NOVEMBER 2010 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM INDIE SCENE

MICHAEL MAZZARELLA SODA POP GRAMOPHONE Gmyspace.com/michaelmazzarellaAELIC STORM Cabbage gaelicstorm.com

After establishing himself both with Blake also rock band the Rooks andLike as fellow a solo Irishp r o vexpatriates i d e s Black 47, Santa Monica’s Gaelic Storm act, Michael Mazzarella continues to fl y the narrative between songs (a below the mainstream’s radar. Happily, second disc offers the music Soda Pop Gramophonepays may improve homage his toonly) the and homeland his child’s senseand keeps of the ties intact. Not surprisingly, chances of reaching a wider audience— whimsy suggests an air of specifi cally, anyone withthen, a hankering fiddles, idyllicbagpipes, innocence rock that pervades and reels make Cabbage a hearty stew. for cheery Beatlesque pop, heavenly the album as a whole. In some it’s Mazzarella’s musical overview that harmonies and a semi-psychedelic respects, Soda Pop Gramophone takes provides the focus, with songs like “Wake perspective. The packageComprised includes a mostly its cue offrom uptempo Ogden’s Nut tunes, Gone Flake the, the album Me,” revives“Didn’t Every the Day?” celebratory “My Mind Your book illustrated by Peter Thomas Blake, a legendary rock fairy tale that became the Mind” and “Flowers, Towers and Waves” precocious 11-year-old diagnosedstyle that with got a Smallthe Faces’Storm swan attention song—although for its the roleall contributingas the resident to the winningdance retro developmental disability but possessing series of vignettes that form the storyline pastiche. A most imaginative initiative, a genuine gift for self-expression. holds together only loosely. Ultimately, Soda Pop Gramophone never goes fl at. band in the film Titanic. Gaelic Storm’s spirited approach informs

KASEY ANDERSON New Orleans, her superb second solo album cover and the man leaping enthusiastically Nowhere Nightsevery offering isn’there, mired from in bitterness the rousing or despondency. opener on and the insidefirst sleeve single, continues “Raised well into kaseyanderson.com Even as songs like “ONOLA” and “Avenue the grooves of Adam Falcon’s Bohemian of the Indians”—not to mention the cover 959. Smooth melodies frame the voice With his fourth album,on Anderson Black fi rmly and ofTans,” Barry’s through“River of Love”—allude the final to theboisterous of a classic shout-out crooner with “Chuckyinfl uences from entrenches himself in the tradition of emotional damage these events wrought, Seal to Smokey Robinson, but when he Steve Earle, Graham Parker, Townes Van Susan Cowsill ensures that her Lighthouse gets his groove on more aggressively with Zandt and other insurgentsTimm.” whose cynicalLikewise, remains a covera beacon ofof inspiration.Paul Simon’s “Cecilia”“Soul Satisfi and ed” and some “Like aselect Soldier,” or perspective found them swimming against shows a fondness for the blues on “Better the tide. Alternately rowdy and remorseful, PAUL CURRERI Days,” he makes an equally formidable he stirs up a cantankerousinstrumentals—“Blind brew, his smoky Monkey”California and “The Buzzardsimpact. Bohemianof Bourbon 959 benefi Street” ts from not vocals perched atop ragtag arrangements paulcurreri.com only Falcon’s versatility, but his polish and defi ant posturing. A brace of raucous and professionalism as well. Poised and anthems (“All Lit Up,” “Sooner/Later,” Paul Curreri’s music inhabits hazy realms confi dent, Falcon is ready to soar. “Nowhere Nights,” “Realin Gone”) particular—only amp up where add elements to the of blues, frenzy folk stirredand rock up by a Storm at full force. the attitude, but it’s the more refl ective swirl into an amorphous brew. Curreri has JASON & THE SCORCHERS moments, like “Bellingham Blues,” “From never fi t neatly into any one niche, and his Halcyon Times Now On” and “Like Teenage Gravity,” sprawling California places the emphasis jasonandthescorchers.com that reveal his tattered soul. Anderson on mood as much as melody. Songs such remains grounded in standard roots-rock as “Now I Can Go On,” “Stephen Crane” Attitude is everything, and on this riveting throughout, but veteran producer Eric Ambel and “Wildegeeses” amble along loosely as new album—their first in a decade— uses his instrumental arsenal to shift the Curreri single-handedly multitasks on guitar, reconstituted Nashville rock band Jason soundscapes in interesting ways. piano and literally every other instrument & the Scorchers demonstrates it still has audible here. Anyone still looking to label plenty to spare. Singer Jason Ringenberg SUSAN COWSILL Curreri will likely feel frustrated—despite the and guitar foil Warren E. Hodges are in full ‘Gaelic Storm’sLighthouse spirited approachDelta echoes heard informs on “The Line,” every “I Can’t roar, aided by a new rhythm section and threadheadrecords.org Return” and the title track, for example, the ace collaborators like Dan Baird, Tommy tracks exhibit only the subtlest similarities. Womack and producer Brad Jones. They offeringAnyone who here, thought from Susan Cowsillthe rousingThe cumulative opener effect is anand album first that’s raise a ruckus on sturdy rockers like vanished along with family band the Cowsills atmospheric, evocative and alluring. “Moonshine Guy” and “Days of Wine may be surprised to learn that the family’s and Roses,” while fi nding poignancy on single,youngest sibling “Raised continues makingon Black music, and Tans,”ADAM FALCON through the refl ection in personal fare such as “Beat on both on her own and as a member of another Bohemian 959 the Mountain” and “Golden Days.” “Looking communal combo, the Creekdippers. But adamfalcon.com back now it seems to be/This old life’s been the real surprise is that after the tragic good to me,” Ringenberg concludes on the deathsfinal of her brothers boisterous Barry and Billy shout-out and The sheer ‘Chucky love of music exhibitedTimm.’ by the latter. For Jason & the Scorchers, the halcyon the toll Hurricane Katrina took on her native beaming kid holding the toy guitar on the days continue.

76 MAY 2010 NOVEMBER 2010 M MUSIC & MUSICIANS MAGAZINE

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