Fired up: Aidan Carpenter is lighting the way
January music from New Orleans
reviews by Paul Oswell
I had but a single afternoon to review this little lot - an unexpectedly hefty stack of new tunes coming out of the city in the first month of 2024. As always, there’s something for most tastes, so line up some local talent as you get ready for the parades - you can play tracks in the embedded links and click through for entire albums or more by the artist(s). (Also, I'm solidly Gen X, so most of my musical references are pre-1995, just a heads up)
reviews by Paul Oswell
I had but a single afternoon to review this little lot - an unexpectedly hefty stack of new tunes coming out of the city in the first month of 2024. As always, there’s something for most tastes, so line up some local talent as you get ready for the parades - you can play tracks in the embedded links and click through for entire albums or more by the artist(s). (Also, I'm solidly Gen X, so most of my musical references are pre-1995, just a heads up)
Jack Locke: Lifelike Sounds
Opener ‘Still Feels Fine’ explodes out of the gates sounding like Dave Grohl channeling Angus Young, and the subsequent blasts of driving axe jolts could be used to resuscitate someone in a coma should you not have anything else to hand. The whole album sounds like it was recorded in an awed-quiet arena, such are the gloriously anthemic licks on display. ‘100 Days of Trouble’ introduces a Rocky Horror-esque camp into the proceedings, but it’s still as hard as nails. Think Urge Overkill at their most focused, or just timeless rock music delivered without pretense or reservation.
Hero Magnus: Therapy Song
This slice of introspective, country-tinged pop is almost like an update of the classic ‘9 to 5’, and its musical DNA as well as its weary cynicism is woven deep into the lilting riffs. The jaunty refrain of “I wish I could give you a map of my mind and you could read it/See if we’re on the same side” is something we all feel when meeting new folk these days, I think. It’s a lyrically and melodically fresh romp, which at least puts a spring in your step as the modern world comes at you.
Sharks’ Teeth: Harnessed Into Flesh
There’s no need to fear predatorial maws in these welcoming, warm synth pools. Rule Over Ashes mixes meandering, fuzzy layers of electronica with an almost Pet Shop Boys-esque line in vocal melody. Crawl Further In is a more celebratory affair, and is deceptively simple being set against restrained, syncopated percussion. What Orbits is almost a musical genuflection to Kraftwerk, with the pressing quotidian rhythm and swells of Autobahn and then just when you’re electronically comfortable, ST throw in a plaintive, semi-acoustic finisher in the Made Out Of Warm, but it’s too cozy to be jarring. Come on in, the water’s fine.
Drugstore Lipstick: Meet Me In the Dark
Give me a whiff of sexy world-weariness, or even world-weary sexiness, and I’m a pretty happy clam. I got undertones of Roxy Music, but if Bryan Ferry had been tasked with writing a ballad for Foals. Subtly chiming, almost percussive guitars provide and a seductive bassline that’s definitely loitering with intent provide the framework for the vocals to yearn and soar as the song builds. It’s a slightly sinister invitation, but one that’s increasingly hard to refuse.
Aiden Carpenter: Ignite
Modern pop music doesn’t care a fig what I think about it, and neither should it, but having been culturally spoiled by being alive in the 1980s, I can’t help but compare. Good pop to me (and I was dropping Murder On The Dancefloor into DJ sets well before Saltburn, popkids), whether it’s Kylie or Dua Lipa, feels like it could have been released into the wild in any decade. Carpenter and producer Jack Miele inarguably and impressively understand the assignment with Ignite. Opener ‘Ashez’ lights the way with nu-disco strings and an incredibly assured swagger, and the whole album is coherent but versatile, familiar but far from cliched. Put this up against anything in the genre today, it’s one to mix with the heaviest of pop hitters.
Hobson’s Choice: In Case of Second Sight
‘Prog’ rock seemingly gets a raw deal a fair amount of the time, and I admittedly don’t know enough about the genre to pontificate. I took to this record immediately, though, being as it is an accessible but sophisticatedly symphonic hunk of Americana. The key and time signature shifts feel organic and fresh to these layman’s ears, but there’s a vintage spirit watching over proceedings that slowly but assuredly draws you in.
CLICK FOR THE HOBSON'S CHOICE YOUTUBE PLAYLIST
Very honorable mentions
There’s a lot of humor and relatable workplace adversity in the smooth bars of Mess With My Money by Earle Brown, and I laughed out loud at the opening to ‘Gout’, (“Good God, I got the gout!”, like James Brown arriving at an Urgent Care facility) one of many (swollen) foot-tapping, funk-infested rants by Bill Robison on his new record, Vestigial Limbo (great title, imho). The fabulously-named Derek W Dooms adds more than a dash of nihilism to his countryfied Honky Tonk, and you’re compelled to jump around any newly-empty house you might find yourself suddenly in with ‘A Good Day To Be Alone’. There’s yet more funk to be had in what feels like a Jazz Fest warm up, as Or Shovaly Plus lay down a smooth, upbeat track that sounds like spring, and if you like your rock on the epic side, then plonk yourself down in front of Earth Via Broadcast by Woody’s Rampage, which touches down somewhere between Pink Floyd and Soundgarden. Take things down a notch with the lovely, home-spun, jazzy tunefulness (but with a lyrical hint of darker themes) in Dragonfly Wings by Graffiti and the DIY spirit continues with the garage-rock adjacent, charming DIY harmonics of Stop The Thinking by ThisMichaelBrown and ANT! There’s a serving of solid, Delta Blues-imbued country/rock from Caroline Cotto in her new Bayou Sun album and an audacious live recording that includes a dirty love letter to our fine state ‘(Mother Louisiana’) in I Refuse to Only Exist by Taylon Floyd. More Jazz Fest-friendly horns and keys come out loud and proud on Big Joe Kennedy’s ‘Amalgamation’ and incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist Rob Armus delivers an equally smooth jazz journey with new release Flow. We round out the month’s releases with some honest-to-goodness Folk Blues by Louisiana Claude Hitt, and that just about wraps up a full month of local music.
Links to everything:
There’s a lot of humor and relatable workplace adversity in the smooth bars of Mess With My Money by Earle Brown, and I laughed out loud at the opening to ‘Gout’, (“Good God, I got the gout!”, like James Brown arriving at an Urgent Care facility) one of many (swollen) foot-tapping, funk-infested rants by Bill Robison on his new record, Vestigial Limbo (great title, imho). The fabulously-named Derek W Dooms adds more than a dash of nihilism to his countryfied Honky Tonk, and you’re compelled to jump around any newly-empty house you might find yourself suddenly in with ‘A Good Day To Be Alone’. There’s yet more funk to be had in what feels like a Jazz Fest warm up, as Or Shovaly Plus lay down a smooth, upbeat track that sounds like spring, and if you like your rock on the epic side, then plonk yourself down in front of Earth Via Broadcast by Woody’s Rampage, which touches down somewhere between Pink Floyd and Soundgarden. Take things down a notch with the lovely, home-spun, jazzy tunefulness (but with a lyrical hint of darker themes) in Dragonfly Wings by Graffiti and the DIY spirit continues with the garage-rock adjacent, charming DIY harmonics of Stop The Thinking by ThisMichaelBrown and ANT! There’s a serving of solid, Delta Blues-imbued country/rock from Caroline Cotto in her new Bayou Sun album and an audacious live recording that includes a dirty love letter to our fine state ‘(Mother Louisiana’) in I Refuse to Only Exist by Taylon Floyd. More Jazz Fest-friendly horns and keys come out loud and proud on Big Joe Kennedy’s ‘Amalgamation’ and incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist Rob Armus delivers an equally smooth jazz journey with new release Flow. We round out the month’s releases with some honest-to-goodness Folk Blues by Louisiana Claude Hitt, and that just about wraps up a full month of local music.
Links to everything: