Jean Grae - Jeanius

MUSIC REVIEWS

Jean Grae
Jeanius

[Blacksmith; 2008]

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Styles: hip-hop
Others: 9th Wonder, Mos Def, Talib Kweli
Links: Jean Grae - Blacksmith

Though it bears only one name on its cover, it’s best to consider Jeanius a duet between its top-billed MC and producer-cum-N.C. hip-hop poster-boy 9th Wonder. Here, 9th’s production serves to complement Jean Grae’s vocal counterpoint, with snappy beats sounding far more energized than anything 9th has offered us lately (witness this year’s lukewarm collab with Buckshot, The Formula) and his trademark spliced-soul samples buttressing Grae’s verses. And in like fashion, Grae complements her producer, her voice flowing with the beat rather than just on top of it.

The duo’s dynamic lends the album a smoothness born not of complacency, but of natural synergy, allowing the songs to traverse gravity and playfulness with equal aplomb. “My Story,” a heartbreaking narrative backed by trudging drums and jazzy woodwinds, gives the abortion debate much-needed pathos by avoiding politics and focusing instead on the desperation and regret of the song’s speaker. Pair that with “2-32’s” whose beat comes with woodblock clacks and a swaggering bass drum, and whose rhymes come rife with vibrant wordplay and braggadocio punctuated by laughter. Even when the album’s relatively few guests (a bevy of Carolina talent, none of whom are strangers to 9th Wonder productions, including Little Brother’s Phonte, Median, Edgar Allen Floe) step up to the mic, 9th and Grae still carry the record. The cameos offer peripheral support to Jeanius’ just-so flow every step of the way.

Only at the end of “Think About It,” — when a hypeman’s rant that is meant (I hope) as a sarcastic screed against racial profiling ends up sounding blindly venomous and misplaced on both the song and the album — does Jeanius falter. But despite such a glaring flaw, the record still succeeds and stays fresh upon repeated listening. Even as Grae proclaims on “Intro,” “Jean change your flow./ No./ 9th change your drums./ No.,” acknowledging both artists’ retro-reverent style (which has on past efforts been a stumbling block), here the backward-looking aesthetic turns back around, sounding revived instead of tired.

1. Intro 2. 2-32’s (feat. Daily Planet) 3. Don’t Rush Me 4. My Story 5. The Time Is Now (feat. Phonte) 6. Billy Killer 7. Think About It 8. #8 9. American Pimp (feat. Median) 10. This World 11. Love Thirst 12. Desperada 13. Smashmouth (feat. K. Hill, Edgar Allen Floe and Joe Scudda)

by Bryan Reed

Tiny Mix Tapes, 9/25/08

The Broken West

The Broken West w/ Deep Vibration

Fri., Sept. 26.

It comes as no small surprise to find N.Y. dance-pop favorites LCD Soundsystem sitting atop The Broken West’s list of influences. The sound of the L.A.-based, Merge-signed Broken West is, after-all, seated so firmly upon the pillars of guitar-pop that a name other than The Beatles, The Kinks, or Big Star in that spot seems downright blasphemous. But one listen to Now or Heaven, the band’s second LP for Merge, and dubious becomes delightful. Here we hear a rhythmic swing, and a sharp low-end that gives the new album the dancefloor momentum that was missing from its predecessor. Squeeze into Now or Heaven’s standout opener, “Gwen, Now And Then,” for a taste of The Broken West’s newfound adeptness for marrying gliding melodic pop with an insistent rhythmic push. Guitars still steer the ship, but there’s an added emphasis on the atmosphere and rhythmic qualities keys can add, a stronger bass presence and meatier drums. And the result of this confluence of all-things-pop makes Now or Heaven The Broken West’s best work yet. —Bryan Reed
$6, www.myspace.com/thebrokenwest.

The Village Tavern
1055 Johnnie Dodds Blvd., Mt Pleasant (Mt. Pleasant), SC 29464
(843) 884-6311
http://www.village-tavern.com

Charleston City Paper

SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

VISITING ACT | The Revival Tour

Walking the Line: Deeply-rooted, gruff folkstuff from Revival Tour

BY BRYAN REED

The Revival Tour 2008 (L to R): led by Ben Nichols of Lucero, Tim Barry of Avail, Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, with friends and special guests Travis Conner, Chrissy Piper, & Todd Roeth

The Revival Tour
w/ Chuck Ragan, Ben Nichols, Tim Barry
Fri. Sept. 26
8 p.m.
$14, $12/adv.
Music Farm
32 Ann St.
(843) 853-3276
www.musicfarm.com

There are sounds that bind us to the South: the chirp of crickets, the whisper of a cool breeze, the gentle drawl in our voices — the music of the front porch. Our musical heritage is shaped by gospel hymns and field hollers, vaudeville ragtime and the blues of the Mississippi Delta and the Carolina Piedmont, down-home country and string-band folk. The rusty strings of acoustic guitars, banjos, and fiddles tie us to the red-clay earth. No matter how we change over time, the South remains.

So it's almost a no-brainer to see The Revival Tour put rubber to asphalt, trekking cross-country — and to the Music Farm on Friday — bringing front men of three respected Southern punk bands and their acoustic guitars together. Outside of the regional commonality, Chuck Ragan of Gainesville, Fla.'s Hot Water Music, Ben Nichols of Memphis, Tenn.'s Lucero, and Tim Barry of the Richmond, Va.-based Avail share a level of attention to the craft of songwriting born of something apart from punk's bare-knuckle approach. When the set-up strips down to wood, strings, and a well-worn voice, songs adopt a new identity, and lyrics start to walk a thin line.

Each night of the tour features a set of music preformed by each songwriter, accompanied by a rotation of back-up musicians (the Charleston show features Austin Lucas of Guided Cradle). The evenings end with collaborative sets of music performed by all three.

Ragan recently released his solo debut titled Feast or Famine. He's already involved in production on his next album for SideOneDummy Records. Barry is playing in support of his own folk-rock album, Rivanna Junction. Nichols signed on after this spring's SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas, after a drinking session with Ragan and Barry.

Ragan, in the role of the redeemer, turns his songs into rally cries for hope in the face of pain. Nichols, as the trio's storyteller, lets downtrodden characters look for love. He sometimes helps them find it. Barry, the outlaw of the bunch, romanticizes a hard-livin', hard-drinkin' life on the outskirts of society, questioning if tomorrow's gonna come. And when the three sing together — as they've been doing this tour — for "Wash My Feet in the Waves," there's a hymn-like quality in their trudging strums and salted harmonies.

If those sound like country tropes, it's because they are. But they're just as at home in punk rock. Both camps look hardship in the face and still cling to hope. They respect honesty, authenticity, and their roots. They search for, and often find, some kind of truth. And if The Revival Tour succeeds, it'll only be more clear that the roots of southern music aren't all that far removed from punk — like the rebellious kid finding out his old man ain't so bad after all.

Charleston City Paper, 9/24/08

Truly Super Group

Truly Super Group By Bryan Reed The New Pornographers Headliners: Monday, Sept. 22 I often find the term “supergroup” to be both offensively euphemistic and misleading. We hype-tracking music consumers fall time and time again for this misnomer, even after all the years of — to put it nicely — varied success of these aging rock-star casseroles. Need I remind you of The Highwaymen, the mid-’80s collaboration of country icons Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson that, despite mathematical logic, resulted in lukewarm recordings and barely a footnote for a legacy? And, by all means, we were entitled to expect something at least moderately badass of the confluence of Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach, Ted Nugent, Biohazard’s Evan Seinfeld and Zeppelin progeny Jason Bonham. But what we got was a s#!tty VH1 reality show and a limp-wristed, quick-to-disappear quintet that tried to name itself FIST and Rawdog before finally settling on (I kid you not) Damnocracy. Cue disappointment. So to these ears, the mere utterance of the word “supergroup” results in a disgusted shudder and a preemptive write-off of the (probably not-so) supergroup in question. But in anything you’re likely to hear or read about Vancouver’s New Pornogrpahers — which play Headliners on Monday — the S-word is bound to pop up. And regardless, I love The New Pornographers, in the special dance-around-the-room-when-nobody’s-watching type of love great pop bands tend to inspire. Still, the fact remains, “supergroup” is unavoidable. It’s the fifth word in the allmusic.com biography of the band. Thing is, though, this time it’s accurate. For the Canadian crew, the roster of which reads as a checklist of indie-famous musicians, the working definition — that is, a group whose members are already known or respected outside of the group in question — fits. Principal Pornographer Carl “A.C.” Newman began his career in the power-pop band Zumpano, which released two albums for the iconic Sub Pop label before disbanding. The New Pornos’ other primary songwriter, Daniel Bejar, tours with his successful, Merge-signed solo project Destroyer. And alt-country chanteuse Neko Case lends her pipes to all four New Pornos records to date. So the requisite talent-pool is accounted for; what of the music? With Newman and Bejar providing delightful foils to one another — Newman’s grounded evocation countering Bejar’s surrealist eccentricity — The New Pornographers have managed to marry indie rock’s predilections for cerebral imagism with power pop hooks and an unadulterated joyousness in the music that offers the same time-and-again thrill as the untouchable A-side of Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 classic, Rumours. Last year’s Challengers, The New Pornos’ Matador-released fourth LP, found the octet turning it down a notch from the wide-eyed exuberance of 2005’s Twin Cinema without losing any of its characteristic charm or fullness of sound. Most importantly, though, for its now-four-album career, The New Pornographers have provided a tailor-made fit for its three keynote vocalists, providing a common ground where Bejar’s adenoidal whine, Case’s velveteen coo and Newman’s malleable tenor meld together to create a singular voice that is unique to the New Pornographers — separate even from Case and Bejar’s outside work. I’ve developed my own frightfully obvious clarification of the definition of “supergroup” that ought to make it a less odious idiom. It’s simple: Separate the word into its two halves, “super” and “group.” There’s a very clear prerequisite that this group must be super. That doesn’t mean, “This group must have band members from other bands that people like,” it means, “This group must be super.” With a circle of talent that, when combined, creates a sum that is far greater than its individual parts, it becomes pretty clear that as groups go, The New Pornographers are pretty super. Headliners is located at 700 Gervais St. Doors open at 8 p.m.; The Heist and the Accomplice open. Admission is free — provided you know where, when and how to get tickets. For ticket information, visit jdstudiono7.com; you can also register to win tickets by emailing your name, email address, state, zip code and birthdate to contests@free-times.com. For more information, call 796-2333 or visit headliners.com.

Free Times, 9/17/08

Holy Ghost Tent Revival / American Aquarium

Holy Ghost Tent Revival

Sat., Sept. 6.

Americana is a tricky label — and often a cop-out for describing any act with an acoustic guitar or a southern drawl. But for Greensboro’s Holy Ghost Tent Revival it really is the only apt descriptor. Disregard the geographical connection to like-minded tar-heels The Avett Brothers and Squirrel Nut Zippers — the band’s very name evokes images of century-old American confliction wherein religious piety meets raucous party. Musically, we hear elements of the entire lexicon of American popular music. Vaudeville ragtime, rife with swinging horns, doo-wop backing vocals, and the qualities of Golden Age pop. String-band folk and bluegrass collide with rock ’n’ roll abandon. Where the canon of popular music converges in Holy Ghost’s songs, we get not only a sound that is as all-encompassing as a tent revival, but one that is undeniably, and singularly “Americana.” —Bryan Reed (photo by Stratton Lawrence)
$8, www.myspace.com/hgtr.

The Pour House
1977 Maybank Hwy., (James Island)
(843) 571-4343
http://www.charlestonpourhouse.com

Charleston City Paper


American Aquarium w/ Buzzround
As the title of its most recent album, The Bible and The Bottle, might indicate, American Aquarium trades mostly in country tropes both tried and true. Which, for a Raleigh band, is hardly surprise. North Carolina’s capital is, after all, the birthplace of alt-country legends Two Dollar Pistols and Whiskeytown. But American Aquarium is far from a mere tribute to hometown heroes. Frontman B.J. Barham’s whiskey-scorched voice, pained and scratchy, turns a piano-pounding roadhouse romp like “Clark Avenue” into a fully-convincing picture of a world where women are “sexy as sin” and the only cure is a good stiff drink. “When I’m sober, I pray to Jesus,” sings Barham. “When I’m drunk, that’s when I talk to God.” At the same time, though, a steel-guitar shuffle like “Down Under” is an equally compelling depiction of brokenhearted discontent run through a versatile band with an equally versatile voice behind the wheel. —Bryan Reed
$5, www.myspace.com/americanaquarium.

The Tin Roof
1117 Magnolia Road, Charleston (West Ashley), SC 29407
(843) 571-0775
http://www.myspace.com/westashleytinroof

Charleston City Paper