Julian Cope’s review of Nathaniel Mayer
Category: Music
This is not a parody
This Album of the Month is nothing less than an heroic act, being both an extraordinary art statement of cavernous Detroit Psychedelic soul AND a major mission of Cultural Retrieval. For, with the help of four contemporary musicians at least 25 years younger than himself, veteran Detroit R&B star Nathaniel Mayer has with this single LP lifted himself out of the worthy but Old Timer Chicken-in-a-Basket Soul Revue scene, and been delivered into the welcoming hands of the drooling and mightily entranced Underground. And believe me, kiddies, retrieving the voice of Nathaniel Mayer for our own delectation makes the musicians in question into true culture heroes; so let's scream out major hails to the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, SSM's Dave Shettler, the Dirtbombs' Troy Gregory, and (most especially) to mainman and prime mover Matthew Smith. For, despite claims to the contrary, even Mayer's recent 2004 LP I JUST WANNA BE HELD still suffered from boring, nay, dutiful sax, boring 'authentic' guitar tones and songs written in the Retro/Retread soul vein. Well, not anymore! Now, it's welcome to weeping dual fuzz guitars, proto-punk garage rhythms, nuclear burn-ups of free-rock De Twat, and all topped off with a changeling R&B guy whose vocal range takes in everything from Screaming Jay Hawkins to Dionne Warwick, via George Clinton, early I-Tina, Ray Charles and James Brown by way of the Monks. WHY DON'T YOU GIVE IT TO ME? is an instant party and an instant classic, an immensely stoned groove and an exhilarating and swampy hybrid of the early call-&-answer heavy soul of Funkadelic (first 3LPs), the cacophonous Glam Soul of John & Yoko's SOMETIME IN NEW YORK CITY, the fuzzy earnestness of early early early Bob Seger ('Heavy Music'-period), the abandoned lyrical Free Association of Kim Fowley's berserk Psychedelic Psoul Revue on OUTRAGEOUS, plus the murky voodoo gunk of Night Tripper-period Dr. John. Yes, from its very first sub-sub-Chocolate Watchband/very early Stones opening bars, this new Nathaniel Mayer record screams: "Here I AM!" Better still, after his aforementioned stilted 2004 album I JUST WANNA BE HELD1, it's enthralling to hear this veteran 64-year-old Detroit R&B singer finally united with a truly sympathetic backing band chock full o'garageheads who been raised on such errant fuzzarama garage compilations as PEBBLES 1-12, BACK FROM THE GRAVE 1,2&3, HIPSVILLE 29BC, OFF THE WALL, TURDS ON A BUM RIDE and their glorious ilk, suddenly lending Nathaniel the kind of guitar-heavy demented amphetamine yawp that forces his own performance sky high. The results are no less than immediate and spectacular. Indeed, from the moment Nathaniel Mayer nobbled me with the title track's lyrical opening gambit - 'You gave it to him, why don't you give it to me?' - well, I knew this artist would have Album of the Month just so long as he didn't fuck up the remaining thirty-six minutes TOO much. Ja, mein hairies, this 6-month-old vinyl slab is truly one motherfucker of an album.
Side One of WHY DONCHA GIVE IT TO ME? commences with the title track, whose enormous Bats In The Belfry belltone guitar riffing and cranky leaden drums immediately sets the listener on edge, before our hero steps into the spotlight and immediately crouches down on one knee to confess his pain to his coy mistress, the half-written lyrical abandon of Nathaniel's song-writing (spawning such couplets as "You made him a happy man all across the land") reinforcing our suspicions that this record's producers knew they had limited studio time in which to make this record, before the whole shithouse exploded in their faces. Next up is the Electric Manchakou-style teenage exuberance of 'White Dress', another work-in-progress being sketched out before our very eyes, like some wide-eyed and ageless shaman/woman cooing and billing in wonder at the opposite sex over three minutes of 'Shake Appeal'-period Stooges replete with handclaps and endless questions. This is followed by 'I'm a Lonely Man', four minutes of the most shameless (and tuneless) BACK FROM THE GRAVE-stylee garage voodoo, as Nate vamps and grunts the song's title over & over. Next up, the chorale-and-heavy-riffology of 'Please Don't Drop the Bomb' is pure early Funkadelic ambient ice-rink funk, whilst Side One closes with the three-and-a-half minutes of 'Everywhere', which - with its boys-being-chicks backing vocals and wide-eyed asides, sounds like a wonderful hybrid of John Sinclair's super-exuberant late acolytes the Up playing a song by Leslie West's soul garage outfit the Vagrants. Side Two opens with the 'Knock On Wood-styled 'What Would You Do?', another lost classic riff, followed by the weird West Coast 9-minute free rock of 'Doin' It', whose cheese-grater wa-guitars, bubbling bass, clatter-chatter drums and belltone blues lead axe all conspire to create a wild, almost proto-Comets on Fire rush that sounds like it coulda come off any of the best Detroit rock LPs anytime in the past 40 years. No wonder this record has been filed under 'Rock' on iTunes. Indeed, only on the 7-minute closer 'Why Dontcha Show Me?' does Nate return to his sultry soul roots. Commencing with a Ray Charles-styled piano-only opening coupla verses, this exquisitely crafted and sexy song suddenly metamorphoses into a percussion-heavy bossanova somewhere between Tim Buckley's 'Sweet Surrender' and Timmy Thomas's 'Why Can't We Live Together?'. This record is one mind-manifesting rock behemoth, but the confidence of this final statement lifts the entire LP up even another coupla notches.
In Conclusion
And so there we have it for another month. With regard to where Nathaniel Mayer takes him next step, well, we probably shouldn't set our hopes up too high considering Mayer's first hit 'Village of Love' was way back in 1962, thereafter ambling and shambling through long periods of bandlessness, giglessness, even homelessness. However, even a perfunctory trawl through Nate's current youtube performances suggests that this sexagenerian singer is once more enjoying himself enough to attempt to sustain what he's currently achieving. And, on the huge evidence of this wonderful Album of the Month, we can only cross our fingers and selfishly hope that he barfs out a few more in this present stylee, before the (inevitable?) next crash. For the time being, however, we need only take a cursory glance at rock'n'roll history to feel a sense of optimism. For example, we only gotta look at Alex Harvey to see the renewal that an Old Timer could achieve just through taking on a much younger backing band. Later, at the inception of punk, mother-of-two Vi Subversa split up her cabaret duo and lead her own outfit the Poison Girls, all twenty-odd-years younger than her, and became the co-leader of the new punk alongside Crass. Unfortunately, we just have to hope that Nathaniel's current ensemble can find time in their busy careers to stay around and keep him buoyant. What has made WHY DON'T YOU GIVE IT TO ME? so successful is the abandoned-yet-still-dignified character that Nathaniel brings to the party, so on the case that none of the producers has felt tempted to cast him as a mere eccentric outsider, a path trod by so many lesser talented or less honourably-minded mentors. Which is why this particular Album of the Month is so fucking refreshing, because - instead of recruiting as lead singer for their new project the local gangliest youth with the biggest garage rock LP collection in his basement, instead, several enlightened and currently successful rockers have come together to back a forgotten 64-year-old R&B singer, a man of undoubted song-writing talent and possessed of a genuinely extraordinary set of vocal chords, but whose luck has been intermittent to say the least. That three successful contemporary rock'n'rollers should have sought out and championed such a lost hero is heroic in itself, and Dan Auerbach, Troy and - most especially - Matthew Smith should be praised to the skies. That the chosen artist should rise to the occasion in such a manner is even more thrilling, which is why I say to Nathaniel Mayer:
"Bravo, Lord Motherfucker, and deep gratitude for laying this Righteous Thang upon us."
BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES, TWO GALLANTS May/June tours
Category: Music
BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES upcoming dates New album "A Touch Of Someone Else's Class" out June 10th Europe May 9 @ Mr Wolf's - Bristol UK May 10 @ Hare and Hounds - Birmingham UK May 11 @ Tap House - Kidderminster UK May 13 @ Head of Steam - Newcastle UK May 14 @ Junction - York UK May 15 @ The Gramaphone - London UK May 16 @ Sugarclub - Dublin, Ireland May 18 @ Baker Place - Limerick UK May 20 @ Place Vandamme - Cassel, France May 21 @ Le Fiacre - Bordeaux, France May 22 @ Des Lendemains Qui Chantent - Tulle, France May 23 @ Savoy Club - Gijon, Spain May 24 @ Puerto Norte - San Esteban de Prava, Spain May 25 @ Mars Attack - Angouleme, France May 26 @ Le Saint des Seins - Toulouse, France May 27 @ Sputnik Bar - Nantes, France May 28 @ Mundial Bar - Antwerpen, Belgium May 29 @ Db's - Utrecht, The Netherlands May 30 @ Carlo Levi - Liege, Belgium May 31 @ Leicester City Blues Festival - Leicester, Midlands UK USA Jun 9 @ Bessie Smith Strut --- Miller Plaza Stage 5:15 PM - Chattanooga, TN Jun 9 @ JJ's Bohemia - Strut AFTERPARTY - Chattanooga, TN Jun 12 @ The Gypsy Hut - Cincinatti, Ohio Jun 13 @ Musica - Akron, Ohio Jun 14 @ Mid City - Ft Wayne, Indiana w/ Left Lane Cruiser Jun 15 @ Belmont Bar - Detroit, Michigan Jun 16 @ Points East Pub - Milwaukee, Wisconsin Jun 18 @ High Noon Saloon - Madison, Wisconsin Jun 19 @ Ned Kelley's Pub - Green Bay, Wisconsin Jun 20 @ 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, Minnesota Jun 21 @ Solstice Shakedown - Sturgis, South Dakota Jul 3 @ Northside Music Festival - Cincinnati, Ohio Jul 10 @ JJ's Bohemia - Chattanooga, TN Jul 11 @ Ham Bagby's Wedding Bash - Tuscaloosa, Alabama Jul 12 @ Schlafly Tap Room - St Louis, Missouri Jul 19 @ Deep Blues Festival - Lake Elmo, Minnesota
TWO GALLANTS European dates May 9 @ Botanique Festival - Brussels, Belgium May 10 @ Artrock Festival - Saint Brieuc, France May 11 @ 4AD - Diksmuide, Belgium May 12 @ Pfingst Open Air Werden (free show) Essen, Germany May 13 @ Olympia Theatre - Dublin, Ireland May 14 @ Olympia Theatre - Dublin, Ireland May 15 @ Olympia Theatre - Dublin, Ireland May 17 @ Stiff Kitten - Belfast, Northern Ireland May 18 @ Dolans - Limerick, Ireland May 20 @ Roisin Dubh - Galway, Ireland May 22 @ Electric Avenue - Waterford, Ireland May 23 @ Cyprus Avenue - Cork, Ireland May 24 @ Dot To Dot Festival - Nottingham, UK May 25 @ Dot To Dot Festival - Bristol, UK
From his adopted hometown of Memphis TN, Ron Franklin's music brings you back to the time when the urban and the rural, the folk and the blues were not far apart. With an impeccable underground pedigree which includes working with his bands The Entertainers and The Natural Kicks; artists such as Jack Yarber of The Oblivions, trash-garage icon Ross Johnson, as well as Peter Case and a brief stint with Love and the late Arthur Lee, Franklin's music is part of the legacy of the wellspring of Southern sound... Ron Franklin's self-titled album available now from Bomp mailorder
THOMAS FUNCTION - April tour dates
Category: Music
THOMAS FUNCTION debut album "Celebration!" out now
"Though it is a part of the current wave of garage bands, Thomas Function is essentially a pop outfit, focusing on vocal hooks and shouted choruses, and it has the crisp production to support it. With a greater focus on musicianship, lyrics and just plain audibility, Celebration catapults the Thomas Function far above its garage rock peers." - Daily Texan
THOMAS FUNCTION upcoming tour dates Apr 13 @ Longbranch - Knoxville, Tennessee Apr 14 @ The Velvet Lounge - Washington DC Apr 15 @ The Annex - New York, New York w/Live Fast Die Apr 16 @ House Of Pleasure - Columbus, Ohio Apr 17 @ Horrible Fest - Cleveland, Ohio Apr 18 @ Blackout Fest Athens, Ohio Apr 19 @ Frank‚s Power Plant Milwaukee, Wisconsin Apr 20 @ Empty Bottle - Chicago, Illinois Apr 28 @ Cotton & Steel - Huntsville, Alabama
Black Diamond Heavies U.S. tour - new album end of May!
Category: Music
BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES SPRING ’08 U.S. TOUR DEBUT ALBUM "EVERY DAMN TIME" IN-STORES NOW (ALIVE)
FOLLOW-UP "A TOUCH OF SOMEONE ELSE’S CLASS" RECORDED BY DAN AUERBACH (THE BLACK KEYS) TO BE RELEASED MAY 27
Southern punk-ass blues duo the Black Diamond Heavies are hitting the road post-SXSW. Coming off a UK tour in March, vocalist/organist John Wesley Myers and drummer Van Campbell can be found in a city near you throughout the month of April, then back overseas to Europe in May. The band’s debut album "Every Damn Time" is available in stores now. Alive Records will be releasing their new album "A Touch of Someone Else’s Class" (recorded by Dan Auerbach/The Black Keys) on shelves end on May 27.
CONFIRMED BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES U.S. TOUR:
04-02 - Louisville, KY @ The Pink Door 04-03 - Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle 04-04 - Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar 04-05 - Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium 04-07 - Spearfish, SD @ The Back Porch 04-09 - Bozeman, MT @ The Filling Station 04-10 - Missoula, MT @ Badlander 04-11 - Bellingham, WA @ Boundary Bay Brewery 04-12 - Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern 04-13 - Portland, OR @ Dante’s 04-14 - Cottage Grove, OR @ Axe And Fiddle 04-15 - Arcata, CA @ Alibi 04-16 - Sacramento, CA @ Blue Lamp 04-17 - San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern 04-18 - San Diego, CA @ The Zombie Lounge w/ The Bloody Hollies 04-19 - Los Angeles, CA @ Safari Sam’s w/ The Bloody Hollies 04-20 - Tucson, AZ @ Plush 04-21 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room 04-23 - Albuquerque, NM @ Atomic Cantina 04-24 - Denver, CO @ Hi Dive 04-25 - Columbia, MO @ The Blue Fugue 04-26- St Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
More Alive bands performing around town : March 12: Black Diamond Heavies - Rock-A-Round Entertainment @ Beerland - Day Party (5:30 PM) March 12: Two Gallants - Little Radio/Noise Pop Party @ Red Eye Fly (2.50 PM set time) March 13: Black Diamond Heavies - Twangfest & KDHX St. Louis Party @ Jovita's (1 PM set time) March 13: Brimstone Howl @ Botticelli‚s - Day Show March 14: Thomas Function @ Beerland (whiskey bent showcase) March 15: Thomas Function & Brimstone Howl @ Trailer Space records - Day show March 15: Brimstone Howl - Blackout booking showcase @ Blender Bar at The Blind Pig Pu March 15: Left Lane Cruiser - Hillgrass Bluebilly showcase @ Hole in the Wall
And don't miss The Deadbeat Poets (ex-Stiv Bators' band and ex-Blue Ash) March 13 @ Lambert's Patio, 401 W. 2nd St. (9:00 PM)
Brimstone Howl U.S. and European tour
Category: Music
Nebraska's BRIMSTONE HOWL is heading back on the road in support of their debut Alive Record's release "Guts of Steel" - co-produced and engineered by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. The band will wrap their U.S. tour after performing several SXSW showcases then begin a month long European tour. Alive Records is currently offering an exclusive MP3 "Cyclone Boy," available for download on their website.
With a furious mix of 60's influenced garage and old school punk, Brimstone Howl's Alive Records debut has been described as "cranked lo-fi blues rock" by Uncut magazine, "razor sharp snake rock" by NME and "lo-fi, loose punk wallowing in the blues" by Kerrang. Delivering in-your-face live performances, they describe themselves as "Guitar sluts and hook thieves with hearts of chrome, but with pretty good lyrics," and their music as "burnt blues, steady tom beats, and looooooowwwwwd fuzz."
"If retro-styled garage rock gave you an icky feeling in 2007, take two listens to Guts of Steel and burn your red-and-white clothes in the morning. Production by Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach give Brimstone Howl some requisite vintage-sounding reverb, but there's nothing reverent about these Nebraskans'unholy hot-wiring of the Sonics, the Damned and the Blues Explosion." - MAGNET Magazine
U.S. tour itinerary: Mar 6 @ Nieches Buffalo, New York Mar 7 @ The Oasis New London, Connecticut Mar 8 @ Don Pedro‚s New York, NY Mar 9 House Show - New Haven, Connecticut w/Estrogen Highs Mar 11 @ Billiken Club St. Louis, MO Mar 13 @ SXSW Austin, Texas - Botticelli‚s Day Show Mar 14 @ SXSW Austin, Texas - TBA Mar 15 @ SXSW Austin, Texas - Trailer Space Recordsw/Thomas Function Mar 15 @ SXSW Austin, Texas Blackout Showcase, Blender Bar @ Blind Pig Pub European tour itinerary : Mar 20 Paris @ La Mecanique Ondulatoire - France Mar 21 Tours @ Donald's Pub - France Mar 22 Bordeaux @ Cafe Pompier - France Mar 23 Tulle @ Opus Bar - France Mar 25 Strasbourg @ Molodoi - France Mar 26 Reims @ L'Excalibur - France Mar 27 Karlsruhe @ Alte Haeckerei - Germany Mar 28 Geneva -- tbc - Switzerland Mar 29 Luzern @ Sedel (w/ Carbonas) - Switzerland Mar 30 Konstanz -- Germany Mar 31 Freiburg -- tbc - Germany Apr 2 Kortrijk @ the Pit's - Belgium Apr 3 Eindhoven @ Altstadt - Netherlands Apr 4 Utrecht @ dB's - Netherlands Apr 5 Gottingen @ Theaterkeller - Germany Apr 8 Koln @ Sonic Ballroom - Germany Apr 9 Groningen @ O'Ceallaigh - Netherlands Apr 10 Haarlem @ Patronaat - Netherlands Apr 11 Munster @ Gleis 22- Germany Apr 12 Hamburg @ Beat Club - Germany
