RSS

By Simon Howell - A Listening Ear - 01/22/2008

About four years ago, when I was still ecstatic to have moved to a city in which great music was in abundance at a seemingly endless variety of used record stores, I picked up the Shalabi Effect's self-titled debut. Why? Principally because it had a shiny cover with a nebula on it, and it was a two-disc record for eight bucks, which seemed like an unbeatable bargain. Needless to say that seventeen-year-old me was inadequately prepared to process the two hours of drone-based recordings contained inside that inviting slipcase.

To my surprise, Shalabi's newest release (his third, minus the "Effect") is an eclectic set of Middle East-inspired experimental rock music -- its impetus apparently stemming from a trip to Egypt -- which often features surprisingly straightforward compositional structures. "Jessica Simpson" stomps along to a consistent, bass-driven rhythm for its eight minutes, culminating in a surprisingly intense 70's prog guitar solo (a device that pops up again on "Honey Limbo"). The grandiose structure and instrumentation, combined with the relatively lo-fi recording style, makes for a hazy, narcotic listen. The title track is more exotic, with woozy strings revolving around a simple, hypnotic figure, overlaid by distant, distorted vocals. Other tracks, like "Eddie," incorporate found sound and film dialogue along with the rest of the heady brew. Constellation singer Elizabeth Anka Vajajick takes the reigns on the dark dirge "Billy the Kid." "End Game" is most surprising -- a four-minute, driving rock song propelled by strings and Lhasa de Sela's gritty vocal. Alien8's press release mentions her past collaborations with Tindersticks and Nick Cave, and there's definitely a shared aesthetic evident on her work here. "Billy the Kid Pt. 2" continues in the song-based vein, a ghostly ballad led by singer Katie Moore and featuring a verse-chorus structure. It's expansive in a manner reminiscent -- of all things -- of American alt-country acts like Pinetop Seven. Closer "Pitchfork" resumes the more exploratory leanings of the album's first half with meandering horn and piano lines, creepy onomatopoeic vocal snippets, and martial drumming with a distorted, jarring climax and an acoustic comedown.

Alternately alien and comforting, Shalabi and his all-star cast manage to wring out newly imagined juxtapositions and energies from the confines of their improvisations and collaborations. You may at times be confounded by the results but you certainly won't be bored. At 65 minutes, that's an accomplishment in and of itself.

Tune in to A Listening Ear with Simon every Tuesday from 1pm - 2pm

By Simon Howell - A Listening Ear - 11/01/2007

What's a plain old rock band to do? There has never been a more difficult time for two to five people to congregate in a garage with the usual accoutrements and concoct anything worth hearing -- it's inevitably been done before, and better, and in a hundred permutations. Nowadays you don't know whether to give these foolhardy new bands a pat on a back for their bravery or a smack upside the head for their stupidity. Right now, "not having a niche" isn't a good niche. Whether that's a good or bad thing I leave to you, but it must certainly be said that those who enter this arena face an uphill battle.

Unfortunately for them, Ontario's Diableros face an additional problem: vocalist and songwriter Pete Carmichael writes solid -- sometimes even pretty great –- songs, but they'd be better served by a full-time vocalist. He often sounds out of breath where he should confident, but more importantly, there's nothing distinctive about his vocal timbre. Occasionally he'll write a song suited to his limited vocal talents, like album standout "Ever-Changing," but even then there's the inescapable sense that a more dynamic vocalist might have really sent the song into the stratosphere. This is especially true of "Nothing Down in Hogtown," which features what should be a memorable chorus worthy of The Walkmen, but Carmichael doesn't quite have the gusto the song needs. The case is the same for the seven-minute centerpiece, "Turning Backwards," which requires an engaging vocal to carry its extended running time (and drags without it).

All of this is a damn shame because as a band, Diableros are appealing and inventive; the feedback and organ combination on "Ever-Changing," and the tasteful use of horns and pedal steel, respectively, on a pair of tracks indicates their ability to convincingly broaden their palette; the chord progressions often take surprising turns but are never uncomfortable; they have an instinctive sense of when to pile on distortion and cascading guitars and when to ease up and let the song breathe. It wouldn't be worth harping on the vocal aspect if they didn't have a number of things going for them, so here's hoping Carmichael improves, or that the remaining four members start contributing, so that the vocal aspect can match their otherwise-impressive sound.

Tune in to A Listening Ear with Simon every Tuesday from 1pm - 2pm

By Simon Howell - A Listening Ear - 10/30/2006

Of Sally Shapiro and producer/writer Johan Agebjörn, it can be said that first and foremost they know their product and its audience very well. The album is explicitly winter-themed, from Shapiro's snow-covered face on the cover to several song titles specifically name-checking the season -- it's a record meant for those of us who find ourselves seasonally affected as the windows frost over. The first thing you hear on eight-minute opener, "I'll Be By Your Side (Extended Mix)" is Shapiro's heavily vocodered voice, followed by drum patterns affectionately borrowed from ‘80s dance-pop (itself having been successfully plundered by the likes of Toronto's Junior Boys). Shapiro's voice eventually comes through the mix cleanly and without fanfare, and the combination of her direct-but-dreamy approach and the music's lush romanticism is an intoxicating one. When the album diverts itself from straight dance floor outings, Agebjörn and his muse don't lose any of their hushed confidence. "He Keeps Me Alive," the album's standout track, prioritizes its chilly glow -- provided by a rich bed of synth pads and chimes -- over its percussive elements, and pairs nicely with the song's theme of repressed emotion. Similarly, "Skating in the Moonshine" perfectly evokes its namesake with its swathes of reverb and sweetly tinged, minor-key melodies. Even further from the dance floor is "Jackie Jackie (Spend This Winter With Me)," with its quietly spoken verses and string-aided chorus. If you find yourself growing increasingly wistful as the temperature drops, you owe it to yourself to give Shapiro and Agebjörn's effervescent collaborations a spin.

Tune in to A Listening Ear with Simon every Tuesday from 1pm - 2pm

By Simon Howell - A Listening Ear - 12/04/2007

Some bands seem to have everything stacked against them. Aloha suffer from a boring name, generic song and album titling, less than magnificent lyrics, and an uninspiring vocalist. They are not particularly adventurous or distinctive in their pristine indie-rock sound, for the most part. Against the odds, however, they managed to quietly accomplish some impressive work; their last release, Some Echoes, featured a number of memorable songs with unconventional arrangements, relying heavily on xylophones, percussion and keyboards while minimizing the use of guitars. Light Works sees them substituting most of the keyboards for actual piano, and penning a set of songs so nondescript as to vacate your mind as soon as they leave your ears -- an example of living down to expectation?

Opener "Body Buzz" is probably the most memorable track, thanks to an agreeable chord progression, but there's a nagging sense that the track could have just as easily been recorded by any one of the deluge of Coldplay acolytes we've been subjected to over the past few years (The Fray, Keane, Snow Patrol, etc.). From there, things don't improve, as the number of lyrical inanities and redundancies increases. On "Broken Light," Tony Cavallario insists that "time is on my side" and that "today is like any other day," which makes you wonder why he bothered to write about it in the first place. The track slogs along for over five minutes without inspiration or revelation. "Trick Spring" shows promise, with its sprightly acoustic guitars tucked in either speaker and a return to the synth-driven sound of their previous output, but the song fails to capitalize on its potential energy, preferring to squat in place and squander a melodically interesting chorus with some inane chatter about weather machines. "The End" finally injects a bit of energy, adds some subtle horns, and manages to keep things under three minutes -- there's a bit of that potential at work, finally. "I know you can make an effort," they intone.

The effort stops, or at least it disappears from view. "Passengers" puts us firmly back in Keane-land, with its annoying chorus -- "too much of anything is wrong" -- which manages to be both prescriptive and distinctly unhelpful. At least "Gold World" brings in some of the unique percussion they're known for, but it's again paired with a blandly conceived ballad. Even the apparently improvised closer "Equinox" comes across as completely lacking in spontaneity, perhaps the greatest indicator of the group's aggressive sense of immobility. The drums try valiantly to play with emphasis, the synth lines meander a bit, the song meanders on over six minutes, but none of these elements manage to take the track anywhere. The most hopeful thing one can proffer up about this release: it's essentially a stopgap release as opposed to a "proper" new LP; let's hope it's not a harbinger of things to come for the talented but seemingly stifled group.

Tune in to A Listening Ear with Simon every Tuesday from 1pm - 2pm