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Jim White

Drill a Hole In That Substrate and Tell Me What You See (Luaka Bop) - May 4, 2004

Wow, what a surprise and what an introduction! I wasn’t expecting this disc to get tossed over my transom, and didn’t know what to make of the spare package it was in, but once it started playing, I was hooked.

Mike Doughty

Rockity Roll EP (SuperSpecialQuestions) - 2003

I liked Soul Coughing, Mike Doughty’s former band, a lot but there was something that seemed to keep me from full-on embracing the band. It wasn’t the trip-hop sound of M. Doughty’s freestyle singing, and after the success of the college radio breakthrough “Circles” (from “El Oso”), it wasn’t a lack of hooks. But still, something about Soul Coughing kept the listener at arm’s length.

On last year’s e.p. “Rockity Roll”, Doughty seems to be saying, “Come on in. Would you like some chips and a beer?”, because songs like “Ways + Means”, “40 Grand In The Hole” and “ Ossining ”, while not abandoning the bounce in his vocal approach, does employ it with friendlier emphasis. And especially on “Ways + Means”, his voice is fantastic.

The trick here is that the disc, in all six-song glory, is thoroughly Doughty, having sung, played, written and recorded everything. My sincere admiration goes to everyone who can do it all and make it sound like “music” as opposed to “experiments”. He’s currently readying a new album while label shopping and putting together a band for touring, and it might be worth your while to catch the man live, where he’s really in his element. But an excellent primer for the next wave is this tasty mini-release and it is highly recommended.

www.superspecialquestions.com

No-Man

Together We're Stranger (Snapper / K-Scope) - 2004

Before (and during!) the rise of his band Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson was/is the partner of Tim Bowness’ duo No-Man. The group is pretty well connected in the UK, meaning of course that it is fairly obscure here in the US, and judging from their most recent “Together We’re Stranger”, I can see why.

Charting the collapse and demise of a relationship, the disc is an almost continuous song cycle of an ambient-sounding stripe. It asks a lot of the listener, as many songs are long, supporting a continuous tempo and pieces in earlier tracks receive payoff in later ones. In short, taking the recording apart for mass consumption is impossible and most people just won’t go that distance no matter how moody and melodic the sound is.

And it is both moody and melodic. No-Man has created a sad, brooding album, but beautifully so. “Photographs In Black and White” puts everyone in that uncomfortable hotseat where lost love is presented in static, isolated glory and all you can do is stare at it and remember. Still feels wonderful and, at the same time, it’s still a million miles away… And that’s the winning combination of Steven Wilson’s music and Tim Bowness’ singing. It’s a combination of uneasy and unbelievably gorgeous, sometimes infuriating but never furious.

And for all of that, this is not a disc for immature ears. Call it techno-pop for grown-ups if you must, but I believe those receptive to such a combination will eat “Together We’re Strangers” up and feel satisfied long afterward.

www.snappermusic.com

Dreadnaught

Musica En Flagrante (Big Balloon Music) - 2004

Strange, strange people have come together to produce jazzy, crazy instrumental music with titles like “Are Your Pants Down?”, “Pull Your Pants Down”, “Fanfare For A Losing Team” and “Royal Jelly”. Comparisons have been drawn between Dreadnaught and Yes and Zappa, and I can see some of that. For instance, guitar lines do give you a feel of Steve Howe’s elegant picking. There’s a thread of keyboard-driven vibes that goes off into St. Frank’s Pancake Breakfast territory, but to lock the band into the territory of the wannabees is unfair.

I won’t call this prog rock as some have, and I won’t call it bonzo-jazz as others have, so I guess the best way to describe Drednaught is to call it Dreadnaught music. I know it doesn’t help you, the reader, looking for something to hang on to, but there isn’t anything I can easily attach to “Musica En Flagrante” that will clarify what they are… Maybe “fun”? Perhaps “unconventional”? Certainly uncommercial, but if you were expecting an album ruminating “destiny” and “reality” and “My DREAM” in capital letters, you’re in the wrong place. This is the one you’ll love and, at the same time, confuse the hell out of your friends with.

www.dreadnaughtrock.com

50 Foot Wave

50 Foot Wave EP (Throwing Music) - May 25, 2004

It’s an ambitious idea: instead of releasing a full-length album every year or so, release a string of five or six song e.p.s, strike while things are hot and keep the audience on your side. Well, that’s the plan from former Throwing Muses lead Kristin Hersh, presented here with new band 50 Foot Wave. I only wish the results were more compelling.

‘Cause, you see, I loved the Pixies. Frank Black Francis Whatever and Co. made surf rock for kids too hip to hit the boards, and hard rock for shorthairs. But when the fire started to die out and the feud between the robust leader of the band and Kim Deal sparked up, Black (Charles Thompson) called it a day, leaving a fond memory and a legion of fans who wanted more.

That 50 Foot Wave seems to want to recapture the surf-anarchy of the Pixies is admirable but ill-advised. For one thing, the Pixies were subversive as all get-out, mixing the smart with the smart-assed, the stream-of-conscious with the sometimes unconscionable… But 50 Foot Wave just sounds angry. I mean, if you’re looking for energetic, snarky high voltage pop/rock, they do fit the bill on paper. However, I’d sooner send someone looking for such a combination to the Yeah,Yeah,Yeahs.

So for execution and sheer energy, 50 Foot Wave gets good marks, but they don’t get what made their closest influence so memorable. Maybe next time?

www.50footwave.com