01/09/10-Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA

01/11/10-UCI Bren Events Center, Irvine, CA

01/13/10-RIMAC Arena, La Jolla, CA

01/15/10-Dodge Theatre, Phoenix, AZ

Refunds will be given at point of purchase.

By Rachel Heisler

CD review: Infected Mushroom, Legend of the Black Shawarma (Perfecto Records)

People don’t like change. We have the tendency to fear that with change will come something we don’t like or understand. Changes can certainly make life better, but there’s always the possibility that change will let you down. Infected Mushroom’s latest release, Legend of the Black Shawarma, is in no means a disaster, but their sound has changed, and it’s a bit of a let-down, considering how busy, trippy, exciting and boundary-bashing their psy-trance music has been in the past. There was a certain level of musical prowess expected here, but what the L.A.-based electronic duo pumped out is an especially straight style of electro-metal-rock, one that uses much fewer time sig changes, incorporates fewer truly exciting musical switch-ups and feeds on less technical ingenuity than before.

“Saeed” has a thumping beat that should have the ability to hook ravers around the world. Its melody has a weird movie soundtrack thing going on, and there’s something lacking on this song — and the disk as a whole. It’s hard to pin-point exactly, but basically it lacks … spontaneity … . Track after track vocalist Amit “Duvdev” Duvedevani and keyboardist Erez Eisen tease with the beginnings of what should become gripping techno masterpieces, but right at the crucial moment of climax go limp. They also bring in guest artists like Perry Farrell and Jonathan Davis, then push their parts so far into the backdrop that they are unrecognizable. You have to ask: “Why did they bother?”

Legend of the Black Shawarma needed more. More gusto, more passion, more transcendental leeway. But being this is only their eighth album, there are always future opportunities to twist the knobs of experimentation, and refine their trance craft further.

CD review: Brian Bonz & the Dot Hongs, From Sumi To Japan (Triple Crown Records) 

I love Brian Bonz and I want him to be my boyfriend.

It’s not his baby face or cute, curly-ass brown hair that does it for me, though those don’t hurt, it’s the playful ambient/indie music he writes that gets me squirming in my seat! From the first whispy notes of “Two Tree Blockade”, to the last chorus of “Goodnight, Captain Revelstoke”, From Sumi To Japan is a hit.  Super fans of Benjamin Gibbard/Death Cab For Cutie/Postal Service, will either love Bonz or find the similarities between the bands too close for comfort, but hell, if you like one you may as well like the other.

Bonz has this nice, subtle way of changing tempo and volume (I.e. “Christa McCauliffe’s Cacophony (Reprise)”); it’s smooth and seductive in all the right ways and places. And that’s just the music: His voice takes the songs to whole new levels … he even manages to make the “fuck” words sound sensual. The whole package is dripping with dreaminess and it’s a CD that you can put on repeat, crank up to 11 and fall back on, knowing that the melodies will catch you as you do. The Brooklyn native puts emphasis on his songs’ meanings, but it’s the type of recording that can easily get by on sound alone. It’s so listener-friendly and expressive that it’s possible to get the gist of the song without paying too close attention to the words Bonz is singing. The emotions are worn on the album’s sleeve, as it were.

Brian Bonz is young, vibrant and bursting with a fluid energy that comes across in each of his songs. He is one to keep an eye on in the coming years, because this, hopefully, is just the beginning. With continued dedication and a few lucky breaks along the way, this guy may be unstoppable.

CD review: Nathan Lee, Risk Everything (One Revolution Entertainment)

There is only one thing that makes religious rock-n-roll stand out from non-religious rock-n-roll:  lyrics. If you don’t pay close attention to what singer/songwriter/pianist Nathan Lee is saying, you’d never realize he’s dishing on religion. The artwork that accompanies his CD doesn’t point to any religious affiliation, and all Lee is quoted as saying is: “I sing to broken people because I am one”, so it’s easy to over-look the religious overtones in his music. Once aware of song titles like “El Diablo Y El Angel” and “Bring Down the Fire”, the pieces start coming together, and in the end, there’s no beating around the burning bush: Nathan Lee is a faith-based rocker.

For those who enjoy their tunes infused with theology, Lee will not disappoint, with numerous references to mercy, crucifixes and crosses. His gritty, intense vocals help to bring out the urgency in his words of personal journey and salvation. For those unconcerned with the WWJD aspect, his brand of rock/pop is strong in all the right places. Strings on “Bleeding Black” are expressive and perfectly infused with Lee’s delicate piano; diversity is displayed when pumped-up numbers are followed by emotional ballads; and rich bass lines, like on “Open Road”, are bold enough to carry entire songs.

Lee is nothing if not passionate about music. Risk Everything is an apt title for his recent release, as he did in fact give up various business ventures in order to follow the call of the music. That call is what makes Lee’s collection of work beautiful and powerful enough to support his unwavering messages of faith.

By Rachel Heisler

Music should evoke feeling … and great music always does. Often, music makes people laugh or cry or desire to express themselves in some way, but rarely does it scare. Fear is a difficult emotion to encapsulate and express through simple musical notes — it’s much easier done through video — where you can see the bad guy chasing the good guy or a victim cowering with terror in his eyes. With K.O.D., TECH N9NE has created a world where dark forebodings are paramount, and chilling, violent images are found at every turn. The darkness is startling. It’s slap-you-in-the-face, knock-you-off-your-chair scary; it’s forceful and it’s unapologetic. Aaron D. Yates isn’t f*cking around.

In the liner notes, rap icon TECH N9NE discusses the album’s blatant darkness: “If I knew it was going to have a hella negative effect on my spirit, I wouldn’t have been so gung-ho to do this album like I was. I hope everybody reading this enjoys this album because I don’t ever wanna do another totally dark album ever again if I can help it. Trust me when I say that negative energy can really consume you and possibly infect everything and everybody around you! Try your best to stay in the light while enjoying my darkness. Don’t let it suck you in!” But suck you in it does.

Songs are fitted into three sections: Anger, Madness and The Hole, and each has its own way of making one wonder who TECH N9NE really is, where he comes up with these chilling, gruesome ideas and if the man behind the music is as disturbed as the one who stands on stage in front of millions of screaming fans.

ANGER

The most important theme running through this album (the battle between God and Devil, the contract between light and dark and the fight to recognize good when surrounded by bad) makes its presence immediately known in opening song “Show Me A God” and the skit “The Warning”: “There’s a demon inside me, can I kill it? / Hell no!”.

MADNESS

The Madness appears to be where the inner battle is lost to the dark side and control replaced by panic and blatant disregard for what is “right”. Whether taken literally or metaphorically, the sexual deviance and violence on “Hunterish” (featuring Irv Da Phenom and Kriss Kaliko), “In the Trunk” and especially “Pinocchiho” send shivers up the spine.

THE HOLE

The Hole slows and takes a deep cleansing breath, stretches the muscles of introspection and questions if what is seen with mere mortal eyes can be believed in the depths of the soul. “Shadows On the Road” contemplates the repercussions of his past aggressions; “Low” why the man is not happy even though he should be when surrounded with success and fame. And just when you think TECH has gotten his madness and emotions under control, “Killing You” rushes back in with the force of a tornado and brings with it a definite sense of mental illness and excuses for one man’s former indiscretions.

Whether a real person or a character invented to hide the true self behind, TECH N9NE must have in some way felt the strangle-hold of misery in order to pen such raw and honest songs. “I’ve seen such pain recently, so many dark things,” TECH said. “I had to take those experiences and make something beautiful out of them. I couldn’t let myself fall into that hole with no chance of getting out.” K.O.D. may be shockingly gloomy, excessively dark and deeply disturbing, but it is also a beautifully honest look at the psyche of a tortured soul.

By Adam Baer

Mississippi-born singer/songwriter Rob Blackledgehas a problem. He’s in love and he sucks at it. At least that’s what’s to be taken from the majority of tracks on his piano-laden whine-fest of a debut record. While being inept in matters of the heart is an easily relatable subject (at least to most of us), Blackledge falls flat in conveying the emotion of such a situation.

While Blackledge is a capable player (piano, guitar, drums), his ho-hum melodies are dull and non-engaging. On the album’s opener, “Should Have Known Better”, he pilfers a classic Sinatra and/or Dean Martin piano pop crooner vibe, and consequently, it’s the only thing that almost works. All down hill from there, kids!

Lyrically, his “Why don’t you stay?” middle school poetry is cringe-inducing at best. On the ballad “Everything”, he pleads: “You showed me how / Life is worth living / I have no doubt / It’s all about giving”. Yeesh! The track “Our World” is is an attempted call to arms to: “…join hands / and lift each other up”.  As social commentary goes there’s nothing wrong with a message like that. It would be nice if Blackledge believed it himself.

“Your City, My City”, a twinkly little number about waiting to settle down, has him claiming his ” … heart will split wide-open” if only for love. If only he had the heart to sing with the conviction it takes to make a line like that seem less cliche, maybe his songs would merit more attention.

By Rachel Heisler

Carolyn Mark has a flair for the dramatic, and it’s this flair that makes her music so damn fun to slosh around in. Her musical base is a kind of light, twangified country, but she expands it to include raunchy twists and mysterious turns. You jump into a song thinking you know what’s coming, only to be flicked off course when you least expect it. It’s difficult enough to keep up with the wicked little nymh when it’s just her, but Let’s Just Stay Here is doubly tricky to track because it is a collaboration with musician NQ Arbuckle, a playful chap in his own right.

Having worked together in 2005 on the track “Fireworks” (recorded for Mark’s Just Married: An Album of Duets), the pair was able to find a perfect working relationship on this disk. Whether harmonizing or effortlessly tossing lines back and forth on songs like Mark’s “Itchy Feet”, or giving each other the necessary control to guide and shape the songs that are less duets and more like songs that would normally be on a strictly solo album (I.e. Mark’s slightly sinister-sounding “All time Low”, or the fiesty ”Canada Day Off/Toronto” or Arbuckle’s easier-going “Saskatoon Tonight”), Mark and Arbuckle prove there’s no “I” in TEAM.

Both have a way of subtly throwing in jolting lines like “Girlfriend you’re lighting your cigarette from the wrong end again and again” (on Arbuckle’s otherwise clear-cut bluegrass track, “When I Come Back”), that take the songs in an unexpected darker direction, without making them dark as a whole. It’s just one of the traits that take makes it apparent that these are not just songwriters, they are wordsmiths. It’s their lyrical inhabitions that put them on a higher playing field than others in their profession.

Mark and Arbuckle have the existential abiltiy to mind-meld and become “one”, an ability that is necessary when two individuals come together to create something singular. They have achieved this and more on Let’s Just Stay Here.

For more information, visit www.mintrecs.com.

NOTE: BEYOND THE MUSIC

Mark’s quirkiness isn’t portrayed in the musical medium alone these days. No, her talents have spread into the cookbook arena, with the release of “Terrible Hostess: Recipes for Disaster, Volume II, Road-Tested by Carolyn Mark”.

“I don’t promise to reveal the secret of the universe,” Mark writes. “ … but maybe this collection, these collected recipes, might serve to shed a little light on some of the mysteries of the kitchen or, if nothing else, provide a little inspiration if you’re lacking.”  And inspiration should be found easily in recipes like She-Devil Soup, Christ on a Cracker and Final Fantasy Celery Soup. Many recipes are conveniently paired with appropriate wines, and happily, music. Example: Mason Street (circa 1994) Green Tortellini is paired with 1 silo of Gato Negro and The Breeders, Jonathan Richmond, Pavement and Beastie Boys.

Ah, Carolyn, is there any stone you haven’t unturned?

By Adam Baer

“Show Love”, the opening track to the debut of Queens, NY, foursome Hollis Brown displays the type of pop/rock hook that can turn heads. Just don’t turn too quickly or you’ll miss the good stuff. It’s easy to be fooled by the borderline bubble gum of “Show Love”, but it’s when the bubble bursts that you realize that these boys have some sawdust and whiskey pumpin’ through their veins. Take part Old 97’s, mix with a splash of Drive-By Truckers and garnish with a pinch of Exile-era Stones and you’ve got a helluva cocktail of bar band noise.

Guitarist/vocalist Mike Montali has a voice that inevitably will garner comparisons to train singer Pat Monahan, which is fine on the tunes that lean more towards the bluesy rock side of Hollis Brown’s sound. The sleazy boogie Montali and lead guitarist Jon Bonilla whip up on “Walk On Water” is a delight that would work in an arena or a barn. “Completed Fool” shows off the band’s chops with a combo of great riff work and boot-stomp rhythm provided by bassist Michael Wosczyk and drummer Mike Graves. It’s the kind of homegrown gem that would make Tom Petty look at the Black Crowes and ask: “Did you write that, or did I?”.

As far as the ballads go, only the electric waltz “Carolina, Caroline”, (which sounds a lot like Bob Dylan’s “Corrina, Corrina”), and the blues confession “Don’t Wanna Miss You”, with its yearning vocal and gospel-from-the-crossroads guitar really hit home. “No More Nights”, with its haunting slide guitar, which is nice, and sappy lines, which are bad: “Tryin’ to turn around the frown / It’s easier when you’re my crown” , show a polished band simply trying too hard.

By no means is this debut flawless, but it damn sure is fun. Even the other pop nugget “Passin’ Me By” will have your foot tappin’, and singing along to its “Na na na” ending. That’s the appeal of Hollis Brown: it doesn’t take gum on your boot for these guys to stick with you. Just have a seat, slow the sawdust off the table and wait for the noise.

By Adam Baer

I gotta admit, the story of a haunted recording studio caught the attention of my inner music geek. With rock’s long history of mystery and mythology: tales of brave Ulysses, stairway to heaven and sympathy for, of all things, the Devil, what’s another log on the pyre? The studio in question belongs to former Primus drummer, Tim Alexander, and the presence residing therein, is how these boys get their name: Into the Presence. The spook-fest vibe can be felt throughout this debut, but the most chilling moments come when singer/guitarist Luis Maldonado parts his lips.

Within a band comprised of excellent musicians: the aforementioned Alexander, Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle) on bass, and her cellist sister, Ana Lenchantin (who has ties to Trent Reznor), no instrument outshines Maldonado’s stellar vocals.

His vibrant, warm tremolo feels like an instant classic no matter what he’s singing. Think the old cliche “That guy could sing the phone book…”, because it’s appropriate. Nothing the rest of the band does is particularly relevant here. It’s all been done before. That’s not to say it’s bad (because it’s pretty good), it’s just not better than the vocals. I know that sounds unfair, but it’s been going on forever. Routinely stealing the spotlight is a singer’s freakin’ job, and Maldonado is working overtime.

Arena-ready songs like “You and I” and “Dear Father” will get the kids all sweat in the pit without losing the connection that’s so vital for a singer to have. Some of said connection is lost on “My Only Crime”, a ballad sung partly in Spanish. The rest of the album works well as a whole.

Haunted is an easy adjective to throw around when talking about hard rock. What’s not easy to throw around is the resonance in the presence of singing like this.

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/IntoThePresence.

By Rachel Heisler

If I had my way, Phish and I never would have crossed paths. The tidbits I heard here and there over the years at parties were enough to keep my Phish quota quite filled. But sometimes life doesn’t work the way one plans, and when I met and started to hang out with this really cute Phish-Head, I found myself unwillingly submerged in music that I, up until that point, lovingly referred to as The Jam Band from Hell.

When Joy was released, I thought I owed it to the Phishsters to give their new recording at least a quick listen. I struggled to put my earlier biases aside and listen with an open mind to what had been laid down. I had previously decided that Trey Anastasio was a talented songwriter, so it was only fair that I gave him every opportunity I would give my favorite bands.

What’s blatantly obvious is that Joy is a fantastic example of how jam bands simply cannot capture the live show feel on studio recordings. It lacks the spirit that inevitably spews forth during a live show, when you’re surrounded by hundreds of zoned-out freaks and feeling the vibe given off by the band. This is a problem that all jam bands struggle to overcome, though on studio recordings you can see what the band originally wanted to do with each song, and that’s usually a fish of a different color compared to how it comes out live.

Somewhat off-putting is how fluffy the lyrics tend to come across. They defy any sense of real meaning, though one gets the impression that they are intended to be inspiring and poetic. (I.e.: “Just got back from Kill Devil Falls/Dropped my water-logged clothes in the hall/Reach for a beer, glad the I’m here/When I realize you’re not around.”- “Kill Devil Falls”). The one stunning exception to the lyrical burps is ”Time Turns Elastic”. Wordy yet passionate, it equates nature’s habits to the emotions and actions of the human psyche.  

Giving still more credit where it’s due, there are some nice, happy beats on songs like “Backwards Down the Number Line”, and some ear-catching break-downs and grooves hidden among the straighter pop numbers.

I don’t have enough experience with Phish fans to know if Joy has been a hit to date, but it’s not the worst CD ever made, and it’s not the best. But it is pleasant in it’s own fashion, and the songs are bound to take on even more life when performed in person.

Article and photo by Rachel Heisler

Mary Lou Eagan Muratori

Ever since I can remember, all I wanted to do was sing. I sang everywhere I could: In high school choir and theater, at home with my hairbrush microphone and with my friends in our make-shift singing competitions. It wasn’t until high school that I decided to take singing to the next level, and that meant taking real voice lessons. And that is when I met Mary Lou Eagan Muratori.

She is a sweet, unique woman with a beautiful soprano voice, who has the most solid yet dainty way of playing the piano. She was always patient as she taught me her singing techniques, and damned if she didn’t, eventually, teach me how to sing! The hairbrush was traded in for a Shure microphone, and Cyndi Lauper, while still one of my first loves, was traded in for Mozart. I, admittedly, was not the most dedicated student, (I partook in the occassional cigarette and didn’t practice nearly as much as Mary Lou strongly suggested) but over the months I really did improve. And I was not the only singer Mary Lou helped to strengthen their vocal abilities, and this upcoming event will prove just how many lives she touched in one way or another.

Besides being a fantastic teacher of opera, operetta, art songs, oratorio and musical theater, Mary Lou has sung roles such as Olympia in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman, Lucia in Donizett’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Adle in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. She is also a sought-after painist, and has accompanied Peyton Hibbit of Tri-Cities Opera, Robert Driver of Syracuse Opera and Thomas Mahalik of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as well as local groups such as Edicott Cabaret and Downtown Singers. She is the founder and director of A Company for Chamber Opera for 20 uears. For five years, she directed The Singing Angels, a young girls’ chorus, and had 55 vocal students last year alone.

On Sept. 26, Mary Lou will celebrate 40 years of teaching voice at this Celebration of Song event. The gathering will feature performances by past and present students, with  few interesting surprises thrown in along the way and a reception to follow. It will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 42 Chenango St., Binghamton. Tickets cost $10, and can be purchased in advance by sending a check made out to Mary Lou Muratori to Pej reitz, 2600 Pine Bluff Drive, Vestal, NY 13850.

I haven’t played music or sang in a number of years, but Mary Lou helped to instill a love of music in me that, obviously, continues to this very day. To know her is to love her, and to see her again after all these years will be a treat for all of those who had the opportunity to work with and learn from her over the years.

Anyone interested in scheduling voice lessons, please call Mary Lou at 607-722-0977.

By Rachel Heisler

Sundown

Not all good bands reside in NYC, L.A. or Seattle. Some, like Sundown, are doing their thing in some of the smallest towns in the country. Unless you’re actually from Norwich, East Pharsalia or Greene, it’s unlikely you’ve ever heard of the cow towns of Upstate NY. But if you are familiar with these quaint little towns, it’s possible you have run across Sundown at a local bar somewhere along the way.

Noone passing the members of Sundown on the street would guess that they were in a band. They don’t put on airs or fancy duds and their lips and eyebrows aren’t pierced. In fact, this is the least pretentious band I have ever run across. These are just regular folks who happen to have the spirit of music flowing through their veins. But that doesn’t mean they’re playing music on washboards and spoons. In fact, Sundown is surprisingly high-tech, using electric drums and wireless guitar trasmitters. So, just who are these music lovers when the music ends for the evening? That is a question that won’t be answered today.

 
“We usually don’t put our focus toward ourselves,” Lori said when asked about the personal lives herself and her bandmates. “We focus on making the music new and fresh, and keeping our friends and fans happy and excited to come out and listen, dance. Without them we would be just another band. They feed our energy with their clapping, dancing and hooting and hollering.”

And clap, dance, hoot and holler they did last night at the Balsam Inn’s bike rally. Dozens of inebrated fans crowded the dance floor, cheap beer in hand, to relish in the band’s versions of a variety of cover songs. Now, PPR doesn’t usually review cover bands, but we’re making an exception this one time, due to the fact that Sundown, frankly, is a pretty damn good band, and their fans come first attitude is impressive.

Band members Rick French (lead electric/acoustic guitar, lead/harmony vocals), Lori French (keyboard, harmonica, rhythm guitar, lead/harmony vocals, Jesse French (bass, vocals) and Rich Potter (drums, vocals) have found that they don’t need to write or perform original tunes in order to find fans. Their fans are more than happy to dance the night away to classic country songs by Johnny Cash and Jeannie Pruett, contemporary country of Gretchen Wilson and Toby Keith and classic rock by the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. With competent instrumental playing, exceptional vocals and pleasing song selection, Sundown is a special musical treat for those people who may not have daily access to arena rock.

For more information, vistit www.myspace.com/sundown08.

Upcoming shows:
08/29/09-Honkytonk Saloon, Sherburne, NY, 9:30 p.m.
09/05/09-Balsam Inn, East Pharsalia, NY, 9:00 p.m.
09/13/09-Norwich VFW: Benefit, Norwich, NY, 1:00 p.m.
09/18/09-Nathanael Greene’s Publick House, Greene, NY, 9:00 p.m.
10/03/09-Balsam Inn, East Pharsalia, NY, 9:00 p.m.
10/24/09-Honkytonk Saloon, Sherburne, NY, 9:30 p.m.