Lockdown Listening: Something old, something new In a furious attempt to see some live music before winter hibernation sets in, I attended shows at both Askew and Nick-A-Nees last weekend. I’m happy to report that it was a good time, and both places did a great job with masks and social distancing. But fears about the future remain. A recent Vice Article chronicles some of the dire consequences that independent venues could face without some sort of support from Congress, going as far as to say there could only be one indie venue left standing in Nashville by year’s end. So continue to get out to shows while you still can, and call up your representatives. Dandy Highwaymen — Land Shanties A crowd of three are the Dandy Highwaymen, now out with their debut recording, Land Shanties. It’s an amusing release that bills itself as rococo punk, a genre I was unaware of that’s “inspired by the art, history and culture of 18th century France and England.” They say write about what you know, and for the Dandy Highwaymen, it’s … being drunk highwaymen, as evidenced in tunes like “Drunk Highwaymen,” “The Ballad of the Dandy Highwaymen,” and a cover of Adam and the Ants’ “Stand and Deliver.” In addition to the strong branding, the album contains tales of intrigue, wig theft and being exiled a world away. The players, Jean-Jacques J’adore, Beau Pummel and Sovay Beausoleil, are two-thirds based in Rhode Island. The songs go from pub singalong to rock ‘n’ roll, though the playing is a bit sloppy, kind of like they’re actually in the back corner of a dank tavern. The Dandy Highwaymen do, however, have a real flair for storytelling. “Four Finger Frederick” is a cautionary tale about overindulging in lady fingers, and “Ballad of the Dandy Highwaymen” is an epic canard featuring characters like Vance and swift Claudette. Fitting with the historical period, a lot of these feature a revolutionary tilt, like the Swiftian “A Modest Proposal,” about the age-old fantasy of eating the rich. “Let’s Go” and “C’est Bon” go full-on punk rock, though the canned drum sounds detract from the desired effect a bit. Land Shanties is available at: http://dandyhighwaymen.com/product/land-shanties/ RI Repository | Small Factory – I Do Not Love You In this edition of the RI Repository, where we delve into simpler times, we take a look at the celebrated rock trio Small Factory’s debut album, I Do Not Love You. Drummer Phoebe Summersquash, guitarist David Auchenbach and bassist Alex Kemp formed the group in 1991 in PVD, and were already New England indie up-and-comers by the album’s release. The record consists mainly of simple, two-minutes-and-change tunes about disconnection, lost love and youthful exuberance. It brings to mind the stripped-down innocence of the Blake Babies or the Lemonheads, but with more raw edges. “Valentine,” a Lois Maffeo cover, has a wistful dorm room vibe, and the repetitive “Come Back Down” drives home the point with a soft punk rock growl. Small Factory was not about achieving virtuosity; simple bass lines and no guitar solos kept the spotlight firmly on the songwriting. Kemp handled most of the lead vocals, with Summersquash often simply covering the high octave. I Do Not Love You was recorded at Warren’s Normandy Sound and White Room in Boston and released by SpinART, the now-defunct New York label that boasted releases by Frank Black, The Apples in Stereo and The Magnetic Fields. “What to Want” is both vigorous and delicate, and admits “sometimes I’m a child and I don’t know what I want.” The highlight, “Keep On Smiling” is a jangly rock song with just enough dissonance that builds to a catchy chorus with everyone joining in on vocals. While the language in “Junky on a Good Day” may be outdated, it’s a plainspoken folk rock song building to a jagged, jamming outro. Ultimately, Small Factory didn’t set the world on fire, but their softer, starry-eyed approach to ’90s rock is remembered fondly by plenty. I Do Not Love You generated enough buzz to get them on Vernon Yard Records, an indie division of Virgin Records, for their follow-up For If You Cannot Fly. The record would be their last, and the band broke up in ‘95. Post Small Factory, Kemp and Summersquash formed the band Godray, and David Auchenbach went on to produce artists like Lightning Bolt. Stream the album on Spotify. Popcast And finally, an interesting podcast from The New York Times “Popcast” about the state of the popular music charts. Two music biz journalists discuss how the Billboard charts are now essentially meaningless because many artists are finding creative ways to bundle album sales with concert tickets and other media to pump up the numbers. Enter the Flange Factory: Math the Band releases a multi-concept project Troubled times call for audacious measures. Math the Band is back, this time with a whirlwind of multimedia the likes of which has never been attempted. Their latest project, Flange Factory Five, is an immersive experience that includes a novel, record, game boy cartridge, energy drink and boutique guitar pedal. MTB, sometimes billed as “Math The Band The Band,” is the project of frontman Kevin Steinhauser and a rotating cast of characters, which currently features guitarist Max Holbrook, bassist Adam Waz and drummer Matt Zappa. The band has been operational for 20 years, and based in Providence for 12. A characteristically joyous effort, the Flange Factory Five features the band’s signature combination of glitchy, 8-bit keyboards over distorted guitars. A project like this requires the boundless energy they put forward in their ecstatic live shows, and it totally comes through on the recording. The uptempo “Dual of the Deer” features guitars and synth lines in roaring triumphiant harmony. “DKWIC” has a great Brian May-style guitar solo, and “Coach Says” is a hard-edged tune at the circle pit end of the spectrum. Stenhouser, who started the project in high school, puts every ounce of himself into the vocals. Along with great playing throughout, this album brings us the best of grit and nerddom, like a skater punk version of the music from Crash Bandicoot. But the video game sounds can belie the smart composition and clever lyrics. “Wet Cement” is ultra-catchy montage fodder about starting a new chapter: “The fear is exciting and I can’t wait to be born.” An additional treat is a suite of “Flange Factory Five” instrumental interludes that could be the jingle for the cartoon television show of the same name. I spoke with Kevin about the origins of this unique project. Jake Bissaro (Motif): How did the multi-format concept come about? What made you want to release your own energy drink? Kevin Steinhauser: I don’t really recall a moment of inspiration. Each piece was something I had kicking around in my head for a while. It’s basically the culmination of years of saying ‘wouldn’t it be funny if…’ and then we just decided to go all in and do it for real. JB: What is the book about? KS: It’s a choose-your-own adventure fantasy novel that plays off the ones marketed toward young adults, but very tongue-in-cheek with a lot of crass, dark humor. It revolves around a kid who meets a wizard and ends up needing to save the wizarding world. It ended up being a big universe of stuff; the novel mentions the pedal and energy drink heavily, and the Game Boy game is based on the novel. JB: I have never heard of an album released on a piece of gear. How did that come about? KS: The Flange Factory Five is a collaboration with our friend Frank, who makes small runs of handmade pedals under the moniker Frayed Knot. The pedal is a matrix of five flangers and five ring modulators, and also has the album stored on it, with a playback mode that lets you mess with the sounds. We’re trying to make as many as 55, but they are large and expensive, at $250. To keep things more accessible, we’re making the “Flange Factory Zero” a slimmed-down version that’s more of a collectible. JB: Is there a particular fascination with the flange effect? Does gear play a big part in your inspiration? KS: Not really. Personally, synths are really what I’m into. To be honest, we chose flange simply because “flange factory five” sounded funny. But I found a connection after the fact: The story goes that the effect was made for the Beatles as a way to mimic stereo. Apparently Paul, in an interview, was asked what the effect is called, and just said, ‘Oh it’s the flangelator,’ making up a nonsense funny word. JB: How has the band been handling pandemic life? KS: To be honest, we’ve probably never been more productive. This whole project has been like 90% of the way there for about a year, so it was the opportunity we needed. We all have our own home studios and have been passing files back and forth, and recorded basically the whole album that way. JB: What’s next for the band? KS: We’re hoping in December to throw a big performance in the black box theater at AS220, playing the album front to back and adding in some theatrics.