DECEMBER 2010 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM INDIE SCENE MICHAEL MAZZARELLA SODA POP GRAMOPHONE Bmyspace.com/michaelmazzarellaRIAN RAY This Way Up brianray.com After establishing himself both with Blake also rock band the Rooks andAlthough as a solo Brian p r oRay v i d e shoned his chops backing Etta James, Smokey 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 GramophoneRobinson may improve andhis Frenchonly) and heartthrob his child’s sense Johnny of Hallyday, since 2002 he has been chances of reaching a wider audience— whimsy suggests an air of specifi cally, anyone withperhaps a hankering best knownidyllic innocence as a memberthat pervades of Paul McCartney’s backing band. 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 packageNot includessurprisingly, a its cueRay’s from secondOgden’s Nut solo Gone effort Flake , reflectsthe Me,” “Didn’ta pop Every sensibility Day?” “My honed 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 diagnosedby experience with a Smalland Faces’enhanced swan song—although by long-term the exposureall contributing to McCartney. to the winning Yet 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. his fondness for big beats, vibrant hooks and catchy choruses doesn’t KASEY ANDERSON New Orleans, her superb second solo album cover and the man leaping enthusiastically Nowhere Nightsalways adhere isn’tto miredthe Beatles’in bitterness blueprint—“Happy or despondency. on theEnding,” inside sleeve “I Found continues You,” 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,“Hey Anderson Miranda,” fi rmly “Veryof Barry’s Happy “River Song”of Love”—allude and “Let’s to the Fall of Apart” a classic are crooner modern with infl rockers 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 insurgentsprimed whose cynicalby a young,remains aebullient beacon of inspiration.attitude. Ray has“Soul a lot Satisfi more ed” andgoing “Like for a Soldier,” him 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 cantankerousthan brew, superstar his smoky connectionsCalifornia (only drummer Abeimpact. Laboriel Bohemian Jr. from 959 benefiMacca’s 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,” “Realband Gone”) offers amp up an whereassist elements here). of This blues, Way folk andUp rock allows Ray to soar on his own. 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 Lighthouse Delta echoes heard on “The Line,” “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 ‘AnyoneThis who thoughtWay Susan UpCowsill allows Ray to The cumulative effect is an album 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 youngest sibling continues making music, ADAM FALCON refl ection in personal fare such as “Beat on both on her own andsoar as a member ofon another his own.’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 deaths of her brothers Barry and Billy and The sheer love of music exhibited 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 DECEMBER 2010 M MUSIC & MUSICIANS MAGAZINE M3_v9.indd 76 5/13/10 9:43 PM.