Open your heart. The Men

You can listen to 'Turn it around' here.

Open your heart if you react primarily on emotions or open your mind if you're more rationally inclined. Whichever of the two, The Men has produced a record that is like a roller-coaster ride in the dark. You never no where the next song is going to take you. The differences are so huge that sometimes it's a bit too much. There's one common denominator: it's loud. So all not fancying loud music can stop reading now. Should you by chance be half adventurous anyway, please proceed.

To take away any misunderstanding. We are talking about The Men like in the Brooklyn based band that is around since 2008 and has produced its third album since then. Following 'Immaculada' (2010) and 'Leave home' (2011) Open your heart shows that the band has taken on a fast pace here. It is said that this album is made to be more accessible than the previous efforts. That is to be seen, but then accessible to whom and compared to what? As I can't judge the previous outings, let's focus on Open your heart.

The album kicks off with two up-tempo punk songs.'Turn it around' is an aggressive song with contained energy, not overspilling it, so that there is a clear sight of the pop element of the melody. Not unlike Foo Fighters'  best songs. The soloing tips its hat to The Velvet Underground. 'Animal' offers some more of the same energy. The singing becomes more aggressive as in shouting. The Men set this off beautifully with the innocent sounding girl voice of Holly Overton, that lights the song up with a tremendous contrast. The guitars produce more and more noise in the background, making the song wilder, more primal. The band ends it with a Rottenesque snarl. If the next song had been like this, I would have known enough. But it's here that the album starts to change, sometimes beyond me, but it is artistic prowess The men show off.

'Country song' sets off with two guitars with a twang and reverb. After a while the band kicks in and even more guitars are added in this mid-tempo instrumental song that just goes around this simple sounding riff that is repeated and repeated. Next all hell breaks loose in a way that strongly reminds me of the Marble Sheep album 'For demolition of a spiritual framework'. Guitars sounding as if gravel settled in the speakers. A long song, nearly instrumental, slowly changing itself. I let myself be told that this is called post-rock. Whatever, it's quite o.k. to listen to. When the singer comes along, I'm strongly reminded of Sivert Høyem of Madrugada. Deep sounding and somewhat desperate.

Title song 'Open your heart' really appealed to me straight away. totally Buzzcocks like. I want to sing along to 'Have you ever fallen in love' and every time it's gone just before I can. With a great melody and guitars that vary melodies within the chord by adding or lifting a finger to the basic chord. Always fun. Then we go a little The Kinks in 'Candy', with a little country twist added in there in the acoustic and slide guitars. By then the band already packed me in. Despite the fact that the songs go this way and that, making Open your heart far from an easy album to listen to, it's this diversity that grabbed me. At times I'm challenged to work harder at liking them, at other times they tickle my fancy or sit just right with me. Well done, gentlemen! With more noise to come at the end, The Jesus & Mary Chain anyone?, of the album, the fun only gets bigger.

Let me end with a reference to the beautifully coloured cover. I just dig the purple.

Wo.

You can order Open your heart here


or here

The light the dead see. Soulsavers

You can listen to 'The longest day' here.

What can one say in the face of beauty? After the last album by "electronica duo" Soulsavers, Rich Machin and Ian Glover, 'Broken', I think you could call me a fan. The 64.000 dollar question for me was whether the band appealed to me because of the leading role of Mark Lanegan on the album? The light the dead see gives the spotlight to Dave Gahan. Yes, of Depeche Mode. Something that usually sends me running. Yeah, yeah, the eighties had some great music, remember? Taken from his natural habitat Gahan sparkles. It's that simple. To take it one step further, in the epic song 'The longest day' Soulsavers appear as pretenders to the vacant Pink Floyd throne. And why not in a time when the Australian Pink Floyd show is starting to fill arenas?

The light the dead see attracts me and repulses me at the same time. The mix of Pink Floyd and the sweeter early progrock of The Moody Blues sometimes is simply to sweet and sticky for me to digest, while at almost the same time I hear the melodies and the deep set harmonies, almost gospel like, behind Gahan and can't get enough of it. This is the major difference with previous record 'Brave' on which Mark Lanegan's deep rasp sets off the light and the shade in Soulsavers' music in a much clearer way. Starting off with 'Death bells'. In this sense The light the dead see is much more one dimensional.

So what does one do in the face of beauty? Usually stare and adore, but after a while more pressing things take precedence over the staring. So it needs to be proven if beauty is true beauty or plain superficial. Like in real life. I haven't decided yet on this album to which the side the scale will tip. I really like the Pink Floyd like orchestration and singing of the album, but not all the songs. On the other side of the scale, I've played this album repeated times, because I wanted to produce a review. The album deserves this clearly.

Gahan exceeds himself in several songs. 'I can't stay' is a beautiful song in which he shows how well he can sing when the tempo is down. Unforced, holding the melody superbly. 'In the morning' and the already mentioned 'The longest day' are true winners. All in all the scale tips in the favorable direction for Soulsavers so far. Let's see where we stand in a few months from now, when the end of year list comes into view.

Wo.


You can order The light the dead sea here


or here

Junk of the heart. The Kooks

You can listen to 'Is it me' here.

In 2006 The Kooks released their first album 'Inside in/Inside out'. It contained a few great songs that I enjoyed for a while. Songs like 'She moves in her own way' and 'Ooh la' sat quite well with me, but as a whole the album did not convince me. Despite being recorded in the (then) studio of my personal hero Ray Davies, 'Konk' slipped from my records to play list pretty fast. So I never bothered listening to Junk of the heart. To me The Kooks were more The Archies than The Beatles (but better than Razorlight, I'll grant them that). And then I listened to the new album any way. Did that alter my view?

Yes and no. No because, Luke Pritchard's voice remains a bit too nasal for me to truly enjoy. The vocal is what sticks out most in most songs, so hard to get over. Yes, because I noticed that the band has made some steps in composing as well as depth of its songs. Some songs are definitely no light weight pop frizzles, but attempts at being taken seriously as band and musicians. The great dynamics in 'Is it me' graced by a great chorus and the strong rhythmic soloing, underscore just that, while not losing sight of a great song as well. Coldplayish? Perhaps, but not in a shameful way and Coldplay could wish to write such up tempo songs in 2012.

Not all songs fall in the right direction for me ('parts of 'Killing me' e.g.), but The Kooks gets the benefit of the doubt for trying. By experimenting within the form of their poppy sound and songwriting it expand its world. This always is to be supported. It even leads to a 'Blackbird' like outing called 'Petulia' with a fledgling attempt at a three part harmony.

It needs saying, Junk of the heart is very diverse. With pure British invasion pop songs where the influences of The Hollies and The Beatles and all else from the beat generation including Peter & Gordon, which the band does quite well. There are the more serious, slow paced songs and a few more modern influenced songs and I truly like 'Eskimo kiss'. My impression is that the band seems to have made a decision on what they want to be and in what direction they want to grow. If this is their Junk from the heart, they have got me curious to learn what the gold will be.

Wo.


You can order Junk from the heart here


or here

Pendulum Morgan O'Kane

You can listen to 'Rain rain' here.

Er zijn de laatste tijd hele mooie dingen opgeschreven over de Amerikaanse banjo virtuoos Morgan O’Kane. Zo werd hij de liefdesbaby van Bruce Springsteen en banjo legende Uncle Dave Macon genoemd en hiernaast getypeerd als de Jimi Hendrix van de banjo. Door dit soort uitspraken begon ik met behoorlijk hoge verwachtingen aan de beluistering van het onlangs verschenen Pendulum, maar desondanks heeft de plaat me totaal van mijn sokken geblazen. De eerste tracks van Pendulum doen wel wat denken aan de muziek die Springsteen maakte op zijn We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, al geeft Morgan O’Kane wel wat meer gas en trekt hij bovendien een nog rauwere strot open. De heerlijk rauwe folk en bluegrass op Pendulum was op zich al meer dan genoeg om me te overtuigen van de kwaliteiten van Morgan O’Kane, maar de Amerikaanse muzikant heeft ook nog een geheim wapen. Ik heb aardig wat uitstekende banjospelers gehoord, maar het banjospel van Morgan O’Kane is van een buitenaardse kwaliteit. Zowel qua snelheid als complexiteit doet Morgan O’Kane onwaarschijnlijke dingen op zijn banjo, maar hiernaast slaagt hij er ook nog eens in om niet te verzanden in eindeloos gepiel en zijn banjospel volledig in dienst van zijn songs te stellen. Het zijn met name de uptempo songs met onwaarschijnlijk snel banjospel die vreemde dingen met je doen en je uiteindelijk doen smeken om meer, maar Morgan O’Kane is ook niet bang voor meer ingetogen songs en ook deze songs weten zeer te overtuigen. Wanneer je goed naar Pendulum luistert hoor je hoe knap de muziek van Morgan O’Kane in elkaar steekt. Naast banjo en zang van O’Kane zelf is een heel arsenaal aan andere snaar en strijkinstrumenten te horen wat Pendulum een vol en meeslepend geluid geeft. Wanneer onder Pendulum niet de naam Morgan O’Kane maar de naam Bruce Springsteen zou prijken, zou de plaat inmiddels zijn  onthaald als een ware sensatie, maar helaas is Morgan O’Kane vooralsnog een grote onbekende. Met een sensationeel goede plaat als Pendulum op zak kan het echter niet lang meer duren voordat Morgan O’Kane wordt onthaald als groot muzikant. Wil je iedereen eens voor zijn? Haal dan nu Pendulum in huis.

Erwin Zijleman 

You can order Pendulum here

One size fits all. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

You can listen to 'Inca roads' here.

It was somewhere in 1979 that I got to know the music of Frank Zappa. Not through the radio or friends. He wasn't on the radio, none of my friends had a record. I was attracted by a sleeve. A sleeve so cool it had to contain a good record. And it did. Two in fact. 'Sheik yerbouti' landed well, but it was One size fits all that really grabbed me. It is my favourite Zappa record. Period.

I missed Zappa's last show in the Netherlands in 1988. Totally put off by a previous show of endless, mind-numbing guitar solos, I did not buy a ticket. At the 1988 show he played loads of One size fits all, with the whole gamut of horns and percussion with him. So I have to be sorry forever.

The album starts of with 'Inca roads' and a veritable road trip it is. On a lyric that must have been inspired by Erich von Däniken theories at the time of time travellers in the Andes, Zappa takes the Mothers by the hand in a multi-layered song, built from several events at different locations. The intro part is sung by George Duke with his slightly high, drawling voice, in which the vibraphone of Ruth Underwood plays a large role in driving the odd timed rhythm together with drummer Chester Thompson, while managing the impressive sounding breaks with apparent ease. Duke also gets to play with all sorts of modern synthesizers (for 1975) and sound morphing, before Zappa burst into one of his characteristic solos. When presented in modesty, they are very good to digest, as happens here. The solo is culled from a Finnish show and has nothing to do with the studio recording of the rest of the song. After the solo there's a mood change, a relaxing piece of music as if the band is floating off into space. The breaks kick in once more and then the end solos of the up tempo keyboard and vibraphone following each other note for (fast) note. After which Duke is allowed to take off. Jazzy, fast paced, tight, disorientating, a descend into the unknown for the space travellers before they land. Space travellers? Or "Chester's thang"? lands, on Ruth. "On Ruth? On Ruth! That's right, that's Ruth!" 'Inca roads' forever will be one of my favourite songs ever. Its adventurousness, frivolity and totally out there quality make it fun to listen to each and every time.

The album is full of surprises. 'Can't afford no shoes' is a straight rock and roll song with a Zappa twist. A good example of Zappa vocal multi tracking. Something like ten Zappas come out of your audio system and others added to the mix as well. 'Sofa no.1' is almost classical, with George Duke excelling on piano, and Ruth Underwood on vibraphone once more. It's the strange keyboard sound in the background that totally stands out as not rock and roll. Still, it's fits the song so well.

'Pyjama people' is a jazz rock outing with a long, but very rocking solo in Zappa's characteristic guitar tone. Zappa sings solo here and we can hear the moister in his mouth fizzle and crackle when he opens his mouth or moves his tongue. Extremely close miked, so nothing passes us by. 'Florentine Pogen' is a rock song, but with so many breaks and embellishments that one almost forgets that it rocks pretty hard for a Zappa song. Napoleon 'Murphy" Brock takes the lead here, showing another reason why Zappa became very vocal again on this album. He had too many good singers in his band to keep recording complex instrumental albums. Listen to the way the band harmonises a capella for a short part of 'San Ber'dino'. And then he added Johnny 'Guitar' Watson in two songs as well. (Mind, two years before his great come back hit single 'Real mother for ya'.) He gets to excel in 'Andy', a soulful rock song with loads of Zappa like bends and twists in which nothing is as it appears or is expected to be. The song sets off in all directions, surprises every few measures and gives the individual quality of his band mates a chance to flourish as well. San Ber'dino rocks hard too, with Captain Beefheart ("Bloodshot Rollin' Red") on harmonica and includes vocal jokes like 'I'm sorry, Bobby, that your head looks like a potato". There's a grand musical joke called 'Evelyn, a modified dog'. It all ends with 'Sofa, no. 2', where Zappa and George Duke show off their German proficiency over this beautiful melody we know by now as 'Sofa, no.1'.

The jokes on this album are still pretty subtle, where they would become a bit pubescent a few years later. From that moment on the jokes were more and more Zappa's political statements against the morals of American society. On One size fits all the jokes are subtle against his band mates, former studio engineers, and musical as anyone listening to the album will instantly recognise.One thing One size fits all shows overall, is the prowess of Zappa's musical universe. From experiment, rock and roll, soul and classical pop, everything is done to excel and stand out. Zappa managed to bend and twist his band into anything he wanted it to be and foremost, play. It's probably not for nothing that musicians only stayed with him for a short while. He squeezed them out like a lemon and left them at the bin of rock and roll obscurity. Some made a career for themselves or with others. The video of 'Inca roads', apart from all the clay antics, makes quite clear by whom the musical law was laid down in the Mothers of Invention. There's a composer cum director and musicians that follow him.

Wo.


You can order One size fits all here


and here