An outgrowth of informal picking sessions, the Cache Valley Drifters continue to bring a modern outlook to bluegrass and country music. Although they disbanded for more than a decade, between 1979 and 1992, the group has been steadily making up for lost time. Their performances are as likely to include bluegrass-ized interpretations of songs by Paul Simon, Leon Russell, and Cream as they are to feature tunes by the late country folksinger Kate Wolf or traditional hill country material. TheCache Valley Drifters' association with Wolf is natural considering that the band's longest-standing member, Bill Griffin, toured with her backup band and produced her last recordings. Griffin had previously been a sideman on albums by Earl Robinson, Pete Seeger, and Odetta and a series of national radio spots with the late Burl Ives. Mike Mullins was added to the Cache Valley Drifters in 1992 and plays guitar and mandolin and sings with the group. The brother of banjo player Tim Mullins, who played with the band from 1972 to 1973, Mike has been active in acoustic music since the 1980s when he played guitar in the Phil Salazar Band. In 1990, Mullins joined with ex-Cache Valley Driftersmember Cyrus Clarke to form the Acousticats. Bassist/vocalist Wally Barnick, who played with theCache Valley Drifters from 1975 until 1979, has worked with the group since their re-formation. Building an early reputation for their rich vocal harmonies and virtuosic musicianship, the Cache Valley Drifters were encouraged by the support they received from bluegrass guitarist Dan Crary, who helped them secure their first recording contract. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1978. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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An Austin-based collective wholeheartedly devoted to the cumbia beat, Grupo Fantasma aren't nearly as retro-minded as one might expect. For one thing, any band with a full-time DJ and a Jamaican-style toaster is clearly not going the traditional Latin American route. However, the band introduce their stylistic changeups neatly within the context of fairly traditional Latin American dance music; as a result, the reggae-style toasting and ska horns of the opening track, "Peligrosa," don't sound as if they were stuck in willy-nilly, but instead integrate nearly into the music's sultry rhythmic throb. Rock, funk, Afro-Cuban, and straightforward pop influences also percolate through these tunes, and occasional guest appearances (most notably Ruben Ramos of fellow Austinites los Super Seven, who sings a commanding lead on the traditional "Oye Mi Cumbia") don't detract from the band's communal vibe.Movimiento Popular is likely going to be as appealing to jam band fans who like their music loose and groove-oriented enough to noodle-dance to as it is to fans of traditional Latin music, if not more so; however, it feels much more like an honest expansion of the style's parameters than a tacky sellout move. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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On their third album, the War on Drugs essentially continue to stake out their own particular patch of ground in 21st century rock & roll with an indie bent, nodding in equal parts toward older traditions and newer ones with a difference of two decades in between them, captured right down to the cover art, which is pretty much a companion piece to the art on their second album Future Weather. On the one hand, there's still a sense of world-weary wisdom and lost Americana as such at work from the start, as the extended breakdown toward the end of "Best Night" demonstrates, all silvery guitar jamming and sparkling piano following from Adam Granduciel's reedy singing. At the same time the diffuse qualities of feedback, psychedelic glaze, and textural experimentation via everything that fed into what became shoegaze (not to mention shoegaze itself) remain key, audible in the opening chimes of "Brothers" and "It's Your Destiny"'s spaced-out and exultant flow, perhaps most notably on the short instrumentals "Original Slave" and "Come for It." If the basic balance remains unchanged, the result has been a sound just enough of the War on Drugs' own as a result, which gets stronger and even more droned out and powerful as the album continues. More than once they find just the right way to make it all click into something even more distinct, like the higher-pitched croon on "I Was There" slipping out over a gentle chug underpinned by darker feedback shadings or the Motorik-as-classic-rock-anthem "Come to the City," which practically begs a massive arena/light show performance (little surprise the later instrumental "City Reprise #12" takes that feeling and runs with it even more triumphantly). "Your Love Is Calling My Name" is the album's clearest barnburner, with a brisk, sharp pace and Granduciel riding-the-freeway-referencing lyrics with an appropriate easygoing elan, all while feeling warm and enveloping around the edges (and especially on the great instrumental break leading back into a wonderful, focused guitar part). AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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Dr. John has spent so much time turning out perfectly enjoyable but interchangeable records that it may be easy to forget the spooky voodoo vibes of his earliest, arguably best, records. He may have forgotten it himself, too, but there was a whole generation of British musicians, from Modfather Paul Weller to Spaceman Jason Pierce to the teenaged punks in Supergrass, who remembered the haunted vibe lurking in Gumbo and Gris-Gris. Citing his name in interviews, covering his songs, and enlisting him as a session musician (Mr. Rebennack played on Spiritualized's acclaimed 1997 album, Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space), they created a buzz around Dr. John and were more than willing to play on Anutha Zone, hopefully generating some sales for him in return. As should be expected from any project that is a marketer's dream, the collaborations occasionally seem awkward, but what is surprising is how often it works. Pierce helps Rebennack conjure the psychedelic R&B of his earlier albums, while Weller and Supergrass help keep things cooking; furthermore, members of Primal Scream and Portishead help make "Sweet Home New Orleans" a titanic workout. The Brits aren't as funky as the classic New Orleans musicians, but they are willing to push Dr. John into his best work in years. Anutha Zone isn't a perfect album by any means, but it'sRebennack's most ambitious and rewarding album in many a year. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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Manouevres was released in 1983 as the follow-up to Greg Lake's 1981 self-titled debut album. His core group of musicians (Gary Moore, Tristam Margetts, Tommy Eyre, and Ted McKenna) is still present, but Manoeuvres is a different sort of album than the '81 effort. The heavy, gritty, guitar-driven feel of the previous record is not quite as evident and this seems a more restrained album. Many, Greg Lake included, tend to sell this album short and that is a mistake. Perhaps sales were discouraging, but this is a well-crafted, well-performed album on which Lake seems to rely more on melody than he did in 1981. A few of the heavier numbers, such as the title track, are reminiscent of '81, but it is on the ballads that the album goes its own way. Lake shows why, through all of powerful and complex music of the ELP years, it was the ballads which always seemed to fair best commercially. He writes a good song like very few can, and the fact that he delivers every song with such fantastic vocal ability makes this album succeed. Definitely worth a second listen, Manoeuvres is more than it seems on the surface. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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After a seven-year hiatus, Graham Nash returned to his solo career on Earth & Sky. While much of the material may have originated as an on-again/off-again collaboration with David Crosby (guitar/vocals), by the time the LP hit the racks in 1980 there were only traces of Crosby's input scattered throughout. One primary contribution highlighting the pair is the organic and acoustic "Out on the Island," and is likewise one of the best sides of the effort. In support of Nash is an all-star ensemble centering on the infamous "Mighty Jitters": Russ Kunkel (drums/percussion), Tim Drummond (bass), Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar (guitars), David Lindley (guitar/violin/vocals), and Craig Doerge (keyboards). The opening title cut, "Earth & Sky" has the earmark of a mid-tempo Jackson Browne rocker and boasts a tasty guitar lead from Joe Walsh. "Love Has Come" and the heartfelt "Magical Child" are among Nash's more poignant ballads and both seem to reflect the artist's personal contentment as a family man, which is a decidedly different vibe from his earlier works like "Strangers Room" or "Sleep Song." "Magical Child" also became one of Nash's performance staples in the early- to mid-'80s. Crosby, Stills & Nash similarly adopted the socially and politically topical "Barrel of Pain (Half-Life)" in concert. The tune is a brooding and foreboding rocker that speaks directly to the issue of nuclear waste being unceremoniously dumped right off the coast of the Bay Area near the Farallon Islands. Clocking in at under two minutes, "T.V. Guide" is a minor-chord classic tale of "Big Brother" paranoia, and features orchestration from co-author Joe Vitale. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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Bobby & the Midnites seemed to offer Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir an opportunity to pursue the more conventionally accessible pop/rock style he had first demonstrated a taste for in his '70s solo albums Ace and especially Heaven Help the Fool. With the exception of a couple of reggae numbers,the Midnites' debut album found Weir playing straight-ahead guitar rock songs with mostly lovelorn lyrics, the only real ringer in the bunch being jazz drummer Billy Cobham, who seemed capable of hitting as many drums per bar as Keith Moon, and with far more control. But Weir's earnest, husky voice and off-center guitar playing did not make for a slick pop approach, and the album came off as a collection of half-baked wannabe-hits from someone who had spent his career finding success by avoiding just such a style. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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With their relaxed, slightly jazzy pop, the Samples were one of the most popular touring bands of the early '90s. After a bad experience with a major label, the band began releasing their own records independently, building support through a grassroots network of fans. Through constant touring, the Samples were able to keep building their network of fans. They were also busy in the studio, recording three albums between 1992 and 1993. With none of their albums deviating from their folky, Sting-meets-the Grateful Dead pop, their albums -- which include 1994's Autopilot, 1996's Outpost, and 1997's Transmissions from the Sea of Tranquility live set -- are virtually indistinguishable from each other. However, none of them are bad; each record has a couple of first-rate songs, showing why they are concert favorites across the country. Here and Somewhere Else followed in 1998 and Sparta was issued in fall 2000. Return to Earth appeared in 2001, and this studio effort included a guest spot from Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band on the track "Great Blue Ocean." The three-disc Anthology in Motion, Vol. 1 arrived in 2002, followed by 2003's Seventeen, a stripped-down live set performed before a thankful crowd at Connecticut's Quinnipiac College. The band returned to the studio for 2004's Black & White and 2005's Rehearsing for Life. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band is a hillbilly country blues trio (Josh Peyton on guitar and roaring vocals, his wife Breezy on washboard, and cousin Aaron Persinger on percussion and drums) out of Indiana with a wonderfully ragged and swampy deep Delta sound that kicks like a mule, and the trio thankfully doesn't deviate much from that core sound on Between the Ditches, produced by Peyton and Paul Mahern and recorded at White Arc Studio in Bloomington, Indiana. Unlike the band's previous albums, though, Between the Ditches wasn't recorded whirlwind live in four or five hours, and represents a sort of refinement for the Big Damn Band in the studio. These guys are a hillbilly blues throwback ensemble, though, and no amount of refinement can really push them off their mark. Peyton's voice still croaks, shouts, and roars, and his unique, kinetic slide guitar playing, whether it's a '30s National guitar, a cigar-box guitar, a Gibson flattop 1929 L2, or an Airline Map electric guitar, still drives and churns like a runaway train. He just sounds clearer, but no less powerful. The songs are shambling, wise, and real, and often deceptively simple, sounding somehow like they come from the century before, even as they are very much a part of this one. Peyton has developed a direct but clever lyrical writing style, wearily proclaiming "It's hard to tell when devils look like angels and angels look like hell" in the fine opening track, "Devils Look Like Angels," and in "Shut the Screen," a breakneck slide guitar romp, he shouts "Shut the screen, it's too damn hot, and them bugs are too damn mean," as his slide lines bounce and blister over Breezy's washboard and Persinger's bucket drum rhythms. This is an American band in the truest sense, hailing from Indiana, singing about life driving and living on the everyday back roads of Indiana in the 21st century, but sounding like they came out of the bayous of Louisiana or the Mississippi Delta the century before. It's a potent and timeless sound, and thankfully studio refinement doesn't hinder it at all. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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When Third Eye Blind released Out of the Vein in 2003, they felt like post-grunge relics that refused to acknowledge their time had passed. Six years later, with Ursa Major in tow, they've waited out the fallow time, surfacing just when late-'90s alt rock nostalgia is beginning to bubble. Tellingly, TEB shuck much of the heavy, oppressive sobriety of Out of the Vein, replacing it with a touch of the fizzy, singsong hooks that made their debut a smash success. Without guitarist Kevin Cadogan, these hooks aren't as finely honed, but they're still present, still digging in right underneath the surface, letting Stephan Jenkins get away with such nonsense as "Why can't you be like my Water Pik shower massager/A sweet reliable machine/To tell you the truth I don't feel less alone/A water massager is the purest love I've ever known." Jenkins digs deeper than the attributes of a massage, retaining no small element of the hard-edged social consciousness of Out of the Vein, signaling when it's time for things to get serious by toning down the hooks, turning down the volume, and letting the seriousness of the situation speak for itself. This makes the back half of Ursa Major kind of a self-important drag, almost erasing memories of the first side when Third Eye Blind were once again acting like the band they used to be, so the solution is simple: treat Ursa Major as an EP, forgetting the second half. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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Another Widespread Panic album, another attempt to transfer the band's live energy onto tape. Free Somehow isn't Widespread's best studio effort to date, nor does it pack the same punch as the band's ever-popular concerts, where extended solos and long-running jams are more likely to illicit dropping jaws than drowsy, nodding heads. Still, this disc is nothing to sleep through, even ifWidespread Panic haven't learned to utilize a studio's amenities as well as Phish or moe. "Boom Boom Boom," "Walk on the Flood," and "Flicker" are fierce tunes, full of enough guitar muscle and saucy strut to make them worthy of repeated listens, although they do sound geared for a live setting.Free Somehow gets intimate, too, most notably with the lilting title track and the steady, elegiac "Dark Day Program." But Widespread Panic don't truly stretch their wings until the album's final stretch, where "Her Dance Needs No Body" takes the listener on an eight-minute stoner's odyssey of rainy-day guitars, horns, sweeping percussion, and orchestrated strings. It's a well-crafted song with movements, interludes, and multiple guitar solos, a cross between the Grateful Dead's "Dark Star" and Guns N' Roses' "November Rain." Here, the band truly works with the studio's capabilities, layering the standout track with instruments and adding a thick, crisp slab of reverb to John Bell's vocals. So while Free Somehow can't quite rival the energy of a Widespread show, it still offers something that those concerts cannot, making the album a worthwhile purchase for most dedicated fans. AMG.listen hereUSA
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Perhaps it’s the curse of Doug Hopkins, but the Gin Blossoms have rarely been able to strike gold on their own, with most of their biggest hits being written by someone outside of the band. First, there was co-founder Hopkins himself, who wrote “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You” before his alcoholism resulting in his dismissal from the group before either song was released. Then there wasMarshall Crenshaw, who co-wrote the band’s first Top 10 hit, “Til I Heart It From You,” in 1995. When the Gin Blossoms returned in 2006 with Major Lodge Victory, they partnered up with the Rembrandts’Danny Wilde, who wrote several of the album’s tracks. Wilde is back on board for No Chocolate Cake, this time in a more active role that finds him producing, co-writing, and playing on most of the album. That’s not meant to diminish the group’s own contributions, which retain much of the spunk from the Gin Blossoms’ mid-‘90s heyday. Robin Wilson’s voice is strong, if a bit nasal at points, and the songs have a familiar heartland hum to them, with Jessie Valenzuela and Scott Johnson filling each one with jangled guitar arpeggios and tasteful solos. None of these tunes can compete with the band’s singles, of course, but that’s not the point, since No Chocolate Cake sets its sights on maintaining the band’s audience rather than reclaiming a spot in the mainstream. AMG.listen hereBuy @ Amazon:
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