Elliott Studio, plays in the local band The Jarts: "Talking Heads '77" by the Talking Heads, (Sire Records, 1977). Easily one of the best and most innovative bands ever. I could have picked almost any of the records from their 10-year career. They never released the same record twice. This was their first release, and it is near perfect. It sounds very stripped compared to the material that they'd produce in a few years. David Byrne sings like he is paranoid of almost everything. The topics of his lyrics are different from almost anything at the time. He sings about psycho killers, the government, books he's read, buildings, and awkward relationships. Is this the first "geek" rock record? Probably. It's definitely the best.

Dan Driefort does search-engine optimization from a holler in the hills just east of Athens: Silversun Pickups, "Caravans" (Dangerbird, 2006). Apparently these guys (and gal) from L.A. were the bees knees of the modern/alternative charts in 2006/07 but I missed the boat. Get on the short boat with me! Think Smashing Pumpkins meets Mars Volta and you're getting close. "Lazy Eye" is the standout track, maybe even pleasing to grandma, until the 2:45 mark when the trademark Silversun Pickups jaws-of-life distorted guit kicks in.

Colleen Carow, lead singer of Broken Ring and director of external relations for Ohio University's Russ College of Engineering and Technology: Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson, "Break Up" (Rhino, 2009). I've been a fan of Pete Yorn since his 2001 debut, "musicforthemorningafter," so I was delighted to find this new album of duets with none other than the sultry Scarlett. On "Relator," the trippy-dreamy opening track with a zingy infectious guitar riff, she sounds like a spacey Duffy Rockferry - in contrast to her mournful sounds on "I am the Cosmos" by Chris Bell, whom I'll be investigating shortly. The random appearance of a banjo on "Wear and Tear" and slide guitar "Search Your Heart" lend a nice Americana feel to these rock tracks that also feature plenty of synthesizer, while "Someday" blissfully conjures up The Velvet Underground. Turns out the album was inspired by some 1960s Brigitte Bardot recordings and was recorded even before Scarlett's 2008 album of Tom Waits covers. It's a different animal than other collaborations we might love, like "Raising Sand," but the more I listen to it, the more I seem to want to listen to it.

John McVicker teaches English as a Second Language at Ohio U.; he likes music a whole lot: Slim Gaillard, "Laughing In Rhythm" (2006, Proper 4-disc box). Jack Kerouac thought he was cool, and you will, too. Kerouac included a couple of paragraphs describing a live Gaillard show in "On the Road," and for good reason. Vocalist-guitarist-pianist Gaillard's sound recalls a sort of spacey boogie-woogie version of the 1940s Nat Cole Trio. His lyrics, in scores of languages including "vout," his own-aroonie take on hipster-eenie jive, are purest dada. For example, one tune laments that Little Red Riding Hood is lost in the woods. "What woods?" Slim asks: "Hollywood, Westwood, Brentwood, Maywood" and from there on to "Junewood, Julywood, Augustwood, Septemberwood..." and then "KnockOnWood, Dagwood, Wormwood" and so on before finishing with Clevelandwood, Canadawood, and of course Mexicowood. He sings and scats about cement mixers (putti-putti), potato chips, flat-footed floozies (floogies after the censor got it) with STDs, poodles, rain storms of banana skins, and Atomic Cocktails. His small and midsize groups swing, too - sidemen include bop greats Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie, stars Buddy Tate and Ben Webster, Howard McGhee, Dodo Marmarosa, Lucky Thompson and lots of others. It's five hours of wild and witty jive. As usual, check out your fave Web video archives for Slim Gaillard.

Pencil, old punk, celebrity judge, shipping/receiving guy and demo-goblin (aka Josh Ryan): Roky Erickson. After inventing psychedelic rock with his previous band Austin's 13th Floor Elevators, Roky took a long vacation. Upon his return and subsequent re-invention, he decided to also create Horror Rock. The material he did with The Explosions and more importantly The Aliens is part homage to, part real-in-his-own mind Horror films. Many of these albums have been reissued, as have an anthology and a few collections. "Gremlins Have Pictures," "The Evil One (plus one)" (which comes with a great on-air radio performance), "Don't Slander Me" and the aforementioned anthology are all good starting points for the uninitiated and longtime fans alike.

Barry "Growlin" Wolfe, Athens ex-pat, Farmacy founder, ex- DJj/producer KALX, Berkeley, Calif., occasional music reviewer for Blurt online mag: Drug Rug, "Paint The Fence Invisible" (Black and Greene/TuneCore, 2009). Drug Rug's self-titled debut last year really caught fire in a word-of-mouth frenzy among new music lovers. Their song "Day I Die" was nominated Best Song of the Year in the Boston Music Awards. The music is the love child of Tommy Allen and Sarah Cronin, who infuse a child-like wonderment, joyfulness and simplicity into it. Their acid-folk rock takes some cues from the Mamas & Papas on "Coffee In The Morning" and "Blue Moon." Others opt for hillbilly harmonies. "Noah Rules" and the title song infuse a dreamy-pop feel. "Hannah Please," with its Farfisa riff right out of The Standell's "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White," rides along with a pure Beach Boys' melody. Guitar parts that burst out here and there are infectious things of beauty swirling in a psychedelic, multi-track production that makes your head spin. "PTIF,", in some ways superior to their freshman album in its maturity, lacks the wacky, chaotic and anarchistic quality that listeners embraced. I say acquire them both and savor the difference!