My review of the latest record by The Fall was published on LEO Weekly‘s Bluegrass Catastrophe blog today:

It’s tempting to compare vastly different eras of The Fall’s career to one another. After all, The Fall has been a going affair for front man Mark E. Smith for five decades now, with Ersatz G.B. being the latest in a long line of releases. So to make the comparison, the latest, 2012 incarnation of The Fall documented on Ersatz G.B. reminds me most of the relatively accessible mid-1980s version, especially the lineup that recorded the classic album The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall. Musically, the band flirts with a slightly poppier yet hard-edged sound, including an atypical “metal” number, driven by the steady rhythm section of Keiron Melling on drums and David Spurr on bass. What little of Smith’s garbled vocals I can make out involve his usual concerns – he’s been lamenting “the highest British attention to the wrong detail” since 1982’s Hex Enduction Hour.

Buy it here.

My review of Jakob Olausson’s new album, Morning & Sunrise, was published in this week’s LEO Weekly:

From a part of the world where the sunlight is scarce in the wintertime, Swedish singer-songwriter Jakob Olausson delivers an album that, despite its deceptively luminous title, sounds almost as stark as a Scandinavian winter. All of Olausson’s songs on Morning & Sunrise are lyrically direct, sung as if in a relatively one-sided conversation, though musically they meander, with snaking electric guitar leads overlaid upon the foundation of Olausson’s reverb-drenched strummed acoustic. In a way, Morning & Sunrise is reminiscent of Alexander “Skip” Spence’s loner masterpiece Oar, but without Spence’s supposed drug-addled goofiness or his Nashville-produced influence on the music. Aside from the just-slightly-too-ramshackle song “Engraved Invitation,” Morning & Sunrise is a sober and serious affair, like a steaming hot cup of black coffee at the crack of dawn on a cold winter morn.

Buy it from De Stijl here.

This week’s LEO Weekly contains my review of the new album by 200 Years, the new project by Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, Rangda) and Elisa Ambrogio (Magik Markers):

At the conclusion of the Six Organs of Admittance show at Uncle Slayton’s back in August, Ben Chasny was joined onstage by singer Elisa Ambrogio, and the lucky audience was treated to a preview of their new band, 200 Years. The current concern for Ambrogio and Chasny, this self-titled debut on Drag City is superficially akin to Chasny’s Six Organs project as it features primarily acoustic guitars, delicately sweet melodies and the occasional accompaniment by harmonium. But the band is really Ambrogio’s showcase, as her voice dominates the album. However, unlike her usually confrontational work with Magik Markers, the overall aesthetic of 200 Years is one of dreamy, contemplative harmony between her voice and Chasny’s guitar. In songs such as “Partin Wayz” and “West Hartford,” there’s even a welcome sense of nostalgia and sentimentality, which gives 200 Years a sweet edge quite unlike anything previously by either artist.

Buy it from Drag City here.

Black Velvet Fuckere, Cropped Out and The Other Side of Life are proud to present:

CHIKAMORACHI (Chris Corsano and Darin Gray)

with special guests:

STEVE GOOD and TIM BARNES

Sunday, January 29th
at NACHBAR
969 Charles Street (at the corner of Charles and Krieger)
First set at 9 PM, second set at 10:30 PM — 21 and over
FREE!

Since 2005 DARIN GRAY (upright bass) and CHRIS CORSANO (drums) have performed side by side as CHIKAMORACHI. Working either in a trio with saxophonist Akira Sakata or a quartet that adds Jim O’Rourke on guitar, they’ve released six albums to date, including 2011′s And That’s the Story of Jazz double CD and Live at Hungry Brain LP. The high-speed empathy that Gray and Corsano have developed over the years will be brought to the fore in 2012, when the duo strike out on their own for a tour of the Midwest. Neither member is a stranger to the possibilities afforded when the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic duties are left to an upright bass and drum duo. Gray‘s group On Fillmore with Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche has been going strong for the past ten years. For his part, Corsano has gigged and recorded as a duo with double bassists John Edwards and Matt Heyner.

Darin Gray is best known as Jim O’Rourke’s go-to bassist for nearly 20 years, as half of the duo On Fillmore, and as the bassist for Grand Ulena, Dazzling Killmen, and Brise-Glace. As an improviser he has performed and recorded with among others: Loren Connors, Masami Akita (Merzbow), Josh Abrams, Jason Roebke, Axel Dorner, Kevin Drumm, Alan Licht, Thollem Mcdonas, and Jim O’Rourke. As a session bassist he has played on recordings by Will Oldham, Cheer-Accident, Rope, Bobby Conn, Daneilson Family, Early Day Miners, Bunnygrunt, Jim O’Rourke, etc… He has toured extensively in the United States, Japan, Brazil, Canada, and Europe.

Chris Corsano began a long-standing, high-energy partnership with saxophonist Paul Flaherty in 1998. A move from western Massachusetts, USA to the UK in 2005 led Chris to develop a solo music of his own, incorporating sax reeds, violin strings, pot lids, adhesive tape and other household devices into his drum kit. 2007 and ’08 were spent as the drummer on Björk’s Volta world tour. Returning back to the U.S. in 2009, Corsano shifted focus back to his own projects, most notably a duo with Michael Flower, Rangda (with Sir Richard Bishop and Ben Chasny) and solo work. In addition to the those mentioned above, he’s also worked with, among others: Evan Parker, Paul Dunmall, Nels Cline, Thurston Moore, Jessica Rylan, Jandek, Sunburned Hand Of Man, and Joe McPhee.

Watch a video of Chikamorachi with Akira Sakata here:

During the second set of the performance, CHIKAMORACHI will be joined by the addition of STEVE GOOD (saxophones, clarinet) and TIM BARNES (percussion). A vital natural resource in the Louisville music scene for multiple decades, Steve Good‘s musical vocabulary orbits lightly through a vast expansive local history: doing time with The Web, E-Or, Juanita, Ut Gret, Sapat, Crappy Nightmareville, Parlour, The Liberation Prophecy and many, many others.  He has documented via audio recording many thousands of local shows. Slint played in his basement, he recorded the first Will Oldham single, he ran sound and documented the weekly experimental music series at Artswatch through the 1990s, and yes, he shared a stage in Switzerland with Donovan back in the 1970s. Louisville resident and drummer extraordinaire, the list of Tim Barnes‘s collaborators is too long to list here, but it includes Jim O’Rourke, Silver Jews, Neil Michael Hagerty and the Howling Hex, The Tower Recordings, and countless others. Most recently, Tim Barnes played drums with the newly resurrected lineup of The For Carnation, as well as with MV+EE at Cropped Out in November, 2011.

Check out the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/events/154038334705749.

To join our email list, send an email to hstencil AT gmail DOT com.

Bill Orcutt, How the Thing Sings (Editions Mego) LP– Seemingly more aggressive than A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Bill Orcutt’s second “post-comeback” LP  How the Thing Sings still manages to showcase the occasional moment of beauty within what superficially may sound like a huge racket. Buy it here.

Nathan Salsburg, Affirmed (No Quarter) LP — We praised Salsburg’s duo record Avos with James Elkington, and we worked on the occasional show with him, so maybe you’re tired of reading about Nathan Salsburg’s deft guitar work and superb melodic sense in these pages. Well, guess what? Too bad. His solo debut, Affirmed, is every bit as good as Avos, perhaps it’s even better in its melancholy starkness. Can’t wait to hear more from Nathan in 2012. Buy it here.

Craig Colorusso, Sun Boxes (self-released) 7″ — One of the more pleasant surprises in our mailbox this year was this unassuming 7″ record documenting Craig Colorusso’s “Sun Boxes.” Basically they’re some sort of contraption that involves twenty amplifiers looping parts of a guitar chord and running on solar power, documented here in two different Massachusetts locations. Despite the short format, we look forward to hearing more. Buy it here.

The Parasites of the Western World, “Politico” b/w “Zytol Automation” (De Stijl) 7″  – Faithful repress of an obscure 1979 single by this band, recently resurrected by the same folks who brought you Michael Yonkers and 39 Clocks (so you know it’s gotta be pretty great). Late 1970s Eno-damaged glam-punk moves on the a-side, with a sparkling synth-driven instrumental on the flip. Highly recommended. Buy it (and their self-titled debut LP) here.

Silver Tongues, Black Kite (Karate Body) LP – This new Louisville band is both confounding and fascinating — the former because of their occasional “big rock” moves, the latter because of the clear gospel-via-Spiritualized influence we hear ringing throughout. Tough to grasp, in a good way, and hints at a possibly more interesting sophomore record. Buy it here.

Stare Case, Lose Today (De Stijl) LP — If you thought you were familiar with Nate Young and John Olson’s music through their “other” band Wolf Eyes, you may be in for a slight shock when you hear the much mellower — yet still intense — Stare Case. Lose Today is almost like a mash-up of their solo work as Regression (Young’s vocals and electronics) and Spykes (Olson’s electronics and reeds), which shouldn’t work, but does. Buy it here.

Mark McGuire, Get Lost (Editions Mego) LP — Excellent solo noodling by the guitar player in Emeralds, probably the best band to come out of Cleveland since, well, the 1970s. Reminiscent of our favorite Cluster/Harmonia/Eno records, but with an acid-drenched modern edge, which is no mean feat. Buy it here.

Void, Sessions 1981-83 (Dischord) LP — Void still sounds better than 99% of hardcore since. Buy it here.

The Web
Brett Ralph’s Kentucky Chrome Revue
David Grubbs
Rude Weirdo
Straight A’s
at the Bard’s Town, 1801 Bardstown Road. 9 PM, $6, apparently now it’s all ages. This show, presented by Louisville’s excellent Noise Pollution label, should be a good one as it’s well-stocked with artists that (should) need no introduction. If you need more info, you might find it at the Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/events/145355115567233.

Also, over at Zanzabar (which is at 2100 S. Preston, of course), Natural Child and State Champion are playing (here’s the event invite: http://www.facebook.com/events/255787627819138). Natural Child played an excellent set at this year’s Cropped Out, so if you missed it, don’t sleep on this show! It’s $5, 21-and-over, and starts at 9 PM.

No matter what you end up doing, have a fantastic New Year!

My review of Briarwood by Wooden Wand & the Briarwood Virgins ran in this week’s LEO Weekly:

The near-closing lines of the first song, “Well, it’s winter in Kentucky/And I’m all tapped out,” perfectly encapsulate the emotional desperation running like a crooked river throughout Wooden Wand’s ambitious new Briarwood. Recorded with a large ad-hoc ensemble of Alabama-based session players, Briarwood showcases the usually solo, Lexington-based Wooden Wand at his most musically accessible; it’s an album chock full of beautifully sung harmonies and well-played solos, overflowing with melancholic, defiant lyrics written from the perspective of scarred loners just trying to survive. In an era overpopulated with generic music masquerading trite sentiment as true insight, with hackneyed retro retreads posing as nods to “tradition,” the despondent personalities inhabiting Wooden Wand’s songs should earn him an appreciative audience akin to those enjoyed by the best American singer-songwriters. Alas, much as the characters of Briarwood well know, the small rewards eventually come to those who lower their expectations.

You can buy it from Fire Records here.

My review of David Lynch’s Crazy Clown Time ran in this week’s LEO Weekly:

David Lynch – director of such cinematic classics as “Eraserhead,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” – has decided to try his hand at music. While both his masterpieces and near-misses (like his underrated adaptation of “Dune”) possess a fantastic musical sensibility, it’s difficult to discern why Lynch felt it necessary to inflict Crazy Clown Time on the public. At best, such as with album opener “Pinky’s Dream” (with guest vocalist Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Lynch retreads the gothic Americana creepiness present in most of his movies. At worst, which describes most of the album, he sounds like a comically impaired Neil Young — except without Young’s heart-tugging sentiment, simple lyrical genius, or compelling melodic sense. Crazy Clown Time plays like a bizarre hybrid of Young’s famous failure Trans mixed with the terrible techno of ex-porn star Traci Lords’ 1000 Fires — except not as enjoyable as either.

If, after reading that review, you still want to buy it, you can find it at http://www.pias-america.com.

JOSEPHINE FOSTER (from Colorado, on Fire Records)
with
PARLOUR (Louisville, Kentucky; on Temporary Residence)
DANE WATERS (from Louisville, Kentucky; member of Sapat and Softcheque)

Friday, December 16th
at ZANZABAR
2100 S. Preston
9  PM, 21 and over
$10

Over the course of just a few years, Colorado native JOSEPHINE FOSTER has captivated audiences & critics alike through a magnetic patchwork of recordings ranging from broken spirited balladry as one half of Born Heller, fiery psych rock gestalt with her rock outfit The Supposed to the voice of an outsider folk siren. The one constant is the utterly overwhelming strength and seductive unease of her voice & the bravery of an iconoclastic spirit. “You might call Ms. Foster’s eerie warbling old-fashioned, except that is evokes a scrambled past that exists only in her own vision: mountain songs that never were, spaced-out hybrids that never will be.” —New York Times.

PARLOUR originally began as a solo project from Tim Furnish following the mid-90s dissolution of CRAIN – the seminal Louisville rock group he co-founded in the late ’80s. Currently playing with new drummer (Greg Morris) and synth player (Lee Gutterman), Furnish’s PARLOUR evokes “A unique combination of interweaving guitar shards… driven by a dark, relentless rhythm section.” Their most recent album, Simulacrenfield (released on Temporary Residence), was one of our favorites of 2010.

DANE WATERS is one of Louisville’s brightest musical talents. As a member of SAPAT and SOFTCHEQUE, she displays an impeccable melodic sensibility, and has a voice so wonderfully haunting, it sends chills down your spine. Dane’s new solo album, Dark Waters, is now available at Better Days, Underground Sounds, and on Bandcamp here: http://danewaters.bandcamp.com.

Find the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/events/190881084333042.

To join our email list, send an email to hstencil AT gmail DOT com.

Tonight, at the Clifton Center, none other than BASSEKOU KOUYATE AND NGONI BA will be performing. We wrote about their album Segu Blue way back in 2009 here:

Given the recent collaboration between Bela Fleck and Malian kora player Toumani Diabate, it’s possible that there’s been no greater spotlight on the West African nation at any other time than right now. Fortunately, all the attention on Mali is casting some light on other worthwhile players as well. Countryman Bassekou Kouyate plays the ngoni, a six-stringed instrument, which is arguably less complex than Tiabate’s 21-stringed kora, but still retains a beautiful melodicism. Kouyate’s 2007 album Segu Blue, issued in the United States this year, contains all the beauty one has come to expect from acoustic music from Mali. And on the blue “Lament for Ali Farka,” a requiem for the departed guitarist Ali Farka Toure, Kouyate and his group Ngoni Ba emerge from the shadows cast by their better-known comrades.

You can buy tickets here: http://www.cliftoncenter.org/?post_type=events&p=144. The Clifton Center is located at 2117 Payne Street, just off Frankfort Avenue. Tickets are $20 and the doors are at 7:30 PM.

Tomorrow night, KING’S DAUGHTERS & SONS make a rare appearance at 21C with SELUAH. Read an exciting interview with KD&S in this week’s LEO here: http://leoweekly.com/music/justice-served-king%E2%80%99s-daughters-sons. Doors are at 8 PM, and it costs $10.

Finally, tomorrow night is the opening reception of THE EXPANDED MUSIC PROJECT, a new show at the LAND OF TOMORROW gallery exploring the relationship between music and art. Here’s their description (with more information here: http://www.landoftomorrow.org/events-exhibitions/expanded-music-project/):

Land of Tomorrow (LOT) is pleased to present the Expanded Music Project, a showcase of work illustrating the intersection between art and music.  The opening reception will be held at our Louisville location on November 18^th from 7pm, and the show will run through the 3^rd of January.  Included in this exhibition will be work by Heather Cantrell, Aurora Childs, Saiman Chow, Hirsuta, Geneva Jacuzzi, Leslie Lyons, Andrea Stanislav, Thieves Like Us, as well as Raurouw with Shedding, Peaking Lights with artist Letitia Quesenberry, and musician EMA with artist Jacob Heustis.

The premise of this show is to highlight the fluidity between creative forms and artistic practices.  The influence of album art, video production, stage design, graffiti, and the appropriation tactics of remixing have established an ongoing conversation between artists and musicians.  This dialogue between visual artist and musician continues to play a major role, and creative forces as diverse as Elvis, The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, Pink Floyd, and Afrika Bambaataa have delved into the realms of the visual and the auditory to produce work that both fields accept and champion.

The show will be up through January 3rd, but tomorrow night is a great chance to see it first. And it’s free! LAND OF TOMORROW is located at 233 W. Broadway, in the St. Francis High School Building.