Johnny's in the Basement

Music for grown-ups who remember when they weren't

Phantom limbs

September 10, 2009 – 10:41 am, by Tim Dunlop

I’ve got fifty free eMusic downloads to use — part of their make-up-for-the-mess-we-made-of-recent-price-changes strategy — and I’ve been noodling through their lists working out what to get.  I thought I’d top up some of the back-catalogue and so have been checking out the likes of Eno, Tom Verlaine, Lou Reed and co, Jefferson Starship and a bunch of other stuff.

What I’m finding is that with this older stuff, I have an overwhelming desire to own the physical album, preferably vinyl, and that downloading a bunch of files and a picture of the cover doesn’t really cut it.  I’m left empty, empty I tell you, waving my hand through the space where my leg used to be…

I’ll get over it, I guess.  Sigh.

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In the basement

September 9, 2009 – 11:18 am, by Tim Dunlop

Thought I’d run through some of the stuff I’m listening to at the moment.  That is, just a brief chat about some of the CDs I’ve got that I haven’t really heard enough of to write a proper review of yet.  Might even mention some books.  Maybe this will end up being a regular feature.  Help yourself to coffee…cupcakes are on the table next to the fridge… Read More »

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How good are The Drones?

September 8, 2009 – 10:17 am, by Tim Dunlop

CD Review
The Drones
Havilah
(ATP)
havilahdronescover

So this album came out late last year, but as this blog didn’t exist then, I couldn’t review it then.  Besides, one of the pleasures of running this site is that there is no particular imperative to confine ourselves to brand-spanking new releases.  The idea is just to talk about music and related matters and try and find some music that is worth your time and effort.  If that happens to be a brand-spanking new release, so be it.  If it doesn’t, so be that.  Anyway…

It isn’t clear from the liner notes whose idea it was, but whoever came up with the concept of dropping a chainsaw onto lead singer Gareth Liddiard’s lap while he was recording the vocal track really deserves a pat on the back. What a great way to ensure that the singer maxed out on the agony-and-pain-inflected vocals that so dominate this album.

Really.  It sounds like someone dropped a chainsaw on his lap.  But we’ll come back to the vocals. Read More »

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Hornby from on high

September 7, 2009 – 11:08 am, by Tim Dunlop

On Twitter this morning, @flopearedmule mentioned this recent piece by novelist/journalist Nick Hornby.

As much as I like Hornby’s novels, I’m not a fan of his music journalism.  I find a lot of it preachy.  He always seems to me to have a real chip on his shoulder and — in a business that is built on being as judgmental as anything — Hornby scales new heights.

Given those preconceptions, the linked piece comes as something of a pleasant surprise.  Okay, there is some hint of that chip on the shoulder in his comments about record stores, and I want to say something about that, but for the most part, the article shows a certain humbleness, the sort that comes from realising that values and practices you have held dear are not necessarily the gold standard any more.

So Hornby makes a few cracks about music stores, for instance: Read More »

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Improvisation: your brain on music

September 4, 2009 – 10:06 am, by Tim Dunlop

Alex Ross, one of my favourite music writers, has a piece in The New Yorker about the way improvisation has been used in classical music. It’s an interesting topic because improv is not something we normally associate with that form. Certainly the classical musicians (including the odd conductor) I’ve known over the years tend to get a bit dismissive when the topic comes up; it is just something they tend not to be interested in.

I’ll come back to Ross’s piece, but it reminded me of this anecdote about Wynton Marsalis, the great jazz muso, as told by journalist David Hadju (another favourite). Hadju was watching the notoriously testy musician at a gig in New York: Read More »

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Where’s the ambition, Special Patrol?

September 3, 2009 – 11:13 am, by Tim Dunlop

CD Review
Special Patrol
The Stranger’s Dozen
(MGM)
specialpatrolcover Special Patrol are an Adelaide band who have been receiving plenty of airplay for their new album, The Stranger’s Dozen, especially the single, ‘Right On.’ It’s a really high quality album that deserves success, but I can’t figure out for the life of me why in god’s name they have used the cover they have for the CD. Sometimes I think independent bands don’t want to make a living.

I mean, come on.  Why go to all the trouble of producing a collection of genuinely infectious, clever, singable, lush and gorgeous pop songs only to wrap it up in a cover that makes it look like it is a soundtrack for a Hollywood version of some weird Japanese horror movie?  If the answer is — which I suspect it is — something along the lines of we were aiming to impress the cool kids at JJJ, then I think they are underestimating the appeal and potential of the album they have come up with.

I recently used this album as an example of the sort of thing I admired but wouldn’t necessarily spend money on, but subsequent listens have changed my mind.  I’d be happy to cough up the cash for an album this good.

It’s not just that the tunes are catchy in the best traditions of pop music; there is the added bonus that they are intelligent.  The lyrics are really clever and add a whole grown-up dimension to what might otherwise be dismissed as fluff.  The opening track, ‘In Between You and Me’ includes this, which I found really poignant:

My brother Stevie, he understands me
Mother tells me to act more like Stevie
Me I’d like to be somewhere in between
In between Stevie and me

It works beautifully with the music and Myles Mayo sings it perfectly. He has a genuinely expressive voice with an interesting edge to it that nicely avoids crossing over into either cliche or novelty act (though it does sometimes hover right on that border).

The first single, ‘Right On’, is another killer track. It starts with a kids’ choir — always a risk — but they pull it off with the sort of aplomb that the Stones managed on ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’. I love the arrangement especially the way the words right on are injected into the chorus. And then I love how the choir cuts out and is replaced with some very tasteful fiddle playing towards the end. Terrific pop song.

Now, I don’t love everything about it. For instance, there is whistling on the track ‘Lights on a plane’ and I mean, just fuck off. I’m also a bit iffy about some of the backing vocals: a bit twee on occasion. Having said that, for the most part they are good, and they at least try and add actual harmonies, avoiding the usual Australia band thing of making the backing vocals sound like football chants.

Look, this album is of a standard with, say, a Ben Folds, and is around about the same speed (round about). I would really love to see them get a bit more ambitious and exhibit the sort of self-belief that is needed to crossover into the mainstream and become a big international act. The cover tells me they lack that ambition and self-belief and I think that’s a shame. This is a world-class band.

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Dead Wednesday: funeral for yourself edition

September 2, 2009 – 8:51 am, by Tim Dunlop

Someone asked me this the other day and I haven’t really been able to come up with a satisfactory answer.  So let me throw it open to the collective music knowledge of Johnny’s readers:

What music do you want played at your funeral?

jazz_band_funeral

I mean, it’s a pretty personal decision, but I’m open to suggestions…..

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For The Record: A Brief Album Retrospective by Andrew McMillen

September 1, 2009 – 9:41 am, by Tim Dunlop

andrew_augustIn a guest post on behalf of the One Movement For Music festival blog at OneMovementWord.com, Brisbane-based music writer Andrew McMillen examines the digitally-inspired shift in consumer habits away from the long-established album format.

There’s an enormous nostalgia value attached to your record collection, whether in actual LP format or CDs. Few cultural topics are as divisive and subjective as one’s music taste. The goal of this guest post is not to write off the album in its entirety; that’d be foolish and erroneous. But why is it that you fondly fondle some albums, and not others? To use a cricketing metaphor: why do some releases hit you for six, while others barely make the length of the pitch?

To elaborate on the latter example: picture the average album you’d buy from a store – perhaps not in this era, since both CD shelf space and CD merchants continue to dwindle – but ten years ago. Hypothetically, the disc is likely to be front-loaded with some great songs. They’re the ones that you’re likely to have heard before you bought the album. These strategically-placed songs are the ones that either – or both – the band and record label wanted you to hear first and enjoy first. Read More »

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Voice unlike an angel

August 31, 2009 – 11:10 am, by Tim Dunlop

CD Review
Liz Stringer
Pendulum
(one little indian enterprises)
pendulum_header Liz Stringer has a really distinctive voice that tends towards the bass-end of the scale. And although first impressions suggest it is a really strong voice, repeated listens reveal a certain vulnerability. Sometimes she sounds to me like she is struggling. Still, that isn’t necessarily a weakness in terms of performance or in what she is trying to do: these songs demand a certain vulnerability.

Here’s my constant problem in writing about music: how do I give an honest assessment of any given album without either overselling it or turning you off it without giving it a chance? You see, I think this is a very good album and I could really see how someone might fall in love with it. It’s just that I’m not one of those people.

This is an album of very high-quality, self-penned songs. It is beautifully played throughout with clever, story-telling lyrics that deal resolutely and matter-of-factly with the trials and terrors of everyday life. I also have to say that that it is great to see a bunch of emerging Australian artists, like Stringer, adding some value to the roots/folk tradition. What’s more, I bet these songs come up a treat live too.

But as I say, I don’t love it. As good as it is, I doubt I would put it on my pile of “must have” CDs. That might be a tad unfair as a standard, but hey, what other standard is there? Life’s too short and there is too much good music around to want to spend too much time on songs that don’t really float your boat. To put it another way, being great probably isn’t enough.

Having said all that, I would like to make one really big exception. The song ‘Get Myself Together’ does live up to that standard. I have, and will continue, to listen to that track over and over again.

It is so beautifully done. I love the sparseness of the arrangement, the instrumentation and the vocal. I’m listening to it as I write this and that shimmering slide guitar is making my spine hum. The harmony/backing vocals add a whole other dimension, bringing a gospel edge to the essentially blues format. Stringers lead vocal is perfect, telling the story, singing the song as if she had lived every line of it, even though, for reasons unknown, it is written from a man’s point of view. The long fade out is replete with clanging cymbals and discordant guitars, perfectly fitting the sense of unresolved anguish that is at the song’s heart. Love it.

The bottom line here is that this album is worth seeking out and giving a chance. Maybe, like me, it won’t make your “must have” pile, but I’d be really surprised if anyone regretted giving it a few listens.

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Weekend jukebox

August 28, 2009 – 2:00 pm, by Tim Dunlop

Little tribute to the Boss, I’d guess you’d call this.  Dark Daze Cafe is on a mission to sell me on Patty Griffin (mission accomplished?), so he sent me this clip of Patti doing Springsteen’s song, ‘Stolen Car’.  Of course, YouTube being YouTube, one thing led to another, including a very nice live rendition by Bruce himself, and thus we have ourselves weekend jukebox.

And this is just a Beth Orton song that happens to have the same name. But hey, Beth Orton…

The Rheostatics also have a song called ‘Stolen Car’. Yeah, the Rheostatics…

And, god help us, so does Sting. Fortunately, all the clips have disabled embedding, so you’re spared.

But somebody stole Hitler’s car

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