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Please Quiet Ourselves, Michael J. Downey and the World, Justin Martin, Johannes Wallman Quintet, and Deborah Pardes

Reviews originally published in the East Bay Express on 12/19/07.

Johannes Wallmann Quintet: Minor Prophets (MooseWorks Productions). Wallmann recently moved west to direct jazz studies at Cal State East Bay, but Minor Prophets pays tribute to his former home of New York City with a breezy palette and an inviting, complex finish.

Please Quiet Ourselves: Please Quiet Ourselves (Mushpot Records). A promising pop mess (think broken-down Broken Social Scene) from seven Berkeley high school students. Some songs have yet to find themselves, but surprisingly many are downright glorious.

Michael J. Downey and the World: America (self-released). Perhaps little more than one man’s mission to front a band featuring four beautiful women. Though Downey’s lyrics reflect reputable morals, his songs soil adult-contemporary’s already beleaguered name.

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Marquis Melody, Gyan Riley, Scene of Action, Karen Armstrong, and Stevedood

Reviews originally published in the East Bay Express on 12/12/07.

Marquis Melody, Straight from the Heart (Skank So). Across 78 minutes (at least twenty too many), Marquis Melody’s warbling vocals waver in effectiveness, though the underpinning roots reggae never loses its groove. Recorded at Tuff Gong in Kingston, Jamaica.

Gyan Riley, Melismantra (Agyanamus Music). The virtuosic music of Berkeley-based, internationally recognized guitarist Gyan Riley flows between flamenco, jazz, raga, classical, and Satriani-esque shredding without so much as a hiccup.

Scene of Action, Scene of Action EP (Pop Smear). Straight outta Cal, Scene of Action’s angsty, Muse-ish sound needs time to lighten up and develop beyond its influences. Still, not bad for a debut EP.

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The Mighty Underdogs, Damon and the Heathens, Rademacher, Le Fits, and HYIM

Reviews originally published in the East Bay Express on 12/5/07.

Rademacher, Stunts (self-released). Malcolm Sosa sings like Stephen Malkmus, and that’s all right — though his lyrics aren’t nearly as sharp (or meaningless, depending on where you stand). Musically, Rademacher succeeds in its quest for playful indie rock that plain sounds good.

The Mighty Underdogs, The Prelude EP (self-released). Perhaps it’s a judgment call as to whether Gift of Gab, Lateef the Truthspeaker, and Headnodic are actually underdogs, especially when they work with DJ Shadow and MF Doom. But there’s no doubting the new trio’s dynamic debut and its promise of a great full-length follow-up.

Damon and the Heathens, Now That It’s Over EP (self-released). Four new songs — a teaser for next year’s debut full-length — from the big-band-with-an-attitude that dubs its sound “Oakland grit.” Live audiences dig the sextet’s energy and authenticity, though not everything translates seamlessly to the studio.

Le Fits, Sportif (UFI Records). The scattershot, experimental indie pop of Le Fits’ sophomore record isn’t really pop at all, but darkness and drama wearing bright clothes. How Oakland.

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Here Here, Parker Street Cinema, Sky Pilots, and Jimmy Leslie

Reviews originally published in the East Bay Express on 11/28/07.

Here Here, The Boy with an Orange (self-released). Even down to frontman Christian Lyon’s soothing vocals, seven-member San Francisco group Here Here sounds a lot like Pinback, just without the snap, and with a whole bunch of violin, accordion, trumpet, banjo, and mandolin.

Parker Street Cinema, Music, in the Blood (Abandoned Love Records). If making beautiful, dramatic music sound effortless is a pinnacle of achievement, then San Francisco experimental rock trio Parker Street Cinema falls a couple important steps below its idols. Fleeting moments of transcendence yield to a sense that the band is overthinking.

Sky Pilots, Enjoy a Day Off (Ghost Mansion Records). Post-hardcore put through the San Francisco spinner: palatable, progressive, and reluctant to push anything too hard.

Jimmy Leslie, Surfin’ the Swamp (Concurrent Records). The vibe is steady, the sound is clean, and Leslie’s bright guitar work rarely missteps. Still, only when the band loosens up and just jams does this New Orleans funk/San Francisco rock hybrid really click.