Scroll down for reviews of Cosmo Topper, Starflyer 59, and Sparklehorse.
Click here for reviews of Adam Schmitt, The Dave Rave Group, RockFour, The Shins, Detroit Cobras and Ted Leo

Tammy and the Lords of Misrule
Misrule

(Her Highness Porcupinus)

misrule.com

Crunchy pop-rock in the vein of Holly and the Italians, The Muffs and Voice of the Beehive is the order of the day here. And isn’t it time that a singer named Tammy really kicked ass? (Now, Tammi Terrell was a kick-ass singer, but she didn’t really kick ass, youknowwhatImean?).

Tammy Ferranti isn’t sassy or bratty. She exudes a confident, knowing attitude. She may sing sweetly on occasion, but she ain’t no sucker. And while she may not come off like a tough chick, you’d be advised not to piss her off. Don’t believe me? Check out “What Baby Wants”, in which she puts some French manicured, haughty, trust fund skank in her place. Forceful, but with a melodic hook.

The album smartly opens with a declaration of purpose, “Kind of Girl”: “I’m not the kind of girl/who goes for competition/I’m just the kind of girl/who does her very best.” The song has a cool thick guitar sound, with a nice sing-songy chorus. This might be what The Donnas sound like when they get off the glam-metal kick.

Ferranti shows off a more tender side. “Camellia Chameleon” is a sympathetic portrayal of a misunderstood woman who is trapped by her looks and is therefore unable to connect with anyone. It’s kind of a California update on a ‘60s Kinks observational piece and features some fine lead guitar work. “Turn Yourself Around” is mellow and dramatic but doesn’t overstep its bounds and fall into the overly melodramatic category. Ferranti shows that she can scale back her normally more aggressive vocal stylings and imbues the simple lyrics with a great deal of heart.

Throughout the record, the force of the band’s performing talent and Ferranti’s personality are engaging. But some of the songs show that there is room for further lyrical and/or musical development, and in the case of “Paper Cup”, the production seems to hold the song back, as it is not as punchy or sharp as it needs to be. Whereas on numbers like “Ghost of a Chance”, the rock is just right.

King Maker is a quality debut. If the songwriting continues to progress, perhaps Tammy will wear a crown someday.

_________________________________________________

Cosmo Topper
Pure Fast Vibration

(self-released)

mogleyb@aol.com

L.A. pop veteran Morley Bartnoff takes this Cosmo Topper alter-ego thing seriously - he wears one of those funky stove pipe hats whenever he plays. Incredibly, according to the liners, this was recorded in a mere six weeks last year, because the production is exquisitely layered. Topper loves to embellish as a tune winds on. Listening to some of these songs is kind of like only experiencing the cool parts of climbing a mountain (that is, there is no frostbite, shortness of breath or likelihood of being killed) - as you progress, the scenery stays familiar but continually reveals new vistas.

“The Law of Attraction”, previously featured on the second International Pop Overthrow compilation disc, sets forth the template. The song, like a few on this disc, has a melodic vibe that is reminiscent of The Negro Problem’s work. But the musical intent is much different, with the melancholy that permeates Stew’s tuneage replaced by an inspirational optimism. (Bartnoff notes on the back cover that he intends “these tunes to uplift you every time they’re played).

On “Law”, a thick layer of acoustic guitars welcome you in, and the song settles into a nice mid-tempo rhythm which is occasionally intercut with a mini-crescendo countermelody. Bartnoff’s voice, which sounds like a cross between Dave Edmunds and Ass Ponys’ Chuck Cleaver, is friendly and inviting. The following cut, “For…the Time Being”, is cut from similar melodic cloth, but sports a more relaxed arrangement, with superbly performed and arranged backing vocals from Diana Faust and Susan James. The song is a very pleasant journey to a 21st Century shangri-la.

Two other highlights are “Topper Takes A Trip”, which starts with an atonal Eastern-psych motif and mutates into a bashing powerpopper, with a nice lyrical reference to 20/20’s “Remember the Lightning”, and “Are We There Yet?”, which has an atypical melancholy feel.

Probably the biggest criticism of this album is that there are a couple of melodic tricks that Bartnoff sometimes falls back on too readily. For example, “All Signs Point To Yes!” sounds quite similar to “The Law of Attraction” and “For…the Time Being” A bit more variety would serve Topper well. But on the balance, this is a distinctive and refreshing effort, which has personality and ambition, and best of all, stellar execution. If you like big sounding pop songs, check this out. Hope this finds a label for wider release.

_________________________________________________

Starflyer 59
Leave Here A Stranger

(Tooth and Nail)

toothandnail.com

starflyer59.net

I’m not saying that any of the members of Starflyer 59 actually own any Pernice Brothers records. But it can’t be a coincidence how much of the Pernice sound can be heard on this disc. The Christian rock vets have always had a melodic pop vibe, and appear to be studying the best. Hey - are the early Bee Gees records any less entertaining just because they were aping the Beatles? Actually, that’s a fairly decent comparison, because: 1) like the Gibbs aiming for the Fabs, Starflyer 59 does a damn good job of achieving Pernice-osity; and, 2) like the Bee Gees, there is still a distinctive thing that stamps this as more than imitation.

Still, “Can I Play Drums?” and “When I Learn to Sing” drip with patented Pernice Brothers melancholy melody magic, and are sung with the appropriate breathy, vulnerable vocals. Heck, even the lyrics of the latter tune could have come from the pen of Joe Pernice: “When I learn to sing/I’ll change the key of everything/when I learn to read/I’ll change my ways on everything.”

It’s one thing to ape the Pernice writing method, but Starflyer 59 are also top notch in the arranging and production departments. The primary component that the band adds to the stew is a spacious, epic ‘rock’ feel, that is more on par with bands like Radiohead and Travis. While the basic structure of “Your Company” is low key, the band builds the chorus to be big enough to see from the moon, particularly in the last minute of the tune, where the song takes on a Phil Spector-gone-alt-rock vibe. The languid “All My Friends Who Play Guitar” weds a twangy Southwestern guitar that sounds like it’s reverberating across the desert with some utterly haunting keyboard work. It’s like The Zombies meet Ennio Morricone. This tuneage is perfect support for leader Jason Martin’s pithy lyrics and vocal phrasing, as he questions what the whole rock band experience is all about.

Indeed, this is a loosely based concept album, centering on a loss of faith - not religious faith, but a loss in the faith that the very music Martin and his colleagues are playing can amount to anything substantive. Music this beautiful certainly touches the heart, but Martin wants more, and the tension between the strength and resolve in the melodies and playing and the resignation and doubt of the words is compelling.
The signature song of the album, which encapsulates its awesome wonder, is “I Like Your Photographs”, with its ghostly whistling in the background, the twangy guitar underpinning a mournful piano and a melody up there with The Zombies and Big Star at their bittersweet best. When the song returns to the whistling, a strummed acoustic (sounding not unlike a harpsichord) is contrasted with dramatic washes of electric guitar, and the monolithic beauty of the song begins to fully coalesce. A stunner.

Frankly, the whole album is stunning. It will be a shame if the Christian rock tag prevents this modern pop wonder from reaching a wider audience.

___________________________________________________

Sparklehorse
It’s A Wonderful Life

Hollywoodandvine.com

Sparklehorse.com

Release date: September 27, 2001

After a solid debut, Sparklehorse’s 1999 release Good Morning Spider was a step up to the big leagues, as Mark Linkous, coming off a near death experience, dealt with the crisis by constructing melancholy pop that weaved beauty and dissonance into an emotional tapestry. Sparklehorse had put itself in league with The Flaming Lips, Grandaddy and Guided By Voices.

Through a unique production style that is simultaneously hi-fi and low-fi, Linkous creates the audio equivalent of a murky netherworld that at times seems akin to his near-death experience. For most people, nearly dying would be a semi-tragic event. For Linkous, it was merely field research.
Linkous matches his breathy, beguiling voice with breathy, beguiling melodies, occasionally throwing in some loud guitars and other odd bits of noise for texture. Having established that he was capable of some pretty audacious production tricks on his first two discs, the presentation here is relatively straightforward, and since he has a good batch of songs, no tricks are necessary. In fact, this is the most consistent Sparklehorse disc to date.

“Gold Day” shows the Linkous magic at its best. Starting off with a mellotron part that is reminiscent of psychedelic Beatles and E.L.O. and a steady bassline in the background, the song shifts gears when the drums finally kick in, taking on more of a recent Flaming Lips feel. The song just exudes warmth and intimacy. “Sea of Teeth” and “More Yellow Birds” have a similar charm.

The charm and intimacy is almost solely a byproduct of the music, and is not clearly revealed in the abstract lyrics. Even when you can figure out what a song is about, you’re still not quite sure what’s going on. In “Little Fat Baby”, Linkous, apparently singing about Jesus, notes that he was “dragged by a donkey through the dirt” but was “once a little fat baby”. And your point? But there is something about his poetry that is evocative no matter how little sense it makes on the surface. On the slowly rocking “Piano Fire”, he warbles “I got sunburned, waiting for the jets to land/circus people with hairy limbs.” Not even my Robert Pollard Decoder Ring can get the drop on that thought.

Very often, Linkous’s songs sound like the detox dreams of the derelicts described in Tom Waits tunes - as if someone installed funhouse mirrors in the opium den. So Waits’ appearance on “Dog Door” makes sense. The song is Beck-like slice of drum box funk, with Waits singing at the top of the range, and nifty oddball percussion breaks and feedback laced guitar. Play this at your next Charles Bukowski-themed dance party.

I don’t want this to sound overly arty. Despite the idiosyncratic touches, there is a core of thoroughly accessible songwriting here. Challenging and catchy - a great combo.

___________________________________________________

To reach any other page contained in this month's update on Fufkin.com, read the home page for the appropriate link and click on it. You can also search the site from any page using the search box located at the top of each page. Merely type in the word, phrase, name of the band, recording, name of the Fufkin writer that you are looking for or Whatever in the search box, and then click on "Search". If you would like to e-mail us, go to the About Us page for a list of e-mail addresses.

Go back to the home page by clicking here

____________________________________________________