All fans of jam bands, Traffic, Cream, jazz-rock, blues-rock, and even Led Zeppelin and Hendrix listen up: Little Barrie is playing for you. A warm modern-day jam band, Little Barrie follow-up their We Are Little Barrie 2005 debut with Stand Your Ground, a slow-moving album of excellently vintage guitar work, easy-going lyrics, and a classic attitude. Songs such as "Love You" and "Pin That Badge" immediately evoke memories of Cream, Traffic, and other classic ‘60s jam bands. Little snippets of a guitar riff here or vocal croon there remind one of Hendrix’s guitar style and Led Zeppelin’s heavy blues roots. "Green Eyed Fool" could divert into a Stooges song from the overly distorted Iggy-like intro, but quickly declares (by use of a scratchy vintage guitar solo in the spirit of The Eagles) that Little Barrie is firmly rooted in the classics of yesteryear. Song after song provide new jams, each with simple lyrics but wonderfully diverse guitar work. Indeed, most of the album is Little Barrie’s superb instrumental work, establishing a groovy beat backbone and laying intricate lacings of guitar work over the top like sonic icing on a cake. The guitar solos in "Why Don’t You Do It?" smash Clapton, Page, and Hendrix into one. While it may not be as good (and what could be better than a Clapton-Page-Hendrix guitar beast?), it sure is refreshing to hear this sort of music played so well nowadays. Little Barrie have put together an excellent album for anyone who enjoys the sound of a scratchy vintage guitar cranking out a good ‘60s jam.

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So you say you like My Bloody Valentine, but all that feedback and gobbilty-gook tends to rub your head the wrong way? Headaches result from Ride and it pains you because "Vapour Trail" is just so darn good? Boy oh boy do I have the band for you then. Meet My Majestic Star (mmm, can you smell the alliteration?), the smooth, creamy version of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and any other shoegaze band you can think up. Ethereal soothing sounds can be found aplenty here, but without the mind-numbing ax-splitting feedback found in Loveless, and the 11-minute "Attachments" can compete with "When You Sleep" and come out holding it’s own. The lovely melodies and sweeping crescendos found in their latest work Fining will have even the hardest shoegaze rocker swimming in a pool of shimmery landscape-filled emerald tunes. "The Letter F" and "Fining" are wonderfully ambient tracks that also achieve a bit of mainstream pop-ability, which lets the listener get gobbled up by My Majestic Star faster then most shoegazers. Fining is a relaxing and exciting release all at once. Short and punchy, My Majestic Star prove to be a wonderful remedy to overworked shoegaze ears—a remedy that (unlike that stuff your mom gave you when you were little) tastes better with every dosage.

(Published at MusicEmissions.com) 

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If you’ve been listening to The Thermals’ earlier work, you have probably noticed the striking Nirvana-esque grunge influence on their music (i.e. "How We Know"). Following that train of thought: The Body, The Blood, The Machine is a striking mix of In Utero and Nevermind. Not wholly pop, The Thermals wrap obvious religious and political themes around their grunge instrumentals—thus hinting at the depth found within In Utero. Throughout the album, The Thermals consistently bring up religion in an arguably sarcastic, albeit honestly lost tone. In "Returning to the Fold," for example, Hutch Harris sings of blistering doubt and discontent, but finishes with "But I still have faith / If I ever had faith / Wait for me / Wait for me." Furthermore, in "Pillar of Salt," Harris shouts "That’s why we’re escaping / So we won’t have to die, we won’t have to deny / Our dirty God, dirty bodies." The need and desire for escape is an overbearing theme of the album. The majority of the songs mention escaping, and even the liner notes declare "ATTENTION ESCAPISTS!!!" Yet, past all this religious and political questioning and satire is the damnably catchy Thermals. "Here’s Your Future" and "Pillar of Salt" are the two strongest pop tracks off the record. Both clock in at just about 2 minutes, 30 seconds, and contain the delicious grunge instrumentals. Quick and dirty melodies wrap themselves around Harris’ unique voice in a way that gets you moving, despite and even in spite of the harsh religious satire held within the lyrics. This healthy mix of depth and pop melds that of In Utero and Nevermind, but in a way that’s more detached from grunge than any of their previous albums. The Thermals have carved a new road for themselves, and it will be very interesting to see where it takes them.

(Published at MusicEmissions.com)

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Boy do I hope you like Sonic Youth. If you don’t, turn around and march away from Shiloe this instant, because this music ain’t for you. Unless you’d like to test the infamous underground waters, in which case Shiloe is probably the best alternative to the godfathers of indie themselves. Shiloe’s Please Remove Your Teeth From My Neck is their sophomore EP release, gearing up hopefully for a full-length LP sometime in 2007…because six songs just leave the listener drooling for more. The namesake track opens the release, and right away the influences from Sonic Youth (and a touch of Radiohead and Joy Division). Easy-going instrumental fuzz backs Thurston Moore-styled vocals, but Shiloe comes off much more pop-friendly than the experimental rockers. The farther the listener ventures into the EP, the farther Shiloe depart from the Youth and into Pixie-land. "Tremors" is a bottled-up brew of dark emotion topped with vocals that again adopt many of the same styles as Pixie singer Black Francis. Shiloe channels underground rock right out of the early ‘90s and delivers it – reshaped and remade for a new era – right to your ears. Get on this band so you can join me in begging for an LP.

(Published at MusicEmissions.com)

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With accordion and bouzouki alongside, The Decemberists signed onto Capitol Records to release their fourth album, The Crane Wife. In the eyes of many, The Decemberists – a band who enjoys dressing in American Civil War styled outfits – lost all their indie-rep by making the jump to a big-label. The Crane Wife shouts clearly from the roof-tops that it matters not what label backs you, it’s the music that matters.

The running story within The Crane Wife is loosely based on an old myth from Japan, which is cut and jumbled throughout the album (the ending opens the album, the beginning ends it), and basically intermixes a man, a crane, and a wife. The Crane Wife, Parts 1 & 2 rounds out the better part of eleven minutes, and is clearly divided into two distinct songs squished into one. Emotional, loving, hopeless, hopeful, and wonderfully clandestine throughout, The Crane Wife story is backed by The Decemberists’ call-card folk instrumentals. While The Crane Wife, Parts 1 & 2 is the lyrical and ballad masterpiece of the album (if not The Decemberists’ entire discography), this story-line is only a slice of the album.

Following their American Civil War-style dress are a number of songs that could fit perfectly into the time period, including When The War Came. A powerfully repetitive instrumental-line supports Colin Meloy’s haunting lyrics. Sweeping melodies and spine-chilling choruses push The Decemberists’ work beyond mediocrity into breath-taking emotional pieces. Shankill Butchers displays The Decemberists’ love of folklore of yore, singing as a lullaby of the gang of murders that will come and rip "Your ribbons / From your curls" if children do not listen to their parents.

The Decemberists prove that signing to a major label does not mean that they will give up their wonderfully odd indie roots. The Crane Wife is a masterpiece of lyrical and song-writing. Always original, songs like O Valencia!, Summersong, and Sons & Daughters are wonderfully uplifting yet emotionally down-trodden folk-melodies that should be played again and again. The Crane Wife is yet another masterpiece from The Decemberists, if not their best work.

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The Meters were a legendary New Orleans funk and R&B outfit which evolved into the legendary soul outfit “The Neville Brothers”. The Meters sound is based in tight grooves with four or five instruments, rather than the expansive brassy arrangements of some of their funk contemporaries such as James Brown or Sly Stone. They seem to possess a kind of homey swamp funk. Through its sparseness it allows full appreciation of their wonderful syncopations and tones and the performance of each musician throughout the songs.

Though the arrangements for each song are very similar, they have more than enough good tunes and grooves to make this album a special experience. This is not a tricked up glossy production, it conveys its musical message through sheer inventiveness and quality of playing.

The organ sound of Art Neville shimmers across each piece, duelling with Leo Nocentelli’s clean twangy guitar riffs. Out back Zig Modeliste on drums creates a tremendous number of rhythmic variations and accents within each track, kicking below and ringing above the tuneful, jazzy bass of George Porter Jr. That’s pretty much the recipe for The Meters’ sound but it is the unique unison and interplay between the members which creates some real magic on this record. They are not afraid to sit in a good groove and let it evolve – perhaps the give away that these songs come to fruition from jamming rather than individual compositon.

Some of my favourite tracks are the title “Look-ka py py”, “Funky Miracle”, “Yeah You’re Right”, and “Little Old Money Maker”. These songs seem to distil best The Meters swamp funk groove. If there is a weakness of the album I would say there are one or two slightly cheesy, sentimental organ lines. Overall a crackerjack album, and apparently they did seven others so plenty more to check out if you like The Meters’ sound.

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This is a compilation of early to mid 60’s instrumental recordings by the legendary Booker T and the MG’s and the closely affiliated Mar-Keys. Booker T and The MG’s are regarded as one of the tightest, most powerful backing bands of all time, having provided the sounds for countless Stax Soul Hits. The Mar-Keys shared Booker T guitarist Steve Cropper and other BT members in the studio. They were a hard core party group, straight out of high school, and pre-dated the Booker T and the MG’s.

The immediate vibe that this album gives off is a wild party atmosphere. The music of the Mar-Keys is geared towards dancing, the Booker T music also, but perhaps at a more sophisticated shuffle step. Tracks by the Mar-keys feature a little more horns and boogie piano, the Booker T’s more organ focussed. Overriding the differences is a universally hook laden groove. Mar-Keys trumpeter Wayne Jackson describes Al Jackson, drummer on all the music on this CD as “the best musician in the house… and the best R&B drummer there was ever gonna be…the secret of the Stax sound.”  This emphasises the importance and the quality of the groove in this music. It’s rock solid from the bottom end up. Top beats, top tunes. ]

Some of the standout tracks are: “Let’s Go” with its smooth upbeat vibe and infectious organ and guitar riffs; “Raw Hide”, a Link Wray cover and great R&B pounder; “Slidin”, a slide guitar chill-out track with a reflective feel, almost like the party’s almost over and people are chatting about what went down; “ Weird Stomp”, which is as the name says, but nonetheless has a great tune and is plain good fun;  and “Lawn Party” which I like mainly for its cool guitar sound, kind of jazzy and bassy. But all the songs make you move, they all have great beats and riffs, and they all possess a really cool simplicity - four great parts played extremely well and recorded with nice tones and sounds.

This album is great fun and you get 25 tracks. Play it twice and that’s a whole party’s worth of music.

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