Short Attention Span Record Reviews, May 23 Vol. II

CLARK – Sus Dog
A glitchy EDM album that’s more Radiohead than David Guetta, and not only because Thom Yorke is on it. (7)

BRANDY CLARK – Brandy Clark
Fourth solo album by country songwriter to the stars, includes a couple of real gems like “Ain’t Enough Rocks”. (8)

ELEGANT WEAPONS – Horns For A Halo
Superb metal supergroup put together by Richie Faulkner (Judas Priest) and featuring Scott Travis, Rex Brown, and Ronnie Romero tips the hat to 80’s non-Priest classic hard rock/metal – songs like “Do Or Die” might as well be retitled to “Do Or Dio”. (8)

ROBERT ELLIS – Yesterday’s News
This is so weird, back in 2016 this guy had again released an album on the same day as Paul Simon with the two albums blending seamlessly when played back-to-back, and the same thing happens now – “Yesterday’s News” is like a younger Paul Simon rooted more in country than in folk, and it’s sparsely orchestrated like “Seven Psalms”. (7)

GHOST – Phantomime
The between-albums EP is becoming a tradition for Tobias and this one is just cover songs, featuring a provocative mix of tracks originally by Television, Genesis, Stranglers, Iron Maiden, and Tina Turner (good timing). Great, as expected. (8)

ARLO PARKS – My Soft Machine
More textured than her wonderful bedroom pop debut a couple of years ago, adding a few “rock” bits into the mix (the grungy climax of “Devotion”, Phoebe Bridgers guesting on “Pegasus”), and again quite poetic, this sophomore effort will establish her as one of the most interesting voices of her generation. (8)

PAUL SIMON – Seven Psalms
A suite consisting of seven beautiful, chilling, sparsely orchestrated songs evoking spiritual imagery. A worthy addition to the catalog on one of the world’s greatest songwriters. (8)

COLIN STETSON – When We Were That What Wept For The Sea
If you thought you had a general idea of what one saxophone can do, well, think again. Another haunting, beautiful, scary masterpiece from Stetson and his amazing circular breathing technique. (8)

SBT – Joan Of All
Laura Marling does Lou Reed, or vice versa. And it’s a grower, you really start getting it on the 4th or 5th listen. (8)

MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES – Altitude
Wow. A revelation. Who would’ve thought that a 65-year-old country veteran who used to be in Johnny Cash’s band would come up with such a fantastic Byrds-influenced country rock album in 2023? (8)

TINARIWEN – Amatssou
By now they’re like Iron Maiden – they’ve been around since the late 70’s, they’re the biggest act in their genre (the Tuareg peoples’ assouf, known in the West as “desert blues”), they've released quite a few masterpieces, they're now dependable but predictable. (7)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, May 23

THE LOUDER STUFF

BLOOD CEREMONY – The Old Ways Remain
In retrospect it looks ridiculous that these guys were once grouped together with Ghost under the same “occult rock” umbrella, since they’re very different animals: Despite influences Ghost are very much a “today” band, whereas Blood Ceremony are firmly rooted in 1970 with a folk-rock streak that keeps getting stronger with each album and reaching its peak on this one. (8)

DANAVA – Nothing But Nothing
I remember being very impressed by an album from these guys maybe 15 years ago, then I lost track of them. But out of nowhere comes this gem, landing somewhere between early Riot and DiAnno-era Maiden and kicking all sorts of ass. (8)

DROPKICK MURPHYS – Okemah Rising
A sequel to last year’s “This Machine Kills Fascists”, recorded at the same time and without co-vocalist Al Barr due for family reasons: The Murphys mainly use unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics and build rowdy acoustic songs around them, and they also do a new acoustic version of their biggest hit “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”, a Guthrie original. Another track features the Violent Femmes. Fun! (8)

ENFORCED – War Remains
Thrashy death metal from this bunch that does a great job of raiding Slayer’s cabinet of leftover riffs. It’ll make you headbang until your brain comes out of your ears. (7)

GRAVE PLEASURES – Plagueboys
A bit of Killing Joke, a bit of Joy Division, a bit of Sisters, a bit of Bunnymen. Nothing original here but if you miss (or missed) the post-punk/new wave 80’s you’ll have a great time. (8)

DAVE LOMBARDO – Rites Of Percussion
Slayer etc. legend releases his first pure drum/percussion album demonstrating his virtuosity in a myriad different genres and managing not to be as boring as a 35-minute-long drum solo. (7)


THE OTHER STUFF

RODNEY CROWELL – The Chicago Sessions
Another excellent album from this somewhat underrated Americana/country stalwart, produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and featuring a couple of deep dives into the 70’s – “You’re Supposed To Be Feeling Good”, a Crowell composition recorded by Emmylou Harris back in 1977, and a great cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “No Place To Fall”. (8)

OLIVIA JEAN – Raving Ghost
Just because she’s Jack White’s wife doesn’t mean you should discount “Raving Ghost” – it’s a fantastic garage/rockabilly/surf/power-pop record with a backing band featuring members of Jellyfish, My Morning Jacket etc. and, actually, it’s the closest you’re gonna get to White Stripes riffage in 2023. Oh, and her cover of Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” is a scream! (8)

RICKIE LEE JONES – Pieces of Treasure
She’s always been more jazz than pop or anything else, but this is the first time she dedicates an album to the Great American Songbook, reuniting with the guy who produced her first two albums in 1979-1981. You know these songs from Sinatra, Chet Baker, Nat King Cole, Ella and Louis, Sarah Vaughan and others and those are some very scary comparisons, but Jones is so good she gets away with it. (8)

THE LEMON TWIGS – Everything Harmony
They’ve been on the Geek’s radar for a while now, and their previous album almost made The List, but this time they fucking nail it – 1967 Beach Boys, 1972 Big Star, and 1993 Jellyfish seamlessly merge into something totally 2024. (8)

PARKER MILLSAP – Wilderness Within You
Another slight move away from his trademark bluesy Americana towards a more experimental sound with elements of pop, electronica, even krautrock thrown into the mix, it works more often than not. (7)

CIAN NUGENT – She Brings Me Back To The Land Of The Living
Irish guitar hero (think Steve Gunn/Ryley Walker, not Steve Vai/Yngwie Malmsteen) releases breezy, summery country-tinged album. Right on time. (8)

OTIS TAYLOR – Banjo
Taylor plays the blues like no other – his music is repetitive, trance-like almost, and his lyrics are political but often touched by the surreal or the cryptic. It’s not for everyone but I love it. (8)

Nina Nastasia, L' Archipel, Paris, 28/4

Free afternoon in Paris, by myself, after a couple of days' hard work. What to do? Let's check the concert listings.

Hey! Nina Nastasia's in town for an acoustic set, she released a fantastic and devastating album last year, "Riderless Horse", which was probably my 6th favorite album for 2022. The venue, L'Archipel, is 3-4 kilometers from my hotel, it's a nice evening for a walk, despite what you see on the news there's no trouble on the streets of Paris, let's take a stroll and check it out, maybe they've got tickets available.

Yes, they do. L' Archipel is a combination art cinema/folk club with rows of movie theater-type seats and a capacity of approximately 150. Nice, clean, civilized. Smallish stage, decent lights. I'm actually one of the first people in, I take a look at the merch (a couple of old Nastasia albums on CD, her latest one on vinyl, a book, a few T-shirts only small sizes, and an album by someone called Bobbie - apparently there's a support act on the bill), I get a whisky from the bar and grab a seat on the second row.

Interesting crowd. The front row is occupied by a bunch of ageing rockers, rock journo/industry lifer types with ponytails and sideburns, probably from Rock & Folk or Les Inrockuptibles or something. They dress better than their Greek counterparts. The rows behind me gradually fill up mostly with civilians, you know, normal people: Young couples and small groups of people mainly in their 30's. I get the weird row, of course: A woman comes and sits to my right and promptly proceeds to take a big fat 800-page book from her handbag and just sits there reading, while to my left sit four ladies, I shouldn't call them "older" as they're probably around my age, but with their clothes and jewelry and hairdos they look VERY out of place, like they were planning to go to a luxury hotel at Champs-Elysées for afternoon tea and got lost. But they seem to be enjoying themselves, so who am I to judge?

Bobbie, the support act, hits the stage. Pretty blonde girl in a mini skirt and go-go boots and playing an acoustic guitar, she's straight out of central casting for a movie about a Parisian folk club in the 60's. Her songs are simple, innocent, a bit naive, and they'd probably work better as pop songs with a full band behind her than with just a guitar. But she does have a very good voice, and the audience gives her a warm and polite applause - with the exception of the four out-of-place ladies next to me who are much more enthusiastic and take tons of pictures which they immediately share from their phones, thus solving the mystery of what the fuck they're doing here: Obviously Bobbie's mum and aunties or mum's friends.

After a brief interval, Nina Nastasia takes the stage. She looks well, something I'm happy about given the circumstances that led to the creation of her last album. She is a commanding presence on stage too - she starts a capella with a folk song about suicide, and I swear you could hear a pin drop in the back of the room, nobody in the crowd dares make a sound or be disruptive before erupting into applause as the song fades, setting the pattern for the rest of the evening. She then picks up her guitar and proceeds to play essentially "Riderless Horse" in full, plain, bare, warts and all. Her banter between songs is light and pleasant and occasionally funny even, which is a blessing given the darkness of the material sung, but when she sings she transforms into a force of nature, an ancient sorceress commanding the elements, and she gives you goosebumps even if you don't know the backstory. Even Bobbie's mum looks shaken.

Her encore consists mainly of acoustic versions of older material and is well received, even though it lacks a bit of the emotional punch of her main set. But overall the show is a triumph, Paris loves Nastasia and she gives love back. She hangs out at the bar after the show chatting to the industry types and audience members, I go across and say thanks, then head out back to my hotel. Certainly a night in Paris to remember.