New Music: Sparklehorse, Ariesta Birawa Group, Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood, William Elliott Whitmore

Sparklehorse - Knives of Summertime - Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (Astralwerks 2006)


Sparklehorse – Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain / Astralwerks

Nearly 5 years since the last Sparklehorse record, singer/songwriter Mark Linkous returns with his fuzzy rural-pop for another demographic-spanning attack on the music industry. With the help of music conspirators Dangermouse (1, 2, 8), Tom Waits (piano on 9) and Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips (1, 4, 10), Linkous crafts hushed ditties that melt Beatles-esque melodies into a sea of fuzzy guitars, quivering moogs and gurgling electronics. As with previous albums, Sparklehorse seems to have the ability to please fans of mainstream and indie music alike, a trademark of fellow-travel bands like The Flaming Lips and Grandaddy. The production excels at appearing lo-fi and Linkous’s subdued vocals retain the bedroom quality of this particular brand of pop music (while on a major label budget). I am pleasantly surprised by the addictiveness, diversity and musicianship of this album, and I would assume that fans of any of the aforementioned artists as well as endearing pop music of all kinds will find more than enough to enjoy.




Ariesta Birawa Group - Untukmu Pujaanku - Vol. 1, Indonesia (Shandoks/Normal 2006)


Ariesta Birawa Group – Vol. 1, Indonesia / Shadoks/Normal

It doesn’t take long after cracking open Hans Pokora’s renowned 4001 Record Collector Dreams (part 4 of the amazing record collector book series concentrating on rare Folk, Psychedelic, Progressive, Garage and Beat music from “Austria to New Zealand”) before stumbling across three serious-looking, hippified Indonesians, one with a mini-fro and a killer stache, who go by the Ariesta Birawa Group. Originally released in 1973 and extremely rare, ‘Vol. 1, Indonesia’ contains twelve 3-minute songs of psychedelic guitar-heavy songs that draw as much from their geographic roots as it does the Western 70s psych scene, like Hendrix’s melodic electric-funk accentuated by Eastern flute and exotic stringed instruments. One of the very few psychedelic re-releases from Indonesia, this album will please fans of worldly, psych and progressive tastes though don’t be scared, it is more accessible than you think, as well as connoisseurs of compilations like Cambodia Rocks. Releases like this one are why labels like Normal and distributors like Forced Exposure are so amazing.




Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood - Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing - Out Louder (Indirecto 2006)


Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood – Out Louder / Indirecto

It’s good to hear the ever-morphing Medeski, Martin and Wood getting back to their roots. Gone are the DJs, the electronics and the jam band cults, and what’s left is the jazz-funk trio of master improvisers trading licks and discovering grooves. For this go around, they swing by the house of post-bop guitarists to pick up John Scofield, who is arguably the best contemporary jazz guitarist of the last 15 years. Scofield fits MM&W’s sound perfectly, and the four of them together stir up an exciting blend of soul-jazz that’s reminiscent of Grant Green’s days of manning the frets with funky organist Brother Jack McDuff. I’m especially impressed with John Medeski’s organ playing; he repeatedly steals away the attention from the other members… but that could be just my affinity for all things organ. All in all, this is a wonderfully solid disc of well-played music from seasoned musicians and will easily please fans of both MM&W and John Scofield… could possibly even bring the fans back that were scared off by the proto-hippies of the late 90s.




William Elliott Whitmore - Dry - Song of the Blackbird (Southern 2006)


William Elliott Whitmore – Song of the Blackbird / Southern

Despite every indication from his whisky-soaked, Waits-like, rusty pipe of a throat, his pessimistic worldly views and inclination for traditional blues-folk, William Elliott Whitmore is not that old. In fact, the barely 30-year-old could almost be described as baby-faced, which is probably why he choose to display a rotting bird corpse as album art rather than a photo of himself; the raw mysteriousness of the album would be completely lost. The final installment of the initial album trilogy under his own name, Whitmore is attempting to ascend from the thematic backwoods misery, though his down-to-earth, Johnny Cash-like approach to optimism isn’t exactly the foundation of rainbows. With the help of his trusty acoustic guitar, banjo or minimal accompaniment, Whitmore’s realization is more of an acceptance than outward cheerfulness; he realizes while its springtime now, a few months from now the temperature will be dropping and the skies will be graying over once again.