Kevin Mathews:
August, 2003

So Much Music, So Little Time

…and the deluge continues apace. Instead of attempting to come up with something witty and interesting as a preface, let’s just dive into it shall we?

Pernell Disney Severn Way (Disney Whirl)
Dream pop enthusiasts will thrill to the way Pernell Disney weaves irresistibly pleasing soundscapes with atmospheric guitar effects, astute drum programming and strong melody lines. Highlights include the vigorous “Next,” the wistful “Midnight Detroit,” the compelling “Alone” and the moving “Another Angel Song.” With understated sophistication in words and music, Pernell Disney has assembled a batch of quality songs that deserves every serious pop-rock fan’s attention. www.pernelldisney.com

Doug Hoekstra Waiting (Paste)
This austere, home-recorded folky effort is Hoekstra’s fifth in his acclaimed discography. Occasionally complementing his basic acoustic guitar and plaintive voice approach with mellotron, melodica, church bells, sitar and so on, Hoekstra creates thoughtful scenarios that explores the gamut of the human experience. www.pastemusic.com

Kitchens & Bathrooms Vehicles Beyond (Sonic Unyon)
Math-rock, post-rock, prog-rock, jazz-rock - it’s still rock ‘n’ roll to-brrrr. To be fair, Hamilton Ontario trio Kitchens & Bathrooms is not as cold, technical and clinical as perhaps its press may imply. Passion and emotion is after all, a key ingredient in rock and if one scratches beneath the calculative veneer of songs like “First One In, Last One Out,” “Australian Council,” “The Commodity” and “Desert Prophets” there is fervor to be discovered. www.sonicunyon.com

Trapt Trapt (Warners)
Post-hardcore emo has never been more mainstream friendly than here and now - Californian band Trapt treads a fine line between overbearingly sincere grunge (Pearl Jam, Creed) and trippy space-rock (Radiohead, Coldplay), combining deftly repetitive rap-metal constructs and dumb punk tunes. With the backing of Warners, this commercially potent blend has the potential to go far and in this case, for once, that may not necessarily be a bad thing. www.wbr.com

Ed Fingerling Ed Fingerling (Olympia)
Without trivializing the talents of Ed Fingerling, one look at the sleeve of this CD will place the beholder in a ‘70s frame of mind. Classic rock is the order of the day here - T.Rex, Mott the Hoople, Peter Frampton, David Bowie, Badfinger, Raspberries and the solo Beatles can easily be discerned here. Which means that fans of that special era and its modern proponents viz. Paul Weller, Lenny Kravitz et al, will truly dig Ed Fingerling.

Jen Elliot The Secret’s Out (City Canyon)
Elliot’s muscular bluesy voice will sing its way into the hearts of lovers of AOR - comparisons with Vonda Shepherd & Sheryl Crow seem to dominate. The songs on Elliot’s debut album may not rise about the functional - meaning they serve as vehicles for Elliot’s vocal prowess and nothing more - but admirers of horn-laded rhythm & blues will enjoy tracks like “Love Crazy” and “Curse On You.” www.citycanyon.com

Flight of Mavis Flight of Mavis (Record Cellar)
Originally released in 1989 - the maiden issue of Record Cellar it seems - the eponymous flight of Mavis finally gets a CD release and well-deserved too. Coming out in a time before “alt-country” was a buzzword on critics’ lips, these fans of KISS, Cheap Trick and the Ramones translated their rock ‘n’ roll infatuations into dynamic countrified pop-rock treats. Highly recommended. www.record-cellar.com

Martin Gordon The Baboon in the Basement (Radiant Future)
Gordon is probably best known for playing bass with Sparks, not to mention playing an critical part in several glam-rock aggregations of the 70s and 80s. Gordon turns back the clock with The Baboon in the Basement and stands his own against many of the younger pretenders to the vacant glam-rock throne (eg. Suede, the Dandy Warhols). A good reference point is Todd Rundgren’s pre-Utopia work. Great fun. www.martingordon.de

All Stars I’ve Seen You All Before (American Brothers)
Finnish quintet tries its best to fulfill its mission objective of pop anarchy by pouring its diverse influences into a blender and turning it on at the highest possible speed. Doesn’t work all the time but you’ve got to admire its dogged commitment. From the pleasing pop of “Breaker of the Heart” to the epic neo-prog of “Big Dreams on the White Clouds,” All Stars demonstrate the kind of adventure and ambition that serious music listeners should pay attention to. www.americanbrothers.com

Joan Armatrading Lovers Speak (Telstar)
19 albums since 1972, singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading continues to burn brightly with her pleasing folk-jazz pop and proves that good old-fashioned song writing never quite goes out of style. Oh sure, if you’re under the age of 35, I’ll wager that you’ve never heard of Ms Armatrading. But that should not deter you from checking out Lovers Speak with its mix of pop savvy (the title track, “Waiting”), ballads (“In These Times,” “Fire and Ice”) and upbeat belters (“Love Bug,” “Tender Traps”).

The Cardigans Long Gone Before Daylight (Stockholm)
I imagine that for a band that considers it indulging in “ironic” pop presentations, to put together an album that most critics would assess as undemanding and straightforward would probably come as a rude shock. Long Gone Before Daylight, The Cardigans’ fourth album proper is slickly produced with all the notes in the right place but unfortunately that merely leaves you with a competent ABBA-type album. Gone are the chamber pop, hard rock and electronica elements that enlivened previous works and whilst the band may strive hard to be relevant, what we’re actually left with is MOR. Unless you’re a rabid fan, you may want to give this a miss.

Townhall The New Song (Townhall Music)
The fact that all five members of Townhall are jazz majors will probably give you goosebumps but fret not fusion phobics, Townhall is more Bob Marley than Chick Corea, which gives its fundamentally jazz/funk method a distinctive flavour. Still, you cannot escape the tepid stench of polished professionalism that often signals a dearth of spontaneous creativity and excitement. It’s certainly well put together, if that’s what you look for in your music. www.townhallmusic.com

Jane Close Up and Real (Tomboy)
There are many positives to take away from Jane’s album and definitely, it would not be too out of place in the company of Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow or Jewel. Jane writes competent mainstream pop songs - mainly ballads and upbeat R&B-inflected numbers, which she delivers with aplomb. Unfortunately, it’s all by-the-numbers, without any sense of artistic verve to suggest that Jane is aiming any higher than wanting to be the next Mel C. Sad. www.janemusic.info

David Clement Your Free Gift (Show Dog Tunes)
Yet another victim of major label abuse, Clement elected to re-record the songs on his lost sophomore album and re-present them as Your Free Gift. Another instance of the major’s loss being the indie-pop’s gain. Although, to be frank, it’s difficult to see where Clement’s quirky angular guitar pop fits in with the mainstream scheme of things. Melodies need work but to his credit, Clement seldom, if ever, repeats himself. At its best, Your Free Gift is hypnotic and enthralling and at worst, indulgent and obscure. Either way, worth checking out. www.davidclement.com

Mercury Boy Get It Goin’ (Jafzi)
Can’t decide whether Mecury Boy wants to be Gary Numan, Marilyn Manson or David Bowie - as he puts on the make-up for the sci-fi themed cover concept. Whatever, the music is as close to early 70s glam-rock as one can possibly get, and if that is your cup of tea… www.jafzi.com

Jericho WhiskeyHandshake (The Factory Rock Productions)
Honest-to-goodness country-folk-rock-blues always gets a good reception in my neck of the woods. Jericho comes understated and in their tees and Bermudas but delivering rustic roots-rock which fans of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and the Band will simply adore. www.thefactoryrock.com

Man From Fiery Hill Magazine Theft Yeah (Self-released)
Ah, now for something totally different…Man From Fiery Hill indulges in cross hatching styles, moving from fragile balladry to crunchy rockers within the same breath. In many ways, you can describe this as progressive rock although accessibility will always present itself as a problem. www.manfromfieryhill.com

And on that note, I take my leave…

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