Lysandre. Christopher Owens

You can listen to 'Here we go' here.

Christopher Owens was a member of the band/duo Girls that released two albums. Album (2009) and Father son, holy ghost (2011). The latter album I played for a while, till I forgot it somehow. Last year he announced that he left the band to start a solo career. Lysandre is his first effort as such.

Lysandre starts off very soft spoken and undercooled, with Owens' drawling voice singing soft over the acoustic music. The word that springs to mind is beauty, the kind you look at, but are not allowed to touch. For most part the album remains aloof, does not invite me to come closer. At the same time the songs appeal to me. This paradoxical feeling doesn't leave me for the whole album.

The instrumental opening 'Lysandre's theme' and first single 'Here we go' packed me in straight away. 'Here we go' and title song 'Lysandre', allegedly the name of a French girl Owens met on the first tour of Girls, are good examples of what I mean. The moment Cally Robinson sings in duet with Owens there is beauty in the room, but it's cold. Owens is telling the story of this first tour in 2008 set to music, but as if he's looking at his own picture book, on his own. Only at the very last he seems to let go somewhat and the selfish mood is lifted in the up tempo 'Part of me (Lysandre's epilogue)'.

Part of my explanation is the way Owens sings. Without too much expression. His frashing resembles Chuck Prophet's and his voice Elliot Smith's, but no way his voice sucks you into his songs! But enough on this. If I concentrate on what is on offer, I have to say that I like mostly what I hear. There's enough of Donovan, Harry Nilsson, Cat Stevens and other 60s and 70s singer-songwriters in here to make my day a little brighter for a while. Lysandre offers a nice mix of ballads and more up tempo songs with enough differences in the instruments flashing out the songs to keep the album interesting. The beautiful ballad 'Here we go' is followed by the up tempo and good time fun of 'New York City' with saxophone and all. With the exception of the oddly placed 'Riviera rock', in the middle of the album, there is no dip to be found on Lysandre. Let's just say that this song is Christopher Owens' take on Typical Tropical's 'Barbados'.

Lysandre is a short album. 29 minutes and it is all over. Don't be put off by that fact, as there are 25 minutes that are quite pleasant to listen to. At the basis is Owens' acoustic guitar (and drums-bass). From there producer Doug Boehm allows embellishments. Some time a flute, a keyboard, saxophone or electric guitar. And female voices. They are there to set a mood, not to fill or make extra noise. I just love 'Here we go' with the melancholy harmonica, the loud guitar part, the flute!, the melody. In 'Here we go again' are a great 'Make me smile' "o la la la" harmonies. Boehm gave the soft voice of Owens the background that makes it shine instead of forcing it to go all out.

Lysandre is an album that is not of 2013. In the quality of sound, yes, but in mood and music? No, this is pure nostalgia, a trip down memory lane. On a song like 'Everywhere you knew' and the instrumental 'Closing theme' Nick Drake may have wanted to do his thing. Closing song 'Part of me' is a new version of 'Everybody's talking'. Christopher Owens has listened very well to old heroes and made it his own on Lysandre. One thing though, what an ugly cover!, but it does underscore my feeling as a whole on the album. Lysandre as classical work? Well, there is this recurring theme for those who pay attention.

Wo.

You can order Lysandre here


or here

The moon is big. Rats on Rafts

You can listen to 'Lalalalala' here.

Reading the first descriptions of Rats on Rafts' music early last year, I had already made up my mind. Early 80s punk and new wave. I'd heard enough before I heard any music by the band. And here I'm writing a review any way.

The reason behind all this is that early 80s new wave made me turn away from modern music for about ten years. The dry, harsh or doom and gloom sounds of bands like Gang of Four, Comsat Angels, Joy Division, Depeche Mode et al was just not for me. And they still aren't my cup of tea. Fact is that with the debut album of Franz Ferdinand (my apologies to over-sensitive WoNo Magazine readers for using the FF word!) my take on the modern version of punk funk has altered considerably.

So, here I am with The moon is big. Let me start off with the fun cover of the cd. A band that depicts a halved melon for the moon deserves a listen. So I did and I've enjoyed myself from the very first start. Although the sound is familiar, dry and spacey in a noisy way, Rats on Rafts throws some lightness into its mix. The moment the saxophone enters 'Patient' the mood is altered. The same goes for a light toned guitar in 'Plaster plaster' or the "aaaah aaaah" harmonies in 'Lalalala'. 'God is dead' shows some influences that go way beyond 1980. The intro sounds like a bootleg of The Velvet Undergrounds and then we skip 14 years and hear a very well played punk song like The Undertones or The Jam. By having a school choir chant the title of this song Rats on Rafts show their take on humour in music as well.

By then Rats on Rafts have divulged that not all is in doom and gloom what happened musically around 1980. The band members may have paid a lot of attention to the record collection of their parents, but obviously also at that of aunts and uncles'. There's musically enough in here to interest anyone with a keen ear for musical adventure. Rats on Rafts to me seems more influenced by sound than by song. There's more variety in these nine songs than in the total discography of Joy Division and Gang of Four put together. A slow easy song like 'Sleeping in Rotterdam', home town of the band, is an example of this, where some The Stone Roses seeps through. The title of the last song, 'Jazz' seems to take the band in a completely different direction, but doesn't really, although it does in spirit. Behind a bit hasty rhythm a great song shows itself and as far as I'm concerned the pearl of The moon is big. There's changes in mood, pace, attack and a good melody as well. New wave, punk, a stripped down version of The Who? Who cares, 'Jazz' is great fun.

All in all The moon is big will not be my favourite album of all time, but is fun, varied and true sounding. Definitely time to make a live acquaintance in 2013.

You can order The moon is big here


or here

Sunken condos. Donald Fagen (2)

Je kunt hier luisteren naar 'Out of the ghetto'.

Donald Fagen heeft een bijzonder imposante carrière achter zich. Samen met Walter Becker leverde hij tussen 1972 en 1980 zeven onbetwiste klassiekers af met de gezamenlijke band Steely Dan. Can't Buy A Thrill (1972), Countdown To Ecstasy (1973), Pretzel Logic (1974), Katy Lied (1975), The Royal Scam (1976), Aja (1977) en Gaucho (1980) waren hun tijd vele jaren vooruit en hebben na al die jaren nog niets van hun glans verloren. Ik zet ze nog met enige regelmaat op en het is altijd weer genieten. Na het uit elkaar vallen van Steely Dan nam Donald Fagen de tijd voor zijn Nightfly trilogie. Met name The Nightfly uit 1982 kan zich meten met de klassiekers van Steely Dan, maar na het net wat mindere Kamakiriad uit 1993 was ook het in 2006 verschenen Morph The Cat weer zeer de moeite waard. In de tussentijd maakte Fagen samen met Walter Becker ook nog twee uitstekende comeback platen met Steely Dan (Two Against Nature uit 2000 en Everything Must Go uit 2003). Na een dozijn platen dat het predicaat meesterwerk verdient, valt het niet mee om nog een plaat af te leveren die er echt toe doet, maar Donald Fagen lijkt er geen enkele moeite mee te hebben. Ook met het nu verschenen Sunken Condos levert de Amerikaan immers weer een plaat af die niet onder doet voor al het moois dat hij de afgelopen 40 jaar al heeft gemaakt. Sunken Condos sluit voor een belangrijk deel aan op de muziek die Fagen samen met Walter Becker en in zijn uppie maakte. Ook op zijn nieuwe plaat maakt Fagen weer bijzonder lekker in het gehoor liggende muziek met vooral invloeden uit de pop, jazz en soft rock. Het is muziek die niet alleen lekker in het gehoor ligt, maar ook buitengewoon knap in elkaar steekt. Fagen is een enorme perfectionist en dat is te horen, zeker nu hij in tegenstelling tot in het verleden de beschikking heeft over hoogstaande technologie (het blijft een raadsel hoe Steely Dan haar platen in de jaren 70 zo perfect liet klinken). Sunken Condos sluit door het inmiddels bekende geluid en de hoogstaande kwaliteit naadloos aan op de platen die Fagen tot dusver heeft afgeleverd, maar voegt toch ook weer nieuwe elementen toe aan zijn muziek. Sunken Condos is funkier dan de muziek die we van de Amerikaan gewend zijn en ik moet zeggen dat het erg lekker klinkt. Sunken Condos is een plaat die het uitstekend doet op de achtergrond, maar pas wanneer je met heel veel aandacht naar de plaat luistert hoor je alle fraaie details. Omdat je steeds weer nieuwe dingen hoort groeit de plaat voorlopig ook nog wel even door. Wat mij betreft is het stapeltje klassiekers dat Donald Fagen op zijn naam heeft staan wederom een stukje groter geworden; ook Sunken Condos kan zich immers meten met de klassiekers van Steely Dan en de klassiekers uit zijn solo oeuvre. Sunken Condos is buitengewoon aangename hogeschoolmuziek; het is nog altijd een even unieke als onweerstaanbare combinatie.

Lees Wo.'s recensie hier.

Erwin Zijleman


Je kunt Sunken condos hier bestellen


of hier

 

.NoWordsNeeded.

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Mystic pinball. John Hiatt

You can listen to 'We're alright now' here.

John Hiatt is someone who is always there, never gathering too much attention, but enough to be noticeable. At 60 he released his 21st record since 1974, the first one I truly like since 2001's 'Little head'.

My finest moment with John Hiatt is on a nightly kilometres long bike ride, probably more than slightly under the weather, between 03 and 04 AM, having celebrated my high school graduation. On my headphone a recorded live show cassette tape of John Hiatt that was broadcasted a few weeks before. An endless version of 'Riding with the king', bass pumping in my ears. Singing along loudly, no doubt, on this dark polder road between two villages, navigating the occasional oncoming headlights. It was years later that I saw Hiatt live in Paradiso in Amsterdam.

Mystic pinball holds everything that makes John Hiatt so much fun to listen to. His raspy voice, supple flowing bluesy songs and ballads, stories to listen to and a few interesting lead lines in the different songs. Where the difference between a good and a less interesting John Hiatt is in, is hard to tell. He does not do so much different, really. For me the difference is in the fact that when I hear a song is not up to par, for me that is, his voice becomes to dull. There is simply not such a song on Mystic pinball.

In 'I just don't know what to say' the tempo goes down to mid-range. Immediately there is a sparse piano playing chords, a mandolin and a solo guitar with a nice reverb on it. A song so good that I can imagine Bob Dylan covering it some day, with a voice that is tainted even more. If the tempo and/or the noise is up, there is the same fine ear for musical detail. Opener 'We're all right now' is such a fine specimen. A fairly straightforward song with nice guitar accents livening the song up, as do the harmonies in the chorus.

John Hiatt is a story teller. 'I know how to lose you' is so telling that I can see the scenes in my mind's eye. A brake-up song from an original point of view and insight. Friends that forget who you were with, probably always "knew", while the I personage hides his pain. Not that his songs are autobiographic by necessity. John Hiatt most likely is a good observer with empathy for certain situations.

Mystic pinball holds a good balance between ballads, blues rockers and country rock. Every time a change is called for, Hiatt provides. This makes the album very interesting and pleasing to listen to. The major rest point on the album is provided by the ballad 'No wicked grin'. Not like his desperate hit in The Netherlands 'Have a little faith in me'. This song sounds resigned and slightly melancholy. As if Hiatt is singing to someone he loves or has loved that is there, right in front of him, but no longer really is, "A lonely old place where you have gone and gotten into".

It all ends with the plain beautiful 'Blues can't even find me'. John Hiatt has made, as far as I'm concerned, one of his finest records. As I wrote, he's always there, but never scores big. Others do that with his songs for him. If Mystic pinball had one song with the quality on it like 'Perfectly good guitar' or 'Slugline', it would have been his best ever. Now it's a fine album, a damn fine one at that.

Wo.

You can order Mystic pinball here


or here