Charlotte Walton

Friday, Mar 21, 2003 10:30 PM UTC

Crooked Fingers: “Red Devil Dawn”

Crooked Fingers, aka Eric Bachmann (Archers of Loaf), stuns fans with more baroque melancholy on his latest CD.

By Charlotte Walton

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Crooked Fingers is the solo project of Eric Bachmann, who as frontman for the now defunct indie rock band Archers of Loaf recorded angst-driven noise pop throughout the ’90s. The dark, intimate ballads of Crooked Fingers’ 2000 debut found Bachman going in a new direction, expressing a quiet grace that took many Archers fans by surprise.

Crooked Fingers’ latest, “Red Devil Dawn,” is another stunning collection of baroque melancholy and poignant complexity. “There ain’t no easy way to lose/ The heart you call your home,” Bachmann sings on “Don’t Say a Word,” his deep, raspy croon falling somewhere between Neil Diamond and Tom Waits.

Adding horns and string arrangements to some songs, such as the standout “Sweet Marie,” Bachmann occasionally creates a cheerful energy that makes you wonder if somehow a glimmer of hope shines through all the despair. However, a quick scan of the lyrics reaffirms that he is writing exclusively about broken hearts and loneliness.

Links:
“Red Devil Dawn” is out now on Merge Records.
Artist’s Web site: crookedfingers.com.

Audio:

Friday, Oct 25, 2002 4:54 PM UTC

Ivy: “Guestroom”

New York's Ivy play Steely Dan, Serge Gainsbourg, the Cure and others on this collection of cool, melodic pop tune remakes.

By Charlotte Walton

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Ivy
“Guestroom”
Out now on Minty Fresh

Multi-instrumentalists Andy Chase and Adam Schlesinger (the latter garnered an Academy Award nomination for best original song for the 1996 Tom Hanks flick “That Thing You Do!”) first got together in 1994 to record a four-song tape, but they were missing a vocalist. They convinced native Parisian Dominique Durand to sing — her sultry voice perfectly complements Chase and Schlesinger’s sweet, polished melodies — even though she had never performed before.

Their fourth full-length release as Ivy is “Guestroom.” It features 10 remakes from a wide spectrum of pop tunes and reveals some of the bands’ many sources of inspiration. Steely Dan’s “Only a Food Would Say That” and Serge Gainsbourg’s “L’Anamour” appear next to “I Don’t Know Why I Love You” by House of Love and Papas Fritas’ “Say Goodbye.” Ivy’s reinterpretations, while reverent, remain true to the band’s own quintessentially cool, melodic pop sound.

The album opens with a trippy, techno-tinged spin on the Cure’s “Let’s Go to Bed,” chosen because of its catchy bass line, one that Schlesinger would frequently jam on during rehearsals. Another highlight is their version of the Ronettes’ classic hit “Be My Baby,” which finds Ivy slowing down the Phil Spector melody, creating a lush, pulsing ballad with Durand’s taunting, ethereal vocals floating over an electronic soundscape .

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Friday, Oct 4, 2002 6:18 PM UTC

Music preview: Asylum Street Spankers

Making musical references that are all over the map, the Spankers sing clever and wickedly funny lyrics about things the band members love: sex, drugs and music.

By Charlotte Walton

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Asylum Street Spankers
“My Favorite Record”
Out now on Bloodshot Records

The Asylum Street Spankers were founded in 1994 at a party in Llano, Texas, as a band of three musicians interested in writing and playing 1930s jazz and blues songs. Soon after they added half a dozen more players and by now are Austin’s contemporary vaudeville act, often with up to 12 people onstage, making musical references all over the map — from cool jazz, swing, waltz to country, folk and even rock — with a distinctly down-home arsenal of instruments including harmonica, ukulele, school bell, washboard and musical saw.

The Spankers have mesmerized crowds with their all-acoustic live shows across the country. Much like the 1930s music they adore, the Spankers’ songs are rich with sweet melodies that carry clever and wickedly funny lyrics about things the band members love: sex, drugs and music. Their performances typically feature raunchy blues songs such as Lil Johnson’s “(Get ‘Em From the Peanut Man) Hot Nuts,” a stoner reinterpretation of Tex William’s “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette” and some side-splitting originals such as “The Scrotum Song,” “Startin’ to Hate Country” and “Winning the War on Drugs.”

“My Favorite Record” is the band’s eighth release, as usual with a slightly different cast than on previous records — down the road about 30 different musicians have been part of the Asylum Street Spankers. Despite its ever changing formations, the band keeps playing, continually high on American roots music.

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Thursday, Sep 19, 2002 5:03 PM UTC

Music preview: Hot Club of Cowtown

On their lastest CD, "Ghost Train," the Hot Clubbers play impeccable Western swing and early string jazz tunes that rocked American dance halls in the 1930s. Listen in.

By Charlotte Walton

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Hot Club of Cowtown
“Ghost Train”
Out now on HighTone Records

“Ghost Train” is the fourth album by the Austin, Texas, trio of Whit Smith, Elana Fremerman and Jake Irwin, aka the Hot Club of Cowtown. The band’s name pays homage to violinist Stephane Grappelli and guitarist Django Reinhardt’s influential 1930s swing string band, the Hot Club of France. At the time, and in that context, “hot” indicated a cutting-edge improvisational style of dance music.

The Hot Club of Cowtown plays interpretations of Western swing, early string jazz, and Tin Pan Alley tunes — and they sound authentic enough to fool listeners into thinking they are stomping their feet to a long-lost recording of genre greats Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, Joe Venuti, or Stuff Smith. The Hot Club’s first record, “Swingin’ Stampede” (1998) was, in fact, a collection of the high-energy swing popularized in the 1930s by the likes of Wills, Spade Cooley, and the Light Crust Doughboys.

However, the Hot Club’s continued exploration of American roots music has enabled them to evolve into something more than a cover band. Of the 12 songs on “Ghost Train,” seven are the band’s own compositions, including the toe-tappin’ “Forget-Me-Nots” and “Secret of Mine,” sung by Fremerman, and “Paradise With You,” which features an ever so sweet vocal and guitar performance by Smith. Still, some remakes remain, if unusual ones: Aerosmith’s “Chip Away the Stone” is delicately arranged to sound like a dreamy ballad reminiscent of the Roy Rogers-led Western harmony legends Sons of the Pioneers.

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