Flanfire

The EP is really just a CD with fewer songs than other CD’s — kinda like soup and salad without the entree, especially if the musical meal is tastefully delicious.  And so here we have it — some tasteful, tasty music that leaves you hungry for more.

CORRINA’S DREAMLAND BAND – Blue Moonbeams

Corrina Rachel (Kalish) is tall, blonde, and old-fashioned (at least in her musical taste) — I always think of her as a 1940′s pinup girl who might have graced the noses of many a fighter plane (can anyone say “Betty Grable”?).  Unlike most other Austin jazz singers, Corrina belts em outta the park as her “dreamland band” changes from gig to gig (or so it seems).  The lineup for this five-song EP is Trevor Labonte on lead guitar, Ryan Bowman on bass, Masumi Jones on percussion, and Ephraim Owens on trumpet.  Three of the songs here are originals — I really like “Answer,” a bouncy tune that nonetheless gives our gal ample room to show off her extensive vocal range … The Bert Kaempfert tune “L-O-V-E” is a great way to show off the musical talent she has assembled, nd “Blind in Love” continues the groove (thanks, Trevor).  Corrina’s voice here is its sultriest.  The disc opens with Corrina’s “Blue Moonbeams,” but it is the closer — Mel Torme’s “Born to be Blue” – written before Corrina’s FATHER was born, that steals the show here …. Here our gal puts her Texas twang to work and brings back the grit of Billie Holiday … sultry, swanky, and (you know the word).  Yeah, she is super sweet!

MARGO VALIANTE — I Can’t Pray

You look at Margo Valiante — tall, slender, even a little gawky sometimes — the girl next door.  UNTIL she opens her mouth to sing … where DID that voice come from?  And to be true — she is THE VOICE!  OMG this is the real thing — produced by Rich Brotherton with band members Etan Sekons (electric guitar), Kyle Clayton (the Austin woman’s favorite bass player), and Jordon Ellis on drums (when he is not playing with Ben Sollee).  Riley Osbourn adds keyboards and Brotherton throws in a little of his own guitar prowess .. all the songs are Margo’s.  West Virginia transplanted to Wyoming .. with a pause for college at Skidmore – and a dad who once sang in clubs in Washington, DC, and its suburbs.  All that, and where did these blues and gospel tunes come from?  Tracy Nelson (Mother Earth) meets Janny Grein (my favorite white gospel singer ever).  “Fake Flowers” opens this five-song EP — this is the blues with Osbourn’s organ grinding it out and Sekons’ guitar (what’s a New Yorker doing this down and low?) laying the backdrop for “The Voice” — man, I would never buy plastic after hearing this song!  Their love was not real and the only way he could show it was to give her fake flowers when he goes … and she is just now realizing what happened! 

Next up is the title song – This is a gospel lament of the highest order … in live shows, Margo sets the stage afire with frenzy … you just ACHE when songs like these are done.  “Holy Ghost is my bottle, He won’t tell me my sins, He’s got a mind to drive me crazy, everywhere I go, everywhere I’ve been…. I read the gospel when it needed me, but it’s the label that I seek,, well I’ve got nothing more to show before the demons that I do keep….”  The intensity is way down on
“Sing I Do,” a prayer for a husband and lover … “He’ll come to me with a gesture so grand, he’ll wipe away tears and put a ring on my hand ….”  Then it’s “First Born Son,” with acoustic guitar only and a brooding bass line … “far as the moon on a golden day, he left his seedy eyes behind and drove away.”   TURN UP THE VOLUME AGAIN for “Mama Don’t Know,” a song about whiskey and sin, maybe the best blues song I have heard since “St. James Infirmary.”  Five songs — and I am completely drained.  Be sure to take your blood pressure medicine before going to one of Margo’s live sets.  You will need it — i promise!

MOTHER FALCON — Still Life

OK this is NOT Polyphonic Spree.  The band is NOT wearing robes.  But it is maybe the largest collection of musicians on an Austin stage playing rock operettas since that Dallas-based phenomenon.  Multiple cellos (Italo Benevides, Nick Calvin, and of course founder Nick Gregg), multiple violins and violas (Rita Andrade, Clara Brill, Maurice Chammah, Yun Du, and Austin Harris) plus Tamar Kalifa on accordian and piano, Matt Krolick on trumpet, Gilman Lykken on bassoon, Claire Puckett (the essential one) on guitar and vocals, Matt Puckett on saxophone and vocals, Luke Stence on bass, and Isaac Winburne switching rapidly from sax to drums kit to piano and back.  Their EP release at Central Presbyterian Church was one of the Music Events of the Year .. and why not?  Mother Falcon, whose members average maybe 19 or younger, won this year’s Austin Music Award for “None of the Above” — one of the city’s best bands.  I well remember the first time I saw Mother Falcon – at Cafe Caffeine on Mary Street — Nick struggling to play his cello and sing at the same time (all fixed with better mike placement), an assemblage of players who were not quite sure if this would all work, but something just clicked.  The PASSION!  I am not even going to write about the individual songs, because I hear this EP as a five-movement, high energy symphony (or cacaphony?) … kind of like what Explosions in the Sky does without words.  The heart races along with the violins and cellos.  I am proud to say I talked (it did not take much talk) The Tiny Tin Hearts into doing some shows with Mother Falcon (memorably at The Parish for their own CD release!) — and each band fed off the other’s already considerable fan base. 

MR. BROWN — Invisible To You

Kris Brown is one of my oldest friends in Austin (time, not age) — and I confess I would rather hear him play lead guitar than bass, but then again, with his reggae band Mr. Brown it is the bass that carries the rhythm, and besides Kris has PJ Herrington to play guitar.  Johnny Radelat holds down the drums here, with Courtney Audain supplying additional percussion on the recording and Matt Jacobs playing keyboards.  Plus Deke Jones on additional vocals and the Fresh 2 Def horns — Joseph Serrato on tenor sax, Michael Ray on trumpet, and Javier Stuppard on trombone. 

The title cut shows that Kris can croon with the best of them — this is one classy cut!  Kris wrote “The Name of Love” with Deke Jones, and this is a classic reggae song … you gotta dance, but this is a song about the Almighty Father by many names.  “Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing” — funny, earlier today I heard a friend describe himself as a sheep i wolves’ clothing (and of course I am friends with real wolves Winter and Luna) could just be Jamaican it is.  “This Love” features General Smiley, and “Wolves Version” features zydeco king Philipidon.)  Lastly, we have the dub version of the title track — groovin’ grooving music.

And in Austin, “characters” means — well, you know.  [This is catching up with weeks of writing in one fell swoop – and splitting things up so each post will be manageable structurally. 

But every picture tells a story.  Pic 1 here features two of my favorite young singers in town — each from a music-driven family.  Corrina Rachel and Miranda Dawn both sing jazz — both have dads who are well-known Austin players, and both were having a lot of fun at the Belleville Outfit concert at Momo’s on July 17th.  Miranda is also singing with T-Bird and the Breaks these days (for example, this Friday at the Mohawk), while Corrina and her Dream Band are playing here and there and she is also doing some solo shows.

Pic 2 is Christian Ward, banjo player and singer-songwriter (along with Talia Sekons and Marc Lionetti) in the Lost Pines — who will play again on August 2 at the Bluegrass Brunch at Threadgills Old No. 1.  I will never forget that night at Momo’s a while back when Christian was first telling me about his great band — and another night (well, many) when he was pinching himself over the affections of a certain young lady bootmaker.  I love this band!

Pic 3 shows Dan Dyer and Suzanna Choffel, who will be sharing the stage with Joanna Barbera at Momo’s Club on Friday.  Dan used to be a very good-looking, and good, singer — but he returned from a trip to Marfa a few weeks ago with a passel of brand-new songs that come from a place deep inside this man that we fans have not seen that much of — and the result is a new power in his voice, a new spring in his step, and a new grace on and off the stage that hopefully will open many doors. 

Pic 4 is 14-year-old Ruby Jane Smith (at Threadgill’s on Riverside on July 30th) at a recent show at the Saxon Pub that was in large part a taping for some television pilot or series in which she has a major role.   This youngster with an old soul and great command of her stage is a national treasure — I strongly advise getting to one of her shows before people realize she has been touring with Willie Nelson and Ray Benson and appeared on the Grand Old Opry with the likes of Marty Stuart and Big and Rich.  Meanwhile, she is still playing free shows here in town — and jamming and learning from a whole host of Austin’s finest (or at least best) old music hands, just as she did as a young child in Mississippi before moving down here.

Pic 5 is my pal PJ Harrington, who moved to Austin to play reggae with Kris Brown and is the lead guitarist in Graham Wilkinson’s Underground Nation but has the soul of a folksinger — and a lot of chops learned from folks like John Hartford.  Not bad for a kid from Cincinnati.  Pic 6 is THE DAILY DOUBLE TRIPLE!  Justin Wade Thompson on bass (background) and Hunter Thompson Singleton (Nathan’s little brother) on vocals and guitar — at Momo’s Club a while back.  The Sideshow Tragedy served as Hunter’s backing band as he writhed and glistened to hynotize his audience with tales of the macabre and the mundane — beautifully orchestrated to hold one’s attention.