Monthly Archives: November 2015

Everybody knows the polished latter-day ZZ Top, the power trio that gave us “Legs,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” and “Cheap Sunglasses.” I don’t much care for them—too slick by a Texas mile, and too enamored of synthesizers, new wave, and punk flourishes for my liking. But the early ZZ Top? A whole different story. They’re meaner, cleaner (no annoying synths), and tell better stories. Has there ever been a tale as downright weird as “Master of Sparks”? Or a boogie as fetching as “La Grange”? Throw in the raging “Heard It on the X,” and you’ve got as vivid a portrait of the goings on in the badass state of Texas as you’re ever likely to hear.

ZZ Top has boasted the same line-up for over four decades: Billy Gibbons (the band’s guitarist, lead vocalist, and main lyricist); Dusty Hill (who handles bass, keyboards, and co-lead vocals); and Frank Beard (who drums, duh). Gibbons is an amazing guitarist, and a rebuke to all those critics who wrote ZZ Top off as derivative and unoriginal; whether he’s playing the Texas blues or laying down some hard-driving boogie, his playing is rarely short of miraculous.

His solos are mean, mean, mean, as he demonstrates on “Waitin’ for the Bus,” the opening track of ZZ Top’s third LP, 1973’s Tres Hombres. The song features one cool guitar riff, frequent calls of “Have mercy,” and a brown paper bag with a bottle in it to help spend the time before the bus shows up. Throw in a great harmonica solo, and this is one bus stop you want to find yourself waiting at. The opener segues into “Jesus Just Left Chicago,” a big bad blues in which Jesus is heading for New Orleans, and then on to California before Gibbons serves up one hellacious solo backed by a bass that throbs like a very bad toothache.

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“This track is the first that the full band has recorded together, which is really exciting. Together we get pretty explorational, and I can tell they’re shooting in the dark a bit, and then we start reining things in for the song.

I’m a big proponent of referencing lyric intention when informing sounds. The song was written about a child trying to comprehend the pains of someone struggling with mental illness, so the effects we use try to emulate that feeling.”
—Olivia Lee

San Francisco art pop trio There’s Talk deliver majestic electronic folk.

We have the pleasure of premiering the outfit’s new single “In Your Hands” from their upcoming EP, set for release in early 2016. This time out the band’s spearhead, Olivia Lee, has skewed the haunting sparsity of their debut for more eclectic influences including shoegaze, electronica, ’90s rock, and doom.

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It seems fair to remark that outside of Russia Mikael Tariverdiev is as known by feverish cinephiles as heavy-duty record collectors, though a superb new collection is set to boost awareness of the composer’s work. Culling material from a distinguished career spanning over a quarter century, for those with a deep interest in the crossroads of music and movies it’s a revelation; folks merely curious about international sounds are still likely to find it a highly satisfying listen. Film Music is available on 3LP/3CD from Earth Recordings on November 20.

“Listen up guys, we’re all geniuses here, aren’t we? Let’s make genius films. I’ll help you!”
—Mikael Tariverdiev

Obscurity is of course relative, just as recognition and anonymity are often fleeting and for that matter subject to region. Mikael Tariverdiev is described as famous in his Russian homeland; in addition to extensive film scores he’s composed operas, suites for organ, and vocal cycles pairing poetry and music. Reinforcing his artistic emergence in the mid-20th century (born in 1931, he passed in 1996), Tariverdiev stylistically straddled classical, jazz, and the avant-garde.

But there are differing facets to fame. Upon introduction to the soundtrack to Mikhail Kalik’s 1964 film Goodbye, Boys!, Film Music’s producer Stephen Coates (founder of The Real Tuesday Weld) was simply informed by the Moscow café’s waitress that it was “something from the old times.” For many, Tariverdiev’s compositions for film and television had apparently been absorbed by the culture at large, and yet others surely knew his name and occupation without necessarily being able to associate him with a specific piece or score.

The relativity of obscurity certainly applies to cult film; Goodbye, Boys! has been described in such terms, but in the West cult items like A Clockwork Orange and Blue Velvet (to say nothing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show) tower over it like summer blockbusters. For starters, Kalik’s film is essentially unavailable for viewing.

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“Even though music has been a huge, important part of my life, I’ve never been a big record collector. I have two older brothers who amassed extensive collections while we were growing up, so I would more often spend my money on musical instruments and equipment.”

“Because of this, the few records I decided to buy became very special to me, and one such album is The Beatles, better known as the ‘White Album.’ I have a distinct recollection of going shopping in the local mall, after the Christmas holiday in 1968, to spend some gift money and I remember being shocked and awed by the stacks and stacks of that record piled up throughout the store.

I was immediately taken with the impact of the stark blank cover and the repetition of the image so prominently displayed. ‘Are you going to buy the new Beatles record?’ I asked my brother. ‘No, I don’t think so,’ he replied. ‘Their last one (Magical Mystery Tour) wasn’t too good, and judging by the cover of the new one, they seem to have run out of ideas.’

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He’s played a vital role in the New Orleans music scene for well over a quarter century, but as a performer Carlo Ditta’s flown under the radar due to a lack of retail product. Split between originals and covers, drawing upon the traditions of his city and distinctly conjuring roots-infused erudition, his What I’m Talkin’ About has been in the racks for nearly a year without reaching the listenership it deserves. It’s available on LP, CD, and digital via Ditta’s own Orleans Records.

Carlo Ditta has done a fair amount of moving around in his life, spending time in New York City, residing for a year in Nashville, and undertaking two different California stays, specifically in Los Angeles and Santa Cruz, but even in its absence New Orleans remained central to the activities of the singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and label operator.

Those last two credits have resulted in Ditta becoming a New Orleans fixture as he’s helped to document and shape the city’s modern musical history. The label is Orleans Records, and amongst the artists to have flourished through its auspices are gospel-tinged soulster Mighty Sam McClain, resuscitated Ace Records R&B figure Roland Stone, and a diverse slate of bluesmen including Guitar Slim Jr., Little Freddie King, Robert Lowery, and Ironing Board Sam.

Orleans’ discography additionally holds the indigenous stylings of the Original Pin Stripe Brass Band and entries by the great Danny Barker and his wife Blue Lu. Along the way Ditta played some terrific guitar behind Dorothy Goodman on her song “Born with the Blues,” as Marva Wright’s version of the tune later provided the title-track to her Ditta-produced album for Sky Ranch/Virgin. The same company issued New Yorker Willy DeVille’s Victory Mixture to a receptive European audience; produced by Ditta and featuring the contribution of Allen Toussaint on piano, it gave Orleans Records a gold disc.

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