Eclectic Vibes - June 2010
by Andrew Frey
Mastodon at the Orpheum in Madison, WI - photo by Clayton Dewey
21st Annual Marquette Waterfront Festival
The Waterfront Festival is one of my favorite summertime Madison festivals and this years 21st annual fills us with fun on June 12-13. As always the event shows off exciting local, national and international artists. Highlights include Chico Trujillo (Santiago, Chile) and Groupo Fantasma (Austin, TX) on Saturday while Sunday holds host to The Great Lake Swimmers (Toronto) and The Tony Allen Band (Lagos, Nigeria).
The festival is FREE, on the water and filled with friendly music loving faces.
Google them for their website, the URL is just too long.
Maximum Mastodon in the Mad City!
The Orpheum Theater made an excellent tour stop for Mastodon’s Crack The Skye tour.
Beginning with the impressive and wildly hairy “Valiant Thorr” who whipped up the energy with their slithering power rock filled with fury and fire. The vocalist was exceptionally active and motivational (especially for the first band!)
“Baroness” quivered the eardrums of all in attendance next by blasting their heavy hook ridden metal, incensed by their two lead guitarist/lead vocalists who traded riffs and vocals. The twin vocals afforded harmony vocals as well as obligatory screams, growls and grunts that at times struck me as Fugazi or Misfit-esque. Included in their set were a few sonic dirges that provided audio interludes between their erstwhile thunderous groove grinders.
“Between The Buried And Me” offered an experimental mix of metal styles and directions from Black to prog to power. Longs songs cascaded within their chosen dynamic and were structured more with a flow than a groove. As a first time listener I was overwhelmed by the complicated, rarely repeating and ever changing music, but I talked to others in the crowd who were impressed, so perhaps more listens are in order.
To be sure, the near capacity crowd was most fired up to see Mastodon, who immediately began their musical journey by playing their newest epic, a conceptual album called Crack The Skye, from beginning to end. With a somehow psychedelic edge that never abandons their awe striking roots, they metered out these progressive mixtures with grandeur and determination, unfolding new depths with every song.
After a brief set break, they came back on and played a smattering of their blistering back catalog. I left the show wiped out but well energized by the marvelous metal maelstrom that I had just witnessed and been a part of.
MICRO REVIEWS:
This Month's Rating Scale is from 1Under to 10 - Over
16 Volt - American Porn Songs
16 Volt
Album title: American Porn Songs
Record Label: Metropolis Records
Rating: 9
18 tracks of morphed, molded and renewed tonal treats packed with a revisioned glow by legendary industrial performers and winners of the 2009 American Porn Songs Remix Contest. Highly satisfactory auditory results that work on the dance floor as well as just thrashing about in your room.
(5904) Page Views
16 Volt online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download American Porn Songs from Amazon
• Purchase American Porn Songs on Amazon
Black Tusk - Taste the Sin
Black Tusk
Album title: Taste the Sin
Record Label: Relapse Records
Rating: 9
Mortar shaking monuments of powerful stoner rock seeping from the Southern swamps that disgorges and invigorates the animal instinct we all keep tucked inside. Savannah, GA has another hot ticket here!
(3607) Page Views
Black Tusk online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Taste the Sin from Amazon
• Purchase Taste the Sin on Amazon
Pierre De Gaillande - Bad Reputation
Pierre De Gaillande
Album title: Bad Reputation
Record Label: Barbes
Rating: 10
Georges Brassens was sort of a French Bob Dylan type dark pop bardic icon. Here his music and poetry is evoked, channeled and translated into English via De Gaillande’s tantalizing obsession with the silver tongued poet and musician. The simple rhythms were maintained as original as possible while being fitted for English. Thought provoking, memorable and disturbingly charming.
(3843) Page Views
Pierre De Gaillande online:
• Website
• Download Bad Reputation from Amazon
• Purchase Bad Reputation on Amazon
Feufollet - En Couleurs
Feufollet
Album title: En Couleurs
Record Label: Feufollet Records
Rating: 9
A progressive Cajun spirit permeates and immediately transports the listener to a different place. Originally a funnel for the creative talents of youthful phenoms, as time has elongated they have become a driving force instead of just a creative influence and as such they have incorporated advantageous aspects of all genres at hand.
(3454) Page Views
Feufollet online:
• Website
• Download En Couleurs from Amazon
Luisa Maita - Lero-Lero
Luisa Maita
Album title: Lero-Lero
Record Label: Cumbancha
Rating: 9
Singing in Portuguese, this sultry songstress who was born from a family of musicians in Sao Paulo and is a rising star in the Brazilian music scene, delivers a sleek samba swing injected with downtempo electronica and pop sensations.
(3512) Page Views
Luisa Maita online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Lero-Lero from Amazon
Carmen Souza - Protegid
Carmen Souza
Album title: Protegid
Record Label: Galileo Music
Rating: 9
Curiously comfortable musical flirtations conjoining the surprising influences of West Africa’s Cape Verde with contemporary vigor and vision. The lyrics may be in Creole but her dextrous vocals dance with effortless accompaniment to the jazzy rhythms spiced with Arabic, Polish, Euro and African injections.
(3180) Page Views
Carmen Souza online:
• Facebook
• Download Protegid from Amazon
• Purchase Protegid on Amazon
Uriah Heep - Celebration
Uriah Heep
Album title: Celebration
Record Label: 101 DISTRIBUTION
Rating: 6
Wow! A 70s band re-juicing some old classics while working in a few new compositions. Although good for touring, perspective and their 40 year retrospect, nothing is of pearly significance here other than perhaps a few of the original gems sparkling with today’s production values and the DVD for live performance value.
(3276) Page Views
Uriah Heep online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Purchase Celebration on Amazon
Ben Woolman - Many Moods
Ben Woolman
Album title: Many Moods
Record Label: Floating Feather Music
Rating: 8
Billed as the one of the Midwest’s leading finger-style guitarists, this Minnesotan artist lets his fingers do the talking on this 11 track instrumental overture. Some originals and a few covers.
(3293) Page Views
Ben Woolman online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Many Moods from Amazon
• Purchase Many Moods on Amazon