C-Town and his axe

With full disclosure I must admit that I am a close friend of Colin and I supplied drums on the last cut of the record, so I have witnessed that process to some small degree. Dozens of folks participated in the creation of this record, but the concept, heart and soul, and driving energy was all from Colin. It is a deeply personal recording which was enabled through the efforts of a community of friends and collaborators, The Colin L Orchestra. The original concept of combining the easeful, bluesy, laid-back vibes of country music with avant-garde minimal repetition survived the three years of growth and change. The sound transformed and became its own entity, new and exciting.

What really strikes me about "Infinite Ease" is the wonderful quality of production which make the recording sound polished and whole, innovative but never overdone. Production credits are attributed to Colin and Eli Winograd. Eli's solo project, Two Prong, is a soulful and eclectic collection of sonic delights. His earlier solo work as Two Prong was electronic and more abstract, whereas the newer record "good vs. bad" is lush textural pop. It seems that the duo's inventive arrangements for "Infinite Ease" came to life in studio mixing sessions. The fidelity of the recording is total, giving great hope for the new genesis of home recordings enabled by Pro Tools and such. I can state all this with conviction based upon my experience laying down rhythm tracks for the song "Best Thing" in September 2007. We recorded in a musky basement in Virginia, with low ceilings and no real sound treatment or dampening. Hearing the simple arrangement that we learned just hours before recording transformed to such a lustrous gem via studio manipulation and sonic honing is incredible and inspiring.

The album is divided into three tracks, the first of which is actually four distinct songs. The opening tune, "You Need Sleep" is laid down with help from the Boston's, Devil Music Ensemble, with supple bass via Jesse Lent and gorgeous ethereal flute from Maxx Katz. Colin's vocals are beautiful, contemplative and spot on. In no other past project was the quality and range of his voice thusly displayed. I especially enjoy the ghostly falsettos which occur on this cut, and several other times throughout the album. "Beer Can Blues" follows the dreamy repetition of the opener with a unique and slightly jarring rhythm which sounds as if it was created from ping pong balls bouncing off a warm sounding alarm tone. This cut is by far the most raucous of the album. As the intro to the song concludes, a party whistle blows and the train leaves the station full force. The familiar country vibe of the record returns with a wilder edge, then melts into "Descaped". This is essentially a washy melodic segue with wailing psychedelic guitar leads soaring overtop. It begins with haunting fiddle and the tones stack until flutes swirl and finally the guitar takes over. I felt almost like I was droning away with Sigur Ros the first time I listened to the album, until Colin's signature guitar shred crept in, not unlike Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" interpretation.  Track one concludes with "Numbers Hall", a classy and comic ditty reminiscent of Graham Parsons at his best. Vocal lines are repeated over and over: musings such as "I just want to fornicate, to fornicate, to fornicate....." and "I should shut up and do the dishes, do the dishes, do the dishes....."

"Hold Tite" is a gentle beast unto itself. This is the most experimental and delicate piece of the record. It is warbly, sprawling, deconstructed and heart wrenching. I recommend giving it a listen on some quality head phones if possible. All tracks are completely treated, even the percussion, to create a somber, dreamy, druggy anthem, complete with Acapella breakdowns and insect noises. Nice one.

The final cut "Best Thing" has the sound of a monster Neil Young riff repeated for ten minutes with some high flying guitar leads and crucial dynamics, which keep the jam fresh. It is indeed a monster and a head bobber, with boldly projected vocals, full of conviction, or perhaps irony? All in all, it's a nice closer to a brilliant record, which keeps the listener engaged throughout. It is easy to listen to over and over, while driving, writing, thinking, or doing the dishes...and feels unique and original, whilst obviously rooted in very familiar American musical traditions.

This fine platter of psychedelic country minimalist songwriting is slated to be released Spring 2010 from Providence R.I.'s Corleone records, on 12" vinyl and as digital download.  It's a stark contrast to Langenus' first Corleone release "The American Dream: Living with the Rock", a lo-fi production of hilarious short songs tackling most all genres: dub, noise, punk, country and karaoke, etc.  "Infinite Ease" is now available as a short run CD-R direct from Colin himself until the official release in Spring.  Contact him for mail order inquiries. ( massdistro@yahoo.com) This is bound to be a universally lauded release for 2010.  "Infinite Ease" is a sleeper cell success, made infinitely listenable through painstaking efforts.

Words by Matthew R. Clark

"This is a record capturing something haunting, melancholic and all-together charming.” -Jeff Royer, Fly Magazine.
The Honey Dewdrops are headed out on the road this summer traveling west to California and playing at all points in between. They’re looking forward to joining up with Anne and Pete Sibley, winners of A Prairie Home Companion’s 2009 talent show in their great state of Wyoming for a set or two toward the end of the summer.

Listen And Download HERE :

Bluest Blue Eyes - The Honey Dew Drops

Fly Away Free - The Honey Dew Drops

If the Sun Will Shine

So Heavy for Something So Empty is an intricate chronology of fragile, acoustic gems and soaring, overwhelmingly pounding rockers.  Uncle Jemima's album dances between acoustic and electronic music, often blending the two in unexpected situations to create a unique dialogue between nature and wall socket.  The album begins with a strange, warbling glimpse of a tune called "Mr. McGregor's Shed", which presents itself as a nursery rhyme that quickly turns to a voice haunting one from a closet.  Just as the listener is confused enough to raise an eyebrow, in come the acoustic masterpieces "Destroyer" and "Last Flight" to rectify the senses.  The listener is then taken on a wild journey that ebbs and flows between glimpses of happiness and anger, of depression and solitude, as if the listener is snatching quick glimpses of sunshine between the clouds of a thunderstorm.  This journey peaks at the tumultuous second-to-last song, "Election Day", before ending in the heart-wrenching finale, "Somebody Else".

You can buy the full CD at his Myspace HERE

Alex Schein

Alex Schein has once again blessed Monkeyclaus with his presence,this time recording acoustic. Schein recorded two songs , an acoustic version of the amazing Rise Up and a new song titled Breathe Out. You can check them out below or at AlexSchein.com. Once again it is time to rise up and make music and choices. Please enjoy these songs and let us know what you think.

Rise Up Acoustic

Breathe Out

We used a Sony C37 Mic and our Millenia TD1 for the guitars signal ran directly into Pro-Tools . The songs were recorded and mixed in 3 days.

These two wonderful musicians majestically settled into Monkeyclaus quite comfortable. Setting up their zone in the Live Room , they began the music making process with a few home made dehydrated sour cherries picked from Peter's cherry tree outside the studio. They cut 7 tracks and then continued the session in the bus where they were interviewed in depth and out of inspiration. Soon the recordings, interview and multi media slice of the creative process for The Honey Dew Drops will be ready to enjoy online .

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mp3

Words and Live Recording by Matthew Clark

Live at Tea Bazaar - 2007
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Zorn's own secret weapon, Joey Baron, is also a Richmond native, and a total modern jazz-drumming wizard. On July 25th 2007 Jones brought his Guitar Quartet to the Tea Bazaar for a night of chronic modern jazz. The group featured two electric guitars, upright bass, and Jones on trap kit. Joining Jones for the set were guitarists, Trey Pollard and Alan Parker, and upright bassist Matt Hall. The set ranged from Jones own compositions to a loose interpretation of "Eleanor Rigby". The feel was always free, with drums leading the way and triggering cues for direction. The drumming swayed between abstract and groove, yet always managed to elucidate the situation completely, guiding his stringed crusaders into wild and unruly territory. This throw down was heavy and heady, like a jungle safari adventure fever dream, with a head full of malaria meds. Take heed.

Modern jazz, comes with a heavy dose of skepticism from jaded audiences. The potential for cliches associated with the genre are an ominous shadow, from which true players must shine through to express their merit. The Guitar Quartet took all of 30 seconds to destroy all naysaying. They displayed the art of shredding, which walks a fine line with the art of wanking. The line was drawn clearly and shredding it surely was. Jones unique battery skills, leave jaws dropped and minds blown. His compatriots are always on par with his level of skill, in what ever group he presents or participates in. The two wailing guitars carefully avoided filling the same register while, naturally coming unhinged and being fully lost in the music. One guitarist would often create ambiance with swells and slides, whilst the other would play a lead role with more annunciated notes, sometimes sparse and other times frantic. The bass grooves were spot on, solid, thunderous and robust. Matt Hall would sometimes employ his bow, even if only for 5 seconds then switching back to plucking away, to evoke the right tones.

As with all styles of music, there is the good the bad, the talented and the hacks, the innovators and the recyclers, the shredders and the wankers. I expect that the Slang Sanctuary family, involving dozens of musicians from the Richmond jazz, noise, free, out and avant scenes all have multiple projects worthy of exploration. As improv music seems to be making a huge resurgence in the rock and folk realms, let us not forget the bedrock of improvisation, and one of the most valid "American" cultural contributions, "jazz music". Brian Jones and Co. show how fresh it can be.

live at Tea Bazaar
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Hezekiah Jones kicked off the set and filled the room with his sweet sounds. Unfortunately I arrived only in time to hear his last song. I set up my recording gear as quickly as possible and was able to record most of this finale. It was a fine rendition of the traditional number "Dark Hollow", with back up vocals supplied by fellow Philadelphians, the Spinning Leaves. We made a point of posting this fragment, even though we'd have loved to have captured the whole set, so you can hear the sublime quality of his voice.

Spinning Leaves, played next and demonstrated the many facets of their sound. Michael Baker and Barbara Gettes took turns leading the way as songwriter and lead vocalist, and backing each other up. Michael, at times, employed the harmonica and guitar together, ala Dylan which for me is always a treat to hear live. They even threw in an entertaining cover of the early ska-reggae hit "Pressure Drop", which added another nice layer to the presentation of their music.

Sarah White represented the local talent for the show. She is Charlottesville's stalwart female songwriter and one of the most promising local musicians currently around. Morgan from Yer Bird, described her contribution to his compilation as, "Striking a balance somewhere between her early Jagjaguwar lo-fi releases and her newer melodic emphasis with the Pearls, this is sad, wonderful and all stripped-down to it's essence." Whether performing solo, or with her band the Pearls, Sarah always projects and plucks away with precision and elan. This brief solo set was no exception.

Chris Bathgate, a Michigan native, closed out the evening with an impressive set, employing looping pedals, a Fender amp, and two vocal microphones to elicit a lush sound, without straying too far from the rest of the evening's vibe and flow. Chris carried the air of a confident professional, while retaining a endearing humbleness. He built up walls of guitar loops and drenched vocals, to play over top. His primary, straightforward vocal sound and delivery was somewhat hushed and whispery but carried a certain strength within. As the clock crept forward and the Tea Bazaar was to close, the audience demanded more music and Chris obliged with one last number, a funny song about an old friend who alway found his way to trouble.

Folk enthusiasts and lovers of honest straight forward music and those who love to support those who love music all should consider supporting Yer Bird and any or all of the folks who gave tracks to the "Folk Music for the End of the World" comp. Please enjoy the live recordings made during the show!

text and recordings by Matthew Clark

!!! and Maserati blew the roof off the Satellite Ballroom, in Charlottesville Virginia on May 29th 2007. Folks came in droves and came to dance. Asses even shook to the psyche-drenched grooves of Maserati, who kicked off the show. It was refreshing to see such love offered up for an opening act, and one of a slightly different ilk, than the main event !!!. Maserati and !!! share a certain continuity, in that both outfits are based around driving beats, and in fact share the same drummer. Gerhardt Fuchs is the powerhouse drum machine (man machine) behind both bands. His beats are inspired by a lineage of bad-ass drummers, and find a niche in Maserati which harkens to Meddle era Pink Floyd or the kraut-magic of CAN. !!! employs Jerry aka "the regulator" for disco-dance punk-house-new/no-wave grooves which can mutate and explode in manifold directions.

Maserati at sattelite Ballroom
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With Maserati, Jerry's kit, a vintage blue Vistalite, sat front and center. Guitarists Coley Dennis and Matt Cherry flanked the stage with their echo driven guitars, and touring bassist Chris McNeal hung center stage behind the drum kit. Maserati is a well oiled machine. Blending lush atmospherics with exciting momentum, the fellows tear flawlessly through show after show. (I've seen them dozens of times over the years, most recently sharing stages with them on a three week European jaunt.) This show was particularly interesting, as it featured songwriter and sometimes touring band member Matt Cherry, who is more often replaced by the ultra-capable Josh McCauley for extended road missions. Maserati manages to captivate and charm crowds better than most instrumental bands, likely because of the hypnotic pulse they create. Their recent signing to Temporary Residence Ltd. places Maserati in a more visible position, and within a league that they certainly belong. Their new record shreds hard.

For the !!! set Jerry moved towards the back half of the stage to a different, as the front filled with tons of gear and a 9 person band. On tour, Shannon Funchess, becomes the bands secret weapon, and sole female presence. Her passionate delivery of vocal hooks and stage antics, fed off main vocalist and fellow crowd-tamer, Nic Offer, and added dimensionality that softened the testosterone laden grooves. The rest of the band laid back and delivered, bobbed heads, and tapped along to the beat, as Nic and Shannon went ape-shit to fuel the dance frenzy.

Nic, told me when I asked for permission to stream the recording of the show, that "a recording can never capture the energy and excitement of a show". He explained that for him live recordings never were satisfying and that I would have been better advised to just post away without permission. He continued saying that the internet is so sprawling and out of control that nobody can really manage what is posted on the web anyway. (Monkeyclaus never wishes to post recordings against the artists wishes, as we exist largely to positively support bands we admire, and to help connect fans with unique sound experiences.) In the end, Nick gave me license to decide if the recordings were engrossing enough and admitted that it was a really fun show. As a result I chose two live cuts that really transmitted the feeling of the night, and left in some banter which was a crucial element to the band-audience connection which was obviously flowing in abundance that night.

Asses shook like crazy. Nearly all folks in attendance were moving and sweating. The band devilishly cut off the AC as they took stage to provoke that "Nellyish-it's getting hot in here vibe." !!! recognized that playing in a college town, after school lets out for the summer, leaves behind a special breed of "partier nerds" and served up their jams accordingly. All shapes, sizes, and sexes mixed it up as the band raged through a lengthy set. The music attracted a very diverse demographic to the Satellite Ballroom. Apparently, it is easily agreed that shaking your shit to the pulse of New York's finest and most talented touring dance machine is a well spent evening. In the end it was the hi-hat machine that connected all the dots.

!!! Website

!!! on Myspace

Maserati on Myspace

Super Exclusive Maserati/Ostinato Tour Photos from Spring '07

Photo by Chris Makarsky

Text and Recordings by Matthew Clark

Interview
interview audio

Audio Collage
Audio collage audio
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Track1
Track1 audio

As a quartet the Skeletons are just as striking and impressive, albeit with a more succinct and direct presentation. The excellence of their musicianship shines through and four distinct voices are heard. The band's love for R & B, free jazz, ethnic jams, and noise all comes together in the structure of a pop song. This idea sounds ridiculous but it works for the Skeletons and gives them a sound unlike anyone else, unstuck, free and forward moving. Inviting the "Skeletons" for a day in our studio resulted in some serious jams being captured in our studio and a chance to sit down them them in a meadow and contemplate their music.

The tracks laid down out at Monkeyclaus are frantic, kaleidoscopic, driving, and jangly. They are comprised of staccato stereo guitars, diminished jazz chords, Mingus-esque bass throbbing, kraut-ish drums, chutes and ladders, head bobbing euphoria, an awesomely trashy cymbal, oiled gears meshing, free horn howling, and stream of consciousness vocal meanderings. This is lanky rock, the sped up lullaby, some spastic elastic, controlled experimentalism, raging full on, channeling Beefhart, mocking the ice cream man in Brooklyn, dancing with "the Dead", and boarding Sun Ra's starship through the escape hatch.

Please explore and enjoy our presentation of the "Skeletons and Kings of All Cities Monkeysession". You will find the whole unedited interview from the back field, an NPR styled audio collage with a blend of studio tracks, interview and some ambient soundtrack augmentation, sourced from an analog recording of the Skeletons show in Charlottesville the night prior to the session. Also listen to one fresh new "Skeletons" song which is so fresh that it is raw and that it is fresher than the fresh new jams on their fresh new album Lucas. The new "Skeletons" record "Lucas" is now available from Ghostly/Shinkoyo Records, and it is damn good. Stay tuned and spread the word.

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visit some audio visual skeletons madness from their website!!!

Studio Recordings Engineered by Abel Okugawa

Words and interview by Matthew Clark

Audio Collage by Abel Okugawa and Matthew Clark

Music all by Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities

Live at Starr Hill
Audio 1
Audio1

Audio2
Audio2

Kuti's political ferocity is what makes his story so compelling: every
horn riff was a fist, every drumroll a protest march, and every record
an amicus curiae brief -- "Coffin For Head Of State," for example, was
written for Kuti's late mother, who died after being thrown out a
window when the Nigerian government attacked his studio. On every
record, his ghost looms large enough to swallow you whole. Antibalas
has some enormous shoes to fill here.

They don't have quite as epic a biography yet, but their April 5th
performance at Starr Hill in Charlottesville, Virginia was spirited
enough to fool you into thinking otherwise. Following a fantastic
introduction driven by guitar and delay effects, Amayo catapulted
himself onto the stage, dreadlocks flailing all about like dancing
Koosh tendrils, and miraculously managed to subordinate the backline
of ten talented musicians that had seemed so captivating just moments
before.

But the most fascinating part of the show was the audience, which was
surprisingly receptive to Afrobeat despite being, like the band,
mostly white. At the risk of turning Afrobeat into the new reggae --
that is, the soundtrack to Sunday afternoons at the frat house, chosen
by people who don't actually care enough to learn about its history --
at least they were there, and at least they were paying attention: the
Antibalas merch table gives as much real estate to activist flyers and
anti-war bumper stickers as it does to the newest album, which bears
the tongue-in-cheek title "Security." That's a lesson in either
sarcasm or social responsibility, or perhaps both.

Admittedly, it sometimes seems a little ridiculous for Antibalas to be
taking aim at the West from within -- but then again, it's hard to
ascribe a sense of urgency to anything while reclining in a La-Z-Boy
and nursing a Coke With Lemon. Nevertheless, "Security" suspends
disbelief for eleven staggeringly effective minutes with the
blistering "Filibuster X," a compelling argument for progressive
politics which impales the Republican party on a deceptively playful
call-and-response chorus. The audience absolutely ate it up.
"There's no shortage of material," sighed baritone sax player Martin
Perna between songs, "But hopefully one day we'll run out of things to
talk about."

One can only hope. In the meantime, though, Antibalas might help it
go down a little smoother. As depressingly backwards as this society
can be, and as integral as that realization is to the Antibalas
identity, there are times during the show when it's very hard not to
smile. It's not Fela, but this is as good as it gets on this side of
the Third World divide.

For more on Antibalas visit Anti.com or their myspace page.

Contributed by Vijith Assar