There’s more than a touch of the hazy, shambling sway of Sun City Girls and Velvet Underground to Maine’s Coke Weed, a late night, feelin-no-pain buzz that’s psychedelic sans the bombast and too-conscious echo-manipulation. Nope, this stuff is just stoned, which befits a debut album [Nice Dreams - released April 17] birthed in a studio in a barn at Chickadee Hill, a flower farm on Mt. Desert Island. We have no idea where this place is but we get a contact high just reading the names. Speaking of names, this band’s moniker happens to be the Impound’s favorite recreational combo (and we’re usually up for a three-way if whiskey comes along…), and their quietly brazen pill poppin’ and cruisin’ around video further marks them as our kinda people [people y'all can catch on an East Coast tour that kicked off this week - dates & details here]. We hope this song is playing on a good sound system wherever Nico currently flies.
Posts by Dirty Impound
Brokedown In Bakersfield / He's My Brother She's My Sister
04.13.12 | Great American Music Hall | San Francisco, CA
Bluntly, modern country music with very few exceptions sucks it sideways, a product-minded industry that bears almost no resemblance to what Waylon, Willie, Hank and Johnny helped bring into being. Enter West Coast all-star ensemble Brokedown In Bakersfield, a bunch of Merle Haggard lovin’ sons (and daughter) of guns that do country’s forefathers right proud. Scott Law (Telecaster guitar), Nicki Bluhm (vocals), Tim Bluhm of The Mother Hips (vocals, acoustic guitar), and ALO members Dan Lebowitz (pedal steel, dobro), Steve Adams (bass) and Dave Brogan (drums) don’t get to twang it up too often but when they do honky tonks everywhere swing happier. BIB recently paired up with He’s My Brother She’s My Sister – who are doing their part to make flamboyant folk pop an interesting new thang – and Bay Area club favorite Paula Frazier, and John Margaretten was there to ensnare the festivities with his camera. Just from the look of it this was a neat night of switched-on music making, and John’s pics make us want to explore what’s being played as soon as we can – a testament to his instincts and skill.
Rare is the band that’s better nearly 20 years into their career. Is there a soul alive that will argue the superiority of Undercover versus say Sticky Fingers? And the bands that do manage late catalog magic usually don’t make it to the 20 year mark at all, ending in a blaze before the water treading begins. However, there are grand exceptions to these generalizations and one of them – resoundingly so – is Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons. The Portland-based trio’s – an enduring contender for “Best Rock Band In America That Most People Don’t Know About” – latest effort, Happy Book (released March 20 on Response Records), is both their first double record in their 17-year tenure together AND one of the best song cycles they’ve ever produced – mature and earthy, wise and real, and charged up and just plain ol’ rockin’. It’s the work of musicians who’ve lived a good deal and come back with the skin of their experiences crammed under their nails – births and deaths, highs and lows wrestled into melodies and verse that hit their targets with expert skill. The band’s recent visit to California found them them exploring these new songs at length, and despite a songbook that stretches to 300+ tunes, the focused approach revealed an inherent range in these new numbers that was impressive and absorbing. What was also obvious is how much Jerry and the Jackmormons – JR Ruppel (bass, backing vocals) and Steve Drizos (drums, backing vocals) – are enjoying fleshing out these fresh numbers into their fully formed live incarnations. Ace shooter Susan J. Weiand brings us a glimpse into one of these Northern California nights at one of DI’s all-time favorite road houses, Moe’s Alley. The band returns to the road again in early May (dates & details here), which gives y’all plenty of time to familiarize yourselves with Happy Book, a death grip lock for the Impound’s Best Albums of 2012.
Remember when Beck used to share lollipops with sailors and talk sexy in his tricked out Hyundai? Remember when Prince used to rock a leather g-string and play punk-funk? Well, we’re picking up some of the same appealingly strange funk-i-ness from Athens, GA’s Reptar, whose Oblangle Fizz Y’all EP became a fast fave at DI HQ after our hipper chums, well, hipped us to it. Reptar’s full-length debut Body Faucet arrives next Tuesday, May 1st (on the reliably great Vagrant label). You can listen to it now in the player below, and you can pre-order the album on iTunes (with a bonus track) over here.
Do yourself a favor and peep this bangin’ live clip captured with aplomb by our Philadelphia operative Jake Krolick a couple weeks ago when they came through Philly. Such a sweet groove, such nifty psych-touched lil’ digressions, and what a cool crowd. This band clearly puts their backs into it, and that counts for a bunch in our book. We’ll have more on Reptar and their debut in the coming weeks, too, but for now, prepare to start feeling free, f-f-free, free free, f-free. Yeah!
In this edition: Dr. John, Leland Sundries, Crackerjack Highway, Chrome Cranks, Daniel Rossen, Radar Eyes, and Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad.
Style, vision, appealing tunes, an abundance of raw talent and grinning passion – Chicago’s Van Ghost possesses all these traits. Where many young acts choose to distinguish themselves with wild sonic assaults or whispery retreat, Van Ghost goes after it the old fashioned way – strong songs built with universal appeal in mind delivered with polish. While still building a core fan base, this is a band ideal for big crowds, perhaps opening for say Counting Crows or the Dave Matthews Band, and showing those well-established audiences that there are folks who still excel at the same kind of craftsmanship and showmanship. It’s easier (and safer) in 2012 to hide behind veils and fog, and it’s fun to see a band so forthrightly after everybody and anybody who will listen. It’s to be hoped a few program directors in radio still have the balls to work this band into regular rotation instead of just dutifully adding only what the mainstream industry tells them to. They can enjoy bragging rights when Van Ghost breaks big one day.
Moreover, the bones of their work are very sturdy, as evidenced by this new acoustic version of one of Van Ghost’s staples. We’ve included the electric original for comparison purposes, and be sure to download their free EP over here.
Jordan Cook aka Reignwolf is real rock ‘n’ roll hoodoo, kids. This clip – another gem shoved into our path by Steve Kennedy-Williams – makes us sweat…and immediately check to see if we’re anywhere within a hundred miles of a gig for this up & comer. Plant Reignwolf/Cook squarely in the same fertile raw blues/animal rawk field as Hanni El Khatib and Jack White. It’s a good place to be, even it seems like things get kicked over and trashed when he comes to town. Small price to pay for music this pure ‘n’ lusty.
There’s an aura of mad joy to this photo set capturing two nights at Terrapin Crossroads, the new restaurant and live music venue for Phil Lesh currently in a soft opening. Having his own clubhouse appears to be sitting well with Phil based on these two recent Phil Lesh & Friends performances featuring Lesh (bass, vocals), Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals), Larry Campbell (guitar, violin, vocals), Teresa Williams (vocals), Jeff Chimenti (keys, vocals), and Grahame Lesh (guitar, vocals). These cats were clearly AFTER IT in a big way at these gigs. Once again, Jay Blakesberg has shaped live mojo into music for our eyes.
While ticket prices have been bitch-inducing high for these intimate shows (some shows a whomping $150/ticket), it is a rare chance to see master class musicians let their hair down, and it comes with a grilled cheese sandwich at the end of the night, so that’s something. Tickets for upcoming Terrapin Crossroads shows are available here, including the reunion of “The Quintet” with Lesh, Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Rob Barraco and John Molo.
03.27 Setlist:
1st Set: Here Comes Sunshine, How Sweet It Is, Uncle John’s Band, Millenium Jam, The Eleven, Blue Sky, Brown Eyed Women, Look at Miss Ohio, Sugaree
2nd Set: Passenger, The Wheel, Chest Fever, Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks), Dark Star, Wish You Were Here, Dark Star, Unbroken Chain, Stella Blue, In The Midnight Hour
Encore: Angel Band
03.29 Setlist:
1st Set: Althea, Ship of Fools, Big Railroad Blues, Into the Mystic, Scarlet Begonias, Mountain Song, Midnight Rider
2nd Set: Shakedown Street, Playin’ in the Band, Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, This Wheels On Fire, Little Sparrow, Bird Song, Layla, Fire on the Mountain, Morning Dew, Playin’ reprise
Encore: Liberty
