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Bands On the Verge
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Written by Jedd Ferris
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Monday, 23 July 2007 |
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 THE NEXT DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
Stop looking in Nashville: The next incarnation of Gillian Welch is hiding out in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Central Virginia. Jan Smith pens emotional songs of the southern landscape and simple life of local folks from her home base in the rural outskirts of Charlottesville. Smith’s first memory of bluegrass involves getting spanked by her father when she was four; she was caught sneaking away from the family campsite at Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom
Bluegrass Festival. “I was supposed to be taking a nap,” Smith says. “Who can say whether I was drawn to the music. or to the sheer energy of the festival itself?” She delivers her stark front-porch stories behind pure string sounds through a voice that’s antiquely stunning with modern hues. On her Landslide Records debut, 29 Dances, Smith proves it’s all there for her to become an Americana mainstay, especially as the ageless conviction of her tunes molds so well with the backing support of some of Music City’s best pickers, including Mark Fain (Ricky Skaggs) and Byron House (Sam Bush), who polish the disc in all the right places. “I work out emotions and try to make sense of experiences through songwriting,” she says. It’s only a matter of time before she’s invited down from the mountain to become a modern-day Opry darling. www.honeybirdmusic.com
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 July 2007 )
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Written by Jeff Tamarkin
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Monday, 23 July 2007 |
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 CRUNK/SURF OR FUNKY JAZZ?
You’d think that a band with Hari Honzu’s improvisational skills would be eager to align with the
jamband scene. Uh-uh. Although the all-instrumental (for now) quartet displays skills most jambands would envy, saxist Jonathan Rossman says, “Once there’s a scene to join, you’ve missed the boat. It’s either happening or it ain’t.” It’s been happening for Hari Honzu since Rossman—who takes most of the lead solos—and drummer David Christian met bassist Eivind Opsvik, who then brought in guitarist Aaron “Jag” Jennings. The band’s hypnotic, cascading excursions owe to a litany of funky-jazzy (or crunk/surf, as their MySpace page describes it) influences ranging from free-jazz titan Ornette Coleman (“a mentor to me,” says Rossman) to Talking Heads, and they’ve already killed at New York clubs like Nublu and Zebulon, as well as the Guggenheim Museum. The band plans to release a new EP of original music every couple of months. As for its curious name, Christian explains: “One night when Jag lost his cool he threatened to pull out his Hari Honzu... and there it was.” And there it is. www.myspace.com/harihonzu
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Written by Maureen Palli
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Monday, 23 July 2007 |
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 SIDE OF HUMOR INCLUDED
“We’re a group of friends who came together and had a creative explosion,” says Tylan Greenstein of the folk-pop trio Girlyman. Greenstein, Nate Borofsky and Doris Muramatsu share songwriting duties and trade lead vocals while playing an array of instruments including acoustic guitar, banjo, djembe drum, mandolin and baritone guitar. With Joyful Sign, the band’s third release, Girlyman set out to capture its live energy. “It was intentionally recorded in less than a week to get really raw performances,” says Greenstein. Onstage, they deliver gorgeous harmonies and their own brand of humor. Performances often include comedic covers, such as Chip Taylor’s “Wild Thing” sung backwards or “Rock Me Amadeus” (Falco) in German. Between songs there’s an endearing banter among the three friends who have shared living quarters, as well as the stage, for six years. Says Greenstein, “That’s really how we are in our everyday lives. We’re cracking each other up all the time.” www.girlyman.com
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Last Updated ( Monday, 23 July 2007 )
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Written by Joy Bashew Rosenberg
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Monday, 23 July 2007 |
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 A NEW TYPE OF FEVER
Blue Turtle Seduction formed in 2001 when some camp counselors began jamming in the California Sierras. “Needless to say, law school got diverted,” says violin and mandolin player Christian Zupancic, who with Glenn Stewart (harp and pan flute), Adam Navone (drums), and brothers Jay and Stephen Seals (guitar, bass) recorded Deep Sea Rodeo. In 2006 the Turtles played 225 shows west of the Mississippi River, but now take their Eastern European and reggae-influenced turbo-fiddle rock ‘n’ roll nationwide, interspersing joyous live performances with a “hodgepodge of covers”—Steely Dan, R. Kelly and Manu Chao, as well as a rare “Eye of the Tiger.” Covers like these provide a “funny liberation” for the audience, says Zupancic. He recalls a man who suddenly launched into ballerina twirls after having remained stoic for an entire set, and notes that “the best part is looking out and seeing people who are seized by the fever.” www.blueturtleseduction.com
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Written by David Eduardo
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Monday, 23 July 2007 |
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 ORCHESTRAL GENRE DEMOLISHERS
Athens, GA-based Dark Meat 5 would be a swell power trio. And maybe Gremlins would have been an all right movie if they never spilled water on Gizmo or fed the surly offspring after midnight. Thankfully, Spielberg allowed the rules for handling the vermin to be broken, and thankfully Jim McHugh and his compatriots refuse to be a standard rock outfit. Instead they create a rock spectacle offering equal parts avant-garde blues and trippy orchestral gimmickry. Seek out the debut, Universal Indians (Orange Twin Records), for further evidence of the calamity and righteousness 23 musicians bring to the table. Or, catch the well-traveled band (touring as a 14-piece) in your town. “We operate on the same scale that I think any band does, just maybe with more inherent grandiosity because of all the different energies that are in the room at any given time,” says McHugh. Dark Meat performed (albeit as a last-minute replacement) at this year’s SXSW Music Conference and now you’re reading about them in Relix. So, how do they feel about becoming a jamband? “I would say that attitudinally we’re there—sonically, I don’t think so,” admits McHugh, adding with a chuckle, “We actively demolish genres.” www.myspace.com/darkmeats
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Written by Nancy Dunham
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Thursday, 21 June 2007 |
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 FEMME FATALES
It all started when a bear and a valentine caught each other’s eyes at a costume party. So says Kristen Allen-Zito,one quarter of the all-female band The Trucks, a techno-pop/indie-rock band. The two female friends became four and soon were making music together in slumber-party settings. “Things just happen,” says Allen-Zito. “When we met, it was such a creative clicking. Music is something you should do if it’s fun and feels good. It does, so we do.”No question The Trucks have fun, as evidenced by their catchy tunes, funky costumes (think fishnets and tampons) and school-girl charm. But it’s their bold, sassy lyrics that set them apart, delivered as if confiding in kindred spirits.“Every once in a while when we’re onstage, we look around and start laughing and say ‘Oh my God. We’re a realband,’” says Allen-Zito. www.trucks.net
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