By Dasha Bulatov

Despite hailing from a suburban outlier, Walnut Creek-based Mister Loveless possesses a sound that is casually and darkly urban. Initially established by morose and reluctantly melodic guitars, the vibe is heightened by guitarist/singer Rob Miller’s Interpol-ish vocals and the sharp outfits that the band often wears onstage. Yes, the undeniable Interpol resemblance had to be mentioned immediately. Just listen, you’ll hear it. More derivative in earlier recordings, their sound has since grown and expanded its range. The tracks on Mister Loveless’ debut full-length album, My Share of Losing, are catchy and dynamic, exhibiting a maturity that previous releases seemed to lack.

Either way, it is heartless to dismiss Mister Loveless on the principle of imitation. Like all bands, even those who vehemently deny it, Mister Loveless falls into a number of closely related genres: post-punk, new wave, indie, and plain old rock ‘n’ roll. If you’re into those styles, or just willing to give them a chance, there is a high probability that Mister Loveless will become a regular on your playlists.

In September of 2006, after the first album had been recorded, principle songwriters Rob and Charlie Koliha (bass) announced a separation from their drummer, which resulted in a nine-month hiatus. During this time, two new members — Sean Gaffney on guitar and Rachael Travers on drums — were added. Work on a second full-length was planned to follow the band’s last show of 2007 on October 27th. However, singer Rob suffered a serious head injury after leaping off the stage and hitting a pipe. Despite postponing the album, the incident seemed to revitalize the band and unify its fans. Now the band is back, playing gigs all over the Bay. And, if they continue to exhibit the same energy (in a safe way, we hope), then the shows are definitely worth attending.

MORE REASONS TO LOVE MISTER LOVELESS:
-Consistently cool and mellow indie rock. You really can’t go wrong with that.
-Members don equally rad threads that seem to pay homage to the mod era (a refreshing break from American Apparel).
-They were so kind as to release the tracklist for their upcoming EP to us: 1) “Hardly Young;” 2) “Good Story;” 3) “Just Thoughts;” and 4) “It’s Missing.”
-Hear them on the radio! Mister Loveless performed live on 90.1 KZSU and has appeared as a guest DJ on Live 105.

Reviews originally published in the East Bay Express on 11/21/07.

Subtle, Yell&Ice (Lex Records). Remix albums usually suck. But not this collection of alternate takes on tracks from the acclaimed Oakland act’s 2006 release For Hero: For Fool, which oozes creativity from members of Why?, Wolf Parade, TV on the Radio, Hood, and the Notwist.

Company Car, Collars (self-released). Nicely mixed, relatively convincing post-hardcore with strong guitar work and a tolerable emo bent. For better or worse, it just might warrant a shot at a mainstream rock audience.

Six Organs of Admittance, Shelter from the Ash (Drag City). Medieval metal and folk pickin’ fuse via experimental rock on another interesting yet underwhelming release from the mostly-solo project of Comets on Fire’s Ben Chasny.

Citay, Little Kingdom (Deep Oceans Records). Frontman Ezra Feinberg spins instrumental gold on this sophomore Citay disc, which also features Tim Green (San Francisco’s resident post-rock Midas) on guitar, piano, and production. As beautiful as it comes.

Josh Fix, Free at Last (1650 Entertainment). It’s special enough that Fix can nimbly reproduce everything about the bombast and tenderness of Queen and Elton John. But a few bulletproof melodies make it no wonder he’s already more famous than you know.

]]> http://www.nascentmag.com/2007/11/local-licks-112107.html/feed/ 0 http://www.nascentmag.com/2007/11/local-licks-111407.html http://www.nascentmag.com/2007/11/local-licks-111407.html#comments Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:24:54 +0000 admin http://localhost/nascentmag/?p=74 ALBINO!, The Kim Philbys, David Widelock, The Landing, and Tempo No Tempo

Reviews originally published in the East Bay Express on 11/14/07.

ALBINO! Rhino (Mighty Niblet Records). Proclaiming George Bush a puppet and our government a “looming threat” won’t turn many heads in the Bay Area, but lyrics are only incidental to ALBINO!’s groove-laden, instrumentally flawless take on the jazz/funk/protest hybrid of Afrobeat.

The Kim Philbys Whir Whir Whir (Evangeline Records). Like a mix tape you might’ve traded with your friends back in the day: charmingly uneven, unabashedly brokenhearted trad rock.

David Widelock Memories of a Surprise (self-released). Amateur album art belies the veteran Bay Area artist’s skill at writing and performing solo acoustic pieces on nylon- and twelve-string guitars, including original arrangements of works by Thelonious Monk, Randy Newman, and Gilberto Gil.

The Landing The Landing EP (self-released). Young, female-fronted Palo Alto trio the Landing fancies itself a bit edgier than these three songs suggest. Still, its debut recording’s piano-driven alt-rock surveys fertile ground.

Tempo No Tempo Repetition EP (Double Negative Records). While the world may not need another post-punk dance band, it has one in Berkeley’s Tempo No Tempo, which advances on its second EP from aping turn-of-the-century revivalists like Radio 4 and Franz Ferdinand to building upon them.

Hometown: Alameda
Next local show: 2/7, The Uptown Nightclub
Recent release: For Better or Worse, 2005

We don’t have many Heartland rockers here on the West Coast, but East Bay native Paul Manousos is definitely one of ‘em. “Something caught me,” is all he can say of his lifelong connection to music. Five years of incubation in a music-loving household led him to sit down at the family piano and play. By age sixteen he was writing songs on guitar — moved to make his own racket by eternally influential rock ’n’ rollers like Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison, and Bruce Springsteen.

From 1999 to 2002, he played in blues-rock quartet Power 13, which released two albums on Manousos’ own label, Shock and Fall Records. In ‘03 he embarked upon a solo career; his debut, For Better or Worse, came in ‘05. Since then he’s been touring like mad, embracing the publicity side of things, and finally looking to sign with a label — all evidence that his sophomore solo album may be his biggest yet. We don’t have any information on it yet, but for a career musician like Manousos, it’s gotta be in the works.

For Better or Worse is a collection of modern Americana that’s refreshingly loyal to pioneers of the craft, yet sharing in the progression of second- and third-generation roots-rockers like John Hiatt and Ryan Adams. Manousos knows the genre doesn’t thrive on new ideas so much as naked talent, and his music teems with earnest familiarity.

DEFINITELY FOR BETTER:
-For Better or Worse was produced by Steve Fisk. The Seattle-based songwriter/producer has also worked with Nirvana, Soundgarden, Beat Happening, and Screaming Trees. Manousos doesn’t fit into that alt-rock/grunge mould, but says he and Fisk have been friends for years.
-Manousos has received positive press in the Oakland Tribune, PopMatters [scroll down a bit], and HARP Magazine, among others.
-His album’s leadoff track, “Another Day in the Life,” has been added to college radio and commercial stations across the country.

San Francisco quartet the Dont’s are on the verge of releasing the biggest album of their young career. Must be an exciting feeling. The band is barely four years old, and Inner El Camino, due January 30, is a big step forward from its 2005 debut Misc Radio Leakage. Both have been self-released, but this one streamlines and elaborates upon the experimentalism of the first while proving that the Dont’s ability to distill quirky, old-school indie rock was no fluke.

Inner El Camino is indeed an indie rock fun house. Taking stalwarts like Modest Mouse, the Fall, Can, Tortoise, and Sonic Youth, and boiling them down to their most quintissential and palatable elements, the record is simultaneously off-kilter and embracing — a weird record that’s not hard to listen to. That alone is an accomplishment, but a few moments across the album elevate it to a higher level: wild vocal melodies, sublime guitar parts, jagged rhythms, and unique bass lines that bounce through uneasy indie rock tunes like tumbleweed of pure gold.

A few tracks can be overly derivative, especially the way-too-Fall-to-be-an-accident kick-off number “Blah Blah Blah.” That doesn’t stop it from being one of the record’s high points. And lead singer Jonny Dont’s voice, whether by accident or not, sounds at time a LOT like that of Electric Six frontman Dick Valentine (what a name!). The key to this record is appreciating it for what it is and shutting down the indier-than-thou part of your brain, if you have it. If you don’t, you’re in the clear, for the Dont’s execution is flawless. Songs like “AKA Sob” and sax-laced closer “Motherfather” are all Dont’s, assuring the skeptical listener that this is not a gang of ripoff artists, but four musicians with eight great ears. They know quality music when they hear it, and they sure know how to make some of their own.

THE PLEASE DO’S
-In addition to singer Jonny Don’t, the group includes Joey Don’t on guitars, JJ Don’t on bass, and Ken Don’t on drums. Something tells us they’re not actually brothers.
-Inner El Camino was recorded on analog tape at the Tiny Telephone and SF Soundworks studios in San Francisco.
-The band has retained hundreds of hours of experimental recordings since forming in 2003. This does a lot to explain the band’s more precarious moments — they probably come from improv rather than deliberate songwriting sessions.

Hometown: Piedmont
Next local show: 1/14, Oakland Metro
Recent release: Panda E.P., 2006

Panda is the Oakland band you should be talking about at this very moment. Panda. Right now. Panda. Got it? These dudes are kids…literally 17 and 18 years old. But don’t let that fool you, because they rock about 38 times harder than anyone we went to high school with. For that matter, college. And we went to college with Black Sabbath. Nah, just kidding. But this group Panda, they’re something else. We saw them open for fellow Oakland band Maldroid (keep your eyes on East Bay Express for some upcoming coverage on those fellas) at Blakes on Telegraph, and it was an enlightening experience.

Offstage, Panda’s members are normal high school kids. Meek, almost. Certainly unassuming in jeans and white t-shirts. But onstage they rock with such abandon and precision it’s a wonder they’ve done anything but play music over the last decade and a half. And when they covered the Beatles‘ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” we thought we had died and gone someplace very, very nice. To hear musicians so young breathe such life and passion into a 37-year-old song — to hear it as if for the first time — was nothing short of supercalifragilistic. And Panda originals are nothing to scoff at; the band’s songwriting sensibilities, while not entirely developed, are certainly far beyond what one would expect from a typical high school rock band.

Each of the three songs on Panda’s EP, which were on sale for $1 at the show, brings something different. “Carry On” is a keyboard-infused garage rock number that manages to invoke the energy of the Hives and the gravity of Bends-era Radiohead. “Fake Tattoos” has a playful lilt that fans of the Shins and the Decemberists will recognize, but it’s got more rock than either of those bands can muster. “Alan Li” is the most modern song, an angsty three-minute alt-rock number. All three songs are available on Panda’s MySpace page.

PANDASMEAR:
-Panda has already signed to San Francisco’s PopSmear Records, also home to Two Seconds, Tragedy Andy, Soundboy, Ariel Mile, and Deflator Mouse.
-Panda recorded its EP at PopSmear Studios, located in central San Rafael.
-PopSmear band Ariel Mile features two members of local punk group Tsunami Bomb, while Two Seconds is made up of two more 16-year-olds. The kids are alright!

Featured Review

The Bad
The Good
The Inexplicable

Contribute to Sound by Its Cover

***

The Bad

4/11/07 John Ashfield

3/2/07 Mirror Snake

2/15/07 Smoke or Fire

12/11/06 The Size Queens

11/27/06 Sufjan Stevens

11/2/06 Rachel Ray’s Too Cool for School Mixtape for Kids

10/26/06 Pillow Pusher

10/26/06 Charles Xavier

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The Good

3/22/07 The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound

2/21/07 Alexi Murdoch

1/8/07 Radio Moscow

12/18/06 The Welcome Matt

12/4/06 Shapes and Sizes

11/15/06 Easy Star All-Stars’ Radiodread

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The Inexplicable

3/29/07 Lynn Marie & the Boxhounds

3/7/07 Altar Boyz

2/5/07 GoodWord

1/29/07 A Date With John Waters

11/7/06 Cerrone

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Featured Review

Sound by Its Cover: John Ashfield’s Love Is Blue

This is, without a doubt, one of the goofiest album covers ever. It’s a joy to behold, really, because it’s so damn genuine. I’m sure John Ashfield is a stand-up guy — totally nice, committed to his craft, a talented singer even. And that’s nice to see. But his pose on the cover of Love Is Blue is a character unto itself, a look that supersedes the man. You could spend the next five years of your life with John Ashfield and never shake this image from your head. That’s how profoundly goofy it is.

Something about a big guy like John dressed up in khakis and a baby-blue ribbed sweater while mimicking the playful pose of a schoolgirl is irresistible. He leans back, hands planted at his sides on an aluminum bench, mouth partially agape as if to say, Hey, I’m just having some fun here, legs extended out in front, feet crossed so that we can see the treads of his boots. Can’t you just picture a ten-year-old girl dressed in her Sunday best making the same pose?

In addition to being frontman for SF-based power-pop group the Bobbleheads, Ashfield teaches music to elementary schoolkids, which explains why he’s seated in a schoolyard, perhaps in front of his classroom. Has he adopted the innocent look of the children he teaches, or is this just a coincidence?

Maybe this will shed some light: Love Is Blue is a remake of a 1968 Johnny Mathis record of the same name. Ashfield borrowed that title as well as all of the song names in the original sequence — including standards like “Walk on By” and “Moon River” — but wrote all new music. The cover image, in fact, is also inspired by the original art, in which Mathis perches likewise on a fence wearing an almost identical outfit. So the look is the same, yet the substance is new. Perhaps this explains why a grown man would pose like a little girl. Totally postmodern, man. Or maybe just goofy as hell. – Nate Seltenrich

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Contribute to Sound by Its Cover

We’re looking for new contributors to Sound by Its Cover. You don’t necessarily need experience writing about music or reviewing records the “normal” way, but you should know how to write and have a good sense of humor — the idea is to have fun with this. If you’re interested, please send a couple writing samples and a jpeg of the album cover you’d like to review to info@nascentmag.com. Relatively recent albums are preferred (within the last few months), but if you’ve got an older one in mind, feel free to sell us. We look forward to hearing from you and checking out some killer — or hideous — new album art.