This Is Book's Music

Their press release says Truth & Salvage Co. have been known for their “four-part harmonies and Americana rock ethos.” With a forthcoming debut album produced by The Black Crowes‘ Chris Robinson and signed to Robinson’s own Silver Arrow Records, these guys are going to get some positive attention, especially as hungry festival goers in the summer will be in search of a band they’ll want to bow down and worship. Truth & Salvage Co. may become that band.

This sextet have origins in the South and midwest, but have placed themselves in Los Angeles for maximum exposure. A residency at at the Hotel Cafe in L.A. lead to them getting noticed, and now they have a debut album due out on May 25th. As they prepare for that glory day, the group will be doing a small number of shows, including a few at the Hotel Cafe. In April, they will start a number of shows in California and the Southwest that unite them with The Avett Brothers. Here are the dates:
March 5 | Hotel Cafe | Los Angeles, CA
March 12 | Hotel Cafe | Los Angeles, CA
April 17 | The Fox Theatre | Oakland, CA*
April 18 | Grand Sierra Theatre | Reno, NV*
April 20 & 21 | Boulder Theater | Boulder, CO*
April 23 | Rialto Theater | Tucson, AZ*
April 24 | Mesa Arts Center | Mesa, AZ*
April 27 | Crest Theater | Sacramento, CA*
April 29 | House Of Blues | San Diego, CA*

* opening for The Avery Brothers

(For a listen to Truth & Salvage Co., Daytrotter.com have posted five songs that you can download for free. click here to download and listen.)

There was a time when being “ethereal” meant being a band who were usually found at some obscure record store in town, on the left of the dial, or on the unknown blogs that you prefer not to tell anyone. Italy’s N.A.M.B. are very much ethereal in the sense that they can sound like they’re performing from down the hall but sound as if they are still in your face. BMAN (Monotreme) is an album that will carry you through 18 songs of varying textures and scenes. The cover illustration is that of a robot finding itself in dark and moody situations, as if the robots we played with kids now has to exist in the real world and uncertainty is ever present. The music is very much like that, where the ethereal vibe is the one thing we can be certain about, the gloomy sound that keeps us occupied. “Supernaturalooser (Parte 1)”, “Serrato”, and “Bye Bye Eyes” sounds like it could have easily been recorded in the early 70′s as elements sound as bold as Soft Machine or pre-Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd. Then you play “Work It Out” and they end up sounding like a band who would sound good opening for Bush, nine inch nails or Queens Of The Stone Age, they have a nice pop sensibility that seems to be common among Italian bands since the days of Osanna.

I love bands like this who are fully capable of becoming idols in their own countries, but will filter it with what mainstream listeners would call “weirdness” but what I would call “just creating”. After BMAN is complete, you will find yourself wanting to hear it again, knowing you may have missed something or you’ll want to hear it from a different point of view.

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The podcast created by the Caipirinha Appreciation Society is not only a joy to listen to, but a lesson to the diversity found in Brazil. They recently posted the third installment in their Pernambuco Trilogy, you can take a listen by clicking the player below.

You can also download this podcast and previous installments by clicking to the Caipirinha Appreciation Society page at PodOMatic

CAS | Pernambuco Trilogy – part 3

Caipirinha Appreciation Society

Jon Gold‘s Brazil Confidential (Zoho) begins ceremoniously with “Além Do Azul”, where everyone in his group starting up and creating an aura of wonder. When Anat Cohen plays the flute and breathes with each sound, I’m gone. I’m already loving this, and Gold hasn’t even started to play. When he does, what you begin to hear is a sound that merges jazz and classical, and at times gets into that touchy John Tesh new age hoo-haa but without getting hokey. What makes it not hokey is that this sounds true to me, especially as Gold, Cohen, and violinist Zack Brock harmonize together to create something that sounds like it would fit in well on a Chuck Mangione album circa 1972. Gold and friends are musical explorers, and that’s what I like, songs that go past the 4 minute mark so I can hop on their journey to listen and learn. Tracks like “Carioca Da Clara”, “Paraty’, “Parafuso A Menos”, and “Funky Jabour” are not for those who live a sedentary lifestyle, you can’t help but groove to these tracks. It was almost a downer when “Além Do Azul” started to fade, as it could have went on for four minutes past its final 8:01 mark.

Brazil Confidential is perhaps a more sophisticated sound of Brazil than what most are used to, yet a deeper listen will tell you that the streets of Brazil can go from smooth sailing to trauma in the favelas, and this album ties both vibes together with ease. The music represents the people, the culture, and the land in their own unique way, and Gold’s compositions are some of the best Brazilian-influenced music I have ever heard.

(Brazil Confidential will be released on April 13th.)

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When you’re a jazz musician who has recorded some fantastic albums in recent years, how do you make yourself known with a new release? Most might not place a few puppets on their album cover and call it Puppet Mischief (Obliq Sound). I mean, is it a children’s album? Is it about unleashing the inner child? Then again, look at the puppet on the left. He has a goatee, looking rugged and ready as a city dweller, so there has to be something going on. I listened.

For one, it’s not a children’s album. In fact, the first track (“Okra & Tomatoes”) sounds like the perfect movie theme to a film that does not exist, going back to the early to mid-70′s as the harmonica (as played by special gust Gregoire Maret) carves out a mental picture. “Fauxfessor” is very much in the New Orleans tradition (the title should be an indication of that), and one can imagine here to be out in the street during Fat Tuesday but questioning the musicians because they are allegedly “faux”. By the time you get into a solemn “Dewey Dah”, it’s almost as if John Ellis & Double Wide (Jason Marsalis on drums, Brian Coogan on organ, and Matt Perrine on sousaphone) are ready go deeper, or at least move the listener to go deeper into the unknown, trying to help explain what kind of Puppet Mischief they’re talking about. Is it about “the powers that be” manipulating us as puppets, or are we the puppeteers? When you listen to the title track, everything sounds festive, but get past the second half and then things start getting a bit more complex. Perrine’s sousaphone plays a one-note repetition blow as Marsalis is moving around his kit like a mad man, and everyone else is just trying to find a way to get back into the mouse hole before things return to normal, that little burst of psychotic beauty is what you may not have anticipated, but it’s there.

This is very much jazz music for the mind. As I said, it sounds like music for a non-existent movie, but those are the kind of albums I enjoy, the “mind movies” where the music takes us wherever we want to be and maybe where Ellis & Double Wide want us to go. Anyone who is a fan of drumming will definitely love what Marsalis is doing on here, constantly moving and grooving, decorating the song with style and tradition. As for Ellis, his solos are as on the money as ever. Puppet Mischief is a different album from his last few albums but maybe… that’s Ellis being the puppeteer on you.

Aaaah…

Ziggy Marley has been around long enough as an artist to present us with compilations. Then again, he is a Marley and anything with the Marley name can turn to gold, and Dancehall Originators (Tuff Gong).

What this 12-track CD does is make an attempt to go back to how dancehall music as we know it was created, at a time when reggae was king, but some felt a modern touch was needed to bring into the 1980′s. You have tracks like “Look Work” by Josey Wales, “Big, Bad & Bold” by Chaka Demus, and “Mr. Bad Mind” by Buju Banton that show how much the music had changed in such a short time to where it has become the dominant sound from Jamaica. The album ends with a nice retrospective megamix by DJ Roy, and this will also be a way for new fans to be introduced to what some call the glory days of dancehall.

This is the first CD in Tuff Gong’s Let’s Go Back… Way Back series, and I highly look forward to what comes next.

Kingdom has turned Shyvonne‘s “Mindreader” inside out and has turned it into a wicked club track. The song, b/w “You” is being released as a 10″ single by Acephale Records, and it sounds like it will seriously turn some heads no matter where you play it.

You can order your copy here. Only 500 copies will be made, so snatch doubles while you can.

As someone who is not only a fan but a collector of Sizzla Kalonji’s music, I have no idea how this man finds the time to relax. My collection consists of about 500 45 rpm Sizzla singles, many of which are not on his proper albums. Crucial Times is a continuation of the outpouring of Sizzla music, his first album in this new decade showing that he shows no signs of ever slowing down.

Mosaic is Soul Cycle’s third album, an album that shows a nice mixture of jazz, soul, and a nice hint of pop. The music on here is very accessible, so it could make the rounds of smooth jazz radio or be played at any spring winery tours. However, what makes them interesting is when they show their love and appreciation for musicianship by dipping into a bit of jazz fusion.