As I mentioned earlier, Baltimore’s Arbouretum is releasing a split album with new Thrill Jockey signees Pontiak called Kale. The two bands played one show together in Baltimore on June 4th at The Talking Head. I knew about the show, but I didn’t know that the show was taped and available for download via Aural States which is a blog/site dedicated to happenings in the music scene of Baltimore.
Arbouretum headlined and played a set of mostly tracks from Rites, but also included one of the covers from Kale “Buffalo Ballet.” A great set, in my opinion.” Pontiak’s set was also very good and included “Dome Under Sky” from Kale.
The opening act was another side project of Dave Heumann from Arbouretum called Television Hill. Television Hill is more of a throwback folk/blues outfit, but still very good. This set is available from Beatbots which also covers the Baltimore scene.
Big thanks to Jeff the Taper who made these recordings available.
Click Here to stream or download Arbouretum’s set.
Click Here to stream or download Television Hill’s set.
Aural States is also hosting a live set from Wye Oak from March along with an interview. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to catch the show next weekend with Pontiak and Wye Oak in Iowa City!
While I was out doing some research on the new Thrill Jockey signees Pontiak, I noticed that they are going to be playing at the Mill in Iowa City along with new Merge Records act Wye Oak. I wasn’t familiar with Wye Oak— they looked like a folk act which seemed puzzling to me considering the grungy distortion brought by Pontiak.
Well, a bit more research and listening to the album stream of If Children on Merge’s website revealed a band with its feet in a more shoegazer-y location. At times they sound like Low to me with the layered sounds and the dreamy delivery. Another band from Baltimore– what’s up with the insurgency of Baltimore bands all of a sudden?– Wye Oak is a two piece with Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack playing all instruments on the album and able to deliver this in a live setting.
Pontiak– although NOT from Baltimore– are getting a helpful boost from Baltimore band Arbouretum. Arbouretum and Pontiak are going to release a split LP on 7/22/08 on Thrill Jockey Kale which will be a tribute to John Cale. Vinyl only, thank you! TJ doesn’t have any streaming samples to listen to for Kale, yet, but they do have samples of Pontiak’s 2007 release Sun on Sun, which will be re-released on Thrill Jockey September 9th. You can purchase mp3’s and apparently the 2007 Fireproof Records vinyl before then, though!
Wye Oak and Pontiak will be joined by Ames, Iowa band Poison Control Center, and the surfy good vibrations of The Botticellis for a night of Indie goodness sponsored by Mission Creek— all for a measly $7! I’ve provided enough links below that you should be able to memorize the words to all of these band’s songs so you can sing along.
I’ve included links below to the Daytrotter sessions that both Poison Control Center and The Botticelli’s have done. Not to be upstaged, Wye Oak and Pontiak are scheduled to record a Daytrotter session before the Iowa City show.
This weekend my wife Sherry was attending a conference for Skin and Hair people at McCormick Place in Chicago. I came along for moral support and some time away– and the hopes of hitting some record stores. Sherry booked a cheap hotel online in Des Plaines North of O’Hare off I-90. Saturday I hung out at McCormick Place loitering at a Starbucks waiting for Sherry. Sunday morning I dropped her off around 10:30AM and I made my way back up to Des Plaines. This gave me the option to hang at the hotel with free parking and to venture out to the surrounding burbs.
A quick search of Google for “record stores near Des Plaines, IL” turned out a mix of interesting and not-so-interesting results. I quickly jotted down three places to try out. The plan being that I’d hit the closest stores first and work my way out.
The first place I tried was promisingly called “The Record Room” on Golf Rd (641 W Golf Rd., Des Plaines, IL). No website. I called first, and the phone company said the “number is being tested” so I ended up driving over anyway. Rest In Piece Record Room! It is now a chiropractic office.
So, the next place I decided I wanted to hit was called “Sunshine Daydream” in Mt. Prospect, IL and has a current website, so that seemed promising. However, their hours are “Noonish to 6PM” on Sundays. I made my way up to the store and it exists and seemed to have inventory. It’s a tie-die, posters, Grateful Dead/Jamband type store. However, it was 12:15, so maybe that wasn’t “Noonish” enough for them. So, I headed back down to a restaurant I passed on River Road called Dick’s River Roadhouse for a Blue Moon (with requisite orange slice garnish) and a wonderful BBQ Grilled Chicken Sandwich. The bar music was some 80’s station (likely XM). Rick Spingfield, Prince, New Order, Toni Basil, etc. The food was served quickly.
After I ate my food and finished my beer I called Sunshine Daydream (2027 E Euclid Ave., Mt. Prospect, IL) to see if they were open– they were. I paid my bill and headed up to the store. As I opened the door, I was overcome by the smell of inscense. The store was pretty much what one would expect for a store that advertises itself as “the hippy general store.” They had a large array of “natural fiber” bags and other clothing– a lot of it tie-died. Posters, rolling papers, gag greeting cards and other sundries were available as well. The rack that had the CD’s was half used CDs and half new titles. Most of the new titles were jambands including a lot of titles that you’d normally only see on the bands’ websites– the Live Phish series, the Wart’s and All moe. series, Dick’s Picks. I think that if someone was looking for any release from the jamband genre this would be the place to go. I flipped through the selections, but didn’t find anything I was interested in. I looked briefly at the Infrared Roses CD that was in the used bin. Infrared Roses is a mashup of a whole bunch of performances of “Dark Star.” I also noted that they had a copy of the Traveling Wilburys Three CD for $7.99. I guess the release of the box set last year really dropped the bottom out of the used market on Traveling Wilburys– I remember seeing copies of the first CD going for over $100! The owner of the place spent the entire time I was in there dealing with some personal issue involving a relative who was freaked out about either moving into a new apartment or getting new neighbors.
From there I ventured over to Disk Replay (13 Golf Center, Hoffman Estates, IL). Disk Replay is a chain used CD/DVD/video game store. There are 4 or 5 in the Chicagoland area. They have a very large DVD selection and two sizable rows of tables of CD’s. The selection was pretty good. Lots of duplicates. They have a “buy three get one free” deal which I took advantage of.
Grant Lee Buffalo – Jubilee(CD, Slash/Warner Bros. 468789-2, 1998) ($4.99) Gold-stamped label promo. I still consider Mighty Joe Moon one of my favorite 90’s albums. I especially loved “Lone Star Song.” I own Moon and Fuzzy. I’ve never heard Jubilee, so I’m looking forward to hearing this. Apparently I only need Copperopolis and I have all of the releases. Jubilee is produced by Paul Fox, who did some great work with 10,000 Maniacs. Helping out on the album are Michael Stipe, Robyn Hitchcock and E. Jon Brion contributes vibes to the album as well.
Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense – Special New Edition (CD, Sire/Warner Bros. 47489-2, 1999) ($7.99) I own most of the Talking Heads releases. I purchased most of them back in the early 90’s, but never bought Stop Making Sense on CD. Frankly, it kind of annoyed me that the original release was a very abbreviated version with only nine of the 16 songs from the movie. I made a cassette of the video tape a long time ago and that was the version that I listened to years ago. It’s great to have this at last.
Reminder – Continuum(CD, Eastern Developments Music EDM 013, 2006) ($3.99) This is why I love to dig through Chicago used bins! Reminder is the side project of Thrill Jockey friend Josh Abrams. I mentioned Reminder’s new EP in B-Sides in the Bins #15. Josh has some help on a couple of tracks from Nicole Mitchell of Thrill Jockey band Frequency. The track “Terradactyl Town” is credited as a remix of “Toy Boat” from Jeff Parker’s amazing solo album The Relatives. Very good cut-and-pastish album. Considering the Jazz bass work Josh does for other artists, it’s interesting to hear such a departure.
Nellie McKay – Get Away From Me (2 CD, Columbia C2K 90664, 2004) ($0.00) This was my “free” CD from purchasing the other three titles. It was sitting in the bin for $2.99! The case and CD’s are in perfect condition. Who knows why it was so cheap! Nellie’s first album. On Columbia, produced by the incomparable Goeff Emerick. This is the album that started it all. Jumps around stylistically from Rap to lush pop a la Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Probably regarded as her best effort, but time will tell. The clock is ticking for the show we’re seeing in Minneapolis. I’m very excited to see her!
I had hoped to spend another day in Chicago, but Saturday nights storms moving to Chicago had us worried about the road conditions so we headed back to Cedar Rapids rather than chance getting stuck in Chicago.
As it turns out, my wife Sherry wanted to be in town that weekend anyway to celebrate her birthday with her sister so it couldn’t happen at a better time. Plus, my daughter RaeEllen is a die-hard fan of Nellie ever since the first album. We called her at her dorm room tonight where she’s feeling a bit under-the-weather at the moment. But, she’s excited to see her at last. Nellie was in the Twin Cities late last year as part of the touring Christmas Show that Aimee Mann was doing. Unfortunately, that show didn’t work out for us, which is too bad because we’re fans of Aimee here at the Roeder house as well.
The show starts at 7PM and tickets for non-A Train members is $25.
Nellie has some tour dates running through the beginning of May:
It seems that Bo is going to sneak another album out to the unsuspecting masses. Titled Fragile, the follow-up to the fantastic 2006 country blues cover album Stranger Blues will be released on April 8th on Bo Ramsey Records. I suspect that we’ll be able to get Fragile through CDBaby where his other releases are currently available.
In support of the new release Bo will be performing some shows in the area. He’s still carrying out the constant touring in support of Pieta and Greg for their shows, but he’s getting a few shows of his own in. I’ve excerpted the “Bo only” shows from his MySpace Page. The March 28th Java Blend show is a radio show on KSUI that is also carried by KUNI. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cedar Cultural Center show has the Pines helping out, since Benson Ramsey lives in the Twin Cities.
Mark Olson as one of the founding members of the Jayhawks provided an early prototype of the revival of country-folk that would shape today what gets generally labelled “Americana” although he doesn’t necessarily believe in limiting his music by giving it that name. With his touring accomplices multi-instrumentalist Ingunn Ringvold and violinist Michele Gazich, Mark is back on the road supporting his brilliant 2007 release The Salvation Blues following a short break after last year’s run through the US and Europe. It was during his break in the middle of catching up on errands that Mark graciously accepted the invitation to talk to me from his current home in Joshua Tree, CA about collecting records.
Me: Thanks for talking to me today, Mark. Can you share with us some details about your record collection?
Mark: I’m a bit of a record collector from way back. I don’t do it so much now but. There is this Italian in the group who is, like, totally insane about going to bookstores and record stores and he buys way too much stuff for us to be on the road with it!
But, I did it at a certain point in my life and I guess it influenced my music all the way along and that’s collect records and stuff. I have a bunch of ’em. And books and things like that. I love to go into those kinds of stores. I’m one of those guys that wishes there were still more record stores around– and book stores. I get tired of the Borders and that kind of stuff.
There used to be a really, really cool record store– I forget the name, I’m sorry– it could have been part of Cheapo’s but I don’t think so– it was on Lake Street in Minneapolis down by the river and it was just in a grungy storefront. But, what they had that was SO different– they had all these BRAND NEW gospel records from like the Sixties and the early Seventies still in– and this is in the Nineties– still in the wrappers! They were on the Nashville Label and the Nashboro label and Folkways. I got a bunch of them for like a buck-fifty of people I’ve NEVER EVER heard of– you know? All this really neat stuff. So I bought a bunch of those back then. There used to be a lot of like little hole in the wall used record stores around there. I got a lot of neat records, there. I think that people made off with them, too. I think Karen [Grotberg– keyboardist of the Jayhawks– Ed.] and the Jayhawks they made off with one of my favorite ones.
Me: Of these gospel records?
Mark: Yeah. It had this piano and organ going at the same time and it blew her away. So, I dunno. I haven’t seen that one in a long time. (chuckles).
I’ve just got a lot of really wierd, rare records. Like the Glaser Brothers (Tompall & the Glaser Brothers- Ed.) they were really GOOD when they first started out. They had these three-part harmonies and they were singing kinda folk-country stuff. [Tompall Glaser] actually wrote “Streets of Baltimore” that ended up on the Gram [Parsons] record (his 1972 release G.P.– Ed.). So, I’ve just got a lot of wierd Sixties, country, folk gospel records. That’s the first place I would go to look– in those sections.
Me: Is this the segment you collect in, then?
Mark: Well, I do anything now, but back then I was totally obsessed with Sixties Country, Folk, and these wierd gospel labels. They were on small labels that weren’t in regular record stores and no one is going to see these records again! But, this one store had bought out this collection of records on really THICK VINYL.
My favorite albums– as far as albums go, the ones that had the biggest influence on me were the Doug Sahm Mendocino album and, then of course The Flying Burrito Brothers Sin City album. I like Jesse Winchester he’s kind of a folk guy. And, I like Fairport Convention. That’s the stuff I put on to just enjoy so to speak.
Me: You know, I never really got into Doug Sahm…
Mark: Oh MAN!
Me: But… I’m familiar with him through Calexico and their participation in that Border Radio tribute “Los Super 7.” (note: while songs from Doug Sahm are on both records, he only sang on the first one that was hosted by Los Lobos).
Mark: What’s cool about him is he could sing like nobody else– he had one of the most soulful voices. He came out of Texas doing all the different styles of Texas music– he could do R&B, blues, country… But then what he did was move to San Francisco for a while and that totally opened up his music into all kinds of different directions and he made this album called Mendocino that isn’t the most- ah– he made another one that’s even crazier– but this one is just the beginning of that. It’s not like albums that are made today– that are VERY LOOSE in the performance level, okay? There’s mistakes being made, there’s tempo changes, there’s all that stuff going on. But, his voice is so COMMANDING that it doesn’t really– and the recording quality is not that good, really, compared to modern records where everything’s CLEAN at the perfect levels and all that stuff.
Me: So, what label was he on?
Mark: He was on Smash and they put out a bunch of good albums! They put out all of the Jerry Lee Lewis records that were country– that are INCREDIBLE! But, no one played and sang like Doug– very loose– just incredible stuff.
Me: When you say “loose” like that, it makes me think of Howe Gelb from Giant Sand.
Mark: Yeah, sure! I really liked that “Sno” album (Howe Gelb’s 2006 release ‘Sno Angel Like You)! That is SHOCKINGLY GOOD! I can’t believe that that isn’t like a HUGE album! It’s just so fricking GOOD. Lyrically, musically, there is so much going on there, it’s just intense.
Me: Do you collect mostly vinyl, then?
Mark: Today, I’m about 50-50 vinyl and CD’s. But, leaving Minnesota– moving a lot is really rough on a record collection. We had a flood at one point. It’s unbelievable but there was a flood in the desert– if it rains too much it can flood. And, I lost about a quarter of my record collection. It was impossible to save them because there was too much silt.
Me: So you just wrapped up a tour of Europe?
Mark: Yep, three months– well we did two months in America and we did three months in Europe pretty much back-to-back. I’m home for a couple of weeks and then it’s back out.
Me: Yeah, you’re coming to Cedar Rapids, IA! I’m planning to be at that show. I had intended to go to the show at the Mill last Fall…
Mark: That was a CRAZY night. There was lightning everywhere It was seriously dangerous to be outside.
Me: I talked to a guy who went to the show and he said there was only like 20 people there.
Mark: I think that people decided to keep their life in good order and not step out into the lightning. Meanwhile we’re out in the middle of it playing!
Me: What are you doing in this little break?
Mark: Well, you go out on tour, come home and pretty much things have fallen apart– your vehicle, your house. I’m trying to put everything back together, clean up. I have a list of musical equipment I need to get. Then go back out again. I’m more used to touring, now, than being at home.
Me: It seems like you’ve been on tour a long time!
Mark: The album came out in June and the tour started in August. I feel like we just got through the first phase of it now and now we’ll go back out and see how it’s going. It used to be that you would go out for a promo thing and the record company would support that and then you’d go out on tour. Now, the tour is kind of like “promo.” That’s a business thing that has changed. I feel like we’ve done the touring, the promoing and now we’ll go out and see what’s going on– if people have heard this album and if they’re into it– in America at least.
Me: Thanks for talking to me, today, Mark. I’ll see you at the show!
Mark: No problem! See you.
Mark will be playing Wednesday night, February 13 at 8PM at CSPS in Cedar Rapids, IA. Tickets are $13 in advance, $16 the day of the show. Click Here for Details
“It’s Star Time!!!” Doug announced to the Saturday night crowd at 3rd Street Live after a quick instrumental set of songs from The Diplomats of Solid Sound. “It’s Star Time!!” he repeated and introduced the lovely ladies of The Diplomettes who were greeted by enthusiastic cheering and clapping.
The announcement style is a tribute to the emcee Danny Ray who used to exclaim “Star Time!” before James Brown hit the stage. It’s with this knowing wink that The Diplomats of Solid Sound pays homage to the work of soul greats like James Brown who is arguably the architect of the music that influences them. The B3-fueled sound of The Diplomats draws equally from the Stax houseband Booker T and the MG’s and Brown’s band the JB’s.
The band seems very comfortable in the role of backing band to the three vocalists of the Diplomettes. Prior to July 2006 when the girls joined the group, The Diplomats of Solid Sound were largely an instrumental act with three albums under their belt; two of which on independent label Estrus Records. They were enjoying a modicum of popularity mostly in the EU where they had been doing touring and by the finicky tastes of TV producers needing a juicy instrumental vamp for some scene on VH1 and MTV’s regular diet of reality shows. In a similar fashion to Booker T and the MG’s each of the members of the band are noted regional sessionmen performing on most of the noted Eastern Iowa recordings in the last ten years.
I guess the last time I saw the Diplomats was March of 2006 at Martini’s. I’ve seen the guys since then– Nate and Jim at the two Bo Ramsey shows and Doug a couple of times at the Picador. There always seemed to be something conflicting with convenient shows. As such, I hadn’t seen any performances with the Diplomettes other than catching some clips on YouTube.
Back then, the Diplomat shows were pretty much low-key affairs. The band pulling out chestnuts from Booker T and the MG’s as well as Blue Note acts and the occasional surf tune in addition to their own material. A great band to kick back and listen to while drinking and hanging with friends. The 2008 version of the band delivers a completely different show.
In fact, the show Saturday night was almost more of a revue in the classic ’60’s sense focusing on showmanship. The focus of the show was the Diplomettes who brought a vintage girl group sensibilityto the act. Each of the three ladies provided lead vocal turns while the other two provided harmonies; sometimes singing in a three-part harmony. I could hear similarities to Motown acts like the Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas, but also Southern Soul/Stax styles, or a Phil Spector girl group influence. At times the vocals seemed to have a 40’s Andrews Sisters feel (at least in the three-part harmonies). Visually, the Diplomettes are stunning– color coordinated dresses and choreography all add to the appeal. I particularly like the palms-out and drop done to “Lights Out.”
I was fairly familiar with a lot the songs as I’d been listening to them streaming from the Diplomettes MySpace page— it seemed like the crowd was as well. Original songs like “Hurt Me So” and “Come In My Kitchen” are certainly crowd pleasers. One cover that took me by surprise was the “We’re Doin’ It (Thang) (pt. 2)” by Eddie Bo and the Soulfinders! I’m familiar with this song due to its inclusion in the DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist Brainfreeze all-45’s mix. Very nice choice. I guess these shows are also an education in rare R&B!
The crowd Saturday night was great– lots of folks up dancing of all ages. My wife had a great time and we are talking about going to see them again in February– possibly in Dubuque or in Iowa City.
During the month of December I made a number of stops at HalfPriceBooks in Cedar Rapids– while I was out Christmas shopping, waiting for an oil change. So, rather than break these up into separate posts, I’ll put them all together.
Prince – Controversy (LP, Warner Bros., BSK 3601, 1981) ($2.98) This was a real find. I haven’t seen much Prince vinyl in my digging so I was pretty happy to pick this one up. The cover is in good shape with little ringwear. The vinyl is in great shape. The poster of Prince in the shower in a bikini was still intact (and returned permanently to the sleeve– yikes!). When I was in high school I was a big fan of Prince, and really that was the best period of his music. My first exposure was 1999 and Purple Rain like most people I suppose. A friend of mine was also a big fan and we sort of collected all of Prince’s albums between us. I really haven’t listened to this album since then. Interestingly, this is credited only as a Prince album, but the backing musicians would eventually become The Revolution– Bobby Z (drums), Lisa and Fink (keyboards). There is a small tribute to Joni Mitchell in the cover art. The back cover has a bunch of fake headlines like “President Declares Uptown New U.S. Capitol,” “Do You Believe in God,” and “The Second Coming.” One of the headlines says “Joni.” He also contributed a cover of “A Case of You” to the Nonesuch Records tribute album to Joni.
Liz Phair – “Carnivore” b/w “Carnivore (Raw)” (7″ single, Minty Fresh mf-4, 1993) ($.98) Groovy pink and blue vinyl. I was never really a big fan of Liz– I liked Exile in Guyville, but didn’t continue to follow her career. She’s now flirting with the Avril Lavigne fans by creating guitar pop. This release was while she was still edgy, I guess. This will probably end up on eBay.
Pearl Jam – Christmas 2005 “Little Sister (with Robert Plant)” b/w “Gone” (7″ single, fanclub release, 2005) ($1.00) In the tradition of The Beatles and REM, Pearl Jam has been releasing Christmas singles since 1991. The only way you can get these (other than eBay) is being a member of the “Ten” fan club. This one is in really great shape other than an edge dent in the sleeve. There is a live version of “Little Sister” with Robert Plant from 10/5/05 at the Chicago H.O.B. Hurricane Katrina Benefit show. The flipside is a demo of “Gone” performed by Ed in a room at the Borgata in Atlantic City. Since I don’t have any of the other singles and can’t afford to pick them up on eBay, I’m going to eBay this as well. One went for $15 recently, so we’ll see.
Gov’t Mule – High & Mighty (CD, ATO Records, ATO0028, 2006) ($7.98) Well, I guess I was curious having seen them in Des Moines with Grace Potter. Warren Haynes is undeniably one of the great guitarists on the Jam scene today although he tends to stick to the tried-and-true blues progressions that give Mule releases that vintage 70’s classic rawk feel– I think some experimentation could breathe some life to the studio recordings. Recommended if you like Molly Hatchet, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, Blackfoot, big sweaty dudes playing Gibson guitars. BTW: Warren has some of the most impressive Gibsons I’ve ever seen and he plays quite a few during a live show. Visit this YouTube clip to see a cool interview with Warren’s guitar tech talking about the guitars used in High & Mighty.
Madlib – Shades of Blue : Madlib Invades Blue Note (CD, Blue Note Records, 7243 5 36447 2 7, 2003) ($5.98) This is a BMG Music Club release. I love all of the back catalog digging that Blue Note has embraced over the years. I have a lot of the releases like the US3 album, the Rare Grooves series, and a couple of others. While a lot of publishers would resist this sort of thing, I think the brand identity of Blue Note was rescued by it. The fantastic Madlib has his way with the Blue Note catalog creating some remixes. A really mellow acid-jazzy record.
Well, it looks like 2008 is off to a running start for our favorite funk and soul group The Diplomats of Solid Sound.
First, from their MySpace page, we have the announcement of an upcoming single on Italian boutique funk/jazz/soul label Record Kicks. The A side of the single is the funky “Plenty Nasty” and the flipside is a big beat remix of the live favorite “Hurt Me So” done by Adam Gibbons aka Lack of Afro. Due out on February 25th (or February 11th?) on 7″ and Digital download the single is the precursor to the much anticipated full album release of The Diplomats of Solid Sound Featuring The Diplomettes.
Record Kicks is a label like Daptone in that they press limited runs of vinyl and this new album will be no different. At this time the release of the album is looking like some time in March. I’ll update this article when I get confirmation. I’m sure that the Diplomats will have copies of the single and the album with them at live shows, but you will be able to order the album from their online shop (if you like to pay in Euros) or from Dusty Groove and iTunes will have digital downloads. I’m sure that the Record Collector in Iowa City will probably have copies, too.
The Diplomats have put a slippery new song on their MySpace page called “Budget Fro” which looks to be from the upcoming album. For a limited time you can also download a live version of “Intercontinental Git” from 2004’s Destination… Get Down! which was recorded at the Englert Theatre featuring Eddie McKinley and David Basinger. Get it while you can!
Also, the Diplomats have a number of upcoming shows in the area including two this coming weekend– one at the Mill in Iowa City on Friday 1/25 and on 1/26 at 3rd Street Live in Cedar Rapids.
As I mentioned earlier, Baltimore’s Arbouretum is releasing a split album with new Thrill Jockey signees Pontiak called Kale. The two bands played one show together in Baltimore on June 4th at 
Well, it looks like 2008 is off to a running start for our favorite funk and soul group The Diplomats of Solid Sound.
