Album Of The Week: Izzy True’s Nope

Everyone likes to talk up the music coming out of , and you can’t really blame them — The Big Apple has been a haven for musical excellence for over 50 years and that won’t be changing anytime soon. But what about upstate New York? Once in a while a band will come out of there and start to impress. Ithaca’s Izzy True and their debut Nope is doing just that with a rigid, yet laid-back sound. At some points the band’s music is relaxing while at other times it’s raw and emphatic.

Isabel Reidy leads the band with songwriting that conveys a message of rolling with the punches while dealing with your inner self. It gives a genuine aesthetic that shows Reidy’s heart on her sleeve with the rest of the band, consisting of Angela DeVivo, Jon Samuels and her brother Silas, providing pristine rhythms. There are bits of garage rock, psychedelic, surf and vintage pop creating a groovy sound. The laid-back vibe of the entire album is what makes it unique. It gives it a distinct quality that you don’t find in a lot of records coming out today.

Usually when an artist is dealing with their own demons, they put out their best work. It’s perhaps due to the real emotion behind it without the plastic garbage that you‘ll sometimes find in contemporary music. Lyrically, listeners can tell that performing their own songs is a cathartic experience for Reidy. It’s unapologetic and fearless. For further examination into the deeper meaning of Nope, check out my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week:

An excellent example of Izzy True’s subtle grooves is in “Total Body Erasure;” the guitars jump out with their simple and driving riffs. The drums are also extremely present in the lead-up to the chorus. “Gwam Gwam Gwam” has a little bit of surf going on while a few riffs are hard-hitting with a thud. Every time Reidy sings, it gets soft and slow with the rest of the band jumping in at different increments. With a steady beat, “Which Wish” is another groovy track with sliding tones and pleasant rhythms.

Izzy True are heading through New England with shows at Aurora in Providence on August 24, The Firehouse in Worcester on August 25 and O’Brien’s Pub on August 26. Those are three chances to see a pretty cool up-and-coming band, so you shouldn’t miss out. It’ll be interesting to see if Reidy and the rest of their band are as good live as the band’s debut album is. While you’re at either one of the upcoming shows grab a copy of Nope. After a while of listening, your ears will make you want to say “Yes.”

Stream Izzy True’s Nope on Bandcamp: izzytrue.bandcamp.com/album/nope

Bruce Hornsby Comes to Rhythm & Roots

There have always been a few artists who seem to have played with everyone and also have some solo success. Bruce Hornsby is an excellent example of this with his ability to play any style of music with any artist, and his creativity has gained him legendary status among numerous generations of music fans. Hornsby will play with his backing band The Noisemakers during the Rhythm & Roots Festival happening in Ninigret Park in Charlestown from September 2 through 4. Ahead of the festivities we had a chat about his musical versatility, who he would like to collaborate with next and his opinion on the state of music today.

Rob Duguay: Your material has always been very versatile with you tapping into genres like classical, , bluegrass, jam, blues, folk and Motown. With so many musicians pigeonholing themselves to a certain style, what inspires you to go beyond that and maintain a variety when it comes to your music?

Bruce Hornsby: I’m a lifelong student. I’m always pushing into new territory, looking for new inspiration and learning new music, from old-time American music to modern classical music. “Harbor Lights” and “Hot House,” obvious forays into a musical area using more of the jazz language, was just one of several moves I’ve made over the years. So as you say, it was just where “the music was taking me” at that time.

RD: You’ve collaborated with The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Sting, and Hall & Oates among many others. Out of everyone who you’ve worked with, who would you say was the most memorable experience?

BH: I’ve had lots of memorable studio experiences; recording with Vernon Reid and a string quartet for my score for Spike Lee’s “Sweet Blood of Jesus” film, recording with Justin Vernon and his old high school pals last year, recording with an orchestra two years ago for the Disney film Planes: Fire and Rescue, playing on a Bob Dylan record, with Bob, in 1990, Jerry Garcia recording on our third record, playing on Bonnie Raitt’s I Can’t Make You Love Me record, having Pat Metheny play on two mid-90s records for me, recording with Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride, bluegrass with the Dirt Band on their second Circle Be Unbroken record, having Wayne Shorter play sax on Henley’s and my “End of the Innocence” song, Clapton playing on my Halcyon Days album, and so many more, I’ll stop here.

RD: Is there any artist out there today that you’ve considered making music with but you just haven’t gotten the chance yet?

BH: As far as a bucket list goes, I don’t have one. Any list I may have had has been pretty much filled in at this point. Paul Simon asked about my playing on his last record, and of course I said an enthusiastic yes, but alas, it never came together.

RD: Your main instrument has always been the piano. What made you want to start playing the keys rather than picking up a guitar or any other instrument?

BH: I played guitar as a kid, starting when I was about 11. I started playing, like so many in that era, because of the Beatles and the Stones. I had a band in sixth grade playing “Get Off My Cloud”, “Cherry Cherry” etc. We won a battle of the bands because we used my older brother’s band equipment and consequently were louder than everyone else. I was also a jock, and that interest took over until 11th grade when my older brother turned me on to two amazing piano-based records, Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection and Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen all with the great Leon Russell piano. Those records hooked me on the piano; I started playing and never stopped.

RD: What do you think of the state of music in the 2010s and if you were a young musician starting out today, what would you have done differently than what you did when you were starting out in the ’70s?

BH: There’s lots of fantastic music being made today, interesting and innovative, and for me most of it resides in the margins, under the mainstream radar screen. I don’t think I would do anything differently now. To me it’s still about the same thing, finding your own individual, unique voice stylistically, as a writer, instrumentalist and singer, and creating something original that reaches and moves people deeply.

Buy tickets to the Rhythm & Roots happening from September 2-4 at Ninigret Park in Charlestown: rhythmandroots.com/ws/pages/tickets.php; Bruce Hornsby’s Website: brucehornsby.com

Album Of The Week: Husbandry’s Fera Brooklyn post-hardcore act Husbandry have a chip on their shoulder. With a sound that resonates angst and fury, this quartet can’t go overlooked. They have their debut full-length, Fera, due out on August 25 and it’s an absolute scorcher of an album. Carina Zachary gets ferocious on the mic while guitarist Jordan Usatch’s riffs meld perfectly with the dynamics of bassist Arnau Bosc and Andrew Gottlieb on drums. When it all comes together this band creates a sound that’s uniquely electrifying.

Fera is unrelenting and fearless in song structure and artistic themes. There’s also a bit of melody within each track to go along with Zachary’s growls leading the distorted rhythms. It all comes at you in full force and there’s a thunderous tempo that’s abundant from start to finish. Zachary’s lyrics are a mix of observational and political, with topics such as sexual abuse, police violence and social unrest being covered. There are no apologies with Husbandry’s debut; take it as it is and perhaps you’ll learn something.

Brooklyn hasn’t really been known as a burgeoning hive of punk. Maybe Husbandry and their upcoming release can turn the tide a bit. A lot of things are in flux when it comes to music and the artform is due for a shift. Who knows? New bands might come to the forefront with abrasive sounds that burn a hole in your mind. While we ponder what the future holds, lets in the present and dive into my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week:

The lead single “So Long, Capricornian Crone” is powerful and emphatic. Gottlieb’s drumming stands out with pulsating rhythms while Zachary’s vocals rise above Usatch’s guitar. “Nature Vs. Nuture” gets up close and personal with loud beats, and Zachary once again shows how incredible her vocal range is. The track with the most groove is “Took A Chance On The Bent Edge” with Bosc’s bass setting the tone. This one will definitely make the body move.

Husbandry will celebrate the release of Fera at Sunnyvale in Brooklyn on August 25 with fellow Brooklynites Bangladeafy, Geometers and Spotlights. They’ll also be coming through Dusk in Providence on September 20. Before they come through PVD, grab the debut album from Husbandry when it comes out on August 25. It’s a spine tingling album that will infect you with unbridled fury.

Watch the music video for “So Long, Capricornian Crone” on Youtube: Pre-order Fera on Husbandry’s Bandcamp: husbandryny.bandcamp.com/album/fera

Moga Reunites At The Met on August 19

It’s always sad when a great band breaks up, and you can say that about Moga, a rock ‘n’ roll band that has the swampiness reminiscent of Creedence Clearwater Revival and is as soulfully genuine as The Band. It’s been a few years since they were playing venues within The Creative Capital and they’re getting back together for a show at The Met in Pawtucket on Friday, August 19 with fellow locals Last Good Tooth and The Sugar Honey Iced Tea. Ahead of the show I had a chat with guitarist Greg Mallozzi about what brought the band back together, his time in Brooklyn, what he thinks of the growth of Providence’s music scene and whether this will be Moga’s only show.

Rob Duguay: It’s been a while since Moga played their last show. What sparked the idea of a reunion?

Greg Mallozzi: Basically it sort of started as something that we joked about. Honestly it started as a joke because I think none of us actually thought that we’d ever play again, we were pretty jet set on that so we’d joke about it. One thing led to another and we realized that we were all in the same place at the same time so we figured that we’d actually do it instead of continually joking about it all the time. We then wanted to see if we could still play, then we played and it was pretty cool so we figured that for all these years of kidding around about doing it that we’d actually do it. In general we had always started as us kidding around about it and then saying that it would never happen and now it’s happening.

RD: You were living in Brooklyn for a bit. What were you doing in Brooklyn and what were the other guys in the band doing during this hiatus?

GM: Personally, I totally stopped playing music. I don’t even have a guitar. I was in New York working on film-related projects that I was a part of and I sort of started fresh over there. So I was doing that and everyone else went about their ways. I know Ollie and Max [Fisher] still played on and off and Reilly [Graham] also had moved to Vermont in Burlington and he was playing a lot with a band along with his own stuff. More or less, everyone just sort of had their jobs and they were sort of doing their own thing.

RD: What kind of film stuff were you doing in Brooklyn?

GM: I was searching for an internship out there for a while and I landed one so I sort of moved out there on a limb when I got an internship. Through that internship I had networked with some people then one thing led to another and I ended up getting a pretty standard nine-to-five type job. So I made the decision of whether to stay in Brooklyn and keep this job or to come back to Providence and at the time it was a really good opportunity so I decided to go to New York for a while and do this job, which I ended up doing for two years.

RD: What do you think has changed when it comes to local music in Providence now versus how it was six years ago?

GM: I think when we played a lot I found that it almost seemed competitive with bands trying to get big and get out of Providence rather than just have fun, play a show and have a good time. I found that back then that there was a lot of people doing that and they were looking past Providence and trying to get out there. I think it was kind of competitive in a way, which I guess any music scene is. At the same time we had our group of bands we played with, which was really fun, and we’d always play with each other and play each other’s songs. It was sort of a mix, but what I got out of it at the time was a lot of competitiveness between bands and I think that was kind of a reason to why we fizzled out. We’re more about just having fun and having people come out and having a good show. We weren’t really concerned with getting signed or getting huge or anything. In all honesty I haven’t really been in the loop nowadays but there are a lot of the same bands. I think The Silks are awesome, I think they’re doing some really cool stuff. I’m not really sure about nowadays. Back a few years ago it always seemed competitive, but I don’t know if it’s the same way now.

RD: After the show on the August 19, does Moga have anything planned for the future? Can we expect more shows from the band or even a new album or EP?

GM: I don’t know, when we started we practiced a couple times and it sounded really cool. We had discussed about what if we recorded an album again and once again it was sort of like a joke but who knows? The show coming up was initially a joke and it ended up happening so maybe we’ll try to record an album. As it stands now, nothing is really planned.

Get tickets to see Moga @ The Met on August 19 here: themetri.com/events/moga-4; Listen to Moga on Bandcamp: mogaband.bandcamp.com Album Of The Week: Dinosaur Jr.’s Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not

How exactly can a band that started out in the ’80s be considered a breath of fresh air now? Well you’ll have to start listening to what Amherst, Massachusetts, sludgy alternative rock trio Dinosaur Jr. have been putting out since the original trio of guitarist J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph got back together in 2005. Since then the band has released four stellar including their most recent, Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not, that was released on August 5. It still has that trademark shred from the band’s beginnings in the ’80s and the polish from the band’s releases in the ’90s. What makes it different than the other post-reunion albums is that the song structures are a bit more abstract.

Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not is intriguing with how everything is set up. A few of the tracks in the beginning are loud, abrasive and upbeat. Then it gets changed up with a few songs that are sludge ballads alternating with other diverse material. It makes Dinosaur Jr.’s new album very unique, but don’t worry — there are still plenty of stunning solos courtesy of Mascis. The trio isn’t afraid to take chances on themselves musically and for a band with a dedicated and cult-like fan base, that takes some guts.

Dinosaur Jr. have always been one of the most consistent acts out there today. If someone likes music that’s heavy, energetic and emphatic, then chances are they’re a fan of the trio from Amherst. There’s a no-nonsense approach to the band’s music that has to be admired. The songs stand out by themselves and there are no frills; that’s what makes this band so great. Let’s examine more of the greatness with the top tracks off of my Album Of The Week, shall we?

“Goin Down” is a ripper and a wonderful introduction to what Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not is all about. The riffs that Mascis unleashes in this track are close to godliness. With a lead-up that’s a bit psychedelic, “Good To Know” is another track that’s adorned with riffs and Mascis’ twang. Barlow always gets a tad personal with the music he writes and “Love Is…” is exactly that. The acoustic-based track is influenced by his recent marriage along with being a bit of a nod to his early work with Sebadoh.

Dinosaur Jr. already rolled through New England in July by playing The Met in Pawtucket on July 14 and the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston on July 19 with Jane’s Addiction and Living Colour. The good news is that they will be coming back to the area when they play at College Street Music Hall in New Haven, , on September 7. As if that show won’t be awesome enough, they’ll be sharing the stage with Cleveland punks Cloud Nothings. It should be a rad time, but until then grab a copy of Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not. Your ears will be filled with electric sludge but everything will come clear.

Stream “Goin Down” from Dinosaur Jr.’s Bandcamp: dinosaurjr.bandcamp.com/track/goin- down; Dinosaur Jr.’s Website: dinosaurjr.com

Album Of The Week: ’ Hypercaffium Spazzinate

In this crazy year we need more than ever. We need to listen to some amplified, angst-filled, guitar-driven music that ignites the rambunctiousness in all of us. Seems like the perfect time for the Descendents to put out their first album in 12 years, right? The punk legends from Manhattan Beach, California, have their seventh album, Hypercaffium Spazzinate, out and the fearsome foursome have gone back to what they do best. That’s unleashing feverish riffs, pristine drumming and lyrics that come straight from the heart.

The title is an ode to frontman Milo Aukerman’s former career as a research biochemist while the album itself harks back to the Descendents’ earlier material in tone and style. When the band’s previous album came out in 2004, polished pop punk was all over the place. Being a band that are considered to be pioneers of pop punk (which I find to be weird), the Descendents went with the times with Cool To Be You and put out a clean sounding album. Hypercaffium Spazzinate brings back the band’s edge that they had in the ’80s. The album’s production quality has a little bit of grit and that’s what a punk band should sound like.

Pop punk is a bit of an oxymoron in my opinion. Punk started out as a genre that counteracted what pop music was in the ’70s and then punk bands started bringing melody. That’s what makes it pop? Maybe that’s why we have crappy bands like All Time Low and The Maine corrupting the youth, though that’s not the Descendents’ fault. Before I ramble on more than I should, let’s mosh to my top tracks from the Album Of The Week:

A minute-long rager, “We Got Defeat,” has a triumphant chorus that adds power to a track that’s lightning quick. “Spineless and Scarlet Red” is Aukerman’s examination of people’s cowardice and ignorance toward where people like to place blame. It’s always nice to hear Bill Stevenson drum and he proves why he’s still one of the best from start to finish. is the anchor on bass in “Limiter,” a pissed-off song about how drug addiction can alienate the young. The track has a full arsenal of shred from guitarist Stephen Edgerton coming at a rapid pace.

The Descendents will be tearing apart the Royale in Boston on October 6 with Philadelphia punks Beach Slang. From the looks of it, it should be one of the top shows to happen in The Hub by year’s end. While you wait for the leaves to fall and the show to blow the roof off the joint, grab a copy of Hypercaffium Spazzinate. It’s hot out of the lab and it’s bound to explode.

Stream “Limiter” hère: youtube.com/watch?v=UhvIF3V5wQc; Follow the Descendents on Tumblr: descendents.tumblr.com

Doug Woolverton Pays Tribute To Miles Davis In Newport

Photo Credit: Coes Photography

When it comes to influence and mastering improvisation, few come close to the legendary jazz artist Miles Davis. His landmark albums Kind Of Blue and Bitches Brew always come up in jazz conversations and his legacy flows through countless genres and eras of modern music. As part of Bridgefest happening in Newport from July 25-28, Newport native and musician Doug Woolverton will pay tribute to Davis’ legendary 1958 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival at the Jane Pickens Theater & Event Center on the 28th. It promises to be a one-of-a-kind night with one of the best musicians in The Ocean State doing his rendition of some of Davis’ best work.

Ahead of the spectacular evening, Woolverton and I had a chat about Miles’ influence on him as a musician, playing with while being free with the solos, being as versatile as possible, keeping busy and what his goals for the rest of 2016 are.

Rob Duguay: What made you want to start this Miles Davis tribute project?

Doug Woolverton: I’m a trumpet player so from being a young kid and hearing Miles Davis’ music I became very influenced by him. I remember when my father, who’s also a musician, would do woodworking and one time he was playing a tune off of the Kind Of Blue record and I went over to my father and said ,”Oh! That sounds cool!” I was so little, I’m talking like 4 or 5 years old, but I knew at that time that I wanted to play that instrument and at such a young age I could relate to Miles’ melody, his phrasing and stuff. It was a huge inspiration as I got older to study the trumpet, go to college to learn more about it and eventually become a professional trumpet player. I dug into his music and very much realized how much he did for music with different styles and creating styles, he always had that really great sound, but he also wasn’t afraid to leave out notes for parts of his solos. Being a trumpet player I always wanted to be a part of his career and the music that he was producing.

RD: It’s always great to pay tribute to influential artists and it sounds like Davis had a big influence on you.

DW: Huge. There’s another story, too. I was playing this festival and a 10-year-old girl there asked me who my favorite was. I said, “Miles Davis” and she asked, “Who’s that?” Then I started to think to myself that if the younger generation doesn’t know who one of my favorite trumpet players is, then I need to do my part to keep Miles’ name alive through the younger generation. That’s where I kind of came up with the idea to do a tribute to Miles so all ages could come to my shows. I could talk about Miles and what he did and then you could hear the evolution of what he did for music while going through this musical journey, and all ages could hear the music that Miles Davis was doing through the sound of my trumpet.

RD: When you play Miles Davis’ songs, do you go note for note or do you put your own spin on it? Jazz is very improvisational and Miles never played a song of his the same way twice.

DW: Yes and no. When I perform the Kind Of Blue album it is literally the exact arrangements as he performs on the record. When it comes time for Miles’ solo or Bill Evans’ solo or Coltrane’s solo, that’s when the band and I are all ourselves. When you hear me playing a solo it’s Doug Woolverton and not me trying to exactly transcribe Miles’ solo. My shows aren’t for me to be Miles, it lets your ears hear his arrangements and great arranging, but also hear what he was doing for the music of that time period. I also want people to hear what I sound like when I’m soloing. I will quote different parts of Miles’ solos that I obviously have listened to a lot and I want to pay respect to Miles. A lot of what you’re hearing is exact arrangements with each solo coming from a member of the band who is playing it in their own style, but making the same sound.

RD: You play in Roomful Of Blues and The Ravers, which are a reggae act. You’ve also done a bunch of collaborations with artists, for example with A Troop Of Echoes on their last EP The Longest Year On Record. When it comes to doing other projects outside of jazz, do you prepare differently? Are you very methodical when it comes to taking on new projects or do you find yourself making a lot more adjustments?

DW: Essentially my concept is in a nutshell from a phone call I got around seven or eight years ago from a guy named Rashawn Ross. If you’re not familiar with Rashawn Ross, he’s the trumpet player for The . He calls me up because my teacher told Chris Ponti and Chris then told Rashawn so I get this call from one of my other favorite trumpet players. We had this great conversation and I asked him about how he got to where he is today and he said basically that he never limited himself to just playing jazz music or just playing blues music. He always wanted to be marketable and he didn’t want to sound like a jazz player playing blues music or a jazz player playing a gig or a jazz player playing a reggae gig.

He wanted to be marketable and hirable to be a guy who shows up to a funk gig and sounds like he’s been listening to funk music all his life. When he shows up to a jazz gig he sounds like he’s been listening to jazz music all his life. That really hit me when I practice and I practice every single day, that’s kind of been my motto all along and I didn’t realize it until he said it, and it’s so true. If I get called to do any type of gig I want to sound like the style of music that I’m playing. It is difficult because you got to remember songs like what I do with Roomful or what I do with my own band The Groove Merchants or the Miles Davis show.

It’s all different stuff, but I guess what I want to accomplish is when the audience is listening to any style of music that I’m playing I want them to basically say, “Yeah, that guy sounds like the art.” I’m not playing correctly, I’m playing the style. As far as preparation goes I have to listen to all styles of music so I can quote stuff from the likes of Sly & The Family Stone and D’Angelo.

RD: A lot of contemporary jazz artists put their own spin on jazz while also doing collaborations, like Robert Glasper playing music with hip-hop artists on his acclaimed album Black Radio. You have all of this under-the-radar stuff happening in jazz; it’s becoming strangely versatile and all of these musicians are putting their hands in a lot of different pots. What are your thoughts on all this?

DW: Jazz is really tough nowadays because with what the population is listening to, jazz isn’t on the top. As a jazz musician you have to get really creative when it comes to any outlook of that style of music. It’s like you said — when a jazz artist is making music with a hip-hop artist, there’s a lot of collaboration. With the Miles Davis show that I perform, I’ve put a lot of thought and effort into the stage production. When people show up to the Jane Pickens Theater on Thursday, they’re going to see that I’ve thought about the moving lights, the banner in the backdrop, the ambience of the room, the way the color structure is and the how the whole show is going to run. It’s my spin on keeping jazz music interesting to the younger generation. With jazz today there’s a whole lot of talent, and how do you keep it different and have people wanting to listen to it? Let’s have Chris Botti record a song with Aerosmith and Sting. That’s a way to kind of keep jazz listeners loving jazz music. For me I love hearing collaborations. With my show, which is going to be entirely jazz music, I can still put a contemporary spin on it with the way the whole set up is going to be. I think jazz these days is doing great and like the music, it’s improvisational with creativity. The motto with jazz is staying creative to keep the audience interested. I’m digging all the new artists, there’s so much talent.

RD: After the show on the 28th, what do you have planned next? Do you plan on doing any more Miles Davis tributes?

DW: There’s a lot of interest in the Miles Davis show. As far as my schedule is, I’m very busy between Roomful Of Blues, Beginnings: A Tribute To Chicago and my own band The Groove Merchants. To be able to put the Miles show, which is a huge production and has a lot that goes into it, in different rooms is a big goal for sure. As far as after the show, I have a couple of gigs coming up with Roomful Of Blues. I’m going to do the legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise down in Puerto Rico with them and I’m really looking forward to that. I’m going to Switzerland to do a bunch of gigs and just try to keep working. I’m going to be recording a record during the end of October into November with a band full of all-stars. My main goal after the show is to keep writing original music and put out my very first solo album. That’s what I’m truly going to be focusing on in regard to my own personal career.

Check out the event page for Doug Woolverton Presents: Miles Davis at Newport – 1958: facebook.com/events/1077162752354763; Doug Woolverton’s Website: dougwoolverton.com

Album Of The Week: Mild High Club’s Skiptracing

There’s always a time for mellow, relaxing tunes. I’m not talking about soft rock or any bubblegum crap. I’m talking about jazzy melodies and a cool bass line anchoring a track. By melding surf, pop, jazz and good ol’ fashioned psychedelia, groove freaks Mild High Club bring a laid-back vibe with their album Skiptracing that’s due out on August 26. The act that calls both Chicago and Los Angeles home exudes the essence of The Flaming Lips and Animal Collective while staying true to their own sound by mixing things up with each track. It makes for an enjoyable listening experience that’ll put listeners in a trance.

Skiptracing is like a sonic sunset coming down as you’re driving down a boulevard in a ’70s convertible. To put that in a musical sense, it’s got some funk but it mostly shares the same base as lounge jazz. The only difference is that all the tones are low; there’s not a huge progression in rhythm but that’s fine. Mild High Club’s new record isn’t meant for the mosh pits of the world, it’s meant for the loveseats and back porches. It’s got chill written all over it.

It’s strange for me to write about an album that doesn’t have any distortion, any epic guitar solos or even a horn section, but the new album from Mild High Club just oozes coolness. Not everything cool has to be intense and this is coming from a guy who spends his mornings downing a pot of coffee. Let’s get buzzed and take a sip off of my top tracks of the Album Of The Week:

Sounding like something straight out of a couple’s bedroom decades ago, “Tesselation” is sexy as hell. The bass resonates classic Hall & Oates while the guitar brings a simple dimension with its solos. “Homage” makes me think of Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra in the middle of an acid trip. It has this weird orchestral structure with a slightly fuzzy sound. The keys that kick off “Chapel Perilous” are dreamy as well.

Mild High Club will celebrate the release of Skiptracing at The Chapel in San Francisco on August 26 and they’ll embark on a tour of North America and Europe the following night starting at Cooper’s Aleworks in Nevada City, California. New Englanders can check this interesting act out at The Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 28. When Mild High Club puts out their new album next month you better get it. It’s going to get you above the clouds and you’ll never want to come back down.

Stream “Homage” via Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/stonesthrow/mild-high-club-homage; Follow Mild High Club on Tumblr: themildhighclub.tumblr.com

Interview with Gordon Gano from The

The Violent Femmes is one of the most influential acts in music today. Folk tinged rhythms, genuine lyrics and strange senses of pop have always been part of their repertoire. Many bands have tried to imitate it, but The Violent Femmes’ style can’t be duplicated. It’s always a treat to see them live because they bring a unique presence to the stage. They’ll be bringing that and more to the Newport Folk Festival this weekend.

Ahead of the big bash, I had a chat with frontman and principal songwriter Gordon Gano about finding a balance between religion and music, The Violent Femmes’ first album in 16 years, , straying away from the rest of the music world, the rise of the independent label and what the future holds. Rob Duguay: You’re a devout Baptist. Do you ever find yourself conflicted when it comes to your beliefs and your music or do you find a middle ground between the two?

Gordon Gano: Well, given the choice definitely the second one. I don’t feel any conflict between my music and anything else.

RD: You grew up in a religious household but you were also listening to music from , , Patti Smith and The B-52’s. What was it like being in a religious environment while listening to music that was considered pretty maverick at the time?

GG: My experience growing up is that it’s different than what you might be imagining. There were the aspects that you could imagine and then the other parts were that my mother and father were very involved in the arts. They were both involved in theater and my father had a guitar that he’d play old country songs, not just religious songs. My father is a Baptist minister, but I would say that we would have been considered very liberal Baptists. There was always a lot of openness to all kinds of the arts and all kinds of different expressions. I have older brothers and sisters that had been into all kinds of rock music and then my introduction to punk music came through one of my older brothers. There were a lot of family connections that involved a lot of stuff other than church.

RD: It sounds like it was both a unique and awesome way to grow up.

GG: Yeah I like that! Yes it was awesome! (laughs)

RD: This past March, The Violent Femmes released their first album in 16 years called We Can Do Anything. What was it like going back into the studio after such a long time? Did you feel a tad rusty at first or did you feel excited to start recording stuff that you’d been working on for a while?

GG: Nothing about being rusty because we’d been playing live together and doing a lot of shows at the time. We also hadn’t been in the studio as The Violent Femmes, but both and myself had been doing other projects over these years, just not the sort of thing that most people would find out about. We’ve been in recording studios and doing things over all these years so there wasn’t any kind of feeling of not being familiar with things. Also most of the songs we recorded in the same way we did during our first album and our second album. It’s an approach that works very well for us where we’re mostly playing live and singing the lead vocals live.

We’re not purists about it, we can still make an adjustment or add a little something, but it’s mostly a live recording. Some of them were completely live but that’s the way we had always played or mostly did recordings and we’re playing live all the time. There wasn’t any feeling of being rusty and it was just very focused on the work, trying to see how we could best capture these songs and have an energy to them, which is the kind of thing we’re always going for. In The Violent Femmes we seem incapable of a long attention span, something will appear quickly or it doesn’t and it might not ever come back again. We kind of work fast like that.

RD: When The Violent Femmes were first starting out, the band served as an antithesis to the extravagance of rock music. You guys put an acoustic, stripped down spin on punk when no one else was doing it. What made the band stray off from what everyone else was doing at the time?

GG: That’s a good question. There were circumstances that really put us in that direction, which I’m grateful for. Two things come to mind but they go together. One is that we had done some rehearsing with electric bass, electric guitar, drum set and we couldn’t get any place that would let us play. We tried, we tried and we tried but no place would let us play. Nobody would give us a gig or let us have a gig. Our bass play Brian Ritchie and our original drummer Victor DeLorenzo had met someone who was a traveling hobo guy who had a guitar. I didn’t know him, I’m not even sure if I ever met him but I heard of him. I think his name was Doorway Dave or that’s what he went by.

He’d play on the street and then they started playing with him a little bit and that gave them the idea that since we couldn’t get any place to play, why don’t we go out on the street and start just playing anywhere? To do that, we just bought acoustic instruments and a snare drum with brushes. Brian had obtained a big acoustic bass guitar, then I took an acoustic guitar and that started to shape a lot of how we played and how we presented our songs. I guess it might have worked out differently if some club owner heard us play and thought that we were great and we would have started going the more normal route. It’s really worked out great that it didn’t go that way. We realized quite quickly that with the acoustic you could hear the words of the songs, a lot of punk bands have great lyrics but you can’t really hear them unless you already know them because you already studied them in a live context.

When we would play acoustically we’d let the songs come through, the lyrics come through and we also started playing with more dynamics by trying to play more of the louds and softs through our techniques where you’d have to shift and change certain things. It helps bring out certain things in the music if you’re willing to go there. Also I think that was the idea too because everyone was just playing louder and louder so in the sense of being punk being a contrary thing we were punk even in the world of punk because we were going contrary to what everyone was accepting and trying to outdo each other.

RD: You’ve released music on both major and independent labels, it seems these days that indie labels are popping up on a daily basis thanks to the internet. Do you think that it’s a good thing that it gives a lot of different artists a voice and it gives the listener more accessibility to someone’s music or do you think that it floods the market full of crap?

GG: (laughs) I think that it’s more of a good thing than not. Definitely, I think that it’s more good than not. I’ll go for the good category there, I think it’s more good than not.

RD: After the Newport Folk Festival this weekend, what do The Violent Femmes have planned for the rest of the year?

GG: We have some touring that’ll come up after Newport. We’re just talking now about different things in the fall, but nothing is set yet for me to start giving out any dates or places. We’re going to take a mid-summer into early fall break and then we’ll see. It’s being looked at and talked about now so I really don’t know.

Get all the details for this weekend’s Newport Folk Festival here: newportfolk.org; The Violent Femmes’ Website: vfemmes.com Album Of The Week: Steel Cranes’ Tango

The rock duo has become the norm while in the early 2000s it was considered revolutionary. But when something becomes the norm, how does an artist keep it from becoming a cliche? Give a listen to Tango, the new album from the Oakland, California, act Steel Cranes that’s due out on August 5, and you’ll get an answer. Melding post-punk and rootsy blues together with a dose of fuzz, Tracy Shapiro and Amanda Schukle resonate a badass vibe with each song they play. Tango is a record adorned with dark tones and subtle rhythms.

Recorded, produced and mixed by the band themselves in a purely DIY effort, Steel Cranes’ new record brings an interesting array of elements. A few tracks bring this gothic vibe reminiscent of acts like Rasputina, while others are purely badass blues punk bangers like The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, but with a completely different kind of swagger. Tango‘s intensity and vigor never wears thin. It’s pristine on multiple levels and the senses will be hit like a wrecking ball through a brick building. Shapiro and Schukle know how to strike a nerve with their music.

There’s something special about a band that has their hands in multiple pots. An act can gravitate more to the listener when they go beyond their boundaries. It offers a sense of intrigue that a band that sounds the same with every song can’t reach. That’s what Steel Cranes have going on with their new album. Let’s do the “Tango” and dance around my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week.

Starting out soft and then turning into a triumphant anthem, “Today Is The Day” ups the ante with spine-tingling riffs from Shapiro and crushing beats from Schuckle on drums. “Take Me Down” begins as if it’s going to be a rockabilly country song and then it progresses to being a droning and dark violin- tinged track. Halfway through, Shapiro absolutely shreds on guitar to ensure an abundance of melted brains. Spaced out but in a good way, “Happy” gets a tad bluesy and a bit sultry. The rhythms and chords hit pretty hard with this one, so hold on to your seat when the fills occur.

Starting next month, Steel Cranes will embark on a tour in support of Tango starting at The Flycatcher in Tucson, Arizona, on August 4 and ending at The Root Note in La Crosse, on September 2. Let’s hope the magnificent duo of Shapiro and Schukle venture through New England soon, but until then grab a copy of Tango when it comes out on August 5. It puts you in touch with your mean side and never wants you to change.

Stream “Today Is The Day” here: https://soundcloud.com/fanaticpro/steel-cranes-today-is-the-day; Steel Cranes’ Website: steelcranesband.com