Monthly Archives: September 2015

Some may know The Brokeoffs as the backing “band” co-credited on the recent records of veteran Brit singer-songwriter Holly Golightly. The quotation marks above relate to The Brokeoffs’ existence as one gent, namely Lawyer Dave, and he’s just getting around to releasing his first single. It sports two covers; one surprising and triumphant and the other an attempt to conquer a seeming ubiquity. A 10-inch picture disc, it’s out September 25 in an edition of 250 via the UK label Damaged Goods.

Up to this point The Brokeoffs’ name has been noted almost exclusively in connection with a geographical/stylistic turn in the career of Holly Golightly. In the midst of last decade the ex-member of The Headcoatees and prime solo exponent of the ‘90s garage scene moved to the States, cultivating a partnership with the Texas-bred multi-instrumentalist known as Lawyer Dave while taking a detour into the Americana field.

The duo’s eighth album Coulda Shoulda Woulda is out next month, denoting the relationship with Lawyer Dave as a fruitful one. It should be no shock to folks familiar with Golightly’s beginnings that her immersion in the rural musical richness of the USA preserved her grit and sass, but Lawyer Dave’s input more than backup; blending honky-tonk and back-porch blues, they could sometimes come off like Wanda Jackson hooking up with C&W-era Hasil Adkins in a wood-paneled dive bar in the hills of West Virginia, the duo intermittently possessed by the disembodied spirit of Joe Hill Louis.

Golightly recently visited the UK and the byproduct was Slowtown Now!, her first full-band album since 2004, so it only makes sense that Dave gets to do a little branching out as well. Serving as The Brokeoffs’ solo debut, the picture disc sports a photo substantially intensifying the aura of one-man band-ism as its grooves present a wrinkle; specifically, while Golightly and Dave were not averse to adapting tunes, they did generally focus on their own material.

Read More »

What do you do when a rock band you love with all your heart, because its songs are smarter than those by any other band in the universe, suddenly abandons rock for smoother than silk lounge jazz? With all the cool rough edges sanded off, leaving only the clever lyrics and lots of superslick playing by superslick smooth jazz studio hacks? This is the question that confronted me in 1977, when Steely Dan released Aja. And I’ll tell you what I did. I wrote them off as a bad bet, just another LA band that disappeared into pseudo-jazz hell, never to reemerge.

Cynical and sneering, but with a soft side, Steely Dan had always employed the best studio musicians to produce its carefully crafted tunes. But they were ROCK tunes, and cool even when they were hot. “Kid Charlemagne,” “My Old School,” “Dr. Wu,” “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” “Any Major Dude Will Tell You,” “Reelin’ in the Years”—they put out song after great song, and were by anybody’s measure one of the best and most consistent bands of the seventies.

I don’t care that Aja got great reviews when it was released; I like rock and I like hard jazz, but if there’s one thing I can’t stomach is a lukewarm hybrid of the sort you’d expect from a recording session that included the likes of the Tom Scott contingent of LA’s jazz lite community. With Larry Carlton on guitar and Michael McDonald on backing vocals, to name just a few of the dozens of studio pros, Aja sacrificed the band’s former rock orientation for a sound as polished and edgeless as a brass egg.

Read More »

Hailing from the Bay Area of sunny California, the fittingly named Golden Void specializes in hard rock of an early ‘70s vintage. Incorporating a druggy glow and emphasis on flowing cohesion, they’re neither too loose nor too tight, stomping up dust clouds while expanding outward on their sophomore effort. Listeners pining for a dose of old school organ-infused guitar-heavy thud should investigate Berkana; it’s available now on LP/CD/digital through Thrill Jockey.

Guitarist-vocalist Isaiah Mitchell (also of Earthless), keyboardist-vocalist Camilla Saufley-Mitchell (of Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound), bassist Aaron Morgan, and drummer Justin Pinkerton comprise Golden Void. A relatively new act on the scene, the band’s interpersonal musical connections span back to middle school days, with Morgan and Pinkerton playing together in both Roots of Orchis and Eyes.

As can be gathered by their surnames, the guitarist and keyboardist have formed a marriage bond, and all this familiarity is borne out in Golden Void’s well-practiced thrust. Unequivocally hard rocking, the results aren’t accurately summed-up as stoner inclined; biker rock is nearer to the gist, but they frankly don’t sound much like the Blue Cheer, nor do they strive for an overwrought debasement of the 12-bar template, though the blues-rock of yore is definitely a shaping influence.

A clue comes in the choice of moniker, which derives from a tune on Warrior on the Edge of Time, the 1975 release by space rock cornerstone Hawkwind. This places a few of Golden Void’s appendages into a psychedelic bag, but their general reality is closer to Black Sabbath and especially Deep Purple, with nods to Pentagram, Uriah Heep, and the numerous supergroups branching out from Cream, Jeff Beck Group, and Mountain.

Read More »

“I started collecting vinyl when I arrived in LA to study drama at the tender age of 17. Tired of being typecast into certain roles because of my ethnicity, I turned to music, because with music I could just be myself. I always wrote poetry and music was a perfect medium and outlet for my writing and lyrics. Still today I focus on my music as a source of pure and honest expression, rather than trying to be someone else.”

“As a student struggling with my expenses, a guilty pleasure would be always to stop at the huge Amoeba store on Sunset Boulevard and sift through the vinyl records for sale. On my tiny student budget I would spend hours in the clearance section sifting through hundreds of records, searching for forgotten treasures and exciting new artists. Without a listening post, it was a real process of discovery and learning new people’s stories, searching through genres, artwork, and names of unknown bands, often picking records based on the cover.

Real finds included “I Try” by the Montreal DJ duo Made By Monkeys on the Star 69 label with its bright yellow cover and a picture of a monkey wearing headphones with hands perched on top of his head. The track was remixed by Star 69’s owner Peter Rauhofer, founder of the label based in New York, providing a platform to release his own tracks. My favourite remix is Rauhofer’s Future mix, a relatively lesser-known gem that speaks to me in volumes. The lyrics are about unrequited love.

Read More »

This is what you call playing to your audience. To wit, rocking one’s way through a mom and pop record store, rifling through the vinyl and making goo-goo eyes at the cute clerk.

In the case of the brand new video from Ben Katzman’s DeGreaser, “Record Store Babe,” that means name checking a few of the band’s favorite bands, Kiss prominent among them, as they try to get the eye of the suitably bored clerk, hidden deeply behind her shades.

Band members bring up a number of choice titles to the counter, from Van Halen, to the Ghostbusters soundtrack to Iron Maiden. “I want to know what your top 10 is,” Katzman says from behind his own shades and wearing his trademark porn ‘stache. He also inquires: “Do you like Kiss? Madonna too?” (She does not reply in Andrew GIbson’s video).

It’s a blink of an anthem—less than a minute and a half total—but they get the riffs out and make a few purchases as well. Shot at Fort Lauderdale’s Radio-Active Records, it name checks a store closer to their home, Feeding Tube Records in Florence, Mass.

Read More »

Based in Washington, DC, Marian McLaughlin is a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter specializing in progressively inclined indie/chamber folk; well-versed in string technique and keen on boundary-pushing collaboration, her music is a multifaceted pleasure. Possessing a slim discography detailing a growing relationship with double bassist-arranger Ethan Foote, McLaughlin’s second full-length Spirit House arrives on CD September 23rd. Due to the frustrations of mobility certain to occur during this week’s papal visit to the Nation’s Capital, her record release show at the Logan Fringe Arts Space has been moved to November 21st.

Marian McLaughlin’s acumen on guitar is considerable. One need only listen to understand, but her background of master classes with Larry Snitzler, a pupil and friend to cornerstone of the classical axe Andrés Segovia, is worthy of note. Additionally, McLaughlin was one of six chosen by the Bethesda, MD arts center Strathmore for their 2014-15 Artist in Residence program.

Live performance figures prominently in her approach; running the gamut from house shows to events in larger venues, she’s warmed up the room for Ryley Walker, Daniel Bachman, Marissa Nadler, Arborea, Six Organs of Admittance, and others, but her largest audience surely came via NPR’s online shindig Tiny Desk Concert in June of 2014.

In his introduction to the 3-song set, Tiny Desk producer/host Bob Boilen praises her as a unique musician, though he does provide context by citing similarities to Joanna Newsom and Diane Cluck. These are apt comparisons; as said, McLaughlin impacts the ear as a direct descendant/exponent of last decade’s blossoming of indie folk, and with special emphasis on the side of the scene promoted by periodicals such as Arthur and Galactic Zoo Dossier.

Read More »