After a few weeks away — what was I doing, you ask? Off on a multi-week journey into the hinterlands, road tripping in search of adventure and a deeper spiritual connection to myself? Long shore fishing off the coast of Maine, bonding with my grizzled shipmates whilst hunting the most dangerous (and delicious) of catches? Ensconced in a remote learning program, studiously discovering the treasures of Portuguese painters or the peccadilloes of Postgres? Sadly, no. It’s pandemia — I’ve done largely the same sh#$ I’ve been doing the past six months — what have you been doing??? (NOT staying home, distancing, and/or masking up? Oh that’s right — that’s why we’re gonna be stuck with this thing until next Christmas…)
Anyway — after a few weeks in hiding, I wanted to make sure the eight of you didn’t worry about me, so am surfacing with a sign of life. (I also found a few items worth sharing, so if you don’t really care about the first part you at least can have a few new tunes to listen to for your troubles…) One recent discovery in my perpetual search for things to keep me interested/occupied was Boston-based Vundabar, whose debut album Antics came on recently and immediately caught my ear. Sounding a bit like Voxhaul Broadcast, Voxtrot, and the Districts (to ruin the Vox-only comparisons), the album sports solid melodies, bright, jangly guitars, and frontman Brandon Hagen’s slight, wispy voice soaring atop it all.
It’s actually an older album — it dropped way back in 2013 — but is a solid listen top to bottom. There’s surf rock instrumentals (“Troubadour”), revved up indie rockers (“Plains,” “Sad Clown”), and more mellow, melodic tracks (“Kalidasa”), along with the occasional splash of punk (“Hives”). They all flow together nicely, as do the tracks on the band’s follow up album, 2015’s Gawk. That one strips some of the variety and remains more monochromatic, but is also a really good listen with some solid, catchy hooks. (“Oulala” and “Darla” being but two examples.)
Their most recent album is a bit of a disappointing departure as they stripped away all the muscular guitars and rawer bits for a smoother, softer (and I would argue “safer”) feel, but I’ve been enjoying the heck out of their first two. See if you agree, with the one that got me hooked in the first place — “Holy Toledo,” off their debut:
Next comes another discovery, again from an older album I missed the first time around. This one’s courtesy of London-based Shopping whose debut album Consumer Complaints came out the same year as Vundabar’s debut, but that’s where the similarities end. The sound is divergent, much more straightforward, energetic post-punk, with grooves that’ll almost get you dancing on occasion. This was another one that crept into my stream somehow, but I’m glad it did. It’s a good mix of attitude and melody, and while later albums watered that down and got repetitive, this one’s got a lot to keep you happy. Check out “In Other Words” here:
We’ll close with some quickies, first with the sad news that Justin Townes Earle, the son of Steve Earle, passed away last week. The singer/songwriter had long struggled with drug addiction and even overdosed several times before, but in recent years seemed to have been on the mend, so his passing is doubly disappointing.
Earle became known for his storytelling lyrics (similar to those of his namesake, Townes Van Sandt, or even his father) and his songs easily walked between more traditional country fare and softer, sadder songs. I always preferred the latter, which always felt more confessional — tracks like “Someday I’ll be Forgiven for This,” “Rogers Park,” or “Mama’s Eyes” each showcased his songwriting skills and his heart. Try the latter, off his 2009 Midnight at the Movies:
Next comes the latest from another singer/songwriter, this time in the form of fave Kevin Morby. It’s been several months since I had the pleasure of spending time with Morbzahatchee, the two headed treat formed by Kevin and his lady, Ms Katie Crutchfield. Their many livestreams formed the beginning of my lockdown life, but sadly they’ve been away the past few months. Ms Katie took some time to do a weekly concert series where she’d play one of her albums start to finish, and it sounds like Sir Kevin is planning to do the same soon — including songs from his surprise upcoming album, Sundowner, which should arrive in October.
Morby just released Oh My God last year, which landed at #7 on the annual wrapup. Somehow he’s got another batch of tunes ready to roll, though, which is in line with his rather prolific pace. (He’s released six albums the past seven years, all of which are really quite good.) It sounds like a portion of this material (if not all) actually precedes his last album, he just hadn’t felt the time was right for it yet.
Thankfully that time has come, and if the first single is any indication we should be in for more of the same solid songwriting and melodies he’s given us to date. Looking forward to it — check out “Campfire” and its video (which shows some very sweet glances and interactions between the halves of Morbzahatchee) here:
We’ll stick with the singer/songwriter theme one last time, this time for Father John Misty, who’s been busy releasing a bunch of covers lately. (A couple Leonard Cohen tracks, in addition to a T Rex cover this week.) He also dropped a couple new songs in between, one of which is the lovely “To R.,” which sports Misty and a plaintive piano. There’s no news of an impending album, so we’ll have to ride out the tide with these while we wait — give it a listen here:
We’ll stay under the covers a moment longer as White Reaper got into the act, too, recently, doing a version of 80s band Cleaners from Venus’ song “Only a Shadow.” It’s a bit of a surprising choice — despite being from the decade where Reaper finds most of their influences, Cleaners skew much more towards the idiosyncratic, isolationist side of the dial instead of the arena-friendly anthems the band is known for. (Cleaners being the side project of Brit eccentric and solo artist Martin Newell.)
They make it sound like a natural fit, though, soaking the guitars in layers of reverb, while otherwise staying true to the original’s early Cure vibe. It’s a good listen (and like all well-executed covers, a good excuse to explore some of the source material) — give it a ride here:
We’ll close with the latest from Idles, whose upcoming album Ultra Mono should be a perfect soundtrack to the ongoing deluge of dick punches this year has been doling out. The band recently did a trio of live streams from fabled Abbey Road studios, similar to GBV’s plugged in, full band, no crowd offering a month or so ago. And similar to that band’s outing, it was kind of awesome.
The guys mixed up three brisk, brawling sets with songs from each of their albums, along with a couple throwaway covers. (Their homage to their location and the Beatles “Helter Skelter” being a notable exception.) They sounded really tight live, shifting tempos and grooves with all the force and fury of frontman Joe Talbot’s customary delivery.
The new material in particular sounded good, including previously unheard tracks “War” and “Kill em with Kindness,” which finds the band channeling their inner Lizard more than ever to powerful effect. The latter track is an instant favorite, with Talbot’s nonsensical lyrics bouncing off an absolutely irresistible riff — can’t wait til the rest of the album arrives. Enjoy this one in the meantime — I’ve sure been wearing it out this past week.
Until next time, amici… –BS