JENNY AND JOHNNY “I’M HAVING FUN NOW” Review

JENNY AND JOHNNY “I’M HAVING FUN NOW”
By Rick Zeigler

The lyrics on I’m Having Fun Now belie the title, as they are often dark and almost always cynical in their portrayal of relationships. The music and melodies, however, are as sweet and sticky as sugar and warm as sunshine. Combine this with the truly “duo” nature of the vocals, with Jenny and Johnny constantly trading lines and harmonizing over the beauteous melodies, and you have the year’s best power-pop confection, hands-down. Jenny is the well-known Jenny Lewis, from TV and Rilo Kiley fame, as well as the purveyor of two fine solo albums, Rabbit Fur Coat and Acid Tongue. Johnny is Johnathan Rice, less well-known but a singer songwriter in his own right. With I’m Having Fun Now, Lewis leaves behind the acoustic and country-tinged flavor of her solo work for an out-and-out pop-rock confection. Chiming, crunchy guitars and hard-charging drums keep the songs away from any hint of sappiness, while the melodies and hooks stick like cotton candy and Charms pops. While there are no duff songs, “Scissor Runner,” “Big Wave,” and “New Yorker Cartoon” are three obvious standouts, with vocals that meld as if the duo has been together for decades rather than for just a few years. In sum, I’m Having Fun Now is a sheer joy from start to finish, and an album that I just can’t stop listening to.

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TROMBONE SHORTY “BACKATOWN” Review

TROMBONE SHORTY “BACKATOWN”
By Rick Zeigler

Backatown creates a dilemma for any record store owner (or record store shopper)—where to file it? Equal parts New Orleans jazz, southern marching bands(!), soul, r & b, hip-hop, and rock, this is a release that defies easy characterization. Trombone Shorty (aka Troy Andrews) himself, defies such characterization, as he has led bands in New Orleans since the age of six, but has also played with Lenny Kravitz, Green Day, U2, and the Meters, to name just a few. Infused with loops and samples, but also firmly within the New Orleans tradition (including an appearance by the legendary Allen Toussaint on his own “On Your Way Down”), Backatown is a hip-swinging, varied treat from start to finish. Opener “Hurricane Season” starts things off with its funky jazz stylings punctuated by a stripped down middle in which Shorty takes a beautiful trumpet solo. “Something Beautiful” (with guest guitar from Lenny Kravitz) would sound perfectly placed on a classic Gladys Knight album, while the title cut is a funky trombone showcase. “Suburbia” juxtaposes heavy metal guitar riffs with rapid-fire New Orleans style hornplay, while “One Night Only” is smooth soul of the highest order. If there is one complaint, it is that the songs are too short (the longest being just under four minutes), which limits the degree to which Shorty can show off his outstanding chops.  With an album this original and varied (and outstandingly produced by Galactic’s Ben Elman), however, this is a minor quibble. With his good looks and vocal abilities, Shorty seems poised for stardom (he’s also a regular on the HBO series Treme). Backatown is the evidence that he is deserving of whatever accolades come his way.

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TRAMPLED BY TURTLES “PALOMINO” Review

TRAMPLED BY TURTLES “PALOMINO”
By Rick Zeigler

Trampled By Turtles have been around for seven years, but Palomino, their fifth album, is their first to get nationwide release. And it is a bluegrass treat. Hailing from Duluth, MN, the five members of Trampled By Turtles play bluegrass with a frenetic, crazed energy bordering on punk rock. But make no mistake, this is bluegrass music of the highest caliber. Employing the standard instrumental lineup of acoustic guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, and fiddle, the twelve cuts on Palomino (all penned by leader and lead vocalist Dave Simonett, save for the two instrumentals) cover traditional bluegrass territory of fiery instrumentals, virtuoso fast-paced vocal cuts, and downcast ballads. But the key ingredient for the band, as it is for any bluegrass group worth its salt, is the instrumental prowess of the players. In this regard, particular mention must be given to the blazing banjo work of Dave Carroll, with Ryan Young’s lightning-fast fiddle also a highlight. The disc opens with “Wait So Long,” characterized by the crazy-fast banjo of Carroll and a wild violin solo by Young in the middle. Simonett’s vocals do not try to echo the “high lonesome” sound of so many bluegrass groups, taking a more naturalistic/country approach. And while the subject matter (primarily about young or doomed relationships) will be familiar to any lover of the genre, there are phrases that reveal a more “modern” approach to material, as when Simonett sings of his lover’s “heart like a frozen freight train”. Second track, “Victory,” is a country hoe-down romp with Simonett singing mournfully of his lover that it “feels like your hands are nailed to the ground,” but also injecting that “the stars, they whisper blessings, babe, as you walk by”. “It’s A War” follows, another blazingly fast showcase for banjo, fiddle, and the mandolin stylings of Erik Berry. A change-up is thrown into the mix with “Bloodshot Eyes,” a slow, harmonica-led bluesy number, with Simonett, sounding a little like Townes Van Zandt, singing, “I’ve tried every bottle, every pill that I know/But time, baby, time, works better than wine.” The group says that most of the tracks were first takes in order to try and capture the energy of a live performance, and they have admirably succeeded in that task. Indeed, they have created one of the finest modern bluegrass recordings in recent memory. And fortunately for us, we can witness their live performance at the end of this month, as they will be playing at Birdy’s on September 30th. Hope to see you there.

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DEVO “Something For Everybody” reviewed by Rick

DEVO - “Something For Everybody”
By Rick Zeigler

Quick quiz: Name all the rock groups that you can think of that, after a critically and commercially successful career, call it quits for a VERY long period, then re-unite and put out an album of all new material that, while perhaps not equaling their previous peaks, nevertheless is an excellent addition to their canon.
This reviewer can think of only one answer: DEVO, and their new album, Something For Everybody.
Twenty years after their split, and almost forty years after their founding in 1973, the original Devo nucleus of the Mothersbaugh and Casale brothers, along with newly recruited all-star drummer Josh Freese, have returned in excellent form. With a batch of twelve songs that, while not containing anything as insanely catchy as “Whip It” or as unique as many of the songs on their first album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (e.g. the title cut, Satisfaction), Something For Everybody is a consistent pleasure from beginning to end. And true to their nature, Devo maintain their “band as brand” philosophy by having used “fan focus groups” to help select the songs, and even the mixes, presented here. Perhaps the hooky excellence of the album is attributable to the fact that Devo’s main men never really exited the music business. Gerald Casale has worked on music for commercials as well as directing music videos, while Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, as well as Bob Casale, have been heavily involved in producing music for children’s shows, most notably Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and Rugrats, as well as for movies such as those of Wes Anderson. Or perhaps it’s the excellent taste of those focus groups. Or maybe, as the group, itself, states regarding their theory of human-kind’s devolution, “The world is now in sync with Devo”. Whatever the explanation, Something For Everybody is a fine album that does not stint on the hookiness that has always been their trademark. Opener “Fresh” gets things off to a strong start with a superb bassline driving the fast tempo. Loud, cracking snare beats and other percussive “pows” dot the song, as spare lead guitar provide the verse hooks while their trademark synths provide those in the chorus. And there is even a wailing lead guitar poking its head out of the background at the end. “What We Do” comes next, with its swinging mechanized beat (a contradiction that, at their best, Devo has always been able to maintain) and vocal “Yows” punctuating this multi-part pop parfait. The song also lays out their “philosophical” credo, as they sing, “What we do/Is what we do/It’s all the same/There’s nothing new”. Punctuated with a nursery rhyme middle-eight and a call out to cheeseburgers, this is an album highlight. “Please Baby Please” has a great syncopated beat and their trademark electronic bleeps and boops, while “Don’t Shoot (I’m A Man)” is not only catchy as hell, but also contains the immortal hookline, “Don’t tase me, bro,” borrowed from the famed Youtube video of a guy being tasered during a Kerry Town Hall Forum. And that’s only the first four songs. “Later Is Now” demonstrates that Devo can still whip out a grand melody, while “No Place Like Home” has a stately piano carry the chord changes in almost orchestral fashion. While there are a couple of lulls in the songwriting (“Human Rocket,” “Later Is Now”), the overall “hit-rate” of the songs is amazingly high. And sprinkled throughout are wonderful “Devo-isms” such as, “You can’t have a painting/Without the pain”. In sum, there may be no bigger surprise in music this year than the return of Devo in fantastic form. Whether this bodes good or ill for the future of mankind (and for music), only time, and devolution, will tell.

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