By Dennis Cook
Om Trio: Globalpositioningrecord
It starts like a
marble rolling across an electric field. One is stretched into the
language of poetry listening to the Om Trio, who take the basic palette
of drums, keyboards & bass and make leaps across stanzas, parse
couplets, work metaphors without speaking a word. The lazy might
describe them 'fusion' or 'jazz' but those don't have the volume to hold
what this group is attempting. This, their fourth studio effort,
contains alarming shifts in mood even within the same piece. What might
begin as a house party, shifts to a leopard print wearing jungle jam. Or
maybe it's slow lovin' that accelerates towards a cop show romp proudly
presented in color. Pete Novembre's bass converses more than holds down
a spot. Brian Felix exercises some of the broken keyboard wisdom one
associates with Brian Eno yet still tosses in some gooey funk for good
measure; to wit, "Bulbous" which has the same meaty bump as quality
Galactic though far less lockstep in execution. Tune into drummer Ilya
Stemkovsky at any point and you'll find something engaging to say the
least. What all this dances around is Globalpositioningrecord
defies category, takes playful chances and provides a rich idea hopper
for their potent, exploratory live sets. Put more bluntly, good shit,
Maynard.
Om Trio Web site
Jet: Get Born
This dirty jean Australian quartet
revive the foot stompin' come on y'all vibe of '70s stadium long hairs.
They also turn a ballad with the non-ironic dampness of Journey or The
Babys. For all the chatter about a 'return to rawk' I don't catch the
same pulse in pumping here in The Strokes or The Hives or any number of
ballyhooed acts in the press. "Take It Or Leave It" is as stoopid cool
as an MC5 tune. Fellow Aussies AC/DC and the Saints are clearly
touchstones. On the weepies like "Look What You've Done" they sing with
the honey sweetness of the Raspberries. In many ways this isn't a very
complex record, a bit rough around the edges, far too eager to please to
take any real chances. However, it does remind me of early Faces or the
Black Crowes debut and that's a lot of promise. If they are half as
serious as they sound the second record is going to lay us on our asses.
In the meantime, spark 'em if you got 'em and have a loose goose boogie
around your living room while you get born.
Jet Web site
Mark Eitzel: The Ugly American
Eitzel's voice is an
acquired taste. Yet, once acquired, once allowed into the blood, he can
haunt you like a folk tale or the scraps of memory remaining from a
three-day bender. Recorded in Greece with a wholly different ensemble
than he usually plays with, The Ugly American finds him crooning
with the most sympathetic backing he's had in nearly a decade since he
left his landmark San Francisco band American Music Club (who have just
recently reformed). His raked gravel singing sounds amazing with
violins, bouzouki, clarinet and mandolin, often conjuring, dare I say
it, a romantic mood. His reworking of "Will You Find Me" from AMC's
Mercury album is pure yearning, an ache expressed without reservation.
Much of this new material holds a candle's flicker of hope, something
new to the Eitzel canon. Within the 'boundary of a kiss' he seems to
have found something worth waking up for in the morning. A beautiful
record that drags me back to the quiet pleasure of AMC's California
& Everclear releases.
Mark
Eitzel Web site
