Category Archives: Free Download

Pat DiNizio: Buddy Holly

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patdinizio_buddyhollySmithereens’ lead singer mourns Buddy Holly

The warmth of Pat DiNizio’s voice is such a perfect fit to Buddy Holly’s “Words of Love” that it makes you feel as if you’re hearing Holly’s original and John Lennon’s cover at the same time. Taken at a slower tempo than either of these earlier versions, without the propulsive handclaps of the Beatles, and with an added string arrangement, this opening track signals the musical eulogy that fills out the rest of the eleven covers. Aside from the doo-wop a cappella closer “That’ll Be the Day,” DiNizio is supported by drums, bass, guitar and the Encore Chamber String Quartet arrangements of Charles Calello.

Holly stretched into strings at the end of his tragically shortened career, with “True Love Ways” and “Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” but DiNizio takes these ideas and aims them backwards through Holly’s catalog. The results are a great deal heavier than the pizzicato of Holly’s original “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” or the gentle accompaniment of “True Love Ways.” DiNizio’s version of the former is dominated by the storm clouds of a cello, and the latter is transformed from Holly’s lilting dream of a vocal to a low sob ornately filigreed with violins. “Listen to Me” manages to crack a smile amidst its low vocal and strings, and “Raining in My Heart” is more contemplative than distraught.

Holly’s songs have retained their effervescence, and his spirit informed the wry memories of Don McLean’s “American Pie” and inspired the chiming rock ‘n’ roll of the Smithereens. DiNizio directly displayed his affinity early on with 1989’s “Maria Elena” and subsequently with the Smithereens live version of “Well Alright,” but confronting Holly’s absence head-on seems to have made him profoundly sad. Even Calello’s powerful string arrangements can’t rescue DiNizio from his funk as he transforms Holly’s “Everyday” from a lyric of longing to a mournful ode.

Having expected a buoyant celebration of Buddy Holly’s spirit, it was difficult, at first, to adjust to the slowed tempos, brooding vocals and heavy strings. But as the fiftieth anniversary of Holly’s death passes by, and with his hopeful originals readily available on CD, DiNizio’s red-rimmed interpretations provide a moving statement of faith in the enduring importance of Buddy Holly and the emotional wallop his songs still pack to this day. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Words of Love
Pat DiNizio’s Home Page

Girl Talk: Feed the Animals

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girltalk_feedtheanimalsBrain busting mashups of pop, rock, hip-hop and rap

Even if you don’t care for dance beats and rap peppered with expletives, it’s hard not to get hooked by the craftiness with which Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis) mashes up hundreds of soft pop, classic rock, hip-hop and rap samples. Simply playing “what’s that sample” will provide hours of fun as you untangle iconic riffage from the Spencer Davis Group, Twisted Sister, Argent, Eddie Floyd, Heart, Rick Derringer, The Carpenters, Metallica, Elvis Costello, Carole King, Prince, The Velvet Underground, Chicago, ? and the Mysterians, and hundreds more, including dozens of rappers and vocalists that include Busta Rhymes, Sly & The Family Stone, The Edgar Winter Group, Roy Orbison, Salt-n-Pepa, Kurt Cobain, Rick Springfield, and Earth, Wind & Fire. The album’s divided into fourteen cuts, but it plays as one long blender ride of a record collector’s OCD all-night editing orgy. The assembled rhythm tracks align the samples into consistent dance time, but unlike a “Stars on 45” production, Girl Talk’s head-spinning collage of sound is too hyperkinetic to ever submit to the beat. Whether you’re dancing to this in a club or listening to it swirl through your headphones, this is truly as infectious as three hundred hit singles. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Here’s the Thing
Get Feed the Animals
The Full Sample List
Song-by-Song Sample Analysis

Andy Friedman & The Other Failures: Weary Things

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andyfriedman_wearythingsFolk, country, blues and recitations from the wilds of Brooklyn

The mean streets of Brooklyn, NY are host to a thriving collection of hootenannies, hoedowns, jamborees, and scattershot oprys, jugfests and birthday bashes that must leave Manhattan city folk jealous of their outerborough cousins. Third-generation Brooklynite Andy Friedman found his way to the scene by drawing ever-widening musical circles around a background in visual arts. He started with recitations of spoken word lyrics placed alongside his paintings and drawings, added layers of improvisational musical accompaniment at his live shows, and slowly transformed his work with more traditional arrangements that span folk, country rock, twangy blues and studio touches. You can still hear the self-guided evolution in singing that reveals Friedman’s narrative voice.

The title of this sophomore album, Weary Things, highlights the physical lethargy in Friedman’s singing, as well as the mental wear of yearning for feelings and times that have aged out of a grown-up’s life. He’s tired, but it’s often a good kind of tired: the tired born of life experience and coping with the curveballs thrown by the world. Friedman gazes longingly at the irresponsibility of youth and the grab-bag freedoms of a cross-country trip. He finds independence in touring but is subsumed by the road’s isolation from family, declaring the former in the electric blues shuffle “Road Trippin’” and giving in to the latter on the acoustic apologia “Road Trippin’ Daddy.” Cleverly, the lyrics of both songs are the same but the arrangement and vocal tone rewrite their meaning.

Friedman’s self-discovery offers a matured version of Jonathan Richman’s childlike wonder. He’s humorous without being jokey, arch without being ironic, like writer Nicholson Baker without the OCD. Well, mostly without the OCD, as the encyclopedic eulogy for his home base, Freddy’s Backroom, stretches to eight-minutes of barstool detail. He writes philosophically of his background as a painter, and like many of the Brooklyn hillbillies, paints against the backdrop of their urban milieu. He’s sufficiently self-assured to pierce his own hipness with the overly dramatic aside, “Hello young loners, wherever you are,” and closes the album a rousing take of “The Friedman Holler” recorded live in Chicago. Friedman’s sentimental, tough, sloppy, resilient, irascible, capricious and pragmatic, but most of all he’s honest, and that honesty is the fuel of country songwriting whether it’s ignited in the hills of Appalachians or the heights of Brooklyn. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Idaho
Andy Friedman’s Home Page
Brooklyn Country Home Page

BeauSoleil: Alligator Purse

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beausoleil_alligatorpurseFine program of traditional and contemporary Cajun music

Formed in the mid-70s as a platform for Louisiana fiddler Michael Doucet’s appreciation of his native Cajun musical traditions, BeauSoleil has become an integral part of the history it sought to provide popular resuscitation. More importantly, by interweaving Cajun, zydeco, country, blues, jazz, and other sounds, BeauSoleil not only sparked renewed interest in Southern Louisianan sounds, but moved beyond simple preservation (to the consternation of some critics) to innovation. Doucet’s early studies in the UK and France provided exposure to the genre’s classic songs, the music’s European roots, and the techniques of seminal players. As the lessons were internalized the group has more freely inflected the classics with new flavors and drawn non-Cajun material into the fold. The group’s latest (their 29th release!) includes collaborations with Natalie Merchant, Garth Hudson, John Sebastian and others.

Doucet comes out blazing on the instrumental “Reel Cajun (451 N. St. Joseph),” nearly sawing his fiddle in half as he pays tribute to Dennis McGee. Second line drumming provides an apt rhythm for the French translation of Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ & Tumblin’,” rendered here as “Rouler et Tourner.” Julie Miller’s “Little Darlin’,” which originally appeared as a duet with her husband Buddy Miller on 2004’s Love Snuck Up, has its backwoods country twang taken upbeat by Doucet and Natalie Merchant. Cooling down with the New Orleans stroll of “Marie” (supplemented by Andy Stein’s superb sax solo) you start to feel this disc is sequenced as an evening’s dance program. The band combines classic fiddle and accordion lines with the more contemporary sound of a flat-picked guitar on the waltz-time “Valse á BeauSoleil,” and gives dancers a chance to promenade with “Bosco Stomp.”

The mid-30’s ballad “La Chanson de Théogène Dubois” is transformed with a Latin beat into “Théogène Creole,” with the flat-picked acoustic guitar, accordion and fiddle each taking a spin in the spotlight. The group also works its magic on Bobby Charles’ “I Spent All My Money Loving You,” retaining the song’s original Memphis soul with drums and organ, but adding Cajun flavors with accordion and a French translation of the verses. J.J. Cale’s skiffle-blues “The Problem” gets a more straight-up treatment, with the original’s shuffle beat emphasized in all of the instruments. Cale’s lyrics of empty-headed leaders and passive followers was a potent indictment of Bush’s failed administration, and remains a stirring call-to-arms. Amédé Ardoin’s classic “Valse á Thomas Ardoin” offers a last call from the accordion and a fitting close to BeauSoleil’s Cajun prom. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Little Darlin’
BeauSoleil’s Home Page
BeauSoleil’s Yep Roc Page

On Tour: Guggenheim Grotto

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Irish folk-pop duo tours the U.S. in support of their CD Happy the Man.

MP3 | Fee Da Da Dee

January 10    EASTON, MD           Coffee East
January 11    CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA  Gravity Lounge
January 13    PHILADELPHIA, PA     World Café Live (upstairs)
January 14    NEW YORK, NY         The Living Room
January 15    BOSTON, MA           The Lizard Lounge
January 17    DOYLESTOWN, PA       The Puck
January 20    PHILADELPHIA, PA     World Café Live (upstairs)
January 21    NEW YORK, NY         The Living Room
January 23    PARK CITY, UT        Sundance / ASCAP Cafe
January 25    LARCHMONT, NY        Watercolor Café
January 27    PHILADELPHIA, PA     World Café Live (upstairs)
January 28    NEW YORK, NY         The Living Room
January 29    BOSTON, MA           The Lizard Lounge
January 31    WEST HARTFORD, CT    Wilde Auditorium
February 3    VIENNA, VA           Jammin Java
February 4    PITTSBURGH, PA       The Thunderbird Café
February 5    ANN ARBOR, MI        The Ark
February 6    FORT WAYNE, IN       Come 2 Go
February 8    CHARLESTON, WV       Mountain Stage
February 24   SAN FRANCISCO, CA    Hotel Utah
February 25   LOS ANGELES, CA      Hotel Café

Ryan Smith: I Just Want to Feel That Way

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ryansmith_ijustwanttofeelthatwayDark-themed one-man-band indie pop

Smith’s latest is the best sort of homemade, project-studio indie pop. The arrangements of guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards are more like songwriter demos than polished major-label product, leaving the one-man-band productions focused on Smith’s voice and lyrics. There are some novel instrumental touches, such as the retro-organ on “This is Not a Tragedy” and the moody low-string guitar on “Santa Cruz,” but they never upstage Smith’s lyrical mood. The edginess and experimentation of the backing sounds is similar to Smith’s previous release, Neil Avenue, but the subject matter skips past the jokiness of earlier works like “Girls With the Glasses” to darker, more imagination-driven places. Smith faces the mental fallout of a damaged relationship on the opening “Good Intentions” and the more dire consequences of a car crash on “Following the Ambulance Home.” Less accidental is the jilted groom of “Santa Cruz” whose downward spiral is documented from the bottom up with the clever lyrical device “you ain’t heard the worst of it yet.” The darkness turns to a wail with the title track’s mourning of a lost spouse, leaving the album’s only semi-bright spot as the half-hearted invitation in “A Few Hundred Miles.” Eric Broz has suggested Smith’s broken-hearted lyrics bring to mind Paul Westerberg (as does the reediness of Smith’s voice), but there’s a spooked emotion in these stories that edges past hurt, and it’s magnified by the discomforting nearness of Smith’s confessional style. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Santa Cruz
Ryan Smith’s Home Page
Ryan Smith’s MySpace Page

Two Cow Garage: Speaking in Cursive

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twocowgarage_speakingincursiveGravel voiced punk meets Americana

If cowpunk had steeped somewhere less urbane than Los Angeles, and if its progenitors had brought along the raw amperage of their punk backgrounds, it might have sounded more like this Columbus, Ohio band. Vocalist/songwriter Micah Schnabel sings in a hoarse gargle that’s several steps past “raspy” or “roughhewn,” and his self-reflective lyrics are backed alternately by hard-charging electric rock and acoustic country-folk. He’s a cynical sort, mocking his powers as a musician with the opener’s lyric, “So if it lights you up, and if it turns you on / I will sing to you all your favorite songs.” An ambivalence surfaces in the relationship of “Skinny Legged Girl,” with a love letter in one hand, a poison pen in the other, and his ambivalence extends to music itself, compelled to keep writing, but feeling “it was arrogant to think from the start, you were the only backyard Dylan with a folksinger’s heart.” Schnabel’s gravelly delivery is more Tom Waits than Bob Dylan, and a few of the songs, such as “Glass City,” offer the rising tide of an E Street Band epic. The band’s Americana influences are heard in the jangly rocker “Wooden Teeth,” the emotional ballad “Not Your Friends,” the twangy “Swallowed by the Sea” (with bassist Shane Sweeney providing the low lead vocal), and the exceptional acoustic autobiography “Swingset Assassin.” In addition to Waits and Springsteen, the Replacements and Uncle Tupelo provide obvious antecedents; less obvious are Big Star, the Goo Goo Dolls and even Bryan Adams, and contemporaries like Drag the River and the Drive By Truckers. In the end, Schnabel’s voice is too unique for such simple comparisons, his lyrics too intimately autobiographical, and the band’s combination of fiery punk rock and earthy Americana quite unlike any one of their forerunners. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Brass Ring
Two Cow Garage’s MySpace Page

Perhapst: Perhapst

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perhapst_perhapstTerrific pop-rock with bubblegum hooks

With the release of this solo album you can now add former Dharma Bum and current Decemberist John Moen to the list of singing drummers, somewhere between Tommy Lee and Country Dick Montana. Moen actually plays just about everything here, supplemented by a few instrumental contributions by Eric Lovre (Dharma Bums) and Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, Jicks). Moen sings in a high sing-song croon that sounds at turns like David Gilmour, Speedy Keene or a more languid version of Ray Davies. His music mixes the hooks of bubblegum and glitter-rock with the vibes of Meddle-era Pink Floyd (ala “San Tropez”), 70s UK acts like Marmalade, Stealers Wheel and Badfinger, and modern revivalists like the Pooh Sticks and Teenage Fanclub. The productions are very tight, as one would expect from a one-man overdubbing band with a drummer at its core. The basic guitar-bass-and-drums are augmented by touches of space-rock, grunge, country, keyboards, autoharp, harmonica and backing vocals. Moen’s lyrics are often difficult to discern from his stylized vocals, and the passages that come through are generally inscrutable. Much like listening to REM, you’ll find yourself compelled to sing along, happily making up mondegreens and frequently having no idea what they mean. The background “na na na’s” speak for themselves, of course. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Incense Cone
Perhapst’s MySpace Page

Ryan Delmore: The Spirit, the Water, and the Blood

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ryandelmore_thespiritMusically fetching Americana  worship service

Despite Delmore’s credentials as a worship service leader and his record label’s ministry-through-music charter, you’d be setting off in the wrong direction in comparing this to anything Christian Contemporary. As a musician, Delmore is full of rootsy twang and organ soul, and he sings in a powerful, hoarse voice that’s full of emotional cracks. Think Tom Petty, Ryan Adams or Mark Erelli. The album opens with the ragged vocal of “Mercy” giving an initial sense of dissipation, but the lyrics reveal the singer basking in renewal rather than wallowing in desperation. The drawn-out refrains of “Hallelujah” conjure the allusive biblical glimpses of Leonard Cohen’s like-titled song, but the cry here is one of forgiveness. Delmore’s testimony is powerful, but even with superb Americana sounds to grab secular ears, the monothematic glorying of God will quickly wear out its welcome from the unconverted. Songs of praise resonate powerfully with believers, but they resound as blind faith outside the circle of the saved. Unlike the then-recently-converted Dylan of Slow Train Coming, Delmore appears here fully formed as a religious being and fully steeped in the liturgy. The result is an album of praise that’s anchored to its own faith, rather than the joys and travails of life from which religious conviction is born. Delmore’s music is compelling, as is his voice, but secular listeners will be disappointed by the lack of insight into the experiential roots of his religious beliefs. These songs preach well to the converted and will catch the ears of many others, but the only converts will be those already teetering on the edge; perhaps that’s part of Delmore’s musical mission. Worship leaders who want to bring these songs into their services will find lyrics and chords on the enhanced CD of this release. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Mercy
Ryan Delmore’s MySpace Page